MARCH, 1826.] dent. On the Panama Mission-(in conclave.) grades, rights, privileges, and immuuities, are perfectly defined in the books which treat of them, and were thoroughly understood by the framers of our Constitution. They are, Ambassadors—Envoys-Envoys Extraordinary-Ministers-Ministers Plenipotentiary-Ministers ResiThe honors due to each of these orders of public Ministers, differ with their respective ranks and degrees; but the essential character of each is the same, and the rights of all are equal. In the first place, they must all be accredited from sovereign to sovereign. So say all the books, without a solitary exception. In the next place, they all possess the diplomatic privilege of ex-territoriality; and this includes exemption from the payment of duties, exemption from local jurisdiction, and the right of inviolability for themselves and families, the houses in which they live, and the carriages in which they ride. In the third place, they derive all this from the law of nations; no part of it from treaties and conventions. In the fourth place, they usually carry letters of credence, always letters patent, containing full powers, which are to be exchanged with those of the Ministers who may treat with them; and, finally, they are governed by instructions, and send home the treaties they sign for ratification or rejection. Now, let us try our intended Ministers by these tests. Let us see whether they possess the attributes, the characteristics, and the essential features of Ministers, such [SENATE. to the task. Had these gentlemen been nominated to us as DEPUTIES to a CONGRESS, would not the nominations have been instantly and unanimously rejected? And shall their fate be different under a different name? The delicacy of this position was seen and felt by the Administration. The terms "Deputy," and "Commissioner," were used in the official correspondence up to near the date of the nomination, but as these names could not pass the Senate, a resort to others became indispensable. The invitations and acceptance were in express terms, for “ Deputies and Representatives to a CONGRESS." The nominations to the Senate are wholly different. [Mr. P. here called for the reading of the nominations.] The Secretary read "To the Senate of the United States: "WASHINGTON, 26th Dec. 1825. "In confidence that these sentiments will meet the approbation of the Senate, I NOMINATE Richard C. Anderson, of Kentucky, and John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, to be Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to the Assembly of American NATIONS at Panama, and William B. Rochester, of New York, to be Secretary to the Mission. "JOHN QUINCY ADAMS." and, "these cerements being burst," I do mean to go before the American People for the answer, whether the sovereignty of these nations, in fact, or by representation, is at the Isthmus of Panama? For, unless it is so present, the institution of this mission is, and must be, a breach of our Constitution. Assembly of American Nations! Is this the fact? Are as are known to the law of nations and to the Constitution the Nations there? I do not mean to inquire, Mr. Presiof this Confederation. Are they to be sent from sovereign dent, whether the men, women, and children, who comto sovereign? No, Mr. President! They go to an "ad-pose the Republics of Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, visory council," a "committee of public safety." They Chili, and Peru, have collected themselves in masses upset out, indeed, from a sovereign; but, instead of moving on the Isthmus of Panama-that, sir, would be a vile and upon a horizontal line, upon that elevated level which contemptible play upon words; but I do mean to inquire knows no descent, they run down an inclined plane, and land themselves in a Congress of Deputies upon the Isthmus of Panama. Have they the rights, privileges, and immunities, of public Ministers? Far from it: for, after yielding to them all that their fellow deputies, fellow counsellors, or fellow committee men (as the case may be) can take, they will still have nothing but the rights of hospitality, and of personal inviolability. Have they even this under the law of nations? Not at all: but under certain treaties, to which we are not parties, and which can only include our Ministers by help of a most liberal construction. Will they carry letters of credence? I presume not: for they will find no sovereign Powers on the Isthmus to whom to deliver them. Will they exchange full powers with the Plenipotentiaries of the other Powers? I should think not: for these Plenipotentiaries will be acting under treaties, and our Ministers under a Constitution and the law of nations. Will they negotiate treaties, and send them home for rejection or ratification? I maintain that they will not; all the Senators who have spoken before me, both friends and foes to the mission, agree with me that they will not; I maintain that they will not and cannot; the President alone seems to think otherwise; probably because he has not had time to study the treaties as we have done. But the fact is remarkable, that no gentleman upon this floor, friend or foe to the measure, supports him in that opinion; and I feel myself justified in dwelling upon the circumstance, and pointing it out to the renewed and continued attention of the Senate. Tried by these tests, and the diplomatic qualities of our intended Ministers fail at every attribute of the character. Spite of the names which are imposed upon them, they turn out to be a sort of Deputies with full powers for undefinable objects. They are unknown to the law of nations, unknown to our Constitution; and the combined powers of the Federal Government are incompetent to create them. Nothing less than an original act, from the People of the States, in their sovereign capacity, is equal Is, then, the sovereignty of these nations present in fact? I answer, it is not-the thing is impossible: for these States are Republican, and Republics are incapable of exercising the right of sovereign ex-territoriality. That quality belongs alone to Kings and Emperors, who bear about with them, whithersoever they go, the sovereignty of their respective empires. Ministers can be accredited to the sovereignty of a State, wheresoever it may be; and, hence the resort, in this nomination, to the word Nations. They can be accredited to nothing below the sovereignty, and hence the necessity of dropping the word Congress. A nomination to the Congress would have been void, upon its face-the Journal would have shown it; and, peradventure, we, the People, might have got it into the Supreme Court," as a case arising under the Constitution," and had it reversed for manifest error. The error would then have been patent, instead of being, as it now is, latent. Gentlemen have evinced their sensibility to this difficulty-they have felt the necessity of support, and have gone to Ghent and Utrecht for prece dents. The references are unfortunate for them and the President-happy for me and the Constitution. cases are antipodes to each other, in every essential point. Here is a nomination of Ministers to nations in gross, at the place where there sovereignty is not, and cannot be. The Ghent nomination was not to the nations at Ghent, nor even to Great Britain at Ghent-but "to Great Britain." The meeting of the Ministers at Ghent, was an incident-a mere affair of arrangement, and constituting no part of the nomination. There, and at Utrecht, the Plenipotentiaries were accredited to sovereign Powers— met their Representatives, under the law of nations, and "CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL." Message to the House of Representatives. The SENATE.] treaties. On the Panama Mission—(in conclave.) [MARCH, 1826. for a purpose strictly diplomatic-that of negotiating at Panama; they must bear full powers to treat with each Doubtless there may be nominations to sovereigns with-ers to treat with each other, and with us, and these pow of their Plenipotentiaries; these again must have full powout their dominions. The late Congresses in Europe fur-ers must be reciprocally exchanged all around. So it nish examples of the fact; but they are limited to Kings was at Ghent, so at Utrecht, so at Westphalia, so at every and Emperors, possessing the quality of sovereign ex-ter-Congress of Plenipotentiaries for the negotiation of trearitoriality. But even to these a Minister could not be ties of which history gives us any account. accredited in mass. He must have separate letters of credence to each, and separate full powers to treat with each. Reason tells us this: for each sovereign has the right to receive and to reject Ministers-to treat or to let it alone. Authority tells us the same thing; and, as authority is often more potent than reason, and this may be one of the cases in which it is so, let us look at the books. [Here Mr. B. read— fact, at Panama, the next inquiry is, whether it is there The sovereignty of these nations not being, in point of by representation? of nations, may represent the sovereignty of their nations This is a thing possible. Ministers, known to the law at any point upon the globe. They may come from the four quarters of the globe and form a diplomatic assembly. But is this Congress at Panama an assembly of that "One letter of credence may serve for two Ministers, nance of this opinion, I bring up and enforce again, the description? I maintain that it is not; and in mainte"sent at the same time, if they are both of the same order. circumstance of their creation under treaties; their limited "Sometimes, on the contrary, one Minister has several privileges, and their dependence for these upon treaty "letters of credence; this happens when he is sent to seve-stipulations. I will then go forward and show what this "ral sovereigns, or to one sovereign, in different qualities." Congress is. "The Ministers sent to Switzerland are often charged "with more than four different letters of credence. "it is with those sent to the Emperor, to the circles of So "the Empire," &c.]