MEMOIR OF DANIEL TREADWELL, 



A ; 



reaches you. You will know from that letter all that had passed here eoncemro<r our cannon up 

 to that date, — that some trials had been made, a part of a full Bet of experiments ordered under 



a Commission from the Government, and that so far the results had been vm satisfactory. I 



have thought it best to abstain from going to Vincennes, where the trials are made, from th time 



1 last wrote to you until to-day, as my presence might be embarrn >ing to the oflieers, :m ,| ; ,i the 

 same time might show a want of confidence in them which had better be avoided. However, ;i^ 



ten days had passed since I last saw the Commissioner.-. 1 went to the Castle to-day and found 

 them in a neighboring coffee-house playing cards {passer le temps). They were very polite, and 

 told me that since I was last there they had fired seventy rounds of six pounds of powder ami 

 one shot, that no effect was yet produced upon the gun, no lodgment as yet, and that they con- 

 tinued perfectly satisfied. On inquiring how long before they should get through with th 

 proofs, they said it would probably take till February ; that fchey should then make a complete 

 report of the facts to a general officer, who is at the head of the Commission, who would after- 

 Wards make another report to the Minister of War. 



You will see that this is just the dilatory course that I predicted in my last Letter would he 

 pursued. Any remonstrances against it would he useless, and perhaps improper, and so what 

 cannot be changed had better be submitted to wijh a good grace. 1 shall express no dissatisfac- 

 tion to the Commission at their slow operations. It was my intention, you know, vhen 1 left 

 home, to spend a few months in Italy before my return, and 1 shall perhaps conclude to take 

 this time, which must otherwise be passed to no account in Paris, to accomplish that object. If I 

 conclude to do this, I shall go very soon, so as to return in time for the report of the Commis- 

 sioners in the spring. They will, I have no doubt, inform me of their progress daring mj 

 absence. They appear now well disposed towards me, and highly pleased with the gun, and I 

 think that my absence will appear to them as a show of confidence, which will operate in mj 

 favor in their report, more than anything I can do by staying about them. No officer has yet 

 been found at Vincennes who could get through with my pamphlet. They introduced me to oil" 



to-day who reads a little English, who said he was laboring -at it, and had mastered half of it. 

 Yet many of these officers are from the Polytechnic School, and perhaps half of them know 

 something of calculus. You will see that I have not absolutely determined on leaving, in the 

 present state of the experiments, for Italy, though my mind tends that way. I shall consider it 

 yet more carefully, and visit Yincennes again before my final conclusion, which, whatever it may 

 be, I hope you may approve. . . . 



Daniel Trkadwkll. 



"After finding," says Mrs. Treadwell, "that they had learned something of the 

 merits of the gun, and were favorably disposed, he seemed to think mostly of the 

 pleasure of the Italian journey before him. We took the route through Arks, 

 Nismes, Avignon, to Marseilles. The grand old Roman ruin of the aqueduct of the 

 Pont du Gard, the amphitheatres of Aries and Nismes, the Maison Qnarree, and the 

 Papal Palace at Avignon, where we recognized Dickens's old woman, who showed 

 us the oubliettes and acted the death of the prisoners, just as she did for Dickens,— 

 all these interested him greatly. In Italy he seemed to forget that art was for any 



purpose than to embellish life, and gave himself up to the enjoyment of pic 

 and statuary as entirely as if he never modelled a gun or worked a printing 



