Reminiscences of the late Mr. Whitney. 255 
Arr. If.—Reminiscences of the late Mr. Whitney, inventor of the 
Cotton Gin; by the Enrror. 
Tue preceding memoir has so fully elucidated the character of 
Mr. Whitney, that the following observations may perhaps appear 
superfluous. I have however been led to make them, both by affec- 
tion for the memory of a man so highly valued, and also because it is 
often in the power of a friend, to give some additional touches, even 
toa faithful picture. 
Mr. Whitney received the degree of A. B. in Yale College, at the 
same Commencement (1792) when I became a member of that insti- 
tution. I had only a general knowledge of him until 1798, when I 
was made acquainted with his then pending arrangement with the 
government of the United States, for the manufacture of arms, and 
by request I copied some of the papers relating to that contract. In 
the autumn of 1799, just after I had accepted an appointment in the 
gvernment of Yale College, I was much interested by an unexpect- 
ed application from Mr. Whitney, to visit the principal countries of 
Europe, (all indeed which had cotton-growing colonies, in either 
hemisphere,) for the purpose of obtaining patents for the Cotton Gin. 
ratifying as the application was to my feelings, my recent engage- 
ments with the College, and my youth and inexperience, concurred 
wth other reasons to make me decline accepting the overture, which 
= ee siely tempting to my curiosity and to the desire of foreign 
vel. 
This affair would not be worth mentioning, except that the confi- 
nee Which it implied naturally led to a familiar intercourse of friend- 
» Which for twenty five years was never clouded for a moment, 
and often gave me interesting views of Mr. Whitney’s character. 
Iwas frequently led to observe, that his ingenuity extended to every 
Subject. which demanded his attention; his arrangements, even of 
common things, were marked by singular good taste and a prevailing 
Punciple of order. 
© effect of this mental habit is very obvious in the disposition 
of the buildings, and accommodations of his manufactory of arms ;— 
“Hough, oWing to the infirmities of his later years, and to other causes, 
tis atrangements were never finished to the full extent of his views. 
The machinery has great neatness and finish, and in its operation evin- 
“8a degree of precision and efficiency, which gratifies every curious 
