was accused of being a Tory,
and charged with disloyalty to the American cause. He protested his
innocence in vain. He was arrested, tried--and acquitted; for nothing
could be proven against him. Indeed, there was nothing to prove; it was
his character that was the real cause of offence to the good people of
Concord. They were not tolerant of superiority; and there must have
been an intolerable superiority in young Thompson's personal beauty, in
his manners, in his passion for study and scientific experiment. In
spite of his acquittal, he remained _un homme suspect_; and finally the
Concord mob visited his house to take their will of him; but he had
fled, never to return. Had he not been forewarned, I fear there would
never have been any Count Rumford. The patriots of Concord might not
have put him to death, but one does not easily make noblemen of persons
who have been tarred and feathered. It is better to admit a tradesman
now and then, or even a dentist, to the ranks of the nobility, as it
has happened to some of our countrymen more recently. Very luckily,
then, young Thompson escaped the tar and feathers; at twenty-two he
left family, home, and estate, and fled from the Concord mob, never to
return. His property was confiscated, and in August, 1775, after having
suffered imprisonment as a Tory, he decided to quit the country. One
would think that he had sufficient reasons. He wrote thus to his
father-in-law: "I am determined," he says, "to seek for that _peace_
and _protection_ in foreign lands, and among strangers, which is deny'd
me in my native country. I cannot any longer bear the insults that are
daily offered me. I cannot bear to be looked upon and treated as the
_Achan_ of society." Thompson showed a true instinct for the
opportunity in choosing this course. He entered the British service,
and thenceforward, says Mr. Ellis, "the rustic youth became the
companion of gentlemen of wealth and culture, of scientific
philosophers, of the nobility, and of princes." Perhaps it gives a
wrong impression to speak of him as a "rustic youth"; for besides a
winning address, we are told that he had "a noble and imposing figure,"
and that he was a natural courtier; so that the familiar story of his
rapid promotion is not surprising. Under-Secretary of State at
twenty-eight, he was knighted by George III. at thirty; and eight years
later, by the pleasure of the King of Bavaria, Benjamin Thompson, of
Woburn, Massachusetts, was