Chapter I (1)

LIFE OF RUMFORD BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE INSTITUTION.

1753 to 1799.

At Charlestown, Massachusetts, in the year 1630, James Thompson was among Winthrop’s company. He settled about ten miles inland, and the place was called Woburn. In 1752 Benjamin Thompson was there with his father, Captain Ebenezer Thompson, and he married Ruth Simonds, of that place. Their child, the future Count Rumford, was born in his grandfathers farmhouse, on March 26, 1753. The house is still to be seen near the meeting-house in North Woburn. When the child was a year old his father died, and when he was three years old his mother married again. ‘To the close of her life Rumford wrote to her full of affection, and by the munificent provision which he made for her he showed his tender, grateful regard for her.’

A small inheritance from his grandfather helped to support and to educate the boy. By the law of Massachusetts everyone had a good grammar-school education, and the village school teacher at Woburn was then a graduate of Harvard College and taught a little Latin. From his earliest years the boy was fickle and careless. He neglected regular work, but liked arithmetic. He was full of energy and quick to make what he wanted. When eleven he went to a better school in the neighbouring town of Medford. When thirteen Benjamin Thompson appeared unlikely to make a farmer. He was therefore apprenticed to an importer of British goods and a dealer in everything, at Salem, on October 14, 1766. ‘Instead of watching for customers over the counter, he busied himself with tools and instruments under it.’ When he could he played his fiddle, and played it well. When only fourteen his master allowed him to make small ventures in shipping goods that were paid for by a relative. He was clever at drawing and cutting names, and he thought he had ‘invented a machine for making motion perpetual.’ When the repeal of the Stamp Act occurred, he blew himself up with fireworks, and was in great danger of death. His master signed the non-importation agreement. Thus his apprentice became useless. When sixteen he returned to his mother. To an elder school-fellow, L. Baldwin, at this time he wrote questions on light, heat, and the wind.

In 1769, when seventeen, he was apprentice and clerk to a drygoods dealer at Boston. There he went to an evening-school to learn French, paying only for the hours he attended.

A note-book made by him about this time still exists. It abounds in caricatures. Has receipts for different fireworks. One of these ends with, ‘Love is a noble passion of the mind.’ Contains the sum he paid for learning French and for pew-rent, and the sums gained by cutting and carting firewood for relatives. Instructions for the back sword exercise, with a sketch of two combatants; and later there is an account of ‘what expense I have been at towards getting an electrical machine,’ and ‘an account of what work I have done towards getting an electrical machine.’

In the winter of 1770 he was ill for five weeks with fever. Then for eighteen months off and on he boarded with Dr. John Hay, of Woburn, and whilst with him he learned something of anatomy, chemistry, materia medica, surgery, and physic. During the summer, 1771, he went to Cambridge, to attend Mr. Winthrop’s lectures on Experimental Philosophy. In the winter of 1771-2 for some weeks he was teaching in a school at Wilmington, and in the spring he taught at Bradford. In the summer he left Dr. Hay for good, because he was asked by Colonel Walker to become the fixed master of a school at Concord, New Hampshire. This place had been called Rumford when it belonged to Essex County, Massachusetts. The name was changed when the disputes as to the county to which it belonged were ended.

The Rev. T. Walker was the first minister of Concord. He was a native of Woburn and connected with the Thompson family. He was the chief man in Concord. His son was a colonel and a lawyer, and his daughter, when about thirty, was married to Colonel Rolfe, who was sixty. She was left a rich widow in two years, and in the middle of the following year Thompson came as schoolmaster to Concord. He was not yet quite twenty. His friend Baldwin describes him ‘as of fine, manly make and figure, nearly six feet high, with handsome features, bright blue eyes and dark auburn hair. His manners were polished and his ways fascinating, and he could make himself agreeable. He had well used his opportunities of culture, so that his knowledge was beyond that of most of those around him, and he was able to give satisfaction as a teacher.’

In the country parsonage and at Colonel Walker’s house he frequently met Mrs. Rolfe, and he told his friend Professor Pictet that she married him rather than he her. This was about the end of 1772, when he was nearly twenty. He had to teach no more in school. His marriage made him one of the chief men in Concord.

After his marriage he went with his wife to Portsmouth, where she knew Governor Wentworth. ‘He saw in young Thompson not only the representative of a family already known in the public and social life of his province, but also a man of much promise, one likely to work vigorously in whatever he took up.’ The Governor soon gave Thompson a commission as major in the second provincial regiment of New Hampshire. The young officer at once became an object of jealousy and ill-will to all the lieutenants and captains of his regiment. The favour of the Governor made all his brother officers his enemies.

The following letter to the Rev. Mr. Williams, at Bradford, afterwards Professor at the college there, shows the influence of Thompson with the Governor, and also some of his scientific thoughts and aims:

Concord, Monday, January 17, 1773.

