Memoir of the Life of Eli Whitney.' 219 



ed with a shattered oar, and struggled iu vain unless some speedy 

 relief is obtained. I am now quite far enough advanced in life to 

 think seriously of marrying. I have ever looked forward with pleas- 

 ure to an alliance with an amiable and virtuous companion, as a 

 source from whence I have expected one day to derive the greatest 

 happiness. But the accomplishment of my tour to Europe, and the 

 acquisition of something which I can call my own, appears to be ab- 

 solutely necessary, before it will be admissible for me even to think 

 of family engagements. Probably a year and a half, at least, will be 

 required to perform that tour, after it is entered upon. Life is but 

 short at best, and six or seven years out of the midst of it, is, to him 

 who makes it, an immense sacrifice. My most unremitted attention 

 has been devoted to our business. 1 have sacrificed to it other ob- 

 jects from which, before this time, I might certainly have gained 

 twenty or thirty thousand dollars. My whole prospects have been 

 embarked in it, with the expectation that I should, before this time, 

 have realized something from it." 



These observations are made with reference to a proposition which 

 he had brought forward, to be allowed to retain a certain portion of 

 the proceeds of the receipts from Mr. Nightingale as his private 

 property ; or, at least, to be permitted to adopt such arrangements 

 as would secure it to him after a limited period. But the involved 

 state of the company concerns was such that Mr. Miller would not 

 consent to such an arrangement, nor does it appear to have ever 

 been made. However, brighter prospects seemed now to be open- 

 ing upon them, from the more favorable reports that were made re- 

 specting the quality of their cotton. Respectable manufacturers, 

 both at home and abroad, gave favorable certificates, and retailing 

 merchants sought for the cotton cleaned by Whitney's Gin, because 

 it was greatly preferred by their customers to any other in the mar- 

 ket. This favorable turn in public opinion, would have restored 

 prosperity to the company,, had not the encroachments on their pat- 

 ent right become so extensive as almost to annihilate its value. 



The issue of the first trial they were able to obtain, is announced 

 in the following letter from Mr. Miller, dated May 11, 1797. 



" The event of the first patent suit, after all our exertions made in 

 such a variety of ways, has gone against us. The preposterous cus- 

 tom of trying civil causes of this intricac}'^ and magnitude, by a 

 common jury, together with the imperfection of the Patent law, frus- 

 trated all our views, and disappointed expectations, which had be-. 



