428 LETTERS OF A CITIZEN. 



made. This is the more necessary, as you are at present throw- 

 ing, or striving to throw, discredit upon the undertaking, by rep- 

 robating these preliminaries as extravagant. I know that you do 

 not pursue this plan on all occasions ; but at the time and place, 

 and in the presence of persons, when, where, and on whom you 

 think it will produce the most effect. 



You stated, in a report to Congress in February last, that " all 

 the books, instruments, and charts necessary for any scientific ex- 

 pedition had been procured ;" though, in your present report, you 

 are obliged to own that " it was necessary 11 (after the date of that 

 assertion) "to procure a great variety of articles for the gentle- 

 men of the scientific corps." On the 29th of August and 12th of 

 October you placed money in the hands of Commodore Jones, 

 as also, to a small amount, in the hands of two members of the 

 corps, and then told us that " this unusual course was adopted 

 that there might be no delay in the sailing of the expedition" 

 What mockery, I had ahr.c?t s^d. *vhat trifling with the intelli- 

 gence of the country, is this flimsy justification of your tardiness 

 of action ! If you had put this fund into the hands of Commo- 

 dore Jones in October, 1836, instead of October, 1837, and in 

 other respects performed your duty, you might have been indulged 

 in speaking of your " unusual course" to prevent " delay in the 

 sailing of the expedition." 



You were at Philadelphia in July last, and, by appointment, 

 met a portion of the members of the corps in the hall of the 

 " American Philosophical Society." A number of scientific gen- 

 tlemen besides the corps attended. You then found that, so far 

 from everything necessary having been procured, as stated in 

 your report of February last, almost every requisite was still 

 wanting ; and this, be it remembered, was fifteen months after 

 the authorization of the measure by Congress. You were liberal, 

 however, in your expressions at that interview, and said you 

 wished the corps to have a full supply of every necessary article, 

 and even " a little more." Fortunately for the defence of this 

 portion of the enterprise, the parties concerned were not the sole 

 judges of what was required for their use in books, instruments, 

 and other appliances. A commission of six distinguished mem- 

 bers of the " American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia" 

 was organized to examine into and judge of the propriety and 