DEAR SIR,--Last Friday I had the honour to wait upon his
Excellency, Governour Wentworth, at Portsmouth, where I was very
politely and agreeably entertained for the space of an hour and
a half. I had not been in his company long before I proceeded
upon business, viz. to ask his Excellency whether ever the White
Mountains had been surveyed. He answering me in the negative, I
proceeded to acquaint him that there was a number of persons who
had thought of making an expedition that way next summer, and
asked him whether it would be agreeable to his Excellency. He said
it would be extremely agreeable, seemed excessively pleased with
the plan, promised to do all that lay in his power to forward
it,--said that he had a number of Mathematical instruments (such
as two or three telescopes, Barometer, Thermometer, Compass, &c.)
at Wentworth House, (at Wolfeborough, only about thirty miles from
the mountains), all which, together with his library, should be at
our service. That he should be extremely glad to wait on us, and
to _crown all_ he promised, if there were no public business which
rendered his presence at Portsmouth _absolutely necessary_, that
he would take his tent equipage and go with us to the mountain and
tarry with us, and assist us till our survey, which he said he
supposed would take about twelve or fourteen days!!!--!!--!!!!!

During 1773 he was chiefly farming. Whilst on a visit with his wife to Boston he was introduced to Governor Gage and to several of the British officers. Among those who worked for him on his farm were four deserters from the grenadiers at Boston. He persuaded them to return to their regiment. He wrote to General Gage to beg pardon for them. He asked that his petition might be kept secret. He wished not to excite more enmity among his neighbours. But the use of his influence with the Governor got known. The bitterest feeling was working in the country. Civil war was about to begin. Major Thompson was suspected by the people because he was in favour with the royal Governors. The committees of correspondence and of safety listened to the reports of any of the ‘sons of liberty.’ Major Thompson was called before a committee of the people in Concord for being ‘unfriendly to the cause of liberty.’ He denied the charge, and was acquitted. About this time (August 1774) he asks his friend, Mr. Loammi Baldwin, merchant in Woburn, ‘to favour him with an easy question, arithmetical or algebraical, and he will give as good an account of it as possible.’ In October his only child, Sarah, was born. In November the mob gathered round his house, but by friendly warning he was able to escape to his mother’s at Woburn, fifty miles away. Here he sought to busy himself by reading, and he made some experiments on gunpowder; but ill-will soon followed him, and he was driven for shelter to a friend at Charleston. Thence he wrote to his father-in-law at Concord:

December 24, 1774.

REVEREND SIR,--The time and circumstances of my leaving the town of
Concord have, no doubt, given you great uneasiness, for which I am
extremely sorry. Nothing short of the most threatening danger could
have induced me to leave my friends and family; but when I learned
from persons of undoubted veracity, and those whose friendship I
could not suspect, that my situation was reduced to this dreadful
extremity, I thought it absolutely necessary to abscond for a
while, and seek a friendly asylum in some distant part.

Fear of miscarriage prevents my giving a more particular account of
this affair; but this you may rely and depend upon, that I never
did, nor (let my treatment be what it will) ever will do, any
action that may have the most distant tendency to injure the true
interest of this my native country.

I most humbly beg your kind care of my distressed family; and I
hope you will take an opportunity to alleviate their trouble by
assuring them that I am in a place of safety, and hope shortly to
have the pleasure of seeing them. I also most humbly beseech your
prayers for me, that under all my difficulties and troubles I may
behave in such a manner as to approve myself a true servant of God
and a sincere friend of my country.

To have tarried at Concord and have stood another trial at the bar
of the populace would doubtless have been attended with unhappy
consequences, as my innocence would have stood me in no stead
against the prejudices of an enraged, infatuated multitude,--and
much less against the determined villany of my inveterate enemies,
who strive to raise their popularity on the ruins of my character.
My friends would have been deemed unfriendly to the cause of
Liberty, and my defence would have been treated with contempt and
disdain. It would have been vain for me to have pretended to curb
the fury or calm the rage of this popular whirlwind; but I must
have been cast, and condemned to suffer punishments equal to the
blackness of my supposed transgressions.

The plan against me was deeply laid, and the people of Concord
were not the only ones that were engaged in it. But others to the
distance of twenty miles were extremely officious on this occasion.
My persecution was determined on, and my flight unavoidable. And
had I not taken the opportunity to leave the town the moment I did,
another morning had effectually cut off my retreat.

In May his wife and her infant joined him at his mother’s home at Woburn. When there, skirmishes took place between the people and troops at Concord, Massachusetts, and Lexington, and in this last fight Major Thompson is said to have taken part with the people; but he was soon the object of ill-feeling, and, although he was saved from immediate arrest by his friend Major Baldwin, a short time afterwards he was arrested, and then he appealed from the Committee of Correspondence of Woburn to the Committee of Safety of the Provincial Congress. When he was acquitted at Woburn and set free, he withdrew his petition from the Committee of Safety. Soon after he was with Major Baldwin at Charlestown, and probably he took part in the battle of Bunker’s Hill. He certainly helped to pack up the library at Cambridge, and was only prevented by the officers of the New Hampshire Militia from obtaining a commission from General Washington. When epaulets were ordered for the non-commissioned officers, he had samples made and sent them with the price to his friend, then Colonel Baldwin, offering to take an order for any number that might be wanted.

