fi 
 
Book 
 
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25th Congress, f SENATE. ] [ 313 1 
 
 2d /Session. 
 
 REPORT 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE SECRETARY OF STATE, 
 
 IN COMPLIANCE 
 
 With a resolution of the Senate of the 8th instant, in relation to the publi- 
 cation of the Documentary History of the American Revolution. 
 
 March 19, 1838. - 
 
 Read, and ordered to be printed. 
 
 Department of State, 
 
 Washington, March 15, 1838. 
 
 The undersigned, Secretary of State, in compliance with a resolution of 
 the Senate of the 8th instant, directing him " to communicate to it all the 
 information and correspondence in his office, relative to the project of pub- 
 Hshing a documentary history of the American revolution, with a state- 
 ment of all appropriations and expenditures for that work, and an estimate 
 of all further appropriations to be required therefor, to supply the 21st and 
 22d Congresses, and, also, to supply the new members of the 23d, 24th, and 
 25th Congresses," has the honor, with respect to the first branch of the 
 resolution calling for all the information and correspondence on the sub- 
 ject, to refer to a report made by him to Congress on the 22d of December, 
 1834, in pursuance of directions contained in the act making appropria- 
 tions for the civil and diplomatic expenses of the Government for that year, 
 (vide laws 1st session 23d Congress, page 50,) to be found in the Executive 
 documents of the 2d session of the 23d Congress, vol. 2d, No. 36; and to 
 the annexed copies of correspondence on the subject, not included in that 
 report, viz : 
 
 1st. A letter from Messrs. Clarke & Force, dated December 28, 1833. 
 
 2d. A letter from do. do. dated July 15, 1834. 
 
 3d. A letter from do. do. dated July 23, 1834. 
 
 4th. A letter to do. do. dated July 24, 1 834. 
 
 5th. A letter from do. do. dated January 23, 1S3G. 
 
 6th. A letter to do. do. dated January 26, 1836. 
 
 7th. A letter from do. do. dated December 10, 1836. 
 
 8th. A letter to the Secretary of the Treasury, referring the foregoing, 
 dated December 14, 1836. 
 
 9th. A letter to Messrs. Clarke & Force, dated December 14, 1836. 
 lOih. AletterfromtheSecr'y of theTreasury.dated December 17, 1836, 
 11th. A letter to Mr. Vail, Charge d' Affaires at London, dated Septem- 
 ber 25, 1834. 
 Rlair & Rives, printers. 
 
[3r3] 2 -^j-S 
 
 12th. Extract of a letter from Mr. Vail, Charge d'AfFaires at London> 
 dated October 22, 1834. 
 
 13th. Extract of a letter from Mr. Vail, Charg6 d'AfFaires at London, 
 with copy of one from Mr. Ricli, dated December 6, 1834. 
 
 14th. Letter from Mr. Vail to the Dnke of Wellington, dated December 
 2, 1834. 
 
 15th. Extract from a letter to Mr. Vail, dated January 19, 1835. 
 
 I6th. Extract of a letter from Mr. Vail, dated January 14, 1835. 
 
 17th. Extract of a letter from Mr. Vail, dated February 27, 1835. 
 
