PORTRAIT or COUNT RLTMFORD -WHEN SENT TO ENGLAND AS AMBASSADOR FROM BAVARIA.. 179 e . AGED 45. MEMOIR SIR BENJAMIN THOMPSON, COUNT RUMFORD, WITH NOTICES OF HIS DAUGHTER. BY GEORGE E. ELLIS. PUBLISHED IN CONNECTION WITH AN EDITION OF RUMFORD'S COMPLETE WORKS, BY THE f Jlrt* attb BOSTON. BOSTON: ESTES AND LAURIAT, 301 WASHINGTON STREET. Cambridge : Press-work by John Wilson 6* Son. TO JACOB BIGELOW, M. D. MY DEAR SIR : IN inscribing this volume with your name, without having asked your permission to do so, I must seek your indulgence after the act. There is no name which, more fitly than yours, could be thus brought into connection with the subject of the volume. As the first incumbent of the Rumford Professorship in Harvard College, you paid a most fe- licitous and discriminating tribute, in your Inaugural Address, to the dis- tinguished man who founded that Professorship by a generous endow- ment, and by making the College his residuary legatee. You initiated and directed a method of fulfilling the duties of your office in strict accordance with the wishes and purposes of Count Rumford, especially with a view to those ends of practical public good which he so ardently and successfully pursued. Your published lectures, The Elements of Technology, have recently had the title which you assigned to them adopted by an Institution of highest promise with us in its field and objects. This Institution, also, you most happily inaugurated. You presided for seventeen years over the American Academy of Arts and Sciences with an ability and urbanity of which the Fellows expressed to you their heartiest appreciation when you declined to be longer a candidate for that position ; where also you had to direct the administration of another generous trust confided by Count Rumford to the Academy. Your lengthened life and professional devotion, while they have brought you to stand now as the oldest and most esteemed physician in the city of your residence, have likewise permitted you to indulge your taste and genius in the broadest culture of the many provinces of litera- ture, art, and science in which you are an authority. I may not put into print the epithets and encomiums attached to your name by those who come nearest to you in the wide circles of your friendship and personal intercourse. Most respectfully yours, GEORGE E. ELLIS. Contents. xiii biography of his Daughter. Extracts. Her Voyage. Her Life in London. Reception of his Essays. His Employ- ments in England. Improved Fireplaces. Popularity of his Plans. Rumford Roasters. Endowment of Royal Society and American Academy. Correspondence with Sir Joseph Banks. Awards of Rumford Medal by the Royal Society. Correspondence with American Academy. Recognition by the Academy. The Rumford Fund. Action of the Legis- lature, and of the Supreme Court in Equity upon the Fund, and its Application. Awards of the Rumford Medal by the Academy. .......... 205 CHAPTER VI. Count Rumford and his Daughter leave England for Munich. Circuitous Route on Account of the War. The Journey and its Incidents. Sarah Thompson's Diary. Arrival in Munich. Neutrality of Bavaria. Munich threatened by Austrian and French Armies. Flight of the Elector. Rumford on the Council of the Regency, and at the Head of the Electoral Army. His Signal Services and Success. His Scientific Feeding of the Troops. Gratitude of the Elector on his Re- turn. Correspondence with Sir John Sinclair. Letters to Colonel Baldwin and President Willard. Private Affairs of the Count in America. Projected Institution in Concord. Correspondence concerning it. The Countess's Court and Domestic Life. Excursions. Festivals. Commemoration of the Count's Birthday. Love Passages. Variances. Excursions. The Count appointed Ambassador to England, returns there. Not received as such. Correspondence. Honors from America. Massachusetts Historical Society. Invitation from the United States Government. Correspond- ence. The Countess returns to America. Her Narrative. Correspondence. ........ 269 CHAPTER VII. Count Rumford as Founder of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. His Plan and Proposals. Correspondence with xiv Contents. Thomas Bernard. Sketch of the Objects and Principles of the Institution. Government to be informed of the Design. Meetings of Managers. Character and Organization. Gen- erous Patronage by the Nobility. Prospectus. Building pro- vided for the Institution. Rumford's Generous Gifts. He resides in the Institution. His Illness. Dr. Young appointed Professor, Editor of Journal, and Superintendent. Rumford visits Harrowgate. His Essay on Warm Bathing. Corre- spondence. Colonel Baldwin. President John Adams. President Willard. The Count's Letter to Sir H. Davy, inviting him to the Royal Institution. Faraday's Professorship and Directorship. Pictet's Visit to Rumford, and Descrip- tion of the House at Brompton. The Bibliotheque Britan- nique on the Royal Institution. Alleged Variances among the Managers. Dr. Young. Progress and Course of the Institution. ..... ... 378 CHAPTER VIII. Count Rumford's Fame in Bavaria, Great Britain, and the United States. Permanent Results of his Philanthropy. Tribute to him from Dr. A. Joly. His Institutions in Bavaria. His Permanent Influence in England and the United States. Con- tinued Economical and Scientific Experiments, as described in his Essays. The Propagation of Heat in Fluids : and in vari- ous Substances. Inquiry concerning the Source of the Heat excited by Friction. Rumford's Claims as a Discoverer. Depreciation of him by some English Authorities. Economi- cal Inventions. Franklin's Fireplaces. Rumford's Improve- ments. Essay on the Construction of Kitchen Fireplaces and Utensils. Savory Food. A Chinese Example. Replies to Critics and Jesters. Appeal to the Rich. Pleasures of Benevolence. Essay on Open Chimney Fireplaces. The Count's Name attached to other than his own Inventions. Essay on the Salubrity of Warm Rooms. Essays on the Man- agement of Fires in closed Fireplaces, and on the Use of Steam as a Vehicle for transporting Heat. Encomiums on Rumford's Benevolence in the English Parliament. Cpbbett's Satire, Boston follows Rumford's Method. - . . . . -451 Contents. xv CHAPTER IX. Countess Rumford in America. Correspondence. Letters from her Father. Their Fate. Friendship and Letters of Sir Charles Blagden. His Report of the Count's Matrimonial Purposes. His Confidential Correspondence. Information concerning Count Rumford. Breach of Intercourse. The Count at Munich and Paris. His Tour with Madame Lavoi- sier. Sarah's Account and Description of her Father. His Letters from England and Bavaria. He writes to his Daughter of his Intended Marriage, and sends for Legal Docu- ments. His Marriage to Madame Lavoisier. Happy Pros- pects. Letters from Colonel Baldwin. Letters from Sir Charles Blagden. Unhappiness of the Count in his Marriage. His Letters continued. Separates from his Wife. Sarah's Explanation. The Count sends for his Daughter. His Let- ters while awaiting her Arrival. His Visit to Munich and Welcome Reception. Monsieur Guizot's Memoir of Madame de Rumford. Tribute to her by the Comtesse de Bassanville. 510 CHAPTER X. Count Rumford at Auteuil. Historical and Tragic Interest of his Dwelling. His Daughter's Voyage to rejoin him. Her Capture. Correspondence with Sir Charles Blagden. Her Arrival at Auteuil. Her Letter to Mr. J. F. Baldwin. The Count's Letters to him. The Count's Letters to his Mother. The Daughter's Reception. Description of her Father's Home and Circumstances. Visits from Madame Lavoisier de Rum- ford. Projected Work on Order. The Count's Scientific Labors as Foreign Associate of the French Institute. Papers read before it. Three more Essays. Experiments of Broad Wheels for Carriages. His Calorimeter and Photometer. Life with his Daughter. Drives and Visits. His Intimate Friends. Visit of Davy to Auteuil. The Count's last Days. His Death. His Daughter's Strange Notions about that Event. Announcement of his Death. His Funeral. Baron Deles- sert's Address at his Grave. A Woman's Tribute. Cuvier's xvi Contents. Eloge. Notices of the Count's Death and Character in Eng- land. Mr. Underwood's Sketch of him. Dr. Young's. Dr. Thomson's. Colonel Baldwin's. Count Rumford's Grave and Monument. His last Will. Rumford Professor- ship at Harvard College. Dr. Bigelow's Discourse. Profes- sor Treadwell and his Successors. The Daughter's Subsequent Life and Correspondence. Her Final Return to America. Her Death and Bequests. Rolfe. Rumford Institution. Rumford's Statue at Munich. . . . .586 APPENDIX. To page 13 .. . . 657 a n , - 45 ...... . 659 " " 67 . 660 " " 94 .... . 663 " " Q4. . 664 " 150 . 665 "58S . o - . 676 INDEX . . .678 PREFACE. THE circumstances which led the writer to the preparation of the following Biography of Count Rumford may properly be mentioned here. In one of a series of letters with which I was favored by my much-esteemed friend, the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, also my associate on the Council of the Academy, during his last European tour, was a pas- sage which I here copy. The letter was dated Munich, August 19, 1867. " You have not forgotten how' much there is here to remind an American of his own country. No one could drive in the beautiful English Garden (as it is called) without remembering with pride that it was originally laid out by Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, who would almost seem to have been driven from his native land (by unjust suspicions and preju- dices, as I have always feared) in order to give him a wider sphere for doing good to mankind. We have never done honor enough to his memory in America. Is there any portrait of him at Harvard, where he endowed so valuable a Professorship ? I do not remember any. [Mr. Winthrop for the mo- vi Preface. ment forgot the excellent portrait of the Count, the gift of his daughter, which hangs in Massachusetts Hall, Cambridge.] There ought to be a statue of him some- where in America. I am glad to find that there is to be one here. At the foundry here, a day or two since, I found them actually engaged in casting one to adorn one of the squares of Munich. This foundry itself is a most interesting place to Americans. The mu- seum connected with it contains the original models of all the statues which have been cast here. There I found .... But, after all, I think the Rumford statue gave me the greatest satisfaction. It is a tardy act of justice to one who did really great things for the world, as well as for Bavaria. His Essays on Pauper- ism, and his plans for its relief and prevention, would alone entitle him to the blessing of mankind. Almost everything which is valuable in our modern systems of charity may be traced in his writings. When we add all that he did for science, and for the advance- ment of science, at the Royal Institution in London, and at Harvard, and at our American Academy, his claim to a statue seems to be far less equivocal, to say the least, than that of many of those who have lately received such commemoration. I trust we shall have a portrait of him, one of these days, in the gallery of our Historical Society, if nowhere else." As I could not have a more fitting introduction to this volume than is found in that most just tribute to Count Rumford, so admirably expressed, so I most Preface. vii gratefully acknowledge that my share in this work came of my possession of the letter which contained the above matter. I had the letter, just received, in my pocket, while attending one of the regular meetings of the Academy. And it so happened, likewise, that among the matters of business which occupied the meeting was a report of progress from the Rumford Committee of the Academy, in the trust assigned to them of collecting and editing the works of our emi- nent benefactor. Knowing that I had with me some- thing so appropriate to the matter then in hand, I read to the Academy the above extract from the letter of our associate. I mentioned, likewise, that I had in my house and had recently been reading with great interest the contents of a very valuable manu- script volume, loaned to me by its owner, my valued friend, George Rumford Baldwin, Esq., of Woburn, in which he had carefully copied the correspondence of Count Rumford with his father, the late Colonel Loammi Baldwin, and many other papers of bio- graphical use. I suggested that possibly the Rum- ford Committee might find help in examining these documents. A proposition was then made and urged, that I be requested to furnish a biographical memoir of the Count as introductory to the edition of his Works. Though surprised at the request, and wholly unprepared to comply with it, I consented to enter- tain and consider it. I had no other expectation or purpose, in finally acceding to it, than that all which viii Preface. I should need to do in the case would be to gather from published sources the materials for a brief prefatory paper, which should give the dates and principal events and labors of the Count's career. In undertaking to do only this, the search and inquiry which were neces- sary led on to further investigations, rewarded by such an amount of authentic and interesting documents as in the view of the Rumford Committee justified the assign- ing of an additional volume for the memoir. As will be noticed by the reader, the new material used in the following pages -is mostly of manuscripts gathered from public and private sources. I have indicated these sources either in the text or the notes of this volume. The Life of Count Rumford contributed by Pro- fessor Renwick to Sparks's Library of American Biog- raphy, allowing for its necessary compactness, is a very excellent performance. The writer, I suppose, had the use of some of the Baldwin manuscripts above referred to. Professor Pictet, in some letters of his published in the BiblioMque Britannique, furnished the substance of the matter which appears in the biographical sketches of Count Rumford contained in the Encyclopaedias and Biographical Dictionaries, all of which are imperfect, and which repeat the same errors, trivial and impor- tant. Colonel Baldwin's series of four articles on the Count's life and labors, published in two volumes of the Literary Miscellany, while the Count was living, have a particular value. Preface. ix Besides the acknowledgments that will be found in the following pages, made to friends for whose aid and suggestions I am under obligations to them, I must make here a special mention of the kind and helpful assistance, sympathy, and information which I have received from Mr. George Rumford Baldwin of Woburn, Massachusetts ; Mr. Joseph B. Walker, of Concord, New Hampshire; Dr. H. Bence Jones, of London, Secretary of the Royal Institution of Great Britain ; Mons. Jules Marcou, of Paris ; and Mr. G. Henry Horstmann, United States Consul at Munich. A search which I was privileged to make among the effects of Sarah, Countess of Rumford, in Concord, New Hampshire, was rewarded, as will be seen, by the discovery of much curious and interesting matter. I hardly need to add, that, though I have done this work as a labor of love in the service, as well as at the request, of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, I alone am responsible for any errors which it may contain, and for the statements and opinions expressed in it. G. E. E. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I . PAGE Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Thompson. Ancestry and Family of Thompson. His Birth. Death of his Father. His early Education. His own Account of his early Years. His Friends and Guardians. His School Days. Appren- ticeship at Salem. Accident. Return to Woburn. Memo- randa. Apprenticeship in Boston. Medical Student. School- Teacher. Marriage. Military Commission. Farmer. . i CHAPTER II. Revolutionary Portents. Division of Parties. Governor Went- worth. Thompson's Visits to Portsmouth. Military Review. Intimacy and Favor with the Governor. Commissioned Major. Jealousies and Enmities. Accused of Toryism. Meditated Outrage. Flight from Concord. Refuge in Wo- burn, Charlestown, and Boston. His Petition and Examina- tion. Letters to Rev. Mr. Walker. Visits the Camp. Seeks Employment. Departure. Newport. Secret Residence in Boston. Sent to England. Confiscation of his Property. Proscribed. . . . . . . . . . -55 CHAPTER III. Major Thompson's Mission to Lord G. Germaine. His Services to the Ministry. Made Secretary of Georgia. Explores London. Objects of his Interest. Experiments. Visit to Bath. Guest of Lord George. Fire-Arms and Gunpow- xii Contents. der. Sir Joseph Banks. Naval Service, and Experiments. Made Under-Secretary of State. Loyalists in England. Judge Curwen. Dr. Gardiner. President Laurens. Dis- astrous Intelligence. Thompson commissioned as Lieutenant- Colonel for Service in America. Arrival in Charleston, S. C. In Action there. Arrival in New York. His Command. Recruiting. Presentation of Colors. Severe Charges against Thompson. Colonel Simcoe's Reflections. Returns to England. Promotion. On Half-Pay for Life. Agency for Loyalists. . . . . . . . . .100 CHAPTER IV. Thompson receives Permission to travel on the Continent. Gibbon and Laurens. Meeting with Maximilian de Deux Ponts. Intercourse with French Officers. Visits Munich. Goes to Vienna. Returns, by Invitation of the Elector, to Munich. In England. Knighted. Permitted to enter the Service of the Elector. His Career "and Services in Bavaria. Offices and Honors. Schemes. Essays. Years of Prepa- ration. Work-Houses at Mannheim and Munich. Military Reforms. Soldiers' Gardens. Mendicancy : its Abuses, Measures for its Removal. Wise and Efficient Plans. Seiz- ure of Beggars. Experiments on Food. Minor Schemes of Reforms. Sickness. Travels in Italy and Switzerland. Visits to Hospitals and Poor-Houses. Returns to Munich. Convalescence. Writes his Essays. Goes to England. Economical Schemes there. Publishes his Essays. Visits Ireland. Sends for his Daughter. ..... CHAPTER V. Count Rumford's Family in America. Correspondence with Baldwin resumed. Prepares for his Daughter. Correspond- ence of Sarah Thompson. Friendship of President Willard of Harvard College. Thompson's Provision for his Mother. Sends over his Essays. Intention to visit America. Auto- LIFE OF COUNT RUMFORD. CHAPTER I. Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Thompson. Ancestry and Family of Thompson. His Birth. Death of his Father. His early Education. His own Account of his early Tears. His Friends and Guardians. His School Days. Apprenticeship at Salem. Accident. Return to Wo- lurn. Memoranda. Apprenticeship in Boston. Medi- cal Student. School-Teacher. Marriage. Military Commission. - Farmer. MASSACHUSETTS, during the second period of its history, when, as a Province, it received its chief magistrate and the authority for its administration of government from the mother country, gave birth to two men the most distinguished for philosophical genius of all that have been produced on the soil of this con- tinent. They were Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Thompson. They came into life in humble homes, within twelve miles of each other, under like straits and circumstances of frugality and substantial thrift. They both sprang from English lineage, of an ancestry and parentage yeomen on the soil on either continent, to be cast, as their progenitors had been, upon their own exertions, without dependence upon inherited means, or patronage, or even good fortune. Born as subjects of ',2 Life of Count Rumford* the English monarch, they both, at different periods of their lives, claimed their privileges as such, visiting their ancestral soil, though under widely unlike circumstan- ces, and there winning fame and distinction for services to humanity. We almost forget the occasion which parted them in the sphere of politics, because they come so close together in the more engrossing and beneficent activity of their genius. I cannot learn that these two eminent men, with so much that was common between them in their interests and pursuits, ever met together, or sought each other's acquaintance, or even recognized each other's existence, though they were contemporaries for more than thirty years, were both in Europe the one in England, the other in France for six of those years, and were intimate in friendship or correspondence with some of the same distinguished persons. In the best work of their several lives they sought to do, and eminently succeeded in doing, what should prove effective of good to their common humanity in the ordinary interests of existence, without distinction of class, and without a view to any personal ends of thrift or glory. Nor is there ground or occasion for any broad distinction in our estimate of the moral char- acter or of the private life of these two eminent men. Neither of them had in his early, nor even in his later, years that rigid purity of principle which insured that all his domestic relations should be such as would admit of record, according to the good New England usage, on the few blank leaves between the Old and the New Testament in the family Bible. There are details concerning both these Benjamins of a sort which their biographers must pass unmentioned, thankful if only Life of Count Rumford. 3 they can be referred to foreign soil and foreign cus- toms. The services of Franklin as a patriotic statesman lift him on a higher pedestal. Yet two widely discordant opinions have been held and expressed as to the general effect on the qualities of nobleness and unworldliness of character, as illustrated in New England, of his cal- culating, prudential, and thrift-bringing philosophy. If, according to what we shall find was the judgment of one of Benjamin Thompson's most intimate friends, his eulogist, also, we shall see reason to admit that he did not really love his fellow-men, and could not yield even his own self-will and conform his own personal habits to the ordinary conditions of sympathetic in- tercourse, we may be led to recognize all the more gratefully his patient, persistent, and ingenious indus- try, given in so many ways to ends of true benevo- lence. Benjamin Thompson came on both sides of his parentage from the original stock of the first colonists of Massachusetts Bay. When, in his thirty-first year, he had attained such distinction in England as to receive the honor of knighthood from King George III., he was naturally concerned to provide himself with proper armorial bearings, and, if possible, to appropriate such as might already be attached to the name which he bore. He could not have done better than to adopt a device which, as we shall soon see, was the product of his own youthful ingenuity alike in designing and in engraving, and equally characteristic of his nature, circumstances, and prospects in life. But he seems to have forgotten this, and to have aimed higher, in this instance failing in his flight. His emblazoned diploma of arms is now 4 'Life 'of Coitnt Ritmford. before me in all its original glory and beauty, with its rich adornments, and the proper attestations of Garter and Clarenceux kings in heraldry, and their well-pro- tected seals, enclosed in tin casings. The Knight him- self must have furnished the information written on that flowery parchment. In it he is described as " Son of Benjamin Thomp- son, late of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, Gent : deceased, and as of one of the most ancient families in North America; that an island which belonged to his ancestors at the entrance of Boston Har- bor, near where the first New England settlement was made, still bears his name ; that his ancestors have ever lived in reputable situations in that country where he was born, and have hitherto used the arms of the ancient and respectable family of Thompson, of the county of York, from a constant tradition that they derived their descent from that source," &c. The new knight was mistaken in this account of himself, so far as relates to the man whose name is still borne by the island in our harbor. That name was de- rived from one David Thompson, whom the first charter colonists to our bay found already seated here, and who was regarded as an interloper. He belonged to a mys- terious class of men, described as the " Old Planters," who occupied many of the headlands and some of the islands of the bay, and could show no rights of posses- sion. This Thompson died in Dorchester before 1638, leaving an infant son. Before the son of this Thompson had grown to man- hood, indeed almost as soon as we hear of the father, the ancestors of the subject of this memoir were already in occupancy on the main-land. The head of the family Life of Count Rumford. 5 here may have come from York, in England, though the fact is not on record. His first paternal ancestor, James Thompson, was of Winthrop's company, and at the age of thirty-seven was in Charlestown, in 1630. He was one of the first settlers of that portion of the original bounds of the town which, running more than ten miles up into the country, was soon set off as a separate precinct under the name of Woburn. Here the family with numerous descendants and branches continued till the birth of our subject, as many that sprung from the first comer do to this day. He him- self was a man of worth, position, and trust in an arduous enterprise, being one of the " selectmen " of the town, and he lived nearly to the age of ninety. Captain Ebenezer Thompson and Hannah Convers were the grandparents, Benjamin Thompson and Ruth Sirnonds were the father and mother, of our subject; the mother being the daughter of an officer who performed distinguished service in the French and Indian War, which was in progress at the time of the birth of his eminent grandson. The parents were married in 1752, and went to live at the house of Captain Ebenezer Thompson. Here, under his grandfather's roof, the future Count Rumford was born, March 26, 1753, in the west end of the strong and substantial farm-house which is still standing a few rods south of the meeting- house in North Woburn. This house was, till quite recently, occupied by the Count's first cousin, the widow of Willard Jones.* The father of our subject died November 7, 1754, in his twenty-sixth year, leaving his wife and her child, hardly twenty months old, to the care and support of * Sewall's History of Woburn, p. 390, &c. 6 Life of Count Rumford. the grandparents. In March, 1756, when the child was three years old, his widowed mother was married to Josiah Pierce, Jr., of Woburn. Mr. Pierce took his wife and her child to a new home, which, now removed, stood but a short distance from the old homestead, opposite the present conspicuous and venerable Baldwin mansion. The Biographic Nouve/Ie,. in its article on Count Rumford, says that he would have been left in his infancy to absolute destitution, had not his grandfather taken pity on him. The article in the Encyclopedia Britannic a says that the child's step-father banished him from his mother's house almost in his infancy. Chal- mers's Biography substantially repeats the statements. These are drawn from, and are .supposed to be warranted by, certain particulars given by M. A. Pictet, in the EibliotHeque Britannique. Pictet was an intimate, con- fidential, and admiring friend of Count Rumford, and has recorded much very interesting information concerning him which can be got from no other source. I shall have occasion by and by to draw largely and gratefully from that information. Meanwhile, it is in place here to say that while M. Pictet was on a visit to England in 1801, he spent several days in the house of Count Rumford, at Brompton Row, as his guest, and was wont to draw from him confidentially par- ticulars of his life, of which he took notes for subse- quent publication. I anticipate the relation of this friendship and its results so far as to translate from Pictet such matter as has been made the basis of the at least over-colored statements that have been referred to. It will be noticed by the error in the first paragraph following, that Pictet, Life of Count Rumford. 7 though he might have been a close listener, was not a perfectly accurate reporter of his friend's communi- cations. " Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, whom half Europe takes to be an Englishman, was born in North Amer- ica in 1753. His family, of English origin, was long settled in New Hampshire, and lived in a place formerly called Rumford, and now Concord, and owned land there before the war of Independence. " ' If the death of my father,' he said to me one day, ' had not, contrary to the order of nature, preceded that of my grand- father, who gave all his property to my uncle, his second son, I should have lived and died an American husbandman. This was a circumstance purely accidental, which, while I was still an infant, decided my destiny in attracting my attention to ob- jects of science. The father of one of my companions, a very respectable minister, and, besides, very enlightened, (by name, Bernard,) gave me his friendship, and, of his own prompting, undertook to instruct me. He taught me algebra, geometry, astronomy, and even the higher mathematics. Before the age of fourteen, I had made sufficient progress in this class of studies to be able without his aid, and even without his knowledge, to calculate and trace rightly the elements of a solar eclipse. We observed it together, and my computation was correct within four seconds. I shall never forget the intense pleasure which this success afforded me, nor the praises which it drew from him. I had been destined for trade, but. after a short trial my thirst for knowledge became inextinguishable, and I could not apply myself to anything but my favorite objects of study. I attended the lectures of Dr. Williams, and afterwards those of Dr. Winthrop, at Harvard College, and I made under that happy teacher a sufficiently rapid progress.' " c But at the age you then were,' said I to him, ' is a young man the master of his own actions ? How could you follow so, without opposition, the sort of instinct which carried you to- wards a vocation so different from that which had been destined for you ? ' 8 Life of Count Rumford. " ' Ah ! ' he replied, c shortly after the death of my father my mother contracted a second marriage, which proved for her a source of misfortunes. A tyrannical husband took me away from my grandfather's house with her. I was then a child ; my grandfather, who survived my father only a few months, left me but a very slender subsistence. I was then launched at the right time upon a world which was almost strange to me, and I was obliged to form the habit of thinking and acting for myself, and of depending on myself for a livelihood. My ideas were not yet fixed ; one project succeeded another, and perhaps I should have acquired a habit of indecision and inconstancy, per- haps I should have been poor and unhappy all my life, if a woman had not loved me, if she had not given me a subsis- tence, a home, an independent fortune.' " ' I married, or, rather, I was married, at the age of nine- teen. I espoused the widow of a Colonel Rolfe, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Walker, a highly respectable minister, and one of the first settlers of Rumford. He was already connected with my family. He had made three voyages to England on matters of public interest. He was a very cultivated man, and of a most generous character. He heartily approved of the choice of his daughter, and he himself united our destinies. This excellent man became sincerely attached to me ; he directed my studies, he formed my taste, and my position was in every respect the most agreeable that could possibly be imagined.' " Here a pang of feeling checked him. I dropped the subject till the next day. Such are my notes. " Unexpected circumstances drew him from this peaceful retreat, and snatched him from those favorite studies which would probably have formed the principal occupation of his life, in order that he might play a part on the great stage of the world, for which he would not seem to have been pre- pared." * * Marc Auguste Pictet was born in 1752, in Geneva, where he died in 1825. He was highly distinguished as a philosopher in Natural Science, and as a statesman and man of letters, founder of the Society of Physics at Geneva, and member of the French Institute and the Royal Society. In 1796, with his brother Charles, and Life of Count Rumford. 9 There are several matters in this relation which will call for remark further on. At present we are concerned with those sentences in it which reflect upon Thomp- son's relatives, especially his step-father, charges of neglecting, wronging, or ill-treating him in his early years. Baron Cuvier, who was a very intimate friend of Count Rumford in the latter part of his life, and who delivered an eloge upon him before the French In- stitute, said in it something very similar to the above, the authority for which must be supposed to be either a communication from .the Count himself, or the asser- tions made by Pictet. Cuvier said : " Rumford has informed us himself that he should probably have remained in the modest condition of his ancestors if the little fortune which they had to leave him had not been lost during his infancy. Thus, like many other men of genius, a misfortune in early life was the cause of his subsequent reputation. His father died young. A second husband removed him from the care of his mother, and his grandfather, from whom he had everything to expect, had given all he possessed to a younger son, leaving his grandson almost penniless. Nothing could be more likely than such a destitute .condition to induce a premature display of talent,"* &c. Now, if these statements and imputations really rest upon positive assertions made by him whom they con- F. G. Maurice, he planned and edited the voluminous periodical work, the BibliothZquc Britannique, which, in 1816, became the BibliothZque Universelle. His ten letters, embracing his tour in England, Ireland, and Scotland, were re- published in a volume at Geneva. The above extract in the text is translated from his ninth letter, dated London, ith August, 1801. (Vol. XIX. Science et Arts.} * Cuvier's Eloge. A translation of this Eloge appeared in the Boston Daily Adver- tiser of the 1 8th and I9th October, 1815. io Life of Count Rumford. cern, it might seem unnecessary and unreasonable to go behind them and dispute them. Yet we know for a certainty that they do contain errors, and there is room for supposing that Count Rumford's friends might have misunderstood him, and that, being both of them French- men, they may themselves have erred in a matter of sentiment, by exaggerated expressions. It is possible, too, that, looking back from his state of popular ce- lebrity, comfort, and affluence, the Count himself may have seen the hardships of his early years as unre- lieved. It is certain, however, that there is exaggeration or over-coloring in what is reported as having come from his lips. Young Thompson was born in the same state of life, and to the same conditions of labor and personal dependence, as those of his ancestors for several gene- rations, who, tilling their acres, cutting their lumber and fuel, and working at their varied trades, had won the means of a frugal subsistence, and maintained the respectable position of New England yeomen. True, it was a misfortune to him that he lost his father before he was two years old. But he had an excellent mother, who never neglected him, but seems to have treated him with a redoubled love. His own letters to her from abroad, after he had achieved his great distinctions, letters continued to the close of her life and full of affection, and the munificent pecuniary provision which he made for her, will be duly recognized in the course of this biography, as showing the tender and grateful regard of the son for the mother. As to the cc tyrannical step-father " who cc removed him from the care of his mother," I have sought in vain for a shadow of a reason to justify the harsh Life of Count Rumford. u epithet, and have evidence that disposes of the other charge as purely fictitious. Josiah Pierce, Jr., appears to have been a kind and faithful husband, and, as has been said, he took his wife's child with her to a new home. They had afterwards four children. Her first child by this new husband, Josiah Pierce, jd, about four years younger than Benjamin Thompson, grew up with him as a playmate, and in after life corre- sponded with him. The son of this half-brother of Thompson, the Hon. Josiah Pierce, of Gorham, Me., had heard nothing from his father that would warrant an imputation of the sort we are considering.* It was not usual among the self-respecting groups of New England households, the staple of the thrifty country towns of those days, where there was a minister that had authority, where neighbors had mutual over- sight, and the law and its officers had cognizance of private relations now released from its control, it was not usual that a fatherless child should be wronged in property rights, or even in domestic privileges. Indeed, so far was young Thompson from being neglected or misused in his early years, that it seems from the facts to be now related of his boyhood and apprenticeship, he was, for one in his place, unusually favored by friends and by fostering help. There were evidently many of his kindred, and of those who were not of his kindred, who were interested for him. It is to be considered, * In Volume XXXIII. of Silliman's American Journal of Science, &c., p. 21, is a " Sketch of the early History of Count Rumford, in which some of the Mistakes of Cuvier and others of his Biographers are corrected"} by John Johnston. Read before the Natural History Society of the Wesleyan University, June 30, 1837. The writer does correct some mistakes, but makes others. This article introduces a letter from the Hon. Josiah Pierce, in which he says, "My grandmother (Rumford's mother) lived in my father's house for seven years previous to her death, which occurred June n, 1811." 12 Life of Count Rumford. too, that he exercised the patience and sympathy of his friends somewhat severely, till the bent of his genius, asserting and proving itself, offered a more favorable interpretation of what had appeared in him as fickle- ness, inconstancy of purpose, and even a determined unwillingness to apply himself to any routine and re- warding work. It may be as well to mention here one of the earliest and most valued and steadfast friends of young Thomp- son, his townsman and neighbor, and confidential inti- mate in boyhood, though his senior, the sharer with him in his early scientific tastes and pursuits, his sup- porter in the severe trouble which attended his opening manhood, and his correspondent and agent while abroad. This was the late Colonel Loammi Baldwin, of Woburn, a very distinguished officer in the early part of the Revo- lutionary War, and afterwards the most eminent engi- neer in our country, whose enterprise in the Middlesex Canal was the great work of its time. He was born January 10, 1744, nine years before Thompson, and died October 20, 1807, nearly seven years before his friend. It is to his interest in young Thompson from his boyhood, which led him to preserve papers of that period, as well as those which related to his mature years, that the biographer is very largely indebted. His only surviving son, George Rumford Baldwin, Esq., also a very eminent civil engineer, has kindly allowed me the free use of these papers of his father. The paternal grandfather, his maternal uncle, Joshua Simonds, the step-father, and the maternal grandfather, successively the responsible guardians of the child and youth, had in view, as a matter of course, to educate and train him for their own respectable way of living, Life of Count Rumford. 13 leaving to his own development and use of opportunities the chance of rising, as so many children around him and under similar circumstances with himself had risen, to any more conspicuous position. The lands which had been allotted to his progenitor, in the first settle- ment of the town, had of course been divided from time to time in the partition of his estate among the steadily increasing number of his descendants. But some of them had added to their respective shares, and clearing and tillage had made portions of the original acres more valuable than the whole had been. The child's grand- father had died previously to October 16, 1755, for the agreement among his heirs, including that of the guar- dians of a minor son and of Benjamin, the grandson, bears that date. By this instrument, it was provided that his mother, Ruth, should have the improvement "of one half of the garden at the west end" of the house where her child and she had been living with his grandparents, and " the privilege of land to raise beans for sauce." The guar- dian of her child's minor uncle was likewise to "give the said widow eighty weight of beef, eight bushels of rye, two bushels of malt, and two barrels of cider for the present year"; while she also had the "liberty of gathering apples to bake, and three bushels of apples for winter, yearly and every year." (See Appendix.) When the boy was taken to his step-father's, Mr. Pierce, according to the custom of the time and com- munity, covenanted with the child's guardian for an allowance of two shillings and fivepence, old tenor, per week, for maintenance, till his step-son should be seven years old. If Pictet and Cuvier received an impression from the 14 Life of Count Rumford. Count that any wrong had been done him in his child- hood by his grandfather's unequal distribution of his estate, their informant failed' to explain to them the dif- ferent usage which prevailed in New England from that followed in Europe in the partition of property on the decease of the head of a family. The Rev. Samuel Bewail, the faithful historian of the town of Woburn, coming of a family which has given three chief-justices to Massachusetts, might well be supposed to hold the laws of his native State in reverent regard. His impartiality, therefore, is to be recognized in the fidelity with which he represents the shortcom- ings of that town, in some periods of its history, in evading the statutes which so carefully provided for the interests of a common-school education for all children. But at the time in which Benjamin Thompson was in his early pupilage, the town was particularly favored in having for a village school-teacher an accomplished and faithful man, Mr. John Fowle, a graduate of Harvard College in 1747. It is evident from the handwriting of Thompson when he was only thirteen years of age, from the spelling and the almost faultless grammatical expressions in his letters and compositions before he had reached manhood, and from his skill in accounts, that he had not only had remarkable native powers, but that he had also been the subject of careful and thorough training. His chirography was clear, strong, and ele- gant, and it remained the same through his life. Nor was his style one whit inferior in terseness, exactness, and simplicity to that of Franklin. The high authority of Mr. George B. Emerson has been given for the asser- tion, that, under the mode of instruction through which young Thompson and his contemporaries enjoyed the Life of Coitnt Runiford. 15 opportunities provided by law in Massachusetts, there was afforded a better training, and to better results, than are realized now from all our elaborate provisions for public; education.* Thompson, like other youths, was entitled only to a " grammar-school education/* that is, to be taught to read, to spell, to write, to construct sentences gram- matically, and to understand the rules of arithmetic. The range was a narrow one compared with that which is professedly covered now. But the lessons that were taught, and the way of teaching them, were such as to quicken 'the faculties, and to excite, if it was latent in the pupil, a desire for more, while affording him help to attain it. There was also an able and faithful min- ister in young Thompson's parish, the Rev. Josiah Sherman, a part of whose official duty it was to exercise a supervision over the village school and over fatherless children. There were no manuals for English grammar in those days, and as a substitute was found in a Latin text-book, a bright pupil incidentally acquired "an entrance" into that tongue. Thompson indicated from his early years an incon- stancy and indifference to the homely routine tasks and the rural employments which were required of him, while, at the same time, he exhibited an intense mental activity, a spirit of ingenuity and inventiveness, and was found seeking for amusement in things which afterwards proved to lead him to the profitable and beneficent occupations of his mature life. He showed a particular ardor for arithmetic and mathematics, and it was remem- bered of him, afterwards, that his playtime, and some of * Lecture in Historical Course before the Lowell Institute, on "Education in Mas- sachusetts : Early Legislation and History," February 16, 1860. 1 6 Life of Count Rumford. his proper worktime, had been given to ingenious me- chanical contrivances, soon leading to a curious interest in the principles of mechanics and natural philosophy. His guardians, of course, undertook, as their respon- sibility, to engage him in the practical drudgery of country life, that he might be fitted for work which would promise direct results. So far as they found they were likely to fail in this purpose, they would regard him as indolent, flighty, and unpromising. He was also, for a while, a pupil in a school at Byfield, under the charge of a family connection. In 1764, when he was eleven years old, he was for a time put under the tuition of Mr. Hill, an able teacher in Medford, a town adjoining Woburn. Thus it would seem that the youth, for one born in his sphere of life, was not neglected. There is abundant evidence, likewise, that many kind friends were interested in him before he began to draw others to serve his aims. Young Baldwin alone was invaluable to him. It being plain to his guardians that he was either too good of too unpromising material out of which to make a thriving farmer, the alternative was to train him for a merchant or trader. To this end, on October 14, 1766, he was apprenticed to Mr. John Appleton of Salem, an importer of British goods, and a dealer in all the miscellaneous articles which formed the stock of a warehouse in so flourishing and rich a place as that town then was. Mr. Appleton was a man of great respectability, and did a large business. I have before me a bill for goods bought from the store, receipted by Thompson when he was fourteen years old, which, for grace of penmanship, mercantile style, and business-like signature, might be regarded as proving that the youth Life of Count Rumford. 17 had found his proper position. He lived in his master's family as a member of the household. But there is something better than tradition to warrant the inference that his heart was not in his employment. Instead of watching for customers over the counter, he was apt to busy himself with tools and instruments which he had hid away under it. And, when the sound would not betray him, he ventured to play his fiddle, for he was a skilful musician, and passionately fond of music of every kind. The following document, relating to the apprentice- ship of young Thompson with Mr. Appleton, has a claim to be introduced here on that ground, if not, also, as an illustration of the exercise of the right of private judgment in the art of spelling and in the use of capital letters.* " To MR. JOHN APPLETON IN SALAM. j "MEDFORD, June ye 26: 1767. "M? APPELTON, Sir, these lins left us all well, as I hope they may find you. Thompson has wrote to me diuers times about his affairs, and he saith he is Contented, and hath Sum priuyledge of trade for him Self, and that you, Sir, would let him haue Sum fish to Ship, if I would send you an order for them : acordingly I send one inclosed. Pray Sir, if he Shipeth any thing, See it insured in a proper manner. Sir, if Ben Sends to Sea and dont make Pay, let me haue Notis of it. Pray, Sir, tak Spechal Care about the Company he keeps, and I should be glad to know the General Run of his behauour, both as to trade and Company : and if you will fauour me with an acount there of, I shal tak is as fauour. As to his Cloath, I Exspect his * The original manuscript was communicated at a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society, in October, 1864, by the Assistant Librarian, the late Dr. John Appleton, to whose grandfather it was addressed, and is published in the Proceedings of the Society for that year, pp. 4, 5. VOL. II. 2 1 8 Life of Coitnt Rumford. Mother will giue me and a Count there of, Sir, I hear you Hue Shingel as yet, but dont Exspect it will be so long. Sir, Remem- ber me to Ben 1 } and to M* West. No more at this time. So I Remain yours to Serue, "JOSHUA SIMONDS." John Sparhawk Appleton, of Salem, the son of the gentleman to whom the above letter is addressed, has appended to it the following: "Benjamin Thompson (afterwards Sir Benjamin, and Count Rumford) was apprenticed to John Appleton, merchant, Salem, Octo- ber 14, 1766, with whom he continued until about October, 1769, as appears by some memoranda sent to Professor Levi Hedge, Cambridge, this 25th March, 1817." In a memoir of the late Francis Peabody, President of the Essex Institute in Salem, communicated to that body by Hon. C. W. Upham, a very interesting reference is made to the temporary residence of young Thompson in that town. Mr. Upham traces that very laborious and flourishing institution back through a series of organizations, all having scientific and literary objects in view, to a social evening club, formed about the middle of the last century to promote literature and philosophy. Beginning at that date, Salem and its* neighborhood was the home of many prominent men, distinguished for enterprise in commerce and for attain- ments in law, science, and manufacturing skill, whose names are now famous in the history of the past. Mr. Upham suggests that the lad of thirteen years, from the farm in Woburn, must have found, from his genius for observation and the improvement of opportunities, some efficient impulse and help for his future course in the place of his service. His employer, though Life of Co^lnt Rumford. 19 keeping a retail variety-store, after the style of that day, under the same roof with his dwelling-place, on the south side of Essex Street, was also engaged in com- mercial pursuits. His apprentice had open eyes and ears for all that was to be seen or heard, in store or house, from customers or visitors ; and his mechanical and chemical propensities were well known. Doubtless he was employed by others in the preparation of the fireworks, in glorification over the repeal of the Stamp Act, in the composition of which he met with so severe an accident. The properties of gunpowder were then, as they continued to be, a favorite matter for his studies and experiments.* In his confidential relation of the incidents of his early life to Monsieur Pictet, it will be remembered that the Count, as reported by his friend, spoke of a very respectable and enlightened minister, " Mr. Ber- nard," who gave him such efficient patronage and such impulse in his mathematical studies. Many who have followed with interest the career of Thompson, meeting with this name of Bernard, copied from Pictet's state- ment in sketches of Count Rumford's life, supposing it to refer to the minister of his native town, have been puzzled in identifying him. The name, in his case, as in that of one of our royal Governors, Sir Francis Ber- nard, and of his son Thomas, a very intimate friend of Rumford's, in London, was confounded with Barnard. It was in Salem, not in Woburn, that young Thompson found this friend. The Rev. Thomas Barnard was the minister of the First Church in Salem from 1755 to 1776. His eldest son, Thomas, after graduating from Harvard in 1766, taught school in Salem, and was * Essex Institute Historical Collections. Second Series. Vol. I. Part II. 1869. 2O Life of Count Rumford. ordained as minister of the North Church there in 1773. Both of these ministers were men of marked ability and fine scholarship, took part in founding or purchasing, successively, the " Social Library," the " Kirwan Library/' and the cc Philosophical Library," represented now by the cc Salem Athenaeum," and gave much attention to scientific pursuits. The Appleton family, and of course young Thompson as a member of it, worshipped with the congregation of the elder Bar- nard. The son coming to teach in Salem in the same year in which Thompson began his apprenticeship there, and having a younger brother who was one of Thomp- son's "companions," we find in the facts a full expla- nation of the assertion of M. Pictet. Thompson was a handsome and engaging youth, of evidently bright faculties. The interest of his minister was thus drawn to him, and he probably received the aid and encourage- ment of the new teacher. It was thus that he was " taught algebra, geometry, astronomy, and even the higher mathematics," so that before the age of fifteen he was able to calculate an eclipse. The subjoined letter, from the boy to his friend in Woburn, contains one word of faulty grammar, which, as unusual with him, is to be accounted as a slip of the pen : "SALEM, Nov. 12, 1768. " DEAR SIR, I did not go to Mr. Derby's after them Pis tols till yesterday, but he had not got them, having sent them home some time before (for they were not his). But he told me another man had got them who lived up in Danvers about a mile. Upon this I rode up to this man, but he had sent them home to the owner, about two or three days before, who lives at Beverly. This man saith that the price is four dollars. The Barrels are very good, the locks but ordinary. If you conclude BOOK-PLATE ENGRAVED BY BENJAMIN THOMPSON ABOUT 1768 { PAOE 21.) Life of Count Rumford. 2 1 to take them, I can get them at that price, but I don't think much under. Votre tres humble Serviteur, Monsieur, BN THOMPSON. To MR. LOAMMI BALDWIN, Woburn. We must regard the perseverance of the youth in going, in his spare time, in so many directions, to hunt up " them Pistols," as an offset to the inelegance in describing them. His skill and ingenuity, which are said to have been remarkable in this exercise of them, were constantly put to use by the boys of his acquaintance, in engraving upon the handles of their knives and other implements the names and certain devices of their owners. Doubt- less, also, his facility in this work was improved by elder persons in marking silver. Indeed, he was an able and accurate draughtsman, and an accomplished designer. I have before me a copy of an engraved plate, wrought by him when in Salem, three inches and five eighths long by two inches and seven eighths broad. From the lopped bough on one side of an old and top- less tree is suspended a shield, and from a green shoot on the other side a square and compass. The shield, inscribed " B. Thompson," is beautifully proportioned, and traced with all the heraldic accompaniments. On the upper right-hand corner an open eye is looking from a quarter of a radiated sun, below which is a ship in full sail. Beneath the shield is a young lion couched, an open and a closed book, a sword, and another com- pass. This work seems to have been intended for a book-plate. Like other geniuses in mechanical inventions, ex- cepting only that, being brighter than many of them, 22 Life of Count Rumford. Thompson's delusions came in early youth and were sooner outgrown in manhood, he experimented upon the desideratum of a machine which should realize " perpetual motion." He even thought he had been successful in contriving one. He had the privilege of making occasional visits to his family in Woburn, gen- erally of brief duration, and his conveyance was neces- sarily upon his own feet, and the time taken was not to interfere with his duties to his employer. His friend Baldwin records* that Thompson walked one night from Salem to Woburn, in order to show him parts of this wonderful instrument of wheels, and to explain its mechanical powers. The friend, however, adds that he " was never able to gain any information concerning the principles upon which it was expected to act." Though the young apprentice was well understood in Salem to be a dabbler in a great many pursuits and occupations, with tools and experiments and mechanics and chemistry, which did not appertain to his calling with his employer, it does not appear that he failed of rendering him due service. He undoubtedly had an aversion to the business, while compelled by supposed necessity to commit himself to it. His apprenticeship covered a period of intense popular excitement over the preliminary events leading to the Revolutionary War. The youth must have heard the heated discussions of the time, and been more or less initiated understand- ingly into the merits of the issue which was soon to open, disastrously as it at first seemed to bear on his own personal experience. His employer was among the signers of the non-importation agreement, by which the mercantile and trading class in the Province sought to * In the "Literary Miscellany," Cambridge. Vol. I. pp. 352-361. Life of Count Rumford. t 23 express their resentment, in conformity with the popular feeling against the oppressive measures of the British Ministry. This agreement, which the watchful patriots took care should be strictly kept even by those who might have reluctantly entered into it, of course so affected the business of Mr. Appleton as to make the services of Thompson less necessary to him. In the mean while the boy, more engaged, we must venture to say, in his scientific experimenting than in the cause of demonstrative patriotism, came very near to losing his eyesight, if not also his life, by an alarming accident. He had undertaken to prepare some fireworks for use in a public jubilation over the news of the repeal of the Stamp Act. While grinding his materials in a mortar, a terrific explosion, probably caused by some grains of sand in the compound, involved his head, hands, and breast in its fearful consequences. He suffered a long confinement and much pain, and was regarded as very fortunate in escaping permanent injury. The following correspondence shows that young Thompson was at home, probably in a state of con- valescence, at the time of its date : " WOBURN, Allgt. 14, 1769 " MR. LOAMMI BALDWIN, " SIR, Please to give the Direction of the Rays of Light from a Luminous Body to an Opake, and the Reflection from the Opake Body to another equally Dense and Opake ; viz 1 , the Direction of the Rays of the Luminous Body to that of the Opake, and the direction of rays by reflection to the other opake Body. Your, &c. "BENJ* THOMPSON. " N. B. From the Sun to the Earth, Reflected to the Moon at an angle of 40 Degrees." 24 Life of Count Rumford. " WOBURN, Augt 1 6, 1769. " MR. BENJ. THOMPSON, " SIR, It is almost impossible to describe the" directions the rays pass. Suppose one was at the Equinoctial Line, at twelve o'clock. At that place then I imagine that the rays of the Sun would pass directly straight to the eye of the beholder. But suppose the Sun to be just arising, then I imagine that the rays would pass in a curve line, and so grow straighter as it rises higher in the horizon. The reason is, I conjecture, owing to the Vapours that ascend out of the earth. I would prove it thus. Take a bowl and put a dollar in it, and then carefully filling it with fair water, till it seems to be heaped as it will do if the brim was dry, and go off to a distance that brings your eye level with the top of the bowl, and you can see the dollar in the bottom of the bowl ; and that air nigh the ground is something of the same nature is the opinion of " Your Humble Servant, "LOAMMI BALDWIN." "WOBURN, August 1 6th, 1769. " MR. LOAMMI BALDWIN, " SIR, Please to inform me in what manner fire operates upon Clay, to change the Colour, from the Natural Colour to red, and from red to black, &c. ; and how it operates upon Silver, to change it to Blue. " I am your most Humble, and Obedient Servant, "BENJf THOMPSON. " God save the King." " WOBURN, Aug* 1769. " MR. LOAMMI BALDWIN " SIR, Please to give the Nature, Essence, Beginning of Existence, and Rise of the Wind in General, with the whole Theory thereof, so as to be able to answer all Questions relative thereto. " Yours, "BENJ. THOMPSON." Life of Count Rumford. 25 The following is written on the back of the above : " WOBURN, Augt 1 5th, 1769. " SIR, There was but few beings (for Inhabitants of this world) created before the airy Element was : so it has not been transmitted down to us how the Great Creator formed the matter thereof. So I shall leave it till I am asked only the Natural cause, and why it blows so many ways in so short a time as it does." In the autumn of 1769, Thompson was sent to Bos- ton, to engage in a business similar to that which he had been learning at Salem. He was put as an appren- tice clerk with Mr. Hopestill Capen, a dry-goods dealer. Here he had as a fellow-apprentice the late Samuel Park- man, who became, after the Revolutionary War, one of the largest and richest merchants of Boston. Thomp- son records the beginning of his attendance on a French school, held in the evening, on October 27, 1769. He remained in this situation till the spring of the following year, and would appear then to have left it from the falling off in the business of his employer, who had also entered into the non-importation agreement. I have seen it stated as a matter of fact by one of Count Rumford's biographers, in a sketch already re- ferred to,* that young Thompson, while in the employ of Mr. Capen, was present on the 5th of March, 1770, on the occasion known to fame and popular oratory as " the Boston Massacre " ; when the hated soldiery, repre- senting, in our capital, the cause of tyranny, goaded by the jeers and insults of a street crowd of boys and men, fired into it and killed four victims. It is said that Thompson "was there found, sword in hand, among the most eager to attack those whom he considered the * American Journal of Science. Vol. XXXIII. p. 24. 26 Life of Count Rumford. enemies of his country." There may be tradition to authenticate this statement, which came as from a trust- worthy source to the writer of it. But I know of no documentary attestation of it. Fortunately there is preserved a very interesting and suggestive relic, which Mr. Thompson left behind him in his abrupt departure from his home, for reasons soon to be stated, and which is very significant of the tastes and occupations of his youth. It is a memorandum- book of substantial linen paper, with parchment cover and a brass clasp, some leaves of which have been cut out, thirty-six of those it may have originally contained being still left. This memento is now before me ; and the fragmentary information and the curious matter of its contents may be turned to a profitable account. * The contents of the book are, as will be seen, very miscellaneous, giving tokens of the bent of genius of the youth, with anticipatory hints of the characteristics and occupations of his mature life. The boy in this case was certainly father of the man. About fifty of the seventy-two remaining pages have upon them some sketch or record ; the others, unfortunately, being blank. Twenty of the pages at the beginning and the end of the book contain a most extraordinary variety of sketches and etchings with pen and pencil, some of them being colored by paints. A portion of these are but rude and of faint outlines ; but others of them give evidence of a skilful and accurate draughtsman, with an eye for proportions, with correct perspective and a cun- ning hand. There are caricature sketches of human physiognomy and forms, men and women, young and * The book belongs to Joseph B. Walker, Esq., of Concord, N. H., a descendant of the father of Count Rumford's first wife. I am indebted to Mr. Walker's courtesy for the privilege of using the book, as for other valued favors. Life of Coitnt Rumford. 27 old, grave and gay ; a full figure, with laughing coun- tenance, strongly marked, and outstretched arm, entitled " My Dear Democritus " ; the figure of a wigged and spectacled preacher, which, it is to be feared, represents, not reverently, the Rev. Mr. Sherman of Woburn, in whose meeting-house, it will appear, he paid the hire of a seat ; an old-fashioned gentleman in grotesque courtly costume, with cane, tie wig, and plumed hat, entitled " Harry Modiste," pointed at frcm behind by a railing jester, asking, " Ha ! you red nose, how will you sell your wig? by the Cord ? " a winged cherub; a female form with an ass's head, holding an open hymn-book, singing; a swordsman, and two fencers in attitude. There is a sketch of an old-fashioned corner dwelling- house, with a shop under it, which may be that of Mr. Appleton in Salem, or of Mr. Capen in Boston. There is an etching of a group, called " A Council of State," including a jackass and twelve human heads, 28 Life of Count Rumford. with a variety of most expressive caricature features. In this sketch the roguish artist seems to have antici- pated an innovation of our own times, as he has intro- duced both a young and an old woman into this Coun- cil, with two other faces that may belong to either sex. There is an admirably drawn psalm-book, open and showing the notes of a tune, and a well-shaded scroll. There are boats and ships, a table with bottles and glasses, pistols, Indian tomahawks, and human bones. Here is indeed a boyish medley, but indicating a wonderful versatility. The earliest entry of a more serious character is without date, and contains a recipe for making rock- ets, &c., giving the proportions of powder, sulphur, saltpetre, and charcoal for rockets of different .sizes, with the following directions, accompanied by ink- drawn sketches : u The Composition for middle-size Rockets, may serve for Serpents and for Raining Fire. Composition for Stars 4 oz. Saltpetre, 2 oz. Brimstone, 2 oz. Powder, ground fine and made into a paste, and rolled into little balls, and then on dry gun- powder dust, then dry them. The Tail of the Rocket should be seven times as long as the Rocket itself. " A Compound Rocket has a head filled with Serpents, Crackers, Stars, &c., or fire-balls, or any combustibles, having a piece of leather covered over the top of the Rocket, with small holes burnt through the middle of it, to let the fire through to the Crackers, &c., having some dry ground powder in the head. " A double Rocket is one placed above another, with goose quill placed from the lower to the bottom of the upper one. "To make a Report: When you have filled the Rocket within about two inches of the top, thrust down a piece of leather about the bigness of the hole of the Rocket, and punch Life of Count Rumford. 