In August he again writes a long reply to his father-in-law, in answer to letters urging him to express his sorrow that he had done wrong and to ask forgiveness of the people:

Woburn, August 14, 1775.

As to my being instrumental in the return of some Deserters, by
procuring them a pardon, I freely acknowledge that I was. But you
will give me leave to say that what I did was done from principles
the most unexceptionable--the most disinterested--a sincere desire
to serve my _King_ and _Country_, from motives of _Pity_ to those
unfortunate Wretches who had deserted the service to which they
had _voluntarily_ and so _solemnly_ tyed themselves, and to which
they were desirous of returning. If the designed ends were not
answered by what I did, I am sincerely and heartily sorry. But if
it is a Crime to act from principles like these, I glory in being a
Criminal.

Many other crimes which you do not mention have been laid to
my charge, for which I have had to answer both _publicly_ and
_privately_. My enemies are indefatigable in their endeavours
to distress me, and I find to my sorrow that they are but too
successful. I have been driven from the Camp by the clamours of the
New Hampshire people, and am again threaten’d in this place. But
I hope soon to be out of the reach of my Cruel Persecutors, for I
am determined to seek for _that Peace_ and _Protection_ in foreign
Lands and among strangers which is deny’d me in my native country.
I cannot any longer bear the insults that are daily offered me.
I cannot bear to be looked upon and treated as the _Achan_ of
Society. I have done nothing that can deserve this _cruel usage_.
I have done nothing with any design to injure my countrymen, and
cannot any longer bear to be treated in this barbarous manner by
them.

And notwithstanding I have the tenderest regard for my Wife
and family, and really believe I have an equal return of love
and affection from them; though I feel the keenest distress at
the thoughts of what Mrs. Thompson and my Parents and friends
will suffer on my account, and though I foresee and realise the
distress, poverty, and wretchedness that must unavoidably attend
my Pilgrimage in unknown lands, destitute of fortune, friends, and
acquaintance, yet all these Evils appear to me more tolerable than
the treatment which I meet with from the hands of my ungrateful
countrymen.[1]

I am too well acquainted with your Paternal affection for your
Children to doubt of your kind care over them. But you will
excuse me if I trouble you with my _most earnest_ desires and
entreaties for your _peculiar_ care of my family, whose distressed
circumstances call for every indulgence and alleviation you can
afford them.

I must also beg a continuance of your Prayers for me, that my
present afflictions may have a suitable impression on my mind, and
that in due time I may be extricated out of all my troubles. That
this may be the case, that the happy time may soon come when I may
return to my family in peace and safety, and _when every individual
in America may sit down under his own vine, and under his own
Fig-tree, and have none to make him afraid_, is the constant and
devout wish of

Your dutiful and affectionate son,
BENJAMIN THOMPSON.

Rev. Tim. Walker.

Dr. Ellis, in his admirable biography, says:

Major Thompson remained in and about Woburn two months after
writing his last letter to Mr. Walker, in which he so deliberately
avowed his intentions. He settled his affairs with his neighbours,
collecting dues and paying debts, well assured that his wife and
child would lack none of the means of a comfortable support. Having
thus made all his preparations, he started from Woburn, October 13,
1775, in a country vehicle, accompanied by his stepbrother, Josiah
Pierce, who drove him near to the bounds of the province, on the
shore of Narragansett Bay, whence young Pierce returned. Thompson
was taken on board the ‘Scarborough,’ British frigate, to Newport
and from thence to Boston.

In the Alienation Act of the Senate of New Hampshire in 1778 he was named among the proscribed; and in 1781, the confiscation papers of his property call him ‘of Woburn, physician, now an absentee.’

Whilst Mr. Thompson was at Boston the American rebellion became a revolution. General Gage was succeeded by General Howe, and to him Lord Dartmouth wrote in September 1775: ‘No room was left for any other consideration but that of proceeding against the twelve associated Colonies in all respects with the utmost vigour as the open and avowed enemies of the State,’ and he spoke of the great risk and little advantage that are to be expected from the continuance of the army at Boston during the winter, and on the advantages of recovering possession of New York. He tells the general that ‘the Empress of Russia, in the fullness of her affection for the British nation, and of gratitude for the benefits she had received under her late difficulties, had made the most explicit declaration and given the most ample assurance of any number of infantry that might be wanted.’ When, ‘in consequence of this generous and magnanimous offer,’ a requisition was made to her for 20,000 men for Canada, objections arose, and ‘much embarrassment and disappointment were the only results.’

