have paralized the Secretary: intellectually feeble, the prospect of his loss of office seemed to have thrown his head into utter con- fusion, and my second Note remained unanswered:-ln January the change as expected actually took place, upon which I immedi- ately addressed the New Secretary, directing his attention to the delays that had occurred, and requesting him to appoint an early day for commencing the Negotiation, when to my great surprise he replied to me in a few days, stating that the Negotiation had been intrusted to Mr Castillo, and that Letters had been received from him saying that on the 10th Dec last, he had entered upon the subject with Mr Forsyth-and consequently it became proper to wait the result of that Negotiation, lest by carrying it on at the same time at two different points embarrassment might be pro- duced. I give you all these facts even at the hazard of being deemed tedious, rather than permit you to suppose that any neg- lect of mine has occasioned the transfer to Washington City: And, now I shall most certainly return in the New York packet for April, and be able perhaps to bring with me the exchange of Ratifications if as I suppose the Treaty is already finished, and may be expected here from day to day. Whenever I shall have the pleasure of seeing you, it will be in my power to shew you clearly that I have not been Idle-that all has been done which under present circumstances could have been done-that every thing is ripe for condluding satisfactorily the whole subject- I can prove almost to demonstration that in three months we may consummate every thing-that there is but one stumbling block in the way-which You must remove-The expla- nation would be too long for a letter, independent of the docu- ments which it is proper to lay before you, in order lo command the whole ground, and I am so shortly to be with you myself, when we may confer fully, that I feel it the less necessary to make a written communication-and moreover the stumbling block to which I allude, you cannot immediately remove-it will require a few months to get every thing in motion-but I pledge myself to you-Mark me-I give you my pledge that your Administration shall not close, without seeing the object in your possession. Very important changes in the form of Government it is said are preparing in Congress at the present moment- The Secret Sessions are frequent, and an opposition Newspaper asserts that the object of these Secret Sessions is a destruction of the present
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