Chapter X: Part 10

The name of the Rev. Mr. Barton, which has hitherto been so often introduced in the course of these Memoirs, is closely connected with that of Mr. Rittenhouse, in many of the more striking traits of his Life: the writer cannot, therefore, restrain himself from acknowledging, that he is happy in having this fair opportunity of rendering some small tribute of respect—and, for himself, of filial veneration—to the memory of a man distinguished by his virtue, his talents, and his learning; one, who, independently of those considerations, alone, which arose out of the American revolution, long enjoyed the friendship and esteem of many of the most prominent characters in America, by reason of his abilities and usefulness, as well as the urbanity of his manners. To have said _less_ of this person, would be doing injustice to the life and character of Mr. Rittenhouse: to say _more_, would perhaps be deemed irrelevant to the subject; if not indecorous, as it regards the writer.

To return, however, more particularly to Mr. Rittenhouse. On the 10th day of March, 1780, he was elected, by the general assembly of Pennsylvania, a trustee of the loan-office of the state.

The institution here mentioned was a measure of financial policy, which had its origin in Pennsylvania, at an early period of the provincial government: and, from an experience of its beneficial effects, it was not only continued, at various intervals of time, from the year 1723, to the termination of that government; but was resorted to, and for some time continued, by the state legislatures after the revolution. The scarcity of gold and silver, among the earlier settlers of the province, subjected them to many and great inconveniences, and suggested to the legislature the necessity of adopting some rational and efficient means of remedying the evil. The expedient was, the emiting, and making current, bills of credit; which were loaned to cultivators of the soil on the security of their lands, and repayable with interest, in annual payments, within an assigned term of years. The first act of assembly for this purpose was passed the 11th of May, 1723; and the preamble to that law is expressive of its object: it states, that, “Forasmuch as through the scarcity of money, the trade of this province is greatly lessened and obstructed, and the payment of the public debts of this government rendered exceeding difficult, and likely so to continue, unless some medium in commerce be by law made current, instead of money: for remedy whereof, may it please the governor that it be enacted, and be it enacted by Sir William Keith, baronet, Governor, &c.” This act then goes on to direct the emission of “fifteen thousand pounds, current money of America, according to an act of Parliament made in the sixth year of Queen Anne, for ascertaining the rates of foreign coins in the Plantations;” and provides for the loaning of these bills, by persons thereby appointed “trustees of the general loan-office;” to be loaned out, upon the security of mortgages of real estates, within the province, of at least three times the value of the sums lent: which sums so loaned were made repayable in those bills, in eight years, in annual payments of one-eighth part of the amount of the principal with the addition of an interest of five per cent. per annum. The act also contains a provision (but one which was omitted in the subsequent loan-office laws,) for lending these bills upon the security of plate also, for the term of one year. This paper-money, thus established upon indubitable funds,[202] was made a legal tender in the payment of debts;—and it never suffered any depreciation of its nominal value.[203]

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Footnote 202:

While the credit of the loan-office bills of credit, emitted in
moderate sums by the assembly of Pennsylvania, was fully supported,
during the course of seventy years, the quantities of paper-money
issued at different times, by the legislative body of Massachusetts,
down to the year 1748, had then depreciated that currency, for want of
it being bottomed on sufficient funds, to one-eleventh part of its
nominal value. Fortunately, about that period, a large sum in specie
arrived from England, having been granted by the British parliament to
reimburse the monies expended by the colonists in the expeditions
against Louisburg and Canada. In Massachusetts, this money was wisely
applied by its legislature to the redemption of the bills of credit of
that colony, then in circulation; which were sunk, in the succeeding
year, at the rate of fifty shillings, in those bills, for one ounce of
silver. Thus, the mint-price of an ounce of sterling silver being five
shillings and two pence, the bills were redeemed at the rate of nearly
nine shillings and eight pence, of their nominal value, for one
shilling in English coin.

Footnote 203:

How different, in this respect, from that species of paper-credit,
which, during the American war, succeeded it, under the denomination
of _continental money_! But this had nothing but the faith of
government pledged for its redemption; while the loan-office bills of
credit were bottomed (as all government-paper ought ever to be) on an
appropriated, sufficient, and substantial fund. For want of such a
foundation, Dr. Morse remarks, that “The whole history of the
continental paper is a history of public and private frauds. Old
specie debts,” says he, “were often paid in a depreciated currency;
and even new contracts, for a few weeks or days, were often discharged
with a small part of their value. From this plenty, and the
fluctuating state of the medium, sprung hosts of speculators and
itinerant traders, who left their honest occupations for the purpose
of immense gains in a fraudulent business, that depended on no fixed
principles, and the profits of which could be reduced to no certain
calculations.” See his Geographical work.

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Hence, an interesting fact is presented to the view of the reader; that, ninety years ago, so small was the population, and so slender were the agricultural and commercial resources of Pennsylvania, that the scanty amount of a sum equivalent to forty thousand dollars, was deemed adequate to the relief of the public and private difficulties in the province, arising from the want of a sufficient circulating medium at that time. Yet such was the increase of population and trade, and such were the improvements in agriculture, in Pennsylvania, in half a century afterwards, that the last loan-office law, under the provincial government,[204] directed the emission of ten times the original sum; to be applied, in aid of land-improvements, in loans for the term of sixteen years; and repayable in like manner, with an annual interest of six per centum.

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Footnote 204:

Passed 26th February, 1773.