The Cape Fear expedition failed from ignorance of the depth of the river.

When Lord George Germain became one of his Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State, November 10, a commission was issued under the great seal ‘for the restoration of public tranquillity among his Majesty’s deluded subjects in the affected colonies.’ A proclamation said: ‘Apprised of the fatal consequence of the conduct they had adopted, and seeing the determined spirit of the nation to maintain its constitutional rights, they will avail themselves of the means which the justice and benevolence of the supreme legislature have held out to them of being restored to the King’s grace and peace.’ This failed utterly, from ignorance of the depth of opposition in the colonies. Boston was evacuated in March 1776, and Mr. Thompson was sent to England with the news. He was probably thought perfectly qualified to answer every question relative to his Majesty’s service. Cuvier says, ‘La bonne mine du jeune officier, la netteté et l’étendue des renseignements qu’il donna, prévinrent en sa faveur le secrétaire d’État au département de l’Amérique.’ His news caused no great distress, and his information must have reassured the minister, for even in June Lord G. Germain and the Prime Minister wrote to General Howe on the good prospect of an end being put to the rebellion in one campaign. It was the good news from Canada that helped to deceive them.

Mr. Thompson was taken into Lord George Germain’s office, and he was appointed Secretary of the Province of Georgia.

In the autumn of 1777 Thompson was at Bath for his health, drinking the waters. Whilst there he made some experiments on the cohesive strength of different substances. These led to no great results, but he communicated them to Sir Joseph Banks, the new President of the Royal Society.

Sir W. Howe was at this time asking for large reinforcements. He thus wrote to Lord G. Germain from Philadelphia:

‘From the little attention, my Lord, given to my recommendations since the commencement of my command, I am led to hope that I may be relieved from this very painful service wherein I have not the good fortune to enjoy the necessary confidence and support of my superiors, but which I conclude will be extended to Sir Henry Clinton, my presumptive successor.’

In 1778 Mr. Thompson was with Lord G. Germain at his house, Stoneland Lodge, Sussex. Whilst there Thompson made experiments on testing gunpowder, and on a new method of determining the velocity of projectiles. The results were sent to the Royal Society, in 1781, and were published at great length in the ‘Philosophical Transactions.’ One good observation is now of great interest. ‘Being much struck with the accidental discovery of the great degree of heat that pieces acquire when they are fired with powder without any bullet, and being desirous of finding out whether it is a circumstance that obtains universally, I was very attentive to the heat of the barrel after each of the succeeding experiments, and I constantly found the heat sensibly greater when the piece was fired with powder only than when the same charge was made to impel one or more bullets.’

In order to pursue these experiments he went in 1779, on board of the ‘Victory,’ of 110 guns, commanded by his friend Sir Charles Hardy. He passed the whole of the campaign on board of the fleet, and the result of the observations that he then made furnished the materials for a chapter which he contributed to Stalkart’s ‘Treatise on Naval Architecture.’ He added to it a code of signals for the navy, which was not published. In his paper on gunpowder, read in 1797 to the Royal Society, he says:

During a cruise which I made, as a volunteer, in the ‘Victory,’
with the British fleet, under the command of my late worthy friend
Sir Charles Hardy, in the year 1779, I had many opportunities of
attending to the firing of heavy cannon; for though we were not
fortunate enough to come to a general action with the enemy, as
is well known, yet, as the men were frequently exercised at the
great guns and in firing at marks, and as some of my friends in
the fleet, then captains (since made admirals), as the Honourable
Keith Stewart, who commanded the ‘Berwick,’ of 74 guns,--Sir
Charles Douglas, who commanded the ‘Duke,’ of 98 guns,--and Admiral
Macbride, who was then captain of the ‘Bienfaisant,’ of 64 guns,
were kind enough, at my request, to make a number of experiments,
and particularly by firing a greater number of bullets at once from
their heavy guns than ever had been done before, and observing the
distances at which they fell in the sea,--I had opportunities of
making several very interesting observations, which gave me much
new light relative to the action of fired gunpowder.

In 1778 Mr. Thompson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Great must have been the trouble in his office this year. In October 1778, Sir H. Clinton wrote to Lord G. Germain from New York that he was about to send, as he was ordered, ten thousand men to the West Indies and St. Augustine. ‘After a wound in my humble opinion so fatal to the hopes of any future vigour in this army, I trust, my Lord, you cannot wish to keep me in the mortifying command of it.’ ‘You cannot, I am confident, my Lord, desire that I should remain a mournful witness of the debility of an army at whose head, had I been unshackled by instructions, I might have indulged expectations of rendering serious service to my country.’

Lord G. Germain thought that much good would be done by encouraging the provincial forces, and by promising to the provincial officers half-pay and permanent rank in America.

