no
information of the refusal of Great Britain to the mediation had been
received, but, even if it had, the commission was not authorized to
negotiate in any other manner. They were, however, competent to treat of
commerce without mediation. He declined to discuss the objection of
Great Britain to the mediation of Russia, confining himself to an
expression of ignorance in America of any such feeling on the part of
the British ministry, and of the confidence placed in the personal
character of the emperor, which was considered a sufficient pledge of
impartiality; while the selection of a sovereign at war with France was
clear evidence that America neither had nor wished to have any political
connection with that power. That he himself believed an arrangement to
be practicable, he said to Mr. Baring, was evident from the fact that he
had given up his political existence, and separated himself from his
family. His opinion was, that while neither nation would be induced to
abandon its rights or pretensions in the matter of impressment, an
arrangement might be made by way of experiment which would reserve to
both their respective abstract rights, real or assumed.

To Moreau he wrote stating his hope that, notwithstanding the first
objections of Great Britain, the mediation of the emperor would be
accepted, and he asked the general for his personal interposition to
this end. France and England he held to be equally at fault in the great
European contest; the one usurping and oppressing the land, the other
dominating and tyrannizing the sea. They alone, said he, have gained, if
not happiness, at least power. Russia, he was firmly persuaded, was the
only power at heart friendly to America. History has shown the sagacity
of this judgment. This letter was never answered. Moreau was at death's
door.

Early in October Mr. Dallas was sent to London to open relations with
the British ministry. His presence there would save two months at least
in each correspondence which involved communication between Washington,
London, and St. Petersburg. Count Romanzoff gave the necessary letter of
introduction to Count Lieven. Gallatin's instructions to the young
secretary were explicit as to the caution he should exercise in a
country where he could consider himself as only on sufferance. Hardly
were these preliminaries concluded, and Dallas had not started on his
journey, when Mr. Gallatin received word from America that the Senate
had refuse