6312. PAINE (Thomas), Gunboats.—
The model of a contrivance for making one
gunboat do nearly double execution has all the
ingenuity and simplicity which generally mark
your inventions. I am not nautical enough
to judge whether two guns may be too heavy
for the bow of a gunboat, or whether any other
objection will countervail the advantage it offers,
and which I see visibly enough. I send
it to the Secretary of the Navy, within whose
department it lies to try and to judge it.—
To Thomas Paine. Washington ed. v, 189.
Ford ed., ix, 136.
(M.
1807)