On January 23, 1779, he wrote to Sir H. Clinton: ‘It is likewise his Majesty’s pleasure that you publish and make known to his provincial corps, as also to all others his loyal subjects in America, his gracious intention to support and protect them by making the rank of the officers permanent in America, and allowing them half-pay upon the reduction of their regiments, in the same manner as the officers of British reduced regiments are paid.’

This order for promotion immediately excited the discontent of the officers in the army. In their memorial to Sir H. Clinton they ask him ‘to prevent our being superseded by officers of yesterday who have served under us.’

In 1780 proposals were made to Lord G. Germain to revive the Association of Loyalists in America, ‘so that Government, at a very moderate expense, might be served by a considerable number of men, and Captain Murray offered on behalf of Brigadier Ruggles, who had been Brigadier-General of Provincial Forces in America during the last war, Deputy Surveyor-General of the Woods, and late his Majesty’s council in the province of Massachusetts Bay in New England, to raise and to command a regiment of light dragoons, to be called the King’s American Dragoons.’

Lord G. Germain wrote to Sir H. Clinton, June 7, 1780, from Whitehall:

The services of Brigadier Ruggles in the last war, and the
influence he still retains in those provinces of North America,
where his character, his honour, and his name are respected, made
me long desirous of seeing that gentleman engaged in the King’s
service. The enclosed plan of raising a regiment of dragoons was
communicated to me by Captain Murray, by authority of Brigadier
Ruggles. It appeared to me so fair and so disinterested, that
I laid it before his Majesty, and it so far met with his royal
approbation that he permitted me to transmit the plan to you. And
if the public service requires any provincial cavalry to be raised,
his Majesty would be pleased to see Mr. Ruggles placed at the head
of such a corps, where he may have an opportunity of again acting
with that zeal and spirit which formerly did him so much honour.

In September 1780 Mr. Thompson was made Under-Secretary of State for the Northern Department by Lord George Germain.

In May 1781 the Inspector-General of Provincial Forces wrote to the Under-Secretary, Thompson, to say that the distress for the want of cavalry appointments was beyond conception. ‘Had all the appointments,’ he says, ‘for Brigadier-General Ruggles come out, it would have afforded us a small temporary supply; but only twenty-five helmets have yet appeared.’

Lord G. Germain then moved the Treasury to send fresh and large supplies, and said he had directed Mr. Thompson, the Deputy Inspector-General of Provincial Forces, to procure patterns and estimates and to give information. Lord North, Lord Palmerston, and Sir R. Sutton referred the question of quality and quantity to the Adjutant-General, who reported that ‘it would be doing injustice to Mr. Thompson not to declare that, as far as my judgment goes, he will not only gain great credit for himself, but at the same time essentially serve the public by his disinterested and very attentive execution of the trust that has been reposed in him on this occasion.’ Their lordships directed Mr. Thompson forthwith to provide the several articles mentioned, and allowed him one and a half per cent. commission. The sum he received at this time was one hundred and twenty pounds.

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.

‘The several detached corps of cavalry have been incorporated into distinct ones under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson. From the unwearied attention and diligent efforts of that officer they are become respectable, and I have everything to expect from this improvement.’

On February 20 Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson wrote to the Honourable Lieutenant-General Leslie that he has not been so fortunate as to meet with the enemy he had come in search of; but the following despatch was sent by him on February 25, 1782:

Duxcent’s Plantation, Monday, February 25, 1782.

SIR,--I did not expect, after the affair of yesterday, the enemy
would so soon have put it in my power to congratulate you upon
another defeat of their troops by those which you have done me
the honour to put under my command. We had the good fortune this
morning to fall in with a chosen corps, under the command of
General Marion in person, which we attacked and totally routed,
killing a considerable number of them, taking sixteen prisoners,
and driving General Marion and the greatest part of his army into
the Santee, where it is probable a great many of them perished.

After resting and refreshing our horses at the plantation where we
halted last night, at nine o’clock this morning the cavalry marched
back to the Santee, to the ground where we fell in with the enemy
yesterday. The infantry marched at the same time for this place,
and we promised to join them in the afternoon.

We had advanced about nine miles from the place we left in the
morning, when, coming in through a gate-way to the cleared grounds
of a plantation, we discovered the enemy about three hundred yards
distant, directly in front of us, drawn up in the area between the
negroe huts belonging to the plantation.

As soon as the troops were formed I ordered a charge to be sounded,
and the line moved forwards. The enemy also sounded a charge, but,
instead of coming out to meet us, they were discovered going off
by their right in the greatest hurry and confusion, and attempting
to gain a swamp that was upon the banks of the river on that side.
We immediately charged after them at full speed, and had the good
fortune to come up in time to cut off a great part of their rear.
Those that gained the swamp were pursued, and many of them were
killed in attempting to get into the river, and others were shot
and drowned in attempting to swim to the opposite shore. We took
near forty horses, many of which are capital chargers.

