RC (DLC); in a clerk’s hand, signed by Smith; at foot of text: “President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 23 Apr. and “Morris’s case” and so recorded in SJL. FC (Lb in DNA: RG 45, LSP). Enclosure: opinion of the court of enquiry, 13 Apr., appointed to examine the conduct of Richard Valentine Morris as commander of the Mediterranean squadron from January to June 1803; in the opinion of the court, Morris failed to conduct himself during this period “with the diligence or activity necessary to execute the important duties of his station” and “is censurable for his inactive and dilatory conduct of the squadron under his command”; the frequent and lengthy detention of Morris’s squadron at Malta and Gibraltar, and its sailing to Tunis and other Mediterranean ports “without necessity or any adequate object,” had left Tripoli unblockaded and American commerce unprotected (Defence of the Conduct of Commodore Morris during His Command in the Mediterranean [New York, 1804], 11-13; NDBW description begins Dudley W. Knox, ed., Naval Documents Related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers, Washington, D.C., 1939-44, 6 vols. and Register of Officer Personnel and Ships’ Data, 1801-1807, Washington, D.C., 1945 description ends , 2:528-9).