MEMOIR OF EH WHITNEY. 297 



on account of the great expense and trouble which always attend the introduc- 

 tion of a new invention, and tlie difliculty of euibrcing a law in favor of patentees, 

 in opposition to the individual interests of so large a number of persons as would 

 be concerned in the culture of this article, it was with great reluctance that he 

 should consent to relinquish the hopes of a lucrative profession, for which he 

 had been destined, with an expectation of indemnity either from the justice or 

 the gratitude of his countrymen, even should the invention answer the most 

 sanguine anticipations of his friends. 



The individual who contributed most to incite him to persevere in the under- 

 taking, was Pluncas Miller, Esq. Mr. Miller was a native of Connecticut, and 

 a graduate of Yale College. Like Mr. Whitney, soon after he had completed his 

 education at college, he came to Georgia as a private teacher, in the family of 

 Gen. Greene ; and after the decease of the General, he became the husband of 

 Mrs. Greene. He had qualified himself for the profession of law, and was a 

 gentleman of cultivated mind and superior talents ; but he was of an ardent 

 temperament, and therefore well fitted to enter with zeal into the views which 

 the genius of his friend had laid open to him. He had also considerable funds 

 at command, and proposed to Mr. Whitney to become his joint adventurer, and 

 to be at the Avhole expense of maturing the invention until it should be patented. 

 If the machine should succeed in its intended operation, the parties agreed, un- 

 der legal formalities, " that the profits and advantages arising therefrom, as well 

 as all privileges and emoluments to be derived from patenting, making, vending, 

 and working the same, should be mutually and equally shared between them." 

 This instrument bears date May 27, 1793, and immediately afterward they com- 

 menced business under the firm o{ Miller Sf Whitney. 



An invention so important to the agricultural interest, (and, as has proved, to 

 every department of human industry,) could not long remain a secret. The 

 knowledge of it soon spread through the State, and so great was the excitement 

 on the subject, that multitudes of persons came from all quarters of the State to 

 see the machine ; but it was not deemed safe to gratify their curiosity until the 

 patent-right had been secured. But so determined were some of the populace to 

 possess this treasure, that neither law nor justice could restrain them : they 

 broke open the building by night and carried off the machine. In this way the 

 public became possessed of the invention ; and before Mr. Whitney could com- 

 plete his model and secure his patent, a number of machines were in successful 

 operation, constructed with some slight deviation from the original, with the 

 hope of evading the penalty for violating the patent-right. 



As soon as the copartnership of Miller & Whitney was formed, Mr. Whitney 

 repaired to Connecticut, where, as far as possible, he was to perfect the machine, 

 obtain a patent, and manufacture and ship for Georgia such a number of ma- 

 chines as would supply the demand. 



Such is the history of one of the most important on the list of human inven- 

 tions, taken, in great part, from a Memoir which traces to its close the useful 

 and instructive life of a man as distinguished and admirable for his uprightness 

 and fortitude under some of the severest trials to which human nature can be 

 subjected, as for the beneficent tendency of his genius. The narrative to which 

 we refer relates interesting particulars of Whitney's connection with the Gov- 

 ernment as the inventor of important improvements in the manufacture of fire- 

 arms, in which he continued through life to be employed. But of all employ- 

 ments, that is the least congenial with the great national concern to Avhich this 



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