that this
engagement was made. Surely, then, every word of a stipulation made
under such circumstances and for such important purposes must have been
duly considered and its import properly weighed, first by the cabinet
who directed, afterwards by the minister who delivered and the
Government which received it.

What, then, was this engagement? First, that the Government of the King
will use every legal and constitutional effort which its persevering
persuasion of the justice and advantages of the treaty authorize
the United States to expect from it. "Son intention est" (I quote
literally), "_en outre_" (that is, besides using those endeavors above
mentioned), "de faire tout ce que _not re constitution permet_ pour
rapprocher autant que possible l'epoque de la presentation nouvelle de
la loi rejettee." Your excellency can not fail to have observed two
distinct parts in this engagement--one relating to the endeavors the
ministry promise to make in order to induce the Chambers to pass the
law, for the success of which they could not answer; another relating
to the time of presentation of the law, a matter which depended on
them alone, restricted only by constitutional forms.

The promise on this point, then, was precise, and could not be
misunderstood. Whatever the _constitution of France permitted_, the
Government of France promised to do in order to hasten the presentation
of the law. What was the cause of this desire to bring the business
before the Chambers at an early day? No one can doubt it who knows
the situation of the two countries, still less anyone who has read the
correspondence. It was to enable the President to make those statements
to the next Congress which, relying on the engagements of the French
minister, he had omitted to make to this.

It was clear, therefore, that more was required than the expression of a
desire on the part of His Majesty's ministers to execute the treaty--a
desire the sincerity of which was not doubted, but which might be
unavailing, as its accomplishment depended on the vote of the Chambers.
For the President's satisfaction, and for his justification too, an
engagement was offered and accepted for the performance of an act which
depended on His Majesty's Government alone. This engagement was couched
in the unequivocal terms I have literally quoted.

This, sir, is not all. That there might be no misunderstanding on the
subject, this promise, with the sense in which it was unde