m
the choice, leaving to their wisdom and prudence the option, of the
alternative of further delay or conditional action. Could he have said
less in this branch of his message? If he alluded to the subject at
all, he was obliged to detail the circumstances of the case. It is
not pretended that this is not done with fidelity as to facts. The
ratification of the treaty, its effect in pledging the faith of the
nation, the fidelity with which the United States have executed it,
the delay that intervened before it was brought before the Chambers,
their rejection of the law, the assurances made by Mr. Serurier, the
forbearance of the President to make a communication to Congress in
consequence of those assurances, and the adjournment of the question by
His Majesty's Government to the end of the year--none of these have ever
been denied, and all this the President was obliged to bring before
Congress if, as I have said, he spoke on the subject. But he was obliged
by a solemn duty to speak of it, and he had given timely and repeated
notice of this obligation. The propositions which he submitted to
Congress in consequence of those facts were a part of his duty. They
were, as I have stated, exclusively addressed to that body, and in
offering them he felt and expressed a proper regret, and, doing justice
to the character and high feeling of the French nation, he explicitly
disavowed any intention of influencing it by a menace.

I have no mission, sir, to offer any modification of the President's
communication to Congress, and I beg that what I have said may be
considered with the reserve that I do not acknowledge any right to
demand or any obligation to give explanations of a document of that
nature. But the relations which previously existed between the two
countries, a desire that no unnecessary misunderstanding should
interrupt them, and the tenor of your excellency's letter (evidently
written under excited feeling) all convinced me that it was not
incompatible with self-respect and the dignity of my country to enter
into the detail I have done. The same reasons induced me to add that the
idea erroneously entertained that an injurious menace is contained in
the message has prevented your excellency from giving a proper attention
to its language. A cooler examination will show that although the
President was obliged, as I have demonstrated, to state to Congress
the engagements which had been made, and that in his opinion they ha