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?