Further remarks on the arguments of Capt Hamilton
What claim said he has Mr. Fulton to Forty thousand pounds or ten thousand or any other sum from this government, while many british seamen of the first talents do not get half the sum in a whole life of exertions? I myself would feel happy to be so rewarded.
Answer.
This is no part of the Question the point for consideration is have I fulfilled my part of the contract? and aught not government In Justice to fulfill their part? But I will now put my pretentions to ample reward in another point of View.
If I cannot exhibit to the world an easy mode of destroying all military marines and consequently the whole political influence of England If I cannot give a clear prospect that by my exertions and the exertions of my friends my plans must in a short time be adopted by European nations at varience with England then I will admit that I have no pretentions to any sum from this government, but for the time already spent and which I consider as paid,
But if science and industry has developed to me a means which by my exertions and the natural order of things must destroy all military marines and consequently that of England, and if to preserve the power of the British marine undeminished is worth millions to the nation it follows that my neutrality is of as much real value to the nation as the active services of any man in it. And I might say of more for there is not nor ever has been an individual in England who could render services to the country equal to what the marine gives yet there are Gentlemen whose income from government is from five to ten thousand a year for services which hundreds of men can do when I speak of reward it is for what only three men beside myself can do that is my two friends in America and the Earl of Stanhope in England. Whether I possess such powers and for my neutrality merit ample compensation can only be known by investigating the principles and practice of the engines.
Robert Fulton
In his letters Fulton has made a number of references to his friends who were associated with him. In the above letter he gives the only clue as to whom they might be. At the time when this letter was written, both Robert R. Livingston and Joel Barlow had returned to the United States.
The above two letters on which he staked everything, were too important to be entrusted to a messenger, so Fulton carried them himself. In order to be sure that Lord Grenville should be acquainted with the contents, Fulton read them aloud as is shown by the following footnote:
On the 3r of September 1806 I had an interview with Lord Grenville in Downing street I entered his room about three oclock he was, alone handed me a chair I sat down near him and after a few words I read him the preceding letters, on which no comment whatever was made His Lordship only observed that he could not then say anything on the Subject and I retired.
That was the end. His work of twenty years in Europe was finished!
Chapter XI
RETURN TO AMERICA
Summary of the British negotiations. America used as a threat. Offer of neutrality. Fulton’s review of the past and plans for the future. Appeal to Jefferson. Departure for home.
One’s sympathy goes unreservedly to Fulton. He was at this time almost forty-one years old. He had fought his battle of life alone, without money, and with only such friends as he had attracted to himself from time to time. He had tried several avenues that might lead to success, but he found that one after the other came to an end in desert fields. To his latest effort he had devoted nine years. It had been the most promising of them all. It had brought him in contact with many powerful people, it had provided action that he sought, it was lighted with the bright hopes for success, and for the past two years had furnished a comfortable living, the first of any of his efforts so to do. But now this avenue like the others had reached an end. This disappointment must have exceeded all his previous disappointments. He had abandoned art, small canal construction and his excavating devices at a time when no one of them offered any great encouragement. In none of his earlier efforts had he attained a good foothold. In his submarine he had buried more time and energy than he had in any of his other lines: in fact, he had spent nearly one half of the years since leaving home in its study. Whatever estimate he had placed on art and his various engineering projects, this time he knew that he was right. There was no doubt in his own mind as to the correctness of his reasoning and the workable qualities of his invention. All the harder it must have been, when he realized that he could not make men see it as he did, other than his two unnamed friends in America and his one friend in England, the Earl of Stanhope.
