all persons who, being charged with the crime of murder, or assault with intent to commit murder, or piracy, or arson, or robbery, or forgery, or the utterance of forged papers, committed within the jurisdiction of either, shall seek an asylum, or shall be found, within the territories of the other: provided that this shall only be done upon such evidence of criminality as, according to the laws of the place where the fugitive or person so charged shall be found, would justify his apprehension and commitment for trial, if the crime or offence had there been committed; and the respective judges and other magistrates of the two governments shall have power, jurisdiction, and authority, upon complaint made under oath, to issue a warrant for the apprehension of the fugitive or person so charged, that he may be brought before such judges or other magistrates, respectively, to the end that the evidence of criminality may be heard and considered; and if, on such hearing, the evidence be deemed sufficient to sustain the charge, it shall be the duty of the examining judge or magistrate to certify the same to the proper executive authority, that a warrant may issue for the surrender of such fugitive. The expense of such apprehension and delivery shall be borne and-defrayed by the party who makes the requisition and receives the fugitive. ARTICLE XI. The eighth article of this treaty shall be in force for five years. from the date of the exchange of the ratifications, and afterward until one or the other party shall signify a wish to terminate it. The tenth article shall continue in force until one or the other of the parties shall signify its wish to terminate it, and no longer. ARTICLE XII. The present treaty shall be duly ratified, and the mutual exchange of ratifications shall take place in London, within six months from the date hereof, or earlier, if possible. In faith whereof, we, the respective plenipotentiaries, have signed this treaty, and have hereunto affixed our seals. Done, in duplicate, at Washington, the ninth day of August, anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and forty-two. DANIEL WEBSTER. [SEAL.] And whereas the said treaty has been duly ratified on both parts, and the respective ratifications of the same having been exchanged, to wit, at London, on the thirteenth day of October, one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, by Edward Everett, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, and the Right Honorable the Earl of Aberdeen, her Britannic Majesty's principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, on the part of their respective governments: Now, therefore, be it known, that I, John Tyler, President of the United States of America, have caused the said treaty to be made public, to the end that the same, and every clause and article thereof, may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the [L. S.] seal of the United States to be affixed. 'Done at the city of Washington, this tenth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fortytwo, and of the independence of the United States the sixtyseventh. By the President: DANIEL WEBSTER, Secretary of State. JOHN TYLEr. Vote of the Senate on the Final Question of Ratification, &c. The treaty, having been communicated to the Senate by the President of the United States, by message of the 11th of August, 1842, was referred, on motion of Mr. Rives, to the Committee on Foreign Relations, of which committee Mr. Rives was chairman; it was reported from the committee without amendment on Monday, the 15th of August, and made the order of the day for Wednesday, the 17th, on which last day it was called up and discussed, as well as on the 19th and 20th. Several propositions to amend having been made and rejected, Mr. Rives, on the day last mentioned, submitted the following resolution: "Resolved (two thirds of the Senators present concurring), That the Senate advise and consent to the ratification of the treaty to settle and define the boundaries between the territories of the United States and the possessions of her Britannic Majesty in North America; for the final suppression of the African slave-trade; and for the giving up of criminals, fugitive from justice, in certain cases." The Senate, by unanimous consent, proceeded to consider the said resolution. On the question to agree thereto, it was determined in the affirmative, yeas 39, nays 9. Those who voted in the affirmative were Messrs. Archer, Barrow, Bates, Bayard, Berrien, Calhoun, Choate, Clayton, Crafts, Crittenden, Cuthbert, Dayton, Evans, Fulton, Graham, Henderson, Huntington, Kerr, King, Mangum, Merrick, Miller, Morehead, Phelps, Porter, Preston, Rives, Sevier, Simmons, Smith of Indiana, Sprague, Tallmadge, Tappan, Walker, White, Woodbridge, Woodbury, Wright, Young. Those who voted in the negative were Messrs. Allen, Bagby, Benton, Buchanan, Conrad, Linn, Smith of Connecticut, Sturgeon, Williams. So the said resolution was agreed to. Ordered, That the Secretary lay the said resolution before the Presi dent of the United States. The bill for carrying into effect the treaty of Washington passed the House of Representatives on the 28th of February, 1843, by a vote of 137 yeas to 40 nays, and the Senate on the 2d of March, without a division, having been reported from the Committee on Foreign Relations by Mr. Archer, then chairman of that committee, without amendment. LETTERS TO GENERAL CASS ON THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON.* - Mr. Webster to General Cass. Department of State, Washington, August 29, 1842. SIR, You will see by the inclosed the result of the negotiations lately had in this city between this department and Lord Ashburton. The treaty has been ratified by the President and Senate. In communicating to you this treaty, I am directed by the President to draw your particular attention to those articles which relate to the suppression of the African slave-trade. After full and anxious consideration of this very delicate subject, the government of the United States has come to the conclusion which you will see expressed in the President's message to the Senate accompanying the treaty. Without intending or desiring to influence the policy of other governments on this important subject, this government has reflected on what was due to its own character and position, as the leading maritime power on the American continent, left free to make choice of such means for the fulfilment of its duties as it should deem best suited to its dignity. The result of its reflections has been, that it does not concur in measures which, for whatever benevolent purpose they may be adopted, or with whatever care and moderation they may be exercised, have yet a tendency to place the police of the seas in the hands of a single power. It chooses rather to follow its own laws with its own sanction, and to carry them into execution by its own authority. Disposed to act in the spirit of the most cordial con These letters are subsequent in date to some of those which follow in this volume, but they are inserted here as pertaining to the treaty of Washington. currence with other nations for the suppression of the African slave-trade, that great reproach of our times, it deems it to be right, nevertheless, that this action, though concurrent, should be independent; and it believes that from this independence it will derive a greater degree of efficiency. You will perceive, however, that, in the opinion of this government, cruising against slave-dealers on the coast of Africa is not all which is necessary to be done in order to put an end to the traffic. There are markets for slaves, or the unhappy natives of Africa would not be seized, chained, and carried over the ocean into slavery. These markets ought to be shut. And, in the treaty now communicated to you, the high contracting parties have stipulated "that they will unite, in all becoming representations and remonstrances, with any and all powers within whose dominions such markets are allowed to exist; and that they will urge upon all such powers the propriety and duty of closing such markets effectually, at once and for ever.” You are furnished, then, with the American policy in regard to this interesting subject. First, independent but cordially concurrent efforts of maritime states to suppress, as far as pos sible, the trade on the coast, by means of competent and wellappointed squadrons, to watch the shores and scour the neighboring scas. Secondly, concurrent, becoming remonstrance with all governments who tolerate within their territories markets for the purchase of African negroes. There is much reason to believe that, if other states, professing equal hostility to this nefarious traffic, would give their own powerful concurrence and coöperation to these remonstrances, the general effect would be satisfactory, and that the cupidity and crimes of individuals would at length cease to find both their temptation and their reward in the bosom of Christian states, and in the permission of Christian governments. It will still remain for each government to revise, execute, and make more effectual its own municipal laws against its subjects or citizens who shall be concerned in, or in any way give aid or countenance to others concerned in this traffic. You are at liberty to make the contents of this despatch known to the French government. I have, &c. DANIEL WEbster. LEWIS CASS, Esq, &c., &c., &c. |