LORD CARLISLE TO M. DE LAFAYETTE.
Sir,—I have received your letter by M. de Gimat; I own it appears to me difficult to make a serious answer to it; the only one that can be expected from me in my capacity of commissioner of the king, and which is one you should have foreseen, is, that I look upon myself, and shall always look upon myself, as not obliged to be responsible to any individual for my public conduct and mode of expression. I am only responsible to my king and country. In respect to the opinions or expressions contained in one of the public documents published by the authority of the commission to which I have the honour of belonging, unless they should be publicly retracted, you may feel certain that, whatever change may take place in my situation, I shall never be disposed to give any account of them, still less to disown them privately. I must recall to you that the insult you allude to as occurring in the correspondence between the king's commissioners and the congress is not of a private nature. I think, therefore, that all national disputes will be best decided when Admiral Biron and Count d'Estaing shall have met.