The Baron DeKalb [pp. 141-202]

1852.J Tke Baron DeKaib. 151
enclosure fall into the hands of the enemy, he assumes, on
the score that it is written in cyphers. But the Baron
may have reckoned without his host. One may pick a
lock when he lacks a k~y, and there is probably no cypher which the wit and ingenuity of one man can invent,
that the wit and ingenuity of another may not discover.
Some men have a peculiar gift in this matter, and we are
told that there are no cryptographs so complicated,
which, with time given, a shrewd student may not unravel. This was Champollion's faculty. The late Mr. Poe
claimed to possess the faculty of elucidating any characters, however mnch mystified, and he certainly succeeded,
almost at a glance, in reading the most original and intricate that were submitted to him as puzzles. We pretend to no particular sagacity, ourselves, in this respect;
but have no reason to doubt that il~ere is a special faculty
for this employment, just as we find some persons rarely
gifted in solving enigmas, conundrums and such small
mysteries. By the way, these cyphers of DeKalb remind
us of a letter, now in our possession, of Arthur Lee, one
of the commissioners of Congress in Europe, with Franklin and Deane, which contains some of the characters
agreed on between Lee and his friend, with the key, in
each case, accompanying the character. We give a few
examples:
"The 21 8,6,iii, (~unto,) who have constant intelligence from
Morris, llolker and Deane, report here, with the greatest confidence,
that the 134 (Doctor Franklin) a, vi & 115 (Deane) a xxxviii (not
given) have completely 384, a xxxv-d, (triumphed,) and that their
1 70,6,xv-s (friends) rnay now do what they please. In consequence,
Mr. 455,a xxvt-s (W-s) comes over, with this opportunity, to embrace the favourable moment of getting his 36~~~~~x~S (accounts)
2~1,a,xxvb (passed) and the 283,a,iv (plunder) secured to him forever. A 101,6,ii (consulship) added to it will repay his services,
and satisfy him for the present. Their 1~6,6,xx-s (dreams) are all
1~9,a,ix, (golden,) and if 99,a,xvii (Congress) realize them, the
Lord have mercy on the 10~,6,xxx, (country,) for more audacious
and abandoned plunderers, I think, no period ever produced."
This will suffice. The secret forms are awkward enough,
-rather tedious and troublesome, perhaps, than difficult.
Cryptography seems, in the day of the revolution, to have
been very much in its infancy. Of the subject-matter of