It has been said by some busybody that his testimony was incompatible with mine, and so a sort of feeling is manifested as if it were so.

I have said nothing about it yet." It would have been more dignified on the part of Morse to have disregarded the imputations contained in Henry's testimony, or to have replied much more briefly and dispassionately.

On the other hand, the provocation was great and he was egged on by others, partly from motives of self-interest and partly from a sincere desire on the part of his friends that he should justify himself.
In a long letter to Vail, of January 15, 1851, in which he details the whole unfortunate affair, he says: "If there was a man in the world, not related to me, for whom I had conceived not merely admiration but affection, it was for Professor Joseph Henry.

I think you will remember, and can bear me witness, that I often expressed the wish that I was able to put several thousand dollars at his service for scientific investigation....

The whole case has saddened me more than I can express.
I have to fight hard against misanthropy, friend Vail, and I have found the best antidote to be, when the fit is coming on me, to seek out a case of suffering and to relieve it, that the act in the one case may neutralize the feeling in the other, and thus restore the balance in the heart." In taking leave for the present of this unfortunate controversy I shall quote from the "Defense," to show that Morse sincerely believed it his duty to act as he did, but that he acted with reluctance:-- "That I have been slow to complain of the injurious character of his testimony; that I have so long allowed, almost entirely uncontradicted, its distortions to have all their legal weight against me in four separate trials, without public exposure and for a space of four years of time, will at least show, I humbly contend, my reluctance to appear opposed to him, even when self-defence is combined with the defence of the interests of a large body of assignees....