CHAPTER III. EARLY HISTORY OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION, 1799-1800; WITH THE LIFE OF PROFESSOR GARNETT. THE history of the Proposals for founding the Royal Institution is thus given by Count Rumford in 1799: Having long been in a habit of considering all useful improvements as being purely mechanical, or as depending on the perfection of machinery and address in the management of it, and of considering profit (which depends much on the perfection of machinery) as the only incitement to industry, I was naturally led to meditate on the means that might be employed with advantage to diffuse the knowledge and facilitate the general introduction of such improvements; and the plan which is now submitted to the public was the result of these investigations. In the beginning of the year 1796 I gave a faint sketch of this plan in my second essay; but, being under a necessity of returning soon to Germany, I had not leisure to pursue it farther at that time, and I was obliged to content myself with having merely thrown out a loose idea, as it were by accident, which I thought might possibly attract attention. After my return to Munich, I opened myself more fully on the subject in my correspondence with my friends in this country, and particularly in my letters to Thomas Bernard, Esq., who, as is well known, is one of the founders and most active members of the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor. This gentleman I found, on my return to England in September 1798, not only agreeing with me in opinion in regard to the utility and importance of the plan I had proposed, but very solicitous that some attempts should be made to carry it into immediate execution in this capital. After several consultations, that were held at Mr. Bernard's apartments in the Foundling Hospital and at the house of the Lord Bishop of Durham, at which several gentlemen assisted who are well known as zealous promoters of useful improvement, it was agreed that Mr. Bernard should report to the Committee of the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor the general result of these consultations, and the unanimous desire of the gentlemen who assisted at them, that means might be devised for making an attempt to carry the scheme proposed into execution. The gentlemen of the Committee agreed with me entirely in the opinion I had taken the liberty to express, that the Institution which it was proposed to form would be too conspicuous, and too interesting and important, to be made an appendix to any other existing establishment, and, consequently, that it must stand alone, and on its own proper basis; but as these gentlemen had no direct communication with any persons, except with the members of their own Society, they appointed a Committee, consisting of eight persons, from their own body, to confer with me on the subject of the plan.1 I had the honour to meet this Committee on this business on the 31st of January, at the house of Richard Sulivan, Esq., where a plan I had previously drawn up for forming the Institution in question was read and examined, and its principles unanimously approved; but, as some of the The gentlemen chosen were the Earl of Winchelsea, Mr. Wilberforce, the Rev. Dr. Glasse, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Richard Sulivan, Mr. Colquhoun, Mr. Parry, and Mr. Bernard. gentlemen present were of opinion that the plan entered too much into detail to be submitted to the public in the beginning of the business, I undertook to revise it, and to endeavour to accommodate it to the wishes of the Committee. Having made such alterations in it as I thought might satisfy the Committee, I sent a corrected copy of it to them, accompanied by the following letter: 'GENTLEMEN,-Inclosed I have the honour to send you a corrected copy of the Proposals I took the liberty of laying before you on Thursday last, for forming in this capital, by private subscription, a public Institution for diffusing the knowledge and facilitating the general and speedy introduction of new and useful mechanical inventions and improvements; and also for teaching, by regular courses of philosophical lectures and experiments, the application of the new discoveries in science to the improvement of arts and manufactures, and in facilitating the means of procuring the comforts and conveniences of life. 'The tendency of the proposed Institution to excite a spirit of inquiry and of improvement amongst all ranks of society, and to afford the most effectual assistance to those who are engaged in the various pursuits of useful industry, did not escape your observation; and it is, I am persuaded, from a conviction of the utility of the plan, or its tendency to increase the comforts and enjoyments of individuals, and at the same time to promote the public prosperity, that you have been induced to take it into your serious consideration. I shall be much flattered if it should meet with your approbation and with your support. 'Though I am perfectly ready to take any share in the business of carrying the scheme into execution, in case it should be adopted, that can be required, yet there is one preliminary request which I am desirous may be granted me, and that is, that the Government may be previously made acquainted with the scheme before any steps are taken towards carrying it into execution; and also that his Majesty's Ministers may be informed that it is in the contemplation of the founders of the Institution to accept of my services in the arrangement and management of it. 'The peculiar situation in which I stand in this country, as a subject of his Majesty, and being at the same time, by his Majesty's special commission, granted under his royal sign manual, engaged in the service of a foreign prince, this circumstance renders it improper for me to engage myself in this important business, notwithstanding that it might perhaps be considered merely as a private concern, without the knowledge and the approbation of the Government. I am quite certain that my engaging in this, or in any other business in which there is any prospect of my being of any public use in this country, will meet with the most cordial approbation of his Most Serene Highness the Elector Palatine, in whose service I am; for I know his sentiments on that subject; and although I do not imagine that his Majesty or his Majesty's Ministers would disapprove of my giving my assistance in carrying this scheme into execution, yet I feel it to be necessary that their approbation should be asked and obtained; and, if I might be allowed to express my sentiments on another matter, which, no doubt, has already occurred to everyone of the gentlemen to whom I now address myself, I should say that, in my opinion, it would not only be proper, but even necessary, to inform Government of the nature of the scheme that is proposed and of every circumstance relative to it, and at the same time to ask their countenance and support in carrying it into execution; for although it may be allowable in this free country for individuals to unite in forming and executing extensive plans for diffusing useful knowledge and promoting the public good, yet it appears to me that no such establishment should ever be formed in any country without the knowledge and approbation of the Executive Government. Trusting that you will be so good as to excuse the liberty I take in making this observation, and that you will consider my doing it as being intended rather to justify myself, by explaining my principles than from any idea of its being necessary on any other account, I have the honour to be, with much respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient and most humble Servant, 'Brompton Row, February 7, 1799. (Addressed) (Signed) 'RUMFORD. To the Gentlemen named by the Committee of the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor to confer with Count Rumford on his scheme for forming a new Establishment in London for Diffusing the Knowledge of Useful Mechanical Improvements, &c.' The Committee above mentioned having, in the meantime, made their report to the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor, that Society came to the following resolution: 'At a meeting of the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor, on Friday, the 1st of February, 1799, 'Present: The BISHOP OF DURHAM, in the chair, PATRICK COLQUHOUN, Esq., THOMAS BERNARD, Esq., WILLIAM MANNING, Esq., RICHARD JOSEPH SULIVAN, Esq., MATTHEW MARTIN, Esq., Secretary, |