conclu à Washington le 26 Jan. dernier, entre M. Livingston, Sécrétaire d'Etat des Etats Unis, et M. le Baron Behr, Ministre résident de S. M. Vous n'ignorez pas, M. le Chargé d'Affaires, les circonstances indépendantes de notre volonté, qui ont suivi l'envoi de le document. L'instrument du traité est parvenu depuis peu de jours seulement au gouvernement du Roi. Il a été transmis à Bruxelles par M. le Général Goblet qui l'avait recu tout récemment à Londres. Maintenant son contenu est sousmis à l'examen du Roi. S. M., dont j'ai pris les ordres, désire M. le Chargé d'Affaires, que la résolution finale soit remise antant que possible, à l'époque on M. le Général Goblet sera de retour à Bruxelles. En me chargeant de vous communiquer ses intentions, elle m'a invité à vous exprimer en même temps le regret qu' elle éprouve de ce nouveau retard. Agréez, M. le Chargé d'Affaires, l'assurance de la considération la plus distinguée. [Signé] Le Ministre d'Etat chargé par intérm du Portfeuille des Aflaires Etrangères, COMTE FELIX DE MERODE. I confess I was not satisfied with this answer; and the suspicions which I formerly entertained, but which had been in a good degree removed by the casual conversation I had upon the subject with King Leopold, in May or June, (who had already seen the copy of the treaty sent to me,) were awakened anew. The incident, which I had the honor of mentioning in No. 15, shews that the bare report of such a treaty had given serious umbrage in a certain quarter, and as there is no little want of decision in the councils of this still unsettled government,which, indeed, cannot be considered as sui juris while its destinies are so absolutely controlled by others,-nothing seemed more probable than that the doings of the inexperienced envoy had been disavowed in the manner there mentioned. Why else should there be any hesitation at all in ratifying what, as you justly observe, comes within the very letter of his instructions? I thought it, therefore, expedient to write a short rejoinder to Count F. de Mérode's note, in which, without seeming to entertain the smallest suspicion of any such embarrassment on the part of the government, I should pretty broadly hint that its refusing to ratify would be considered by the President as an event so entirely unlooked for as to require a very full explanation. I accordingly sent, yesterday, the subjoined note: Legation of the U. S. of America, The undersigned, Chargé d'Affaires of the United States of America, has had the honor to receive Count Felix de Mérode's note in answer to his own of the 26th ult. The undersigned was aware, from a personal communication of Gen. Goblet, that there had been an extraordinary delay in the transmission of the treaty from H. M's. envoy in the United States, and had accordingly informed his government of the circumstance as soon as it came to his own knowledge. But an interval of many weeks having elapsed since the conversation referred to, he felt it to be his duty to lose no time in complying with the President's instruction that he should address to the Minister of Foreign Affairs the inquiry which he has had the honor to make, and should respectfully but earnestly request the final decision of H. M. upon the subject. The President was the more surprised at this delay because of the pressing manner in which the negotiation was invited and the basis of the treaty (in its present shape) proposed by Baron Behr, to say nothing of the obviously salutary and equitable principles of public law embodied in it,—did not permit him to doubt that what that minister had done was strictly within his powers and instructions, and would be unhesitatingly ratified by his government. Under the pleasing persuasion that no serious impediment stands in the way of a result, at least as desirable to Belgium as to the United States, whose rapidly growing power might tempt them to enlarge rather than restrain the rights of belligerents, if they did not think it the true interest of nations to sacrifice advantages of that sort to principles more conducive to their lasting peace and well-being, the undersigned cheerfully acquiesces in H. M's. desire that the conclusion of the business be postponed until Gen. Goblet's return. He, at the same time, takes the liberty to state that it is extremely desirable he should be able to communicate the result to his government before the middle of October. The undersigned avails himself of this opportunity, etc. [Signed] H. S. LEGARE. And there the matter rests for the present; but, as I dine at Court to-day, and shall not send this dispatch until Tuesday, I may possibly gather some information on the subject in the meantime, and will, of course, communicate it to you. With respect to