from a community of interest in the liberty of the seas, from a community of opinion respecting the principles which guard it, and from a community in danger should it ever be manaced by the ambition of any maritime power. It appears to me, sir, that in asking the attention of his Majesty's government to the subject of the quintuple treaty, with a view to its reconsideration, I am requesting nothing on the part of the United States inconsistent with the duties of France to other powers. If, during the course of the discussions upon this treaty, preparatory to the arrangement of its provisions, England had asserted to the other parties the pretension she now asserts to the United States, as a necessary consequence of its obligations, I cannot be wrong in presuming that France would not have signed it without guarding against this impending difficulty. The views of England are now disclosed to you, but fortunately before its ratification. And this change of circumstances may well justify the French government in interposing such a remedy as it may think is demanded by the grave interests involved in this question. As to the treaties of 1831 and 1833, between France and Great Britain, for the suppression of the slave trade, I do not consider it my duty to advert to their stipulations. Their obligations upon the contracting parties, whatever these may be, are now complete; and it is for my government alone to determine what measures the United States ought to take to avert the consequences with which they are threatened by the construction which one of the parties has given to these instruments. I have the honor to transmit, herewith, a copy of the message of the President of the United States to Congress, in December last, and of the annual documents which accompanied it. Among the latter will be found the correspondence between the British Secretaries of State and Mr. Stevenson upon the subject herein referred to. From these you will learn the respective views of the American and British governments. It is proper for me to add that this communication had been made without any instructions from the United States. I have considered this case as one in which an American representative to a foreign power should act without awaiting the orders of his government. I have presumed, in the views I have submitted to you, that I express the feelings of the American government and people. If in this I have deceived myself, the responsibility will be mine. As soon as I can receive despatches from the United States in answer to my communications, I shall be enabled to declare to you either that my conduct has been approved by the President, or that my mission is terminated. I avail myself, &c. His Excel'y Mr. GUIZOT, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Webster to Mr. Cass. LEWIS CASS. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, April 5, 1842. SIR: By the arrival of the steampacket at Boston, on the 27th day of last month, I had the honor to receive your several despatches down to the 26th of February. That vessel had been so long delayed on the passage to America that, after the receipt here of the communications brought by her, there was not time to prepare answers in season to reach Boston before the time fixed for her departure on her return. The most I was able to do, was to write a short note to Mr. Everett, to signify that the mail from London had come safe to hand. The President has been closely attentive to recent occurrences in Europe, connected with the treaty of the five powers, of which we received a copy soon after its signature in December. He has witnessed with especial interest the sentiments to which that treaty appears to have given rise in France, as manifested by the debates in the chambers and the publication of the Parisian press, and he is now officially informed of the course which you felt it to be your duty to take, by the receipt of a copy of the letter addressed by you to Mr. Guizot on the 13th of February. When the President entered upon the duties of his present office, in April of last year, a correspondence, as you know, had been long pending, and was still pending, in London, between the minister of the United States and her Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, respecting certain seizures and detentions of American vessels on the coast of Africa by armed British cruisers, and generally respecting the visitation and search of American vessels by such cruisers in those seas. A general approbation of Mr. Stevenson's note to the British minister, in regard to this subject, was soon after communicated to that gentleman, by the President's order, from this department. The state of things in England in the early part of last summer did not appear to favor a very active continuance or prosecution of this correspondence; and, as Mr. Stevenson had already received permission to return home, no new instructions were addressed to him. Circumstances occurred, as you are aware, which delayed Mr. Everett's arrival at the post assigned to him as minister to London; and, in the mean time, in the latter part of August, the correspondence between Lord Palmerston and Mr. Stevenson was, somewhat unexpectedly, resumed afresh, not only on the subject of the African seizures, but on other subjects. Mr. Everett arrived in London only in the latter part of November; and, in fact, was not presented to the Queen until the 16th day of December. While we were waiting to hear of his appearance at his post, the session of Congress was fast approaching; and, under these circumstances, the President felt it to be his duty to announce, publicly and solemnly, the principles by which the government would be conducted in regard to the visitation and search of ships at sea. As one of the most considerable, commercial, and maritime States of the world, as interested in whatever may in any degree endanger or threaten the common independence of nations upon the seas, it was fit that this government should avow the sentiments which it has heretofore always maintained, and from which it cannot under any circumstances depart. You are quite too well acquainted with the language of the message, on which your letter is bottomed, to need its recital here. It expresses what we consider the true American doctrine, and that which will, therefore, govern us in all future negotiations on the subject. While instructions for Mr. Everett were in the course of preparation, signifying to him in what manner it might be practicable to preserve the peace of the country consistently with the principles of the message, and yet so as to enable the government to fulfil all its duties, and meet its own wishes, and the wishes of the people of the United States, in regard to the suppression of the African slave trade, it was announced that the English government had appointed Lord Ashburton as special minister to this country, fully authorized to treat of and definitely settle all matters in difference between the two countries. Of course no instructions were forwarded to Mr. Everett respecting any of those matters. You perceive, then, that up to the present moment we rest upon the sentiments of the message: beyond the fair scope and purport of that document we are not committed on the one hand nor on the other. We reserve to ourselves the undiminished right to receive or to offer propositions on the delicate subjects embraced in the treaty of the five powers, to negotiate thereupon as we may be advised, never departing from our principles, but desirous, while we carefully maintain all our rights to the fullest extent, of fulfilling our duties also as one of the maritime