whatever may be your award, I never will consent to let these inventions lie dormant should my country at any time have need of them. Were you to grant me an annuity of twenty thousand pounds a year, I would sacrifice all to the safety and independence of my country."

Some time after his return to Paris, the agent whom he was to have met at Amsterdam, made his appearance in the French metropolis, bearing a letter from Lord Hawkesbury to Mr. Fulton, which induced him to proceed to London, where he arrived in May, 1804. Lord Sidmouth was then out of office, and Mr. Pitt had resumed the administration. The new ministry seemed to approve of what had been done by their predecessors, in relation to Mr. Fulton, He soon had an interview with Mr. Pitt and Lord Melville. When Mr. Pitt first saw a drawing of a torpedo, with a sketch of the mode of applying it, and understood what would be the effects of its explosion, he said, that if introduced into practice, it could not fail to annihilate all military marines.

It would have been extraordinary if Mr. Pitt, entertaining this opinion, should, as the minister of a nation which had then the only navy in the world, have felt cordially disposed to encourage an invention, that might deprive her of the mighty superiority she derived from her fleets. This was certainly the view that some of her statesmen had of the subject. When Mr. Fulton had an interview with the Earl St. Vincent, exhibited to him a torpedo, and described the effects it had produced, the noble earl, in the strong language of his professsion, rather than in a style comporting with his new dignity, exclaimed against Mr Pitt for encou raging a mode of warfare, which he said, with great reason, they who commanded the seas did not want, and which, if successful, would wrest the trident from those who then claimed to bear it as the sceptre of supremacy on the ocean.

In June, the British ministry appointed a commission to examine Mr. Fulton's projects. The commissioners were Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Cavendish, Sir Home Popham, Major Congreve, and Mr. John Rennie. Many weeks passed before Mr. Fulton could prevail on them to do any thing, and finally, when they met, they reported against the submarine boat as being impracticable. In a letter to the ministry, Mr. Fulton complains that this report was made without his having been called upon for any explanations, and although the gentlemen

who made it had before them no account of what had been done. Indeed, in the first interview which Mr. Fulton had with Mr. Pitt and Lord Melville, the latter condemned the Nautilus without a moment's consideration.

About this time, an expedition was fitted out against the French flotilla in the roads of Boulogne. In the night, torpedoes were thrown, by boats from a British squadron, across the bows of two of the French gun-brigs. The Frenchmen, when they discovered the torpedo-boats, exclaimed, with horror, that the infernal machines were coming! They had in their minds, no doubt the effects of some vague reports as to Mr. Fulton's engines; and were terrified by knowing what had been the tremendous consequences of the explosion, in the streets of Paris a short time previously, of a machine intended against the life of Bonaparte.

The torpedoes exploded alongside of the French vessels, without doing them any injury. Mr. Fulton imputed this failure to a mistake, arising from want of experience, in what was apparently a slight matter. The torpedo had been so placed, as that it hung perpendicularly by the side of the vessel, whereas it should have been so arranged, as that the current would have swept it under her bottom. This be was convinced, might be accomplished by the simple contrivance of attaching to the torpedo a bridle, in such a manner as that it should lie in the water, at an angle with the line of direction of the current. This, when the torpedo was stopped by a line connected with it, meeting the hawser or bow of the vessel, would give it a sheer which would carry it towards the keel of the vessel to be destroyed. Mr. Fulton's subsequent experiments, proved that his theory on this subject was perfectly correct,

On the fifteenth of October, 1805, he blew up a strong built Danish brig, of the burden of 200 tons, which had been provided for the experiment, and which was anchored in Walmer roads, near Deal, within a mile of Walmer Castle, the then residence of Mr. Pitt. He has given an interesting account of this experiment in a pamphlet which he published in this country, under the title of Torpedo War. In a letter to Lord Castlereagh, of the 16th of October, 1805, he says yesterday, about four o'clock, I made the intended experiment on the brig, with a carcass of 170 pounds of powder; and I have the pleasure to inform you, that it succeeded beyond my most sanguine expectations. Exactly in fifteen

minutes from the time of drawing the peg, and throwing the carcass into the water, the explosion took place. It lifted the brig almost bodily, and broke her completely in two. The ends sunk immediately, and in one minute nothing was to be seen of her but floating fragments; her main-mast and pumps were thrown into the sea; her fore-mast was broken in three pieces; her beams and knees were thrown from her decks and sides, and her deck planks were rent to fibres. In fact her annihilation was complete, and the effect was most extraordinary. The power, as I had calculated, passed in a right line through her body, that being the line of least resistance, and carried all before it. At the time of her go. ing up, she did not appear to make more resistance than a bag of feathers, and went to pieces like a shattered eggshell."

