ington with his apparatus, and
stopped at Philadelphia on the invitation of the Franklin Institute to
give a demonstration to a committee of that body. Arrived at Washington,
he presented to Congress a petition, asking for an appropriation
to enable him to build an experimental line. The question of the
appropriation was referred to the Committee on Commerce, who reported
favorably, and Morse then returned to New York to prepare to go abroad,
as it was necessary for his rights that his invention should be patented
in European countries before publication in the United States.

Morse sailed in May, 1838, and returned to New York by the steamship
Great Western in April, 1839. His journey had not been very successful.
He had found London in the excitement of the ceremonies of the
coronation of Queen Victoria, and the British Attorney-General had
refused him a patent on the ground that American newspapers had
published his invention, making it public property. In France he
had done better. But the most interesting result of the journey was
something not related to the telegraph at all. In Paris he had met
Daguerre, the celebrated Frenchman who had discovered a process of
making pictures by sunlight, and Daguerre had given Morse the secret.
This led to the first pictures taken by sunlight in the United States
and to the first photographs of the human face taken anywhere. Daguerre
had never attempted to photograph living objects and did not think it
could be done, as rigidity of position was required for a long exposure.
Morse, however, and his associate, John W. Draper, were very soon taking
portraits successfully.

Meanwhile the affairs of the telegraph at Washington had not prospered.
Congress had done nothing towards the grant which Morse had requested,
notwithstanding the favorable report of its committee, and Morse was in
desperate straits for money even to live on. He appealed to the Vails
to assist him further, but they could not, since the panic of 1837 had
impaired their resources. He earned small sums from his daguerreotypes
and his teaching.

By December, 1842, Morse was in funds again; sufficiently, at least, to
enable him to go to Washington for another appeal to Congress. And at
last, on February 23, 1843, a bill appropriating thirty thousand dollars
to lay the wires between Washington and Baltimore passed the House by a
majority of six. Trembling with anxiety, Morse sat in the gallery of the
House while the