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The same policy was pursued by the independent government of Pennsylvania. Under the first loan-office law of that state,[205] the sum of fifty thousand pounds was issued in bills of credit; and eight years afterwards, a further sum of half a million of dollars (or 187,500_l._) was appropriated for the purposes of a loan-office on similar principles, in pursuance of a law of the state.[206] But, as the individual state-governments were prohibited by the constitution of the United States, then recently established, from emitting bills of credit, or making any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts,—the money to be employed in loans, on mortgages of real estates, was to be borrowed, according to the provisions of the law last mentioned, from the bank of Pennsylvania; a power which the state had reserved, for that express purpose, in the act to incorporate the subscribers to that bank.[207]

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Footnote 205:

Passed 4th April, 1785.

Footnote 206:

Passed 11th April, 1793.

Footnote 207:

Passed 30th March, 1793.

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This loan-office law was, however, the last in Pennsylvania.[208] The establishment of banks, for facilitating the purposes of trade, together with the great improvements and wealth to which the landed interest of the state had attained, by means of a widely extended foreign commerce, coming in aid of the benefits which the cultivators had previously derived from the loan-office system, superseded, in a great degree, the utility of this institution. In one year after the last loan-office was erected, the law for that purpose was repealed; the repealing act declaring—that it had been found inexpedient, and not to answer the purposes intended by the legislature. In fact, the establishment of banks in the interior of the country, not only supplies the place of a loan-office, in relation to the farmer, but greatly facilitates the extensive inland trade of the state. Experience has demonstrated, that, operating in this way, they are productive of all the important advantages of the loan-office system: and of this institution, the late governor Pownall speaks in these remarkable words—“I will venture to say, that there never was a wiser or a better measure; never one better calculated to serve the uses of an increasing country; that there never was a measure more steadily pursued, or more faithfully executed, for forty years together,[209] than the loan-office in Pennsylvania, formed and administered by the assembly of that province.”[210]

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Footnote 208:

Mr. Rittenhouse continued to hold the place of a trustee of the
loan-office more than ten years; but on the 1st of April, 1790, a law
was passed, by which all the powers and duties of the trustees of that
institution were transferred to, and vested in, the treasurer of the
state.

Footnote 209:

The loan-office system was kept up, in Pennsylvania, thirty years
after governor Pownall wrote.

Footnote 210:

Paper-money was not so well managed in some of the other colonies,
where it was issued in too large quantities, and its credit not
established on funds sufficiently stable and secure;[210a] a
circumstance which induced the parliament of Great-Britain to
interdict, for a time, further emissions of that sort of money, called
bills of credit, by the provincial legislatures.

Although the last emission of loan-office bills of credit, under the
colonial government of Pennsylvania, was made in the beginning of the
year 1773, the want of this succedaneum for gold and silver, as a
circulating medium of commerce commensurate to the encreased
population and trade of the country, was experienced some considerable
time before. In a letter written by the Hon. Mr. T. Penn to the Rev.
Mr. Barton, dated, London, June 17, 1767, the writer says:

“Your account of the increase of the growth of hemp, gives me great
pleasure; and I think the demand there has been for wheat, since the
date of your letter, must have made the country people rich, even
those who were poor before: it will prevent people being under the
necessity of parting with their lands, and going to Carolina. Their
produce will always bring them money at Philadelphia, notwithstanding
there may be some more need for paper-money; yet, when trade is brisk,
it circulates faster, and a less quantity will carry on a greater
trade: however, I hope, in the next session of parliament, we may get
the law which prohibits our making any more, repealed.”

The parliamentary restriction was, in fact, afterwards taken off; and
an effort was made, in the beginning of the year 1770, by the
legislature of Pennsylvania, to enact a loan-office law, for the
purpose of putting in circulation a further emission of paper-money:
but the measure then miscarried, in consequence of some disagreement
between the governor and the general assembly respecting the right
they severally claimed, of appointing the trustees of the proposed
loan-office.

Footnote 210a:

See Note 202.

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In the year 1782, Mr. Rittenhouse was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, of Boston: his certificate bears date the 30th of January, in that year. This academy, which Dr. Morse ranks among the first literary institutions in the state of Massachusetts, holds a very respectable station in relation to science: yet it was not established till so lately as May 4, 1780. The end and design of the institution are stated to be—“to promote and encourage the knowledge of the antiquities of America, and of the natural history of the country, and to determine the uses to which its various natural productions may be applied: also, to promote and encourage medical discoveries, mathematical disquisitions, philosophical enquiries and experiments; astronomical, meteorological and geographical observations, improvements in agriculture, arts, manufactures, commerce, and the cultivation of every science that may tend to advance a free, independent and virtuous people.”[211]

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Footnote 211:

The number of members in the Boston Academy is never to exceed two
hundred, nor to be less than forty. By being limited to so moderate a
number as the former, for the greater extreme, this academy will be
likely to select suitable persons for the honour of fellowship, with
the more discriminating circumspection.

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It is supposed to have been somewhat about this time, that Mr. Rittenhouse exercised his ingenuity upon an object, which, though not of great importance, is nevertheless a matter of considerable utility and some curiosity; the invention of an Hygrometer, made wholly of wood. The simplicity of the construction of this instrument, renders it easily attainable by almost every one; and as it is found to answer, very well, the end for which more expensive instruments are often employed, it may be considered as being more generally useful. Descriptions of the construction, and principle of operation, of this Hygrometer, having been furnished to the writer through the obligingness of two of his friends,[212] a very concise account of it, drawn up from those descriptions, is given in the Appendix.

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Footnote 212:

Robert Patterson, Esq. Director of the Mint, and David Rittenhouse
Waters, Esq. a gentleman bred to the law, and a grandson of the late
Dr. Rittenhouse.

