In Paris a street once bore his name, and his gravestone in the cemetery at Auteuil is the only material mark of his residence in France.

In America the Rumford medals which he founded, and the institutions he originated, form his enduring monuments.

In England the highest scientific reward which the Royal Society can bestow, and the place where the greatest scientific discoveries of this century have been made, should both in gratitude be inseparably united with the name of Rumford.

[CHAPTER III.]
EARLY HISTORY OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION, 1799-1800;
WITH THE LIFE OF PROFESSOR GARNETT.

The history of the Proposals for founding the Royal Institution is thus given by Count Rumford in 1799:

Having long been in a habit of considering all useful improvements as being purely mechanical, or as depending on the perfection of machinery and address in the management of it, and of considering profit (which depends much on the perfection of machinery) as the only incitement to industry, I was naturally led to meditate on the means that might be employed with advantage to diffuse the knowledge and facilitate the general introduction of such improvements; and the plan which is now submitted to the public was the result of these investigations.

In the beginning of the year 1796 I gave a faint sketch of this plan in my second essay; but, being under a necessity of returning soon to Germany, I had not leisure to pursue it farther at that time, and I was obliged to content myself with having merely thrown out a loose idea, as it were by accident, which I thought might possibly attract attention.

After my return to Munich, I opened myself more fully on the subject in my correspondence with my friends in this country, and particularly in my letters to Thomas Bernard, Esq., who, as is well known, is one of the founders and most active members of the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor.

This gentleman I found, on my return to England in September 1798, not only agreeing with me in opinion in regard to the utility and importance of the plan I had proposed, but very solicitous that some attempts should be made to carry it into immediate execution in this capital.

After several consultations, that were held at Mr. Bernard’s apartments in the Foundling Hospital and at the house of the Lord Bishop of Durham, at which several gentlemen assisted who are well known as zealous promoters of useful improvement, it was agreed that Mr. Bernard should report to the Committee of the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor the general result of these consultations, and the unanimous desire of the gentlemen who assisted at them, that means might be devised for making an attempt to carry the scheme proposed into execution.

The gentlemen of the Committee agreed with me entirely in the opinion I had taken the liberty to express, that the Institution which it was proposed to form would be too conspicuous, and too interesting and important, to be made an appendix to any other existing establishment, and, consequently, that it must stand alone, and on its own proper basis; but as these gentlemen had no direct communication with any persons, except with the members of their own Society, they appointed a Committee, consisting of eight persons, from their own body, to confer with me on the subject of the plan.[12]

I had the honour to meet this Committee on this business on the 31st of January, at the house of Richard Sulivan, Esq., where a plan I had previously drawn up for forming the Institution in question was read and examined, and its principles unanimously approved; but, as some of the gentlemen present were of opinion that the plan entered too much into detail to be submitted to the public in the beginning of the business, I undertook to revise it, and to endeavour to accommodate it to the wishes of the Committee.

Having made such alterations in it as I thought might satisfy the Committee, I sent a corrected copy of it to them, accompanied by the following letter:

‘Gentlemen,—Inclosed I have the honour to send you a corrected copy of the Proposals I took the liberty of laying before you on Thursday last, for forming in this capital, by private subscription, a public Institution for diffusing the knowledge and facilitating the general and speedy introduction of new and useful mechanical inventions and improvements; and also for teaching, by regular courses of philosophical lectures and experiments, the application of the new discoveries in science to the improvement of arts and manufactures, and in facilitating the means of procuring the comforts and conveniences of life.

‘The tendency of the proposed Institution to excite a spirit of inquiry and of improvement amongst all ranks of society, and to afford the most effectual assistance to those who are engaged in the various pursuits of useful industry, did not escape your observation; and it is, I am persuaded, from a conviction of the utility of the plan, or its tendency to increase the comforts and enjoyments of individuals, and at the same time to promote the public prosperity, that you have been induced to take it into your serious consideration. I shall be much flattered if it should meet with your approbation and with your support.

‘Though I am perfectly ready to take any share in the business of carrying the scheme into execution, in case it should be adopted, that can be required, yet there is one preliminary request which I am desirous may be granted me, and that is, that the Government may be previously made acquainted with the scheme before any steps are taken towards carrying it into execution; and also that his Majesty’s Ministers may be informed that it is in the contemplation of the founders of the Institution to accept of my services in the arrangement and management of it.