-Martens. the Senator from Rhode Island, (Mr. ROBBINS,) and imIn doing this, I shall follow the example of create this Congress, for its character, and he leaves out prove a little upon it. He looks to the treaties which It is the same with the letter of full powers. There and newspaper essays. of view all that has appeared in reviews, proclamations, must be as many as there are sovereigns to be treated like a statesman. In this he acts like a Senatorwith; the exchange of these must be mutual and simulta- same treaties, and in leaving out of view so much of the shall imitate him in looking to the neous; each Minister judges for himself the full powers of President's Message, and so much of the same loose authe other. Yet our intended Ministers to Panama are thorities, as differ in any degree from the terms of the nominated to the "nations" in mass; the nomination will treaties; and I shall improve upon his example, by adding govern the commissions, and the commissions will govern to the catalogue of excluded authorities, so much of the the letters of credence and of full power. By conse- Secretary's communications, and of the letters of the Coquence, the credentials and the full power will be present- lombian, Mexican, and Guatemalian Ministers, as vary ed to a Congress-to an organized body-and passed upon from the same standard. by it. Peradventure a committee will be raised upon their ties, this message and these communications and letters In the absence of these treapapers; the Congress vote upon them; and the President an- would have governed us: for they would then have been nounce the result; a Clerk write it down; and a doorkeeper the highest evidence in our possession; but, in the prelet them in! What a process for the reception of Am-sence of the treaties, they are useless: for they signify bassadors! Not so at Ghent. two Powers met upon the footing of equality. The full ed when they differ from them.* There the Ministers of the nothing when they agree with them, and must be reject powers of each were mutually and simultaneously ex- dent, I shall admit that I was put upon this track by the changed: See the Preamble to the Treaty. Each judg- words of wisdom which fell, in the first days of this deAnd here, Mr. Presied for himself; and from this equality, and this right of bate, from that venerable Senator from North Carolina, reciprocal decision upon each other's powers, there can (Mr. MACON,) who, I am proud to say, permits me to call be no exception except in one single case-a case which him friend, and am still prouder to know, has been the did exist at Ghent, and does not exist at Panama; it is friend of me and mine through four generations. This the case of a negotiation opened under the auspices of a venerable Senator said, that this Confederation of Spanish Mediator, to whom the full powers of each may, and ought American States, and their Congress at Panama, was to to be, submitted, if they disagree. Our Ministers then them what the Confederation and Congress of the Revomust be accredited to each of the nations supposed to belution was to us. This remark struck me, and set my * The President, in his after Message to the House of Representatives, has mentioned, as a precedent for this Mission to Panama, the one which was instituted in our own country soon after the close of the Revolutionary war, to the principal Powers of Europe. against this nomination to Panama, and in favor of the position which I maintained in the Senate. A reference to the history of that mission has furnished me a pointed authority The Ministers sent out on that occasion were Messrs. Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson; the Powers to which they were commissioned, were Russia, Germany, Prussia, Denmark, Hamburg, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Genoa, Tuscany, Rome, the two Sicilies, Venice, Sardinia, and the Ottoman Porte. But they did not carry a letter of credence and full powers to these nations in the gross-to the whole of them in mass-but a credential and a full power to each, by name. Candor, however, requires me to say, that there was, in former times, when the knowledge of geography was less perfect than at present, a species of universal Ministers, or Knight-errant Ambassadors, carrying general letters of credence, and general full-powers, and bearing commissions addressed "Ad omnes Populos.' lete order, and their vocation, has been brought to mind by the passages in the same second message, in which this mission to Panama is supposed to be the means of dispensing the " The name of this obsoing "the condition of man upon earth," and promoting the "welfare of the whole human race." promised blessings of the Redeemer," improvtion of Messrs. Anderson and Sergeant is not quite up to this universal mission; it does not read "Ad omnes Populos," (To all People, but, ad omnes gentes Americanos, (to all the American nations, at PANAMA!) ergo, it is still without But the nominaa precedent in the annals of diplomacy.