* * *
I was glad to think that among the last memorable
beauties which have glided past us were pictures traced
by no common hand, not easily to grow old or fade beneath
the dust of time--the Kaatskill Mountains, Sleepy
Hollow and the Tappan Zee.
_Charles Dickens._
* * *
Soon after his return to New York he brought his idea to successful
completion. His reputation was now assured, and his invention of
"torpedoes" gave him additional fame. Congress not only purchased
these instruments of warfare, but also set apart $320,000 for a steam
frigate to be constructed under his supervision.
Through Livingston's influence the legislature passed an act granting
to Fulton the exclusive privilege of navigating the waters of the
State by means of steam power. The only conditions imposed were that
he should, within a year, construct a boat of not less than "twenty
tons burthen," which should navigate the Hudson at a speed not less
than four miles an hour, and that one such boat should not fail of
running regularly between New York and Albany for the space of one
year.
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