ed to below Barnhart's Island, for the purpose of clearing those rapids. I beg leave to repeat to you, Sir, the assurances of my most distinguished consideration. HON. DANIEL WEBSTER, &c., &c., &c. Lord Ashburton to Mr. Webster. ASHBURTON. Washington, August 9, 1842. SIR, It appears desirable that some explanation between us should be recorded by correspondence respecting the fifth article of the treaty signed by us this day for the settlement of boundaries between Great Britain and the United States. By that article of the treaty it is stipulated that certain payments shall be made by the government of the United States to the States of Maine and Massachusetts. It has, of course, been understood that my negotiations have been with the government of the United States, and the introduction of terms of agreement between the general government and the States would have been irregular and inadmissible, if it had not been deemed expedient to bring the whole of these transactions within the purview of the treaty. There may not be wanting analogous cases to justify this proceeding; but it seems proper that I should have confirmed by you that my government incurs no responsibility for these engagements, of the precise nature and object of which I am uninformed, nor have I considered it necessary to make inquiry concerning them. I beg, Sir, to renew to you the assurances of my high consid eration. HON. DANIEL WEBSTER, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Webster to Lord Ashburton. ASHBURTON. Department of State, Washington, August 9, 1842. the object and inten MY LORD, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of this day, with respect to tion of the fifth article of the treaty. What you say in regard to that subject is quite correct. It purports to contain no stipulation on the part of Great Britain, nor is any respon sibility supposed to be incurred by it on the part of your government. I renew, my Lord, the assurances of my distinguished consideration. LORD ASHBURTON, &C., &c., &c. DANIEL WEBSTER. SUPPRESSION OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. Mr. Webster to Captains Bell and Paine. Department of State, Washington, April 30, 1842. GENTLEMEN, Your experience in the service on the coast of Africa has probably enabled you to give information to the gov ernment on some points connected with the slave-trade on that coast, in respect to which it is desirable that the most accurate knowledge attainable should be possessed. These particu lars are, 1. The extent of the western coast of Africa along which the slave-trade is supposed to be carried on, with the rivers, creeks, inlets, bays, harbors, or parts of the coast to which it is understood slave-ships most frequently resort. 2. The space or belt along the shore within which cruisers may be usefully employed for the purpose of detecting vessels engaged in the traffic. 3. The general course of proceeding of a slave-ship after leaving Brazil or the West Indies on a voyage to the coast of Africa for slaves, including her manner of approach to the shore, her previous bargain or arrangement for the purchase of slaves, the time of her usual stay on or near the coast, and the means by which she has communication with persons on land. 4. The nature of the stations, or barracoons, in which slaves are collected on shore to be sold to the traders, whether usually in rivers, creeks, or inlets, or on or near the open shore. 5. The usual articles of equipment and preparation, and the manner of fitting up, by which a vessel is known to be a slaver, though not caught with slaves on board. 6. The utility of employing vessels of different nations to cruise together, so that one or the other might have a right to visit and search every vessel which might be met with under suspicious circumstances, either as belonging to the country of the vessel visiting and searching, or to some other country which has, by treaty, conceded such right of visitation and search. 7. To what places slaves from slave-ships could be most conveniently taken. 8. Finally, what number of vessels, and of what size and description, it would be necessary to employ on the western coast of Africa, in order to put an entire end to the traffic in slaves, and for what number of years it would probably be necessary to maintain such force to accomplish that purpose. You will please to add such observations as the state of your knowledge may allow relative to the slave-trade on the eastern coast of Africa. I have the honor to be, &c., CAPTAINS BELL AND PAINE, United States Navy. DANIEL WEBSTER. A detailed answer was returned by Commanders Bell and Paine to these inquiries, and upon the information which it contained, as to the nature of the slave-trade on the coast of Africa and the best means of suppressing it, the eighth article of the treaty of Washington was drawn up. CORRESPONDENCE WITH LORD ASHBURTON. INVIOLABILITY OF NATIONAL TERRITORY. 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," which we have heretofore made the subject of conference, I have 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 its present session. These papers you have, no doubt, already seen; but they are, nevertheless, now communicated, as such communication is considered a ready mode of presenting the view which this gov ernment 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 lawfulness or unlawfulness of the employment in which the "Caroline" was engaged may be decided the one way or the other. That act is of itself a wrong, and an offence to the sovereignty and the dignity of the United States, being a violation of their soil and territory; a wrong for which, to this day, no atonement, or even 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, and a sensitiveness to whatever may touch the honor of the country, a sensitiveness which this government will ever feel and ever cultivate, make this a matter of high importance, and I must be allowed to ask for it your Lordship's grave consideration. I have the honor to be, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient servant. LORD ASHBURTON, &C., &C., &c. DANIEL WEbster. This letter was accompanied with an extract from Mr. Webster's letter to Mr. Fox of the 24th of April, 1841, containing the passage which will be found on pp. 255-262 of this volume, and commencing, "The undersigned has now to signify to Mr. Fox." It is deemed unnecessary to repeat the passage here. Extract from the Message of the President to Congress at the Commencement of the Second Session of the 27th Congress. I regret that it is not in my power to make known to you an equally satisfactory conclusion in the case of the "Caroline" steamer, with the circumstances connected with the destruction of which, in December, 1837, by an armed force fitted out in the Province of Upper Canada, you are already made acquainted. No such atonement as was due for the public wrong done to the United States by this invasion of her territory, so wholly irreconcilable with her rights as an independent power, has yet been made. In the view taken by this government, the inquiry whether the vessel was in the employment of those who were prosecuting an unauthorized war against that Province, or was engaged by the owner in the business of transporting passengers to and from Navy Island, in hopes of private gain, which was most probably the case, in no degree alters the real question at issue between the two governments. This government can never concede to any foreign government the power, except in a case of the most urgent and extreme necessity, of invading its territory, either to arrest the persons or destroy the property of those who may have violated the municipal laws of such foreign government, or have disregarded their obligations arising under the law of nations. The territory of the United States must be regarded as sacredly secure against all such invasions, until they shall voluntarily acknowledge inability to acquit themselves of their duties to others; and in announcing this sentiment, I do but affirm a principle which no nation on earth |