I send You the inclosed Paper1 as containing what you perhaps may not have seen, & what cannot fail to be interesting to you, as I will not deny that it has been to me. I will beg you to return the paper as I preserve the series.

I do not believe that you personally will much envy Mr Monroe the honour of the paternal kiss which he has received; and if such an exhibition is thought not to degrade an American Minister I know not why it should become matter of complaint on the part of the British Government.2

But with the same openness which you shall always find in me You must allow me as an Individual, feeling a strong interest in the maintenance of good order and morality in every civilized Country to say to you, as to one whom I believe to be actuated by the same principles, & whom I know to be a Person of distinguished abilities & character & of a very deserved weight in the Government of Your Country that in my opinion neither honor nor advantage will result from what is now done, even omitting the contrast which it makes with the language & conduct which you have been authorized to hold here.

I have hitherto been inclined to think the Government of the United States sincere in the desire to cultivate among the People of that Country the dispositions of neutrality, of peace, and of good understanding with Great Britain, because such was their evident and unquestionable interest to which I could not believe them blind. But it is not consistent with neutrality to make Ministerial declarations of favour and preference, nor can it lead to the maintenance of good order in any Country that its Government should give official sanction and adherence to acts at which all Religion & all Humanity revolt. I know what may be said of the allowance to be made for circumstances, particularly as operating on the deliberations of Congress; but it will not escape you that the Letters of the Secretary of State3 go far beyond the resolutions of either House of Congress, & that by a singular contrast, their language will be found scarcely to exceed the usual bounds of diplomatic caution & reserve, while that of the Minister for Foreign Affairs is such as might be expected from the most zealous & eager partizan, heated by popular discussion.4

The purpose with which I make these observations to you in this unofficial form cannot be mistaken. I seriously & much apprehend the effect of this transaction both here & in America. We shall continue to labour with the same desire to preserve between the two nations a friendly disposition to each other; but such a declaration as this will be taken to be, of the sentiments & views of Your Government is ill calculated to produce that effect in either Country. It will afford matter of Offence & sincere regret to all well disposed Persons here, & matter of triumph & encouragement there to all who wish external War or domestic confusion.

I have felt it very much due to the candour & openness which I have always found on your part to speak to you in this undisguised manner, on a point which has given me much concern from the desire I felt of being in some degree the instrument of a permanent friendship and intimate union between the two Countries, & from the hope I entertained of the accomplishment of this object. I do not allow myself to despair of it, nor do I even yet bring myself to think that the dispositions of your Government can be such as this transaction taken by itself should seem to announce. But I lament the circumstance, & I believe that in so doing my sentiment upon it will not be very different from yours. Have the honour to be, & & &