his kind who combines all these scattered materials and adapts them to the use of man. For instance, trace the history of the steam-engine. Who can deny to Savary, to Newcomen, to Watt, the praise of original mechanical genius in their several important improvements? and yet they have done nothing more than barely to fill up and improve the suggestions thrown out, long before their day, by the marquis of Worcester. All of us can remember the time when steam-navigation was ranked with those projects of visionary speculation, which were indeed just within the limits of possibility, but far removed from the ordinary probabilities of human life and fitted only to adorn the declamations of the philosophical theorist or the verses of the philosophical poet. Darwin might indeed predict that Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam, afar But when the late chancellor Livingston, certainly among the first men of his time, attempted to reduce this poetical anticipation to practice, in spite of his acknowledged character as a man of genius and science, his labours received no other notice than the cold contempt and the malicious ridicule which ever await the chimerical projector. Experiment after experiment had failed, and every additional unsuccessful attempt served to retard rather than to advance the progress of invention. In this state of the art Fulton inlisted in its service, and it was at once carried to the highest degree of perfection. He did not seem, like other inventors, to grope his way by oft-repeated experiment, but as if guided by a strong and steady light of scientific theory he proceeded at once to his destined point. How perfect in his success-how admirablehow important the invention. While it adds in an incalculable degree to individual comfort and accommodation, and facilitates all the operations of domestic commerce, it also greatly increases the strength and unity of the nation, by connecting the most distant parts of our extensive territory, and thus enabling us to combine the several and contrary advantages of a widely diffused and a compactly settled population. By applying the same principle to the purposes of defensive warfare, in the steam battery, Fulton has contributed in no small degree to the independence and security of every nation. There can be but few inventions which can lay claim to a higher order of usefulness than one which enlarges the power of self-protection, which lessens the invader's chance of success, and places new obstacles in the way of the conqueror. Fulton had all the characteristics of an original inventive genius. He had nothing of that anxious trick and mystery with which those who have stumbled by accident upon a valuable discovery brood over their secret. Nor did he ever consider the profit which he derived from his successful schemes as a source of wealth to be laid aside for his own private use, but he identified all his interests with his inventions, and in the proud confidence of boundless resource, used his success only as the means of enlarging his plans of enterprise and of engaging in new experiments. His mind was trained and familiarized to habits of mechanical invention. It was the constant subject of his thoughts-the world in which he lived. He was, as it were, 'native and endued unto that element.' He viewed every object with the eye of one who was habitually seeking out new combinations of physical power, and he threw out his lesser improvements and contrivances upon the world with the careless profusion of a mind confident of its own fertility, and valuing what it had already accomplished chiefly as the earnest of higher success. Nothing which could add to the physical power or augment the personal comforts of man was too high for his enterprise or too minute to escape his attention; he sometimes busied himself in improving the economy of the kitchen, and sometimes aspired to the discovery of new modes of warfare which might change the public policy of the whole civilized world. When Rowley, says Dr. Johnson, had completed the orrery, he attempted the perpetual motion; when Boyle had exhausted the secrets of vulgar chemistry he turned his thoughts to the work of transmutation. That the attempts of such men will often miscarry we may reasonably expect; yet from such men, and such only, are we to hope for the cultivation of those parts of nature which yet lie waste, and for the invention of those arts which are yet wanting to the felicity of life. If in some of his undertakings Fulton was unsuccessful, we ought not therefore to consider his labours as altogether useless; the world may profit even by his miscarriages. To know what is possible and what impossible is something gained in the progress of every art, nor is it at all improbable that in the course of these investigations, he has struck out many lights which will guide the future and more fortunate experimentalist to those results which he himself failed in attaining. REVIEW. The Life of the late General William Eaton, &c. &c. 8vo. [Continued from p. 320.] EATON, being thus checked in his victorious career, at the moment his ardent imagination was flattering him with the prospect of the usurper's downfall, and of seeing the American flag wave on the towers of Tripoli, amidst the shouts of his captive countrymen throwing off their chains, was filled with resentment and indignation. He charged commodore Baron and col. Lear with duplicity, treachery and want of spirit. The former he accused of neglect and inertness in fulfilling his repeated assurances of a vigorous co-operation with his squadron, and the latter he treated with ridicule and contempt, as being devoid of military experience, and incompetent to judge of the probabilities of success. It is difficult for those at a distance from the scene of action, to form a just opinion on a subject of this nature. The primary objects of our government in sending a squadron into the Mediterranean were the protection of our commerce, the liberation of our captive and enslaved citizens, and to compel or induce the Tripolitan regent to come to terms of accommodation. The circumstance of a rival Bashaw presented an opportunity of making an experiment on the fears of the regent, and as it was presumed that Hamet was not devoid of the spirit of enterprise, nor destitute of resources, it was certainly not unwise in our government to make use of him as an instrument subservient to the purposes of the war. It could hardly be expected, however, that they were to furnish troops, from this country, to aid in an invasion. Our military establishment was not adapted to such a project. Money, to recruit an army of adventurers on the confines of Tripoli, and the co-operation of a squadron on the coast, were the only means that our government could supply. Gen. Eaton, therefore, in stipulating with Hamet for a debarkation of troops, was hurried by his zeal beyond the limit of his powers. He asserts, to be sure, in one of his official letters, that the government had promised him, when he first embarked in the expedition, six field pieces, a thousand muskets, and eighty thousand dollars. It should be remembered however, that at this period, Hamet still held a position in the dominions of Tripoli, and that before the expedition was ready to sail from this country, he had been driven from his post, and had retired into Egypt. This change of circumstances materially altered the affair, and reduced it to the appearance of a very doubtful, if not visionary experiment. The general nevertheless was vested with some discretionary power to concert measures of attack on Tripoli in conjunction with Hamet, in case he should be found in such a situation as to invite the co-operation of the United States in so novel an enterprise; but it does not appear that more than 20,000 dollars were to be hazarded in the attempt. This sum was furnished, and a detachment of the Mediterranean squadron accompanied the army along the coast, and rendered very essential aid in the capture of Derne. They were still seven hundred miles from the capital, and the forces of the Bashaw were occuping the intermediate space. The invading army amounted to about a thousand men, consisting of Greeks and Arabs, and Tripolitans, and only nine Americans including officers. The general however, was of opinion that with a supply of cash he could easily have increased his force, and with the assistance of a hundred marines from the squadron, he would have marched to the gates of the metropolis, and hoisted the star-spangled banner on its walls. Such an achievement would indeed have immortalized his name, and extended and brightened our national renown; it would have imprinted also a useful lesson on the minds of the piratical despots of Barbary, and whilst it would have taught them to pay more respect to the American flag in that quarter of the world, might at the same time have pointed out the way to the tributary nations of Europe, to break in upon their dominions, and by dismantling their fortresses, and destroying their armaments, have for ever after rendered their seaports and cities more easily assailable, and by this means have made their good conduct the condition of their safety. The experiment, however, as far as it was permitted to pro |