 18th. Note from the Duke of Wellington to Mr. Vail, dated February 26, 
 
 1835. 
 And, as regards the second branch of the resolution, I have the honor to 
 state, that there has been one appropriation made for the work, of twenty 
 thousand dollars, contained in the act making appropriations for the civil 
 and diplomatic expenses of the Government for the year 1834. The cost 
 of the volume published, containing 1,004 pages, will be, for 1,500 copies, 
 $25,002; but the extent to which the work may reach being unknown, this 
 department has not data on which to form a certain estimate of the further 
 appropriations that will be required for it. It is estimated, however, that 
 the number of copies contracted for (1,500) will be sufficient for the 
 distribution already ordered, and to supply the new members of the 23dy 
 24th, and 25th Congresses ; so that no further expense than that contem- 
 plated by the contract will arise for the work itself. Taking the volume 
 now published as an index of the size and cost of the succeeding ones, and 
 supposing the limitation mentioned by Messrs. Clarke <fe. Force to be ob- 
 served, viz : twenty volumes, the whole cost of the work may be estimated 
 at $512,040. But, a construction having been given by the Postmaster 
 General, sustained by the opinion of the Attorney General, to the act to 
 reduce into one the several acts establishing the Post Office Department, 
 applying to packets from this department, the prohibition contained in its 
 13th section, viz: that '-no postmaster shall receive, to be conveyed by 
 mail, any packet which shall weigh more'than three pounds," which pre- 
 cludes the distribution of these volumes, weighing eight pounds each, by 
 mail, unless some modification of that law shall be made, a further expense 
 will accrue for boxes and transportation thereof; to meet which, for the 
 volume published, as far as its distribution is authorized by law, application 
 has been made to the Committee of Ways and Means of the House of Re- 
 presentatives, for an appropriation of their estimated cost, being $1,200. A 
 similar expei;ise for each distribution on the supposed limitation of twenty 
 volumes, would be. for the whole. .*^24.000 ; and for the distribution to the 
 new members of the 23d. 24tb, and 25th Congresses, may be estimated at 
 $800 for !he copies of each volume, making, for twenty volumes, $16,000. 
 The whole estimated cost of the work and its distribution, on these data, 
 is, therefore, $552,040 ; towards which there hasl)cen appropriated $20,000; 
 leaving, for future appropriations. $532,040. 
 
 JOHN FORSYTH. 
 
 Washington, December 28, 1833. 
 Sir: Tender an apprehen«;irin that the pressure of business may have 
 cau-ed yi>u to forgft ;!ie aj.p'icatioij wljicli wa^^; uvcAv for an c&iiir.nte of 
 
3 [313] 
 
 appropriation for the " Documentary History by Clarke <fc Force," 1 have 
 taken the Hberty of calHng the subject to your remembrance. 
 
 We think that $35,000 will be wanted before another appropriation bill 
 is passed. 
 
 Will the Secretary direct the communication to be made to the Commit- 
 tee of Ways and Means ? 
 
 Very respectfully, sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 MATH. ST. CLAIR CLARKE. 
 Louis McLane, Esq., 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 Washington, July 15, 1834. 
 
 Sir : Having made considerable progress in our " Documentary History," 
 under the contract with the United States, and having expended thereon 
 large sums of money and incurred heavy debts for work done and unpaid 
 for, we hereby make application to you, according to the ternis of the con- 
 tract, for the sum of ten thousand dollars, being a sum less than the actual 
 expenditure in the progress of the work, since the making of the contract. 
 Very respectfully, sir, 
 
 Your obedient servants, 
 
 MW. ST. CLAIR CLARKE, 
 
 PETER FORCE. 
 
 Hon. John Forsyth, 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 Washington, July 22, 1834. 
 
 Sir : Understanding that you require something more in detail than 
 the application recently made to you in writing, asking the payment of ten 
 thousand dollars to us out of the late appropriation for our " Documentary 
 History," allow me to make the following representations on behalf of Colo- 
 nel Force and myself: 
 
 The standard of allowance fixed on by Mr. Livingston, Secretary of State, 
 was the lowest alternate in the act of Congress, being the diplomatic cor- 
 respondence then printing by F. P. Blair, the actual cost of which was cal- 
 culated by Mr. Stubbs, agent for the department. This included the items 
 oi print i?ig, binding, and copying in the department. 
 
 The terms of payment to us are as follows : " Payment to be made there- 
 for, as the work progresses, from appropriations hereafter to be made by 
 Congress." 
 
 The payments for and on account of Mr. Blair's work, so far as regards 
 copying, were made from month to month in some instances, and in others 
 by the 100 words, as bills were presented. The volumes being small octavo, 
 and the labor of but a few days, were paid for as finished. Our volumes it 
 will be borne in mind will contain in one about as much as tlie whole of 
 Mr. Blair's seven, and our understanding with Mr. Livingston was that the 
 printing should be paid for from time to time, as bills were presented, taking 
 
[313] 4 
 
 care to avoid giving trouble to the department, by having the bills of a con- 
 siderable amount. 
 
 As regards the copying there would not have been the least difficulty if the 
 demand was now made on Mr. Livingston. It was expressly understood 
 between us that whatever expense was incurred by us, on that account, 
 would be immediately reimbursed out of the appropriation. The clerks 
 employed in the department of State were put there by Mr. Livingston, and 
 Mr. Weaver, already in the department, was selected by us to assist and su- 
 perintend the others. 
 
