- Anderson— Joseph
- Owens Rosanna
- Row— Elizabeth
- Derrick William S.
- Fendall— Philip R.
- Southard Samuel L
- Jackson. William
- Bailey John
The morning was cool— I bathed in the River from the Boat; but in 15
minutes swimming found myself so much fatigued that I was obliged to
return to the Boat before reaching the shore— Visited the garden and
afterwards the Nursery. In the Southern Seedling bed, a few black
walnuts and Shagbarks are still coming up— Scarcely enough to replace
those that die— In the Eastern Seedling bed, there has been for weeks no
new vegetation except of weeds and a few straggling self-planted Lilacs—
The vine cuttings from Tangier have almost all taken—the figs have
failed. Ouseley put them down,
under the shelter of the Eastern wall, and of a small willow, near the
filbert bushes— I planted 2 Tangier dates, and a row of dry Orange seeds
in a box— There are two Tamarinds up in seedling Pot N. 2. Two in Box
N. and one in Pot N. 6— The large plant in Pot N. 2. is apparently a
Spanish Chesnut— Ouseley has a box with five Coffee seeds just up— The
kernel itself is pushed up by its root, as with the apple and the
Tamarind— My first pot raised apple-tree of last year is now 18 inches
high—fifteen of which have grown this Season. My Tumbler plantations in
the house all fail— The Oranges in Tumbler 2 are all dying. Nine of them
had taken root, and come up vigorously— The death of all these Plants
was caused by over watering which rotted the roots— The Peach tree in
Pot N. 3. appears to be perishing—killed by the heat of the Sun— I
counted in the Nursery 105 Cork Oaks in 27. Rows, and asked Mr Foy to
prepare ground for my last plantation of last year’s seeds and Stones—
Mr
Anderson the first Comptroller of the Treasury called on
me this morning after Breakfast— Rosanna
Owens is a poor old woman who walked here from Baltimore,
to obtain the discharge of her Son who is at
Fort M’Henry an enlisted Soldier. She says he is sick, not well treated;
subject to Epileptic fits, and unfit for duty. She brought a certificate
from a Doctor, and one from another man, to prove the fact of his
unfitness for duty: but they did not agree even in the name of the man—
Elizabeth Row who came with
her, is her daughter married here. I told her she must obtain
certificates of the sickness of her Son, and of his unfitness for duty
from the physician of the garrison at Fort M’Henry, and from the
commanding Officer; and then apply to the War Department— She went away
sorrowing, tears and supplications, the female armoury having been
exhausted without effect— Mr Derrick from the Department
of State, brought me a draft of a Letter from Mr Clay to Mr
Vaughan, the British Minister, demanding the delivery of
possession to the United States of Drummond’s Island, conformably to the
decision of the Commissioners under the sixth Article of the Treaty of
Ghent, and proposing the mutual delivery of all the other 570Islands, in possession of one of the parties, and adjudged
by those Commissioners to the other; which Letter I approved— Mr
Fendall, brought and delivered to me from Richard H Lee, several original
Letters, from my father to Arthur Lee, written in 1780 and 1782, and
one unsigned from Arthur Lee to him written in August 1788. after my
father’s return from England, and before he was chosen Vice-President—
Mr
Southard left with me a budget of papers relating to
business at the War Department— A Letter from T. L. M’Kenney, and several
Documents relating to the Execution of an Act of Congress to defray the
expense of Delegations from the Chickasaw and Choctaw, and other tribes
of Indians in visiting the Country West of the Mississippi— But there
was no copy of the Act of Congress itself— The proceedings of a Court
Martial at West-Point, upon Cadet
Barney, a Son of the Member of
Congress from Baltimore— He is sentenced a second time to
be dismissed— There was a Letter from his father asking permission for
him to resign— But I had once incurred censure for supposed partial
indulgence to this young man— I approved the Sentence of the Court—
There was a Statement from the Engineer Department of the balance of
Appropriations for internal improvement Surveys, and of the Engineers
employed upon the various Surveys now in progress. The balance of
appropriations is entirely inadequate for the Surveys applied for. Mr Southard proposed the reduction of several
items of the expenditures; and an improvement of the accountability— I
had a long conversation with Mr Southard
respecting the forms of accountability of all the several funds
appropriated for various objects of internal improvement; and desired
him to ascertain and inform me what the practice has been under the Act
of 30. April 1824— Mr Southard, suffering
with a severe headache was obliged to leave me, without coming to a
result on this subject— Major
Jackson of Philadelphia dined with us—a Wreck of memory
and of intellect—though only in his 70th.
year and without a day of sickness for the last half century. Mr Bailey
spent with me an hour of this Evening.