The decease of Mr. Waters happened soon after: he died on the 4th of
September, 1813, at the premature age of twenty-two years. Although he
had just entered on the threshold of the world, this excellent young
man exhibited many proofs of extraordinary attainments in literature
and science, as well as of a superior genius. He appeared to have
inherited from his maternal grandfather, congenial talents. In his
life, his amiable disposition endeared him to all who had an
opportunity of knowing his virtues: in his death, not only have his
relatives and friends experienced an afflicting bereavement, but his
country has sustained the loss of a citizen of great promise.

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A circumstance shall be noticed in this place, which, although trivial in itself, will serve to shew the grateful sense entertained by our Philosopher of the merits of General Washington. It appears, that just about the time when the provisional articles of peace, concluded on between the United States and Great-Britain, were made known in America, Mr. Rittenhouse had forwarded to the General, at the head-quarters of the army, a pair of spectacles, and reading glasses,—as a small testimonial of his respect for the character and services of that great man. The terms of the letter that accompanied this little present, are not known to the writer of these memoirs; but, of what complexion they were, may be inferred from the General’s answer, which is in these words:

“_Newburgh, 16th Feb. 1783._

“Sir,

“I have been honoured with your letter of the 7th, and beg you to
accept my sincere thanks, for the favor conferred on me, in the
Glasses—which are very fine; but more particularly, for the flattering
expressions which accompanied the present.

“The Spectacles suit my eyes extremely well—as I am persuaded the
Reading-Glasses also will, when I get more accustomed to the use of
them. At present, I find some difficulty in coming at the proper
focus; but when I do obtain it, they magnify perfectly, and shew those
letters very distinctly, which at first appear like a mist—blended
together and confused. With great esteem and respect, I am, Sir, your
most obedient and humble servant,

“GO. WASHINGTON.

“DAVID RITTENHOUSE, Esq.”

The grinding and polishing of the glasses were of Mr. Rittenhouse’s own workmanship; and they were made for the purpose. This circumstance, added to the manner and occasion of their being presented, could not fail of being highly acceptable to the General.

In the year 1784, Mr. Rittenhouse was employed on the part of Pennsylvania, for the purpose of determining the western extension of that state; and was associated in that business with Mr. Lukens, Dr. Ewing, and Capt. Hutchins: the commissioners in behalf of Virginia were Dr. (afterwards bishop) Madison, Mr. Ellicott,[213] Mr. J. Page, and the Rev. Mr. R. Andrews. A record of the astronomical observations which were made on this occasion, and on similar ones of an important nature, will be found detailed in a letter, under the date of April 2, 1795, addressed by Mr. Ellicott to Mr. Patterson, in the fourth volume of the Am. Philos. Society’s Transactions. Among the observations contained in the first part of that letter, are those of the immersions of the satellites of Jupiter, taken at Wilmington on the Delaware, by Messrs. Rittenhouse, Lukens, Page and Andrews, at divers days from the 1st to the 23d of August, in the year 1784; together with those taken at the western observatory by Messrs. Ellicott, Ewing, Madison and Hutchins, at divers days from the 17th of July to the 19th of August; also, the emersions of those satellites by the same eastern observers, from the 29th of August to the 19th of September; and by the same western observers, from the 27th of August to the 19th of September; all in the same year.

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Footnote 213:

Although Mr. Ellicott is a native of Pennsylvania, and was a citizen
of that state until the British army took possession of Philadelphia,
in 1777, he resided in Baltimore county about eight years after that
event.

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“After the determination,” says Mr. Ellicott, “we completed the southern boundary of Pennsylvania; it being likewise the north boundary of Maryland, and a part of Virginia; and which had been carried on some years before,[214] by Messrs. Mason and Dixon, the distance of 242 miles.” This line is in the parallel of 39° 43′ 18″ North latitude.[215]

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Footnote 214:

In the years 1767 and 1768.

Footnote 215:

The difference of 16′ 42″, between the latitude above mentioned and
the beginning of the 40th degree of north latitude, (which was the
southern limit assigned to Pennsylvania, by her charter,) was gained
by Mr. Penn, as far as the northern boundary of Maryland extended
westward, in consequence of a compromise entered into by him and Lord
Baltimore; whereby the latter obtained some advantage on his part in
return. From the western extremity of this northern boundary of
Maryland, the line between Pennsylvania and Virginia was continued,
westward, in the same parallel of latitude, (instead of these coming
back to the 40th deg. of N. lat.) by virtue of an agreement between
these two states; the former, in consideration of that privilege,
relinquishing her right to run her western boundary line parallel to
the meandrings of the river Delaware.

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It was at the close of this year, that the college of William and Mary, in Virginia, complimented Mr. Rittenhouse with an honorary degree of Master of Arts, by an unanimous vote of the rectors and faculty of that institution. His diploma, which is a special one, and wherein he is styled the Chief of Philosophers,[216] has a place in the Appendix.

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Footnote 216:

“Principem Philosophorum,” in the original:—Such was the appellation
(Principes Philosophorum) by which Cicero honours Pythagoras,
Democritus, Plato, Xenocrates, Zeno, Cleanthes, Diogenes the Stoic;
men, among others, whose usefulness (he observes) old age might
diminish, but not destroy.

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The college of William and Mary was founded in the joint reign of the king and queen of those names, who endowed it with twenty thousand acres of land, besides a small duty on certain exported tobaccoes, granted by stat. 25 Ch. II: in addition to which, the assembly of Virginia also gave to it, by temporary laws, a duty on liquors imported, and on skins and furs exported. And from these resources, its funds amounted, on a medium, to more than 3,000_l._ Virginia currency, (or $10,000,) per annum. The Hon. Robert Boyle,[217] of England, had also made a liberal donation to this college, for the purpose of instituting a professorship, called the Brafferton, (the name of the English estate, purchased with the money granted by him to the college,) for the purpose of compensating missionaries, to instruct the Indian natives and to convert them to Christianity. After the revolution, the constitution of the college of William and Mary underwent a considerable change: three of the six original professorships, that is to say, two of Divinity, and one of the Greek and Latin languages, were abolished; and three others, namely, one for Law and Police—one for Anatomy and Medicine—and a third for Modern Languages, were substituted in their stead; the Brafferton, it is presumed, has been diverted into other channels, if not wholly neglected.