 The Secretary will perceive at once the construction put upon the clause 
 of payment by Mr. Livingston and ourselves, from the fact that we forthwith 
 began the copying of every paper appertaining to the subject in the Depart- 
 ment of State, without reference to the volume in which it was to be included, 
 and so with respect to the archives of Georgia, and other States, wherein 
 heavy disbursements have been made, all which was done with the know- 
 ledge and approbation of the Secretary, as his letter to us of the day of 
 
 April, 1833, will show. In truth, sir, having put the publication, by our 
 memorial before Congress, as it really is, as a great national undertaking, 
 we did consider ourselves as under its special protection and fostering care, 
 and not as common contractors to do a piece of manual labor. 
 
 1 agreed with Mr. Livingston to advance the money to these clerks in 
 order to expedite the work, and was to be reimbursed out of the appropria- 
 tion, there being then no funds from which the Secretary could pay them. 
 For this and other expenses, we borrowed ten thousand dollars, and have 
 expended the whole, besides incurring other heavy debts, amounting in all 
 to $15,931 30, every cent of which was necessary to the progress of our 
 work. 
 
 Allow me to state further to the Secretary, that the disbursements on 
 account of Gales and Seaton's reprint of American State Papers, have been 
 paid for as stipulated in our contract. The subscription was made by the 
 clerkof the House of Representatives of the United States, by act of March 
 2d, 1831, and the appropriation made May 5, 1832, in the general appro- 
 priation bill. Under this appropriation the secretary of the Senate and 
 clerk of the House of Representatives invariably paid Gales &. Seaton 
 from time to time as bills were presented, and in not a single instance was a 
 bill rendered for a volu7ne. The selecting, editing, and making indexes 
 were all paid, from time to time, as the work progressed, and in no instance 
 was a bill presented for any complete part of the work. 
 
 At this time Mr. Lowrie and myself, being about to close up our account 
 with the Treasury^ have required Gales &. Seaton, out of the original bills 
 as presented and paid, to make a new set of bills, by volumes, for us to pre- 
 sent to the Treasury. 
 
 So, I trust, will we be dealt with: our disbursements, from time to time, 
 being met so as not to exceed a volume, and when it is completed and de- 
 livered, a bill will be made out, from which the sums paid are to be deduct- 
 ed and the balance paid, nothing of which, however, would appear on the 
 bill, being a matter of detail for the agent of the department. 
 
 The Secretary is earnestly requested to examine the proceedings of the 
 Continental Congress on the application of Mr. Hazzard, proffering to do this 
 same work in part. He will find hard as the times were, and scarce as 
 money was, that they paid him a thousand dollars in part of expenses, and 
 
5 [313] 
 
 commended him to the special attention and gratuitous assistance of all the 
 States. 
 
 I trust, therefore, that the Secretary will find it within the limits of his 
 duty to grant our request. 
 
 Very respectfully, sir, 
 
 Your obedient servsints, 
 
 MW. ST. CLAIR CLARKE, 
 
 For self and Col. Force. 
 Hon. John Forsyth, 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 It is believed that what we ask has been invariably followed m the de- 
 partment, as may be known from Mr. Slubbs, agent, <fcc. 
 
 Department of State, 
 
 Washington, July 24, 1834. 
 
 Gentlemen : I have fully considered the representations offered in 
 your letter of the 22d instant, and I regret that I do not find myself au- 
 thorized to make the advance or payment requested in your letter of the 
 15th. The contract between the Secretary of State and yourselves, for 
 the publication of the Documentary History of the Revolution, is that you 
 shall execute and do the work, and deliver a certain number of copies of 
 each volume to the Secretary of State at a price agreed on, and that pay- 
 ment shall be made therefor, from time to time, as the work progresses. 
 The act of July, 1823, concerning the disbursement of public money, for- 
 bids advances of public money, and directs that, in all cases of contract 
 for the performance of any service, or the delivery of articles of any 
 description, payment shall not exceed the value of the service rendered, or 
 of the articles delivered, previous to such payment. There being no ex- 
 ception in favor of your contract, either in the law under which it was 
 made, or in that appropriating money for the payment of the work, I con- 
 sider myself restrained from making any advance under it, or making any 
 payment, except for such volumes of the work as may be delivered, from 
 time to time, as the work progresses. 
 
