ence into a connivance at my imprisonment. If they
had not some ideas of this kind would they resist so long the civil
efforts you make for my liberation, or would they attach so much
importance to the imprisonment of an Individual as _to risque_ (as
you say to me) _the good understanding that exists between the two
Countries?_You also say that _it is impossible for any person to do more
than you have done without adopting the other means_, meaning that of
reclaiming me. How then can you account for the want of success after so
many efforts, and such a length of time, upwards of ten weeks, without
supposing that they fortify themselves in the interpretation I have just
mentioned? I can admit that it was not necessary to give orders, and
that it was difficult to give direct orders, for I much question if
Morris had informed Congress or the President of the whole of the case,
or had sent copies of my letters to him as I had desired him to do.
You would find the case here when you came, and you could not fully
understand it till you did come, and as Minister you would have
authority to act upon it. But as you inform me that you know what the
wishes of the President are, you will see also that his reputation is
exposed to some risque, admitting there to be ground for the supposition
I have made. It will not add to his popularity to have it believed in
America, as I am inclined to think the Committee believe here, that he
connives at my imprisonment. You say also that _it is known to everybody
that you wish my liberation_. It is, Sir, because they know your wishes
that they misinterpret the means you use. They suppose that those mild
means arise from a restriction that you cannot use others, or from a
consciousness of some defect on my part of which you are unwilling to
provoke the enquiry.

But as you ask me if it be my wish that you should embark in this
controversy and risque the consequences with respect to myself, I will
answer this part of the question by marking out precisely the part I
wish you to take. What I mean is a sort of middle line above what you
have yet gone, and not up to the full extremity of the case, which will
still lie in reserve. It is to write a letter to the Committee that
shall in the first place defeat by anticipation all the objections they
might make to a simple reclamation, and at the same time make the ground
good for that object. But, instead of sending the letter immediately, to
invite some