His emotions on sailing from England were of a distinctly different character from those he felt when leaving France. In the latter country he had been rejected with contumely, the first real shock that he had experienced. He departed from France sore and angry, as has been shown. In England he had been treated quite otherwise. Throughout his stay of twenty-eight months he had been shown every courtesy. He had the entrée to government offices and enjoyed the confidence of the highest officials, including Mr. Pitt and Lord Grenville, in turn prime ministers. The disagreement with the British Government was on financial grounds. During his period of work he had received a generous salary in addition to reimbursement for all his expenses. Development of events made Fulton no longer necessary to the Government on the one hand, while on the other his steamboat arrangement with Chancellor Livingston was forcing Fulton’s return to America. Both parties were ready to end the contractual relation. The British Government, not having received any direct benefit from Fulton’s ideas, except the indirect one that he had been kept from going over to the enemy, naturally sought a means of terminating the contract without further payment. Fulton, equally naturally, sought substantial pecuniary reward. He was past the age when men have usually made their mark, and had accomplished nothing. His steamboat plans were as yet on paper with nothing more definite than hope. He was in debt to his “two friends in America,” a debt that he could repay by no other means in sight than through his submarine contract. He, therefore, made the best fight he could, single-handed, to obtain a favorable settlement.
It is interesting to follow the working of Fulton’s mind in these final negotiations for a satisfactory adjustment, as shown by his own letters. In his original contract of May, 1804, he made no reservation, but placed his ideas wholly and exclusively at the disposition of the British Government. It does not appear that he gave any thought to the use of his device by the United States. This is not remarkable. He had left America when he was but twenty-one years old. At that time there was no constitution, no federal government, nothing but a confederacy of colonies disturbed by strong jealousies of each other. He had lived abroad for twenty years, including the formative period of a man’s character. His sole tie with his native country, his mother, had been cut by her death. The Barlows were quite as much French as American. There was nothing except the friendship and personality of Livingston to rouse in him a sense of patriotism, or lead him to feel the existence of a national spirit in a united country in America.
The first reference to the use of his submarine by America appears in his letter to Lord Castlereagh, dated “London December 13th, 1805,” given on pages 104–8. When this letter was written, it was becoming clear to Fulton that the British Government might refuse to make payment under the contract, and that he would have to use some sort of force to compel a compliance with the terms. The only force that he could employ would be a threat to give his secret to some other power. France was now quite out of the question, and there was no one power in Europe that could serve as a means to scare. The United States, now become a nation, was the only hope. In his letter to Lord Castlereagh he advances the ingenious solution that he receive a substantial cash payment and an annuity, the latter to continue only so long as the secret was kept inviolate by him. He concludes by diplomatically hinting that the only government to whom he would be likely to explain his invention would be his own. In the paper that he read to the Arbitrators he makes a distinct threat that, unless a satisfactory offer be made, he will not only give his secret to America but publish it to the whole world, although he modified this by stating that he had “no desire to introduce my Engines into practice for the benefit of any other Nation.” (page 126.)
Although refused by the Arbitrators, he made a final effort with Lord Grenville, on September 3rd, to obtain his pecuniary award, by again offering what he called his “neutrality.” (pages 137–8.)
But the best exposition of Fulton’s position is given by himself in the concluding pages of his Notes, this part being written after his letters to and audience of Lord Grenville on September 3rd. This quotation was his final word:
“I have now said sufficient of this System to enable any ingenious man to make and arrange the Engines and any maritime nation to carry the whole into effect. If I live it is my intention to give this system to the public engraved with every necessary detail and I have made these sketches and this loose description which is litte more than a sketch of my studies on this Subject. In order that they may not be lost to my country and mankind in case of any accident to me.
The prosecution of this system will put maritime nations on equal means of offensive war, will give them equal means of distressing each others commerce or destroying their Ships of war and consequently will produce the liberty of the Seas. What I mean By the liberty of the seas, is that all Vessels of all nations should carry any kind of Cargo to any port of any and every nation whever (wherever?) the owners thought proper to Send her if In such port she could not dispose of her cargo or found a duty equal to a prohibition then let her go elsewhere, unmolested for the perfect liberty of trade is the real interest of all mankind. Under such a system Infinate stupid causes of war will be done away, and the genius and millions which are now Expended on wars, will then be directed to useful enterprises—
With such immense and humain objects In View and which has been the great Stimules to my prosecuting of this subject, It may be necessary to give a reason for offering to abandon these inventions to the British government to use or not as they might think proper.