After the action we collected at our leisure all the cattle from
the rebel plantations in that quarter, and have sent them down the
road with a proper escort. We shall follow as soon as the troops
are refreshed.

In this last affair with the enemy, as well as during the whole
time I have had the honour to command this detachment, the troops,
both officers and men, have behaved in such a manner as to merit my
warmest acknowledgment.

I have the honour to be, with perfect respect, Sir, your most
obedient and most humble servant,

R. THOMPSON.

In the general orders on March 1 the General expressed to the army the opinion he entertained of the merit of Colonel Thompson’s conduct upon this occasion, and of the spirited behaviour of the troops, and to Sir H. Clinton he wrote, March 12, 1782:

I had the honour to inform your Excellency that Lieutenant-Colonel
Thompson having offered his service during his stay here, I had
appointed him to the command of the cavalry. He has put them in
exceeding good order and gained their confidence and affection.
I am very happy to inform your Excellency of his success in a
late excursion upon the Santee. [An account of the action is then
given in the despatch.] I enclose to your Excellency Colonel
Thompson’s report to me of this very handsome piece of service,
and I assure your Excellency that I have much regret to part with
this enterprising young officer, who appears to have an uncommon
share of merit and zeal for the service; and could he and his corps
be spared to act in this part, where cavalry are so much wanted,
I am confident it would tend much to the benefit of his Majesty’s
service.

Despatches of this date show that in council also Thompson was as efficient as in the field.

General Leslie wrote to Sir H. Clinton:

I beg to know your Excellency’s opinion with regard to our putting
arms into the hands of the negroes. I have desired Colonel Thompson
to speak with your Excellency upon the subject, and to make known
to you the particulars of our situation in that respect.

On April 11 Colonel Thompson arrived at New York.

Four days afterwards Sir H. Clinton wrote to General Leslie: ‘Those parts of your letters to which you have referred for a more full explanation to Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson, I shall answer after consulting with him upon the subject;’ and he also says: ‘With respect to the disagreeable predicament which you mention Lieutenant-Colonel Balfour and other officers of rank in the Southern army stand in on account of Mr. Green’s threats for Colonel Hayne’s execution, I shall consult Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson, and let you know my sentiments by the earliest opportunity.’

At this time Sir H. Clinton was about to give up the command he had so often petitioned to resign. He had ‘lamented that his happiness was sacrificed to prevent the partial inconvenience which might have arisen from a change,’ and later he wrote: ‘His Majesty’s assent to my petition will crown the many favours of which my heart will ever retain the most grateful remembrance.’

On February 6 General Robinson was appointed to succeed Sir H. Clinton, and soon after Sir Guy Carleton took the command.

Colonel Thompson’s chief business was to complete his regiment, which was encamped about three miles from Flushing, in Long Island. There, on August 1, colours were presented to the regiment by Prince William, then a boy of eighteen in the Royal Navy, accompanied by Admiral Digby. On the 6th, on behalf of himself and the officers of the King’s American Dragoons, Colonel Thompson petitioned Sir Guy Carleton to order them to enjoy the advantages stipulated on the completion of the regiment; and at the end of August Sir Guy Carleton notifies in the general orders that Colonel Thompson and his officers are entitled to permanent rank in America.

In September Colonel Thompson’s name is to be found first on a list of six agents, selected to act for them by those Royalists who were willing to emigrate with their families from Long Island to Nova Scotia.

Two months later it appears, from a bill, that he was building chimneys in the barracks at Huntingdon, Long Island, where his regiment was stationed, when the treaty of peace between America and England was made in Paris without the consent and even without the knowledge of France.

In December every preparation was made for a sudden attack of the French upon New York, and orders were issued by General Robinson in case that event took place. Alarm posts for each of the different corps and the details of the duties of each corps were arranged. ‘If an attack was made on Huntingdon, the troops were immediately to assemble and march to the support of Colonel Thompson.’

Early in the spring active measures were proposed against the French in the West Indies. Peace with France stopped these plans, and on April 11, 1783, Colonel Thompson obtained leave of absence, in order that he might return to London to urge the claims of the provincial officers to rank and to half-pay.

Some original documents in the appendix to this chapter will show the energy, the ability, and the perseverance of Colonel Thompson when he arrived in London.

On August 17 Sir Guy Carleton issued an order that all the men who wished to be discharged in America, should hold themselves in readiness to embark for Nova Scotia; and in October the King’s American Dragoons were disbanded on the lands appropriated to them, many miles up the river St. John, on the north side of the Bay of Fundy.

On October 25, 1783, Colonel Thompson’s half-pay began, and it continued for the remainder of his life. He had at this time began a new career. He determined to go abroad, intending to take part in a war which was then expected between Austria and the Turks.

