would they seek it from South America ? On the other hand, when the armadas of the Holy Alliance pressed upon the shores of the Southern Continent, with what haste and urgent zeal would our contingent be demanded? This is a war the people would never endure, and if the government had given a thousand pledges, there is not one the nation would redeem. "I will now call the attention of the Senate to a question of the gravest character and most deeply affecting the dearest interests of the country,-a question growing out of considerations, which have heretofore occupied the best minds and interested the purest hearts our country has produced, 'would it be wise in us to change an established policy upon the subject of political connexions with the foreign states.'--The President has said that to form alliances' is not among the motives of our attendance at the Congress. But what description of alliance does he mean? They are of various kinds and of different extent. We are at that congress to stipulate in some form, that we will resist any attempt of colonization by the powers of Europe in this hemisphere, (or within our own borders) and that, in the event of any interference on their part in the struggle between Spain and the Spanish American States, we will make common cause with the latter in resisting it. To this end we have been invited, and upon these points we have promised that our ministers shall have full powers. Call it ' an alliance,' or whatever name you please, it is a political connexion at war with the established policy of our government. When it is proposed to subvert a fundamental system in our foreign policy, in the support of which we stand alone among all the nations of the earth,-which, commencing with our government, is endeared to the people, and upon whose deep foundations has been erected the magnificent structure of an unequalled prosperity--it surely becomes those, intrusted with the management of affairs, to pause and weigh with scrupulous exactness the importance of the step. "At this moment the United States are unfettered. No government has a right to demand our aid or interference in any of the changes in the condition of the world-come what may we are now unembarrassed in our choice. Until lately, I had flattered myself that the acknowledged obligation on the part of our gov ernment to maintain that condition was as firmly fixed as its republican character. I had the best reason to think so, because I knew it to be a principle in our public policy, which had, for its support, all that is instructive in experience, all that is venerable in authority. The authority is no less than the parting admonitions of the Father of his country. The earnest, eloquent and impressive appeals upon this subject, contained in his farewell address, are yet, and will I trust long remain fresh in our recollections, nor were the sentiments, thus avowed, mere speculative opinions founded upon an abstract consideration of the subject. No! they were sentiments, matured by reflection and confirmed by actual experience of the practical results, which had arisen from a connexion of the character, he so ardently and so justly deprecated. The sagacious mind of Washington, and the great men who enjoyed his confidence, traced the multiplied embarrassments of the country at that trying period to the treaty of alliance with France. Had it not been for that, the task of preserving our neutrality would have been comparatively easy. There would then have been wanting those great sources of discord, unsatisfied claims of right on the part of one belligerent, and food for jealousy on the other. It was under a deep conviction of this truth, that that inestimable man was induced to address his countrymen in language like this. "The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connexions as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith; -Here let us stop. "Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations of her friendships or enmities. "Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people under an efficient government, the period is not far off, when we may defy material injury from external annoyance, when we may take such an attitude, as will cause the neutrality, we may at any time resolve upon, to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation, when we may choose peace or war, as our interests guided by justice shall counsel."" The consideration, that all treaties are subject to a revision of the Senate, appears, in this case, to be an answer by no means complete and satisfactory. If the Senate, after debate on the motives and objects of an embassy, approve nominations of the Executive, accompanied with a detail and communication of information, a full exposition of the views of government, and the House under similar circumstances of enquiry, grant the appropriations, with what grace, consistency or propriety can treaties (made within the instructions of the diplomatic functionaries employed in the business) be rejected. These considerations amount almost to a pledge to foreign nations. To say the least, a refusal to ratify under these circumstances cannot but be considered as extremely unbecoming and repulsive, and is not a course, by any means, calculated to conciliate confidence and good will. And, even, if these well considered steps, preparatory to a negotiation, do not presuppose an eventual ratification, it