I have recd. your letter of Jany. 31. and feel a proper respect for the solicitude which prompted it. But at the great age of my memory, and in reference to a remote period, crowded with a multiplicity of duties pressing on the attention, I think it most proper, on these considerations, as well as others involved in your enquiries, to refer for the information which is the object of them, to the Journals of the Senate and the Archives of the Navy Department; in which it is presumed, the Executive proceedings in any cases such as you allude to may be traced & ascertained. With friendly respects