“I thank you for your intelligence, which I have communicated with due caution to Mr. S. and my son. The former says he has had no correspondence whatever with any of these societies, nor has frequented any here,—that he may have uttered unguarded or foolish words in private companies, but that he knows nothing of, nor is he concerned in, any plot or political scheme whatsoever. The latter says he never corresponded with any of them at any time, though he once executed a commission for one of them, and sent his answer to Mr. Tr.,—that for these two years he has had no sort of connexion with any of them, and for more than a year all his correspondence has been recommending his friends not to intermeddle with public affairs. As he proposes to see you to-morrow, he will explain himself, and I need not bid you council him for the best.”[344]
A few days later, his apprehensions of danger to his son not being removed, he wrote Boulton again as follows:—
“I am made very uneasy on account of James by this Bastille Act[345] now (I fancy) passed, and which I cannot help thinking un peu trop. I submit whether it might not be best for you to endeavour to make his peace with M[inist]ry by a candid avowal of his errors, and of his subsequent change of sentiment and renunciation of all correspondence with these traitors. In the mean time he had better make the best of his way to here, Liverpool, or Scotland; from either of the latter he might find his way to America if necessary. In any case let him not go in company with any of the persons who have laid themselves open to suspicion. I would not, however, have him rashly run out of the country. M[inist]ry must know who have been the active abettors of the plot, and, if they act wisely, will not molest those who have seen their error or have had the good sense to resist all temptations of engaging in plots against the peace of the country, whatever their opinions about parliamentary representation might be.... Query, whether Denmark, Hamburg, or Norway, might not be preferable to America, lest we go to war with the latter. If you find he is obnoxious, his letters to me should be directed by another hand, and not signed.”[346]
Four days later, Watt’s alarm was not abated by the appearance in Birmingham of king’s messengers making seizures of persons concerned in seditious correspondence. “They have taken up,” he wrote, “one Pare, who kept a reforming club at his house, and one or two others. The soldiers were ordered under arms to prevent tumult. I hear also that Wilkinson has been threatened with a mob at Bradley, and has prepared to defend himself with cannon, pikes, &c., but that matters are now quiet there. In respect to James, you must advise him, I cannot; but I think he would be better at home, following his business, than elsewhere.”[347] James eventually returned to Birmingham, where we find him from this time forward taking an increasingly active part in the affairs of the concern. He took entire charge of the manufacture of the letter-copying machines, now become a considerable branch of the business; and he shortly after entered the engine firm as a partner, in conjunction with Mr. Boulton’s eldest son, Matthew Robinson.
The infusion of young blood had the effect of imparting new vigour to all the branches of manufacture at Soho, and at the same time of relieving the senior partners from a considerable amount of labour and anxiety. The business was now in a very thriving state; there was abundance of orders for engines coming in; and the principal difficulty of the firm was in finding skilled workmen enough to execute them. Thus we find Watt junior writing to Boulton junior in January, 1795,—“We must have additional men, rather too many than too few, until we have got the start of our orders, for without that we shall always feel ourselves embarrassed and clogged. I shall therefore desire Rennie to renew his applications at Lancaster, which appear as yet to have been unsuccessful.”
The junior members of the firm were also useful in protecting the engine patent right, the infringement of which had become general all over the country. This was a disagreeable part of their business; but, if not attended to, the patent must be given up as worthless. The steam-engine was now regarded as an indispensable power in manufacturing operations. It had become employed in all important branches of industry; and it was, of course, the interest of the manufacturers to avoid the payment of dues wherever they could. An instance of this evasion was detected at the Bowling Ironworks near Bradford, and notice was given of proceedings against the Company for recovery of dues. On this the Bowling Company offered to treat, and young Watt went down to Leeds for the purpose of meeting the representatives of the Bowling Company on the subject. On the 24th February, 1796, he wrote his friend Matthew Robinson Boulton as follows:—
“Inclosed you have a copy of the treaty of peace, not amity, concluded at Leeds, on Saturday last, between me, Minister Plenipotentiary to your Highnesses on the one part, and the Bowling Pirates in person on the other part. I hope you will ratify the terms, as you will see they are founded entirely upon the principle of indemnity for the past and security for the future. The diameter and length of stroke of their different engines, four in number, I have; the times of their commencing to work will be sent you by Mr. Paley; and the amounts of the premiums may be definitively calculated upon my arrival, which will be about the latter end of this week.”
