most of them attended; and then and there, brought face to face, they experienced a remarkable kindliness of feeling toward each other, which led to the formation, in November 1825, of a society of Artists known as the "New York Drawing Association," of which Mr. Morse was chosen the President. This led to the establishment, in January, 1826, of the present "National Academy of Design," largely through the exertions of Mr. Morse, who was chosen to be the first President of that Association, with the late Jno. L. Morton as its Secretary. He held that office sixteen years. The new association was violently assailed in the newspapers by persons interested in the old Academy of Fine Arts, and Mr. Morse was its chosen defender with his facile and logical pen. At the same time he delivered a course of lectures (the first in America) on the Fine Arts, at the hall of the Athenæum, which drew crowded houses. It seems to be within the bounds of truth to claim for Mr. Morse, more praise than is due to any other man for the creation of a taste for Art in this country, and the elevation of the practice of it as a profession to the high and prosperous position it now occupies.

In 1829, Mr. Morse went to Europe a second time, and studied Art in Italy and in the picturegallery of the Louvre, in Paris. He made a remarkable picture of that gallery, into which he copied in the most exact manner, in miniature, about 50 of its finest pictures. In England he was received with special honors by the Royal Academy and persons of high social distinction. In 1832, he returned home full of the results of study and experience, and prepared to rise to the highest place of excellence as an artist, when his thoughts were drawn away, by his inventive genius, from the charms of imitative art to labors in a field of greater usefulness.

During his absence, Mr. Morse had been elected Professor of the Literature of the Arts of Design in the University of the City of New York, where he gave lectures on the affinities of these pursuits. He had already had his mind drawn to the contemplation of the subject of Electro-magnetism, especially by his intimate friend Professor Freeman Dana who, by his spiral volute coil had suggested to Professor Morse the Electro-magnet of the present day. The idea worked in his mind, and while on his voyage from Havre to New York, he had a good deal of conversation with his fellow passengers on the subject of Electro-magnetism, then attracting much attention in France. During that voyage, he conceived not only the idea of an Electro-magnetic telegraph, but of a recording telegraph -one to which intelligence, so to speak, might be given-very much after the form of the perfected telegraph finally constructed. On reaching home he made a portion of apparatus which might demonstrate the truth or falsity of his theory, and so early as 1835, he produced a recording telegraph of sufficient perfection, to enable him to communi

cate from one extremity of two points of a circuit of half a mile, but not back again from the other extremity. He finally constructed one, in 1837, which carried out his whole plan, and in September, of that year, he exhibited it in operation at the University, to hundreds of the citizens of New York.

The invention was now sufficiently perfect to warrant its submission to Congress, and to ask that body for an appropriation of a sum of money to enable the inventor to make an experimental telegraph line between the cities of Washington and Baltimore. Skepticism neglected the invention and unthinking ridicule assailed it. The inventor then went to Europe to seek for aid there. England refused to give him a patent and on the continent he was equally unsuccessful. He returned home disappointed but not disheartened. For four years longer he was left to struggle for a substantial recognition of the apparent value of his invention by Congress, while he was subjected to all the inconveniences of very straightened pecuniary Finally, at the very close of the session in 1843, Congress passed a bill for allowing him $30,000 with which to make his proposed experiments. The work was completed in 1844, while the Democratic National Convention for the nomination of candidates for the Presidency and Vice Presidency of the Republic were in session at Baltimore, when among the first messages which passed over the wires was one concerning those nominations. This fact is referred to in the interesting communication of Mr. Wright on page 171 of the RECORD.

means.

That

The fame and fortune of Professor Morse were now established upon a firm foundation. system of quick communication is now covering the earth and the depths of the sea with a net-work of telegraphic wires; and incidents that occur in Asia may be made known by the Electro-magnetic telegraph, in America, in the space of a few hours. Its achievements never cease to produce wonder; and the benificence of its operations may not be estimated by any rule of comparison.

European sovereigns and governments have showered honors upon Professor Morse. No American has ever before received such testimonials of

respect and gratitude, as he. In 1848, his Alma Mater (Yale College) conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. The Sultan of Turkey was the first monarch who recognized him as a public benefactor, by bestowing upon him, the same year, the decoration of the Nishan Iftichar, made chiefly of diamonds. The Kings of Prussia and Würtemburg, and the Emperor of Austria gave him gold medals of scientific merit, that of the former being set in a massive gold box. In 1856, the Emperor of the French bestowed upon him the cross of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. The next year the cross of Knight of Danneberg was given him by the King of Denmark; and in 1858, the Queen of Spain presented to him the cross of Knight

Commander of the Order of Isabella the Catholic. He was also made honorary member of several scientific societies in America and Europe.

