Deliverer, and in future, when discouraged or despairing, be enabled to
remember His past mercy, and in full faith rest all my cares on Him who
careth for us.

"Mr. S. still embarrasses the progress of the invention by his
stubbornness, but there are indications of giving way; mainly, I fear,
because he sees his pecuniary interest in doing so, and not from any
sense of the gross injury he has done me. I pray God for a right spirit
in dealing with him."

The incident referred to in this letter with regard to the nomination for
the Vice-Presidency by the Democratic Convention is worthy of more
extended notice. The convention met in Baltimore on the 26th of May, and
it was then that the two-thirds rule was first adopted. Van Buren had a
majority of the votes, but could not secure the necessary two thirds, and
finally James K. Polk was unanimously nominated. This news was instantly
flashed to Washington by the telegraph and was received with mingled
feelings of enthusiasm, disappointment, and wonder, and not believed by
many until confirmed by the arrival of the mail.

The convention then nominated Van Buren's friend, Senator Silas Wright,
of New York, for the Vice-Presidency. This news, too, was immediately
sent by wire to Washington. Morse at once informed Mr. Wright, who was in
the Capitol at the time, of his nomination, but he refused to accept it,
and Morse wired his refusal to Vail in Baltimore, and it was read to the
convention only a few moments after the nomination had been made. This
was too much for the credulity of the assembly, and they adjourned till
the following day and sent a committee to Washington to verify the
dispatch. Upon the return of the committee, with the report that the
telegraph had indeed performed this wonder, this new instrumentality