a number of these unfortunate beings on board, no
British officer could interfere further. He might give information
to the cruisers of the United States, but it could not be in his
own power to arrest or impede the prosecution of the voyage and the
success of the undertaking.

"It is obvious, therefore, that the utmost caution is necessary in
the exercise of this right claimed by Great Britain. While we have
recourse to the necessary, and, indeed, the only means for
detecting imposture, the practice will be carefully guarded and
limited to cases of strong suspicion. The undersigned begs to
assure Mr. Stevenson that the most precise and positive
instructions have been issued to her Majesty's officers on this
subject."

Such are the words of the British claim or pretension; and it stood in
this form at the delivery of the President's message to Congress in
December last; a message in which you are pleased to say that the
British pretension was promptly met and firmly resisted.

I may now proceed to a more particular examination of the objections
which you make to the treaty.

You observe that you think a just self-respect required of the
government of the United States to demand of Lord Ashburton a distinct
renunciation of the British claim to search our vessels previous to
entering into any negotiation. The government has thought otherwise; and
this appears to be your main objection to the treaty, if, indeed, it be
not the only one which is clearly and distinctly stated. The government
of the United States supposed that, in this respect, it stood in a
position in which it had no occasion to demand any thing, or ask for any
thing, of England. The British pretension, whatever it was, or however
extensive, was well known to the President at the date of his message to
Congress at the opening of the last session. And I must be allowed to
remind you how the President treated this subject in that communication.

"However desirous the United States may be," said he, "for the
suppression of the slave-trade, they cannot consent to
interpolations into the maritime code at the mere will and pleasure
of other governments. We deny the right of any such interpolation
to any one, or all the nations of the earth, without our consent.
We claim to have a voice in all amendments or alterations of that
code; and when we are given to understa