1. JM forwarded a copy of Lord Castlereagh to James Monroe, 4 Nov. 1813 (4 pp.), enclosing a copy (3 pp.; in French) and translation (4 pp.) of British minister William Cathcart’s 1 Sept. 1813 note to Russian diplomat Karl Robert Nesselrode (printed in ASP, Foreign Relations, description begins American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States … (38 vols.; Washington, 1832–61). description ends 3:621–22). Cathcart stated that although the Prince Regent would not accept the Russian offer of mediation, he was willing to appoint ministers to negotiate directly with the U.S. peace commissioners in either London or Gothenburg. Having learned from Cathcart that the U.S. commissioners were willing to participate in such negotiations but lacked the authority to do so, Castlereagh noted that JM might wish to revise their instructions to accommodate the proposed change, and assured Monroe “that the British Government is willing to enter into discussion with the Government of America for the conciliatory adjustment of the differences subsisting between the two States, with the earnest desire on their part to bring them to a favorable issue, upon principles of perfect reciprocity, not inconsistent with the established maxims of public law, and with the maritime rights of the British empire.” JM also forwarded a copy of Monroe’s 5 Jan. 1814 reply (8 pp.; printed ibid., 622–23), accepting the offer of direct negotiations at Gothenburg, although JM would have preferred to hear from the U.S. commissioners before making a decision and regretted that Great Britain had rejected Russia’s mediation. Monroe averred that the United States would “treat with the sincere desire … of terminating the present contest … on conditions of reciprocity consistent with the rights of both parties as sovereign and independent nations, and calculated not only to establish present harmony, but to provide, as far as possible, against future collisions which might interrupt it.”