396 LETTERS OF A CITIZEN. 



fitted out; it bears no comparison with your outfit to George's 

 Bank, the magnitude of the respective objects and labours of 

 the two enterprises being taken into consideration. Yes r sir, 

 and while on this point there is one more little question which 

 I wish, in the politest manner imaginable, to propose to you; 

 it is this : How did it happen that you gave permission to the 

 officer having charge of the survey on the banks to take what in- 

 struments he chose from those procured expressly for the South 

 Sea squadron, and purchased with the funds appropriated for 

 that exclusive purpose ? / would also further inquire if you in- 

 tend to detain the eocpedition till the return of the Porpoise, or is 

 it to proceed to sea minus the abstracted apparatus ? The best 

 way to get out of this difficulty is to be candid, and own what 

 I have no doubt are the facts of the case, viz., that when you 

 gave the permission referred to (for without it I cannot suppose 

 the instruments to have been taken), you had just hit on the plan 

 of your famous commission ; and entertaining no doubt of being 

 sustained by the board, either wholly or in part, in breaking down 

 the expedition, you considered that this sending off the apparatus 

 was only taking time by the forelock, and adding one more to the 

 list of difficulties already, according to your statements, so over- 

 whelming ! 



At length we have something like an outline of the character and 

 force you would sanction in an expedition to the South Seas. 

 True, you have not condescended to go into detail or explain how 

 its varied labours could be accomplished with that force, and it 

 were wise in you to abstain from any attempt to do so. Here is 

 your plan. 



" Two ships would be quite enough for the purposes of survey 

 and exploration on this South Sea expedition, and an additional 

 vessel for the search of wrecked mariners" 



It were an easy matter to show the utter insufficiency of what 

 you here recommend, to say nothing about the modesty of the rec- 

 ommendation after the adoption of the present force by the com- 

 petent authorities in the first place, and its recent approval by your 

 own commission appointed expressly to adjudge the matter. But 

 it is not worth while to waste time in arguing the point with one 

 who so pertinaciously refuses to understand or, understanding, 

 continues to misrepresent the objects for which the measure was 

 -Authorized. The admission, however, that one vessel our' f 



