of which they were released from prison. They immediately repaired to the house of the magistrate, to return him thanks for the many indulgencies he had allowed them, and upon shaking hands with him, the stipulated sum was put into his hands. It is not to be supposed they made a long stay at Olmutz; no longer than was necessary to pour out their grateful acknowledgments to the Russian nobleman, and above all, to the nobleminded, generous W, to whose kindness they owed all the comforts they had experienced in prison, and to whose friendly and humane exertions they were ultimately indebted for their liberation. La Fayette, in the meantime, was thrown back into his obscure and ignominious sufferings, with hardly a hope that they could be terminated except with his life. During the winter of 1794-5, he was reduced to almost the last extremity by a violent fever; and yet was deprived of proper attendance, of air, of suitable food, and of decent clothes. To increase his misery, he was made to believe that he was reserved for public execution, and that his chivalrous deliverers had already perished on a scaffold; while, at the sam time, he was not permitted to know whether his family were still alive, or had fallen under the revolutionary ax, of which, during the time he was out of his dungeon, he had heard such appalling ac counts. Madame La Fayette, however was nearer to him than he could imagine to have been possible. She (with her two daughters) had been released from prison, where she too had nearly perished; and having gained strength sufficient for the undertaking, and sent her eldest son for safety to the care of General Washington, she set out accompanied by her two young daughters, all in disguise, with American passports. They were landed at Altona, and proceeding immediately to Vienna, obtained an audience with the emperor, who refused to liberate La Fayette, but, as it now seems probable, against the intentions of his ministers, gave them permission to join him in his prison. They went instantly to Olmutz; but before they could enter, they were deprived of whatever they had brought with them, to alleviate. the miseries of a dungeon, and required, if they should pass its threshold, never again to leave it. Madame La Fayette's health soon sunk under the complicated sufferings and privations of her loathsome imprisonment, and she wrote to Vienna for permission to pass a week in the capital, to breathe purer air, and obtain medical assistance. Two months elapsed before any answer was returned; and then she was told that no objection would be made to her leaving her husband, but that if she should do so, she must never return to him. She immediately and formally signed her consent and determination to share his captivity in all its details." Notwithstanding the efforts which had been made for their release, La Fayette and his fellow prisoners remained immured in their dark and loathsome dungeons, until August, 1797, when Bonaparte settled the treaty of Campo Formio with the Austrian government. La Fayette had been confined five years, and Madame La Fayette and her daughters shared his imprisonment for twenty-two months. THE TRIUMPHS OF SOME OF THE MOST EMINENT AMERICAN INVENTORS: WHITNEY-FULTON-MORSE-STEERS-GOODYEAR-COLT-M'COR- THIS world probably is not yet out of its babyhood. The united ages of one hundred individuals who have reached the allotted period of three score years and ten, sum up an amount of time greater than that which has elapsed since our common parents first walked in the groves of Paradise. Geologists demonstrate, and theologians assent to their evidence, that this round globe, whereon we all unexpectedly find ourselves, was probably millions of years in the process of forming for our habitation. Is it not fair, then, to infer that it will be occupied by our race for at least as long a period as it was preparing for them? And this, it would seem, could be well afforded; for let us assign its duration to any vast number of ages, nothing would be taken from eternity nothing from the measureless glory and beneficence of HIM, with whom "one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Beside, to our apprehension the world thus far would appear a failure. Very little has been accomplished by those for whom it was made. They have not even now completely explored its surface, and the great mass are yet in a savage state, which, although the natural condition, can be so only in the beginning the nature of man being to progress, to reach forward and improve his condition, through the aid of Art, Science, and Religion. Art, mechanical and aesthetical, which ministers to labor, comfort, and the sense of the beautiful-Science, the sister and partner of Art, that opens the riches and workings of nature; and Religion, which cements everything, by lifting up the soul in harmony with the righteous law of the Great Author. That this world is not yet out of swaddling clothes, seems further evident from the fact, that the vital truth, that "all men are born free and equal," has just been discovered the great American idea, that all have the same natural right to enjoy the benefits of everything which a common Father has provided-that no distinction in these respects