He would have to go on
painting as well as he could and develop his telegraph in what
time he could spare. His brothers, Richard and Sidney, were both
living in New York and they did what they could for him, giving
him a room in a building they had erected at Nassau and Beekman
Streets. Morse's lot at this time was made all the harder by
hopes raised and dashed to earth again. Congress had voted money
for mural paintings for the rotunda of the Capitol. The artists
were to be selected by a committee of which John Quincy Adams was
chairman. Morse expected a commission for a part of the work, for
his standing at that time was second to that of no American
artist, save Allston, and Allston he knew had declined to paint
any of the pictures and had spoken in his favor. Adams, however,
as chairman of the committee was of the opinion that the pictures
should be done by foreign artists, there being no Americans
available, he thought, of sufficiently high standing to execute
the work with fitting distinction. This opinion, publicly
expressed, infuriated James Fenimore Cooper, Morse's friend, and
Cooper wrote an attack on Adams in the New York Evening Post, but
without signing it. Supposing Morse to be the author of this
article, Adams summarily struck his name from the list of artists
who were to be employed.
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