Electro-magnetic Telegraph. This invention, conceived more than a century ago, was first brought to perfection as an intelligent medium of communication be

20

MORSE APPARATUS, CIRCUIT AND BATTERY.

tween points distant from each other by PROF. SAMUEL F. B. MORSE (q. v.), of New York, and was first presented to public notice in 1838. In the autumn of 1837 he filed a caveat at the Patent Office; and he gave a private exhibition of its marvellous power in the New York University in January, 1838, when intelligence was instantly transmitted by an alphabet composed of dots and lines, invented by Morse, through a circuit of 10 miles of wire, and plainly recorded. Morse ap

plied to Congress for pecuniary aid to enable him to construct an experimental line between Washington and Baltimore. For four years he waited, for the action of the government was tardy, in consequence of doubt and positive opposition. At the beginning of March, 1842, Congress

MORSE KEY.

The first public message was the announcement of the nomination by the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore (May, 1844) of James K. Polk for President of the United States. Professor Morse also originated submarine telegraphy. He publicly suggested its feasibility in a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury in 1843. As early as 1842 he laid a submarine cable, or insulated wire, in the harbor of New York, for which achievement the American Institute awarded him a small gold medal. In 1858 he participated in the labors and honors of laying a cable under the sea between Europe and America. (See ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH). Monarchs gave him medals and orders. Yale College conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D., and in 1858, at the instance of the Emperor of the French, several European governments combined in the act of giving Professor Morse the sum of $80,000 in gold as a token of their appreciation. Vast improvements have been made since in the transmission of messages. For more than a quarter of a century the messages were each sent over a single wire, only one way

at a time. Early in 1871, through the inventions of Edison and others, messages were sent both ways over the same wire at the same instant of time. Very soon four messages were sent the same way. Now multiplex transmission is a matter of every-day business. See VAIL, A. H.

Eliot, ANDREW, clergyman; born in Boston, Mass., Dec. 28, 1718; graduated at Harvard College in 1737; ordained associate pastor of the New North Church in Boston, where he was sole pastor after 1750. When the British occupied

appropriated $30,000 for his use; and in May, 1844, he transmitted from Washingto Baltimore, a distance of 40 miles,

JOHN ELIOT.

Philip's War Eliot's efforts in behalf of the praying Indians saved them from destruction by the white people. He travelled extensively, visited many tribes, planted several and

churches,

once

adopt the customs of civilized life, and lived to see twenty-four of them become preachers of the Gospel to their own tribes. His influence among the Indians was unbounded, and his generosity in helping the sick and afflicted among them was unsparing. Cotton Mather affirmed, "We had a tradition that the country could never perish as long as Eliot was alive." He published many small works on religious subjects, several of which were in the Indian language. His greatest work was the translation of the Bible into the Indian language (1661-66), and was the first Bible ever printed in America. It is much sought after by collectors. The language in which it was written has perished. He died in Roxbury, Mass.,

May 20, 1690.

The Brief Narrative.-This was the last of Eliot's publications relating to the progress of Christianity among the

American Indians. Its full title was:

"A Brief Narrative of the Progress of

the Gospel amongst the Indians in New England, in the Year 1670, given in by the Reverend MR. JOHN ELLIOT, Minister of the Gospel there, in a LETTER by him directed to the Right Worshipfull the COMMISSIONERS under

those United Colonies. LONDON, Printed for John Allen, formerly living in LittleBritain at the Rising-Sun, and now in Went

worth Street near Bel-Lane, 1671."

Eliot, JOHN, clergyman; born in Boston, Mass., May 31, 1754; son of Andrew Eliot; graduated at Harvard College in 1772; succeeded his father as minister of the New North Church in November, 1779; was one of the founders of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He published a Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Characters in New England. He died in Boston, Mass., Feb. 14, 1813.

Eliot, SAMUEL, historian; born in Boston, Mass., Dec. 22, 1821; graduated at Harvard College in 1839; professor of History and Political Science in Trinity College in 1856-64. His publications in clude Passages from the History of Liberty; History of Liberty (in five parts, the last of which is entitled the American Nation); and a Manual of United States History between the Years 1792 and 1850. He died in Beverly, Mass., Sept. 14, 1898.