Another engine constructed after Watt’s patent was discovered working at a mill at Carke, in Cartmel, Lancashire. Mr. Stockdale, son of the proprietor, tells the following story of its detection. He states that the first engine employed at the works was one on Newcomen’s construction, which was used to pump water into the reservoir which supplied the water-power by which the mill was driven. It was then determined to apply the steam-power direct to the machinery, and a new engine was ordered from Manchester, without communicating with the patentees. The mill was in full work when a stranger called, representing that he belonged to the concern of Boulton and Watt, and requesting to inspect the engine. The request was complied with, and Mr. Stockdale afterwards invited him to stay to dinner; but it was the dearest dinner he ever gave, as only a few weeks later a claim for 1800l. was made by Boulton and Watt for dues upon the engine, which was, however, eventually compromised by the payment of 400l.
The most unscrupulous pirates, however, were the Cornishmen who, emboldened by the long quiescence of Boulton and Watt, and knowing that the patent had only five or six more years to run, believed that they might set the patentees at open defiance, which they proceeded to do. Notwithstanding the agreements entered into and ratified on both sides, they refused point blank to pay further dues; and Boulton and Watt were thus at last driven to have recourse to the powers of the law. Had they remained passive, it might have been construed into a tacit admission that the patent right had from the first been indefensible, and that the sums which they had up to that time levied for the use of their engine had been wrongfully paid to them. But neither had ceased to have perfect faith in the validity of their patent, and both determined, even at this late stage, to defend it. “The rascals,” wrote Watt to Boulton, “seem to have been going on as if the patent were their own.... We have tried every lenient means with them in vain; and since the fear of God has no effect upon them, we must try what the fear of the devil can do.”[348] Legal proceedings were begun accordingly. The two actions on which the issues were tried were those of Boulton and Watt v. Bull, and Boulton and Watt v. Hornblower and Maberley; and they were fought on both sides with great determination. The proceedings extended over several years, being carried from court to court; but the result was decisive in both cases in favour of Boulton and Watt. It was not until January, 1799, that the final decision of the judges was given;[349] almost on the very eve of expiry of the patent, which had not then a full year to run. It was not, however, with a view to the future that these costly, anxious, and protracted legal proceedings had been carried on, but mainly for the recovery of dues under existing agreements, and for dues on engines erected in various quarters in infringement of the patent. Most of the Cornish adventurers had paid nothing for years. Thus Poldice had paid nothing since October, 1793, and was in arrear 2330l. Wheal Gons had paid nothing since May, 1793, and was in arrear 4290l. The Wheal Treasure adventurers, and many others, had set Boulton and Watt at open defiance, and paid nothing at all.
On the issue of the proceedings against Bull, Boulton and Watt called upon the Mining Companies to “cash up,” and arrears were shortly collected, though with considerable difficulty, to the amount of about 30,000l. Young Boulton went into Cornwall for the purpose of arranging the settlements, and managed the business with great ability. “I am now to congratulate you,” Watt wrote to his partner from Glasgow, whither he had gone on a visit, “on the success of Mr. R. Boulton’s very able transactions in Cornwall; and I hope that at last we may be freed from the anxiety of the issue of law which has so long attended us, and enjoy in peace the fruits of our labours. When you write to Mr. B. I beg you will present my best wishes and best respects to him, expressing my warmest approbation of his exertions.” On another occasion, while the cause was in progress before the courts of law, Watt wrote,—“In the whole affair, nothing was so grateful to me as the zeal of our friends and the activity of our young men, which was unremitting.”