The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-02-03
would think il proper to repeat in writing

been, should have let il riga 10 consorm'
STRICTLY to II, ia tn., official answer, avoid,
any reference 70 any part OF YOU vcfbaf'
communications, except such as, by repeat
ing them In writing, ! should see that it was
your Intention TO record as official.
l confess. however, / was not prepared for
the mixed Course which you actually did n
dept, am persuaded Il am sincery persuad-
ed withoat any intention ofcreatipg e,mbar-
rassmcnt, that of referring generally to
what had passed in cur conferences, as illus
trative vi your Official proposition, and as
tending 10 support and recommend it, bur
without specifying the particular points TO
which such reference was intended ~ apply !;
a course which appeared at first sight to
leave me no choice except between the two
alternatives of either recrpitulating the
whole OF what you had stated in conyersati-
on, for the purpose ct com~prehending it i'm
lie answer. orof conforming myself to your
written note, at the hazard OF being sus.
pected OF SURPRISING the most material part
o. Nonr statements.
E>The eXpecient to which | had recourse.
of accompanying my Official note with a Sc
parate letter. stating 20 the hes af - :.ecoi-
lection, the substance OF what l had heard
from yen IN conversation, appeared to me,
after much deliberations, To be the most res
pectfui ts:, on.
Such having becu the motives which die
tated myletter, l cahnot regret it w Is Writ
ten. since II has Produced, at a period 30
little distant from the transaction Itself. an
opportunity Of Comparing the impressions
lett ON our minds respectively, OF wht At pas
sed IN our several conferences, and " c"r-
resting any erroneous impressions on either
side.
There are two points ia which our recol
leCtIGnS iN afpal. IN AiiT.- -, v,,, l...
lhe hrst relates to the authority which
you had, and that which l understood you
70 state Yourself to have, 1T the time of our
frst conference tor bringing forward a dl-
rect overture, in the name of y>ur govern
ment, the second TO the expectation which
L staeed myself to have entertained :" more
than once" of your Opening an official COR
respondence on the subject of the orders in
Council.
With respect to the first point you will
give me credit when assure YOU that nv
understanding of what was said BY YOU, moi
only IN the frs, but in our second confer
ehce, was precisely what l nave stated it 10
be III my letter and you will Ct hope) for
give me if, after the most attentive perus;il
ct your letter of the 10th of October. and
alter a careful comparison of different pas
S,ges IN 1t, while am compelled by yoar
assurance to acknowledge that i have mis-
@pprehended you, | find grounds in your
statement To excuse, if not to account for
my misapprehension.
According to your recollections, you tod
me explicitly, in our first conference, {" that
the substance OF what you then suggested,
tl'at Is to say, that our orders being repcai-
ed as to the United States, the u. ) would
suspend the embargo as 20 C. Britain. was
from your goeernrMent thar me manner.
Conducting and Illustrating the subject (u :
on which you had 40 precise orders) was y. ur
o"ii, and Won even quoted part Of vour in
structions 10 me which was to that effect
IN a subsequent Paragraph you state, that
" nothing can be more correct than my APP
PrehensloD that on did not make, uor pro-
iess 10 lhtenu making an overture III writing,
before you had endcavored to prepare for
II such a reception as you felt it deserved
ana before YOU asCertained what shape 1t
would e'mos proper to give to that over
ture, and how it would be met by the Bril-
tiah government.
And, in another part of your letter you ad-
nit that, " when you expressed youY
readiness tn make your proposal in writing,
IL was (asl have stately professionally %
aud you informed me thar, .sthe provision
al natureo OF your offer arose olt Of circum-
stances" the nature Of which circumstances
you do not explain, nor lave l any right TO
require such an explanation.
But, comparing these several statements
together, seeing that in our first Interview,
You declared no intention of making a propo-
sal Iii writing that in our second interview,
"a month or 1--we weeks afterwards) YOU dc
Scri9ed that intention as "provisio IA" and
contingent, and protesting at the same time
las l do iii the most solemn manner) that I
cannot Ind any trace iii my memory o. any
comn:anicationS whatever of any part of our
INSTRUCTIONS, communicated to me us such.
seeing also that whatever might be the nature
and txcnt OF your Instructions from the pre-
side.It OF the u. States rs to the substance of
the overtures to be made 10 the British 90
vernment, the manner the time and the con
dItions OF that overture, were evidently con-
sldeled by you as left to your own discretion
1t surely may be pardonable in me to have
mistaken, (as i most unqnestionably must
nave dnhe) the precise limits al which the
authority OF your government ended, and
our own discretion began, and to have ma
gined, (Which / very iBuocentiy did) that a
proposition over which you appeared tohave
a power so nearly absolute, was a propositi-
OH, IN Il great measure, of your own sugces-
ton. do not mean that ! supposed YOU 70
bring forward such "A measure without refer
ence to the knowledge which YOU must OF
Course have had Dt the general feeling, dis
positon and intentions of your government,
but without Its specific Instructions fer that
purpose at that time.
In dttriDI ug to YOU this exercise of iudg.
"ent IL addition to the many others, and
which 1t u confessed you were at liberty tn