Notwithstanding the complete success of this experiment, the British ministry seem to have been but little disposed to have any thing further to do with Mr. Fulton or his projects. Indeed the evidence it afforded of their efficacy, may have been a reason for this. However Mr. Pitt and Lord Melville may have thought on the subject, there had been a change in the administration, and the new ministers may have agreed with the Earl St. Vineent, that it was great folly in them to encourage a project, which, if it succeeded, would destroy the maritime power of Great Britain. Lord Grenville and his cabinet were not only indisposed to encourage Mr. Fulton; but they were unwilling to fulfil the engagements which their predecessors had made; and Mr. Fulton, after some further experiments, of which we have no account, wearied with incessant applications, disappointments, and neglect, at length embarked for his native country.

So far from being discouraged by the failure of his torpedoes to produce the desired effect in the attempts which had been made in Europe, to apply them as instruments of hostility, he felt not the least diminution of his confidence, because he saw, as he said, that these failures were to be attributed to trivial errors, which actual experience only could discover, and which were easily to be corrected. He had not been landed in America a month, before he went to the seat of government, to propose to the administration to enable him to prosecute a set of experiments with his torpedoes. He found Mr. Madison, then Secretary of State, and the Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Smith, much disposed to encourage his attempts, the success of which Mr. Fulton, by his ingenious models and drawings, with his lucid and engaging mode of lecturing upon them, made to appear so

probable. The government authorized a certain expenditure to be made, under the direction of Mr. Fulton, for this purpose.

On the 20th of July, 1807, in pursuance of the experiments which the government had authorized him to make, Mr. Fulton blew up, with a torpedo, in the harbour of New York, a large hulk brig, which had been provided for the purpose.

The members of Congress were so favourably impressed with respect to Mr. Fulton's inventions, by the lectures which he had given upon them in their presence, that, in March, 1810, they passed an act, making an appropriation for trying practically the use of torpedoes, and submarine explosions. For this purpose, five thousand dollars were granted, to be expended at the discretion of the president, under the immediate direction of the secretary of the navy.

Chancellor Livingston, after a long examination of each particular subject which the experiments had presented, expresses himself as follows: "Upon the whole, I view this application of powder as one of the most important military discoveries which some centuries have produced. It appears to me to be capable of effecting the absolute security of our ports, against naval aggression; provided, that, in conjunction with it, the usual means necessary to occupy the attention of the enemy, are not neglected."

SECTION VI.

NAVAL DISTINCTIONS IN RANK.

355. The Lord High Admiral of England is an officer of great trust, the king is nominally Lord High Admiral, while the duties of the office are executed by commission, called the Board of Admiralty, consisting of five commissioners, denominated Lords of the Admiralty, one of whom, as resident, is called first Lord.

The Board of Admiralty takes cognizance of every thing transacted at sea, the management of all maritime affairs, the direction of the Navy, and both civil and criminal offences committed on the high seas. Under this court is also a court-merchant, or court of equity, where all differencés

between merchants are decided acccording to the rules of the civil law. This court is held three or four times a year at the Old Bailey, and one of the judges generally acts as the Lord Admiral's deputy.

356. An Admiral is a great officer, who has the government of a navy, and the hearing of all maritime causes.

In our navy besides the Admiral in chief, there are the Vice-admiral who commands the second squadron; and the Rear-admiral, who commands the third division The Admiral carries his flag at the main; the Vice-admiral, at the fore top-mast head; and the Rear-admiral at the mizen. The admiral ranks with generals in the army.

357. A Captain commands a ship of the line of battle, or a frigate carrying twenty or more guns.

He is not only answerable for any bad conduct of the military government, and equipment of the ship which he commands, but also for any neglect of duty.

A Lieutenant, an officer next in rank and power to a captain, in whose absence he commands, musters the men at quarters; visits the ship during the night watches; exercises the men in the use of small arms. First-rates have six lieutenants; a sixth-rate has only one.

Midshipmen, generally youths appointed by the captain of the ship, second the orders of the superior officers, and assist in all duties on board or ashore. In a first-rate there are twenty-four of these, in inferior rates from eight to four.

A Pilot conducts the ship into harbour through intricate channels. This is properly a coasting pilot; one for the high seas can use the quadrant, take observations, and steer a ship from port to port.

'T'he Purser receives the victuals, takes care they be good, and regularly served out to the ship's company. According to the Purser's books the men receive their pay.

The Steward acts under the purser.

The Victualler furnishes the ship with provisions and stores.

The Clerk sees that nothing be wasted and keeps a journal of the loading of a merchant ship, &c. the bargains, purchases, and sales the ship makes from its departure; the consumption of provisions, and every thing relating to the expense of the voyage. In small vessels, the master or mate is also clerk. A mate is the second in subordination; as the master's mate.