The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-19 00:00:00

application to Congress, have obtained a convent/ .on for the
same object."
This is the very course which I earnestly reoc immend in
order to obtain an " explanatory amendment" f the Con-
stitution on the subject of slavery. This might originate
with Congress or the State Legislatures, as may be deemed
most advisable to attain the object.
The explanatory amendment might be confined to the
final settlement of the true construction of the Constitution
on three special points :
I. An express recognition of the right of property in
slaves in the States where it now exists or may hereafter
exist.
2. The duty of protecting this right in all the common
Territories throughout their territorial existence, and until
they shall be admitted as States into the Union, with or
without slavery, as their constitutions may prescribe.
3. A like recognition of the right of the master to have
his slave, who has escaped from elle State to another,
restored and delivered up to him, and of the validity of the
fugitive slave law enacted for this purpose, together with a
declaration that all State laws impairing or defeating this
right are violations of the constitution, and are consequently
null and void.
It may be objected that this construction of the constitu-
tion has already been settled by the Supreme Court of the
United States, and what more ought to be required ? The
answer is that a very large proportion of the people of the
United States still contest the correctness of this decision,
and never will cease from agitation and admit its binding
force until clearly established by the people of the several
States in their sovereign character. Such an explanatory
amendment would, it is believed, for ever terminate the
existing dissensions and restore peace and harmony among
he States.
It ought not to be doubted that such an appeal to the
arbitrament established by the constitution itself would be
received with favour by all the States of the confederacy.
In any event it ought to be tried in a spirit of conciliation
before any of those States shall separate themselves from
the Union.

I When lentered upon the duties of the Presidental office,
Ole aspect neither of our foreign nor domestic affairs was
at a.ll satisfactory. We were involved in dangerous com-
plicatioN with several nations, and two of our territories
were in a st!l‘te Of revolution against the Government.
A restoration' of the African slave trade had numerous
and powerful adc ocates. Unlawful military expeditions
were countenanced by• many of our citizens, and were suf-
fered, in defiance of the government, to escape from our
shores, for the purpose of iri,qlung war upon the unoffend-
ing people of neighbouring reptiNics with whom we were
at peace.
In addition to these and other difficulties, 'We experienced
a revulsion in monetary affairs, soon after m 7 Advent to
power, of unexampled severity and of ruinous consequences
to all the great interests of the country. When we take a
retrospect of what was then our condition, and contrast this
with its material prosperity at the time of the late presiden-
tal election, we have abundant reason to return our grateful
thanks to that merciful Providence which has never for-
saYen us as a nation in all our past trials.

OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS.
GREAT BRITAIN.

Our relatOus with Great Britain are of the most friendly
character. Sii:ce the commencement of my administration,
the two dangerom.l questions, arising from the Clayton and
Bulwer treaty and 1--om the right of search claimed by the
British Government, it :we been amicably and honourably
adjusted.
The discordant constructionof the Clayton and Bulwer
treaty between the two Governments, which at different
periods of the discussion, bore a tLireatening aspect, have
resulted in a final settlement entirely satisfactory to this
Government. In my last annual message I informed Con-
gress that the British Government had not then "com-
pleted treaty arrangements with the republics of Hondu-
ras and Nicaragua, in pursuance of the understanding be-
tween the two Governments. It is nevertheless confidently
expected that this good work will ere long be accomplished.
This confident :expectation has since been fulfilled. Her
Britannic Majesty concluded a treaty with Honduras
on the 24th November, 1859, and with Nicaragua on
the 28th August, 1860, relinquishing the Mosquito
protectorate. Besides, by the former, the Bay Islands
are recognised as a part of the republic of Honduras.
It may be observed that the stipulations of these treaties
conform in every important particular to the amendments
adopted by the Senate of the United States to the treaty
concluded at London on the 19th of October, 1856, between
the two Governments. It will be recollected that this treaty
was rejected by the British Government because of its ob-
jection to the just and important amendment of the Senate
to the article relating to Ruatan and the other islands in the
Bay of Honduras.
It must be a source of sincere satisfaction to all clisses of
our fellow-citizens, and especially to those engaged in
foreign commerce, that the claim on the part of Great
Britain, forcibly to visit and search American vessels on
the high seas in time of peace, has been abandoned. This
was by far the most dangorous question to the peace of the
two countries which has existed since the war of 1812.
Whilst it remained open, they might at any moment have
been precipitated into a war. This was rendered mani-
fest by the exasperated state of public feeling
throughout our entire country, produced by the
forcible search of American merchant vessels by
British cruisers on the coast of Cuba, in the spring of 1858.
The American people hailed with general acclaim the
orders of the Secretary of the Navy to our naval force in
the Gulf of Mexico, "to protect all vessels of the United
States on the high seas from search or detention by the
vessels of war of any other nation."
. These orders might have produced an immediate colli-
.

sion between the naval force; of the two countries. This
was most fortunately prevented by an appeal to the justice
of Great Britain and to the law of nations as expounded by
her own most eminent jurists.

The only question of any importance which still remains
open is the disputed title between the two Governments to
the island of San Juan, in the vicinity of Washington Ter-
ritory. As this question is still under negotiation, it is not
deemed advisable at the present moment to make any other
allusion to the ,übject.
The recent visit of the Prince of Wales, in private cha-
racter, to the people of this country, has proved to bo a
most auspicious event. In its consequences, it cannot fail
to increase the kindred and kindly feelings which I trust
may ever actuate the Government and people of both
countries in their political and social intercourse with each
other.