577
PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BUONAPARTE LAMAR
either to my person or my interest; that many of his friends in this country were my enemies and traducers, and that they had spared no pains to infuse their prejudices and hostilities into his mind; yet, against the entreaties of some of my best friends, I retained him in his situation until he consumated his wishes; won for himself all the glory which the field could afford, and expressed his desire to return to the bosom of his delighted friends; and that he has since been wanting in the sensibility to appreciate and magnanimity to acknowl- edge my liberality, is no fault of mine.- I acted as I thought became a mind not narrowed by low and selfish considerations, and should again pursue the same course, under similar circumstances, without any reference to the effect which it might have upon the feelings and conduct of the recipient of my favors. If I dealt thus liberally towards a foe, how much more incumbent is it upon me to do the like towards a friend?- If I would not recall General Henderson who was an enemy without a cause, in the midst of his negotiations with France, because I was unwilling to deprive him of an honor which I thought he might be proud to wear, how can I now recall Col. Hee, who hfl.S been a long and constant friend, at a time when his recall would disappoint him in those hopes that animate the emulous mind in the discharne of duty? This consideration precludes the possibility of my recalling him until he makes known that he has either failed or succeeded in his pending Treaty; and by that time it will be too late for me to appoint any other in his place even if I were then disposed to recall him. But you do not only ask me to take this Treaty out of the hands of Col. Bee, and confide its consumation to Doctor Archer; but you seem to think that no body but the Doctor has any right to make it; and it follows of consequence that there must be culpability somewhere if the Doctor be not permitted to reap the honors. Your words are these-- "It is as much due to Doctor-Archer that he should make this highly important treaty with our mother country, as was a similar service due to Benjamin Franklin or John Adams." Now this lan- guage admits but one construction- it conveys the idea plainly and distinctly that, if any other person be allowed to make the treaty, a positive wrong is thereby inflicted upon the Doctor, by depriving him of an honor to which he is exclusively entitled. I cannot subscribe to this doctrine. Whilst I would be as much pleased to see Doctor Archer's name appended to the treaty as that ·of any other of my friends, I do not feel that his claim to the honor is so special and paramount, as to render it culpable in me if I do not remove the existing difficulties to his obtaining it.- When I dispatched Col. Bee to the U S; and called Dr. Archer to the Head of the War Dept., it was with the fond hope that both of them would be able to continue in their respective situations, to serve their country as well as myself, to the end of my administration; and I certainly never dreamed that any effort would ever be made by their friends, for either of these gentlemen to sup- plant the other; and that I should be held censurable, because I could not encourage or permit it. I should have been much gratified to have placed Doctor Archer originally in the situation which Col Bee now occupi~s; and if I mistake not, when I :first came into office, I once, or oftener, made known to him that he could hold any station
I
Powered by FlippingBook