March 1785 : " It gives me much pleasure to find by your letter, that you are 7iot less sans^uiiic in your boat project, than when I saw you at Richmond, and that you have made such further discoveries as will render them more extensively useful than was at first expected'' -- but still it is plain that the General only alluded to the setting pole plan, for in his answer to Governor Johnson (even after my petition was before the Assembly of Maryland) he sfi/l thought that M>'. Rumsey had "No reliance on Steam'"' -- The General's saying that he thought M^. Rumsey's idea of steam was " Immature''^ in November, 1784 (the time they w^ere at Richmond) is a proof that M^. Rumsey's " ftcwjo- not less sang^uiiie^^ must have alluded to his setting pole scheme because no man can be said to be sanguine in any thing of which he has but "./^?? irninatured idea''''; and '■'■ Further discoveries'''' will not apply to Steam, because Steam could be no new discovery, and was mentioned to the general at Richmond ; nor is any thing mentioned of Steam in the General's Letter ; at

1054 EARLY STEAM

least in the extract. It is reasonable to suppose, if Steam had been the dependable discovery, it would have been treated on m-ore largely, and have produced a more pointed answer ; the truth is, M^ Rumsey placed no dependance on Steam, until my plan came forward, and his own had failed ; conscious of the weakness of his claim, and the futility of his arguments to support it, he found that somethiKg more was necessary than merely an " hnmatured idea'''' ; therefore to add weight to his plea, he endeavours to establish himself under the solemnity of oaths, and attempts to prove, that the machinery for his Steam-engine, was executed in Baltimore and Frederick-town, so as to be compleated and put together on the 1~^. of December 1785.