The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1872-04-11
pRorEssuxGoRsE.

Tie mos: wonderful a machines, where
wit. the hand of sciesce seized the great
globe and drew together its remo!est parts,
now sends ont Ia the utiermost limits OF CIV
;Iiza;ion, in as brief time as the writing OF
these lines requires, the intelligence Of ATS IN
ventor's death. Sidney Finley Breese Morse,
inventor Of the magnetic telegraph, died al
O'Clock on Tuesday evening last, the I'd
inst He dies, full of honors, at the advanced
age Of 81, having been born a; Charlesiown,
Mass., IN 1871 His caree, IL hot unknown
10 many OF his fellow-counirymen, for lev
Americans have achieved So fine contem-
t.orarcoas fame, and a, The s.me time .a.ne
Wiki will - long outliye the man 10 "Aoss
name il is linked He Is knoSn as Proiez-
-or Morse because he was, at the time OF
making known his invention OF the telegraph
1882 Professor in Tie University OF tie
CITY of New lYork. lie had then devoted
much time TO the science OF electromagnetic
;.m. in which, indeed she had become highly
r.roficient while at Yale; but his career, up
70 tina, time, had been chiefly as painter
and sculptor. How good an artist had to be
spoiled to make the most renowned oil IN
ycntors is 10 be nierred from the fact that,
at she age of 90, Morse had won the Adel-
NH gold medal in IOndsn for plaster cast,
REPRESENTATION Of Il painting which he had
made. He was the pupil OF Sir Benjamin
WOst, and the intimate friend of Leslie. Tax
ing np his residence in New York in 1872,
he became. in 1926 the President of the
National Academy Of Design, an organiza-
lion Of which he was the principal founder,
and over which he continued TO preside TOR
sixteen years.
In IS:i2. as already mentioned, Morse's Ca
reer took new departure, with the concep-
ton which he then formed, OF constructing
an APPARATUS substantially the same as the
electric telegraph of to-day. The only tele-
| graphs in use at that time were of the signal
| ing sort. communicating ideas by displaying
| Of mirrors, aud other signs, at conspicuous
| points. Morse worked from a single fact,
| then recently discovered, viz: that magnetism
could be induced by electricity-and toward
the idea of sending electricity thu ough long
dis; ,nces, and thereby operating magnetic
machines which should print upon chemical
| " prepared strips Of paper. By the Time,
| however, that he had wrought out this idea
and exhibited in practical operation the re.
suit of it, other electricians, in England and
| GERMANY, had done something at the same
task: and when Morse, after his fruitless en-
| deavor TO obtain from Congress some recosni.
lion of his enterprise, visited Europe on the
| same GRAND, he was coldly received both by
England and France, it being claimed there
by some that he had been anticipated in .his
| invention, and by o,hers li.at il mad no merit
anyway.
The first application TO Congress was made
| in The sprine of 1885. Only iew thousand
dollars were asked-enough to construct q
line from Baltimore to Washington--by
which the prac,icability of the telegraph
conld be demonstrated. Alter the unsuccess
full wish to Europe, another application wa:
made TO Congress for aid, and at length, after
series Of rebufii, and much show OF indis
nation against the presumptuous inventor
and the members who took stock IN him
an appropriation of $4,000 was granted
in March, 1872, and the line set up. II
worked well; and the first message sent ovel
it-'Nerilv, what hath God wrought !'-ha'
PASSED into history. We have no space nov
TO recapitulate, even, the immense result:
which have followed upon this small begin
| ming WITHIN tnetWthtv-elSht years that haN'
; passed since then. We must, however, as
cribe TO Professor Morse the credit. now gen.
orally conceded TO him, of not only discov
ering the principle and devisns the princi
pal machinery for the telegraph in us
throughout all parts Of the world, but alst
OF laying the first submarine telegraph (iI
New York harbor, lS44l, and of first sug
costing in IS4S, the prsctieabiiity Of a tele
graphic cable under the Atlantic. Hi
genius came TO he recognized all over tn
earth before his death, and he is undoubledly
after Washington and Lincoln, the Ameri
can most honored in foreign countries. lii
was also one of the few Americans who have
achieved the honor of contemporaneou
statues and monuments The imposing cere
monials attending the dedication of th'
Morse statue in New York last summer, ant
the congratulations which the venerable NAL
received publicly by telegraph from all part
OF the world, are fresh in the recollections o
newspaper readers.
Professor Morse was son OF Jedidiaf
| Morse, the father of American Geography;
4 brother of Sidney +. Morse, well-knowr
editor and author; and cousin of Judge
Breese, of the Illinois Supreme Court.