152 Life of Count Rum ford. 



objects in view. One was of pure curiosity, connected 

 with a search for means of self-improvement and oppor- 

 tunities of advancing the general welfare of his fellow- 

 men. His other aim was the gratification of a military 

 ambition, a temporary passion, it would seem, caught 

 from his recent occupations in the Bureau and in the 

 camp. Looking out for an opportunity of exercising 

 this ambition, he hoped to find a chance to serve as a 

 volunteer in the Austrian army against the Turks. 



He left England in September, 1783, with no anti- 

 cipation of the ultimate result of what was to him in 

 intent mainly a trial of fortune. On his passage across 

 the channel for Calais, chance seems to have given 

 him two fellow-voyagers who might well occupy his 

 curiosity and interest either on a long or a short 

 transit. One of these was Henry Laurens, a former 

 President of the American Congress, recently released 

 from the Tower of London, after more than a year's 

 confinement, as a sort of exchange for the paroled Gen- 

 eral Burgoyne. Reference has already been made to 

 Colonel Thompson's official knowledge and his free 

 disclosure of the contents of the papers which had been 

 taken from the person of this state prisoner on his 

 capture. There may have been no lack of courtesy 

 between these two representatives of a pacified strife, 

 and there was much matter of large interest that might 

 well engage them in animated conversation. Yet there 

 could have been but little of cordiality or sympathy 

 between them. 



The other fellow-voyager was the historian Gibbon, 

 who had just lost his place at the Board of Trade. 

 Thompson was transporting with him some fine Eng- 

 lish horses. These, it seems, by their restlessness and 