‘The peculiar situation in which I stand in this country, as a subject of his Majesty, and being at the same time, by his Majesty’s special commission, granted under his royal sign manual, engaged in the service of a foreign prince, this circumstance renders it improper for me to engage myself in this important business, notwithstanding that it might perhaps be considered merely as a private concern, without the knowledge and the approbation of the Government.

‘I am quite certain that my engaging in this, or in any other business in which there is any prospect of my being of any public use in this country, will meet with the most cordial approbation of his Most Serene Highness the Elector Palatine, in whose service I am; for I know his sentiments on that subject; and although I do not imagine that his Majesty or his Majesty’s Ministers would disapprove of my giving my assistance in carrying this scheme into execution, yet I feel it to be necessary that their approbation should be asked and obtained; and, if I might be allowed to express my sentiments on another matter, which, no doubt, has already occurred to everyone of the gentlemen to whom I now address myself, I should say that, in my opinion, it would not only be proper, but even necessary, to inform Government of the nature of the scheme that is proposed and of every circumstance relative to it, and at the same time to ask their countenance and support in carrying it into execution; for although it may be allowable in this free country for individuals to unite in forming and executing extensive plans for diffusing useful knowledge and promoting the public good, yet it appears to me that no such establishment should ever be formed in any country without the knowledge and approbation of the Executive Government.

‘Trusting that you will be so good as to excuse the liberty I take in making this observation, and that you will consider my doing it as being intended rather to justify myself, by explaining my principles than from any idea of its being necessary on any other account, I have the honour to be, with much respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient and most humble Servant,

(Signed) ‘Rumford.

‘Brompton Row, February 7, 1799.
(Addressed)

‘To the Gentlemen named by the Committee of the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor to confer with Count Rumford on his scheme for forming a new Establishment in London for Diffusing the Knowledge of Useful Mechanical Improvements, &c.’

The Committee above mentioned having, in the meantime, made their report to the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor, that Society came to the following resolution:

‘At a meeting of the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor, on Friday, the 1st of February, 1799,

‘Present:

  • The Bishop of Durham, in the chair,
  • Patrick Colquhoun, Esq.,
  • Thomas Bernard, Esq.,
  • William Manning, Esq.,
  • John Sullivan, Esq.,
  • The Rev. Dr. Glasse,
  • John J. Angerstein, Esq.,
  • William Wilberforce, Esq.,
  • Richard Joseph Sulivan, Esq.,
  • Matthew Martin, Esq., Secretary,

the Committee appointed to confer with Count Rumford reported that they had had a conference with the Count, and that they were satisfied that the Institution proposed by him would be extremely beneficial and interesting to the community; that, in order to provide the pecuniary funds of the Society at its commencement, it was proposed that subscribers of fifty guineas each should be the perpetual proprietors of the Institution, and be entitled each to perpetual transferable tickets for the lectures and for admission to the apartments of the Institution; and that as soon as thirty such subscribers offered it was proposed to call a meeting of those thirty subscribers, in order to lay the plan before them and elect managers for the Institution.

‘Resolved,—That the said report be approved of, and that it be referred to the gentlemen of the Select Committee to communicate the outlines of the plan to the members of the Committee of the Society, and to such other persons as they shall think fit, desiring that those who wish to have their names inserted among the original subscribers to the Institution would communicate their wish to the Special Committee.

‘Extracted from the Minutes.
‘M. Martin, Secretary.’

In consequence of this resolution a paper was printed by the gentlemen of the Select Committee containing the outlines of the plan, and sent round privately among their friends and others whom they thought likely to countenance the scheme, accompanied by a printed copy of the foregoing resolution, with a request that those who were willing to allow their names to be put down among the original subscribers and proprietors of the Institution would be so good as to communicate their intentions by a letter addressed to Thomas Bernard, Esq., at the Foundling Hospital.

The Proposals that were circulated in this manner met with so much approbation that fifty-eight of the most respectable names were sent in before measures could be taken for holding a meeting, and these successful beginnings encouraged those who were principally concerned in forming and bringing forward the plan to make some alterations in it, and particularly in respect to the time and manner of choosing the first set of managers, and in regard to an application for a charter for the Institution, which it has been determined to make, in order to place the establishment on a more solid and more respectable foundation, and to give full security to the subscribers against all future claims upon them.

In this stage of the business, and especially as a meeting of the subscribers is to be held in a few days for the purpose of determining what other steps shall be taken for carrying the proposed plan into execution, I have thought it to be my duty to lay all these particulars before the subscribers, and at the same time to state to them at length the general outline of the plan I have taken the liberty to propose, and in the execution of which, if it should be adopted, I am ready to take any part that the subscribers may wish me to take.

