CHAPTER I.

THE ROYAL INSTITUTION.

LONDON: PRINTED BY

SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE

AND PARLIAMENT STREET

THE

ROYAL INSTITUTION:

_ITS FOUNDER

and

ITS FIRST PROFESSORS._

BY

DR. BENCE JONES,

HONORARY SECRETARY.

LONDON:

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

1871.

PREFACE.

I begin the history of the Royal Institution, and its professors to

the time of Faraday, with the life of its founder, Count Rumford,

because his career and character determined its original form. I have

written short accounts of the earliest professors because the spirit

that has shown itself in them has up to this time been the life of the

Institution. Dr. Garnett and Dr. Thomas Young had comparatively little

influence there, because the founder took the most active part in the

establishment of his Institution; but when Count Rumford and Sir Joseph

Banks had left and Mr. Bernard and Sir John Hippesley were the leading

managers, Professor Davy gradually became the main supporter of the

place, and to him chiefly it owes the form which it now retains.

During the last half-century the name of Faraday has been so blended

with that of the Royal Institution that few people know what Davy made

it; and fewer still have heard what Rumford at first intended it to be.

The following account will show that the Institution owes its origin

entirely to Rumford, and would certainly have failed but for Davy.

Moreover, it will be seen that before Faraday came there, it had been

the home of Dr. Garnett and of Dr. Thomas Young; Dr. Dalton had lodged

and lectured for weeks there; Sydney Smith, Coleridge, Sir James Smith,

Dibden, Dr. Crotch, Campbell, Landseer, Opie, and Flaxman had also

lectured there; Sir Joseph Banks and Mr. Cavendish had been managers,

and Dr. Wollaston and Dr. Jenner had been members.

I have searched everywhere to find new or forgotten facts about the

Institution.

For the sketch of the founder I owe much to the Rev. Dr. G. E. Ellis,

of Boston, who has lately written the Life of Rumford for the American

Academy of Arts and Sciences. I have found many despatches and letters

relating to Rumford in the manuscripts of the American War now in the

library of the Royal Institution, and in the unpublished correspondence

of Sir Joseph Banks, in the archives of the Foreign Office, and in the

State Paper Office.

Not the least strange fact in the history of this original man is that

during his life he received no thanks for all that he did for the Royal

Institution. Moreover at the present time he is scarcely known as the

finder of Davy and the founder of that place where very many of the

greatest scientific discoveries of this century have been made.

For the account of the origin and progress of the Institution I have

searched the minutes of the meetings of the managers, the proprietors,

and the members. I am much indebted to Earl Spencer, who has lent me

from the Althorp library a printed copy of the first prospectus of the

Royal Institution. This was written by Count Rumford. I have found

many forgotten things in the manuscript letters to and from Sir Joseph

Banks, to which I have had access by permission of the Knatchbull

family; also in a manuscript life of Mr. Webster, the architect of the

Royal Institution theatre; and in some letters which belonged to Mr.

Savage, the clerk and first printer at the Institution, and for which I

am indebted to his daughters.

For the sketch of the lives of Dr. Garnett and of Dr. Young I have been

able to find very little original matter.

For the life of Sir Humphry Davy I have met with some new facts in

his laboratory note-books. These books give most of his daily work at

the time when he was making his great discoveries regarding chemical

electricity, the alkalies, and chlorine. I have also had the use of

the notes by Faraday of four of the last lectures given by Davy at the

Institution. This is the manuscript volume sent to Davy by Faraday

when he asked to be employed at the Institution. It consists of 386

small quarto pages. Davy at this time was thirty-three, and Faraday was

twenty-one. The one was full of energy to profit by the excellence

he could follow, or to shun the evil he could foresee; the other had

long reached the climax of his success by his youthful popularity as a

lecturer and his early renown as a discoverer; and was about to make a

rich and an unsuitable marriage; and before long was to suffer from the

restlessness of the failing health that ended in fatal disease.

Whenever a true comparison between these two nobles of the Institution

can be made, it will probably be seen that the genius of Davy has been

hid by the perfection of Faraday.

Incomparably superior as Faraday was in unselfishness, exactness,

and perseverance, and in many other respects also, yet certainly in

originality and in eloquence he was inferior to Davy, and in love of

research he was by no means his superior.

Davy, from his earliest energy to his latest feebleness, loved

research; and, notwithstanding his marriage, his temper, and his early

death, he first gained for the Royal Institution that great reputation

for original discovery which has been and is the foundation of its

success.

H. B. J.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, ALBEMARLE STREET,

_October 27, 1871_.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

I. THE LIFE OF COUNT RUMFORD BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE

INSTITUTION 1

II. HIS LIFE AFTER THE FOUNDATION OF THE INSTITUTION 69

III. THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTION, 1799-1800; WITH THE

LIFE OF PROFESSOR GARNETT, 1766-1802 114

IV. THE PROGRESS OF THE INSTITUTION TO THE RESIGNATION OF

PROFESSOR YOUNG, 1801-3; WITH THE LIFE OF DR. THOMAS

YOUNG, 1773-1829 180

V. THE FURTHER PROGRESS OF THE INSTITUTION TO THE TIME OF

FARADAY, 1804-14 258

VI. THE LIFE OF SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, 1788-1829 312

APPENDIX

I. ORIGINAL PAPERS REGARDING THE AMERICAN WAR 405

II. ORIGINAL LETTERS FROM DR. THOMAS YOUNG 417

III. INCOME AND EXPENDITURE OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION TO 1814 425

THE ROYAL INSTITUTION.

CHAPTER I.

LIFE OF RUMFORD BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE INSTITUTION.

1753 to 1799.

At Charlestown, Massachusetts, in the year 1630, James Thompson was

among Winthrop’s company. He settled about ten miles inland, and the

place was called Woburn. In 1752 Benjamin Thompson was there with his

father, Captain Ebenezer Thompson, and he married Ruth Simonds, of

that place. Their child, the future Count Rumford, was born in his

grandfathers farmhouse, on March 26, 1753. The house is still to be

seen near the meeting-house in North Woburn. When the child was a

year old his father died, and when he was three years old his mother

married again. ‘To the close of her life Rumford wrote to her full of

affection, and by the munificent provision which he made for her he

showed his tender, grateful regard for her.’

A small inheritance from his grandfather helped to support and to

educate the boy. By the law of Massachusetts everyone had a good

grammar-school education, and the village school teacher at Woburn

was then a graduate of Harvard College and taught a little Latin.

From his earliest years the boy was fickle and careless. He neglected

regular work, but liked arithmetic. He was full of energy and quick

to make what he wanted. When eleven he went to a better school in the

neighbouring town of Medford. When thirteen Benjamin Thompson appeared

unlikely to make a farmer. He was therefore apprenticed to an importer

of British goods and a dealer in everything, at Salem, on October 14,

1766. ‘Instead of watching for customers over the counter, he busied

himself with tools and instruments under it.’ When he could he played

his fiddle, and played it well. When only fourteen his master allowed

him to make small ventures in shipping goods that were paid for by a

relative. He was clever at drawing and cutting names, and he thought

he had ‘invented a machine for making motion perpetual.’ When the

repeal of the Stamp Act occurred, he blew himself up with fireworks,

and was in great danger of death. His master signed the non-importation

agreement. Thus his apprentice became useless. When sixteen he returned

to his mother. To an elder school-fellow, L. Baldwin, at this time he

wrote questions on light, heat, and the wind.

In 1769, when seventeen, he was apprentice and clerk to a drygoods

dealer at Boston. There he went to an evening-school to learn French,

paying only for the hours he attended.

A note-book made by him about this time still exists. It abounds in

caricatures. Has receipts for different fireworks. One of these ends

with, ‘Love is a noble passion of the mind.’ Contains the sum he paid

for learning French and for pew-rent, and the sums gained by cutting

and carting firewood for relatives. Instructions for the back sword

exercise, with a sketch of two combatants; and later there is an

account of ‘what expense I have been at towards getting an electrical

machine,’ and ‘an account of what work I have done towards getting an

electrical machine.’

In the winter of 1770 he was ill for five weeks with fever. Then for

eighteen months off and on he boarded with Dr. John Hay, of Woburn,

and whilst with him he learned something of anatomy, chemistry,

materia medica, surgery, and physic. During the summer, 1771, he

went to Cambridge, to attend Mr. Winthrop’s lectures on Experimental

Philosophy. In the winter of 1771-2 for some weeks he was teaching in a

school at Wilmington, and in the spring he taught at Bradford. In the

summer he left Dr. Hay for good, because he was asked by Colonel Walker

to become the fixed master of a school at Concord, New Hampshire.

This place had been called Rumford when it belonged to Essex County,

Massachusetts. The name was changed when the disputes as to the county

to which it belonged were ended.

The Rev. T. Walker was the first minister of Concord. He was a native

of Woburn and connected with the Thompson family. He was the chief

man in Concord. His son was a colonel and a lawyer, and his daughter,

when about thirty, was married to Colonel Rolfe, who was sixty. She was

left a rich widow in two years, and in the middle of the following year

Thompson came as schoolmaster to Concord. He was not yet quite twenty.

His friend Baldwin describes him ‘as of fine, manly make and figure,

nearly six feet high, with handsome features, bright blue eyes and dark

auburn hair. His manners were polished and his ways fascinating, and

he could make himself agreeable. He had well used his opportunities of

culture, so that his knowledge was beyond that of most of those around

him, and he was able to give satisfaction as a teacher.’

In the country parsonage and at Colonel Walker’s house he frequently

met Mrs. Rolfe, and he told his friend Professor Pictet that she

married him rather than he her. This was about the end of 1772, when he

was nearly twenty. He had to teach no more in school. His marriage made

him one of the chief men in Concord.

After his marriage he went with his wife to Portsmouth, where she

knew Governor Wentworth. ‘He saw in young Thompson not only the

representative of a family already known in the public and social life

of his province, but also a man of much promise, one likely to work

vigorously in whatever he took up.’ The Governor soon gave Thompson a

commission as major in the second provincial regiment of New Hampshire.

The young officer at once became an object of jealousy and ill-will to

all the lieutenants and captains of his regiment. The favour of the

Governor made all his brother officers his enemies.