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Footnote 217:

Mr. Boyle was the seventh son of Richard, the first earl of Cork, in
Ireland, and first earl of Burlington, in England; and was born at
Lismore in Ireland, the 26th of January, 1627. This eminent
philosopher and sincere Christian established, by his will, in the
year 1691, a perpetual fund, equivalent to about two hundred and
twenty-two dollars per annum, for instituting a course of eight
sermons or lectures, to be delivered annually; designed to prove the
truth of Christianity, generally, without engaging in any of the
controversies subsisting among its professors: And to this
establishment, denominated _Boyle’s Lectures_, the world are indebted
for many able and elaborate defences both of natural and revealed
religion. In addition to several extensive benefactions, for
charitable and religious purposes, of this great and excellent man,
besides his donation to the College of William-and-Mary (which,
according to Mr. Jefferson, was “considerable” in its amount,) he
gave, in his lifetime, a sum equivalent to thirteen hundred and
thirty-three dollars, towards propagating the Christian Religion in
America. So great was his veneration for the name of God, that he
never pronounced it without a discernible pause: he was steady in his
secret addresses to the throne of heaven: and, amidst all his
enquiries into nature, his chief design seemed to be that of
continually elevating his own mind, and the minds of others, by
contemplating the Glory, the Wisdom, and the Goodness of God. Were
this illustrious man to be considered in no other point of view, than
that of a benefactor to America, his memory would be entitled to
respect in this country: but his virtues, his talents, and the
services he has rendered to mankind in general, will for ever endear
his name to the good and wise of all nations. He died the 30th of
December, in the year 1691.

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This once respectable college, or university, is at present in an unprosperous condition; and will not probably soon, if ever, regain its former reputation. A country of which a large portion of the population consists of slaves, is ill suited for the site of an extensive seminary of learning, and for the education of youth: nor can it be expected, that where an almost despotic sway of masters over their slaves[218] is daily exhibited to the view of both young and old, the children of those masters will submit to that degree of subordination, and to that exercise of authority by their literary preceptors, which the discipline of an academic education renders indispensable. The late Bishop Madison contributed much by his abilities, his suavity of manners and his prudence, to maintain a due degree of order in this institution, over which he long presided with distinguished reputation; but the death of that respectable man, it is feared, augurs ill for the future prosperity of the seminary.

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Footnote 218:

The author of a poem, entitled, ‘The Dying Negro,’ has introduced
these lines into that poem:[218a]

“Oft have I seen them, at the break of day,
“Rous’d by the lash, go forth their cheerless way.”

No man ever held the slave-trade, and the condition of the hapless
people who are the objects of that nefarious traffic, in greater
abhorrence, than the benevolent Rittenhouse: a passage in his Oration,
fully evinces his sentiments on this subject.

In addition to this highly respectable testimony against Negro
Slavery, let it be remembered, that one of the last acts, of a public
nature, in which our philosopher’s predecessor[218b] was concerned,
was to sanction with his name the Memorial presented to the government
of the United States, on the subject of the Slave-Trade, by “The
Pennsylvania Society for promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the
relief of free Negroes, unlawfully held in Bondage;” of which Society,
that distinguished man was the President.

Footnote 218a:

It was written by Mr. Day, the friend of Mr. Darwin.

Footnote 218b:

Dr. Franklin.

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In the year following, the tracing of a meridian, northward, for the western boundary of Pennsylvania,—and, consequently, the eastern boundary of part of Virginia,—was commenced, from the western end of the southern line of Pennsylvania before mentioned. On this occasion, Mr. Rittenhouse addressed the following letter to Mr. Ellicott.

“_Philadelphia, April 28th, 1785._

“Dear Sir,

“For some months past I had not the least apprehension of being
obliged to visit the Ohio, this spring; but our affairs have taken
such a turn, that at present it is probable I shall meet you, at the
time and place appointed. Capt. Hutchins has been sent for to New
York, by Congress, as the trustees of the university will not consent
to Dr. Ewing’s absence. One or other of us will certainly set off in a
few days, to meet you: our waggons are already gone.

“I have earnestly recommended to council to commission you to act in
behalf of Pennsylvania,[219] after we pass the Ohio; and the president
directs me to inform you, that they mean to send you a commission for
the purpose: I hope it will suit your convenience.

“I ought long since to have informed you, that you were elected a
member of our Philosophical Society—I wish you would favour us with a
communication, on any subject you please. Pray let me hear from you,
before you leave Baltimore. Have you any account from Virginia? I am,
dear sir, yours with respect and sincerity.

“DAVID RITTENHOUSE.

“ANDREW ELLICOTT, Esq. Baltimore.”

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Footnote 219:

Mr. Ellicott being a commissioner for Virginia, his powers would have
ceased, as soon as the boundary-line between that state and
Pennsylvania had reached the river Ohio. The object, therefore, was to
enable him to complete it, to its western extremity.

