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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34393-h.zip b/34393-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a3af90 --- /dev/null +++ b/34393-h.zip diff --git a/34393-h/34393-h.htm b/34393-h/34393-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a81233d --- /dev/null +++ b/34393-h/34393-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1807 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Correspondence, between the late Commodore Stephen Decatur and Commodore James Barron, which led to the unfortunate meeting of the twenty-second of March., by Decatur, Stephen; James Barron. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 100%; + /* font-size: 200%; optional set font size */ + } + +h1 { + margin-top: 1.75em; + text-indent: 0em; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +h2 { + margin-top: 1em; + text-indent: 0em; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +h3, h4 { + text-indent: 0em; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +/* paragraphs */ + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + text-align: justify; + + text-indent: 1em; /* set text-indent */ +} /* general indented paragraph */ + +p.h1 { + margin-top: 1.75em; + text-indent: 0em; + text-align: center; + font-size: 300%; +} + +p.h2 { + margin-top: 1.75em; + text-indent: 0em; + text-align: center; + font-size: 150%; +} + +p.h3 { + margin-top: 1.75em; + text-indent: 0em; + text-align: center; + font-size: 75%; +} + +p.cnobmargin { + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: .0em; +} /* centered no bottom margin */ + +p.cnomargins { + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: .0em; + margin-top: .0em; +} /* centered no bottom or top margin */ + +p.cnotmargin { + text-align: center; + margin-top: .0em; +} /* centered no top margin */ + +/* horizontal rulers */ + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.hr2 +{ + width: 90%; + max-width: 32em; + color: white; + background-color: white; + border: none; + border-bottom: 6px double black; + margin: 2em auto; +} + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +/* Formatting */ + +.center { + text-indent: 0em; + text-align: center; +} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +/* Footnotes */ + +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px; background-color: #f6f2f2;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +div.tnote { + border-style: dotted; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding: 1em; + font-style: normal; + font-size: 75%; + text-align: justify; + background-color: #f6f2f2; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Correspondence, between the late Commodore +Stephen Decatur and Commodore James Barron, by Stephen Decatur and James Barron + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Correspondence, between the late Commodore Stephen Decatur and Commodore James Barron + which led to the unfortunate meeting of the twenty-second of March + +Author: Stephen Decatur + James Barron + +Release Date: November 22, 2010 [EBook #34393] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CORRESPONDENCE -- DECATUR AND BARRON *** + + + + +Produced by Ernest Schaal and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p class="h1">CORRESPONDENCE,</p> + +<p class="h3">BETWEEN THE LATE</p> + +<p class="h2">COMMODORE STEPHEN DECATUR</p> + +<p class="h3">AND</p> + +<p class="h2">COMMODORE JAMES BARRON,</p> + +<p class="h3">WHICH LED TO THE</p> + +<p class="h2">UNFORTUNATE MEETING</p> + +<p class="h3">OF THE</p> + +<p class="h3">TWENTY SECOND OF MARCH</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cnobmargin"><b>BOSTON:</b></p> + +<p class="cnomargins">PRINTED BY RUSSELL & GARDNER.</p> + +<p class="cnotmargin">1820.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p>The friends of the late Commodore <span class="smcap">Decatur</span>, have learned, with very great regret, that misconceptions injurious +to him prevail, and are extending, relative to the +difference between him and Commodore <span class="smcap">Barron</span>. To +place the subject in its true light, they have thought it +necessary to submit to the public, without comment, the +whole correspondence which preceded the meeting.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h1">CORRESPONDENCE, &c.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class="h2">No. 1.</p> + +<p class="right">HAMPTON, (VA.) JUNE 12, +<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> 1819.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>: I have been informed, in Norfolk, that you have said that you +could insult me with impunity, or words to that effect. If you have said +so, you will no doubt avow it, and I shall expect to hear from you.</p> + +<p class="center">I am, sir, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p class="right">JAMES BARRON.</p> + +<p>To Commodore <span class="smcap">Stephen Decatur</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Washington</i>.</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> +With respect to the date of this letter, it may be proper to +observe, that, although it is 12th June, yet the figure 2, as made, +might well be mistaken for a 3: hence, in Commodore Decatur's letter of +reply, he considered the date to be 13th June. On referring, however, to +the post mark on the back of the letter, it was found to have been put +into the post office on the 12th: hence, in Commodore Decatur's letter +to Commodore Barron, of the 31st October, 1819, it is recognized as +dated on the 12th.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h2">No. 2</p> + +<p class="right">WASHINGTON, JUNE 17, 1819.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>: I have received your communication of the 13th instant. Before +you could have been entitled to the information you have asked of +me, you should have given up the name of your informer. That frankness +which ought to characterize our profession required it. I shall not, +however, refuse to answer you on that account, but shall be as candid in +my communication to you as your letter or the case will warrant.</p> + +<p>Whatever I may have <i>thought, or said, in the very frequent and free +conversation I have had respecting you and your conduct</i>, I feel a thorough +conviction that I never could have been guilty of so much egotism as to +say that "<i>I</i> could insult you" (or any other man) "with impunity."</p> + +<p class="center">I am, sir, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p class="right">STEPHEN DECATUR.</p> + +<p>To Commodore <span class="smcap">James Barron</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Hampton, Virginia</i>.</span></p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h2">No. 3</p> + +<p class="right">HAMPTON, (VA.) JUNE 25, 1819.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>: Your communication of the 17th instant, in answer to mine of +the 13th, I have received.</p> + +<p>The circumstances that urged me to call on you for the information requested +in my letter, would, I presume, have instigated you, or any other +person, to the same conduct that I pursued. Several gentlemen in Norfolk, +not your enemies, nor actuated by any malicious motive, told me +that such a report was in circulation, but could not now be traced to its +origin. I, therefore, concluded to appeal to you, supposing, under such +circumstances, that I could not outrage any rule of decorum or candor. +This, I trust, will be considered as a just motive for the course I have +pursued. Your declaration, if I understand it correctly, relieves my mind +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 4]</span> +from the apprehension that you had so degraded my character, as I had +been induced to allege.</p> + +<p class="center">I am, sir, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p class="right">JAMES BARRON.</p> + +<p>To Commodore <span class="smcap">Stephen Decatur</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Washington</i>.</span></p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h2">No. 4</p> + +<p class="right">WASHINGTON, JUNE 29, 1819.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>: I have received your communication of the 25th, in answer to +mine of the 17th, and, as you have expressed yourself doubtfully, as to +your correct understanding of my letter of the aforesaid date, I have now +to state, and I request you to understand distinctly, that I meant <i>no more</i> +than to disclaim the <i>specific</i> and <i>particular</i> expression to which your inquiry +was directed, to wit: that I had said that <i>I</i> could insult you with impunity. +As to the motives of the "several gentlemen in Norfolk," your informants, +or the rumors which "cannot be traced to their origin," on which their +information was founded, or who they are, is a matter of perfect indifference +to me, as is also your motives in making such an inquiry upon such +information.</p> + +<p class="center">Your obedient servant,</p> + +<p class="right">STEPHEN DECATUR.</p> + +<p>To Commodore <span class="smcap">James Barron</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Hampton, Virginia</i>.</span></p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h2">No. 5</p> + +<p class="right">HAMPTON, OCTOBER 23, 1819.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>: I had supposed that the measure of your ambition was nearly +completed, and that your good fortune had rendered your reputation for +acts of magnanimity too dear to be risked wantonly on occasions that can +never redound to the honor of him that would be great. I had also concluded +that your rancor towards me was fully satisfied, by the cruel and +unmerited sentence passed upon me by the court of which you were a +member; and, after an exile from my country, family, and friends, of +nearly seven years, I had concluded that I should now be allowed, at +least, to enjoy that solace, with this society, that lacerated feelings like +mine required, and that you would have suffered me to remain in quiet +possession of those enjoyments; but, scarcely had I set my foot on my +native soil, ere I learnt that the same malignant spirit which had before +influenced you to endeavor to ruin my reputation was still at work, and +that you were ungenerously traducing my character whenever an occasion +occurred which suited your views, and, in many instances, not much to +your credit as an officer, through the medium of our juniors; such conduct +cannot fail to produce an injurious effect on the discipline and subordination +of the navy. A report of this sort, sir, coming from the respectable +and creditable sources it did, could not fail to arrest my attention, +and to excite those feelings which might naturally be expected to arise in +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 5]</span> +the heart of every man who professes to entertain principles of honor, +and intends to act in conformity with them. With such feelings I addressed +a letter to you under date of the 13th June last, which produced +a correspondence between us, which I have since been informed you have +endeavored to use to my farther injury, by sending it to Norfolk by a +respectable officer of the navy, to be shewn to some of my particular +friends, with a view of alienating from me their attachment. I am also +informed, that you have tauntingly and boastingly observed, that you +would cheerfully meet me in the field, and hoped I would yet act like a +man, or that you had used words to that effect: such conduct, sir, on the +part of any one, but especially one occupying the influential station under +the government which you hold, towards an individual, situated as I am, +and oppressed as I have been, and that chiefly by your means, is unbecoming +you as an officer and a gentleman; and shews a want of magnanimity +which, hostile as I have found you to be towards me, I had hoped +for your own reputation you possessed. It calls loudly for redress at +your hands: I consider you as having given the invitation, which I accept, +and will prepare to meet you at such time and place as our respective +friends, hereafter to be named, shall designate. I also, under all the circumstances +of the case, consider myself entitled to the choice of weapons, +place, and distance; but, should a difference of opinion be entertained +by our friends, I flatter myself, from your known personal courage, that +you would disdain any unfair advantage, which your superiority in the +use of the pistol, and the natural defect in my vision, increased by age, +would give you. I will thank you not to put your name on the cover of +your answer, as, I presume, you can have no disposition to give unnecessary +pain to the females of my family.</p> + +<p class="center">I am, sir, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p class="right">JAMES BARRON.</p> + +<p>Commodore <span class="smcap">Stephen Decatur</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Washington</i>.</span></p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h2">No. 6</p> + +<p class="right">WASHINGTON, OCTOBER 31, 1819.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>: Your letter of the 23d inst. has been duly received. Prior to +giving it that reply which I intend, its contents suggest the necessity of +referring to our June correspondence.</p> + +<p>On the 12th June last, you addressed to me a note, inquiring whether I +had said that "I could insult you with impunity." On the 17th June, I +wrote you, in reply, as follows: "Whatever I may have <i>thought or said +in the very frequent and free conversations I have had respecting you and +your conduct</i>, I feel a thorough conviction that I never could have been +guilty of so much egotism, as to say that <i>I</i> could insult you, or any other +man, with impunity."</p> + +<p>On the 25th of June, you again wrote to me, and stated, that the report +on which you had grounded your query of 12th June, "could not now be +traced to its origin," and your letter is concluded in the following words: +"your declaration, if I understand it correctly, relieves my mind from +the apprehension that you had so degraded my character, as I had been +induced to allege." Immediately on receiving your letter of the 25th of +June, I wrote to you, 29th June, as follows: "As you have expressed +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 6]</span> +yourself doubtfully as to your correct understanding of my letter of the +17th June, I have now to state, and I request you to understand, distinctly, +that I meant <i>no more</i> than to disclaim the <i>specific</i> and <i>particular</i> expression, +to which your inquiry was directed, to wit: "that I had said that +I could insult you with impunity." Here ended our June correspondence, +and, with it all kind of communication, till the date of your letter of the +23d inst. which I shall now proceed to notice.</p> + +<p>Nearly four months having elapsed since the date of our last correspondence, +your letter was unexpected to me, particularly as the terms +used by you, in the conclusion of your letter to me of 25th June, and +your silence since receiving my letter of the 29th June, indicated, as I +thought, satisfaction on your part. But, it seems that you consider +yourself aggrieved by my sending our June correspondence to Norfolk. +I did not send the June correspondence to Norfolk, until three months +had expired after your last communication, and not then, until I had been +informed by a captain of the navy, that a female of your acquaintance had +stated, that such a correspondence had taken place.<a name="FNanchor_1_2" id="FNanchor_1_2"> +</a><a href="#Footnote_1_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +If that correspondence +has, in any degree, "alienated your friends from you," such effect +is to be attributed to the correspondence itself. I thought the papers +would speak for themselves, and sent them without written comment.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_2" id="Footnote_1_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_2"><span class="label">[2]</span> +</a> See the extracts from Capt. Carter's letter, post. page 13.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>With respect to the court martial upon you for the affair of the Chesapeake, +to which you have been pleased to refer, I shall not treat the officers, +who composed that court, with so much disrespect, as to attempt a +vindication of their proceedings. The chief magistrate of our country +approved them; the nation approved them; and the sentence has been +carried into effect. But, sir, there is a part of my conduct, on that occasion, +which it does not appear irrelevant to revive in your recollection. +It is this; I was present at the court of inquiry upon you, and heard the +evidence then adduced for and against you; thence I drew an opinion +altogether unfavorable to you; and, when I was called upon, by the Secretary +of the Navy, to act as a member of the court martial ordered for +your trial, I begged to be excused the duty, on the ground of my having +formed such an opinion. The honorable Secretary was pleased to insist +on my serving; still anxious to be relieved from this service, I did, prior +to taking my seat as a member of the court, communicate to your able advocate, +general Taylor, the opinion I had formed, and my correspondence +with the Navy Department upon the subject, in order to afford you an +opportunity, should you deem it expedient, to protest against my being a +member, on the ground of my not only having formed, but <i>expressed</i> +an opinion unfavorable to you. You did not protest against my being a +member. Duty constrained me, however unpleasant it was, to take my +seat as a member; I did so, and discharged the duty imposed upon me. +You, I find, are incapable of estimating the motives which guided my conduct +in this transaction.