rinciple that
the house of representatives could demand as a right, the instructions
given to a foreign minister, and all the papers connected with a
negotiation, was too apparent to be unobserved. Nor was it less
obvious that a compliance with the request now made, would go far in
establishing this principle. The form of the request, and the motives
which induced it, equally led to this conclusion. It left nothing to
the discretion of the President with regard to the public interests;
and the information was asked for the avowed purpose of determining
whether the house of representatives would give effect to a public
treaty.

It was also a subject for serious reflection, that in a debate
unusually elaborate, the house of representatives had claimed a right
of interference in the formation of treaties, which, in the judgment
of the President, the constitution had denied them. Duties the most
sacred requiring that he should resist this encroachment on the
department which was particularly confided to him, he could not
hesitate respecting the course it became him to take; and on the 30th
of March he returned the following answer to the resolution which had
been presented to him.

"Gentlemen of the house of representatives,

"With the utmost attention I have considered your resolution of the
24th instant, requesting me to lay before your house, a copy of the
instructions to the minister of the United States, who negotiated the
treaty with the king of Great Britain, together with the
correspondence and other documents relative to that treaty, excepting
such of the said papers, as any existing negotiation may render
improper to be disclosed.

"In deliberating upon this subject, it was impossible for me to lose
sight of the principle which some have avowed in its discussion, or to
avoid extending my views to the consequences which must flow from the
admission of that principle.

"I trust that no part of my conduct has ever indicated a disposition
to withhold any information which the constitution has enjoined it
upon the President as a duty to give, or which could be required of
him by either house of congress as a right; and with truth I affirm,
that it has been, as it will continue to be, while I have the honour
to preside in the government, my constant endeavour to harmonize with
the other branches thereof, so far as the trust delegated to me by the
people of the United States, and my sense of the obligation it
imp