The New York herald., 1851-10-14

each other ideas on subjects tn which their minds
were mutually directed. la 1894, aud subseq usnt-
nery connected with inland navigation and mecha-
mics. The subject OF canals appears 70 have en-
gagged much OF his attention. During h's 8 residence
in England, be professed himself civil engineer
Throughout his course ~ q mechanist and civil en-
gineer he derived great advantage from his talent
for drawing and painting He was an elegsnt ana
accurate craftsman. Alter his attention was di-
ie ,ted mainly to mechsnics, be seems not TO have
used his pencil as painter, till short time before
his death, when he pa nted some portraits OF MS
own family. In 1871, he went to Paris, where ne
lived seven years in the family of Joel Barlow,
during which time he studied the higher matnema
tics, physics, chemistry, and perspective, Wniie
there he projected the first panor ANA tina. was ex
hlbited in Paris. He also made an expert nent
there in 1877, ON the Seine, with machine de-
signed to propel csrcasses Of gunpowder to given
point and there to explode them. At;nOasa ;a tns
on the subject until he perfected the plan for his
sub marine boat, and torpedoes, as 1t was after
wards executed. He returned to AmerI,a IN $500,
after an absence OF about nineteen years.
1t is impossible to say what progress Mr.. Fulton
had made in his plans for steamboat navig alton,
previous to 1901, when he and Chancellor Living
ston met in Paris. His papers, however, render 1t
evident that the application OF water wheels, as
they are now used in steam navigation, was amoog
his first conceptions Of the means by which they
might be propelled. He had given instructions
to Messrs. Watts and Bolton, for constructing the
,
yet he made no preteusions, as an inventor, with
respect to the engine On the contrary, he was
often heard to declare that he did not pretend to
have made, and did not know Of any improvement
that had been made by any other person, upon en-
gines which were constructed according to Mr..
Watts's principles. A French writer in 1916, re-
marks, cit is question, much less of an invention,
than Of the application Of power already known.
The application which Fulton made may be con'
sidered as ordin ary and common in its nature, be-
cause it was pointed out by SO many scientific
and Fulton procured them"
union of capacities to invent to calculate, and to
execute, that Mr.. Fulton owed his success and
those Who attempted similar projects without pos
sessing the same qualities, might have exhausted
their wishes. So great triumph of the arts as
steamboat navigation, could never have been at
tanned till some Fulton appeared to achieve it,"
Chancellor Livingston entertained very clear
conceptt MS Of what would be the great advantages
of steamboats, on the rivers Of the United States.
He had applied himself with perseverance and
great expense to constructing vessels and machinery
for steam navigation, arc as early as l19S believ.
ing that he had accomplished his object, he applied
to the Legislature Of New York, and obtained the
passage of an act granting him the exclusive
right of navigating the waters Of the State by
steam for twenty years, upon condition tha. he
should, within a year, build steamboat whose
an hour. Immediately after the passage Of
this act, Mr.. Livingston built boat Of about
thirty tons, which was propelled by steam; but as
she was incompetent to fulfil the conditions of the
law, she was abandoned, and he for time re-
linqushed the project. As he soon after was ap-
pointedMinister to France, he there, as We have
Stated, met Mr.. Fulton in 1901, and they formed
that friendship and connection with each other to
which a similarity of pursuits generally gives birth
The Chancellor in iuced Mr.. Fulton to resume his
experiments in steam navigation. After trials
oa small scale, they built boat, at their joint
expense, upon the River Seine, which was COM
pe,ely successful at trial in 1903, and it i'm
mediately determine to enrich their own country
by the valuable discovery as soon as they should
meet there, and in the meantime, to order an en-.
gine, to be made in England.
In 1906, Mr. Fulton married Harriet Livingston,
daughter of Walter Livingston, Esq, a relative of
his associate, Chancellor Living ston. By tina.
lady he had one son and three daughters.