everywhere. I have been collecting works pro and con on the Slavery
question with a view of writing upon it. We are in perfect accord, I
think, on that subject. I believe that you and I would be considered in
New England as rank heretics, for, I confess, the more I study the
subject the more I feel compelled to declare myself on the Southern side
of the question.

"I care not for the judgment of men, however; I feel on sure ground while
standing on Bible doctrine, and I have arrived at the conclusion that a
fearful hallucination, not less absurd than that which beclouded some of
the most pious and otherwise intelligent minds of the days of Salem
witchcraft, has for a time darkened the moral atmosphere of the North."

The event has seemed to prove that it was the Southern sympathizers at
the North, those "most pious and otherwise intelligent minds," whose
moral atmosphere was darkened by a "fearful hallucination," for no one
now claims that slavery is a divine institution because the Bible says,
"Slaves, obey your masters."

I have stated that one of the purposes of Morse's visit to Europe in 1856
was to seek to persuade the various Governments which were using his
telegraph to grant him some pecuniary remuneration. The idea was received
favorably at the different courts, and resulted in a concerted movement
initiated by the Count Walewski, representing France, and participated in
by ten of the European nations. The sittings of this convention, or
congress, were held in Paris from April, 1868, to the latter part of
August, and the result is announced in a letter of Count Walewski to
Morse of September 1:--

SIR,--It is with lively satisfaction that I have the honor to announce to