446 MEMOIR OF DANIEL TREADWELL. 



republic ? Suppose it to be separated, disjointed, exploded into the Northern, Southern, Eastern, 

 and Western kingdoms or empires? The intense interest of the history of the Revolution will 

 pcriiaps give place to history of the more recent, and it may be thought more heroic struggle, by 

 which some new order of things shall be established and the fame of Washington swept away, or 

 lose a great pai't of that living interest with which we now' regard it and magnify it as a rich 

 possession. This is the course that the man who looks to history as a teacher will expect of 

 future ages. Young America is confident of other things. She looks to the republic extending 

 itself under its present form. Southern institutions, compromises, platforms, spoils, and all, over 

 the whole continent, thus adding the two poles to the two oceans in describing its boundary, and 

 that thus the name of Washington would receive a universal connection with every part of the 

 continent which has hitherto belonged to Columbus alone. 



" Much as Columbus and Washington differed from each other in the character of their minds, 

 there were two things in which they bore a striking resemblance, — ])ersonal presence and an 

 earnest devotion to and constant sense of the importance of their labors. Both had the port aM<l 

 mien of beings of a superior race, that attracted all eyes and commanded all hearts. Both gave 

 themselves up heart and soul to their work. That must be done. As to any personal sacrifice, 

 such as loss of life in the attempt, that was not worth a moment's reflection. This gave a 

 solemn grandeur to all that they did, and is to be found equally underlying the inventive genius 

 of the one and the unerring judgment of the other." 



It is not to be suppo.sed that a mind as active as Mr. Treadwell's, associated with a 

 determined will and never tiring perseverance, would lose its interest in that which 

 had been one of the great objects of his life. 



His health and strength were indeed impaired, biit this did not prevent his 

 engaging in investigations extending through several years, the results of which 

 are embodied in a series of papers explaining the pi'inciples and methods of con- 

 struction of a cannon now conceded to be the most efficient ever made. The first 

 of this series, " On the Practicability of constructing Cannon of great Calibre capable 

 of enduring long-continued Use under full Charges," was published in the Memoirs of 

 the Academy, Vol. YI., 185G. Subsequently he writes: — 



" Although my cannon of 184.5 was a complete success in all that related to its construction, 

 it was an utter failure as regards its adoption by the Government. That it was successful as a 

 construction, I have only to say that Sir W. Armstrong, twelve years after I was obliged to 

 al)andon it, and after learning, as I fully believe, the method by which I produced it, formed his 

 rifle cannon upon the same plan, and I defy him now, with the whole patronage of the British 

 government, to produce a more perfect gun so far as strength, soumhiess, and finish are con- 

 cerned, than I produced seventeen years ago by private means alone.* I limit my boast to the 



* Whether Sir William Armstrong reinvented Mr. Treadwell's method and machinery for making these guns 

 may be an open question, but it eertaiuly miglit have been very easy for him to have learned them. Mr. Treadwell, 

 in a note to his paper " On the Construction of Improved Ordnance," says: " When I first read an account of the 

 method followed by Armstrong in constructing his gun, although I saw at once the exact resemblance of it to the 

 method invented by nie in 1840-44, yet not being aware of tlie fact that the specification of my English patent had 

 been published in extenso, I thought it might be that Armstrong bad reinvented my form of gun and the machinery 

 required to produce it. But I have looked into that great work, ' The English Printed Specifications,' a copy of 



