single encouraging remark, a bright hope, or a warm wish, cross my path. Silence itself was but politeness, veiling its doubts, or hiding its reproaches. 6. At length the day arrived when the experiment was to be put into operation. To me it was a most trying and interesting occasion. I invited many friends to go on board to witness the first successful trip. Many of them did me the favor to attend as a matter of personal respect; but it was manifest that they did it with reluctance, fearing to be the partners of my mortification and not of my triumph. I was well aware, that in my case there were many reasons to doubt of my own success. The machinery was new and ill-made; many parts of it were constructed by mechanics unaccustomed to such work; and unexpected difficulties might reasonably be presumed to present themselves from other causes. 7. The moment arrived in which the word was to be given for the vessel to move. My friends were in groups on the deck. There was anxiety mixed with fear among them. They were silent, and sad, and weary. I read in their looks nothing but disaster, and almost repented of my efforts. The signal was given, and the boat moved on a short distance, and then stopped and became immovable. To the silence of the preceding moment now succeeded murmurs of discontent, and agitations, and whispers, and shrugs. I could hear distinctly repeated, "I told you it would be so-it is a foolish scheme-I wish we were well out of it." 8. I elevated myself upon a platform and addressed the assembly. I stated that I knew what was the matter; but if they would be quiet, and indulge me for a half-hour, I would either go on or abandon the voyage for that time. This short respite was conceded without objection. I went below and examined the machinery, and discovered that the cause was a slight mal-adjustment of some of the work. In a short period it was obviated. The boat was again put in motion. She continued to move on. All were still incredulous. None seemed willing to trust the evidence of their own senses. We left the fair city of New York; we passed through the romantic and ever-varying scenery of the Highlands; we descried the clustering houses of Albany; we reached its shores; and then, even then, when all seemed achieved, I was the victim of disappointment. Imagination superseded the influence of fact. It was then doubted if it could be done again; or, if done, it was doubted if it could be made of any great value. 9. Such was the history of the first experiment, as it fell, not in the very language I have used, but in its substance, from the lips of the inventor. He did not live, indeed, to enjoy the full glory of his invention. It is mournful to say that attempts were made to rob him-in the first place, of the merit of his invention, and next, of its fruits. He fell a victim to his efforts to sustain his title to both.* When already his invention had covered the waters of the Hudson, he seemed little satisfied with the results, and looked forward to far more extensive operations. "My ultimate triumph," he used to say, "my ultimate triumph will be on the Mississippi. I know, indeed, that even now it is deemed impossible by many that the difficulties of its navigation can be overcome. But I am confident of success. 10. "I may not live to see it, but the Mississippi will yet be covered with steamboats, and then an entire change will be wrought in the course of the internal navigation and commerce of our country." And it has been wrought; and the steamboat, looking to its effect upon commerce and navigation, to the combined influences of facilities of travelling and facilities of trade, of rapid circulation of news, and still more rapid circulation of pleasures and products, seems destined to be numbered among the noblest benefactions to the human race. Robert Fulton cannot be considered the inventor of the steamboat, but is justly entitled to the credit of having, by means of a simple and practical construction, brought it into general use. The first to apply to this purpose the condensing steam engine of James Watt, was Symington of Seotland, who, in 1801, constructed a vessel which was propelled by paddles worked by steam. Its use was, however, abandoned, from the fear that it would injure the banks of the Forth and Clyde Canal where it was employed. Previous to this, Rumsey and Fitch had been engaged in experiments to accomplish the same result. The latter, in 1783, constructed a boat which was moved with paddles by the aid of an atmospheric steam-engine, on the Delaware River; and in 1785 presented a modd of his apparatus to Congress. Fitch was so sanguine in regard to the success of steam navigation, that he predicted that in a few years the ocean would be crossed in this manner. American History.—Verplanck. [Extract from a discourse delivered in New York, December 7, 1818, by Gulian C Verplanck.] 1. THE study of the history of most other nations fills the mind with sentiments not unlike those which the American traveller feels on entering the venerable and lofty cathedral' of some proud old city of Europe. Its solemn grandeur, its vastness, its obscurity, strike awe to his heart. From the richlypainted windows, filled with sacred emblems and strange antique forms, a dim religious light falls around. A thousand recollections of romance and poetry, and legendary story, come thronging in upon him. He is surrounded by the tombs of the mighty dead, rich with the labors of ancient art, and emblazoned with the pomp of heraldry". Those of princes 2. What names does he read upon them? and nobles who are now remembered only for their vices; and of sovereigns, at whose death no tears were shed, and whose memories lived not an hour in the affections of their people. There, too, he sees other names, long familiar to him for their guilty or ambiguous fame. There rest the blood-stained soldier of fortune; the orator, who was ever the ready apologist of tyranny; great scholars, who were the pensioned flatterers of power; and poets, who profaned the high gift of genius to pamper the vices of a corrupted court. 