Letter from Samuel Finley Breese Morse in New York to W. H. Stiles, an American ambassador in Vienna, concerning patents

Samuel Morse unsuccessfully tried to patent the Morse telegraph—a machine he had invented—in Europe in 1839 and 1845. Charles and William Robinson took advantage of this: in 1874 they drove with 2 Morse telegraphs to Germany in order to find prospective customers through newspapers. Morse then wrote to the American ambassador in Vienna, William H. Stiles. Morse complained that the Robinsons were traveling to Europe without his consent, and feared that the Austrian government would potentially pay for the royalties.