386 MEMORIAL OF JOSEPPI HENRY. 



Henry summoned to testify as to the condition of telegraphic 

 science, as well as to his own experimental resean^hes, previous to 

 INIorse's invention, was compelled to give evidence which did not 

 sustain entirely the theory of the complainants, and therefore did 

 not satisfy their very broad pretensions; though it did tend to 

 establish Professor Morse's just claims to originality. This account 

 can best be given in Henry's own statement: 



"A series of controversies and lawsuits having arisen between 

 rival claimants for telegraphic patents, I was repeatedly appealed 

 to, to act as experl and witness in such cases. This I uniformly 

 declined to do, not wishing to be in any manner involved in these 

 litigations, but was finally compelled, under legal process, to return 

 to Boston from Maine, whither I had gone on a visit, and to give 

 evidence on the subject. My testimony was given with the state- 

 ment that I was not a willing witness, and that I labored under the 

 disadvantage of not having access to my notes and papers, which 

 were in Washington. That testimony however I now reaffirm to be 

 true in every essential particular. It M'as unimpeached before the 

 court, and exercised an influence on the final decision of the ques- 

 tion at issue. I was called upon on that occasion to state, not only 

 what I had published, but what I had done, and what I had shown 

 to others in regard to the telegraph. It was my wish, in every 

 statement, to render Mr. Morse full and scrupulous justice. While 

 I was constrained therefore to state that he had made no discove- 

 ries in science, I distinctly declared that he was entitled to the merit 

 of combining and a])plying the discoveries of others, in the inven- 

 tion of the best practical form of the magnetic telegraph, INIy 

 testimony tended to establish the fact that though not entitled to 

 the exclusive use of the electro-magnet for telegraphic purposes, he 

 was entitled to his jiarticular machine, register, alphabet, &c. As 

 this however did not meet the full requirements of INIi". Morse's 

 comprehensive claim, I could not but be aware that, while aiming 

 to depose nothing but truth and the whole truth, - - - I might 

 expose myself to the. possible, and as it has proved, the actual, 

 danger of having my motives misconstrued and my testimony mis- 

 represented. But I can truly aver that I had no desire to arrogate 

 to myself undue merit, or to detract from the just claims of Mr. 

 Morse." * 



From this time, Professor Morse seemed to regard Henry with 

 the jealous eye of a rival, as if holding him disposed for j)urposes 

 of self-aggrandizement to detract from his own merit as projector 

 of the telegraph. After years of preparation, he had completed 



* Smithsonian Report for 1S.37, pp. 87, 88. 



