Before the latter committee, at its offices in the Astor House, New York, Brown appeared, January 24th, and presented his case. He asked for the arms, and for the moderate sum of $5,000, cash. But this committee had taken pains to inform itself, through its general agent, Mr. Arny, with reference to conditions existing in Kansas. The directors, therefore, were not nearly so susceptible as were the more impulsive people of the Massachusetts Committee. They wanted to know something about the nature of the project which they were being asked to finance, and hoped that Brown would make a more specific and definite declaration. They wanted to know what the cost of the equipment, for the defenders he talked about, would amount to, and called for a list of the articles which he needed, with an estimate of the cost of each; and wanted to know what he intended to do with the company after it was organized. And then they asked another very relevant question: what he intended to do with the five thousand dollars he wanted them to give him. Brown's scheme was a personal matter, and to have answered these questions, and others that would have, logically, followed, would have caused him some embarrassment. He therefore denied their right to inquire into the privacy of his affairs. He wanted five thousand dollars flat; with no questions asked; and rising to the height of the occasion, put on a bold front, and refused to be interrogated. He said:[223] I am no adventurer. You all know me. You know what I have done in Kansas. I do not expose my plans. No one knows them but myself, except perhaps one. I will not be interrogated; if you wish to give me anything, I want you to give it freely. I have no other purpose but to serve the cause of liberty. The debate being thus closed, the National Committee then settled the question of the arms by transferring them back to the Massachusetts Committee; and with admirable tact, voted the five thousand dollars conditionally--for "necessary defensive purposes in aid of Captain John Brown in any defensive measures that may become necessary." The irony of the resolution was concealed by an order authorizing him to draw upon the committee for five hundred dollars at any time. But he received no part of it, until he showed, by his actions, that he intended to return to Kansas. The committee penetrated the veneer that disguised Brown's hypocrisy, and refused to put any money whatever into his hands. After the adjournment, he made up a list of the articles that he thought he would need, which he handed to Mr. Horace White, assistant secretary. It reads as follows: Memorandum of articles wanted as an Outfit for Fifty Volunteers to serve under my direction during the Kansas war: or for such specified time as they may each enlist for: together with estimated cost of same delivered in Lawrence or Topeka.[224]