LETTERS OF A CITIZEN. 63 



by you after receiving that report, wherein you write, " The report 

 of Commodore Jones is extremely discouraging." Put this and 

 that together ; but let it pass. 



It was recommended that the vessels go into drydock. This 

 was a godsend to you. The occasion was seized upon, and made 

 a pretext for the appointment of a commission extraordinary, al- 

 though Commodore Jones had returned and "reported favoura- 

 bly." How did you speak of this report when first received ? 

 Did you then say it was favourable ? I apprehend not ; at any 

 rate, accident has placed before me a letter, to which I have al- 

 ready referred, in which you speak of this same report as "ex- 

 tremely discouraging ! !" 



Of this board : the obvious motive for its appointment ; the 

 extraordinary character of the instructions you gave for the gui- 

 dance of its action ; the consequent duties you expected it to 

 perform, are subjects which have all been sufficiently discussed 

 in my preceding letters, and demand but a short incidental no- 

 tice here. Not to look into the condition of the vessels only 

 was the commission opened, but to assume, to a certain degree, 

 legislative power ; to undo what Congress had directed should be 

 done, and which you, with all your hostility to the expedition, had 

 not the moral courage to contravene ; in short, to reduce the force 

 authorized. Why was not Commodore Jones appointed a mem- 

 ber of the board ? Was he not deeply interested in the examin- 

 ations and decisions to be made ? Were you apprehensive that 

 he would expose the insidious character of your instructions, by 

 showing the members of your commission that you had now as- 

 sumed new ground and adopted opinions directly at variance with 

 those you had previously professed to entertain ? Had you for- 

 gotten, or was it inconvenient to remember, what you had said of 

 that officer in your famous report of April 6, 1837 ? If you had 

 foreseen your present predicament, you would never have penned 

 the following sentence : " The confidence placed in this officer 

 (Commodore Jones), which led to his selection for this important 

 command^ seemed to require that he should, he consulted as to the 

 number and size of the vessels^ and the amount of force of which 

 his squadron was to consist, as he was to be held in a high degree 

 responsible for the success of the exp edition. '''' A liberal and just 

 sentence this, but only written for effect, not for action, as your 



