CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

....................................

Reply to the British Cyclopædia of Arts...........

A remarkable witness, the Dean of Ripon, England......

Extract from the Address of C. D. Holden, Esq., delivered before

the Philosophical Society of New York..........

Extract from a Discourse delivered before the American Academy of

the Arts by his Excellency De Witt Clinton, Governor of New

York....

Extract from a Discourse delivered before the New York Historical

Society by the Hon. Gouverneur Morris...........

MONUMENTS to the memory of Robert Fulton...........

Robert Fulton's genius and talent as an artist, and his noble conduct

on his birthday.......

39

Persuaded to make a voyage to England, for the benefit of his health 40

The GOLDEN DEED of the widow's son....... ....................................................

His filial piety, that never can be too much commended........

41✓

44 ✓

CHAPTER III.

FINE ARTS, AND MECHANIC ARTS A SHORT HISTORY

OF BENJAMIN WEST, AND THE INVENTIONS OF MR.

FULTON.

Page

Mr. Fulton's reception by Benjamin West, and his success as a

painter..........

46

His acquaintance with men celebrated for the love of science......... 47

Becomes a civic engineer and mechanist...........

47

His address to the citizens of Philadelphia, urging them to establish

an Institute for the Fine Arts, and purchase the paintings of

Benjamin West..

48

At the sale of the pictures of the Royal Academy, in 1805, he pur-

chases West's Ophelia and King Lear.........

48

A short history of Benjamin West

49

Mr. Fulton's devoted attachment to the Hon. Joel Barlow, American

Minister............................... ................

The first panorama that was exhibited in Paris was painted by Mr.

Fulton............

56

57

His numerous and extraordinary inventions.......................

The Hon. John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson certify to Con-

gress the invaluable services rendered to the country by Mr.

Fulton at the great battle of New Orleans........................................................

He exposes the imposition in Redheffer's Perpetual Motion............ 65

CHAPTER IV.

EXTRACTS FROM THE "COLUMBIAD," WITH THE ELE-

GANT PLATES DESIGNED BY MR. FULTON.

63

The friendship of the Hon. Joel Barlow.............................................

The vision of Columbus.......

The savage armies march down the mountains of Peru. The Peru-

vians engage the savages. Exploits of Capac, and death of

Zamor, the savage chief.........

72

............

Vision confined to North America. Congress endeavours to arrest

the violence of England......

.....

British cruelty to American prisoners......

The murder of Lucinda (Miss Macrea) by the Indians...............................................

Capture of Cornwallis and his army. Their banners furled and mus-

kets piled on the field of battle. The triumph of Washington

and the brave Lincoln.........

.................................................................................

The Rape of the Golden Fleece...

79

81

Initiation to the mysteries of Isis. Progress of the Arts and Sciences 82

The final resignation of prejudices: a grand conception................ 83

CHAPTER V.

INLAND NAVIGATION, CIVIL ENGINEERING, AND STATES-

MANSHIP OF FULTON.

Page

In 1796, Mr. Fulton published in London his admirable "Treatise

on Canal Navigation"....

86

His models, machines, and drawings, were approved by the British

Board of Agriculture........

888888

Receives a flattering acknowledgment from General Washington...... 89

He wrote a work addressed to the "friends of mankind," for the

promotion of knowledge and industry......

Another volume-" Thoughts on Free Trade".................

January, 1807, he was invited by General Dearborn, then Secretary

of the War Department, to make the necessary surveys and

drafts for a canal from Lake Pontchartrain to the Missis-

sippi..........

His cast-iron aqueducts........

Inclined-Planes..

90

102

Mr. Fulton appointed by the Legislature of New York one of the

commissioners to explore the route of an inland navigation

from Hudson river to Lakes Ontario and Erie.....................................................

He communicates in writing with the ablest men then living, on the

subjects of "education, and the arts and sciences"..............
..... 105 v

CHAPTER VI.

TORPEDOES.

Mr. Fulton's proceedings in France excited the alarm of the British

Cabinet. In 1804, he was written to proceed to London. The

British Ministry appointed a commission to examine his pro-

jects. In the night, torpedoes were thrown, by boats from a

British squadron, across the bows of two of the French gun-

brigs. The Frenchmen exclaimed, with horror, "that the

infernal machines were coming"..

109

Page

He blew up a strong-built Danish brig in Walmar roads................. 112

October, 1806, he embarked for New York, and exhibited his torpe-

does on Governor's Island....

July, 1807, he blew up with a torpedo, in the harbor of New

York, a large hulk brig, which had been provided for this

purpose....

Soon after this, he published his work entitled "Torpedo War; or,

Submarine Explosions," and prefaced it with his favourite

sentiment "The freedom of the seas will be the happiness of the

earth." He addressed it to the President of the United States,

and to the members of both Houses of Congress.......

The sloop-of-war Argus, then commanded by the gallant Captain

Lawrence, by the directions of the U. S. Government, was

made ready at the New York Navy-Yard, under the orders of

Commodore Rodgers, to be experimented on by Mr. Fulton's

mode of torpedo warfare........

Mr. Fulton succeeded in cutting off a fourteen-inch cable, which was

attached to a vessel that had been anchored in the stream for

In 1813, were granted letters patent for improvements in the art of

maritime warfare, to destroy ships and vessels-of-war by sub-

marine cannons.........................................................................................

113

118

125

128

136

CHAPTER VII.

SUBMARINE NAVIGATION, AND PLUNGING-BOAT.

In 1801, Mr. Fulton proposed to Bonaparte, "to deliver France and

the whole world from British oppression," by submarine boats.. 139

His extraordinary and successful experiment with his plunging-boat

"Nautilus,” in the harbor of Brest..............
............. 140

He blows a vessel to fragments, by a bomb from the "Nautilus."

The fragments were thrown from 80 to 100 feet in the air..... 143

He rejects the overture from the British Government to suppress his

inventions, and sacrifices all to the safety, independence, and

interest of America.........

146

CHAPTER VIII.

HISTORY OF ORIGINAL INVENTORS.

Page

Fulton's gigantic mind................

148

Dr. Papin, Savery, Marquis of Worcester, Dr. John Allen, Oliver

Evans, and Benjamin Franklin's inventions.......

150

Jonathan Hull, James Rumsey, and the Marquis de Joffrey's inventions 151

The invention and remarkable wish of that ardent projector, JOHN

FITCH, will never be forgotten so long as the song of the
boatman and the music of the steam-engine enliven the shores

Mr. Fulton gave to Watt and Bolton, of England, instructions for

constructing the first engine which was successfully used in a

He investigated on principle the difficulties of the subject, and

triumphed........

158

Scientific gentlemen reported their doubts of the utility and practi-

cability of his invention........

160

Robert Livingston, Esq., of New York, and Mr. Fulton, formed a

friendship and connection with each other..........

The "Clermont," the first steam packet that ever moved upon the

164

169✓

Robert Fulton and H. Freeland's letters.........

Hostility to Mr. Fulton's boat................... .........................

Mr. Fulton exhibits to a committee his model and plans of a vessel-

of-war; which are approved of by the U. S. naval officers.... 181

The English were informed as to the preparations for building this
steam frigate, and became alarmed.........
The submarine boat-the "Mute".

.............

................

188

189

173

177