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as possible as heavy artillerists.
The forts were put in apple-pie order and the men were thoroughly drilled.
I may add here that
Weitzel never could settle that account with his department, although he charged himself with the moneys received from me and furnished vouchers for the expenditures.
It was “irregular,” and if he had stayed in that department as an engineer officer, I suppose, according to army regulations, his pay would have been stopped to reimburse the
United States for money that never came from the
United States and that had been expended in the utmost good faith, the
United States getting full value for it.
I was further convinced that my information about the French fleet was true, because on the 16th of June the city government of New Orleans, which had not then been disbanded, but was soon after, passed the following resolution unanimously, under a suspension of the rules:--
Whereas, It has come to the knowledge of this council that, for the first time in the history of this city, a large fleet of the navy of France is about to visit New Orleans, of which fleet the Catinet, now in our port, is the pioneer; and whereas, this council bears in grateful remembrance the many ties of amity and good feeling which unite the people of this city with those of France, to whose paternal protection New Orleans owes its foundation and early prosperity, and to whom it is especially grateful for the jealousy with which, in the cession of the State, it guaranteed all the rights of property, person, and religious freedom of its citizens; therefore.
Be it resolved, That the freedom and hospitalities of the city of New Orleans be tendered, through the commander of the Catinet, to the French naval fleet during its sojourn in our port; and that a committee of five of this council be appointed, with the mayor, to make such tender and such other arrangements as may be necessary to give effect to the same.
This resolution was published in the New Orleans
Bee.
I made the following answer:--
This action is an insult, as well to the United States, as to the friendly and powerful nation toward whose officers it is directed The offer of the freedom of a captured city by the captives would merit letters patent for its novelty, were there not doubts of its usefulness as an invention.
The tender of its hospitalities by a government to which police duties and sanitary regulations only are entrusted, is simply an invitation to the calaboose or the hospital.
The United States authorities are the only
