ajesty of
the people in congress assembled. What with boats taken by General
Wilkinson for the public service, in his memorable descent of the St.
Lawrence,--for the purpose, among other things, of celebrating
Christmas in Montreal--a festival, by the way, which an obstinate enemy
would not allow him to keep there,--and buildings so effectually
destroyed during an irruption of the British across the lines, that
their sites have never been discovered to this day,--all duly set forth
in the papers with which he was furnished,--Mr. Wheelwright presented a
claim, respectable in amount, which was referred to the proper
committee of the "collective wisdom." The hawk-eyed Whittlesey was not
then its chairman. In process of time, therefore, the committee
reported in his favor; and, in the end, to the astonishment of every
body, he succeeded in obtaining it! How, or by what artful appliances,
he became thus successful,--and that, too, during the first session,--I
have never been clearly informed. It was, however, a winter of great
activity and excitement at Washington. A distinguished "military
chieftain," flushed with the pride of victory, and crowned with Indian
laurels, had suddenly appeared in the capital, to defend himself
against charges preferred by the legislative authorities of the
nation,--authorities, which he openly derided, and threatened to beard
in their own council-chambers;--and it is not unlikely that while some
of the members were engaged in studying the arts of self-defence, and
others holding with both hands upon the ears that had been openly
threatened, the bill for the liquidation and payment of Mr.
Wheelwright's claims, was passed in the alarm and confusion, without
observation. It is not impossible, moreover, that as the claimant had
resided at Albany, and as the Albanian tactics had not then been
introduced into Washington, he might have tried his hand at some of
those ingenious devices, of the successful operation of which he had
been the silent witness in the pure and incorruptible capital of the
empire state.

Be all these matters, however, as they may, it is certain that he
succeeded in his application beyond the most sanguine expectations
alike of himself and his friends. Thus far, therefore, all was well; a
brighter prospect seemed to dawn upon his fortunes; and all would
probably have continued well, had he turned his back upon the capital
the day after receiving the auditor's warrant upon the t