the rest. He said that many of
the ideas I suggested were new to him, and were very important--that he
should lay them before the emperor with fidelity and in a manner
calculated to produce the most favorable impression; desired me to
reduce them to writing, to be presented in a more solemn form; and
endeavored to convince me that he doubted not our being able on the
return of the emperor to remove all obstacles to a most perfect harmony
between the two countries."

In a letter dated December 19, 1811, he writes:

"Since the date of my last I have had many interviews with the Minister
of Foreign Relations. I have explained several points, and urged every
argument for as speedy an answer to my note of the 10th as its very
serious importance would allow. He always treats the subject with
apparent candor and solicitude, seems anxious to gain information, and
declares that neither he nor the emperor had before understood American
affairs, and always assures me that he is nearly ready with his answer.
But he says the emperor's taking so long a time to consider it and make
up his decision is not without reason, for it opens a wide field for
meditation on very interesting matters. He says the emperor has read the
note repeatedly and with great attention--that he told him the reasoning
in it was everywhere just and the conclusions undeniable, but to
reconcile its principles with his continental system presented
difficulties not easy to remove. From what the emperor told me himself
at the last diplomatic audience, and from a variety of hints and other
circumstances remarked among the people about his person, I have been
made to believe that he is really changing his system relative to our
trade, and that the answer to my note will be more satisfactory than I
had at first expected."

Several other letters from the poet to Monroe follow, all of the same
general tenor--complaining of delay, yet hopeful that the treaty would
shortly be secured. February 8, 1812, he writes to the Secretary of
State that the duke is "at work upon the treaty, and probably in good
earnest, but the discussions with Russia and the other affairs of this
Continent give him and the emperor so much occupation that I cannot
count upon their getting on very fast with ours."

Amid these delays the summer passed away, and the emperor, intent on
mapping out his great campaign against Russia, still neglected to sign
the important instrument. Early in the summer