3. CHAP. III.
The Levee.
Having waited with impatience
for the evening, the Captain, with the
candidate, set out for the levee. Arriving
at the door, the Captain, entering
first, and Teague just behind, he addressed
the President: Said he, may it please
your Excellency, here is a young man,
whom I take the liberty to introduce, as
a candidate for state employment. He
has been offered a seat in Congress. But
it appears to me that a place in the executive
department would suit him better;
his name is Teague O'Regan; and has
been for some time a servant of mine, a
bog-trotter; but I believe I could now
spare him if your Excellency has occasion
to make use of him. The Attorney General,
and several others who were present,
were a good deal confounded at the
proposition. A little lean Frenchman in
in the room, with a sword by his side,
was astonished; and expressed above an
hundred foutres to himself in the compass
of a minute; I do not mean that he spoke
out, but thought them to himself in a
short space. A British consul present,
who was a man of a philosophic turn of
mind, could not but reflect on the nature
of a republican government, and the extraordinary
assurance of the lowest class to
pretend to offices.
The President, in the mean time, contemplating
the object, made a pause. But
after some time recollecting himself, bowed
to the Captain, and to Teague, and signified
that doubtless proper notice should
be taken of the merits of the gentleman,
and provision made for him. This he
said, bowing at the same time in a circular
manner, and turning round as if to converse
with another person, to whom attention
was in his turn, due. Teague in
the mean time advancing with his mouth
open, and both his arms stretched out, was
about to harrangue in his own dialect, as
plase your honor, &c. But an aid of the
President, or some one concerned in the
ceremonial of the occasion, touching the
Captain and Teague, and conversing with
them towards the door, gave them to understand,
that they might depart for the
present; and that there was no manner
of question, but that his Excellency had
taken a note of the matter, and when any
appointment was about to take place, the
gentleman would be remembered.
