_Washington, December 31, 1840_.
SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the
29th instant, in reply to mine of the 26th, on the subject of the arrest
and detention of Alexander McLeod as one of the perpetrators of the
outrage committed in New York when the steamboat _Caroline_ was seized
and burnt. Full evidence of that outrage has been presented to Her
Britannic Majesty's Government with a demand for redress, and of course
no discussion of the circumstances here can be either useful or proper,
nor can I suppose it to be your desire to invite it. I take leave of the
subject with this single remark, that the opinion so strongly expressed
by you on the facts and principles involved in the demand for reparation
on Her Majesty's Government by the United States would hardly have been
hazarded had you been possessed of the carefully collected testimony
which has been presented to your Government in support of that demand.
I avail myself of the occasion to renew to you the assurance of my
distinguished consideration.