I am, sir, your obedient servant,
STEPHEN DECATUR.
To Commodore James Barron,
Hampton, Virginia.
No. 3
HAMPTON, (VA.) JUNE 25, 1819.
Sir: Your communication of the 17th instant, in answer to mine of the 13th, I have received.
The circumstances that urged me to call on you for the information requested in my letter, would, I presume, have instigated you, or any other person, to the same conduct that I pursued. Several gentlemen in Norfolk, not your enemies, nor actuated by any malicious motive, told me that such a report was in circulation, but could not now be traced to its origin. I, therefore, concluded to appeal to you, supposing, under such circumstances, that I could not outrage any rule of decorum or candor. This, I trust, will be considered as a just motive for the course I have pursued. Your declaration, if I understand it correctly, relieves my mind from the apprehension that you had so degraded my character, as I had been induced to allege.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
JAMES BARRON.