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This boundary-line was begun in May, 1785, by Messrs. Rittenhouse, Ellicott, Porter, and Nevill; assisted by the present Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton, then a youth about nineteen years of age, whose medical and other scientific acquirements rendered him, even at that early period of life, an useful associate of the commissioners. Mr. Nevill (who was employed on the part of Virginia) left the other commissioners late in August; and Mr. Rittenhouse, about the middle of September.[220] Dr. Barton remained until some time in October, when these operations ceased for that season. The line then wanted about 55⅓ miles of being completed: and this part of it, to its intersection of the margin of Lake Erie, was finished in the following year, by Col. Porter and Alexander Maclain, Esq.[221]

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Footnote 220:

The following report of the progress of their work was made by the
commissioners, to the government of Pennsylvania, between three and
four weeks before Mr. Rittenhouse set out on his return to
Philadelphia: it is entered on the journal of the general assembly of
that state, under the date of Nov. 2, 1785.

“We the subscribers, commissioners, appointed by the states of
Pennsylvania and Virginia, to ascertain the boundary between the said
states, do certify, that we have carried on a meridian line from the
south-west corner of Pennsylvania, northward, to the river Ohio; and
marked it, by cutting a wide vista over all the principal hills
intersected by the said line, and by falling or deadening a line of
trees, generally, through all the lower grounds. And we have likewise
placed stones, marked on the east side, P. and on the west side, V. on
most of the principal hills, and where the line strikes the Ohio;
which stones are accurately placed in the true meridian, bounding the
states as aforesaid.”

“Witness our hands and seals, this 23d day of August, 1785. (Signed,)
DAVID RITTENHOUSE, ANDREW PORTER, Pennsylvania; ANDREW ELLICOTT,
JOSEPH NEVILL; Virginia.”

Footnote 221:

Mr. Rittenhouse had probably a reference to the expected completion of
this line, perhaps to the whole business, generally, when, in a letter
to Mr. Ellicott, of the 31st of Jan. 1786, he says; “I shall be able,
some time hence, to write to you more fully about the boundary lines.”

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It will be readily conceived, that a person of Mr. Rittenhouse’s delicate constitution, and regularity in his mode of living when at home, must have experienced much inconvenience and felt many privations of comfort, while climbing rugged mountains, traversing vast uncultivated forests, and sleeping in a tent, for successive months, as he was necessarily obliged to do, when employed on occasions of this kind. For, although the government afforded to the gentlemen engaged in these arduous services, very liberal accommodations, there were, nevertheless, numerous conveniencies which the nature of the duty to be performed rendered unattainable. Yet it is a fact, that Mr. Rittenhouse always returned from these excursions with a better stock of health, than he sat out with; notwithstanding the hardships he sometimes endured, and the many unpleasant circumstances in regard to weather, diet, bedding, &c. which he was compelled to encounter. The two following letters, written by him to his wife, while he was engaged in the service of establishing the boundary-line last mentioned, will enable the reader to form a pretty good judgment of the kind of life he then passed. They will at the same time serve to shew, in some degree, the bent of his mind and the disposition of his heart.

The first of those letters, dated at “Wheeling Creek,” June 30th 1785, is in these words.

“My dearest H,

“I have not heard one word from Philadelphia, since I left you. About
a month ago I wrote to you from Union Town, and I promise myself a
letter from you by the first messenger from that place, who is now
daily expected. To-morrow Mr. Armstrong sets off for Hanna’s Town,
where he expects to meet brother Isaac Jacobs, so that I write in
confidence of my letter reaching you.

“If I were to view only the dark side of my situation, I should
complain that I am here secluded from the society of those I love,
deprived of books and every other of my most favourite amusements;
confined to homely fare by day, and a hard bed at night; and obliged,
by our business, to take rather too much exercise. But these
inconveniences are in some measure counterbalanced by several
advantages: I am not condemned to hear that eternal din for money,
which it pains me to think you are every day perplexed with;[222]
politics have no existence here; constant and regular exercise causes
me to sleep much better at nights, than I did at home;—we have a woman
to cook for us, so that our bread is good, and every thing else
tolerable. Colonel Porter is attentive, and cousin Benjamin[223] has
recommended himself as an agreeable companion, to all of us; and I
could almost call Mr. Ellicott a congenial soul.

“I ever delighted in a wild uncultivated country; this is truly
romantic, and, at this season of the year, beautiful and luxuriant in
the highest degree. A few days ago, I walked up a little rivulet, in
company with Mr. Ellicott, for a considerable distance, in order to
enjoy the romantic scene. It was bounded on each side by steep hills
of an immense height: its bottom was finely paved with large
flag-stones, rising in steps, with, every now and then, a beautiful
cascade. The further we went, the more gloomy and cool we found it. At
last, I advised Mr. Ellicott that we should proceed no further; for,
if we did, we should in all probability find some of the
water-goddesses,—perhaps stark naked and fast asleep. Mr. A—— went
with us, for company-sake; but neither the nymphs nor their shady
bowers have any charms for _him_.[224]—Nothing but your company was
wanting to me, to heighten the enchanting scene.

“Deer are incredibly plenty here—I was the first that caught a young
fawn, and hoped to have sent the beautiful little animal a present to
H****. We kept it about a week, and it became quite tame; but our cows
ran away, and it was starved for want of milk. Col. P. called it F——
B——, and says H**** shall at least have the skin. We have all been
very healthy; my cough diminishes slowly, my old complaint is less
troublesome, and I have no other.

“I am not yet determined, as to the time of my return. Later than
September, I have no thoughts of staying; perhaps the fear of riding
in hot weather may induce me to stay till then.

“We have, hitherto, made so slow a progress, that I am much
dissatisfied with it; but do not know how to help it. Our greatest
difficulty arises from the nature of the ground; and the idleness of
the people of the country, is not the least. We have had about thirty
men employed, and are not yet able to go more than a mile per day. I
was about writing to the Vice-President, on this subject; but, on
second thoughts, concluded it best not to do it: I wish, however, that
council would, by some official letter, urge us to proceed with all
the dispatch consistent with the accuracy they expect.

