The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 38, December, 1860 by Various
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page 29 of 286 (10%)
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dollars in money. Barron added,--"You may depend upon the most active
and vigorous support from the squadron, as soon as the season and our arrangements will permit us to appear in force before the enemy's walls." So much for Eaton's authority to pledge the faith of the United States. As to the question of expense: the whole cost of the expedition, up to the evacuation of Derne, was thirty-nine thousand dollars. Eaton asserted, and we see no reason to doubt his accuracy, that thirty thousand more would have carried the American flag triumphantly into Tripoli. Lear paid sixty thousand for peace. Hamet was set on shore at Syracuse with thirty followers. Two hundred dollars a month were allowed him for the support of himself and of them, until particular directions should be received from the United States concerning him. He wrote more than once to the President for relief, resting his claims upon Eaton's convention and the letter of the Secretary of State read to him by Consul Cathcart in 1802. In this letter, the Secretary declared, that, in case of the failure of the combined attack upon Derne, it would be proper for our Government "to restore him to the situation from, which he was drawn, or to make some other convenient arrangement that may be more eligible to him." Hamet asked that at least the President would restore to him his wife and family, according to the treaty, and send them all back to Egypt. "I cannot suppose," he wrote, "that the engagements of an American agent would be disputed by his Government, ... or that a gentleman has pledged towards me the honor of his country on purpose to deceive me." Eaton presented these petitions to the President and to the public, and insisted so warmly upon the harsh treatment his ally had received from |
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