-Note by Mr. B. The treaties were not communicated with the Message recommending the Mission. The message came in December 26th. The treaties were called for, January 4th, by Mr. Macon, as chairman of the Committee of Foreign Relations; and were sent in, January 9th.-Note by Mr. B. MARCH, 1826. On the Panama Mission-(in conclave.) mind at work. I determined to annalyze the two Confederations, and their Congresses, and I have done so. The result is in my hand, [showing a paper,] and I derive confidence in its correctness from seeing that the Senator from Maine, (Mr. HOLMES,) and the Senator from New Jersey, (Mr. DICKERSON,) without any concert with me, or even knowing what I was about, have, in part, made the same analysis, and arrived at the same conclusions. Their labors not only fortify me in the strength of my position, but relieve me from a part of my own: for, after what they have said, I will do no more, in this place, than to read from my notes the analysis which I have made of these Congresses and Confederations, respectively. sadors and other public Mi- Privileges [Mr. B. then read from his notes, as arranged under ap- The citizens of each State propriate heads, and in parallel columns, the analysis to have free ingress and rewhich he had made of the object of the two Confedera-gress in any State; to enjoy cies, and the powers and duties of their respective Congresses.] Privileges of Deputies and Plenipotentiaries. Deputies to be protected in their persons from arrests and imprisonment, during the time of their going to and from, and attendance on Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace; and not to be questioned in any other place for what was said in Congress. Plenipotentiaries to have Place of holding the Congress. At the Isthmus of Panama, in the Republic of Colombia, of the Confederate therein the privileges of of [SENATE. equivalents in money, which each State shall furnish; each State bound to furnish the quotas or pay the equivalents so fixed; to serve as a council in great conflicts, as a rallying point in common dangers, as a faithful interpreter of their public treaties, and as an umpire and conciliator in their disputes and differences. Citizens. The citizens and inhabitants of each State to have free entrance to, and departure from, the ports and territories of the other; to enjoy therein all the civil rights and privileges of traffic and commerce which belong to the citizens of the same State: to be subject to the same duties and restrictions to which the inhabitants of the State are subject, Fugitives from Justice. Each State reserves its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not, by these Articles of Confederation, expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled. This compact of union, league, and Confederation, shall not affect, in any manner, the exercise of the national sovereignty of the contracting parties, in regard to their laws, and the estab lishment and form of their respective Governments,nor in regard to their relations with other nations. The closeness of this parallel, continued Mr. B. is full proof that the Congress of Panama is copied after the Congress of our Confederation of '78. The objects, powers, and duties of each, with one essential difference, are the same, and the words as nearly identical as could be The Congress may re-expected after the double process of translating English move to any other place into Spanish, and Spanish back into English. But, notwithin the Republics of withstanding the general conformity, they differ in a leadGuatemala or Mexico, when-ing feature, and this difference is fatal to the Diplomatic ever the events of war may pretensions of the Congress at Panama. Let us display it. require it, or the majority of the States may so decide. to the Congress. one States. Right of Removal. The Congress may adjourn, and remove to any other place within the Confederated States. Powers granted To make peace and war; to send and receive Ambas To fix the quotas in naval and military forces, or their Difference of Powers. The English American Congress had power to declare war and make peace; send and receivę Ambassa The Spanish and American Congress has— First: No grant of any of these powers. SENATE.] dors and other public Ministers; to make treaties, and conclude alliances; to regulate foreign commerce; and to regulate all the foreign relations of the Confederated States. Second: On the Panama Mission-(in conclave.) A Fourth: No grant to make them. This, Mr. President, is demonstration. It is mathematical. The conclusion proclaims itself, and argument would weaken it. But besides the subjects submitted