portant, he expresses unnecessarily a low estimate of the sincerity of the American Government. If that Government has found for the present intrinsic difficulties in the way of agreeing to a reciprocal right of visitation, at any rate it has taken a most important step, that cannot but tend to accelerate the accomplishment of the sole purpose contemplated by that right. Their squadron is now fitting out, nor is it to be doubted for a moment that, commanded by men of the known energy and good faith which have hitherto distinguished American naval officers, this force, co-operating with our own, will, ere long, give a deadly blow to the trade in slaves.

In the observations which Mr. Lemoinne makes upon the "Caroline," he has so far done justice to Great Britain, as to pronounce her proceedings upon that occasion to have been justifiable. Alluding to the correspondence of Lord Ashburton, he remarks

"Le ton de ces explications, que le Gou"vernement Americain a considérées comme "de véritables excuses, nous surprend d'autant plus qu'il est évident pour nous que l'Angle“terre était ici parfaitement dans son droit*.”

* The tone of these explanations, which the American Government has considered as real excuses, surprises us the more because it is evident that England upon this occasion was perfectly in the right.

But although he professes to have given a critical examination of this point of late difference between the two countries, he has been far from doing justice to the subject, as will appear from a very brief statement of the case.

The State of New York on its western border is separated from Canada by the River Niagara. According to the constitution of the United States, each State of the Union has jurisdiction over its own territory, and is governed by its own laws and authorities. By the same constitution the foreign relations of all the United States are committed to the Federal Government. Towards the close of the year 1837, some Canadian rebels having fled to the State of New York, and being there joined by various American citizens, fitted out a steamer called the "Caroline," supplied her with arms and ammunition, and by means of this vessel, and without being attempted to be stopped in their illegal enterprise by the authorities of New York, invaded and took possession of an island called Navy Island, belonging to Great Britain, from whence they commenced and kept up for several days a constant attack upon the unoffending inhabitants of the Canadian shore. The remonstrances of the British authorities being unattended to by those of the State of New York,

a night squadron of boats was fitted out for the purpose of proceeding to Navy Island and capturing the steam-boat "Caroline," she being supposed to be there at the time, as she plied daily between the American shore and the island, for the purpose of supplying the rebels and their associates with provisions, arms, and ammunitions. On reaching the island it was discovered that the steamer had removed from it, and was moored near the American shore to be ready for another trip the next morning. The British force immediately boarded and took possession of her, and it being found impossible to tow her through the strong current of the river, she was set on fire and left to drift over the Falls. Subsequent to this transaction a British subject was arrested and imprisoned by the New York authorities, on a charge of being one of the party that destroyed the "Caroline." The British Government at a later period avowed the act of the destruction of the vessel as a justifiable one, and claimed that Mc Leod, the individual in question, could not be held personally responsible for acts done by him at the command of his own sovereign. This principle was admitted without hesitation by the Government of the United States, which endeavoured to procure the liberation of Mc Leod from his imprisonment. The authorities of

New York, however, declared that their state laws must take their course, and that the interference of the authority of the Federal Government would not be permitted in this case; so that, through the intricacy of their inter-relations with their own States, the Federal Government was baffled in the execution of one of its most important constitutional functions. Mc Leod was at length discharged by a jury of the State of New York, and returned to his own country. At the period of Lord Ashburton's negotiations with Mr. Webster, this affair, as appears by this gentleman's letter of July 27, 1842, had taken the simple form of a complaint from the Federal Government, of a violation of their soil and territory. To this Lord Ashburton

answers:—

"I believe I may take it to be the opinion "of candid and honourable men, that the "British officers who executed, and their Go"vernment who approved it, intended no slight "or disrespect to the sovereign authority of the "United States."

In another part of his letter, he says:—

"Looking back to what passed at this time, "what is perhaps most to be regretted is, that some explanation and apology for this occur"rence was not immediately made; this, with a frank explanation of the necessity of the

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case, might and probably would have pre"vented much of the exasperation, and of the "subsequent complaints and recriminations, to " which it gave rise."

It having been successfully demonstrated on the part of Great Britain, that the authorities of the State of New York were the first to fail in the respect due to the international relations of the two countries, and that the British authorities had been compelled, from the necessity of the case, to suppress the outrage committed upon her, in the manner they had done, but without in any way intending a disrespect to the United States, Mr. Webster, in his letter of the 6th of August, when speaking of the respect due "to "the inviolable character of the territory of "independent States," replies:

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"Undoubtedly, it is just that, while it is "admitted that exceptions growing out of the great law of self-defence do exist, those exceptions should be confined to cases in which "the necessity of self-defence is instant, over"whelming, and leaving no choice of means, " and no moment for deliberation."

The case of the "Caroline" forming precisely such an exception, this delicate matter was finally settled upon this ground. Both parties agreed that an inviolable respect for the territory of independent States was an essential

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