274 T. C. ELLIOTT river." 2 Under date October 4th, Mr. Prevost wrote from New York that Captain Biddle had received his orders and the Ontario left New York October 5th, 1817. Omitting Mr. Prevost's correspondence as to conditions in Peru and Chile during five months following arrival at Val- paraiso (on January 25th, 1818,) his next letter which con- cerns us is dated June 20th at Santiago de Chile and begins as follows : "The Ontario sailed from Valparaiso on the 14th inst. to proceed to Lima and from thence to the Northwest Coast, where Captain Biddle will have to perform the office contemplated by the President to have been joint. Prior to his departure I enclosed a copy of the instructions on this head and enjoined it upon him to adhere strictly to the pacific course indicated in your note. I am persuaded that no diffi- culty will occur as I have taken pains to discover whether any force has been sent hither (thither?) either Russian or English and am satisfied that none has been. Some subjects of collision having lately occurred I could not consent to place myself at the discretion of Captain Biddle on the return of the ship to Lima ; the instructions from the navy department direct him to leave me at that place, while those from your depart- ment give me a discretion as to residence which it may be all important to exercise at that moment." This then was Mr. Prevost's excuse for not accompanying Captain Biddle to the Columbia and it is confirmed by John Quincy Adams in his diary entry of November 3rd, 1818, where he stated that Bland, just returned from Valparaiso, "gave me some account of the misunderstanding between Mr. Prevost and Captain Biddle, of the Ontario, which occasioned Prevost to leave the ship, and which is barely hinted at in Prevost's letters. All these things tend to confirm what the experience of this country has invariably proved the extreme difficulty of maintaining harmony in joint commissions." Neither Mr. Adams or Mr. Prevost indicate the entire differ- ences of opinion between the commissioners, but the stronger presumption is that these concerned activities in South America a Writings of John Quincy Adams, VI, 205.