29 it full of holes in the middle with a bodkin, then strew a little dust of powder ground fine, and fill the rest up with unground powder, and stop up the remaining part with leather or paper, and stop it up." The recipe closes with the somewhat irrelevant reflec- tion: " Love is a Noble Passion of the Mind. LOVE." The first entry in the book that bears a date is as follows: " Boston, October 27th, 1769. This evening entered French School to Learn the French Language, at six pounds, fifteen shillings, Old Tenor, per Quarter Anni, to go every evening except Sunday; deducting the time I am absent." This is followed by a table of dates reaching through November, and showing ten occasions of absence to eighteen of attendance. Thompson was then in his seventeenth year, and an apprentice to Hopestill Capen in the dry-goods trade in Boston. He records the purchase, on December 21, 1769, of two and a half yards of black cloth, and his indebtedness to Hiram Thompson, his uncle, for rent of a part of a pew from August i, 1770. He had a settlement with this kinsman on November 11, 1771, offsetting pew- rent and the use of a horse to Reading and Boston by charges against Hiram for cutting and carting fire-wood. He had similar transactions in fuel with his step-father, Josiah Pierce, and with James Snow. His loads were generally small ones, seldom more than half a cord each, showing that while he needed thus to earn money, he did not like any long job of the kind. He received a pound, old tenor, per cord. On April 6, 1771, he made a contract with Abraham Alexander to cut and cord for him seven or eight cords at nine shillings per cord. These economical entries are very pleasantly diversified by the following " Directions for the Back Sword " : - 30 Life of Count Rumford. " I. To put yourself in a proper posture of Defence, viz* hold your Sword firm in your Right hand, with your point elevated as high as your Antagonist's head, and your hilt a little depressed, bringing your sword to range with your Antago- nist's body and with his eyes: then step forward with your right foot about a foot, forming a square with your two feet : then stand upright and take your distance, just so as to touch your Antagonist's breast : then bend your left knee, which will bring your body in a proper Posture of Defence." (From Mr. McAlpine). This is illustrated by a sketch in ink of two fashion- able combatants engaged in the exercise. The following entry carries much interest with it : An Account of what Expence I have been at towards getting an Electrical Machine. s. d. 1771. July. J pd. brass wyer 050 I yd. iron wyer i 3 i pd. 7 oz. Pewter to make bullets, &c. pd. Cowdry for 3 bells i 10 o Aug 8t To Baldwin's Horse to Reading, " 1 2 To Cash paid for old Brass, 9 3 To i Book Brass Leaf 026 " 1 6 To Cash paid for i yd Brass wyer 026 do I book Leaf Brass 026 do 2 Oil Bottles 5 3 do pd. Copper Fileings 026 do oz. Silver Brons 090 do i oz. Shell Lac 076 Life of Count Rumford. 31 s. d. 1771. Aug 5 * 1 6 To Cash gill Laquer 050 do i Varnishing Brush 030 do 3 oz? Aqua Fortis 076 To 2 phials, i for Laquer, the other for Aqua Fortis 026 " 23 Paid for Mr. R. Baldwin's horse to go to Cowdry for Brass Work 046 To Stuff to make a Wheel, p J une 4th ' I77 ' " SIR, Having received your favour of this afternoon, I find a Question proposed to me, in answer to which I say first I acted wrong in leaving Mr. Johnson's house before you were ready. But as to slighting your company or friendship, I can truly say I never meant it, and had I not expected you would have overtaken us, I never would nor should have left the house without you. But you may say I had no reason to expect you to overtake me. In answer to that, I say, I knew nothing of your affairs in the boat, among the fish, but what I gathered from Mr. A. Thompson's talk when he came up. He said he would eat his dinner and tackle the horses in the carriage and go along. Dr. Hay said he would eat his dinner with him and go along slowly, for his horse was very dull. He said you would overtake him before he got to Lynn town, as you would have nothing to do but to eat your dinner and set out after. " I considered no more of the matter, but ate my dinner with him, went and got the horses, brought yours to the door and paid part for his keeping, and left word with Mrs. Johnson to receive the rest, and set out, not doubting but you would over- take me. " I see no reason why you was so much more affronted with me than with Dr. Hay, except the trouble you took to procure me a horse (which I own was very kind). But you was at much trouble, I should think, in taking care of the Doctor's fish, in gutting and cleaning them, wetting and nastying yourself with them. Be that as it may but to return. " As to my talk after our return from Nahant, you must Life of Count Rumford. 39 judge of it as of a person in anger, as I suppose we both were, and I believe no person on earth can answer for all they say when in anger. I believe if I had been in your place I should have been angry ; but this I must affirm, that what reason I have given you to be affronted with me, it was not through any dislike to your company, or in any way wilfully to affront you, but entirely through inadvertence and unthoughtfulness. For if I had thought a moment it would have been just as well to have stopped till you was ready, and then both of us have overtaken the Doctor. But as I did not do it, 'tis impossible to do it now. " And thus I think I have answered your question to me ; and if you think me worth your further notice, I shall be very glad to hear further from you, as soon as shall suit your con- venience. And I shall conclude with subscribing myself, Sir, your friend and humble servant, BENJ* THOMPSON. cc MR. THOMPSON, " SIR, I have just received your letter, by hand of your little Brother [Josiah Pierce, 3d]. The sequel of which (if sincerely, sentimentally wrote, and not from some private view dormant to me) is almost to my entire satisfaction. And had it been offered the day after we were at Nahant, it had pre- vented anything further than a reprimand, which my then pres- ent exasperated state must have discharged. You quere why you are so much more to blame than the Doctor. I consider that I did not expect that you were going to make up with me on the Doctor's account, but only on your own. So I understood only with you. But the Doctor must think differently from what he said the other day, before I shall think of him as I did before. And if he catches me so again before he has made me some satisfaction for what is past I '11 not blame him. But not to detain you with my intentions with regard to the Doctor, I shall proceed to inform you, if my company is agreeable to you, you are welcome, and any apartment in my house at present You may wonder at this last expression. But I expect to have an apartment that I can't admit my brother into, at certain times, before long. 40 Life of Count Rumford. " But not forgetting the first proposed question, I answer that I arn ready to join in such a Society with you, and shall attend upon it as far as my business will permit which calls for me now. So I must conclude, acknowledging myself your recon- ciled friend, and " Humble servant, "L. BALDWIN. " WOBURN, June 5, 1770." The letter which succeeds is without date, but must have been written before the preceding had been re- ceived. The variance between the friends could not have been a very deep, nor a permanent one. u MR. BALDWIN, " SIR, Some time before our unhappy difference we talked of forming a Society amongst us, for propagating learning and useful knowledge by means of questions to be proposed to a certain number of persons, and each person to bring his answer to said question proposed. "And I don't doubt but by this means we might render our- selves very useful to one another, and I see no just cause why our late difference should be any impediment to this affair. But if my being one in said Society be the reason for your not joining, I shall be very sorry to be the cause of depriving you of so much pleasure as will naturally accrue to one of your genius. u Sir, I should be extremely glad if you would favor me with a line or two (since I am denied talking with you) with your sentiments on the affair, and your answer to this. In so doing you will oblige, "Your most humble servant, "BEN]*. THOMPSON. "P. S. I have made the book to enter the questions and answers in. " Yours, &c., B. T. " To him I thought once I might call " my friend, MR. L. BALDWIN." Life of Count Rumford. 41 The place, unnamed, where Thompson, in his memo- randa, records that he taught school " six weeks and three days," was doubtless the pleasant town of Brad- ford, on the Merrimack. Here he was so well esteemed for faithful services that he was sent for to Concord, New Hampshire, higher up the same river, by Colonel Timothy Walker, and offered a situation in a school of a higher grade, which would secure him a permanent position. Concord, under its Indian name of Pena- cook, had been claimed on its settlement by the Eng- lish as being within the bounds and jurisdiction of Massachusetts. As such it had been incorporated, in 1733 34, as a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, under the name of Rumford, probably from a town of that name, generally called Romford, about twelve miles from London, whence some of the original set- tlers in the New England wilderness had emigrated. The name has interest for us, as it was chosen by Benjamin Thompson for a title when he was made a " Count of the Holy Roman Empire." The name of the town was changed to Concord, to mark the restoration of harmony after a long period of agita- tion as to its provincial jurisdiction and its relations with its neighbors. It was gratitude which prompted Thompson to ma^e the name of Rumford titular, and, as we have seen, he expressed most tenderly and reverently his sense of obligation to the venerated minister of the place, his patron, guide, and father- in-law. Thompson had reason for this gratitude and sense of obligation. Had he fallen upon peaceful times, and made his native country his home for life, the propitious start which he received in Concord and the 42 Life of Coitnt Rumford. friends which there made his family circle would have secured his high position and success. The Rev. Timothy Walker, the first minister of Concord, New Hampshire, himself a native of Wo- burn, and connected already with the Thompson family, had joined the fortunes of the early settlers in 1730 as their spiritual guide, and continued in their service as such till his death, September 2, 1782, after a minis- try of fifty-two years. He was one of that class of ministers, characteristic of New England from its colo- nization down nearly to our own times, who, while holding a position and authority officially and conven- tionally supreme among the people of a settlement, proved worthy of esteem, and used their influence for unqualified good. Mr. Walker was the most honored citizen of Concord, as well as its beloved minister, and he has been honored in the line of his descendants. He had been thrice sent on missions to England on business connected with the disputes about the juris- diction of the town and province, and had there im- pressed the legal counsel which he employed, and the tribunal before which he was heard, in a manner that insured his success. He also used his opportunities abroad for observation and acquisition, so as to enhance his influence at home. His son, Colonel Timothy Walker, a lawyer, was also a man of talent and po- sition. But next to the minister, just previous to Thomp- son's visit to Concord, Colonel Benjamin Rolfe held place and power in the village. He was the squire, was rich and public-spirited. He is distinguished as having been the first owner and driver of a curricle and a pair of horses in New Hampshire, always excepting Life of Count Rumford. 43 the Governor's at Portsmouth. Colonel Rolfe having lived as a bachelor till he was about sixty years old, then married Sarah, the daughter of the Rev. Timothy Walker, she being at the time about thirty. Un- fortunately, some of the interleaved almanacs in which the good minister was in the habit of entering his official acts and matters of church record have been lost, and thus we are left in ignorance of some dates which would interest us. The Concord town records say that Sarah Walker was born October 6, 1739. She was marr i e d to Colonel Rolfe in 1769. They had one son, after- wards Colonel Paul Rolfe. The father died Decem- ber 21, 1771, in his sixty-second year, leaving to his widow and son a large estate. He built a fine house at the so-called " Eleven Lots," since known as the Rolfe House. It was here that his widow, as the wife of Count Rumford, lived, and on the I9th of January, 1792, died at the age of fifty-two. When Benjamin Thompson went to Concord as a teacher he was in the glory of his youth, not having yet reached manhood. His friend Baldwin describes him as of a fine manly make and figure, nearly six feet in height, of handsome features, bright blue eyes, and dark auburn hair. He had the manners and polish of a gentleman, with fascinating ways, and an ability to make himself agreeable. So diligently, too, had he used his opportunities of culture and reading that he might well have shined even in a circle socially more ex- acting than that to which he was now introduced. We may anticipate here the conclusion to which the review of his whole career will lead us, that, as boy or man, he was never one to allow an opportunity of advance- ment to escape him. He seems to have given satisfac- 44 Life of Count Rumford. tion as a teacher. The traditions that linger in the older homes at Concord, like those at Wilmington, include a large element of reminiscences of certain ac- complishments and activities of the young teacher which were not of a strictly official character. He was skilled in vaulting and other athletic feats, and he won very early in his life the repute of gallantry. When Count Rumford, looking back from the achievements and honors of his foreign career, told his friend Pictet of his deep indebtedness to the Rev. Mr. Walker for kindly oversight and counsel, for fostering patronage, and for fatherly love, his thoughts must have turned into feelings as he tenderly recalled some happy scenes and hours in that country parson- age. There, and to the house of the younger Walker, Thompson often went to give account of his peda- gogueship and to enjoy social pleasures. There, too, and at other places, he would meet the daughter and sister in her early widowhood. He told Pictet that she married him, rather than he her. The tradition is that she facilitated what is often to the young man the difficult crisis in a relation which is easy before and after that crisis is past. An engagement was speedily effected between the parties with the entire approbation of the reverend father. The before-mentioned curricle, left among the effects of Colonel Rolfe, was now put to service. The lady invited the young teacher, who was no longer to preside over a school, to accompany her on an excursion to Boston, a drive of over sixty miles, she having friends on the way whose hospitality was sure. She took care, with his own efficient co-operation, to have him fur- nished in Boston with all that was requisite at that Life of Count Rumford. 45 time for fashionable array, including the offices of tailor and hair-dresser. Of course the color of his garments was his own favorite scarlet, ominous of the ill esteem into which he was soon to fall as too friendly to those whose military garb was of that hue. Tradition re- ports, that as the pair, not yet married, were on their homeward way, the lady ordered the curricle to stop at the door of Mrs. Pierce's house, the mother of her companion. That mother, being as yet ignorant of the change that had come over the fortunes of her son, was amazed at the apparition at her humble doorway, and especially at the gorgeous and extravagant array of her son, the village schoolmaster, and the not idle, but unprofitably busy experimenter. She is reported to have given vent to her surprise in the rebuking ques- tion, "Why, Ben! my son, how could you go and lay out all your winter's earnings in finery ? " The tradition continues that the mother, hesitating some- what about the character of her son's female com- panion and the explanation given by her, was finally, through the intervention of Dr. Hay, made to under- stand the circumstances of the case. She still wished time to think upon it, but on the next day gave her consent. (See Appendix.) Thompson said that he was married " at the age of nineteen." Here, again, the loss of the minister's almanac leaves us in ignorance of a date. Benjamin Thompson and Mrs. Sarah Walker Rolfe were mar- ried previously to January 18, 1773. Their daughter, and only child, Sarah, late Countess of Rumford, was born October 18, 1774, in the Rolfe mansion. I have found one date given for the marriage as " about No- vember, 1772," and it probably did take place then, or 46 Life of Count Rumford. nearer the close of that year. At that time Thompson would have been but four or five months short of twenty years of age, while his wife would have been thirty-three. This disproportion of years might have proved infelicitous in itself, had not a more serious misfortune soon resulted in a separation between them. Whether we are to recognize in this disparity of the parties one reason for the seeming indifference of the husband when in exile to the wife whom he had left at home, must be referred to the judgment of the reader. Mrs. Thompson, through her former husband, had made acquaintance at Portsmouth with Governor Went- worth and others in prominent society there. Thither she took her new husband on their marriage tour, and he soon became known to the Governor. The proba- ble date of this bridal tour furnishes another reason for believing that the marriage of Mr. Thompson took place in November, 1772. On the i3th of the month there was a grand military muster and review at Dover, ten miles from Portsmouth, of the officers and soldiers of the Second Provincial Regiment of New Hampshire. Governor Wentworth and some of his Council, with many gentlemen and ladies from Ports- mouth, attended it with considerable display and cere- mony. The Rev. Dr. Belknap, the admirable historian of New Hampshire, and then the minister of Dover, preached on the occasion a sermon which was thought by the officers worthy of the press, and it was published at their request. The festivities, which began in Dover, were transferred for their continuance to Portsmouth. The tradition has always been that Mr. Thompson here attracted the attention of the Governor at the review, was introduced to him, and was on the day following a Life of Count Rumford. 47 guest at his table. For the good fortune, if such it really were, which thus secured to him a questionable honor, he was indebted, as we shall find that he also was eleven years afterwards on the continent of Europe, to his fine appearance as he rode on horseback, as a spectator of a military review. Portsmouth was then the centre of much wealth and refinement. It had a mercantile class engaged in extensive business. Its crown officers, with others in government employ, and their associates in the administration of local affairs, made an aristocracy of influence and fashion. It was a time of growing alienations and fermenting discords, and the more prominent or influential the position of any individual, the more necessary was it for him to com- mit himself to a side, and, having done so, to act and speak as no longer neutral. Governor Wentworth rec- ognized in young Thompson, not only the representa- tive of a family already prominent in the public and social life of his Province, but also a man of unmis- takable promise, and of qualities that would be likely to work vigorously for any interests which he should espouse, especially if they were identified with his own. He determined, therefore, to make him an object of marked favoritism. A vacancy having occurred in a majorship in the Second Provincial Regiment of New Hampshire, Governor Wentworth at once commis- sioned Thompson to fill it. It was only as a matter of patronage from the royal Governor that the receipt of such a commission might be supposed to cool the spirit of patriotism in the young officer. It was not the place, but the source and manner of his elevation to it, that made it embarrassing to its possessor in his subsequent course. His fellow-officers found no diffi- 48 Life of Count Rumford. culty, when the time of trial came, in deciding whether they were to engage for or against the liberty of their native land. But this sudden elevation of Thompson, without military knowledge or experience, without even any personal claim, over men in the line of fair promotion who had seen actual service and had won their position, was a piece of simple folly on the part of the Governor; , and it was an act of weakness, if not of pure vanity, in Thompson to accept it, though it is affirmed that he had not asked it. He had himself not yet come of legal age, and he was lifted over veterans, the military men with well-known titles, as lieutenants and captains, in different country towns, when those titles were N some- thing more than tavern or roadside compliments. The young officer became the subject of jealous feeling and of hostile criticism. Every subordinate, as well as many of his superiors, were soon found to be his effective enemies. He made frequent calls upon the Governor, and it is evident that he appreciated and improved his oppor- tunities. The following letter to his friend the Rev. Mr. Williams, of Bradford, afterwards Professor at the College, indicates the high spirits in which Thompson returned from one of his visits to Portsmouth. "CONCORD, Monday, Jan'y i8th, 1773. " DEAR SIR, Last Friday I had the honour to wait upon his Excellency, Governour Wentworth, at Portsmouth, where I was very politely and agreeably entertained for the space of an hour and a half. I had not been in his company long before I pro- ceeded upon business, viz. to ask his Excellency whether ever the White Mountains had been surveyed. He answering me in the negative, I proceeded to acquaint him that there was Life of Count Rumford. 49 a number of persons who had thought of making an expedition that way next summer, and asked him whether it would be agreeable to his Excellency. He said it would be extremely agreeable, seemed excessively pleased with the plan, promised to do all that lay in his power to forward it, said that he had a number of Mathematical instruments (such as two or three telescopes, Barometer, Thermometer, Compass, &c.) at Went- worth House (at Wolfeborough, only about 30 miles from the mountains), all which, together with his library, should be at our service. That he should be extremely glad to wait on us, and to crown all he promised, if there were no public busi- ness which rendered his presence at Portsmouth absolutely neces- sary, that he would take his tent equipage and go with us to the mountain and tarry with us, and assist us till our survey, which he said he supposed would take about 12 or 14 days !!! !! !!!!! " My dear Mr. Williams, is not this a sweet gentleman ? one exactly suited to our taste, how charming ! how con- descending ! how easy and pleasant in conversation ! But you can form no adequate idea of him till you have been in his company. But to proceed. His Excellency asked me what gentlemen I thought would be likely to go. I told him I had mentioned it to several, but more especially to Mr. Williams of Bradford, who was a gentleman famous for bis Mathematical Genius, &c., &c., &c., &c. His Excellency answered that he had no particular acquaintance with you, but that he had heard of you as being a great Mathematician ! and Philosopher ! and should be extremely glad of your company and assistance in the affair. And further ! he desired me to give his compliments to you, and desire you to attend. " But stop ! I will not tell you any more till you come and see me as you promised ; then we will lay the whole plan of operation, and I will tell you a charming secret, something you would give the world to know. 'T is nothing about Magnetism, nor Electricity, nor Optics, nor Evaporation, nor Flatulances, nor Earthquakes. No, but 't is something twice as pretty ! something entirely new ; but it can't be revealed 4 50 Life of Count Rumford. except in the town of Concord. And I do solemnly protest by the third joint of St. Peter's great toe, that unless you come and see me this winter, you shall never know this grand Arcanum. "There will be an ordination at Hopkinton next week on Wednesday, and 't is only six miles from our house. Pray, try and come, so as to attend, if possible. If not, come as soon as you can, for 't is charming sleighing as ever was known. " Mrs. Thompson's Compliments to you and your lady, and begs you would give us the Pleasure of waiting on you both at Concord very soon. " Interim, we both remain Yours and Your Lady's most Obedient " Humble Servt 8 , "BENJA THOMPSON."* One might imagine the something "new" and " so pretty " here referred to was a fathers proud trophy of a babe. But this could not be. We may suppose that Major Thompson, with his versatility of talent, would not neglect any means of qualifying himself in knowledge and practice for a mili- tary career. As we shall see, when on his way ten-years afterwards to offer his services as a soldier to the Aus- trians, he confesses to having been passionately engaged with ardor for martial work. I am inclined to think that the entry in his memorandum-book, already copied, of " Directions for the Back Sword," is a memorial of his purpose and effort to train himself in the use of weapons as became a field-officer. He may have taken lessons from the Mr. McAlpine to whom he credits those directions, as I find the advertisements of that teacher in the New Hampshire Gazette of the dates * Copy of a letter of Benj. Thompson to Rev. Samuel Williams, LL. D., then at Meredith, N. H. I am indebted for this letter to Mr. Jos. B. Walker of Concord. Life of Count Riimford. 51 corresponding to Major Thompson's commission. Mr. Donald McAlpine appears to have been an itinerant practitioner, having pupils at Portsmouth, Newbury- port, and several other places. In his essay on his Experiments in Gunpowder, made in England in 1778 and 1779, Thompson speaks of himself as having been cc for many years " engaged in practical investigations of that subject. It would ap- pear that this was his first really scientific labor. The knowledge and skill which he professed when he first experimented abroad are evidences of. what he had al- ready done here at Salem, Woburn, and Concord, and afterwards, for a short time, in the camp of the New England forces at Cambridge. For a brief interval Thompson comes before us as a gentleman farmer, with a zeal exceeding that of the husbandmen around him who were content to culti- vate native crops. He had broad acres to till, and employed many laborers, among them some deserters from the British regiments in Boston. Here we have Thompson as a farmer. "CONCORD, July 1 7 th, 1773. " MR. L. BALDWIN, " SIR, As I am engaged in husbandry I have a mind to try some experiments in that way, and as my Mother informs me you are about to send to England for some Garden-seeds, against the spring, I should be extremely obliged if you would send the enclosed memorandum (or, rather, a copy of it) to Lon- don, so that I may have the seeds mentioned therein (or as many of them as can be had) as early in the spring as possi- ble. You may depend upon the cash for them as soon as they arrive, together with an ample reward for your trouble and ex- penses. u Please to write for them to come as soon as possible, for I 52 Life of Count Rumford. have 1 8 or 20 acres of land to lay down to grass in the spring, and shall want the grass-seed very much and very early. " Last evening I had the pleasure to receive a letter from his Excellency Governor Wentworth, in which, among others, is the following Paragraph, vi7,. c The many unexpected affairs of business that have hitherto employed me has consumed so much of my time this summer, that I am compelled to give up my proposed tour to the White Hills for this year. But I shall be very glad to see you at Wolfboro' at any time it may suit your convenience, as I hope to get my family there by the last week of August,' &c. u Thus you see we are disappointed this year ; perhaps next may prove more favorable. " I received your letters per Mr. Sables, but had not oppor- tunity to write by him. " Mrs. Thompson sends compliments (and we trust by this time congratulations would not be improper) to you and your Lady. [They were just in season for a child born June 22d.] " Have nothing new so must conclude with telling you the old story over again viz*, that I am with great truth and esteem "Your real friend a"- 1 Humble Servant, "BEN]* THOMPSON. " To MR. BALDWIN, Merchant in Woburn." " CONCORD, August 21, 1774. " DEAR SIR, I have been extremely busy this Summer, or I should have given myself the pleasure of coming to see you, but have not been able to get away as yet. " The seeds which you were so kind as to send to England for on my behalf, I will come or send for as soon as I can conveniently, when I will pay you, together with ample satis- faction for my not sending for them sooner. I should have sent a hand on purpose for them, but the season of their usefulness was past for this year before I received advice of their arrival. " I know you must be extremely altered, or a Philosophical and Mathematical Correspondence would be very agreeable to Life of Co^lnt Rumford. 53 you. I have, therefore, taken the liberty to propose the follow- ing Problem, which I send you not so much for the difficulty as the oddness of the Solution. " A certain Cistern has three Brass-Cocks : one of which will empty it in 15 minutes, one in 30 minutes, and the other in 60 minutes. Qu ? How long would it take to empty the Cis- tern if all three of the Cocks were to be opened at once ? " If you are fond of a correspondence of this kind, and will favour me with an easy question, Arithmetical or Algebraical, I will endeavour to give as good an account of it as possible. If you find out an answer to the above immediately, I hope you will not take it as an affront, my proposing anything which you may think so easy, for I must confess I scarce ever met with any little notion that puzzled me so much in my life. " You must give me leave to complain a little of your un- kindness in not letting me have so much as one line by so good an opportunity as Mr. Richardson. You used to profess friend- ship for me, I really thought it was not mere profession only. And I cannot but have charity for you yet. I suppose business the cares of the world prevented. Pray, don't fail to let me hear from you as often as possible. And believe me Really to be your Sincere friend, and " Humble Servant, "BENJf THOMPSON. " P. S.* Please to make mine and Mrs. Thompson's com- pliments to your Parents and Lady. " To MR. LOAMMI BALDWIN, Merchant in Woburn." It would have been natural, and according to the common precedents of the time and of the community in which he lived, for this promising and well-supported young man to have looked for civil office, first as a representative of Concord in the Provincial Assembly of New Hampshire, and then as one of the Governor's Council. But he would have needed what he seems not to have secured or enjoyed, the hearty confidence 54 Life of Count Rumford. and attachment of the common people, to have obtained any office in their gift. The time was near at hand when he found that patronage from any other quarter than that of the people was at least a disadvantage, not only as a bar to popular favor, but also as a reasonable ground of suspicion. It is pleasant, however, to close this chapter of the biography of Benjamin Thompson, leaving him at the first stage of success in a course which was to be splen- didly illustrated by distinctions and titular honors. As to the shadows which we are now to trace as gath- ering around his opening manhood, we may study them either in their own disagreeable aspects, or as subse- quent incidents and acts tend to drive them, if not into oblivion, at least into a considerate and softened esti- mate of their relatively unimportant character. CHAPTER II. Revolutionary Portents. Division of Parties. Governor Wentworth. Thompson 's Visits to Portsmouth. Mili- tary Review. Intimacy and Favor with the Gov- ernor. Commissioned Major. Jealousies and Enmi- ties. Accused of Toryism. Meditated Outrage. Flight from Concord. Refuge in Woburn, Charlestown, and Boston. His Petition and Examination. Letters to Mr. Walker. Visits the Camp. Seeks Employ- ment. Departure. Newport. Secret Residence in Boston. Sent to England. Confiscation of his Prop- erty. Proscribed. THE genius of which young Thompson had given such early ' and marked tokens might possibly have found at the time a sphere for its development and culture in his native country, either in peace or in war. The revolutionary struggle which began with his opening manhood, continuing for seven years, and clos- ing with heavy exactions upon all men of mental vigor and executive faculties in the arduous work of organ- izing an infant republic, would certainly have afforded for him a field in which he would as certainly have en- gaged his eminent abilities and won high distinction. It seemed as if accident, or rather the influence of cir- cumstances independent of, and even in opposition to, his own avowed inclinations, decided for him the issue whether he should side with his native country or 56 Life of Count Rumford. against it in its war of freedom. Happily for him, however, and for us, the great work of his life and his Cervices to humanity lead us away from battle- fields, and from the limitations of what is called pa- triotism. It is probable, on the other hand, that the bent of Thompson's genius, and the qualities of his natural character and temperament, needed a foreign field for their most favorable and congenial exercise. Like Franklin, he knew that he would meet with a. fuller appreciation, and find a stimulus and an efficient patron- age, only in the fellowship of men who had talent, means, and leisure for scientific inquiries and pursuits. It becomes necessary now to set down a matter-of- fact statement of the circumstances which led Thomp- son to abandon his home, leaving behind him his wife, to whom he owed so much, and whom he was never to see again, and his infant child; deserting, likewise, the cause of his native country, though with no pur- pose at. the time, as it would appear, of taking part against it. I shall content myself with a relation of those circumstances, not interposing any judgment of my own as a plea in his defence or as a verdict of con- demnation. The circumstances will have interest in themselves, illustrating very pointedly, in the case of an individual, an episode of history which bore with great severity upon the fortunes of large numbers. Young Thompson was essentially a courtier. He manifested in early manhood the tastes, aptitudes, and cravings which prompt their possessor, however hum- bly born, and under whatever repression from sur- rounding influences, to push his way in the world by seeking the acquaintance and winning the patronage Life of Count Rumford. 57 of his social superiors, who have favors and distinctions to bestow. Conscious of possessing talents and capaci- ties which would make the labors of a country farmer, or even of a pedagogue, distasteful, as well as inadequate for him, he would hardly be a congenial companion for those around him. The facility with which he adapted himself to court-life in Europe, to intimacies with nobles, to the ways of fashion, and to the culture of the intellectual classes, reflects back upon his early years the certainty that he could not have been popular with his townsfolk and neighbors, or even a sociable com- panion with his own kin. He was regarded from his boyhood as being above his position ; and while his inconstancy of Occupation gave him the repute of an idler and a dreamer, his dabblings with science were not interpreted as promises of a fruitful and serviceable life. He had also a noble and imposing figure, with great personal beauty, and with those whose acquaint- ance he cultivated he was most affable and winning in his manners. He had never been really indolent, but was ever seeking to rise. Doubtless, in the rustic labor which in his boyhood took him by himself into the forest to chop a load of wood and to team it to the market, to meet the frugal expenses of his livelihood, he kept his mind engaged upon the philosophy of even that work. We may be sure that he learned to wield the axe with scientific skill, and to economize his blows, while all the facilities of sledding, and logging, and adjusting a load would be acquired by experiment. The traditions already referred to of his extraneous performances in gymnastics while a school-teacher, fail to report to us what we may reasonably imagine, that he was the most diligent and acquisitive pupil in 58 Life of Coimt Rumford. his own school, and that there was no instructive book in the village, or in the not scanty library of his father- in-law, who had thrice been a sojourner in England, whose contents had not attracted him. His marriage, enabling him to give over the necessity of school-keeping, furnished him the leisure and the means for making excursions at his pleasure. Besides his acquaintance with Governor Wentworth at Ports- mouth, he had also, on visits with his wife to Boston, been introduced to Governor Gage, and several of the British officers, and had partaken of their hospitalities. Two soldiers who had deserted from the army in Bos- ton, finding their way to Concord, had been employed by him upon his farm. Thinking they would do better to return to their ranks and their comrades, they had sought for the intervention of their employer to secure them immunity from punishment. Thompson ad- dressed a few lines for this purpose to General Gage, asking, at the same time, that his own agency in their behalf should not be disclosed. I can find no positive and direct evidence of any unfriendly or unpatriotic act done by Mr. Thompson, or even of any speech of such a character attributed to him. None such is upon record. His friend, Colonel Baldwin, stood by him, as would appear, confidently and heartily. But his brother-in-law, the Hon. Tim- othy Walker, next to his father the most influential man in Concord, with other friends, by advising his leaving that town, help us to conjecture what may have been the facts of the case, though no witness ever ap- peared to testify against him when opportunity was given. Besides his acquaintance with the royal gov- ernors, the patronage he had received from one of them, Life of Count Rumford. 59 the intimacy in which he was supposed to stand with the other, the return of the deserters, and any degree of unpopularity which he may have had with his towns- men, Thompson had probably spoken his mind with some freedom, in a way to check the rising spirit of the people, in palliation of the measures of the King and ministry, and in distrust of the ability and success of the resistance which was to be made. This, I am inclined to think, was the extent of his " Toryism," aggravated by his youth, and perhaps not relieved by any modesty of utterance, caution, or deference. There were inflammable materials around him. There were very many older and far more conspicuous men than himself who, in the earliest stage of the revolutionary struggle, were forced against their own inclinations to take side with the royalist party, because they had spoken some hasty or deliberate words of hesitancy, and had been roughly treated for them. The actual rupture into hostilities against the British authority and arms had come suddenly, especially in New Hampshire, where, notwithstanding, it was de- cisive. Governor Wentworth had himself been quite popular in his Province. Before he had succeeded his uncle in his office, he had been strongly opposed to every measure of Great Britain which was regarded as encroaching upon our liberties. He had even been sent to England as the agent of the Assembly to pro- cure the repeal of the Stamp Act ; and he had shown a great deal of public spirit in his efforts and measures to improve the Province by opening and settling its interior and fostering its rising college. Mr. Thompson might well allege, as he did, the fact that Governor Wentworth, when he made him his friend, was warmly 60 Life of Count Rumford. esteemed. But he was nevertheless faithful to his official trust when the royal authority was defied, though he acted most Unwisely and blindly. Yet some of the foremost men in all the Colonies men of intelligence, rectitude, high character, and un- questionable patriotism hesitated as to the rightfulness or the policy of the first measures which initiated the Revolution. Some such honestly doubted whether the colonists had real, substantial grievances, and if, having such, they ought not to seek quite different means of redress. We can afford in these days, and in the calm- ness of our retrospect, to distinguish between the facts of history and the rhetoric of demonstrative orators. We certainly must distinguish between the grounds for hesitancy and mistrust which influenced wise and honest men who were obliged to take a side before actual hos- tilities opened, and the character of the struggle as it went on. The exasperation of feeling which followed upon the successive measures and acts of the British government and forces, in burning our towns and sea- ports, and employing mercenary troops, and in other outrages, doubtless made many of the " Tories " regret their loyalty, while at the same time it intensified the popular acrimony against them. Ten years before the outbreak of hostilities there had been even an era of good feeling, in the New England Colonies especially, towards the British monarchy and ministry. The Indian and French War, in which Thompson's own kin had many of them done good service, had happily freed the frontier towns of all the apprehensions and horrors of savage inroads, and the treasuries of the other settlements from the exactions of a military force for their defence. Though the Life of Count Rumford. 61 Colonies themselves had contributed men and money to this tedious and costly warfare, yet the exchequer and the soldiery of England had furnished the forces without which we should have been powerless. When the Prime Minister, Grenville, in 1764, called the agents of our Colonies together in England, he said to them that the burden left by the French war was a debt of seventy-three millions sterling. The protection we had received, of course, excited a feeling of gratitude among our people, and the more loyal among them thought that their share in the cost of government was light, and that it was compensated. In 1763, Mr. James Otis, afterwards to be known as the leading patriot, in his address as Moderator of the first town meeting held in Boston, after the peace, said : " No other con- stitution of civil government has ever yet appeared in the world so admirably adapted to the preservation of the great purposes of liberty and knowledge as that of Great Britain. Every person in America is, of com- mon right, by acts of Parliament and the laws of God, entitled to all the essential privileges of Britons. The true interests of Great Britain and her Colonies are mutual ; and what God in his providence has united, let no man dare attempt to pull asunder." Duties had been reduced, and now the odious Stamp Act had been repealed, and the colonists had assurance that their last and fundamental grievance, of taxation without repre- sentation, would be redressed. Our candor, therefore, in these days, must persuade us to allow that there were reasons, or, at least, preju- dices and apprehensions, which might lead honest and right-hearted men, lovers and friends of their birth- land, to oppose the rising spirit of independence as _ 62 Life of Count Riimford. inflamed by demagogues, and as foreboding discomfiture and mischief. They feared that we should suffer the worst of the strife, and that the sort of government we should be likely to have as the alternative of a mon- archy would probably make us largely the losers. Yet the utterance of such views, if only as misgivings, might in many places be equally impolitic and dangerous. As has been already said, there is no record, or even tradition, of unwise or unfriendly expressions dropped by Mr. Thompson which could be used against him even when he challenged proof of his alleged disaffec- tion to the cause of his country. However, he was young, and he had an independent spirit. His military promotion by pure favoritism, and, what he insisted was simply an act of humanity, his seeking immunity for two returning deserters, were enough in themselves to assure him jealous enemies. But silence and neutrality were then as hazardous as speech or opposition di- rected against the popular enthusiasm. He therefore became a suspected person in Concord, where there were watching enemies and tale-bearers, as well as jeal- ous Committees, who soon brought their functions to bear in a most searching and offensive way against all who did not attend the popular assemblies. It was as well known as it was observable that Thompson took no part in these. What more he did or said, or failed of doing or saying, must be left, as before remarked, to conjecture. Yet it must have been something which irritated or displeased, something which could be turned into the material for exciting a mob, with the risk of rude, if not violent, treatment, exhibited at the time in the favorite process of tarring and feathering a politi- cally obnoxious person. Thompson's family connec- Life of Count Rumford. 63 tions, beginning with the minister and the squire of the town, were, of course, the most powerful set among the inhabitants ; and if they were unable to vindicate him and protect him from outrage, and if even his brother-in-law and other friends advised him to quit the place, though he did not seek counsel from his venerated father-in-law, we may well infer that his apprehensions were not vain, whatever his own con- sciousness of rectitude. There was something exceedingly humiliating and degrading to a man of an independent and self-respect- ing spirit in the conditions imposed at times by the " Sons of Liberty," in the process of clearing himself from the taint of Toryism. The Committees of Corre- spondence and of Safety, whose services stand glorified to us through their most efficient agency in a successful struggle, delegated their authority to every witness or agent who might be a self-constituted guardian of patri- otic interests, or a spy or an eaves-dropper, to catch reports of suspected persons. A case transpired in Mr. Thompson's neighborhood of which he doubtless had knowledge. The British troops in Boston being with- out barracks, and the carpenters of that and the sur- rounding towns being -unwilling to build them, Gov- ernor Gage had applied to Governor Wentworth to send him workmen from New Hampshire for that service. The latter engaged secret agents to execute this commission. But the story leaked out, and the Committee of Ways and Means at Portsmouth took up the matter vigorously, and so thoroughly searched it as to discover one of the Governor's secret agents in this business, Nicholas Austin. The " Sons of Lib- erty " summoned the delinquent before them on the 64 Life of Count' Rumf or d. 8th of November, 1774, and compelled him to make', on Jiis knees, the following confession : " Before this company I confess I have been aiding and assisting in sending men to Boston to build Barracks for the soldiers to live in, at which you have reason justly to be of- fended, which I am sorry for, and humbly ask your forgivness ; and I do affirm, that for the future I never will be acting or assisting in any wise whatever, in Act or Deed, contrary to the Constitution of the Country ; as witness my hand. " NICHOLAS AUSTIN." * Benjamin Thompson was not the man to subject himself to any such humiliating treatment. He, how- ever, knew very well, that the military commission which he had received though, it is said, without his having asked for it from the partiality of Governor Went- worth, while it had provoked the enmity of older men who had real claims for military promotion, had also led him to be classed with the partisans of that magis- trate just as the popular feeling was most inflamed against him. He had occasion to fear any indignity which an excited and reckless country mob, directed by a secret instigation, might see fit to inflict upon him, whether it were by arraying him in tar and feathers, or by riding him upon a rail to be jeered at by his former school-pupils. The actual and visible agents in inflict- ing such degrading insults were not generally the neigh- bors and former companions of an obnoxious person, but were such volunteers, whether in their own proper garb or disguised as Indians, as were easily rallied from adjoining towns. If % ill-usage stopped short of these extremes, the condition of escape and security was, as has been given in the case of Austin, a public * New Hampshire Gazette, Portsmouth, November II, 1774. Life of Count Rumford. 65 recantation, unequivocally and strongly expressed, in- volving a confession of some act or word in opposition to the will of the popular party, and a solemn pledge of future uncompromising fidelity to it. Major Thomp- son insisted from the first, and steadfastly to the close of his life affirmed, that he was friendly to the patriot cause, and had never done or said anything which could be truthfully alleged as hostile to it. He demanded, first in private, and then in public, that his enemies should confront him with any charges which they could bring against him, and he promised to meet them, while he also offered to render any service for which he was fit- ted in the popular interest. He resolved, however, that he would not plead except against explicit charges, nor invite indignity by self-humiliation. We must draw our own inferences here, whether by convincing our- selves that the popular distrust of him was unerring in its discernment and surmise, and had good reason on its side, or that he was the innocent sufferer from un- toward circumstances. If the people of Concord and the jealous regimental officers of New Hampshire were responsible for depriving the patriot cause of an effec- tive military or executive servant, they may claim credit for furnishing Europe with a very eminent and practically useful philosopher. Major Thompson was summoned before a Committee of the people in Concord, in the summer of 1774, to answer to the suspicion of "being unfriendly to the cause of Liberty." He positively denied the charge, and boldly challenged proof. The evidence, if any such was offered, and no trace of testimony, or even of imputation, of that kind is on record, was not of a sort to warrant any proceeding, against him, and he was 5 66 Life of Count Rtimford. discharged. This discharge, however, though nominally an acquittal, was not. effective in relieving him from popular distrust and in assuring for him confidence. Probably his own backwardness to avow sympathy and make professions in accordance with the wishes of his enemies left him still under a cloud. A measure less formal and more threatening than the examination be- fore a self-constituted tribunal was, as a matter of course, secretly planned by the excited people. This was a visit to his comfortable home, the most con- spicuous residence in the village. It was carried into effect in November, 1774. A mob gathered, at the time agreed on, around this dwelling, and after a sere- nade of hisses, hootings, and groans, demanded that Major Thompson should come out before them. The feeling must have been intense, and was of a nature to feed its own flame. Had Thompson been within, he would inevitably have met with foul handling. The suspicion that he was hiding there would have led to the sacking of his dwelling and the destruction of his goods, though the daughter of their venerated minister was its mistress, and she was the mother, not only of Thompson's infant, but of the only child of their former most distinguished townsman, Colonel Benjamin Rolfe. Mrs. Thompson and her brother, Colonel Walker, came forth, and with their assurance that her husband was not in the town, the mob quietly dispersed. Having received a friendly warning that this assault was to be made upon him in the shape of an inquisi- torial .visit at his house, and taking the advice to which reference has been made, Mr. Thompson had secretly left Concord just before. He thought it was to be only a temporary separation from the place, from all his Life of Count Rumford. 67 friends there, from his wife and his infant child. He was never to see that pleasant home again, nor any one of those whom he left there, except that he had a brief and troubled visit from his wife and infant, and met the latter again only after an interval of twenty-two years. He was himself, when he fled, midway in his twenty-second year. He had made a hasty effort to collect some dues which belonged strictly to himself, but he scrupulously avoided taking with him anything that belonged to others, or even to his wife. What of his own he left there we shall see was soon subjected to the process of confiscation. Thompson at first sought refuge in his former home at Woburn, with his mother, in the house to which she had moved with her second husband, opposite the Bald- win Mansion, a security to which, as we shall find, he was to be indebted for another release from the dealing of a mob. Here, for a short time, he sought to occupy himself in quiet retirement with his favorite pursuits of philosophical study and experiment, especially on the properties of gunpowder. But popular suspicion found means to visit its odium upon him here, and he was kept in a continual state of anxiety. Seeking a new place of refuge, he found temporary shelter in Charles^ town, with a friend, nine miles from Woburn and one from Boston, divided from the latter place, with which he could easily hold intercourse, only by a river. This position, when it became known, was not likely to reassure confidence in him. (See Appendix.) While in Charlestown, Major Thompson addressed the following letter to his father-in-law, at Concord. " December 24th, 1774. "REVEREND SIR, The time and circumstances of my leav- ing the town of Concord have, no doubt, given you great un- I 68 Life of Count R&mford. easiness, for which I am extremely sorry. Nothing short of the most threatening danger could have induced me to leave my friends and family ; but when I learned from persons of un- doubted veracity, and those whose friendship I could not sus- pect, that my situation was reduced to this dreadful extremity, 'I thought it absolutely necessary to abscond for a while, and seek a friendly asylum in some distant part. " Fear of miscarriage prevents my giving a more particular account of this affair ; but this you may rely and depend upon, that I never did, nor (let my treatment be what it will) ever will do, any action that may have the most distant tendency to injure the true interest of this my native country. " I most humbly beg your kind care of my distressed family ; and I hope you will take an opportunity to alleviate their trouble by assuring them that I am in a place of safety, and hope shortly to have the pleasure of seeing them. I also most hum- bly beseech your prayers for me, that under all my difficulties and troubles I may behave in such a manner as to approve myself a true servant of God and a sincere friend of my country. " To have tarried at Concord and have stood another trial at the bar of the populace would doubtless have been attended with unhappy consequences, as my innocence would have stood me in no stead against the prejudices of an enraged, infatuated multitude, and much less against the determined villany of my inveterate enemies, who strive to raise their popularity on the ruins of my character. My friends would have been deemed unfriendly to the cause of Liberty, and my defence would have been treated with contempt and disdain. It would have been vain for me' to have pretended to curb the fury or calm the rage of this popular whirlwind ; but I must have been cast, and condemned to suffer punishments equal to the blackness of my supposed transgressions. " The plan against me was deeply laid, and the people of Concord were not the only ones that were engaged in it. But others to the distance of twenty miles were extremely officious on this occasion. My persecution was determined on, and Life of Count Rumford. 69 my flight unavoidable. And had I not taken the opportunity to leave the town the moment I did, another morning had effectu- ally cut off my retreat." There' is a tradition, which I have not been able to authenticate, that either at this time or nearly a year afterwards, while Thompson was concealed in some friendly refuge in Boston, he received a visit from his father-in-law, who urgently appealed to him to return to his home. There is no evidence within my reach that the two ever met again. But on the ^th of Janu- ary following the date of the above letter, the Rev. Mr. Walker addressed him a reply, the tenor of which we know only from the response which it drew from his son-in-law. The relations of the latter were becoming more and more embarrassing, on account of his visits to Boston and the intimacy which he appeared to seek with the British officers ; though, as there had not yet been any decisive outbreak, he might have expected that the rupture would be averted. Mr. Walker had urged his return to Concord, and had coupled with the appeal a suggestion that he should be prepared, in doing so, to make some sort of recognition of the grounds under which his patriotism had been doubted and his conduct brought under suspicion. We may infer from this advice, that the wise and esteemed minister had mis- givings, at least, about the discretion of his son-in-law ; and from the answer written by the latter we may also infer, that, regarding the advice as proposing a confes- sion or recantation, he was determined to stand on his dignity or his sense of perfect innocence, and refuse to make it. He might have shrunk from the full de- mands of truth, or he might have feared the risk of hypocrisy. His answer was as follows: 7o Life of Count Rumford. "BOSTON, Jan'y nth, 1775. " HON? SIR, Last evening I had the pleasure to receive your kind Letter of the Qth instant, for which I return many thanks. " As to my return to Concord, it is what I most ardently desire and wish for, could I do it with safety. But in the pres- ent distracted state of affairs, I fear I could have no security that might be depended on, especially if things should proceed to such extremities as they at present bid fair to do. And as to any concessions that I could make, I fear it would be of no consequence, for I cannot, possibly, with a clear conscience, confess myself Guilty of doing anything to the disadvantage of this Country, but quite the reverse. " As to Mrs. Thompson's coming to live with me, I appre- hend that it will be so far from embarrassing my affairs, that it will lessen my expenses, as Mrs. Clark will let us have house- room sufficient for our small family for a very trifle, and we can live upon our own provisions, which can easily be brought from Concord in a sled ; and as to wood, I have enough of that en land of my own, which my Father Pierce will transport for me on easy terms. " And .as Mrs. Thompson's Company is almost the only thing that can be any alleviation of my present troubles, and as my being absent from her is the greatest unhappiness of my present situation, I hope I shall be so happy as to obtain your consent for her leaving Concord." In compliance with this earnest appeal, his wife, with her infant, joined him at his mother's home in Woburn, though it required of them a ride of more than fifty miles in midwinter. They remained with him till the last of May, 1775, after which he never again saw his wife. My friend, Mr. George Rumford Baldwin, the only surviving son of Colonel Baldwin, informs me that he has been told that, at the time, Major Thompson was mostly with the army at Cambridge, though I Life of Count Rumford. 71 think it must have been at an earlier time, probably in March, 1775, while he was at his mother Pierce's house in New Bridge Village, Woburn, a military com- pany, perhaps a body of practising min,ute-men, came to arrest him when he was temporarily confined by illness. His friend, Colonel Baldwin, whose mansion was opposite, seeing the men halt, at once suspected their object, and determined to try to protect Thomp- son. He made a speech to the company, saying that he well knew his friend's principles and feelings, and that he was not inimical to the American cause, but might have appeared so in consequence of having been disappointed of the promotion he desired. After plead- ing in behalf of Thompson to the extent of his ability, he remarked to the men that they must be greatly fatigued by their march, and that he would be much gratified if they would cross over to his barn, (which was the nearest building, and opposite the Pierce house), and that he would then bring out what he might have for their refreshment. They accepted the invitation, and were so generously treated with food and liquor that their errand was overlooked, and they re- turned without molesting Thompson, though they had previously twice sent in their summons that he should present himself, whether sick or well. Whether this incident transpired at the earlier or the later date, it shows that Major Thompson had not overcome the animosity against him. While his wife and child were with him the skirmishes at Concord, Massachusetts, and Lexington occurred, in which it has been said, on what authority I cannot learn, that Thompson bore arms with the Massachusetts yeomen in resisting the British inroad. 72 Life of Count Rumford* We have another letter which was sent to the Rev. Mr. Walker while his daughter was still with her hus- band. " WOBURN, May nth, 1775. "REV? SIR, Since Mrs. Thompson has been at Woburn she has been very unwell, which has prevented her coming to Concord this week as was proposed. But as soon as she gets well enough she will set out. As to my returning to Concord, it is what I have most earnestly desired ever since I left home, and nothing but a sense of danger has prevented my doing it long ago. And now the advice I receive from different people, who appear equally to be my friends, relative to my going back, is so intirely different that I scarcely know what to do or what course to take. If I can be assured of safety and restored to that friendship and esteem of my fellow Countrymen which I trust no action of mine has ever forfeited, I will, with the great- est pleasure and alacrity, return to Concord ; and the good Peo- ple of that Town in particular, and of the Country in general, may rely on my best endeavours to serve them. And if ever I have done anything which in the event has turned out to the damage of this Country, I am sincerely and heartily sorry there- for. But as to confessing myself guilty of doing anything with a design to injure them, it is what I can never do without doing violence to my Conscience and committing a crime in reality which I do not choose to be guilty of. " I have not a single doubt of your sincere friendship and affection for me, and believe you would not on any account advise me to anything contrary to my safety and interest. Bi;t many Persons from Concord tell me that neither you nor ycur son are so well acquainted with the minds of the People respect- ing myself as many others, and advise me by no means to re- turn at present. Among these are Col. Stickney and Cap*. Chandler. " To return to Concord and be kept a Prisoner in the Town, or to be treated with coldness and indifference for crimes which I feel myself intirely innocent of, would be to me even worse Life of Count Rumford. 