I should at least leave bond me the impression that I was not his slave, and that it was not in the nature of things to reduce me to that situation. I gave him my hand and wished him well. He reciprocated the wish. I shall embark in the squadron. Doctor George Davis, of New York, will remain charged.

March 9th. The Commodore embarked the seventh and sent the balance of my obligation from on board. I shall quit this sink of treachery tomorrow, and repair immediately to the seat of the Government of the United States, where I hope to render a satisfactory account of my four years agency here.

I think it worthy remark, that yesterday the chivalier de Barthes said to me in presence of Capt. Rodgers, he had discovered that the Bey had meditated other exactions, which he intended forcing ex the Commodore, but that he had desisted from his projects by reason of being informed that the French commissary general had interested himself in the affairs of the Americans. That, confounded at this information, he had thought it prudent to change his

views.

On the 10th of March, MR. EATON left Tunis ; and on the 20th, arrived at Algiers. The next day the squadron sailed for Gibralter, where it arrived on the 23d. On the 30th of the same month, MR. EATON embarked on board a merchantman, the ship Perseverance, bound to Boston, where he arrived May 5th; and in a few days was restored to the bosom of a family from which he had been absent four years and a half.

In June he went to the seat of government in order to adjust his accounts and urge the administration to the adoption of more vigorous measures against Tripoli, as well as to induce them to sanction and assist the plan of employing Hamet Bashaw in op-posing the reigning Bashaw of Tripoli. A part of his accounts were of such a nature as to demand the interference of Congress; a settlement was there

fore postponed till the ensuing session. Most of the summer and autumn were spent in the management and improvement of his farm in Brimfield.

In January 1804, MR. EATON repaired to Washington to adjust his accounts under the sanction of Congress, the Department of State refusing to allow the $ 22,000 expended in endeavoring to obtain the cooperation of the Ex-Bashaw, as well as some minor claims.

The following extracts of his letter to the Speaker of the House of Representives merit perusal.

HAVING gone through this statement of events which produced the items of my claim now before this honorable house; and brought into view the most considerable transactions of my agency; both as they relate to my exertions to keep the peace at Tunis and to assist the operations of the war against Tripoli; I beg it may be considered that, so far as respects the latter, I have been but the chief acting agent of a measure which was recommended and urged by not only Mr. Cathcart, an agent of the government, best acquainted with the probabilities of its success, but by every other agent and citizen of the United States with whom I could consult, and who were entitled to my confidence. A measure ultimately adopted by every commanding officer who has appeared on that station since it took shape; and approved by the Executive. That I have taken no steps in the measure but what resulted from the position on which I was placed and the nature of my duty; and but what met the concurrence of Mr. Cathcart and such other officers of the government as were on the ground. That, so far as my agency had any influence on the measure, it succeeded: and that, if we have not experienced all the benefits calculated to result from its full effect, it ought to be attributed to the inertia of a commander or commanders over whose conduct I had no control. That it was not apprehended any expenses to the United

States would accrue from the measure. But, on the contrary, that such expenses as should be incident to its prosecution would be defrayed out of its success; and that it would be a public saving both of life and property as would eventually have been the case if it had been prosecuted with suitable energy.

It may not be improper to recite, that my ship Gloria was to be employed on this emergency only till the arrival of a Commodore on the coast. But it was

impossible to imagine his arrival would be delayed eleven months after the plan was mature for execution, or that, on his arrival and finding it in that stage, he should make no effort to give it effect. He was entreated to send only one of his ships, with the agents to the friendly Bashaw in order to encourage his perseverance until he could bring the whole squadron to cooperate with him. This he refused on a pretext that the ships were on short rations, and must all accompany him to Gibraltar to provision.

This may have been the case; but, it is nevertheless true, that the whole squadron lay nine days after arriving at that port without taking in even a biscuit or a bucket of water: the Commodore was occupied with his Royal Highness, the duke of Kent, solicit ing a court of admiralty to adjudicate upon David Valenzin, the Jew, whom he picked out of an imperial vessel, near Malta. It is true that the first appearance of this Commodore before Tripoli was not till the 22d May, 1803. It is true that during this term of a year, from his first arrival on the station, he never burnt an ounce of powder; except at a royal salute fired at Gibraltar in celebration of the birth day of his Britanic Majesty; or on similar occasions. And it is equally true, that, during the period of seventeen months he commanded the whole force of the United States in the Mediterranean, he was only nineteen days before the enemy's port !

I certainly feel no inclination to act the informer : nor would I state these facts were it not that those

delinquencies have most deeply affected me; vifled me of my honor; and, for ought I know, reduced me to extreme poverty. Whereas, had I been supported with that energy, nay, with that integrity, which was due to the confidence of the government in the commander in chief of the expedition, I should have saved both my honor and my property. I should at least have saved myself the mortification of this appeal to the equity and sensibility of the national legislature. And, it is confidently believed, my country would have experienced lasting benefits from my exertions.

It is presunied the project with Hamet Bashaw is still feasible. The very circumstance of his existence is evidence of his holding a position formidable to the enemy; for, it is well known, a Turkish despot never lets a rival exist whom he can destroy. And, I must be permitted still to adhere to the opinion, which has actuated my conduct in this affair, that it is the most eligible way of securing a permanent peace with that Regency; for there is no faith in treaties with the ruling Bashaw !

Besides the impression to be made on the world, by this species of chastisement, it would have a beneficial influence on the other Barbary Regencies. To them, the precedent would be dreadful; for it would be no very difficult matter in case of war to start a rival in either of those Regencies; the government of Algiers being military elective; and the Beylique of Tunis, though hereditary, now held by usurpation. This may account perhaps, for the Sapitapa having, after deliberation, seceded from his engagements with me in favor of reestablishing the legitimate Bashaw of Tripoli.

But, whether the project be yet practicable or not, it is believed, sufficient evidence has been produced to convince the understanding of every one, who is willing to be convinced, that the object which that enterprize aimed to secure was worth an experiment. With the discretionary instructions I held, I

should have thought myself chargeable with a crim. inal omission had I not used every effort to secure it: for if a prominent occasion offers which might place the life and dominion of the enemy into our hands, would it not have been treacherous to have neglected it ?

It may be asserted without vanity or exageration, that my arrangements with the rival Bashaw did more to harrass the enemy in 1802 than the entire operations of our squadron. Yet the force sent into the Mediterranean that season was adequate to all the purposes of the war; and, with the favorable positions which had been secured, might have put an end to it in sixty days after arriving at the post, had the arrival been seasonable. This is not my solitary opinion. The Bey of Tunis himself, when hearing of the plan concerted between the Americans and the rival Bashaw, exclaimed" Said Joseph is ruined!" Meaning the ruling Bashaw of Tripoli. But it is now pretended the enterprise was abandoned on the score of economy! Oliver Cromwel searched the Lord, whenever he had occasion to veil his sinister views from men! Economy seems to be the mask of the day with us to disguise the most palpable and inexcusable neglects of duty; for it is hackneyed by every hypocrite whose baseness wants a shield for delinquency; or whose jealousy seeks to blast the merit of that vigilance and energy which cannot but upbraid his remissness. Hence the very commander, who recoils at the prodigality of seeing a single ship employed in the prosecution of a measure which might have decided the fate of the enemy; and at a moment when no alternative existed, seems wholly unconcerned at having employed the whole operative naval force of the United States an entire year, in the Mediterranean, attending the-travels of a woman!

Let it not be inferred from these strictures that your petitioner is an infidel to the doctrine of economy! On the contrary, he believes, but not in a mis