278 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



Tied up as he was, it would be at least a 

 year before he could realize and leave the 

 country. He writes of the efforts which his 

 friends at this time were making to have him 

 appointed consul at St. Juan, but expects 

 that they will be unsuccessful. Evidently 

 he kept up his interest in home politics, 

 for he writes: "Mr. Webster's popularity 

 with his friends is as Timothy Pickering's 

 was with the Essex Junto, he is governed 

 in a manner by the Boston and New York 

 aristocrats. Mr. Webster is as ambitious 

 as any man we have. He is an aristocrat 

 at heart, though a better man I believe we 

 could not at the present moment have as 

 Secretary of State, but neither he nor Clay 

 will ever be President." It is easy to see 

 from this letter that his many disappoint- 

 ments were beginning to tell on Captain 

 Lamson. His optimism has disappeared, 

 and the best he hopes for is to realize on 

 the wrecks of his fortune and return to 

 Beverly. Although some years later he did 

 revisit his family, his pecuniary entangle- 



