One legal man of great brilliance gave his opinion without hesitation, as we learn from a letter of Morse's to Mr. Curtis, of July 14: "I had, a day or two since, my cousin Judge Breese, late Senator of the United States from Illinois, on a visit to me. I made him acquainted with the points, after which he scouted the idea that any court of legal character could for a moment sustain Smith's claim. He thought my argument unanswerable, and playfully said: 'I will insure you against any claim from Smith for a bottle of champagne.'" It is a pity that Morse did not close with the offer of the learned judge, for, in spite of his opinion, in spite of the opinion of most men of intelligence, in defiance of the perfectly obvious and proven fact that Smith had utterly failed in fulfilling his part of the contract, and that the award had been made to Morse "as a reward altogether personal" (_toute personelle_), the referees decided in Smith's favor. And on what did they base this remarkable decision? On the ground that in the contract of 1838 with Smith the word "otherwise" occurs. Property in Europe was to be obtained by "letters patent" or "otherwise." Of course no actual property had been obtained, and Smith had had no hand in securing the honorary gratuity, and it is difficult to follow the reasoning of these sapient referees. They were, on Smith's part, Judge Upham of New Hampshire; on Morse's, Mr. Hilliard, of Boston; and Judge Sprague, of the Circuit Court, Boston, chairman. However, the decision was made, and Morse, with characteristic large-heartedness, submitted gracefully. On October 15, he writes to Mr. Curtis: "I ought, perhaps, with my experience to learn for the first time that _Law_ and _Justice_ are not synonyms, but, with all deference to the opinion of the excellent referees, for each of whom I have the highest personal respect, I still think that they have not given a decision in strict conformity with Law.... I submit, however, to law with kindly feelings to all, and now bend my attention to repair my losses as best I may."