sponsible, to use the language of an eminent and able Senator, for
'what it contains and what it omits.' This treaty, in my opinion, omits
a most important and necessary stipulation; and therefore, as it seems
to me, its negotiation, in this particular, was unfortunate for the
country."

The President directs me to say, in reply to this, that in the treaty of
Washington no topics were omitted, and no topics introduced, at the mere
discretion of the negotiator; that the negotiation proceeded from step
to step, and from day to day, under his own immediate supervision and
direction; that he himself takes the responsibility for what the treaty
contains and what it omits, and cheerfully leaves the merits of the
whole to the judgment of the country.

I now conclude this letter, and close this correspondence, by repeating
once more the expression of the President's regret that you should have
commenced it by your letter of the 3d of October.

It is painful to him to have with you any cause of difference. He has a
just appreciation of your character and your public services at home and
abroad. He cannot but persuade himself that you must be aware yourself,
by this time, that your letter of October was written under erroneous
impressions, and that there is no foundation for the opinions respecting
the treaty which it expresses; and that it would have been far better on
all accounts if no such letter had been written.

I have, &c.

DANIEL WEBSTER.

LEWIS CASS, ESQ., _Late Minister of the United States at Paris_.

THE HUeLSEMANN LETTER.

[As the authorship of this remarkable paper has sometimes been imputed
to another person, it may be proper to give the facts respecting its
preparation, although they involve nothing more important than a
question of literary interest.

Mr. Webster, as has been stated, arrived at Marshfield on the 9th of
October, 1850, where he remained for the space of two weeks. He brought
with him the papers relating to this controversy with Austria. Before he
left Washington, he gave to Mr. Hunter, a gentleman then and still
filling an important post in the Department of State, verbal
instructions concerning some of the points which would require to be
touched in an answer to Mr. Huelsemann's letter of September 30th, and
requested Mr. Hunter to prepare a draft of such an answer. This was
done, and Mr. Hunter's draft of an answer was forwarded to Mr. Webster
at Marshfield. On the 20th of O