By this time Fulton was recognized by thoughtful men as a power to be considered. At Barlow’s hospitable home Fulton enjoyed the opportunity of making friends among prominent men; and during 1801 there arrived in Paris, as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, a noted American statesman and lawyer. The meeting between Fulton and Livingston, at Barlow’s table, proved important. Mr. Livingston’s keen intellect had already recognized the importance of providing boats with steam power. Indeed, he himself had experimented in the matter, and had caused an Act to be passed by the Legislature in 1798 granting to himself “the exclusive right and privilege of navigating all kinds of boats which might be propelled by the force of steam or fire, on all waters of the state of New York, for the term of twenty years from the passage of the Act; upon consideration that he should within a twelve-month build such a boat, the mean of whose progress should not be less than four miles an hour.” The Act was passed but Livingston’s steamboat was not a success. The trial boat, of thirty tons’ burden, built by the Chancellor’s orders by an Englishman named Nesbit, near Tivoli on the Hudson, failed to run! When the Chancellor met Robert Fulton, this clean-cut, energetic young countryman who had built a much-talked-of submarine torpedo-boat recognized by Napoleon, he thought, “Here is the clever man whom I am seeking!” It is characteristic of great men to notice the mental worth of others and enlist it in their cause, whatever it may be. And Livingston quickly learned the rare capacity of Fulton. There could have been no stronger combination than the partnership of these two men, formally enacted at Paris, in October, 1802. The original agreement is signed “Robert R. Livingston of the state of New York, and Robert Fulton of the state of Pennsylvania.” Fulton’s part of the contract was: 1st: To build a boat one hundred and twenty feet long, eight feet wide, to draw fifteen inches of water, to navigate the Hudson River between New York and Albany, at a speed of eight miles an hour and to carry sixty passengers, allowing two hundred pounds’ weight per passenger. 2d: To secure a patent, in the name of Robert Fulton; to deposit every necessary drawing, model and specification, and the patent property when granted was to be divided in value into one hundred shares, half of which should be owned by each partner, and all profits equally shared. 3d: To go to England to construct an experimental boat,—if possible borrowing an engine,—the cost of such boat, five hundred pounds English currency, to be provided by Livingston. If the boat failed of success, Fulton was to repay half the sum with seven per cent interest added; if it succeeded, Fulton was to go to America, obtain a patent, and build a boat; his “reasonable expenses” to be part of the general expense. The contract continued as follows: