400 LETTERS OF A CITIZEN. 



from the multiplicity and variety of your endeavours to frustrate 

 the enterprise, some confusion should ensue in point of time) ; 

 which efforts, it appears, consisted in having written to Commo- 

 dore Jones " without delay," conferred about the vessels, given 

 orders for their construction, and directed that sailors should be 

 recruited to man them. Even the days are named on which the 

 orders were issued, viz., the 6th, 7th, 1 1th, and the 20th of June ; 

 and the whole statement is evidently relied on to explain away 

 your subsequent tardiness of action, as also to enable you to ex- 

 claim, with an assumed air of candid surprise, that " in all this a 

 * Citizen' can see nothing but insufferable delay, for which he 

 holds the secretary responsible." After some other samples of 

 twaddling criticism about the South Pole, confirming the obser- 

 vation that 



" Great wits, like great states, 

 Do sometimes sink by their own weights," 



you very complacently lay the flattering, but, alas ! delusive unc- 

 tion to your heart, that none " except the ' Citizen, 9 and a few 

 who have been bitten by him, can see any cause for throwing 

 censure upon the secretary" , 



Sir, the public mind has been slow and reluctant to fix its con- 

 demnation upon you, but it has been constrained to do so, and 

 the future Plutarch of our republic may indignantly inquire, 

 " Who was this honourable secretary, that lie should have so un- 

 graciously endeavoured to thwart the wishes of his country by 

 creating obstacles to the fulfilment of a noble and useful national 

 design ?" Think you the brief biographical notice of you con- 

 tained in the " National Portrait Gallery," partial as it is known 

 to be, will afford a satisfactory reply T 



What I slated in relation to the shipment of men, the comple- 

 tion of the frigate and store-ship, and the organization of the sci- 

 entific corps, you have not denied : the facts cannot be refuted. 

 Not the slightest extra encouragement was allowed by you for 

 the purpose of inducing seamen to join the expedition. The Ma- 

 cedonian was not finished, nor was she in a condition to receive 

 her crew, in December, 1836, as stated in your annual report ; 

 nor did she receive her crew on board until June, 1837. On 

 these points you offer a volume of explanations, about as falla- 



