Your Letter of the   July (the date ⟨is⟩ not legible) reached me on the 7th. Instant, requiring ⟨cer⟩tain statements relative to my Official transactions.

I conceive that the best & most satisfactory way of ⟨co⟩mplying with your directions is to send a Recapitulation ⟨of⟩ all the Abstracts which I have transmitted to the Department of State since I entered on the Duties of my ⟨a⟩ppointment, & which I now do myself the honor to ⟨enclose.⟩ It is utterly impossible Sir for me to discriminate ⟨be⟩tween natural Born Citizens & those naturalized, for I ⟨wi⟩ll venture to assert that there is not an instance where a ⟨p⟩erson could be brought to confess that he was Born out of the United States. Indeed such confession would almost preclude the possibility of obtaining his discharg⟨e⟩ as in such case it would be necessary to produce proof ⟨of⟩ his having been in America previous to the Peace of 8⟨3, the⟩ period insisted on by this Government to constitute Citizen⟨ship⟩ & this you will readily imagine would be almost impractic⟨able.⟩

I take great pleasure Sir in obeying your comma⟨nds⟩ but I must observe that had the Clerks in your Office recollected that my Returns were regularly transmitted quarterly, your enquiry might have been answered with⟨out⟩ the delay of hearing from me. The cases where proofs ⟨have⟩ been received from the Department of State since my ⟨last⟩ Return, will as usual be particularly noticed in my ⟨next⟩ Abstract ending the 30th. Instant. With great respect I have the honor to be Sir Your most Obedient S⟨ervant,⟩