the name of the "NAUTILUS:" connected with this machine were what he then called submarine bombs, to which he subsequently gave the name of torpedoes. This invention preceded the "NAuTILUS." It was, indeed, his desire of discovering the means of applying his torpedoes that turned his thoughts to a submarine boat. Satisfied with the performance of his boat, his next object was to make some experiments with his torpedoes. A small shallop was anchored in the roads, with a bomb containing about twenty pounds of powder: he approached to about within two hundred yards of the anchored vessel, struck her with the torpedo, and blew her into atoms. A column of water and fragments was thrown or blown from eighty to one hundred feet in the air. This experiment was made in the presence of the prefect of the department, Admiral Villaret, and a multitude of spec tators. St. Aubin, a member of the Tribunate, gives, in the Journal of Commerce of the 20th of January, 1802, an account of a submarine boat which he says Mr. Fulton was then constructing. In this, however, there is a mistake. Mr. Fulton had projected another boat of this description, upon a larger and an improved plan; but he had not the means of executing it, and all his experiments were made with the small boat he first constructed, and which, as we have before remarked, he found, at the end of the winter, much impaired by the rusting of some parts of the machinery. St. Aubin's account is as follows: "The diving-boat, in the construction of which he is now employed, will be capacious enough to contain eight men and provision for twenty days, and will be of sufficient strength and power to enable him to plunge one hundred feet under water, if necessary. He has contrived a reservoir of air, which will enable eight men to remain under water eight hours. When the boat is above water, it has two sails, and looks just like a common boat; when it is to dive, the mast and sails are struck. "In making his experiments, Mr. Fulton not only remained a whole hour under water, with three of his companions, but had the boat parallel to the horizon at any given distance. He proved that the compass points as correctly under water as on the surface, and that, while under water, the boat made way at the rate of half a league an hour, by means contrived for that purpose. "It is not twenty years since all Europe was astonished at the first ascension of men in balloons: perhaps, in a few years, they will not be less surprised to see a flotilla of diving-boats, which, on a given signal, shall, to avoid the pursuit of an enemy, plunge under water, and rise again several leagues from the place where they descended! "But if we have not succeeded in steering the balloon, and even were it impossible to attain that object, the case is different with the diving-boat, which can be conducted under water in the same manner as upon the surface. It has the advantage of sailing like the common boat, and also of diving when it is pursued. With these qualities, it is fit for carrying secret orders, to succour a blockaded fort, and to examine the force and position of an enemy in their harbors. These are sure and evident benefits which the diving-boat at present promises. But who can see all the consequences of this discovery, or the improvements of which it is susceptible? Mr. Fulton has already added to his boat a machine by means of which he blew up a large boat in the port of Brest; and if, by future experiments, the same effect could be produced in frigates or ships of the line, what will become of maritime wars, and where will sailors be found to man ships of war, when it is a physical certainty that they may at any moment be blown into the air by means of diving-boats, against which no human foresight can guard them?" In all Fulton's negotiations with the British Government, he presented himself as an American; and when it was proposed that he should, for a considerable reward, suppress his inventions, so that they might be buried, and that neither his own country nor the rest of the world could derive from them those advantages which he thought they would afford, he indignantly rejected the overture. This will appear from his written communication with the British ministry, extracts from which we shall now present, though by doing so the order of events will be a little anticipated. In a paper which Mr. Fulton read to certain gentlemen who were appointed by the British Ministry, in the month of August, 1806, to confer with him, he says: "At all events, 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 the annuity of twenty thousand pounds a-year, I would sacrifice all to the safety and independence of my country." He concludes a letter to Lord Grenville in the following words: "It never has been my intention to hide these inventions from the world, on any consideration. On the contrary, it has ever been my intention to make them public as soon as may be consistent with strict justice to all with whom I am concerned. For myself, I have ever considered the interest of America, free commerce, the interest of mankind, the magnitude of the object in view, and the rational reputation connected with it, superior to all calculations of a pecuniary nature." These are the sentiments of a man who had confidence in the rectitude of his conduct. It is very possible that Mr. Fulton, on withdrawing from France, was also in some measure influenced by an aversion to the new character which the government assumed on the accession of Napoleon to the consular dignity. In a letter to Lord Melville, Mr. Fulton expressed himself as follows: "There is no project, flattering to vanity, which is too extravagant for men who consider conquest and military fame as the most estimable of all acquirements. Alexander, Ginghis Khan, and Bonaparte, have been guided by similar sentiments. In writing this letter, I feel no en - mity to the people of France, or any other people; on the contrary, I wish their happiness; for my principle is that every nation profits by the prosperity of its neighbours, provided the governments of its neighbours be humane and just. What is here said is directed against the tyrannic principles of Bonaparte a man who has set himself against all law: he is, therefore, in that state which Lord Somers compares to that of a wild beast, unrestrained by any rule, and he should be hunted down as the enemy of mankind. This, however, is the business of Frenchmen. With regard to the nations of Europe, they can only hold him in governable limits by fencing him round with bayonets." |