"Deep affliction, my dear friend, has for some time past arrested my pen! My beloved & tender Mother left us forever on the 20th of October last--She was in Virgi^a with my youngest sister when she died without suffering or regret. The loss is only ours, & for that only ought we her children to mourn. "Mr. Madison unites with me in best wishes & regard for you and yours. D. P. Madison[51]. The following unpublished letter[52] from James Madison to his brother-in-law, George Steptoe Washington, is interesting as giving an account of the early troubles with Great Britain that finally led to the War of 1812: Washington, Dec^r 7, 1807. Dear Sir Having lately rec'd a few no^s of Cobbets[53] Register, I enclose them with a few newspapers of our own for your amusement, by a winter's fire side. The business with England has come to a stop there, and is to be transferred to this place. The British Gov^t. would not admit, even formally, into the case of the Chesapeake, a discussion of the general principal of impressments; and the inefficacy of any arrangement not embracing the whole subject, for placing the two countries in the relation of secure & permanent friendship, was thought to require a joint provision. It had been calculated with great confidence here that the offer authorized for putting an end to the general practice of G. B. was so favorable to her interest as well as so liberal in itself, that it would be instantly embraced, and that the great difficulty on the general subject being surmounted, the affair of the Chesapeake would be met on both sides with dispositions which would render it the more manageable. The different course insisted on will necessarily leave around the subject all the thorns which mutual pride and honor, wise and false, will have planted there; and even in case the parties shall succeed in removing this ground of contest, the old one, on which a species of contest tending to rupture has been commenced, will remain. From the sensibility produced in this country by the British practice of taking seamen, and ours in greater number than their own, it can hardly be supposed that the practice will be tolerated after a refusal of the liberal & conciliatory substitute proposed on our part. Let us not however despair that things may take a better turn. If the new envoy brings as sincere disposition to remove obstacles to peace & harmony as he will find here, this cannot fail to be the case. Inclosed are a few lines for Mr^s. Washington from her sister, to whom I beg you to offer my sincere affection.