t lost no time in yielding to your
request, and, in doing so, signified to you the sentiments of
approbation which he entertained for your conduct abroad. You may, then,
well imagine the great astonishment which the declaration contained in
your despatch of the 3d of October, that you could no longer remain in
France honorably to yourself or advantageously to the country, and that
the proceedings of this government had placed you in a false position,
from which you could escape only by returning home, created in his mind.

The President perceives not the slightest foundation for these opinions.
He cannot see how your usefulness as minister to France should be
terminated by the settlement of difficulties and disputes between the
United States and Great Britain. You have been charged with no duties
connected with the settlement of these questions, or in any way relating
to them, beyond the communication to the French government of the
President's approbation of your letter of the 13th of February, written
without previous instructions from this department. This government is
not informed of any other act or proceeding of yours connected with any
part of the subject, nor does it know that your official conduct and
character have become in any other way connected with the question of
the right of search; and that letter having been approved, and the
French government having been so informed, the President is altogether
at a loss to understand how you can regard yourself as placed in a false
position. If the character or conduct of any one was to be affected, it
could only be the character and conduct of the President himself. The
government has done nothing, most assuredly, to place you in a false
position. Representing your country at a foreign court, you saw a
transaction about to take place between the government to which you were
accredited and another power, which you thought might have a prejudicial
effect on the interest of your own country. Thinking, as it is to be
presumed, that the case was too pressing to wait for instructions, you
presented a protest against that transaction, and our government
approved your proceeding. This is your only official connection with the
whole subject. If after this the President had sanctioned the
negotiation of a treaty, and the Senate had ratified it, containing
provisions in the highest degree objectionable, however the government
might be discredited, your exemption from all blam