</p> + +<p>For my conduct as a member of that court martial, I do not consider +myself as, in any way, accountable to <i>you</i>. But, sir, you have thought fit +to deduce, from your impressions of my conduct as a member of that +court martial, inferences of personal hostility towards you. Influenced +by feelings thence arising, you commenced the June correspondence, a +correspondence which I had hoped would have terminated our communications.</p> + +<p>Between you and myself there never has been a personal difference; +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 7]</span> +but I have entertained, and do still entertain the opinion, that your conduct +as an officer, since the affair of the Chesapeake, has been such as +ought to forever bar your readmission into the service.</p> + +<p>In my letter to you, of the 17th June, although I disavowed the <i>particular +expressions</i> to which you invited my attention, candor required that +I should apprise you of my not having been silent respecting you. I informed +you that I had had <i>very frequent and free conversations respecting +you and your conduct</i>; and the words were underscored, that they might +not fail to attract your particular attention. Had you have asked what +those frequent and free conversations were, I should, with the same frankness, +have told you; but, instead of making a demand of this kind, you +reply to my letter of 17th June, "That my declaration, if correctly understood +by you, relieved your mind," &c. That you might correctly understand +what I did mean, I addressed you as before observed, on the 29th +June, and endeavored, by <i>underscoring</i> certain precise terms, to convey +to you my precise meaning. To this last letter I never received a reply.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances, I have judged it expedient at this time, to +state, as distinctly as may be in my power, the facts upon which I ground +the unfavourable opinion which I entertain, and have expressed, of your +conduct as an officer, since the court martial upon you; while I disclaim +all personal enmity towards you.</p> + +<p>Some time after you had been suspended from the service, for your +conduct in the affair of the Chesapeake, you proceeded, in a merchant +brig, from Norfolk to Pernambuco; and by a communication from the +late Captain Lewis, whose honor and veracity were never yet questioned, +it appears—that you stated to Mr. Lyon, the <i>British consul</i> at Pernambuco, +with whom you lived, "That if the Chesapeake had been prepared +for action, you would not have resisted the attack of the Leopard; +assigning, as a reason, that you knew, (as did also our government,) there +were deserters on board your ship; that the President of the United +States knew there were deserters on board, and of the intention of the +British to take them; and that the President caused you to go out in a +defenceless state, for the express purpose of having your ship attacked +and disgraced, and thus attain his favorite object of involving the United +States in a war with Great Britain." For confirmation of this information, +Captain Lewis refers to Mr. Thomas Goodwin, of Baltimore, the +brother of Captain Ridgely of the Navy, who received it from Mr. Lyon +himself. Reference was made to Mr. Goodwin, who, in an official communication, +confirmed all that Captain Lewis had said. The veracity +and respectability of Mr. Goodwin are also beyond question. You will +be enabled to judge of the impression made upon Captain Lewis' mind, +by the following strong remarks he made on the subject:</p> + +<p>"I am now convinced that Barron is a traitor, for I can call by no other +name a man who would talk in this way to an Englishman, and an Englishman +in office."</p> + +<p>These communications are now in the archives of the Navy Department.</p> + +<p>If, sir, the affair of the Chesapeake excited the indignant feelings of +the nation towards Great Britain; and was, as every one admits, one of +the principal causes which produced the late war, did it not behove you +to take an active part in the war, for your own sake?—Patriotism out of +the question! But, sir, instead of finding you in the foremost ranks, on +an occasion which so emphatically demanded your best exertions, it is +said, and is credited, that you were, after the commencement of the war, +to be found in the command of a vessel sailing under <i>British license</i>! +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 8]</span> +Though urged, by your <i>friends</i>, to avail yourself of some one of the opportunities +which were every day occurring in privateers, or other fast +sailing merchant vessels, sailing from France, and other places, to return +to your country during the war; it is not known that you manifested a +disposition to do so, excepting in the single instance by the <i>cartel</i> John +Adams, in which vessel, you must have known, you could not be permitted +to return, without violating her character as a cartel.</p> + +<p>You say you have been oppressed. You know, sir, that, by absenting +yourself, as you did for years, from the country, without leave from the +government, you subjected yourself to be stricken from the rolls. You +know, also, that, by the 10th article of the act for the better government +of the Navy, all persons in the Navy holding intercourse with an enemy, +become subject to the severest punishment known to our laws. You have +not, for the offences before stated, to my knowledge, received even a reprimand; +and I do know, that your pay, even during your absence, has +been continued to you.</p> + +<p>As to my having spoken of you injuriously to "junior officers," I have +to remark, that such is the state of our service that we have but few +seniors. If I speak with officers at all, the probability is, it will be with +a junior.</p> + +<p>On your return to this country, your efforts to re-establish yourself in +the service were known, and became a subject of conversation with officers +as well as others. In the many and <i>free</i> conversations I have had +respecting you and your conduct, I have said, for the causes above enumerated, +that, in my opinion, you ought not to be received again into the +naval service; that there was not employment for all the officers who had +faithfully discharged their duty to their country in the hour of trial; and +that it would be doing an act of injustice to employ you, to the exclusion +of any one of them. In speaking thus, and endeavoring to prevent your +re-admission, I conceive that I was performing a duty I owe to the service; +that I was contributing to the preservation of its respectability. +Had you have made no effort to be re-employed, after the war, it is more +than probable I might not have spoken of you. If you continue your efforts, +I shall certainly, from the same feelings of public duty by which I +have hitherto been actuated, be constrained to continue the expression of +my opinions; and I can assure you, that, in the interchange of opinions +with other officers respecting you, I have never met with more than one +who did not entirely concur with me.</p> + +<p>The objects of your communication of the 23d, as expressed by you, +now claim my notice. You profess to consider me as having given you +"an invitation." You say that you have been told, that I have "tauntingly +and boastingly observed, that I would cheerfully meet you in the +field, and hoped you would yet act like a man."</p> + +<p>One would naturally have supposed, that, after having been so recently +led into an error by "rumors" which could not be traced, you would +have received, with some caution, subsequent rumors; at all events that +you would have endeavored to have traced them, before again venturing +to act upon them as if they were true. Had you have pursued this course, +you would have discovered, that the latter rumors were equally unfounded +as the former.</p> + +<p>I never invited you to the field; nor have I expressed a hope that you +would call me out. I was informed by a gentleman with whom you had +conferred upon the subject, that you left Norfolk for this place, somtime +before our June correspondence, with the intention of calling me out. I +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 9]</span> +then stated to that gentleman, as I have to all others with whom I have +conversed upon the subject, that, if you made the call, I would meet you; +but that, on all scores, I should be much better pleased, to have nothing to +do with you. I do not think that fighting duels, under any circumstances, +can raise the reputation of any man, and have long since discovered, that +it is not even an unerring criterion of personal courage. I should regret +the necessity of fighting with any man; but, in my opinion, the man who +makes <i>arms his profession</i>, is not at liberty to decline an invitation from +any person, who is not so far degraded, as to be beneath his notice. Having +incautiously said I would meet you, I will not now consider this to be +your case, although many think so; and if I had not pledged myself, I +might reconsider the case.</p> + +<p>As to "weapons, place, and distance," if we are to meet, those points +will, as is usual, be committed to the friend I may select on the occasion. +As far, however, as it may be left to me, not having any particular prejudice +in favor of any particular arm, distance, or mode, (but, on the contrary, +disliking them all,) I should not be found fastidious on those +points, but should be rather disposed to yield you any little advantage of +this kind. As to my skill in the use of the pistol, it exists more in your +imagination than in reality; for the last twenty years I have had but +little practice; and the disparity in our ages, to which you have been +pleased to refer, is, I believe, not more than five or six years. It would +have been out of the common course of nature, if the vision of either of +us had been improved by years.</p> + +<p>From your manner of proceeding, it appears to me, that you have +come to the determination to fight some one, and that you have selected +me for that purpose; and I must take leave to observe, that your object +would have been better attained, had you have made this decision during +our late war, when your fighting might have benefitted your country as +well as yourself. The style of your communication, and the matter, did +not deserve so dispassionate and historical a notice as I have given it; +and had I believed it would receive no other inspection than yours, I +should have spared myself the trouble. The course I adopted with our +former correspondence, I shall pursue with this, if I shall deem it expedient.</p> + +<p class="center">I am, sir, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p class="right">STEPHEN DECATUR.</p> + +<p>To Commodore <span class="smcap">James Barron</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Hampton, Virginia</i>.</span></p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h2">[EXTRACT.]</p> + +<p class="right">NORFOLK, AUGUST 24, 1819.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Commodore</span>: Nothing had transpired here previous to my +arrival, on the subject of the correspondence; but a Lady, a Miss ——, +I think her name is, from Hampton, has stated, that a correspondence had +taken place between you and B. which she feared would end in a meeting. +The fears of this lady are at direct variance with the opinion of your +friends here, who think that he does not purpose saying more on the +subject.</p> + +<p>As it seems that it was known at Hampton, and even here, that letters +had passed between you and B. may I venture to ask you to send a copy +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 10]</span> +of them to Mr. Tazewell, who I have just left. He will, with great pleasure, +he says, attend to your wishes.</p> + +<p class="center">Receive the best wishes of your friend,</p> + +<p class="right">W. CARTER.</p> + +<p>Commodore <span class="smcap">Decatur</span>.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h2">No. 7</p> + +<p class="right">WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER, 1819.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>: Since my communication to you of the 31st ult. I have been informed +by a gentleman entitled to the fullest credit, that you were not +afloat till after the peace; consequently, the report which I noticed of +your having sailed under British license must be unfounded.</p> + +<p class="center">I am, sir, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p class="right">STEPHEN DECATUR.</p> + +<p>Commodore <span class="smcap">Jas. Barron.</span></p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h2">No. 8</p> + +<p class="right">HAMPTON, NOVEMBER 20, 1819.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>: Unavoidable interruption has prevented my answering your two +last communications as early as it was my wish to have done, but in a few +days you shall have my reply.</p> + +<p class="center">I am, sir, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p class="right">JAS. BARRON.</p> + +<p>Commodore <span class="smcap">Stephen Decatur.</span></p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h2">No. 9</p> + +<p class="right">HAMPTON, NOVEMBER 30, 1819.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>: I did not receive, until Tuesday, the 9th inst. your very lengthy, +elaborate, and historical reply, without date, to my letter to you of the +23d ultimo; which, from its nature and <i>object</i>, did not, I conceive, require +that you should have entered so much into detail, in defence of the hostile +and unmanly course you have pursued towards me, since the "affair of +the Chesapeake," as you term it. A much more laconic answer would +have served my purpose, which, for the present, is nothing more than to +obtain at your hands honorable redress for the accumulated insults which +you, sir, in particular, above all my enemies, have attempted to heap upon +me, in every shape in which they could be offered. Your last voluminous +letter is <i>alone</i> sufficient proof, if none other existed, of the rancorous +disposition you entertain towards me, and the extent to which you have +carried it. That letter I should no otherwise notice, than merely to inform +you it had reached me, and that I am prepared to meet you in the +field upon <i>any thing</i> like fair and equal grounds; but, inasmuch as you +have intimated that our correspondence is to go before the public, I feel +it a duty I owe to myself, and to the world, to reply particularly to the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 11]</span> +many calumnious charges and aspersions with which your "<i>dispassionate</i> +and historical notice" of my communication so abundantly teems; wishing +you, sir, at the same time, "distinctly to understand" that it is not +for <i>you</i> alone, or to justify myself in your estimation, that I take this +course. You have dwelt much upon our "June correspondence," as you +stile it, and have made many quotations from it. I deem it unnecessary, +however, to advert to it, further than to remark, that, although "nearly +four months" did intervene between that correspondence and my letter of +the 23d ultimo, my silence arose not from any misapprehension of the +purport of your contumacious "<i>underscored</i>" remarks, nor from the +malicious designs they indicated, nor from a tame disposition to yield +quietly to the operation which either might have against me; but, from a +tedious and painful indisposition, which confined me to my bed, the chief +part of that period, as is well known to almost every person here. I +anticipated, however, from what I had found you capable of doing to my +injury, the use to which you would endeavour to pervert that correspondence; +and have not at all been disappointed. So soon as I was well +enough, and heard of your machinations against me, I lost no time in +addressing to you my letter of the 23d ultimo; your reply to which I have +now more particularly to notice. I have not said, nor did I mean to convey +such an idea, nor will my letter bear the interpretation, that your +forwarding to Norfolk, our "June correspondence," had, "in any degree, +alienated my friends from me;" but, that it was sent down there with +<i>that view</i>. It is a source of great consolation to me, sir, to know, that I +have more friends, both in and out of the navy, than you are aware of; +and that it is not in your power, great as you may imagine your official +influence to be, to deprive me of their good opinion and affection. As to +the reason which seems to have prompted you to send that correspondence +to Norfolk, "that a female of my acquaintance had stated that such an +one had taken place," I will only remark, that she did not derive her information +from me: that it has always been, and ever will be, with me, a +principle, to touch as delicately as possible, upon reports said to come +from <i>females</i>, <i>intended</i> to affect injuriously the character of any one; and +that, in a correspondence like the <i>present</i>, highly as I estimate the sex, I +should never think of introducing <i>them</i> as authority. Females, sir, have +nothing, or ought to have nothing to do in controversies of this kind. In +speaking of the court martial which sat upon my trial, I have cast no imputation +or reflection upon the members individually who composed it +(saving yourself,) which required that you should attempt a vindication of +their proceedings; champion as you are, and hostile as some of them may +have been to me: nor does the language of my letter warrant any such +inference. I merely meant to point out to you, sir, what you appear to +have been incapable of perceiving: the indelicacy of your conduct, (to say +the least of it) in hunting me out as an object for malignant persecution, +after having acted as one of my judges, and giving your voice in favour of +a sentence against me, which I cannot avoid repeating, was "cruel and +unmerited." It is the privilege, sir, of a man, deeply injured as I have +been by that decision, and conscious of his not deserving it, as I feel myself, +to remonstrate against it; and I have taken the liberty to exercise +that privilege.