The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-05-29
Mark, too, the significant language of Lord
Brougham, already cited:

Mark, too, the significant language of Lord
Brougham, already cited;
The D4sh u. q s'Jay ifsor 10 TIE line Lend .a.hbtsH
Aas GOT % fhs Dueh line "a better 1n had Sny ne 10
psef and Uhfis keeps open the communication removes
ne :iIsrieG1, much further from the S. Laurence Than A'
Dutch line did vhish pas the other great ObjeeLn
What communication, and what other great object?
great military communication and military ad-
vantage
trust have now shown, Mr.. President, that
Maine was not only dismembered by this hidden
and mysterious negotiation OF equivalents, between
the American secretary and the British banker but
that soil and military advantages were sat once"
gwen TO Great Britain which had been held sacred
from the foundation ofthe government, and that we
paid price Tor transferring territory, and
for submitting to deep and lasting dshonor.
The right Of search, or of visit, Mr.. President,
was also subject alluded TO in my Oregon speech,
which insisted ought to have been settled at the
same time with the Northeastern boundary-being
no more nor less than right claimed by Great
Britain for her cruisers 10 board merchant yes
sells, detain them on their passage, and examine
their papers, under the idle pretence that it is
certain whether they are really what they purport
to be-Amercan vesSes-and entitled to the pro-
lection OF the American flag right to be claimed
and exercised IN peace, as justification for seizing
and lmpressing and dragging the American sailor
into foreign service IN time Of war. This right
Great Britain had arrogantly and impudenty as
lean flag and Of common right to the freedom
Of the seas. This atrocious assumption and infa.
nous practice had been resisted by our government,
IN various forms and upon all occasions, until after
that change which the British government, accord
ing to Lord Pamerston, deemed so desirable TO the
adjustment Of difficulties. This same Lord Palmer
ston, in insisting upon the right Of search, in de-
Spatch TO Mr. Stevenson, in 1871, defines it as fol-
lows:
Though, by common parlsDee the word nag used to
express the test OF nationality and though according to
NIT that British cruisers not entitled in time Of
peace to search merchanvesses sailing under the AmerL
can nag yet her Msjesys government do not there
by 10 say that merchantmen can exempt himself from
'saTeh by merely hosting piece OF bunting with the Uni
ted States emblems and cOorS upon III that which her Ma
esys government mean U.s. that the rights OF the United
states nag exemps vessel from search when that vessel
provided with papers emitting her TO wear that nag and
proving her to be United States property and naVgated
cordng 20 law,
But this fact cannot be asceraned unless officer Of
the cruiser whose duty is to ascertain this fact shall
board hs resell u'' me master Of the MrchaHtaH shall
bring his PaPsrS on board the cruiser" 4e.
Here, it will be seen, this British fright" is un.
blushingy asserted, and sneeringly told that
the "pece Of bunting, with the United States en-
blems and colors upon it," will not protect our
merchants, unless they have the requisite papers,
and that this must be determined by the insolence
Of British authonty-by defining the vessel, and
searching her papers 10 determine 0hStsr she is sub
jsei Of Sneh; and that the "embIems and colors''
Of the United Staes-the glorious stripes and stars,
which tell Of the precious blood Of the revolution
ia "piece Of bunting" which cannot protect us on
the high from British search.
Lord Aberdeen, the successor Of Lord Palmer
,ton, IN like despatch some two months later, as.
serts the same general doctrine as his predecessor
though in more guarded language, and says:
at obvious therefore, that the
AIRY the exercise Of this right claimed by Great Britain
only for detecting impostur the practice c be
fully guarded and limited to cases Of srong suspicion The
undersgued begS to Mr. SevenIon that the most
precise positive instructions have been issued TO her
Majesty s officers on the subject"
This doctrine, so revolving to every true Amer
lean, so Illuminating, degrading, and dishonorable,
was made the subject Of indignant protesi in the
face of the world by our minister in Paris, Mr..
Cass. 1t was met by bold and eloquent resistance
by Mr.. Stevenson, our minister in London, and de-
elared, in offria despatch to Lord Aberdeen, to
be "a riodtion Of national rights and Sovereignty, and
the inconiesable principles Of International aio" the
exercise of which might "iead TO consequences Of a
painful character"
But it left for the secretary negotiator to dim
the lustre OF the American name, and sully the
honor of the American flag in this negotiation Of
equivalents. He could revive the discussion upon
both that and Its mscreant accompaniment, i'm
pressment, write dispatches upon them, Of fne-spun
theories, and abstract ttuisms, to show that they
were open questions, and perchance to place file,
and cover the practical degradation to which he was
about to subject the country, and then leave them
where he found them, unsettled; and besides EN-.
barrassed by the fact that they had been the subject
Of negotiation, and were therefore proper subjects
for discussion, but postpone their settlement to o
more convenient season. But, sir did say he left
the right of search where he found it, He had not
even this poor merit. His treaty compelled US to
keep fleet Of not less than eighty guns in the
African to act in concert with Great Britain in
her crusade of mock benevolence. 1t chained us to
the car of this huge Juggernaut, and compels US to
do her bidding, and that too, without providing that
even this should exempt us from the alleged and
ercsed British right of search. 1t was not enough
that our flag insulted and honor stained; but
the right of search must be retained, and we not
permitted to exert our benevoleDce in our way and
manner, but we must be placed under the dominion
Of Great Britain, and be compelled by her to send q
feet the African to help search to get rid oil
being searched, without any stipulation that even
this abect submission shall exempt us. But there
is still another verse in this shameful chapter, accord
ing to the authority of Lord Brougham. We have
already that Lord Aberdeen asserted and insisted
upon the right to search American vessels by
British cruisers by boarding them, OBTAINING them
and examining their papers, &c with view to de
termine, by British optics, the genuineness of the
nationality; and we have heard the language IL
which that fragrant doctrine was asserted, and tn,
reputation Of its monstrous features by the agents
our government. But what the response of ou
secretary negotiator to this British assumption ove
American honor Lord Brougham shall testify. Ir
his speech before alluded 10, III speaking OF the rgh
of search as contended for by Lord Aberdeen, he
says:
"Thcn what says Mr. Webster! At one of his first nte
riecs with Lord Ashburton when the subject glanced
at Webster cut short all discussion by distinctly
caegorcay asserting that the question had been set
pleely by the unanswered and undnsesrab state
ment my noble friend ord Aberdeen) to Mr. Stevenson
The Marquis of Lansdowne asked when this appeared
the papersn 1t is not in any despatch. have 1t in the
statement my noble friend Lord Ashburtou made in his
place as a peer OF Parliament, which think Sufficient tc
satisfy my to what Mr. Webster said to him-tha
question had been forever settled by Lord Abereen
despatch to MIR Stevenson. find II stated by LORD
Aberdeen letter to Mr. Fox that he had intention "a
renew the discussion upon the subject which
the Secretary of State that is Mr. Webster
had than said once: fad that understated
the case) more than once declared TO the British penpo
Tertiary that is, Lord Ashburon that The statements
| Lord Aberdeen had been satisfactory"
| And thus, sir, stands the American secretary
who has provoked this exposition When Great
Britain wished portion of Maine for her military
Operations, which had been denied her by all pre-.
vous administrations, he agreed Sat once" to yield
liz. When she asserts the right to board our mer.
chantmen, detan them their passage subject
them fo the Central of Pritieh insn-