The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-07-14

our plans IF ;.aprovc :nent, and even to t,ir
government i.set!,
Has then ahenifcent providence, the God
ot order & justice, pointed out another mode
OF defence, bywhiCh the resources of this Ma,
ton may be reserved for works of peace and
the advancement of human happiness Has
the genius of science and of art raised up a
new Archimedes to guide the fire of heaven
against the fleets that may annoy us cam
not but hope it has-not by the ardent mir
ror; but by means altogether more certain,
less dependent on external circumstances.
capable of varying and accommodating their
mode ofattack and defence to all the variety
OF positions and movements common to ships
of war.
know not how far may differ in opinion
from those among you who may have
turned their attention to the subject to which
now allude-or whether any person pre-
sent has really investigatedit it. But should
not feel easy to lose the present occasion
(,fe only one that my retired life renders it
probabe,I shall ever have of addressing you,
70 express my private opinion that the means
of submarine attack. invented and proposed
by one of our citizens carries, in itself the
eventual destruction of naval tyranny.@
should hope and believe, if it were taken up
and adopted By our government, subjected
to rigid and regular course of experiments,
open and public, SO that its powers might be
aScertained & its merits known to the world,
it would save this nation from future foreign
wars, and deliver it from all apprehension
OF having its commercial pursuits aud it's
peaceful improvements ever after Interrupt
ted. 1t might rid the seas Of all the bucca-
neers both great and small that now infest
them; it might free mankind from the
scourge of naval wars, one of the greatest
calamities they now suffer, and to which l
can see no other end.
These opinions may be thought ha zardous.
But beg my fellow citizens to believe that
i have examined the subject, or should not
hazard them. Several of the great arts that
are now grown familiar in common life were
once thought visionary. This fact should
render us cautious of making up our juds-
ment against an object like this in the high
er order of mechanical combinations, before
we have well considered it. With this OBJ
servation drop the subject-or rather /
resign 1t into abler hands the hands of those
who have the power, as we'll as the inclina-
ton to pursue the best good of our beloved
country
should not have introduced it in this
place, were it not for its Immediate connex-
ion with the means of commencing and pro-
scouting those vast interior improvements
which the state Of our nation so imperiously
demands; which the heroes OF our revolu-
sion, the sages of our early councils, the ge-
Mus of civilization, the cause of suffering
humanity, have placed within our power and
coniided to our charge.
Fulton's Torpedoes-a description of which
is given i'll the Enquirer of the ID May. 1t 10 TO
Mr.F that Mr.. Barlow has dedicated his Column
bad
1t il to be wished that Congress would ap
propria,e small sum of money, for making of
these e,Perinents.-We understood, that Mr..
had intsnded 10 make An application TO this ef-
felt-B.