Mr. Adams's letter fortunately gives us the key to this elaborate blazon, else we might have been left for ever in the dark in regard to its authorship. In the general achievement we easily recognize the hand of the "gentleman of French extraction," M. du Simitière, who perhaps was induced to adopt the Goddess of Justice, with her sword and balance, in lieu of his "Rifler with his rifle-gun," in deference to Mr. Adams's taste for allegory. Dr. Franklin's happy if not original design, illustrative of the preservation of the children of Israel from the maw of Pharoah and the Red sea, with a squint also at the deliverance of the colonies from George III. and the billows of tyranny, though sent to the rear, was adopted in whole, as well as his motto. The pillar of fire in the cloud was doubtless taken from the design of Mr. Jefferson, who perhaps had to be propitiated because his children of Israel were discarded in favor of Dr. Franklin's. It needed but the addition of his Hengist and Horsa, and of Mr. Adams's irresolute Hercules between Vice and Virtue, to make a great seal such as the world had never looked upon. We, who look back through the gloze of a hundred years and are accustomed to regard this trio of patriots as men with whom the degenerate legislators of the present have little in common, may well express astonishment that their work did not meet with immediate approval. But history is a stern mistress, and we cannot efface the record. The journal of Congress shows that the report of the committee was ordered "to lie on the table," and we hear no more of it for three long and momentous years. On March 25, 1779, it was ordered that the report of the committee on the device of a great seal for the United States, in Congress assembled, be referred to another committee. On May 10 this committee reported as follows: The seal to be four inches in diameter, on one side the arms of the United States, as follows: the shield charged in the field with thirteen diagonal stripes alternately red and white. Supporters, _dexter_, a warrior holding a sword: _sinister_, a figure representing Peace bearing an olive branch. The Crest, a radiant constellation of thirteen stars. The motto, _Bello vel Pace_. The legend round the achievement, "Seal of the United States." On the Reverse the figure of Liberty, seated in a chair, holding the staff and cap. The Motto, "Semper," underneath MDCCLXXVI. This report was taken into consideration on May 17, and after debate ordered to be recommitted. The result was another report: The seal to be three inches in diameter, on one side the arms of the United States, as follows: the shield charged in the field azure, with thirteen diagonal stripes, alternate rouge and argent. Supporters, _dexter_, a warrior holding a sword; _sinister_, a figure representing Peace, bearing the olive branch. The Crest, a radiant constellation, of thirteen stars.