The representatives of ten European States soon assembled in Paris, at the request of the Emperor of the French, to consider the best means for giving the great inventor a substantial testimonial. At that conference, France, Russia, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Sardinia, Tuscany, the Holy See and Turkey were represented, and it was agreed to contribute, for the purpose jointly, the sum of 400,000 francs, or about $ 80,000.

Professor Morse originated marine telegraphy. In 1842, he laid the first line of submarine telegraph in the harbor of New York, for which achievement the American Institute gave him a gold medal; and in August, 1843, in a letter to the Secretary of the U. S. Treasury, he suggested the feasibility of a submarine telegraphic communication across the Atlantic Ocean. He gave his personal attention to the laying of the cable, by which, in the year 1858, a communication was passed instantly between Queen Victoria and the President of the United States and he shared largely in the honors of that achievement. Since that time Professor Morse has been the recipient of many honors, at home and abroad. Last year (1871) when he had passed his eightieth birth-day, a fine statue of him was erected in the Central Park in the City of New York, at the expense of the telegraphic operators throughout the Union, and those connected with the business; and when the hews of his death spread over the land and the sea by means of his great invention, the most signal demonstrations of veneration for him and his deeds, were everywhere made.

The funeral services were held in the Madison Square Presbyterian Church on Friday, the 5th of April. A preliminary service was held at his late residence, in Twenty-second street, at which only a few of his most intimate friends were present, with the bearers, John A. Dix, Peter Cooper, Cyrus W. Field, William Orton, Daniel Huntington, Cambridge Livingston, Charles Butler and Ezra Cornell. The governor of the State of New York, with his staff were present, with a number of the members of the legislature to whom the governor had officially announced the death of the inventor and recommended the adoption of appropriate resolutions by that body. The Directors of the various Telegraph companies were, present; also members of the Common Councils of New York and Brooklyn; the Mayor and Common Council of Poughkeepsie, near which city the deceased made his summer residence; members of the National Academy of Design, of the Evangelical Alliance, and of the Chamber of Commerce and other busines Associations. While the body was carried up the aisle of the church, the beautiful anthem beginning, I heard a voice from Heaven &c." was sung by the choir. The Rev'd Dr. Adams, pastor of the church, and the Rev'd Dr. Wheeler, the pastor of the church in

Poughkeepsie of which the Professor was a member, officiated, the former in the delivery of a sermon, and the latter in the utterance of a prayer and a benediction.

During the funeral ceremonies, flags were floating at halfmast in the cities of New York, Brooklyn and Poughkeepsie; and in the latter, between the hours of eleven and one o'clock, many places of business were closed. In other places throughout the Union, similar demonstrations of respect were made; and the House of Representatives tendered the National Telegraph Morse Memorial Association the use of their hall in the National Capitol for the holding of a memorial meeting in honor of the deceased, on the evening of the 15th of April. That Association invited the municipal authorities of the cities and towns of the United States to hold a similar meeting on the same evening, which was done.

Professor Morse was a Christian gentleman in the highest, sense of that term. He was a devout and faithful disciple of Christ, and a fine exemplar of dutiful obedience to every law in all the relations of life, domestic and social. He stood before the world as the peer of Kings and Emperors, for the touch of his thought to exquisite mechanism, had revolutionized the world and made him monarch of the ideas of many nations; and yet, in his intercourse with men, he was as gentle and simple as a child. His very errors (who is without them?) seemed like truths because they bore the impress of the sincerity of his heart.

WILLIAM KELLY.

On Sunday evening, the 14th of January, 1872, Hon. William Kelly, a resident of Rhinebeck, New York, died at Torbay, in England. He was, for a long time, a distinguished merchant in the city of New York, but during the later years of his life he was more distinguished as an Agriculturist and active director of prominent public institutions.

About fifteen years ago, Mr. Kelly purchased a magnificent estate of about 700 acres on the banks of the Hudson, in Duchess County, which he speedily converted, by the appliances of ample wealth, scientific knowledge and good taste, into a model farm for the production of cereals, roots, hay and cattle. There scientific agriculture was carried on in great perfection; and there herds_of the finest cattle in the country, might be seen. For several years Mr. Kelly was the President of the New York State Agricultural Society.

