The Kansas herald of freedom., 1858-10-23
AWRENCE, KANSAS, OCTOBER %. 1858.
1uvsnaon of the Steam Engine.

is fact not widely circulated. At that
date, a Spaniard exhibited, in the pres
ence of Charles " and all his court. in
the harbor of Barcelona, a vessel Of 200
tons, propelled by. an engine, the con-
struction Of which was q secret to all but
the inventor. The chronicles Of that day
inform us that there was great cauldron
of boiling water within, and two wheels
on the outside, which moved the vessel
The treasurer of the kingdom objected
to its introduction. It seems to have
been quite perfect, since the objections
urged against it were that it was too
complicated, very expensive, and the
boiler apt to explode. But Spain was
not ripe for it, the world was not ripe for
it. The inventor, disgusted with the
want of appreciation displayed by the
court, took the engine out of the vessel,
allowed the ship to rot in the arsenal, and
his secretperished with him in his grave.
One century later, and the same prob
lem was offered to France A celebrated
female, equally renowned for her beauty,
immoralities, misfortunes, and longevity
also, for she died at the age of 134 years
the famous Marie de P0rme, 80 well
known to the readers of modern fiction
has furnished US, in letter to an admirer,
written in 1641, these most astonishing
details. The celebrated Marquis of Wor-
cester was then on visit to Madame, in
Paris, and with her visited mad house
in the capital. While crossing the court
yard of that dismal establishment, the
lady was almost paralyzed with terror,
and while ,clinging to her companion, she
saw frightful face looking through the
bars of a window Of building, and heard
these strange words =" am not mad l
am not mad have made discovery
which shall enrich the kingdom that
adopts it' The question was asked by
one of the visitors, "What is it that this
man has discovered ?" The answer Of the
visitor, with mocking laugh, was, "Oh,
it's not much; it's something about the
power of steam" And so the lady
laughed that man should 60 mad about
so frivolous thing as that.
This man, it seems, came from Nor
mandy, to bring before the king his dis
covery of the fact that steam could be
used to navigate the ocean, and in short
there was nothing that he did not claim
could be done by the power of steam
Cardinal Richelieu was uppermost then,
and though he was most sagacious and
enlightened as worldly wisdom goes, yet
he turned his back on the inventor. The
man followed him from place to place,
and the Cardinal, getting tired of his per-
tinacity, sent him to the mad house. The
man even wrote book on the subject of
his thoughts, entitled Moving Powers.
The Marquis of Worcester was much in
terested in this book, and used some OF
its ideas afterward in his own works. So
we see that France in 1641, as Spain in
1543, proved her inability to take up and
WELD this mortal thunderbolt.
The problem was reserved for the An
glo-Saxon race to grspple with and con-
quer, and thereafter the mechanical skill
of England was turned to this invention
with various success, till in the middle Of
the last century, after the idea had been
floating for 200 years in ingenious minds,
the steam engine, that scarcely inanimate
Titan, that living, burning mechanism,
was brought to perfection by James Watt.
Thenceforth the engines of labor, mar.
shalled by the power which Watt brought
forward, were to make their bloodless tri-
umph, not for the destruction, but for the
blessing of mankind. All hail to thee
mute, indefatigable agent of strength,
working in deep mines, moving along the
pathways Of trade, toiling in the service
Of man! No fatigue can palsy thy her.
culean arm! No trampled hosts wriths
under thy feet No widowed hearts
bleed at thy benefcent victories
England solved the problem, but il
seems as if it were the will of Providence
that she should not go so far as to apply
steam to the navigation Of the ocean
This part of the problem remained fol
the other branch of the Anglo-Saxon race
the branch of that Western Hemisphere
whose expanded territories are traversed
| BY some Of the noblest rivers, and separ.
ated from England by an almost world
wideiocean. The thoughts of the mer
of the last century, after the Revolution
were turned to the development of steam
. One Of those men attracted the attention
= of him whom nothing escaped that be-
, longed to the welfare of this country-oi
Washington-and he expressed his salts
E faction of the experiments of Rumsey.-
1t seems almost providential that steam
was not invented in ocean navigation al
, the time ofsthe Revolution, for itzWould
, have given England vast resources and
. powers to bear more swiftly and directly
! on the struggling colohists with wha
effect no one can tell.
, But the, e,Revolutionary period was pass
. ed, and independence established, the
! hour had come, and the man was there
|, In the year 1893, the thought became
! mature in Fuiton's mind, and Chancellor
E Livingston took deep interest in wate
! navigation BY steam. They applied t.
! the New York Legislature for an act o
4 incorporation. / am sorry to say tina
. America, at that time, did not seem rnucl
: wiser than France and Spain had beel
i before her. Livingston tells as that til
young men of the Legislature, when tiret
of the graver matters of the law, woult
! call up the steam bill, as they called il
/ and have a little fun. Young Amer
$ lea did not, on that occasion, show him
\ self much wiser than his Seniors
e But, nothing discouraged, Fulton and hi
A coadjutors perseyered, and twenty year
h had not passed away before steam wa
3 found on eur sounds, lakes and great nv
q ers, and that at . time when twas know
q only by hearsay in Europe. This was a
Il that was needed then. Twenty year
v more elapsed before English capital wa
: first applied to the navigation Of th
ocean itself. by steam-which .Americ
little needed, but which England desirel
as giving her access to the western work
-Edpard Ebretfs late Speech at Ddnucr
y szs13 In Prom he fsnitorJ. --5a
8 We noticed seven or eight teams in yel