251 



calls, than to obtain information for the support and elucidation qi 

 that bill — yet his disclaimer is not explicit. 



At the preceding session of Congress, as Chairman of a Commit- 

 tee of the House of Representatives, he had mnde a rej>ort recom- 

 mending the establishment of a territory at the moutli of Columbiii 

 river. He now states, that at that time, in conversation at his 

 lodgings with some of his friends, upon the subject of that re|K)rt, 

 and upon the value of the fur trade of our western waters, the 

 wealth to be derived from that trade in the Canton market, and 

 the practicability of supplying the valley of the Mississippi with the 

 manufactures of that route, one gentleman observed, that the Mis- 

 sissippi had been discussed at Ghent, and from the characters of the 

 gentlemen engaged in it, there was a strong probability that if Mr. 

 Floyd had that correspondence, he would obtain something xxhich 

 might be useful to him. Upon which he immediately determined to 

 make the call, as a proper mode of getting the papers, but after- 

 wards determined to postpone the call until the next session. 



Mr, Flojd has not informed the public, u'/io it was that made the 

 suggestion to him, upon which he determined to call for the Ghent 

 correspondence ; but it was a person who knew that the Mississip- 

 pi had been discussed at Ghent, and who, by suggesting this idea to 

 Mr. Floyd, sufficiently manifested the disposition that the corres- 

 pondence containing the discussion of the Mississippi at Ghent, 

 should be brought before the public. 



Mr. Floyd's projected bill might be an occasion to obtain this ob- 

 ject, but where so much was known about the discussion of the Mis- 

 sissippi at Ghent, other purposes, besides the occupation of Co- 

 lumbia river, the fur trade, or the Canton market, were doubtless 

 contemplated in stimulating the call for the correspondence. I do 

 not mean to complain of such motives, if they were partaken hy 

 Mr. Floyd : but while influenced by them, he cannot claim the 

 privilege of impartiality, with reference to this inquiry, nor should 

 he have appealed to the public, as if he had been injured by me, 

 for merely stating the fact, that the call of the House for Mr. Rus- 

 sell's letter, had been moved for at the suggestion of Mr. Russell 

 himself. By Mr. Floyd's own showing, his first call for the Ghent 

 papers, bad been suggested to him. He does not deny that the call 

 for Mr. Russell's letter was suggested to him, and he might have 

 added, even, that his coming forward in the Richmond Enquirer, 

 in aid of Mr. Russell, had been suggested to him by the editors of 

 that paper.* 



The motives now alleged by Mr. Floyd for his call of 17th Ja- 

 nuary, 1822, could not lead him to the suspicion, that there would 

 be any reluctance in the Executive to furnish all the documents 

 that could be useful to him for his Columbia river bill ; nor does it 

 indeed appear, that on the 16th of January, 1822, when he moved 

 the resolution, he suspected, or had reason to suspect, there would 

 be any difficulty in obtaining all the papers upon the call. 



* See the Richmond Fnouirer of 2<l Au^^ust, 1822- 