Gibbon wrote from Dover, September 17, 1783, to Lord Sheffield:

Last night the wind was so high that the vessel could not stir from
the harbour; this day it is brisk and fair. We are flattered with
the hope of making Calais Harbour by the same tide in three hours
and a half, but any delay will leave the disagreeable option of
a tottering boat or a tossing night. What a cursed thing to live
in an island! this step is more awkward than the whole journey.
The triumvirate of this memorable embarkation will consist of the
grand Gibbon, Henry Laurens, Esq., President of Congress, and Mr.
Secretary, Colonel, Admiral, Philosopher Thompson, attended by
three horses, who are not the most agreeable fellow-passengers.
If we survive, I will finish and seal my letter at Calais. Our
salvation shall be ascribed to the prayers of my lady and aunt, for
I do believe they both pray.

Boulogne.

Instead of Calais the wind has driven us to Boulogne, where we
landed in the evening, without much noise and difficulty....
Laurens has read the pamphlet, and thinks it has done much
mischief. A good sign![2]

Professor Pictet, of Geneva, has published in the ‘Bibliothèque universelle’ the notes he made of a conversation with Count Rumford regarding his life at this time. He says:

A purely accidental circumstance had a decisive influence over his
destiny. He arrived at Strasburg, where the Prince Maximilian of
Deux Ponts, now [1801] Elector of Bavaria, then Field-Marshal in
the service of France, was in garrison. This prince, commanding on
parade, sees among the spectators an officer in a foreign uniform,
mounted on a fine English horse, whom he addresses. Thompson
informs him that he comes from serving in the American war. The
Prince, in pointing out to him many officers who surround him,
says, ‘These gentlemen were in the same war, but against you; they
belonged to the Royal Regiment of Deux Ponts, that acted in America
under the orders of Count Rochambeau.’

They engaged in conversation, which became very animated. Colonel
Thompson being invited to dine with the Prince, met at the table
a number of French officers whom he had encountered on the field
in America. They talked at length of the events of this war. The
Colonel produced his portfolio, which contained exact plans of the
principal engagements, the forts, the sieges, and an excellent
collection of maps. One and another recognised the place or the
interesting incident which was recalled to him. They conversed a
long while, and separated promising to meet again. The Prince was
passionately devoted to his profession and intensely eager for
information. He invited the Colonel for the next day. They resumed
with the same zest the conversation of yesterday. When at last
the traveller took leave, the Prince engaged him to pass through
Munich, and gave him a friendly letter to the Elector of Bavaria,
his uncle.

The season was advanced, and he was in haste to reach Vienna. He
had promised to stop at Munich two or three days at most; but he
passed there five days, and then did not leave but with regret
a city where the tokens of the regard of the sovereign and the
attentions of different classes of society were extended to him
with that frank cordiality which so eminently distinguishes the
Bavarian nation. He received equally at Vienna the most flattering
welcome, and was presented at Court and mingled in the first
society. There he passed a part of the winter, and, learning that
the war against the Turks was not to be carried on, he yielded to
the attractive memories of Munich, and, passing through Venice,
where he stopped some weeks, and by the Tyrol, he returned to
Brompton by the end of the winter of 1783-84.

In February he was knighted by George the Third, and he received permission to enter into the service of the Duke of Bavaria.

From Munich, July 6, Thompson wrote to Sir Joseph Banks, to tell him that his Electoral Highness had been asked to become a Fellow of the Royal Society. He said:

I should have done myself the honour to have written to you
upon this subject some time ago, but I waited for a favourable
opportunity to speak to his Electoral Highness about it.

It was only a few days since I came into waiting as aide-de-camp
to his Most Serene Highness. I shall continue about his person
till September, when I purpose making a tour for a couple of
months in the mountains of Tyrol, upon the confines of Bavaria,
and the dominions of the Bishop of Saltzburg, a country extremely
interesting in several points of view.

* * * * *

He gave his direction as ‘M. le Chevalier Thompson, colonel et
aide-de-camp général au service de S.A.S. l’Élect. Palatin, Duc de
Bavière.’

He ended, ‘I am, dear Sir, with sincere regard and respect, your
most obedient and most humble servant.’

He again wrote to Sir Joseph Banks on July 24. He began by asking if he could have one of the two hundred medals for Cook’s voyages given to Fellows of the Royal Society, and he ended with a postscript:

I beg you would make my best compliments to Mr. Blagden when you
see him, and tell him I hope he will not entirely forget an old
correspondent who remembers him with great affection.

Cuvier, in his _éloge_ of Count Rumford, says of the Electors of Bavaria:

Les souverains agrandis à l’époque des guerres de religion,
par suite de leur zèle pour le catholicisme, avaient longtemps
porté les marques de ce zèle bien au-delà de ce que réclame
un catholicisme éclairé: ils encourageaient la dévotion et ne
faisaient rien pour l’industrie; on comptait dans leurs états plus
de couvents que de fabriques. L’armée y était à peu près nulle;
l’ignorance et l’inertie dominaient dans toutes les classes de la
société.