Elizabeth, QUEEN OF ENGLAND; born in Greenwich, Sept. 7, 1533; daughter of Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn. Under the tuition of Roger Ascham she acquired much proficiency in classical learning, and before she was seventeen years of age she was mistress of the Latin, French, and Italian languages, and had read several works in Greek. By education she was attached to the Protestant Church, and was persecuted by her half-sister, Mary, who was a Roman Catholic. Elizabeth never married. When quite young her father negotiated for her nuptials with the son of Francis I. of France, but it failed. She flirted awhile with the ambitious Lord Seymour. In 1558 she declined an offer of marriage from Eric, King of Sweden, and also from Philip of Spain. Her sister Mary died Nov. 17, 1558, when Elizabeth was proclaimed Queen of England. With caution she proceeded to restore the Protestant religion tc ascendency in her kingdom. Her reform began by ordering a large part of the church service to be read in English, and forbade the elevation of the host in her presence. Of the Roman Catholic bishops, only one consented to officiate at her coronation. In 1559 Parliament passed a bill

which vested in the crown the supremacy claimed by the pope; the mass was abolished, and the liturgy of Edward VI. restored. In one session the whole system of religion in England was altered by the will of a single young woman. When Francis II. of France assumed the arms and title of King of England in right of his wife, Mary Stuart, Elizabeth sent an army to Scotland which drove the French out of the kingdom. She supported the French Huguenots with money and troops in their struggle with the Roman Catholics in 1562. In 1563 the Parliament, in an address to the Queen, entreated her to choose a husband, so as to secure a Protestant succession to the crown. She returned an evasive answer. She gave encouragement to several suitors, after she rejected Philip, among them Archduke Charles of Austria, the Duke of Anjou, and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. The latter remained her favorite until his death in 1588. During the greater part of Elizabeth's reign, Cecil, Lord Burleigh, was her prime minister. For more than twenty years from 1564 England was at peace with foreign nations, and enjoyed great prosperity. Because of the opposite interests in religion, and possibly because of matrimonial affairs, Elizabeth and Philip of Spain were mutually hostile, and in 1588 the latter sent the "invincible Armada" for the invasion of England. It consisted of over 130 vessels and 30,000 men. It was defeated and dispersed (Aug. 8), and in a gale more than fifty of the Spanish ships were wrecked. On the death of Leicester the Queen showed decided partiality for the Earl of Essex. Her treatment and final consent to the execution, by beheading, of Mary, Queen of Scots, has left a stain on the memory of Elizabeth. She assisted the Protestant Henry IV. of France in his struggle with the French Roman Catholics, whom Philip of Spain subsidized. Her reign was vigorous, and is regarded as exceedingly beneficial to the British nation. Literature was fostered, and it was illustrated during her reign by such men as Spenser, Shakespeare, Sidney, Bacon, and Raleigh. Elizabeth was possessed of eminent ability and courage, but her personal character was deformed by selfishness, inconstancy, deceit, heartlessness, and other un

on her death-bed that James VI. of Scotland, son of the beheaded Mary, should be her successor, and he was accordingly crowned as such. She died March 24, 1603.

Elizabethtown Claimants. For more than a century the dispute between the first settlers at Elizabethtown, N. J. (who came from Long Island and New England), and, first, the proprietors of New Jersey, and, next, the crown, arose and continued concerning the title to the lands on which these settlers were seated. The dispute occurred in consequence of conflicting claims to eminent domain, caused by a dispute about the original title of

tained their land from the Indians, with the consent of Governor Nicolls; but already the Duke of York, without the knowledge of Nicolls or the settlers, had sold the domain of New Jersey to Berkeley and Carteret. The new proprietors ignored the title of the settlers, and made demands as absolute proprietors of the soil, which the latter continually resisted themselves, and so did their heirs. Frequent unsuccessful attempts at ejectment were made; the settlers resisted by force. The Assembly, called upon to interfere, usually declined, for that body rather favored the Elizabethtown claimants. Finally, in 1757, Governor Belcher procured an