My first reason is that my country does not at present seem to require such engines And although I had written to Mr. Jefferson twice on the progress I had made and the final happy consequences of such a system I never had an answer from him nor do I know that I shall have the least encouragement in America to systematize these plans for the use of the Country.
Second, Untill my country feels the importance of these engines and seeing the power which they possess to give liberty to the seas, and will unite with me in introducing them effectually into the world, and considering the immense advantages which America would gain from a perfect liberty of the seas, and would make my friends a reasonable compensation for the Sums they have advanced to enable me to prosecute my experiments, Untill my (“country,” undoubtedly omitted) sees such advantages and does such things It is right that I Should do everything in my power for the interest of such friends and even to guard my own Interest Will any American or liberal minded man call such actions sorded and wish me to abandon years of Industry to the public good while neither he nor the government have offered one Shilling to promote so glorious an enterprise?
Third.
As my country has not immediate use for such engines and the prosecution of my system may now be considered on the broad scale of general good It is no abandonment of my plan to take some years to reflect on it and give give it to the world with every demonstration of probable success.
Fourth.
As I am bound in honor to Mr. Livingston to put my steam boat in practice and such an engine is of more immediate use to my country than submarine navigation I wish to devote some years to it and Should the British Government allow me an annuity I Should not only do Justice to my friends but it would enable me to carry my steam Boat and other plans into effect for the good of my country. It is therefore for this reason I have offered England my neutrality for the present and when I proposed an annuity it was only to continue for so long as my engines were not used by france or any other nation against England, this is doing justice to all parties and leaving me at liberty to abandon the annuity whenever my friends and I might think proper, to introduce the engines into practice.
It never has been my intention to hide these inventions from the world on any consideration on the contrary it ever has been my intention to make them public as soon as consistent with Strict justice to all with whome I am concerned.
For myself I have ever considered the interest of America, free commerce the interest of mankind the magnitude of the objective view and the rational reputation connected with it superior to all calculations of a pecuniary Mind
Robert Fulton”
It will be seen that Fulton made two appeals to the President at Washington, undoubtedly when his negotiations for a final settlement with the British Government were beginning to take a discouraging turn. But Mr. Jefferson apparently never even acknowledged his letters.
Scorned by France, played with and then rejected by England, ignored by America, Fulton with weary heart and disappointed spirit set out in October, 1806, on the return to his own country, that he had left, with only forty guineas in his pocket, but radiant with youth’s hopes, twenty years before. He still had hope, and his courage had never failed him. Now, at last, he was to win his reward, in the way most dear to him, by receiving recognition of his talents. Though he had but the short space of nine years more to live, nevertheless, before they were completed he was to achieve everlasting fame through his steamboat “Clermont.”
His submarine plans he had left in England. He dismissed them from further consideration in the excitement of his other success. Then came his death, and his plans lay dormant. Others were to work over the same idea and bring it after many trials to perfection, until finally after an interval of more than one hundred years, it was to become, as Fulton foresaw, a great offensive force. It was then to be used, but not as he could have imagined, against the three countries, jointly, that he served and loved in turn.
Chapter XII
EXAMINATION OF FULTON’S DESIGN
What the Nautilus accomplished. The British design compared with that of the Nautilus. Folding propeller. Horizontal propeller. Details of machinery. Effectiveness of the vessel. Screening the Channel.
However interesting from an academic point of view may be Fulton’s views on philosophy, free trade and social problems, and his personal peculiarities as displayed in his negotiations with government officials, the animating question of historical bearing relates to the boat itself. Was the design practical, would it as developed have been able to serve a useful purpose, or was it only a single step in a long process of evolution?
