ed, makes no
concession to England whatever. It complies with no demand, grants no
application, conforms to no request. All these statements, thus by you
made, and which are so exceedingly erroneous, seem calculated to hold up
the idea, that in this treaty your government has been acting a
subordinate, or even a complying part.

The President is not a little startled that you should make such totally
groundless assumptions of fact, and then leave a discreditable inference
to be drawn from them. He directs me not only to repel this inference as
it ought to be repelled, but also to bring to your serious consideration
and reflection the propriety of such an assumed narration of facts as
your despatch, in this respect, puts forth.

Having informed the department that a copy of the letter of the 24th of
August, addressed by me to you, had been delivered to M. Guizot, you
proceed to say: "In executing this duty, I felt too well what was due to
my government and country to intimate my regret to a foreign power that
some declaration had not preceded the treaty, or some stipulation
accompanied it, by which the extraordinary pretension of Great Britain
to search our ships at all times and in all places, first put forth to
the world by Lord Palmerston on the 27th of August, 1841, and on the
13th of October following again peremptorily claimed as a right by Lord
Aberdeen, would have been abrogated, as equally incompatible with the
laws of nations and with the independence of the United States. I
confined myself, therefore, to a simple communication of your letter."
It may be true that the British pretension leads necessarily to
consequences as broad and general as your statement. But it is no more
than fair to state that pretension in the words of the British
government itself, and then it becomes matter of consideration and
argument how broad and extensive it really is. The last statement of
this pretension, or claim, by the British government, is contained in
Lord Aberdeen's note to Mr. Stevenson of the 13th of October, 1841. It
is in these words:--

"The undersigned readily admits, that to visit and search American
vessels in time of peace, when that right of search is not granted
by treaty, would be an infraction of public law, and a violation of
national dignity and independence. But no such right is asserted.
We sincerely desire to respect the vessels of the United States,
but we may reasonabl