</p> + +<p>You say that "the proceedings of the Court have been approved by the +Chief Magistrate of our country, that the nation approved of them, and +that the sentence has been carried into effect." It is true the President +of the United States <i>did</i> approve of that sentence, and that it was carried +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 12]</span> +into effect—full and complete effect, which I should have supposed +ought to have glutted the envious and vengeful disposition of your heart; +but I deny that the nation has approved of that sentence, and as an appeal +appears likely to be made to <i>them</i>, I am willing to submit the question. +The part you took on that occasion, it was totally unnecessary, I assure +you, "to revive in my recollection;" it is indelibly imprinted on my mind, +and can never, while I have life, be erased. You acknowledge you were +present at the Court of Inquiry in my case, "heard the evidence for and +against me, and had, therefore, formed and expressed an opinion unfavorable +to me," and yet, your conscience was made of such pliable materials, +that, <i>because</i> the then "honorable Secretary of the Navy was <i>pleased +to insist</i> on your serving as a member of the Court Martial, and because <i>I</i> +did not protest against it," you conceive that "<i>duty constrained</i> you, +however unpleasant, to take your seat as a member," although you were +to act under the solemn sanction of an oath, to render me impartial justice +upon the very testimony which had been delivered in your hearing before +the Court of Inquiry, and from which you "drew an opinion, <i>altogether +unfavorable to me</i>." How such conduct can be reconciled with the principles +of common honor and justice, is to me inexplicable. Under such +circumstances, <i>no</i> consideration, no power or authority on earth, could, +or ought to, have forced any liberal high minded man to sit in a case which +he had prejudged, and, to retort upon you your own expressions, you must +have been "incapable of seeing the glaring impropriety of your conduct, +for which, although you do not conceive yourself in any way accountable +to <i>me</i>," I hope you will be able to account for it with your God, and your +conscience.</p> + +<p>You say, between you and myself, there never has been a personal difference, +"and you disclaim all personal enmity towards me." If every +step you have taken—every word you have uttered, and every line you +have written, in relation to me—if your own admission of the very +frequent and free conversations you have had respecting me, and my +conduct, "since the affair of the Chesapeake," bear not the plainest +stamp of <i>personal hostility</i>, I know not the meaning of such terms; +were you not under the influence of feelings of this sort, why not, in your +official capacity, call me, or have me brought, before a proper tribunal, to +answer the charges you have preferred against me, and thereby giving me +a chance of defending myself? Why speak injuriously of me to <i>junior</i> +officers, "which you do not deny?" Why the "many frequent and free +conversations respecting me and my conduct," which you have taken so +much pains to underscore? Why use the insulting expression, that you +"entertained, and still do entertain, the opinion that my conduct, as an +officer, since that 'affair' has been such as ought forever to bar my readmission +into the service," and that, in endeavoring to prevent it, "you +conceive you were performing a duty you owe to the service, and were +contributing to its respectability?" Why the <i>threat</i>, that if I continued +the "efforts" <i>you</i> say I have been making, to be "re-employed" you "certainly +should be constrained to continue the expression of those opinions?"</p> + +<p>Does not all this, together with the whole tenor and tendency of your +letter, manifest the most marked <i>personal</i> animosity against me, which an +honorable man, acting under a sense of public duty by which you profess +to "have been hitherto actuated," would disdain even to shew, much +more to feel?</p> + +<p>I shall now, sir, take up the specific charges you have alleged against +me, and shall notice them in the order in which they stand. The first is +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 13]</span> +one of a very <i>heinous</i> character. It is, that "I proceeded in a merchant +brig to Pernambuco." Could I, sir, during the period of my suspension, +have gone any where in a national vessel? Could I, with what was due to +my family, have remained idle? The sentence of the Court deprived them +of the principal means of subsistence. I was therefore compelled to resort +to that description of employment with which I was best acquainted; +and on this subject <i>you</i> should have been silent. But you add, that the +late Captain Lewis, of the Navy, <i>who had</i> it from a Mr. Goodwin, who +heard it from Mr. Lyon, the British Consul at Pernambuco, with whom +you undertake to say I lived, represented me as stating, "that, if the +Chesapeake had been prepared for action, I would not have resisted the +attack of the Leopard; assigning, as a reason, that I knew, as also did +our government, that there were deserters on board the Chesapeake; and +that I said to Mr. Lyon, further, that the President of the United States +knew there were deserters on board, and of the intention of the British +ship to take them, and that the ship was ordered out under these circumstances, +with a view to bring about a contest which might embroil the two +nations in a war."</p> + +<p>The whole of this, Sir, I pronounce to be a falsehood, a ridiculous, +malicious, absurd, improbable falsehood, which can never be credited +by any man that does not feel a disposition to impress on the opinion +of the public that I am an idiot. That I should two years after the +affair of the Chesapeake, make such a declaration, when every proof +that could be required of a contrary disposition on the part of the +Chief Magistrate had been given, cannot receive credit from any one, +but those that are disposed to consider me such a character as you +would represent me to be. I did not live with Mr. Lyon, nor did I +ever hold a conversation with him so indelicate as the one stated in +captain Lewis' letter would have been. And with what object could I +have made such a communication? Mr. Lyon would naturally have felt +a contempt for a man that would have suffered himself to have been +made a tool of in so disgraceful an affair. I found Mr. Lyon transacting +business in Pernambuco: he produced to me a letter from Mr. Hill, the +American consul in that country, recommending him as entitled to the +confidence of his countrymen, every one of whom, in that port, put their +business into his hands. I did the same, and thus commenced our acquaintance; +he was kind and friendly to me, but never in any respect +indelicate, as would have been, in a high degree, such conversation between +us. Of Mr. Goodwin I know nothing. I have never seen him in +all my life, nor do I conceive that his hearsay evidence can ever be of +any kind of consequence against me; I was the first that informed the +President, and the Secretary of the Navy, that such a letter was in the +Department, even before I had seen it; and, again, if the mere oral +testimony of a British agent was to be considered as evidence sufficient +to arraign an American officer, I think the navy would quickly be in +such a state, as it might be desirable for their nation to place it in. As +to the <i>impressions</i> made upon the mind of captain Lewis, from this <i>information</i>, +and the "strong remarks" he made upon the subject, which +you have thought proper to quote, they by no means establish the <i>correctness</i> +of that information; but only go to shew the effect it produced +upon the mind of an individual, who seems to have imbibed a prejudice +against me, no otherwise to be accounted for, except your acquaintance +with him. He is now in his grave, and I am perfectly disposed <i>there</i> to +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 14]</span> +let him rest; you must, however, have been hard pressed indeed, to be +compelled to resort to such flimsy grounds as those, a degree weaker +than even second handed testimony, to support your charges against me. +These communications, you observe, are now in the archives of the Navy +Department. Of this fact, Sir, I had long been apprized; and had +you, when searching the records of that Department for documents to +injure my character, looked a little further back, you would perhaps +have found others calculated to produce a very different effect. Of my +desire to return to the United States, during the late war, there are certificates +in the Navy Department of the first respectability, which, if you +had been disposed to find and quote, are perhaps laying on the same +shelf from whence you took those, that you appear so anxious to bring +to public view; I mean my letter applying for service, as soon as an +opportunity offered, after the term of my suspension expired; and one +letter, above all, <i>you</i> should not have passed over unnoticed, that which +you received from my hand of May, 1803, addressed to the Secretary of +the Navy, which was one of the principal causes of your obtaining the +first command that you were ever honored with, and as you may +have forgotten it, I will remind you, on this occasion, that, but little +more than one month previous to the date of that letter, I by my advice +and arguments, saved you from resigning the service of your country +in a pet, because you were removed from the first lieutenancy of the +New York, to that of second of the Chesapeake; but all this and much +more is now forgotten by <i>you</i>, yet there are others that recollect those +circumstances, and the history of your conduct to me will outlive you, +let my fate be what it may. The affair of the Chesapeake did certainly +"excite," and ought to have excited, the indignant feeling of the nation +towards Great Britain; but, however it may have justified a declaration +of war against that power, it was not, as you assert "every one admits," +one of the principal causes of the late war. That it did not take +place, sir, until <i>five years</i> after, when that affair had been amicably and +of course honourably adjusted between the two nations. I mention this +fact, not on account of its importance, but because you have laid so much +stress on that "affair," as a reason why I ought to have returned home +during the late war, and to shew that, although it <i>did</i> happen to be +your fortunate lot to have an opportunity of being in the foremost rank, +on that occasion, of which you seem inclined to vaunt, you are ignorant +even of the causes which led to it. Having, in your letter of the 5th +inst. abandoned the charge of my having sailed under "British license," +after the commencement of the late war, in consequence of information +received by you from a gentleman entitled to the fullest credit, that I +was not afloat, until after the peace, consequently the report which you +noticed of my having sailed under British license, must be unfounded. +I have only to remark, on this head, that in advancing a charge against +me of so serious a nature, and designed and so well calculated, as it was, +to affect, materially, my reputation, not only as an officer of the navy, +but as a citizen of the United States, you should first have ascertained +that it was founded on <i>fact</i>, and not on rumour, which you so +much <i>harp</i> upon; and that upon a proper investigation you would have +discovered your other accusations to be equally groundless. For my not +returning home during the late war, I do not hold myself, to use your +own expressions, "in any way accountable to you," Sir. It would be +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 15]</span> +for the government, I should suppose, to take notice of my absence, if +they deemed it reprehensible; and they no doubt would have done +so, had not the circumstances of the case, in their estimation, justified it. +That they are perfectly satisfied upon this point, I have good reason to +believe, and trust I shall be able to satisfy my country also. The President's +personal conduct to me, and the memorial of the Virginia Delegation +in Congress, to him, prove how I stand with those high characters, +your opinion, notwithstanding, to the contrary. I deny, Sir, that I +ever was "urged" by my friends, as you in mockery term them, to return +home during the late war, nor could it have been requisite for me to +have been "urged" to do so by any one. Laying patriotism out of the +question, as you observe, as well as the reasons why you think "it behoved +me" to adopt that course, there were other incentives strong +enough, God knows, to excite a desire on my part to return; and I should +have returned, Sir, but for circumstances beyond my control, which is not +incumbent on me to explain to <i>you</i>.</p> + +<p>Had the many opportunities really presented themselves which you +allege were "every day occurring," of which I might have availed myself +to return to my country, in privateers or other fast sailing merchant +vessels, from France and other places, but of which you produce +no other proof than random assertion, on which most of your other +charges rest? There were no such opportunities, as you say were +"every day occurring;" no, not one within my reach, and for some +considerable time after the news of the war arrived in Denmark, it was +not believed that it would continue six months; but, if I had received +the slightest intimation from the department that I should have been +employed on my return, I should have considered no sacrifice too great, +no exertion within my power should have been omitted to obtain so desirable +an object, as any mark of my country's confidence would have +been to me in such a moment; a gun boat, under my own orders, would +not have been refused; but what hope had I, when my letter of application +for service was not even honored by an answer. In regard to +the John Adams, I do not deem it proper on this occasion to explain my +reasons for making the attempt to return in that ship; but whenever I +am called on by any person properly authorized to make the enquiry, +I am confident that I shall convince them, that I had good reason to believe +that I should obtain a passage in her, notwithstanding your great +knowledge on the occasion.