The first work in Bavaria of Sir Benjamin Thompson was to rearrange the military service and introduce a new system of order, discipline, and economy among the troops. In the execution of this commission he says: ‘I was ever mindful of that great and important truth that no political arrangement can be really good except in so far as it contributes to the general good of society. I have endeavoured to unite the interest of the soldier with the interest of civil society, and to render the military force, even in the times of peace, subservient to the public good.’ To make soldiers citizens, and citizens soldiers, the soldier was better paid, better clothed, better housed, better taught, better occupied, better amused, and, above all, allowed to earn money and to spend it as he pleased. Fixed garrisons were formed, and the army was used as a means of introducing useful improvements into the country. Thus military gardens were formed to introduce the culture of the potato. Workhouses for manufacturing clothing for the army were founded, first at Mannheim for the troops of the Palatinate and Duchies of Juliers and Bergen, and a few months afterwards at Munich for the fifteen Bavarian regiments. The greatest order and economy were used in the military manufactory and magazine, and after six years Sir B. Thompson wrote that the net profit on the various trades and manufactures in the Munich Workhouse up to that time was 100,000 florins; and he could refer to its growing reputation, its extensive connexions, which reached even to foreign countries, to the punctuality with which all its engagements were fulfilled, to its unimpeached credit, and to its growing wealth. The amount of orders executed in the sixth year of its establishment did not fall much short of half a million of florins.

Among the various measures that occurred to Sir B. Thompson by which the military of the country might be made subservient to the public good in time of peace, ‘none,’ he says, ‘appeared to me of so much importance as that of employing the army in clearing the country of beggars, thieves, and other vagabonds, and in watching over the public tranquillity.’

The beggars swarmed everywhere. They were dissolute, sturdy, shameless, importunate robbers.

A system of mounted police was formed throughout the country by four regiments of cavalry. Means were taken, first, to furnish suitable employment for those who were able to work; and, secondly, to provide the necessary assistance for those who, from age, sickness, or other bodily infirmities, were unable by their industry to provide for themselves.

‘To make vicious and abandoned people happy, it has generally been supposed necessary _first_ to make them virtuous. But why not reverse this order? Why not make them first happy and then virtuous?’

A large building, once a manufactory, was taken in one of the suburbs of Munich; arrangements were made for a kitchen, an eating-room, a bakehouse, workshops for carpenters, smiths, turners, tool-makers, spinners of cotton wool and worsted, for weavers of all kinds, a dyers’ shop, a fulling mill, a washhouse.

Everything was done that could be desired to make the inmates really comfortable by good food, raiment, and cleanliness. The rooms were scrupulously clean, well warmed, and well lighted; the people were well fed, well taught, and well paid for their work. ‘They had the kindest usage from every person, from the highest to the lowest. No ill usage, no harsh language, was permitted; and at the end of five years not a blow had been given to anyone, not even to a child by its instructor,’ and Sir B. Thompson could say: ‘The pleasure I have had in the success of this experiment is much easier to be conceived than described; would to God that my success might encourage others to follow my example! If it were generally known how little trouble and how little expense are required to do much good (the heartfelt satisfaction which arises from relieving the wants and promoting the happiness of our fellow-creatures is so great), I am persuaded acts of the most essential charity would be much more frequent, and the mass of misery among mankind would consequently be much lessened.’

New Year’s Day having been long specially set apart for giving alms early that morning in 1790, three regiments of infantry, with their officers, were stationed in the streets, and Sir B. Thompson assembled the magistrates and asked their assistance to take up all the beggars and to provide for the poor. Accompanied by the chief magistrate, he went into the street, and the first beggar who asked for alms he arrested with his own hands, and orders were given to all the other officers, who also were accompanied with magistrates, to do the same. In less than an hour no beggar was to be found in the streets. They were taken to the Town Hall, inscribed in printed lists, and then told to go to the newly-erected Military Workhouse. An address was opened to the public, asking for perfectly voluntary subscriptions to put an end to begging; monthly sums were given, and daily supplies of bread, meat, and soup were collected.[3]

Several good spinners of hemp were engaged at the House of Industry, and this was the first occupation of the poor. Knitting, sewing, and carding wool were early occupations, but the object to be desired was woollen work for the clothing of the army. If the poor did well, they were rewarded; if they came late, their food was lessened. They slept at their own homes, and when ill they received relief at home. Everything was done to encourage industry and emulation. ‘To incite activity and inspire with a true spirit of persevering industry, it was necessary to fire the poor with emulation--to awaken in them a dormant passion whose influence they had never felt; the love of honest fame; an ardent desire to excel, the love of glory, or by what other pompous name this passion, the most noble and most beneficent that warms the human heart, can be distinguished.’[4]

To excite emulation praise, distinctions, rewards are necessary; and these were all employed.