Rumford.

Brompton Row, March 4, 1799.

The Proposals for forming by subscription, in the Metropolis of the British Empire, a Public Institution for diffusing the knowledge and facilitating the general introduction of useful mechanical inventions and improvements, and for teaching by courses of philosophical lectures and experiments the application of science to the common purposes of life were these:

The two great objects of the Institution being the speedy and general diffusion of the knowledge of all new and useful improvements, in whatever quarter of the world they may originate; and teaching the application of scientific discoveries to the improvement of arts and manufactures in this country, and to the increase of domestic comfort and convenience, these objects will be constantly had in view, not only in the arrangement and execution of the plan, but also in the future management of the Institution.

As much care will be taken to confine the establishment within its proper limits as to place it on a solid foundation, and to render it an ornament to the capital and an honour to the British nation.

In the execution of the plan it is proposed to proceed in the following manner:

A place having been fixed on by the managers for forming the Institution,

Spacious and airy rooms will be prepared for the reception and public exhibition of all such new and mechanical inventions and improvements as shall be thought worthy of the public notice, and more especially of all such contrivances as shall tend to increase the conveniences and comforts of life, to promote domestic economy, to improve taste, or to promote useful industry.

The most perfect models of the full size will be provided and exhibited in different parts of this public repository of all such new mechanical inventions and improvements as are applicable to the common purposes of life. Under this head will be included:

In order that those who visit this establishment may be enabled to acquire more just ideas of these various mechanical contrivances, and of the circumstances on which their peculiar merit principally depends, the machinery exhibited will, as far as it shall be possible, be shown in action, or in actual use, and with regard to many of the articles it is evident that this can be done without any difficulty and with very little additional expense.

It is likewise proposed to exhibit working models, on a reduced scale, of that most curious and most useful machine the Steam Engine.

Further it is proposed to exhibit in the repository of the Institution—

It is proposed that each article exhibited should be accompanied with a detailed account or description of it, properly illustrated by correct drawings. The name of the maker and the place of his abode will also be mentioned in this account, together with the price at which he is willing to furnish the article to buyers.

In order to carry into effect the second object of the Institution—namely, TEACHING THE APPLICATION OF SCIENCE to the USEFUL PURPOSES OF LIFE—

A lecture room will be fitted up for philosophical lectures and experiments, and a complete LABORATORY and PHILOSOPHICAL APPARATUS, with the necessary instruments, will be provided for making chemical and other philosophical experiments.

In fitting up this lecture room (which will never be used for any other purpose than for giving lectures in natural Philosophy and Philosophical Chemistry) convenient places will be provided and reserved for the subscribers, and care will be taken to warm and light the room properly, and provide for a sufficient supply of fresh air, so as to render it comfortable and salubrious.

In engaging lecturers for the Institution care will be taken by the managers to invite none but men of the first eminence in science to officiate in that most important and most distinguished situation; and no subjects will ever be permitted to be discussed at these lectures but such as are strictly scientifical, and immediately connected with that particular branch of science publicly announced as the subject of the lecture. The managers to be responsible for the strict observance of this regulation.

In case there should be places to spare in the lecture room, persons not subscribers will, on the recommendation of a subscriber, and on paying a certain small sum to be determined by the managers, be permitted to attend the public lectures or any one or more of them.

Among the various branches of science that will occasionally be made the subjects of these public lectures may be reckoned the following, viz.: These lectures will treat—

Of the Funds of the Institution.

It is proposed to raise the money necessary for defraying the expense of forming this Institution, and also for the future expense of keeping it up, in the following manner:

1st. By the sums subscribed by the original founders and sole proprietors of the Institution, at fifty guineas each person, to be but once paid.

2dly. By the sums contributed by those who shall subscribe for life, at ten guineas each person, to be but once paid.

3dly. By the sums contributed by the annual subscribers at two guineas per annum for each person.

4thly. By the particular donations and legacies that may be expected to be made for the purpose of extending and improving so interesting and so useful an Institution; and,

Lastly. By the sums that shall be received at the door from strangers who shall visit the repository of the Institution, or who shall obtain leave to frequent the philosophical lectures.

Privileges of the Original Subscribers or Proprietors of the Institution.

