332 LETTERS OF A CITIZEN. 



that, by a judicious application of the means within your control, 

 the whole complement of every vessel might have been shipped 

 in sixty, or, at most, finely days, at any period since the passage 

 of the bill by Congress, on the 10th of May, 1836; and that, too, 

 without interfering with the protection of commerce, or in the 

 slightest degree deranging the naval service of the country. In 

 this belief I have found myself sustained by the opinions of those 

 much more experienced in such matters than I can claim to be ; 

 and I shrewdly suspect that you will find it something like an 

 " insurmountable difficulty" to convince the people of this country 

 that, with the most ample means at your command, nothing more 

 than you have effected could be accomplished. 



In speaking of the vessels, you proceed to tell the president 

 that " the frigate and store-ship which were on the stocks when 

 this measure was authorized have been finished and equipped, 

 and are now receiving their crews" What unaccountable hallu- 

 cination could have possessed your mind when you wrote this 

 sentence ? Did you, in the first draught of your report, put down 

 what ought to have been the condition of those vessels, and after- 

 ward forget to alter it ? How else could you venture to tell the 

 president, and, through him, Congress and the whole country, that 

 the frigate was finished and equipped, and was receiving her men, 

 when the fact was, the frigate at that time was not finished, not 

 equipped, nor was she receiving her creiv ; so far from it, she had 

 not a bulk-head up or a yarn over the masthead, and it was not 

 until June, six months after this official statement, that she was 

 completed, and in a condition to receive her complement of 

 men ! ! ! ! This is another example of your " extraordinary ef- 

 forts" in forwarding the outfit of the expedition, as well as of the 

 accuracy of your official report. 



The president is further informed that you had not " yet at- 

 tempted to organize the scientific corps for the expedition ;" but 

 you intimate that this duty may be performed as soon " as ac- 

 commodations can be afforded them in the vessels" Strange in- 

 congruity this ! In the first place, the vessels are " finished" and 

 " receiving their crews ;" in the next you tell us that the organiza- 

 tion of the corps is delayed until the vessels are finished and 

 ready to receive them. 





