It is a matter whose telling even causes me shame.

Were it the resentment and sorrow of another, I could set it right, by the mildest and most advisable method possible.

But as it is my own affair, and a matter akin to vanity (from which I believe myself quite free)--for when I have finished the public acts of pomp and display in my office, I return to that of sailor, which is the chief thing of this government--I lay it before your Majesty, so that you may be pleased to provide in this matter and in other things touching auditors, as may best suit you.

[I ask that your Majesty act] without greater inclination to one side than the other, since this office is yours, not mine; and since I shall live in the same manner with or without it, without coveting greater honors than your Majesty (may God preserve you for us) has granted me and grants me in employing my services.
[_Marginal note_: "After considering what you mention in this matter, it is reduced to the following points.

The first and more essential is that which you mention (although in ambiguous terms) regarding the trading of the auditors and government employees there, for which reason they prevented the sending of the cloves.