</p> + +<p>You say, by absenting myself, <i>for years</i>, from the country, without +leave from the government, I "subjected myself to be stricken from +the rolls." I knew also, by the 10th article of the act for the better +government of the navy, that all persons in the navy holding intercourse +with an enemy, became subject to the severest punishment +known to the law; and that, for these offences, as you are pleased to +term them, "I have not received, to your knowledge, even a reprimand;" +but I presume if I have not it is not your fault. What kind +and humane forbearance this, after what I have already endured! But, +sir, as you seem to be so very intelligent upon other points, pray tell +me where was the necessity of my asking for a furlough until the period +of my suspension expired, or even after having reported myself +for duty without being noticed. As to the charge of my holding +intercourse with the enemy, I am at a loss to conceive to what you +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 16]</span> +allude, and should degrade myself by giving it any other reply than +to pronounce it—if you mean to insinuate there was any unlawful or +improper communication on my part with the government, or any +individual of Great Britain, as a <i>false</i> and <i>foul</i> aspersion on my character, +which no conduct or circumstance of my life, however it might +be tortured by your malice or ingenuity, can, in any manner, justify +or support. You say, also, that you <i>do know</i> "that my pay, even +during my absence, was <i>continued to me</i>." It is not the fact, sir; I never, +and until very recently since my return, received but half pay. +This part of your letter I should not have regarded, were it not to +shew with what boldness, facility, and <i>sang froid</i>, you can make assertions +unsustained even by the shadow of truth; but, if you had made +yourself acquainted with the circumstances relative to my <i>half pay</i>, +you would have found that not one cent of it was received by me. The +government was so good as to pay the amount to my unfortunate female +family, whose kindest entertainment you have frequently enjoyed. +Poor unfortunate children! whose ancestors, every man of +them, did contribute every disposable shilling of their property, many +of them their lives, and all of them their best exertions, to establish +the independence of their country, should now be told that the +small amount of my half pay was considered, by an officer of high +rank, too much for them! You have been good enough to inform me +that, on my return to this country, my "<i>efforts</i>," as you have been +pleased to call them, "to re-instate myself in the service were known, +and became a subject of conversation with officers, as well as others;" +and, but for those "efforts," it is <i>more than probable</i> you would not have +<i>spoken of me</i>. This would indeed have displayed a wonderful degree +of lenity and courtesy on your part, of which I could not have failed to be +duly sensible. But, sir, I beg leave to ask how, and where, did you get +your information, that such "efforts" were made by me; and even admit +they were, why should you <i>alone</i>, disclaiming, as you pretend to do, all +"<i>personal enmity</i>" against me, have made yourself so <i>particularly busy</i> on the +occasion? Was it because your inflated pride led you to believe that the +weight of your influence was greater than that of any other officer of the +navy, or that you were more tenacious of its honor and "respectability," than +the rest of the officers were? You assure me, however, 'that, in the interchange +of opinion with other officers respecting me, you have never met +with more than one who did not entirely concur with you in the opinion +you have expressed of me.' Indeed! and what is the reason? It is +because I suppose you are most commonly attended by a train of dependents, +who, to enjoy the sunshine of your favour, act as <i>caterers</i> +for your vanity; and, revolving around you like <i>satellites</i>, borrow +their chief consequence from the countenance you may <i>condescend</i> to +bestow upon them. You, at length, arrive at the main point; the "object" +of my letter of the 23d ultimo, which you might have reached +by a much <i>shorter route</i>, and have saved me the fatigue of being compelled, +in self defence, to travel with you so far as you have gone. +The language of defiance, represented to have been used by you, 'that +you would cheerfully meet me in the field, and hoped I would yet act +like a man,' are disavowed by you. And you further deny having ever +invited me to the field, or expressed a hope that I would call you +out; but you observe that, 'being informed by a gentleman with +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 17]</span> +whom I had <i>conferred</i> upon the subject, that I left Norfolk, for the +seat of government, some time before our June correspondence, with +the intention of calling you out, you stated to that gentleman, as you +have to <i>all others</i> with whom you have conversed upon the subject, that, +if I made the call, you would meet me; but that, upon all scores, +you would be much better pleased to have nothing to do with me.' +I certainly do not <i>exactly</i> know who that intermeddling gentleman was, +with whom you say I "conferred;" but, if I may be allowed a conjecture, +I think I can recognize in him the self same officious <i>gentleman</i>, +who, I am creditably informed, originated the report of your having +made use of the gasconading expressions you have disowned:—In +this respect I may be mistaken. Be this, however, as it may, I never +gave him, or any other person, to understand that my visit to Washington +last spring, was for the purpose of "calling you out," nor <i>did</i> I +go there with <i>any such view</i>.</p> + +<p>How you can reconcile your affecting indifference towards me, in the +remark "that, on all scores, you would be much better pleased to have +nothing to do with me," with the very active part which, it is generally +known, and which your own letter clearly evinces, you have taken +against me, I am at a loss to conceive. No, sir, you feel not so much +unconcern as you pretend and wish it to be believed you do, in regard +to the course of conduct my honor and my injuries may, in my judgment, +require me to pursue. You have a <i>motive</i>, not to be concealed +from the world, for all you have done or said, or for any future endeavors +you may make, to bar my "re-admission" into the service. It is +true, you have never given me a direct, formal and written invitation, +to meet you in the field, such as one gentleman of honor <i>ought</i> to send +to another. But, if your own admissions, that you had "incautiously +said you would meet me if I wished it," and "that if you had not +<i>pledged yourself</i>, you might re-consider the subject," and all this too +without any provocation on my part, or the most distant intimation from +me that I had a desire to meet you, do not amount to a challenge, I +cannot comprehend the object or import of such declarations—made as +they were in the face of the world; and to those in particular, whom +you knew would not only communicate them to me, but give them circulation; +under all the circumstances of the case, I consider you as having +thrown down the gauntlet, and I have no hesitation in accepting it. +This is, however, a point which it will not be for you or me to decide, +nor do I view it as of any other importance than as respects the privilege +allowed to the challenged party in relation to the choice of weapons, +distance, &c. about which I feel not more "fastidious," I assure you, sir, +than you do; nor do I claim any advantage whatever, which I have +no right to insist upon; could I stoop so low as to solicit any. I know +you too well to believe you would have any inclination to concede +them. All I demand is to be placed upon equal grounds with you; +such as two honorable men may decide upon, <i>as just and proper</i>. +Upon the subject of duelling, I perfectly coincide with the opinions +you have expressed. I consider it as a barbarous practice which ought +to be exploded from civilized society; but, sir, there may be causes of +such extraordinary and aggravated insult and injury, received by an individual, +as to render an appeal to arms, on his part, absolutely necessary; +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 18]</span> +mine I conceive to be a case of that description, and I feel myself +constrained, by every tie that binds me to society, by all that can make +life desirable to me, to resort to this mode of obtaining that redress due to +me, at your hands, as the only alternative which now seems to present +itself for the preservation of my honor.</p> + +<p>To conclude: you say, "from my manner of proceeding, it appears +to you that I have come to the determination to fight some one, and that +I have selected you for that purpose." To say nothing of the vanity +you display, and the importance you seem to attach to yourself, in thus +intimating, that, being resolved to <i>fight myself</i> into favor, I could no otherwise +do so than by fixing upon you, the very reverse of which you +infer is the fact; I never wished to fight in this way, and, had you +permitted me to remain at rest, I should not have disturbed <i>you</i>; I +should have pursued the "even tenor of my way," without regarding +you at all. But all this would not have suited your ambitious views. +You have <i>hunted</i> me out, have persecuted me with all the power and +influence of your office, and have declared your determination to attempt +to drive me from the navy, if I should make any "efforts" to be employed, +and for what purpose, or from what other motive than to obtain +my rank, I know not: if my life will give it to you, you shall have an +opportunity of obtaining it. And now, sir, I have only to add, that, if +you will make known your determination, and the name of your friend, +I will give that of mine, in order to complete the necessary arrangements +to a final close of this affair. I can make no other apology for +the apparent tardiness of this communication, than merely to state, that, +being on very familiar terms with my family, out of tenderness to their +feelings, I have written under great restraint.</p> + +<p class="center">I am, sir, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p class="right">JAMES BARRON.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h2">No. 10</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Washington</span>, <i>29th December, 1819</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>: Your communication of the 30th ultimo reached me as I was +on the eve of my departure for the north; whence I did not return +till the 22d inst. It was my determination, on the receipt of your letter, +not to notice it; but upon mature reflection, I conceive, that as I have +suffered myself to be drawn into this unprofitable discussion, I ought not +to leave the false colouring and calumnies, which you have introduced +into your letter, unanswered. You state, that a much more laconic reply to +your letter of 23d October would have served your purpose. Of this I +have no doubt; and to have insured such an answer, you had only to +make a laconic call. I had already informed you of the course I had felt +myself bound to pursue respecting you, and of the reasons which induced +my conduct, and that, if you required it, I would overcome my own +disinclination and fight you. Instead of calling me out for injuries which +you chose to insist that I have heaped upon you, <i>you</i> have thought fit to +enter into this war of words.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 19]</span> +I reiterate to you, that I have not challenged, nor do I intend to +challenge you. I do not consider it essential to my reputation that I +should notice any thing which may come from you, the more particularly, +when you declare your sole object, in wishing to draw the challenge +from me, is, that you may avail yourself of the advantages which +rest with the challenged. It is evident, that you think, or your friends +for you, that a fight will help you; but in fighting, you wish to incur the +least possible risk. Now, sir, not believing that a fight of this nature +will raise me at all in public estimation, but may even have a contrary +effect, I do not feel at all disposed to remove the difficulties that lay in +your way. If we fight, it must be of your seeking; and you must take +all the risk and all the inconvenience which usually attend the challenger, +in such cases.</p> + +<p>You deny having made the communication to the British consul at +Pernambuco, which captain Lewis and Mr. Goodwin have represented. +The man capable of making such a communication, would not hesitate +in denying it; and, until you can bring forward some testimony, other +than your own, you ought not to expect that the testimony of those gentlemen +will be discredited. As to the veracity of the British consul, I +can prove, if necessary, that you have, yourself, vouched for that.</p> + +<p>You offer, as your excuse for not returning to your country, during +our war with England, that you had not been invited home by the then +Secretary, notwithstanding you had written him, expressive of your +wishes to be employed. You state, that, if you "had received the +slightest intimation from the department, that you would have been +employed on your return, you would have considered no sacrifice too +great, no exertion within your power should have been omitted to obtain +so desirable an object." From this, I would infer, that, in consequence +of not receiving this intimation, you did not make the exertions in your +power to return, and this I hold to be an insufficient excuse. You do +not pretend to have made any attempt, except by the way of the cartel, +the John Adams. You cannot believe, that reporting yourself to the +Department, at the distance of 4000 miles, when the same conveyance +which brought your letter would have brought yourself, will be received +as evincing sufficient zeal to join the arms of your country; and besides, +you say it was not believed, for a considerable time after the news of +war arrived in Denmark, that the war would last six months. With +those impressions, you must have known, that it would have occupied +at least that time for your letter to have arrived at the Department, +you to receive an answer, and then to repair to America. You deny +that the opportunities of returning were frequent. The custom house +entries at Baltimore and New York alone, from the single port of Bordeaux, +will show nearly an hundred arrivals; and it is well known, that +it required only a few days to perform the journey from Copenhagen to +Bordeaux, by the ordinary course of post. You deny having been advised +to return to this country, by your friends, during the war. Mr. +Cook, of Norfolk, your relative, says he wrote to you to that effect; and +Mr. Forbes, then our consul at Copenhagen, who is now at this place, +says he urged you in person to do so.</p> + +<p>You have charged the officers who concur with me in opinion respecting +your claims to service, as being my satellites. I think I am not +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 20]</span> +mistaken, when I inform you, that all the officers of our grade, your +superiors as well as inferiors, with the exception of one who is your +junior concur in the opinion, that you ought not to be employed again, +whilst the imputations, which now lie against you, remain; nor have +they been less backward than myself in expressing their opinions.</p> + +<p>Your charge of my wishing to obtain your rank, will apply to all who +are your juniors, with as much force as to myself. You never have +interfered with me in the service, and, at the risk of being esteemed by +you a little vain, I must say, I do not think you ever will. Were I disposed +to kill out of my way, as you have been pleased to insinuate, those +who interfere with my advancement, there are others, my superiors, +who I consider fairly barring my pretensions; and it would serve such +purpose better, to begin with them. You say, you were the means of +obtaining me the first command I ever had in service. I deny it: I feel +that I owe my standing to my exertions only.</p> + +<p>Your statement, that your advice prevented me from resigning on a +former occasion, is equally unfounded. I have never, since my first admission +into the navy, contemplated resigning; and, instead of being +ordered, as you state, from the 1st lieutenancy of the New York, to the +2d of the Chesapeake, Commodore Chauncy, who was then flag captain, +can testify, that I was solicited to remain as 1st lieutenant of the flag +ship: and I should have remained as such, had it not been for the demand +which the government of Malta made, for the delivery of the +persons who had been concerned in the affair of honour, which led to +the death of a British officer. It was deemed necessary to send all the +persons, implicated in that affair, out of the way; and I went home in +the Chesapeake, as a passenger.</p> + +<p>You have been pleased to allude to my having received the hospitality +of your family. The only time I recollect having been at your house, +was on my arrival from the Mediterranean in the Congress, fourteen +years past. You came on board, and dined with me; and invited the +Tunisian ambassador and myself to spend the evening with you at +Hampton. I accepted your invitation. Your having now reminded me +of it, tends very much towards removing the weight of obligation I +might otherwise have felt on this score.</p> + +<p>You speak of the good conduct of your ancestors. As your own conduct +is under discussion, and not theirs, I cannot see how their former +good character can at all serve your present purpose. Fortunately for +our country, every man stands upon his own merit.</p> + +<p>You state that the "Virginia delegation in Congress" had presented +a memorial in your favour. I would infer from this, that all, or the +greater part of the Virginia delegation, had interposed in your behalf. +This, sir, is not the fact. A few of them, I am informed, did take an +interest in your case; but, being informed of the charges existing +against you, of which they were before unapprised, they did not press +farther your claims. From the knowledge I have of the high-minded +gentlemen that compose the Virginia delegation, if they would take the +trouble to examine your case, I should, for my own part, be entirely +satisfied to place the honour of the service upon their decision.</p> + +<p>You offer as your excuse for permitting four months to intervene +between our June correspondence, (with which, from your letter, you +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 21]</span> +appeared to be satisfied) and your letter of 23d October, your indisposition. +I am authorized in saying, that, for the greater part of the four +months, you were out attending to your usual avocations.</p> + +<p>Your offering your life to me would be quite affecting, and might (as +you evidently intend) excite sympathy, if it were not ridiculous. It will +not be lost sight of, that your jeopardizing your life depends upon yourself, +and not upon me; and is done with a view to fighting your own +character up. I have now to inform you, that I shall pay no further +attention to any communication you may make to me, other than a direct +call to the field.