 I am, very respectfully. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 JOHN FORSYTH. 
 
 Matthew St. Clair Clarke and 
 
 Peter Force, Esquires, 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Washington, January 23, 1836. 
 Sir : We submit the enclosed as a modification of our contract made 
 with the Secretary of State on the 19th March, 1833, and we are ready to 
 
[313] 6 
 
 execute it in any other form which you may suggest, to make it binding 
 in law, as a part of the original contract. 
 We have the honor to be, 
 
 Very respectfully. 
 
 Your most obedient servants, 
 
 MW. ST. CLAIR CLARKE, 
 PETER FORCE. 
 Hon. John Forsyth, 
 
 Secretary of State U. S. 
 
 Whereas a certain article of agreement was made and entered into be- 
 tween Edward Livingston, Secretary of Stale, and Matthew St. Clair 
 Clarke and Peter Force, on the 19th day of March, 1833, by virtue and in 
 pursuance of an act of Congress passed the 2d day of March, in the year 
 aforesaid ; and whereas a report was made on said contract by John For- 
 syth, Secretary of State, dated 22d December, 1834, to Congress by their 
 direction ; and whereas, in said report, it is suggested that certain modifi- 
 cations of said contract were proper ; and whereas said report was referred 
 to the Committee on Finance in the Senate, who, on the 3d day of March, 
 1835, thought that it would be expedient, by consent of the parties, to 
 modify said contract as set forth in their report of that date. 
 
 Now, therefore, in compliance with the recommendation aforesaid, it is 
 hereby agreed upon by said Clarke and Force, and made part of the 
 oiiginal contract aforesaid, that the "work" mentioned therein shall not 
 exceed twenty volumes ; and that the publication shall be subject to any 
 tribunal which Congress may erect, as requested in the original memorial. 
 
 MW. ST. CLAIR CLARKE, ' 
 PETER FORCE. 
 
 January 20, 1836. 
 
 L. S. 
 L. S. 
 
 Department of State, 
 
 Washington, January 26, 1836. 
 
 Gentlemen : In answer to your letter of the 23d instant, I have to in- 
 form you that I have no authority to meddle with the terms of the contract 
 to which you therein refer. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 JOHN FORSYTH. 
 Messrs. M. St. Clair Clarke and 
 Peter Force. 
 
 Washington, December 10, 1836. 
 
 Sir : By the act of Congress dated 3d March, 1833, tlie sum of $20,000 ^ 
 was appropriated towards the payment of the Documentary History of the 
 Revolution publishing by us, under our contract with the Secretary of 
 State. 
 
 Owing to divers difficulties, hard to be overcome, we have been delayed 
 
7 [313] 
 
 in publishing a volume ; and, although we have one in part printed, say 
 25U pages, we shall not be able to complete the same prior to the 31st 
 instant. 
 
 By the act of Congress of 1795 we presume the sum appropriated will 
 pass to the surplus fund on the 31st instant, unless withdrawn by the Sec- 
 retary from the Treasury Department. 
 
 We are now progressing with the printing, and shall be able to deliver 
 a volume, we think, early in February, until which time the Secretary has 
 considered that no money will be payable, although in this opinion we 
 have differed from him, believing that the terms of the contract, viz : 
 " Payment to be made therefor, as the work progresses, from appropriationa 
 hereafter to be made by Congress," would warrant an earlier payment on 
 account. 
 
 Our object, at this time, is to request that the Secretary, if in his opinion 
 it can be legally done, would draw the money and place it in the hands of 
 his disbursing agent, that it may be in readiness when one volume shall 
 be delivered. 
 
 It may not be improper to state that, in the prosecution of this work, we 
 have already expended over $50,000. 
 
 Very respectfully, sir. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 MW. ST. CLAIR CLARKE, 
 
 For self and P. Force. 
 
 Hon. John Forsyth, 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 Department of State, 
 
 Washm^toni December 14, 1836. 
 Sir : TThe enclosed letter of Messrs. Clarke and Force, in relation to the 
 appropriation for the Documentary History of the Revolution, is respectfully 
 referred to you, as it appears from the contract made with them for that 
 work, a copy of which is enclosed, that the payment therefor is to be made 
 at the Treasury. 
 