73 than my present situation. But if the People of Concord will be so kind as to assure " [The rest is wanting.] Soon after writing this letter. Major Thompson was arrested and confined in Woburn. It has been said that he himself courted this proceeding as the only means likely to result in securing him a fair decision of his case. There appears among Colonel Baldwin's papers a document which is here copied. " WOBURN, May i6th, 1775. " GENTLEMEN, Major Benjamin Thompson of Concord, in the Province of New Hampshire, having been taken up and confined in the Town upon suspicion of being inimical to the liberties of this Country, and his Excellency General Ward having ordered, agreeable to advice of Congress, that the Com- mittee of Correspondence for this Town be a Court to inquire into that Matter : " This is therefore to desire that all persons under your com- mand, or otherwise belonging to the Province of New Hamp- shire, or elsewhere, that can give evidence in this affair, may appear at the Meeting-house in the first Parish in Woburn, on Thursday, the i8th inst. May, at Two o'clock, P. M., and they shall be heard. " We are, Gentlemen, Your Humble Servants, " To COL. JOHN STARK, SAMUEL WYMAN, LT. COL. WYMAN, ROBERT DOUGLAS, MAJOR ANDREW McCLARY, DR. SAMUEL BLOGGET, CAPT. ABBOT HUTCHINS, LOAMMI BALDWIN, CHANDLER BALDWIN, TIMOTHY WINN. GERRISH AND CLOUGH, of New Hampshire. The above-named " Committee of Correspondence " had been chosen at a town meeting, February i, 1773. At a meeting on January 4, 1775, twenty-one men had been chosen as a "Committee of Inspection," and on Com ttee of Corre- spon." 74 Life of Count Rumford. April 17, 1775, a bdy f ^% " minute-men " had been provided for. Thus watchful was the oversight of suspected persons and the cause of Liberty. It seemed as if the worried man were now in a fair way to obtain a hearing. In Colonel Baldwin's Diary, under date of May 18, 1775, ' 1S tne following entry : " Thursday in afternoon went to Woburn to sit as one of a Committee of Correspondence upon Major Thompson, who was taken up as a Tory, but, finding nothing against him, ad- journed till next Monday." And the following occurs in another place, which seems to refer to the same occasion as it is of the same date : " At a Court of Inquiry into the conduct of Major Thomp- son of Concord, New Hampshire, convened at the Meeting- House of the First Parish in Woburn, on Thursday, the i8th of May, 1775, at 2 o'clock, by the Committee of Correspond- ence of said Town." Until after the affair at Concord and Lexington, while it was evident that matters were coming to a crisis, intercourse between Boston and the adjoining country was substantially open, though the capital was under military rule, and the yeomen of the neighboring towns, organized as minute-men, were on the watch night and day for alarms. But after the British troops had returned from their inroad, entrance to Boston or exit from it was attended with difficulty. General Gage, who had himself married an American lady, and was the owner of land here, appears to have thought, till he was recalled to England, that the quarrel between the colo- nies and the mother country might yet be adjusted; and it seems plain that Major Thompson, on his visits to Boston, felt the influence of the General upon him- Life of Count Riimford. 75 self. But with predilections, as he still insisted, for the cause of his native country, he determined to make an effort to obtain a hearing before the Committee of the Provincial Congress then sitting at Watertown, which exercised the functions of government. He therefore addressed the following letter to his friend Baldwin. "WOBURN, 1 9th May, 1775. "DEAR SIR, The enclosed Petition I beg you would do me the honour to present to the Committee of Safety, and ac- company it with your influence. As my only design is to con- vince the world of my innocence, and silence the clamours of my enemies, and as I know this method is agreeable to your mind, I doubt not but the prayer of the Petition will be granted. But if the Committee of Safety will not have anything to do in the affair, but insist upon it that the Committee of Correspond- ence for the Town of Woburn shall make an end of the mat- ter, yet I would most earnestly beg to have Concord and the adjacent Towns have notice of the time and place of the fur- ther examination, in order that this may be a final settlement. And if the Committee of Safety, or, otherwise, the Committee of Correspondence, will make out a proper notification for that purpose, I will at my own expense immediately forward it to Concord. " You cannot be insensible that my present confinement is very disagreeable, therefore I hope you will endeavour that the day of Trial may be appointed as soon as may be consistent with giving my accusers sufficient notice to appear. I am, Dear Sir, Your real friend and Humble Servant, "BENJJ- THOMPSON. "P. S. The Bearer, Mr. Thomas, comes to Cambridge on purpose to deliver this, and I beg he may return as soon as possible. " To MAJOR LOAMMI BALDWIN, Head Quarters, Cambridge." The petition enclosed to Mr. Baldwin was as fol- lows : 7 6 Life of Count Rumford. " To the Honourable the Committee of Safety for the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. " The Petition of Benjamin Thompson, Esq., of Concord, in the Province of New Hampshire, humbly sheweth : " That on Monday, the I5th inst., your petitioner was taken up and confined in this Town, upon suspicion of being inimical to the liberties of this Country ; and that in consequence of his being taken up, the Committee of Correspondence for the Town, after having given public notice of the time and place of hearing, and desired all persons that could give evidence to attend, proceeded to an examination of the affair, agreeable to the recommendation of the Honourable Provincial Congress. But as no person appeared to lay anything of consequence to his charge ; and as the Committee were not pleased either to acquit or condemn him ; and as his own personal safety, as well as the quiet and satisfaction of the public, but more especially of the people of New Hampshire, depends on his having an acquittance after the most public, thorough, and impartial examination, your petitioner humbly prays that the Committee of Safety would be pleased to take the matter into consideration, and examine the same ; and that they would be pleased to give notice of the time and place of hearing, not only to the people of New Hampshire, and others that are in the Army at Cam- bridge, or elsewhere, but also that the public in general, and the inhabitants of the Town of Concord, in the Province of New Hampshire, and the adjacent Towns in particular, be de- sired to attend or send in depositions of what they know relative to the affair. " And your petitioner, as in duty bound, shall ever pray, &c. "BENJ. THOMPSON. " WOBURN, May 19, 1775."* May 20, 1775, Colonel Baldwin makes the follow- ing entry : " Saturday, I presented a Petition to the Committee of Safety, sent me by Major Thompson, and brought by Alexander * Force's American Archives, 4th Series, Vol. II. pp. 647, 648. Life of Count Rumford. 77 Thomas, which Petition the Committee referred to the Con- gress, where we went and sent it in to them sitting at Water- town Meeting-house. We dined at Leonard's; so the matter was deferred for the present." We must remind ourselves that this was at one of the most critical and anxious stages in the course of events which resulted in opening the Revolutionary War. Large bodies of minute-men and soldiers from all the New England Provinces were gathered in Cambridge, and on the hills in its neighborhood, under the com- mand of General Ward. The Provincial Congress was in session, overwhelmed with business, as it had assumed full legislative functions independently of the control of the royal Governor or his subordinates. The people had in their town meetings resolved to recognize the authority of this Congress ancl to pay their taxes to the treasurer appointed by it, while they helped by other popular measures to confirm and increase that authority. The object was to confine the British forces to the peninsula of Boston, leaving them no exit but by the sea, and, if possible, to embarrass that. This made it necessary to guard and fortify nearly a whole circle of territory, extending round from the heights of Dorches- ter to those of Chelsea. Aspirants for commissions in the American army were numerous and in warm rivalry. If Major Thompson were, as he affirmed, impatient to assume his military office, or to secure a higher one, we can well imagine how he must have fretted under the confinement which not only restrained his liberty and subjected him to indignity, but also threatened to be an insuperable obstacle to his attainment of his object. If his after course was largely decided by resentment and the sense of having been outraged, we must look for the 7 8 Life of Coztnt Riimford. occasion of it now and here. He thus conveys his thanks to his friend. " WOBURN, May 22,d, 1775. " DEAR SIR, I am to return you many thanks for your kindness in presenting my petition to the Committee of Safety, and your further care and trouble in laying it before the Con- gress. I must intreat your further assistance in this affair, and hope that it will one time or other be in my power to make a suitable return for all your kindness. " Mr. Thomas .now waits upon you to know what the Con- gress are determined to do respecting me ; and I shall wait with impatience for his return. " I would beg leave to congratulate you upon your promotion in the Army, and I would at the same time congratulate the Public upon the same ocqasion. "I am, Sir, with real Regard and Esteem, " Your friend and Humble Servant, "BENJ^ THOMPSON. "To COLONEL BALDWIN, Head Quarters, Cambridge." Either from pressure of business, or under the per- suasion that Woburn was the proper place for a hearing of the cause, the Committee of the Provincial Congress did not see fit to entertain Major Thompson's petition. He had further reason for resentment and chagrin, when, after subjecting himself to the trouble and expense of summoning any witnesses who might see fit to appear against him, and after securing a hearing of the case in his native town, the result was as dilatory and as un- decisive as the documents next given will show. u VFoburn {Massachusetts) Committee. '' Whereas the Committee of Correspondence for the Town of Woburn, authorised by the honourable Provincial Congress to examine into the principles and conduct of any person sus- Life of Count Rumford. 79 pected of being inimical to the liberties of this Country, have examined Major Benjamin Thompson, of Concord, in the Province of New Hampshire, being brought before them, sus- pected of being thus inimical. And whereas the said Com- mittee have summoned certain evidences, who they supposed could give light into the matter, to attend, which evidences failed of so doing : This is therefore to inform all persons who are knowing to the said Major Thompson's conduct, that the Committee have adjourned to Monday the 2Qth day of May next, at three o'clock, afternoon, at the meeting-house, where said evidences are desired to attend, as the Committee think themselves bound to dismiss and recommend the said Thomp- son, unless something more appears against him than what they have heard. " SAMUEL WYMAN, Chairman. "May 24, 1775."* "Massachusetts Provincial Congress, May 25, 1775. " The Petition of Benjamin Thompson to the Committee of Safety was read, and ordered to subside." f The action in the town of Woburn on the hearing of the case, as preserved in a record in Colonel Baldwin's papers, is thus related : " Major Benjamin Thompson of Concord, in the Province of New Hampshire, having been taken up and confined in this Town upon suspicion of being inimical to the liberties of this Country : And we, the Committee of Correspondence for the Town of Woburn, (being duly authorised by a vote of the Hon. Provincial Congress to hear and Determine upon this matter,) after having given public notice of the time and place of ex r amination, and desired all persons that could give evidence respecting that affair to attend ; and after having strictly and impartially examined into the affair, do not find that said Thomp- son in .any one instance has shown a Disposition unfriendly to American Liberty : But that his general behaviour has evinced * Force's American Archives, 4th Series, Vol. II. p. 701. f Idem, p. 815. 8o Life of Count Rumford* the direct contrary : And as he has now given us the strongest assurances of his good intentions, we recommend him to the Friendship, Confidence, and Protection of all good People in this and the neighboring Provinces Colonies. " WOBURN, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, zgth May, 1775." The meeting-house was crowded on the occasion, and the accused pleaded his own cause and managed his own defence. There does not appear to have been any examination of witnesses. Such reports, surmises, or charges as any one present chose to repeat or suggest personally or through hints to the Committee were met by Thompson, and by him ascribed to envy or jealousy. It has been said by one who has argued in his cause,* that, though the Committee reached this favora- ble decision, they refused to secure him a public acquit- tal, the reason assigned being, that if they gave a copy of their proceedings to Thompson for publication, it would offend his opponents, as seeming to condemn them. He adds that Thompson's feelings were greatly exasperated at this injustice. The statement hardly seems probable. A result reached and announced in a thronged meeting in a village church, after such a deliberate hearing, could hardly be prevented from becoming matter of notoriety. Yet Thompson himself complains, as we shall see in another letter to Mr. Walker, of injustice from the Committee. The inference drawn by Mr. Johnston is, that the above vindication of Thompson was written by one of the Committee, but was not allowed, as the accused desired, to be communicated to the public He says that as a postscript to the original report of the Committee of Vigilance is added what follows : * John Johnston. See note on p. n. Life of Co^mt Rumford. 81 " This may certify that when Major Thompson was examined before the Committee of Correspondence for the town of Wo- burn, (being brought before them on suspicion of being inimical to American liberties,) the affair of the return of four deserters from Concord, in New Hampshire, to Boston, in which said Thompson was supposed to be instrumental, and also his con- duct relative to the Concord donation, sending a load of peas to Boston, and an undue connection or correspondence with Gov. Wentworth, were matters which were laid to his charge against him, which were thoroughly examined into, and in every particular the Committee received full satisfaction from said Thompson." If this favorable but suppressed judgment on his case was indeed only the unsuccessful verdict of a friend present at the examination, we may well conclude that that friend was "Baldwin. Himself a man of thorough sincerity and rectitude and a warm patriot, his cham- pionship is Thompson's best vindication. The sense of a wrong which was becoming too aggra- vating for longer patient endurance expresses itself in this request of Thompson to his friend. "CAMBRIDGE, May 30, 1775. " SIR, I should take it as a great favour if you would apply to the Honourable Provincial Congress, and withdraw a Petition which I preferred to the Hon b ! e the Committee of Safety, on the iQth of May inst., through your hands. BENJ^ THOMPSON. " MAJOR LOAMMI BALDWIN." Major Thompson was after this released from con- finement, and of course left free to go where he would, at the risk, of meeting still unappeased enemies, and suffering such treatment as any combination of them might visit upon him. That he did not return to Concord, New Hampshire, and with such credentials 82 Life of Count Rumford, as he could present for his security, and a reasonable degree of reliance upon the support of his friends, attempt resolutely to face down his calumniators, is to be referred to the one or the other of these two reasons. Either he felt that there was no reasonable hope that he should succeed in this courageous attempt, and that if he were allowed to remain at home it would be as a suspected person smarting under a sense of wrong, to lead an aimless and miserable life ; or else he really desired and expected that he might yet obtain a place of honor and service in the patriot army. He lingered about the camp. He devoted himself zealously to the study of military tactics. He continued his experi- ments on gunpowder. He strolled between Woburn, Medford, Cambridge, and Charlestown, learning what- ever his inquisitive and observing mind could appro- priate. But there was one set of men whom he never could conciliate, who mistrusted his purposes and cast upon him lowering looks as they met him about the camp. These were the general and field officers from New Hampshire, who looked upon him as a dandy and an upstart at least, if not also as at heart a traitor. They would not associate with him, still less confide in him. Major Baldwin records under date of June 4, 1775 : " Sunday, A. M., went to Meeting : after Meeting at noon went down to see the Men-of-War fire, &c. to Lechmere Point, and viewed Boston, &c. Major Thompson and Lieut. Reed was my company." "June 13. Tuesday, A Manifesto came out from General Gage. We are in expectation that the Troops will be out soon. I am poorly with a cold. Major Thompson went to Woburn." It was to avert and oppose that expected sortie of the Life of Count Rumford. 83 British troops from Boston, that on the following Satur- day, June 17, the fortifications were thrown up on the heights of Charlestown by a detachment of New Eng- land soldiers, sent from Cambridge by General Ward, just before midnight on Friday, resulting in the Battle of Bunker Hill, of which it has been generally believed that Major Thompson was at least a spectator. As the College buildings at Cambridge were now used as barracks, Colonel Baldwin records on the I5th, "They are beginning to remove the Library/' The books were transported to Concord, Massachusetts, some eighteen miles into the country. Major Thomp- son assisted in this labor, glad thus to recognize his ob- ligations to the College. Mr. Johnston, above quoted, as writing from infor- mation communicated to him by the son of Thomp- son's eldest step-brother, says that, after the t>attle at Charlestown, Thompson was favorably introduced by some officers at Cambridge to General Washington, who had just assumed the command; and that, had it not been for the opposition of some of the New Hamp- shire officers, he would have had the place in the Ameri- can artillery corps which was given to Colonel Gridley. The following letter of Thompson's was found in a file of Colonel Baldwin's papers. Its probable date was August, 1775. " DEAR SIR, I observed in the General Orders of Sunday last that each Sargent and Corporal in the Army was to wear an Epaulet to distinguish them from the Commissioned Officers and from the private soldiers. I herewith send you samples of some which I apprehend will answer the end, and if you will be so kind as to get them approved of by the General, and engage any considerable number for me, you may depend on having 84 Life of Count Rumford. them done in the best manner and with the utmost despatch, as there is a considerable number of Women here who will immediately go to work upon them. Whether it is proper or not to shew them to General Washington, I leave to your judgement. I apprehend the price ought to be somewhere about I5/, or perhaps as low as 13/6, if a large number were engaged. " If it shall be thought proper for the Sargent Majors to wear one or two red Silk Epaulets, instead of a worsted one, I can easily supply them. " Please to give my compliments to Col. Gerrish, and present him with one of the red cockades which the bearer will give you as a present from his and your much Obliged and most Obedient Servant, "BENJAMIN THOMPSON. " Wednesday Morning. " To COL. BALDWIN, Camp before Boston." Only one other letter written on this side of the ocean remains to be given from the pen of Benjamin Thomp- son. It is impossible to read it without emotion. The writer was twenty-two years of age, but the letter has the vigor of the maturest manliness. Its firm and bold chirography is in keeping with its sentiments and with the forcible language in which they are expressed. It is addressed to his father-in-law. ' "WOBURN, August I4th, 1775. " HON? SIR, I have your favours of the 16 and 29 May, which I should have answered long since, but have waited for an opportunity of conversing with you Verbally. But as I see no prospect of having such a long-wish'd-for interview, I shall trouble you with one more of my Letters. " I am not so thoroughly convinc'd that my leaving th? Town of Concord was wrong (considering the circumstances at that time) as I am that it was wrong in me to do it without your knowledge or advice. This, Sir, is a step which I always Life of Count Rumford. 85 have repented, and for which I am now sincerely ana heartily sorry, and ask your forgiveness. What infatuation could induce me to take a step of so much importance without previously consulting you upon the affair, I am at a loss to imagine. But be assured, Sir, that tho' you was not privy to my going off, yet I did not do it without the knowledge and advice of many others whom I really thought my friends, and among the rest you will give me leave to name your Son as the chief, who not only gave it as his opinion that it was for the best, but also fur- nished me with a Horse to make my escape, and money to the amount of 20 Dollars to bear my expenses, and promised to take care of my affairs in my absence. Into his hands I committed all my Notes and papers of consequence ; saving only a few Notes to the amount of about ^300, which I left with Mrs. Thompson, the chief of which, I am informed, he has since gotten into his possession. " My situation at that time was peculiarly critical. I knew I had a number of enemies in the Town whose Personal and inveterate malice nothing would satisfy, and found by fatal experience that they had it in their power to raise the cry of the populace against me : and to persuade them that what they laid to my charge (Viz 4 - being instrumental in procuring a pardon for some Deserters) was not only in itself a crime of the blackest dye, but that I did it with an express design to injure the Country, and assist in enslaving it ; in fine, that I was an enemy to the cause of America, and deserved the severest pun- ishments. ' Tis true all did not coincide in this opinion, and I was peculiarly happy in having my Brother Walker's approba- tion of my conduct. But notwithstanding he thought me inno- cent, yet he dared not appear in my behalf ; he saw the current was against me, and was afraid to interfere. " When I was brought to trial, my friends (knowing in what a light my crime was look'd upon by the populace) advised me to plead not guilty. I did so, but found, instead of quieting the disturbances, it only served to heighten the clamours against me, 'till at length I found it absolutely necessary that some- thing should be done for my personal security. My friends ad- 86 Life of Count Rumford. vised me to leave the Town 'till the storm should be abated, which they doubted not would be in a short time. I neither doubted the abilities nor scrupled the sincerity of my friends, and accordingly followed their advice. But the event has not proved equal to my expectations, for the storm, instead of sub- siding, has increased, and the popular disturbances have grown into such a flame as I fear nothing but my blood will extin- guish. ."Had the People of Concord looked upon Banishment as a punishment equal to my crimes, they would not surely have refused my very reasonable request for Liberty to pass to that Town and to repass to Cambridge unmolested, if affairs could not be amicably settled so that I might live at home in peace and safety. I did not claim any merit from any examination I had passed through here. I did not attempt in the least to palliate those offences I am charg'd with by mine enemies, but only wished to meet my accusers on equal ground. And I think their refusal of this request not only affords a melancholy presage of what I am to expect from them, but will clearly demonstrate to the World upon what principles these men act who, under pretence of 'defending their Liberties and priviledges, and asserting the rights of mankind,' are depriving individuals of every idea of freedom, and are exercising a Tyranny which an Eastern Despot would blush to be Guilty of. u As to my being instrumental in the return of some De- serters, by procuring them a pardon, I freely acknowledge that I was. But you will give me leave to say that what I did was done from principles the most unexceptionable the most dis- interested a sincere desire to serve my King and Country, and from motives of Pity to those unfortunate Wretches who had deserted the service to which they had voluntarily and so solemnly tyed themselves, and to which they were desirous of returning. If the designed ends were not answered by what I did, I am sincerely and heartily sorry. But if it is a Crime to act from principles like these, I glory in being a Criminal. u But as to the other ' Known ' and c Obnoxious facts ' which you mention, Viz 1 . c maintaining a long and expensive corre- Life of Count Rumford. 87 spondence with G r W th,' or c a suspicious correspond- ence, to say the least, with G rs W th and G e,' I would beg leave to observe, That at the time that Governor Wentworth first honored me with his notice, it was at a time when he was as high in the esteem of his people in general as ever was any Governor in America, at a time whea even Mr. Sullivan himself was proud to be thought his friend. And as from the first commencement of our acquaintance 'till I left Concord he never did anything (to my knowledge) whereby he forfeited the affection and confidence of the Public, I cannot see why a correspondence with him should be obnoxious ; or that the length or expensiveness of it should be thought an object of public attention, that merited Public Censure. 'T is true, Sir, I always thought myself honored by his friendship, and was ever fond of a correspondence with him, a correspondence which was purely private and friendly, and not Political, and for which I cannot find in my Heart either to express my sorrow or ask forgiveness of the Public. "As to my maintaining a correspondence with -Governor Gage, this part of the charge is intirely without foundation, as I never received a Letter from him in my life ; nor did I ever write him one, except about half a dozen lines which I sent him just before I left Concord may be calPd a Letter, and which contained no intelligence, nor anything of a public nature, but was only to desire that the Soldiers who returned from Con- cord might be Ordered not to inform any person by whose inter- cession their pardon was granted them. " But this is not the only groundless charge that has been brought against me. Many other crimes which you do not mention have been laid to my charge, for which I have had to answer both publicly and privately. Mine enemies are inde- fatigable in their indeavours to distress me, and I find to my sorrow that they are but too successful. I have been driven from the Camp by the clamours of the New Hampshire People, and am again threatened in this place. But I hope soon to be out of the reach of my Cruel Persecutors, for I am determined to seek for that Peace and Protection in foreign Lands and among 8b Life of Count Ritmford. strangers which is deny'd me in my native country. I cannot any longer bear the insults that are daily offered me. I cannot bear to be looked upon and treated as the Achan of Society. I have done nothing that can deserve this cruel usage. I have done nothing with any design to injure my countrymen, and cannot any longer bear to be treated in this barbarous manner by them. " And notwithstanding I have the tenderest regard for my Wife and family, and really believe I have an equal return of Love and affection from them ; though I feel the keenest dis- tress at the thoughts of what Mrs. Thompson and my Parents and friends will suffer on my account, and though I foresee and realize the distress, poverty, and wretchedness that must una- voidably attend my Pilgrimage in unknown lands, destitute of fortune, friends, and acquaintance, yet all these Evils appear to me more tolerable than the treatment which I meet with from the hands of mine ungrateful countrymen. ct This step, I am sensible, is violent, but my case is desperate. I have nothing to expect from mine Enemies, and my friends are afraid to appear for me. And I see no prospect of being able either to return to Concord, or even to stay here much longer in peace and safety. A reconciliation upon honorable terms is of all others the thing most to be desired. But you must allow me to say, that my present situation, notwithstand- ing it is thus dreadful, is to be preferred to a reconciliation (sup- posing it possible) upon the terms of my making an acknowl- edgement. The crime which is alleged against me (Viz 1 - being an enemy to my Country) is a crime of the blackest dye, a crime which must, if proved against me, inevitably entail per- petual infamy and disgrace upon my name. If I confess myself Guilty, will mine Enemies, will the World, think me inno- cent ? or will even the Charity of my very friends attempt to exculpate me when I accuse myself? " Whatever prudence may dictate, yet Conscience and Honor, God and Religion, forbid that my Mouth should speak what my Heart disclaims. I cannot profess my sorrow for an action which I am conscious was done from the best of motives. Life of Count Rumford. 89 If the event has proved contrary to my expectations, or if I can be persuaded that I have acted upon mistaken principles, I am ready not only to Express my sorrow, but to do it in the most open and public manner. But 'till this can be the case, 'till I can be fully persuaded that I have really done wrong, I cannot be persuaded to acknowledge that I have done so. u I am extremely unhappy to differ from you in opinion in anything, but more especially in an affair of so much conse- quence as the propriety of my returning to Concord upon the terms mentioned in your Letter. But I hope that the reasons which I have now given, added to the inimical disposition which the Committee have lately shown towards me, will serve in some measure as an excuse for my not following your advice in this affair. " Believe me, Sir, I always have had, and still retain, the highest veneration for your judgement, and the most sincere and dutiful affection for your Person ; and hope that the unhappi- ness of my present deplorable situation will not be increased by incurring your displeasure. Be assured, Sir, I mean riot to of- fend, and hope that no offence will be taken. " I am too well acquainted with your Paternal affection for your Children to doubt of your kind care over them. But you will excuse me if I trouble you with my most earnest desires and intreaties for your peculiar care of my family, whose distressed circumstances call for every indulgence and alleviation you can afford them. " I must also beg a continuance of your Prayers for me, that my present afflictions may have a suitable impression on my mind, and that in due time I may be extricated out of all my troubles. That this may be the case, that the happy time may soon come when I may return to my family in peace and safety, and when every individual in America may sit down under his own vine, and under his own Fig-tree, and have none to make him afraid is the constant and devout wish of " Your dutiful and Affectionate Son, "BEN]* THOMPSON. " REV? TIM? WALKER." 90 Life of Count Rumford. Major Thompson was not the only person in those troubled times that had occasion to charge upon those espousing the championship of public liberty a tyran- nical treatment of individuals who did not accord with their schemes or views. Probably in our late war of Rebellion his case was paralleled by those of hundreds in both sections of our country, who with halting and divided minds or unsatisfied judgments were arrested in the process of decision by treatment from others which put them under the lead of passion. The choice of a great many loyalists in our Revolution would have been wiser and more satisfactory to themselves had they been allowed to make it deliberately, an impossibility un- der the circumstances. So far as I have means of know- ing, this letter was the last communication which Thompson ever made to his father-in-law or to his wife, directly or indirectly. This statement, however, and the inferences which might be drawn from it, are to be accepted only as negative evidence, for letters may have been written and received of which there is no record or tradition, and letters may have been writ- ten which were never received by the parties to whom they were respectively addressed. It was comparatively easy, during the war, for persons in England and in this country who belonged to the same side in interest and sympathy to correspond with each other, taking the risks of the sea, of privateering, and of capture. But for those who belonged to the contending parties, sepa- rated by the ocean, correspondence was more em- barrassed. Certainly all the claims and promptings of natural love are fully and tenderly indulged in that heart- written letter. Filial gratitude and veneration, and a Life of Count Rumford. 91 young husband and father's yearnings struggle in it with the alternate expression of a deep and harrowing sense of unjust treatment and unmerited obloquy. One can hardly suppress the wish that the good old minister might have survived to know the philanthropic labors and the peaceful honors of his son-in-law. It is to be feared, however, that he to whom Thompson owed so much, and for whom he dropped a tear and yielded to deep emotion when speaking confidentially to Pictet about his obligations, went to his honored grave with- out any further word from his son-in-law, though he probably had tidings of him. Thompson was preparing to do effective service in the British army in this country at the very time when the aged minister sunk peacefully to rest in his parson- age at Concord, September 2, 1782. From the facts and documents which have been thus presented at length, a reader who cares to make a moral estimate of the course pursued up to this stage by Major Thompson, and of his subsequent action, must form his judgment. Candor will make an allowance on the score of his youth and the influence of the cir- cumstances amid which he was compelled to reach a decision. It is remarkable that his two most intimate friends in later life have given us, seemingly as deduc- tions from his own confidential statements, reasons for inferring that his heart was from the first on the side of the royalist party. The following is a translation from the narrative of Pictet, in continuation of that already given : " At the commencement of the troubles in America which preceded' and brought about the war of Independence, Thomp- 92 Life of Count Rumford. son, then twenty years old, was bound in friendship with the Governor of the Province, who was his compatriot and a supporter of the government. The civil and military trusts with which, while still so young, he had already been invested, continued to attach him to the royalist party by duty and grati- tude. When the party in opposition had sway in his Province, he was compelled to abandon his home and to seek an asylum in Boston, then occupied by the English troops Thomp- son was received with distinction by the British commander, and called to raise a regiment for the King's service. But the course of the war having brought about the evacuation of Boston in the spring of 1776, he went then to England, and was made bearer of important despatches for the government." Cuvier's report, in his Eloge, is to this effect : After having referred to the incident by which "at the age of nineteen, the hand of a rich widow had made the poor scholar, at the moment when he least expected it, one of the most considerable men in the colony," Cuvier adds : " Having taken side with the royalist party during the troubles in America, the populace of Concord were so enraged against him that he found it requisite to take refuge in Boston, leaving his wife behind him pregnant of a daughter. The former he never saw again; the latter joined him for the first time when twenty years of age. u One of the first triumphs of Washington was to compel the British troops to evacuate Boston on the 24th of March, 1776, and Mr. Thompson was the 'official bearer of this dis- astrous intelligence to London." Now it is hardly probable that the then Count Rum- ford in confidential narration to his friends intended to, or did, disclose a secret which he had up to that time kept to himself, that he had from the first been a royalist. He knew too well what he had left in writing on this side of the water, and remembered too well the Life of Count Ritmford. 93 confidence and friendship reposed in him by Mr. Bald- win, to make such statements concerning that period of his life before he left Concord. I have found no reason for doubting that, if Thompson had been treated in a conciliatory manner after his examination, and had been gratified in his desire to have a position in the American army, he would have faithfully served his native country. Nor do I imagine that under any circumstances he would have proved an Arnold. That he was deeply wounded in spirit and irritated in tem- per when he formed his plan of exile either to some distant part of this country or abroad is very evident. But that this sense of wrong, or irritation, excited in him a vengeful purpose, is not shown by anything known to have been said by him, nor is it necessarily indicated by what he did. Neither is there any evi- dence that when Major Thompson left Woburn, ac- cording to the intention which he frankly communicated to his father-in-law, he had resolved to join the ranks of the enemy, or even to seek their civil protection. Pictet, in a paragraph which I have omitted from the above quotation, says that Thompson left his home in November, 1773, and Cuvier says that his daughter was not born till after his departure. These errors as to matters of fact may persuade us that both Pictet and Cuvier erred also in matters of inference as to the early predilections of Thompson for the royalist cause. Probably circumstances and the opening of opportuni- ties, more than any settled purpose, decided the course of this forlorn and ill-treated young husband and fa- ther, adrift on the world, when he found himself, loosed from all home ties, beginning to wander in distracted times. 94 Life of Count Rumford. There was really nothing secret or disguised in the plans which he formed for seeking " in a foreign land and among strangers/' at the risk of homelessness and poverty, the peace and protection which he could not find in his own dwelling. He did not privately steal away. He remained in and about Woburn two months after writing his last letter to Mr. Walker, in which he so deliberately avowed his intentions. He settled his affairs with his neighbors, collecting dues and paying debts, well assured that his wife and child would lack none of the means of a comfortable support. Having thus made all his preparations, he started from Woburn, October 13, 1775, in a country vehicle, accompanied by his step-brother, Josiah Pierce, who drove him near to the bounds of the Province, on the shore of Narragan- sett Bay, whence young Pierce returned. Thompson was taken by a boat on board the Scarborough, British frigate, in the harbor of Newport. (See Appendix.) What Major Thompson said or did to secure him- self a favorable reception from the commander of the vessel, whether he sought refuge as a persecuted suf- ferer, or proffered service as a new-won friend, there are no means at this time for knowing. The vessel itself very soon came round to Boston, and he came in her in some capacity. Here he remained 6 till the evacua- tion of the town by the British forces, of which event he was undoubtedly the bearer of tidings to England, in despatches from General Howe. Here the work of conversion, slow or protracted, was completed ; and henceforward we are to know Benjamin Thompson, till the close of the war, as in council and in arms an op- ponent of the cause of liberty for his native land. He must have done appreciable service in the four or five Life of Count Rumford. 95 months of his new apprenticeship in Boston, in order to have won so soon the place of an official in the Brit- ish government It has come down distinctly in the family of the Rev. William Walter, D. D., as I learn from a granddaugh- ter, that during Thompson's stay in Boston he was a somewhat secret inmate of that clergyman's family in their house in South Street. Dr. then Mr. Walter, a graduate of Harvard College in 1756, was Rector of Trinity Church in Boston, having been ordained by the Bishop of London. There is a vague tradition that the Rev. Mr. Walker contrived to have an inter- view quite an unsatisfactory one with his son-in- law while he was thus a guest of Mr. Walter. It may have been so. But the jealousy of any intercourse be- tween the town and the suburbs when occupied respec- tively by the hostile armies, and the difficulties thrown in the way of such intercourse, render this alleged inter- view doubtful, and, unless sought by both parties, improbable. I am inclined to believe that Mr. Walter and Thompson were fellow-passengers to England. They were thenceforward intimate friends. At the peace, Mr. Walter came to Sherburne, Nova Scotia, as a Doctor of Divinity, and there exercised his clerical functions, having received a large grant of land from the crown. He returned to Boston in 1791, and was chosen Rector of Christ Church. I find mention of him till his death, in 1800, in letters of Count Rum- ford, as a confidential friend with whom he corre- sponded. Unfortunately, the Count's numerous letters to him have not been preserved. Of course there was much interest and curiosity among the friends and relatives of Major Thompson, 96 Life of Count Riimford. to learn his whereabouts after his departure. They could hear only rumors like the following. Mrs. Baldwin wrote to her husband at the camp at Cambridge, under date from Woburn, January 15, 1776: " Mrs. Pierce [mother of Thompson] has heard that you said you knew that Major Thompson was in Boston. She gives her compliments, and begs that if you know anything where he is, be so kind as to let her know ; she is in pain to hear." And again, " WOBURN, Feb. 7, 1776. I must inform you that Brother Cyrus saw Mr. Parkman, informs him that our famous Major Thompson is in Boston, a clerk for a Major [name illegi- ble). Mrs. Thompson is in Woburn." After the army had gone with General Washington to New York, Colonel Baldwin, who was on duty there, wrote to Mrs. Baldwin from the " Camp at Mile Square, about five miles north of King's Bridge, and near General Lee's Head-quarters, October 22d, 1776. I have had no opportunity to find out whether Major Thompson is with the enemy or not." The first trustworthy information received about Major Thompson by his friends was that communi- cated in letters from London by American refugees there resident. These letters made known his rapid advancement in a career in which we must soon trace him. Mr. George R. Baldwin copied, in 1858, the follow- ing papers, which he obtained at that time from Cyrus Thompson, Esq., grandson of Justice Samuel Thomp- son, named in them. They have an historical and per- sonal interest. of Count Rumford. 97 " Confiscation Papers of Benj? Thompson, Absentee. Common- wealth of Massachusetts, Middlesex, ss. "To MESSRS. BARTHOLOMEW RICHARDSON, JR., NOAH EATON, and ABIJAH THOMPSON, all of Woburn, in the County of Middlesex aforesaid, Greeting : " Whereas it has been represented that Benjamin Thompson, late of Woburn, Physician, now an Absentee, hath fled from his habitation to the Enemies of the United States for protec- tion, leaving behind him real and personal Estate of more than Twenty Pounds in value, and that he hath been absent from his usual place of abode more than three months : " Pursuant, therefore, to a Law of this State in such cases provided, and the authority to me therein given, I do hereby authorise and empower you, the above-named three Persons, a Committee to receive and examine the claims of the several Creditors to the Estate of the said Absentee ; and you are hereby allowed three months' time from the date hereof, in which time to transact the said business. You are in all cases to proceed by the same rules as are by law prescribed for insolvent Estates, and to report to me your doings at the end of the said three months, and in all things deal impartially as you are sworn, and you are to notify W Hunt, Esq., to contest the claims before you. " Given under my hand and seal of office, this fifth day of September, A. D. 1781. " OLIVER PRESCOTT, Prob. EARTH. RICHARDSON, -\ _ _ _. / Sworn before me, SAM*- THOMP- "Dec' 4. NOAH EATON, V , (SON, Justice of the Peace" ABIJAH THOMPSON. ) " A List of the Claims exhibited and allowed agst. the Estate of Benjamin Thompson, late of Woburn, Absentee. " To Hannah Flagg, by Legacy Principal 26 13 4 Interest due on the Same 35 8 62 i 4 This Legacy was ordered to be paid to the said Hannah Flagg in the Testament of Capt. Eben- 7 98 Life of Count Rumford. ezer Thompson, deceased, Grandfather to said Absentee. To Mary Carter's Account 012 o To Loammi Baldwin on Note and Ace* 4 13 6 To Timothy Walker, Jr., note dated Aug. i6 th , 1774, with interest for the same 127 16 o To Timothy Walker, Jr., other note, dated Dec^ 14 th , 1774, with interest for the same 867 To Timothy Walker, Jr., another note dated Nov. 2 d , 1774, with interest 2 210 Cost of Advertising 012 o Time expended by the Commissioners 4 10 o To Jonathan Randall for expense at Sundry times, when examining the claims 012 o To Samuel Thompson for Journey in part to Cam- bridge for Commissioners 4/, Fees \j 080 Swearing the Commissioners and lodging the return 060 Fees paid 3 3 212 3 3 " WOBURN, 4 th Detf 1781. " BARTH^ RICHARDSON, NOAH EATON, ' \- Commissioners" ABIJAH THOMPSON, iON, \ f, ) "MIDDLESEX, 12 Dec. 1781. Exhibited upon oath by Samuel Thompson, Esq., Attorney to one of the principal Creditors, who likewise attested that the claims were contested by Wil- liam Hunt, Esq., Attorney for the Commonwealth, and I have examined the same and do allow thereof. OLIVER PRESCOTT, J. Prob." " The account of the Committee of Correspondence and Safety, &c. for the Town of Wilmington for the year 1779. " The Committee aforesaid charge themselves* with the Rent of Land of Benj. Thompson, an Absentee, for the year aforesaid, amount- ing to 38 o o Said Com ttee crave an allowance for their cost and trouble 800 Balance in favour of the Estate, 30 o o Life of Count Rumford. 99 tc Account as above for the year 1780. " The Committee aforesaid charge themselves with the Rent of Lands which did belong to Benjamin Thompson, an Absentee, for the year 1780, said Land lying in Wilmington aforesaid, amount- ing to 13500 Said Com ttee crave an allowance in their discharge as follows : viz. For Advertisement i8/, Expenses at Vendue 12 18 13 16 o Committee' Time, and Leases, 1212 o Journey to Cambridge and Expenses to Boston to pay Balance to the Treasurer, 12 o o Probate fees, 412 o 43 oo " MIDDLESEX, 3d May, 1780. Having examined this account and sworn Deacon Benjamin Jaquith, Chairman of the Com- mittee, I allow thereof. " OLIVER PRESCOTT, J. Prob." Major Thompson had been named among the pro- scribed in the Alienation Act passed by the State of New Hampshire in 1778. CHAPTE R III. Major Thompson s Mission to Lord G. Germaine. His Ser- vices to the Ministry. Made Secretary of Georgia. Explores London. Objects of his Interest. Experi- ments. Visit to Bath. Guest of Lord Germaine. Fire- Arms and Gunpowder. Sir Joseph Banks. Na- val Service, and Experiments. Made Under-Secretary of State. Loyalists in England. Judge Curwen. Dr. Gardiner. President Laurens. Disastrous In- telligence. Thompson commissioned as Lieutenant- Colo- nel for Service in America. Arrival in Charles- ton^ S. C. In Action there. Arrival in New Tork. His Command. Recruiting. - Presentation of Col- ors. Severe Charges against Thompson. Colonel Sim- ' coe s Reflections. Returns to England. Promotion. On Half-Pay for Life. Agency for Loyalists. IN one of his letters to his father-in-law, on a pre- vious page, Benjamin Thompson had written, " I never did, nor (let my treatment be what it will) ever will do, any action that may have the most distant tendency to injure the true interests of this my native country." Any one who should assume as I do not to maintain the consistency between this solemn pledge and the agency to which Major Thompson immediately and zealously committed himself on his arrival in England would have to fashion for him an argument which, however plausible, would be subtle Life of Count Rumford. 101 and casuistical. He would need to undertake to prove that Mr. Thompson had persuaded himself that " the true interests of his native country " were not to be secured by resisting British authority and achieving its political independence, but would be realized by allowing that authority, with whatever limitations and conditions, graciously defined after submission had been exacted, to be permanently restored over the revolting Provinces. It might be a part of this plea to show that, when he left America, Major Thompson had become satisfied that the resources of this country were unequal to success in the struggle ; and that when he reached England he was so impressed by the tokens of the royal and ministerial ability to subdue a rebel- lion, that he was willing to help bring about what was seemingly inevitable. As I would not offer such a plea for the subject of this memoir, neither will I disguise or palliate the fact that he threw his whole efficiency doubtless also his pride and ambition into the service of the British ministry. He must have said or done something at once to secure his ready welcome, and must have so improved upon the opportunity which that afforded him as to win confidence and to secure position and influence. The smart of indignation at the injustice which he conceived he had borne, and the contempt exhibited by the patriots in rejecting his proffered services, might either have combined with or yielded to the lures of patronage and distinction. Thenceforward the rustic youth be- came the companion of gentlemen of wealth and cul- ture, of scientific philosophers, of the nobility, and of princes. The kind of influence which he at once began to exert, and the promotions which he so soon received IO2 Life of Count Rumford. in England, answer to a class of services rendered by him of a nature not to be misconceived. Pictet, proceeding with his report of the confidential disclosures of his friend from the point at which we left them, wrote the following: " They had not in England at that time much exact informa- tion about the state of the country, all whose ties to the mother land had been ruptured for many years. Thompson thoroughly understood the matter. He could give trustworthy intelligence about the topography, and about the events of the war in which he had played a part. He was not slow in winning the confi- dence of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Some time after his arrival in London he was appointed Secretary of the Prov- ince of Georgia, an office, however, which he never filled. He remained in London attached to the Colonial Office." When, soon after the peace, the members of the successive administrations and parliaments of Great Britain looked back over the long series of mortifying blunders, mishaps, and discomfitures connected with the management of the war, there was one conviction which, as an explanation or a palliation, offered them chief relief, though in itself hardly a consolation, namely, that they had all along been working in the dark. They were made aware of the entire ignorance, and of the wholly misleading knowledge, so called, of this country, its geography, its people, their feelings, purposes, and resources, under which the war had been conducted. This ignorance was felt in itself to have been culpable, though the reason of it had been mainly indifference, if not arrogant contempt. Means of information had been within the reach of the government. Franklin and other provincial agents had offered to enlighten the ministry. Whole drawers of despatches and other Life of Count Rutnford. 103 important papers relating to the American Colonies had lain unopened in government offices. Indeed, the first knowledge which some of the custodians of those papers and many more recent historical and political essayists obtained about important documents hid away in those offices came to them through the requests sent in for the privilege of examining them by investigators like Mr. Sparks, who crossed the ocean for that purpose. The receipt in England of the intelligence that the British army, after having been cooped up in Boston for nine months, had been compelled by Washington to evacuate it by their ships, and that a whole fleet of store-vessels and transports on their way to Boston to relieve the army were likely, one by one, to fall into the hands of the Yankees, furnishing them with just the munitions and goods which they most needed, caused an intense excitement and dismay. The intelligence of the evacuation was made public in the London Gazette of May 3, 1776, though, during the storm which the announcement raised in Parliament, suspicions were thrown out that the ministry had had earlier knowl- edge of the mortifying fact which they had concealed. It would be pleasant to think that Major Thompson bore the tidings of that significant prognostication of the course of the war. That, however, could hardly be regarded as the reason for his welcome from Lord George Germaine, to whom he would have carried the despatch, nor for his immediate admission to a desk in the Colonial Office. He, of course, proffered, and showed he could impart, "information," as Pictet learned from himself. That a youth of twenty-three years should thus at once be relied upon and rewarded 1O4 L,ife of Count Rumford. for service of that kind was in perfect consistency with the mode in which affairs were then managed. No doubt c< topography " was the matter of his first con- versation with Lord George and the youth had only to fall back upon his school lessons. The head of the Department himself was wholly in- competent for the place, and was but a blunderer. It was in keeping with either the comic or the tragic ele- ment in his management that he should have accepted so young an adviser, and have extended to him so large a confidence, so well rewarded. Lord George had been received into office as a prominent and effective agent in the subjugation of the American Colonies, having been made Secretary on November 10, 1775. He was desirous, by complete subserviency to the schemes of the King and ministry, of retrieving his own previously damaged reputation as a soldier. And we may reasonably infer, that, as a condition of securing his patronage and confidence, Thompson must have shown that the information he could impart and the counsels he should suggest would lie midway between those given by such advisers as had previously been listened to or set aside by the ministry. There were honest, wise, and every way competent men, Americans and Englishmen, within easy reach of the administra- tion, and indeed proffering their counsels and warnings, who knew much more, and saw far more keenly into the horoscope of probable events, than did Thompson. But their advice, so far as it involved forebodings, or even deliberation and caution, was rejected by the ministry as unwelcome, because given in the interest of the rebellion. Others 'there were, like the refugee officers of the crown and other loyalists, who had been Life of Count Rumford. 105 driven hence by an angry populace. These were ready to sustain the contemptuous opinions of a few members of the Parliament on the side of the ministry, that resolute measures on the part of the King, and a few regiments of British soldiers, would soon extinguish the threatening flame. The advice of the former class was rejected in scorn ; that of the latter class had been found misleading, and dangerously falsified by the at- tempts to follow it. Thompson must have found his cue in substantially pursuing a midway course. Cu- vier, referring to his first presenting himself before the Minister with his despatches, says : " On this occasion, by the clearness of his details and the gracefulness of his manners he insinuated himself so far into the graces of Lord George Germaine that he took him into his employment." An intelligent and observing witness on the spot, who had known Thompson as an apprentice-boy in Salem, and who is by and by to be quoted, tells us that the young man soon became such a favorite with Lord George that he was daily in the habit of breakfasting, dining, and supping with him at his lodgings ; while it soon came to be known among the American refugees in England, that rills from the fountain of favor and patronage flowed through Thomp- son, and that he himself was becoming rich and conse- quential. There is but one fair construction to be put on these facts. In accordance with the strain of what has previously been said about Thompson's espousal of the unpatriotic side in our war, if it were a matter of importance to ascertain how and in what way he committed himself to the King's service, and what was the nature of the information or advice imparted by him, we should have in the main to depend wholly io6 Life oj Count Rumford. upon inferences. With his great natural abilities and his spirit of observation, not forgetting his own appreci- ation of himself, he might have been a really valuable counsellor to those who rejected such as were more wise and such as were more reckless. He may have satisfied himself that the rebellion would, in any event, stop short of securing the independence of the Colonies, and have looked upon himself as a mediator on the side of the stronger party, aiming in a friendly antagonism to secure the real interests of the weaker party. Besides his clerkship, his first civil appointment, as he informed Pictet, appears to have been as Secretary of the Prov- ince of Georgia, in which position, however, he would seem to have done nothing, simply because there was nothing to be done in it. The British authority was nominally restored in that Province by the return of the Governor, Sir James Wright, July 20, 1779. But it was a short and barren restoration. The loyal- ists there, who had been beguiled by the royal proclama- tion into a belief that an end had come to their troubles, had occasion soon after to rue their confidence, when orders came from England, in 1782, that the royal authority should be abandoned there, orders which included, of course, an abandonment of the loyalists themselves, and a surrender of their property to con- fiscation. In vain did they offer to the King's general the assurance that they would still hold the Province for him if he would give them a single regiment of foot to assist the Georgia Rangers. We may be sure that Thompson's secretaryship, if rewarded, was ineffective. We may be sure, too, that the first occupation of Thompson, apart from the discharge of his duties as a private secretary and a subordinate official in his De- Life of Count RumforcL 107 partment, would be to make the most and the best of his opportunities in acquainting himself with the British metropolis and in seeking introductions alike to men in public station and to those engaged in scientific pur- suits. Nothing of interest would escape his keen ob- servation, and no means of personal improvement or acquisition, through men or things, would fail to yield him advancement. It was a place for the country youth to indulge his genius, and for the aspirant for thrift and fame to gratify his ambition. He. happened, as did Franklin a little earlier, upon a time and stage of de- velopment when science and philosophy were making a marked transition in their methods, from the specula- tive to the experimental process. Thompson's genius was eminently practical and experimental, and he showed a most cautious painstaking in the most minute processes and conditions with which he applied the tests of experi- ment. After he had given some considerable time to peering round and through the metropolis, as his posi- tion naturally prompted him he turned his attention to certain improvements in economy, utility, and effi- ciency in connection with military details. He was so situated that his suggestions would readily obtain a hearing and attention. He advised and procured the adoption of bayonets for the fusees of the Horse- Guards, to be used in fighting on foot. He continued his experiments on gunpowder, with greater facilities at his command for extending them and making them yield to the severest tests of science. The range and character of his social intimacies formed within the next year or two show how diligently and successfully he cultivated the acquaintance of men of station and distinction. His manners with such were always fasci- io8 Life of Co^mt Rinnford. nating and ingratiating. In the autumn of the year T 777> on Account of his sufferings from impaired health, Mr. Thompson went to .Bath, where he spent some time in using the waters. Here he resumed and con- tinued his favorite scientific experiments, especially a series of them to test the cohesive force of different bodies. In July, 1778, he was the guest of Lord George Germaine at his country-seat at Stoneland Lodge. Here, with the assistance, as he tells us, of the Rev. Mr. Ball, Rector of Withyham, he under- took experiments " to determine the most advan- tageous situation for the vent in fire-arms, and to measure the velocities of bullets and the recoil under various circumstances. I had hopes, also, of being able to find out the velocity of the inflammation of gunpowder, and to measure its force more accurately than had hitherto been done/' * On Thompson's return to London from Bath, he communicated the results of his investigations into the cohesion of bodies to Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society. Being thus self-introduced as a scientific inquirer to that eminent man, he was soon on most intimate terms with him, and became one of his nearest circle of friends. It was not in 1778, as stated by his biographers, but in 1779, that Thompson .was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. His certificate for election describes him "as a gentleman well versed in natural knowledge and many branches of polite learning." f He very soon became one of the most active and hon- * An Account of some Experiments upon Gunpowder, &c. f History of the Royal Society &c. By Charles Richard Weld, Esq. Vol. II. p. 212. Life of Count Rumford. 