The Nautilus, defective as she was in many particulars which Fulton admitted, clearly demonstrated certain facts: firstly, that a boat could be made to plunge and rise at will; secondly, that it could remain under water with a crew of three men for several hours; thirdly, that it could be manoeuvered and steered by the compass under water as well as on the surface. These features are the essence of the principle of successful submarine practice, and so much Fulton accomplished.
It is a far cry from a little vessel like the Nautilus, no bigger than a ship’s boat that is carried at the davits, to a modern submarine capable of keeping the seas for many weeks, of crossing and recrossing the ocean without replenishing either stores or fuel, and of carrying not only torpedoes and apparatus for their discharge but also a 12–inch long-range gun firing a projectile weighing nearly one-half ton. Except as to size, which is not really a basic feature of principle, the modern submarine differs from Fulton’s proposals in that it possesses an engine actuated when on the surface by a fuel (oil) whose activity can be instantly stopped preparatory to plunging, and by a power (electric storage battery) that neither generates heat nor vitiates the air while submerged. For that combination of motive power the world had to wait another hundred years.
The Nautilus, as a matter of fact, was something vastly more than a toy or experimental model. It possessed real offensive powers, and a fleet of them, as Fulton proposed and as the British navy officials feared, would have been able to do real havoc. In estimating the offensive power of Fulton’s design, the picture of the modern submarine must be kept out of sight. The latter is called on to meet conditions of mechanical development and types of hostile vessels that are as much in advance of those existing when Fulton lived, as is the complicated mechanism of a present-day submarine over the hand-driven propeller proposed by him.
At the beginning of the last century, a ship-of-the-line was a very unwieldly affair. She was bluff bowed and high sided and consequently could be handled satisfactorily only when “off the wind.” Even under these favorable conditions, speed was comparatively slow. With a light wind, especially with a light adverse wind, she could make but little headway. Such a wind rendered capital ships practically helpless. That they were not destroyed by the opposing force was because at such times the opposing force was helpless too. A boat that had offensive power of attack and had means of locomotion enough to overcome tidal currents would have been an effective menace. As Fulton pointed out, the only measure of defense by a large vessel at anchor would lie in a cordon of small boats. But a boat fully, or even partially, submerged would have had an excellent chance to get through a cordon and destroy her prey. In spite of the limitation of speed and cruising range that today would condemn any such boat as absolutely worthless, these limitations were sufficiently generous when compared with the status of naval architecture that prevailed in 1800–1806 to make Fulton’s submarine, when he proposed it, a factor of actual and positive value.
If that can be said of the Nautilus, all the more it is true of the design that he submitted to the British Government. Between the Brest experiments in 1801 and his proposals in 1804, as evidenced by his “Drawings and Descriptions,” it is clear that he had given the matter considerable thought and to some purpose. The specifications as submitted to the British agent called for a boat 35 feet long and 10 feet beam as compared with the similar dimensions of the Nautilus of 21 ft. 3 in. and 6 ft. 4 in., respectively, giving at least three times the tonnage. It was to carry a crew of six instead of three men with provisions sufficient to enable her to be kept at sea for 20 days. The offensive capacity was 30 submarine bombs (or mines) as against a single trailing one with the Nautilus. The vessel designed for the British Government was a real sea-going boat that could independently navigate the Channel while the little Nautilus could not venture far from land or from some large vessel acting as a base.
An examination of the details, particularly those on Plates First and Second will disclose many improvements over the French prototype, shown facing page 26. In the first place the hull is that of a seagoing boat, equipped with a well-developed sail plan for propulsion when on the surface and not the queer contraption that the French marine architects condemned. On the surface this boat could have been handled as easily and she would have sailed as fast as any sloop of the same size. The mast could have been laid back on the deck and the sails disposed of in a few minutes preparatory to plunging.
To plunge and again come to the surface of the water, ballast tanks, sea valves and hand pumps provided ample facilities readily to overcome or restore excess of buoyancy. The brass cylinder with the hemispherical ends would suffice to withstand the exterior hydrostatic pressure. The required thickness of shell was a matter of computation, one readily made with certainty even in those days.
