452 



MEMOIR OF DANIEL TREADWELL. 



While in Paris, he addressed a letter to the Eight Hon. Frederick Peel, Secretary 

 at War, asking the appointment of an officer or engineer of education and intelligence 

 to meet him in London and examine his plans. In answer to this request Lord 

 Panmure, on the 27th of April, 1855, directed Captain Lefroy, R A., to meet Professor 

 Treadwell at the War Department to receive any explanations he might be pleased to 

 offer. By invitation he was also present at several meetings of the Ordnance Select 

 Committee, at which were to be considered the subject of the fabrication of cannon of 

 his invention. In June, Captain Blakeley, who had sought an interview with Professor 

 Treadwell, was introduced by Captain Lefroy. Captain Blakeley imformed him that 

 he had some plans of hooped guns in his mind ; but Treadwell as much as possible 

 declined all communication with him upon the subject, as his own plans were com- 

 ited, and he did not wish to reveal them to any one, nor to compare notes with any 

 one who was upon the same subject. At that time no hooped cannon except " Mons 

 Mcir" at Edinburgh Castle, which was made of staves and wroudit-iron hoops, (it was 



burst in firing a salute for the Duke of York in 1682,) was to be seen in any of the 

 arsenals or depots of artillery in France or England. 



He was satisfied from his observations at the Ordnance Office that the government 

 had their hands full with their own men, and from these he was desirous of with- 

 holding all communication ; it was also clear that nothing further could be obtained 



by being in Paris, for there again the ground was occupied by projectors whom their 

 governments favored. 



His reception in England at this visit was, however, very different from that in 

 1847; then he expected no attention from the Ordnance Department, and received 

 none except the official acknowledgment of the "Short Account of an Improved 

 Cannon," of 1845. He fortunately now made the acquaintance of Mr. Peter Barlow, 

 the able writer on pure and applied mathematics and mathematical master in the 

 Woolwich Academy ; from him he received many attentions, which brought him into 

 pleasant relations with several officers of the army and navy. These associations, 

 however, did little to further the object of his visit, and in July, 1855, he returned 



to Cambridg 



of 



Convinced as he was of the great value of the cannon of 1854, soon after his 

 from Europe he determined once more to attempt bringing it to the attention 

 Government. For this purpose he first secured to himself whatever advantages might 

 follow its use, and then made its merits generally known. He wrote a letter to the 

 Secretaries at Washington, from which the following extract is taken. 



"Thwarted as I had been by most of the government officials and government boards, I had 



3 in this matter practically at any great expense. Indeed, I had not the means 



inov 