 I have the honor to be, sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 JOHN FORSYTH. 
 Levi Woodbury, Esq., 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 Department of State, 
 
 Washington^ December 14, 1836. 
 Gentlemen: Your letter of the 10th instant, requesting me to draw 
 from the Treasury, and place in the hands of the disbursing agent of this 
 department, the appropriation of $20,000 for the Documentary History of 
 the Revolution, has been received. O.i examining the contract made with 
 you for that work, I find that it is stipulated that payment therefor shall be 
 made to yon at the Treasury ; and, as the act of appropriation confers no 
 
[313] 8 
 
 authority upon the subject upon this department, its agent cannot make 
 disbursements from that appropriation. 
 
 As the payment is to be made at the Treasury, I have referred your 
 letter to the Secretary of that department, to whom you must apply for any 
 further action upon the subject. 
 
 I am, gentlemen. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 JOHN FORSYTH. 
 Messrs. M. St. Clair Clarke and 
 Peter Force. 
 
 Treasury Department, 
 
 December 17, 1836. 
 
 Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 
 14th instant, enclosing a communication from Messrs. Clarke and Force, 
 respecting the Documentary History of the Revolution, and in reply, I 
 have to inform you that I do not feel myself authorized to comply with their 
 request to make an advance to the disbursing agent of the Department of 
 State unless sanctioned by a requisition issued by you, with whom.the con- 
 tract was originally made. 
 
 I am, very respectfully. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 LEVI WOODBURY, 
 Secretary of the Trcasurj/. 
 Hon. John Forsyth, 
 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 Department of State, 
 
 Washington^ Sept. 25, 1834. 
 
 Sir: You will receive with this despatch, two letters from Messrs. M. 
 St Clair Clarke and P. Force, (accompanied by a descriptive list of papers,) 
 addressed to Mr. Obadiah Rich, of Red Lion square, London, requesting 
 his services in procuring from the British archives copies of certain docu- 
 ments therein designated, to be inserted in their » Documentary History of 
 the American Revolution," a work now preparing for publication. After 
 perusino- these letters, which are left open for the purpose, you are desired to 
 lorward'them to their address, and to afford to Mr. Rich, in the prosecution 
 of the object proposed, every assistance that may be compatible with your 
 public duties, and tend to render successful his application to the British 
 Government for the papers in question. 
 
 I am, sir, respectfully. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 JOHN FORSYTH. 
 
 Aaron Vail, E.^q., .,.;.,, e. , , t ^ 
 
 Charp-e tC Affaires oj tie United States at London. 
 
B [313] 
 
 Extract of a letter from Mr. Vail to the Secretary of State^ dated 
 
 » October 22, 1834. 
 " Since writing the above, I have been liouored with your despatches, 
 number 55 (the one I stated, a few days ago, to be missing) and number 
 o7^ with enclosures for Mr. Rich. I will comply with the directions con- 
 tained in both." 
 
 Extract of a letter from Mr. Aaron Vail to the Secretary of State, dated 
 
 » December 6, 1834. 
 " Mr. Rich addressed to me, on the 1st instant, a letter, of which I enclose 
 A copy, requesting that I would apply to this Government' for permission to 
 him to transcribe from the British archives certain documents, wanted by 
 Messsrs. Clarke and Force for their Documentary History of the American 
 Revolution, In compliance with that request, and with the directions in 
 your despatch number 57, I delivered to the Duke of Wellington, on the 
 following day, a note, of which, also, a copy is enclosed. I took occasion 
 of my having a communication to make to his grace, to call on him in 
 person, and had an interview, in the course of which I explained the 
 nature of my application, and received from him a promise that he would 
 give it his early attention, with every desire to forward its object, which he 
 considered an interesting one." 
 
 Mr. Rich to Mr. Vail 
 
 12 Red Lion Sciuare, 
 
 December 1, 1834. 
 Sir: I have the honor to enclose, herewith, a list of papers which has 
 been sent to me from Washington by Matthew St. Clair Clarke and Peter 
 Force, Esq., together with extracts from their letters to me, in which they 
 state that you will afford me any assistance which may be compatible with 
 your public duties, in making such application to the British Government 
 as may be necessary to obtain the papers they desire. 
 