The following letter to the Rev. Mr. Williams, at Bradford, afterwards

Professor at the college there, shows the influence of Thompson with

the Governor, and also some of his scientific thoughts and aims:

Concord, Monday, January 17, 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 proceeded

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 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 Wentworth House, (at Wolfeborough, only about thirty 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 business which

rendered his presence at Portsmouth _absolutely necessary_, 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 twelve or fourteen days!!!--!!--!!!!!

During 1773 he was chiefly farming. Whilst on a visit with his wife

to Boston he was introduced to Governor Gage and to several of the

British officers. Among those who worked for him on his farm were four

deserters from the grenadiers at Boston. He persuaded them to return

to their regiment. He wrote to General Gage to beg pardon for them.

He asked that his petition might be kept secret. He wished not to

excite more enmity among his neighbours. But the use of his influence

with the Governor got known. The bitterest feeling was working in the

country. Civil war was about to begin. Major Thompson was suspected

by the people because he was in favour with the royal Governors. The

committees of correspondence and of safety listened to the reports

of any of the ‘sons of liberty.’ Major Thompson was called before a

committee of the people in Concord for being ‘unfriendly to the cause

of liberty.’ He denied the charge, and was acquitted. About this

time (August 1774) he asks his friend, Mr. Loammi Baldwin, merchant

in Woburn, ‘to favour him with an easy question, arithmetical or

algebraical, and he will give as good an account of it as possible.’ In

October his only child, Sarah, was born. In November the mob gathered

round his house, but by friendly warning he was able to escape to his

mother’s at Woburn, fifty miles away. Here he sought to busy himself by

reading, and he made some experiments on gunpowder; but ill-will soon

followed him, and he was driven for shelter to a friend at Charleston.

Thence he wrote to his father-in-law at Concord:

December 24, 1774.

REVEREND SIR,--The time and circumstances of my leaving the town of

Concord have, no doubt, given you great uneasiness, 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 undoubted veracity, and those whose friendship I

could not suspect, 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 humbly 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 my flight unavoidable. And

had I not taken the opportunity to leave the town the moment I did,

another morning had effectually cut off my retreat.

In May his wife and her infant joined him at his mother’s home at

Woburn. When there, skirmishes took place between the people and troops

at Concord, Massachusetts, and Lexington, and in this last fight Major

Thompson is said to have taken part with the people; but he was soon

the object of ill-feeling, and, although he was saved from immediate

arrest by his friend Major Baldwin, a short time afterwards he was

arrested, and then he appealed from the Committee of Correspondence

of Woburn to the Committee of Safety of the Provincial Congress. When

he was acquitted at Woburn and set free, he withdrew his petition

from the Committee of Safety. Soon after he was with Major Baldwin at

Charlestown, and probably he took part in the battle of Bunker’s Hill.

He certainly helped to pack up the library at Cambridge, and was only

prevented by the officers of the New Hampshire Militia from obtaining a

commission from General Washington. When epaulets were ordered for the

non-commissioned officers, he had samples made and sent them with the

price to his friend, then Colonel Baldwin, offering to take an order

for any number that might be wanted.

In August he again writes a long reply to his father-in-law, in answer

to letters urging him to express his sorrow that he had done wrong and

to ask forgiveness of the people:

Woburn, August 14, 1775.

As to my being instrumental in the return of some Deserters, 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 disinterested--a sincere desire

to serve my _King_ and _Country_, 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.

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_. My enemies are indefatigable in their endeavours

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 threaten’d 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 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 distress at

the thoughts of what Mrs. Thompson and my Parents and friends

will suffer on my account, and though I foresee and realise the

distress, poverty, and wretchedness that must unavoidably 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 my ungrateful

countrymen.[1]

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

entreaties 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,

BENJAMIN THOMPSON.

Rev. Tim. Walker.

Dr. Ellis, in his admirable biography, says:

Major Thompson 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 neighbours,

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 stepbrother, Josiah

Pierce, who drove him near to the bounds of the province, on the

shore of Narragansett Bay, whence young Pierce returned. Thompson

was taken on board the ‘Scarborough,’ British frigate, to Newport

and from thence to Boston.

In the Alienation Act of the Senate of New Hampshire in 1778 he was

named among the proscribed; and in 1781, the confiscation papers of his

property call him ‘of Woburn, physician, now an absentee.’

Whilst Mr. Thompson was at Boston the American rebellion became

a revolution. General Gage was succeeded by General Howe, and to

him Lord Dartmouth wrote in September 1775: ‘No room was left for

any other consideration but that of proceeding against the twelve

associated Colonies in all respects with the utmost vigour as the open

and avowed enemies of the State,’ and he spoke of the great risk and

little advantage that are to be expected from the continuance of the

army at Boston during the winter, and on the advantages of recovering

possession of New York. He tells the general that ‘the Empress of

Russia, in the fullness of her affection for the British nation,

and of gratitude for the benefits she had received under her late

difficulties, had made the most explicit declaration and given the most

ample assurance of any number of infantry that might be wanted.’ When,

‘in consequence of this generous and magnanimous offer,’ a requisition

was made to her for 20,000 men for Canada, objections arose, and ‘much

embarrassment and disappointment were the only results.’

The Cape Fear expedition failed from ignorance of the depth of the

river.

When Lord George Germain became one of his Majesty’s principal

Secretaries of State, November 10, a commission was issued under the

great seal ‘for the restoration of public tranquillity among his

Majesty’s deluded subjects in the affected colonies.’ A proclamation

said: ‘Apprised of the fatal consequence of the conduct they had

adopted, and seeing the determined spirit of the nation to maintain

its constitutional rights, they will avail themselves of the means

which the justice and benevolence of the supreme legislature have

held out to them of being restored to the King’s grace and peace.’

This failed utterly, from ignorance of the depth of opposition in

the colonies. Boston was evacuated in March 1776, and Mr. Thompson

was sent to England with the news. He was probably thought perfectly

qualified to answer every question relative to his Majesty’s service.

Cuvier says, ‘La bonne mine du jeune officier, la netteté et l’étendue

des renseignements qu’il donna, prévinrent en sa faveur le secrétaire

d’État au département de l’Amérique.’ His news caused no great

distress, and his information must have reassured the minister, for

even in June Lord G. Germain and the Prime Minister wrote to General

Howe on the good prospect of an end being put to the rebellion in one

campaign. It was the good news from Canada that helped to deceive them.

Mr. Thompson was taken into Lord George Germain’s office, and he was

appointed Secretary of the Province of Georgia.

In the autumn of 1777 Thompson was at Bath for his health, drinking

the waters. Whilst there he made some experiments on the cohesive

strength of different substances. These led to no great results, but he

communicated them to Sir Joseph Banks, the new President of the Royal

Society.

Sir W. Howe was at this time asking for large reinforcements. He thus

wrote to Lord G. Germain from Philadelphia:

‘From the little attention, my Lord, given to my recommendations since

the commencement of my command, I am led to hope that I may be relieved

from this very painful service wherein I have not the good fortune

to enjoy the necessary confidence and support of my superiors, but

which I conclude will be extended to Sir Henry Clinton, my presumptive

successor.’

In 1778 Mr. Thompson was with Lord G. Germain at his house, Stoneland

Lodge, Sussex. Whilst there Thompson made experiments on testing

gunpowder, and on a new method of determining the velocity of

projectiles. The results were sent to the Royal Society, in 1781, and

were published at great length in the ‘Philosophical Transactions.’

One good observation is now of great interest. ‘Being much struck

with the accidental discovery of the great degree of heat that pieces

acquire when they are fired with powder without any bullet, and being

desirous of finding out whether it is a circumstance that obtains

universally, I was very attentive to the heat of the barrel after each

of the succeeding experiments, and I constantly found the heat sensibly

greater when the piece was fired with powder only than when the same

charge was made to impel one or more bullets.’

In order to pursue these experiments he went in 1779, on board of the

‘Victory,’ of 110 guns, commanded by his friend Sir Charles Hardy.

He passed the whole of the campaign on board of the fleet, and the

result of the observations that he then made furnished the materials

for a chapter which he contributed to Stalkart’s ‘Treatise on Naval

Architecture.’ He added to it a code of signals for the navy, which was

not published. In his paper on gunpowder, read in 1797 to the Royal

Society, he says:

During a cruise which I made, as a volunteer, in the ‘Victory,’

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 commanded 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.

In 1778 Mr. Thompson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Great must have been the trouble in his office this year. In October

1778, Sir H. Clinton wrote to Lord G. Germain from New York that he was

about to send, as he was ordered, ten thousand men to the West Indies

and St. Augustine. ‘After a wound in my humble opinion so fatal to the

hopes of any future vigour in this army, I trust, my Lord, you cannot

wish to keep me in the mortifying command of it.’ ‘You cannot, I am

confident, my Lord, desire that I should remain a mournful witness

of the debility of an army at whose head, had I been unshackled by

instructions, I might have indulged expectations of rendering serious

service to my country.’

Lord G. Germain thought that much good would be done by encouraging the

provincial forces, and by promising to the provincial officers half-pay

and permanent rank in America.

On January 23, 1779, he wrote to Sir H. Clinton: ‘It is likewise his

Majesty’s pleasure that you publish and make known to his provincial

corps, as also to all others his loyal subjects in America, his

gracious intention to support and protect them by making the rank of

the officers permanent in America, and allowing them half-pay upon the

reduction of their regiments, in the same manner as the officers of

British reduced regiments are paid.’

This order for promotion immediately excited the discontent of the

officers in the army. In their memorial to Sir H. Clinton they ask him

‘to prevent our being superseded by officers of yesterday who have

served under us.’

In 1780 proposals were made to Lord G. Germain to revive the

Association of Loyalists in America, ‘so that Government, at a very

moderate expense, might be served by a considerable number of men, and

Captain Murray offered on behalf of Brigadier Ruggles, who had been

Brigadier-General of Provincial Forces in America during the last war,

Deputy Surveyor-General of the Woods, and late his Majesty’s council

in the province of Massachusetts Bay in New England, to raise and to

command a regiment of light dragoons, to be called the King’s American

Dragoons.’

