I have said that Morse, being only human, was sometimes guilty of errors
of judgment, but, in a careful study of the facts, the wonder is great
that he committed so few. It is an ungracious task for a son to call
attention to anything but the virtues of his father, especially when any
lapses were the result of great provocation, and were made under the firm
conviction that he was in the right. Yet in the interest of truth it is
best to state the facts fairly and dispassionately, and let posterity
judge whether the virtues do not far outweigh the faults. Such an error
was committed, in my judgment, by Morse in the bitter controversy which
arose between him and Professor Joseph Henry, and I shall briefly sketch
the origin and progress of this regrettable incident.

In 1845, Alfred Vail compiled and published a "History of the American
Electro-Magnetic Telegraph." In this work hardly any mention was made of
the important discoveries of Professor Henry, and this caused that
gentleman to take great offense, as he believed that Morse was the real
author of the work, or had, at least, given Vail all the materials. As a
matter of fact he had given Vail only his notes on European telegraphs
and had not seen the proofs of the work, which was published while he was
absent in Europe. As soon as Morse was made aware of Henry's feelings, he
wrote to him regretting the omission and explaining his innocence in the
matter, and he also draughted a letter, at Vail's request, which the
latter copied and sent to Henry, stating that he, Vail, had been unable
to obtain the particulars of Henry's discoveries, and that, if he had
offended, he had done so innocently.

Henry was an extremely sensitive man and he paid no attention to Vail's
letter, and sent only a curt acknowledgment of the receipt of Morse's.
However, at a meeting somewhat later, the misunderstanding seemed to be
smoothed over, on the assurance that, in a second edition of Vail's work,