COUNT RUMFORD 35 



Major Thompson sought to redeem his reputation by entering the 

 continental arm}'. He applied to General Washington, then at Cam- 

 bridge, for a position in the artillery, but his enemies had preceded 

 him and his services were declined. 



Deeming it imprudent to longer remain at home, he left Woburn 

 in October, 1775, boarded a British vessel at Newport, by which he 

 was conveyed to Boston, where he remained until the British evacua- 

 tion. He then sailed for England bearing despatches to Lord Ger- 

 maine, announcing the fall of Boston. Altogether Major Thompson 

 was a bearer of bad news, friendless, poor and but twenty-three years 

 of age, yet he so impressed Lord George Germaine with his intelligence, 

 graceful manners and knowledge of American affairs that he was at 

 once taken into his employ. In less than three years from the time 

 of his arrival in London, he was advanced to the position of under 

 secretary of state. 



Judge Curwen, a tory refugee from Salem, Mass., then residing in 



London, wrote in his journal : 



This young man, when a shop lad to my next door neighbor, ever appeared 

 active, good natured and sensible; by a strange occurrence of events he is now 

 the Under Secretary of State to Lord George Germaine. His income arising 

 from this source is, I am told, near 7000 Pounds a year. He is besides a mem- 

 ber of the Royal Society. 



Thompson made a series of experiments to test the cohesive attrac- 

 tion of different liquids, the results of which he communicated to Sir 

 Joseph Banks, as a means of introduction to that eminent naturalist, 

 then president of the Boyal Society. This self-introduction was so 

 successful that he was placed in Sir Joseph's intimate circle of friends, 

 and he soon became one of the most active members of the Boyal 

 Society. 



His activities were prodigious^ He made a careful study of mili- 

 tary details; advised and procured the adoption of bayonets for the 

 fuses of the Horse Guards for fighting on foot ; extended his experi- 

 ments with gunpowder; determined the proper position for the vent in 

 fire arms; measured the velocity of bullets and cannon shot; de- 

 termined the rapidity of combustion and pressure of gunpowder; pub- 

 lished a pamphlet on naval architecture; made a series of experiments 

 in firing broadsides with the frigates of the Channel Fleet, commanded 

 by his worthy friend Sir Charles Hardy; cultivated the acquaintance of 

 men of station and distinction everywhere; and in addition to all of 

 the above — as under secretary of state — he had the oversight of the 

 details of recruiting, equipping, transporting and victualing, the 

 British forces. 



When the official news of the surrender of the British forces at 

 Y< rktown reached London, Lord George Germaine and his under secre- 

 tary were obliged to resign, because of the fall of the administration of 



