Permit me to express to you my ackowledgments for the politeness, with which you were pleased to speak of my Address in your letter of the 4th. I hope you received it as a mark of respect: in any other point of view it was not worth offering.

I beg you, Sir, to accept my grateful thanks for the Naval History with which you did me the honor to accompany the letter. I have read it with great interest and pleasure. A candid judge, I think, would be at no loss to decide, that the exploits of our little fleet of which we have so much reason to be proud are a Sever Satire on the negligence of the government and a brilliant proof of what we might do with a vigorous and efficient maritime force. It is true, we could not easily cope, single-handed, with the [thousand] ships of England, but I imagine we should find no difficulty, in raising a navy that, manned and officered and conducted, as our ships have been in this war, would find employment for every inch of canvass she could now spare.

I am, Sir, with great respect, your very humble servant.