3 



device. My first duty will be to fully vindicate myself from the accusa- 

 tions he has brought against me. When this shall be accomplished, it 

 may then be Mr. D.'s turn to act on the defensive." I apprehend that 

 your readers will be better able to judge in relation to Mr. D.'s having 

 'misused confidence,' or, in my language, laid himself open to the charge 

 of having done so, when the charge shall have been made by me, and met 

 by Mr. D. 



On p. 131, Mr. D. professes to clear himself from my charge of dis- 

 courtesy in having attacked me without notice or remonstrance at my 

 presumed injustice towards him, by stating, that after waiting ten months 

 in expectation of receiving a copy of my article on coral formations, or of 

 hearing from me on the subject, and neither of these occurring, he con- 

 sidered himself under no obligation to address me on the subject, choos- 

 ing to impute my silence to a consciousness of having done him wrong. 

 What that man's friendship is worth, who could place such a construction 

 upon a matter so easily explained in many other less injurious ways, I 

 leave others to say. In the mean time I will state the simple cause of 

 this, to Mr. D.'s mind, suspicious silence on my part. When the Expe- 

 dition returned to our shores, I was stationed at Washington, where, soon 

 afterward, I rejoiced to meet with Dr. Pickering and Mr. Rich. Almost 

 my first inquiry was for Mr. Dana. They could not inform me where he 

 could be addressed, but presumed that with all the others, he would soon 

 be in the city. Mr. Drayton soon after came on, but he was also ignorant 

 of Mr. Dana's whereabout. To each of these gentlemen I gave, a copy 

 of my article. Had Mr. Dana visited Washington as was expected, I 

 should have hastened to place one in his hands also, with a full statement 

 of my reasons for publication. Indeed, a copy must have been marked 

 for him at the time, since I find his name on my list of those to whom it was 

 distributed. I gave myself no further trouble at that time, being told by 

 the judge advocate that Mr. Dana would, with all the other members of the 

 corps, be present at the approaching court-martial in New York; and 

 there I had no doubt of meeting him. In this I was disappointed, as Mr. 

 Dana did not attend the trial. I heard, however, that he had been at 

 New Haven, on a visit to the Editors of this Journal, and presuming that 

 he had there seen the article in question, as I had transmitted them a copy, 

 I thought no more of the matter, still intending to give one to Mr. D. 

 when we met. In the latter part of the ensuing August, or early part of 

 September, while in Boston, engrossed with making arrangements for en- 

 tering into my present business, I heard, by accident, that Mr. D. had 

 been for several days in the city, but had then left. I felt grieved and 

 angered that he should have done this — especially when I remembered how 

 during a visit to Western New York the year previous, I had put both 

 myself and a friend who was travelling with me to considerable inconven- 

 ience, that I might be able to call upon his family, and convey to them 

 the pleasure of receiving tidings of their relative, from one who had part- 

 ed from him only a few months before. Prior to our sailing, also, I had 

 welcomed Mr. Dana to my house, and shown him every attention in my 

 power. And now he had left the city without even making me a passing 

 call. Without the remotest suspicion that any thing published by me 

 was the cause of this unfriendly procedure, I attributed it in my bitter- 

 ness to the motives which too often lead men to turn a cold shoulder to 

 those whom they were once glad to call friends. I was in disfavor with 



