492 LETTERS OF A CITIZEN." 



I and the commissioners, we got the hampers on him ! We have 

 been equally lucky in getting rid of Smith and Gregory. I must 

 admit that we did not treat Kennon, and Aulick, and Tattnall well ; 

 but the impression we have spread abroad, that the old officers 

 disliked the service, will do wonders in our justification. We must 

 keep that notion on the wing. Without indulging in any unbe- 

 coming self-complacency, I feel that the reputation I have ac- 

 quired by hanging out the banner, with the concessions made by 

 common consent in favour of my intelligence,^ love of science, and 

 liberality, will shield me against any charges of hostility to the en- 

 terprise that may be made against me. Indeed, under ordinary 

 circumstances, I do not think- 1 should be hostile to it. I have no 

 idea, however, of having a good measure forced upon a depart- 

 ment against the wish of its head, as this has been forced upon 

 you, governor. It is a dangerous precedent, and your case to-day 

 may be mine to-morrow. We have kicked the worst stumbling- 

 block from our path, however ; and, in placing our favourite in 

 command, we have received the entire control of the concern, and 

 can so shape the future records as to monopolize all the glory. 

 As we have raised the cry of economy, and pretended to go for a 

 reduction of the naval force, we must cut up the corps to corre- 

 spond ; and as that object called us together, let us take up the 

 list and proceed to business. 



The Palaeontologist" ha ! ha ! ha ! Phoebus, what a name II 

 think you have already disposed of; the next department marked 

 " for consideration" is Entomology, or insects of the land and sea. 

 Wilkes, did you ever see any insects at sea $ 



Wilkes. No; I never saw a bug -si sea in my life, except some 

 cockroaches, when I made that short cruise in- the sloop-of-war 

 some eight or ten years ago. As to land-bugs, the sailors can pick 

 them up and stick pins through them just as well as one of the sci- 

 entifickers. I think that was the way D'Urville had it done ; and, 

 when he reached home, somebody worked up the bugs for him, 

 took their likenesses, and gave him all the credit. And as for 

 crabs and lobsters (crustacse I believe they call them), although 

 I have often seen crawfish and the like in foreign markets, and 

 along our seacoast while making important surveys (surveys much 

 more important than that of Gedney's Channel, about which such 

 a fuss is made, though it is a mere farce compared with my survey 