States of the world. The President considers your letter to Mr. Guizot to have been founded, as it purports, upon the message delivered by him at the opening of the present session of Congress; as intending to give assurance to the French government that the principles of that message would be adhered to, and that the government of the United States would regret to see other nations, especially France, an old ally of the United States and a distinguished champion of the liberty of the seas, agree to any arrangement between other States which might, in its influences, produce effects unfavorable to this country, and to which arrangement, therefore, this country itself might not be able to accede. The President directs me to say that he approves your letter, and warmly commends the motives which animated you in presenting it. The whole subject is now before us here, or will be shortly, as Lord Ashburton arrived last evening; and, without intending to intimate at present what modes of settling this point of difference with England will be proposed, you may receive two propositions as certain : 1st. That, in the absence of treaty stipulations, the United States will maintain the immunity of merchant vessels on the sea to the fullest extent which the law of nations authorizes. 2d. That if the government of the United States, animated by a sincere desire to put an end to the African slave trade, shall be induced to enter into treaty stipulations for that purpose with any foreign power, those stipulations will be such as shall be strictly limited to their true and single object, such as shall not be embarrassing to innocent commerce, and such especially as shall neither imply any inequality, nor can tend in any way to establish such inequality, in their practical operations. You are requested to communicate these sentiments to Mr. Guizot at the same time that you signify to him the President's approbation of your letter; and are requested to add an expression of the sincere pleasure which it gives the President to see the constant sensibility of the French government to the maintenance of the great principles of national equality upon the ocean. Truly sympathizing with that government in abhorrence of the African slave trade, he appreciates the high motives and the comprehensive views of the true, permanent interest of mankind, which induces it to act with great caution in giving its sanction to a measure susceptible of interpretations, or of modes of execution, which might be in opposition to the independence of nations and the freedom of the seas. I am, &c., LEWIS CASS, Esq., &c. &c. &c. DANIEL WEBSTER. Mr. Cass to Mr. Webster. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: The quintuple treaty, purporting to be for the suppression of the slave trade, has not yet been ratified by France, and the manifestations of public opinion against it are so numerous and decisive that it seems to be too clearly the part of true wisdom to yield to them, to render it probable that that measure will ever be adopted. Mr. Guizot has not answered my letter of the 13th February, and I have now no expectation he will do so till the course of our government upon the subject is known here. I have yet received nothing from you upon the subject, but I am expecting every day your instructions. If the President should disapprove the step I have taken, I could no longer remain here with honor to myself or with advantage to our country. I am, &c., Hon. DANIEL WEBSTER, Secretary of State, Washington. LEW. CASS. Mr. Cass to Mr. Webster. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 5th April, and am happy to find that the course which I considered it necessary to take in relation to the ratification, by France, of the quintuple treaty for the suppression of the slave trade, has met the approbation of the President. Immediately on the receipt of your letter, I sought an interview with Mr. Guizot, and after some conversation with him, I placed the letter in his hands. I thought this mode of procedure far better than to trust myself to make a verbal statement, to be afterwards put in the form of an official communication to him. As you instructed me to make known the sentiments of the President upon the whole matter, I was sure I could not perform this task as well as I found it performed for me; and this view was not checked by any considerations arising out of the nature of the despatch. There was nothing in it which might not be seen by all the world. Mr. Guizot was touched by the frankness of the proceeding, and testified his gratification after the perusal of the letter. He then asked for a copy of it, which I did not hesitate to promise him; and since then I have sent it; and have thus, in my opinion, in the best mode in my power, carried into effect your instructions. Mr. Guizot said nothing on the subject of an answer. If the treaty is not ratified, as I have now the confident expectation that it will not be, it is possible he may consider that the occasion for an answer has passed by. I am, &c., Hon. DANIEL WEBSTER, Secretary of State, Washington. LEW. CASS. Mr. Cass to Mr. Webster. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Paris, May 26, 1842. SIR: Since my despatch of the 17th instant, the question of the ratification of the quintuple treaty has been discussed in the chamber of peers and in the chamber of deputies; and the sentiments expressed were unanimously against the measure. It is now well understood that the subject is at rest in France, and that no ministry will venture to recommend ratification. Efforts will no doubt now be made, and I think eventually with success, for the abrogation of the treaties of 1831 and 1833. The question of the budget is a subject which, by the usage of the French chambers, allows great latitude of discussion. Connected with this matter, the commercial relations between France and the United States have just been warmly debated. I send you the Moniteur, which contains an account of the proceedings. It is well worth your examination, and I think ought to be translated and published for the information of the country. It is lamentable to find such erroneous notions prevailing in such a high place respecting the true character of the trade between France and the United States. You will see that the speakers complain of two grievances: first, of the navigation; and, second, of the duties proposed to be levied on foreign productions imported into the United States. As to the former, it is, as you know, upon a footing of perfect equality; and as to the latter, if it were, as it is not, a just subject of interference for a foreign government, France is one of the last countries which has any just right to complain. Her prohibitive system, commenced so long ago as Colbert, has been continued, with little relaxation, to this day. You cannot fail to be struck by the views advanced by most of the speakers, and the gravity with which they urge reprisals against the United States. But I assure you that these sentiments are general in France; and such are the exclusive views taken of these subjects by the press, that it is hopeless to expect to change public opinion. We have nothing to do but to pursue our own measures firmly, leaving to other governments to meet them as they think proper. As soon as I read the debate in the Moniteur, I called upon Mr. Guizot to converse with him upon the subject. I found him very reasonable, though not fully acquainted with the details of the matter. He says, however, that he is looking into it, and that nothing will be hastily done. It is my decided opinion that there is no efficient remedy for the present |