as will appear from
his correspondence, he was perfectly sincere in his beliefs, and
unfalteringly held himself to be an instrument divinely appointed to
bestow a great blessing upon humanity.

It seems not to be generally known that he was an artist of great
ability, that for more than half his life he devoted himself to painting,
and that he is ranked with the best of our earlier painters.

In my selection of letters to be published I have tried to place much
emphasis on this phase of his career, a most interesting one. I have
found so many letters, diaries, and sketch-books of those earlier years,
never before published, that seemed to me of great human interest, that I
have ventured to let a large number of these documents chronicle the
history of Morse the artist.

Many of the letters here published have already appeared in Mr. S.
Irenaeus Prime's biography of Morse, but others are now printed for the
first time, and I have omitted many which Mr. Prime included. I must
acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. Prime for the possibility of filling
in certain gaps in the correspondence; and for much interesting material
not now otherwise obtainable.

Before the telegraph had demonstrated its practical utility, its inventor
was subjected to ridicule most galling to a sensitive nature, and after
it was a proved success he was vilified by the enemies he was obliged to
make on account of his own probity, and by the unscrupulous men who tried
to rob him of the fruits of his genius; but in this he was only paying
the penalty of greatness, and, as the perspective of time enables us to
render a more impartial verdict, his character will be found to emerge
triumphant.

His versatility and abounding vitality were astounding. He would have
been an eminent man in his day had he never invented the telegraph; but
it is of absorbing interest, in following his career, to note how he was
forced to give up one ambition after another, to suffer blow after blow
which would have overwhelmed a man of less indomitable perseverance,
until all his great energies were impelled into the one channel which
ultimately led to undying fame.

In every great achievement in the history of progress one man must stand
preeminent, one name must symbolize to future generations the thing
accomplished, whether it be the founding of an empire, the discovery of a
new world, or the invention of a new and useful art; and this one man
must be so endowed by natur