498 LETTERS OF A CITIZEN. 



Jones. We have allowed Wilkes one additional schooner; this 

 \vas denied to Jones. I might enumerate other special privileges, 

 but these are enough to prove the necessity of caution. And now, 

 gentlemen, if you think of nothing farther, we will adjourn. 



Dickerson. Nothing that I can think of. Paulding, you know, 

 has arrived, and I'm off in a day or two for Suc-a-Sunny. This 

 expedition has given me more trouble than all the other affairs of 

 my department. Boyle could do nearly everything else. The 

 public, no doubt, will be so glad to hear that the expedition is off, 

 that they won't inquire very particularly as to how we have got it 

 up. Matters must be so managed, that, if anything pretty hand- 

 some should come of it, we three shall have the credit ; and, if 

 unsuccessful, we will call the whole country to witness that we 

 were opposed to it. Amid all my troubles, and wear and tear of 

 reputation in endeavouring to defeat the undertaking, I have one 

 consolation besides my abiding confidence in posterity which is, 

 that, by holding back reports, refusing to travel in Florida for my 

 health, and keeping matters mussed up, I managed to keep Pauld- 

 ing out of office nearly six months after he was expected to super- 

 sede me, and thus secured three thousand dollars I should otherwise 

 have lost. So much for diplomacy. 



And now let me, before I forget it, commend the commissioners 

 to your favourable regard. They can be relied on as against the 

 expedition, provided they are exonerated from responsibility. It's 

 well for them and for us that the old chief is not here. I some- 

 times start involuntarily in the midst of my scheming, forgetting 

 that he is safely housed at the Hermitage. I like Martin better ; 

 he don't stir me up as the general did. Your plan to leave out 

 Reynolds is good capital. You know the strong recommendation 

 of him sent by the Western members of Congress to the president. 

 Pretend you never heard of it. And now, suppose we absquatu- 

 late. Wilkes, remember your promise to call an island after me. 



Exeunt omnes. 



Sir, I have had no intention, by this episode, of allowing you to 

 escape. You are the man responsible to the public, and must abide 

 the decision of that tribunal. I have called the foregoing scene 

 an imaginative sketch, yet I know, and you know, there are many 

 individuals who will recognise more of truth than fiction in its de- 