Gen. Goblet's absence, it is as undefinable, I suppose, as the business which occasions it. He is joined with Mr. Van de Weyer in the commission for negotiating with the conference at London. When those negotiations are to end, or even how, is as far from being ascertained now as ever; and I thought it necessary, on that account, to limit the delay to a month. As to the treaty being but just the other day submitted to H. M's. consideration, I happen to know that it is only a diplomatic pretext,-Gen. Goblet having, as I mentioned to your predecessor, borrowed my copy of it as long ago as the 20th of May, with a view to the concocting of the speech from the throne at the opening of the present session. And, by the way, it deserves mentioning that even this advantage did not prevent their committing themselves most grossly before the world, by representing, in that speech, the reduction of our tariff on linen goods as obtained by the address of their envoy, and made a stipulation in this very treaty! I personally like the ministry here, especially Gen. Goblet, and I do not think that, upon the whole, the king could better himself by a change, but their total want of experience and knowledge in public affairs, and of the self-reliance which springs from a consciousness of these qualities, exposes them daily to many difficulties, which they fall into in endeavoring to avoid others not half so serious. They have yet to learn how essential courage is to true political prudence. 10 o'clock, P. M. It was even as I suspected. At Court, this evening, I took occasion to mention the subject to M. Lebeau, prime minister, who told me the only difficulty was as to a particular article, (he did not know which,) which would, it was feared, prove offensive to England. I replied I supposed it was the provision that the flag should protect the cargo,-a principle proclaimed by all the great powers of Europe during the American war, and which no nation but one possessed of a decided naval superiority had any interest in questioning or opposing. He reminded me how completely they were in the hands of England, until a definitive. treaty were signed. I then expressed myself with the earnestness and candor which our previous communications warranted, declaring that a refusal to ratify a treaty of such a character, concluded in such a manner, would, under any circumstances, be highly offensive, but most especially would it be so if justified by no better reason than the displeasure which a third power might choose to conceive at an agreement between two others with which it could have nothing to do. That Great Britain should affect, as she had done in the war of '56 and after the rupture of the peace of Amiens, to interpolate new rules into the law of nations, was a piece of arrogance not to be borne; but that she should interfere with arrangements by which two inde pendent nations were endeavoring to prevent all future causes of misunderstanding, by mutually renouncing the exercise of an inconvenient right, (if right it is,) was going a great deal farther, and assuming a tyrannical dictatorship, to which no people that had the least idea of what the words national independence mean could think of submitting for a moment. He told me he would turn the matter in his mind, and speak with me farther about it in the course of a few days. You may depend upon my doing all I can to awaken the ministry here to a sense of the degradation, in the eyes of the world, which will be the consequence to Belgium of the acquiescing in that extravagant and insolent pretension of Great Britain, convinced that in doing so I shall be giving a counsel in which she is, in every possible point of view, more interested than the United States. It is now very clear what is meant by waiting until Gen. Goblet's return. He will not return until a definitive treaty with Holland be signed, and then the ministry of King Leopold will probably ratify yours, having nothing more either to fear or hope from Great Britain. In the meantime, to provide against all contingencies, you will do me the favor to instruct me what course is to be pursued, should it be proposed to omit the article referred to or to modify the treaty in any other way. I have the honor to be, etc., [Signed] H. S. LEGARÉ. To the Hon. LOUIS MCLANE, etc., Legation of the United States, Sir, With this dispatch I also send copies of some notes that have passed between this legation and the department of foreign affairs. The first two are on a mere matter of etiquette, to which I attach importance only because, and so far forth as, it is considered as important by European States. In that point of view, the relative dignity of the United States may be involved in a compliment paid or