much disappointed, yet I used every exertion in my power, but without
avail, to procure a grant of a larger sum."

It certainly was a pitiful return for the millions of dollars which
Morse's invention had saved or earned for those nations which used it as
a government monopoly, and while I find no note of complaint in his own
letters, his friends were more outspoken. Mr. Kendall, in a letter of May
18, exclaims: "I know not how to express my contempt of the meanness of
the European Governments in the award they propose to make you as _the_
inventor of the Telegraph. I had set the sum at half a million dollars as
the least that they could feel to be at all compatible with their
dignity. I hope you will acknowledge it more as a tribute to the merits
of your invention than as an adequate reward for it."

And in a letter of June 5, answering one of Morse's which must have
contained some expressions of gratitude, Mr. Kendall says further: "In
reference to the second subject of your letter, I have to say that it is
only as a tribute to the superiority of your invention that the European
grant can, in my opinion, be considered either 'generous' or
'magnanimous.' As an indemnity it is niggardly and mean."

It will be in place to record here the testimonials of the different
nations of Europe to the Inventor of the Telegraph, manifested in various
forms:--

_France._ A contributor to the honorary gratuity, and the decoration of
the Legion of Honor.

_Prussia._ The Scientific Gold Medal of Prussia set in the lid of a gold
snuff-box.