109 ored members of the Society, always attending its meet- ings when he was in London. In order that he might pursue his experiments on gunpowder with great guns, he sought, and readily obtained, the most favorable opportunity with extraordinary facilities for so doing. In the Essay already quoted he thus refers to an occasion which also enabled him to engage in sea-service : " During a cruise which I made, as a volunteer, in the Vic- tory, with the British fleet, under the command of my late worthy friend Sir Charles Hardy, in the year 1779, I had many opportunities of attending to the firing of heavy cannon ; for though we were not fortunate enough to come to a general action with the enemy, as is well known, yet, as the men were frequently exercised at the great guns and in firing at marks, and as some of my friends in the fleet, then captains (since made admirals), as the Honourable Keith Stewart, who commanded the Berwick of 74 guns, Sir Charles Douglas, who com- manded the Duke of 98 guns, and Admiral Macbride, who was then captain of the Bienfaisant of 64 guns, were kind enough, at my request, to make a number of experiments, and particularly by firing a greater number of bullets at once from their heavy guns than ever had been done before, and observing the distances at which they fell in the sea, I had opportunities of making several very interesting observations, which gave me much new light relative to the action of fired gunpowder." He also made a study of the principles of naval artillery, which he contributed as a chapter to Stal- kartt's Treatise on Naval Architecture, published in 1781. He likewise devised a new cx>de of marine signals which has not been made public. The period and the state of things in which he thus devoted his genius to practical science were peculiarly suited to procure him a full appreciation. The Annual Register, in its chronicre of promotions i io Life of Count Rumford. for the year 1780, records that in September, " B. Thompson, Esq., was made Under-Secretary of State for the Northern Department." The oversight of all the practical details for recruiting, equipping, trans- porting, and victualling the British forces, and of many other incidental arrangements, was thus committed to him. Though he discharged the duties of this office in person but little more than one year, his influence would naturally be felt while the administration of which he was a subordinate remained in power. The tenor of his counsels has not transpired, nor are we sufficiently well informed about the matter to say whether he had any special theory, plan, or policy; whether he was a prime originator, or only a subservient agent, of measures the results of which could have afforded but little satisfaction to those who were re- sponsible for them. If he often attended the debates in Parliament, as doubtless he did, he had full oppor- tunities of watching how the tide turned to ebb at the very moment before it seemed to have reached a full flood ; and if he was discerning in the interpretation of signs, he must have known that his official service would be brief. As we shall see, he availed himself of a graceful occasion for resignation, most probably in full foresight of an alternative method of release. The exercise of his genius and the way in which he could best serve his fellow-men that being afterwards the great aim of his life lay in a direction quite different from his present employments. No one, therefore, biographer or critic, need be concerned to plead for him in an office where success would have been worse than failure. He first signed official papers October 27, 1780. Thompson has left an interesting token of his of- Life of Count Ritmford. in ficiousness in the service of King George III. in one of the manuscript volumes in the British Museum in London. That king showed a most commendable zeal in collecting a library of all the books and papers which came from, or which would throw light upon, the Ameri- can Colonies from their first planting to his own time. A large portion of this collection came through the hands of George IV. into the national repository. In it is a small quarto volume containing a series of letters from' Dr. Franklin to the Rev. Dr. Cooper, an eminent minister in Boston, upon American politics, from 1769 to 1774, with Dr. Cooper's answers; and also some let- ters from Governor Pownall to Dr. Cooper. There is added " a short history of those letters, or an account of the manner in which they happened to fall into the hands of the present proprietor of them," Mr. Thomp- son. From this "account" it appears that when Dr. Cooper left Boston, after the battle of Bunker Hill, to find refuge in the country, as his effects, which he took with him, would be subject to search, he committed these valuable papers to the care of his friend, Mr. Jeffries, one of the selectmen of the town, who was then confined by sickness. Mr. Jeffries consigned them to a trunk containing things of his own. When he too left Boston, forgetting what had thus been intrusted to him, he left the trunk in charge of his son, Dr. Jeffries, who, remaining in the town, was in sympathy with the royalist party. At the evacuation of Boston he took the papers with him to Halifax. " From Halifax he brought them with him to London in January last [1777], and made a present of them to Mr. Thomp- son, who now presumes most humbly to lay them at H2 Life of Count Rumford. his Majesty's feet [George III.] as a literary as well as apolitical curiosity." While the war was in progress, Mr. Thompson was brought into constant and intimate relations with the refugees or loyalists who had sought in England for protection against popular indignation and violence in this country, which steadily increased with the ex- asperation excited by every new measure of hostility adopted by the mother country. Being himself so well provided for, and in a situation of influence, where his patronage was effective, he undoubtedly found his posi- tion in this respect one of embarrassment and annoy- ance. There were several centres in England where these refugees gathered for companionship and mutual comfort. Bristol sheltered very many of them, but London was the place of their thickest concourse. The condition of most of the exiles was deplorable in the extreme, and many of the more magnanimous of them learned abroad a true love for their native country by suffering for it, if in another way, hardly any less in feeling than they would have suffered had they re- mained exposed to the dislike and gibes of their own fellow-citizens. Such of these refugees as had no means of their own and no wealthy friends the case with all but a very few of them beset the home government with their piteous appeals for aid, and the overburdened treasury was drawn upon for pensions and gratuities to keep them from starvation. Every one of them who could establish a claim for any loss incurred by his loyalty on this side of the water was eager to press his demands. In one year the grants made to them amounted to some < 80,000. At the close of the war, * Collections of Massachusetts Historical Society, 3d Series, Vol. VIII. pp. 278, 279. Life of Count Rumford. 113 under the constraints of ministerial reform and economy, this sum had shrunk to 38,000, and many of the exiles were compelled to face the alternative of returning to America to meet the humor of their now independent countrymen, or of remaining under humiliating circum- stances amid equally unsympathizing people in Eng- land. So far as the relations between these refugees and Mr. Thompson can be traced, I find no evi- dence that he failed to do, in any case, what duty and friendliness required of him. If' there was a "seeming exception to this in a case now to be mentioned, it is very easy to relieve the imputation. One of the most forlorn and disconsolate of these exiles was Samuel Curwen, of Salem, Massachusetts, who had been a Deputy Judge of Admiralty and Pro- vincial Impost Officer in the service of the crown, as well as a county magistrate for thirty years. He had abundant property, but, being obnoxious for lack of spirit or confidence, on the breaking out of hostilities he had fled to Philadelphia, and from thence had sailed to England, remaining there through the war, but re- turning here unmolested at its close. He was a refined and sensitive man, desponding over his separation from wife and home and his fear of want, as he had reached the borders of old age. He received a gratuity of a hundred pounds, and was put on the Treasury list for an annual pension of the same amount. The following extracts from Judge Curwen's journal have an interest in themselves in connection with Mr. Thompson.* Having chosen his residence in London,' where he was intent to hear all the feverish rumors of * The Journal and Letters of Samuel Curwen, &c. By George Atkinson Ward. 4th edition. Boston, 1864. 8 H4 Life of Count Riimford. each day on the war, he writes under date of November 14, 1780: " Arriving at home, William Cabot drank tea with me, S. Sparhawk came in afterwards, and abode two hours ; from whom I heard the first account of Arnold's intentional withdrawing himself and four or five thousand troops under his command from Congressional service to the Royal standard at New York, the failure of this scheme of treachery, and his lucky escape from his enemies' hands. From him also the relation of the seizure of Mr. Laurens's papers, late President of the Con- gress, and now a prisoner in the Tower ; giving an account of the desperate situation of their affairs, with complaints of failure of their resources, and their inability to support the war any longer without loans from Holland, France, or Spain. The above comes from Benjamin Thompson, a native o-f Massachusetts, (formerly an apprentice to my next-door neighbor in Salem, Mr. John Appleton, an importer of British goods,) now Under- secretary in the American Department." Curwen records next year, April 19, an unsuccessful attempt to call on Mr. Thompson at his lodgings, Pall Mall. On May 23 he writes : "On returning home, found a letter from Arthur Savage, informing me of Mr. Thompson's compliments and wish to see me at eleven o'clock to-morrow at his lodgings. "May 24 [1781]. Went early, in order to be at Mr. Benja- min Thompson's in time, and being a little before, heard he was not returned from Lord George Germaine's, where he always breakfasts, dines, and sups, so great a favorite is he. To kill half an hour, I loitered to the Park through the Palace, and on second return found him at his lodgings ; he received me in a friendly manner, taking me by the hand, talked with great free- dom, and promised to remember and serve me in the way I proposed to him [probably the securing the continuance of his allowance unreduced]. Promises are easily made, and genteel delusive encouragement, the staple article of trade, be- Life of Count Rumford. 115 longing to the courtier's profession. I put no hopes on the fair appearances of outward behavior, though it is uncandid to suppose all mean to deceive. Some wish to do a service who have it not in their power ; all wish to be thought of importance and significancy, and this often leads to deceit. This young man, when a shop-lad to my next neighbor, ever appeared active, good-natured, and sensible ; by a strange concurrence of events, he is now Under-Secretary to the American Secretary of State, Lord George Germaine, a Secretary to Georgia, in- spector of all the clothing sent to America, and Lieutenant-Colo- nel Commandant of horse dragoons at New York ; his income arising from these sources is, I have been told, near seven thousand a year,* a sum infinitely beyond his most sanguine expectations. He is, besides, a member of the Royal Society. It is said he is of an ingenious turn, an inventive imagination, and, by being on one cruise in Channel Service with Sir Charles Hardy, has formed a more regular and better-digested system for signals than that heretofore used. He seems to be of a happy, even temper in general deportment, and reported of an excellent heart ; peculiarly respectful to Americans that fall in his way." On July 27, and on August 3 and 4, Judge Curwen was disappointed in his attempts to find Mr. Thomp- son, either at his lodgings or at the Treasury. But the following entry in the journal, under August n, indi- cates even a more grievous disappointment when he did find him : "After one hour's waiting, admitted to Mr. Thompson in the Plantation Office ; he seemed inclined to shorten the inter- view, received me with a courtier's smile, rather uncommunica- tive and dry. This reception has damped my ill-grounded hopes, derived from former seeming friendly intentions to pro- * It is hardly probable that Major Thompson received anything like the sum above named as his annual emolument. Evidence enough will appear from his own pen and those of others, in the following pages, that he was neither mercenary nor avaricious. He never was lavish in expenditure for himself. n6 Life of Count Rumford. mote my views ; this, my first, will be my last attempt to gain advantages from a courtier of whom I never entertained favor- able impressions." The Judge, in a letter to a friend, dated November 25, 1781, writes: " Our townsman, Mr. Fisher, holds a quartered precarious office, at, I fancy, less than half its real income, under, and returnable to, Mr. Thomp- son, when he shall come back, which I doubt not will be in the spring or summer following." The absence of Mr. Thompson here alluded to was doubtless on occasion of his military errand to America, soon to be related. Had Judge Curwen been the only applicant for such intercessory help as his favored young country- man was known to be able to extend^ no doubt he would have left this " courtier " in better humor. But the Under-Secretary was so often called upon for similar favors that he learned to put his handsome features in fitting expression, and to frame avowals and promises which had their fullest meaning for the eye and the ear. It was, however, a trying experience for the venerable Salem magistrate thus to stand before the " shop-lad " of whom he may once have purchased soap or shoe- buckles. Another of the more distinguished refugees in Lon- don who was very intimate with Mr. Thompson was Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, of Boston. Having studied medicine in London and Paris, he was established here before the war as a physician and druggist. He had acquired immense wealth, and was honored as a noble, public-spirited, and popular man. As one of the part-' ners in the " Plymouth Purchase," so called, on the Kennebec, he owned one twelfth of the property, and had been assiduous and enterprising in improving and Life of Count Rumford. . 117 settling it. He is said to have owned a hundred thou- sand acres in Maine. Being in close social intimacy with the royal party in Boston at the opening of hos- tilities, he was regarded as unfriendly to the cause of liberty. Still he wished to remain here and share the for- tunes of his countrymen. He would have done so, had not a young wife persuaded him, at nearly the age of .seventy, to go off with the British forces to Halifax at the evacuation. This was, of course, the ruin of his fortunes by confiscation. When he came back to Bos- ton, in 1785, to try to reclaim something from the wreck by a petition to the Legislature, he alleged that on his forsaking the town he had intentionally left for the benefit of his countrymen in their need a very full storehouse of drugs and medicines. These Washing- ton had tried to appropriate for the army, but the sheriff of Suffolk got the start of him. Doubtless Dr. Gardiner and Mr. Thompson had been acquainted with edch other here. In the following reply which the Under-Secretary of State addressed to this impoverished refugee, the "plan" referred to 'may concern either some suggestion for the conduct of the war, or for providing for the clamorous demands of the loyalists, who had to take the Secretary's office on their way to the Treasury. "PALL MALL COURT, Feby. 24, 1780. "DEAR SIR, I return you many thanks for the excellent plan you have been so good as to send me. I have shown it to my Lord George Germaine, who approves of it very much. And I am directed by his Lordship to return you his thanks for the trouble you have had in preparing it. He is fully convinced of its utility, and would be very glad to see it carried into execu- tion. 1 1 8 Life of Count Rumford. " I am sorry to inform you that nothing has yet been done at the Treasury respecting your Petition. I have often inquired after it, and I shall continue to do everything in my power to forward it. But just at this moment their Lordships are so extremely busy with Parliamentary matters that it is next to impossible to get them to attend to anything else. But as soon as the present hurry is a little over, I would hope they will take the Petitions of the American sufferers into consideration; and you may rest assured that your Petition will be among the very first that are laid before them. " I am, Dear Sir, with great regard and respect, " Your most Obedient, "And most faithful, humble Servant, "B. THOMPSON. " DOCTOR GARDINER." It is suggestive to think of Mr. Thompson as hav- ing in hand, and inquisitively scanning, the official pa- pers seized with Henry Laurens, the late President of our Congress, when he was captured, in the summer of 1780, by a British frigate near Newfoundland, on his 'way to Holland as our Minister Plenipotentiary. Laurens was then in the Tower, and his papers, which he had thrown overboard on his capture, but which were fished up by a seaman, made piteous exposure of the needs of his countrymen. Thompson, it seerns, divulged their secrets. He was soon after to have a meeting with Laurens under other circumstances. There were many curious surprises in those days, which re- quired that Americans meeting in Europe should keep full command of courteous manners. It is probably safe to accept the reason and motive assigned by Cuvier as the promptings which induced Mr. Thompson to seek active military service in the royal army, and in that capacity to return to his native Life of Count Rumford. 119 country to fight, as he had already counselled, against her cause of independence. He might have felt the impulse, whether of conviction, self-respect, or the plea of consistency, to show the sincerity of the course he had been pursuing in the quiet of his official bureau by exposing his life for the same object, and thus prov- ing that he was a loyal and grateful subject of his King. There is this, however, to be said on the side of the pos- sible magnanimity of his conduct, that he formed the purpose of coming here in command as an officer of the British army at the very darkest and most hopeless stage of the war as regarded the prospects of the royal cause. The King and the administration had been thwarted. The majority in Parliament was shifting against them. England found herself involved by sea and land with our French allies. The surrender of Burgoyne, to be soon followed by the capitulation of Cornwallis, had discomfited even the most arrogant and contemptuous enemies of the Colonies. Exhaustive levies and reckless appropriations had dispirited the people, and held up to them the prospective burdens of overwhelming debt and. excessive taxes. The subju- gation of America had to be recognized as delusive, as, in fact, an impossibility. Whether disappointment, stung into vengeance, might yet inflict a few more heavy blows against the opening life of a new nation, or whether discord might be introduced among its con- stituent parts, or, finally, whether more or less of the territory of North America should still be held by the crown, were as yet contingent. Thompson's political prospects were for the time, at least identified with those of his head and patron, Lord G. Germaine. The latter felt that the last hope of subjugating the Colonies I2O Life of Count Rumford* hung upon the fate of Cornwallis. Sir M. W. Wraxall * has given a striking sketch of the incident when the news of the Earl's capitulation on October 19 was brought to the Secretary, with whom he dined on the day mentioned. u On Sunday the 25th [November], about noon, official intelligence of the surrender of the British forces at Yorktown arrived from Falmouth at Lord George Germaine's house in Pall Mall. Lord Walshingham, who had been Under-Secre- tary of State in that Department, happened to be there. With- out communicating it to any other person, Lord George, for the purpose of despatch, immediately got with him into a hackney coach, and drove to Lord Stormont's residence in Portland Place. Having imparted to him the disastrous infor- mation, and taken him into the carriage, they instantly pro- ceeded to the Chancellor's, and, on consultation, determined to lay it before Lord North. The First Minister's firmness, and even his presence of mind, gave way for a short time under this awful disaster. I asked Lord George afterwards how he took the communication. c As he would have taken a ball in his breast,' replied Lord George. c For he opened his arms, ex- claiming wildly, as he paced up and down the apartment dur- ing a few minutes, O God ! it is all over ! ' : Doubtless Thompson had formed strong personal rela- tions with Lord George, from such close intimacy with him, not only in the office, but at his house in Pall Mall, and in frequent visits to him at his seat at Dray- ton. Perhaps Thompson foresaw, even more clearly than many others, what was to be the probable issue of the struggle in America, and provided for himself the alternative which, poor as it proved, we are soon to find him accepting. He was on this side of the ocean when, in February, 1782, the forced resignation of his patron * Historical Memoirs of my own Time. Vol. II. p. 99, &c. Life of Coimt Rumford. 121 was accepted, as a temporary dalliance of Lord North with his own fate, which was to be a little longer de- ferred. The humiliations which successively were visited on the schemes and enterprises of the ministry reflected reproaches upon themselves which they sought to shift upon secretaries and subordinates, as having been in- competent blunderers. Cuvier says and Mr. Thomp- son alone could have been a qualified informant that, as Under-Secretary of State for thirteen months, " he had been disgusted by the want of talent displayed by his principal, for which he had himself not unfrequently been made responsible." It was too much to expect that the ministry and their secretaries, who had con- ducted the war, should be the agents for devising and ratifying terms of peace. Interest, therefore, was con- centrated upon the Cabinet, with the knowledge that a rupture there could alone bring the problem to a solu- tion. When the mortifying intelligence of what had occurred at Yorktown and Gloucester reached England, king and ministry still stood by each other, and the majority in Parliament still confirmed their policy, though with a halting decision. But the opposition in Parliament made Lord George the target of their assaults, as it was within his Department that the meas- ures which had proved so impotent in the direction of Colonial affairs had been administered. The Premier, Lord North, abandoned him, and he resigned, receiv- ing, however, some special marks of the King's favor in pensions and a peerage. Viscount Sackville, as he was now entitled, had, in his turn, in foresight of his resig- nation, an opportunity to reward so faithful a friend as he had found in his Under-Secretary. Accordingly 122 Life of Count Rumford. Major Thompson, who had always clung to that title, though its provincial commission gave him no rank in the regular army, was now honored with the commis- sion, in the British army, of a Lieutenant-Colonel. It was to forces already organized, or in fragmentary bodies supposed to admit of being rallied into new vigor, in America, that Thompson's commission ap- plied. His pay was 24 s. 6d. per diem. But the officer, though at the age of twenty-eight not yet a veteran, wished for, and meant to do, full military duty. He needed a command. Where should he find a regiment ? He provided for himself, and resolved to secure a following from those who, in his native land, had willingly espoused the cause of the King against their own country. They called them- selves loyal Americans. For the most part they were a sorry company, the most desperate and hated in their mode of warfare and in their subserviency, and the bitterest sufferers in the wreck of the cause to which, in principle or in malignity, as the case may have been, they had given themselves. The ranks of the " Loyal American Regiments," gathered in full or only in a skeleton form in New York and in the Southern Prov- inces, were held to the royal side by a very slender allegiance, influenced in part by fear, and in part by the stronger attraction of pay in English coin above that of a paper currency. They, however, found it very easy to shift to the American side; and perhaps a majority of them had been so impartial as to serve in the course of the war with equal merit, principle, and efficiency in both armies. Yet it was not so easy for the officers of these regi- ments of loyalists to pass from one side to the other. Life of Count Rumford. 123 For them consistency and notoriety were pledges that they might perform acceptable service. Their self- committal gave them a claim to royal gratitude to be met only by exchanging their provincial commissions for others which should raise them to and confirm them in honorable positions in the regular army of Great Britain, with opportunities for promotion, pay, half- pay, and pensions accordingly. Thompson himself said that he "went out to America to command a regiment of cavalry which he had raised in that country for the King's service." But little could be done in England for that enterprise, except the procuring of commissions and funds. The work was to be accomplished here, and Thompson essayed it. True to his devotion to scientific experiment in the subject which he had investigated from his boyhood, Thompson so far redeemed what in our eyes must be regarded as the inglorious purpose of his sea voyage. He says : " His Majesty having been graciously pleased to permit me to take out with me from England four pieces of light artillery, constructed under the direction of the late Lieutenant-General Desaguliers, with a large proportion of ammunition, I made a great number of interesting experiments with these guns, and also with the ship's guns on board the ships of war in which I made my passage to and from America." | Pictet gives us the following account from his friend's confidential communication of this incident in his life: " The regiment of cavalry called the King's American Dra- goons was raised at this time in his native country by his friends and agents, and he was then commissioned as its Lieu- tenant-Colonel Commandant. This circumstance led him to * Essay on Gunpowder. f Ibid. 124 Life of Count Rumford. leave England for a return to America to serve with his regi- ment. He had intended to land at New York, but contrary winds compelled him to disembark at Charleston [South Carolina]. Obliged to pass the winter there, he was made commander of the remains of the cavalry in the royal army which was then under the orders of Lieutenant-General Leslie. This corps was broken up, and he promptly restored it and won the confidence and attachment of the commander. He led them often against the enemy, and was always successful in his enterprises. " That which is called good fortune and success in war is achieved amid many scenes deeply saddening for a kind heart. The sort of engagements to which he was drawn multiplied these harrowing scenes. It was a war of posts and a civil war at the same time. So there was much of danger and fatigue with little glory, and the spectacle of a people reduced to desolation and despair. Such was his position at that time. I have seen his eyes filled with tears when he told me certain anecdotes relating to those times and to his military career. A German painter has undertaken to represent one of these scenes, which makes one shudder, and which I have not now heart or time to describe to you." Pictet would seem in this last sentence to refer to some picture shown him by his friend, then Count Rumford, drawn by description and narrative furnished by the latter to some German artist. I have been the more ready to quote the sentiment which the Swiss friend connects with his statement of facts, because, though it may be a little overstrained, I should be glad to believe that the larger part of it was to be credited to Pictet's informant. There were indeed some pe- culiarly sad and harrowing circumstances connected with the desultory warfare in our Southern Provinces; but I have not been able to identify Colonel Thompson as an actor -in, or even as a spectator of, many of them. Life of Count Rinnford. 125 Neither have I succeeded further than in approxi- mating to the dates at which Thompson sailed from England and arrived at Charleston. It was undoubtedly stress of weather which carried him thither, rather than to Long Island, New York, where the remnant of the corps of dragoons which he was to command was quar- tered. Curwen, as we have seen, writes of having had an interview with Thompson in London, August n, 1781, and then writes of him as absent under date of November 25, 1781. Between these dates, proba- bly about October 4, Thompson, who had before re- ceived his commission, had left England. He was in Charleston early in January, 1782. He has left, how- ever, but faint traces of his visit there, and but one signal event of the many which Pictet reports is at- tached to his name. The following brief extracts from American papers of the time, published on the royal side, help us to a few facts relating to Colonel Thompson : * Rivington's New York Gazette, January 5, 1782. " The British fleet of forty-odd sail, under convoy of the Rotter- dam, of 50 guns, Astrea, 32, and Duke de Chartres, 16, with Lord Dunmore, destined for this port, was safe arrived at Charleston." January 9. " The Quebec [which left Cork, the great depot for provisions, October 29] a convoy has anchored in New York Harbor. They left the Rotterdam and Astrea's fleet of victuallers and store-ships, &c. at Charleston, where they arrived from Cork ten days before the Quebec convoy got thither." New York Mercury, January 16, 1782." "The fleet which sailed from this port for South Carolina, 25th ult., was seen on * I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Henry Onderdonk, Jr., of Jamaica, L. I., in communicating to me these extracts. 126 Life of Count R^lmford. the 4th inst., by his Majesty's frigate Blond, since arrived ' here, off Cape Fear, with a favorable wind for Charleston. " On Sunday last arrived his Majesty's Ship Rotterdam, James Knowles, Esq., commander, which sailed from Charles- ton the same day the Blond left it. Colonel Thompson, of the King's American Dragoons, late Under-Secretary of State for the American Department, and a number of gentlemen of rank, who came passengers in the above-mentioned ship, remain at Charleston." Rivington, January 19, 1782. " We are informed that Lord Dunmore had a grand reception at Charleston, on his arrival there." Supposing Thompson to have arrived in Charleston on or before January i, we might infer that he did not leave England until after the news had arrived there of Cornwallis's surrender, if Curwen had not written of him as absent on the same date referred to in the extract given above from Wraxall. At any rate, Thompson must have learned at once, as he landed on this conti- nent, that the war waging here by Great Britain was rather a defensive than an offensive one. Tarleton, in his History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces, does not come far enough down to cover his presence. In the autumn of 1781 the remnant of the British army in the South had been driven by Greene into Charleston, South Carolina. There, and at Savannah and on John's Island, the only places in the region left in their possession, and these too held by the aid of vessels, the British forces were hemmed in and found it difficult to hold their ground. Their discomfiture had rallied the hopes of the patriots. Hundreds of halting, time-serving waiters on the for- tunes of the war, within the former British lines, now put themselves under the protection of the Legislature Life of Count Rumford. 127 which was convened at Jacksonborough by Governor Rutledge. This was watched over by Greene's advance. General Leslie, the British commander at Charleston, baffled in all his enterprises, was at his wits' end, and had reason to apprehend starvation, the main security against which was to be found in successful inroads into the country. In vain did he issue his proclamations to rally Tories and provisions. He must have welcomed the weather-bound new-comer who told Pictet that he made himself so serviceable. By a bold movement in January, 1782, Major Craig, who with a small British force was in command on John's Island, was driven into Charleston by a body of Greene's army, with the loss of a few prisoners and stores. Becoming desperate in their need of supplies, in a skirmish on one of their sorties they had been repulsed by Marion's Brigade near Monk's Corner. Marion, soon after filling his seat in the Legislature, left his brigade in command of Colonel Horrey. An attack was made upon htm by a larger force under Colonel Thompson, near the Santee, and though Marion came in season to take part in the action, he had the mortification of witnessing the dis- comfiture of his little band with the loss of men and munitions. This is the only conspicuous action which our own historian has credited to Thompson while at the South. * A few other brief extracts from Rivington, contain- ing information collected from ports below New York, contain for us hints of Thompson's activity. Under date February 18 : "A detachment of the royal Ameri- cans went on service, supposed against Greene." * Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States. By Henry Lee. Washington, 1827. p. 397. 128 Life of Count Rumford.. Richmond, March 9. "A person who left the Southern army, February 13, says Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson has taken command of the British cavalry under Colonel Leslie." Philadelphia, March 27. " A considerable force of cav- alry and infantry, commanded by Colonel Thompson, sallied out from Charleston on the side opposite the American camp, and surprised and dispersed a party of militia on Feb. 24 and 25. The British retreated before Greene could send re- inforcements." Charleston, March 2. " Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson moved on Sunday, Feb. 24, from Daniel's Island, with the cavalry, Cun- ningham's and Young's troops of mounted militia, Yagers, and volunteers of Ireland, with one three-pounder, and a detach- ment of the Thirtieth Regiment. By the spirited exertions of his troops, and by the Colonel's mounting the infantry occasion- ally on the dragoon horses, he carried his corps thirty-six miles without halting. [Having secured the American scouts to pre- vent information being given.] He drove in Horrey's regiment. They were pursued by Major Doyle with mounted militia. On seeing the enemy, Colonel T sounded a charge and dashed forwards. Marion's marque and men refreshed our soldiers. Colonel T marched back, driving the cattle, &c. The ad- mirable conduct of the officer who commanded can only be equalled by the spirit with which his orders were executed." (Rivington, April 17.) " This series of actions took place at Warnham Bridge, and at Tydeman's house." In the war of posts, of desultory skirmishes, and of inroads into the farming regions for plunder, to which the struggle at the South was reduced, there was indeed little opportunity for Thompson to win laurels. He undoubtedly made use of his energetic and methodical skill in doing what he could to organize and discipline such unpromising materials as he had before him. It is to be remembered that he was only accidentally on the spot, and had no permanent command there. The Life of Count Rumford. 129 dragoons at the head of which he intended to place him- self, or rather that remnant of the corps which escaped coming under the full terms of the capitulation at York- town, were on Long Island, New York, awaiting his coming. As to the pathetic scenes which Thompson was called to witness, and at the narration of which, in the Frenchman's rehearsal, he wept, he might have seen similar ones at the beginning of the war, before he left his native country. No doubt there were enough of them, and they were harrowing enough to distress one of a philanthropic heart. But without meaning to intimate that there was any exaggeration in the reference to so many peculiarly distressing incidents, I feel re- lieved in avowing that in faithfully searching after the real occurrences which they imply I have been unsuc- cessful in finding them. Charleston was evacuated December 14, lylte, but before that event had taken place, and in the middle of the spring of that year, Thompson had sailed for New York. What Pictet received from his own lips is to be inferred from the following report of it: * " Honored with the esteem of the army, and with the most flattering recommendations from General Leslie for the Com- mander-in-Chief, Thompson started in the spring of 1782 for New York, where he took the command of his regiment. Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, third son of the King, who reviewed his corps, committed the colors to him with his own hand. General Clinton was succeeded towards autumn by Carlton, who also extended to Thompson his friendship and confidence. He gathered into his corps the feeble remains of two regiments which had been engaged through the war, and was sent to Huntington, an advanced post of the army on Long Island, where he passed the winter." * Bibliotheque Britannique. Vol. XX. 9 130 Life of Count Rumford. I am able to fill up with some interesting details what M. Pictet presents in this condensed form. Doubtless Thompson showed to his friend the commendatory document from General Leslie, as he did the originals of other papers. The order issued from Leslie's head- quarters, as given in Rivington's Gazette, is as follows : " DAVIS HOUSE, March i, 1782. " Lieutenant-General Leslie desires Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson and the officers and soldiers of the cavalry and infantry who served under his command will accept his best thanks for the services performed by them on the late expedition. The Lieutenant-General cannot too truly express to the army the opinion he entertains of the merit of Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson's conduct upon the occasion, and of the spirited behavior of the troops. The constancy with which they supported the fatigues of a long and very rapid march claims his approbation, no less than their exertions in presence of the enemy." Under date of April 13, 1782, Rivington announces : " New York. On Thursday arrived from South Carolina, the Earl of Dunmore, Colonel Thompson, who lately effected a successful attack upon the Rebels in South Carolina, and many other officers of the army arrived in town from thence on Tues- day evening and yesterday." The New York Mercury of April 16 gives this an- nouncement : " Thursday last, arrived at Sandy Hook, in ten days from Charleston, South Carolina, a fleet of forty-five sail, of navy and army victuallers (most of which arrived at that place last fall from Europe), under convoy of his Majesty's ships Carysfort, Duke de Chartres, Astrea, Charlestown, and Grana. When the fleet left Charleston, the garrison was very healthy and well supplied with all sorts of provisions. General Greene, with an army of about two thousand men, being at thirty miles' distance. In the Life of Count Rumford. 131 fleet came passengers, his Excellency the Earl of Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, Colonels Small and Thompson, and sev- eral other gentlemen of high rank." It would be agreeable to be able to recognize here any effort made by Colonel Thompson to communicate with the members of his own family, or even with his friend Baldwin, in New Hampshire or Massachusetts, now that he was again so near them. I cannot say that he did not make such an effort, but I have been unable to find any trace or token of it. The attempt would have been attended with difficulties, though these were by no means insurmountable. Constant intercourse was kept up across Long Island Sound between the British troops in New York, and neutrals, loyalist sym- pathizers, and time-servers in Connecticut, and con- trivance and money would have effected the object had it been one of strong desire. I am forced to the conclu- sion that Thompson was either indifferent to or alien- ated from his family. But of this something more will be said in another connection. It is somewhat derogatory to the fair fame of Thomp- son, to have to connect him with the following recruit- ing bulletin for filling up the thinned ranks of his com- mand. In Rivington's Royal Gazette, for July 24, 1782, we find this tempting advertisement for attracting recruits for the cc King's American Dragoons." " Any likely and spirited young lads who are desirous of dis- tinguishing themselves by serving their King and country, and who prefer riding on horseback to going on foot, have an oppor- tunity of gratifying their inclinations : ten guineas to volunteers, or five to any one who brings a recruit, and five to the recruit. For the convenience of those who may come from the continent 132 Life of Count Rumford. by the way of Lloyd's Neck, an officer will constantly remain at that post." The particulars which fidelity to the truth of history now requires to be set forth as they appear in our 'local annals, though they do not add to, but must be re- garded as detracting from, the repute of our distin- guished countryman, may still be found to possess an interest in themselves. Pictet's gush of sentiment, original or sympathetic, can hardly be considered as giving them any dignity. Colonel Thompson, how- ever, is entitled to the benefit of the suggestion already intimated, that the military operations of Great Britain in this country at the time were continued certainly without any hope of, and possibly without much reference to, the subjugation of the Colonies. Through her war against us England had become involved in hostilities with the Continental powers of Europe, which made the ocean perilous for her naval armaments and transports, and threatened her other colonial possessions. It is there- fore possible that Colonel Thompson may at this period have felt that he was serving his King and government in a cause which did not necessarily involve further dis- tress for his native country. Mr. Henry Onderdonk, Jr., in his laborious and miscellaneous gatherings for illustrating historical inci- dents connected with the war on Long Island, gives me valuable aid in tracing Colonel Thompson in this part of his inglorious campaign.* * Documents and Letters intended to illustrate the Revolutionary Incidents of Queen's County ; with connecting Narratives, explanatory Notes and Additions. By Henry Onderdonk, Jr. New York, 1846. Also, Revolutionary Incidents of Suffolk and Kings' Counties ; with an Account of the Battle of Long Island, &c. By Henry Onderdonk, Jr. New York, 1849. These are volumes of great value and interest to the historical student. The quotations in the text are made from pp. 149, 150, of the former book, and from pp. 107, 261 - 264 of the latter. Life of Count Rumford. 133 \ Mr. Onderdonk makes the following extract from Rivington's Royal Gazette, of August 7, 1782, a journal printed in New York while it was occupied by the British army : " Presentation of colors, Thursday, August I, to the King's American Dragoons, under Colonel Benjamin Thompson, at camp, about three miles east of Flushing, consisting of four complete troops mounted, and two dismounted. The regiment was formed on advantageous ground in front of the encamp- ment, having a gentle declivity to the south, with two pieces of light artillery on the right. About sixty yards in front of the regiment was a canopy twenty feet high, supported by ten pil- lars. East of which was a semicircular bower for the accom- modation of spectators. The standards were planted under the canopy. " At one o'clock the Prince, with Admiral Digby, General Birch, Hon. Lieutenant-Colonel Fox, of 38th, and Lieutenant- Colonel Small of 84th, and other officers of distinction, came on the ground, and received the usual salutes (the trumpets sounding and the music playing 'God save the King!'), and posted themselves in the canopy. The regiment passed in review before the Prince, performing marching salutes. They then returned, dismounted, and formed in a semicircle in front of the canopy. Their chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Odell, delivered an appropriate address. After which the whole regiment, offi- cers and men, kneeled and laid their helmets and arms on the ground, held up their right hands, and took a most solemn oath of allegiance to their sovereign and fidelity to their standard, the whole repeating the oath together. The chaplain then pro- nounced a solemn benediction. The regiment rose, and returned to their ground, and fired a royal salute. They then mounted, and saluted the standard together. As soon as the consecrating and saluting the standard was over, the Prince came forward to the centre of the regiment, received the colors from Admiral Digby, and presented them with his own hand to Lieutenant- Colonel Thompson, who delivered them to the eldest cornets. 134- Life of Count Rumfjrd. On a given signal the whole regiment, with all the numerous spectators, gave three shouts, the music played ' God save the King ! ' the artillery fired a royal salute, and the ceremony was ended." The scion of royalty who officiated on this rather de- monstrative than brilliant occasion was his Royal High- ness Prince William Henry, the King's third son, aged nearly seventeen, afterwards King William IV. He had sailed on board the Prince George, under Admiral Digby, to qualify himself for rank in the Royal Navy. An ox was roasted whole, to grace this occasion. fc He was spitted on a hickory sapling, twelve feet long, supported on crotches, and turned by handspikes. An attendant dipped a swab in a tub of salt and water to baste the ox and moderate the fire." Each soldier then sliced off for himself a piece of the ill-cooked beef. The same local annals contain several specifications of grievances, which may be set forth in the terms that the writers have chosen for expressing them. The first printed charge and complaint brought against the conduct of Colonel Thompson while in command at Huntington are found as given by Hon. Silas Wood, the first historian of Long Island.* Mr. Wood lived in Huntington, and represented the temper and the remembered grievances of the in- habitants. His account, which is interesting, as well as sharply pointed, is as follows : "From 1776 to 1783 the island was occupied by British troops. They traversed it from one end to the other, and were stationed at different places during the war. * A Sketch of the First Settlement of the Several Towns on Long Island ; with their Political Condition to the End of the American Revolution. By Silas Wood. Revised Edition. Brooklyn, N. Y., 1826. pp. 85-90. Life of Count Rumford. 135 " The whole country within the British lines was subject to martial law ; the administration of justice was suspended ; the army was a sanctuary for crimes and robbery, and the grossest offences were atoned by enlistment. Many of those who had served as officers in the militia, or as members of the town and county committees, fled into the American lines for safety. Some of the most active of those who remained at home were taken to New York, and suffered a long and tedious imprison- ment ; others were harassed and plundered of their property ; and the inhabitants generally were subject to the orders, and their property to the disposal, of the British officers. They compelled the inhabitants to do all kinds of personal services, to work at their forts, to go with their teams on foraging par- ties, and to transport their cannon, ammunition, provisions, and baggage from place to place, as they changed their quarters, and to go and come on the order of every petty officer who had the charge of the most trifling business. " In April, 1783, Sir Guy Carlton instituted a Board of Com- missioners for the purpose of adjusting such demands against the British army as had not been settled. The accounts of the people of the town of Huntington alone for property taken from them for the use of the army, which were supported by receipts of British officers, or by other evidence, which were prepared to be laid before the Board, amounted to ,7,249 9*. 6^/., and these . accounts were not supposed to comprise one fourth part of the property which was taken from them without compensation. These accounts were sent to New York to be laid before the Board of Commissioners, but they sailed for England without attending to them, and the people from whom the property was taken were left, like their neighbors who had no receipts, with- out redress. During the whole war the inhabitants of the isl- and, especially those of Suffolk County [in which was Hunting- ton], were perpetually exposed to the grossest insult and abuse. They had no property of a movable nature that they could, properly speaking, call their own ; they were oftentimes deprived of the stock necessary to the management of their farms, and were deterred from endeavoring to produce more than a bare 136 Life of Count Riimford. subsistence by the apprehension that a surplus would be wrested from them, either by the military authority of the purveyor or by the ruffian hand of the plunderer. " Besides these violations of the rights of person and property, the British officers did many acts of barbarity for which there could be no apology. They made garrisons, storehouses, or stables of the houses of public worship in several towns, and particularly of such as belonged to the Presbyterians. In the fall of 1782, at the conclusion of the war, about the time the provisional articles of the treaty of peace were signed in Europe, Colonel Thompson (since said to be Count Rumford), who commanded the troops then stationed at Huntington, without any assignable purpose except that of filling his own pockets, by its furnishing him with a pretended claim on the British treasury for the expense, caused a fort to be erected in Huntington, and without any possible motive, except to gratify a malignant dis- position by vexing the people of Huntington, he placed it in the centre of the public burying-ground, in defiance of a re- monstrance of the trustees of the town against the sacrilege of disturbing the ashes and destroying the monuments of the dead." The historian proceeds to show how much more of " cruelty and oppression " the people of the island, after the peace, had to suffer from their own Legisla- ture, by legal inflictions and fines, and the denial of their claims for damages, for what they had done through compulsion of the British military force, in- cluding the imposition upon them of a tax of 37,000 " for not having been in a condition to take an active part in the war against the enemy ! " These latter charges, however, are aside from our present purpose, except as they illustrate the miseries of war, and show, as the historian pleads, " that an abuse of power was not peculiar to the British Parliament/* The next historical annalist of Long Island, bearing a name very nearly the same as that of the subject of Life of Count Rumford. 137 his severity, Benjamin F. Thompson, Esq.,* repeats the substance of the above charge against Colonel Thompson, as made by Wood, and adds that, instead of listening to the entreaties and remonstrances of the inhabitants, " he compelled them to assist in pulling down the Presbyterian Church to furnish materials for the building of the fort." This namesake of the Colonel brings the further alle- gation against him, that on his return to England " he received the enormous sum of ^30,000 sterling for his military services, and was also knighted by the King/' I may as well make an exhaustive exhibition of the reproach heaped upon Colonel Thompson by those who have had occasion to chronicle the matter ; so I will quote a third repetition of the censure, with aggravations, from a later historian of Long Island, Mr. Nathaniel S. Prime.f After copying in an early part of his volume what has been above transcribed from Wood, and affirming that no town on the island suffered so much as Hun- tington from the insolence and outrages and oppression of the Tories and the British soldiers, Mr. Prime continues : 66 > 2 5 r - 138 Life of Count Rumford. graves levelled, and the tombstones used for building their fire- places and ovens. The writer has often heard old men testify, from the evidence of their own senses, that they had seen the loaves of bread drawn out of these ovens with the reversed inscription of the tombstones of their friends on the lower crust. " The redoubtable commander in these sacrilegious proceed- ings was Colonel Benjamin Thompson, a native of Massachu- setts, and the same man that was afterwards created by the Duke of Bavaria and known to the world as Count Rumford. But his acts in this place have given him an immortality which all his military exploits, his philosophical disquisitions, and scien- tific discoveries, will never secure to him among the descendants of this outraged community. " Mr. Prime says that his grandfather, cc the aged pastor of the congregation," was peculiarly obnoxious to the British as an " old rebel," and that when the soldiers first came to the place they treated him with special indignity, littering the stable with valuable books from his library. Some of these books were lying before the historian as he wrote, "with the impress of the same savage hands." The Rev. Ebenezer Prime, the min- ister here referred to, died in 1779, so that Colonel Thompson was not a party to this offence. I have not assumed the championship of Colonel Thompson as a soldier, even independently of his espousal of the side in which he appears against his native country. He may have been responsible for all that is here charged against him as a matter of fact, but there are no adequate grounds for ascribing to him malignity of motive in the acts done under his com- mand. The people of Long Island suffered especial hardships and exactions during the Revolutionary strug- gle. After the disastrous affair to our forces which Life of Count Rumford. 1 39 occurred there so early in the war, the Island, like New York, remained in the possession of the British forces, naval and military, till the peace. Part of the inhabitants of the Island had begun very vigorously on the popular side, and many of the real patriots had fled to the main. Those who were compelled to remain under a sincere or a forced and unwelcome allegiance to the crown had to meet the usual conditions of the occu- pancy of a spot which was substantially a station and centre of hostile military operations. The Island was the resting-place for the British regiments when not on active duty. They were quartered there for the very great convenience of embarking, when needed, on any expedition, south or north. Colonel Thompson does not appear to have had any special duty assigned to him on the Island, but was merely quartered there from having nothing to do elsewhere. In the wniter the troops gave over campaign work, came into winter- quarters on the Island, and built huts and barracks, and excavated the' side-hills to get comfortable shelter and sleeping-places. The town of Huntington runs through nearly the centre of the Island^ from the sea- coast to opposite the town of Norwalk, Connecticut, on the Sound. At Lloyd's Neck, near Huntington, was a fort to protect the British wood-cutters against the whale-boatmen from the mainland, who came out at night to strip the country. Firewood and boards for huts were very scarce and difficult to obtain. There was constant depredating from across the Sound, and also sharp smuggling between wily Yankees, the sol- diers, and the disaffected islanders. The fort that Colonel Thompson built was doubt- less intended chiefly as a winter shelter for his troops ; 140 Life of Count Rum ford. and the meeting-house not by any means the only one destroyed by the British troops for fuel was stripped from necessity. There was a similar fort built on a similar rise of ground at Oyster Bay for the like twofold purposes of shelter and protection against Yankees. Mr. Onderdonk writes me that he has "seen the elevated conical hill in Huntington, around the base of which the road winds. It was just the place for a fort. It strikes the eye of the stranger at once, as he is about entering the town. When I saw it, about 1842, it was filled with tombstones. Many of those dis- turbed by military necessity were doubtless what we call field-stones, with the initials and the year of death rudely cut on them." Colonel Thompson's presence is noted again in a piece of news which reached Fishkill from Long Island on December 5, 1782. " The enemy are fortifying Huntington. They have pitched on a burying-ground, and have dug up graves and gravestones, to the great grief of the people there, who, when they remonstrated against the proceeding, received nothing but abuse." As we have seen, Colonel Thompson is made to bear the reproach of this outrage, aggravated by the charge that he compelled the remonstrating people themselves to assist in demolishing their church, in order to fur- nish materials for his fort. On December 1 8, 1782, Thompson's corps " the remains of the Queen's Rangers, and Tarlton's Legion (five or six hundred)" were reported as being "at Huntington to protect the trade with the mainland." His force is afterwards stated as " five hundred and eighty effectives." Life of Count Rumford. 141 An inhabitant of Stamford, Connecticut, reported that c< On December I he was at Huntington, passing for an inhabitant, and passed within four rods of the front of the fort which faces the north. It is about five rods in front, with a gate in the middle ; it extends a considerable distance north and south : the works were altogether of earth, about six feet high, no pickets or any other obstruction of the works, except a sort of ditch which was very inconsiderable, some brush-like small trees fixed on the top of the works in a perpendicular form ; he was told it encompassed near two acres of ground. It is built on a rising ground, and takes in the burying-ground ; the meeting house they have pulled down. The troops consist of Thompson's regiment, the remains of the Queen's Rangers, and the Legion, being five hundred and fifty effectives. They are quartered as compact as possible in the inhabitants' houses and barns, and some hutted along the sides of the fort, which makes one side of the hut. The inhabitants of Huntington do suffer exceedingly from the treatment they receive from the troops, who say the inhabitants of that county are all rebels, and there- fore they care not how they suffer." There is one other sharp historical criticism in our Revolutionary literature relating to Colonel Thompson, a reference to which will close our account with him in his military career against his native country. It will have been observed in the extracts made above, that the corps commanded by him is described as made up in part of " the remains of the Queen's Rangers." The corps of Hussars known under that name through the war was at first wholly composed of American loyalists, raised mostly in Connecticut and the neigh- borhood of New York, and was especially odious to the patriots. Its largest force, at its most flourish- ing fortunes, was about four hundred men. Captain 142 Life of Count Rumford. John Graves Simcoe had been, in October, 1777, com- missioned to the command of the Rangers by Sir William Howe, with the provincial rank of Major. He rose in that command to the rank of Lieutenant- Colonel, attaining by real service the military grade which, as he knew, Thompson had got by favoritism. The corps had been diminished by dissension and de- sertion, while it had been from time to time replenished by heavy bounties and by disaffected and mercenary men who proved disheartened or faithless in the patriot cause. A portion of the corps was at Yorktown to share in the mortification of the surrender there. When it became known that Cornwallis had proposed a cessa- tion of hostilities, in order to arrange terms for giving up the posts of York and Gloucester, with his whole army, Simcoe, knowing well what treatment would await the deserters and the miscreants in his own corps from the rank and file of the patriot forces, and from the rage of the populace, sought permission from the British commander, if the treaty were not finally signed, to allow his Rangers to try to escape in some of the boats which the traitor Arnold had built. Simcoe hoped that a great part of the remnant of his corps might thus cross the Chesapeake, land in Maryland, and make their way to New York. Earl Cornwallis approved the scheme as ingenious and desirable, but could not himself sanction its being carried into effect, as the whole army must share one fate. The meas- ure, however, was effected under a deception. The Earl in his capitulation had reserved a vessel, the Bonetta, for taking his sick to New York. Simcoe proving to be " in a dangerous state of health," making ^3 8, 1840, 1842, and 1846, and thenceforward regularly in alternate years. Up to 1846, several biennial periods having elapsed in which no award was made, the Rumford fund, through the accruing dividends, had increased from Life of Count Rnmford. 247 1,000 to 2,430. At that date, therefore, the re- ceiver of the prize, in accordance with the terms of the trust, obtained a gold medal of the value of 60, one of silver, of the value of 4, and a money balance of about 80.* It will not be inappropriate for me to copy here a list of the awards of this medal which I have gathered from the journals of the Royal Society. Date of Award. 1802. Benjamin Rumford. For his various Discoveries re- specting Light and Heat. (Phil. Trans. 1803.) 1804. John Leslie. Experiments on Heat. 1806. William Murdock. Publication of the Employment of Gas from Coal for the Purpose of Illumination. (Phil. Trans. 1809.) 1810. Etienne-Louis Malus. Discovery of Certain Proper- ties of Reflected Light. 1814. William Charles Wells. Essay on Dew. 1816. Humphry Davy. Papers on Combustion and Flame. (Phil. Trans. 1817, 1818.) iSi8. David Brewster. Discoveries relating to the Polar- ization of Light. (Phil. Trans. 1819.) , 1824. Augustin-Jean Fresnel. Development of the Undu- latory Theory, as applied to the Phenomena of Polarized Light : and for his various Important Discoveries in Physical Optics. 1834. Macedonio Melloni. Discoveries relative to Radiant. Heat. 1838. James David Forbes. Experiments on the Polari- zation of Heat. 1840. Jean Baptiste Biot. Researches in and connected with the Circular Polarization of Light. * For all the above particulars relating to the Rumford fund and medal, at the disposal of the Royal Society, I am indebted to the admirable history of that venera- ble institution, by Charles Richard Weld, E^q. London. 1848. 248 Life of Count Rumford. Date of Award. 1842. Henry Fox Talbot. Discoveries and Improvements in Photography. 1846. Michael Faraday. Discovery of the Optical Phe- nomena developed by the Action of Magnets and Electric Currents in certain Transparent Media. (Phil. Trans. 1846.) 1848. M. Regnault. Experiments on Expansion and Den- sity of Air, different Gases, and Mercury. 1850. F. J. D. Arago. Experimental Investigation on Polarized Light. 1852. Geo. G. Stokes. On the Change of Refrangibility of Light. 1854. Dr. Neil Arnott. A new Smoke-Consuming and Fuel-Saving Plreplace. 1856. M. Pasteur. Discovery of the Nature of Racemic Acid, and its Relations to Polarized Light. 1858. M. Jamin. Various Experimental Researches on Light. 1860. Prof. James Clark Maxwell. Researches on the Composition of Colors, and other Optical Papers. 1862. Prof. Kirchhoff. Researches on the Fixed Lines of the Solar Spectrum, &c. 1864. Prof. John Tyndall. Researches on the Absorption and Radiation of Heat by Gases and Vapors. 1866. M. Armand Hippolyte Louis Fizeau. Optical Re- searches and Investigations into the Effect of Heat on the Refractive Power of Transparent Bodies. 1868. Mr. Balfour Stewart. Researches on the Qualitative as well as Quantitative Relations between the Powers of Emission and Absorption of Bodies for Heat and Light. Count Rumford was probably well aware of the conten- tion and ill-feeling that had arisen in the Royal Society, some years before, because those who administered the trust for the Copley Medal considered foreigners equally Life of Count Rumford. 249 entitled with Englishmen to be candidates for its award. Sir Gilbert had neither restricted nor expressly extended the terms of his bequest in that regard. Rumford, in emphatic language, made the whole of Europe, continent and islands, the field for such stimulation of rivalry, and such recognition of desert, as might attach to his premium of tenfold intrinsic value. It will be seen from the list that has been given, that ten of the twenty-four distinguished men who have received his award from the Royal Society have been foreigners, Mr. Wells being of America. The fact has a significance when taken in connection with the well-known effort which is required of Englishmen, whether men of science, or statesmen, or private per- sons, to extend their impartiality beyond their own country. It is remarkable that the Count, after having liber- ally provided funds for medals in the award of two learned bodies, should a few years afterwards, when drawing his plan and publishing his proposals for his own Royal Institution, have introduced into them an express prohibition of all premiums and rewards. A new die for the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society has since been adopted, from which Dr. H. Bence Jones has kindly sent me a copy, as shown in the engraving. The head of Rumford which is engraved upon it is copied from a portrait of him painted in Munich, which hung in the Count's house at Bromp- ton, and which was presented to the Society by his daughter, in December, .1831. The Count's correspondence with reference to his endowment in this country begins with the following letter : 250 Life of Count R^tmford. "LONDON, July 12, 1796. " To the HON. JOHN ADAMS, President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. SIR, Desirous of contributing efficaciously to the ad- vancement of a branch of science which has long employed my attention, and which appears to me to be of the highest impor- tance to mankind, and wishing at the same time to leave a last- ing testimony of my respect for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, I take the liberty to request that the Academy would do me the honour to accept of Five Thousand Dollars, three per cent stock in the funds of the United States of North America, which Stock I have actually purchased, and which I beg leave to transfer to the Fellows of the Academy, to the end that the interest of the same may be by them, and by their successors, received from time to time, forever, and the amount of the same applied and given once every second year, as a premium, to the author of the most important discovery or use- ful improvement, which shall be made and published by printing, or in any way made known to the publick, in any part of the Continent of America, or in any of the American Islands, dur- ing the preceding two years, on Heat, or on Light ; the prefer- ence always being given to such discoveries as shall, in the opinion of the Academy, tend most to promote the good of mankind. " With regard to the formalities to be observed by the Acad- emy in their decisions upon the comparative merits of those discoveries which in the opinion of the Academy may entitle their Authors to be considered as competitors for this bien- nial premium, the Academy will be pleased to adopt such regulations as they in their wisdom may judge to be proper and necessary. " But in regard to the form in which this Premium is con- ferred, I take the liberty to request that it may always be given in two medals, struck in the same die, the one of gold and the other of silver, and of such dimensions that both of them together may be just equal in intrinsic value to the amount of interest of the aforesaid Five Thousand Dollars stock during Life of Count Rumford. 251 two years : that is to say, that they may together be of the value of Three Hundred Dollars. " The Academy will be pleased to order such device or inscription to be engraved on the die they shall cause to be prepared for striking these medals, as they may judge proper. " If during any term of two years, reckoning from the last adjudication, or from the last period for the adjudication of this Premium by the Academy, no new discovery or improvement should be made in any part of America, relative to either of the subjects in question (Heat or Light), which, in the opinion of the Academy shall be of sufficient importance to deserve this Premium, in that case, it is my desire that the Premium may not be given, but that the value of it may be reserved, and by laying out in the purchase of additional stock in the American funds, may be applied to augment the capital of this Premium ; and that the interest of the sums by which the capital may, from time to time, be so augmented, may regularly be given in money with the two medals, and as an addition to the original Premium at each succeeding adjudication of it. And it is further my particular request, that those additions to the value of the Premium arising from its occasional non-adjudication may be suffered to increase without limitation. " With the highest respect for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the most earnest wishes for their success in their labours for the good of mankind, " I have the honour to be, with much Esteem and Regard, Sir, Your most Obedient, Humble Servant, RUMFORD." His intended donation was first announced by this letter from Count Rumford read at a meeting of the Academy, November 9, 1796, accompanied by the gift of a volume of his Essays, and of what is described in the records as his " bust," though it was a small bass- relief profile. The delay in the receipt of the proper papers, and in the negotiation connected with the trans- 252 Life of Count Rumford. fer of the funds, caused chiefly by the capture of a vessel on board of which were the necessary legal docu- ments, of course deferred the proper and decisive action of the Academy in recognizing, as they appreciated, Count Rumford's noble endowment. Compared with the gifts which previously to that time had been made by individuals to Harvard College, and by Dr. Frank- lin to provide medals for scholars in our public schools, and a loan fund for the encouragement of worthy me- chanics, which latter provision remains still accumu- lating to be appropriated, as it never yet has been, according to the wishes of the donor, Count Rum- ford's donation had a character of munificence. The members of the Academy regarded it as the most helpful and encouraging recognition which their Insti- tution had received during the sixteen years of its ex- istence. The correspondence of our few learned and scientific men, who were then pursuing their high aims under great disadvantages, recognizes with enthusiasm and congratulation this auspicious incident, and finds in it an impulse and a motive for activity and zeal in its work. The Academy had been instituted and incorporated in the year 1780, midway in the war of our Revolution, amid all the distractions and exactions of that trying period. While the whole community was burdened by taxation and the exorbitant prices of the articles of prime necessity, and while it might seem that the thoughts and time of all intelligent men would have been engrossed by giving to public affairs all the interest they could spare from their private concerns, a few men of cultivated and generous minds devised the plan of this Institution. It is a very singular fact, that all Life of Count Rumford. 253 the most distinguished of the now existing and flourish- ing learned bodies of Christendom originated and were organized under similar circumstances, in periods of distraction and strife. The Royal Society of London was an incorporation, in 1661, of a society of gentlemen interested in scientific objects, who had been meeting for many previous years to encourage and help one another in their pursuits. It was amid the heated and alienat- ing strifes of political and religious animosity inflaming all classes of the people, that those who loved science and high culture, and were within easy reach of inter- course, gathered in a little coterie in London. They realized that, if they would mutually tolerate and enjoy each other's presence and sympathy in their professed objects, they must carefully exclude all recognition of the distractions outside of their fellowship. As one of the foremost of them, Dr. Wallis, writing of the year 1645, quaintly says of their coming together, "when (to avoid diversion to other discourses, and for some other rea- sons) we barred all discourses of divinity, state affairs, and of news, other than what concerned our business of Philosophy." The French National Institute, estab- lished in 1796, offered a similar refuge from the embit- terments of revolutionary times for those who could subordinate their party or polemical divisions to a zeal for researches and labors which would accrue to the welfare of a common humanity. Count Rumford had been elected a Foreign Honor- ary Member of the Academy on May 29, 1789. The first recognition which the Academy made to Count Rumford of his purposed benefaction was through the following letter, which I copy from the original on the files. 254 Life of Count Rumford. " SIR, At a meeting of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Qth instant, were communicated by the Presi- dent your very acceptable favors of the I2th July. In reply to which, permit me the honor to request your acceptance of the thanks of the Academy for your very polite and obliging present of the first volume of your ingenious and useful Essays, and for the pleasing and elegant profile of their Author. I am also charged by the Academy to give you every possible assurance, not only of the lively emotions of gratitude inspired by your generous ^nd truly noble proposal of transferring to the Acad- emy, for the important purposes expressed in your letter, five thousand dollars of the three per cent stock of the United States, but likewise of their conscious obligation and cheerful readiness sacredly to apply the interest of the same as directed by the munificent donor. Excuse my adding, that the Academy is sensibly affected, not only by the liberality of this appropria- tion, but by the delicate manner in which it is made. " Supposing it possible, though not probable, that you might be unacquainted with the method of transferring American stocks, the President suggested the expediency of enclosing an abstract of the mode of making transfers at our offices. Ac- cordingly, I waited on Mr. Appleton, the Loan Officer in this State, and from his letter have transcribed the enclosed extract. " Agreeably to Mr. Appleton's ideas I have also taken the liberty of naming two gentlemen in the vicinity of Boston who will be happy to execute your orders, if empowered to transfer the stock aforesaid to the c American Academy of Arts and Sciences,' either jointly or severally, as you may think proper, viz., the Rev. Joseph Willard, D. D., of Cambridge, and the Hon. Loammi Baldwin, Esq., of Woburn, both in the county of Middlesex. These gentlemen, or either of them, would, I doubt not, faithfully and cheerfully discharge the trust, whether the stock were issued from the office in Boston or from any other office in the United States. But if some other gentle- man will be more agreeable to you, sir, he will be so to the Academy. I have, however, to ask your pardon of this free- dom, as my only object is to facilitate the business. Life of Count Rumford. 255 u I ought not to trespass further on your patience. But I knew not how to close without acknowledging the obligations imposed on me, and I think on the world, by your late publica- tions. Some of your former ingenious and philosophical com- munications to the Royal Society I read with great delight. But your Essays have filled me with transport. Such phi- lanthropy, so well directed zeal, and such unwearied diligence in promoting the common good of mankind, more especially of the indigent and helpless, bespeak a godlike mind, and command the warmest gratitude and most sincere respect of every benevo- lent mind. It is, a happiness, a great happiness, even to, th' .k that there is on earth a man who can and will interest himself so efficaciously, and in so great a variety of ways, for the good of the human species. Your unprecedented success also inspires new and pleasing hopes concerning the most miserable of our race, and calls into doubt the. common doctrine of habits. When such numbers, so long accustomed to idleness and vice, are reclaimed to industry and order, we are led to expect that the Ethiopian will erelong change his skin, and the leopard his spots. But I forbear. Accept the well-meant tribute of my thanks, and permit me to join the poor of Munich and many other cities, and with all the friends of humanity, in fervent sup- plication to the Author of all good for the preservation of your life, and for the confirmation of your health, and for increased and extensive success to your multiplied labors and Institutions for the good of mankind. u With these wishes, and with sentiments of unfeigned re- spect, I am, sir, " Your much obliged, and most humble servant, "ELIPHALET PEARSON, Corresponding Secretary. "CAMBRIDG?, I4th November, 1796. COUNT RUMFORD." Count Rumford made the following reply to Pro- fessor Pearson, which also I copy from the original on file: 256 Life of Count Rum ford. "MUNICH, I4th February, 1797. " SIR, I have received your very obliging letter of the I4th November, 1796. The honor which the worthy President and the Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences have conferred on me by accepting the proposals I took the liberty of making to them in my letter to the President, of the 1 2th July, 1796, has given me the highest satisfaction; and I beg, Sir, that you would express to them my warmest thanks, and assure them that it will be the study of my life to deserve this flattering proof of their esteem and regard. " I am much obliged to you, Sir, for the pains you have taken to make me so completely acquainted with everything I could wish to know respecting the business of transferring American Stock. Enclosed I send you a power authorizing the two Gentlemen you proposed and two Gentlemen more agreeable to me could not have been found to transfer 'to the Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,' Five Thousand Dollars, assured debt, entered to my credit in the Books, of the Treasury of the United States, for which a certificate numbered 2633 was issued in my name on the Fourth day of March, 1796. That this stock actually stands in my name in the Books of the Treasury of the United States, I am assured by a notarial Declaration of Peter Lohra, Notary Public for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, residing in the City of Philadelphia, dated the 27th October, 1796, a copy of which is inclosed. But, very unfortunately, the vessel in which the original certificate (with two others of equal amount) was sent to Europe was lost on her passage. How long this acci- dent will delay the completion of the business in question I know not, but nothing in my power shall be left undone to fin- ish it as soon as possible. In the mean time I have taken the most effectual measures I could devise to secure to the Acad- emy the property they have done me the honor to accept, and have given directions that the Interest of the Five Thousand Dollars three per cent Stock in question should be paid regularly to the Treasurer of the Academy from the first of January, 1797, till the transfer of the Capital can be made. In short, I Life of Count Rumford. 257 consider this Property as being no longer mine, and I have ex- erted myself to the utmost of my abilities in the enclosed dec- laration which I hope may pass for a Deed of gift, however it may be defective in point of form to put it legally out of my power. In all events, however, even should there be a flaw in this Instrument, and should I die before the transfer of the Stock could be made, as in my last Will and Testament which is lodged in the hands of Sir Joseph Banks, Baronet, of Soho Square, London, President of the Royal Society, I have be- queathed Five Thousand Dollars three per cent American Stock to the Academy for the purposes mentioned in my letter to the President of the Academy, of the I2th July last, no accident that can possibly happen can prevent the accomplishment of my wishes with respect to this business. " Inclosed is a letter from me to the Directors of the Bank of the United States, which I beg you would close with a seal and forward, when you shall have perused it and taken a copy of it for the information of the Academy, who will be pleased to take such measures in regard to the business in question as they may think proper. It will give me great pleasure to learn that Dr. Willard, and my friend, Colonel Baldwin, have found means to complete this business by making the transfer of the Stock, but if anything more should be necessary to be done by me to enable them to finish the transaction, you or they will be pleased to acquaint me with what I can do farther to expedite and facilitate the business. " Begging you would assure the American Academy of Arts and Sciences of my best respects, and of my unfeigned gratitude for the distinguished honor they have conferred on me, I am, Sir, with great regard and esteem, " Your most obedient humble Servant, "RUMFORD. " MR. PEARSON, Secretary, c." The paper, duly signed and witnessed, by which the transfer of stocks was made to the Academy, is preserved in duplicate in our archives. The two bearing the seal 17 258 Life of Count Rumford. of Count Rumford, partially defaced in each, furnish together the means by which the engraver has prepared the copy attached to the autograph signature of our bene- factor. The portion of the instrument presented on the plate upon* the opposite page is not a very fair specimen of the handwriting of the author, being coarser and more ir- regular. The signatures of his friend, the Countess of Nogarola, and of his daughter, witnessing the instru- ment, are its proper accompaniments. The inner legend of the seal is Pro Fide, Rege, et Lege. The lower one is Dulce est meminisse laborum. At a meeting of the Academy, Jan. 31, 1798, it was " Voted, That the thanks of the Academy be presented to Count Rumford for his very generous donation for the use of this Institution, and that a committee be now appointed to draught a vote for that purpose, to be reported to the Council, or, accord- ing to circumstances, to the Academy at their meeting, as soon as it shall appear that a legal transfer of the property shall have been made, and that it be immediately after transmitted to that liberal benefactor of mankind. " Voted, That the committee for the above purpose be John Davis, Esq., Mr. Professor Pearson, and Dr. Warren. " Voted, That a committee be appointed to take up the sub- ject of Count Rumford's donation, and report at the next meeting of the Academy their opinion of the best method of carrying his generous design into execution, as expressed in his letter to the President of the Aca.demy. tc That the Committee for the above purpose be, President Willard, Hon. Judge Paine, Mr. Professor Pearson, Mr. Gan- nett, and the Hon. Judge Winthrop. At a meeting of the Academy, May 29, 1798, the Report of the first Committee, which was as follows, was accepted : Life of Cotint Rumford. 259 tc Whereas Benjamin, Count of Rumford, of Munich, in Bavaria, has presented to this Institution the sum of Five Thousand Dollars in three per cent stock of the United States, the interest of which, by the terms of the donation as expressed in his letter of July 12, 1796, to the President of the Academy, is to be 'applied and given .... Heat or Light,' which dona- tion has been accepted by the Academy, and by proper certifi- cates, which accident only has delayed, has now become the property of the Academy. " Voted, That the thanks of the Academy be presented to Count Rumford for this his very generous donation, and that they experience the highest satisfaction in receiving this ad- ditional and very liberal aid for the encouragement and exten- sion of those branches of science which he has so successfully cultivated. That they entertain a high sense of the sentiments and views, so becoming to a Philosopher, which have prompted him to this distinguished act of liberality ; and in the execution of the grateful office which they have undertaken of awarding and distributing the premiums which Count Rumford has thus appropriated they will sacredly comply with the conditions of the donation, indulging the hope that he will meet his reward in learning that many in his native country are thereby excited to emulate his labors and to promote the accomplishment of his beneficent wishes for the advancement of science and the augmentation of human happiness. " Voted, That the Corresponding Secretary be requested to transmit a copy of the preceding vote to Count Rumford by the earlie'st opportunity." At a meeting on May 28, 1799? probably by sug- gestion of the second committee above appointed, it was " Voted, That the Secretary of the Academy cause the terms of Count Rumford's donation to be published in the several capitals of the different States, and in some of the Amer- ican Islands, and information that the Academy are ready to adjudge the premium, provided for by Count Rumford, to the person or persons who shall appear to be entitled to the same." 260 Life of Coimt Rumford. Among the same files from which the above docu- ments are copied, are papers relating to several applica- tions made by themselves, or by friends in behalf of those who either sought aid from the fund in pursuing their experiments, or advanced a claim for discoveries or improvements of a sort to entitle them to the award of the medal. And here, departing from the order of time as regards events in the life of Count Rumford, it may be allowable, as it is convenient, to trace the his- tory of the administration of the trust for the premium or medal by the Academy. While the Royal Society had the whole Continent and all the Islands of Europe as a field for selecting the recipients of its biennial award of the Rumford medals from among those numer- ous savans who by their researches and discoveries should reach results entitling them to the honor, the Academy, with larger space, indeed, for its oversight, was at a manifest disadvantage as regarded the likeli- hood of finding once in each period of two years a subject of the same award. At first thought it may seem to one who has not thoroughly and with broad and full information considered the facts of the case, that the Academy has been too exacting in the condi- tions which it has set and applied in administering its trust, and that it has had in view a requisition of Scien- tific discoveries in reference to heat and light of such signal and conspicuous character as can but very rarely reveal themselves, even in the steadily progressive course of experimental philosophy. And then, having before us in contrast the eminently practical and economical, we may even say thrifty and homely, nature and utility of Count Rumford' s own inventions, methods, and appliances, another suggestion might naturally present Life of Count Rumford. 261 itself. We have had to bring him before us as actually engaged with his own hands in constructing chimney- flues, kitchens, and cooking-utensils, and have yet to speak and read of him as introducing improvements in common household lamps. If now any one should have visited and examined the kitchens and the sitting- rooms of New England during the last fifty years, or read the advertisements in the newspapers and the shop- cards so freely distributed, announcing' wonderful im- provements in stoves, furnaces, and lamps, or .gas- burners, and have added to these observations a walk through the departments of the Patent Office at Wash- ington assigned to such apparatus, he would be most likely to infer that the Academy could have been at no loss to find a proper recipient of the Rumford Medal once in each two years. But it has proved to be otherwise. The Academy promised sacredly to dis- charge its trust. The homeliness or economical char- acter of an invention or a discovery would never have offended its dignity if a just claim had been based upon it. The Academy, as we have seen, took measures to circulate through the public prints the knowledge that it had an honorable award at its disposal for all who were entitled to receive it. The correspondence and applica- tions on its -files, and the numerous reports of its in- vestigating committees, prove that there has been no lack of notoriety as to the facts and objects of its trus- teeship, nor of a disposition to do full justice to all who sought a hearing from it. But until the year 1839 the Academy, in the exercise of its best discretion and under the guidance of its common conscience, had not once made the award of the Rumford Medal. Meanwhile the fund had accumulated by its own 262 Life of Count Rumford. interest so as to present in itself a matter of embarrass- ment. A committee of the Academy chosen for the purpose, consisting of the eminent Dr. Nathaniel Bow- ditch, President Josiah Quincy of Harvard College, and the Hon. Francis C. Gray, made a Report at the end of December, 1829, which resulted in legisla- tive and judicial measures for relieving this embarass- ment. The Academy had given its pledge, while Count Rurnford still lived, that it would " sacredly comply with the conditions of the donation." These condi- tions were mainly two, one of them, however, being limited by the other. The Academy was to have in view the award of its medal once in two years, but it was to be given only to the author of the most im- portant discovery or useful improvement made in the two preceding years on heat or on light, on the Amer- ican Continent or any of its Islands. To refuse to award the medal to one who had a right to it, or to bestow it on a claimant who had no sufficient merit, or upon a favored experimenter, for the sake of not allow- ing the biennial award to fail, would have equally thwarted the intent of the donor. A discovery or an improvement of a sort to satisfy the terms which Count Rumford could define only relatively, because not admit- ting of an arbitrary or of an absolute measurement, was the requisite fact to engage the attention of the Acad- emy. As such discovery or improvement was to have been made a matter of public notoriety by printing "or otherwise," and as the Academy had taken measures for giving the widest circulation to the terms of the trust which they held, it was not likely that ignorance on the side of either party concerned would deprive any one who Life of Count Riimford. 263 might justly be entitled to the premium of the honor which it would confer. The committee above named say in their Report, that the premium had not up to that date been awarded, " none of the discoveries or improvements for which it has been claimed being deemed by the Academy of sufficient importance to deserve it." The Report continues: " By constant accumulation the fund has now increased to the sum of nearly $20,000. The history of science in other countries unites with our own experience to convince us that Count Rumford's plan, contemplating the assignment of a biennial premium for important discoveries or useful improve- ments on light and heat first made public within two years pre- ceding, and interrupted only by c occasional non-adjudications,' is absolutely impracticable. Such discoveries and improvements are not often made, and many of those which are made require more than two years to test their merit. It is perfectly mani- fest that the non-adjudication must be the regular and usual 'course, and that the assignments of the premium must be occasional, and even rare. The very increase of the fund con- stantly increases the difficulty of bestowing the premium ; for the Academy are expressly directed to award it only to improve- ments or discoveries of sufficient importance in their opinion to deserve it, and an invention may merit a premium of $ 300, which is altogether unworthy of one of $2,000. A strict com- pliance with the incidental request that the fund should increase indefinitely may therefore prevent the assignment of any pre- mium at all, and thus entirely defeat the great object of the foundation, and render it totally useless. To permit such a result is not a faithful fulfilment of the intentions of the donor. " If it be found, by long experience, that a rigid adherence to particular limitations, not essential to the main object of the Institution, tends to defeat that object, it must .be presumed that the founder would wish those limitations modified, and it is the bounden duty of the Academy, and of all who have an interest 264 Life of Count Rumford.. in his property, to endeavor to have them so modified as to pro- mote the attainment of the end which he proposed." The committee add, as another important considera- tion, that in providing that the additional income of the fund accruing from an occasional non-adjudication of the premium should be given to its next recipient, Rumford could hardly have foreseen that the accessory would ever so far exceed the principal. The income of the fund for two years being at the time two thousand dollars, and steadily increasing, it would be extravagant to award it as a premium. cc It must lose the char- acter of a prize, and be sought with mercenary views, rather than as an honorable distinction." The Report closed with "a plan for facilitating the awarding of the premium and applying the surplus income," as the best they could " devise to execute in practice the intent and promote the general object of the donor." The scheme suggested was substantially that which was adopted by the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in its decree in Chancery. The Academy first applied to this court for legal relief, but the bill was dismissed, as the equitable juris- diction of the court over trusts was limited to "cases of trust arising under deeds, wills, or in the settlement of estates." The Academy then had recourse to the Legislature of the State, which passed the following special Act, approved by the Governor, March 16, 1831: "An Act authorizing the Supreme Judicial Court to hear and determine in equity all matters relating to the donation of Ben- jamin Count Rumford to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Life of Count Riimford. 265 " Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court be, and they hereby are, authorized and empowered to hear and deter- mine in equity any and all matters relating to the donation of Benjamin Count Rumford to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and to make all necessary or proper orders and decrees touching the same." Count Rumford by his last will, made in Paris, had bequeathed the residue of his estate to Harvard College, for the purpose of founding a Professorship to teach by lectures and experiments the utility of the physical and mathematical sciences for the improvement of the useful arts and the industry and well-being of society. The College, therefore, became a party to the hearing of this case in equity, and as defendants withstood the prayer of the Academy for a legal liberty to depart from the conditions attached to Count Rumford's donation. The College claimed that the objects which he had in view in his fund for a premium intrusted to the Academy were substantially included in and covered by the objects assigned for the Rumford Professorship, and insisted, cc that if the said fund and the accumula- tion thereof, or any part thereof, cannot be appropri- ated and applied in the hands of the said plaintiffs to the execution of the general intent of said donor in making his said donation to the said plaintiffs, the same, or so much thereof as canaot be so applied, ought to be decreed to be paid over to these defendants, as residuary legatees of said Count Rumford, for the use of the said Rumford Professorship.'* The case was fully heard with arguments of counsel, and an application by the court of those principles of equity which allow a modification of the conditions 266 Life of Count Rumford. attached to a trust fund when circumstances prevent the strict fulfilment of the terms set by the donor, and which admit of a re-direction of the proceeds of the fund in a way to approximate towards the ends he had in view. The matter was then referred to a Master in Chancery "to report a scheme for carrying into effect the general charitable intent and purpose of the donor conformably to the prayer of the plaintiffs' bill." His scheme having been submitted, it was, " By the court ordered, adjudged, and decreed, for the reasons set forth in the bill, that the plaintiffs be, and they are by the authority of this court, empowered to make from the income of said fund, as it now exists, at any annual meeting of the Academy, instead of biennially, as directed by said Benja- min Count Rumford, award of a gold and silver medal, being together of the intrinsic value of three hundred dollars, as a premium to the author of any important discovery or useful improvement on heat or on light which shall have been made and published by printing, or in any way made known to the public, in any part of the Continent of America, or any of the American Islands, preference being always given to such dis- coveries as shall in the opinion of the Academy, tend most to promote the good of mankind ; and to add to such medals as a further reward and premium for such discovery or improvement, if the plaintiffs see fit so to do, a sum of money not exceeding three hundred dollars. " And it is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed, that the plaintiffs may appropriate from time to time, as the same can advantageously be done, the residue of the income of said fund hereafter to be received, and not so as aforesaid awarded in premiums, to the purchase of such books and papers and philo- sophical apparatus (to be the property of said Academy), and in making such publications or procuring such lectures, experi- ments, or investigations, as shall in their opinion best facilitate and encourage the making of discoveries and improvements which may merit the premiums so as aforesaid to be by them Life of Count Riimford. 267 awarded. And that the books, papers, and apparatus so pur- chased shall be used, and such lectures, experiments, and in- vestigations be delivered and made, either in the said Academy or elsewhere, as the plaintiffs shall think best adapted to promote such discoveries and improvements as aforesaid, and either by the Rumford Professor of Harvard University or by any other person or persons, as to the plaintiffs shall from time to time seem best." The court also authorized the investment of the fund, or any part of it, in other first-class securities than government bonds. 1 * It is easy to express the obvious suggestion, that the enlargement and direction thus allowed by judicial de- cision to the use of the trust fund committed by Count Rumford to the Academy, for one specified and well- defined object, exceed any possible construction that can be put upon the liberal terms of his deed of gift. But it is just as easy to meet the suggestion by affirm- ing that the judicial decree has in view, and aims, it may even be said, most conscientiously to fulfil, the intent of the donor. Under its decision the Academy may make the munificence of Count Rumford most serviceable at the fountain-head and sources of that scientific development which alone can secure biennially, or at longer or shorter intervals, a signal result mark- ing a point in the flow of the stream. Books and lectures presenting the last discoveries, or methods for discovery, in the Count's favorite subjects of experi- ment, may be regarded as even something better than an alternative in the improvement of his fund, to the use of it for a medal or premium under the pressure of a supposed obligation to bestow it with chief reference to the lapse of two years. * Gray's Reports. Vol. XII. pp. 582- 602. 268 Life of Co^lnt Rumford. In view of all the circumstances and of the difficulties which the case presented, one may reasonably affirm that when the honored and venerated chief-justice gave validity to the decree of the court, he might have felt the full assurance that Count Rumford himself would have dictated its' terms. In the year 1839 the Academy gave, from the inter- est of the Rumford Fund, the sum of six hundred dol- lars to Dr. Hare, of Philadelphia, in consideration of his invention of the compound ,blow-pipe and his improvements in galvanic apparatus. The Rumford Medal was awarded by the Academy, in 1862, to John B. Ericsson for his caloric engine.* In 1865 the Medal was awarded to Daniel Treadwell, former Rumford Professor in Harvard College, for improvements in the management of heat.*}" On Feb- ruary 26, 1867, the Medal was presented to Alvan Clark for improvement in the lens of the refracting telescope. On January n, 1870, the Medal was presented to George H. Corliss for improvements in the steam- engine. The Rumford Fund, in 1870, exceeded thirty-seven thousand dollars. A committee of the Academy, called the Rumford Committee, is chosen annually, who report upon the fund and recommend appropriations from it for pur- poses conformed to the decree of the court. * See Proceedings of the Academy, Vol. VI. p. 26. f Ibid., Vol. VI. pp. 495, 497, 5'6. CHAPTER VI. Count Rumford and his Daughter leave England for Munich. Circuitous Route on Account of the War. The Jour- ney and its Incidents. Sarah Thompson s Diary. Ar- rival in Munich. Neutrality of Bavaria. Munich threatened by Austrian and French Armies. Flight of the Elector. Rumford on the Council of the Regency ', and at the Head of the Electoral Army. His Signal Services and Success. His Scientific Feeding of the Q J Troops. Gratitude of the Elector on his Return. Cor- respondence with Sir John Sinclair. Letters to Colonel Baldwin and President Willard. Private Affairs of the Count in America. Projected Institution in Concord. Correspondence concerning it. The Countess s Court and Domestic Life. Excursions. Festivals. Commemo- ration of the Count's Birthday. Love Passages. Va- riances. Excursions. The Count appointed Ambassa- dor to England^ returns there. 'Not received as such. Correspondence. Honors from America. Massa- chusetts Historical Society. Invitation from the United States Government. Correspondence. The Countess re- turns to America. Her Narrative. Correspondence. IN this chapter, which will cover two more years of Count RumforcTs residence in Germany, I shall draw largely from the autobiographic sketch of his daughter, because it is full of interesting information concerning his domestic and private life, of which we know but little from any other sources. We must 270 Life of Count Ritmford. reconcile as we may the ardent expressions of the father's affection for his daughter in his letters with her own disclosures of the occasional severity of his discipline. It was in very hot weather, probably in the last of July or early in August, 1796, that they left England, compelled to make a circuitous course to enter Ger- many. The daughter describes the leave-taking from friends on the eve of quitting London. The carriage which the Count had brought with him from Munich being too small for the party, he was obliged to procure a second one. This, having belonged to a duke, still bore his arms, and there was no time to allow for re- painting. The party arrived at Hamburg on the third day, after a boisterous passage, being obliged to take that route on account of the war. The armorial bearings on one of their carriages proved to be a great annoyance to them, as visiting upon them the tax of greatness. The Count wished but five post-horses to be attached to the carriage. The post-master insisted upon his starting with eight ; and the same number used in starting would be required at every change and relay along the route. The parties were equally obstinate ; the official removed the five horses, and the Count and his valet went to seek others, or redress. Pending the issue, the daughter was left in one of the carnages, and her maid in the other, in one of the most crowded streets of Hamburg. The Continent being then ablaze with war, this bustling city was neutral. The young lady and her maid, Wearied, sea-worn, and craving rest and refreshment, which could not easily be found where all houses of Life of Count Rumford. 271 entertainment were thronged, would really have suffered had it not been for an adventure, which the daughter relates so naively with an intimation that it might have resulted in furnishing her with a step-mother that it must be given in her own words. " A lady, before whose door stood one of our carriages, took pity on us, coming kindly to invite us in, and, my father being returned at the time, we gladly accepted. We were shown into cool, delightfully clean rooms, a little darkened (it being in the month of August the heat was intense), and where we found sofas, easy-chairs, and plenty of places to lounge in. So great was the change from what we had before experienced, it could be compared to nothing but heaven upon earth. After being somewhat rested and recovered, then came refreshments of everything proper, good, and enough of it. Aichner and my maid had likewise all things of a nature to comfort them, and when nothing else remained to be done we were requested to take repose ; but as our horses, to the number of five, con- trary to the post-master's wishes, were to be at the door at a certain time we could not comply. My father introduced him- self to the lady, and the lady herself to him. She, it seemed, was the widow of a German officer, whom, by reputation, my father knew well, and this leading to conversation, they got on charmingly. Both were well looking, of proper ages, she the younger, he not old. Any one in the habit of match- making, so called, would have declared them made for each other. Understanding I was my father's daughter, she made much of me ; and I, far from having forgotten my poor mother, seeing her kindly affected to me, and drawing myself nearer and nearer to her, seemed to be in her arms before we were either of us aware of it, both of us shedding tears plentifully. It came out that she, about a year before, had lost an only daughter, whom she thought about my age. She was the per- fect mother. My father began to make a motion to go ; was, perhaps, not satisfied ; would have preferred seeing the lady looking out for a second husband. When we took leave my 272 Life of Count Rumford. father told her that should he find himself again in Hamburg, and I to have learned German, I should call and thank her for her kindness in her own language. We were both there again, but had forgotten both the lady's name and address. Truly unfortunate ! " Three weeks' constant travel, circuitous routes to avoid troops, bad roads, still worse accommodations, passing nights in the carriages for the want of an inn, scantiness of provisions, joined with great fatigue, rendered our journey by no means agreeable. The Fair at Leipsic, as we came along and passed a day there, not being able to proceed for the want of horses on account of it, was amusing. I bought many little objects of curiosity, which I kept a long time in remembrance of it. " The beautiful, luxuriant fields of rye and wheat in the two Saxonies, then in perfection, a short time before the reaping, to any one accustomed only to enclosed countries, were striking, and gave an idea of great richness. With hardly sufficient room for the wheels of the carriage, not a fence, seldom a tree, still less meeting man or beast, gave a look to the country of real enchantment, resembling more the never-ending waves of the sea than cultivated land. It is true, after a while you* come to a mean, dirty-looking village, of a nature to destroy fine illusions, but where, however, are to be seen pretty blue-eyed, light- haired, white-faced women and children. In the Saxonies the German language is said to be the most purely spoken. In the mouth of a Saxon lady it is said to be really soft, a character in the general way it does not sustain. " Our arrival at Munich was a joyful event, an end to the tediousness of the journey, besides being cheered by the hand- some, pleasant appearance of the city. My father's habitation merits and must have a particular description, as will from thence be dated, for some time to come, most that relates either to him or myself; and because the building was really magnificent and equally so in its furniture, it may not be amiss to mention by what good fortune he became the occupant, for own it he did not. cc It was an elegant palace, furnished sumptuously some years Life of Count Rumford. 273 before for a person of distinction, who dying, it was shut up. Afterwards my father persuaded the then reigning Elector, Charles Theodore, to have it opened and let the Russian Am- bassador take the first and my father the second floor. Through the porte-cochere passed all vehicles, foot-passengers, &c., by the width, possibly, of two rooms, those making part of the first floor, into an open court enclosed by the building. The prin- cipal staircase there being others commenced between the entrance and the court, wide enough for four abreast, with oak or mahogany stairs waxed and rubbed, looking like plate-glass. As an inhabitant of this place, where my father spent many of the most useful years of his life, I propose to mention it without going into more particulars." The course of Miss Sally's narrative must here be interrupted, first to introduce another letter from her to her friend, Mrs. Baldwin, and then to recognize her father's valuable service in the responsible work for which the Elector had summoned him back to Munich. " MUNICH, October 16, 1796. lt Mv DEAR MRS. BALDWIN, Though this is the third letter that I have written you since I left America, and I have never received a line from you, yet I cannot refuse myself the pleasure of writing you a few lines to tell you I am well and happy, and that I often think of you. I arrived here with my father after a pleasant journey of three weeks and two days from London. My reception here was highly flattering, and I have every reason to be pleased and happy with my new situation. This country is much more like America than England, and the climate is exactly like that I have ever been used to in America, so that I sometimes almost fancy myself there. The town of Munich is large, clean, and well built, and it affords every public amusement that is to be found in any city of Europe. Be so good as to give my respects to your husband, and love to the children. I am, with real esteem and friendship, " Affectionately yours, "SARAH RUMFORD.' r 18 274 Life of Count Rumford. Had the daughter written the pages which have been copied at the date of the incidents related in them, she would doubtless have had much more to tell us about the distractions arid anxieties of the time and place on her arrival in Munich. Her father was for a few weeks engrossed and heavily burdened by the responsibilities laid upon him in the turmoil which then convulsed the continent of Europe. Bavaria sought to maintain a rigid neutrality between the contending powers of the great revolutionary upheaval, and was therefore, of course, in imminent risk of being scourged by either or both of them. The immunity with which, for a time, she escaped was secured to her by the wisdom and skill of Count Rumford, whose services in the emergency were most gratefully appreciated. His military talent was again called into exercise to meet a threatening emergency. General Moreau, after having crossed the Rhine, and by a series of successes beaten the various corps which had disputed his passage and his onward march, made an advance towards Bavaria. Count Rum- ford arrived at Munich eight days before the Elector was compelled to quit his residence and to take refuge in Saxony. Rumford remained in the city with full delegated authority, and with instructions from the Elector to watch the course of events, and to act accord- ing to the exigency of circumstances. These were not slow in requiring his intervention. After the battle of Fried- burg the Austrians, repulsed by the French, withdrew to Munich. The gates of the city were shut against them. They then made a circuit, passed the Iser by the bridge, and established themselves on the other side of the river on a height which commanded the bridge and the city. There they planted batteries, and anx- Life of Count Rumford. 275 iously awaited the coming up of the French forces. In this situation some incautious proceedings which took place in Munich were interpreted by the Austrian gen- eral as an insult aimed at himself, and he demanded the reason of the Council of the Regency, at the head of which was Rumford. He also gave the menace of an imme- diate attack upon the city if a single Frenchman should be allowed to enter it. At this critical moment Rumford availed himself of the ultimate orders of the Elector to take the chief com- mand of the Bavarian forces. His firmness and pres- ence of mind impressed both parties. Neither the French nor the Austrians entered Munich, and that city, escap- ing the direful calamities which had been so imminent, was soon' after delivered from the presence of the hostile forces. But before, and while the danger lasted, Munich was full of Bavarian troops, and the Count did not for- get his philosophical and economical v experiments, for which he had new and emergent occasions and oppor- tunities. The care of sheltering and feeding this large body of Electoral forces came upon him, and he turned the task to the account of science. He tells us in his Essays how he plied his ingenuity in the processes of cooking, and in his improvements in boilers and in the saving of fuel, to.make the soldiers more comfortable than ever they had been before, and at much less expense. On the return of the Elector he made the warmest recognition of the value of Rumford' s services, which exceeded his ability to reward them. The Count was then placed at the head of the Department of General Police in Bavaria. The services which he rendered in this position, though less brilliant than his military re- forms, were neither less valuable nor less signal. While 276 Life of Count Riimford. we resume again the light relations given to us by the American girl about her court life, and her frequent misunderstandings with her father, we must think of him as weighed down by many heavy cares which might at times make him irritable and unsympathetic with a country maiden's fancies. The Count also at this period encountered much opposition in the exercise of his office, and began to feel with some severity the force of the jealousy turned against him as a foreigner invested with so many intermeddling functions. The excursions which were to his daughter but the pleasurable incidents and interchanges of an unemployed life were sought for by him as means and intervals of relief from over-work, which, while engaging his zeal and activity, made serious breaches upon his health, and more than once threatened him with fatal disease. We have a pleasing reference to the intimacy which existed between Count Rumford and that complacent Scotch cosmopolite, Sir John Sinclair, in the published correspondence of the latter. He introduces a letter which he received from Rumford, written just after the temporary subsidence of this war alarm, with the follow- ing comment : " From similarity of pursuits I had contracted [in London] a cordial friendship with Count Rumford, a well-known native of America. He was a man of an ardent mind, which enabled him to conquer many difficulties ; and by his inquiries regarding the proper application of heat he introduced many useful discoveries which will find their way to many countries, even where the name of the inventor may remain unknown. " Among a number of communications the following is one of the most important, as it exhibits the distinguished philosopher placed at the head of an army in a foreign country, yet anxious to withdraw from active life, and to resume the more pleasing employment of scientific investigation: Life of Count Rumford. 277 "MUNICH, 1 6th October, 1756. " I thank you, my dear Sir John, for your friendly letter, which I have just received. I am glad your new kitchen [one of which the Count had had the supervision] answers your ex- pectations, and hope it will be imitated. I ought to have begun my letter by acquainting you that immediately on my arrival here from England I delivered to the Elector the diploma you sent him [of membership of an agricultural society], and that I had it in charge from his most Serene Highness to express to you his thanks for your attentions to him. He appeared to me to be much pleased at being chosen a member of your Board, and will, I am confident, have great satisfaction in contributing as much as possible to the success of your laudable undertakings. I have projected several new experiments, from the results of which I hope to get some new light with respect to vegetation and nutri- tion ; but I am at present so much employed with business of a very different kind (the command of the Bavarian army), that I have no leisure to give to my favourite pursuits. But as the alarms which were the occasion of my being called upon to take the command in chief of the Bavarian troops have subsided since the French armies have left our neighbourhood, I hope soon to be able to put up my sword and resume the more pleasing occupa- tions of science and philosophical experiment. " Wishing you much success in your endeavours to promote the prosperity of mankind, by the introduction of useful improve- ments, I am, my dear Sir John, with unfeigned regard and esteem, " Your affectionate and most obedient Servant, "RUMFORD. " P. S. I am very sorry indeed to hear you have withdrawn ydurself from the c Great Council of the Nation.' Pray don't let yourself be disgusted or discouraged. The cause is good, and perseverance will in the end command success." It is probable that if Count Rumford, remaining in * The Correspondence of the Right Hon. Sir John Sinclair, Bart., &c. London. 1831. Vol. II. pp. 57-59. 278 Life of Count Rumford. England, and closing his relations with Bavaria, had sought political position and influence, he might have found a seat in the House of Commons, or even a subor- dinate office in the Cabinet. His foreign duties and his obligations to the Elector debarred him, however, from many positions of trust and honor in England, while, as we shall soon see, the fact of his being a British-born subject was a constitutional or conventional obstacle in the way of his exercising a very high diplomatic office which the Elector had assigned him. The following letter of Colonel Baldwin to Josiah Pierce, half-brother of Count Rumford, concerns the latter' s kind care for their mother: " WOBURN, November 12, 1796. "DEAR SIR, I have received several letters from your brother, Count Rumford, and his daughter Sally, all dated at London. As one of the Count's letters relates principally to your mother's concerns, I have transcribed it and enclose a copy thereof for her perusal [referring to the letter dated July, 1796], which you will please to deliver to her. Consult and determine in what mode you would wish to have the business negotiated. If you were coming here on business, you might bring an order from your mother, drawn agreeably to your brother's plan, which you will see in the copy of the letter herewith transmitted. You might also take her power of attorney, which would enable you to conform to any unforeseen circumstances. If you have no business, or it should be inconvenient for you to come up, it may be negotiated without your coming at present. My atten- tion is fully occupied, but I shall not hesitate to devote sufficient time to effect this benevolent design. " I do not know whether Sally has written to any of your family, but she is very full in her apologies for not writing to more of her friends, and wishes us to communicate her grateful remem- brance and love to her relations and friends. There seems an Life of Count Rumford. 279 unbounded love and affection between her and her father j they are delighted with each other. I participate in their happi- ness. cc I wish to inquire whether it would be agreeable to you to close the business in which we have been partners, and what your expectations are, and the proposition you would wish to make for a settlement. And I also wish for your opin- ion whether I could settle a son in your neighborhood upon a plan that would be flattering ; and if it is not too much trouble, that you would state the objects proper to direct our attention to, and any circumstances that might operate against them. " Mr. Ingals, the bearer, is waiting. I have no time to enlarge. I am pleased to see him so well. Mrs. Baldwin joins with me in respects to your father and mother, and love to Mrs. Pierce, and compliments to Dr. Thompson and lady, and all inquiring friends; and am, with much esteem, dear Sir, u Your obedient Servant, " LOAMMl BALDWIN. "JosiAH PIERCE, Esq." [Then residing in Flintstown, Me.] Mr. Baldwin, who was a scrupulously exact man of business, found it necessary to be very careful in the friendly agency which he sustained between the Count and those with whom he had pecuniary transactions. From a copy of a letter addressed by him to Mrs. Ruth Pierce at Flintstown, which I hav-e before me, dated February 2, 1797, I observe that he asked her to re- quest her sons, Josiah and John, to pay her the value of the draft out of some funds of his own in their pos- session. The reason he gives for the request is, that, having advanced money to Sally when she sailed for London, he had sold the draft on London which she had given him in payment, and that this had come back pro- tested, putting him to charges for that and the loss of 280 Life of Count Rumford. interest. The purchaser had proposed to be lenient in his exactions if he could have as a substitute the new draft in favor of the Count's mother, to replace that of her granddaughter. One of Mrs. Pierce's orders upon Mr. Baldwin is as follows : " FLINTSTOWN, June 6, 1797. "SiR, If you will deliver Mr. Barnard Douglass the bill of exchange which my son, Count Rumford, requested you to draw in my favor for the year 1797, or, if the bill is sold, the pro- ceeds of it, you will greatly oblige her who is, with the great- est esteem and respect, " Yours, "RUTH PIERCE." An indorsement on the above reads : "BOSTON, June 17, 1797. Received of Loammi Baldwin a set of bills of exchange, drawn by him in my favor, on Sir Robert Herries & Co., Bankers, St. James Street, London, dated March 26, 1797, for the sum of Thirty Pounds sterling, which bills I promise to sell for the most they will sell for, and deliver the proceeds of sale thereof to Mrs. Ruth Pierce, agreeably to the within order. BARNARD DOUGLASS." " Attest, BENJ. F. BALDWIN." Here is a letter from the Count to his friend Bald- win, of a most pleasing tenor. It again refers to the wish of the writer at least to make a visit to his native country, and it relates the grateful circumstances under which his daughter received her title as Countess, and her pension, both of which she enjoyed to the close of her life. Life of Count Rumford. 281 "MUNICH, 1 5th Feb., 1797. " DEAR SIR, I have this day sent under cover to Mr. Pearson, Secretary to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a power of Attorney, authorising you and Dr. Wil- lard to transfer 5000 Dollars American 3 per cent Stock, which now stands in my name in the Books of the Treasury of the United States, to the Fellows of the said Academy. The loss of the original Certificate which was issued for this Stock may perhaps occasion some delay in the completion of this business, but I hope you will find means to finish it without much trouble to yourselves. " As soon as this is done, I shall request your assistance in transferring an equal sum to my much-loved Mother, to whom I am desirous of giving a small token of my filial affection, and of my sincere gratitude for all her kindness to me in the early part of my life. " My Daughter, who is with me, and who is the comfort of my life, desires her most particular compliments to you and to your Lady. She often mentions your goodness to her, and looks forward with impatience to the time when she hopes to pay you a visit accompanied by her Father. " Nothing could afford me so much heartfelt pleasure as to be able to gratify these her most earnest wishes, which are so natural, and which I feel perhaps still stronger than she does. She is a very good Girl, and is much loved here by everybody who knows her. " The Elector has lately made me very happy by permitting me to resign to her one half of a Pension I enjoyed, which was granted to me several years ago as a reward for my public ser- vices. Two Thousand Florins a year (equal to about two hun- dred pounds sterling) are secured during her life to my Daugh- ter (who has been received at Court as a Countess of the Empire). And this grant is accompanied by a circumstance which renders it peculiarly agreeable to her and to me, which is that she may enjoy her Pension in any country in which she may choose to reside. u She is now above want, and her happiness in life will de- 282 Life of Count Rumford. pend on herself. The best advice I can give her she will not fail to receive. " I was happy to learn that you are so busily employed in schemes of public utility. Our juvenile pursuits and our amuse- ments were always the same, and we have neither of us any reason to complain of the frowns of fortune. " I am, my Dear Sir, with unalterable Esteem, " Yours Affectionately, " RUMFORD. " The Hon b ! e LOAMMI BALDWIN, Woburn, near Boston." (" Received at Boston Post- Office, June 10, 1797.") The above indorsement on this letter, indicating the lapse of nearly four months between its date and its receipt, is an indication of the difficulties and delays attending transatlantic correspondence when the ocean and the land were the scenes of revolutionary struggles. Under the same date the Count addressed the follow- ing letter to President Willard, of Harvard College. "MUNICH, 1 5th February, 1797. " Being charged by my daughter to forward to you the en- closed letter, I cannot help adding a line, to return you my sincere thanks for your very friendly letter. I ought, perhaps, at the same time to ask your pardon for the liberty I have taken in sending, under cover to Mr. Pearson [Prof. Pearson was then Corresponding Secretary of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences], a power of attorney to you and my friend Col. Baldwin, authorising you to make a transfer for me of five thousand dollars . American three per cent Stock to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. " I feel myself highly flattered by the approbation you are pleased to express of my Essays. .It has ever been my most ardent wish to be of some use to jnankind, to be able to flatter Life of Count Riimford. 283 myself when I am going out of the world that I have lived to some useful purpose. And I feel very grateful to Providence for the many opportunities I have had of pursuing with effect my favorite object. There are few persons, I believe, who have passed through a greater variety of interesting scenes than myself, and no one surely can feel more deeply, more intensely, everything that is interesting and affecting in the occurrences of life. " My daughter, who will never forget your kindness to her, desires me to present her best respects. Permit me to join with her in thanks, and to assure you that I shall never cease to be, with unfeigned regard and esteem, my dear Sir, " Yours, most sincerely, "RUMFORD."* The following long letter of the Count to Baldwin will be found referring to many matters of interest, especially to some relating to the private affairs of the writer, and to certain annoying and perplexing transac- tions with which he seems to have been embarrassed by relatives of his wife and daughter in America. "MUNICH, 1 7th Dec r ., 1797- " MY DEAR SIR, I am still in a state of uncertainty re- specting the fate of a number of letters on matters of importance to me, which I wrote to several of my friends in America, and among others to yourself, in February last. I have, however, some reason to think that they arrived safe, and that the an- swers to them were lost between England and Hamburgh, in their way to Germany, in June last. An English packet-boat on which I know there were letters for me which had come from America, addressed to the care of my Banker in London, was taken by the French at that time, and I think it more than probable that these were answers to my letters of February last, * Memorials of Youth and Manhood. By Sydney Willard. 284 Life of Count Rumford. above mentioned. As soon as I was acquainted with the loss of these Letters, I immediately wrote to my friends in America to acquaint them with that accident, and to request them to send me duplicates of their last letters ; but since that time I have received no news whatever from your side of the Atlantic. " My letters of February last related chiefly to arrangements which were necessary to complete the business relative to my donation to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in which business I had requested and duly impowered you to take a principal part. And I trust you will have found means to complete those arrangements in a manner satisfactory to the Academy. Should anything more be necessary to be done by me, you will be so good as to indicate to me what is farther necessary, and I shall lose no time in doing it. " I have now, my Dear Sir, to request your friendly assist- ance in a matter of a more private and confidential nature, and which I have much at heart to have properly arranged. Many years ago I wrote to a man in America, whose name I cannot pronounce without indignation, to desire that he would take the care, &c., &c. u There is another affair of a very interesting nature, at least very interesting to my feelings, in which it is in your power to render me a very important service. My Daughter (who charges me with her best compliments for you and your Lady) never ceases her solicitations to engage me to pay a visit to my friends in America. And her wishes are so powerfully sec- onded by my own feelings and longing desires to breathe once more my native air, that I have come to a resolution to make the journey as soon as the restoration of Peace and the arrange- ment of my concerns in this country will permit it. If the public affairs of Europe and of America take the turn I ex- pect, and if no unforeseen event should happen to prevent my carrying my Schemes into execution, I think you will see us in America in 15 or 16 Months from this time. In the meantime, there are several private family concerns which I could much wish might be arranged and settled before my Life of Count Rumford. 285 arrival in America ; and you will oblige me very much by lend- ing me your friendly assistance in that business. " Either myself or my Daughter must have an undoubted legal claim to the Personal Estate left by my late wife at her death. But as, since my seperation from my family in the year 1774, I have, by my own exertions, acquired a sufficiency, not only for my own comfortable support during my life, but also to enable me to make a handsome provision for my Daughter, and even to give her something to dispose of by will to any of her friends to whom she may wish to leave tokens of her affection, I have no wish to bring forward any claims, either for myself or for my Daughter, relative to her Mother's fortune, or to call those to any account who are in possession of it; and for their quiet and security I am willing to renounce in the most formal manner all claims on that account, and to engage my Daughter to do so. also: provided, however, and this is a condition on which I shall insist, that receipts and general charges are signed on both sides. " This proposition was made, by my direction, by my Daugh- ter soon after my arrival in England, in a letter to her brother, Mr. Rolfe. But as no answer has yet been made to it, I am apprehensive that my Daughter's letter miscarried, or (what I should be very sorry to be forced to believe) that Mr. Rolfe does not chuse to be satisfied with this proposal. As the final and irrevocable settlement of this business is a matter I have much at heart, I wish you would undertake to settle it, and I hereby authorise you to do so in mine and my Daughter's names, and to sign in our behalf whatever may be necessary to put the matter beyond all possibility of farther litigation or dispute. Should it be necessary for you to take a journey to Concord to do this, I should be much obliged to you if you would do so, on condition, however, that you make the journey entirely at my expense. " Should any attempt be made by Mr. Rolfe to bring forward any demands for maintenance, sV., you will, I trust, without much difficulty, be able to make him feel how very unjust and improper such pretensions would be under any imaginable cir:um- 286 Life of Count Rumford. stances, but especially after the very generous offers that have been made to him. Should, however, such demands be not only made, but insisted on, you will please to declare in my name, not only that they will never be admitted, but also that the offer already made will be revoked, and other measures pur- sued. You may also, in that case, give Mr. Rolfe to under- stand, at parting, that I shall take care that his Sister, in the Will I have enabled her to make, shall not forget his usage of her. Should he behave handsomely in this business, you will, of course, avoid saying anything to him that would wound his feelings. I should never have had any suspicions of his be- having otherwise than handsomely, had it not been for a speci- men of his manner of making up accounts which I saw among the papers my Daughter brought with her from America, and from the circumstance of his never having answered any of her letters. Though my Daughter is quite willing to renounce all pretensions to her mother's fortune, yet she is naturally desirous to have something that belonged to her to keep in remembrance of her, a string of beads, a ring, or something of that kind, and she desires that you and her Brother would select some article of this sort for this purpose. " There is another concern which my Daughter requests that you would settle for her at Concord. Her Grandfather Walker left her a legacy in his Will which has not yet been paid. She desires you would apply to her Uncle, the Hon. Judge Walker, from whom she is to receive this Legacy, for his note of hand, on interest for the amount of it ; and for the interest upon it since it became due, from the i8th October, 1792, when she compleated her eighteenth year. You may at the same time acquaint Judge Walker, that, in case of my Daughter's death, this money will (according to the dispositions of her last Will and Testament) return to the family from which she received it. In the meantime, she very naturally wishes that this prop- erty might be properly secured to her, and that it might be on interest. " There is another pecuniary affair which I should be obliged to you if you would settle for myself with Mr. Life of Count Rumford. 287 Walker. He has, for these last twenty years at least, paid the Taxes, on my behalf, for four shares (or perhaps they may be six) which belong to me in a new Township, called Pennicook, lying somewhere near Saco river. Will you be so good as to repay him these advances, with the inter- est, &c. " I wish you would also make inquiries respecting the quan- tity, quality, situation, and value of these lands, and let me know whether it would be most advisable for me to keep them or to part with them. , u There is still one more commission with which we are desirous of troubling you ; and though it is rather of an un- common nature, and may be attended with some embarrass- ment, we cannot help flattering ourselves that you will under- take it. I must introduce it by an account of a little event which gave rise to the idea of the undertaking, in the execution of which we shall request your assistance. . " In March last my Daughter, desirous of celebrating my birth-day in a manner which she thought would be pleasing to me, went privately to the House of Industry, and, choosing out half a dozen of the most industrious of the little Boys of 8 and 10 years of age, and as many Girls, dressed them new, from hand to foot, in the uniform of that public Establishment at her own expence, and, dressing herself in white, early in the morning of my birth-day, led them into my room and presented them to me when I was at breakfast. " I was so much affected by this proof of her affection for me, and by the lively pleasure that she enjoyed in it, that I resolved that it should not be forgotten ; and immediately formed a scheme for perpetuating the remembrance of it, and often renewing the pleasure the recollection of it must afford her. I made her a present of 2000 Dollars American three per cent Stock, on the express condition that she should appro- priate it In her Will, as a capital for clothing every year, forever, on her birth-day, twelve poor and industrious Children, namely, 6 Girls, and 6 Boys, each of them to be furnished with a com- plete suit of new clothing, of the value of five Dollars, made 288 Life of Count Rumford. up in the same form and colours as the uniforms of the poor children she clothed on my birthday. " To complete this arrangement it was necessary to deter- mine who should be the objects of this charitable foundation, and it gave me much satisfaction to find that my Daughter did not hesitate a moment in making her option. She immediately expressed her wishes that it might be the poor children of the Town where she was born, a spot which will ever be very dear to her, and where she is anxious to be remembered with kindness and affection. " Though the inhabitants of the Town of Concord are too rich, and have, fortunately, too small a number of objects of charity, to stand in need of such a donation as that which my Daughter is desirous of their accepting at her hands, yet, as the object she has principally in view the encouragement qf Industry among the children of the most indigent classes of society must meet the approbation of all good and wise men, she cannot help flattering herself that the Town of Concord will do her the favour and the honour to accept of this donation for the purpose stipulated, and that either the Selectman of the Town, or the Overseers of the Poor, for the time being, will take the trouble annually, of seeing that the conditions of it are fulfilled. " What I have to request of you, my Dear Sir, is, that you would mention this matter to some of the principal Inhabitants of Concord, and endeavour to obtain their approbation of the scheme and a promise of their support of it, and their assistance in carrying it into execution. As soon as I shall be informed by you that our Plan meets with their approbation, my Daugh- ter will make an application to them in a more direct and formal manner ; and I hereby engage to be her surety for the punctual performance of all that she may promise in the progress of this business. " I shall hasten to conclude this long epistle by requesting that you would excuse the liberty I take in giving you so much trouble with my affairs, and that you would rest assured that I shall not fail to embrace with eagerness every opportunity that Life of Count Rumford. 289 shall offer of giving you the most convincing proofs of my grati- tude, as well as of the unfeigned regard and esteem with which I am, my dear Friend, " Most affectionately Yours, "RUMFORD. " The Hon b ! e Col. LOAMMI BALDWIN. ("Received April 21, 1798.") This " long epistle," as the Count well describes it, can hardly have failed to engage the attention of the reader as giving hints and intimations of some of those traits in the writer which express his real character. He evidently cherished a serious intention of at least mak- ing a visit with his daughter to his native country, if not also of taking up his permanent residence here. His fame was now well established in America, and many friends and correspondents whom he had here were prepared to welcome him with pride and gratitude. I have come upon many contemporary evidences that several of these friends were engaged in selecting for him a desirable estate, which he might purchase and improve, and had written to him very freely upon the subject. It was just at a period when some of the most extensive private domains were purchased at small cost by gentlemen rich for those days, who built upon them substantial mansion-houses, and introduced some of the earlier improvements of agriculture. Count Rumford would have been a conspicuous example among this class, and would surely have signalized his renewed citizenship in Massachusetts by building a stately mansion, adorning pleasure-grounds, and man- aging a farm. It would seem as if the region which drew the preferences of his friends and advisers was in the neighborhood lying between what are now known as North Cambridge and Belmont. 19 290 Life of Count Rumford. But before finally committing himself even to a tem- porary visit to the scenes and companions of his early years, Count Rumford, with that deliberate and cau- tious wisdom of providing conveniences and safeguards for his plans which was habitual with him, determined to have all seeming difficulties and embarrassments re- moved or disposed of. He was still a proscribed and outlawed exile, alike by the laws of Massachusetts and of New Hampshire ; and the general government had no power to remove these disabilities, even had it sought to do so. His return and residence here could only have been by sufferance, but his eminence attained abroad would be expected to secure him immunity from slight or insult. The inhabitants of Woburn, not to be behind the State or any of its municipalities, had voted in town meeting, May 12, 1783, "that the absentees and conspirators, or refugees, ought never to be suffered to return, but be excluded from having lot or portion among us." Nor could he legally, as an alien, hold real estate within our territory. As we have already seen, he had previously inquired of his friend Baldwin whether he might safely venture to return, and whether " party spirit " was at all abated. He would have found at work here at that time a party spirit of the most intense and virulent character, though it concerned other issues than those in which he had been involved. The same local legislation which outlawed him had also deprived him of all property rights and claims on this soil. His references to such claims as still valid must be interpreted accordingly. The patriotic posi- tion which the members of his family and that of his * Sewall's History. Life of Count Rumford. 291 wife had taken and maintained when he fled the coun- try secured to them, of course, the property in which he otherwise would have had an interest. At no sub- sequent period could he have interfered in its manage- ment, or disposed of, or advised the disposal of, any part of it, except by the same sufferance from those immediately concerned, who would have winked at his presence in this country. The property of his deceased wife, having come for the most part from her former husband, Colonel Rolfe, would mainly go to her son by him, Paul Rolfe. A portion of the widow's dower, which she had enjoyed as Mrs. Thompson, would legally descend to the Count's daughter by her. But it would seem that while her inheritance of this was in some way impeded, the Count had reason to apprehend that he might be made independently answerable for the charges of his daughter's maintenance and education during the years in which her father had apparently left her to the care of others. The disrepute attached to his own name in Concord till he had won for it eminent distinction, would allow of irregularity and even of injustice in the transactions of administrators and guardians. As to the cc man in America " whose name, as the Count wrote to Colonel Baldwin, he "could not pronounce without indignation," it is hardly worth our while to inquire. Yet I think I might name him, though I should be unwilling to justify any charge thus implied against him. It is interesting to note the Count's incidental assertion that he had written to this man cc many years ago." The period designated is indefinite, but it must suggest a date of the Count's intercourse by correspondence with some one near his early home previous to any letter 292 Life of Count Rumford. which I have been able to obtain. The Count shows his willingness to renounce, even on his daughter's be- half, all claims which she or he might have upon the estate of his deceased wife, and he assumes the whole responsibility of her maintenance henceforward, and of provision for her survival ; covenanting, however, as a condition, that no charges for the past should be set up against him or her. This requisition he enforces with a threat concerning last wills and testaments to be insured by a foreign sanction. Miss Sarah's Grand- father Walker had left her a legacy of 140 when she should be married, or be eighteen years of age. On this the Count had computed interest from the com- pletion of her eighteenth year up to the time of his writing. This he required for her, with a generous stipulation that it should revert at her decease to the Walker family. He tenderly demands for her also some keepsake of affection, if it be but " a string of beads," of the lonely mother whom she had loved. I am inclined to think that the parties concerned made no serious effort in reference to the Count's in- validated rights to the shares in some wild land in Maine. A lively account will be found further on, from the daughter's pen, of the celebration of her father's birth- day which suggested to him the proposition submitted to the selectmen of Concord. The Count did not ex- ercise his usual discretion, and seems to have become wellnigh oblivious of the characteristics of his native land, when he suggested the introduction here of one of the most odious customs of the Old World, in associ- ating a grotesque pauper uniform with a beneficiary institution. Children so disfigured in their array would Life of Count Rumford. 293 have been a ridiculous spectacle in a New England country town, and their garb, which would have made them a jeer, would have been a severer infliction than their poverty. The matters referred to in the long epistle are recog- nized in the correspondence which follows. "WOBURN, March 26, 1798. " MY DEAR COUNT, I have been waiting in expectation, from time to time, that I should soon have it in my power to announce to you the full and complete negotiation of your most liberal donation to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which has been delayed the longer as we did not very readily find the precise mode of making the transfer where the original certificates (as in this case) were lost. However, the business is finally completed, and the Academy is in the full possession of your generous donation of five thousand dollars, three per cent Stock of the United States, a donation the most liberal and im- portant of any that this Society has ever realized. And notwith- standing you may not have heard (as you might justly expect) much from us during the transfer, yet I do assure you that this event has not been marked with silence here. " There is a committee of the Academy appointed to address you upon this pleasing occasion, and I hope erelong we shall have the renewed pleasure of transmitting to you some fruits of your solicitous endeavors to investigate a subject so difficult, and, at the same time, so important to mankind. It rather seems a mystery that the philosophy of Fire and Light, the most effulgent agents in nature, should be the most difficult to see into and investigate. " Your much esteemed Essays are now republishing by Mr. David West, of Boston. This book, besides the great utility of the various subjects it treats of, is highly valued for the style in which it is written, and has been recommended by some of our professors in languages as the best sample for imitation of any extant. 294 Life of Count Rumford. " I have now only to add my love to your daughter, the Countess, to whom Mrs. Baldwin has just written, and close at this time with that sentiment I have so often expressed, with- out which I don't know that I shall ever conclude another letter until the object (which is to see you once more in your native country) is obtained. " I have the honor to be, with great respect, my dear Count, " Your obedient and very humble servant, "LOAMMI BALDWIN. "SiR BENJAMIN, Count of Rumford." "The above letter to be forwarded by Dr. Welsh's son, of Boston, who is going to Berlin, as Secretary to Mr. Adams, the American Minister at that Court. ("Sealed up, July 30, 1798.") Considering the punctilious character, especially in all business affairs, both of Count Rumford and of Colonel Baldwin, it must have been a grievous vexa- tion to them that, besides the delays connected with the transmission of letters, there should have happened a protest of a note drawn by the Countess for the benefit of his mother, as this letter indicates. "MUNICH, yth January, 1798. " DEAR SIR, By some unaccountable delay, your letter of the 5th Dec!, 1796, did not reach me till a few days ago. My Bankers in London, Sir Robert Herries & Co., of St. James' St., have directed their Correspondent in Boston (whose name you will be made acquainted with) to pay you the amount of the Bill of Exchange drawn by my Daughter on my late Agent in London, Capt. Armstrong, for 30 sterling, dated Boston, October 23 d , 1795, together with the Costs arising from the protest of that Bill, Interest, &c., which altogether amounted to 32. 5. 9. sterling, according to the account you have trans- Life of Count Rumford. 295 mitted to me in your letter above mentioned, of the 5 th Deer, 1798, which, together with the interest on the same since that time, you will now receive. a I am, Sir, Your most Obedient Servant, "RUMFORD. - " The Hon b ! e LOAMMI BALDWIN, u Senator, &c. Woburn, near Boston, Massachusetts. " North America." It must have been with some misgivings of his own that Colonel Baldwin, in the following letter, commu- nicated to the Selectmen of Concord, N. H., the prop- osition concerning a charitable institution. " WOBURN, 24th September, 1798. " GENTLEMEN, Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count of Rum- ford, and his daughter, the Countess of Rumford, now at Munich in Bavaria, have made provision for establishing a fund of two thousand dollars, three per cent Stock of the United States, the income whereof is to be appropriated to clothe annu- ally in the uniform of the House of Industry at Munich, on the 23d of October, forever, twelve poor and industrious children of the town of Concord, being the place of his daughter's birth, a spot dear to her, and where she is anxious to be remembered with kindness and affection. " The Count seems well apprised of the flourishing state of your town, that it is above the need of his assistance. Yet, as the encouragement of industry seems a principal object with him, they hope that the scheme will meet your approbation, In a letter which I received from the Count, dated the i;th December, 1797, wherein this plan of the institution was pro- posed, is a paragraph to the following effect : "' Though the inhabitants .... of it are fulfilled/ "There is also in the same letter a closing paragraph, which is as follows, namely : " ' What I have to request .... this business.' 296 Life of Count Rumford. " I hope the foregoing sketches will be sufficient to give you the outlines of this plan. I have had conversation with several gentlemen of the town of Concord upon the same business, who will perhaps be able to give further information respecting the matter; particularly I beg leave to refer you to the Hon. Judge Walker, to whom I have communicated the contents of the letter which I have received upon this subject from the Count. "When I contemplate the many, the very many, important improvements, institutions, and establishments the Count has made, which go directly to meliorate the condition of mankind, I am led, with grateful pleasure, to bless his name, and glory in our country which gave him birth. And I should rest in full confidence that your proceedings and report in this concern will be such as will aid his usefulness and extend his benevolence in the world. " I have all along intended to wait on you in person with the Count's proposals, but have hitherto been disappointed, and now despair of having that pleasure this season ; and so much time has elapsed since I received them that I have now only to re- quest that your consideration and decision in the premises may be as speedy as their nature and your convenience will admit, and shall wait your advice. " I am, with the greatest consideration and respect, gentlemen, " Your most obedient servant, "LOAMMI BALDWIN. " THE GENTLEMEN, SELECTMEN OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD, N. Hampshire." The occasion which prompted this intended pro- vision for some poor children in Concord, and the form which was proposed for it, will be found, as before intimated, to be explained by and by in the daughter's autobiography. The true spirit of New England inde- pendence and pride, still with an eye open to worldly thrift, and a consciousness that money received in one way or for one object which would be objectionable Life of Count Rumford. 297 may still be made available in another way and for another object, is to be observed in the following reply of the selectmen to Count Rumford, through Colonel Baldwin. They will be very glad to receive the money proffered by him and his daughter, and though they dislike the conditions prescribed for the gift, and freely express their objections, they will manage in some manner to accept them, rather than lose the money, offering, meanwhile, an opportunity for the modification of the terms. "CONCORD, N. H., Nov. 17, 1798. " DEAR SIR, In your obliging letter of the 24th Sept., which we had the honor to receive, we find stated a plan of an Institution, proposed by Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count of Rumford, and his daughter, the Countess of Rumford, for establishing a fund of two thousand dollars, 3 per cent stock of the United States, the income of which is to be appropriated to clothe, annually, in the uniform of the House of Industry at Munich, twelve poor, industrious children of the town of Concord, and the same to continue in perpetuam. "Having attentively considered the* proposals of the Count and his daughter, we, as a committee, in behalf of the town of Concord, request the favor of you, sir, to communicate to them the following, viz. : " That the object under consideration, to wit, the encourage- ment to industry, appears to us important, and meets the appro- bation of every good and enlightened citizen ; but that the means proposed to be used for the accomplishment of that object will have the desired effect is with us a doubt. Whether the clothing of these twelve children, which to them will be temporary, or minds well informed in useful knowledge, which will be durable, and of which none can deprive them, will be most likely to effectuate so noble and benevolent a design, are questions which we beg leave to submit to their judicious consideration. 298 Life of Count Rumford. u That although a spirit of industry may be excited in children by holding up to them the idea of clothing, and that from that clothing a temporary comfort will indeed arise, yet we humbly conceive that by furnishing them with the means of acquiring moral and political knowledge they might be equally excited, and, should their proficiency be good, which, from observing the general desire after knowledge among our youth, we do not doubt, it would not only afford them present comfort, but will directly tend to meliorate their several conditions in this life, will prepare them more fully to enjoy the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and induce them, as they rise into active life, more cordially to bless the memory of their munificent bene- factress. " Whichsoever may appear most effectual in bringing about the object of the Institution, we beg leave of you, sir, to inform Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count of Rumford, and his daughter, the Countess of Rumford, that we will, with grateful hearts, accept the donation for the stipulated design, and that we shall with the greatest pleasure exert our united influence to aid them in the accomplishment of so important and benevo- lent a purpose, " We are, sir, most respectfully yours, "JOHN ODLIN, | Selectme " RICHARD AYER, } r c ' Concord. " HON. LOAMMI BALDWIN, Woburn, Mass." No further steps were taken during the lifetime of the Count in reference to this proposition. His daugh- ter cherished through her life the purpose of sub- stantially carrying into effect the original design of her father, or of establishing some equivalent substitute for it. She accordingly made a provision in her will, very generous in its terms, though it still waits for full realization in a philanthropic institution. Mention will be made of this in its proper place. I now re- sume her narrative. Life of Count Rumford. 299 tc The amusements were refined, from their being at court. The Elector, at the age of seventy-one, having married an Italian princess of seventeen, it gave rise to a joke that it was only the numbers reversed. Unfortunately it proved more than simply a reversement of numbers. The Electrice, besides being accomplished and handsome, intense in her love for and inde- fatigable in the pursuit of amusement, contrasted greatly with the Elector's years, his want of rest and quiet. But on account of the beautiful, spirited princess, all was gayety. Bails suc- ceeding balls ; drawing-rooms, concerts, the same. The splen- did palace of Nymphenbourg, the summer court residence, be- came the seat of hilarity, fashion, and elegance. The young Electrice figured at the head of it, singing agreeably, often performing in public, and dancing well, though a little lame. It was amusing to bystanders to be witnesses to the conjugal struggles ; the Elector looking steadfastly to the door, impatient for the moment to arrive to retire, and she, in the supplicating, artful manner of youth, saying, c One dance more ! One dance more ! ' " The German ladies, in general, are accomplished and charming, vying with Parisieners, yet less celebrated ; possess- ing the more substantial qualities of the English, those of sin- cerity. The German gentlemen are profound in knowledge, strict in probity, with not a shadow of conceit or foppery, with perfect high-breeding. Undoubtedly this is why their seminaries of learning are so esteemed and sought after. It is not in these schools that a child would be taught duplicity, or independent rudeness of manners, as in many others. But at this moment the word was Reform. The effects of the French Revolution, the great upsetter of everything, were then felt, though now, fortunately, it is at an end, and the scales of justice, wisdom, and good order have resumed their activity. " I do not wish to cast blame on my father, persuaded that in what he did, it being according to the customs of the times, he considered it doing right. He was besides upheld by the kindness of the Elector, as well as allowed by him the means He seemed to be a real favorite of the Elector's, and on his side 300 Life of Count Rumford. he was unfeignedly attached to him. Indeed, I presume the Elector was a really good, excellent character. An anecdote is related of him in connection with my father, which shows him to be such, besides indulgent. In some transaction, my father being blamed, the Elector took his part. My father afterwards, finding that he had really been to blame, went not only to thank the Elector, but to own his fault. The Elector replied, 'If you had been in the wrong ten times, I would have insisted on the contrary ! ' " From a change of times and politics, the poorhouse, with some other institutions, I presume, have not been kept up. But the Duke of Deux Fonts, successor to the Elector, he who afterwards, much against his inclinations, esteeming much more the title of Elector, was made King by Bonaparte, was so kind as not to suffer my father's English Garden, or, rather, the one built under his care, to fall into dilapidation. This garden, about seven and a half miles in circumference, has two branches of the Iser running through it, over which are some fancifully constructed bridges. The walks and drives are serpentine, in the English style. A Chinese tower, a cafe, with other edifices, were placed to afford entertainment. At the entrance a monument was erected to my father, with a pretty inscription, before his death. English ladies' riding was to be introduced, a reform, so-called, of high importance. Not but what the German method for ladies was infinitely safer. The two side-saddles brought from England by my father were now to be put to use, in an exhibition of the English manner of riding. " It was the month of September, as is well known in most northern latitudes, a fine month. The sun had lost his fiery hue, was shining with the mild, pale lustre of declining life, or, in other words, as denotes a change from the brilliant, capti- vating season of the year, where smiling nature affords pleasure with utility, instead of calm resignation. There was visible in the court a clump of horses, with three of General Thompson's people to tend them, the groom, the huntsman, and the ostler ; but the huntsman, possibly, as called in German, the Life of Count Rumford. 301 yager, is an essential personage in all military honors. He wears a high, upright feather in a three-cornered hat, with different livery, more distinguished than that of the other ser- vants. There were several horses. Some appeared warm and fatigued, as if the mounters had just quitted them, which was the case, they being those of the General's two aides-de-camp, Lieutenant Spreti and Captain Count Taxis, with one or two others who had come to join their General in a riding-party, or, as he was generally called, his Excellency. As thnee of the horses had principal parts to act, a description of them will here be given. They bore the names of Tancred, Fawn, and Lambkin. The last was destined for a lady not used to riding, requiring a gentle horse, as was Lambkin particularly so, as the name bespoke. This lady was the Countess of Nogarola, a particular friend of the Baron's, familiarly called by him Mary. Tancred was for another lady, in fact, the Count's daughter, called die Frau freilln Sally (Miss Sally), or die freilin Gre'fin (Miss Countess). The daughter was about sixteen [and nearly half as much more], and the friend twenty-five or twenty-six. Tancred was nothing remarkable, but would go very well with the free use of the whip ; but Fawn was the personage, like the yager, the General's right-hand man and favorite. How can such perfect beauty and excellence be de- scribed ? Nothing short of a jockey could do justice. He was of proper height and size, 'round, plump, had a little head, small features, legs and feet, a sharp, knowing eye, and the color of the most beautiful fawn. Of course, his hair was made to shine like satin. He had a way, when standing any time, of turning his head almost quite round, as if looking for some one (his master fancied it was for him), and if nothing came of it he would begin pawing and jumping. His back was hollow and neck curving." The young lady introduces at this point in her nar- rative a spirited drawing of horse and groom, not saying, however, of which of the three animals it is a sketch. 3 02 Life of Count Rumford. "After much bustle all was stillness as the word went forth the General and his suit descend, then a rustling on the magnificent looking-glass staircase, nearly multiplying objects into innumerability. And what objects ! The Baron, a hand- some man, about forty, decorated with honors, star and garter, appeared accompanied by his ladies, one under each arm, beauti- fully dressed in the English style, excepting more richly, in scarlet with feathers and ermine. One of the ladies was sixteen [better, twenty-two] ; the other, twenty-six. Lambkin being brought forward for the elder of the ladies, and it requiring some time to get her mounted, on account of her being no horsewoman, the younger lady became impatient, and very much so, being fond of the amusement, giving one of the grooms a look, had the horse destined for her brought forward, skipped on with trifling assistance, and almost immediately disappeared ; not going far, however, for when the party passed the porte-cochere, she and her Tancred were found perched at one side of it. This appeared amusing to the company, occasioning a general laugh. But not so to the Baron. He frowned, and particularly so when he perceived the young lady's whip dropped, and the young aid, Count Taxis, dismount to pick it up. " This accident was followed by a detention from this young Life of Count Rumford. 303 lady's shaking about her saddle, declaring it would turn, desir- ing it to be fixed differently. This being complied with, the cavalcade began its march, the Baron on the splendid Fawn, a lady on each side of him, the aids and others behind ; and novel was the sight, the ladies being dressed and seated nearly as the English. The ' English Garden ' was the place destined for the ride ; but to reach it a part of the streets of the town were to be passed through, and many were the curious ones at the windows to see the sight. All things went on well thus far, and would have without doubt continued so, had not the younger of the ladies, without due consideration, giving a whip to her horse, set out, soon losing sight of the company, the timidity of the other lady rendering it impossible for them to follow. The Baron much frightened at seeing this young per- son go off alone in unknown roads and winding paths, looked to his aid Spreti to tell him to follow her ; but before the words could be got out of his mouth the other one, Taxis, was on the gallop. On arriving home in safety, relieved of our riding- habits, we assembled as usual at the supper-table of my father to take each of us a basin of chocolate. I made bad dinners, not being fond of foreign cookery ; was fond of chocolate, but never had half enough of it. Our respectable, charming guest was the Countess of Nogarola, who will be often mentioned in this narrative. "The Palace, my father's lodgings, was a building three stories high, sixty or sixty-five feet in front, running back possibly three times that distance, with an open space enclosed, already mentioned, called the court. The second floor, my fa- ther's habitation, was composed of two halls, one front and the other back; the one with windows on the street and also on the court extending the width of the front part of the palace ; the back premises, with windows on the rear; and on the court were the rooms my father particularly occupied. There were three staircases, a gallery, and eight rooms ; the gallery, uniting the two halls, consequently gave a passage throughout the house, and gave the whole a handsome appearance. The floors were of different-colored marble, or of smooth stone, resembling 304 Life of Count Rumford. it, inlaid ; the windows five in number, with five of plate glass opposite ; an arched painted ceiling representing, as large as life, and well executed, heathen gods and goddesses, instructive as well as amusing. The second floor was handsome, conven- iently furnished, in fact, might be considered elegant, yet was nothing in comparison with the first floor. That was a display of luxury and elegance fatiguing even to look at, to say nothing of the effect of a daily, hourly occupation. But the Russians are fond of pomp and show. " The Elector did not in the general way dress with half the elegance and study of the Ambassador, whose household was composed of servants unlike all others, from their extraordinary height, and elegance of dress ; and as to their number, it was so great as never to come within my knowledge. The Ambas- sador had no lady ; yet, to a great dinner that he gave, my father being invited, I was permitted to go to be a witness to novel scenes, to do justice to which would be long and difficult. I will only mention that it was as magnificent as can be sup- posed, given by a person of his high calling and his apparent love of show. In short, there was a profusion of everything that could tempt the appetite or delight the eye, joined to com- pany of the first class. " My father had some peculiarities of character, and also of domestic arrangements, besides having odd things befall him. One of these was his having a monument erected to him, with an inscription, long before he died ! He kept through the year a box at the opera, without going, perhaps, three times himself. A doctor, by the name of Haubenal, he hired by the year ! He made me a singular present ; indeed, it may be said five, there being five things. The circumstances were these. " As I was sitting one day quietly in my room, meditating, not having much to do, my door, being shut, suddenly opened, and in skipped a little white, shaggy dog, as white as snow, excepting black eyes, ears, and nose. This was one of the pres- ents from my father. I was pleased with her and kept her a long time. She was named by my father ' Cora.' * But * This little dog must have become quite a pet of her mistress, for I find the fol- Life of Coiint Rumford. 305 while I was caressing her the door opened again, three people entering, a woman with two men. The woman spoke first, addressing me in French, saying her name was Veratzy, and that she was sent by my father to offer her services as a teacher in French and music. Making a low courtesy, she stood back to let the others speak. They did so, and it was the same story. They had come, by my father's desire, as teachers. One, by the name of Dillis, a Catholic priest, was a professor of draw- ing. It was not uncommon with that class of people, their salaries being small, to have professions. This Dillis, for in- stance, was one of the best men in the world, worthy his call- ing as a minister, supporting by his industry, joined to his trifling salary, two aged parents, and bringing up three brothers. These priests cannot marry. The other professor was for Italian, Al- berte, or Alberty, as I shall call him, sent also by my father to offer his services as teacher in the Italian language. The Signer Alberte, as he was called, was most judiciously chosen, an antidote, in appearance, to the softer passions supposed to be so easily inspired by the people of his nation. His portrait merits a description, particularly as he was sent by my father to teach me the lovely, harmonious language of Italy. His stature was under the common size, but to appearance greater, from a great prominency of back and shoulders, so as nearly to hide all signs of a neck. His voice was not more fortunate, being harsh. His head corresponded with the prominency of his back ; his nose the same, with sharp, fierce-looking eyes. Yet he was a very good-humored, good kind of a man, and master lowing reference to Cora in a letter written by Sarah to a female friend, December 16, 1799, while she was on a visit at President Willard's, in Cambridge. "I arrived here safe the evening I left you, and had the satisfaction of find- ing the President's family all well, excepting himself. I went to meeting yester- day all day, and I found Cora was likely to be so unhappy to be left at home among strangers, I carried her with me in my muff. She began to breathe very hard and to cough a little before meeting was done, but upon the whole she behaved very well." Whether the excellent pastor of the Cambridge congregation, the Rev. Dr. Holmes, knew of this arrangement, it would be difficult to decide ; but we may be sure that some of the College students, who then attended the parish meeting-house, and whose eyes must have turned with interest to a Countess in the President's pew, must have been privy to the fact. 20 306 Life of Count Ritmford. of his profession. Ignorant of the different merits of these people at the time, and that I was doomed to similar visits, my surprise was great, and not greater than my disgust at the one just described. But summoning all possible fortitude, I dis- missed them with saying I would think of it ; well determined to have nothing to do with them. But these making only four of my father's donations, another remains to be mentioned. It was another visitor. I had heard of Dr. Haubenal, but had not seen him. He now entering, as did the others, from my father, if was by his announcing himself and offering his services that I knew him. Of the two I was the more surprised and shocked at a doctor's offering his services before wanted than I had been even at the sight of the Italian. I began immediately to cough before he got out of my room. It seemed as if it was owing to this untimely visit of the doctor, though the fact was, I had been several days threatened with a cough. " Said I to myself, Surrounded by people who speak French, and all genteel people speak it at Munich, and knowing considerable of the language already, where is the use of my fa- tiguing myself with masters? Music the same. I knew some- thing of it, did not wish to trouble myself any farther, and thought it hard there should be a question of it. As to Italian, I had no wish to know it, being persuaded I should not have occasion to go to Italy, and as to reading, there was surely enough to read in my own language. In the like manner I went on, believing myself in the right and my father in the wrong, till I fell into a copious flood of tears. At this moment precisely my father enters my room, and with a countenance so joyful that necessity compelled me to quit my troubles in contemplation of his ap- parent self-satisfaction. It appeared it was a question of trav- elling some way with a very old, beloved friend of his, and who, in short, was no other personage than a princess, the Princess deL . " I was not to be of the party, but to go to the Countess in the mean time. He said, ' You know she is an angel of a woman, and, without doubt, will make you very happy/ Good as she was, however, the first thought struck me, How horrible Life of Count Rumford. 307 to be left behind as I still deemed it among strangers ; and I inquired very pitifully if my teachers were to accompany me. Nothing of the kind, no question about it, was the reply. Amusement was the object of the day ; so I began to be tolera- bly reconciled. " Such was my father's satisfaction at the prospect of taking this journey with his beloved princess, that not till just going out of the door did he remark my troubled looks, and that I had been crying. Mistaking the cause, he said in an affectionate manner, 'Do not grieve, my dear, I shall soon be back.' Of a childish nature as was my grief, so was now my merriment at the mistake. He had almost persuaded me I was glad he was going ; thought, at least, I should have my liberty, which I viewed not to be the case as I then was. But I was unjust toward my father, while he was as kind as fathers in general. I took everything amiss, as, for instance, my having these different masters. The fact was, I was unhappy everywhere, viewed Germany a great way off, as I called it. I was what we call homesick, a disagreeable complaint, for a time in- curable. " The Countess, in her evenings with us previous to this contemplated journey, held out pleasing ideas of things to take place when I should be with her. We were to go to a ball at court (all genteel amusements at Munich being at court). Count Nogarola (husband to the Countess) not keeping his carriage at the time, my father was to lend us his, since he would not need it, as he was to take the journey with the Princess in her carriage. So we had planned many and various amuse- ments. But for all that, when I saw my father make prepara- tions for his journey, I would be crying, but with no one to witness my tears but little Cora. " My father, being high in military station, could not go away at a minute's warning, as at this moment he was in com- mand of the Bavarian troops, and there was war on all sides. The French and Austrians both attempted to enter the city, but were prevented. The time for the journey having come, the Countess arrived to escort me to her house, and the Princess 308 Life of Count Rumford. L was actually in her carriage at the door. My father, in the general way a slave to order, from imperious necessity had been now faulty, not being ready at the time agreed upon between him and the Princess, which was the more distressing as she declined to enter. This occasioned my father great bustle and confusion, so much so that, when he came to go, such was his absence of mind, that, though passing near, he did not s.eem to see and took no notice of the Countess or myself. I having equipped myself to accompany the Countess, my maid standing by with my packet of things, only waiting to receive my father's last kind look, and to hear his last words of fare- well, to have him depart in this strange manner, not having the least idea of the cause, was astonishing. The Countess was surprised, and I broken-hearted. Off went my bonnet, declaring, if I must be miserable, it should be at home. I made sure he was gone to be married, fancying I saw some white round Aichner's hat (the white cockade on a servant's hat denoting marriage). I recited to the Countess the old adage, ' The mother 's a mother all the days of her life ; The father 's a father till he gets a new wife.' The Countess, after reflecting some time on what I said, with seeming difficulty to preserve her seriousness, informed me that at least this time my father had not gone to be married, for that the Princess was a married lady, and the Prince, her husband, was to be of the party. A servant was rung for to know the particulars, when we were informed of what has been already mentioned. c Oh ! ' I exclaimed, ' it is put off, that is all \ the time will come, I shall sooner or later have it to experience.' 'So long as it is not to be for the present,' replied the Countess, ' put on your things again, and come along. Let us see what rational amusement will be found in my quarter.' I went, and was as happy during the ten days of my father's absence as could be expected ; never losing sight of the idea that I was among strangers, alone in the world ! " Our excellent friend, the Countess, in trying to render me happy, did not forget the Baron, whom, after the Count Noga- Life of Count Rimiford. 309 rola her husband, and two darling children, a girl and a boy, Therese and Andrew, there was no one she so much loved and respected. With regard to myself, as was before mentioned was the intention, I accompanied the Countess to a drawing- room. After this there were parties at home, or going out. A fashionable place of resort was at what was called the Haus- meister's, in the English Garden. After some turns round the Garden we would go there, taking refreshments. In the man- ner in which my father was travelling he had no need of his aids, which left them at leisure to amuse themselves. In our different excursions it was seldom that Count Taxis did not either go with us or meet us. The. Countess seemed intimate with his family, and to have a good opinion of him, and her conversation with me concerning him was of a nature to make me think well of him. This was not. the case with my father, which I had remarked, but did not know the cause. Among other things, the Countess informed me that this gentleman, a short time previous, had publicly declared his intention of not marrying a noble young lady of Munich, whom I knew, but whose name I have no call to mention, a match made up by his and her family. He had taken a sudden fancy to learn English, and often called to speak it with the Countess and myself, she speaking English uncommonly well. The Count- ess conducted me one day a few miles out of town to see a beautiful view. After looking at it some time, she, taking paper and pencil, began sketching. She invited me to do the same, saying it was not difficult, and that she would assist me. I accepted, and we finished the sketch together. When we returned home Dillis was sent for and desired to put the sketch in a state that I, with his assistance, could finish it. He did so, and I afterwards became his pupil. In the like manner, enticed on by the Countess, I became accomplished in matters in which my father had failed to help me through rougher measures. "The next concern was music. I well understood my fa- ther's wish for me to cultivate it, and as decidedly so my own not to comply. If I was pleased with the measures taken by the Countess about drawing, in those respecting music I was 310 Life of Count Rumford. charmed by a performance of this lady's on the piano, assem- bling her two cherubs, Therese, about six, and Andrew, about eight, to assist, as she pretended, in singing. The performance of the children was novel and pleasing, inspiring me with a wish, as was intended, to unite my weak assistance, the Countess knowing I understood music a little. In short, the plan took. I told the Countess, if she would allow me, I would play and sing a little song of which I knew the first verse. * Tell me, babbling echo, why You return me sigh for sigh ? When I of slighted love complain, Thou delight'st to mock my pain.' After which I played 'God save the King ' in character, that is to say, in a thumping manner, and attempted c Washington's March, but failed, my sum total in music. I was praised beyond measure, and, thus encouraged, decided to take Miss Veratzy as teacher. " Twenty-four hours had elapsed before either the Countess or myself were informed of the arrival of my father. His trav- elling companions making a little stop to pay him a visit, we were not sought after. The system of the great world seeming to be ' not to let the right hand know what the left hand doeth/ perhaps that was the reason. In the less cultivated climes of America, in case of visits of the great and respectable the whole neighborhood even would have been summoned to help out in making things agreeable. The Countess and I were, however, invited on the evening of the second day to partake of the usual supper of chocolate. We were both thankful and glad to see my father again, the Countess, from an angelic temper of forgiveness ; and I, from the natural love of a child to a parent. After the most prominent incidents of the journey, such as my father thought proper to communicate, the conver- sation turned on my consenting to take teachers, on my intro- duction to Dillis, and my thinking of turning my attention to music, in short, my receiving lessons from the said Miss Veratzy. In order to profit as much as possible from this unusual docility, my father began talking about the beauties of the Italian Ian- Life of Count Rumford. 311 guage, and what a pity it was I should not know something of it for knowing music. In short, it was decided that I should take the Italian master. I looking rather serious, the cause was inquired of it. I answered, that it struck me that a person would make more progress, and for a certainty it would be much more agreeable, to have a master not such a lump of de- formity as was this Signer Alberty. My father replied, that the Italians, being considered a very gallant, captivating people, it was not considered prudent to have them as teachers with marked personal attractions. The observation reminded the Countess of an anecdote in circulation of a lady of distinction having fallen violently in love with her music-master, or rather the person who often accompanied her in her music, she being herself a fine musician. My father seemed much surprised and very sorry at the news, for the lady was in high place, and even an heir to the crown might have been derived from her. Still on the subject of teachers, my father asked the Countess how a little girl, about eight, named Sophy Baumgarten, niece to the Countess got on. The mother, the Countess of Baum- garten, was the Countess's only sister. The answer was, that Sophy did not get on so well, owing to the peculiarly light, trifling character of her mother. u It would be difficult to find two characters less resembling each other than these two sisters, the Countess of Nogarola, with a first-rate understanding, a model of virtue, not plain, but not handsome ; the other, a few years before, a celebrated beauty. She was so much admired and celebrated in the world that even crowned heads confessed her charms. All gentlemen were in love with her. Alas, poor lady ! she ended in not sufficiently respecting herself. A few days after this found me established with the whole catalogue of teachers, Alberty at the head of them. My studies went on like clock-work ; my fa- ther had a great deal of order. A hairdresser came daily to dress my hair. Good Animeetle was exchanged for Cecilia Dumesnil, a French girl, on account of the language. Parents do wrong to push their children. Application is not for all. Better let them remain a little ignorant, than lose, perhaps, their lives. 312 Life of Count Rumford. u The time arrived for me to be plunged in study, surrounded by my teachers, Signer Alberty, with his four feet in stature, his great nose and tremendous prominency of back, at the head of them. It was, nevertheless, in Italian that I made the most progress. Not that I neglected any of my studies. I succeeded in giving such satisfaction that my father in great affection called me bis own child, a little vanity in the expression which must be excused. Alas ! frail nature admits of no control. In vain would vanity and ambition take the lead. My health began to decline. My flesh left me as if it had wings to fly away. I became ailing, and this ended in the whooping-cough. As already mentioned, the house, or rather the palace, we occu- pied was large; my father living at one extremity, and I at the other. All who have had the whooping-cough must know how troublesome it is, and that a person is everything but interesting when in a fit of it. My father had never exactly seen me at one of these moments, till going in haste into his apartment set me out coughing with the whoop. After looking at me with something bordering on a frown, he told me to ring a bell. I did so. He sat writing, and, looking up, said it was not the right one, it must be another. My father had great order in every- thing. If, for instance, a particular servant was wanted, there would be a particular bell to give him notice. Two servants now came, I having rung two bells ; the valet, being one, was kept, and the other sent away. My father said to him, 'Macht der Haubenel hier kommen ! ' I did not know German, but understood enough of this to conclude that it summoned the doctor, and began retreating. My father called me back, ask- ing me if I was afraid of a doctor ; adding, that he understood I had not treated him civilly some time before. I was informed that in all probability the doctor would soon be with me ; as it happened, nearly as soon as I had got into my own room. I was to show the doctor politeness. Very well ! That was not difficult. But to be dosed, I muttered to myself, for so sim- ple a thing as the whooping-cough, I never heard of such a thing. " A word of explanation for this apparent obstinacy may not Life of Count Rumford. 313 be amiss. I think I must have implied more than once that I had a great love and veneration for my mother. It was very natural. She had taken care of me in my infancy and child- hood, and brought me up. I recollected often hearing her dis- approve the habit many have on the slightest indisposition of seeking medical assistance. Yet, poor woman ! I best recollect her as on her sick-bed, with the doctor by her side, for she never had even tolerable health. Children hear and reflect more than is always imagined.. I remembered her telling a little story of my father, that, if anything ailed even a ringer, the whole house must be put in an uproar about it. So that, in the present instance, if I say the physician arriving left me an emetic, which I put aside and would not take, I only followed the precepts of my mother instead of those of my father. I was perfectly freed of the disorder in a short time without the least medicine. a In one of our horseback excursions we had the usual party, except that the Countess was kept back by a previous engage- ment. It proved fortunate, for our horses were restive and troublesome, so much so that, when we arrived at the Garden, as usual, our destination, my father told one of his aids Spreti to go with him, and the other to stay with me ; and the same to the grooms. He wished to let Fawn have his run out. We were jogging along when Tancred started and like to have thrown me. Count Taxis, frightened, said to me in English (which I did not suppose he knew much of, we never speaking the language, and which, therefore, surprised me) c Take care, my dear ! ' From my looking down and making no reply, he thought I was offended. He drew his horse near to mine, and, looking me archly in the face, asked me if I did not think that in learning English he learned pretty things. I told him it depended on the sincerity of them. I spoke without reflection, but think he construed them into more seriousness than I really meant, by his dwelling some time on assurances of the sincerity of his words and thoughts towards me. " By an unforeseen accident, if these assertions were true, he was called upon to feel and express more forcibly than by simple 314 Life of Count Rumford. words. I had been indisposed for several days, but said nothing about it, from the childish, foolish idea that I should be, as I termed it, dosed. From the same childishness, because I was fond of going on horseback, I came out when I ought to have stayed at home ; and from being in a restrained posture and among strangers, it naturally made me worse. In short, I grew so bad I thought I was dying, and told the Count I wished to get off the horse. While he was dismounting and making signs to the groom to approach, without his perceiving it I slipped my foot out of the stirrup, and took hold of the saddle to let myself down, but before I, could do it my senses had left me ; so that when Taxis turned his head, it was not to see me on the seat, but prostrate on the ground. There was the greater cause for alarm from his supposing I had fallen, instead of letting myself down, and that my fainting was owing, most likely, to some hurt. The first thing I realized, on coming to my senses, was Taxis and the groom exceedingly frightened, lifting me about, not knowing what to do with me. It would be difficult to describe the expression of their faces when they found me alive instead of dead, as they owned they much feared ; supposing me to have received some great, and perhaps fatal, blow from the fall. They were likewise much rejoiced on my giving particulars, and assuring them I was not in the least hurt. The groom thought he should never dare to see my father again, had anything terrible happened to his daughter while in part under his care. The expressions of Count Taxis were more refined, as may be imagined. He showed such feel- ing and friendship on the occasion, I own it impressed me with the most lively gratitude and friendship for him. He thought best to let the groom go in search of my father, who soon joined us, when we all returned safely together. " As under absolute governments distinction of classes is observed, so that between the General and his aids is not forgotten. My father, in coming to the door after our ride, with a familiar nod of the head, without asking them to enter, dismissed his aids. But Taxis, as it appeared, went straight to the Countess, giving her information of the bad success of our Life of Count Rumford. 315 party on horseback, for almost as soon as ourselves she had mounted to our apartment. Seeing her reminded me of a ball to take place at the court the following evening, where she was to go, and I to accompany her. She presumed I would not go ; and neither my feelings nor propriety could authorize the act. But a foolish, wild thought having crossed my mind, decided me on going, and I went. On entering the spacious, splendid halls, the first duty was to pay court to crowned heads, those in question, the Elector and Electrice, which ceremony passed, we seated ourselves. Count Taxis, as one of the young persons generally present at court balls, perceiving us, came up to speak to us. In looking at me with considerable attention, as he inquired after my health, particularly to know how I found myself after the ill turn in the Garden, he suddenly turned away his head with a singular expression, beginning at the same time an animated conversation with the Countess. cc Without exactly hearing what was said, I had reason to think myself not foreign from the subject, they frequently casting on me their eyes. In this supposition I was soon con- firmed, the Countess going to take leave of the Electrice, then coming and saying to me that we were to return home, I being too ill to be out. * Yes,' replied Count Taxis, being still near us, 'you ought not to have come.' 'What,' I said, looking him in the face, c when I came on purpose to thank you for your kindness of yesterday, are you not glad to see me ? ' He making me no reply, I consoled myself with fancying he looked affected. We soon found our carriage and reached home. " The ball-dress quitted, and I a little rested, I was tempted to follow my two friends, my father and the Countess, she being still with us, to the tete-a-tete supper-table. I went, but neither partook nor stayed long, quitting them without giving a reason, leaving them to think, if they might, that it was with an intention to return. On the contrary, I went to my room, summoned my maid, desired her to prepare my bed, and assist me in getting into it, I being so violently seized with a fit of ague as to be nearly unable to help myself. The girl, having executed my orders, was for running to inform my father and 316 Life .of Count Rumford. . the Countess, but I stopped her, forbidding it ; and not till an equally violent fever fit succeeded, the maid much frightened, contrary to my orders, going to give them notice, all hands arrived soon, followed by the doctor. My father had offended me a few days previous by saying I was always ailing, and I had not forgiven him. So I had two motives in going off in that clandestine manner, one, because my father had affronted me ; and another, the dread of the doctor's prescriptions. And now they began. An emetic was proposed. I refused it, say- ing that, so far from requiring it, I was then hungry. It was urged, even insisted on. I declared if they approached me I would dash the cup which contained it from their hands It was given me, without my knowing it, in some herb tea. " On experiencing the sickness, and presuming from what cause, I cried bitterly, and said they had deceived me. This was the last trouble they had with me of this nature. I was soon so ill as not to know or care what took place. I was con- fined six weeks to my bed with a fever, part of the time be- tween life and death. "My next appearance was in the banqueting-hall, celebrating my father's birthday [in March, 1797], at my expense (my father allowing me pocket-money), but planned and principally executed by the Countess, on the sly, to occasion a surprise. The preparations of this festival were various, requiring three weeks' time to execute. I had little to do in them excepting being enjoined to keep the secret from my father. I was, besides, convalescent only, unable to lend much assistance. " The first concern was to have a bust made of my father. For the want of the original to copy, a portrait was made use of, which answered, they having got a very tolerable likeness. A short time before the occasion arrived, having procured a profusion of artificial flowers, this bust was ornamented, as likewise some of the rooms, to the number of five, one of which was an immense hall allowed for my use, my father hav- ing no use for them. All of these being handsomely, some even elegantly, furnished, and being reached by the splendid staircase of looking-glass, rendered a festival easy to give, and Life of Count Rumford. 317 elegant in its effects. Besides which nothing was spared to render ours conformable to the elegance of the apartments. " Refreshments in great plenty, proper for the occasion ; a society as select as it was numerous ; the rooms illuminated to speak largely to vie with the noonday sun! the music, both vocal and instrumental, the best that Munich afforded, perhaps none better in the world. More attention was paid to this particular, my father being extravagantly fond of music. And from a very pretty manner they had of ornamenting with flowers, that of twisting them into letters and then to words, expressing verse, prose, &c., my father had many pretty com- pliments paid him, particularly in the ornamenting of the bust. Around this bust was a group which drew upon us all much praise and many compliments, the Countess, her two children allowed to be present, Sophy Baumgarten, about eight years old, daughter of the Countess Baumgarten, sister to the Countess Nogarola; myself; six children (little girls) from my father's poorhouse, prettily dressed at my expense, in white, as were we all. For the more elderly part of our guests cards were prepared ; music for the dance, vocal and instrumental music for the ear, which made three distinct amusements without counting that of not doing anything at all. " My father's two aids, Lieutenant Spreti, and Captain Count Taxis, were not forgotten in the number to be invited, and who accepted and were present. Neither of them had I seen during or after my illness. Of course the latter was the only one interesting to me. With Lieutenant Spreti I had barely ever exchanged a word. The festival began, we all at our places, the lights glittering, the company arrived, the music struck up a divine piece, vocal and instrumental, in which all who could sing joined in a chorus, when my father was ushered in. A considerable difficulty had arisen to get him dressed without his knowing for what purpose, and to prevent his seeing the lights of my highly illuminated rooms, some being on the opposite side of the court facing his. All, however, was happily accom- plished, and he arrived utterly astonished, as much so as the guests, who were curious to see the effect all this might have ^i 8 Life of Coitnt Rnmford. on him. I, very naturally, was not one of the least curious to a point, I must say it in justice to myself. I quite forgot my- self, forgot I had a part of no little importance, that of being the ostensible mistress of the house. But I thought nothing of it. My father behaved charmingly. After the first surprise, which was great, he went about bowing and smiling, showing his white teeth, of which he was very proud, thanking people for the trouble, as he termed it, of coming to see him. " The music was not spared, several fine pieces were per- formed, but we all of us had something to do. The Countess had a simple song enabling her little children with their juvenile voices and talents to join her, having a pretty effect, as likewise a piece of music of a superior quality on the piano, (she being a fine musician,) accompanied by the other musicians. I had a letter of compliment in Italian to present my father, he not knowing me so far advanced in the language. The poorhouse children presented written expressions of their gratitude and respect. The little Miss Sophy Baumgarten, above mentioned, had a more dignified part to act than any of us, being signalized out by my father (while the Countess, her children, and myself, were barely noticed) as the object of great attention. So pointed was it as to attract the notice of all present. At all events, such undoubtedly was the intent ; for if it was to cross the room this child was led by the hand, and, if seated, placed by his side. " Contemplating some time this singular sight, I applied to the Countess to know what it meant. She, not giving me a positive answer, smiling, said I was to take notice that her sister, the Countess of Baumgarten, was not present ; which, in the crowd, I had not before observed. This adding still to the mystery in which before the matter was enveloped, I returned with eagerness to my business of watching, and in consequence of it the truth was revealed to me, either by my good or bad genius, I think it was the latter, as I had better not have known it. The striking resemblance that existed between my father and the said Sophy put it beyond a doubt that I was no longer to consider myself an only child, which was the case Life of Count Riwnford. 319 before. Be it from jealousy, or from what other cause, the thought made me miserable. In cases of great trouble and per- plexity, often great resolutions, even unnatural energies, come to our aid. My surprise and vexation were great. Had I been alone, most likely vent would have been given by a few tears. But in a mixed, great society like that, how would it be possi- ble ? Then a thought struck me, which, as I observed before, either my good or my evil genius pointed out, and this time I will give no opinion as to which I think it was. But the thought was retaliation, or, in other less soft words, revenge." It will be a satisfaction to the reader to be informed that, so far as is known, the Countess never put her resolve into execution. tc I had been given to understand, that, as head or mistress of the festival, or dancing part of the, amusement, I was not to dance ; as, since it would be impossible to dance with all, to dance with some would give offence. Consequently I had refused my friend Taxis, who had not only invited, me, but who had several times repeated the invitation to dance with him, and who was seldom far from me, and was lavish of kind looks. I now, in return, showed a disposition to be friendly, sought him with my eyes, and, slighting consequences liable to ensue, danced with him. As we disappeared in the dance and the crowd, I took care to look to see if my father perceived us, and fancied he did. " We all separated at a proper time, apparently well pleased with each other, and the company the same with the entertain- ment. I, in part forgetting my little or great vexation, as any one may think it, was very happy. All had been kind and civil to me. I having been so ill, some, those with whom I was most acquainted, seemed to express a joy to find me alive again ; and all told me they had sent repeatedly, which I already knew, to inquire after me. In short, all' this made me very happy, and I began to form dreams of happiness. " The morning after the party my father sent for me to come and breakfast with him, a favor seldom allowed. It is true, he 320 Life of Count Rum ford. had generally at that hour gentlemen around him, rendering it improper. But I was much flattered by this invitation, draw- ing from it favorable conclusions, that he had been pleased with the fine banquet made in honor of him ; in short, that he had no objection, as I was dying to do, to talk over the occurrences, in calling to mind the features of it the most prominent and agreeable. By all those in the habit of frequenting such oc- casions, this is an absolute want, the pleasure equalling nearly, if not quite, the first enjoyment. When girls get together for this discussion, it is, ' How pretty he was ! ' and ' How ugly she was ! ' While at my toilet, arranging myself, never with more care, what with reflections on the preceding evening and the anticipated pleasure of the breakfast, there became riveted on my countenance a smile, like distorted muscles after an inordi- nate laugh, difficult to change ; so that on arriving at my fa- ther's, which had been by a jump and a bounce, that enchanting complacency, so great, seemed for a moment to disconcert him. But a general is not easily turned from his plans. It is for us, poor, weak females, to be overcome by circumstances. Obey ! is the order with them ; no reasoning. " Without endeavoring to give a darker coloring to the pic- ture than what is due, or to cast blame illy becoming a child, let us rather attribute things to the casualty of human nature ; at the same time, receive them as a warning and check to too elevated ideas of happiness seldom or never realized. This was my situation ; this check I had. When quitting my father's apartment, it was with totally different feelings and expectations than when I went. It was now, without doubt, to see life un- adorned by youthful imagination. In short, my troubles came from exaggerated or real faults which I had committed. It was thought improper that I should keep a secret from my father, he my best friend, it being the case in the affair of the banquet ; surprises, requiring to be carried on by the sly, led to deception, a vile trait of character, and, if necessary, to false- hoods. In short, my conduct to Count Taxis was alluded to and disapproved. So that here, with one blow, were demolished all my fine castles in the air. Life of Count Rumford. 321 " I was, as in times before, to spend my time in tears and study. I received my admonition in silence, without making a reply, I will not say from what motive, but fear it was more independent than wise. I did not say, as I could have done, that the Countess, all but an angel, from the purest and best of motives, was the beginner and ender of the banquet ; that I, in revealing the secret to my father, must have betrayed her ; and, to sum up the whole, if he expected me to be so perfect in my conduct towards Count Taxis, why was he not more so in that with his beautiful illegitimate ? " The young lady goes on to describe her sufferings from continued ill-health, from her sensitiveness, from her father's disapproval of her innocent attentions to Count Taxis, and from the rigidness of the diet to which she was subjected. She grieved also at a pro- spective separation from the Countess Nogarola, whose husband, obliged to go to Italy on business, thought .of taking his family with him. Dr. Haubenel proposed a journey for her health, in which the Countess and her father should be her companions. Accordingly, in a pleasant season, they left Munich, in her father's car- riage, with a maid and valet, and, driving a day's journey to a beautiful seat of the Elector's, at Ammerland See, they sent back their vehicle and servants, that they might be more free in their movements. They had the Elector's permission to make a temporary home at this princely residence, where they had attendance, with sumptuous fare, and fine scenery, and mountain views. Miss Sarah writes that she exceedingly enjoyed the change to freedom and nature, after eighteen months of confinement to the artificial life of the city and the lassitude of illness. The lake afforded them fine fish for their table, and in an elegant pleasure-boat manned 21 o 22 Lift of Count Rumford. with able rowers they enjoyed excursions and an- gling upon it, while at evening, the maid attending Sarah and the Countess, they would bathe in the soft waters. This repose was to be followed by a journey, the route of which her father kept secret, that mystery might add to the enjoyment. " My father had ap- peared to try to see how agreeable he could make him- self; as if wishing to wear off by it some of the disa- greeable impressions of his late conduct, in drawing so many tears from my poor eyes. And he was ingenious in it. He could do one way or the other. And it was invariably the case, that when quiet and happy himself, he was like others, or, in other words, agreeable; but when perplexed with cares or business, or much occu- pied, there was no living with him." This sharpness of a daughter's judgment of her fa- ther must be regarded as lying rather in the force of its expression than in any real severity of feeling. The amount and variety of work performed by Count Rum- ford, the multiplicity of the details which engaged his attention, and the large number of agents and subordi- nates whom he had to direct, as well as his almost mechanical observance of order and system, might naturally engross his mind in his hours of business. That he was affable and genial when he had intervals of leisure and repose might well relieve him from all reproach for austerity at other times. Nor is it to be forgotten, that, having to act in a full parental capacity to a motherless and evidently somewhat volatile and self-willed young woman, he might have had a judgment of his own, had he chosen to express it, to offset that of his daughter on himself. Life of Count Riwnford. 323 The l mystery " of the movements of the Count was not a very deep one. The party set out on foot, tak- ing a guide with them, through fields and by-roads, and after three or four hours' travel they came to what seemed to the young lady an immense chateau, so large that the whole of it could not be seen, and surrounded by water, so as to be accessible only by a drawbridge. Her father seemed to be familiar with the spot, and, pulling at a cord, caused a very heavy-toned bell to sound its echoes loudly, when two well-dressed men appeared, with whom he had some secret whispering. The consequence was that the great doors opened as if by enchantment. The party were shown into elegant apartments, were most hospitably entertained,, and yielded to urgent solicitations to pass the night within its walls. Though Miss Sarah was soon impressed by the fact that not a female was to be seen about the establishment, and that their entertainers were all gen- tlemen " of breeding," it was not till the next morn- ing that she knew the establishment to be what she calls a convent. They visited another like institution the next day. The young lady relates at some length their experiences in the ascent of a mountain, which they made at night on account of the heat of the weather. It was a rugged task for the ladies, especially for the delicately nurtured and fragile Countess Nogarola. They experienced the embarrassments arising from the ordinary female cos- tume for such a tramp, and the Count's practical wis- dom seems to have suggested to them such an approxi- mation of the arrangement of their apparel to circum- stances as anticipated the style of some of the more independent of their sex in our times. The poor 324 Life of Count Rumford. Countess, as she went half-way up the mountain, "try- ing to make herself a little more comfortable, put her stockings (horribly wet, as were mine, with all the rest of our things) on a bush to dry. A mischievous cow ran away with one, champing it to pieces ; so that when we came down from the summit we found the poor Countess with but one stocking, mourning the loss of the other. My father's man, taking off one of his, supplied the place of it, but not without difficulty to make it fit in her much smaller, more delicate shoe." The Count himself, who had made the ascent before, did not escape without a fall and a roll over the rocks, which afforded amusement to his daughter. They had a pretty adventure at their resting-place in being enter- tained by two peasant-girls, who, having two chalets half-way up the mountain, were sent there to watch the cows that were pastured there in midsummer. ' The party returned pleased and renovated to Mu- nich; the American girl growing more reconciled to her lot, and anticipating with more relish the court routine of another winter. But her trials were not over. Her friend the Countess was accustomed to dine once a week with her mother, the Countess of Lerchenfeld. Miss Sarah being now for the first time invited to join her friend, obtaining the consent of her father, went, and unexpectedly, as she implies, found Count Taxis of the party. She represents her father as habitually afraid or suspicious of the intrigues of ladies, and that he was thus prompted on the next day to make a visit to the Countess of Lerchenfeld, where he learned who had been his daughter's companion at dinner. He chose to regard the affair as a female conspiracy, and the following day brought him to the Life of Count JRumford. 325 apartments of his daughter with lowering looks, and even more incensed than he had been at the secrecy with which she had planned the birthday banquet. " I feeling myself innocent, as I was (it being as much a surprise to me as to my father that the invitation to the dinner was to meet Count Taxis, that being the subject of the diffi- culty), I at first only stared. After which, on knowing what it meant, like many young people who laugh when there is noth- ing to laugh at, an irresistible inclination seized me to laugh ; which I having for some time suppressed only burst forth with the greater violence, and it ended in my father's boxing my ears. Little expecting such an indignity, I quitted t'he room without making an observation, or trying to appease him by saying I was innocent. Nor did he ever know, as I believe, but what I had given rendezvous to Count Taxis, and met him from a spirit of intrigue. Much the contrary, the Countess knowing very well I should not have gone, had I known for what purpose. Besides, she was too just and delicate to place me in such a situation." We must infer, therefore, that Count Taxis came in by chance to the dinner. Our sympathies are engaged for the girl in the following like episode. " I must be allowed here to take a step of retrogression. When I was a little girl of four or five years old, I had two playmates about my own age, by name William and Elenora Green ; and we were very fond of each other. We were sent to day-schools together in the neighborhood, and were so much together that we were called the inseparables. We grew up in this manner in real love and friendship. We knew no differ- ence from brother and sisters, excepting I might have been a little more civil than the sister. For William was exceedingly pretty and engaging, and his mother, doatingly fond of him, led him to exact more from us than he otherwise might have done. Mrs. Green, the mother, was rather romantic in her character, and dressed her son fantastically, keeping his hair (beautiful 326 Life of Count Rumford. golden locks) always in ringlets, with belts of curious construc- tion round his waist confining beautiful dresses, a jockey cap with feathers on his head ; and, more than all the rest, she bought him a fife, and had him instructed to play on it several little tunes. It was this fife particularly which I was obliged to hear, for Elenora would not. As may be supposed, the music of such a child was not the most agreeable. Even while I would be listening to the little Apollo, my eyes would wistfully be turned towards Elenora, much preferring some other amuse- ment. But William was not ungrateful. Taken away, at a later period, to other schools, he never forgot us, or, in plain words, myself; seeking all the means proper in his power to give me testimonies of his friendship. His mother knowing this, as I have observed, being .a little romantic, made proposals to my mother that at a future period we should be married. My mother, thinking well of the lad, liking the family, and having my happiness at heart, gave consent at once. The same thing happened to me here. Count Taxis, through the Countess, asking me of my father, I got my ears boxed, and Count Taxis with his regiment was sent into the country ! One actuated by the feelings of a mother, the other by those of an ambitious father ! " The young lady, drawing a parallel between her con- dition and that of Job, when the messengers of woe came to him in succession with ill tidings, proceeds thus : " The Countess called one morning (thinking, perhaps, I had better know the truth of things) and said: 'The negotiation with your father has not succeeded. To end further importunities, the Captain and his regiment quit Munich this morning, to have their residence in the country. And I only am left to tell you/ " While she was yet speaking, there came a messenger from Count Nogarola, and said: 'From letters just received, he finds it necessary to set out for Italy to-night or to-morrow morning, and you have only time to return to make preparations." Life of Count Rumford. 327 " While the messenger was still speaking, there came also another, and said : ' The Baron sends you a paper.' It being in English, I cast my eyes on an article bearing the date of New York : ' Lost, being killed in a duel, Captain William Green^ one of our most promising and beloved naval officers, barely attaining the age of eighteen. A duel said to be undertaken to vindicate the honor of a beloved sister. The sister is said to have had her mind deranged by grief at the death of her brother.' Knowing that the fond mother of William, after his finishing his studies, put him into the navy, there could be no doubt who this officer was, or of the identity of the sister. I had heard, too, that Elenora, when quite a child, had been pushed on, from ambition, to marry one gentleman while she was particularly attached to another. Relating this attachment was the cause of the duel, as I afterwards learned. " I was not, like Job under accumulated afflictions, all hu- mility and submission ; nor, like his wife, with profligate re- monstrances j but rather listened within myself to the precept of Solomon, that ' all is vanity and vexation of spirit.' " Having given one parable, I shall give another. A gentle- man of my acquaintance, I will say, a friend, having had and lost two beloved wives, in the height of his grief at last declared he would go and live in the burying-ground with them. Being asked with which of them, he was embarrassed for an answer." Miss Sarah adds that she cannot say over which of her four lost friends including Elenora she grieved the most, but proceeds to describe the sorrows of the day following, which was begun by leave-taking with the Countess. She was wrought almost to madness, and, seated alone on her sofa, her little dog Cora near to her, yielded to such passionate outcries as to lead her maid to summon her father into her room. " He came in with his stately military march, and seated himself. I rose from my posture, taking Cora in my arms, and considerably abating in my great grief, or, rather, in the expres- 328 Life of Count RumforcL sion of it. He said to me, c You seem very unhappy ! ' For some time I remained quiet, then, thinking I had hit on a good answer, replied, looking at Cora, c You gave me this little beast. Is it your intention to take her away from me again ? ' My father rose, and, in quitting me, said, ' I am not the cause of your losing the Countess.' ' The Count, to divert the mind of his daughter, ar- ranged another trip with her which showed his real interest in her happiness and improvement, and also afforded her enjoyment. He had invited temporarily into his family, M. Quintin, one of the French nobles driven away from France in the Revolution. "He had resided in England and been naturalized, having there taken the name above given ; otherwise he was the Marquis of Chersena [?], a respectable character; at this time not at his ease in point of property, but some years after, at the Restoration, returning to France, he was -made Governor of the Tuileries, as his father had been before him." M. Quintin was about to go to Vienna. He pro- posed to descend the Iser as far as Passau on one of the rafts by which the country people carried their wood to market in Vienna. Little huts or shelters were constructed on these rafts and made very con- venient for travellers. The daughter was taken by surprise, one morning, by finding herself with her father, M. Quintin, and servants, on one of these rafts, on which a hut had been constructed for her, floating down the river. They carried also a curiously constructed Russian carriage belonging to the Count. They de- scended the Iser to its confluence with the Inn and the Danube ; and there, bidding adieu to their friend, they took post-horses on their way to Salzburg to see Life of Count R^^ l nfard. 329 the famous salt-mines, which her father had never visited. They entered the mines, and examined the processes of digging, manufacture, caving, or bracing the passages, and purifying the air. They also visited Berchtes- garden to see what was then- the most famous toy- manufactory. On her father's appointment as Minister Plenipo- tentiary from Bavaria to the Court of Great Britain, in which office he thought he should be received, he quitted Munich, taking her with him. She paid her last respects to the Elector and Electrice, and to her father's and her own many friends. Of two of her friends, she says, she had already taken a long farewell in her heart. The Countess Nogarola she never saw again, though she continued to correspond with her till the death of that lady, not many years after. As to Count Taxis, we must have her own words. u On our second day's journey, we having stopped at an inn, as we were getting into the carriage to pursue our way, Count Taxis came up post-haste on horseback to meet us. Two minutes later, and we should have been gone. The Count bid us both farewell, but in different ways. With my father a respectful bow and shake of the hand ; with me, a paper left in my hand. It was a great event ; for never had I before the honor of receiving a line from him or from any one else, for a certainty, of that nature. As I already had had my ears boxed on account of this gentleman, I took care not to expose the letter. But how to wait till night before reading it ? For we were to make no other stop during the day. I was compelled thus to do, and had all the time, in consequence, to ruminate on the subject of the letter. " Taking leave of friends being of a melancholy nature, I took it for granted the tenor of this letter would wear that im- pression. I was several times nearly affected to tears, to think 330 Life of Count JRumfard. what must have been the Count's feelings. ' I only flattered myself that he attributed things to their right causes, and did not blame me. But the moment at length arrived for me to read the letter, and what was my surprise, on reading it, to find only a few gay farewell lines, with neither regrets nor melan- choly ! Had he not himself given me the letter, I should not have believed he wrote it. The only thing bordering on civility was, that the Countess told him to cherish the hope of my return, and which method he had adopted. " In order not to make Count Taxis appear unfriendly or deceiving, as I do not think him so, I must observe that several times, through the Countess, with whom I was in constant correspondence, I had little messages to convince me I was not forgotten. As I shall not again have occasion to speak of this gentleman, I will here mention his unfortunate, untimely end. Both he and Lieutenant Spreti, my father's other aide-de-camp^ lost their lives in Bonaparte's campaigns in Russia. The Ba- varians at that time lost thirty thousand men." Taking the route through Hamburg, for the same reason which had led them to enter Germany by that way, the party had a most disagreeable, and even perilous journey. The distractions of a state of war had de- moralized even the quiet and honest peasantry, multi- plying freebooters, and exposing travellers on neglected and dangerous highways and byways to great risks of violence. Robberies and murders were frequent on all sides. The inns and public-houses were wretched and unsafe. The Count, his daughter, and servants were often obliged to sleep in their carriages, in which they met with two accidents that caused them much alarm. On one occasion, passing a bridge without a parapet, the horses, seized with a fit of backing, came near pre- cipitating them over a frightful precipice. While the Count put his head out on one side to warn the coach- Life of Count Rum ford. 331 man, Miss Sarah jumped out safely on the other side. She says her father used often to describe the incident to his friends, as proof that she knew how to take care of herself. As the cost of exchange on London would have caused a heavy loss on paper money, the Count was obliged to take with him a bag of coin so heavy as to require aid from others to lift it. This was a source of constant anxiety, whether in the carriage, by day or night, or when taken into a room at an inn. They passed safely through all their perils, and to the delight of the young lady, who, though she had enjoyed much in Germany, was a dear lover of Eng- land, they reached London. The father, on finding that as a born British subject he could not be received in a diplomatic capacity, decided not to return to Ba- varia, where war and distraction were so unfavorable to the pursuits which now chiefly engaged him. Not being in good health, he purchased a villa at Brompton Row, Knightsbridge, near London, because of its salu- brious situation, and here his daughter lived with him quite happily for a year. While the Count was busy- ing himself with the plan and initiation of the Royal Institution, and in all the intercourse, social and scien- tific, with the most distinguished men in and around the capital which was so freely open to him, his daughter had her own resources. She describes with great animation her delight in English comforts, re- finements, and festivities. Especially is she ardent and eloquent in her tribute to Lady Palmerston as a lovely woman, a faithful mother, and a notable housekeeper. Miss Sarah was cordially received at the three resi- dences of Lord Palmerston, Hanover Square, Broad- lands, and Sheene. At Broadlands, during the Christ- 332 Life of Count Rumford. mas festivities, she says that she " met some of the first people in the world," and the only language which she can find adequate for describing the way in which Lady Palmerston did the honors is by saying " that in all probability there was nothing else to be found to match it in the whole world." But the daughter's troubles in affairs of the heart seem to have in some degree qualified her enjoyment in England likewise, as she and her father were not in accord about any tentative suitors. The following ac- count has an air of candor, and engages a degree of sympathy for Miss Sarah, now in her twenty-fifth year. " When my father was engaged in dining out where he could not take me, Sir Charles Blagden, one of his most intimate associates, would be invited to dine with me, en tete-a-tete, i. e. in friendly chat. Sir Charles was a bachelor, not so old as my father, but not young. After we went to Germany, he wrote to my father to say that he liked me well enough to make a wife of me, requesting that favor. " My father was ingenious. He did not wish it, yet how affront such a friend? His proceedings were thus: He would often turn the conversation on this gentleman, relating anec- dotes not of a nature to enchant a young person, without saying that he had written about me. After which, the truth coming out, I was desired to give my decision. I, of course, was shocked that the thing should be mentioned. This did not prevent all three of us being excellent friends when we met again. Sir Charles told me one day he liked me better than he did my father, which I thought a great compliment. My father was not a bit jealous. He would say we were just alike. We were all happy, had we but have known it. But we were to separate, I returning to America ; my father going to France, where he married Madame Lavoisier, who did not wish a daughter-in-law, which kept me in America." Life of Count Rumford. 333 Before she left her father she describes him as suffer- ing much from ill health. He put himself under the care of the celebrated Dr. Ash, and had recourse to the waters of various mineral springs. He altered and fitted up his house at Brompton in such an ingenious way, and with such contrivances and arrangements, as to make it an attraction for many curious persons to visit. The daughter's return to America at this time was not caused, as the last extract would seem to imply, by her father's second marriage, which did not take place till some years subsequently. He was offered a very honorable position and employment in England, but felt bound, after this residence there of a year, to return to Germany. The appointment of Envoy Extraordinary and Min- ister Plenipotentiary from Bavaria to the Court of Lon- don, which Count Rumford had received from the Elector, was an honor conferred upon him for several reasons. The zeal and activity with which the Count had devoted himself to so many forms of public service had again seriously overtasked him, and had greatly impaired his health. He had also encountered much and very disagreeable opposition from jealous or inter- ested parties, the effects of which began to tell painfully on his temper and cheerfulness of spirits. It is notice- able, however, as a marked and praiseworthy quality in his character, that he made but infrequent, and then always guarded and dignified, reference to the public or private enmities excited against him by the splendid success of his career and the efficient wording of his schemes. When thwarted in one of them, he makes this general reference to such opposition, in speaking of " the malicious insinuations of persons who, from 334 Life of Count Rumford. motives too obvious, took great pains to render abor- tive every public undertaking in which I have been engaged." But the confidence, esteem, and gratitude of the Elector never failed him. While desirous that he should not succumb under such severe work, nor be crossed and irritated by opposition, the Elector was intent upon securing for him the rest and relief of which he had need without depriving himself entirely of the Count's services. The latter, as we have seen, taking his daughter with him, went to England, arriving in London near the end of September, 1798, in the full belief that he would be received in his high diplomatic office. But the fact of his birth as a British subject, which had heretofore been so signal a condition of his advancement, now withstood the gratification of his am- bition. Usage did not permit that a native subject of the king of England should be accredited as a foreign minister. It had proved a severe trial of English magnanimity to accept that arch-rebel John Adams in his diplomatic capacity from the new American people. But the inevitable condition was that the United States could have no representative at the British Court, at least for a generation to come, unless the mother country would receive as such a born subject of the realm. It would have presented a yet more curious problem for the British government, if Rumford, on a tempo- rary visit to his native country, had been recognized as a citizen, and then sent in a diplomatic capacity to the Court of St. James. As this diplomatic appointment was of itself a proud distinction, and one of the most interesting incidents in Count Rumford's singularly eminent career; and as the Life of Co^lnt Rumford. 335 honor of the office, with the prospective social position which it would secure him, was evidently highly prized by him, as also the discomfiture which he experienced in his disappointment was equally great, I am glad to be able to give an authentic statement of particulars concerning it.* The Elector of Bavaria had offered the position of Minister at the English court to Count Rumford as the successor of Count Haslang, who had retired after having held the office very many years. The appoint- ment of Rumford being known in England before his arrival, Lord Grenville, on the I4th of September, 1798, sent a despatch to the Hon. Arthur Paget, the English Minister at Munich, as follows : "DOWNING STREET, Sept r 14, 1798. " HoN b ! e ARTHUR PAGET. " SIR, His Majesty has seen, with some surprise, in the late dispatches from M r Shepherd, which I have had the hon- our to lay before him, that the Elector of Bavaria has nomi- nated Count Rumford to succeed Count Haslang as His Elec- toral Highness's Minister at this Court. It is, I apprehend, a thing if not wholly unprecedented, at least extremely unusual, to appoint a subject of the Country to reside at the Court of his natural Sovereign in the character of Minister from a Foreign Prince. And I am to direct you to lose no time in apprizing the Ministers'of his Electoral Highness that such an appoint- ment, in the person of Count Rumford, would be by no means agreeable to His Majesty, and that His Majesty relies, therefore, on the friendship and good understanding which has always hitherto subsisted between Himself and the Elector of Bavaria, that His Highness will have no hesitation in withdrawing it, arid * I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. H. Bence Jones in procuring for me from the late Lord Clarendon, but a few days before his decease, copies of papers from the Foreign Office relating to this incident. 336 Life of Count Rumford. nominating as His Minister some Person to whom the objection here stated does not apply. " There cannot be the least doubt but that the Elector will consent to this request the moment that it is suggested, and that the reasons upon which it is founded are pointed out to his observation. But should there unexpectedly arise any difficulty about a compliance with a Request which His Majesty is so clearly warranted in making, I am to direct you, in the last Resort, to state in distinct terms that His Majesty will by no means consent to receive Count Rumford in the character which has been assigned to him. " Should anything be said of the Harshness of requiring the recall of a Minister already appointed, and actually set-out (as Count Rumford is understood to be) for the place of his desti- nation, you will not fail to answer, that, had the usual notifica- tion of an Intention to appoint a new Minister to this Court been previously made here, and the name of the person destined to his Employment mentioned to His Majesty (an attention which might reasonably have been Expected upon an appointment so unusual in its circumstances) His Majesty would then have been able to state his objection without risking any Eclat, or appearing to compromise the personal character of the Gentleman whom His Majesty declines receiving. " Instructions are sent (by the Same Post with this letter) to Sir James Craufurd at Hamburgh to communicate privately to Count Rumford, on his arrival at that place, the nature of the Representation which you are directed to make at Munich, and to dissuade him from prosecuting his journey to England. " In addition to the general arguments against this appoint- ment, as applying to any Person, a subject of His Majesty, you will observe that the circumstances of Count Rumford's having heretofore filled a confidential Situation (that of Under-Secretary of State in the American Department) under His Majesty's Gov 1 makes the appointment in his Person peculiarly improper and objectionable." The next day Lord Grenville addressed to Count Life of Count Riimford. 337 Haslang, late Bavarian Minister, a note in French, of which the following is a translation : "DOWNING STREET, I5th September, 1798. "Lord Grenville presents his compliments to Count Haslang, and has the honour to assure him of the pleasure with which he learns that the matter in question, referred to in the note of the Count, has been disposed of to his satisfaction. u Lord Grenville desires, likewise, to express to the Count his regrets at having been deprived of the opportunity of communi- cating with him on affairs of the court. By the note which, on account of the absence of the Count, Lord Grenville sent to his house, he had invited him to call upon him in order that Lord Grenville might impart to him the decision of his Majesty on the subject of the nomination of Count Rumford. But, Count Haslang being absent, the same communication has been made directly to Count Rumford." [Count Rumford to Lord Grenville.] " MY LORD, Notwithstanding the .information and the intimation your Lordship has caused to be communicated to me by Mr. Canning, Under-Secretary of State in the Depart- ment of Foreign Affairs, I conceive it to be my duty formally to notify to your Lordship that His most Serene Electoral Highness, the Elector Palatine, Reigning Duke of Bavaria, my most gracious Master, having been pleased to appoint me to be His Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Majesty the King of Great Britain, I have come to England in consequence of that appointment, and of the Orders and Instructions of His most Serene Electoral Highness; and am charged with a Letter from His most Serene Elec- toral Highness to the King ; which Letter, agreeably to the Instructions I have received, I ought to endeavour to obtain permission to deliver to His Majesty with my own hands. "Being thus circumstanced, your Lordship will, no doubt, see 22 238 Life of Co^lnt Rumford. the propriety and the necessity of my asking an Audience or personal interview with your Lordship, which I now do, in order that I may have an Opportunity of stating to your Lord- ship more fully the objects of the Mission with which I am charged, and of receiving from your Lordship such information on that subject as may enable me to give a clear, authentic, and satisfactory account of the success of that Mission to the Sovereign who has deigned to entrust me with the management of his Affairs at this Court. " Requesting that your Lordship would be pleased to inform me when and where I may have the honour of waiting on you, " I have the honour, &c. [Signed] RUMFORD. "LONDON, igth September, 1798. [Copy.-] [Lord Grenville to Count Rumford.] "DOWNING STREET, Sept r 2ist, 1798. " COUNT RUMFORD. " SIR, In conformity to the Communication which Mr. Canning has already made to you, I have now the honour to enclose an extract of the Instruction which, by His Majesty's command, I transmitted to Mr. Paget .immediately on His Maj- esty's receiving the Information of your nomination to succeed Count Haslang. u You will not fail to observe that the Representation which Mr. Paget was directed to make on this Subject rested wholly on the circumstance, of the decisive objection which His Majesty feels against receiving as a public Minister accredited from An- other Sovereign, a Person who is not only a subject of His Maj- esty, but has actually been employed in a Confidential situation under His Majesty's Governm*. His Majesty had graciously been pleased to express His wish that this Intimation should reach you before you set out for England, in order to avoid the Inconvenience to which you might otherwise be exposed. With this View the Instruction sent to Mr. Paget was accompanied by a Despatch transmitted by the same post to Hamburgh, in which Life of Count Rumford. 339 His Majesty's Minister at that place was directed to communi- cate to you privately, on your arrival there, the nature of the Representation to be made by Mr. Paget. " As this course has been precluded by your actual arrival in London, and as you have been apprized here of the circum- stance in question, I conceive it will be more agreeable to you that the substance of the Representation with which Mr. Paget was charged, should be transmitted by you to the Elector, rather than thro' any other channel. With this view I shall acquaint Mr. Paget, that he may forbear to execute his In- structions, except in so far as relates to the assurances to be given to H. E. H. of His Majesty's constant and Invariable Friendship, & of His Willingness to receive as His Electoral Highness's Minister any Person whose nomination is not liable to objections as strong as those which I have already stated." " DOWNING STREET, Sept r ai, 1798. " HoN ble ARTHUR PAGET. " SIR, Count Rumford being arrived in London and hav- ing been apprized of the objections which His Majesty had stated to receiving him in the Character of Minister from the o Elector of Bavaria; and having undertaken to transmit to His Electoral Highness a statement of the grounds upon which these objections are founded, I have written to him a letter, a copy of which I herewith Inclose, and in conformity to which you will be pleased to regulate ygur conduct on the subject of the Instructions contained in my Dispatch of the I4th Instant. Count Rumford was then forty-five years old. A portrait in oil, now in the possession of Joseph B. Walker, of Concord, N. H., had been taken of him at or about that time. It presents a man of fine appear- ance, with imposing presence and beautiful features. An engraving from it serves as the frontispiece to this volume. Of course, therefore, the Count never exercised the 34 Life of Count Rumford. diplomatic office, but lived as a private person. He acted, however, as the agent of Charles Theodore, the Elector, and when another minister was appointed was on most intimate terms with him. The Bavarian army, then in the interest of Austria, was in the pay of England. I shall have occasion by and by to quote the statement of the daughter that her father felt deeply chagrined at the foiling of his passion for official dis- tinction experienced in his respectful rejection as the Bavarian ambassador. That he soon found full occupa- tion in an enterprise which, if for the time it attached to him less of personal distinction, was to insure a permanent honor to his name, may have decided him to remain in England and bear his disappointment. Probably he learned even before his arrival that there was an obstacle to his reception in the character in which he came, for, as will appear from a letter of his, soon to be given, he proposed at this time to make another effort to visit America. The following letters were addressed to him by Colo- nel Baldwin on dates previous to his leaving Munich. " WOBURN, July 31, 1798. " MY DEAR COUNT, Mr. Welsh, a son of Dr. Welsh of Boston, sets out to-morrow morning for Newburyport, from whence he expects to embark for , in order to proceed to Berlin, the capital of the Prussian dominions, where he is to officiate as secretary to the Hon. Mr. Adams, the American Minister at that court. " The young gentleman is of a very respectable family and sustains an exceedingly good character. He will be the bearer of a number of letters to you and the Countess, your daughter, to whose attention I beg leave to recommend him, and any civility with which you may please to notice him will add to the Life of Count Rumford. 341 numerous favors which I have already received. I am, with the greatest respect and esteem, " Your most obedient and very humble servant, "LOAMMI BALDWIN. " SIR BENJAMIN, Count of Rumford." " WOBURN, July 31, 1798. " MY DEAR COUNT, I have time by Mr. Welsh just to acknowledge the receipt of your favors of the jyth of Decem- ber and the yth of January last. Mr. Welsh, whom I have taken the liberty to recommend to your notice, will be the bearer of this and a number of other letters which should have been forwarded long ago, but I must beg you to excuse it. For reasons which I shall give you at another time, they have been delayed. " I have, agreeably to your desire, attended to the various objects you have mentioned in your letter of the lyth of De- cember last, and have them all in train, and hope soon to effect them agreeably to your wishes. I happened to see Mr. Rolfe as he was on a journey, and had a pretty full conversation with him. He seems desirous of meeting you on the terms proposed, and acknowledged them generous, yet seemed to hesitate a little on account of some administration accounts with Judge Walker. However, he concluded to take a little more time to consider and write me, but has not done it yet. "I have seen Judge Walker since. He tells me that the accounts referred to above will be closed the beginning of. Au- gust next. He is very willing to do everything you wish on his part, but thinks your daughter should give him some kind of a discharge when the business is closed. " I have no doubt, from what I learn from those gentlemen of Concord whom I have conversed with on the subject of the Countess of Rumford's benevolent donation, but that it will be most cordially received. The Mrs. Nowell whom you mention is dead. Your dear mother was with us here last week, in fine health for a lady of her years, and looks just as she used to do. She desires to be remembered to you and your daughter. Friends in general well. 34 2 Life of Count Rumford. " I shall write you more fully, and I hope more satisfactorily, in a few days. Give my love to the Countess, and tell her that I thank her most sincerely for her successful endeavor in per- suading her dear father to make a visit to his native country. We long for the time to come that we may see him here. We rejoice to hear the resolution you have taken, and sincerely hope no event will happen to prevent it. " I am, with much respect, my dear Count, " Your most obedient and very humble servant, "LOAMMI BALDWIN. " SIR BENJAMIN, Count Rumford." Colonel Baldwin, in a business letter, communicated to Count Rumford' s mother, now advanced far in years, the prospect of seeing her son in his native coun- try. She was then residing with her husband, in Flints- town, Me. "WOBURN, AugUSt 23, 1798. " DEAR MADAM, I have just received instructions from your son, the Count of Rumford, to draw on his agents, Sir Robert Herries & Co., in London, for =30 sterling, it being for the amount of his daughter Sarah's draft on Edward Arm- strong, Esq., his former agent, dated October 23, 1795, that was protested, &c. Which bills, or the money therefor, to- gether with another set, dated the 26th day of March last of the same amount, are now ready to be delivered to you or your order, agreeably to the provision your son has made. I hope you will soon have a convenient opportunity to send for it, as I know of none at present by which I can send to you. "I have lately received communications dated the lyth De- cember, 1797, from the Count, upon various subjects, one of which is respecting a visit to America that he with his daugh- ter proposes to make in about fifteen or sixteen months from the date of his letter, if peace shall be restored and the state of affairs in Europe will admit of it, which he expects to be the case. I pray God to grant it may be so. Life of Count Rumford. 343 " Mrs. Baldwin joins with me in love and respects to you and Mr. Pierce, and all your children. " I am, dear madam, " Your obedient, and very humble servant, "LOAMMI BALDWIN. " MRS. RUTH PIERCE." At the time of writing the following letter, it would seem that Count Rumford, though he had been in England but a week, must have been made aware that the objections to his reception as the Bavarian Am- bassador could not be removed ; for he could hardly have contemplated even a visit to America, unless he had looked for but a brief tenure of office, if allowed to hold it. "LONDON, 2,8th Sept., 1798. " MY DEAR SIR, I arrived in this City last week from Germany, and I expect to be able to remain here several months. I have, indeed, some hopes of being able to pay you a visit in America in the Spring. But these hopes, though ap- parently well founded, may easily be disappointed, for there are several events, none of which are very improbable, that would render it impossible for me to be absent from Europe next year. It is, however, my fixed intention to pay a visit to my friends in America as soon as ever it shall be in my power, which most probably will be in the course of a year or two. I have even a scheme of forming for myself a little quiet retreat in that coun- try, to which I can retire at some future period, and spend the evening of my life. Perhaps you may be so good as to assist me in carrying this plan into execution. As I am not wealthy, and prefer comfort to splendour, I shall not want anything magnificent. From forty to one hundred Acres of good land, with wood and water belonging to it, if possible in a retired situation, from one to four miles from Cambridge, with or without a neat, comfortable house upon it, would satisfy all my wishes. 344 Life of Count Rumford. " Do you know of anything of this description that is to be bought ? And how much would it cost ? I should want noth- ing from the land but pleasure-grounds, and grass for my cows and horses, and extensive kitchen garden and fruit garden. I should wish much for a few acres of wood, and also for a stream of fresh water, or for a large Pond, or the neighbourhood of one, for without shady trees and water there can be no rural beauty. What is land an Acre in the situation above mentioned ? What near the road ? What at the distance of half a mile from it ? What are the taxes I should pay in your country ? Could I, as a stranger, purchase and hold an Estate ? I should be much obliged to you, my Dear Sir, if you would give me information and advice on these various subjects. I need not tell you how much it would tend to increase my enjoyments to live in your neighbourhood. My Daughter is quite enchanted with the scheme, and never ceases to urge me to execute it as soon as possible, and on her account I am anxious to engage in it. I wish to leave her a home, something immoveable that she may call her own, as well as the means of subsistence, at my death. And I am not surprised nor displeased to find that she prefers her native country to every other. " To own the truth, I am quite of her opinion on that sub- ject. She desires her best compliments to you and to your Lady. She is very grateful to you for all your goodness to her. It is now a great while indeed since I heard from you. Pray write me soon, and believe me, ever, " Yours most affectionately, RUMFORD. " To the Hon b ! e LOAMMI BALDWIN, u When you write to me, please to address your Letters thus: " Count Rumford, to the Care of Messrs. Herries, Farquhar, & Co., Bankers, St. James St., London." (" Received at Woburn, by hand of Dr. Walter.") * . A letter written by Miss Sarah at this time shows Life of Coiint Riunford. her keenness of discernment, and her frankness in ex- pressing the results of it. " LONDON, 24th October, 1798. Brompton Row. " MY DEAR MRS. BALDWIN, Though I was very sorry and much disappointed at no.t hearing from you sooner, yet your letter, when it did arrive, gave me much pleasure. I am even disposed to make every apology for your long silence you could wish. Indeed, I think the situation in which you are, and the variety of domestic affairs which you have to take up your time and attention, is a sufficient excuse for not writing sooner. I am glad, however, to hear that your health is good, as like- wise the health of that said friend of yours, who is very naughty to be absent so much, and leave all the cares of the family to you. Oh ! those gentlemen of business seem odd things to us who have no further ideas of riches and honor and glory than a decent comfortable living and a good reputation. " But I should not venture to write in this manner to you did I not perfectly remember that we used to be just of the same opinion upon these subjects. I do not know what you have done, but I have not yet found reason to alter my opinion ; and, to let you into a secret, I have since learned to know more about the consequences of living with a man of business. I have found a very good father, but who is likewise prodigiously occupied in public affairs. Had I acquired his fortune and half his renown (for between you and me, let me tell you that neither Colonel Baldwin nor my father is an enemy to a little well-deserved ren.own), I should think myself happy, and should go and settle down in some little corner of the world, and endeavor to enjoy the fruits of my labor. " Believe me your most affectionate and sincere friend, "S. RUMFORD. " MRS. BALDWIN, care of LOAMMI BALDWIN, ESQ/' The revival and circulation in America of the report that Count Rumford, supposed to have finally left the service of Bavaria, intended to return to his native 346 Life of Count Rtmford. country, met here a hearty interest with his many friends. He had already begun to receive in America marks of public regard. Judge Tudor, one of the founders of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the oldest in the country, having nominated Count Rum- ford as a corresponding member, he was elected as such at a meeting of the Society on January 30, 1798. The following cordial letter was received 1 from him in re- sponse, and having been read at a meeting of the So- ciety on July 19, 1798, by the Corresponding Secretary, it was voted that it be published in one of the Boston papers, and that a set of the Collections of the Soci- ety, handsomely bound in four volumes, be sent to the Count. Of this correspondence the admiring Pictet writes: "The Historical Society of Massachusetts, in choosing the Count to membership, expressed to him, through its President, their unanimous desire to see him return to his own country and settle among them. His answer, which may be read in the American papers of the time, was much admired. I regret that I cannot transcribe it." I am glad that I can transcribe the letter from the files of the Society as follows : " REVEREND SIR, I have had the pleasure to receive your letter of the 3ist January, in which you inform me of my hav- ing been elected a Member of the Massachusetts Historical Society. I request, Sir, that you would present my best thanks to that respectable body for the honor they have done me, and at the same time assure them that I feel myself highly flattered by this distinguished mark of their regard and esteem. " Though my present situation and connections must for the present, and may perhaps for ever, prevent my having the satis- faction of co-operating with the Society in the furtherance of their interesting and useful researches, yet I shall have much Life of Count Rumford. 347 pleasure in contemplating, even at this great distance, the fruits of their meritorious exertions ; and shall feel no small degree of pride in seeing myself enrolled in the same list with those gen- erous benefactors of future generations whose names will go down to posterity with the treasures they are collecting. " There are few things that could afford me so much heart- felt satisfaction as to be able to avail myself of the kind invita- tion of the Society to come and take my place among them. I have ever -loved my native country with the fondest affection ; and the liberality I have experienced from my Countrymen their moderation in success, and their consummate prudence in the use of their Independence, have attached me to them by all the ties of Gratitude, Esteem, and Admiration. " Requesting that you, Sir, would accept my thanks for the flattering manner in which you have conveyed to me the Reso- lution of the Society, I have the honor to be, with sincere Regard and Esteem, " Your much obliged and most obedient Servant, RUMFORD. "MUNICH, 22 April, 1798. " The REV. JEREMY BELKNAP, D.D., Secretary to the Massachusetts Historical Society." Another yet more gratifying recognition of the fact that whatever of reproach had rested on his name in his native country was now removed, was received by Count Rumford at this time. The representation generally made in the various biographical sketches of him following the statement first put in print by Pictet is that he was solicited by the government of the United States to return here, and that the re- quest was accompanied by the offer of a place in its pay and service. Thus Pictet, whom we must regard as relating the communication made to him by his friend, says : 348 Life of Count Rumford. cc Meanwhile the report was circulated in America that he had finally left Bavaria, and the government of the United States, through the American Envoy at London, addressed to him a formal and official invita- tion to return to his native country, where an honora- ble establishment would be provided for him. The offer was accompanied by the most flattering assurances of consideration and confidence." It is only after considerable inquiry and search given to the investigation of the facts connected with this interesting subject that I have succeeded in reaching an authentic and clear account of them from original, unprinted documents. I had thought it quite unlikely tha.t the initiative step was taken by the government of the United States in inviting the return of Count Rumford to America, and in connecting with the invitation the proffer of a place in the public service. True, the great and well-deserved fame which the Count had attained in Europe, and which was not diminished, however it may have been qualified, as it reached America, might have seemed to justify the general government in overriding State enactments by inviting home a proscribed citizen. But it was none the less a fact that Count Rumford was under a legal disability. He had been proscribed as having been hostile to the American cause when he left the country, and he had added to his original offence the graver one of having guided the counsels and commanded the forces of the enemy. The treaty of peace between Great Britain and America pledged the general gov- ernment to appeal to the State governments for a degree of leniency toward the outlawed Tories ; but this condition fell short of restoring citizenship, or a Life of Count Rumford. 349 right to return here to the proscribed. We have seen, too, that the Count, in a letter to Colonel Baldwin, had not forgotten the disability under which he lay. The natural inference, therefore, was that whatever action was had by the government of the United States in the case of the Count was prompted by some expression or proposition of his own. The Hon. Charles Sumner, Senator of Massachu- setts, and Chairman of the Senate Committee on For- eign Affairs, was kind enough, at my request, to insti- tute a search in the records of the State Department at Washington, for the purpose of finding, if there were such, any official documents of the tenor above de- scribed. He informs me that no such documents ap- pear. But inquiry in* another direction, suggested by the statement of Pictet, that the alleged invitation was made to Rumford through the American Envoy at London, has enabled me to give a full account of the matter. Count Rumford, as I have said, became, after the close of the war of the Revolution, a most warm and faith- ful friend of his native country, holding correspondence with many of its citizens, to whom he communicated his plans, and sent his works, and generously dividing among its literary and scientific institutions his benev- olent endowments. He also, when in England, and afterwards when in France, maintained the closest social relations with Americans resident in those coun- tries either as officials of our government or in pri- vate life. Among his most intimate friends in Lon- don at this time were the Hon. Rufus King and the Hon. Christopher Gore. The former was the Ameri- can Ambassador. Mr. Gore, afterwards Governor of 35O Life of Count Rumford. Massachusetts, had been commissioned in 1796, with Pinckney and Trumbull to represent American claims for British spoliations on our commerce. For this purpose he was abroad eight years, being the confiden- tial friend of Mr. King, who left him as American Charge d* Affaires in London, on his return home in 1803. The Count's intercourse with these two gentlemen led to the results which are stated with substantial correctness by Pictet. No publication has yet been made of the official papers of the Hon. Rufus King, though his son, the late much-honored President of Columbia College, New York, was pledged to the undertaking. To my application to a grandson of the ambassador, Mr. Charles R. King, of Andalusia, Buck's County, Pennsylvania, I re- ceived a most satisfactory reply, the tenor of which is indicated by the following extract from his letter to me: " The search among my grandfather's papers for correspond- ence with Count Rumford has proved more successful than at one time I supposed would be the case. Enclosed with this you will find copies of letters referring to the interesting facts respecting which you desired information, and which I think have never been published. "The letter of Rufus King to Colonel Pickering, of the 8th December, 1798, shows clearly the reasons which moved Count Rumford to desire to leave England and to return to this coun- try ; and the suggestion that he should be cordially welcomed here drew from James McHenry, the Secretary at War, an answer of the 3d July, 1799 (which I am sorry to say, I cannot find), containing, as permitted by President Adams, the offer to the Count of the Superintendence of the Military Academy and of Inspector-General of Artillery. The letters of King and Rumford show clearly the deep regard and friendship they had Life of Count Rumford. 351 for each other, and the earnest desire of both to advance the welfare of their native country, &c., &c." The following correspondence, copied from the origi- nals, is of great interest : [Copy.-] "LONDON, December 8, 1798. " DEAR SIR, Count Rumford, late Sir Benjamin Thomp- son, whose name and history are probably known to you, and whose talents and services have procured the most beneficial Establishments and reforms in Bavaria, was lately named by the Elector to be his Minister at this Court. On his arrival he has been informed, that, being a British Subject, it was con- trary to usage to receive him, and that therefore he could not be acknowledged. The intrigues and opposition against which he had for some years made head in Bavaria proba- bly made him desire the mission to England. The refusal that he has here met with has decided him to return and settle himself in America. He proposes to establish himself at or near Cambridge, to live there in the character of a German Count, to renounce all political Expectations, and devote him- self to literary pursuits, His connections in this country are strictly literary, and his knowledge, particularly in the Mili- tary Department, may be of great use to us. The Count is well acquainted with and has had much experience in the establishment of Cannon Foundries; that which he established in Bavaria is spoken of in very high terms, as well as certain improvements that he has introduced in the mounting of flying Artillery. He possesses an extensive Military Library, and assures me that he wishes nothing more than to be useful to our Country. I make this Communication by his desire, and my wish is that he may be well received, as I s*n persuaded that his Principles are good, and his talents and information uncommonly extensive. It is possible that attempts may be made to misrepresent his political opinions ; from the enquiry that I have made on 352 Life of Count Rumford. this head, I am convinced that his political sentiments are correct. "Be good enough to communicate this letter to the Presi- dent. " With great respect and esteem, I have the honor to be, dear sir, " Yours faithfully, "RUFUS KING. " COLONEL PICKERING." [Secretary of State.] "LONDON, March 10, 1799. " DEAR SIR, I annex a copy of a letter from Count Rum- ford, formerly Sir Benjamin Thompson, to me upon a subject somewhat interesting. I am persuaded that the establishment of an American Military Academy is an object of the first im- portance to us. Count Rumford has founded one in Bavaria that enjoys a very high reputation, and I have reason to believe that he would receive very great pleasure in communicating to us the results of his Experience on this subject. I have not seen his Military Books, Drawings, &c., but am informed that that they are inestimable. The cannon he proposes to make a present of to the United States is a perfect Model, and will serve to assist us in the casting and mounting of our Field Artillery. I have sent a copy of the Count's letter likewise to Col. Pickering, and must wait for the President's instruc- tions through him or you in what manner I shall answer it. Count Rumford proposes to return with the view of residing part of his time in his native Country. On this subject I take the Liberty to refer you to a letter from me to Col. Picker- ing, and will only add, that it would undoubtedly be encour- aging and grateful to him to receive an assurance from the President through me, or in any other way, that he will be received in a kind and friendly manner " With sincere ^teem and respect, "RUFUS KING. " JAMES McHzNRY, ESQ/' Life of Count Rumford* 353 "DEAR SIR, I send you herewith a small Pamphlet which will explain to you the Causes which have rendered it impossible for me to go to America this Spring as I had intended. I have not, however, given over all ideas of visiting that Country at some future period ; very far from it, I really hope and expect to be able to go there next Spring, and will most certainly do so, if it should be possible, provided you should continue to ad- vise it, and to encourage me with the hopes of a kind reception. " I beg you would do me the honor to present one of the enclosed Pamphlets to his Excellency the President of the United States, and accompany it with my best Respects and most cordial wishes for his health and happiness and for the prosperity of the United States. u The .Model of a Field-Piece on a new, and I believe on an improved construction, which I have destined as a Present to the United States, I shall pack up and send to you in order to its being shipped for America as soon as I shall get it from His Royal Highness the Duke of York, who has desired to have a copy of it. " You will recollect that in a conversation we had at your house on the great importance to the United States of the speedy Establishment of a Military School or academy, I took the liberty to say that to assist in the establishment of so useful an Institution I should be happy to be permitted to make a present to the Academy, of my collection of Military Books, Plans, Drawings, and Models. I now repeat this offer, and with a request to you that you would make it known to the Executive Government of the United States, and that you would let me know as soon as may be convenient whether this offer will be accepted. " I have the honor to be, with the most sincere regard and esteem, Dear Sir, " Your most obedient and most faithful servant, "RUMFORD. "BROMPTON Row, 13 March, 1799. " His Excellency RUFUS KING, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, &c." 23 354 Life of Count Rimiford. "LONDON, Sept. 8, 1799. " DEAR SIR, I have more than once expressed to you a wish that you might find leisure, as well as inclination, to revisit your native Country, where, I have been persuaded, you would meet with a friendly and cordial reception, and by your presence and advice might be of great advantage to our public institu- tions, the establishment of which, upon approved principles, is an object of the highest consequence. I am happy that I have it in my power to assure you that I have not been mistaken in these sentiments, and it affords me peculiar satisfaction to execute the order that I have lately received from my Gov- ernment to invite you in its name to return and reside among us, and to propose to you to enter into the American Service. "In the course of the last year we have made provision for the institution of a Military Academy, and we wish to commit its for- mation to your experience, and its future government to your care. It is not necessary on this occasion to send you a detailed account of our Military establishment, which indeed would be best ex- plained by a reference to the Laws upon which it depends; these are in my possession, and shall be put into your hands if you desire it. In addition to the Superintendence of the Military Academy, I am authorized to offer to you the appointment of Inspector-Gen- eral of the Artillery of the United States, and we shall, moreover, be disposed to give to you such rank and emoluments, consistent with existing provisions, and with what has already been settled upon the former of these heads, as would be likely to afford you satisfaction, and to secure to us the advantages of your service. " If your engagements will allow of your entering into our service, which I sincerely hope may be the case, I will ask the favor of you to take an early opportunity of signifying the same to me, in order that we may proceed to fufther and more par- ticular explanations upon the subject. "With the greatest consideration and esteem, I have the honor to be, Dear Sir, " Your obedient and faithful servant, [Signed] "RUFUS KING. " COUNT RUMFORD, &c., &c., &c." Life of Count Rumford. 355 [Count Rumford's reply.] " BROMPTON, 12 Sept. 1799. " DEAR SIR, I am to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's most flattering letter of the 8th inst., the perusal of which has filled my mind with sentiments much more easy to be conceived than expressed. " I am deeply sensible of the honor that has been conferred upon me by the Government of the United States, by the kind invitation they have sent me to come and reside in my native Country, and also by the other distinguished and most flattering proofs of their confidence and esteem with which that invitation has been accompanied. " Nothing could have afforded me so much satisfaction as to have had it in my power to have given to my liberal and generous countrymen such proof of my sentiments as would in the most public and ostensible manner have evinced, not only my gratitude for the kind attentions I have received from them, but also the ardent desire I feel to assist in promoting the prosperity of my native Country. But engagements which great obligations have rendered sacred and inviolable put it out of my power to dispose of my time and services with that unreserved freedom which would be necessary in order to enable me to accept of those generous offers which the Executive Government of the United States has been pleased to propose to me. But although it is not in my power to dissolve those ties by which I am bound, yet I have no doubt of being able to obtain permission to visit America, and should that permission (which I shall certainly solicit) be granted, I shall take an early opportunity of crossing the Atlantic in order to pay my personal respects to the President of the United States, and to return him my thanks for the distinguished honor he has been pleased to confer on me. " I cannot finish this letter without requesting that you, Sir, would accept my best acknowledgments for the many civilities i have received from you, and more especially for the very polite manner in which you have been so good as to communi- 356 Life of Count Rumford. cate to me the favorable sentiments of the Government of the United States with respect to me. u With the most sincere wishes for the Prpsperity of the United States, I have the honor to be, Sir, " Your Excellency's most obedient Humble Servant, "RUMFORD. " His Excellency RUFUS KING, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the. United States at the Court of London." "LONDON, Sep. 7, 1799. "DEAR SIR, I have duly received your Letter of the 3d of July, respecting Count Rumford. We have had some conversation upon the subject, which will be resumed. I, how- ever, conclude from what has already passed, that, though much gratified with the offer, he will wisely decline accepting it. I shall hereafter send you a more exact report upon this subject. " The Count's Letter to you accompanying the Models of the Field-Piece and ammunition-waggon was written and sent to me before he had any knowledge of the subject of your letter of the 3d of July. I hope we shall not be disappointed in send- ing you the Boxes which contain these Models by the General Washington, a stout ship now ready to sail for Philadelphia. " With sincere respect and Esteem, I have the honor to be, Dear Sir, " Your most obedient servant, [Signed] "RUFUS KING. " JAMES McHENRY, Esq." " DEAR SIR, At length they have returned the Model of my Field-Piece, though not till after I had repeatedly made applica- tion for it. I have repacked it and its Ammunition- Waggon in their deal boxes, and if you will give me leave I will send these two boxes to your house, in order to their being sent by you to America. " Enclosed is the draft of a letter which I send to you for Life of Count Rumford. 357 your opinion of it, requesting that you would make such altera- tions in it as you may judge to be proper. u If you think my letter ought to be addressed to any other Person than the Person proposed, you will tell me so. You will likewise be so kind as to point out the Person or Persons to whom the models ought to be presented. " I was yesterday at Gravesend, and saw my Daughter into the Boat that carried her on board the Minerva. She has left England deeply impressed with a sense of the kindness she experienced from you and from your Lady. Her father joins her in thanks for these kind attentions, and will ever remain, my dear Sir, " Your much obliged and most obedient servant, " RUMFORD. " BROMPTON, Monday morning, 26th August, 1799." " His Excellency RUFUS KING, &c., &c." '* BRIGHTON, August 28, 1799. " DEAR SIR, I have duly received your obliging letter of the 26th, and herewith return the Draft of a letter that you propose should accompany the models of the field-piece, &c. I see nothing to add or alter excepting in the address, which should be to the Secretary at War, instead of the Sec'y of State. I have taken the liberty, as you will observe, to make this alteration with a pencil. " The models should also be addressed to the Secretary at War. As we are now shipping a number of articles to Phila- delphia, I have desired my Secretary to take measures to remove the boxes directly from your house to our Agent's in the City, as soon as he learns by a note from you that they are ready. " I have lately received a Dispatch from my Government, the contents of which will not fail to increase those favorable sentiments you so naturally feel concerning your Native Coun- try, and I permit myself to hope will prove an additional motive to the execution of your intentions soon to revisit it. " As I shall be in town in the course of the next week, where 358 Life of Count Rumford. I expect the pleasure of meeting you, we will then enter more particularly upon this agreeable subject. In the mean time I have the honor to be, &c., &c. "RUFUS KING. " COUNT RUMFORD, &c., &c." On the 9th of March, 1800, Count Rumford having asked of Mr. King cc a list of all the Universities, Academies, Colleges, and other scientific bodies of note and respectability in the United States, together with the names of their Presidents," desiring to send them " our Prospectus," that is, of the Royal Institution of Great Britain (and having received from Mr. King a list of eleven), wrote to Mr. King as follows: " DEAR SIR, In consequence of the permission you gave me, I send you herewith Eleven packages, containing each a Copy of the Prospectus, Charter, Ordinances, Bye-Laws and Regulations, of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, accom- panied by a letter written by myself, at the desire and in the names of the Managers of the Institution, expressing to the different learned Societies in the United States the wish of the Managers to communicate with them in all things that may tend to the advancement of useful Knowledge. " It will give me great satisfaction to hear of the safe arrival of these packages at the places of their destination, but still greater to hear that the new establishment for diffusing the knowledge and facilitating the general introduction of new and useful improvements which I have been instrumental in found- ing in this Metropolis should be thought worthy of imitation in my native Country. "With my best wishes for the Prosperity of that Country, and with much esteem and regard for its worthy Representative in this, " I am, my dear Sir, yours most faithfully, "RUMFORD. " ROYAL INSTITUTION, ist June, 1800. " RUFUS KING, Esc^, &c., &c., &c." Life of Count Rumford. 359 It thus appears that the proposition for his return to America originated with Count Rumford himself and was warmly seconded by his friends. No doubt he would have accepted the honorable trusts thus proffered to him had he not found himself most laboriously and hopefully employed in the founding of that now venera- ble and honored Institution in London whose origin we are soon to trace. In addition to the letters given above I copy another, which is the only one known to me referring to this matter, already in print. It was the reply of President John Adams to Secretary McHenry. " QUINCY, 24th June, 1799. " SIR, I have received your letter of the i8th, and have read Count Rumford's letter to Mr. King. " For five or six years past I have been attentive to the char- acter of this gentleman, and have read some of his Essays. From these I have formed an esteem for his genius, talents, enterprise, and benevolence, which will secure him from me, in case of his return to his native country, a reception as kind and civil as it may be in my power to give htm. But you know the difficulties those gentlemen have who left the country as he did, either to give or receive entire satisfaction. I should not scruple, however, to give him any of the appointments you mention, and leave it with you to make such proposals to him through Mr. King, within the limits you have drawn in your letter, as you should think fit. I return Mr. King's letter, and enclose one from Mr. William Williams, a very respectable personage, recommending Rufus Tyler to be an officer in the army." The Count, not having asked for an office, had one in this circuitous way proffered to him, which, of course, he was under no obligation to accept. Pictet * Works of President John Adams, Vol. VIII. pp. 660, 661. 360 Life of Count Rumford. follows the assertion quoted above, as to the solicitation made to the Count to return to America and accept an " establishment " by adding this : " The Count replied, testifying his profound appre- ciation of this mark of regard, that engagements ren- dered sacred and inviolable by great obligations would not allow him to dispose of himself in a way to enable him to accept the offer which had been made to him. Certainly there is no trace of animosity in these com- munications." In his Essay on Gunpowder,* the Count says that he had sent to the United States government, as a present, a model field-piece of his own construction. I have sought information from the War Department at Wash- ington as to any record concerning the receipt or acknowledgment of this gift, or of the military library, drawings, &c. which he proposed to send hither. The Inspector-General, in behalf of the Secretary of War, writes me in reply, that a search has shown $c that the records of the Department afford no intelligence con- cerning Count Rumford. If any papers relating to the subject were ever filed in the War Department, they were no doubt involved in the destruction of the War Office by fire, in the year 1800." The well-authenticated facts which have thus been laid before the reader concerning an incident in Count Rumford's personal history which had heretofore been so positively stated, but yet so vaguely related, and without proper vouchers, are equally honorable to him- self and to those who held high trusts under the Ameri- can government. The noble undertaking to which Count Rumford * Academy's Edition, Vol. I. p. 177. Life of Count Rumford. 361 committed himself with such devotion and ztal, to be fully described in the next chapter, is assigned in the following letter as the cause of his postponing his visit to America. "LONDON, I4th March, 1799 " MY DEAR FRIEND, I will not attempt to describe the painful disappointment I feel at being obliged to give up all hopes of seeing you, and the rest of my dear friends in America, this year. A small pamphlet which you will receive with this letter [containing the proposals for the -Royal Institution] will acquaint you with the reasons that have induced me to postpone my intended voyage ; and you will, I am confident, agree with me in opinion, that I have done right in sacri- ficing the pleasure that voyage would have afforded me to the most important objects to which my attention has been called. " I beg you would be so kind as to give my dear Mother the earliest notice of this change in my plans, and that you would at the same time endeavour to give her just ideas of the very great importance of the undertaking in which I have been called upon to give my assistance ; and show her how impossible it was for me to refuse that assistance, especially as it was asked in a manner so honourable to myself. And as the success of the undertaking will be productive of so much good, and will place me in so distinguished a situation in the eyes of the world, and of Posterity, you will, I am persuaded, find little difficulty in persuading her that I have done perfectly right, and in reconciling her to the disappointment she will naturally feel at not seeing me arrive in America at the time appointed. " You must give me leave to complain of you, my good friend, for your silence. Several vessels have lately arrived from Boston and have brought letters both for myself and for Sally. But there were none among them from you. Why should you not embrace the opportunity when you will be sure to find me and my Daughter in London, to take a trip across the Atlantic to see Great Britain ? You shall find a home and 362 Life of Count Rumford. a hearty welcome in my house as long as it may be convenient to you to stay with us. " By the by, I much wish you could contrive to bring P , &c., &c. " I am, ever, Yours most Sincerely, "RUMFORD. " The Hon b . le COLONEL BALDWIN, Woburn, &c." ("Rec d Aug. 27, 1799.") The following letter from the mother of Count Rum- ford to Colonel Baldwin, like those of her son relating to herself and her husband, his step-father, gives full evidence of the affectionate regards of the parties concerned. " FLINTSTOWN, July 1 8, 1799. "DEAR SIR, I have waited a long time in anxious ex- pectation of seeing my son, but I fear that I shall be disap- pointed. I have not called for my bill of exchange, for I thought if my son was coming to America as early in the year as he was expected, I would wait until his arrival. I am now in want of some money. When I was at Boston last, Mr. Samuel Clapp told me that if I would get my bills drawn in his name, or in his favor, I have forgot which, but it was to be in such a way as that it would be proper for him to indorse them, that he would take them and indorse them, and sell them, and forward the money for me to Portland. If you would be so kind as to draw my bills in such a way as that it will be proper for Mr. Clapp to indorse them, and put them into his hands, it will do me a great favor. " I have had thoughts of coming to Boston this season, but my health is so poor that I do not feel able to perform the journey. My husband is very weak and infirm. If you should get any intelligence of my son, I desire that you would inform me of it as soon as possible, for I feel a great anxiety to hear from him. I fear that something extraordinary is the matter, that I do not hear from him. Please to give my love and Life of Count Rumford* 363 regards to your family and inquiring friends. Your compliance with my request in this letter will be a great favor that will be acknowledged with gratitude by u Your obliged friend, "RUTH PIERCE. " HON. LOAMMI BALDWIN, ESQ^, Woburn.*" Pictet says in reference to the daughter's return to America at this time : (C The contrast between the pleasant and quiet ways of her own country and the hubbub of the court of Bavaria, where her father re- sided, was too severe for her to reconcile and con- form herself to it. Her health suffered ; she could breathe only the air of America, and she returned thither. She kept up with her father a constant and most inter- esting correspondence, to judge of it by the fragments which he has allowed me to read." Sarah took with her the following pleasant letter to Colonel Baldwin: "BROMPTON, near London, 24th Aug., 1799. " MY DEAR FRIEND, I cannot permit my Daughter to return to America without charging her with a few lines for my oldest friend and school-fellow, the companion of my earliest youth. In straining my recollection as much as possible, in order to look back into that dark cloud that covers the early period of life, I can remember no person distinctly longer than yourself, except it be my mother. I must therefore consider you as one of my oldest acquaintances, and I have never ceased to regard you and to love you as one of my best friends. A few months ago I flattered myself with the hope of soon seeing you, but events happened to frustrate those hopes. But though my voyage to America is postponed, it is by no means abandoned. On the contrary, I really think it very likely that I shall pay you a visit next Spring. " My Daughter will explain to you all the various reasons 364 Life of Count Rumford. that conspired to prevent my accompanying her to America this year. She will likewise tell you how happy you will make me if you would embrace the opportunity now, while I am on the spot, of visiting England. I can offer you a comfortable room in a small but neat house in the suburbs of London, and you need not doubt of finding a most hearty welcome. If you come this winter, it is very possible that I may return with you next Spring, for it is my intention to pay a visit to America next year. " I need not recommend my Daughter to you, for she is already assured of your friendship. I hope you will not find her altered for the worse in consequence of her visit to Europe, I mean mentally. For, with regard to her looks, it was not to be expected that four years at her time of life should pass away without leaving some traces behind them. u As to her health, it is, Thank God, now tolerably good, but the climate of Europe certainly has not agreed with her. She was at one time dangerously ill at Munich, and never was quite well during the two years she resided in Germany. " My Daughter will tell you what I am doing in this coun- try, and will acquaint you with my plans and wishes respecting her establishment in America. If you can further the execu- tion of my schemes, I have no 'doubt but you will do it. There is nothing I have so much at heart as to make my dear Mother perfectly comfortable and happy during .the remainder of her life. " Pray advise and assist my Daughter in the accomplishment of my wishes in this respect. There is no way in which you can so essentially oblige me. Pray write to me now and then, for it always gives me much pleasure to hear from you. " Wishing your health and all happiness and prosperity, I am, my Dear Friend, " Yours most affectionately, "RUMFORD. " The Hon b . le COL. BALDWIN." The Countess makes the following record : Life of Count Rumford. 365 " 1799. Brompton Row, No. 45, 25th August. The Count takes his daughter and only child in a coach and four to Gravesend, to embark for America, in ship Minerva, Cap- tain Turner, under protection of a Mr. and Mrs. Gushing." Near the day upon which the Count parted with his daughter in England, Colonel Baldwin addressed the following letter to her grandmother : "WOBURN, August 29, 1799. " DEAR MADAM, I have received your letter of the 1 8th ult., but the distressing sickness which has for so long time grievously afflicted my late dear companion in life, and which ended in her dissolution the 8th inst., has prevented my answering it until this time. However, the bills have been ready for your order ever since the period for drawing them commenced. In addition to all my troubles I have to lament with you that we are not to see that man favored above all men, your dear son., and his daughter, in this country, the pres- ent season. For by two letters from the Countess to Mrs. Baldwin, one dated the i6th day of March, and the other the 6th April last, which we received a little before Mrs. Bald- win's death, we were first made acquainted with this disappoint- ment. Sally was very well at the date of both these letters, and desired to be remembered to all her relations and friends." " I have this day received a letter from your son, the Count, dated I4th March last, with a paragraph in it which seems to belong to you as well as to myself, and notwithstanding there is too much in it that will excite our regret, yet there is something also to elevate and add satisfaction to the mind. [The para- graph is as follows : (see letter on page 361.) The portion quoted is ' I will not attempt .... the time appointed.'] " I think, madam, that after this elegant and reasonable apology, nothing that I can say will do any good. The pamph- let which the Count alludes to is the plan of a new institution for founding a society in the capital of the British dominions, the principal management of which, I understand, is intrusted to his care. There is another consolation for us, that although 366 Life of Count Rumford. we do not see him this year, his visit is only postponed ; for by a paragraph in a letter he wrote to Dr. Walter, I find that he has not given up the design, but means to come out next spring. "[Sept. 8, 1799.] I have asked Mr. Samuel Clapp if he will be kind enough to take bills and dispose of them, and send you the proceeds, &c., agreeably to your desire, and he says that he will, but advises by all means not to dispose of them just at this time, if you can do without, for bills are now selling at ten per cent or more under par. He thinks they will be higher in a little time. I wish you would let your son Josiah know that his mother Thompson is very desirous of seeing him at Woburn as soon as possible. Please to remember me to your good hus- band [he had been a partner in trade with Colonel Baldwin], your sons and daughters, and all inquiring friends. I am, with much esteem and respect, " Your friend and humble servant, "LOAMMI BALDWIN. " MRS. RUTH PIERCE." The receipts are copied as signed by Mrs. Pierce and her son Josiah, on the sale of bills, with charges for protest and interest. The young lady, for her homeward passage, was com- mitted, as we have seen, to the care of a gentleman and lady bound for Boston, who faithfully discharged their trust. Her father parted with her at Gravesend, the place of her embarkation. It was then his intention to follow her to America in a few months, for, at least, a visit to this country. But circumstances which he thought imperative prevented him. The separation between father and daughter, though not final, proved a long one. She reached this port on October 10, 1799, being then just twenty-five years of age. Colo- nel Baldwin went to Boston to receive her and to take her to his own home. Life of Count Rumford. 367 On the New Year's day after her arrival, Colonel Baldwin and others of her own and her father's friends gave a ball in Woburn in honor of her return. cc The Countess appeared on the occasion in one of her court dresses, of blue satin/' She goes on with her personal narrative here by say- ing that it was thought best on her return that she should go to board with her old schoolmistress, Mrs. Snow, who still continued, esteemed and active, in her employment, having a select establishment with heavy charges and consequently but few pupils. She pre- viously made visits to her father's honored friend and correspondent, Colonel Loammi Baldwin, at Woburn, to her aunt Reed's, and to Concord. Colonel Baldwin records taking her from her uncle Reed's to Boston, on December 11, 1799, an< ^ a ^ so a payment for tickets to the theatre some time after with her, and a pay- ment on June 14, 1802, to Jephthah Richardson for housekeeping, &c. for himself and " the Countess." Though I thus anticipate the course of the narrative of Count Rumford's career, it may be as well to follow the brief remainder of the daughter's manuscript to its close as it concerns herself. She speaks kindly and gratefully of Mrs. Snow, who received her cordially, and says she was as happy in finding herself at her old school "as was consistent with falling from heaven to earth." She proceeds in her narrative as follows : " No other term can express it. Going to my father young, my character was formed by him, and I was accustomed to the society he frequented. I presume that of Munich and London, his chief places of resi- dence, may be called the best in the world. To tell the 368 Life of Count Rumford. truth, I view my life as pretty much ended, in all that is worth possessing, when I quitted my father at Bromp- ton. Nor was his very different after quitting Munich, particularly after his unfortunate marriage, for cer- tainly marriages like his cannot be termed otherwise than unfortunate." The Countess to give the young lady the title that properly came to her found her situation in society somewhat embarrassing, even though she was a school pupil. She says she received much attention, not only from her fellow-pupils, but from many prominent peo- ple. She was looked to as an oracle, and exp'ected to be very communicative and interesting as to the scenes and experiences of her foreign life. While abroad she had been disciplined to deferential silence and atten- tion; but the tables were now turned upon her, and she was expected to contribute to the entertainment of others. She tried to perfect herself in music, though "thumping and rattling the keys of the piano," was evidently not music to her heart. She made up her mind that this, being the sixth or the seventh, should be the last, of her schools, as she painfully reminded herself that she had been set to the tasks of pupilage in every place of her residence. She resolved to correct her faults and to increase her stock of knowledge. One of these faults was a dislike of her needle. She had actually given away a pretty dress to avoid the trouble of embroider- ing it. She resolved to retrieve her character in that respect, and in -a short time wrought and sent to her father an embroidered waistcoat. She also drew cc a pic- ture of a shepherd boy, about half a yard high, with a very beautiful expression of countenance." Remember- ing her former heart-trials, the Countess adds : Life of Count Rumford. 369 " This picture I did not send to my father, but only- told him about it, not omitting a circumstance which was true, that the picture in which I had succeeded pretty well, as all said, resembled much a young teacher we had in the school. My father did not approve of captivating male teachers for misses' instructors. He was so used to the great world ; I suppose in those places it was not thought best. I am sure the good old hump-backed, long-featured, great-nosed Alberti he gave me for Italian must have had great success among mothers for their daughters, under like prudent pre- cautions.'* This "handsome teacher," whose name was Gurley, she thinks would have made great havoc in the school if one of the little flock had not got the start of the rest by running away with him to New Orleans, where both of them soon after died. This information the Count- ess wisely withheld from her father. She also had a Spanish teacher, and seems to have really devoted her- self to hard work for self-improvement and culture, alike for the purpose of turning to account the advan- tages she enjoyed as to please her father. She says that the reason her father alleged for not recalling her to Europe on his marriage to Madame Lavoisier was that his lady did not wish to have with her a daughter-in- law. She herself, however, was persuaded that her father did not think her fitted in manners and acquire- ments to shine in the circles which he and his mil- lionnaire wife frequented. The refinements of French ways impressed the daughter, but she could not easily assume or conform to them. She says that Madame de Rumford was truly a brilliant character, and it seemed at first as if the Count had renewed his youth. He 24 370 Life of Coimt Rumford. was very attentive in writing to his daughter, and she counts one hundred and four letters as received from him between her leaving him and her rejoining him, an interval of eleven years. She acquiesces in the wisdom of his judgment that she was better fitted to live in this country, but adds that the contrast between her situation and his pre- vented her making the most of herself here. By invita- tion of a very rich lady, a friend of hers, whose daugh- ters were all married at a distance, she became to her a favored companion, and travelled with her to New York and Philadelphia, and in the British Dominions. She also made short visits to the few relatives who offered her their hospitalities ; but she acknowledges that she was discontented everywhere. The following long letter from Baldwin, though it unduly lengthens this chapter, may properly close it, as it belongs to the period before us, and is a reply to the similar extended letter of the Count. " WOBURN, November 4, 1799. '" MY DEAR COUNT, I am happy in having an opportunity of congratulating you on the safe arrival of your amiable daugh- ter in her native country again, where she is most cordially received by strangers as well as friends. But one of the num- ber of her dear and most affectionate friends is fled. [The writer then gives a very touching account of the death of his wife on the 8th of August preceding, after a distressing illness of more than seven months, and proceeds.] I trust that this sketch will serve to show that I have something whereon to found an apology for not writing you before. " I have received your much esteemed favor of 24th August last by the hand of your daughter. I most sensibly feel the sentiments you have therein so tenderly expressed, and notwith- standing all the regret and mortification which I suffer in conse- Life of Count Rumford. 371 quence of the disappointment in not seeing you this year, I still anticipate with pleasure the next period which you have fixed upon to make us the visit, the postponement will seem some- thing like Jacob's second service for Rachel. I recollect with the purity of youthful fondness the many pleasant hours spent when you were here, and seem ready rashly to decide on the visit which you have with so much affection and friendship invited me to make. But when I consider the many important engagements I have on hand, it would certainly be considered the height of imprudence in me at this time to break off and abandon them all. But, however, I can accept your own proposition to postpone and not give over the design. For though I may have passed the meridian of life, I am at present, thank God, in perfect health, and in the enjoyment of a good constitution, which, I trust, has never been impaired by ex- cesses. " However, I have been recently admonished not to place too much dependence on this. In the instance of Mrs. Baldwin, who (the very evening that she was seized with that distressing, deadly sickness which chained her down to misery for near eight months, and then ended in death), of her own accord, in the most agreeable manner, with seeming caution and modesty, observed to me while alone with her at supper, being Sunday evening, how perfectly she enjoyed her health, her first friend, the family, and life in general, not three hours passed thereafter before she was arrested, and Death seemed to lay his cold hand and summoned her hence. Her physician pretty soon gave her over and resigned her to that king of terrors. Not so her hus- band, more reluctant still. He supported a ray of hope, that with all that source of youthful strength and vigor which she had before in so high a -degree possessed, she might possibly outlive her disorders, and have perhaps just life enough to build a recovery upon ; and every means in my power was used to that end. Sometimes I was flattered, at other times discouraged, and thus was agitated until the 8th day of August, when her dissolution happened, and put an end to ajl exertions and all hope. 372 Life of Count Riimford. " But, notwithstanding this, I feel as great a desire of seeing my best surviving friend, and the companion of my youth and early part of my life, as ever. And when I add to this that long-established desire, that ardent wish, which I feel for seeing England and feasting on the improvements of that country, I still think that I shall visit the seat of science. " In the arrangement of my pursuits, when the power is in me to choose, I have deviated perhaps from the general run of mankind, for I would wish to apply the last day of my labors to plan and execute a canal, or plant out an orchard, or something that would result in some permanent benefit for posterity. " We have had the pleasure of your daughter's company a few days, and the inexpressible satisfaction of hearing from her mouth the circumstances of the first interview with her father, and how deeply you are engaged in philanthropic pursuits, also some of the interesting events that have happened during her absence from America, and are exceedingly pleased with the improvement of her mind. " I have received three letters from you since I wrote you last by Mr. Welsh the 3ist of July, 1798. The first of these letters was dated September 28, 1798, another March 14, 1799, and the last by your daughter, of 24th August, 1799, with the plan of your new Institution, for which I beg you to accept of my sincere thanks, and I wish you Divine success in that undertaking. I have a disciple for you now in his last year at Harvard College, reading with love for the arts. " I am conscious of my neglect in not writing to you as I ought to have done. I was about closing a letter to you last January, to be accompanied by the answer from the inhabitants of the town of Concord to the proposal made by your daughter establishing a fund for clothing twelve industrious children of the poorer class of citizens, &c. But Dr. Walter happened to make me a visit just at that time, and brought me your favor of the 28th September, 1798, and at the same time read me a paragraph of one of your letters to him that expressed so fully your determination to make us a visit in the spring that I pro- ceeded no further in the business, and you cannot readily con- Life of Count Rumford. 373 ceive how much we were disappointed when we came to find out that neither you nor your daughter were coming over this season. " However, I now enclose you a copy of the answer which the committee of Concord have returned to me on the subject of your daughter's donation; and as they seem to have a dis- position to vary the plan, I have also prepared you a copy of the letter which I addressed to them on the subject, that you may see the whole transaction. " I saw Judge Walker and Mr. Rolfe last winter again, both of them in one day, but not together. I was flattered with their conversation upon the old subject, and was led to believe that a settlement such as you wish would have been effected before this time, and was surprised to find by your letter of the I4th of March last, that Mr. Rolfe had forwarded any such thing as a demand, especially after what had passed between him and myself, which was, in my view of the matter, tantamount to a promise to close with your proposition. However, I cannot say but what there appeared a kind of reserve in him. 1 have seen him since your daughter has returned, and had a more serious conversation than ever. I urged the matter home. He told me that he believed you misunderstood his meaning in send- ing you the statement he did. He spoke respectfully of you, and was very sorry if you had misconceived his intention. He expressed himself in terms purporting the strongest friendship for you and his sister. " I suspect that he does not feel perfectly satisfied with his uncle Walker's statement respecting some debts which have been rendered desperate, and wishes to bring his uncle to com- pound with him, and give up a balance due his uncle on the settlement of his guardian accounts. However that may be, Sally has set out this day from my house for Concord, with this advice from me, to push with manly firmness the settlement with her uncle and brother as far as her influence will go, and then, if she cannot effect it, to write me word, and I will (sick- ness or death only excepted) go immediately up and assist her. " I have already been pretty serious with Rolfe in preparing 374 Life of Coimt Rumford. the way ; and notwithstanding there appears in him a strange kind of evasion, yet I still think that we shall succeed in mak- ing the settlement. " I have with particular pleasure attended to your proposition of forming for yourself a little quiet retreat in America, and made your proposed scheme known to a few of our best friends, who have most cheerfully afforded me their aid in search of a spot worthy your attention. There are several in the neighbor- hood of Cambridge that have been mentioned ; some of the most eligible I fear are not just at present come-at-able. How- ever, we can raise a most powerful influence when it comes to the case in hand. Meantime I shall continue upon the look out. " Your dear mother is again a widow. Her late husband, Mr. Pierce, died on or about the i8th of August last, at Flints town, on Saco River, where they have lived for a number of years past. Josiah Pierce, Esq., their oldest son, who is now with me here on a visit from Flintstown, informs me that your mother is not in quite so good health as she has been for some years past, but is at Portland with her youngest daughter, Han- nah Douglass, who is much out of health at this time, but not considered immediately dangerous. " I have drawn a set of exchange for your mother on your bankers in London for 30 sterling, dated the 26th of March last, as usual, and delivered them to Josiah Pierce, Esq., agree- ably to your mother's request. I suppose that your daughter will draw for her in future. However, in this or in any and every thing else, as far as lies in my power, I shall cheerfully contribute to her comfort, nor shall I fail to assist Sally in car- rying her plans for an establishment into effect agreeably to your wishes. " I have a favor to ask of you, my dear sir, and I feel confi- dent that you will indulge me in the request I am about to make. I have already told you that I have a son at College whose genius inclines him strongly to cultivate the arts, and I think it rather doubtful whether he will apply his studies to either of the three learned professions with that success as to become eminent. I Life of Count Rumford. 375 have, therefore, thought whether it would not be best to en- deavor to provide him a place for a year or two with some gentleman in the mathematical line of business in Europe, who is actually in the occupation of making and vending mathe- matical and optical instruments in an eminent degree ; perhaps a character something similar to what the late Mr. George Adams of London was, might suit. It may be that you know of some good place. In this I wish for your good assistance so far as to make inquiry whether he 'could get admitted, what the terms would be, what kind of rank he would be considered to have in such a place, where he might work at some branches of the business as well as attend on customers; in short, I wish to know all about it. Perhaps he may settle a profitable corre- spondence in trade with the same gentleman when he comes to return to this country again. He is very lively, ready, and enterprising, and has ever sustained a good character. I have raised expectations of his usefulness, if I can but hit his prevail- ing genius. u I have'also one favor more to ask, which is to request your attention to the little memorandum that I have taken the liberty to enclose, for a number of articles which I cannot readily pro- cure here, and the amount of the bill I will pay to your mother or your daughter, or remit it to yourself, as you may please to order. " In the cask of fruit which your daughter and Mr. Rolfe have sent you, there is half a dozen apples of the growth of my farm, wrapped up in papers with the name of Baldwin apples written upon them. If those apples should continue in a state of preservation until you receive them, and you happen to be in company with any good connoisseurs in the distinguishing char- acter of that kind of fruit, it would gratify me much to know the true English name of it. However, I rather doubt whether the nice characters of this apple will answer exactly to any par- ticular species of English fruit, as it is (I believe) a spontane- ous production of this country, that is, it was not originally engrafted fruit. " I have made an apology for not writing you so much, and 376 Life of Coiint Rumford. now I must make one for writing more than I ought. But I feel confident that your goodness will excuse both. I entreat of you to write me at all opportunities, and tell me how you progress in your new Institution. "Judge" Blodget of Goffstown, N. H., whom you know, and Dr. Hay, have both desired me to present their respects to you. " I am, with the most unfeigned affection and esteem, my dear Count, \ 14 Yours sincerely, LOAMMI BALDWIN. " BENJAMIN, Count of Rumford." " Memorandum for London, to the care of Count Rumford. "4 thermometers exactly corresponding with each other through all the degrees of graduation, plainly mounted in manner suited to endure in experiments where a pretty severe heat is required ; the other two a little in the elegant style. " I mercurial barometer. u i ream of pretty large size lawn paper, thin and light, but of a strong and compact fabric, suitable to make a balloon for experiments in natural electricity. " Two or three crowns' worth of fine gold or silver wire for to entwine about the flying line of an electrical kite or balloon ; perhaps gold thread wire before it be flattened might answer. " Some of the best transparent liquor varnish for preserving the brightness or polish of brass work, with directions for using it ; say, to the amount in value of three or four crowns. " i good collar-mandrel for a turning-lathe, provided with spiral threads or screws on the spindle of the whirl, for the purpose of cutting screws in the lathe, of different combs, or threads ; also the tools to be used in working the lathe for cut- ting screws. " i boiler of the most improved kind for cooking, of about thirty gallons' capacity. " i boiler of abour ten or fifteen gallons, upon the Rumford plan. Life of Count Rumford. 377 " 2 nice measuring tapes, of two poles or fifty links of the chain in length ; enclosed in cases, &c. u A magnet, natural or artificial, highly affected, suitable for impregnating the needles of the compass. " i set of glasses for a lucernal microscope. " I have an 1 8-inch reflecting telescope, the tube of which is about 2| inches' diameter, but the reflector and speculum in both a little sullied or tarnished. I wish to know whether they can be repolished and put in order without the whole in- strument being sent with them, and what the expense would be of doing it. " Yours, "L. BALDWIN. " The above letter sent by the Minerva." There is an interesting story connected with the " Baldwin apples " referred to in the preceding let- ter. The tree from which came the scions that have now so widely propagated that very popular apple grew on a hillside in Medford near the Woburn line. The trunk of the tree having been drilled by wood- peckers, the fruit was known as the " Woodpecker apple," soon shortened into " Peckers." The tra- dition is, that Baldwin and Thompson first learned the excellent quality of the fruit on one of their walks to Professor Winthrop's lectures. If this be true, it is strange that Baldwin made no reference to the incident when sending the apples to Rumford. . The Colonel had given some scions of the tree to a nursery- gardener, who named the fruit from the donor. The old tree fell in the September gale of 1815.* # Brooks's History of Medford, pp. 19, 20. CHAPTER VII. Count Rumford as Founder of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. His Plan and Proposals. Correspondence with Thomas Bernard. Sketch of the Objects and Principles of the Institution. Government to be in- formed of the Design. Meetings of Managers. Char- ter and Organization. Generous Patronage by the Nobility. Prospectus. Building provided for the In- stitution. Rumford *s Generous Gifts. -*- He resides in the Institution. His Illness. - Dr. Young appointed Professor^ Editor of Journal, and Superintendent. Rumford visits Harrowgate. His Essay on Warm Bathing. Correspondence. Colonel Baldwin. Presi- dent John Adams. President TVillard. The Count's Letter to Sir H. Davy, inviting him to the Royal In- stitution. Faraday s Professorship and Directorship. Pictef s Visit to Rumford^ and Description of the House at Brompton. The Bibliothfyue Britannique on the Royal Institution. Alleged Variances among the Managers. Dr. Young. Progress and Course of the Institution. THE reasons assigned by Count Rumford in the correspondence with his friends in America, given in the last chapter, for not at this time re- visiting his native country, v/ere principally two, his still existing obligations to the Bavarian government, and the absorbing interest with which he was engaging in the establishment of a new Institution in London. The conception and plan of this Institution are to be Life of Count Rumford. 379 regarded as exclusively his own. His, too, was the organizing mind, nor can I discover any evidence that he was induced, or felt it desirable, to modify his origi- nal idea of it, or to change the details of his plan by suggestions from any of the wise and earnest advisers and helpers whom he engaged in it. While "he was himself one of the most zealous and laborious Fellows of the Royal Society, he saw that without trespassing at all upon the range, wide as it was, that was recognized by his associates, there was room for an Institution whose aims should be more practical and popular, com- ing into direct contact with the agricultural, the me- chanical, and 'the domestic life of the people. To Rumford, then, belongs the signal honor of creating an Institution which has a most creditable history, and which has been the medium for bringing forward, through the opportunities there afforded them, many men who have won the highest distinctions in practical science. Count Rumford's spirit and activity had at this period of his life become restless, and perhaps slightly morbid. He had been for many years so busily en- gaged in most exacting labors, in which he had em- ployed a large number of assistants and subordinates, that he, beyond most men even of marked ability and influential position, needed to have some conspicuous and comprehensive scheme to engross his mind and to task his energies. For reasons soon to be mentioned he had grounds for believing that his official position and his high functions in Bavaria would no longer secure him such opportunities for civil and military administration or high influence as he had so long en- joyed. Failing, to his great chagrin, of reception in 380 Life of Coitnt Rumford. his diplomatic functions in England, it would seem that his disappointment affected his spirits. He did not relax in any degree his benevolent efforts, and he resolutely maintained and pursued the leading object of his whole eminently beneficent career, namely, the making of all the inquiries and discoveries of science available for the direct relief, service, and comfort of the common people. It will be observed that the Count refers to a publication of his in 1796, as -con- taining a suggestion of his first idea of his Institution. As we come to read his own account of it, and follow it out in its details of objects and methods, we shall be satisfied that it was no extemporized scheme which was hastily devised, but that it had been long and carefully elaborated by a patient development of an idea which he had cherished in his own mind for several years. We may well share the surprise which he himself ex- pressed, that an Institution answering, in some general way, at least, to that which he proposed, had not already been initiated either on the Continent or in England, and that it had been left to him to set forth the need and scope for it, and to win the high honor of securing for it an existence and full success. Count Rumford had taken special pains, as indicated by his letter to Mr. King, to have copies of his Pro- posals for the Institution reach this country, hoping that a similar plan would find its advocates here. I have one of them before me. It is a pamphlet of fifty pages, bearing the following title : * " Proposals for forming by Subscription, in the Metropolis of the British Empire, a Public Institution for diffusing the Knowledge and facilitating the general Introduction of * It is in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Life of Count Rumford. 381 useful Mechanical Inventions and Improvements, and for teaching, by courses of Philosophical Lectures and Experiments, the Application of Science to the Common Purposes of Life." This copy, bearing the autograph of Count Rumford, was presented by him " To his Excellency John Adams," as from " one of the Man- agers of the Institution," and was printed in London in 1799.* The Introduction, signed by Rumford, is dated from Brompton Row, 4th March, in that year, and makes nearly half of the pamphlet, giving a very admirable account of the origin of the Institution. Dr. Franklin himself never wrote an essay indicating a more practical sagacity, or expressed in a more direct and forcible style of lucid composition, than characterize this piece of Rumford's. His aim, he says, is to bring about a cordial embrace between science and art, by enlightening and removing prejudice against changes, inventions, and improvements, and by establishing re- lations of helpful intercourse between philosophers and practical workmen. He would engage their united efforts for the improvement of agriculture, manufac- tures, and commerce, and for the increase of domestic comfort. He says: " The pre eminence of any people is, and ought ever to be, estimated by the state of taste, industry, and mechanical improvement among them." " The vivifying rays of science, when properly directed, * Dr. H. Bence Jones, the Secretary of the Royal Institution, has kindly sent me a copy of the reprint of these " Proposals, &c." which was published in May, 1870. He introduces this reprint with the following prefatory note : " No copy of this Prospectus, printed in 1799, exists in the Library of the Royal Institution. Happily two copies have been preserved, the one at Althorp, and the other at the British Museum." " Through the kindness of Earl Spencer, the Managers have been able to order this very early Record of the Institution to be reprinted." 382 Life of Count Rumford. tend to excite the activity and increase the energy of an enlightened nation." " It will not escape observation that I have placed the management of fire among the very first subjects of useful improvement, and it is possible that I may be accused of partiality in placing the object of my favorite pursuits in that cpnspicuous situation. But how could I have done otherwise ? . I have always considered it as being a subject very interesting to man- kind ; and it was on that account principally, that, at a very early period of my life, I enga'ged in its investiga- tion ; and the more I have examined it and meditated upon it, the more I have been impressed with its im- portance." One is pleased with the wisdom of his homely earnestness, in the fact that he could then offer as novelties such suggestions as these : that arts and manufactures of every kind depend, directly or indi- rectly, on operations in which fire is employed ; that the comforts and conveniences of human ingenuity are obtained through its assistance ; that fuel costs the kingdom more than ten millions sterling annually, and that much more than half the fuel that is consumed might be saved. The writer adds a brief account of the history of these " Proposals," and of the causes which gave rise to them. He avows that he had long been in the habit of regarding all useful improvements as dependent upon mechanical agencies and the perfection of ma- chinery, with skill in the management of it, and of considering that the profit to be thus gained was the chief incitement to industry. The plan which he now offers to the public is the. result of his own meditations as to the means that might most wisely be employed to " facilitate the general introduction of such improvements. Life of Count Rumford. 383 cc In the beginning of the year 1796 I gave a faint sketch of this plan in my second Essay ; but being under the necessity of returning soon to Germany, I had not leisure to pursue it farther at that time; and I was obliged to content myself with having merely thrown out a loose idea, as it were by accident, which I thought might possibly attract attention. After rriy return to Munich, I opened myself more fully on the subject in my correspondence with my friends in this country [England], and particularly in my letters to Thomas Bernard, Esq., who, as is well known, is one of the founders and most active members of the So- ciety for bettering the Condition and increasing the Com- forts of the Poor."* The Count subjoins, in a note, three letters of his to Mr. Bernard, dated at Munich, 28th April, 1797, ijth May, 1798, and 8th June, 1798. The first of these letters returns the writer's grateful acknowledgments for the honor done him by his election as a member of the Society for bettering the condition of the poor. It closes with a characteristic suggestion that visible ex- amples, "by models," will advance its objects better than will anything that can be said or written. The third letter emphasizes a well-pointed hint, that indolent, selfish, and luxurious persons " must either be allured * In the Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. LXXXVIII., for 1818, p. 82, there is an obituary notice of Sir Thomas Bernard, third son of Sir Francis, Royal Governor of Massachusetts, from which the following is an extract : "In 1799, on the suggestion of Count Rumford, he set on foot the plan of the Royal Institution ; for which the King's Charter was obtained on the I3th of January, 1800, which has been of emi- nent service in affording a school for useful knowledge to the young people of the metropolis, and in bringing forward to public notice many learned and able men in the capacity of lecturers; and most of all, in its laboratory being the cradle of the transcendent discoveries of Sir Humphry Davy, which have benefited and enlightened Europe and the whole world." 384 Life of Count RumforcL or shamed into action, 1 ' and that it is very desirable "to make benevolence fashionable." The writer also expresses his interest in his correspondent's "plan with regard to Bridewell. A well-arranged House of In- dustry is much wanted in London." He closes by asking Mr. Bernard " to read once more the Proposals published in my second Essay. I really think that a public establishment like that there described might easily be formed in London, and that it would produce infinite good. I will come to London to assist you in its execution whenever you will in good earnest under- take it." Returning to England in September, 1798, the Count says he found Mr. Bernard very solicitous for an at- tempt for the immediate execution of the plan. "After several consultations that were held in Mr. Bernard's apartments in the Foundling Hospital, and at the house of the Lord Bishop of Durham, at which several gentle- men assisted who are well known as zealous promoters of useful improvements, it was agreed that Mr. Ber- nard should report to the Committee of the Society for bettering the Condition of the Poor the general result of these consultations, and the unanimous desire of the gentlemen who assisted at them that means might be devised for making an attempt to carry the scheme proposed into execution." As the Count had thus, for convenience* sake, availed himself of the interest which had already drawn together in associated action a body of gentlemen organized into a benevolent society, and as the report on his new project was to be made by a committee of that society, he was at once concerned to secure from the start the independent existence, activity, and membership of the Life of Count Rumford. 385 proposed Institution. The committee agreed with him, that the objects of the Institution were too interesting and important to allow of its being made "an appendix to any other existing establishment," and, therefore, that it ought to stand alone, on its own proper basis. Eight members of the above-named society were ap- pointed to confer with him on his plan.* Meeting with this committee on the 3ist of January, 1799, the Count presented them with an elaborate and complete working plan for an Institution, which they unani- mously approved. It was thought, however, that the plan .entered too much into details for submission to the public in the existing stage of the enterprise, and therefore the Count revised and modified it, sending a corrected copy of it to each member of the committee, accompanied by a letter as follows : "GENTLEMEN, Inclosed I have the honour to send you a corrected copy of the Proposals I took the liberty of laying be- fore you on Thursday last, for forming in this capital, by private subscription, a Public Institution for diffusing the knowledge and facilitating the general and speedy introduction of new and useful mechanical inventions and improvements ; and also for teaching, by regular courses of Philosophical Lectures and Ex- periments, the application of the new discoveries in science to the improvement of arts and manufactures, and in facilitating the means of procuring the comforts and conveniences of life. " The tendency of the proposed Institution to excite a spirit of inquiry and of improvement amongst all ranks of society, and to afford the most effectual assistance to those who are engaged in the various pursuits of useful industry, did not escape your observation ; and it is, I am persuaded, from a conviction * These gentlemen were, the Earl of Winchilsea, Mr. Wilberforce, the Rev. Dr. Ghsse, Mr. Sulivan, Mr. Richard Sullivan, Mr. Colquhoun, Mr. Parry, and Mr. Bernard. 25 386 Life of Count Rumford. of the utility of the plan, or its tendency to increase the com- forts and enjoyments of individuals, and at the same time to piomote the public prosperity, that you have been induced to take it into your serious consideration. I shall be much flat- tered if it should meet with your approbation and with your support. " Though I am perfectly ready to take any share in the business of carrying the scheme into execution, in case it should be adopted, that can be required, yet there is one pre- liminary request which I am desirous may be granted me ; and that is, that Government may be previously made acquainted with the scheme before any steps are taken towards carrying it into execution ; and also that his Majesty's ministers may be informed that it is the contemplation of the Founders of the Institution to accept of my services in the arrangement and management of it. u The peculiar situation' in which I stand in this country, as a subject of his Majesty, and being at the same time, by his Majesty's special permission, granted under his royal sign- manual, engaged in the service of a Foreign Prince, this cir- cumstance renders it improper for me to engage myself in this important business, notwithstanding that it might, perhaps, be considered merely as a private concern, without the knowledge and the approbation of Government. u I am quite certain that my engaging in this, or in any other business in which there is any prospect of my being of any pub- lic use in this country, will meet with the most cordial appro- bation of his Most Serene Highness, the Elector Palatine, in whose service I am, for I know his sentiments on that subject ; and although I do not imagine that his Majesty, or his Maj- esty's ministers, would disapprove of my giving my assistance in carrying this scheme into execution, yet I feel it to be necessary that their approbation should be asked and obtained ; and, if I might be allowed to express my sentiments on another matter, which, no doubt, has already occurred to every one of the Gentlemen to whom I now address myself, I should say that, in my opinion, it" would not only be proper, but even ne- Life of Coitnt Rumford. 387 ccssary, to inform Government of the nature of the scheme that is proposed, and of every circumstance relative to it, and at the same time to ask their countenance and support in carry- ing it into execution ; for although it may be allowable in this free country for individuals to unite in forming and executing extensive plans for diffusing useful knowledge, and promoting the public good, yet it appears to. me that no such establish- ment should ever be formed in any country without the knowl- edge and approbation of the Executive Government. " Trusting that you will be so good as to excuse the liberty I take in making this observation, and that you will consider my doing it as being intended rather to justify myself by explaining my principles than from any idea of its being necessary on any othei account, I have the honour to be, with much respect, Gentlemen, u Your most obedient and Most humble Servant, "RUMFORD. " BROMPTON Row, 7* February, 1799. [Addressed] " To the Gentlemen named by the Committee of the Society for bettering the condition of the Poor, to confer with Count Rumford on his scheme for forming a new Estab- lishment in London for diffusing the Knowledge of useful Me- chanical Improvements, &c." The committee above named had in the mean while held a meeting on the ist of February, the Bishop of Durham in the chair, and, after reporting their confer- ence with the Count, gave their full approbation to the proposed project. In order to provide funds for initi- ating the society, it was proposed that subscribers of fifty guineas each should be the perpetual proprietors of the Institution, and be entitled to perpetual trans- ferable tickets for the lectures, and for admission to the apartments of the Institution ; and that as soon as thirty such subscribers should be obtained a meeting of them should be called for the consideration of a plan, 388 Life of Count Rumford. and for the election of managers. The report of the committee was approved, and they were requested to take measures for carrying its suggestions into effect, as well as to draw the outlines of a plan for the Institution. This preliminary work being accomplished, the com- mittee circulated among their friends and others whom they thought likely to favor the scheme, a paper of proposals soliciting subscriptions, and requested them to reply by letters addressed "To Thomas Bernard/Esq., at the Foundling." Fifty-eight most respectable names had been sent in before arrangements could be made for a meeting of the subscribers ; and this hearty response induced some change in the plan in respect to the first choice of managers, and in regard to an application for a char- ter before any further organization. Count Rumford, at this stage of the business, and before a meeting of the subscribers had been held, ad- dressed to them a pamphlet containing all the matters that have been thus summarized. It was dated from Brompton Row, 4th March, 1799, and was intended to prepare them for the meeting soon to follow. He expressed his readiness to take any part that might be desired.