1mo. These subscribers, who will never be called upon for any further contributions after the sum subscribed (fifty guineas) shall have been once paid, will be effectually secured against all future legal claims and demands upon them on account of any debts the managers of the Institution may contract, as a charter for the Institution will be applied for and obtained, for the express purpose of providing for that security, before any other step shall be taken for carrying this plan into execution, and before any part of the money subscribed will be demanded.

2do. Proprietors will not be deemed liable to serve, either as managers or as visitors, against their consent; and none will be considered as candidates for either of those offices, or will be entered on the lists as candidates, or be proposed as such, except it be those who shall have previously signified their willingness to serve in one of those offices in case of their being elected.

3tio. For the still greater security of the proprietors, as well as to found the Institution on a more solid basis, one-half of the sums subscribed by the original subscribers and proprietors of the Institution will be permanently vested in the public funds, or in the purchase of freehold property, and the annual produce thereof employed in defraying the expense of keeping up the Institution.

4to. Each original subscriber and proprietor of the Institution to be an hereditary governor of the Institution—to have a perpetual transferable share in all the property belonging to it—to have a voice in the election of the managers of the Institution, as also in the election of the Committee of Visitors—to have, moreover, two transferable tickets of perpetual admission into the establishment, and into every part of it, and two transferable tickets of admission to all the public philosophical lectures and experiments.

5to. Although the shares of proprietors and all the privileges annexed to them are hereditary, and are also transferable by sale or by donation, yet those to whom such shares are conveyed by sale or by donation must, in order to their being rendered capable of holding them, have obtained the approbation and consent of the majority of the managers for the time being. Those who shall become possessed of these shares by inheritance will not stand in need of the consent of the managers to be qualified to hold them, and to enjoy the rights and privileges annexed to them.

6to. Proprietors’ tickets will admit any persons who shall be the bearers of them.

7mo. Proprietors will have the privilege of recommending persons for admittance to the philosophical lectures and experiments, and the persons so recommended will be admitted in all cases where there shall be room for their accommodation, provided that the persons so admitted conform to the rules and regulations which will be established by the managers for the preservation of order and decorum within the walls of the Institution.

8vo. No more than forty per cent. of the sum subscribed by each proprietor will be wanted immediately, and the remainder may be furnished in three equal payments at the expiration of the three next succeeding half-years; but it will be in the option of proprietors to pay the whole sum of fifty guineas at once if they should prefer doing it.

Privileges of the Subscribers for Life.

Each subscriber of this class will receive one ticket for life, but not transferable, of free admission into the Institution, and into every part of it, together with one other ticket for life, but not transferable, of free admission to all public philosophical lectures and experiments.

Privileges of Annual Subscribers.

Each annual subscriber will receive one ticket for one year, but not transferable, of admission into the Institution, and into every part of it; as also one ticket for one year, but not transferable, of admission to all the public philosophical lectures and experiments. Subscribers of this class will, moreover, have a right of becoming subscribers for life, on paying at any time within the year for which they subscribe an additional sum of eight guineas.

Privileges that are common to Subscribers of all Denominations.

1mo. Subscribers for life and annual subscribers, as well as the proprietors of the Institution, will be entitled to have copies or drawings (made at their own expense, however) of any of the models in the repository, and this even when such copies are designed for the use of their friends, as well as when they are wanted for their own private use; and for their better and more speedy accommodation workshops will be prepared, and workmen provided under the direction of the managers, for executing such work properly and at reasonable prices. And, to prevent mistakes, all copies or drawings that shall be made of the machines, models, and plans lodged in the repository of the Institution will be examined by persons appointed for that purpose, and marked with a seal or stamp of the Institution.

2do. Tradesmen and artificers employed in executing any work after any of the models lodged in the repository will, on the recommendation of a proprietor or of a subscriber for life, or for one year, be allowed free access to such model as often as shall be necessary; and any workman or artificer so recommended who shall be willing to furnish to buyers any article exhibited in the repository that is in his line of business, will be allowed to place a specimen of such article of his manufacture in the repository, with his name and place of abode attached to it, together with the price at which he can furnish it, such specimen having been examined and approved by the managers.

Of the Government and Management of the Institution.

1mo. All the affairs of the Institution will be directed and governed by nine managers, chosen by and from among the proprietors of the Institution.

2do. For the greater convenience of the proprietors, and to spare them the trouble of a general meeting, all the elections of managers, after the first, will be made by ballot, by means of sealed lists of names sent in by the proprietors individually to the Institution, which lists will be opened, and the result of the election ascertained and published, by the united committees of the managers and of the visitors for the time being.

