312 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 



proaches which their imprudence might have merited, calum- 

 nies were added, as always happens when men in place are un- 

 successful. Mr Thomson saw himself about to become the 

 object of some of these imputations. He perceived that a des- 

 perate cause can only be served with honour by serving it at 

 the peril of one's life, and he returned to the army, where he 

 obtained the command of a division. This was at the commence- 

 ment of 1782. The English were confined to Charleston, and 

 reduced to a war of posts. Mr Thomson re-organised their ca- 

 valry, led it in several encounters, and had still such opportuni- 

 ties enough of distinguishing himself in the course of this cam- 

 paign, that he was appointed to contribute to the defence of 

 Jamaica, then threatened by the combined fleets of France and 

 Spain ; but the defeat of Count de Grasse averted the danger, 

 and soon after peace was proclaimed, which put a close to Mr 

 Thomson''s military career. 



Nothing could have happened to him so contrary to all his 

 inclinations and hopes of advancement. He was thirty years of 

 age, held the rank of colonel, enjoyed a high degree of reputa- 

 tion, and was ardently attached to his profession. He consi- 

 dered war so peculiarly suited to his genius, that seeing no ap^ 

 pearance of it anywhere excepting between Austria and the 

 Turks, he determined on offering his services to the Em- 

 peror. But his good destiny had decided ditferently from his 

 inclination. When at Munich, on his journey, he found an op- 

 portunity of entering into a more advantageous although more 

 pacific service. The ideas of his earlier years revived, and he 

 was soon brought back to the sciences and the application of 

 them, as to his true vocation. 



He had never entirely forsaken them. In 1777, at the com- 

 mencement of his residence in London, he had made curious ex- 

 periments on the cohesion of bodies. In 1778, he had under- 

 taken others on the force of gunpowder, which procured him ad- 

 mittance into the Royal Society ; and, in 1779, he had embarked 

 in the English fleet, chiefly with the view of repeating his ex- 

 periments on a great scale. But, perhaps, amid the distrac- 

 tions of his military station, and even in the leisure of a private 

 condition, he would only have made isolated trials, without a 

 constant object, and without great results. He looked upon the 



