The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-07 00:00:00

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CASE OF THE CAROLINE.

MR. WEBSTER TO LORD ASHBURTON.

Department of State, Washington, July 27, 1842.
MY LORD—In relation to the case of the Caroline,
whicih we have heretofore made the subject of confer-
ence, I hav• thought it right to place in your hands
an extract of a letter from this department, to Mr.
Fox, of the 24th of April, 1841, and an extract from
the message of the President of the United States to
Congress at the commencement of is present session.
These papers you have, no doubt, already seen ; but
they are, ne;ertheless, now communicated, as such
connnunicAtion is considered a ready mode of present.
ing the views which this Government entertains of
the destruction of that vessel.

The act of which the Government of the United
States complains is not to be considered as justifiable
or unjustifiable, as the question of the lawffilness• or
unlawfulness of the employment in which the Caro-
• line was engaged may be decided the one way or the
other. That act, of itself a wrong, and an offence to
the sovereignty and dignity of the United States,
being a violation of their soil and territory—a wrong
for which, to this day, no atonement, or ever apology,
has been made by her Majesty's Government. Your
Lordship cannot but be aware that self-respect, the
consciousness of independence and national equality,
an:l a sensitiveness to whatever may touch the honour
of the country—a sensitiveness which this Govern-
ment will ever feel and ever cultivate—makes this
a matter of high importance, and I must be allowed
to ask for it your Lordship's grave consideration.— I
have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's most
obedient servant, DANIEL WEBSTER.
Lord Ashburton, &c.,
[Here follows the letter of Mr. Webster to Mr.
Fox, dated April 24, 1841, and an extract from the
President's Message, both of which are familiar to
our readers.]

LORD ASHBURTON TO MR. WEBSTER.
Washington, July 28, 1842.
SIR—In the course of our conference on the several
subjects of difference which it was the object of my
mission to endeavour to settle, the unfortunate case of
the Caroline, with its attendant consequences, could
not escape our attention; for although it is not of a
description to be susceptible of any settlement by a
convention or treaty, yet, being connected with the
highest considerations of national honour and dignity,
it ha 3 given rise, at times, to deep excitements, so
as more than once to endanger the maintenance of peace.
The note you did me the honour of addressing me
on the 27th instant, reminds me, that however dis-
posed your Government might t e to be satisfied with
the explanations which it has been my duty to offer,
the natural anxiety of the public mind requires that
these explanations should be more durably recorded
in our correspondence, and you send me a copy of
Your note to Mr. Fox, her Britannic Majesty's Mi-
nister here, and an extract from the speech of the
President of the United States to Congress- at the
opening of the present session, as a ready mode of
presenting the view entertained on this 'subject by the
Government of the United States.

It is, so far, satisfactory to perceive that we are
perfectly agreed as to the general principles of inter-
national law applicable to this unfortunate case. Re-
spect for the inviolable character of the territory of
independent nations is the most essential foundation of
civilisation. It is useless to strengthen a principle so
generally acknowledged by any appeal to authorities
on international law, and you may be assured, Sir,
that her Majesty's Government set the highest pos-
sible value on this principle, and are sensible of their
duty to support it by their conduct and example, for
the maintenance of peace and order in the world. If
a sense of moral responsibility were not sufficient
security for their observance of this duty towards all
nations, it will be readily believed that the most
common dictates of interest and policy would lead to
it in the case of a long conterminous boundary of
some thousand miles, with a country of such great
and growing power as the United States of America,
inhabited by a kindred race, gifted with all its ac-
tivity, and all its susceptibility on points of national
honour.

Ev..ry consideration, therefore, leads us to set, as
highly as your Government can possibly do, this
paramount obligation of reciprocal respect for the in-
dependent territory of each. But, however strong
this duty may be, it is admitted by all writers, by all
jurists, by the occasional practice of all nations, not
excepting your own, that a strong overpowering ne-
cessity may arise, when this great principle may and
must he suspended. It must be so for the shortest
possible period, during the continuance of an ad-
mitted overruling necessity, and strictly confined
within the n*rrowest limits imposed by that necessity.
Self-defence is the first law of our nature, and it
must be recognised by every code which professes to
regulate the conditions and relations of man. Upon
this modification, if I may so call it, of the great
general principle, we seem also to be agreed ; and on
this part of the subject I have done little more than
repeat the sentiments, though in less forcible lan-
guage, admitted and maintained by you in the letter
to which you refer me.

Agreeing, therefore, on the general principle, and
on the possible exception to which it is liable, the only
question between us is whether this occurrence came
within the limits fairly to be assigned to such excep-
tion—whether, to use your words, there was " that
necessity,nt,self-defence, instant, overwhelming, leav-
ing no choice of means," which preceded the destruc-
tion of the Caroline, while moored to the shore of the
United States. Give me leave to say, Sir, with all
possible admiration of your very ingenious discussion
of the general principles which are supposed to
govern the right and practice of interference by the
people of one country in the wars and quarrels of
others, that this part of your argument is little appli-
cable to our immediate case. If Great Britain, Ame-
rica, or any other country, suffer their people to fit
out expeditions to take part in distant quarrels, such
conduct may, according to the circumstances of each
case, be justly matters of complaint; and perhaps
these transactions have generally been in late times
too much overlooked or connived at.
But the case we are considering is of a wholly dif-
ferent description, and may be best determined by an-
swering the following questions :—Supposing a man
standing on ground where you have no legal right to
follow him, has a weapon long enough to reach you,
and is striking you down and endangering your life,
how long are you bound to wait for the assistance of
the authority having legal power to relieve you ? Or,
to bring the facts more immediately home to the case,
if cannon are moving and setting up in a battery which
can reach you, and are actually destroying life and
property by their fire, if you have remonstrated for
'sometime without effect, and see no prospect of re-
lief, when begins your right to defend yourself, should
you hav'e,,no other means of doing so than by seizing
your assailant on the verge of a neutral territory ?
iun unwilling to recal to your recollection the
particulars of this case, but I am obliged very shortly
th do sd, to show what was at the time the extent of
the-existing justification, for upon this entirely de-
pends the question whether a gross insult has or has
not been otlered to the Government and people of the
United States.

After some tumultuous proceedings in Upper Ca-
nada, which were of short duration, and were sup-
pressed by the militia of •the conntry, the persons cri-
minally concerned in them took refuse in, the neigh-