</p> + +<p class="center">Your obedient servant,</p> + +<p class="right">STEPHEN DECATUR.</p> + +<p>To Commodore <span class="smcap">James Barron</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Hampton, Va.</i></span></p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h2">No. 11</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Norfolk</span>, <i>January 16th, 1820</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>: Your letter of the 29th ult. I have received. In it you say that +you have now to inform me that you shall pay no further attention to +any communication that I may make to you other than a direct call to +the field; in answer to which I have only to reply, that whenever you +will consent to meet me on fair and equal grounds, that is, such as two +honourable men may consider just and proper, you are at liberty to view +this as that call; the whole tenor of your conduct to me justifies this +course of proceeding on my part; as for your charges and remarks, I +regard them not, particularly your sympathy; you know not such a feeling—I +cannot be suspected of making the attempt to excite it.</p> + +<p class="center">I am, sir, yours, &c.</p> + +<p class="right">JAMES BARRON.</p> + +<p>To Commodore <span class="smcap">Stephen Decatur</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Washington</i>.</span></p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h2">No. 12</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Washington</span>, <i>Jan. 24, 1820</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>: I have received your communication of the 16th, and am at a +loss to know what your intention is. If you intended it as a challenge, +I accept it, and refer you to my friend Com. Bainbridge, who is fully authorized +by me to make any arrangement he pleases, as regards weapons, +mode, or distance.</p> + +<p class="center">Your obedient servant,</p> + +<p class="right">STEPHEN DECATUR.</p> + +<p>Com. <span class="smcap">James Barron</span>.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 22]</span></p> + +<p class="h2">No. 14</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Norfolk</span>, <i>Feb</i>. 6, 1820.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>: Your letter of the 29th of December found me confined to bed, +with a violent bilious fever, and it was eight days after its arrival before +I was able to read it; the fever, however, about that time, left me, and +my convalescence appeared to promise a moderately quick recovery. +I, therefore, wrote you my note of the 16th ultimo; in two days after +I relapsed, and have had a most violent attack, which has reduced me +very low, but as soon as I am in a situation to write, you shall hear from +me to the point.</p> + +<p class="cnobmargin">I am, sir,</p> + +<p class="cnotmargin"><span style="margin-left: 8em;">your obedient servant,</span></p> + +<p class="right">JAMES BARRON.</p> + +<p>Com. <span class="smcap">Stephen Decatur</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Washington</i></span>.</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<div class="tnote"> + +<p class="h2">Transcriber Notes:</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Obsolete spellings of words (e.g., behove, shew, somtime, stile, +etc.) have been retained.</p> + +<p>On page 5, "degraged" was replaced with "degraded".</p> + +<p>On page 7, "be the folllowing" was replaced with "by the +following".</p> + +<p>On page 9, "a Miss ******" was replaced with "a Miss ——".</p> + +<p>On page 10, in "I should no otherwise notice" the phrase "should no +otherwise" could have been "should not otherwise", but then "should no +otherwise" could have been correct at the time. Thus, no change was +made.</p> + +<p>On page 13, "henious" was replaced with "heinous".</p> + +<p>On page 16, "sattellites" was replaced with "satellites".</p> + +<p>On page 18, the period after "obtain my rank" was replaced with a comma.</p> + +<p>On page 18, a period was added after "22 inst".</p> + +<p>On page 21, "NO. 12" was replaced with "No. 12".</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Correspondence, between the late +Commodore Stephen Decatur and Commodore James Barron, by Stephen Decatur and James Barron + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CORRESPONDENCE -- DECATUR AND BARRON *** + +***** This file should be named 34393-h.htm or 34393-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/3/9/34393/ + +Produced by Ernest Schaal and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Correspondence, between the late Commodore Stephen Decatur and Commodore James Barron + which led to the unfortunate meeting of the twenty-second of March + +Author: Stephen Decatur + James Barron + +Release Date: November 22, 2010 [EBook #34393] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CORRESPONDENCE -- DECATUR AND BARRON *** + + + + +Produced by Ernest Schaal and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + CORRESPONDENCE, + + BETWEEN THE LATE + + COMMODORE STEPHEN DECATUR + + AND + + COMMODORE JAMES BARRON, + + WHICH LED TO THE + + UNFORTUNATE MEETING + + OF THE + + TWENTY SECOND OF MARCH + + * * * * * + + BOSTON: + PRINTED BY RUSSELL & GARDNER. + + 1820. + + + + +The friends of the late Commodore DECATUR, have learned, with very great +regret, that misconceptions injurious to him prevail, and are extending, +relative to the difference between him and Commodore BARRON. To place +the subject in its true light, they have thought it necessary to submit +to the public, without comment, the whole correspondence which preceded +the meeting. + + + + + CORRESPONDENCE, &c. + + + * * * * * + + No. 1. + + HAMPTON, (VA.) JUNE 12,[1] 1819. + +SIR: I have been informed, in Norfolk, that you have said that you could +insult me with impunity, or words to that effect. If you have said so, +you will no doubt avow it, and I shall expect to hear from you. + + I am, sir, your obedient servant, + JAMES BARRON. + +To Commodore STEPHEN DECATUR, + _Washington_. + +[1] With respect to the date of this letter, it may be proper to +observe, that, although it is 12th June, yet the figure 2, as made, +might well be mistaken for a 3: hence, in Commodore Decatur's letter of +reply, he considered the date to be 13th June. On referring, however, to +the post mark on the back of the letter, it was found to have been put +into the post office on the 12th: hence, in Commodore Decatur's letter +to Commodore Barron, of the 31st October, 1819, it is recognized as +dated on the 12th. + + * * * * * + + No. 2. + + WASHINGTON, JUNE 17, 1819. + +SIR: I have received your communication of the 13th instant. Before you +could have been entitled to the information you have asked of me, you +should have given up the name of your informer. That frankness which +ought to characterize our profession required it. I shall not, however, +refuse to answer you on that account, but shall be as candid in my +communication to you as your letter or the case will warrant. + +Whatever I may have _thought, or said, in the very frequent and free +conversation I have had respecting you and your conduct_, I feel a +thorough conviction that I never could have been guilty of so much +egotism as to say that "_I_ could insult you" (or any other man) "with +impunity." + + I am, sir, your obedient servant, + STEPHEN DECATUR. + +To Commodore JAMES BARRON, + _Hampton, Virginia_. + + * * * * * + + No. 3. + + HAMPTON, (VA.) JUNE 25, 1819. + +SIR: Your communication of the 17th instant, in answer to mine of the +13th, I have received. + +The circumstances that urged me to call on you for the information +requested in my letter, would, I presume, have instigated you, or any +other person, to the same conduct that I pursued. Several gentlemen in +Norfolk, not your enemies, nor actuated by any malicious motive, told me +that such a report was in circulation, but could not now be traced to +its origin. I, therefore, concluded to appeal to you, supposing, under +such circumstances, that I could not outrage any rule of decorum or +candor. This, I trust, will be considered as a just motive for the +course I have pursued. Your declaration, if I understand it correctly, +relieves my mind from the apprehension that you had so degraded my +character, as I had been induced to allege. + + I am, sir, your obedient servant, + JAMES BARRON. + +To Commodore STEPHEN DECATUR, + _Washington_. + + * * * * * + + No. 4. + + WASHINGTON, JUNE 29, 1819. + +SIR: I have received your communication of the 25th, in answer to mine +of the 17th, and, as you have expressed yourself doubtfully, as to your +correct understanding of my letter of the aforesaid date, I have now to +state, and I request you to understand distinctly, that I meant _no +more_ than to disclaim the _specific_ and _particular_ expression to +which your inquiry was directed, to wit: that I had said that _I_ could +insult you with impunity. As to the motives of the "several gentlemen in +Norfolk," your informants, or the rumors which "cannot be traced to +their origin," on which their information was founded, or who they are, +is a matter of perfect indifference to me, as is also your motives in +making such an inquiry upon such information. + + Your obedient servant, + STEPHEN DECATUR. + +To Commodore JAMES BARRON, + _Hampton, Virginia_. + + + * * * * * + + No. 5. + + HAMPTON, OCTOBER 23, 1819. + +SIR: I had supposed that the measure of your ambition was nearly +completed, and that your good fortune had rendered your reputation for +acts of magnanimity too dear to be risked wantonly on occasions that can +never redound to the honor of him that would be great. I had also +concluded that your rancor towards me was fully satisfied, by the cruel +and unmerited sentence passed upon me by the court of which you were a +member; and, after an exile from my country, family, and friends, of +nearly seven years, I had concluded that I should now be allowed, at +least, to enjoy that solace, with this society, that lacerated feelings +like mine required, and that you would have suffered me to remain in +quiet possession of those enjoyments; but, scarcely had I set my foot on +my native soil, ere I learnt that the same malignant spirit which had +before influenced you to endeavor to ruin my reputation was still at +work, and that you were ungenerously traducing my character whenever an +occasion occurred which suited your views, and, in many instances, not +much to your credit as an officer, through the medium of our juniors; +such conduct cannot fail to produce an injurious effect on the +discipline and subordination of the navy. A report of this sort, sir, +coming from the respectable and creditable sources it did, could not +fail to arrest my attention, and to excite those feelings which might +naturally be expected to arise in the heart of every man who professes +to entertain principles of honor, and intends to act in conformity with +them. With such feelings I addressed a letter to you under date of the +13th June last, which produced a correspondence between us, which I have +since been informed you have endeavored to use to my farther injury, by +sending it to Norfolk by a respectable officer of the navy, to be shewn +to some of my particular friends, with a view of alienating from me +their attachment. I am also informed, that you have tauntingly and +boastingly observed, that you would cheerfully meet me in the field, and +hoped I would yet act like a man, or that you had used words to that +effect: such conduct, sir, on the part of any one, but especially one +occupying the influential station under the government which you hold, +towards an individual, situated as I am, and oppressed as I have been, +and that chiefly by your means, is unbecoming you as an officer and a +gentleman; and shews a want of magnanimity which, hostile as I have +found you to be towards me, I had hoped for your own reputation you +possessed. It calls loudly for redress at your hands: I consider you as +having given the invitation, which I accept, and will prepare to meet +you at such time and place as our respective friends, hereafter to be +named, shall designate. I also, under all the circumstances of the case, +consider myself entitled to the choice of weapons, place, and distance; +but, should a difference of opinion be entertained by our friends, I +flatter myself, from your known personal courage, that you would disdain +any unfair advantage, which your superiority in the use of the pistol, +and the natural defect in my vision, increased by age, would give you. I +will thank you not to put your name on the cover of your answer, as, I +presume, you can have no disposition to give unnecessary pain to the +females of my family. + + I am, sir, your obedient servant, + JAMES BARRON. + +Commodore STEPHEN DECATUR, + _Washington_. + + * * * * * + + No. 6. + + WASHINGTON, OCTOBER 31, 1819. + +SIR: Your letter of the 23d inst. has been duly received. Prior to +giving it that reply which I intend, its contents suggest the necessity +of referring to our June correspondence. + +On the 12th June last, you addressed to me a note, inquiring whether I +had said that "I could insult you with impunity." On the 17th June, I +wrote you, in reply, as follows: "Whatever I may have _thought or said +in the very frequent and free conversations I have had respecting you +and your conduct_, I feel a thorough conviction that I never could have +been guilty of so much egotism, as to say that _I_ could insult you, or +any other man, with impunity." + +On the 25th of June, you again wrote to me, and stated, that the report +on which you had grounded your query of 12th June, "could not now be +traced to its origin," and your letter is concluded in the following +words: "your declaration, if I understand it correctly, relieves my mind +from the apprehension that you had so degraded my character, as I had +been induced to allege." Immediately on receiving your letter of the +25th of June, I wrote to you, 29th June, as follows: "As you have +expressed yourself doubtfully as to your correct understanding of my +letter of the 17th June, I have now to state, and I request you to +understand, distinctly, that I meant _no more_ than to disclaim the +_specific_ and _particular_ expression, to which your inquiry was +directed, to wit: "that I had said that I could insult you with +impunity." Here ended our June correspondence, and, with it all kind of +communication, till the date of your letter of the 23d inst. which I +shall now proceed to notice. + +Nearly four months having elapsed since the date of our last +correspondence, your letter was unexpected to me, particularly as the +terms used by you, in the conclusion of your letter to me of 25th June, +and your silence since receiving my letter of the 29th June, indicated, +as I thought, satisfaction on your part. But, it seems that you consider +yourself aggrieved by my sending our June correspondence to Norfolk. I +did not send the June correspondence to Norfolk, until three months had +expired after your last communication, and not then, until I had been +informed by a captain of the navy, that a female of your acquaintance +had stated, that such a correspondence had taken place.