by other testimony than that of the inventor, of a speedy and agreeable voyage having been performed in a steam boat of any construction.

"I am well aware, that there are still many very respectable and ingenious men, who consider the application of the steam-engine to the purpose of navigation, as highly important and as very practicable, especially on the rapid waters of the Missisippi; and who would feel themselves almost offended at the expression of an opposite opinion. And perhaps some of the objections against it may be avoided. That founded on the expense and weight of the fuel, may not. for some years, exist on the Missisippi. where there is a redundance of wood on the banks; but the cutting and loading will be almost as great an evil.”*

"After this testimony, it is impossible now to make it be believed that either Fitch or Rumsey constructed a steam boat which was capable of being advantageously used, and that they abandoned their projects after they had been accomplished, for want of patronage, or pecuniary assistance. Mr. Fitch and Mr. Rumsey were unquestionably very ingenious and enterprising mechanicians they saw, as thousands of others have seen, since the power of steam has been known, that it might be applied to navigation; but they did not know how to make the application. Like

•Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 6. part 1st, p. 90, 91.

many other projectors who have followed them, they wanted that rare union of genius and science, with practical knowledge, which Mr. Fulton so happily possessed. These qualities separately employed, have been the parents of a million of absurd and abortive attempts in every branch of mechanics. The man of genius and science may amuse himself with inventions and calculations; but his best theories may fail if he does not know how they should be executed. On the other hand, the mere practical mechanic often relies on his capacity to combine the powers with which his. daily employment makes him familiar; and he sets about constructing a machine, which he persuades himself will answer his wishes, though he can make no calculation as to its power or the effect it is to produce, and is not able to explain a single principle on which it is to act."

We learn from the memoirs of Dr. Lettsom, (which were published in this country while the life of Fulton was in the press) that Doctor William Thornton, the gentleman who is now at the head of the Patent Office, was one of the company concerned in Fitch's boat. He witnessed all the experiments made with her. Doctor Thornton, in 1788, wrote a letter to Doctor Lettsom on the subject, an extract from which, taken from the memoirs of Doctor Lettsom, will be found in the appendix to the life of Fulton. In this letter, Doctor Thornton says "I purchased four shares,

or one tenth, of Fitch's discovery. The boat is to "be tried this evening or to-morrow, and I will "endeavour to give thee an account of it. Ours is "moved by paddles, placed in the stern, and mo"ved by a small steam engine. We have exclu"sive patents from Pennsylvania, New-Jersey "and New-York, in which are included the prin"cipal rivers."

Now, it does not appear that Doctor Thornton ever did give to Doctor Lettsom an account of the contemplated experiment, which it is reasonable to suppose he would have done if it had answered his expectations. But from that time, Fitch's project was abandoned.-It could not have been, (as it has been alleged with a design of exciting a sympathy which might have its influence) on account of Mr. Fitch's poverty; because his interest was transferred to a company by which it was backed, which there is no reason to suppose wanted pecuniary means for pursuing Mr. Fitch's plan to any degree of perfection of which it appeared to them to be capable. May I not then again ask, was this experiment of Mr. Fitch and his associates successful? if it were, how came it to be abandoned? how came it, that for years and years it was forgotten, and the memory of it was not revived till many years after Mr. Fulton's boats had been in successful operation?

While I am speaking of Mr. Fitch's merits, I must beg leave to notice, that he has not an undis

puted claim to be the first who applied in this country the method which he used of propelling boats by steam. The letter from Doctor Thornton, to which I have above referred, asserts, that Mr. Fitch was the inventor which he claimed to be; while on the other hand, a letter from the late venerable and respected Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia, to Dr. Lettsom, which will also be found in his memoirs, and is inserted in the appendix to the life of Fulton, asserts as confidently that Mr. Rumsey was the inventor of the mode of applying the steam engine to boats which was used by Fitch. There is in the archives of the Historical Society of New-York, a pamphlet, published by Mr. Rumsey, in January, 1788, in which he attempts to prove, by a number of affidavits and certificates, that Mr. Fitch was entirely indebted to him for the invention of the steam boat which he (Mr. Fitch) constructed.

From these certificates, among which there is one from the late General Gates, it appears, that Mr. Rumsey, on the third of December, 1787, made an experiment on the Potomac, with a steam boat which he had constructed, and that she moved against the current at the rate of three miles an hour. It also appears by an extract of a letter from General Washington to Mr. Rumsey, that as early as March, 1785, Mr. Rumsey had communicated to him some ideas on the subject-That when Mr. Fitch applied to General

E

Washington for an introductory letter to the assembly of Virginia, General Washington declined giving it, assuring him that his thought was not original; and that Mr. Rumsey had before mentioned to him (General Washington) this application of steam. At least, such is the statement of Mr. Rumsey in the pamphlet I have mentioned. I know that Mr. Fitch published, as you have observed, an answer to this pamphlet. But I have never seen it. A copy of it I know was in the possession of Governor Ogden. I do not give or profess to have any opinion as to the merits of these respective claims. I sincerely be lieve that neither of them produced any thing that could have been practically useful, or that was more valuable than had resulted from similar attempts previously made in Europe, which I shall notice in the sequel. If they did, or if (as the committee state in their report) "the steam boats, built by Livingston and Fulton, are in substance the invention of John Fitch, patented in 1791," how has it happened, that in all the attempts to evade the patent of Mr. Fulton in the waters of the Ohio, the Missisippi, the rivers of Virginia, and the Carolinas, no one has ever adopted the plan "patented to John Fitch in 1791," drawings of which are in the Patent Office, or that paddle boat of which you have exhibited a drawing in your appendix? Their doing so would have prevented all possibility of litigation, and, as