396 Life of Audubon. 



man, and had shaken his hand. He read Mr. Swartwout*!i 

 letter twice, with apparent care, and having finished, said, 

 ' Mr. Audubon, I will do all in my power to serve you, 

 but the Seminole war will, I fear, prevent you from hav 

 ing a cutter; however, as we shall have a committee at 

 twelve o'clock, we will consider this, and give you an an- 

 swer to-morrow.' The general looked well, he was smok- 

 ing his pipe, and gave his letters to Colonel Donaldson, 

 who read them attentively, and as I left the room he fol- 

 lowed us, and we talked to him respecting the subscrip- 

 tion of the different departments. I like this man and 

 his manners ; and I gave him the letters of the Duke of 

 Sussex and the Governor of the Hudson Bay Company 

 to read, and went to see Colonel Earle, who is engaged 

 in painting General Jackson's portrait. 



" Colonel Abert then took me to Mr. Woodbury, Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury, who received me very politely, 

 and after reading my letters to him, promised me the use 

 of the cutter. The subscription was also broached to 

 him, but nothing decisive was said ; and so we passed 

 over to Mr. Butler's office, who is a young man. He read 

 Washington Irving's letter, laid it down, and began a long 

 talk about his talents, and after a while came round to my 

 business ; saying, that the government allows so little 

 money to the departments, that he did not think it proba- 

 ble that their subscription could be obtained without a 

 law to that effect from Congress. This opinion was any- 

 thing but gratifying ; but he made many courteous prom- 

 ises to bring the matter before the next Congress, and I 

 bid him adieu, hoping for the best. 



" Called on Mr. John S. Mechan, librarian to Con- 

 gress, and found him among his books. After some 

 agreeable conversation respecting his work and my own, 

 he asked me to dine with him to-day, and to-morrow to 

 visit the curious chimney-sweep possessing curious knowl- 