The difficulty with all early submarines was motion beneath the surface. In the British plan, Fulton proposed to obtain motion by a manually operated crank turning a propeller. The boat was larger than the Nautilus, but so also would have been the crew. For short distances he could undoubtedly have driven the boat at his estimated speed. The propeller was a two-bladed affair of modern type. Fulton had now definitely abandoned the full helical or Archimedes screw that Bushnell used and which he had himself tried in his first experiments.
Reference to Plate First and its description will show, however, an exceedingly interesting addition that Fulton had made in the British boat. He reasoned correctly that a propeller when not turning would cause a considerable drag to the boat when sailing, and thus reduce her speed. He, therefore, arranged that his propeller could be folded so as to lie horizontally. This he proposed to do by a hand crank and gearing operated from within the boat. On Plate Seventh it will be seen that the propeller when folded lay well above the water surface and so would not have been an impediment to the motion of the boat. When it is recalled that the propeller was not generally adopted as a means of vessel propulsion until after 1845, when the steamship Great Britain crossed the ocean between England and New York, the first vessel driven by a screw propeller to accomplish the feat, and that a propeller that could be folded or hoisted above water was not introduced until about 1850, because at that period steam was merely an auxiliary to sails, it will be seen how far ahead of his time Fulton was in the design that he made in 1804.
Another radical innovation was a horizontal propeller, Marked B in Plate First, attached near the bow of the boat. This propeller, also actuated by a crank from within the boat, was to give the boat vertical motion when submerged and so enable it to be kept at any depth that might be desired. This principle of the horizontal propeller is that of the helicopter, the device now being experimented with by airplane designers in order to give planes a vertical motion or permit them to hover stationary in the air. It was precisely those same results in the water that Fulton undertook to accomplish with his submarine.
The other mechanism in the interior of the boat is simple and self-explanatory. There were two anchors with windlasses, one anchor to hold in the usual manner against drifting, the other to regulate depth when lying stationary. There were pumps for emptying the water ballast chambers. On deck was a conning tower quite similar to the tower on a modern submarine, which served when closed as a lookout for the helmsman, and when open as means of ingress and egress for the crew. This conning tower had glass windows through which an observer could watch big prey, or steer his course when the boat was partially submerged. Plate Fifth shows how the conning tower could be used when it should be the only part of the vessel above the surface. This particular plate is of peculiar interest in that Fulton has drawn a picture of himself looking through the glass-covered ports. In the original drawing the head is full size.
Attached to the conning tower were two pipes marked F and G in Plate Second. These pipes led to the interior of the boat and permitted fresh air to be drawn in, and the vitiated or mephitic air (as Fulton called it) expelled. These pipes permitted the boat to be submerged so that the deck was just awash, the only part above the surface being the upper half of the conning tower and the air pipes. This is the situation as shown in Plate Fifth. So operated, the boat did not differ materially from a modern submarine under similar conditions with her periscope out of water.
From Fulton’s small conning tower he had only direct vision. A periscope enables the boat to be wholly submerged with vision obtained by reflecting mirrors. But a boat submerged so as to be just awash, with only the conning tower showing, and driven by a hand-operated propeller could have entered at night unseen almost any harbor, because in those days there were no powerful searchlights to illuminate the surface of the water at a distance.
The British were right in the secret note that they sent to the naval commanders that Fulton’s boat, even without the later improvements that he showed the British Government, could in the hands of the French have made an attack with very serious results upon an open roadstead such as the mouth of the Thames.
According to modern phraseology, Fulton’s British boat was a submersible rather than a submarine. The latter term defines a vessel that has powers of offense under water by torpedoes that in turn have means of locomotion. With such a torpedo neither Fulton nor the art was acquainted. His torpedoes or “bombs” were immobile affairs intended to be anchored, dragged by a boat or allowed to drift with the tide and to explode by concussion.
