4. IV. Round Capitol Square— Sun rose half beclouded; behind
the Capitol Dome.
- Southard S. L.
- Reynolds
- Weightman— H
Mr
Southard came to converse with me, upon various subjects
of current business in the Department of the Navy, such as the
appointment of two Lieutenants in the Marine Corps, a Purser, for a
Schooner now bound to sea, and two or three Midshipmen— He afterwards
sent me a Commission, which I signed, of 2d
Lieutenant of Marines for Thomas
Lee, grandson to a former Governor of Maryland, recommended among others by
Charles Carroll of
Carrollton, the last surviving Signer of the Declaration of
Independence— He had several Candidates for the appointment of Purser,
between whom he was somewhat embarrassed to make a Selection. Strong
suspicions of improper conduct having lately arisen, against the person,
whom he would otherwise have preferred: Suspicions of his having himself
written an anonymous Letter which he shewed as having been received by
him. Mr Southard said he was desirous of
having a purser, even in the smallest vessel; the duties of that office
being otherwise necessarily performed by the Captain, which placed him
in a double relation to the men, detrimental to discipline— He said
further that there were several applications for Midshipman’s Warrants
in behalf of Cadets, discharged from West-Point: among which was one for
a youth named Forsyth, a native
of North-Carolina, son of an Officer who had been
killed in the public Service, and now in the process of
education at the charge of the State— He was last year reported for
dismission, but retained at the earnest interposition of the delegation
from the State. He must now be dismissed, for incapacity, but with
testimonials altogether favourable to his character, temper and conduct.
104The Governor
of North-Carolina, and General
Daniels now here are urgently soliciting for him a
Midshipman’s warrant— I said it sometimes happened that a youth
incapable of making much proficiency in study, was yet well suited to
the business of active life and particularly to that of a Seaman— As
there was positive evidence of this young man’s good conduct, I would
give him another chance of making himself useful, and try him as a
Midshipman— But the Warrant should not be granted to other dismissed
Cadets, of whose conduct there was no favourable report; as it would be
degrading the whole corps of midshipmen, to turnover to them all the
refuse of West-Point— Mr Southard said he
was examining the proceedings of the Court-Martial in the case of
Lieutenant Constantine Smith,
and thought he should be ready with his opinion next Monday. Mr
Reynolds is a man who has been lecturing about the
Country, in support of Captain John Cleves
Symmes’s theory that the Earth is a hollow Sphere, open at
the Poles— His Lectures are said to have been well attended, and much
approved as exhibitions of genius and of Science— But the Theory itself
has been so much ridiculed, and is in truth so visionary, that Reynolds
has now varied his purpose to the proposition of fitting out a voyage of
circumnavigation to the Southern Ocean— He has obtained numerous
signatures in Baltimore to a Memorial to Congress for this object, which
he says will otherwise be very powerfully supported— It will however
have no support in Congress. That day will come, but not yet nor in my
time. May it be my fortune, and my praise to accelerate its approach.
Weightman a Clerk in the
Branch Bank was here about an order of W. S. Smith upon my fathers Executors, in favour of
R. Wallack, and endorsed by
him, which Weightman had sent over to me— He told me that it was not a
Bank Transaction, but that Wallack who was now at Alexandria, had given
him the order to send to me— I told him I believed the order would be
paid, and wished to see Mr Wallack
concerning it of which Weightman said he would advise Wallack— The day
was rainy and I spent much of it, in reading the proceedings of a Court
Martial on the trial of Edwin R.
Alberti 1st. Lieutenant in the
4th. Regiment of Artillery— John and Charles dined in the Baron de Mareuil’s, the
French Minister, it being the Fête of the king
of France— Mrs Adams is better but still
keeps her chamber.
