FROM RICHARD H. BAYARD. — Section 221

Wilmington, Delaware, April 22, 1830.

SIR,

I have just received your letter of the 10th ult., in answer to mine of the 8th, the reason of which delay is to be found in the fact of your having directed it to Wilmington, North Carolina. It was accordingly conveyed to that place, and was returned and received by me this morning.

I reply to your inquiries that I am the eldest son of the late James

A. Bayard, and that the object which I have in view is the vindication

of his character from the aspersion contained in the passage in Mr.

Jefferson's writings, a copy of which I sent you.

It is true that among my father's papers I have found rough copies of the deposition made in your suit against Cheetham, as well as of that made in the wager case. Together with the first-named deposition there is also a copy of the interrogatories; but, in the latter case, simply a rough copy of the deposition, without title, or any memorandum of the names of the parties. You will perceive at once the necessity of accompanying the deposition in the wager case with its title and a copy of the interrogatories, in order to show, in the first place, Mr. Jefferson's error in the statement of the case, and, secondly, to refute his assertion that the deposition had "nothing to do with the suit, or with any other object than to calumniate him."

The subsequent part of his statement will be met by the deposition itself, by reference to concomitant circumstances, and such corroborating testimony as time has spared. Being anxious to avoid all room for cavil, by publishing the depositions as returned with the respective commissions, lest, perchance, there should be some slight verbal inaccuracies, I applied to you, believing it was in your power to give the information necessary to enable me to procure certified copies of the record.

You have thus, Sir, an entire exposition of my motives for addressing you my letter of the 8th ult.; and, in conformity with the sentiment you are so good as to express in the conclusion of your letter, I doubt not you will furnish me with such information as you possess on the subject.

I wrote some time since to Mr. Edward N. Rogers, of your city, to procure for me copies of my father's and General Samuel Smith's depositions in both cases. He informs me, by his letter of the 17th inst., that the depositions in your suit against Cheetham are not to be found in the office; that the case went off by default, and he supposes they were never filed. At all events, the clerk cannot now find them.

You will probably be able to state what became of them, and whether copies can be procured. I will ask of you, therefore, the favour to communicate to him information on this point, as well as the name of the wager case, that he may be enabled to comply with my request, with the execution of which he has been so kind as to charge himself.

I have the honour to be, respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

RICHARD H. BAYARD.

Footnotes:

1. See Ch. V.

2. It is considered proper to state here that the correspondence which follows is published without the privity or consent of either of the Mr. Bayards. It is found among the papers of Colonel Burr, and is intimately connected with a history of the transaction.

3. The suit was James Gillespie vs. Abraham Smith. See deposition.

4. Will the reader examine the deposition, especially what relates to Mr. McLean and Mr. Latimer?