to the decision of the Congress, there are other matters agreed upon by the Confederates themselves, inserted in their treaties, and made fundamental articles of the Confederation. These, of course, cannot be affected by the acts of the Congress. Among them are four, highly material to be considered in the institution of this mission, three relative to the subject of commerce, and one in reference to treaties of peace with Spain. These articles stipulate for 1. An equality of duties and port charges among the Confederates. [MARCH, 1826. restriction ground; this sits on the ground of one of the belligerent against the exercise of them. parties. That has a mediator; this none. In that, all the Third: A grant to inter-negotiators have the commission of Plenipotentiary only, pret treaties. to avoid questions of ceremonial and of precedence; in this, our Ministers appear clothed with the rank of Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary, and will take rank of the others, which may give rise to curious and serious questions among the inviters and the invited. Mr. President, I must be permitted to take a closer view of this Congress, under its character of an organized body. It is admitted, on all hands, that it is to have organization and rules. Now, this is a thing impossible in a Diplomatic assembly. The Ministers in such an assembly represent sovereign Powers, and cannot be organized. We had as well undertake to organize Kings and nations. The Ministers can have no rules of action, for their personal deportment, but those manners of gentlemen which they are presumed to possess; and none for their official conduct but such as are contained in their own instructions. The idea of organization is fatal to the Diplomatic pretensions of this assembly. What is organization? It is the disposition of the parts to make them subservient to each other; it subjects the whole to one will, or to one principle of action; it reduces this Congress to a unit, to one party, deciding for all, with one voice. A Diplomatic assembly, on the contrary, is multiplicate; it consists of as many par ties as there are Powers represented, each independent of the other, each making the best bargain he can for his own side. How will our Ministers act with such a body? They must either become parts of its organization, or not become parts of it. Take either horn of the dilemma. In the first event, they make us parties to the Confederacy, and bind us by the voice of the body. Well, it is agreed, all round, that this will never do. Then, try the other. Let our Ministers stand off, become no part of the body, but undertake to negotiate with it. This is impossible: for the Congress is not sovereign to receive Ministers, nor can it, like our Congress of the Confederation, appoint Ministers to treat with them, nor treat as two parties: for the body will contain five parties, with only one voice, and we shall present a single party, with two voices. One will have to speak through a President or Secretary; the other, 2. Leave to refit and repair vessels, take shelter, enlist crews, and increase the armament of vessels in the ports of each other. 3. An extension of maritime jurisdiction to the privateers of each other, for the purpose of preventing abuses upon their own commerce, and that of neutrals. 4. That neither shall compromit its independence in any treaty of peace with Spain, nor pay any price for the acknowledgment of its independence by the mother country. From this analysis it results 1. That the Congress at Panama is a Congress of Deputies, with full power over the limited number of subjects which are committed to them. 2. That these subjects resolve themselves into two classes: those relating to the external defence, and those relating to the internal tranquillity of the Confederate States. 3. That the Congress can only act upon the affairs of the Confederates. 4. That it is to be an organized body. idea of organization explodes every pretension of this Congress to the character of Diplomatic. 5. That its duties will sometimes be Judicial, as in the interpretation of treaties; sometimes Legislative, as in fix-in their own persons. In short, Mr. President, the simple ing quotas and equivalents; sometimes Executive, as in planning military campaigns; but never Diplomatic, because it is forbidden to affect the foreign relations of the Confederates, and cannot even treat with Spain for a general peace. FIRST PROOF. Sir, it is vain to endeavor to cover up this thing with mis-nomers and nick-names. It is a Congress of Deputies, in the ordinary sense of the terms, and was so described But, while I call it a Congress, as it is named in the by all the parties, until it was seen that, under these names, treaties, I deny its similitude to the Diplomatic Congresses Messrs. Anderson and Sergeant could never obtain admisknown to the law of nations. I pronounce them to be an-sion into the Senate, much