Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1832-02-23

madversion upon the past conduct OF has
orn government, to have placed the with
drawal Of our former demand upon the
ground of concession, in spirit Of amty
and compromise.
\ But the late Secretary OF State, the
appointed organ OF the American people
to vindicate their rights with all foreign
powers, and to expose the injustice of
any uniOunded demands which they might
assert, was not content with exerting his
ingenuity to put his own country in the
wrong and the British government in the
right. He endeavored to attach to the
late administration the discredt Of bring
ing forward uniounded preieniions, and
by disclaiming them, to propitiate the ia
vor Of the British king, he says that the
views of the present administration, upon
the colonial trade, "have been submit
ted to the people of the United States,
and the counsels by WHICH your conduct
is now directed, are the resultIoi the udg-
ment expressed by the only earthly tri-
bunal to which the late administration
was amenable for its acts. 1t should be
sufficient that the claims set up by them,
and what caused the interruption of the
trade in question, have been explicitly
abandoned by those who first asserted
them, and are not revived by their sue
cessors" The late Secretary of State,
the gentleman under consideration, here
makes the statement that the late admin
istration were the first to set up the claims
to which he refers. Now, under all the
high responsibility which belongs to the
seat which occupy, | deliberately pro-
nounce that this statement is untrue; and
that the late Secretary must have known
it to be untrue, or he was cul rably neg
ligent Of his duty in not ascerta:.ine what
had been done under prior administra-
tons. repeat the charge--the state
ment must have been known to be un
true, or there was culpable negligence.
Ii it were material, | believe it could be
shown that the claim in questionable
! right to the admission into the British W.
Indies Of the produce ofthe United States
upon an equal footing with similar pro-
duce Of the British continental colonies
lis coeval with the existence Of our
present constitution; and that whenever
the occasion arose for asserting the claim,
it was asserted But | shall go no fur
ther back than to Mr.. Madison's admin
istraton. Mr.. Monroe, the then Secre-
tary of State, instructed our then minis
ter at London, upon this subject; he ne
gociated with Lord Castlercah in respect
to it, and this very claim prevented an
adjustment at that time of the colonial
! question. 1t was again brought forward
under MIR. Monroe's administration, when
Mr. Rush was our minister at London
He opened a long and protracted nego-
tiation upon this and other topics, which
was suspended in the summer of 1924,
principally because the parties could not
agree on any satisfactory arrangement Of
this very colonial question.
i Thus, at least, two administrations pri
or to that of Mr.. Adams, had brought
forward this identical claim or preteniion
which he was the first to assert, accord
ing TO the late Secretary of State.
I The next charge which the late Sec
retaiy Of State, the official defender of
the rights Of the American people, pre-
ierred against his own government, was
: that Of "omtting to accept the terms Of
iered by the act of parliament Of July
1926, after the subject had been brought
before Congress, and deliberately acted
upon by our government" Never was
there more unfounded charge brought
forward by any native against has o'rn
government; and never was there more
unwarranted apology set up for foreign
government; and plain historical mar
rative will demonstrate the truth Of both
these propositions.
1t has been already stated that the ne
gotiaton of Mr.. Rush embracing the pre-
else colonial claim under consideration, was
suspended in 1924, with an understanding
between the two governments that 1t was
: to be resumed on all points at some tu-
ture convenient period. Early in July,
!, 1895, neither government having then
proposed resumption of the negotiation,
the British parliament passed an act to
regulate the colonial trade with foreign
powers. This act was never, during the
late administration, either at London or
ashington, officially communicated by
, the British to the American government; ;
and we only obtained it through other
f channels. Now, if it had been the pur-
, pose of the British government, by the
+ passage of that act, to withdraw the CO.
lonial question from the negotiation, it
ought to have communicated that purpose
. to this government, and, at the same
time, the act of parliament, as supplant-
ing and substituting the negotiation
But it never did communicate such pur-
, pose. The act itself did not specifically
embrace the United States, and offered
terms which, upon the face of the act, it