Fitch, under his state patents, of which the author of this was one of the principal shareholders, conceiving that the patent of Fitch was not for any peculiar mode of applying the steam to navigation, but that it extended to all known modes of propelling boats and vessels, contested before the assembly of Pennsylvania, and also before the assembly of Delaware, the mode proposed by Mr. Rumsey, and contended that the mode he proposed, viz., by drawing up the water into a tube, and forcing the same water out of the stern of the vessel or boat, which was derived from Dr. Franklin's works, (the doctor being one of the company,) was a mode the company had a right to, for the plan was originally published in Latin, about fifty years before, in the works of Bernouilli the younger. Two of Fitch's company and I appeared without counsel, and pleaded our own cause in the assembly of Pennsylvania, and after a week's patient hearing against the most learned counsel of Pennsylvania, we obtained a decision in our favor, and afterwards also in Delaware. We believed and contended that our claim of propelling boats by steam included all the modes of propelling vessels and boats then known, and that the patent was for the application of steam as an agent to the propelling powers: and the decisions of the legislatures were in favor of this construc tion, as Mr. Rumsey's company (of which the late Messrs. Bingham, Myers, Fisher, and many other worthy gentlemen, were members,) were excluded from the right of using steamboats on any principle."

"At another time, in order to avoid a London prison, and the delay, if not the defeat of all his high hopes, he was compelled to transfer, at what he considered a ruinous sacrifice, a large interest in his inventions,-a contract which entangled and embarrassed him through life. Still, however, he struggled on, undismayed, and had constructed a boat of about one hundred tons burden, and pushed forward his machinery so near to the point of completion, as to be able to indicate a day not very distant for a public exhibition, when his sudden death occurred from apoplexy, while discussing the principle of one of his inventions before a philosophical society of London. With his life the whole project ceased, there was no one present to administer,-no one present able to carry it out. Few would have been willing to incur the ridicule of attempting to complete it. All that he left, his very boat and machinery,-barely sufficed to satisfy anxious and greedy creditors."

A sharp controversy at one time existed between Rumsey and Fitch, and their mutual friends, relating to the originality of their respective inventions. Without deciding upon the merits of either, both certainly claim the highest admiration for their perseverance, as well as sympathy for their misfortunes.

For the above facts, see Stuart's Anecdotes of the Steam Engine, and the speech of Mr. Rumsey of Kentucky before the house of representatives, on the occasion of offering the following resolution, afterwards unanimously passed. Feb. 9, 1839:-" Resolved by the senate and house of representatives, &c. &c., That the President be and he is hereby requested to present to James Rumsey, jun., the son and only surviving child of James Rumsey, deceased, a suitable gold medal, commemorative of his father's services and high agency in giving to the world the benefits of the steamboat."

"We worked incessantly at the boat* to bring it to perfection, and under the disadvantages of never having seen a steam engine on the principles contemplated, of not having a single engineer in our company or pay, we made engineers of common blacksmiths; and after expending many thousand dollars, the boat did not exceed three miles an hour. Finding great unwillingness in many to proceed, I proposed to the company to give up to any one, the one-half of my shares, who would, at his own expense, make a boat go at the rate of eight miles an hour, in dead water, in eighteen months, or forfeit all the expenditures on failing; or I would engage with any others to accept these terms. Each relinquished one half of his shares, by making the forty shares eighty, and holding only as many of the new shares as he held of the old ones, and then subscribed as far as he thought proper to enter on the terms by which many relinquished one half. I was among the number, and in less than twelve months we were ready for the experiment.

"The day was appointed, and the experiment made in the following manner:-A mile was measured in Front (Water) street, Philadelphia, and the bounds projected at right angles, as exactly as could be to the wharf, where a flag was placed at each end, and also a stop watch. The boat was ordered under way at dead water, or when the tide was found to be without movement; as the boat passed one flag, it struck, and at the same instant the watches were set off; as the boat reached the other flag it was also struck, and the watches instantly stopped. Every precaution was taken before witnesses: the time was shown to all; the experiment declared to be fairly made, and the boat was found to go at the rate of eight miles an hour, or one mile in seven minutes

* Description of Fitch's Steamboat.-The following account of Mr. Fitch's boat is given by the unfortunate inventor in the Columbian (Philadelphia) Magazine, vol. i. for December, 1786, of which the engraving annexed will give some idea. "The cylinder is to be horizontal, and the steam to work with equal force at each end. The mode by which we obtain a vacuum is, it is believed, entirely new, as is also the method of letting the water into it and throwing it off against the atmosphere without any friction. It is expected that the cylinder, which is of twelve inches diameter, will move a clear force of eleven or twelve cwt. after the frictions are deducted; this force is to be directed against a wheel eighteen inches in diameter. The piston is to move about three feet, and each vibration of it gives the axis about forty evolutions. Each evolution of the axis moves twelve oars or paddles five and a half feet; they work perpendicularly, and are represented by the strokes of a paddle of a canoe. As six of the paddles are raised from the water, six more are entered, and the two sets of paddles make their strokes of about eleven feet in each evolution. The crank of the axis acts upon the paddles, about one third of their length from their lower ends, on which part of the oar the whole force of the axis is applied. The engine is placed in the bottom of the boat, about one third from the stern, and both the action and reaction turn the wheel the same way."

and a half; on which the shares were signed over with great satisfaction by the rest of the company. It afterwards went eighty miles in a day!

"The governor and council of Pennsylvania were so highly gratified with our labors, that without their intentions being previously known to us, Governor Mifflin, attended by the council in procession, presented to the company, and placed in the boat, a superb silk flag, prepared expressly, and containing the arms of Pennsylvania; and this flag we possessed till Mr. Fitch was sent to France by the company, at the request of Aaron Vail, Esq., our consul at L'Orient, who, being one of the company, was solicitous to have steamboats built in France. John Fitch took the flag, unknown to the company, and presented it to the national convention. Mr. Vail, finding all the workmen put in requisition, and that none could be obtained to build the boats, paid the expenses of Mr. Fitch, who returned to the United States; and Mr. Vail afterwards subjected to the examination of Mr. Fulton, when in France, the papers and designs of the steamboat appertaining to the company.

"As Dr. Thornton has stated in his account, as quoted above, the company refused to advance more funds. This they did, after interfering with his views, and attempting expensive plans of improvement, which failed of success; and being probably influenced by that unceasing ridicule cast upon the project, they one by one gradually withdrew from the concern. The conviction of Fitch, however, respecting the power of steam, continued firm; and in June, 1792, when the boat was laid up, he addressed a letter on the subject to Mr. Rittenhouse, one of the shareholders, in which he says, ' it would be much easier to carry a first-rate man-of-war by steam than a boat, as we would not be cramped for room, nor would the weight of machinery be felt. This, sir, will be the mode of crossing the Atlantic in time, whether I bring it to perfection or not, for packets and armed vessels. I mean to make use of the wind when we have it, and in a calm to pursue the voyage at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour.' He further suggests the use of steam to conquer the cruisers of Barbary, by which several American vessels had then been lately captured. He says, six-foot cylinder could discharge a column of water from the round top forty or fifty yards, and throw a man off his feet, and wet their arms and ammunition.' He complains of his poverty; and to raise funds, he urges Mr. Rittenhouse to purchase his lands in Kentucky, that he might have the honor of enabling him to com plete the great undertaking.'

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"Fitch's enthusiasm on the subject never diminished one mo.