exists between men, and no especial consideration is due to any one, other than that which arises from a mental or a moral superiority. It is the effect of this idea of freedom and equality, united to the consequent more general diffusion of knowledge, that does so fill the breast of the American with hope and cheerfulness, for with it bursts upon his view such a boundless field for enterprise, as never before gladdened the human heart. The great mass of mind that in other ages, and in other countries, was kept compressed has here burst its bonds, and is illustrating its power. The general freedom results in such an intensity of application in the individual, and such an amount in the aggregate, that the progress made seems miraculous; a few years giving results, that once centuries did not equal. In science, discovery after discovery, and in the mechanical arts, invention after invention crowd so thick upon us, that astonishment at the profusion of the riches of nature open to the genius of our race, is only equaled by our wonder in view of the eventual result of all these, present and to be, upon our condition. Some, in noting these great achievements of our time, think that the greatest must have been attained, as though there could be a limit to the wonders that, in the profusion of an Almighty Creator, will always remain for the discovery and the application of the mind of man. Were such a final point reached, the human intellect would at once sink and become dwarfed in the absence of the proper aliment for its highest powers. No! neither in Time nor Eternity, can there be any want of the material for the development of the intellect and the affections, upward and onward forever and ever. We here give sketches of some of our countrymen, whose inventions have had so much to do in changing the whole current of our national industry. These, great as they are, may have been equaled, and perhaps in some instances surpassed in mental force by others not generally known, because of their limited utility. Furthermore the truth doubtless is, that in a majority of instances the wisest exertions of intellect have failed in this life by the intervention of obstacles, as impossible to be foreseen as the passage of the meteoric stone, which falling from the skies on to the track at a critical moment, caused the whole train, with its precious freight of humanity, to go dashing over the precipice. But failure in the plans of this life are, perhaps, but temporary. Hope buoys us up with the thought that the strength gained by exertion here, may be continued to the spirit-world, where the ineffable glory of the Creator will be illustrated by the continuous progress of those who were originally made but "a little lower than the angels." ELI WHITNEY, THE INVENTOR OF THE COTTON-GIN. Eli Whitney, the son of a substantial New England farmer, was born in Westborough, Massachusetts, in 1765. He early showed a genius for mechanics, and employed his leisure in such pursuits. When a mere boy, in the absence of his parents at church, prompted by curiosity, he took his father's watch to pieces to examine its mechanism. He put it together so skillfully that the machine ran as well as before. His father never discovered his audacity, until he himself, years after, revealed it to him. At the close of the revolution, a fashion prevailed among the ladies of fastening on their bonnets with long pins.. These he contrived to make with so much skill and dexterity, that he nearly monopolized the business. Partly by the avails of his mechanical industry, and partly by teaching school, he provided the means to prepare himself for college, and in 1789 became a student of Yale. His propensity for mechanical operations there was occasionally shown. The skill with which he used the tools he borrowed of a carpenter, led to the exclamation, on the part of the man, “There was one good mechanic spoiled when you came to college!" In 1792, having graduated, Whitney went to Georgia, with a view of becoming a private teacher; but being disappointed in an engagement, temporarily accepted the hospitalities of Gen. Greene, who resided near Savannah. He there invented a tambour frame for Mrs. Greene, to be used in embroidery, the ingenuity of which delighted the whole household. Not long after the family were visited by a party of gentlemen, consisting principally of officers who had served under the general, in the revolutionary army. The conversation turning upon the state of agriculture, it was regretted that there was no means of cleaning the seed from the green seed cotton, which might otherwise be profitably raised on lands unsuitable for rice. But, until ingenuity could devise some machine which would greatly facilitate the process of cleaning, it was vain to think of raising cotton for market. Separating one pound of the clean staple from the seed was a day's work for a woman. While the company were engaged in this conversation, "Gentlemen," said Mrs. Greene, "apply to my young friend, Mr. Whitney, he can make anything," at the same time showing them the tambour frame and several other articles which he had made. She introduced the gentlemen to Whitney himself, extolling his genius, and commending him to their notice and