271 



In reply to strictures upon the course of the Secretary of State, 

 Mr. Seward remarked : " The President, it seems, took pains to ob- 

 tain information informally, and he caused it to be published, in a 

 notice issued by the Secretary of State, and dalcd at the Department 

 of State July 6, 1852, and which has been call(;d here the ' procla- 

 mation ' of tlie Secretary. 



" The Senate will see that the Secretary of State set forth such un- 

 official information (and all the information was unofficial) as had 

 been obtained, and stated the popular inference then prevalent, saying 

 that the imperial government 'appeared ' now to be willing to adopt 

 the construction of the convention insisted on by the colonies. Infer- 

 ring, from circumstances, the hazards and dangers which would arise, 

 he set forth the case precisely as it seemed to stand. He adverted to 

 the question understood as likely to be put in issue, and, admitting that 

 technicall}^ the convention of ISIS would bear the rigorous construc- 

 tion insisted on by the colonies, lie declared the d/ssc7it of the govern- 

 ment of the United States fi-om it ; and then communicated the case 

 to the persons engaged in tliis hard and hazardous trade, that they 

 might be 'on their ffuard.' 



" I am surprised that an}'^ doubts should be raised as to the procla- 

 mation beins; the act of the government. I do not .understand how a 

 senator or a citizen can officially know that the Secretary of State is 

 at Marshfield, or elsewhere, when the seal and date of the depart- 

 ment affirm that he is at the capital. I would like to know where or 

 wlien this government or this administration has disavowed this pro- 

 clamation. 



"In issuing this notice, the Secretary of State did just what the Sec- 

 retary of State had been in the habit of doing in such cases from the 

 foundation of the government, viz : he issued a notice to the citizens 

 of the United States to put them on their guard in a case of apparent 

 danger, resulting from threatening embarrassment of our relations 

 with a foreign power. Tlie first notice of the kind which I have found 

 in history is a notice issued by Tliomas Jefferson, Secretaiy of State 

 under George Washington, to the merchants of the United States, in- 

 forming them of the British Orders in Council, and of the decrees of 

 the French Directory, and of the apprehended seizure and confisca- 

 tion of American vessds under them; and assuring the American 

 merchants that, for whatever they might unlawfully lose, the govern- 

 ment of the United States would take care that they would be indem- 

 nified. I brought that to the notice of the Senate heretf)fore, and upon 

 the ground, among others, that they have twice sanctioned a bill pro- 

 viding for the payment of losses by French spoliations. 



have previouKly Rpokf-n,) to be rittcd, provisioned, officered, and nmiined by the Rrifisb i;ov- 

 ernineiit,. The liuzzard, hourly r.xpeeled from I'orfsinouih, l>riiiKH out men to man these 

 hired vcHKelH. To these muKt l»e luUli'd two from New Hrunswieit, unr. from Canada, and tmc 

 from Pince Edward Island, making a U)Ui\ of niiirtn n armed vessels, from the '(all Admi- 

 ral' to the tiny tender, eiiL'atjed in this importani service. His Excellency tlii' Mce Ad- 

 miral deserves the thniiks (if the ])ei)ple of Hriiisii North America for the zeal with which ho 

 has taken n]> this momentous matter, anil also fur the promptitude of his co-oiieraiion with I ho 

 provincial K<'^'e'''mient. Janus comes to Newloundland direct from (Jihraltar, she is an ox- 

 poriint'Utul steamer, constructed l)y Sir Charles Napier, and by some saiil to be a spiouilid 

 failure. Cumberland sails immudiaiely for St. .)"lin and tho NewfouniUand coast." 



