The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-26 00:00:00

IN SENATE.

MONDAY. MARCH 1.
OUR RELATIONS WITH GREAT BRITAIN.

Mr. Buchanan said ho was instructed by the Committee on
Foreign Relations, to move to be discharged from the conside-
ration of the resolution whieh had been referred to that Com-
mittee, " requesting the President to communicate to the Se-
nate, if not incompatible with the public interest, any corre-
sp ndence which may have taken place between this Govern-
ment and that of Great Britain, relative to the north-eastern
boundary not heretofore communicated to the Senate."
Hs would stato,%with as much brevity as possible, the sea-
sons which had induced the Committee to believe that it would
be inexpedient, at the present moment, to publish the corre-
spondence to which the resolution referred.
It would be recollected by Senators who had directed their
attention to this subject, that, in consequence of the corre-
spondence already published between the two Governments,
and to which he need not particularly refer, it became the
duty of Great Britain to submit to our Government the pro-
ject of a convention for the settlemsnt of this long-disputed
boundary question. This duty had been performed by the
British Government in the month of May, 1839. The
President did not approve of this proposed convention, because
it contained no ulkimate provision which must inevitably and
finally determine the controversy between the two countries.
Indeed, from its character, it was quite probable that, had i t
been adopted, it would not have produced this result, so much
to be desired ;'and the President was firmly:convinced, consider-
ing the long delay—the high state of mutual irritation existing
along the border, and the imminent danger of actual collision
—that the interest of both parties imperatively demanded the
adoption of such treaty stipulations as must. necessarily make
an end of the question.
The British Government had since unequivocally coincided
with the President in these sentiments ; and the two Govern-
ments had already agreed upon the essential points of a
convention based on these principles, and alike advantageous
and honourable to both. There were still some provisions
lof this convention of comparatively minor importance,
and involving detail rather than principle, which bad not
natecsiouon,
Under these
negotiation.
peculiar mustcircumstances, w
yet been agreed upon; but if it were the sincere c:esire
oefonkbothparties, as he believed it was, to arrive at an amicable
lieved that it could dsnbe the
succCesosmfumllyittteeermbei--
o no good to either party, whilst it might
be embarrassir
th ig to both Governments, to publish to the world
e correspondence and the
different
projects and counter-pro-
jects of treaties which
• had passed between them.
Mr Buchanan said,
had afforded him a;
, that his official position in the Senate
had free access to all this correspondenee. He
examined it with care, and would now frankly sta., e the impression which it had
made upon his mind. Although lie
would not pretend to ray
Ysli Go
t there were no omens of war in
the conduct of the British
tier, yet this he should assert, with
on our northern &on-
negot:ati, as itself relative to our, with much confidence, that in the
had occurred inconsistent withnt7eih-.easternboundary, nothing
which hsdalways been professed by xantccere and anxious desire
the peace which now so happily subsisted
rernment to preserve
tries, and to bringthe question to a final etween the two coun-
sinn, Probably this expression might it,Lendthsatisfactory conclu-
he ought to have qualified the general termso strong, and that
excepting the had experiencedhe had used by
delays we from the Lardy '
ments of the British Government at every stave move-
e tenement, Still he felt • '
in the pro-
gress of the n ghimself justified in
11 1
' t the present ie anguage of the
using, aPresident
the commencement of th •
in his Message et Q session " that,
oints still in d'
from the character of the p
b h arties to brifferenee, and' the un-
doubted disposition of eot p
.bring the matter to an
I look with entire confidence to a
early conclusion, .
tu the negotiation. t. prompt
He had reason
to satisfactory termination_
the anticipations ofthe re
---n
to believe that such was sun. President
boundary question.
in regard to the north-eastern
occasion Alr. Buchanan said that on the present he should
purpasely refrain from the expression of any opinion in
-re-
gard to the case of the steam boat Caroline. This was
that all the correspond-
rendered unnecessary by the fact . .
ence in relation to this subject of any general importance
had already been published, aud each Senator had the
same means of forming an opinion which he himself en-
joyed. There was no truth whatever in the rumour now