[1] If that +correspondence has, in any degree, "alienated your friends from you," +such effect is to be attributed to the correspondence itself. I thought +the papers would speak for themselves, and sent them without written +comment. + +[1] See the extracts from Capt. Carter's letter, post. page 13. + +With respect to the court martial upon you for the affair of the +Chesapeake, to which you have been pleased to refer, I shall not treat +the officers, who composed that court, with so much disrespect, as to +attempt a vindication of their proceedings. The chief magistrate of our +country approved them; the nation approved them; and the sentence has +been carried into effect. But, sir, there is a part of my conduct, on +that occasion, which it does not appear irrelevant to revive in your +recollection. It is this; I was present at the court of inquiry upon +you, and heard the evidence then adduced for and against you; thence I +drew an opinion altogether unfavorable to you; and, when I was called +upon, by the Secretary of the Navy, to act as a member of the court +martial ordered for your trial, I begged to be excused the duty, on the +ground of my having formed such an opinion. The honorable Secretary was +pleased to insist on my serving; still anxious to be relieved from this +service, I did, prior to taking my seat as a member of the court, +communicate to your able advocate, general Taylor, the opinion I had +formed, and my correspondence with the Navy Department upon the subject, +in order to afford you an opportunity, should you deem it expedient, to +protest against my being a member, on the ground of my not only having +formed, but _expressed_ an opinion unfavorable to you. You did not +protest against my being a member. Duty constrained me, however +unpleasant it was, to take my seat as a member; I did so, and discharged +the duty imposed upon me. You, I find, are incapable of estimating the +motives which guided my conduct in this transaction. + +For my conduct as a member of that court martial, I do not consider +myself as, in any way, accountable to _you_. But, sir, you have thought +fit to deduce, from your impressions of my conduct as a member of that +court martial, inferences of personal hostility towards you. Influenced +by feelings thence arising, you commenced the June correspondence, a +correspondence which I had hoped would have terminated our +communications. + +Between you and myself there never has been a personal difference; but +I have entertained, and do still entertain the opinion, that your +conduct as an officer, since the affair of the Chesapeake, has been such +as ought to forever bar your readmission into the service. + +In my letter to you, of the 17th June, although I disavowed the +_particular expressions_ to which you invited my attention, candor +required that I should apprise you of my not having been silent +respecting you. I informed you that I had had _very frequent and free +conversations respecting you and your conduct_; and the words were +underscored, that they might not fail to attract your particular +attention. Had you have asked what those frequent and free conversations +were, I should, with the same frankness, have told you; but, instead of +making a demand of this kind, you reply to my letter of 17th June, "That +my declaration, if correctly understood by you, relieved your mind," &c. +That you might correctly understand what I did mean, I addressed you as +before observed, on the 29th June, and endeavored, by _underscoring_ +certain precise terms, to convey to you my precise meaning. To this last +letter I never received a reply. + +Under these circumstances, I have judged it expedient at this time, to +state, as distinctly as may be in my power, the facts upon which I +ground the unfavourable opinion which I entertain, and have expressed, +of your conduct as an officer, since the court martial upon you; while I +disclaim all personal enmity towards you. + +Some time after you had been suspended from the service, for your +conduct in the affair of the Chesapeake, you proceeded, in a merchant +brig, from Norfolk to Pernambuco; and by a communication from the late +Captain Lewis, whose honor and veracity were never yet questioned, it +appears--that you stated to Mr. Lyon, the _British consul_ at +Pernambuco, with whom you lived, "That if the Chesapeake had been +prepared for action, you would not have resisted the attack of the +Leopard; assigning, as a reason, that you knew, (as did also our +government,) there were deserters on board your ship; that the President +of the United States knew there were deserters on board, and of the +intention of the British to take them; and that the President caused you +to go out in a defenceless state, for the express purpose of having your +ship attacked and disgraced, and thus attain his favorite object of +involving the United States in a war with Great Britain." For +confirmation of this information, Captain Lewis refers to Mr. Thomas +Goodwin, of Baltimore, the brother of Captain Ridgely of the Navy, who +received it from Mr. Lyon himself. Reference was made to Mr. Goodwin, +who, in an official communication, confirmed all that Captain Lewis had +said. The veracity and respectability of Mr. Goodwin are also beyond +question. You will be enabled to judge of the impression made upon +Captain Lewis' mind, by the following strong remarks he made on the +subject: + +"I am now convinced that Barron is a traitor, for I can call by no other +name a man who would talk in this way to an Englishman, and an +Englishman in office." + +These communications are now in the archives of the Navy Department. + +If, sir, the affair of the Chesapeake excited the indignant feelings of +the nation towards Great Britain; and was, as every one admits, one of +the principal causes which produced the late war, did it not behove you +to take an active part in the war, for your own sake?--Patriotism out of +the question! But, sir, instead of finding you in the foremost ranks, on +an occasion which so emphatically demanded your best exertions, it is +said, and is credited, that you were, after the commencement of the war, +to be found in the command of a vessel sailing under _British license_! +Though urged, by your _friends_, to avail yourself of some one of the +opportunities which were every day occurring in privateers, or other +fast sailing merchant vessels, sailing from France, and other places, to +return to your country during the war; it is not known that you +manifested a disposition to do so, excepting in the single instance by +the _cartel_ John Adams, in which vessel, you must have known, you could +not be permitted to return, without violating her character as a cartel. + +You say you have been oppressed. You know, sir, that, by absenting +yourself, as you did for years, from the country, without leave from the +government, you subjected yourself to be stricken from the rolls. You +know, also, that, by the 10th article of the act for the better +government of the Navy, all persons in the Navy holding intercourse with +an enemy, become subject to the severest punishment known to our laws. +You have not, for the offences before stated, to my knowledge, received +even a reprimand; and I do know, that your pay, even during your +absence, has been continued to you. + +As to my having spoken of you injuriously to "junior officers," I have +to remark, that such is the state of our service that we have but few +seniors. If I speak with officers at all, the probability is, it will be +with a junior. + +On your return to this country, your efforts to re-establish yourself in +the service were known, and became a subject of conversation with +officers as well as others. In the many and _free_ conversations I have +had respecting you and your conduct, I have said, for the causes above +enumerated, that, in my opinion, you ought not to be received again into +the naval service; that there was not employment for all the officers +who had faithfully discharged their duty to their country in the hour of +trial; and that it would be doing an act of injustice to employ you, to +the exclusion of any one of them. In speaking thus, and endeavoring to +prevent your re-admission, I conceive that I was performing a duty I owe +to the service; that I was contributing to the preservation of its +respectability. Had you have made no effort to be re-employed, after the +war, it is more than probable I might not have spoken of you. If you +continue your efforts, I shall certainly, from the same feelings of +public duty by which I have hitherto been actuated, be constrained to +continue the expression of my opinions; and I can assure you, that, in +the interchange of opinions with other officers respecting you, I have +never met with more than one who did not entirely concur with me. + +The objects of your communication of the 23d, as expressed by you, now +claim my notice. You profess to consider me as having given you "an +invitation." You say that you have been told, that I have "tauntingly +and boastingly observed, that I would cheerfully meet you in the field, +and hoped you would yet act like a man." + +One would naturally have supposed, that, after having been so recently +led into an error by "rumors" which could not be traced, you would have +received, with some caution, subsequent rumors; at all events that you +would have endeavored to have traced them, before again venturing to act +upon them as if they were true. Had you have pursued this course, you +would have discovered, that the latter rumors were equally unfounded as +the former. + +I never invited you to the field; nor have I expressed a hope that you +would call me out. I was informed by a gentleman with whom you had +conferred upon the subject, that you left Norfolk for this place, +somtime before our June correspondence, with the intention of calling me +out. I then stated to that gentleman, as I have to all others with whom +I have conversed upon the subject, that, if you made the call, I would +meet you; but that, on all scores, I should be much better pleased, to +have nothing to do with you. I do not think that fighting duels, under +any circumstances, can raise the reputation of any man, and have long +since discovered, that it is not even an unerring criterion of personal +courage. I should regret the necessity of fighting with any man; but, in +my opinion, the man who makes _arms his profession_, is not at liberty +to decline an invitation from any person, who is not so far degraded, as +to be beneath his notice. Having incautiously said I would meet you, I +will not now consider this to be your case, although many think so; and +if I had not pledged myself, I might reconsider the case. + +As to "weapons, place, and distance," if we are to meet, those points +will, as is usual, be committed to the friend I may select on the +occasion. As far, however, as it may be left to me, not having any +particular prejudice in favor of any particular arm, distance, or mode, +(but, on the contrary, disliking them all,) I should not be found +fastidious on those points, but should be rather disposed to yield you +any little advantage of this kind. As to my skill in the use of the +pistol, it exists more in your imagination than in reality; for the last +twenty years I have had but little practice; and the disparity in our +ages, to which you have been pleased to refer, is, I believe, not more +than five or six years. It would have been out of the common course of +nature, if the vision of either of us had been improved by years. + +From your manner of proceeding, it appears to me, that you have come to +the determination to fight some one, and that you have selected me for +that purpose; and I must take leave to observe, that your object would +have been better attained, had you have made this decision during our +late war, when your fighting might have benefitted your country as well +as yourself. The style of your communication, and the matter, did not +deserve so dispassionate and historical a notice as I have given it; and +had I believed it would receive no other inspection than yours, I should +have spared myself the trouble. The course I adopted with our former +correspondence, I shall pursue with this, if I shall deem it expedient. + + I am, sir, your obedient servant, + STEPHEN DECATUR. + +To Commodore JAMES BARRON, + _Hampton, Virginia_. + + * * * * * + + [EXTRACT.] + + NORFOLK, AUGUST 24, 1819. + +MY DEAR COMMODORE: Nothing had transpired here previous to my arrival, +on the subject of the correspondence; but a Lady, a Miss ----, I think +her name is, from Hampton, has stated, that a correspondence had taken +place between you and B. which she feared would end in a meeting. The +fears of this lady are at direct variance with the opinion of your +friends here, who think that he does not purpose saying more on the +subject. + +As it seems that it was known at Hampton, and even here, that letters +had passed between you and B. may I venture to ask you to send a copy +of them to Mr. Tazewell, who I have just left. He will, with great +pleasure, he says, attend to your wishes. + + Receive the best wishes of your friend, + W. CARTER. + +Commodore DECATUR. + + * * * * * + + No. 7. + + + WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER, 1819. + +SIR: Since my communication to you of the 31st ult. I have been informed +by a gentleman entitled to the fullest credit, that you were not afloat +till after the peace; consequently, the report which I noticed of your +having sailed under British license must be unfounded. + + I am, sir, your obedient servant, + STEPHEN DECATUR. + +Commodore JAS. BARRON. + + * * * * * + + No. 8. + + HAMPTON, NOVEMBER 20, 1819. + +SIR: Unavoidable interruption has prevented my answering your two last +communications as early as it was my wish to have done, but in a few +days you shall have my reply. + + I am, sir, your obedient servant, + JAS. BARRON. + +Commodore STEPHEN DECATUR. + + * * * * * + + No. 9. + + + HAMPTON, NOVEMBER 30, 1819. + +SIR: I did not receive, until Tuesday, the 9th inst. your very lengthy, +elaborate, and historical reply, without date, to my letter to you of +the 23d ultimo; which, from its nature and _object_, did not, I +conceive, require that you should have entered so much into detail, in +defence of the hostile and unmanly course you have pursued towards me, +since the "affair of the Chesapeake," as you term it. A much more +laconic answer would have served my purpose, which, for the present, is +nothing more than to obtain at your hands honorable redress for the +accumulated insults which you, sir, in particular, above all my enemies, +have attempted to heap upon me, in every shape in which they could be +offered. Your last voluminous letter is _alone_ sufficient proof, if +none other existed, of the rancorous disposition you entertain towards +me, and the extent to which you have carried it. That letter I should no +otherwise notice, than merely to inform you it had reached me, and that +I am prepared to meet you in the field upon _any thing_ like fair and +equal grounds; but, inasmuch as you have intimated that our +correspondence is to go before the public, I feel it a duty I owe to +myself, and to the world, to reply particularly to the many calumnious +charges and aspersions with which your "_dispassionate_ and historical +notice" of my communication so abundantly teems; wishing you, sir, at +the same time, "distinctly to understand" that it is not for _you_ +alone, or to justify myself in your estimation, that I take this course. +You have dwelt much upon our "June correspondence," as you stile it, and +have made many quotations from it. I deem it unnecessary, however, to +advert to it, further than to remark, that, although "nearly four +months" did intervene between that correspondence and my letter of the +23d ultimo, my silence arose not from any misapprehension of the purport +of your contumacious "_underscored_" remarks, nor from the malicious +designs they indicated, nor from a tame disposition to yield quietly to +the operation which either might have against me; but, from a tedious +and painful indisposition, which confined me to my bed, the chief part +of that period, as is well known to almost every person here. I +anticipated, however, from what I had found you capable of doing to my +injury, the use to which you would endeavour to pervert that +correspondence; and have not at all been disappointed. So soon as I was +well enough, and heard of your machinations against me, I lost no time +in addressing to you my letter of the 23d ultimo; your reply to which I +have now more particularly to notice. I have not said, nor did I mean to +convey such an idea, nor will my letter bear the interpretation, that +your forwarding to Norfolk, our "June correspondence," had, "in any +degree, alienated my friends from me;" but, that it was sent down there +with _that view_. It is a source of great consolation to me, sir, to +know, that I have more friends, both in and out of the navy, than you +are aware of; and that it is not in your power, great as you may imagine +your official influence to be, to deprive me of their good opinion and +affection. As to the reason which seems to have prompted you to send +that correspondence to Norfolk, "that a female of my acquaintance had +stated that such an one had taken place," I will only remark, that she +did not derive her information from me: that it has always been, and +ever will be, with me, a principle, to touch as delicately as possible, +upon reports said to come from _females_, _intended_ to affect +injuriously the character of any one; and that, in a correspondence like +the _present_, highly as I estimate the sex, I should never think of +introducing _them_ as authority. Females, sir, have nothing, or ought to +have nothing to do in controversies of this kind. In speaking of the +court martial which sat upon my trial, I have cast no imputation or +reflection upon the members individually who composed it (saving +yourself,) which required that you should attempt a vindication of their +proceedings; champion as you are, and hostile as some of them may have +been to me: nor does the language of my letter warrant any such +inference. I merely meant to point out to you, sir, what you appear to +have been incapable of perceiving: the indelicacy of your conduct, (to +say the least of it) in hunting me out as an object for malignant +persecution, after having acted as one of my judges, and giving your +voice in favour of a sentence against me, which I cannot avoid +repeating, was "cruel and unmerited." It is the privilege, sir, of a +man, deeply injured as I have been by that decision, and conscious of +his not deserving it, as I feel myself, to remonstrate against it; and I +have taken the liberty to exercise that privilege. + +You say that "the proceedings of the Court have been approved by the +Chief Magistrate of our country, that the nation approved of them, and +that the sentence has been carried into effect." It is true the +President of the United States _did_ approve of that sentence, and that +it was carried into effect--full and complete effect, which I should +have supposed ought to have glutted the envious and vengeful disposition +of your heart; but I deny that the nation has approved of that sentence, +and as an appeal appears likely to be made to _them_, I am willing to +submit the question. The part you took on that occasion, it was totally +unnecessary, I assure you, "to revive in my recollection;" it is +indelibly imprinted on my mind, and can never, while I have life, be +erased. You acknowledge you were present at the Court of Inquiry in my +case, "heard the evidence for and against me, and had, therefore, formed +and expressed an opinion unfavorable to me," and yet, your conscience +was made of such pliable materials, that, _because_ the then "honorable +Secretary of the Navy was _pleased