Sciences of Boston in 1782; the College of New Jersey gave him the honorary degrees of Master of Arts in 1772, and Doctor of Laws in 1789; the College of William and Mary, in Virginia, gave him the honorary degree of Master of Arts in 1784, designating him as principem philosophorum; but the highest distinction of this character he ever received, and the highest in the world then attainable by a man of science, was his election as a foreign member of the Royal Society of London in 1795.
One of the closing events in the life of Rittenhouse has frequently been the subject of adverse criticism. The French people were then in the throes of their Revolution. The assistance given by France at the critical period of our war for independence, and the fact that she was now apparently in a death-struggle in an effort to secure her own liberties, appealed most forcibly to the sympathies of the American people.
Genet, a warm-blooded and, as it proved, a not very discreet young Frenchman, was sent as minister from the republic to this country. When the news came of his arrival at Philadelphia, where Congress was sitting, a meeting of citizens was called in Independence Square, and Rittenhouse was appointed chairman of a committee to draft resolutions. These resolutions, a little glowing in their tone, but carefully drawn so as not to conflict with the American position of neutrality, declared the cause of France to be that of the human race, and expressed the strongest sympathy with her in her struggles for “freedom and equality,” as well as attachment, fraternal feeling, and gratitude. The assemblage then formed in line, and walked three abreast around to the City Tavern, where they presented their address to Genet, who said the citizens of France would consider that day as one of the happiest in the career of the infant republic.