With the Nautilus it is true that he contemplated dragging a “bomb” beneath the bottom of a ship to be attacked, and in this respect the Nautilus possessed some feature of a true submarine. The plan that he proposed for the Nautilus presented many serious difficulties depending as it did on the fixing of a spike in the bottom of the other vessel. Fulton himself apparently reached the conclusion that this suggestion was impracticable, through actual experiments or further study. The boat that he proposed for the British Government had no such attachment, but instead was designed to carry “bombs” to be deposited secretly in an enemy harbor, and there to be anchored so as to remain beneath the surface when they would come in contact with the bottoms of passing vessels, or to be released in couples held by bridles and thus to be carried by tidal currents across the cables of anchored ships when the “bombs” would be drawn beneath the vessel and explode.
What Fulton called “bombs” are today known as mines. No means are shown in his plans by which these mines could be placed or released while his boat was submerged. The capability to submerge and to move beneath the surface was expected to permit the boat to work into a harbor unperceived, and there to lie in wait beneath the surface until night presented the opportunity to rise unseen, when the mines would be placed or set free. The successful experiment with the Dorothea showed that his mines could be completely effective and that, therefore, his submersible mine layer, as perhaps she can be correctly described, could have been developed into a very effective engine of war.
In Fulton’s bombs, as he calls them, we are not particularly interested because he has fully described these devices in his book that he wrote on Torpedo Warfare. It is, however, in view of subsequent events exceedingly interesting to point out that Fulton foresaw the conditions that actually obtained in the recent war.
On pages 71–2 of the “Descriptions” he explained how hundreds of such bombs or mines could be strewn in the channel of the Thames or along the coast and it would not be in the power of the whole British marine to prevent such practice. This is precisely what the Germans undertook to do, forcing the British, even though they had control of the open seas, to sweep the Channel by daylight, day after day, in order to remove mines that might have been planted during the night. Furthermore, Fulton pointed out that a line of such mines could be strung from Calais to Dover, rendering it “impossible for any vessel to pass without certain destruction.” When the German submarine attack on British commerce became seriously acute, the British authorities put into execution that which Fulton had suggested and strung a line of obstructions across the Channel from Dover to Calais thereby compelling the German submarines to pass around the northern coast of Scotland in order to reach the open sea.
Speaking of the effect of submarines and mines, Fulton’s language is worthy of repetition because the sinister side of his prophecy became so nearly realized between 1914 and 1918:
The moment this System or any other reduces the British marine to Boat fighting, the revered Sovereignty of the Seas will be forever lost; Colonies must be Abandoned and the whole influence which England holds in the scale of nations will Vanish. This is the natural and obvious consequence of this system when reduced to practice and prosicuted by a powerful nation with energy and Spirit. The Wealth of England and the existence of her fleets depend on her immense and uninterrupted commerce, But should France ever possess a means to cut off or interrupt such trade, England would be obliged to submit to any terms which Bonapart might think proper to dictate.
Substituting Germany for France and Hohenzollern for Bonaparte, we have precisely the very situation that existed in 1915, when the naval authorities of Germany expected to break the power of Great Britain, and in which attempt they came so perilously near success.
The Commission charged by the Directory to examine the plan of the Nautilus gave credit in its report on September 5th, 1798, to Fulton for having invented a terrible means of destruction since it acts in silence. That description was merited, but it remained no more than an expression of private opinion. It failed to secure for Fulton the public support to which his device entitled him. The world, perhaps fortunately, had to wait a century for the production of this engine of destruction. In the light of experience an examination of Fulton’s improved plan as contained in his “Drawings and Descriptions,” fully confirms the decision of the French Commission in that:
“LE BATEAU SOUS-MARIN IMAGINÉ PAR LE CITOYEN FULTON EST UN MOYEN DE DESTRUCTION TERRIBLE, PARCE QU’IL AGIT DANS LE SILENCE ET D’UNE MANIÈRE PRESQUE INEVITABLE.”
