Washington, March 21, 1807.

Dear Sir,

A copy of the treaty with Great Britain came to Mr. Erskine's hands
on the last day of the session of Congress, which he immediately
communicated to us; and since that, Mr. Purviance has arrived with
an original. On the subject of it you will receive a letter from
the Secretary of State, of about this date, and one more in detail
hereafter. I should not have written, but that I perceive uncommon
efforts, and with uncommon wickedness, are making by the federal papers
to produce mischief between myself, personally, and our negotiators; and
also to irritate the British government, by putting a thousand speeches
into my mouth, not one word of which I ever uttered. I have, therefore,
thought it safe to guard you, by stating the view which we have given
out on the subject of the treaty, in conversation and otherwise; for
ours, as you know, is a government which will not tolerate the being
kept entirely in the dark, and especially on a subject so interesting
as this treaty. We immediately stated in conversation, to the members
of the legislature and others, that having, by a letter received in
January, perceived that our ministers might sign a treaty not providing
satisfactorily against the impressment of our seamen, we had, on the 3rd
of February, informed you, that should such an one have been forwarded,
it could not be ratified, and recommending, therefore, that you should
resume negotiations for inserting an article to that effect; that we
should hold the treaty in suspense until we could learn from you the
result of our instructions, which probably would not be till summer,
and then decide on the question of calling the Senate. We observed, too,
that a written declaration of the British commissioners, given in at