The telegraph manual: a complete history and description of the semaphoric, electric and magnetic telegraphs of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, ancient and modern.

416 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN TELEGRAPH.
diture will be for material, which, whether the experiment
shall succeed or fail, will remain uninjured, and of very little
diminished value below the price that will be paid for it.
The estimates of Professor Morse, as will be seen by his
letter, marked 9, amount to $26,000; but, to meet any contingency not now anticipated, and to guard against any want
of requisite funds in an enterprise of such moment to the
Government, to the people, and to the scientific world, the
committee recommend an appropriation of $30,000, to be exFended under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury;
and to this end submit herewith a bill.
It is believed by the committee that the subject is one of
such universal interest and importance, that an early action
upon it will be deemed desirable by Congress, to enable the
inventor to complete his trial of the invention upon the extended scale contemplated, in season to furnish Congress with
a full report of the result during its present session, if that
shall be practicable.
All which is respectfully submitted.
FRANCIS O. J. SMITH, JAS. M. MASON,
S. C. PHILLIPS, JOHN T. H. WORTHINGTON,
SAMUEL CUSHMAN, WAM. H. HUNTER,
JOHN I. DE GRAFF, GEORGE W. TOLAND,
EDWARD CURTIS,
Committee on Commerce, U. S. H. R."
Nothing further was effected at that session of Congress, and
but little hope was entertained that Congress would ever grant
the desired appropriation. Mr. F. O. J. Smith was so well convinced of the practicability of the system of telegraph, that
he abandoned his seat in Congress, and purchased one quarter
interest in the invention for Europe and America, under date
of March, 1838. In May, 1838, Professor Morse and Mr.
Smith visited Europe to obtain patents and to make sales of
the invention. In England a patent was refused, because a
brief description of the invention had been published. In
France a patent was granted, but by order of the government
he was forbidden to put it in operation, and at the end of two
years the patent expired. The various efforts in Europe proved
of no avail.
In June, 1840, Professor Morse obtained his patent in the
United States, based on the specification filed by him in April,
1838. In December, 1842, he petitioned Congress again for
aid to test the practicability of his invention, and on the 30th
of December the Committee on Commerce reported a bill in