He would not await the positive information that must soon be given
out, but applied strong language to acts not yet precisely
ascertained; and he mingled with the "Chesapeake" affair other very
real, but different and minor, subjects of complaint, seemingly with a
view to cumulative effect. He thus made the mistake of encumbering
with extraneous or needless details a subject which required separate,
undivided, and lucid insistence; while Canning found an opportunity,
particularly congenial to his temperament, to escape under a cloud of
dignified words from the simple admission of wrong, and promise of
reparation, which otherwise he would have had to face. He could assume
a tone of haughty rebuke, where only that of apology should have been
left open. His reply ran thus:

I have the honor to acknowledge your official note of the 29th
ultimo, which I have lost no time in laying before the King.

As _the statement_ of the transaction to which this note refers
is not brought forward either by the authority of the Government
of the United States, _or with any precise knowledge of the
facts on which it is founded_, it might have been sufficient for
me to express to you his Majesty's readiness to take the whole
of the circumstances of the case, _when fully disclosed_, into
his consideration, and to make reparation for any _alleged
injury_ to the sovereignty of the United States, whenever it
should be _clearly shown_ that such injury has been _actually
sustained_, and that such reparation is _really due_.

Of the existence of such a disposition on the part of the
British Government, you, Sir, cannot be ignorant; I have already
assured you of it, though in an unofficial form, by the letter
which I addressed you on the first receipt of the intelligence
of this unfortunate transaction; and I may, perhaps, be
permitted to express my surprise, after such an assurance, at
the tone of that representation which I have just had the honor
to receive from you.

But the earnest desire of his Majesty to evince, in the most
satisfactory manner, the principles of justice and moderation by
which he is uniformly actuated, has not permitted him to
hesitate in commanding me to assure you, that his Majesty
neither does, nor has at any time maintained the pretension of a
right to search ships of war, in the national service of any
Sta