Page:Statement of the attempted rescue of General Lafayette from Olmutz.djvu/42

 During Mr. Huger’s captivity, his friends in America had endeavoured to procure the assistance of our Government; the following letter is of interest on the subject:

The President of the United States, now at Mount Vernon, has sent me your letter to him, dated New Port, Rhode Island, of the 6th inst., which he has directed me to acknowledge. The President’s benevolence, and his respect for the connections of Mr. F. K. Huger, would prompt him to adopt any practicable measure for obtaining his release, but besides that the cause of Mr. Huger’s confinement would render an application delicate and difficult, the United States having no public functionary in the Austrian dominions, where General Lafayette and Mr. Huger are in durance, the President knows not any channel through which a movement of the kind could at present be made.