4647. LIBELS, Guarding against.—
I
have seen in the New York papers a calumny
which I suppose will run through the Union,
that I had written by Doctor Logan letters
to Merlin and Talleyrand. On retiring from
the Secretary of State's office, I determined
to drop all correspondence with France,
knowing the base calumnies which would be
built on the most innocent correspondence. I
have not, therefore, written a single letter to
that country, within that period except to Mr.
Short on his own affairs merely which are
under my direction, and once or twice to
Colonel Monroe. By Logan, I did not write
even a letter to Mr. Short, nor to any other
person whatever. I thought this notice of
the matter due to my friends, though I do not
go into the newspapers with a formal declaration
of it.—
To Aaron Burr.
Ford ed., vii, 259.
(M.
Nov. 1798)
