17

as of Columbus "He died in the misery of [hope deferred (underlined)]
and under the pressure of pecuniary Embarrassments."
For after spending a great deal of time & money on what
he was well assured might prove advantageous if properly
pursued. Fulton obtained all the honor & profit, & is
improperly & unjustly considered the [inocutor? (underlined)], when his only
merit was introducing successfully what is certainly a
most valuable acquisition to the whole Nation - but in
which even he did not expect to succeed to so great an
extent - for ^he offered to bet any sum that a boat { ?} not
be made to go more than five miles an hour [x] (because
he had not made one go faster) tho' W. J. told him that the
Company to which he belonged made a Boat run eight miles
and since that I have seen accounts of their going 13 miles an
hour. - Previous to this where in Rhode Island (in
1789) he had a favorite plan of going to Africa to settle
a Colony of free blacks, and numbers were willing to go (See
Papers on the Box) but circumstances changed his pursuits
(tho' it was several years before he gave up the intention
entirely) & he relinquished the plan of going himself, tho'
he never abandonded the object, and had the satisfaction in this