 I have, in consequence, now to ask you to have the goodness to make 
 the necessary application to this Government, for permission to cause copies 
 to be made of the papers referred to in the offices in which they are to be 
 found. 
 
 1 have the honor to be, <fe.c. <fcc., 
 
 O. RICH. 
 
 Mr, Vail to the Duke of Wellington. 
 
 13 Old Cavendish Street, 
 
 December 2. 1 834. 
 The undersigned, Charg6 d'Affaires of the United States of America, has 
 ihe honor to lay before the right honorable his grace the Duke of Welling- 
 
[313] 10 
 
 ton, his Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the copy 
 of a letter addressed to him by Mr. Obadiah Rich, asking his official inter- 
 position in obtaining for him, from his Majesty's Government, permission 
 to transcribe from the British archives certain papers, described in a list, 
 which, likewise, accompanies this communication. 
 
 Those papers are wanted by the Government of the United States to 
 complete a " Documentary History of the American Revolution," now in 
 preparation for the press, under the supervision of the Secretary of State^ 
 m execution of an act of Congress ; and it is in compliance with instruc- 
 tions which he has recently received, to that effect, that the undersigned 
 has the honor to ask, in behalf of Mr. Rich, the requisite facilities to enable 
 him to execute his commission, with as little delay as may be consistent 
 with the convenienct of his Majesty's Government. 
 
 The undersigned had already, in the month of August of last year, 
 addressed, by order of his Government, to iTiat of his Britannic Majesty, 
 an application of somewhat analagous character, but less specific in form, 
 which was declined on the ground that, inasmuch as it did not designate 
 any particular class of documents, it had been found that a compliance 
 with it would be difficult, and attended with serious inconvenience. Lord 
 Palmerston, however, was kind enough to say, in a note which he addressed 
 to the undersigned on the 25th February last, that his Majesty's Govern- 
 ment, anxious to afford to that of the United States any information con- 
 nected with American history which could properly be communicated, 
 would be disposed to furnish it to the undersigned, in the event of his 
 receiving instructions to point out any particular historical facts upon 
 which specific information might be desired. 
 
 The undersigned having now received such instructions, and being 
 enabled, by the list which accompanies Mr. Rich's letter, not only to point 
 out the particular historical facts to be illustrated, but to designate the 
 documents wanted for that purpose, flatters himself that he will meet, on 
 this occasion, the same accommodating disposition on the part of his Ma- 
 jesty's Government, and that no obstacle or inconvenience will now be 
 found in the way of their desire to comply with the wishes of the United 
 States. 
 
 The undersigned avails himself, with great pleasure, of this opportunity 
 to offer to the Duke of Wellington the assurance of his most distinguished 
 consideration. 
 
 A. VAIL. 
 
 Extract of a letter from the Secretary of State to Aaron Vail, Esquire^ 
 Charge d' Affaires of the United States, London, dated 19th January^ 
 1835. 
 
 " Sm : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches 
 to No. 162, inclusively. It is perceived from the letter to the Duke of Wel- 
 lino-ton of the 2d December last, which accompanied your despatch No. 
 161 that the instructions of this department, under date of the 25th of Sep- 
 tember, 1834, in regard to certain historical documents to be procured from 
 
11 [313] 
 
 the British archives, have been, in a degree, misapprehended by you. The 
 object of that letter was to request your aid in behalf of Mr. Rich, so far 
 as it might be compatible with your public duties, in the prosecution of the 
 object proposed in the contemplated application to the British Government, 
 The papers in question were desired by private individuals to be used in a 
 private enterprise, sustained, it is true, by a liberal subscription of the 
 National Legislature. They were not, as you suppose, wanted by this Gov- 
 ernment ; had no .necessary connexion with the historical documents asked 
 for on the part of the United States in 1833 ; n(?r was it intended to authorize 
 any application for copies of thera on that ground." 
 
 EMraat of a letter from Mr. Vail to the Secretary of State, dated January 
 
 14, 1835. 
 