refused, and, where that is the case, I would cavil about the ninth part of a hair. Gen. Goblet, in consequence of the suspension of the conference at London, being returned to Brussels, I called on him immediately in order to come to some understanding with him on the subject of the treaty. He was not at the hotel of his department on Saturday, when I made him my first visit, but I saw there and had a long and rather remarkable conversation with BRUXELLES, LE 24 Juillet, 1833. Monsieur le Chargé d'Affaires,-Je m' empresse de vous informer de l'heureuse délivrance de sa Majesté la Reine qui a donné le jour à un Prince. Je suis persuadé, M. le Chargé d'Affaires, que le gouvernement des Etats Unis ne saurait être indifférent à l'événement dont j'ai l'honneur de vous faire part, parce qu'il est de nature à consolider le nouvel état Belge. Agréez, M. le Chargé d'Affaires, l'assurance, etc. Le Ministre d'Etat chargé par interim, etc., A M. Legaré, etc., etc. Mr. Legaré's answer. } Legation des Etats Unis d'Amérique, BRUXELLES, LE 25 JUILLET, 1833. Monsieur le Comte,-J'ai eu l'honneur de recevoir la note par laquelle vous m' avons fait part de l'heureuse délivrance de S. M. la Reine. J'ose vous assurer, M. le Comte, que le plaisir sensible que m'a fait un évènement aussi touchant et dont la tendance à consolider les institutions, que le peuple Belge vient d'établir avec autant de sagesse que de bonheur, est si importante, ne manquera pas de trouver de l'echo parmi le peuple Américain, qui, sans se mêler jamais des affaires intérieures des pays étrangers, ne laisse pas de s'intéresser vivement au sort de tous les gouvernments constitutionnels quelque soit d'ailleurs leur catégorie politique. Je vous prie, M. le Comte, d'agréer l'assurance etc. VOL. I.-23 Le Chargé d'Affaires des Etats Unis d'Amérique, the Secretary-General (a sort of head clerk, I believe) of the department, M. Nothomb, author of the Essay on the Belgian Revolution, which I have sent you, who is considered as a young man of great promise, and, especially, as better versed in the diplomatic relations of his government than any other of their public men. He is, besides, a leading member of the Chamber of Representatives. I characterize him thus particularly for reasons that will be obvious in the sequel. After apologising for the absence of Gen. Goblet, he entered into conversation with me on the subject of the treaty, in the course of which he gave me very clearly to understand that the government here is in the most pitiable embarrassment imaginable, between the irrevocable. act of its envoy at Washington on the one hand, and the high displeasure of England on the other. I told you in my last that M. Lebeau, the virtual, if not the titular head of the ministry here, had confessed as much, but he did so in very general terms. M. Nothomb, on the contrary, dwelt and in detail upon the precipitancy of Behr, and let out some things that made me think more seriously of the whole affair than I had been disposed to do at first. Thus, he pointed out what he considered as the flagrant inconsistency of his signing such a definition of blockade at Washington, at the very time that the combined fleets of England and France were violating the principles embraced in it, avowedly and solely for the benefit of Belgium. I could not help observing to him that I had not before been led to think that the blockade last winter was a mere blockade by proclamation, and said, if that were the fact, it did, indeed, seem a little ungracious in Belgium to be denouncing by implication, at least, the very means by which she was profiting, although, as the arbitrating powers had taken the whole matter into their own hands, she could not strictly be held responsible for the character or the use of those means. As to that he thought differently, repeated that the blockade was merely constructive, (fictif,) and seemed so deeply to deplore the ill-advised forwardness of the envoy, that I began to think they were going seriously to maintain the principle of which they had found the first fruits so very palatable. I had not been before aware that any objection to the treaty had been taken by the English government on that ground, which really appeared to me too clear for controversy, but it occurred to me now that England might choose to avail herself of the immense ascendant, which the present situation of the Continent, and especially her close alliance with France, have given her, to indemnify herself for any trouble or expense she may be put to for defending the liberties of mankind on terra firma, by narrowing them down as much as possible at sea. I seriously assure you that I am very much impressed with the gravity of the subject in this point of view. |