field, or expressed a hope that I would call you out; but you observe that, 'being informed by a gentleman with whom I had _conferred_ upon the subject, that I left Norfolk, for the seat of government, some time before our June correspondence, with the intention of calling you out, you stated to that gentleman, as you have to _all others_ with whom you have conversed upon the subject, that, if I made the call, you would meet me; but that, upon all scores, you would be much better pleased to have nothing to do with me.' I certainly do not _exactly_ know who that intermeddling gentleman was, with whom you say I "conferred;" but, if I may be allowed a conjecture, I think I can recognize in him the self same officious _gentleman_, who, I am creditably informed, originated the report of your having made use of the gasconading expressions you have disowned:--In this respect I may be mistaken. Be this, however, as it may, I never gave him, or any other person, to understand that my visit to Washington last spring, was for the purpose of "calling you out," nor _did_ I go there with _any such view_. How you can reconcile your affecting indifference towards me, in the remark "that, on all scores, you would be much better pleased to have nothing to do with me," with the very active part which, it is generally known, and which your own letter clearly evinces, you have taken against me, I am at a loss to conceive. No, sir, you feel not so much unconcern as you pretend and wish it to be believed you do, in regard to the course of conduct my honor and my injuries may, in my judgment, require me to pursue. You have a _motive_, not to be concealed from the world, for all you have done or said, or for any future endeavors you may make, to bar my "re-admission" into the service. It is true, you have never given me a direct, formal and written invitation, to meet you in the field, such as one gentleman of honor _ought_ to send to another. But, if your own admissions, that you had "incautiously said you would meet me if I wished it," and "that if you had not _pledged yourself_, you might re-consider the subject," and all this too without any provocation on my part, or the most distant intimation from me that I had a desire to meet you, do not amount to a challenge, I cannot comprehend the object or import of such declarations--made as they were in the face of the world; and to those in particular, whom you knew would not only communicate them to me, but give them circulation; under all the circumstances of the case, I consider you as having thrown down the gauntlet, and I have no hesitation in accepting it. This is, however, a point which it will not be for you or me to decide, nor do I view it as of any other importance than as respects the privilege allowed to the challenged party in relation to the choice of weapons, distance, &c. about which I feel not more "fastidious," I assure you, sir, than you