60 



delivered there " a paper purporting to be the daphcate oi a letter 

 written by him from Paris, on the 11th of February, 1815, to the 

 then Secretar}' of State, to be communicated to the House, as the 

 letter called for by the resolution." 



On the perusal of the document called for, I find that it commu- 

 nicates a difference of opinion between Mr. Russell and a majority 

 of his colleagues, in certain transactions which occurred in the ne- 

 gotiations at Ghent, touching interests which have been since satis- 

 factorily adjusted by treaty between the United States and Great 

 Britain. The view which Mr. Russell presents of his own con- 

 duct, and that of his colleagues, in those transactions, will, it is 

 presumed, call from the two surviving members of that mission, 

 who differed from him, a reply, containing their view of those 

 transactions, and of the conduct of the parties in them, and who, 

 should his letter be communicated to the House of Representatives, 

 will also claim that their reply should be communicated in like man- 

 ner by the Executive — a claim which, on the principle of equal 

 justice, could not be resisted. The Secretary of State, one of the 

 Ministers referred to, has already expressed a desire that Mr. Rus- 

 sell's letter should be communicated, and that I would transmit, at 

 the same time, a communication from him respecting it. 



On full consideration of the subject, I have thought it would be 

 improper for the Executive to communicate the letter called for, 

 unless the House, on a knowledge of these circumstances, should 

 desire it ; in which case the document called for shall be commu- 

 nicated, accompanied by a report from the Secretary of State, as 

 above suggested. 1 have directed a copy to be delivered to Mr. 

 Russell, to be disposed of as he may think proper, and have caused 

 the original to be deposited in the Department of State, with in- 

 struction to deliver a copy to any person who may be interested. 



JAMES MONROE* 



Washington, May 4th, 1822. 



Department of State, 



Washington, May 3, 1822. 



The Secretary of State, to whom was referred the resolution of 

 the House of Representatives of the 19th ultimo, requesting the 

 President " to cause to be communicated to the House, if not inju- 

 rious to the public good, any letter or communication which may 

 have been received from Jonathan Russell, Esquire, one of the 

 Ministers of the United States who concluded the treaty of Ghent, 

 after the signature of that treaty, and which was written in con- 

 formity to the indications contained in said Minister's letter, dated 

 at Ghent, 25th of December, 1814," has the honour of reporting 

 to the President, that, until after the adoption of the said resolution 

 by the House, there was upon the tiles of the Department of State, 

 no letter from Mr. Russell, of the description mentioned therein ; 



