The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1853-05-02

!: 9: e 2: sss sesssssdss =: &c:
Amssicsns who ksd for 1t. With ts trsssy 6etwsss
NicarA6 64&nd this 0ovss1uS64
Tintsfra "a him, asj sspls I'd IL to hius; and
.soas. he :.soossI Ss ;:s@.d 70 Dad sdsrs {
his error H knew weii enough that tho word
"us'' vefsttod to our ceuntry a,sn The iustruc.
uoss say; ~ aasy IN. eo@p.syl do not .srse e
proper terms. refose our protection" &c. He knew
we'll enough chat this meant; yet be put to me the
question: "Was he III one Of the company. and
therefore authorized 10 use the word U.S. when
spea king Of the rights and privileges to be acquired
OF foreign nation through his agency Secretary
Of Statc'' He surely did not mean. by putting
such question to me, to insinuate that ! was one
OF tho company of capitalists, propreto<s, and
| speculators who might become the owners Of the
| charter" II he did, will not charge him here
with falsehood. but. with all possible politeness,
will prove him to be guilty oft.
| Mr.. President, do not at all object to anv st.te
ment Of the fact that utterly disapproved of the
Hse treaty. only complained Of his misrepre
sensations in regard to it. Hs statement that the
clause guaranteeing the independence of Nicara.
| qua was not of the reasons which induced me
to withhold the Hiee treaty from the Senate il pal
pably incorrect. To sustain himself in his asser-
ton he refers to my letter to MIR. Lawrence of the
Goth October, lS49 The very passage he hos cited
shows that s'if effort to place. by our own ar.
| rangement with the British government, our int.
upon just and satisfactory foun should
prove abortive. Chat 10, upon the foundation of
equal privileges in the treaty then tho President
will not hesitate to submit this come other trea
ty. (that IT, the treaty Of Hise. or the treaty Of
Squier the for exclusive privileges the other
for equal privileges to all natons.) which may be
concluded by the present Charge d'Affaires to VA
temala to the Senate Of the United States for their
advice" 1t was threat, if you please, that if the
| British government continued to occupy Central
America they had done, and should refuse to
yield us The RICH. of passage through the Istbmus
on equal terms with them, then we would submit,
when we could obtain no justice from Great Bri
| tain. some treaty to the Senate which would grant
US the right of way on the most favorable terms
without regard to the interests of Great Britain
We should have been perfectly justified in endea.
vornQ to exclude her, if we evidently that she
intended to exclude us; and we desired her fairly
| to understand that The very quotation from the
| instructions to Mr.. Lawrence, which he has made
proves that be himself we'll knew that my reference
| to the Hise treaty was nothing more than threat
that, If we co1ld not obtain equal privileges with
Great Britain with her own consent, would have
them in despite of her. With a view to expose his
Measurements on this subject, quote from the de-
spatch TO Mr.. Lawrence-the very passage on
which he pretends 10 rely:
| elf however, the British government shall re-
ect these overtures part and shall refuse 10
cooperate with us in the generous md philanthro.
| pic scheme of rendering the interoceanic commu.
nicatien, by the way Of the port and river San
Juan, free TO all nations upon the same terms we
shall deem ourselves justified in protecting our in
terests Independently of her aid. and despite her
opposition or hostility With view to this alter
native, We have treaty with the State of Nicara.
qua, copy of which has been sent 10 you, and the
stipulations of which you should unreservedly i'm
| part to Lord Pamerston. You will inform him,
h,wever, that this treaty was concluded without
| power or instruction from this Government that
| the President bad no knowledge of its existence,
or of the intention to form il. until it present
ed to him by MIR. Hse, our late charge d'affaires
to Guatemaia, about the lat OF September last; and
that, consequently, we not bound to rahfy it,
and will ia Ike step for that purpose, if we can
| by arrangement with the British government,
place our interests just and satisfactory found
alton. But if our effort for this end should be abor-
tive, the President will hesitate to submit this
| or some other treaty which may be conc uded by
the present charge d'sffares to Guatemala to the
Senate of the United States for their advice and
consent, with view to its ratifcatiop; and il that
enlightened body should approve it, he also will
give il his hearty sanction, and will exer, all his
constitutional power to execute ts provisions in
good faith-a determination in which he may con.
