[324] Annals of Congress, 1808-1809, p. 556.
[325] Annals of Congress, 1808-1809, p. 606.
[326] Annals of Congress, 1808-1809, p. 657.
[327] Annals of Congress, 1808-1809, p. 797.
[328] Annals of Congress, 1808-1809, p. 685.
[329] Annals of Congress, 1808-1809, p. 595.
[330] Annals of Congress, 1808-1809, pp. 687, 688.
[331] Annals of Congress, 1808-1809, p. 747.
CHAPTER XVII.
Behind the scenes diplomacy was at work, actively seeking to disentangle or to embroil the plot of the culminating drama. Erskine, the British minister, sympathizing with his father Lord Erskine, in good-will to America, hurried from one to another of the officials at Washington, trying to penetrate their thoughts,—an easy task,—and to find a bond of union between them and George Canning,—a problem as difficult as any that ever diplomacy solved. Besides his interview with Jefferson, he reported conversations with the Cabinet.