less a passage through it. Be tipodes to each other in every essential attribute. The hold the proof! Here it is: Diplomatic Congress meets for the sole purpose of treating for peace; this for the main purpose of carrying on war, and without the power of concluding a peace! The Letter from Mr. Clay to Mr. Salazar, November 30th. Diplomatic Congress is composed of Plenipotentiaries "I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your from all the parties at war; this is composed of the parties "official note of the 3d instant, communicating a formal on one side only. The Diplomatic Congress sits tempo-" invitation from the Government of Colombia to that of rarily, for the accomplishment of a single object: this at "the United States, to send Deputies to the contemplated Panama, is to sit forever, and for the accomplishment of" Congress at Panama," &c. &c. &c. various and interminable objects. The Diplomatic Congress is incapable of organization; this is to be organized. The Diplomatic Congress can do nothing but negotiate treaties; this is to plan campaigns, fix quotas, assess "It would have been better, perhaps, if there had been equivalents, arbitrate differences, interpret treaties, and "a full understanding between all the American Powers make none. The Diplomatic Congress meets on neutral" who may assemble by their Representatives, of the pre SECOND PROOF. From same to same. Same dute. * This question certainly deserves to fix the attention of statesmen. The reception of Ministers, by an organized body not sovereign, is yet to find its precedent in the annals of the world. The Congress of our Confederation received Ministers from Foreign nations, because it was sovereign; but it did not treat with them, because it was an organized body. It appointed Ministers to treat, individuals to act with individuals, and this it could do, because it was sovereign. But the Congress at Panama cannot appoint Ministers to meet ours, because it is not sovereign; nor treat face to face, because one is an organized body, and the other individuals.-Note by Mr. B. MARCH, 1826.] On the Panama Mission-(in conclave.) "cise questions on which they are to deliberate, and that "some other matters respecting the powers of the Depu"ties and the organization of the Congress, should have "been distinctly arranged, prior to the opening of its de"liberations," &c. THIRD PROOF. Mr. Clay to Mr. Obregon, November 30th. "I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your "official note of the 34 instant, communicating a formal "invitation from the Government of the United States of "Mexico to that of the United States, to send Deputies to "the contemplated Congress at Panama," &c. &c. &c. [SENATE. nomination, to Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary! The Congress itself is equally the subject of a vague and contradictory nomenclature-sometimes a Congress; sometimes a Diplomatic Assembly, without power to negotiate treaties; once a Cortes; now an advising Council; then a Committee of Public Safety; and, at last swelled by the President into an Assembly of nations!* Then, as to the powers and duties of the Deputies themselves, what contradictions upon these points! Sometimes they are to be giving advice; sometimes to be consulting; times they are to "settle" the unsettled points in the Laws sometimes negotiating treaties, and sometimes not; someof nations; yea, sir, to give the law to the two Americas, and Europe, Asia, and Africa to boot! Then they are to do nothing in the world but make bows and compliments. "It would have been better, perhaps, if there had been and walk in and out, like our Territorial Delegates, and full understanding between all the American Powers, exhibit the extraordinary spectacle of lobby Ministers Ple"who may assemble by their Representatives, of the pre- all these high and low pretensions, they are to be worked nipotentiary and lobby Envoys Extraordinary! And, with "cise questions on which they are to deliberate; and that "some other matters respecting the powers of the Depu- through this chamber upon the plea of an innocent opera"ties and the organization of the Congress, should have tion; upon the recommendation of an old woman's medi"been distinctly arranged, prior to the opening of its de-cine, that they will do no harm if they do no good. "liberations," &c. a FOURTH PROOF. From same to same. Same date. I trust, Mr. President, that it is now made clear, that the proposed mission is unknown to the Law of Nations, Yes, sir, "Deputies to a Congress" is the invitation and and to the Constitution of this country; but, as it may, the acceptance. It is in vain to endeavor to cover it up nevertheless, be sent, it becomes my duty to proceed upon with the drapery of names and titles. The thing stands that supposition, to follow it to Panama, and to show that before you, stripped and naked, in all the nudity, if not in its objects are, in some respects, already