Lord G. Germain wrote to Sir H. Clinton, June 7, 1780, from Whitehall:

The services of Brigadier Ruggles in the last war, and the

influence he still retains in those provinces of North America,

where his character, his honour, and his name are respected, made

me long desirous of seeing that gentleman engaged in the King’s

service. The enclosed plan of raising a regiment of dragoons was

communicated to me by Captain Murray, by authority of Brigadier

Ruggles. It appeared to me so fair and so disinterested, that

I laid it before his Majesty, and it so far met with his royal

approbation that he permitted me to transmit the plan to you. And

if the public service requires any provincial cavalry to be raised,

his Majesty would be pleased to see Mr. Ruggles placed at the head

of such a corps, where he may have an opportunity of again acting

with that zeal and spirit which formerly did him so much honour.

In September 1780 Mr. Thompson was made Under-Secretary of State for

the Northern Department by Lord George Germain.

In May 1781 the Inspector-General of Provincial Forces wrote to the

Under-Secretary, Thompson, to say that the distress for the want of

cavalry appointments was beyond conception. ‘Had all the appointments,’

he says, ‘for Brigadier-General Ruggles come out, it would have

afforded us a small temporary supply; but only twenty-five helmets have

yet appeared.’

Lord G. Germain then moved the Treasury to send fresh and large

supplies, and said he had directed Mr. Thompson, the Deputy

Inspector-General of Provincial Forces, to procure patterns and

estimates and to give information. Lord North, Lord Palmerston, and

Sir R. Sutton referred the question of quality and quantity to the

Adjutant-General, who reported that ‘it would be doing injustice to

Mr. Thompson not to declare that, as far as my judgment goes, he

will not only gain great credit for himself, but at the same time

essentially serve the public by his disinterested and very attentive

execution of the trust that has been reposed in him on this occasion.’

Their lordships directed Mr. Thompson forthwith to provide the

several articles mentioned, and allowed him one and a half per cent.

commission. The sum he received at this time was one hundred and twenty

pounds.

Among the exiles in London was Judge Curwen, of Salem, Massachusetts.

He kept a journal, and in it he gives a picture of Thompson, May 23,

1781:

On returning home I 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.--Went early, in order to be at Mr. Benjamin Thompson’s in

time, and being a little before, heard he was not returned from

Lord George Germain’s, where he always breakfasts, dines, and sups,

so great a favourite 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 freedom, 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,

belonging to the courtier’s profession, I put no hopes on the fair

appearances of outward behaviour, 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 neighbour, 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

Germain, a secretary to Georgia, inspector of all the clothing sent

to America, and Lieutenant-Colonel 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 a 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.

This statement of the income of Thompson was certainly enormously

exaggerated. That about this time he was appointed to the King’s

American Dragoons the following autograph letter, now in the library of

the Royal Institution, shows:

FROM LORD GEORGE GERMAIN TO SIR H. CLINTON.

Stoneland Lodge, September 30, 1781.

SIR,--I beg leave to introduce Mr. Thompson to you, and at the

same time to thank you for the favour and protection which you

have shewn him in giving him the command of a regiment of light

dragoons, which, I trust, will be raised in a manner to entitle the

officers of it to your approbation. Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson

shows at least a spirit and zeal for the service, in quitting for a

time an agreeable and profitable civil situation, in the hopes of

being useful to his country, and by his military conduct, shewing

himself not unworthy of the protection which you have granted to

him. If you do him the honour to converse with him, you will find

him well informed, and, as far as theory goes, a good officer

in whatever you may think fit to employ him. I can answer for

his honour and his ability, and I am persuaded he will ever feel

himself attached by gratitude to you for the very kind and obliging

manner in which you have protected him and the regiment under his

command.

I am, Sir, with great regard, your Excellency’s faithful, humble

servant,

GEORGE GERMAIN.

On October 4, 1781, Colonel Thompson appointed Mr. Fisher, a clerk in

his office, as his attorney, to receive his pay (thirteen shillings

daily) and to attend to his clothing commission. He soon after left

England in the ‘Rotterdam,’ a fifty-gun ship, for New York, but

contrary winds compelled him to disembark at Charlestown (South

Carolina).

In his paper on Gunpowder he shows that he was busy during his passage:

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.

He arrived towards the end of December. Lord Cornwallis had surrendered,

and Charlestown, in Carolina, was in great danger for want of

reinforcements and food.

Early in 1782 Lord G. Germain wrote to General Leslie, who commanded

at Charlestown: ‘I agree with you that mounted troops are the fittest

for service in the southern provinces, but I cannot encourage you to

expect that any will be sent from home; I am glad, however, you will

have Colonel Thompson’s assistance in forming what you have. His offer

to serve in your army until the season for action to the northward

arrives corresponds with that public spirit and zeal for the King’s

service which prompted him to quit his civil situation and engage in

the military line.’

General Leslie wrote to Sir H. Clinton, January 29: ‘The army is now

well clothed and recovered from the sickness and fatigue it underwent

during the last summer.

‘The several detached corps of cavalry have been incorporated into

distinct ones under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson. From

the unwearied attention and diligent efforts of that officer they

are become respectable, and I have everything to expect from this

improvement.’

On February 20 Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson wrote to the Honourable

Lieutenant-General Leslie that he has not been so fortunate as to meet

with the enemy he had come in search of; but the following despatch was

sent by him on February 25, 1782:

Duxcent’s Plantation, Monday, February 25, 1782.

SIR,--I did not expect, after the affair of yesterday, the enemy

would so soon have put it in my power to congratulate you upon

another defeat of their troops by those which you have done me

the honour to put under my command. We had the good fortune this

morning to fall in with a chosen corps, under the command of

General Marion in person, which we attacked and totally routed,

killing a considerable number of them, taking sixteen prisoners,

and driving General Marion and the greatest part of his army into

the Santee, where it is probable a great many of them perished.

After resting and refreshing our horses at the plantation where we

halted last night, at nine o’clock this morning the cavalry marched

back to the Santee, to the ground where we fell in with the enemy

yesterday. The infantry marched at the same time for this place,

and we promised to join them in the afternoon.

We had advanced about nine miles from the place we left in the

morning, when, coming in through a gate-way to the cleared grounds

of a plantation, we discovered the enemy about three hundred yards

distant, directly in front of us, drawn up in the area between the

negroe huts belonging to the plantation.

As soon as the troops were formed I ordered a charge to be sounded,

and the line moved forwards. The enemy also sounded a charge, but,

instead of coming out to meet us, they were discovered going off

by their right in the greatest hurry and confusion, and attempting

to gain a swamp that was upon the banks of the river on that side.

We immediately charged after them at full speed, and had the good

fortune to come up in time to cut off a great part of their rear.

Those that gained the swamp were pursued, and many of them were

killed in attempting to get into the river, and others were shot

and drowned in attempting to swim to the opposite shore. We took

near forty horses, many of which are capital chargers.

After the action we collected at our leisure all the cattle from

the rebel plantations in that quarter, and have sent them down the

road with a proper escort. We shall follow as soon as the troops

are refreshed.

In this last affair with the enemy, as well as during the whole

time I have had the honour to command this detachment, the troops,

both officers and men, have behaved in such a manner as to merit my

warmest acknowledgment.

I have the honour to be, with perfect respect, Sir, your most

obedient and most humble servant,

R. THOMPSON.

In the general orders on March 1 the General expressed to the army the

opinion he entertained of the merit of Colonel Thompson’s conduct upon

this occasion, and of the spirited behaviour of the troops, and to Sir

H. Clinton he wrote, March 12, 1782:

I had the honour to inform your Excellency that Lieutenant-Colonel

Thompson having offered his service during his stay here, I had

appointed him to the command of the cavalry. He has put them in

exceeding good order and gained their confidence and affection.

I am very happy to inform your Excellency of his success in a

late excursion upon the Santee. [An account of the action is then

given in the despatch.] I enclose to your Excellency Colonel

Thompson’s report to me of this very handsome piece of service,

and I assure your Excellency that I have much regret to part with

this enterprising young officer, who appears to have an uncommon

share of merit and zeal for the service; and could he and his corps

be spared to act in this part, where cavalry are so much wanted,

I am confident it would tend much to the benefit of his Majesty’s

service.

Despatches of this date show that in council also Thompson was as

efficient as in the field.

General Leslie wrote to Sir H. Clinton:

I beg to know your Excellency’s opinion with regard to our putting

arms into the hands of the negroes. I have desired Colonel Thompson

to speak with your Excellency upon the subject, and to make known

to you the particulars of our situation in that respect.

On April 11 Colonel Thompson arrived at New York.

Four days afterwards Sir H. Clinton wrote to General Leslie: ‘Those

parts of your letters to which you have referred for a more full

explanation to Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson, I shall answer after

consulting with him upon the subject;’ and he also says: ‘With respect

to the disagreeable predicament which you mention Lieutenant-Colonel

Balfour and other officers of rank in the Southern army stand in on

account of Mr. Green’s threats for Colonel Hayne’s execution, I shall

consult Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson, and let you know my sentiments by

the earliest opportunity.’

At this time Sir H. Clinton was about to give up the command he had

so often petitioned to resign. He had ‘lamented that his happiness

was sacrificed to prevent the partial inconvenience which might have

arisen from a change,’ and later he wrote: ‘His Majesty’s assent to my

petition will crown the many favours of which my heart will ever retain

the most grateful remembrance.’

On February 6 General Robinson was appointed to succeed Sir H. Clinton,

and soon after Sir Guy Carleton took the command.

Colonel Thompson’s chief business was to complete his regiment, which

was encamped about three miles from Flushing, in Long Island. There,

on August 1, colours were presented to the regiment by Prince William,

then a boy of eighteen in the Royal Navy, accompanied by Admiral

Digby. On the 6th, on behalf of himself and the officers of the King’s

American Dragoons, Colonel Thompson petitioned Sir Guy Carleton to

order them to enjoy the advantages stipulated on the completion of the

regiment; and at the end of August Sir Guy Carleton notifies in the

general orders that Colonel Thompson and his officers are entitled to

permanent rank in America.

In September Colonel Thompson’s name is to be found first on a list

of six agents, selected to act for them by those Royalists who were

willing to emigrate with their families from Long Island to Nova Scotia.

Two months later it appears, from a bill, that he was building chimneys

in the barracks at Huntingdon, Long Island, where his regiment was

stationed, when the treaty of peace between America and England was

made in Paris without the consent and even without the knowledge of

France.

In December every preparation was made for a sudden attack of the

French upon New York, and orders were issued by General Robinson in

case that event took place. Alarm posts for each of the different corps

and the details of the duties of each corps were arranged. ‘If an

attack was made on Huntingdon, the troops were immediately to assemble

and march to the support of Colonel Thompson.’

Early in the spring active measures were proposed against the French in

the West Indies. Peace with France stopped these plans, and on April

11, 1783, Colonel Thompson obtained leave of absence, in order that he

might return to London to urge the claims of the provincial officers to

rank and to half-pay.

Some original documents in the appendix to this chapter will show the

energy, the ability, and the perseverance of Colonel Thompson when he

arrived in London.

On August 17 Sir Guy Carleton issued an order that all the men who

wished to be discharged in America, should hold themselves in readiness

to embark for Nova Scotia; and in October the King’s American Dragoons

were disbanded on the lands appropriated to them, many miles up the

river St. John, on the north side of the Bay of Fundy.

On October 25, 1783, Colonel Thompson’s half-pay began, and it

continued for the remainder of his life. He had at this time began a

new career. He determined to go abroad, intending to take part in a war

which was then expected between Austria and the Turks.

Gibbon wrote from Dover, September 17, 1783, to Lord Sheffield:

Last night the wind was so high that the vessel could not stir from

the harbour; this day it is brisk and fair. We are flattered with

the hope of making Calais Harbour by the same tide in three hours

and a half, but any delay will leave the disagreeable option of

a tottering boat or a tossing night. What a cursed thing to live

in an island! this step is more awkward than the whole journey.

The triumvirate of this memorable embarkation will consist of the

grand Gibbon, Henry Laurens, Esq., President of Congress, and Mr.

Secretary, Colonel, Admiral, Philosopher Thompson, attended by

three horses, who are not the most agreeable fellow-passengers.

If we survive, I will finish and seal my letter at Calais. Our

salvation shall be ascribed to the prayers of my lady and aunt, for

I do believe they both pray.

Boulogne.

Instead of Calais the wind has driven us to Boulogne, where we

landed in the evening, without much noise and difficulty....

Laurens has read the pamphlet, and thinks it has done much

mischief. A good sign![2]

Professor Pictet, of Geneva, has published in the ‘Bibliothèque

universelle’ the notes he made of a conversation with Count Rumford

regarding his life at this time. He says:

A purely accidental circumstance had a decisive influence over his

destiny. He arrived at Strasburg, where the Prince Maximilian of

Deux Ponts, now [1801] Elector of Bavaria, then Field-Marshal in

the service of France, was in garrison. This prince, commanding on

parade, sees among the spectators an officer in a foreign uniform,

mounted on a fine English horse, whom he addresses. Thompson

informs him that he comes from serving in the American war. The

Prince, in pointing out to him many officers who surround him,

says, ‘These gentlemen were in the same war, but against you; they

belonged to the Royal Regiment of Deux Ponts, that acted in America

under the orders of Count Rochambeau.’

They engaged in conversation, which became very animated. Colonel

Thompson being invited to dine with the Prince, met at the table

a number of French officers whom he had encountered on the field

in America. They talked at length of the events of this war. The

Colonel produced his portfolio, which contained exact plans of the

principal engagements, the forts, the sieges, and an excellent

collection of maps. One and another recognised the place or the

interesting incident which was recalled to him. They conversed a

long while, and separated promising to meet again. The Prince was

passionately devoted to his profession and intensely eager for

information. He invited the Colonel for the next day. They resumed

with the same zest the conversation of yesterday. When at last

the traveller took leave, the Prince engaged him to pass through

Munich, and gave him a friendly letter to the Elector of Bavaria,

his uncle.

The season was advanced, and he was in haste to reach Vienna. He

had promised to stop at Munich two or three days at most; but he

passed there five days, and then did not leave but with regret

a city where the tokens of the regard of the sovereign and the

attentions of different classes of society were extended to him

with that frank cordiality which so eminently distinguishes the

Bavarian nation. He received equally at Vienna the most flattering

welcome, and was presented at Court and mingled in the first

society. There he passed a part of the winter, and, learning that

the war against the Turks was not to be carried on, he yielded to

the attractive memories of Munich, and, passing through Venice,

where he stopped some weeks, and by the Tyrol, he returned to

Brompton by the end of the winter of 1783-84.

In February he was knighted by George the Third, and he received

permission to enter into the service of the Duke of Bavaria.

From Munich, July 6, Thompson wrote to Sir Joseph Banks, to tell him

that his Electoral Highness had been asked to become a Fellow of the

Royal Society. He said:

I should have done myself the honour to have written to you

upon this subject some time ago, but I waited for a favourable

opportunity to speak to his Electoral Highness about it.

It was only a few days since I came into waiting as aide-de-camp

to his Most Serene Highness. I shall continue about his person

till September, when I purpose making a tour for a couple of

months in the mountains of Tyrol, upon the confines of Bavaria,

and the dominions of the Bishop of Saltzburg, a country extremely

interesting in several points of view.

* * * * *

He gave his direction as ‘M. le Chevalier Thompson, colonel et

aide-de-camp général au service de S.A.S. l’Élect. Palatin, Duc de

Bavière.’

He ended, ‘I am, dear Sir, with sincere regard and respect, your

most obedient and most humble servant.’

He again wrote to Sir Joseph Banks on July 24. He began by asking if he

could have one of the two hundred medals for Cook’s voyages given to

Fellows of the Royal Society, and he ended with a postscript:

I beg you would make my best compliments to Mr. Blagden when you

see him, and tell him I hope he will not entirely forget an old

correspondent who remembers him with great affection.

Cuvier, in his _éloge_ of Count Rumford, says of the Electors of

Bavaria:

Les souverains agrandis à l’époque des guerres de religion,

par suite de leur zèle pour le catholicisme, avaient longtemps

porté les marques de ce zèle bien au-delà de ce que réclame

un catholicisme éclairé: ils encourageaient la dévotion et ne

faisaient rien pour l’industrie; on comptait dans leurs états plus

de couvents que de fabriques. L’armée y était à peu près nulle;

l’ignorance et l’inertie dominaient dans toutes les classes de la

société.

The first work in Bavaria of Sir Benjamin Thompson was to rearrange

the military service and introduce a new system of order, discipline,

and economy among the troops. In the execution of this commission

he says: ‘I was ever mindful of that great and important truth that

no political arrangement can be really good except in so far as it

contributes to the general good of society. I have endeavoured to unite

the interest of the soldier with the interest of civil society, and to

render the military force, even in the times of peace, subservient to

the public good.’ To make soldiers citizens, and citizens soldiers, the

soldier was better paid, better clothed, better housed, better taught,

better occupied, better amused, and, above all, allowed to earn money

and to spend it as he pleased. Fixed garrisons were formed, and the

army was used as a means of introducing useful improvements into the

country. Thus military gardens were formed to introduce the culture

of the potato. Workhouses for manufacturing clothing for the army

were founded, first at Mannheim for the troops of the Palatinate and

Duchies of Juliers and Bergen, and a few months afterwards at Munich

for the fifteen Bavarian regiments. The greatest order and economy

were used in the military manufactory and magazine, and after six

years Sir B. Thompson wrote that the net profit on the various trades

and manufactures in the Munich Workhouse up to that time was 100,000

florins; and he could refer to its growing reputation, its extensive

connexions, which reached even to foreign countries, to the punctuality

with which all its engagements were fulfilled, to its unimpeached

credit, and to its growing wealth. The amount of orders executed in

the sixth year of its establishment did not fall much short of half a

million of florins.

Among the various measures that occurred to Sir B. Thompson by which

the military of the country might be made subservient to the public

good in time of peace, ‘none,’ he says, ‘appeared to me of so much

importance as that of employing the army in clearing the country of

beggars, thieves, and other vagabonds, and in watching over the public

tranquillity.’

The beggars swarmed everywhere. They were dissolute, sturdy, shameless,

importunate robbers.

A system of mounted police was formed throughout the country by four

regiments of cavalry. Means were taken, first, to furnish suitable

employment for those who were able to work; and, secondly, to provide

the necessary assistance for those who, from age, sickness, or other

bodily infirmities, were unable by their industry to provide for

themselves.

‘To make vicious and abandoned people happy, it has generally been

supposed necessary _first_ to make them virtuous. But why not reverse

this order? Why not make them first happy and then virtuous?’

A large building, once a manufactory, was taken in one of the suburbs

of Munich; arrangements were made for a kitchen, an eating-room, a

bakehouse, workshops for carpenters, smiths, turners, tool-makers,

spinners of cotton wool and worsted, for weavers of all kinds, a dyers’

shop, a fulling mill, a washhouse.

Everything was done that could be desired to make the inmates really

comfortable by good food, raiment, and cleanliness. The rooms were

scrupulously clean, well warmed, and well lighted; the people were well

fed, well taught, and well paid for their work. ‘They had the kindest

usage from every person, from the highest to the lowest. No ill usage,

no harsh language, was permitted; and at the end of five years not a

blow had been given to anyone, not even to a child by its instructor,’

and Sir B. Thompson could say: ‘The pleasure I have had in the success

of this experiment is much easier to be conceived than described; would

to God that my success might encourage others to follow my example! If

it were generally known how little trouble and how little expense are

required to do much good (the heartfelt satisfaction which arises from

relieving the wants and promoting the happiness of our fellow-creatures

is so great), I am persuaded acts of the most essential charity would

be much more frequent, and the mass of misery among mankind would

consequently be much lessened.’

New Year’s Day having been long specially set apart for giving alms

early that morning in 1790, three regiments of infantry, with their

officers, were stationed in the streets, and Sir B. Thompson assembled

the magistrates and asked their assistance to take up all the beggars

and to provide for the poor. Accompanied by the chief magistrate,

he went into the street, and the first beggar who asked for alms he

arrested with his own hands, and orders were given to all the other

officers, who also were accompanied with magistrates, to do the same.

In less than an hour no beggar was to be found in the streets. They

were taken to the Town Hall, inscribed in printed lists, and then told

to go to the newly-erected Military Workhouse. An address was opened to

the public, asking for perfectly voluntary subscriptions to put an end

to begging; monthly sums were given, and daily supplies of bread, meat,

and soup were collected.[3]

Several good spinners of hemp were engaged at the House of Industry,

and this was the first occupation of the poor. Knitting, sewing, and

carding wool were early occupations, but the object to be desired

was woollen work for the clothing of the army. If the poor did well,

they were rewarded; if they came late, their food was lessened. They

slept at their own homes, and when ill they received relief at home.

Everything was done to encourage industry and emulation. ‘To incite

activity and inspire with a true spirit of persevering industry, it was

necessary to fire the poor with emulation--to awaken in them a dormant

passion whose influence they had never felt; the love of honest fame;

an ardent desire to excel, the love of glory, or by what other pompous

name this passion, the most noble and most beneficent that warms the

human heart, can be distinguished.’[4]

To excite emulation praise, distinctions, rewards are necessary; and

these were all employed.

The House of Industry for the Poor and the Military Workhouse were

quite separate in their management, though they were so dependent on

each other that neither of them could subsist alone; one building

served for both.

Twice yearly small sums were given to the poor to assist them in paying

for lodgings, and ultimately a large house was bought and fitted up

as an hospital for those who were infirm and unable to take care of

themselves.

Means were adopted for giving relief to those who never were beggars,

but who, from poverty and inability to provide the necessaries of life,

were involved in distresses and difficulties which they bore in silence.

Persons of distinguished birth even sent to the House of Industry

at Munich for flax, or wool, or linen, which they manufactured into

goods, and received the usual amount of wages; and some who had been

accustomed to sumptuous fare took the soup furnished gratis from the

public kitchen to the poor.

The warming, lighting, clothing, feeding, occupying the poor, seemed

the sole object of all Sir B. Thompson thought and of all he did. His

success must be told in his own words.

My hopes of engaging others to follow my example are chiefly

founded upon my success in the enterprise. Then why should I not

mention even the marks of affectionate regard and respect which

I received from the poor people for whose happiness I interested

myself? And will it be reckoned vanity if I mention the concern

which the poor of Munich expressed in so affecting a manner when

I was dangerously ill? That they went publicly in a body in

procession to the cathedral church, where they had divine service

performed, and put up public prayers for my delivery. That four

years afterwards, on hearing that I was again dangerously ill at

Naples, they of their own accord set apart an hour each evening

after they had finished their work in the Military Workhouse to

pray for me.

Let the reader, if he can, picture my situation. Sick in bed, worn

out by intense application, and dying, as everybody thought, a

martyr in the cause to which I had devoted myself, let him imagine,

I say, my feelings upon hearing the confused noise of the prayers

of a multitude of people, who were passing by in the streets,

upon being told that it was the poor of Munich, many hundreds in

number, who were going in procession to the church to put up public

prayers for me; public prayers for me! for a private person, a

stranger, a Protestant! I believe it is the first instance of the

kind that ever happened; and I dare venture to affirm that no proof

could well be stronger than this that the measures adopted for

making these poor people happy were really successful; and let it

be remembered _that this fact is what I am most anxious to make

appear_ IN THE CLEAREST AND MOST SATISFACTORY MANNER.

Cuvier says: ‘Il convient lui-même que cet acte spontané de

reconnaissance religieuse en faveur d’un homme d’une autre communion

lui parut la plus touchante des récompenses; mais il ne se dissimulait

pas qu’il en avait obtenu une autre qui sera plus durable. En effet,

c’est en travaillant pour les pauvres qu’il a fait ses plus belles

découvertes....

‘Chacun sait que dans ses plus belles espérances on eut pour objet

la nature de la chaleur et de la lumière, ainsi que les lois de leur

propagation; et c’était là effectivement ce qu’il importait le plus de

bien connaître pour nourrir, vêtir, chauffer et éclairer avec économie

un grand rassemblement d’hommes.’

Other measures for the benefit of the country were carried out at the

same time.

A Military Academy was formed, principally with a view to bring forward

extraordinary talents and employ them in the civil or military public

service. Anyone was admissible. The children of the meanest mechanics

and day-labourers, provided they had _very extraordinary natural

genius_, a healthy constitution, and a good character, were educated.

It was an establishment designed for the encouragement of genius, and

for calling forth into public utility talents which would otherwise

remain buried and lost in obscurity.

Measures were adopted for improving the breed of horses and horned

cattle in Bavaria and the Palatinate. An attempt was made to put an

end to usury in Munich and to improve the highways and public roads,

by employing the soldiery in repairing them and preserving order and

public tranquillity on them.

A new English Garden was formed, beginning upon the ramparts of the

town. It was nearly six English miles in circumference. Within the

Garden was a fine and very valuable farm, with thirty of the finest

cows procured from Switzerland, Flanders, the Tyrol, and other places.

There was a public coffee-house in the middle of the Garden for

refreshment and public resort.

The scientific work which Sir B. Thompson did whilst in the service

of the Elector of Bavaria between 1783 and 1794, shows his energy and

originality, his accuracy and his depth.

When at Mannheim in July 1785 he made experiments in the presence of

Professor Hemmer, of the Electoral Academy of Sciences of Mannheim, on

the propagation of heat through various substances; on the increased

difficulty of conduction of heat through the torricellian vacuum; on

the effect of humidity in increasing the conducting power of the air;

and on the effect of air of different degrees of density. The Duke

ordered the meteorological instrument maker to the academy at Mannheim

to come to Munich, and to spare neither labour nor expense in providing

the complete apparatus necessary for the experiments.

These experiments, on the relative conducting powers of mercury, water,

air, and a torricellian vacuum, were read to the Royal Society, March

9, 1786.

He then proceeded to make experiments on the relative warmth of

various substances used in making artificial clothing; relative

quantities of the same substance; different qualities of substance

chemically, as charcoal, ashes, dust. All his experiments indicated

that the air which occupies the interstices of substances used in

forming coverings for confining heat acts a very important part in that

operation. Air is a perfect non-conductor of heat. These experiments

were chiefly made in 1787. They were not read before the Royal Society

until January 19, 1792.

Early in the winter of 1787, as soon as the cold was sufficiently

intense, he began to repeat the experiments of Dr. Fordyce

(‘Transactions of the Royal Society,’ vol. lxxv.) on the weight said to

be acquired by water in the act of freezing; and, being possessed of a

most excellent balance belonging to the Duke of Bavaria, he soon came

to the conclusion that all attempts to discover any effect of heat upon

the apparent weights of bodies would be fruitless.

He had previously, in April 1785, convinced himself of the errors that

arose from currents of air and from the drying of the cords by which

the scales were hung.

These experiments were made into a paper entitled ‘An Inquiry

concerning the Weight Ascribed to Heat.’ This was read before the Royal

Society, May 2, 1799.

In May and June 1786 he made experiments on the production of air from

water exposed to light. These were read before the Royal Society,

February 15, 1787.

When engaged in his experiments on the conducting powers of various

bodies with respect to heat, and particularly of such substances as

are used for clothing, he made experiments on the relation between

their conducting power and their power of absorbing moisture, but found

none. Flannel and fur, contrary to his expectation, absorbed much more

moisture from the air than silk and cotton. On this he forms an idea of

the good of wearing flannel. This, the weakest of his papers, was read

to the Royal Society, March 22, 1787.

In the spring of 1791 a large building was erected in the neighbourhood

of Munich, on the ground destined for the exercise of the artillery,

where a most complete apparatus was put up for measuring the velocities

of cannon bullets by the recoil of the gun, and also by the pendulum at

the same time, and with this apparatus a great number of interesting

experiments were made.

He observed that the force of the charge was always sensibly increased

when the gun was discharged by firing a pistol (constructed for that

use) into the vent, instead of using a priming and a common match for

firing off the gun.

These experiments were continued in 1792, and in 1793 they were shown

to Dr. Blagden, who was in Munich during the absence of Sir B. Thompson

in Italy for his health.

The principal objects in view were to determine the expansive force

of the elastic vapour generated in the combustion of gunpowder in its

various states of condensation, and to ascertain the ratio of its

elasticity to its density, and to measure the utmost force of this

fluid in its most dense state.

In order to find the most economical method of lighting his Workhouse

at Munich, he devised a new way of measuring the relative quantities

of lights by their shadows. His arbitrary standard was a London made

Argand lamp. He first experimented on the resistance of air to light,

then on the loss of light in its passage through different kinds of

glass, and in its reflection from a plate glass mirror, then on the

relative quantities of oil burnt by different lamps and relative

quantities of light emitted by different substances, and lastly on the

transparency of flame.

He made these experiments into a paper on the ‘Relative Intensities of

the Light Emitted by Luminous Bodies,’ and it was read before the Royal

Society, February 6, 1794; and on February 20 another paper was read,

being an ‘Account of some Experiments on Coloured Shadows,’ and he came

to the conclusion that our eyes are not always to be believed, even

with respect to the presence or absence of colours.

For his national and scientific work he received various honours

between 1783 and 1794.

In 1785 he was elected member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences,

which had been established in 1758, and he was made chamberlain to the

Elector.

In 1786 the King of Poland, at the request of the Elector of Bavaria,

conferred on him the Order of St. Stanislaus. This was done because the

statutes of Bavaria did not allow a foreigner to receive any national

honours.

In 1787, when in Prussia, he was made a member of the Berlin Academy of

Sciences.

In 1788 the Elector made him Major-General of Cavalry and Privy

Councillor of State, and he was placed at the head of the war

department.

On May 29, 1789, he was elected a foreign honorary member of

the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he was made

Lieutenant-General of the Bavarian Armies and received the command of a

regiment of artillery.

In 1791, in the interval between the death of the Emperor Joseph and

the coronation of Leopold II., the Elector of Bavaria was one of the

Vicars of the Empire, and he made Sir Benjamin Thompson a Count of the

Holy Roman Empire, and gave him the Order of the White Eagle.

Early in the following year the wife of Count Rumford, who had been a

great invalid, and who had lived with her son by her first husband and

with her daughter, the child of Rumford, died at the age of 52. Her own

property had given her every comfort that her ill health required.

At the end of this year Count Rumford was in correspondence with his

early friend Colonel Baldwin, through whom probably for some time

previously he had sent money to his mother. He wrote to Colonel Baldwin

from Munich, January 18, 1793:

You could hardly conceive the heartfelt satisfaction it would

give me to pay a visit to my native country. Should I be

kindly received? Are the remains of party spirit and political

persecutions done away? Would it be necessary to ask leave of the

State?

It is possible you may see me at Woburn before you are aware

of it. I wish exceedingly to be personally acquainted with my

daughter. I wish to know her real character, and how I must go to

work to lay a solid foundation for her future happiness. I wish

once more to have the satisfaction of seeing my most kind and

affectionate mother. I wish to prove to her how dear she is to me,

and how grateful I am for all her goodness to me. My dear, beloved

parent! What would I give to see her, were it but for one hour! I

should be much obliged to you for any accounts you may from time

to time send me of her situation, and of others, my friends, in

your neighbourhood. Desiring to be remembered to all those of my

old acquaintance who interest themselves in my welfare, I am,

my dear Sir, with unfeigned regard and much esteem, yours most

affectionately.

Count Rumford, in the spring of 1793, left Munich for Italy on account

of his health. He was absent sixteen months. At Verona the directors of

the two great hospitals La Pieta and La Misericordia, containing 350

and 500 poor, accepted his offer to rebuild the kitchens. Seven-eighths

of the fire-wood were saved, and he made arrangements to supply the

poor with clothing from the Munich House of Industry at a saving of

twenty per cent.

On May 11, 1793, Sir C. Blagden, who was travelling with Lord

Palmerston, wrote to Sir Joseph Banks from Rome:

Count Rumford is come into Italy. I have just received a very

friendly letter from him, in which he desires me to appoint a

meeting. It will probably be at Milan.

Three months later he wrote from Augsburg:

Thompson, now Count Rumford, met me by appointment at Pavia. Volta

showed us his experiments on animal electricity, and said he had

sent off his paper for the Royal Society about three weeks before,

probably not time enough for it to be read before the vacation.

I thought his experiments proved that there is no particular

animal electricity, and that the animals serve only the purpose of

very delicate electrometers; but they leave other circumstances

unexplained.

On his return to London Sir C. Blagden wrote on November 21 to Sir

Joseph Banks:

From Italy I brought two papers by Count Rumford, one on ‘Coloured

Shadows,’ the other on a ‘Method of Measuring the Comparative

Intensities of the Light Emitted by Luminous Bodies.’ In the former

he shows neatly enough that the colours ascribed to these shadows

depend entirely on comparing them with light of another colour. The

method referred to in the second paper is that of the intensity of

the shadows produced by the different luminous bodies. These two

papers will furnish matter for nearly three meetings of the Royal

Society.

Count Rumford had another serious illness in Naples in the early part

of 1794. He returned to Munich in August.

He left Munich for London in 1795. He had spent the year after his

return from Italy in comparative quiet. He was unfit for public

business and he chiefly occupied himself by writing out the results

that he had obtained. He thus made a series of essays.

In order to publish these in England and to meet his daughter, who was

about to come to him from America, and to recover further his health,

he obtained leave of absence from the Elector of Bavaria.

In his paper on Gunpowder in 1781 he said he would make experiments on

the strength of various bodies. In 1797, when he had another paper in

the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ on this subject, he added this note:

Since writing the above I have met with a misfortune which has

put it out of my power to fulfil this promise. On my return to

England from Germany, in October 1795, after an absence of eleven

years, I was stopped in my post-chaise in St. Paul’s Churchyard, in

London, at six o’clock in the evening, and robbed of a trunk which

was behind my carriage, containing all my private papers and my

original notes and observations on philosophical subjects. By this

cruel robbery I have been deprived of the fruits of the labours of

my whole life, and have lost all that I held most valuable. This

most severe blow has left an impression on my mind which I feel

that nothing will ever be able entirely to remove. It is the more

painful to me, as it has clouded my mind with suspicions that never

can be cleared up.

These essays were published at different times separately between 1796

and 1802. The two first volumes were reprinted in 1800.

His first essay gave an account of an establishment for the poor in

Munich; the second was on establishments for the poor in general. It

contains the germ of the Royal Institution.

This was a ‘proposal for forming in London by private subscription an

establishment for feeding the poor and giving them useful employment,

and also for furnishing food at a cheap rate to others who may stand in

need of such assistance, connected with an institution for introducing

and bringing forward into general use new inventions and improvements,

particularly such as relate to the management of heat and the saving

of fuel, and to various other mechanical contrivances by which domestic

comfort and economy may be promoted, submitted to the public by A.B.’

Dated January 1, 1796. Count Rumford begins by saying that _no person_

shall _find means_ to make a job of the proposed establishment. That

the general arrangement of the establishment and all its details shall

be left to the author of these proposals, who will be responsible for

their success. He engages, however, in the prosecution of this business

to adhere faithfully to the plan here proposed, and never to depart

from it on any pretence whatever.

He proposed first to establish a public kitchen with every useful

invention and improvement by which fuel may be saved.

As soon as the measures for feeding the poor and giving them

employment are carried into execution the secondary object will

be attended to--the formation of a grand repository of all kinds

of useful mechanical inventions, particularly such as relate to

furnishing houses and are calculated to promote domestic comfort

and economy.

He concluded thus: ‘The author of these proposals will think

himself most amply repaid for any trouble he may have taken in

the execution of this scheme by the heartfelt satisfaction he

will enjoy in the reflection of having been instrumental in doing

essential service to mankind.’

In the summer of 1796 a conversation took place between the Bishop of

Durham, Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Bernard, and the Honourable Edward James

Eliot, and in consequence of this a society was formed for encouraging

industry and promoting the welfare of the poor.

The object of this Society was everything that concerned the happiness

of the poor, everything by which their comforts could be increased; to

correct the abuses of workhouses; to assist the poor in placing out

their children; to add to and meliorate their means of subsistence

by public kitchens, by the union of liberal and benevolent minds, by

circulating information and by personal assistance and influence.

The Bishop of Durham and Mr. Thomas Bernard were the chief contributors

to the funds. Mr. Bernard was the third son of Sir Francis Bernard,

Governor of New Jersey and Massachusetts Bay. He was a graduate of

Harvard College, New England. He was the original promoter of the

School for the Indigent Blind, of an Institution for the Protection

and Instruction of Climbing Boys, of a Society for the Relief of Poor

Neighbours in Distress, of the Cancer Institution, of the London Fever

Hospital. He was also the founder of the British Institution for

Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom, and the originator of

the Alfred Club.

The first meeting of the new Society was held on December 21, 1796,

when the King declared himself the patron of it. On February 24, 1797,

the Society resolved that, ‘in consideration of the extraordinary

services of Count Rumford for the benefit of the poor, and as a

testimony of the respect and esteem with which this Society regards his

services in the promotion of the general objects of the institution, he

be elected and declared a member of the Society and one of the general

committee for life.’

In consequence Count Rumford wrote to Thomas Bernard, Esq., from

Germany:

Munich, April 28, 1797.

I feel myself very highly honoured by the distinguished mark of

esteem and regard which the Society for Bettering the Condition of

the Poor has conferred on me, and I beg leave through you to return

the Society my respectful and grateful acknowledgments.

This flattering proof of the approbation of those most respectable

persons who compose the Society will tend very powerfully to

encourage me to persevere in those endeavours to promote the

important objects they have in view, by which I first obtained

their notice and esteem.

I am very sanguine in my expectations of the good which will be

done by this Society; they will, however, be able to do much

more by examples--by _models_ that can be seen and felt--than by

anything that can be said or written.

The following year he wrote:

Munich, May 13, 1798.

The rapid progress you are making in your most interesting and

laudable undertakings affords me a high degree of satisfaction.

It proves that I was not mistaken when I concluded that,

notwithstanding the alarming progress of luxury and corruption

of taste and of morals in England, there is still good sense and

energy to be found, even in the highest classes of society, where

the influx of wealth has operated most powerfully. Go on, my dear

sir, and be assured that when you shall have put _doing good_ in

fashion, you will have done all that human wisdom can do to retard

and prolong the decline of a great and powerful nation that has

arrived at, or passed, the zenith of human glory.

And again:

Munich, June 8, 1798.

I have received your letter from Brighton of the 12th ult. You can

hardly imagine the high degree of pleasure and satisfaction which I

feel at your success in your most laudable undertakings. Go on, my

dear sir, and be assured that you will contribute more essentially

to the revival of taste and morals, of energy, industry,

benevolence, and _prosperity_ in your favoured country than all the

speculators and reformers in the three kingdoms.

When society is arrived at a certain degree of torpid indifference

and enervation of mind and body, which are the unavoidable effects

of wealth, luxury, and inordinate indulgence, mankind must either

be _allured_ or _shamed_ into action. Precepts and admonitions have

no effect on them.

As they are too indolent to take the trouble either to investigate

or to choose, they must be led to acts of useful benevolence as

they are led in everything else--by _fashion_; when you shall have

rendered it perfectly ridiculous for a man of fashion and fortune

_to have the appearance_ of being insensible to the most noble

and most delightful of human enjoyments--that which results from

doing good--you will have done more for the relief of the poor

than all that the Poor Laws can ever effect. Deeply impressed with

the necessity of rendering it _fashionable_ to care for the poor

and indigent, and contribute to their relief and comfort, in order

to diffuse in England that spirit of active benevolence you are

kindling, I am apt to insist, perhaps with too much prolixity, on

that important point.

I am anxious to hear of the execution of your plan with regard to

Bridewell. A well arranged House of Industry is much wanted in

London. It is indeed absolutely necessary to the success of your

undertaking, for there must be something _to see_ and _to touch_,

if I may use the expression, otherwise people in general will have

but very faint, imperfect, and transitory ideas of those important

and highly interesting objects with which you must make them

acquainted in order to their becoming zealous converts to our new

philosophy, and useful members of our community. Pray 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 undertake it.

