American watchman and Delaware advertiser. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1822-1828, 1822-09-13
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ITO be continued

The following article, from the Elizabethtown Jo,r.
. nawill place the controversy between Mr.. Russsu
and Mr. Adams IN satisfactory light. 1t ia n
plain statement OF facts as they occurred. in :
summary form, and without any cooring
Mr.. ADAMS AND MR.. RUSSELL
A controversy Of an extraordinary nature has .r.
sen between John q. adams, Secretary of Stat.
and Jonathan Russell, member of Congress. from
Massachusetts,: both OF these gentlemen were COM
mssoners on the part OF the United States. at rho
negotiations at Client, which resulted in the term;1
nation OF the late war between this country and
Great Britain, and the difficulty between them Seems
TO have grown out OF that mission. L, appears tina,
a majority OF the commissioners from this coun,ry
thought proper to offer TO the British Commission.
ers an article confirming to the British the priv.
lege of navigating the waters of the Missssipp in
consideration OF certain privileges to be granted bv
the British in relation to the fisheries Messrs
Adams, Gaatin and Bayard were in favor of tbis
proposition Messrs Russell and Clay onnosed
to it. The offer was made to the British commits
sioners, and by them rejected, and here the matter
should have rested. We believe there is little doub,
that the instructions from our government 10 The
commissioners, authorised them to make the offer
Mr. Russell thought proper to write private letter
to Mr. Monroe, then Secretary of State stating the
difference OF opinion between him and majority of
lexplaining at length the motives by which he had
been actuated As this letter was marked private
it was placed among the private papers Of Mr. Mon.
roe, and not among the official papers of the de-
lpartment OF state. During the session of Congress-
last winter, call was made in the House of Repre.
sentatives, requesting the President to communicate
this paper. The resolution was referred to the Sc.
cretary OF State, who directed search to be made
Tor the paper among the documents OF his depart.
ment but as 1t had never been placed among the
public documents, the search was of course ineec.
tual. 1t appears from the statement OF Mr.. Brent,
chief clerk IN the Office that he (Bren) without The
knowledge of Mr.. Adams, called upon MIR. Russell
Tor copy OF the paper in question: which he agreed
to furnish. Accordingly Mr. Russell left with Mr..
Brent paper purporting to be duplicate OF the
one called for by the House of Representatives with
the intention of having it communicated BY the Sc.
cretary OF State, in compliance with the call of The
House OF Representatives On reading this paper,
Mr.. Adams concluded, from certain expressions
therein contained, that instead of being duplicate
or exact copy of the letter communicated to Mr.,
Monroe, 1t was one but recently written by Mr.,
RUSSELL and with the intention of producing an i'm
preston on the public mind unfavorable to himself.
Entertaining these suspicious, Mr. Adams called
upon Mr. Monroe, and requested that search might
oe made among his private papers, in order that il
posslble the original letter of Mr. Russell might be
obtained. The search~ was made and the letter
found. On comparing the original letter with the
duplicate, they were found to differ materially.
Both these letters were communicated to the House
OF Representatives, together with the remarks Of
Mr.. Adams upon them. The publication Of these
papers induced Mr.. Russell to reply to the remarks
OF MIR Adams in which reply he labors hard to
place MIR. A in the wrong-says he imagined he
had right to make such corrections as would make
his case appear 70 the best advantage, &c. &C. Mr..
Adams has published rejoinder to this reply of
Mr.. Russell, and appended the statements OF Mr..
Brent and Mr. Bailey, both clerks in the office ofthe
department OF state. Here the matter rests Wheth.
er MIR Russell will BEEN it advisable to publish re.
re]onder, time must determine. Meanwhile the
papers throughout the United States are nearly u
unanimous in declaring that Mr. Adams has decided
~ the advantage in the controversy. 1t appears
pretty evident that the object of MIR Russell, and
those who sgitated the Call in the House of Repre-
sentatIves, was to have the affair operate against Mr..
Adams at the next Presidential election. 1t may,
however have contrary effect.
DTPIOJT9TTC HOAsrROUEpcr