“As my esteem for Mr. Rittenhouse increases, the more I know him,” said Dr. Smith, “I set on foot a project, assisted by my neighbours, the Wissahickon millers, to get him recommended to the Assembly, to be put in as a trustee of the loan-office, in the bill now before the house. I first broke the matter to the speaker;[145] telling him, Mr. Rittenhouse ought to be encouraged to come to town, to take a lead in a manufacture, optical and mathematical, which never had been attempted in America, and drew thousands of pounds to England for instruments, often ill finished; and that it would redound to the honour of Philadelphia to take a lead in this, and of the Assembly, to encourage it. The speaker took the proposal well, and, in short, so did every person applied to; and when the vote passed, the day before yesterday, for the three trustees, the whole house rose for Rittenhouse’s name; so that Mr. Allen,[146] who was hearty among the rest for him, observed—“_Our name is Legion, for this vote_,”—though Dr. M—— got in only by the speaker’s casting vote. ----- Footnote 145: Joseph Galloway, Esq. a representative in assembly from the county of Bucks. He was speaker of the house, from the year 1766 to 1773, inclusively; excepting a short interval in the session of 1768-9, in which Joseph Fox, Esq. officiated as speaker. Footnote 146: William Allen, Esq. chief-justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, and a member of assembly from the county of Cumberland. ----- “This will give you pleasure, as it shews that a good man is capable of sometimes commanding all parties; and it will be creditable for Mr. Rittenhouse, even if the bill should not succeed for the present. The salary to each of the trustees is 200_l._[147] Both the Mr. Ross’s,[148] Mr. Biddle,[149] and Mr. Carpenter,[150] were hearty in their interest for Rittenhouse,—so was Minshull;[151] and I hope you will thank them all. The governor[152] declared (and with more frankness than usual,) when I waited on him,—“Mr. Rittenhouse’s name shall never be an objection with me, in this or any other bill: on the contrary, I shall rejoice if the bill come to me in such a form, as that I can shew my regard for him.” ----- Footnote 147: Equal to 533 Spanish or American dollars. Footnote 148: John and George Ross, Esqrs. lawyers of great respectability, and brothers; the former a resident in Philadelphia; the latter in Lancaster. Mr. George Ross was a member of the first congress; and was appointed by the assembly on the 5th of April, 1775, judge of the admiralty-court for Pennsylvania. Footnote 149: