American inventions and inventors . d re-mained in the Senatechamber till late in theevening. His friends in-formed him that it was im-possible for the bill to bereached, as the Senate wasto adjourn at had, therefore, retiredto his hotel thoroughlydiscouraged. Imaginethen, if you can, his sur-prise and his joy whenMiss Ellsworth, the daugh-ter of his friend, Hon. Ellsworth, of Connecti-cut, the commissioner ofpatents, told him that in the closing moments of the sessionthe bill had passed without a division. He had invented the recording electric telegraph elevenyears before on
American inventions and inventors . d re-mained in the Senatechamber till late in theevening. His friends in-formed him that it was im-possible for the bill to bereached, as the Senate wasto adjourn at had, therefore, retiredto his hotel thoroughlydiscouraged. Imaginethen, if you can, his sur-prise and his joy whenMiss Ellsworth, the daugh-ter of his friend, Hon. Ellsworth, of Connecti-cut, the commissioner ofpatents, told him that in the closing moments of the sessionthe bill had passed without a division. He had invented the recording electric telegraph elevenyears before on board the packet ship Sully, upon his returnvoyage from Europe. He had spent eleven years in perfect-ing his plans, and in striving to secure the means for placingthis great invention before the American people. Duringthis time he had converted all his property into money andused all that money in pushing the enterprise. His onlyhope now was the bill before Congress. That bill hadpassed! With streaming eyes Professor Morse thanked. MORSE HEARS OF HIS SUCCESS. LETTERS—THE TELEGRAPH. 275 Miss Ellsworth for her joyous announcement, and promisedher that she should dictate the first message which should besent over the wires. And so it came to pass that on the 24th of May, 1844,these words furnished by Miss Ellsworth were telegraphedby Professor Morse from the Capitol at Washington, to hisfriend and assistant, Mr. Alfred Vail, at Baltimore, and im-mediately repeated back again: What hath God wrought! Well may we believe that the inventor spoke from theheart when he said years later: No words could have beenselected more expressive of the disposition of my own mindat that time, to ascribe all the honor to Him to whom it trulybelongs. A singular circumstance brought this invention to the at-tention of the people of the whole country as hardly anythingelse could have done. The National Democratic conventionwas in session at Baltimore. They had unanimously nomi-nated James K. Polk fo
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