But these favorite pursuits did not absorb Mr. Kelly's whole attention. He usually took an active part in politics, and in 1856-57, he served a term in the State Senate. In 1860, he was the candidate of the Democratic party for Governor of the State, against Mr. Morgan, who was elected. He was a warm and active friend of educational institutions, and was, at the time of his death, a Trustee of the Rochester University, of the Cornell University, and of Vassar College. He had been chairman of

the Board of Trustees of the last named institution, from its organization in 1861. He was a promoter of the interests of other institutions of learning, and a liberal supporter of the great religious movements of the day, especially of those within the Baptist Church of which he was a devoted member. Kindness and courtesy toward all were marked characteristics in Mr. Kelly's deport

ment, and he possessed, in no common degree, the respect and affection of all who came in friendly contact wita him.

For more than a year Mr. Kelly's health had been declining, and he went abroad, last autumn, hoping for a restoration of it, but in vain. He was childless. His wife and sister were with him at the time of his death.

PERIODICALS.-J. Sabin and Sons' American Bibliopolist and Literary Register and Monthly Catalogue of Old and New Books, and Repertory of Notes and Queries, is a valuable publication for the use of the historical student and seeker after rare books. Its department of "Notes and Queries" contains a variety of useful and interesting matter. The April number presents a copy of a letter written by Isaiah Thomas, in the Autumn of 1775, giving an account of the removal of his printing office from Boston, to Worcester, just before the skirmish at Lexington, and the publication of his newspaper, "The Massachusetts Spy," at that place. The criticisms of the "Bibliopolist," evince a refreshing independence of thought and expression, with a disposition to be fair and honest. It is published in two editions one on thin paper, the other on thick, tinted paper, at the very low prices of 50 cents and $ 1 a year.

The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record is published quarterly by the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. It is devoted to the specialty which its title implies, and its 48 pages, 8vo. are filled with interesting matter at each issue. Its department of "Notes and Queries," is devoted exclusively to matters pertaining to Genealogy or Biography.

Dictionary of American Biography, including men of the Time; containing nearly ten thousand notices of persons of both sexes of Native and Foreign Birth, who have been Remarkable or Prominently Connected with Arts, Sciences, Literature, Politics, or History of the American Continent. Giving also the Pronunciation of many of the Foreign and Peculiar American Names, a Key to the assumed Names of writers, and a Supplement. By FRANCIS S. DRAKE, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company 1872. Royal Octavo, pp, xvI. and 1019.

This is the first attempt to make a complete Cyclopedia of American Biography, continental in its scope as the title sets forth. It is the result of many years of industrious, patient, intelligent labor, with helps from many sources of information not accessible to the author's predecessors in the same field of research and record. It embraces sketches of prominent persons, not only connected, near and remote, with the history and progress of our Re

public, but with Canada and other British American Provinces, Mexico, Central and South America and the West India Islands.

The work is not confined to notices of the more brilliant or solidly distinguished personages which appear in all Biographical Dictionaries, but gives us information respecting hundreds of people who have, in many plain and useful ways contributed by their labors, to the wealth and honors of American nations and provincial States. It comprehends men and women of all time in American history, the early European navigators, discoverers and settlers; prominent men of the aboriginal tribes and persons distinguished in colonial and intercolonial governments and wars, and in the establishment of independent republics. It includes the names of all the most eminent actors in the late Civil War, both of the armies and navies of the contending parties also of living celebrities in Art, Literature, Science Philosophy, Invention, Theology, Medicine,

Mechanism and the manufacture of textile fabrics. It is an epitome of American life illustrated by the doings of the leaders in that life.

A somewhat extended, careful and critical examination of Mr. Drake's work, reveals the fact that for a book comprehending so wide a field of space and time, it is remarkably free from errors and omissions. It gives the correct pronunciation, of the peculiar names of persons derived from the most authentic sources of information. The errors copied by one compiler from another, have, as far as possible, been corrected with great care. word it is a most complete hand-book of American Biography. Superior in fulness and correctness to any yet offered; and the Editor and student who may turn to it for information, ought to feel grateful to the author for giving to him such an eminently useful labor-saving implement.

In a

Memoir of Patrick Copland, Rector elect of the First Prospected College in the United States; A Chapter of the English Colonization of America. By EDWARD D. NEILL, author of "Terra Mariæ," the “Virginia Company," the "English Colonization of America during the 17th century," etc. New York: Charles Scribner and Co. 1871, 12mo. pp. 96.