hdently count upon the goodwill of the people of
| the United States. -
| 1t is impossible to with one who says he
does not understand the object for which this pas
sage in the despatch wa written.
| But he has quoted another passage from the
same despatch. / could not wish to expose him
more effsctually than by quoting it myself. 1t 10
as follows;
"You may suggest, for instance, that the United
States and Great Britain should enter in ITO treaty
| guaranteeing the independence of Nicaragua
Honduras, and Costa RIGA, which treaty NAV also
guarantee to British subjects the privileges acquir
ed in those States by the treaties between Great
Britain and Spain, provided that the limits of those
States on the east be acknowledged to the Carib.
| bean sea-"
After citing this, he gravely asks me, ''what
has become of my objection to the guarantee of the
independence Of Nicaragua His question
scarcely deserves an answer Great Britain was
in possession of the country, in virtue of the pro
tectorate, and we were not and The proposition
ma do to her was, that she should not only aban-
don 1t. but also guarantee the independence Of the
Central American States adjoining the proposed
canal. The Senator 10 pable of perceiving the
difference between treaty Of the United States
and Nicaragua, guaranteeing the independence of
Nicaragua, and treaty of the United States and
Great Britain jointly, on the part nd Nicara-
qua on the other, for the same purpose. II Great
Britain bad joined Us in such a treaty, we should
have readily reached whole object. She re-
fused 10 accede to this proposition aud it was
palpably suggestion to ascertain her views. The
separate guarantee OF independence by alone
was indeed objection to the Hise treaty. and il
vas one among many other objections which made
the " hole insurmountable. Our separate guaran-
tee was guarantee against Great Britain the
party in possession. joint guarantee with her
was liable to no such exception, and could not pos-
sby entangle US.
| The Senator is guilty of 80 many other misstate.
ments that it 10 difficult matter to correct them
| ALL He says that voted fer the Mexican treaty
| of peace--the treaty Of Guadalupe Hidalso-ac-
cording to his recollection. His recollection 10, in
| this respect, in many others, entirely at fault.
| The record shows that did not vote upon the
| treaty.
/ His statement that the Hise treaty was evidence
of the fact that Nicaragua willing and anx-
ious grant to the United States forever the ex-
elusive right and control a ship canal be.
tween the two oceans, IL contradicted by the letter
of Carcache. the Nicaraguan minister, who de.
clsres she elected it after it had been signed by
Senior Seiva, the commissioner on her part. The
treaty evidence Of extreme folly, and of little
else beside.
| The Senator recurs again to his objection that
| the convention will not permit TO annex Central
| America, and points with triumph to passage in
the letter of my distinguished friend, the Senator
from Massachusetts Mr., EvER Eft. } to the Compile
de Sartiges, in which he expresses a doubt whether
the Constitution would permit us, by the tdpartite
treaty proposed by France and England, to de-
clare that we would never purchase Cuba. The
Senator from Illinois held this up a conclusive
utEoriy to prove that the treaty of the 18th April
1850, vas unconstitutional. He did not venture to
argue this position. The treaty Of 1850 refer
| red to the Committee Foreign Relations, Of
which Daniel Webster, OF Massachusetts, vAS at
the time member. who joined - rspssin9 the
treaty and in voting for ii; did he NOT uudsrstAnd
the Constu,ionl Without referring to all the other
distinguished jurists who voted Tor 1t, or 10 the
numerous treaties in which this Government has
defined the limits Of its territory perpetual
including the Ashburton treaty, and the treaty of
Client, and the treaty with Mexico, and know