accomplished, in all the beauty, of a Grecian statue. Words can neither others, unattainable, in others, inexpedient-that we have hide nor alter it. It is a thing unknown to the Constitu- nothing to expect from it but a heavy item of expense, tion, and the Constitutional question then recurs upon it, some unpleasant apologies to Foreign nations, the risk of Can the President and Senate send the nominees, as pub-getting into difficulties with the new Republics themlic Ministers to this Congress upon the Isthmus of Pana- selves; and that every desirable and attainable object ma? I contend that they cannot; neither to it, because it would be better accomplished by an Agent or Commisis not sovereign to receive them, nor Diplomatic to nego- sioner, without Diplomatic character, with little expense tiate with them; nor into it, for that would make our En- to our Treasury, and without harm to our Constitution. voys a part of its organization, and ourselves parties to the Confederacy; nor to act with it, because the Congress will act as an organized body, and our Deputies as individuals. It is in vain to affect indifference towards these difficulties. They are seen and felt by those who conduct this affair; and the almost utter impossibility of managing it, is betrayed by the Babylonian confusion of terms and ideas which pervade their councils. Behold the effects of this confusion. The Deputies to the Congress are called by all sorts of titles-Agents, Commissioners, Representatives, Plenipotentiaries, and finally promoted, in the President's And, from this point of culmination, this position in the zenith, we presently behold a perpendicular plunge-a fall from heaven to earth-from an ASSEMBLY OF NATIONS to a “ Consultative Council.”—(Message to House of Repre sentatives.)-Note by Mr. B. Pursuing these Ministers to Panama, we have next to inquire, what are the objects of interest to us, which are expected to be accomplished by them at that place? The President, in his Message, has enumerated several, at the head of which stands the item of commerce. Upon this subject, he expects to establish, 1st, The doctrine, that free ships make free goods. 2d, The restrictions of reason upon the extent of blockades. 3d, The "consentancous" adoption of principles of maritime neutrality, 4th, The principles of a liberal commercial intercourse.† The first question which presents itself, Mr. President, A fifth object to be accomplished by sending Ministers to Panama, as disclosed by the President in his message to the House of Representatives, and not disclosed in his message to the Senate, is the abolition of private war upon the ocean-that is to say, to abolish privateering. In his message to the House of Representatives, he places this object in high and bold relief. He speaks of it in the following animated and impassioned strain: "If it be true that the noblest treaty of peace ever mentioned in history is that by which the Carthagenians were “bound to abolish the practice of sacrificing their own children, because it was stipulated in favor of human nature, "I cannot exaggerate to myself the unfuding glory with which these United States will go forth in the memory of future ages, if, by their friendly counsel, by their moral influence, by the power of argument and persuasion alone, they can prevail upon the American nations at Panama to stipulate, by general agreement among themselves, and "so far as any of them may be concerned, the perpetual abolition of private war upon the ocean." 46 "It will be within the recollection of the House, that immediately after the close of the war of our Independence, "a measure closely analagous to this Congress of Panama, was adopted by the Congress of our Confederation, and for purposes of precisely the same character. Three Commissioners, with Plenipotentiary powers, were appointed "to negotiate treaties of amity, navigation, and commerce, with all the principal Powers of Europe. They met, and "resided for that purpose about one year at Paris; and the only result of their negotiations at that time, was the first "treaty between the United States and Prussia-memorable in the Diplomatic annals of the world, and precious as a "monument of the principles, in relation to commerce and maritime warfare, with which our country entered upon "her career as a member of the great family of independent nations. This treaty, prepared in conformity with the in"structions of the American Plenipotentiaries, consecrated three fundamental principles of the Foreign intercourse, "which the Congress of that period were desirous of establishing. First, equal reciprocity, and the mutual stipula "tions of the privileges of the most favored nations in the commercial exchanges of peace; secondly, the abolition of "private war upon the ocean; and, thirdly, restrictions favorable to neutral commerce upon belligerent practices." VOL. II-22 [See continuation of note, next page. |