may often happen, that the same bodies, in which the previous measures have been discussed and decided, will, under the constitutional provision, exercise the privilege of bestowing the last sanction and confirmation upon their deeds and doctrines. The distinction is, therefore, obviously formal, and the safety nugatory and deceitful. We have, it is true, a recent instance where the government did, in some degree, retrace its own steps;-We refer to the slave trade abolition convention concluded with England; but this was an awkward business, followed by painful, embarrassing explanations. Besides, the identical provision, requiring a revision by the Senate, imposes a double obligation on the government of entering with caution into negotiations. If we claim a right to reject a treaty, we have ourselves proposed, it is certainly but the precept and exercise of a discreet and suitable consideration to give to our terms and projects the least imposing, or tempting air and appearance of pledge or warrant. In the We shall conclude this subject with one remark. vindications of the Panama mission we have read, (many prepared with care and ability) it has appeared to us, that there was throughout an inherent defect in the application of the principle upon which their reasoning depended. Their authors have seemed to consider, there was an essential difference between a confederacy of European states and one of American. We confess, we perceive none. The governments of the old continent unite for the consolidation of the throne, those of the new for the defence of the republic. The motives and objects of these respective alliances are different, but for this country to become a member either of one or the other is equally dangerous in its consequences, equally a violation of the principles of the constitution, and equally a departure from the policy and practice of the government. This Congress was first proposed at Panama, but it does not appear ever to have assembled there. Tacubaya, a village a few miles from Mexico, was afterwards appointed, and Mr. Sergeant joined Mr. Poinsett at that capital, for the purpose of attending it. But the former gentleman, after a becoming delay, returned to the United States, not having accomplished a single object of his important and vexatious embassy, the government being fully satisfied that the present situation of the South American states forbade all prospect of a speedy meeting of the Congress. * * Since the first establishment of a diplomatic intercourse with the South American states, some change has been made in the rank of the agents employed. We have at this period (1828) but two ministers with full powers in that country; Joel R. Poinsett of South Carolina in Mexico, and William H. Harrison of Ohio in Colombia. At the Federation of Central America the United States are represented by a chargé, W. B. Rochester of New-York,-at the republic of Buenos Ayres by John M. Forbes, and in Peru by James Cooley. On the other hand, Don Pablo Obregon remained the minister from Mexico till his late lamented death, and Don Jose Maria Salazar from Colombia. From Central America only a chargé has been accredited, Pedro Gonzalez, since the return of Don Antonio J. Canas. In this general review we have not touched at all upon two important topics, mentioned in the President's message, the abolition of the slave trade and religious freedom. In regard to the first, the policy of the government has been already developed in a distinct manner at the time of the abolition slave trade convention with England; we do not apprehend any material departure from that determination in future negotiations. And as it respects the establishment of the catholic religion, as a state religion in some of the American republics, the extreme caution and tenderness, with which that most delicate and important subject has always been approached in the constitutions of government, as well as in the municipal ordinances of this people, can leave no doubt on the mind of the entire and scrupulous forbearance, they would, at all times, exercise in regard to the religious concerns of a foreign nation. As the basis of our government is that of a representative republic, we shall never look but with the greatest satisfaction to the progress and propagation of that principle, both on account of the political sympathies this nation feels on that subject, and because we believe it better calculated than any other to promote general happiness, and to lead, in the most direct as well as solid manner, to the best kind of civilization. But in all other respects there is little to attract our attention to South America. It is only in the way of commerce that we have an intercourse, and that, comparatively, to a limited extent. The two continents of this hemisphere are, at their medium distance, more widely separated than the northern is from the European. With that continent we are connected by a traffic more incessant and more skilfully conducted than any, that has yet been witnessed since the invention of the compass,-by the arts, by literature, fashions, and by every circumstance and association, that enter into the composition of society. All those matters, that depend on the formal courtesies of diplomacy, this country and the South American states have exactly performed towards each other. With two of them we have entered into conventions for the regulation of trade, |