398 LETTERS OF A CITIZEN. 



P.S. No. III. of " A Friend to the Navy" is acknowledged a 

 decided improvement in style, though a sad falling off in temper! 



New- York, August 23, 1837. 



IX. 



In this paper we publish the concluding address of a " Citizen" to the secretary of 

 the navy. We wish that the discussion had not been so far protracted ; we wish that 

 we could have avoided giving pain to any member of the administration ; but circum- 

 stances were uncontrollable, and the fortune of the exploring expedition, one of the no- 

 blest and most important measures ever adopted by the American government, seemed 

 bound up in the prosecution of the discussion. Plain duty, therefore, marked our course, 

 and we have not shrunk from it, however disagreeable it may have been. The letters 

 of a " Citizen" have been distinguished by thorough knowledge of the subject, unbound- 

 ed zeal in the great cause, a single-minded devotion ,to its interest, purity of style, force 

 of argument, and logical clearness of statement and induction. Universal public opinion 

 approves warmly of his undertaking, and ascribes to its able execution the welcome im- 

 provement in the prospects of the expedition, the probability of its now efficient equip- 

 ment and speedy departure. For ourselves, we believe well, that, but for the labours of 

 our correspondent, the expedition would not now have been within a twelvemonth of 

 sailing, if it ever sailed at all, unless crippled of all efficiency and capacity for usefulness. 

 The " Citizen" has served his country and the cause of science and humanity nobly ; 

 and he has served, perhaps saved, the head of the navy department. We take leave of 

 him with our best wishes for his prosperity and happiness, wherever his sphere of life 

 may be cast. Editor of the New- York Times. 



To the Honouiable Mahlon Dickerson, Secretary of the Navy. 



SIR, 



I can only account for the confession made in the first para- 

 graph of your third number by regarding it as another confirma- 

 tion of the trite saying of the Latins, that " those whom the gods 

 intend to destroy they first make mad." Excuse me for not giv- 

 ing the Roman text : I set out with the intention of speaking in 

 plain English, and shall not now change my original purpose, 

 though the translation may grate somewhat harshly on your clas- 

 sical ear. But to the confession. u A Friend to the Navy" tells 

 us that, had the expedition been fitted out with a sloop-of-war and 

 such other smaller vessels as the law of the first session of the 

 last Congress authorized, together with such books and instru- 

 ments as the country afforded, the whole fleet, on that scale, might 

 have put to sea on or before the meeting of Congress in Decem- 

 ber last ; but when it was determined a frigate should be em- 