Mr. Neill, the author of this little book, is a most pains-taking and careful laborer in the field

of American History and Biography. In this monograph, he has traced in vivid outline, from manuscript records, a picture of the life of one of the most remarkable of modern zealous christians, who lived in a memorable period of political and ecclesiastical convulsions, the period when such convulsions led to the permanent English colonization of America. He traces Copland's career as a young chaplain of the English East India Company, who gave the first fruit of missionary work in the East in the person of a native young convert who was publicly baptized in London, in 1614. He also gives a most interesting account of Copland's connection with the Virginia Company, and his residence in the Bermudas and on an island of the Bahamas, where he died.

Sir Edwin Sandys, treasurer of the Virginia Company, received from an unknown hand, more than $2.000 for the establishment of a college in Virginia for the educatian of Indian children. Το this sum Copland, who took great interest in the subject, contributed about $350, collected from members of the East India company who were fellow passengers in a voyage from the East in 1621, on the Royal Fames, a vessel commanded by Martin Pring. For this and other zealous services in that behalf Copland was made a member of the Virginia Company, by a gift of land; and he was subsequently appointed rector of the proposed "Henrico College," which was never establish

ed.

Success attended the operations of the Virginia Company, at that time, and in April, 1622, Mr. Copland, at the request of the Company, preached a thanksgiving sermon (contained in the little book) in Bowe Church, London, built during the reign of William the Conqueror, in which in conclusion, he begged the Company to send to Virginia faithful preachers and industrious farmers and merchants.

When the charter of the Virginia Company was revoked, money bequeathed to it for the education of Indian children, was transferred to the Bermudas, whither Copland went, and labored many years in the planting of a free gospel. He finally settled upon an insignificant island of the Bahama group, where he died, it is believed, at the age of full eighty years.

It has generally been supposed that Mr. Copland remained in the church of England, but Mr.Neill's narrative shows that in his later years he was a Puritan of the Puritans, and a sympathiser with the Baptist views of Roger Williams.

A Historical Address delivered in Franklin, Connecticut, October 14, 1858, on the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Settlement of the Town, and the One Hundredth and Fiftieth Anniversary of its Ecclesiastical Organization. By ASHBel WOODWARD, M. D. Second Edition, pp. This is a clear record of the proceedings at the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the organization of the Congregational Church at Franklin, and of the Ecclesiastical Society, on the 14th of October,

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1868. It gives the opening hymn by Miss F. M. Caulkins; the address of Welcome and Historical Address by Dr. Woodward, and most valuable Historical and Biographical Notes, such as the Indian deed of Norwich; Indian names; List of original proprietors of Norwich; Notices of the principal original settlers of Franklin, of College Graduates, of Clergymen raised up in Franklin, of Physicians and Musicians and of others, with a brief account of the Portipaug Society. It is embellished by a map showing the location of the first settlers of Franklin, and several portraits engraved on steel. The discourse of Dr. Woodward traces the annals of West Farm (now Franklin) and its religious organizations, from the time when the first settlers pitched their tents among the Indians, in those valleys, down to the present day. Such local histories are of infinite value to the general historian.

Ancient America, in Notes on American Archaology. By JOHN D. BALDWIN, A. M. New York: Harper and Brothers, 12mo. pp. 299. Mr. Baldwin is the author of a work entitled "Pre-historic Nations," published by the same house, in which he evinced much careful research.

The object of the present volume is to give a summary of what is known of American Antiquities, with some thoughts and suggestions relative to their significance.

The author does not attempt to give elaborate descriptions of works of Art and other remains of an ancient civilization, but contents himself with

showing accurately their character and extent. He does not attempt long dissertations for or against any theories, but sums up, very succinctly, the various theories, and as succinctly states his belief or disbelief and his reasons for his opinions. He first describes the works of the Mound-builders, and their Antiquity; briefly discusses the question, who were the Mound-builders? describes and considers the remains of Cities and Sculptures in Mexico and Central America, and the antiquity of those Cities: treats the question, whence came this civilization? in the light of established facts; examining American Ancient History, in which may be found the records of the Aztec civilization: and takes a view of ruins in Peru and the ancient history of that country.

Taking the ruins of cities in Central America with which we have been made familiar by the pencils of Catherwood and others, their style of architecture and the nature of inscriptions upon them as positive data, he rejects the opinion of various theorists that they are the remains of a civilization planted by the Malays, who once bore sway over a large portion of the Island world of the Pacific, or of the Phonecians whose ships carried commerce and colonization far and wide, and accepts a belief that they are the remains of a civilization which had an indigenous growth on the American Continent, possibly begun on the Atlantis of the ancients supposed to be now beneath the waters of the Atlantic ocean.