3tio. The first set of managers will be chosen by the first fifty or more original subscribers, at a general meeting of them to be held for that purpose; and of this first set of managers three will be chosen to serve three years, three to serve two years, and three to serve one year, reckoned from the 25th day of March, 1799.

4to. All managers, as well those of the first set as others, will be capable of being re-elected without limitation.

5to. The elections of managers to be made annually on the 25th day of the month of March,[13] and fourteen days previous to each election the managers for the time being will send to each proprietor individually a printed list containing the names of all such of the proprietors as shall have offered or consented to be candidates for the places among the managers that are to be filled up. On this printed list, which each proprietor will receive, he will indicate the persons to whom he gives his suffrage by making a mark with a pen and ink in the form of a small cross just before the names of those persons; and, this being done, he will seal up the list without signing it and send it to the Institution, directed ‘To the United Committee of the Managers and of the Visitors.’ In order that these lists may be recognised on their being returned to the Institution, they will all be marked with the stamp of the Institution previous to their being issued or sent to the proprietors. And, for still further security, each proprietor will be requested to send in his or her sealed list of names under an additional cover, signed with his or her own name, which additional cover will be taken off, and all the sealed lists mixed together in an urn, previous to any of them being opened—an arrangement that will effectually prevent the vote of any individual subscriber being known.

6to. The managers are to serve in that office without any pay or emolument or pecuniary advantage whatever; and by their acceptance of their office they shall be deemed solemnly to pledge themselves to the proprietors of the Institution and to the public for the faithful discharge of their duty as managers, and also for their strict adherence to the fundamental principles of the government of the Institution as established at its formation.

7mo. The managers are to take care that the property of the Institution, as far as it shall be practicable, be insured against accidents by fire.

8vo. The managers will cause exact and detailed accounts to be kept of all the property belonging to the Institution, as also of all receipts and expenditures. They will also keep regular minutes of all their proceedings, and will take care to preserve the most exact order and the strictest economy in the management of all the affairs and concerns of the Institution.

9mo. The managers are never, on any pretext, or in any manner whatever, to dispose of any money or property of any kind belonging to the Institution in premiums, as the design or object of the Institution is NOT TO GIVE REWARDS to the authors of ingenious inventions, but to diffuse the knowledge of such improvements as bid fair to be of general use, and to facilitate the general introduction of them; and to excite and assist the ingenious and the enterprising by the diffusion of science, and by awakening a spirit of inquiry.

10mo. The ordinary meetings of the managers for the despatch of the current business of the Institution will be held weekly—namely, on every , at the hour of ,—and extraordinary meetings will be held as often as shall be found necessary.

11mo. Any three or more of the managers being present at any ordinary or at an extraordinary meeting, the others having been duly summoned, to be a quorum.

12mo. The managers will be authorised to make all such standing orders and regulations as they shall deem necessary to the preservation of order and decorum in the Institution, as also such regulations respecting the manner of transacting the business of the Institution as they shall think proper and convenient, or that may be necessary in order to regulate the responsibility of the managers for their acts and deeds; all such standing orders and regulations must, however, in order to their being valid, be approved by six at least of the managers, and they must all be published and made known to all the proprietors.

Of the Committee of Visitors.

1mo. The Committee of Visitors will be composed of nine persons, the first set to be elected three months after the opening of the Institution.

2do. Three persons of the nine of which this Committee will consist will be chosen for three years, three of them to serve two years, and three of them to serve one year, reckoned from the 25th of March, 1799.

3tio. Any three or more of the members of this Committee being present at any meeting of the Committee, the others having been duly summoned, to make a quorum.

4to. It will be the business of this Committee formally to inspect and examine the Institution, and every part and detail of it, once every year—namely, on the 25th day of the month of March—and to give a printed account or report to the proprietors, and to the subscribers of all denominations, of its state and condition, and of the degree and manner in which it is found to answer the important ends for which it was designed. This Committee will also once every year—namely, on the 25th of the month of March—examine and audit the accounts of the receipts and expenditures of the Institution kept by the managers or by their orders; and the report of the Committee of Visitors on this audit will always make the first article in their public annual reports.

5to. A person actually serving as a visitor will not be eligible as a manager, nor can his name be put on the list of candidates for that office till one whole year shall have elapsed after he shall have ceased to belong to the Committee of Visitors. Those, however, who serve as visitors will be capable of being re-elected on that Committee without limitation.

Miscellaneous Articles.