[1].
Au Général Bounaparte,
Citoyen General
Le Cn Perier m’ayant appris que vous desiriez connaître mon Travail sur le Systême des Petits Canaux, je prends la liberté de vous présenter une copie de cet ouvrage, trop heureux si vous y trouvez quelques Moyens d’ameliorer l’industrie de la République Française
Parmi toutes les Causes des Guerres chaque jour, il est vrai, voit disparaître celles qui tiénnent a l’existence des Rois, des prêtres, et de ce qui les accompagne. Mais neanmoins les Républiques elles-mêmes ne seront pas à l’abri de ces funestes querrelles, tant qu’elles ne se dèferont pas de ces Systêmes erronés de Commerce exclusif et de Possessions lointaines. C’est donc un motif pour tout homme qui aime ses semblables de chercher a détruire ces erreurs; l’Ambition même ne doit plus Chercher la gloire qu’en montrant aux hommes le chemin de la vérité, et en écartant les obstacles qui empêchent les nations d’arriver à une paix durable; Car, quelle Gloire peut resister au temps,—si elle ne reçoit la Sanction de La Philosophie?
Pour affranchir les Nations, Citoyen Général, vous avez exécuté de vaste entreprises, et la gloire dont vous vous êtes couvert, doit être aussi durable que le temps; qui donc pourrait seconder d’une approbation plus efficace des projets qui peuvent Contribuer au bien Général? C’est dans cette idée que je vous soumets mon Travail, espérant que si vous y rencontrez quelques vérités utiles, vous daignerez les appuyer d’une influence aussi puissante que la Vôtre; et en effet, favoriser des projets dont l’exécution doit rendre des millions d’homme heureux, peut-il être pour le genie vertueux de plus delicieuse jouissance? C’est sous ce point de vue que les améliorations intérieures et la Liberté du Commerce Sont de la plus haute importance.—
Si le Succés couronne les efforts de la France, Contre l’Angleterre, il ne tiendra qu’à elle de terminer Glorieusement cette longue Guerre, en donnant la liberté au Commerce et en faisant Adopter le Systême aux autres puissances; La liberté politique acquerra ainsi le dégré de perfection et d’etendue dont elle est susceptible, et la Philosophie verra avec joie l’olivier d’une paix éternelle ombrager la Carriére des Sciences et de l’Industrie.
Salut et respect
Robert Fulton
Paris 12 floreal an 6
[2]. Citoyen Ministre
Il y a maintenant vingt mois que je présentai pour la première fois le plan de mon Nautile à l’Ex-Directeur La Reveillere Lepaux; il le présenta au Dirèctoire qui eu ordonna le renvoi au Ministre de la Marine Pléville, et enfin il fut rejeté après cinq mois de discussions. Reproduit sous l’administration du citoyen Bruix, il eut le même sort après environ quatre mois d’attente, un accueil si peu favorable de la part des premiers magistrats de la France, dont le devoir est d’encourager les découvertes tendantes à propager la Liberté et à établir l’harmonie entre les nations, me prouve qu’ils s’étaient fait une idée fausee des effets tant phisiques que moraux de cette Machine.
Voyons d’abord quels seraient pour la France les effets immédiats du Nautile. La perte du premier Bâtiment anglais qui serait détruit par un moyen extraordinaire, jeterroit le Gouvernement Britannique dans le dernier embarras; il sentiroit que par le même moyen on pourroit détruire toute sa marine; que par le même moyen il seroit possible de bloquer la Tamise et de couper tout le commerce de Londres. Quelle seroit, dans de pareilles circonstances, la consternation de l’Angleterre? Comment Pitt soudoyeroit-il alors les puissances coalisées? It en résulteroit que, privée des guinées de Pitt, la Coalition s’evanouiroit, et que la France, ainsi delivrée de ses nombreux ennemis, pourrait travailler sans obstacle a l’affermissement de sa liberté et à la paix.
Après avoir ainsi montré les heureux effets qui résulteroient immédiatement du succès du Nautile, je passe aux objections aussi vulgaires que peu philosophiques, élevées contre cette machine. Je ferai voir ensuite comment le Nautile peut contribuer à propager la véritable Liberté et à établir l’harmonie entre les peuples.
La première objection est que si la France se servoit du Nautile contre l’Angleterre, l’Angleterre pourroit également eu faire usage contre la France; mais il ne me paroit nullement vraisemblable que les Anglais s’en servent contre la France, car avant qu’ils en connussent la mécanique, la France pourroit, comme je l’ai dit, bloquer la Tamise, couper le commerce de Londres et réduire par là le cabinet de St. James aux termes de la plus entière soumission;
C’est la force navale de l’Angleterre qui est la source des horreurs incalculables qui se commettent journellement; c’est la marine anglaise qui soutient le gouvernement anglais, et c’est ce gouvernement qui, par ces intrigues, a été la cause des deux tiers des crimes qui ont signalé le cours de la revolution.
Si par le moyen du Nautile on réussissoit à detruire la marine anglaise, on pourroit, avec une flotte de Nautiles, bloquer la Tamise, jusqu’à ce que l’Angleterre fut républicanisée; bientôt l’Irelande secoueroit le joug et la monarchie anglaise seroit anéantie. Une nation riche et industrieuse viendroit ainsi augumenter le nombre des républiques de l’Europe, et ce seroit avoir fait un pas immense vers la liberté et la paix universelle.
Si l’Angleterre adoptait le gouvernement républicain, je ne doute pas que la France et elle n’ensevelissent dans l’oubli ces vieilles haines et cette fatale rivalité fomentées par la stupide aristocratie. Les deux Républiques se traiteroient en soeurs, donneroient à leur commerce respectif une entière liberté et, dans ce cas, n’auroient besoin, ni l’une ni l’autre de marine militaire; ainsi l’amitié, malgré le préjugé vulgaire, uniroit deux grands peuples, et l’humanité respireroit.
De légères circonstances produisent souvent de grands changemens dans les opérations des hommes. La Boussole a donné au commerce une extension sans bornes et a multiplié les lumières; l’invention de la poudre a changé tout l’art de la guerre, sans en dimineur les horreurs. J’espère que le Nautile non seulement détruira les marines militaires, mais en brisant ces instrumens destructeurs dans les mains de l’aristocratie, servira la cause de la liberté et de la paix. Je vous ai présenté ici, d’une maniere claire et impartiale une partie de ses heureux effets, et je suis loin de me faire aucun merité de l’avoir imaginé le premièr. L’idée pouvoit en venir à tout autre ingenieur qui cherche avec autant d’ardeur que moi à faire triompher la cause de l’humanité.
[3]. Vous me permettrez d’observer, que quoique j’ai le plus haut respect pour vous et les autres membres du gouvernement, et quoique je conserve le plus ardent désir de voir abattre la marine Anglaise, cependant la maniere froide et décourageante dans laquelle toutes mes exertions ont été traitées depuis trois ans, me forcent à abandonner l’enterprise en France, si on ne l’accueille pas d’une maniere plus amicale et libérale.
[4]. Je viens de lire la proposition du citoyen Fulton que vous m’avez adressée beaucoup trop tard, en ce qu’elle peut changer la face du monde. Quoiqu’il en soit, je désire que vous en confiiez immédiatement l’examen à une commission composée de membres choisis dans les différentes classes de l’Institut. C’est là que l’Europe savante doit chercher des juges pour résoudre la question dont il s’agit. Aussitôt le rapport fait, il vous sera transmis et vous me l’enverrez. Tâchez que tout cela ne soit pas l’affaire de plus de huit jours.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
- Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
- All spelling errors were left uncorrected.
- Footnotes were re-indexed using numbers and collected together at the end of the last chapter.