keep a squadron upon the coast of Africa, guard against its exercise, or "supersede," in the words of the message, "any supposed necessity, or any motive, for such examination or visit?" Again, How could it guard against these effects, even if the operation of the doctrine were limited to search or visitation in slave trade latitudes? England said to us- -We have made a treaty with France, by which we have a right to search her ships, and to send them in for condemnation, if they are engaged in the slave trade. If we cannot search your ships, we cannot execute this treaty, because a French vessel, by hoisting an American flag, will place herself beyond the reach of our cruisers; therefore we shall visit your ships.

Now, it is manifest, that our squadron upon the coast of Africa, will not change in the slightest degree this state of things. A French vessel may still hoist the American flag, and thus protect a cargo of slaves, so far as this protects it, in any part of the great ocean, from the African coast to the coast of Brazil. Is this squadron of eighty guns, or is any vessel of it, to be every where? And where it is not, what will prevent any ship from placing an American flag at its masthead?

I am stating, not defending, the British doctrine, and I do not enter here, into those obvious considerations, which demonstrate its fallacy and injustice. This I have attempted elsewhere, but with what success it does not become me to judge. I attempted to show, that because any of the "States of Christendom" choose to form treaties for the attainment of objects, military, commercial, or philanthropic, such mutual arrangements give them no right to change the established laws of nations, and to stop and search our vessels upon the great highway of the world. It is the slave trade to-day, but it may be the sugar trade to-morrow, and the cotton trade the day after. But besides, it is obvious that all cases put by the British political casuists, in support of this new doctrine, are mere questions of identity, where he who does the deed and boards the vessel acts, not upon his right, but upon his responsibility, and, like the sheriff who arrests a person upon a writ, is justified, or not, according to the result.

But it is clear, that this claim, as asserted, is not at all inconsistent with our new treaty stipulation; that this stipulation does not render unnecessary the exercise of the claim; and, therefore, that as it does not expressly, so neither does it by fair implication, "make a practical settlement" of the question; nor does "the eighth article" remove "all possible pretext, on the ground of mere necessity, to visit and detain our ships upon the African coast, because of the alleged abuse of our flag by slave traders of other nations."

Very respectfully, &c.,

Hon. DANIEL Webster,

Secretary of State, Washington.

LEW. CASS.

The apprehensions entertained by Gov. Cass, were realized by the construction which the English ministry gave to the treaty, on this point of negotiation. They insisted, that by the treaty no concession had been made by England of her claim of right to stop and search our vessels. This was the objection urged by Gov. Cass, and the nation against which he was directing his efforts, through her ministry, singularly confirmed his argument, in opposition to the ground assumed by Mr. Webster. The question was left, by the treaty, in the condition in which the negotiation found it. The parties to it, differed in their understanding of its meaning, and the British government made no secret of its intention to deny the construction placed npon the treaty by the United States government. It distinctly said, that the right of search. never formed the subject of discussion during the negotiation, nor was any concession required by the United States or made by Great Britain. In this discussion Gov. Cass took, from the first, high grounds, and successfully maintained them. He demonstrated the inutility of insisting that a concession had been made, when, in fact, there was none. "Let us," said he, " abandon all profit. less diplomatic discussion, and, strong in our rights, let us meet the first violation of our flag, which is committed by order of the British government, as nations ought to meet systematic attacks upon their honor and independence."

"I trust," said he, on another occasion, we shall resist this monstrous pretension, to the last extremity; if, in doing so, war comes, let it come-there are evils greater than war, and a nation which abandons its honor and forfeits its self respect, must become the reproach of its cotemporaries, and its name a bye-word to posterity."

Beyond question, Gov. Cass established the fact, that Great Britain, in seeking to obtain the ratification of the quintuple treaty, had, especially, if not solely, in view the enslavement of the trade and commerce of the world, and to subject them to her control, and make them tributary to her aspiring greatness. How much, then, do we, as Americans, owe; how much does the world not owe to the decisive action of Gov. Cass, which protected their rights from being swallowed in the rapacious maw of an ambitious and grasping nation?

Mr. Webster, though so formidable an antagonist, was completely overwhelmed by the force of argument brought against his treaty, by Gov. Cass. The letter of Gov. Cass, dated March 7th, 1843, was never answered by Mr. Webster. He merely informed Gov. Cass, in a brief note, that he had cursorily glanced at a portion of it, and, after more attentive perusal, if occasion required, he would reply to it at length. This he never found “occasion" to do. To this day, the reasoning and argument of Gov. Cass stand without even an attempt at refutation from the great negotiator and constitutional expounder.

The discussion with Mr. Webster, had the happy effect of placing Gov. Cass, in his true light, before his country. His fellow citizens admired his boldness and skill, in baffling the schemes of Great Britain; and they sustained him in his objections to the treaty of Washington. With their approbation cheering him, he could well bear with composure the attacks of his political opposers and the vulgar vituperation and abuse of foreign peers and presses.

1

CHAPTER XI.

Cass' opportunities for acquiring knowledge of the schemes of diplomatists-His success in thwarting their plots against the welfare of his country His return to the United States-The reception given to him by the people of Boston-Letter from Gen. Jackson-The welcome extended to him by the citizens of the towns and villages through which he passed on his journey to Detroit-His letter to the Committee of the Democratic Convention of IndianaGen. Cass regarded by the people as a Candidate for the Presidency-Public opinion, The annexation of Texas-Gen. Cass' letter advocating annexation, The Baltimore Convention of 1844-Gov. Cass' letter read in that Convention-His name withdrawn for the sake of union and harmony-Nomination of James K. Polk-Gov. Cass supports the nomination-Meets his fellow citizens in various parts of the country and advocates the election of Mr. Polk-Great Democratic victory.

Gov. Cass from his position in public life has enjoyed opportunities of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the schemes and plans, formed by European Cabinets to promote their particular aggrandizement. His accurate perception and tac has enabled him on more than one occasion, to frustrate the deep laid and well disguised plots of the most celebrated and able diplomatists of Europe. Men of all political parties in the United States, with some few exceptions, have been forced by the palpable, self evident benefits derived from his services, to award to him the credit of obtaining them, when from political prejudice, they would gladly have withheld their admission. The gratification of receiving an approving voice from his political opponents, has been enjoyed by Gov. Cass, to an extent, unequalled in the career of any other eminent citizen of the Republic, since the days of Washington.

He was greeted on his arrival in this country, by the applauding voice of his countrymen, without distinction of party. He was regarded and treated as the man of the nation. His "faithful services and energetic proceedings at an important crisis in his distinguished mission" to use the language of the citizens of Boston, had endeared him to every American heart, whose feelings sought expression in some public acknowledgement of their gratitude. There was all over the country a spontaneous exhibition of admiration and esteem, for the man who unawed by the

AL CASS.

potentates of the old world, stood forth,,ven then unsustained by his own government, their single opposer, hen they attempted to interpolate in the maritime law of the world, their selfish conceptions of their own interests, involving an outrage upon the American flag, and an infringement of the rights of American Seamen. It was truly a sublime spectacle, and the people loto picture it before them, when the plain and unostentatious represt tive of this free Republic, at the proudest Court of Europe, surroundea by the noble, and learned, and experienced ministers of the Great Powers-arose in the might of the great principles he advocated and said to them in the thunder tones of an American freeman "my Country will have none of this-she will never submit to have her ships stopped on their course by any or all of the nations of the world."

The following letter signed by numerous distinguished citizens of the New England Metropolis is but one of hundreds of similar expressions of public opinion.

"BOSTON, Dec. 7, 1842.

SIR :-The undersigned citizens of New England, would congratulate your Excellency on your safe return to your native country after your faithful services and energetic proceedings at an important crisis in your distinguished mission; and respectfully request that you will give them and their fellow-citizens an opportunity of expressing personally the high respect which your public career and private virtues have uniformly inspired.

"Returning as you do with the approbation of that generous people, who were the first, and for a long time, the only friends of our fathers, we should prefer that the meeting should be at such a time as would suit your convenience, in Faneuil Hall,—the spot in which of all others, Americans would desire to welcome her deserving ones.

"We are, with sentiments of the highest consideration, your Excellency's most obedient servants.

It is a remarkable fact, and one which so seldom exists in the career of public officers, that it excites our surprize when it occurs, that in regard to Gen. Cass no objection was ever made to the manner in which he conducted the most difficult and intricate functions of the numerous offices, which he filled. Seven times in succession and under four successive Presidents, he was nominated Governor of Michigan, and seven times confirmed by the United States Senate without a single vote against, or a single represen➡