Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/69

59 and in the greater part of Europe, to make it necessary that I should speak of its construction, or its great utility. No one doubts the advantages of the Steamboat, for the navigation of rivers and canals, and for military defence at the entrance of ports and bays. The invention is susceptible of many improvements, and even of being carried to perfection.

The machinist, Fulton, who was its author, was the inventor also of another machine, which he offered to France, and to England; but being accepted by neither power, he finally offered it to the United States, who it appears adopted it. He gave it the name of Torpedo, though it does not produce the effect attributed to this fish, but rather that of an artificial mine. The Torpedo is a box made of copper, which is filled and charged with gunpowder; it has a spring lock within to give fire to the powder at will. The machine is enveloped in a covering of cork, or other light material, floats under the water, and by means of a harpoon applied to the sides of a vessel, it is fixed under the keel, the lock then goes off, and the vessel is blown up in the same manner that a castle is, by the explosion of a subterranean mine. The Americans have yet had no opportunity of making use of this machine; but they will doubtless employ it, when they consider it necessary or convenient. Terrible, however, as the invention of this mode of destruction may be, there is this consolation to humanity,