179 to state what constituted the Stock for which you originally paid your money, and by what rate its par value is ascertained. Some information upon these points may be materially useful to any member of the Council of Revision, Senator, or Assemblyman, (for I presume none other would be "acceptable to the "rest of the Company,) who might be disposed to pur chase. If what I have heard on this subject be correct, (and from the source from which I derive my intelligence, I cannot doubt its accuracy,) the whole capital stock of the proprietors of the North River Steam Boats was estimated, at the time of Mr. Fulton's contract for the sale of one-fifth part of it to you and your associates, at $500,000,--and consisted, in the first place, of the vessels then plying as passage boats on Hudson River, viz. The Car of Neptune, The Paragon, The Richmond, and, I believe, The Firefly; valued together at $200,000. The balance of $300,000 was composed of the estimated value of the exclusive privilege. Before the consummation, however, of the bargain in the form in which it was subsequently carried into effect, The Chancellor Livingston was built, and the $120,000, which she cost, added to the capital stock of the company; the total amount of which, therefore, is computed at six hundred and twenty thousands. Now, as of this amount three hundred thousand dollars are made up of the arbitrary valuation affixed to the possession of the Monopoly; it follows, that when you, and those who were associated with you in your purchase, are dividing, say five per centum, over and above the lawful interest upon the sum which you actually advanced; the immediate 66 own. When you first drew the attention of your Literary and Philosophical" associates to the origin of this controversy, you made your statements in perfect security;--and, when under their sanction, you gave publicity to your attacks upon a delegated portion of a former Legislature, you never dreamt, that individual of that dissolved and irresponsible Body, would have had the temerity to repel them. any But, I felt myself impelled to resistance by motives, stronger than the ties of legal obligation,and the defence which the justice of my cause enabled me to make,-struck home to your conscience. It made you feel, that you were rash and unjust, and alarmed you as to its effects upon public opinion. Hence, you sought to assuage your feelings, by the balm of self-flattery,—and, hence, you were unwearied in your modest efforts to recal the public to a just sense of your own surpassing merits. Hence, too, your tone of lofty pretence and affected contempt;-your frequent references to my country residence, and comparative obscurity; and your own wealth, reputation, and professional eminence;-my single cause, and your own multiplied engagements;-the time and labour bestowed by me on the composition of my Letter, and the rapid ease with which you, subsecivis horis, struck off your Reply;-my imputed ignorance,— narrowness of mind,--long cherished resentment,— and unfeeling malignity;—your own perfect knowledge of the subject,-large and liberal views,warmth of friendship,-tenderness of heart, and noble generosity of temper!——— All this, it is not difficult to interpret. There is a certain feverish irritability about some men, on the subject of their own reputation and consequence, which perpetually betrays the secret which they are the most desirous to conceal. The slightest insinuation, the most harmless jest, is felt and resented by them as a serious injury. They seem in constant fear, lest their own extraordinary merits should be forgotten ;-their claims to peculiar distinction overlooked, by an unthinking or ungrateful world;they are never, therefore, weary in displaying and rehearsing their titles to consideration,-but seize every occasion to remind the public of the vast debt of respect, of admiration, and gratitude, which it owes to them. The application of these remarks, I leave, Sir, to your own sagacity. The brave man is calm and unpretending, whilst none are so apt to swell and bluster, and menace, as those who know, that the world suspect their courage, and are conscious, that the suspicion is not groundless. I have sometimes thought, (and with all possible humility I make the suggestion,) that a similar opposition of conduct, springing probably from the same motives, is observable between the man of real ability and the egotistical pretender. You have made, Sir, a needless confession of your inexperience as an Author; but, as an Advocate, you boast, that your experience has been great and various; and it seems strange, that in the course of that experience, you have not gleaned this obvious truth," That the reasoning of an angry man is sel"dom effectual." Anger sometimes stimulates the fancy, quickens the invention, and makes men fluent and figurative, who are sufficiently dull and prosaic in their ordinary discourse, but the effects of this passion on the other faculties of the mind, are not commonly so fortunate. It is extremely apt to blunt the perceptions, confuse the judgment, and bewilder the recollection. Else, Sir, you would have regarded it as a misfortune, rather than a reproach, that I had entered upon the active duties of life, in the same part of the State where you had yourself commenced your professional career. You would have considered, that I had in some measure emerged from my native obscurity,-without the patronage of private friendship,-without promotion to public office, and without the surrender of my independence; you would have reflected, that I had left behind me a reputation, irreproachable with habitual indulgence in idle dissipation,-unsullied by vulgar associations and low debaucheries ;—and you would have remembered, that if I had not obtained from the favour of a party, one of its most lucrative rewards for service,-if I had no Relative to push my fortunes at the Bar, I had, at least, escaped the imputation of deserting the one, or witnessing with treacherous neutrality the sacrifice of the other. I am, Your most obedient, W. A. DUER. APPENDIX. A. To the Honourable the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, and the Attorney-General The Petition of JOHN FITCH, of the City of Philadelphia, HUMBLY SHEWETH— That your petitioner, in the spring of the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, conceived the idea of applying steam to the purposes of propelling vessels through the water : that, fully satisfied, in his own mind, of the practicability of such a scheme, of its great immediate utility, and the important advantages which would in future result therefrom, not only to America, but the world at large, if the scheme should be carried into effectual operation, he divested himself of every other occupation, and undertook the arduous task, not doubting, that when perfected, he should be amply rewarded. In his first attempts to procure assistance from congress, and the legislatures of many of the states, from the peculiar situation of their finances and the seeming impossibility of the success of his scheme, he met with no relief. Not entirely discouraged by these disappointments, he continued his application to his project, and prayed several of the states for an exclusive right to the use of fire and steam to navigation :' that New-Jersey, New-York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia, granted him an exclusive right, agreeably to the prayer of the petition, for fourteen years. That the impracticability of procuring experienced workmen in America, your petitioner's total ignorance of the construction of a steam engine, together with the necessary deviation from the form described in books, in order to accommodate its weight and bulk to the narrow limits of a vessel, have caused him not only to expend about eight thousand dollars in successive experiments, but nearly four years of some of his grants have expired, before he has been able to bring his engine to such a degree of perfection as to be carried into use. That having at length fully succeeded in his scheme, proofs of which he is prepared to offer, he trust he now comes forward not as an imaginary projector, but as a man t |