SIR: Your communication of the 17th instant, in answer to mine of the
13th, I have received.
The circumstances that urged me to call on you for the information
requested in my letter, would, I presume, have instigated you, or any
other person, to the same conduct that I pursued. Several gentlemen in
Norfolk, not your enemies, nor actuated by any malicious motive, told me
that such a report was in circulation, but could not now be traced to
its origin. I, therefore, concluded to appeal to you, supposing, under
such circumstances, that I could not outrage any rule of decorum or
candor. This, I trust, will be considered as a just motive for the
course I have pursued. Your declaration, if I understand it correctly,
relieves my mind from the apprehension that you had so degraded my
character, as I had been induced to allege.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
JAMES BARRON.
To Commodore STEPHEN DECATUR,
_Washington_.
* * * * *
No. 4.