1234. CHESAPEAKE, Premeditation suspected.—
Though in the first moments of
the outrage on the Chesapeake I did not suppose
it was by authority from their government,
I now more and more suspect it, and of
course, that they will not give the reparation
for the past and security for the future, which
alone may prevent war. The new depredations
committing on us, with this attack on
the Chesapeake, and their calling on Portugal
to declare on the one side or the other,
if true, prove they have coolly calculated it
will be to their benefit to have everything on
the ocean fair prize, and to support their
navy by plundering all mankind. * * * It is
really mortifying that we should be forced
to wish success to Bonaparte, and to look to
his victories as our salvation.—
To Colonel John Taylor. Washington ed. v, 149.
(W.
Aug. 1807)
