376 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



glad I had undertaken it. My charge of $1200 for the 

 investigation, was readily allowed by the Secretary, and 

 the necessary papers, as already stated, were furnished me 

 for passing through the different offices of the Treasury. 

 The expenses of my coadjutors were also paid, I do not 

 remember whether on this or on a subsequent occasion. 

 Altogether, I presume the investigation cost the govern- 

 ment $2000. I never heard that the government took 

 any action upon the report, nor do I know what was 

 thought of it by any one at Washington, except the Sec- 

 retary. However this may have been, I had some evi- 

 dence that the report was favorably appreciated by those 

 interested in the subject, because I was very often called 

 upon to furnish copies of it. I was liberally supplied from 

 the Washington government press with, I believe, one 

 hundred copies, and only one is left, the others having 

 been given away, and even that is, at this late day, occa- 

 sionally borrowed I have already mentioned that 



Mr. McLean introduced me to the President. In a letter 

 to Mrs. Silliman, dated Washington, May 27, 1833, I find 

 the following more particular notice : "At the palace I 

 met not only the President, but Mr. Edward Livingston 

 and General Cass, Secretaries of departments. The Presi- 

 dent received me with great kindness, and much as I have 

 heard of his dignified and courteous manners, I was more 

 agreeably impressed than I expected to be. He is not only 

 a dignified but a winning gentleman of the old school of 

 manners, which brought up to my mind your father, the 

 late Governor Trumbull. He informed me that he was 

 soon to visit the Eastern States, and should stop in New 

 Haven. I tendered him the civility of showing him the 

 Colleges, which he said he should be very happy to see. He 

 said he should leave Washington in a week or more, and 

 that he wished to pass quietly along." General Jackson 

 was strongly marked by time, but there appeared to be no 

 abatement of physical or mental vigor. A Connecticut 



