Baltimore. Aug^t 2. 1799 Before this, my dear Sir, you will have received a letter from me on the subject of my proposed arrangement; I think it necessary to add and [strikethrough: send] out on that head in answer to yours of [strikethrough: the] [strikethrough: yesterday] [strikethrough: 30th ultimo] — but beg leave then to tender you my best thanks for your kind wishes, and, my hopes that if they should [undecipherable] it [strikethrough: could] not be [strikethrough: too] my fault. I always thought the mission an illfated and unlucky measure. but having been adopted, I think that the safety, and dignity, of the Government equally require, that it should be pursued in a spirit of fairness [strikethrough: those] & good faith. The question then is whether the engagement of [undecipherable] [strikethrough: respond] does not fairly imply an audience [undecipherable: as it appears in M^r Murray's communication,] of the ministry? I Think it does, & therefore that a formal answer in the affirmative to that condition, was not wanting. He says [strikethrough: that] "they shall be received ac= cording to their functions, and treated according to the 'law of nations'." Can this be done without an audience? I should suppose not, since, as far as I am informed, an audience is one of the marks of respect, invariably allowed to foreign ministers, by the laws of nations. It is true, It is true that the french might refuse it, and shelter themselves under the crafty blame of M^r Talleyrand; but it would be a manifest & a palpable. [strikethrough: Which must disgrace them, and add new thoughts to our own.] [strikethrough: ble, the disgrace of which must fall on themselves, and] [strikethrough: by Such our case would cause additional thought.] Thence would we avail ourselves of this scheme to break off the affair, we should give them, and their party, an opportunity of throwing the blame upon us, and charging us with [strikethrough: inferiority] [undecipherable: impertinency] from the beginning: and I confess that I should fear the effect of this charge among our people. Besides, the President in his communication to the Senate, which will probably be continued, and perhaps with justice, as the measure of the opinions, [strikethrough: there] [undecipherable: touches] is no express mention of this audience; from whence it seems to have been considered, as included within the general expressions. To insert a particular mention of it afterwards, and make their silence a ground for breaking off, would, in my opinion, be a very hazardous, if not a very im= proper conduct; to think, I Think, it would be very difficult to reconcile the american mind. In fine, I see in this scheme, & in the [undecipherable: character] [strikethrough: think you have strong] notion of Talleyrand, the marks of that false spirit [strikethrough: combined with insolence,] [strikethrough: whereby] [undecipherable: mutual insults] [strikethrough: that] the french [undecipherable: councils] have at all times [strikethrough: distinguished] [strikethrough: but] been [strikethrough: remarkable]. If they mean to lay a snare for us, the best way of avoiding it as it appears to me, [undecipherable] [strikethrough: with] [strikethrough: it be] to [undecipherable] the government [undecipherable] the ministers, [strikethrough: but &] [strikethrough: intimation, at the same time,] [strikethrough: otherwise] to insist on an audience as part of the promised reception. Thus we may save our own dignity, and disappoint their arts. But I am clearly of opinion that it will never do to return the ministers on account of this scheme, whether accidental or designed, of M^r Talleyrand. God bless you & yours Yours most sincerely Rob: G. Harper + Who is to supply Henry's place? It would afford one a pleasant opportunity of being Fume a Suisse, of judging by the eyes as well as the ears. [Col^t at law. Aug^t 2. 1799.] [Harper. n. l. at law]