34 



ARRIVE AT BUENOS AYRES. 



swarming with vermin the whole time. After the 

 luxury of a warm bath, I enjoyed an excellent 

 breakfast at Faunch's Hotel, where I found my 

 luggage had been landed from the packet^ and 

 also that Garcia^s treaty had been rejected with 

 indignation — war appeared to be the order of 

 the day. Norton^ the commander of the Brazilian 

 squadron^ was laying outside, blockading the 

 port; what prevented him sending in his boats 

 during the night and destroying Admiral Brown's 

 little squadron, I do not know. American ves- 

 sels were weekly running past him, breaking the 

 blockade, and making fortunes for their owners, 

 while scarce an English one made the attempt; 

 the consequence was, their stores were empty 

 and nothing doing. Paper money was falling to 

 a mere nothing, sixty-four paper dollars to the 

 doubloon, and daily expected to be lower; how 

 war was to be continued and supported with 

 such want of confidence in the government credit 

 will not be for me to enter into. Politics is not 



