Suppose a declaration to the effect that this treaty should not be
considered as sacrificing any American rights had been appended, and the
treaty, thus fortified, had been sent to Great Britain, as you propose;
and suppose that that government, with equal ingenuity, had appended an
equivalent written declaration that it should not be considered as
sacrificing any British right, how much more defined would have been the
rights of either party, or how much clearer the meaning and
interpretation of the treaty, by these reservations on both sides? Or,
in other words, what is the value of a protest on one side, balanced by
an exactly equivalent protest on the other?
No nation is presumed to sacrifice its rights, or give up what justly
belongs to it, unless it expressly stipulates that, for some good reason
or adequate consideration, it does make such relinquishment; and an
unnecessary asseveration that it does not intend to sacrifice just
rights would seem only calculated to invite aggression. Such
proclamations would seem better devised for concealing weakness and
apprehension, than for manifesting conscious strength and self-reliance,
or for inspiring respect in others.
Toward the end of your letter you are pleased to observe: "The rejection
of a treaty, duly negotiated, is a serious question, to be avoided
whenever it can be without too great a sacrifice. Though the national
faith is not actually committed, still it is more or less engaged. And
there were peculiar circumstances, growing out of long-standing
difficulties, which rendered an amicable arrangement of the various
matters in dispute with England a subject of great national interest.
But the negotiation of a treaty is a far different subject. Topics are
omitted or introduced at the discretion of the negotiators, and they are
responsible, to use the language of an eminent and able Senator, for
'what it contains and what it omits.' This treaty, in my opinion, omits
a most important and necessary stipulation; and therefore, as it seems
to me, its negotiation, in this particular, was unfortunate for the
country."
The President directs me to say, in reply to this, that in the treaty of
Washington no topics were omitted, and no topics introduced, at the mere
discretion of the negotiator; that the negotiation proceeded from step
to step, and from day to day, under his own immediate supervision and
direction; that he himself takes the responsibility for what the treaty
contains and what it omits, and cheerfully leaves the merits of the
whole to the judgment of the country.
I now conclude this letter, and close this correspondence, by repeating
once more the expression of the President's regret that you should have
commenced it by your letter of the 3d of October.
It is painful to him to have with you any cause of difference. He has a
just appreciation of your character and your public services at home and
abroad. He cannot but persuade himself that you must be aware yourself,
by this time, that your letter of October was written under erroneous
impressions, and that there is no foundation for the opinions respecting
the treaty which it expresses; and that it would have been far better on
all accounts if no such letter had been written.