The true Democrat., 1856-01-29
MIR. BUCHANAN TO LORD CLARENDON.

 The undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note of the Earl of Clarendon her Majesty's principal Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs. dated on the 18th ult., in reference to the Gen. tral American questions between the two gov- ernments, and he will not fail to transmit a copy of the same by the next steamer to the Secretary of State at Washington
 Whilst far from intending to renew the gen. eral discussion of these questions which has already been exhausted, the undersigned, in passing, would make a single observation in re- gard to the Earl of Carendon's remarks that if the Convention of 18th of April, 1850 had in- tended that Great Britain should withdraw from her possessions in Central America, fit would have contained in specific terms a renun- ciation," to that effect, "and such remuneration would not have been left to a mere matter of inference.'
 Now, it appears to the undersigned that an engagement by a party not ''to occupy or exer- else dominion" over territory of which that par. ty IS in actual possession at the date of the en- gagement, is equivalent in all respects to an agreement to withdraw from such territorv.- Under these circumstances, this is not "a mere matter of inference, because the one proposition IS necessarily and inseparably involved in the other and they are merely alternative modes of expressing the same idea. In sucll a case, to withdraw is not to occupy, and not to occupy is necessarily to withdraw
 The undersigned needs no apology for brief ly advertlng to another argument of the Earl of Clarendon, because 1t has now for the first time been advanced. He states that if the proposi- tion of the United States government were sound, and the convention Was intended to in. terfere with the state of things existing at the tune Of its conclusion, and to impose upon Great Britain to withdraw from portions of ter rltory occupied by it, asimilar obligation would be contracted by the other States, arcedng to the convention, (under the 7th article) and the government of the Central American States would, by the mere act of accession, sign away thelr rights to the territories in which they are situated.
 Contining himself strictly to this view of the subject, the undersigned would observe that. not "lthstandlng the general terms employed by the Convention, an examination of its provis- ions, and especially of the sixth article itself, will prove 1t never intended that the Central American States should become joint parties to this treaty with the United States, Great Brit am, and other governments exterior to Central America. These States are the uliects on which the guaranties of the Convention were to act, and the exclusion off all other powers from the occupancy of Central America, with view not only to the security of this canal, but all other railroads across the Isthmus, was one of the main objects to be accomplished by the treaty.
 The Earl of Clarendon has himself intimated how absurd 1t would be for the Central Ameri- can Government to become parties to this Con- vention, according to the American construc- tion. It would, however, be none the less ab- surd, according to the British constructions; be- cause then no Central American State could ac- cede to the treaty without confning itself for ever within its existing boundaries, and agree ing not to add to its territory and extend its oc- cupatlon under any possible circumstances which might arise in the future.
 Besides, were it possible for Nicaragua, for example, to become party to this joint con. ventlon, she would then take upon herself the extraordinary obligation to use her own inf1u- ence with herself, under the fourth article to induce herself to facilitate the construction of the canal, and to use her good offices to procure for herself the establishment of two free Iorts, one at each end of the canal;' both these ports being within her own limits Consequences al- most equally extraordinary would result from other portions of tEe convention
 The undersi gned has the honor to renew to the Earl of Clarendon the assurance of his dis tinguished consideration.
 JAMES BUCHANAN
 Legation of the United States, London, Oct. 4 lS6S