The unfortunate Sargent, occupied deeply with questions of administration, with preserving the true relations between the civil and military forces, with watching out for Spanish schemes to win the especial favor of the Indians, with expounding the details of the new laws to the untried judges, seems not to have “caught on” to the successful strategy of his enemies for some time. At last, June 15, a package of papers received from John Marshall, Secretary of State, told him the whole story. His long letter of reply to the secretary, intended to vindicate himself in that official’s good opinion, betrays not a little bitterness, which assures us that this austere, cold-blooded New Englander had considerable human nature in him after all. He claimed, and unquestionably with truth, that his duties had been no light ones, saying: “To organize a new government upon the very confines of the power and energy of the United States—amongst a people of diversity of interests, sentiment and language—acknowledgedly unversed in jurisprudence, and not all distinguished for their complacency—without the aid of the territorial judges to a late period, in ill health and under the apprehension of an attack from a foreign enemy, must be confessed an arduous task; I draw not, however, upon the good nature of my countrymen, ’tis justice only that I ask.” He then proceeded to show how much malice and misinformation lay behind the attacks upon him, showed that he had done the best that he could under all circumstances, had made the most careful appointments in his power, and had in no sense attempted to enrich himself at the expense of the people. In a word, he made a good defense, and if it was quite unavailing he was not to blame. The star of his party had come to its setting time, and the orb of the Jeffersonians was in the ascendant. During the Adams administration Sargent had been promised a leave of absence when the general apprehension of trouble with France had passed away, and this privilege he claimed soon after Jefferson’s inauguration. He went to Washington early in April, 1801, desiring to vindicate the course of his administration against the “mighty obloquy” that had been cast upon it, and to seek the justification of re-appointment. His hopes, however, were dashed to the ground by the receipt of a letter from the President as soon as he reached the capitol, transmitted through James Madison, Secretary of State. This declared: “That from various and delicate considerations, which entered into the appointment of a governor for the Mississippi Territory, it was expedient to fill the station with another than himself, whose administration, with whatever meritorious intentions conducted, had not been so fortunate as to secure the general harmony, and the mutual attachment between the people and the public functionaries, so particularly necessary for the prosperity and happiness of an infant establishment.”