“I wish to write to B***** and H****; but you will not readily imagine
how little leisure I have: Tired of the exercise of the day, I rejoice
at the approach of night; and, after a cup of tea, generally lie down
to rest as soon as it is dark, unless we have observations to make;
and then we have generally half a mile to walk, through dark woods,
from the place of observation to our encampment: this, however, does
not happen above once in a fortnight.

“Sun, gallop down the western skies;
Go quick to bed, and quickly rise;”

Until you bring round the happy day, that will restore me again to the
dear woman and children I so much love.

“Give my love to my children, and the few friends that are really
concerned for my welfare. God bless you, and make you at least as
happy as I am; and then, I am sure, you will not complain. Your ever
affectionate

“D. RITTENHOUSE.

“Mrs. HANNAH RITTENHOUSE.”

-----

Footnote 222:

Mr. Rittenhouse, being then treasurer of the state, alludes to those
incessant demands on the treasury for money, which, by reason of the
financial embarrassments of the government, at that period, could not
be always punctually paid. The activity, and the very intelligent mind
of Mrs. Rittenhouse, both prompted and enabled her to relieve her
husband from much of the perplexity, which at that time attended the
duties of state-treasurer. Indeed, it was owing to the great attention
of that excellent woman to some of the more important transactions of
the office, and her capability to manage and superintend the current
business of that department of the public affairs, in the absence of
her husband from home, or when incapacitated by bodily indisposition
from personally attending, that the government was enabled to avail
itself, in several instances, of the talents and services of Mr.
Rittenhouse, in matters of high importance to the community, which
required the aid of his abilities. On such occasions, he ever found
Mrs. Rittenhouse a competent, as well as a most faithful assistant, in
the business of the treasury.

Footnote 223:

So he then used to call his nephew, the present Professor Barton.

-----

Footnote 224:

Mr. A. was a worthy and pleasant man: but, he was an old bachelor.

-----

---

The other letter, dated at the “Head Waters of Buffalo,” the thirteenth of July, is as follows.

“My dearest H,

“I need not say how much I feel for you, on account of the
disagreeable situation in which you last wrote. The only advice, I
believe, which I thought it necessary to give you, at leaving you, was
to keep up your spirits and endeavour to bear the fatigues of the
office. What will you say, or what will you think, when I tell you, I
believe it scarcely possible for any thing to contribute so much to
reconcile me to your absence, as the aversion I have to the plagues of
that same office.

“You have heard the reports concerning the Indians. We are still
ignorant of the true state of matters; but, from every information we
can get, it seems very improbable that we shall cross the Ohio this
summer: on this side of the river, we do not apprehend the least
danger.

“On Saturday last, we suddenly emerged from the gloomy, uncultivated
desert, into a habitable country; and encamped with joy in an open
field where we could once more see the heavens around us,—a sight we
had not been blest with, for five weeks past. Wheat, rye, and
Indian-corn, growing, afforded a very pleasing sight; even the barking
of dogs and crowing of cocks were agreeable. The next day being
Sunday, several of the neighbours, their wives and daughters, paid us
a visit; and amongst them, at least one spruce young lady, bred at the
metropolis, Fort-Pitt.[225] But would you believe it? such is my
unreasonable and incurable aversion to company, that their visits soon
became irksome. They hindered me from enjoying a lonely walk, or some
passage in Milton,—or, perhaps, a loll on my bed. Nay, even our
fellow-commissioners, the Virginians, I mean; I sometimes wish their
wine was better, and flowed more plentifully: not that I might enjoy
it with them; but that I might enjoy myself the more, alone.

“Whether you will believe me or not, I do not know; but my health is
really much better. As I told you in my last, my old complaint is the
only one I have; and this is, and has been for several weeks,
infinitely more supportable, than I have known it for months together.
I do not, indeed, flatter myself with a cure; it is, in all
probability, fixed for life: but an alleviation of the pain I have
usually felt, is to me of much importance.

“We have, for three weeks past, had a much greater proportion of dry
weather; and in this country, when it does not rain, the sky is always
fair, of a beautiful blue, and the air serene. There has been nothing
like a storm, nor scarce a puff of wind, since we came here. Though
thunder, lightning, and rain, are so very frequent, they are never
attended with high winds, nor scarcely a perceptible motion of the
air. For a month past, we had a very decent woman to cook for us, but
some little family broils obliged us to pack her home again. Our boys
have, however, learnt from her to bake good bread, and to cook much
better than they did. I mention this, because you will be pleased with
any thing that can contribute to my comfort.

“I expect several opportunities of writing, before we reach the Ohio,
none of which shall be neglected. I must lay down the pen, to retire
to rest after the fatigues of the day. Wishing you a very good night,
I conclude, &c. your ever affectionate

“DAVID RITTENHOUSE.

“MRS. RITTENHOUSE.”

“P. S. Having mentioned the fatigues of the day, I must assure you
that I find my strength fully equal to them: As to walking up the
hills, I never pretend to it, having always a horse to ride—Col. P. is
every thing I could wish; I mean, so far as is necessary to me.”

-----

Footnote 225:

Now the flourishing borough of Pittsburgh, situated at the confluence
of the rivers Allegany and Monongahela, which form, by their junction,
the commencement of the great river Ohio.

This place, which is distant about thirty-five miles, eastward, from
the western boundary-line of Pennsylvania, was the site of a fort,
formerly erected by the French, which they called Fort Du Quesne; but
on its reduction by the English, it was named by them Fort-Pitt; and
by this name the place is still recognized by many people.

