England’s right to the Bay of Fundy.  But my litigation with the Republic is respecting some of their claims to inventions, which they put forward in so barefaced a manner, that the unwary or the uninquiring—­which two sections of the human family constitute the great majority—­are constantly misled into a belief of their truth; and the citizens of the Republic would do well to remember, that by putting forward unwarrantable pretensions to some discoveries, they afford just grounds for questioning their lawful claims to others.

The first I shall mention is with reference to Fulton and steam.  Mr. Charles King, the President of Columbia College, in a lecture delivered before the Mechanics’ Institute, Broadway, New York, in December, 1851, claims for Fulton “the application of a known force in a new manner, and to new and before unthought-of purposes.”  Now what are the real facts?  James Watt, in 1769, patented the double-acting engine, which was the first step by which the steam-engine was made capable of being used to propel a vessel.  In 1780, James Pickard patented what is no other than the present connecting rod and crank, and a fly-wheel, the second and last great improvement in the steam-engine, which enabled it to be of service in propelling vessels.[CI] In 1785, William Symington took out a patent, by which he obtained, with economy of fuel, a more perfect method of condensation of steam and a more perfect vacuum.

In 1787, Mr. Miller, of Dalswinton, a gentleman who had spent a fortune of nearly 30,000l. in ship-building experiments, was urged by Mr. Taylor to try and apply the power of steam to vessels.  William Symington was applied to, with the view of knowing if he could apply his engine to one of Mr. Miller’s boats, which he accordingly did, and propelled a little pleasure vessel on the lake at Dalswinton, at the rate of five miles an hour, on the 14th November, 1788.  In the following year, Mr. Symington made a double engine for a boat to be tried upon the Forth and Clyde Canal; and in the month of December, 1789, this trial-vessel was propelled at the rate of six and a half miles an hour.  Lord Dundas, who was a large proprietor in the Forth and Clyde Canal, employed Symington to make experiments in 1801.  The result of these trials was the construction of the “Charlotte Dundas,” the first practical steam-boat ever built.  The engines of this vessel combined the patents before mentioned of Watt, Pickard, and Symington, which combinations—­made by the latter patentee—­constitute the present system of steam navigation.  The “Charlotte Dundas” made her trial trip in March, 1802, and so satisfactory was the trial, that the Duke of Bridgewater ordered eight boats of Symington, for the purpose of running on his canal.  The Duke of Bridgewater died immediately after; and the Forth and Clyde proprietors, owing to the injury caused to the banks, discontinued the use of the boat.  The foregoing observations prove that if any one individual can claim the merit of inventing the steam-engine, that man is William Symington, who, combining previous inventions with his own patent, constructed the engine as at present in use.  At the same time, every credit is due to Mr. Miller, who first afforded Symington the opportunity of putting his ingenuity to the test.