was unable to substantiate a fact. To
facts, such as I have become acquainted with them, I have scrupulously
adhered, and in so doing I must continue, whenever the good faith of
his Majesty's Government is called in question," etc. To this outburst
the reply was: "You have used language which cannot but be understood
as reiterating, and even aggravating, the same gross insinuation. It
only remains, in order to preclude opportunities which are thus
abused, to inform you that no further communications will be received
from you, and that the necessity for this determination will, without
delay, be made known to your Government." Jackson thereupon quitted
Washington for New York, leaving a _charge d'affaires_ for transacting
current business.

Before leaving the city, however, Jackson, through the channel of the
_charge_, made a statement to the Secretary of State. In this he
alleged that the facts which he considered it his duty to state, and
to the assertion of which, as facts, exception was taken, and his
dismissal attributed, were two. One was, that the three conditions had
been submitted by Mr. Erskine to the Secretary of State. This the
Secretary had admitted. "The other, namely: that that instruction is
the only one, in which the conditions were prescribed to Mr. Erskine,
for the conclusion of an arrangement on the matter to which it
related, is known to Mr. Jackson by the instructions which he has
himself received." This he had said in his second letter; if somewhat
obscurely, still not so much so but that careful reading, and
indisposition to take offence, could have detected his meaning, and
afforded him the opportunity to be as explicit as in this final paper.
If Madison, who is understood to have given special supervision to
this correspondence,[297] meant the severe rebuke conveyed by his
reply as a feint, to lead the British minister incautiously to expose
himself to a punishment which his general bearing and that of his
Government deserved, he assuredly succeeded; yet it may be questioned
who really came best out of the encounter. Jackson had blundered in
words; the American Administration had needlessly intensified
international bitterness.

Prepossession in reading, and proneness to angry misconception, must
be inferred in the conduct of the American side of this discussion;
for another notable and even graver instance occurs in the
despatch[298] communicating Jackson's dismissal to Pinkney, beyond
whos