-----

---

This arduous business of determining the territorial limits of several great states, which commenced before the American revolution, was not terminated until some years afterward. And on every occasion of that kind, where Mr. Rittenhouse’s situation, in respect to health and official duties, admitted of his being employed, his talents placed his services in requisition.

He had been at home but a few weeks, after being engaged in running the Western boundary of Pennsylvania, before he was elected by Congress, together with the Rev. Dr. Ewing, and Thomas Hutchins, Esq. afterwards Geographer of the United States, a commissioner “for running a line of jurisdiction between the states of Massachusetts and New-York, conformably to the laws of the said states.” This appointment was made on the 2d day of December, 1785.[226] It was not, however, until the year 1787, that the legislature of New-York ceded to the state of Massachusetts all the lands within their jurisdiction, Westward of a meridian to be drawn from a point in the Northern boundary of Pennsylvania, eighty-two miles West from the river Delaware; excepting one mile along the Eastern side of the Niagara river; and also ten townships between the Chenengo and Owegy rivers; reserving the jurisdiction to the state of New-York: a cession which was made to satisfy a claim of Massachusetts, founded upon their original charter.

-----

Footnote 226:

By an agreement, entered into, on the 18th of May, 1773, between
commissioners appointed by the legislatures of New-York and
Massachusetts, respectively, for the settlement of a partition-line of
jurisdiction between those (then) provinces, on the eastern part of
New-York, and from the southern to the northern boundaries of
Massachusetts, (then called Massachusett’s Bay;) in compliance with
the king’s recommendations, which had been previously signified to sir
Henry Moore, and Francis Barnard, Esq. the then governors of those
provinces. The commissioners, on the part of New-York, were John
Watts, Robert R. Livingston, and William Nicoll, Esq’rs. and on that
of Massachusetts, William Brattle, Joseph Hawley, and John Hancock,
Esq’rs. These gentlemen met, in pursuance of their appointment, at
Hartford in the (then) province of Connecticut, where, after divers
conferences, they concluded on the following line, as the one which
should, at all times thereafter, be the line of jurisdiction between
Massachusetts and New-York, wheresoever the latter, on its eastern
boundary, should adjoin on the former: that is to say, beginning at a
place fixed upon by the two governments of New-York and Connecticut,
about the year 1731, for the north-western corner of a tract of land
commonly called the Oblong, or Equivalent Land; and running from that
corner, north, 21° 10′ 30″ east (as the needle then pointed,) to the
northern line of Massachusetts. This agreement was ratified by the
governors of Massachusetts and New-York, on the same day; and
commissioners were accordingly appointed by both provinces, before the
revolution, to run the line thus defined. It was, in part, then
effected; but those commissioners not having been able to proceed, by
reason of an eventual disagreement between them, this line was finally
run out, surveyed, ascertained and marked, by the commissioners
appointed by congress, whom the two governments concerned had
empowered to make such appointment.

-----

This line was accordingly run, in the year 1787, by the commissioners so appointed for the purpose:—And “this last business, which was executed with his usual precision and integrity”—says Dr. Rush, speaking of Mr. Rittenhouse,—“ was his farewell peace-offering to the union and happiness of his country.”

It was not until the year 1786, that the American Philosophical Society were enabled to publish a second volume of their Transactions:[227] it then made its appearance. Into that volume is introduced a letter to the Society, in the original Latin, (accompanied with an English translation,)[228] from the celebrated C. Mayer, the Elector Palatine’s[229] Astronomer at Manheim, dated so long before as the 24th of April, 1778. The receipt of that letter had been acknowledged by Mr. Rittenhouse, according to a special order of the Society, so early as the 20th of August, 1779; and the answer, it is presumable, was duly transmitted to Mr. Mayer. Yet, although there was a lapse of seven years, from the date of Mr. Rittenhouse’s letter to the time of Mr. Mayer’s communication being printed in the Society’s Transactions, the former was, by some unaccountable circumstance, omitted and unnoticed! Nor will the reader’s surprise on this occasion be diminished, when he learns, that a member of the Society, having obtained from Mr. Rittenhouse a copy of his letter, had it read at their stated meeting on the 16th of March, 1792,—twelve years and a half after its date; that it was, thereupon, “referred to the committee of selection and publication:” and, notwithstanding, by some other fatality, that letter remained unpublished until now; being twenty-one years afterwards!

-----

Footnote 227:

In the beginning of the same year, Mr. Rittenhouse was elected one of
the twelve Counsellors of the American Philosophical Society; an
office in that institution, created by the incorporating act of the
15th of March, 1780.

Footnote 228:

There was some unaccountable mismanagement in the whole of this
business, on the part of the society. Mr. Mayer’s letter is published
entire, in the original Latin: but the translation ends, abruptly, in
the middle of a paragraph. When Mr. Rittenhouse was directed by the
society to answer that letter, he requested the writer of these
memoirs to furnish him with an English translation of it, for the
purpose of comparing with it one which he had himself attempted. That
translation (which, by Mr. Rittenhouse’s desire, was made to conform
pretty closely to the original,) is inserted in the Appendix, entire,
together with the hitherto unpublished answer.

Footnote 229:

Charles Theodore, Duke of Bavaria, who is denominated by Lalande, “an
illustrious patron of the sciences.”

It is about fifty years since this prince built an observatory near
the gardens of Schwetzingen, two leagues from the city of Manheim; and
there Father Christian Mayer pursued his astronomical labours for
several years. But about the year 1772, the same prince erected
another and a more magnificent edifice (of 108 Rhenish feet in
height,) at Manheim, for the same purpose: where Father Mayer made
numerous and highly estimable observations; as may be collected from
his work, entitled, _De novis in Cælo Siderio Phænomenis_. Lalande
places this observatory in N. Lat. 49° 29′ 15″.

