1. The resolution, introduced in the House of Representatives by New York Federalist Thomas P. Grosvenor on 15 Oct. 1814, requested that JM send to the House any correspondence between the U.S. and British governments “not heretofore communicated” regarding the retaliatory contest over prisoners of war (for the controversy and its origins, see PJM-PS, description begins Robert A. Rutland et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Presidential Series (8 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1984–). description ends 5:547 n. 1, 7:35 n. 2). In addition, the resolution asked JM to forward any information available on the status of the original twenty-three American prisoners whose transportation to England for trial had sparked the dispute. In his prefatory remarks, Grosvenor noted that although retaliation had evidently ended, the terms of the arrangement were not known and should be made public (Annals of Congress, description begins Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … (42 vols.; Washington, 1834–56). description ends 13th Cong., 3d sess., 394).

2. The enclosure marked “No. 1” (5 pp.) was an extract of U.S. agent for prisoners in London Reuben G. Beasley’s 18 Mar. 1814 letter to U.S. commissary general for prisoners John Mason, enclosing a copy of Beasley’s 19 Feb. 1814 letter to Alexander Mcleay, secretary of the British transport board, in which Beasley listed the retaliatory actions taken by the U.S. government, inquired as to the treatment and location of the twenty-three American prisoners shipped to England for trial, and protested against the transportation of “about 400” additional American prisoners to England. To Mason, Beasley wrote that he had received no written response to this letter but could verify Mcleay’s verbal assurances that the twenty-three men being held for trial were treated no differently than the other prisoners.

The enclosure marked “No. 2” (3 pp.) consisted of extracts of Monroe’s 27 June 1814 instructions to Tobias Lear for negotiating a modification of Brig. Gen. William H. Winder’s 15 Apr. 1814 prisoner exchange convention (for the convention, see Monroe to JM, 30 Apr. 1814, PJM-PS, description begins Robert A. Rutland et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Presidential Series (8 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1984–). description ends 7:443–45 and n. 1). Monroe wrote that Lear was not authorized to agree to an arrangement whereby Great Britain would hold more retaliatory “hostages” than the United States but that based on the information received from Beasley, the administration was now willing to exchange the twenty-three British prisoners being held as security for the twenty-three Americans shipped to England.

The enclosures marked “No. 3” (6 pp.) were extracts from Winder’s 15 Apr. 1814 convention, and from the 16 July 1814 modification of it negotiated by Lear, indicating that the twenty-three British prisoners and the forty-six Americans held by the British in retaliation, who had been specifically excluded from the earlier agreement, would now be exchanged.

The enclosures marked “No. 4” (11 pp.) were extracts of correspondence between Mason and British commissary general of prisoners Thomas Barclay, dated from 14 June to 12 Aug. 1814, arranging the mutual release from “hostage” status and exchange of American and British prisoners held in Halifax and New England, respectively. The extracts showed that Mason had accepted only reciprocal terms and had dismissed Barclay’s threats as “unavailing.” Further, by informing Barclay that the U.S. government had released its “hostages” based on Beasley’s report, Mason conveyed the implicit message that menaces and cajolements from Barclay or other British sources had nothing to do with that decision.