to insist_ on your serving as a +member of the Court Martial, and because _I_ did not protest against +it," you conceive that "_duty constrained_ you, however unpleasant, to +take your seat as a member," although you were to act under the solemn +sanction of an oath, to render me impartial justice upon the very +testimony which had been delivered in your hearing before the Court of +Inquiry, and from which you "drew an opinion, _altogether unfavorable to +me_." How such conduct can be reconciled with the principles of common +honor and justice, is to me inexplicable. Under such circumstances, _no_ +consideration, no power or authority on earth, could, or ought to, have +forced any liberal high minded man to sit in a case which he had +prejudged, and, to retort upon you your own expressions, you must have +been "incapable of seeing the glaring impropriety of your conduct, for +which, although you do not conceive yourself in any way accountable to +_me_," I hope you will be able to account for it with your God, and your +conscience. + +You say, between you and myself, there never has been a personal +difference, "and you disclaim all personal enmity towards me." If every +step you have taken--every word you have uttered, and every line you +have written, in relation to me--if your own admission of the very +frequent and free conversations you have had respecting me, and my +conduct, "since the affair of the Chesapeake," bear not the plainest +stamp of _personal hostility_, I know not the meaning of such terms; +were you not under the influence of feelings of this sort, why not, in +your official capacity, call me, or have me brought, before a proper +tribunal, to answer the charges you have preferred against me, and +thereby giving me a chance of defending myself? Why speak injuriously of +me to _junior_ officers, "which you do not deny?" Why the "many frequent +and free conversations respecting me and my conduct," which you have +taken so much pains to underscore? Why use the insulting expression, +that you "entertained, and still do entertain, the opinion that my +conduct, as an officer, since that 'affair' has been such as ought +forever to bar my readmission into the service," and that, in +endeavoring to prevent it, "you conceive you were performing a duty you +owe to the service, and were contributing to its respectability?" Why +the _threat_, that if I continued the "efforts" _you_ say I have been +making, to be "re-employed" you "certainly should be constrained to +continue the expression of those opinions?" + +Does not all this, together with the whole tenor and tendency of your +letter, manifest the most marked _personal_ animosity against me, which +an honorable man, acting under a sense of public duty by which you +profess to "have been hitherto actuated," would disdain even to shew, +much more to feel? + +I shall now, sir, take up the specific charges you have alleged against +me, and shall notice them in the order in which they stand. The first +is one of a very _heinous_ character. It is, that "I proceeded in a +merchant brig to Pernambuco." Could I, sir, during the period of my +suspension, have gone any where in a national vessel? Could I, with what +was due to my family, have remained idle? The sentence of the Court +deprived them of the principal means of subsistence. I was therefore +compelled to resort to that description of employment with which I was +best acquainted; and on this subject _you_ should have been silent. But +you add, that the late Captain Lewis, of the Navy, _who had_ it from a +Mr. Goodwin, who heard it from Mr. Lyon, the British Consul at +Pernambuco, with whom you undertake to say I lived, represented me as +stating, "that, if the Chesapeake had been prepared for action, I would +not have resisted the attack of the Leopard; assigning, as a reason, +that I knew, as also did our government, that there were deserters on +board the Chesapeake; and that I said to Mr. Lyon, further, that the +President of the United States knew there were deserters on board, and +of the intention of the British ship to take them, and that the ship was +ordered out under these circumstances, with a view to bring about a +contest which might embroil the two nations in a war." + +The whole of this, Sir, I pronounce to be a falsehood, a ridiculous, +malicious, absurd, improbable falsehood, which can never be credited by +any man that does not feel a disposition to impress on the opinion of +the public that I am an idiot. That I should two years after the affair +of the Chesapeake, make such a declaration, when every proof that could +be required of a contrary disposition on the part of the Chief +Magistrate had been given, cannot receive credit from any one, but those +that are disposed to consider me such a character as you would represent +me to be. I did not live with Mr. Lyon, nor did I ever hold a +conversation with him so indelicate as the one stated in captain Lewis' +letter would have been. And with what object could I have made such a +communication? Mr. Lyon would naturally have felt a contempt for a man +that would have suffered himself to have been made a tool of in so +disgraceful an affair. I found Mr. Lyon transacting business in +Pernambuco: he produced to me a letter from Mr. Hill, the American +consul in that country, recommending him as entitled to the confidence +of his countrymen, every one of whom, in that port, put their business +into his hands. I did the same, and thus commenced our acquaintance; he +was kind and friendly to me, but never in any respect indelicate, as +would have been, in a high degree, such conversation between us. Of Mr. +Goodwin I know nothing. I have never seen him in all my life, nor do I +conceive that his hearsay evidence can ever be of any kind of +consequence against me; I was the first that informed the President, and +the Secretary of the Navy, that such a letter was in the Department, +even before I had seen it; and, again, if the mere oral testimony of a +British agent was to be considered as evidence sufficient to arraign an +American officer, I think the navy would quickly be in such a state, as +it might be desirable for their nation to place it in. As to the +_impressions_ made upon the mind of captain Lewis, from this +_information_, and the "strong remarks" he made upon the subject, which +you have thought proper to quote, they by no means establish the +_correctness_ of that information; but only go to shew the effect it +produced upon the mind of an individual, who seems to have imbibed a +prejudice against me, no otherwise to be accounted for, except your +acquaintance with him. He is now in his grave, and I am perfectly +disposed _there_ to let him rest; you must, however, have been hard +pressed indeed, to be compelled to resort to such flimsy grounds as +those, a degree weaker than even second handed testimony, to support +your charges against me. These communications, you observe, are now in +the archives of the Navy Department. Of this fact, Sir, I had long been +apprized; and had you, when searching the records of that Department for +documents to injure my character, looked a little further back, you +would perhaps have found others calculated to produce a very different +effect. Of my desire to return to the United States, during the late +war, there are certificates in the Navy Department of the first +respectability, which, if you had been disposed to find and quote, are +perhaps laying on the same shelf from whence you took those, that you +appear so anxious to bring to public view; I mean my letter applying for +service, as soon as an opportunity offered, after the term of my +suspension expired; and one letter, above all, _you_ should not have +passed over unnoticed, that which you received from my hand of May, +1803, addressed to the Secretary of the Navy, which was one of the +principal causes of your obtaining the first command that you were ever +honored with, and as you may have forgotten it, I will remind you, on +this occasion, that, but little more than one month previous to the date +of that letter, I by my advice and arguments, saved you from resigning +the service of your country in a pet, because you were removed from the +first lieutenancy of the New York, to that of second of the Chesapeake; +but all this and much more is now forgotten by _you_, yet there are +others that recollect those circumstances, and the history of your +conduct to me will outlive you, let my fate be what it may. The affair +of the Chesapeake did certainly "excite," and ought to have excited, the +indignant feeling of the nation towards Great Britain; but, however it +may have justified a declaration of war against that power, it was not, +as you assert "every one admits," one of the principal causes of the +late war. That it did not take place, sir, until _five years_ after, +when that affair had been amicably and of course honourably adjusted +between the two nations. I mention this fact, not on account of its +importance, but because you have laid so much stress on that "affair," +as a reason why I ought to have returned home during the late war, and +to shew that, although it _did_ happen to be your fortunate lot to have +an opportunity of being in the foremost rank, on that occasion, of which +you seem inclined to vaunt, you are ignorant even of the causes which +led to it. Having, in your letter of the 5th inst. abandoned the charge +of my having sailed under "British license," after the commencement of +the late war, in consequence of information received by you from a +gentleman entitled to the fullest credit, that I was not afloat, until +after the peace, consequently the report which you noticed of my having +sailed under British license, must be unfounded. I have only to remark, +on this head, that in advancing a charge against me of so serious a +nature, and designed and so well calculated, as it was, to affect, +materially, my reputation, not only as an officer of the navy, but as a +citizen of the United States, you should first have ascertained that it +was founded on _fact_, and not on rumour, which you so much _harp_ upon; +and that upon a proper investigation you would have discovered your +other accusations to be equally groundless. For my not returning home +during the late war, I do not hold myself, to use your own expressions, +"in any way accountable to you," Sir. It would be for the government, I +should suppose, to take notice of my absence, if they deemed it +reprehensible; and they no doubt would have done so, had not the +circumstances of the case, in their estimation, justified it. That they +are perfectly satisfied upon this point, I have good reason to believe, +and trust I shall be able to satisfy my country also. The President's +personal conduct to me, and the memorial of the Virginia Delegation in +Congress, to him, prove how I stand with those high characters, your +opinion, notwithstanding, to the contrary. I deny, Sir, that I ever was +"urged" by my friends, as you in mockery term them, to return home +during the late war, nor could it have been requisite for me to have +been "urged" to do so by any one. Laying patriotism out of the question, +as you observe, as well as the reasons why you think "it behoved me" to +adopt that course, there were other incentives strong enough, God knows, +to excite a desire on my part to return; and I should have returned, +Sir, but for circumstances beyond my control, which is not incumbent on +me to explain to _you_. + +Had the many opportunities really presented themselves which you allege +were "every day occurring," of which I might have availed myself to +return to my country, in privateers or other fast sailing merchant +vessels, from France and other places, but of which you produce no other +proof than random assertion, on which most of your other charges rest? +There were no such opportunities, as you say were "every day occurring;" +no, not one within my reach, and for some considerable time after the +news of the war arrived in Denmark, it was not believed that it would +continue six months; but, if I had received the slightest intimation +from the department that I should have been employed on my return, I +should have considered no sacrifice too great, no exertion within my +power should have been omitted to obtain so desirable an object, as any +mark of my country's confidence would have been to me in such a moment; +a gun boat, under my own orders, would not have been refused; but what +hope had I, when my letter of application for service was not even +honored by an answer. In regard to the John Adams, I do not deem it +proper on this occasion to explain my reasons for making the attempt to +return in that ship; but whenever I am called on by any person properly +authorized to make the enquiry, I am confident that I shall convince +them, that I had good reason to believe that I should obtain a passage +in her, notwithstanding your great knowledge on the occasion. + +You say, by absenting myself, _for years_, from the country, without +leave from the government, I "subjected myself to be stricken from the +rolls." I knew also, by the 10th article of the act for the better +government of the navy, that all persons in the navy holding intercourse +with an enemy, became subject to the severest punishment known to the +law; and that, for these offences, as you are pleased to term them, "I +have not received, to your knowledge, even a reprimand;" but I presume +if I have not it is not your fault. What kind and humane forbearance +this, after what I have already endured! But, sir, as you seem to be so +very intelligent upon other points, pray tell me where was the necessity +of my asking for a furlough until the period of my suspension expired, +or even after having reported myself for duty without being noticed. As +to the charge of my holding intercourse with the enemy, I am at a loss +to conceive to what you allude, and should degrade myself by giving it +any other reply than to pronounce it--if you mean to insinuate there was +any unlawful or improper communication on my part with the government, +or any individual of Great Britain, as a _false_ and _foul_ aspersion on +my character, which no conduct or circumstance of my life, however it +might be tortured by your malice or ingenuity, can, in any manner, +justify or support. You say, also, that you _do know_ "that my pay, even +during my absence, was _continued to me_." It is not the fact, sir; I +never, and until very recently since my return, received but half pay. +This part of your letter I should not have regarded, were it not to shew +with what boldness, facility, and _sang froid_, you can make assertions +unsustained even by the shadow of truth; but, if you had made yourself +acquainted with the circumstances relative to my _half pay_, you would +have found that not one cent of it was received by me. The government +was so good as to pay the amount to my unfortunate female family, whose +kindest entertainment you have frequently enjoyed. Poor unfortunate +children! whose ancestors, every man of them, did contribute every +disposable shilling of their property, many of them their lives, and all +of them their best exertions, to establish the independence of their +country, should now be told that the small amount of my half pay was +considered, by an officer of high rank, too much for them! You have been +good enough to inform me that, on my return to this country, my +"_efforts_," as you have been pleased to call them, "to re-instate +myself in the service were known, and became a subject of conversation +with officers, as well as others;" and, but for those "efforts," it is +_more than probable_ you would not have _spoken of me_. This would +indeed have displayed a wonderful degree of lenity and courtesy on your +part, of which I could not have failed to be duly sensible. But, sir, I +beg leave to ask how, and where, did you get your information, that such +"efforts" were made by me; and even admit they were, why should you +_alone_, disclaiming, as you pretend to do, all "_personal enmity_" +against me, have made yourself so _particularly busy_ on the occasion? +Was it because your inflated pride led you to believe that the weight of +your influence was greater than that of any other officer of the navy, +or that you were more tenacious of its honor and "respectability," than +the rest of the officers were? You assure me, however, 'that, in the +interchange of opinion with other officers respecting me, you have never +met with more than one who did not entirely concur with you in the +opinion you have expressed of me.' Indeed! and what is the reason? It is +because I suppose you are most commonly attended by a train of +dependents, who, to enjoy the sunshine of your favour, act as _caterers_ +for your vanity; and, revolving around you like _satellites_, borrow +their chief consequence from the countenance you may _condescend_ to +bestow upon them. You, at length, arrive at the main point; the "object" +of my letter of the 23d ultimo, which you might have reached by a much +_shorter route_, and have saved me the fatigue of being compelled, in +self defence, to travel with you so far as you have gone. The language +of defiance, represented to have been used by you, 'that you would +cheerfully meet me in the field, and hoped I would yet act like a man,' +are disavowed by you. And you further deny having ever invited me to the +field, or expressed a hope that I would call you out; but you observe +that, 'being informed by a gentleman with whom I had _conferred_ upon +the subject, that I left Norfolk, for the seat of government, some time +before our June correspondence, with the intention of calling you out, +you stated to that gentleman, as you have to _all others_ with whom you +have conversed upon the subject, that, if I made the call, you would +meet me; but that, upon all scores, you would be much better pleased to +have nothing to do with me.' I certainly do not _exactly_ know who that +intermeddling gentleman was, with whom you say I "conferred;" but, if I +may be allowed a conjecture, I think I can recognize in him the self +same officious _gentleman_, who, I am creditably informed, originated +the report of your having made use of the gasconading expressions you +have disowned:--In this respect I may be mistaken. Be this, however, as +it may, I never gave him, or any other person, to understand that my +visit to Washington last spring, was for the purpose of "calling you +out," nor _did_ I go there with _any such view_. + +How you can reconcile your affecting indifference towards me, in the +remark "that, on all scores, you would be much better pleased to have +nothing to do with me," with the very active part which, it is generally +known, and which your own letter clearly evinces, you have taken against +me, I am at a loss to conceive. No, sir, you feel not so much unconcern +as you pretend and wish it to be believed you do, in regard to the +course of conduct my honor and my injuries may, in my judgment, require +me to pursue. You have a _motive_, not to be concealed from the world, +for all you have done or said, or for any future endeavors you may make, +to bar my "re-admission" into the service. It is true, you have never +given me a direct, formal and written invitation, to meet you in the +field, such as one gentleman of honor _ought_ to send to another. But, +if your own admissions, that you had "incautiously said you would meet +me if I wished it," and "that if you had not _pledged yourself_, you +might re-consider the subject," and all this too without any provocation +on my part, or the most distant intimation from me that I had a desire +to meet you, do not amount to a challenge, I cannot comprehend the +object or import of such declarations--made as they were in the face of +the world; and to those in particular, whom you knew would not only +communicate them to me, but give them circulation; under all the +circumstances of the case, I consider you as having thrown down the +gauntlet, and I have no hesitation in accepting it. This is, however, a +point which it will not be for you or me to decide, nor do I view it as +of any other importance than as respects the privilege allowed to the +challenged party in relation to the choice of weapons, distance, &c. +about which I feel not more "fastidious," I assure you, sir, than you +do; nor do I claim any advantage whatever, which I have no right to +insist upon; could I stoop so low as to solicit any. I know you too well +to believe you would have any inclination to concede them. All I demand +is to be placed upon equal grounds with you; such as two honorable men +may decide upon, _as just and proper_. Upon the subject of duelling, I +perfectly coincide with the opinions you have expressed. I consider it +as a barbarous practice which ought to be exploded from civilized +society; but, sir, there may be causes of such extraordinary and +aggravated insult and injury, received by an individual, as to render an +appeal to arms, on his part, absolutely necessary; mine I conceive to +be a case of that description, and I feel myself constrained, by every +tie that binds me to society, by all that can make life desirable to me, +to resort to this mode of obtaining that redress due to me, at your +hands, as the only alternative which now seems to present itself for the +preservation of my honor. + +To conclude: you say, "from my manner of proceeding, it appears to you +that I have come to the determination to fight some one, and that I have +selected you for that purpose." To say nothing of the vanity you +display, and the importance you seem to attach to yourself, in thus +intimating, that, being resolved to _fight myself_ into favor, I could +no otherwise do so than by fixing upon you, the very reverse of which +you infer is the fact; I never wished to fight in this way, and, had you +permitted me to remain at rest, I should not have disturbed _you_; I +should have pursued the "even tenor of my way," without regarding you at +all. But all this would not have suited your ambitious views. You have +_hunted_ me out, have persecuted me with all the power and influence of +your office, and have declared your determination to attempt to drive me +from the navy, if I should make any "efforts" to be employed, and for +what purpose, or from what other motive than to obtain my rank, I know +not: if my life will give it to you, you shall have an opportunity of +obtaining it. And now, sir, I have only to add, that, if you will make +known your determination, and the name of your friend, I will give that +of mine, in order to complete the necessary arrangements to a final +close of this affair. I can make no other apology for the apparent +tardiness of this communication, than merely to state, that, being on +very familiar terms with my family, out of tenderness to their feelings, +I have written under great restraint. + + I am, sir, your obedient servant, + JAMES BARRON. + + * * * * * + + No. 10. + + WASHINGTON, _29th December, 1819_. + +SIR: Your communication of the 30th ultimo reached me as I was on the +eve of my departure for the north; whence I did not return till the 22d +inst. It was my determination, on the receipt of your letter, not to +notice it; but upon mature reflection, I conceive, that as I have +suffered myself to be drawn into this unprofitable discussion, I ought +not to leave the false colouring and calumnies, which you have +introduced into your letter, unanswered. You state, that a much more +laconic reply to your letter of 23d October would have served your +purpose. Of this I have no doubt; and to have insured such an answer, +you had only to make a laconic call. I had already informed you of the +course I had felt myself bound to pursue respecting you, and of the +reasons which induced my conduct, and that, if you required it, I would +overcome my own disinclination and fight you. Instead of calling me out +for injuries which you chose to insist that I have heaped upon you, +_you_ have thought fit to enter into this war of words. + +I reiterate to you, that I have not challenged, nor do I intend to +challenge you. I do not consider it essential to my reputation that I +should notice any thing which may come from you, the more particularly, +when you declare your sole object, in wishing to draw the challenge from +me, is, that you may avail yourself of the advantages which rest with +the challenged. It is evident, that you think, or your friends for you, +that a fight will help you; but in fighting, you wish to incur the least +possible risk. Now, sir, not believing that a fight of this nature will +raise me at all in public estimation, but may even have a contrary +effect, I do not feel at all disposed to remove the difficulties that +lay in your way. If we fight, it must be of your seeking; and you must +take all the risk and all the inconvenience which usually attend the +challenger, in such cases. + +You deny having made the communication to the British consul at +Pernambuco, which captain Lewis and Mr. Goodwin have represented. The +man capable of making such a communication, would not hesitate in +denying it; and, until you can bring forward some testimony, other than +your own, you ought not to expect that the testimony of those gentlemen +will be discredited. As to the veracity of the British consul, I can +prove, if necessary, that you have, yourself, vouched for that. + +You offer, as your excuse for not returning to your country, during our +war with England, that you had not been invited home by the then +Secretary, notwithstanding you had written him, expressive of your +wishes to be employed. You state, that, if you "had received the +slightest intimation from the department, that you would have been +employed on your return, you would have considered no sacrifice too +great, no exertion within your power should have been omitted to obtain +so desirable an object." From this, I would infer, that, in consequence +of not receiving this intimation, you did not make the exertions in your +power to return, and this I hold to be an insufficient excuse. You do +not pretend to have made any attempt, except by the way of the cartel, +the John Adams. You cannot believe, that reporting yourself to the +Department, at the distance of 4000 miles, when the same conveyance +which brought your letter would have brought yourself, will be received +as evincing sufficient zeal to join the arms of your country; and +besides, you say it was not believed, for a considerable time after the +news of war arrived in Denmark, that the war would last six months. With +those impressions, you must have known, that it would have occupied at +least that time for your letter to have arrived at the Department, you +to receive an answer, and then to repair to America. You deny that the +opportunities of returning were frequent. The custom house entries at +Baltimore and New York alone, from the single port of Bordeaux, will +show nearly an hundred arrivals; and it is well known, that it required +only a few days to perform the journey from Copenhagen to Bordeaux, by +the ordinary course of post. You deny having been advised to return to +this country, by your friends, during the war. Mr. Cook, of Norfolk, +your relative, says he wrote to you to that effect; and Mr. Forbes, then +our consul at Copenhagen, who is now at this place, says he urged you in +person to do so. + +You have charged the officers who concur with me in opinion respecting +your claims to service, as being my satellites. I think I am not +mistaken, when I inform you, that all the officers of our grade, your +superiors as well as inferiors, with the exception of one who is your +junior concur in the opinion, that you ought not to be employed again, +whilst the imputations, which now lie against you, remain; nor have they +been less backward than myself in expressing their opinions. + +Your charge of my wishing to obtain your rank, will apply to all who are +your juniors, with as much force as to myself. You never have interfered +with me in the service, and, at the risk of being esteemed by you a +little vain, I must say, I do not think you ever will. Were I disposed +to kill out of my way, as you have been pleased to insinuate, those who +interfere with my advancement, there are others, my superiors, who I +consider fairly barring my pretensions; and it would serve such purpose +better, to begin with them. You say, you were the means of obtaining me +the first command I ever had in service. I deny it: I feel that I owe my +standing to my exertions only. + +Your statement, that your advice prevented me from resigning on a former +occasion, is equally unfounded. I have never, since my first admission +into the navy, contemplated resigning; and, instead of being ordered, as +you state, from the 1st lieutenancy of the New York, to the 2d of the +Chesapeake, Commodore Chauncy, who was then flag captain, can testify, +that I was solicited to remain as 1st lieutenant of the flag ship: and I +should have remained as such, had it not been for the demand which the +government of Malta made, for the delivery of the persons who had been +concerned in the affair of honour, which led to the death of a British +officer. It was deemed necessary to send all the persons, implicated in +that affair, out of the way; and I went home in the Chesapeake, as a +passenger. + +You have been pleased to allude to my having received the hospitality of +your family. The only time I recollect having been at your house, was on +my arrival from the Mediterranean in the Congress, fourteen years past. +You came on board, and dined with me; and invited the Tunisian +ambassador and myself to spend the evening with you at Hampton. I +accepted your invitation. Your having now reminded me of it, tends very +much towards removing the weight of obligation I might otherwise have +felt on this score. + +You speak of the good conduct of your ancestors. As your own conduct is +under discussion, and not theirs, I cannot see how their former good +character can at all serve your present purpose. Fortunately for our +country, every man stands upon his own merit. + +You state that the "Virginia delegation in Congress" had presented a +memorial in your favour. I would infer from this, that all, or the +greater part of the Virginia delegation, had interposed in your behalf. +This, sir, is not the fact. A few of them, I am informed, did take an +interest in your case; but, being informed of the charges existing +against you, of which they were before unapprised, they did not press +farther your claims. From the knowledge I have of the high-minded +gentlemen that compose the Virginia delegation, if they would take the +trouble to examine your case, I should, for my own part, be entirely +satisfied to place the honour of the service upon their decision. + +You offer as your excuse for permitting four months to intervene between +our June correspondence, (with which, from your letter, you appeared to +be satisfied) and your letter of 23d October, your indisposition. I am +authorized in saying, that, for the greater part of the four months, you +were out attending to your usual avocations. + +Your offering your life to me would be quite affecting, and might (as +you evidently intend) excite sympathy, if it were not ridiculous. It +will not be lost sight of, that your jeopardizing your life depends upon +yourself, and not upon me; and is done with a view to fighting your own +character up. I have now to inform you, that I shall pay no further +attention to any communication you may make to me, other than a direct +call to the field. + + Your obedient servant, + STEPHEN DECATUR. + +To Commodore JAMES BARRON, + _Hampton, Va._ + + * * * * * + + No. 11. + + NORFORK, _January 16th, 1820_. + +SIR: Your letter of the 29th ult. I have received. In it you say that +you have now to inform me that you shall pay no further attention to any +communication that I may make to you other than a direct call to the +field; in answer to which I have only to reply, that whenever you will +consent to meet me on fair and equal grounds, that is, such as two +honourable men may consider just and proper, you are at liberty to view +this as that call; the whole tenor of your conduct to me justifies this +course of proceeding on my part; as for your charges and remarks, I +regard them not, particularly your sympathy; you know not such a +feeling--I cannot be suspected of making the attempt to excite it. + + I am, sir, yours, &c. + JAMES BARRON. + +To Commodore STEPHEN DECATUR, + _Washington_. + + * * * * * + + No. 12. + + WASHINGTON, _Jan. 24, 1820_. + +SIR: I have received your communication of the 16th, and am at a loss to +know what your intention is. If you intended it as a challenge, I accept +it, and refer you to my friend Com. Bainbridge, who is fully authorized +by me to make any arrangement he pleases, as regards weapons, mode, or +distance. + + Your obedient servant, + STEPHEN DECATUR. + +Com. JAMES BARRON. + + * * * * * + + No. 14. + + NORFOLK _Feb_. 6, 1820. + +SIR: Your letter of the 29th of December found me confined to bed, with +a violent bilious fever, and it was eight days after its arrival before +I was able to read it; the fever, however, about that time, left me, and +my convalescence appeared to promise a moderately quick recovery. I, +therefore, wrote you my note of the 16th ultimo; in two days after I +relapsed, and have had a most violent attack, which has reduced me very +low, but as soon as I am in a situation to write, you shall hear from me +to the point. + + I am, sir, + Your obedient servant, + + JAMES BARRON. + +Com. STEPHEN DECATUR, + _Washington_. + + + + +Transcriber Notes: + +Obsolete spellings of words (e.g., behove, shew, somtime, stile, etc.) +have been retained. + +On page 5, "degraged" was replaced with "degraded". + +On page 7, "be the folllowing" was replaced with "by the following". + +On page 9, "a Miss ******" was replaced with "a Miss----". + +On page 10, in "I should no otherwise notice" the phrase "should no +otherwise" could have been "should not otherwise", but then "should no +otherwise" could have been correct at the time. Thus, no change was +made. + +On page 13, "henious" was replaced with "heinous". + +On page 16, "sattellites" was replaced with "satellites". + +On page 18, the period after "obtain my rank" was replaced with a comma. + +On page 18, a period was added after "22 inst". + +On page 21, "NO. 12" was replaced with "No. 12". + +There was no "No. 13" letter. Instead the letter numbers jump from +twelve to fourteen. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Correspondence, between the late +Commodore Stephen Decatur and Commodore James Barron, by Stephen Decatur and James Barron + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CORRESPONDENCE -- DECATUR AND BARRON *** + +***** This file should be named 34393.txt or 34393.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/3/9/34393/ + +Produced by Ernest Schaal and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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