friendship. He modestly disclaimed all pretensions to mechanical genius, and on their naming the object, replied that he had never seen cotton seed in his life. Mrs. Greene said to one of the gentlemen: "I have accomplished my aim, Mr. Whitney is a very deserving young man, and to bring him into notice was my object. The interest which our friends now feel for him, will, I hope, lead to his getting some employment to enable him to prosecute the study of the law." Encouraged by Mr. Miller, a teacher in the family, and a brother graduate of Yale, he shut himself up in his room, and set himself at work inventing and constructing that machine on which his future fame depended. He labored under great disadvantages, being obliged to manufacture his tools, and draw his own wire. In the course of a few months, the machine was so far perfected as to leave no doubt of its success. Mr. Miller, who had funds at his command, united with Mr. Whitney, as a partner in the enterprise of making and vending the machine. An invention so important to the agricultural interests, and, as it has proved, to every department of human industry, could not long remain a secret. The knowledge of it soon spread through the State, and so great was the excitement on the subject, that multitudes of persons came from all quarters of the State to see the machine; but it was not deemed safe to gratify their curiosity until the patent-right should be secured. But so determined were some of the populace to possess this treasure, that neither law nor justice could restrain them; they broke open the building by Hight, and carried off the machine. In this way the public became possessed of the invention; and before Mr. Whitney could complete his model and secure his patent, a number of machines were in successful operation, constructed with some slight deviation from the original, with the hope of evading the penalty for violating the patent-right. As soon as the co-partnership of Miller and Whitney was formed, Mr Whitney repaired to Connecticut, where, as far as possible, he was to perfect the machine, obtain a patent, and manufacture and ship for Georgia, such a number of machines as would supply the demand. At the close of this year, 1793, Mr. Whitney was to return to Georgia with his cotton-gins, where his partner had made arrangements for commencing business immediately after his arrival. The importunity of Mr. Miller's letters, written during the preceding period, urging him to come on, evinces how eager the Georgia planters were to enter the new field of enterprise which the genius of Whitney had laid open to them. Nor did they at first in general contemplate availing themselves of the invention unlawfully. But the minds of the more honorable class of planters were afterward deluded by various artifices, set on foot by designing men, with the view of robbing Mr. Whitney of his just rights. One of the greatest difficulties expérienced by men of enterprise, at this period, was the extreme scarcity of money, which embarrassed them to such a degree, as to render it almost impossible to construct machines fast enough. In April he returned to Georgia. Large crops of cotton were planted, the profits of which were to depend, of course, entirely on the success and employment of the gin. The most formidable rival to Whitney's machine, was the saw-gin. It was Whitney's gin, excepting that the teeth were cut in circular rims of iron, and it was principally in reference to this that the law-suits were afterward held. In this year, 1795, misfortunes began to multiply upon them. Mr. Whitney's shop at New Haven was burnt, and all his machines and papers destroyed, so that the company began to be much straitened for want of funds. Miller wrote Whitney to endeavor to raise a loan of money in New Haven, and concluded his letter with some very sensible remarks. "In doing this," says he, "use great care to avoid giving an idea that we are in a desperate situation, to induce us to borrow money. To people who are deficient in understanding, this precaution will be extremely necessary : men of sense can easily distinguish between the prospect of large gains, and the approaches to bankruptcy." "Such is the disposition of man," he observes on another occasion, "that while we keep afloat, there will not be wanting those who will appear willing to assist us; but let us once be given over, and they will immediately desert us." The cotton from Whitney's gins was sought in preference to all others; but the value of the patent was almost annihilated by the extent of the encroachments. The first patent suit, which was tried at Augusta, Ga., in the spring of 1797, went against them. The Judge gave a charge to the Jury directly in their favor. The imperfections of the patent law of that time, and the folly of trying an intricate case of this kind by a common jury, were thus made manifest. Thus, after four years of incessant labor, their hopes of success were blasted. Surreptitious gins were erected in all parts of the State, and few would buy a patent which they could use with impunity without purchasing. In 1801 and 1802, however, the patentees succeeded in selling their patent-right on advantageous terms to the States of South Carolina, North |