The third essay was on ‘Food and Feeding the Poor; Rumford Soup and

Soup-Kitchens.’ The fourth on ‘Chimney Fire-Places.’ The fifth on

‘Several Public Institutions Founded in Bavaria; on Nurseries for

Genius; for Horses and for Cattle.’

During 1797 and 1798 Rumford published in England a second volume

containing four essays.

These were on the ‘Management of Fire and the Economy of Fuel;’

on the ‘Propagation of Heat in Fluids,’ extending to liquids, the

doctrine which he had before advanced respecting elastic fluids; on

the ‘Propagation of Heat in various Substances;’ and an ‘Experimental

Inquiry concerning the Source of Heat Excited by Friction.’

An account of this last essay must be given here, because from it Count

Rumford derives his chief scientific reputation.

Whilst directing the military affairs of the Duke of Bavaria he had

to organise the field artillery, and he found no cannon foundry in

Bavaria. The arsenal at Munich was filled with cannon, but by far the

greater part of them were perfectly useless, being too heavy to be

moved. There was a very good foundry at Mannheim, the capital of the

Elector’s dominions on the Rhine, but the distance between Munich and

Mannheim is so great that it would have cost more to have sent the

Bavarian guns to Mannheim to be refounded and to have brought them

back than was required to defray the expense of establishing a new

manufactory for the construction of artillery in Bavaria.

A foundry was accordingly established at Munich, and neither pains nor

expense were spared to make it as perfect as possible. A most excellent

machine was erected for boring cannon, with workshops adjoining to it

for the construction of gun-carriages and ammunition waggons.

Whilst engaged in superintending the boring of the cannon he was struck

by the heat produced in a brass gun and with the still more intense

heat of the metallic chips separated by the borer.

He says: ‘The more I meditated on these phenomena the more they

appeared to me to be curious and interesting. A thorough investigation

of them seemed even to bid fair to give a further insight into the

hidden nature of heat, and to enable us to form some reasonable

conjectures respecting the existence or non-existence of an igneous

fluid.

‘Whence comes the heat actually produced?

‘Does it come from the metallic chips? If so, their capacity for heat

must be changed; but by repeated experiments I found that no change

of capacity was caused by the boring. Determination of the actual

heat produced and of the amount of chips showed that there was no

relation between them. That the heat did not come from the gun itself

was shown by the absence of every sign of exhaustion in the metal,

notwithstanding the large quantities of heat given off.

‘Did the heat come from the air? Exclusion of the air did not in the

smallest degree diminish the heat.

‘It would be difficult,’ he says, ‘to describe the surprise and

astonishment expressed in the countenances of the bystanders on seeing

a large quantity of cold water heated and actually made to boil without

any fire.

‘Though there was, in fact, nothing that could justly be considered as

surprising in this event, yet I acknowledge fairly that it afforded me

a degree of childish pleasure which, were I ambitious of the reputation

of a grave philosopher, I ought most certainly rather to hide than to

discover.’

The amount of heat given out in a continual stream by his borer he

estimated at that of nine wax candles each of three-quarters of an

inch in diameter. This was produced by the work of two horses. ‘But,’

he adds, ‘no circumstances can be imagined in which this method of

procuring heat would not be disadvantageous; for more heat may be

obtained by using the fodder necessary for the support of a horse as

fuel.’

He concludes thus:

‘Anything which any insulated body or system of bodies can continue to

furnish without limitation cannot possibly be a material substance, and

it appears to me to be extremely difficult, if not quite impossible,

to form any distinct idea of anything capable of being excited and

communicated in these experiments except it be MOTION.

‘I am far from pretending to know how that particular kind of motion

which has been supposed to constitute heat is excited, continued, and

propagated. Nobody surely in his sober senses has ever pretended to

understand the mechanism of gravitation, and yet what sublime discovery

was our immortal Newton enabled to make merely by the investigation of

the laws of its action!’

The account of these experiments was read to the Royal Society, January

25, 1798.

Some interesting facts regarding this paper are to be found in the

correspondence of Sir C. Blagden with Sir J. Banks.

DEAR SIR JOSEPH,--Count Rumford’s paper on Friction, together with

your letter, were safely delivered to me by Lord Palmerston. The

paper is by no means incorrect in itself, nor has the copyist made

any remarkable blunders, and it is valuable from the large scale on

which the experiments were tried, and the quantity of heat produced

in consequence. As the result of the experiments was such as the

Count himself foresaw, and as every other philosopher would have

expected, they do not furnish any _new_ argument in favour of the

opinion he has adopted that heat is motion, though perhaps they add

force to the old ones. There is, however, an experiment of some

consequence if it can be depended upon; namely, _that_ which seemed

to show that the shavings cut by the borer out of the cannon had

the same capacity for heat as the metal on which the borer had not

acted; but I do not feel much confidence in experiments of this

nature. You will recollect that one opinion pretty much adopted on

this subject is that the heat produced in boring a cannon depends

on the compression of the metal of the cannon by the borer, in

consequence of which it gives out heat; on the principle that the

same body has a less capacity for heat when it is in a denser

than when it is in a rarer state. I wish the Count had ascertained

whether the metal shavings he tried had really a greater specific

gravity than that of the chips of metal he had sawed off.

Whilst in England Rumford at this time strove to advance scientific

knowledge not only by the publication of his own discoveries, but also

by his benefactions for the promotion of discovery by others, and by

the further practical application of some of the results which he had

obtained.

On July 12, 1796, he wrote to the Honourable John Adams, President of

the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at Boston, to offer 5,000

dollars in the 3 per cent. stocks, ‘to the end that the interest may be

spent every second year on a silver and gold medal as a premium to the

author of the most important discovery or useful improvement on heat

or on light; the preference always being given to such discoveries as

shall, in the opinion of the Academy, tend most to promote the good of

mankind.’

In 1829 the fund accumulated to 20,000 dollars, and in 1870 to 37,000

dollars. The Academy applied to the Legislature to use the money for

the purchase of books and apparatus, and to pay for experiments,

lectures, and treatises, and this was decided in 1831. During the

first fifty years only one award of the medals was made. This was to

Dr. Hare, of Philadelphia, 1839. They have been since given to Mr.

Ericsson, Professor Treadwell, Mr. Alvan Clark, and Mr. Corliss.

On the same day in 1796 Count Rumford wrote to Sir Joseph Banks, the

President of the Royal Society, offering 1,000_l._ stock on the same

conditions to the Royal Society of London.

Sir Joseph Banks was requested by the council to return their sincere

thanks to Count Rumford, and at the same time to inquire ‘how far

improvements or discoveries in optics and chemistry might come under

the Count’s views.’

Count Rumford wrote to Sir Joseph Banks, from Munich, April 20, 1797:

I think the premium should be limited to new discoveries tending to

improve the theories of fire, of heat, of light, and of colours,

and to new inventions and contrivances by which the generation

and preservation and management of heat and of light may be

facilitated. In as far, therefore, as chemical discoveries or

improvements in optics answer any of these conditions they may, I

think, fairly be considered as being within the limits assigned

to the operation of the premium. The objects which I had more

particularly in view to encourage, are such practical improvements

in the generation and management of heat and light as tend directly

and powerfully to increase the enjoyments and comforts of life,

especially in the lower and more numerous classes of society.

The first award of the Rumford medal was made, in November 1802, to

Count Rumford himself for his own discoveries on heat and light. In

1870 the award was made for the twenty-sixth time. Eleven foreigners

have received the honour, and thus added to the reputation of the

prize. The greatest English discoverer on the subject of light is not

on the list, but when sending the medal to M. Fresnel (who was on his

death-bed) in 1827, Young, as foreign secretary of the Royal Society,

wrote to him: ‘I also should claim some right to participate in the

compliment which is tacitly paid to myself in common with you by this

adjudication, but, considering that more than a quarter of a century

is passed since my principal experiments were made, I can only feel

it a sort of anticipation of _posthumous_ fame, which I have never

particularly coveted.’

In order further to apply some of his scientific researches to practice

in the spring of 1796, on the invitation of his friend Mr. Secretary

Pelham, Rumford went to Dublin.

In the house of the Dublin Society he fitted up a laundry and a model

kitchen for private families, and also a cottage fire-place, and a

model lime-kiln in the courtyard of the house of the Society; also

in the hall in which the meetings of the Royal Irish Academy are

held he fitted up two chimney fire-places. He contrived a fire-place

for heating one of the principal churches in Dublin, and he promised

to give a plan for heating the superb new building destined for the

meeting of the Irish House of Commons. In the Linen Hall at Dublin he

fitted up an oblong square boiler as a model for bleachers.

He was made a member of the Royal Irish Academy and of the Society for

the Encouragement of Arts, and he received after he left the country

the public thanks of the Grand Jury of the County of Dublin, and of the

Lord Mayor of the city, as well as of the Lord Lieutenant as the head

of the Government.

Upon his return to London he superintended some improvements at the

Foundling Hospital for his friend Mr. Bernard, who was treasurer there.

Roasters and boilers were put up, but he was obliged to return to

Munich before the kitchens were entirely finished.

His daughter left America to join her father in England in January

1796. By her Colonel Baldwin wrote from Woburn, January 26, 1796:

In answer to your inquiry, I can say that it is my opinion that you

can freely return to America, either with or without official leave

from the State, as you may choose; and that you would realise a

hearty welcome from all your old friends and citizens in general. I

can say, for one, that there is not a person on earth that I should

rejoice so much to see.

Rumford answered:

London, March 26, 1796.

I return you many thanks for your friendly letter, which I

received by my daughter, and I beg you would accept my warmest

acknowledgments for all the kindness you have shown to my daughter

for the many years she has been known to you.

Her gratitude to you is without bounds, and she says nothing on

earth will ever make her forget your goodness to her. I do not

despair of being able, at some future period, to express to you in

person, by word of mouth, the sense I entertain of your kindness

to my dear child. You will not expect that I should attempt to

describe the pleasure I felt at seeing my dear girl after an

absence of twenty years!

Some years afterwards the daughter gave a vivid picture of her father

at this time.

