Mr Miller on the Original Inventors qfStemn Navigation. 89 



After this declaration, is it possible for Symington to pre- 

 tend to any privilege or right of invention from his letters-pa- 

 tent? They were surreptitiously obtained many years after my 

 father had made the discovery known to all the world, thereby 

 rendering his letters-patent of no avail. 



The other person whose pretensions I find it incumbent on 

 me to refute, is Henry Bell at Helensburgh. 



In a late petition to Parliament, praying for some provision 

 in his old age, that person sets forth, " That, in the year 1789, 

 when only 23 years of age, he commenced experiments with the 

 view of propelling vessels by the power of steam ; that he pur- 

 sued these experiments for 10 years, and was the first person in 

 this country, who brought into practice the power of steam in 

 propelling vessels against wind and tide. He calls this inven- 

 tion his own, and complains that others with larger capital had 

 adopted the invention, and were bringing ruin on his head."" * 



It may be true that Bell was the first person in this country 

 who attempted to turn steam navigation to a profitable use, by 

 building the " Comef steam-vessel, and bringing her to ply upon 

 the river Clyde in the year 1811, for the conveyance of goods 

 and passengers. But while I admit this, and in so far as it can 

 be considered a merit, I have no wish to injure him; common 

 justice, however, to the memory of my late father seems to re- 

 quire that I should state the facts as they really are. 



I have already noticed that my father was the first person 

 who introduced the practical use of steam navigation, and that 

 Symington-j- was the mechanic employed by him in constructing 



• 1789 was the very year in which the success of my father's experi- 



merits were rery generally reported by the public press, and from which the 

 young, but inventive, genius of Henry Bell, derived no doubt much assist- 

 ance at its origin, and in its growth ; and which was likewise much and ra- 

 pidly improved by frequent inspection of my father's steam-vessel at Carron 

 in 1789, as Symington states. So much for steam-navigation being his invent 

 tion, as he is pleased to call it. 



t My father often regretted to me having yielded to Mr Taylor's recom- 

 mendation of Symington, in place of having employed Messrs Watt and Bol- 

 ton for his engines, and to have availed himself of Messrs Taylor's very com- 

 petent knowledge in mechanics, to have, applied them to the wheels of his 

 vessels. 



After the violent disgust he received from Symington's conduct at Car- 

 ron, he used not unfrequently to reproach Mr Taylor rather smartly, for hav- 

 ing ever thought of bringing such a person about him. This circumstance, 



