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.