3. Our own history, on the contrary, like that poetical temple of fame, reared by the imagination of Chaucer, and decorated by the taste of Pope, is almost exclusively dedicated to the memory of the truly great. Or rather, like the Pantheon* of Rome, it stands in calm and severe beauty amid the ruins of ancient magnificence and the "toys of modern state." Within, no idle ornament encumbers its bold simplicity. The pure light of heaven enters from above and sheds an equal and serene radiance around. As the eye wanders about its extent, * Pantheon, as indicated by its name, was a Greek or Roman temple dedicated to all the gods. The Pantheon of Rome is greatly celebrated for the beauty of its architecture,-more especially for its fine dome. This structure is said to have suggested the idea of the domes of modern times. it beholds the unadorned monuments of brave and good men who have greatly bled or toiled for their country, or it rests on tive tablets inscribed with the names of the best benefactors or mankind. 4. "Patriots are here, in Freedom's batties slain, Priests whose long lives were closed without a stain, And lovers of our race, whose labors gave Their names a memory that defies the grave."* Doubtless, this is a subject upon which we may be justly proud. But there is another consideration, which, if it did not naturally arise of itself, would be pressed upon us by the taunts of European criticism. What has this nation done to repay the world for the benefits we have received from others? We have been repeatedly told, and sometimes, too, in a tone of affected impartiality, that the highest praise which can fairly be given to the American mind, is that of possessing an enlightened selfishness; that if the philosophy and talents of this country, with all their effects, were forever swept into oblivion, the loss would be felt only by ourselves; and that if to the accuracy of this general charge, the labors of Franklin present an illustrious, it is still but a solitary, exception. 5. The answer may be given, confidently and triumphantly. Without abandoning the fame of our eminent men, whom Europe has been slow and reluctant to honor, we would reply: that the intellectual power of this people has exerted itself in conformity to the general system of our institutions and manners; and therefore, that for the proof of its existence and the measure of its force, we must look not so much to the work of prominent individuals, as to the great aggregate results; and if Europe has hitherto been willfully blind to the value of our example and the exploits of our sagacity, courage, invention, and freedom, the blame must rest with her, and not with America. 6. Is it nothing for the universal good of mankind to have * Virgil, translated by W. C. Bryant. carried into successful operation a system of self-government, uniting personal liberty, freedom of opinion, and equality of rights, with national power and dignity, such as had before existed only in the Utopian' dreams of philosophers? Is it nothing, in moral science, to have anticipated, in sober reality, numerous plans of reform in civil and criminal jurisprudence, which are but now received as plausible theories by the politicians and economists of Europe? Is it nothing to have been able to call forth on every emergency, either in war or peace, a body of talents always equal to the difficulty? 7. Is it nothing to have, in less than half a century, exceed, ingly improved the sciences of political economy, of law, and of medicine, with all their auxiliary branches; to have enriched human knowledge by the accumulation of a great mass of useful facts and observations, and to have augmented the power and the comforts of civilized man, by miracles of mechanical invention? Is it nothing to have given the world examples of disinterested patriotism, of political wisdom, of public virtue; of learning, eloquence, and valor, never exerted save for some praiseworthy end? It is sufficient to have briefly suggested these considerations; every mind would anticipate me in filling up the details. 8. No-Land of Liberty! thy children have no cause to blush for thee. What though the arts have reared few monuments among us, and scarce a trace of the Muse's footstep is found in the paths of our forests or along the banks of our rivers; yet our soil has been consecrated by the blood of heroes, and by great and holy deeds of peace. Its wide extent has become one vast temple and hallowed asylum, sanctified by the prayers and blessings of the persecuted of every sect, and the wretched of all nations. Land of Refuge! Land of This could be truthfully said in 1818; but since that time the progress made in this country, both in the fine and the useful arts, has probably surpassed that accomplished in any other nation; and the monuments of this progress, in buildings, bridges, roads, canals, aqueducts, viaducts-in useful inventions-in mechanical appliances, etc., etc., are to be found in every part of our now vastly extended national domain. The "Muse's footstep," too, has been widely impressed by forest, lake, and river; and the names of Bryant, Drake, Willis, Whittier, Longfellow, etc., have given to the American Muse an unquestioned title to a prominent niche in the temple of Fame. ** |