twenty
thousand dollars, and sued Miller and Whitney for recovery of the
sum paid, on the ground that the partners had not complied with the
conditions. Whitney succeeded, in 1805, in getting the Legislature to
reinstate the contract and pay him the remainder of the money. Miller,
discouraged and broken by the long struggle, had died in the meantime.

The following passage from a letter written by Whitney in February,
1805, to Josiah Stebbins, gives Whitney's views as to the treatment he
had received at the hands of the authorities. He is writing from the
residence of a friend near Orangeburg, South Carolina.

"The principal object of my present excursion to this Country was to get
this business set right; which I have so far effected as to induce the
Legislature of this State to recind all their former SUSPENDING LAWS and
RESOLUTIONS, to agree once more to pay the sum of 30,000 Dollars which
was due and make the necessary appropriations for that purpose. I have
as yet however obtained but a small part of this payment. The residue is
promised me in July next. Thus you see my RECOMPENSE OF REWARD is as the
land of Canaan was to the Jews, resting a long while in promise. If the
Nations with whom I have to contend are not as numerous as those opposed
to the Israelites, they are certainly much greater HEATHENS, having
their hearts hardened and their understanding blinded, to make,
propagate and believe all manner of lies. Verily, Stebbins, I have had
much vexation of spirit in this business. I shall spend forty thousand
dollars to obtain thirty, and it will all end in vanity at last. A
contract had been made with the State of Tennessee which now hangs
SUSPENDED. Two attempts have been made to induce the State of No.
Carolina to RECIND their CONTRACT, neither of which have succeeded. Thus
you see Brother Steb. Sovreign and Independent States warped by INTEREST
will be ROGUES and misled by Demagogues will be FOOLS. They have spent
much time, MONEY and CREDIT, to avoid giving me a small compensation,
for that which to them is worth millions."

Meanwhile North Carolina had agreed to buy the rights for the State
on terms that yielded Whitney about thirty thousand dollars, and it is
estimated that he received about ten thousand dollars from Tennessee,
making his receipts in all about ninety thousand dollars, before
deducting costs of litigation and other losses. The cotton gin was not
profitable to its inventor. And yet no in