- Mitchel Thomas S.
- Rush— Richard
- Fullerton
- Clark
- Fendall Philip R.
- Levy— Nathan
- Porter— Peter B
- Brent Daniel
For the benefit of my health I began this day to combine the river bath
and the ride— Rode to the Rock near the Bridge— Swam about ten minutes;
and then rode again, round the Capitol Square home— Labour in the garden
is a third expedient of exercise to which I shall perhaps hereafter
resort— I have not yet ventured to undertake it— My complaints result
from Sedentary habits, for which laborious and hardy exercise is the
best remedy— I visited this morning the garden. It is said in the Letter
about the Lucombe Oak in Evelyn. Vol. 1. p. 75 that other Oaks shoot
twice in the year—in May and August— My Oaks in the Garden have put out
yet only one shoot, from two to three inches long, and then spread out
their leaves like the Petals of a flower— Most of the leaves are of the
rock chesnut kind; and in the Nursery many of them have already put out
a second shoot, some of them being at least a foot tall. The first
appearance of the second shoot in some of them is in the form of
miniature leaves of the light Strawberry colour. The first growth of
Rock chesnut leaves, have in many of these plants spread out to their
full size as on the tree, and the second shoot putting out smaller
leaves, gives the whole plant the appearance of Stages one above another
like a Chinese Pagoda. I planted two whole Cherries in box N. 5.
584Mr Thomas S. Mitchel came for an answer to the
application for the appointment of Richard
Butt, as a Justice of the Peace in the neighbourhood of
the Poor house— I had not obtained the information necessary to judge of
the expediency of the appointment, and asked Mr Mitchel to call in a few days upon Mr Brent at
the Department of State— He was afterwards here, and said he could not
find upon enquiry who any of the applicants were— Mr Rush
called, and soon went to attend the adjourned meeting of the Stock
holders of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal— He spoke of the necessity of
employing further clerical aid, for the execution of the Act for the
relief of the revolutionary Officers and Soldiers— He proposed to refer
it all to Asbury Dickins, and to allow him extra-compensation for that
extra-service— I told him that to this there was an express prohibition
of Law, in the Act of 20. April 1818. which I read to him— I advised him
to engage all necessary Clerk-hire; but to observe the limitations of
the Law. He still inclined to leave it to Dickins, and rely upon an
appropriation by Congress to grant him the extra-compensation— Mr.
Fullerton called with Judge
Clark the newly appointed Treasurer of the United States—
I mentioned to him the public convenience which would be served by his
entering on the execution of his Office on the first of next Month— So
that his Accounts as Treasurer might commence with the quarter. Mr
Fendall was here, and I asked him for a printed copy of
the Laws of the last Session which he afterwards sent me so far as they
have been printed in the pamphlet— Mr Levy the Consul at St. Thomas called, and renewed his old
complaint that the Government of the Island would not allow him to
receive and keep the Registers of Vessels of the United States arriving
there. I desired him to renew the representation in writing— General Porter, brought me a fresh
Letter from General Scott— He
says he is distressed and embarrassed by my reiterated decisions against
him. That he cannot obey the commands of his junior and inferior
officer— That he intends to apply for redress in some form to Congress;
and he asks a furlough of six or nine Months for that purpose. As this
is an affair in which I deem it necessary to take every step with
deliberation, I desired General Porter to give notice to the other
members of the Administration of a meeting on the subject at one O’Clock
to-morrow; and in the mean time to communicate General Scott’s Letter to
Mr Rush, and Mr
Southard— General Porter brought also the Reports of the
two Commissioners under the 7th. Article of
the Treaty of Ghent; and shewed me on a small map the Island concerning
the possession of which they differed— He charges unfairness upon the
British Commissioner Barclay,
and proposed that Major
Delafield should make a supplementary written statement in
reply to the misrepresentations of Mr
Barclay to which I agreed— Mr Brent sent me
several despatches received since Mr Clay’s departure yesterday
Morning—among them Letters from William
B. Rochester, Charge d’Affaires to Guatemala; who has
returned and landed at Savannah— The Republic of Central America is in a
state of civil War, and the Government is virtually dissolved— There was
a recommendation respectably signed recommending William Hebb for the appointment of a
Justice of the Peace, and I directed a Commission for him to be made
out— Miss Matilda Pleasonton
dined with us. Mrs Adams is winding silk from
several hundred Silkworms, that she has been rearing; and I am engaged
in a long correspondence with my Son Charles, and now much involved in giving him an analysis
of Cicero’s Oration for Roscius
of Ameria— I have continued to this time, writing almost every day, an
hour or two of the Evening. But as the Summer is coming this will be
impracticable.