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+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: 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 *****
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