- Towner
- Southard— Samuel L
- Kent Joseph
- Smith— Walter
- Fry Henry
- Wilde. Richard H
- Brent Daniel
- Matthews— William
- Harold— William Vincent
- Ryan
- Slaughter William
- Wirt— William
- Patterson
I am compelled to intermit my rides, and for variety of exercise took
this morning a walk to the slashes. Found very few of the blackberries
ripe as I was going out of the yard I met a young man who told me his
name was Towner— That he belonged to
Shepardstown, 70 miles distant from this place, in Virginia: that he had
come all that distance to witness the ceremony of yesterday and had seen
it; and being now about to return home he had felt a curiosity to see
me; and having succeeded was entirely satisfied. Mr
Southard called after breakfast, in some perplexity
respecting the construction of an Act, passed at the recent Session of
the Congress for increasing the pay of the Surgeons in the Navy. The
phraseology of the Act, does not express the intention of Congress in
passing it, and unless liberally construed, the intention in passing it
cannot be fulfilled. But he had not a copy of the Act with him, and I
had it not at hand. We spoke further of judge Brackenridge’s Letter
respecting the cultivation of the live Oak— I consented that the judge
should be engaged to superintend the exploration of a forest of these
trees near Pensacola; and to employ from ten to twenty men upon the
necessary labour of clearing and dressing and taking care of the trees,
to which I desired that planting acorns should be added. This part of
the Establishment he supposes to be unnecessary; and that it will be
sufficient to cultivate the trees already growing— But the 22natural history of the live-Oak has many singularities, and
has not been duly observed—among my reasons for desiring that a
considerable plantation of them should be raised from the acorn, is that
their growth to maturity may be observed and perhaps a better knowledge
of them be obtained. Mr Southard will write
to judge Brackenridge accordingly— Governor
Kent and General Walter
Smith called together— Mr Henry Fry came to ask for
the return of a Letter to him from Mr Crowninshield, written
when he was Secretary of the Navy in 1818. which was accordingly
returned to him— He asked also when he might expect my decision, upon
his appeal from that of the present Secretary of the Navy in his case— I
told him probably this day or to-morrow, and that I had approved Mr Southard’s decision— Mr Wilde,
the member of the House of Representatives from Georgia came again upon
the subject of the claims of citizens of Georgia; against the Creek
Indians— I told him I had this morning referred all the papers to the
Attorney General for his opinion and advice— He said he was going
Northward tomorrow, and desired when my decision should be made, to be
informed of it through the Post Office at Georgetown, whence Letters for
him would be forwarded— Mr Brent of the Department of
State came with Mr Matthews, Mr Harold and Mr Ryan the
Roman Catholic Priests— Mr Wirt the Attorney General
came— He returned from Annapolis Thursday Evening, and must go there to
attend a Court again next Monday— I spoke to him of the Georgia papers
referred to him but he had not received them— He had no distinct
recollection of his two conflicting opinions— A young man who said his
name was William Slaughter
and belonged to Philadelphia told me that he had come from that City for
the sole purpose of seeing me— He said that his
father had been formerly wealthy; but had failed as a
merchant and died about a year since leaving him in indigence— He was
now working at a trade— Mr Wirt called again
this Evening and introduced a Mr Patterson, lately from England—and proposing
soon to return— I signed this day an order for the discharge from prison
of George Allen, who has been
fifteen Months in jail here for an assault and battery. Visited my
Nursery this afternoon. There are 125 Cork Oaks up— Two have died and
some others look unpromising. The rest of the plantation now yields
little for observation. Mr Foy has trimmed many of the peach trees which
had grown luxuriantly— I observe imperfect vegetation of 2. Orange seeds
at the surface of Tumbler N. 4. a third Sail-needle date appears in box
N. 4. and a 4th. Tangier Orange—crane-neck,
and double stem’d in Pot N. 4.