-----

On a perusal of the answer to Mr. Mayer’s communication (in the Appendix,) it will be found, that the “eminent utility,” which he expected to result, at some future day, to astronomical science, from a prosecution of such discoveries as he had recently made among the fixed stars, had been long before anticipated by our Astronomer. In that answer Mr. Rittenhouse mentions, that he is induced to request his correspondent’s acceptance of a copy of the Oration he had delivered before the American Philosophical Society, “some years” before:—“because,” says the writer, “I therein gave my opinion, that the fixed stars afforded the most spacious field for the industry of future astronomers; and expressed my hopes, that the noblest mysteries would sometime be unfolded, in those immensely distant regions.”

This early opinion of his own concerning the fixed stars, to which Mr. Rittenhouse refers in his letter, is expressed in his Oration, in this short paragraph: “If astronomy shall again break those limits that now confine it, and expatiate freely in the superior celestial fields,—what amazing discoveries may yet be made among the fixed stars! That grand phænomenon the Milky way, seems to be the clue, that will one day guide us.”

Such were the expectations entertained by our Philosopher, more than three years before the date of Mr. Mayer’s communication of his discovery to the Philosophical Society;—a discovery which Mr. Rittenhouse, in his letter to that great astronomer, styles “excellent;” and one that proves his own “presage” to have been well founded. He, at the same time, modestly suggests to Mr. Mayer, the institution of a comparison between the many observations he had already made, in order to determine, whether the several changes observed will agree with any imagined motion of our system; remarking, that those he had communicated, seemed to favour such a supposition.

How important soever, in relation to astronomy, the phænomena observed by Mayer may be, the honour of first discovering them certainly belongs to him. Mr. Rittenhouse was not the discoverer: nor had he ever access to so complete and expensive an astronomical apparatus, as that used by Mayer on the occasion, and with which he was furnished by means of princely munificence. But all candid men of science will, nevertheless, be disposed to allow the American Astronomer no inconsiderable share of merit for the early “presage,” which his deep-discerning and vastly comprehensive mind enabled him to suggest, of some such future discoveries.

The writer of these memoirs deemed it his duty to do justice to the memory of the subject of them, by giving publicity to these interesting circumstances; and the performance of this duty is the more gratifying to the writer, because he alone possesses a knowledge of all the facts he has stated, concerning them.

The late discoveries of Dr. Herschel, among the fixed stars, in addition to those previously made by Mr. Mayer, have in a greater degree realised the expectations which were formed, many years before either, by our Astronomer; such, indeed, as are almost entitled to the character of prescient annunciations, respecting that portion of the heavens which should, some time or other, be the scene of the most important astronomical discoveries. According to Herschel, the Milky Way is an immense nebula, near one of the sides of which, is placed the solar system; and he imagines, that each nebula, of which he had observed more than nine hundred, consists of a group of suns, with their attendant planets!

Mr. Rittenhouse never possessed the means of acquiring such stupendous and costly telescopes, as those used by Herschel, for the purpose of exploring the heavens. But the penetrating genius of our countryman seems to have contemplated, by anticipation, the actual existence of those sublime phænomena, some of which the vastly superior instruments of the Germano-Anglican Astronomer have since manifested; when, in language apparently prophetic, but certainly dictated by the most exalted pre-conceptions of the grandeur of celestial objects which were yet undiscovered, the American Philosopher observes, as he does in his Oration,—that “all yonder stars innumerable, with their dependencies, may perhaps compose but the leaf of a flower in the Creator’s garden, or a single pillar in the immense building of the Divine Architect.” Well might he exclaim, with rapturous extacy, after so beautiful and sublime a reflection,—“Here is ample provision made for the all-grasping mind of man!”

It will be evident to such as duly reflect on this subject, that those expectations which occupied the mind of Mr. Rittenhouse, so long since as the year 1775—concerning the “amazing discoveries” which should, at some future period, be made among the fixed stars, were not mere conjectures or vague hypotheses; but, that they were rational anticipations of realities, founded on the most acute observation and laborious research, as well as the profoundest philosophical judgment. As Newton is said to have revealed those truths in physics, which his predecessor, Bacon, had preconceived; so, that great practical astronomer, Herschel, and some other eminent observers of our day,[230] have been enabled, by means of the very important improvements recently made in astronomical instruments,[231] to verify a grand hypothesis in his favourite science, which had long before been conceived by the towering genius of Rittenhouse.

-----

Footnote 230:

Among those who have observed, since Dr. Herschel’s discovery of the
Georgium Sidus, new phænomena in the heavens, may be ranked the
following:

M. Piazzi, a Sicilian astronomer, who, on the 1st of January, 1801,
discovered a small planet revolving round the sun, between the orbits
of Jupiter and Mars, named Ceres: Dr. Olbers, of Bremen, who, on the
28th of March in the following year, discovered another small planet,
to which he gave the name of Pallas, which revolves round the sun
nearly at the same distance, and in the same time, as Ceres; and
afterwards, viz. on the 29th of March, another planet, which he called
Vesta; similar to the others, both in its position and magnitude: and

Mr. Harding, of Lilienthal, who, between these two last mentioned
periods, viz. on the 1st of September, 1804, discovered a fourth
planet (but the third in the order of time,) also small, to which he
gave the name of Juno; resembling Pallas in a great excentricity of
its orbit, and the inclination of this to the ecliptic, and placed at
nearly the same distance from the sun.