 " To my inquiry as to the disposition which had been made of my ap- 
 plication for permission to take from the British archives copies of papers 
 for the Documentary History of the United States, the Duke answered that 
 he had put the matter in train, and that he expected soon to be able to let 
 nie know the result." 
 
 Extract of a letter from Mr. Vail to the Secretary of State, dated Feb- 
 ruary 21, 1835. 
 
 " The same despatch has corrected my own apprehension of the real 
 character of the application which I was instructed to make, for permission 
 to Mr. Rich to take copies of documents iu the British archives; and will 
 enable me to place the matter in its proper light before the British Govern- 
 ment, at some future interview with the minister to whom the application 
 was addressed." 
 
 Extt*Act of a letter from Mr. Vail to the Secretary of State, dated 
 
 February 27, 1835. 
 
 " I received, last night, from the the Duke of Wellington, a note, of which 
 I enclose a copy, communicating to me the refusal of the BritisJi Govern- 
 ment to allow Mr. Rich to take from the British archives the copies for 
 which I had applied in his behalf, of documents wanted by Messrs. Clarke 
 &. Force, for their "Documentary History of the American Revolution." 
 •I shall immediately apprize Mr. Rich of this decision ; but as that gentle- 
 man has left England for his consulate at Port Mahon, my communication 
 may not reach him for a considerable time, and the circumstance may, 
 perhaps, make it desirable that his principals at Washington should receive 
 the information from your department." 
 
12 
 
 -^. 
 
 
 ^% 
 
 The Duke of Wellington to Mr. Vail 
 
 1 
 
 [313] 
 
 The undersigned, his Majesty's principal Secretary of State for Foreign 
 Affairs, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note addressed to 
 him by Mr. Vail, Charge d' Affaires of the United States, at this court, on 
 the 2d of last December jyiclosing a list of papers, of which Mr. Obadiah 
 Rich is desirous to obtain QOipies from the archives of the British Govern- 
 ment, for the completion. of "a Documentary History of the American 
 Revolution," now in prepafktion for the press, under the supervision of the 
 Secretary of State, in execution of an act of Congress. 
 
 Mr. Vail alludes to a correspondence which he formerly had with the 
 Secretary of State, on an application somewhat similar ; on which occasion 
 Viscount Palmerston, at the same time that he expressed his regret at the 
 inability of his Majesty's Government to comply with the demand then made, 
 stated that he would do his best to furnish Mr. Vail with information upon 
 any particular historical facts on which Mr. Vail should be instructed to 
 state that specific information was requested ; and Mr. Vail now expresses 
 the hope that, having received such instructions, and being enabled by the 
 list which he encloses, not only to point out the particular historical facts 
 to be illustrated, but to designate the documents wanted for that purpose, 
 he will meet, on this occasion, the same accommodating disposition on the 
 part of his Majesty's Government, and that no obstacle or inconvenience 
 will now be found to stand in the way of their desire to comply with the 
 wishes of the United States. 
 
 The undersigned, concurring in the general view taken of the subject 
 by his predecessor, regrets extremely that his Majesty's Government are 
 still unable to comply with the application which Mr. Vail has been in- 
 structed to address to it. The objections which were formerly entertained, 
 to submitting to the unrestricted inspection of the agent of the United 
 States, the whole of the confidential correspondence between this country 
 and the colonial authorities during a period of public dissension, when 
 the angry passions were most highly excited, apply with hardly less force 
 to the request now preferred by Mr. Vail, since it would be necessary to 
 permit that agent to have access to nearly all the volumes in question, for 
 the purpose of selecting from them the very voluminous mass of corres- 
 pondence which is specified in the list transmitted by Mr. Vail. The under- 
 signed is convinced that the interests of both countries require that the 
 utmost caution should be observed in the selection of such documents for 
 publication ; and he has further the honor to observe to Mr. Vail, that the 
 disposition manifested by Viscount Palmerston to comply, as far as was 
 consistent with his public duties, with the wishes of the United States, had 
 reference rather to the verifications of particular historical incidents, than 
 to the communication of copies of the documents themselves, by which 
 the facts sought to be illustrated were established. 
 
 The undersigned has the honor to request Mr. Vail to accept the assu- 
 rance of his high consideration. 
 
 WELLINGTON. 
 
 Foreign Office, February 26, 1835. 
 
 LBFe-OB