LETTERS OF A CITIZEN. 467 



It is here gravely announced that Lieutenant Hudson, senior* offi- 

 cer, is to command the Peacock, and that Lieutenant Wilkes, junior 

 officer to Lieutenant Hudson, is to command the whole expedition. 

 Shade of Sancho Panza ! has anything like this been known since 

 your administration of the affairs of Barrataria ? Descendants of 

 Tammamaha and Prince Le Boo ! be prepared to respect the proc- 

 lamation of the Honourable Joel R. Poinsett, and take care to re- 

 spect the rank and pacific intentions of his commodore ! Was not 

 your cheek suffused with the blush of shame when you caused this 

 " Naval General Order" to be issued ? If the expedition had now 

 become " altogether scientific" and " entirely divested of all military 

 character," why did you deem Captain Gregory's promotion to the 

 rank of post captain, even though he stood at the head of the list 

 of master commanders, indispensably necessary in order to fit him 

 for the command ? Is your proclamation an answer ? Sir, was it 

 not a matter of public notoriety, that you had authorized one of the 

 commissioners to inquire of Captain Aulick an officer of acknowl- 

 edged abilities, who had acquired, though young, distinction in the 

 last war ; who had been at sea twenty out of the last thirty years, 

 and much of the time among the islands of the Pacific ; who 

 stood high on the list of commanders if he would take the place 

 of second in command under Captain Smith ? What becomes of 

 your consistency with reference to this officer ? Does your proc- 

 lamation aiford any defence against the charges of double dealing 

 and an abuse of official power ? Indulge not the vain hope that 

 your puny document can protect you from the censure of all hon- 

 ourable men. 



Permit me, sir, to adduce one more instance, equally notorious 

 with the last mentioned, in which your Jesuitry was made equally 

 manifest. If not while you were in actual treaty with Wilkes, at 

 any rate but a few days before, did you not, unofficially, invite 

 Lieutenant Tattnall, and did he not, unofficially, accept the invi- 

 tation to take service in the expedition ? Did you not, also, prom- 

 ise to use your best efforts to have him promoted to the grade of 

 commander ? (He stood then at the head of the lieutenant's list.) 

 And for what ? Why, forsooth, to render him eligible to the sec- 

 ond place in the expedition J But what followed t Within one 

 week of all this pretended deference to rank, and to the claims of 

 * Lieutenant Hudson stands in the Register abave Lieutenant Wilkes 