Count Rumford, my father, having passed several preceding years at

Munich, in Bavaria, had come to England to have published some

of his essays. He took the opportunity to send for me, my mother

being dead, and I requiring protection. Many were the scenes he had

passed through after leaving me as an infant, and erroneous were

the ideas I had formed of him, particularly of his appearance; we

having had only a small profile of him in shade, giving ever an

imperfect idea of the person. Indeed, so different from what I had

thought were his looks, that I could hardly fancy him the person I

sought after, and would willingly have run from him, and ended in a

violent fit of crying, which he did not consider as a compliment,

asking me afterwards what I meant by it. The playfulness of his

character (at times) secured love to my father. Witness his

laughter, quite from the heart, nothing made up about it. The

expression of his mouth, ornamented with the most finished pearls,

was sweetness itself. But to see him accidentally, he did not

strike one as handsome, or very agreeable, though not exactly to

the contrary. At the time I met him, having been ill, he was very

thin and pale--again a reason of my disappointment. My opinion of

him was naturally romantic, perhaps, as young people’s often are.

I had heard him spoken of as an officer. I had attached to this an

idea of the warrior, with the martial look, possibly the sword,

if not the gun, by his side. His profile being in black, made me

suppose him dark in complexion, possibly sunburnt; in short, in

stature, size, and looks the perfect warrior. Yet my mother often

spoke of him as carroty, his hair being red; but later not so, a

very pretty colour. My father pretended I looked better than he

expected to find me. It is true he had had a most unfavourable

likeness of me in a small miniature.

Though it was a trying scene to meet, yet it was nothing to finding

out each other’s disposition in the end, and my father began with

being much alarmed about me. He himself resided in a large hotel

in Pall Mall, but could not have me with him, putting me to board

not far off, at a Mrs. Lackington’s. He had brought his valet,

Aichner, with him, and for me a maid, by the name of Anymeetle,

both Germans. I was to be presented to Lord and Lady Palmerston,

Sir Charles Blagden, Sir William Pepperell and family (Americans),

and other of his friends.

My father was often at the Royal Society, and intimate with its

president, Sir Joseph Banks. I would be invited to the dinners

Sir Joseph gave to the select ones of his royal learned Society.

Through the kindness and civility of Lady and Miss Banks, his wife

and sister, I several times found myself one of their party. Lady

Banks was so kind, and, most likely out of civility to my father,

she would allow me to be with her for days together, taking me

about with her, letting me see things--in short, trying to amuse

me. I recollect she took me to a Lord Mayor’s ball, where I saw the

princes and royal family for the first time. As may be supposed,

the select dinners of the Royal Society were highly interesting,

and where, I think, ladies were seldom or never admitted. I was

allowed to accompany Lady and Miss Banks as a mere nobody; but this

did not prevent my making observations which never have been and

never will be forgotten. The idea of very learned people suggests

that of pedantry. At these dinners there was nothing of the kind,

differing only from other refined societies when remarks were made

to convey perhaps new ideas, discoveries, or highly entertaining

instruction, sometimes there being no such talk at all.

The daughter wrote to Mrs. Baldwin in America, June 13, 1796:

We should have been gone long before this time to Germany if some

business had not called my father to Ireland.

I enjoy very good health, and am very happy. I should think it

strange if I were not to be. I am indulged in everything I wish,

and I am under the protection of a parent that I have not only

reason to love, but to be proud of.

* * * * *

The state of Europe at this time caused Rumford to return to Munich.

At the close of the campaign of 1794 between France and the German

Empire, when Prussia made peace with France, Bavaria desired to be

neutral. It was not until the spring of 1796 that the Republicans under

Moreau, who had crossed the Rhine at Strasburg, threatened Munich.

Rumford was recalled. The Elector took refuge in Saxony eight days

after Rumford arrived. He had appointed Rumford head of a council of

regency and commander of the Bavarian troops. The Austrians, defeated

by the French near Augsburg in August, retreated on Munich. They found

Count Rumford determined to oppose them. On the arrival of the French

troops he refused to admit them also, and by his firmness and wisdom

the neutrality of Munich was preserved. The inhabitants of the town

fully recognised that they owed the preservation of their city to Count

Rumford alone.

The defeat of Jourdan on the Lower Rhine obliged Moreau to retreat. The

Bavarian territory was evacuated, and the Elector returned to Munich.

He made Rumford head of the General Police of Bavaria, and about

200_l._ of the pension which had been granted to him was settled on his

daughter for her life. She was also received at Court as a Countess of

the Empire.

In December 1797 Rumford wrote to his friend Baldwin from Munich:

My daughter never ceases her solicitations to engage me to pay a

visit to my friends in America, and her wishes are so powerfully

seconded by my own feelings and longing desires to breathe once

more my native air, that I have come to the resolution to make the

journey as soon as the restoration of peace and the arrangement

of my concerns in this country will permit it. If the public

affairs of Europe and of America take the turn I expect, and if no

unforeseen event should happen to prevent my carrying my schemes

into execution, I think you will see us in America in fifteen or

sixteen months from this time.

Meanwhile his daughter amused herself at Munich.

The Elector was old and had married a young wife, so that there was

gaiety at Court during this winter, and the attentions of one of

the aides-de-camp of her father made rides, and dinners, and balls

pleasant to the Count’s daughter; but she says ‘all her fine castles

were demolished by one blow from her father, and Count Taxis was

ordered to join his regiment in the country.’ Ill health followed, and

change of air and scene was advised. ‘My father appeared to try how

agreeable he could make himself, as if wishing to wear off by it some

of the disagreeable impressions of his late conduct in drawing so many

tears from my poor eyes.... When quiet and happy himself he was, like

others, agreeable; but when perplexed with cares and business, or much

occupied, there was no living with him.’

In the autumn of 1798, partly on account of his health, he determined

to return to England with his daughter. The Elector of Bavaria, to show

his esteem for Rumford, appointed him Minister Plenipotentiary and

Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of St. James.

On September 14, 1798, Lord Grenville sent a despatch to the Hon.

Arthur Paget at Munich, saying, ‘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. 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. You will observe that the circumstance of

Count Rumford having heretofore filled a confidential situation (that

of Under-Secretary of State in the American Department) under his

Majesty’s Government, makes the appointment in his person peculiarly

improper and objectionable.’

On Count Rumford’s arrival on September 19 he wrote to Lord Grenville

to say that, notwithstanding the information and the intimation which

had been communicated to him by Mr. Canning, Under-Secretary of State

for Foreign Affairs, he considered it his duty formally to notify that,

having been appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary,

he had come to England in consequence of that appointment, and was

charged with a letter to the King, which he ought to endeavour to

obtain permission to deliver with his own hands. He therefore asked an

audience or personal interview with the minister, to state the objects

of his mission, and to receive such information as would enable him to

give a clear, authentic, and satisfactory account to the sovereign who

had entrusted him with the management of his affairs.

The day but one after, Lord Grenville shortly answers that ‘he

conceives it will be more agreeable to Count Rumford that the substance

of the representation with which Mr. Paget was charged should be

transmitted by Count Rumford to the Elector rather than through any

other channel.’

The same day a despatch to this effect was written to the Hon. Arthur

Paget at Munich.

No other notice was taken of Count Rumford’s appointment. He did not

return to Munich, and the following year his master, the Elector

Charles Theodore, died.

The thoughts of Rumford, when rejected as minister of Bavaria, were

directed to his native land. He thus wrote to his friend Baldwin in

America:

London, September 28, 1798.

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 apparently 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

country, 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.

Among his friends in England was the Honourable Rufus King, the

American minister.

Mr. King wrote to Colonel Pickering, the Secretary of State in America:

London, December 8, 1798.

Count Rumford, late Sir Benjamin Thompson, 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 contrary 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

probably made him desire the mission to England. The refusal 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 himself to literary pursuits.

His connexions in this country are strictly literary, and his

knowledge, particularly in the military 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 am 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 inquiry that I have made on this head, I am convinced that his

political sentiments are correct.

Be good enough to communicate this letter to the President.

Count Rumford soon after wrote to Mr. King:

I send you herewith a small pamphlet,[5] 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 advise it, and to encourage me with

the hope of a kind reception.

The model of a field-piece[6] 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.

Another letter written the following day to his friend Colonel Baldwin

also gives the reason why Rumford stayed in England.

March 14, 1799.

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 will acquaint you with the reasons

which 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 sacrificing the pleasure that voyage would have afforded

me to the more 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.

The undertaking was the Royal Institution, and the pamphlet was the

‘Proposals’ for its foundation.

On September 8 Mr. King again wrote to Count Rumford:

London, September 8, 1799.

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 institutions, 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 Government to invite you in its name to return and

reside among us, and to propose to you to enter into the American

service.[7]

Count Rumford answered:

Brompton, September 12, 1799.

I am deeply sensible of the honour 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.

His affection for his mother, his daughter, and his friend is seen in

the following letter to Colonel Baldwin, which he wrote the day before

his daughter sailed for America:

Brompton, near London, August 24, 1799.

I cannot permit my daughter to return to America without charging

her with a few lines for my _oldest_ friend and schoolfellow,

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 my 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 tell you what I am doing in this country, and will

acquaint you with my plans and wishes respecting her establishment

in America. If you can further the execution 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.

And a year later he wrote to Colonel Baldwin:

Royal Institution, June 9, 1800.

I must begin my letter with a subject which is ever uppermost

in my mind. My daughter and my dear mother will probably be in

your neighbourhood when this letter reaches you. I most earnestly

recommend them both to your kind attentions. I have one wish, and

one only, respecting them, which is, that they may be as happy as

possible. As I am at so great a distance from them, I am but ill

qualified to judge of their wants and their wishes. Pray assist

them in every way in which your friendly assistance can be of use

to them, or make them comfortable and contented.

Perhaps my daughter may marry (which she has my leave to do

whenever she pleases, and with whom she pleases).[8] This may

greatly alter her relative situation with me and with my mother.

She may perhaps wish at some future period to make me another

visit in Europe, and even in this scheme I shall not oppose her

inclinations, if her heart should be set on the gratification of

them. I do not mean to be an indulgent father in theory only.

Tell me how I must act to make two persons who are very dear to me

as happy as possible.