4 LETTERS OF A CITIZEN. 



your capacity for tlie high ofHce you hold ; and I have often won- 

 dered you did not gratify the whole comnuinilv by retiring from 

 duties you must find so ditlicull to ])erform, by seeking that re- 

 pose and quiet generally so grateful lo man in the ninth septen- 

 nial of human life. 



I never heard a sentence from your lips, or read a paragraph 

 from your pen, that gave me the impression that the compass of 

 your mind, on public measures, was not better adapted to razee 

 or to cut down than to Imild vp and admn ! Still I thought that 

 you would adhere strictly lo the discharge of your duties, particu- 

 larly where the responsibility of devising was taken from vour 

 shoulders, and rested in other (juarlers able lo bear it ; but in this 

 I was unfortunately disappointed. 



When you came into office, if you had looked over the files of 

 papers in ihe department, you must have known that, ten years 

 ago, as you have said, in ihe days of Madison, a plan was devised 

 for an expedition to the 8outh ^^eas ; thai memorials, pelitions, 

 and representations had come into Congress from all quarters, and 

 seized strongly upon the attention of the enlightened members of 

 ihat body, and that steps had hern taken by ihrm for such an un- 

 derlaknig. If the plan suggested was, from many circumstances, 

 suffered to sleep a while, you know it was revived with fresh ar- 

 dour in Congress, and acts passed for carrying the project forth- 

 with into effect. 



Your opposition lo such an expedition was, I confess, undis- 

 guised. During the sessions of \KV\ and 5 you were opposed 

 to It in every shape and form ; when the bill passed the Senate, 

 you did all in your power to liave it defeated in the house; rec- 

 ommending to memberb — " Strike it out, strike it out !*' 



But you often declared that you should fool under obligations 

 to carry into effect whalovor (-ongross dotorimned in regard to 

 the subject. Have you done ii ? Are you doin^ it ' These are 

 questions I have a right lo ask ; and thoy may be asked l)y an au- 

 Uioriiy which will require an answer' 



More than a year ago the expediiiori was authorized, and tho 

 navy conmiissioners Blaled in their report to the president in 

 January, \^'M\, tiiat iho Mncodonian couhi be pot ri'ady for sea in 

 ninety days ; ami how is it that she is now only ready lo receive 

 her men in June, Is37 ? 