1mo. The managers will take care to procure, and to exhibit in the repository as early as possible, models of all such new and useful mechanical inventions and improvements as shall, from time to time, be made in this or in any other country.

2do. All presents to the Institution, and all new purchases and acquisitions of every kind, will be and remain the joint property of the proprietors of the Institution and of their heirs and assigns, and all the surplus of the income of the Institution, over and above what shall be found necessary for maintaining it and keeping it up, will be employed by the managers in making additions to the local accommodation of the Institution, or in augmenting the collection of models, or in making additions to the philosophical apparatus, accordingly as the managers of the Institution for the time being shall deem most useful.

3tio. In order that the proprietors of the Institution and the subscribers may have the earliest notice of all new discoveries and useful improvements that shall be made, from time to time, not only in this country, but also in all the different parts of the world, the managers will employ the proper means for obtaining, as early as possible, from every part of the British Empire, and from all foreign countries, authentic accounts of all such new and interesting discoveries in the various branches of science, and in arts and manufactures, and also of all such new and useful mechanical improvements as shall be made; and a room will be set apart in the Institution where all such information will be lodged, and where it will be kept for the sole and exclusive use and inspection of the proprietors and subscribers, and where no stranger will ever be admitted.

‘Gentlemen,—Inclosed I have the honour to send you a corrected copy of the Proposals I took the liberty of laying before you on Thursday last, for forming in this capital, by private subscription, a public Institution for diffusing the knowledge and facilitating the general and speedy introduction of new and useful mechanical inventions and improvements; and also for teaching, by regular courses of philosophical lectures and experiments, the application of the new discoveries in science to the improvement of arts and manufactures, and in facilitating the means of procuring the comforts and conveniences of life.

‘The tendency of the proposed Institution to excite a spirit of inquiry and of improvement amongst all ranks of society, and to afford the most effectual assistance to those who are engaged in the various pursuits of useful industry, did not escape your observation; and it is, I am persuaded, from a conviction of the utility of the plan, or its tendency to increase the comforts and enjoyments of individuals, and at the same time to promote the public prosperity, that you have been induced to take it into your serious consideration. I shall be much flattered if it should meet with your approbation and with your support.

‘Though I am perfectly ready to take any share in the business of carrying the scheme into execution, in case it should be adopted, that can be required, yet there is one preliminary request which I am desirous may be granted me, and that is, that the Government may be previously made acquainted with the scheme before any steps are taken towards carrying it into execution; and also that his Majesty’s Ministers may be informed that it is in the contemplation of the founders of the Institution to accept of my services in the arrangement and management of it.

‘The peculiar situation in which I stand in this country, as a subject of his Majesty, and being at the same time, by his Majesty’s special commission, granted under his royal sign manual, engaged in the service of a foreign prince, this circumstance renders it improper for me to engage myself in this important business, notwithstanding that it might perhaps be considered merely as a private concern, without the knowledge and the approbation of the Government.

‘I am quite certain that my engaging in this, or in any other business in which there is any prospect of my being of any public use in this country, will meet with the most cordial approbation of his Most Serene Highness the Elector Palatine, in whose service I am; for I know his sentiments on that subject; and although I do not imagine that his Majesty or his Majesty’s Ministers would disapprove of my giving my assistance in carrying this scheme into execution, yet I feel it to be necessary that their approbation should be asked and obtained; and, if I might be allowed to express my sentiments on another matter, which, no doubt, has already occurred to everyone of the gentlemen to whom I now address myself, I should say that, in my opinion, it would not only be proper, but even necessary, to inform Government of the nature of the scheme that is proposed and of every circumstance relative to it, and at the same time to ask their countenance and support in carrying it into execution; for although it may be allowable in this free country for individuals to unite in forming and executing extensive plans for diffusing useful knowledge and promoting the public good, yet it appears to me that no such establishment should ever be formed in any country without the knowledge and approbation of the Executive Government.

‘Trusting that you will be so good as to excuse the liberty I take in making this observation, and that you will consider my doing it as being intended rather to justify myself, by explaining my principles than from any idea of its being necessary on any other account, I have the honour to be, with much respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient and most humble Servant,

(Signed) ‘Rumford.

‘Brompton Row, February 7, 1799.
(Addressed)

‘To the Gentlemen named by the Committee of the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor to confer with Count Rumford on his scheme for forming a new Establishment in London for Diffusing the Knowledge of Useful Mechanical Improvements, &c.’

‘At a meeting of the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor, on Friday, the 1st of February, 1799,

‘Present: