Passages from the Life of a Philosopher. Charles Babbage

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СКАЧАТЬ the previous pages of this Statement were drawn up, and a copy of it was forwarded to him, accompanied by a letter from Mr. Babbage, in which he observed—

      “Of course, when I undertook to give the invention of the Calculating Engine to the Government, and to superintend its construction, there must have been an implied understanding that I should carry it on to its termination. I entered upon that understanding, believing that two or at the utmost that three years would complete it. The better part of my life has now been spent on that machine, and no progress whatever having been made since 1834, that understanding may possibly be considered by the Government as still subsisting: I am therefore naturally very anxious that this state of uncertainty should be put an end to as soon as possible.”

      Mr. Babbage, in reply, received a note from Sir George Clerk (Secretary to the Treasury), stating that Sir Robert Peel feared that it would not be in his power to turn his attention to the subject for some days, but that he hoped, as soon as the great pressure of business previous to the opening of the session of Parliament was over, he might be able to determine on the best course to be pursued.

      The session of Parliament closed in August, and Mr. Babbage had received no further communication on the subject. Having availed himself of several private channels for recalling the question to Sir Robert Peel’s attention without effect, Mr. Babbage, on the 8th of October, 1842, again wrote to him, requesting an early decision.

      On the 4th of November, 1842, a note from Sir Robert Peel explained to Mr. Babbage that some delay had arisen, from his wish to communicate personally with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who would shortly announce to him their joint conclusion on the subject.

      On the same day Mr. Babbage received a letter from Mr. {94} Goulburn (the Chancellor of the Exchequer), who stated that he had communicated with Sir Robert Peel, and that they both regretted the necessity of abandoning the completion of a machine, on which so much scientific labour had been bestowed. He observed, that the expense necessary for rendering it either sat­is­fac­tory to Mr. Babbage or generally useful appeared, on the lowest calculation, so far to exceed what they should be justified in incurring, that they considered themselves as having no other alternative.

      Mr. Goulburn concluded by expressing their hope, that by the Government withdrawing all claim to the machine as already constructed, and placing it entirely at Mr. Babbage’s disposal, they might in some degree assist him in his future exertions in the cause of Science.

On the 6th of November, 1842, Mr. Babbage wrote to Sir Robert Peel and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, acknowledging the receipt of their decision, thanking them for the offer of the machine as already constructed, but, under all the circumstances, declining to accept it.22

22 The part of the Difference Engine already constructed, together with all the Drawings relating to the whole machine, were, in January, 1843 (by the direction of the Government), deposited in the Museum of King’s College, London.

      On the 11th of November Mr. Babbage obtained an interview with Sir Robert Peel, and stated, that having given the original Invention to the Government—having superintended for them its construction—having dem­on­strated the possibility of the undertaking by the completion of an important portion of it—and that the non-completion of the design arose neither from his fault nor his desire, but was the act of the Government itself, he felt that he had some claims on their consideration.

      He rested those claims upon the sacrifices he had made, {95} both personal and pecuniary, in the advancement of the Mechanical Arts and of Science—on the anxiety and the injury he had experienced by the delay of eight years in the decision of the Government on the subject, and on the great annoyance he had constantly been exposed to by the prevailing belief in the public mind that he had been amply remunerated by large grants of public money. Nothing, he observed, but some public act of the Government could ever fully refute that opinion, or repair the injustice with which he had been treated.

      The result of this interview was entirely unsat­is­fac­tory. Mr. Babbage went to it prepared, had his statement produced any effect, to have pointed out two courses, by either of which it was probable that not only a Difference Engine, but even the Analytical Engine, might in a few years have been completed. The state of Sir Robert Peel’s information on the subject, and the views he took of Mr. Babbage’s services and position, prevented Mr. Babbage from making any allusion to either of those plans.

      Thus finally terminated an engagement, which had existed upwards of twenty years. During no part of the last eight of those years does there appear to have been any reason why the same decision should not have been arrived at by the Government as was at last actually pronounced.

      It was during this last period that all the great principles on which the Analytical Engine rests were discovered, and that the mechanical contrivances in which they might be embodied were invented. The establishment which Mr. Babbage had long maintained in his own house, and at his own expense, was now directed with increased energy to the new inquiries required for its perfection.

      In this Statement the heavy sacrifices, both pecuniary and {96} personal, which the invention of these machines has entailed upon their author, have been alluded to as slightly as possible. Few can imagine, and none will ever know their full extent. Some idea of those sacrifices must nevertheless have occurred to every one who has read this Statement. During upwards of twenty years Mr. Babbage has employed, in his own house, and at his own expense, workmen of various kinds, to assist him in making experiments necessary for attaining a knowledge of every art which could possibly tend to the perfection of those Engines; and with that object he has frequently visited the manufactories of the Continent, as well as our own.

      Since the discontinuance of the Difference Engine belonging to the Government, Mr. Babbage has himself maintained an establishment for making drawings and descriptions dem­on­strat­ing the nature and power of the Analytical Engine, and for its construction at some future period, when its value may be appreciated.

      To these remarks it will only be added, that at an early stage of the construction of the Difference Engine he refused more than one highly desirable and profitable situation, in order that he might give his whole time and thoughts to the fulfilment of the engagement which he considered himself to have entered into with the Government.

      August, 1843.

      CHAPTER VII. DIFFERENCE ENGINE NO. II.

       Table of Contents

      Difference Engine No. 2—The Earl of Rosse, President of the Royal Society, proposed to the Government a Plan by which the Difference Engine No. 2 might have been executed—It was addressed to the Earl of Derby, and rejected by his Chancellor of the Exchequer.

      IT was not until 1848, when I had mastered the subject of the Analytical Engine, that I resolved on making a complete set of drawings of the Difference Engine No. 2. In this I proposed to take advantage of all the improvements and simp­li­fi­ca­tions which years of unwearied study had produced for the Analytical Engine.

      In 1852, the Earl of Rosse, who, from its commencement, had looked forward with the greatest interest to the application of mechanism to purposes of calculation, and who was well acquainted with the drawings and notations of the Difference Engine No. 2, inquired of me whether I was willing to give them to the Government, provided they would have the Engine constructed. My feeling was, after the sad experience of the past, that I ought not to think of sacrificing any further portion of my life upon the СКАЧАТЬ