Robert Fulton, Engineer and Artist. By H. W. Dickinson. (John
Lane. 10s. 6d. net.)—Robert Fulton exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1791; but his claim to distinction rests upon other achievements. There has been a tendency to detract from his merit even as an engineer, but Mr. Dickinson pats forward a very strong plea in his defence. "To mention," he says, " as the offspring of Fulton's genius only the first workable submarine torpedo boat, the first commercially practicable steam vessel, and the first steam-propelled war- ship, is to entitle him to a place among the giants of the engineering profession." In addition to these great distinc- tions we may mention another, namely, that he was an ardent advocate of Free Trade. In 1798 he writes in a letter that " every man who has the least pretension to expanded Reflec- tion and a Knowledge of the interest of nations must admit that a perfect free trade is of the utmost importance." He actually seems to have tried to convert Napoleon to his views, and a letter is preserved addressed to General Bonaparte (who was then on the point of starting for Egypt), in which he says that he encloses a pamphlet to prove "the necessity of an entire liberty of commerce."
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