The Creole Affair
Page 29
Upon the great general principles affecting this case we do not differ. You admit that if slaves, the property of American citizens, escape into British territories, it is not expected that they will be restored; and you may be well assured that there is no wish on our part that they should reach our shores, or that British possessions should be used as decoys for the violators of the laws of a friendly neighbor.
When these slaves do reach us, by whatever means, there is no alternative. The present state of British law is in this respect too well known to require repetition, nor need I remind you that it is exactly the same with the laws of every part of the United States where a state of slavery is not recognized; and that the slave put on shore at Nassau would be dealt with exactly as would a foreign slave landed, under any circumstances whatever, at Boston.
But what constitutes the being within British dominion, from which these consequences are to follow? Is a vessel passing through the Bahama [sic] channel, and forced involuntarily, either from storm or mutiny, into British waters, to be so considered? What power have the authorities of those islands to take cognizance of persons or property in such vessels? These are questions which you, sir, have discussed at great length, and with evident ability. Although you have advanced some propositions which rather surprise and startle me, I do not pretend to judge them; but what is very clear is, that great principles are involved in a discussion which it would ill become me lightly to enter upon; and I am confirmed by this consideration in wishing that the subject be referred to where it will be perfectly weighed and examined.
It behooves the authorities of our two Governments well to guard themselves against establishing by their diplomatic intercourse false precedents and principles, and that they do not, for the purpose of meeting a passing difficulty, set examples which may hereafter mislead the world.
It is not intended on this occasion to consider in detail the particular instances which have given rise to these discussions. They have already been stated and explained. Our object is rather to look to the means of future prevention of such occurrences. That this may be obtained, I have little doubt, although we may not be able immediately to agree on the precise stipulations of a treaty. On the part of Great Britain, there are certain great principles too deeply rooted in the consciences and sympathies of the people for any minister to be able to overlook; and any engagement I might make in opposition to them would be instantly disavowed; but, at the same time that we maintain our own laws within our own territories, we are bound to respect those of our neighbor, and to listen to every possible suggestion of means of averting from them every annoyance and injury. I have great confidence that this may be effectually done in the present instance; but the case to be met and remedied is new, and must not be too hastily dealt with. You may, however, be assured that measures so important for the preservation of friendly intercourse between the two countries shall not be neglected.
In the meantime, I can engage that instructions shall be given to the Governors of her majesty’s colonies to the southern borders of the United States to execute their own laws with careful attention to the wish of their Government to maintain good neighborhood, and that there shall be no officious interference with American vessels driven by accident or by violence into those ports. The laws and duties of hospitality shall be executed, and these seem neither to require nor to justify any inquisition into the state of persons or things on board of vessels so situated, than may be indispensable to enforce the observance of the municipal law of the colony, and the proper regulation of its harbors and waters.
A strict and careful attention to these rules, applied in good faith to all transactions as they arise, will, I hope and believe, without any abandonment of great and general principles, lead to the avoidance of any excitement or agitation on this very sensitive subject of slavery, and, consequently, of those irritating feelings which may have a tendency to bring into peril all the great interests connected with the maintenance of peace.
I further trust that friendly sentiments, and a conviction of the importance of cherishing them, will, on all occasions, lead the two countries to consider favorably any further arrangements which may be judged necessary for the reciprocal protections of their interests.
I hope, Sir, that this explanation on this very important subject will be satisfactory to the President, and that he will see in it no diminution of that earnest desire, which you have been pleased to recognize in me, to perform my work of reconciliation and friendship; but that he will rather perceive in my suggestion, in this particular instance, that it is made with a well-founded hope of thereby better obtaining the object we have in view.
ASHBURTON
Hon. Daniel Webster, etc., etc. etc.
Mr. Webster to Lord Ashburton
Department of State
Washington, August 8, 1842
My Lord: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship’s note of the 6th instant, in answer to mine of the 1st, upon the subject of a stipulation for the better security of American vessels driven by accident or carried by force into the British West India ports.
The President would have been gratified if you had felt yourself at liberty to proceed at once to consider of some proper arrangement, by formal treaty, for this object; but there may be weight in the reasons which you urge for referring such mode of stipulation for consideration in London.
The President places his reliance on those principles of public law which were stated in my note to your Lordship, and which are regarded as equally well founded and important; and on your Lordship’s engagement that instructions shall be given to the Governors of her majesty’s colonies to execute their own laws with careful attention to the wish of their Government to maintain good neighborhood, and that there shall be no officious interference with American vessels driven by accident or by violence into those ports; that the laws and duties of hospitality shall be executed, and that these seem neither to require nor to justify any further inquisition into the state of persons or things on board of vessels so situated than may be indispensable to enforce observance of the municipal law of the colony, and the proper regulation of its harbors and waters. He indulges the hope, nevertheless, that, actuated by a just sense of what is due to the mutual interests of the two countries, and the maintenance of a permanent peace between them, her majesty’s Government will not fail to see the importance of removing, by such further stipulations, by treaty or otherwise, as may be found to be necessary, all cause of complaint connected with this subject.
I have the honor to be, with high consideration, you Lord’s obedient servant,
DANIEL WEBSTER
Lord Ashburton, etc., etc., etc.
Notes
Index
A
Abaco Island, 1 , 2 , 3
Aberdeen (Lord), 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 drafted instructions, 1
Webster-Ashburton Treaty and, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5.1-5.2 , 6 , 7 , 8.1-8.2
abolitionism, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6.1-6.2 Adams’s influence, 1
Amistad case and, 1
domestic slave trade and, 1
Gregory XVI and, 1.1-1.2
The Heroic Slave and, 1.1-1.2
Jay and, 1.1-1.2
UK, 1.1-1.2 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6
See also specific acts See also specific cases
abolitionists, 1 , 2 , 3.1-3.2 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11.1-11.2 , 12 literature, 1
See also specific people
Abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, 1
Adams, John Quincy, 1.1-1.2 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 African slave trade and, 1
Amistad case and, 1.1-1.2
Bunker Hill Monument celebration and, 1
Creole affair and, 1.1-1.2
death, 1
Dickens on, 1
gag rule and, 1
health, 1
later years, 1.1-1.2
legacy of arguments, 1
Marshall, T., and, 1
motion to censure, 1
; Prigg case and, 1
on Tyler, 1.1-1.2 , 2
Afghanistan, 1.1-1.2
African Methodist Episcopal (AME), 1
African slave trade, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 Adams and, 1
interdiction, 1.1-1.2
Tyler and, 1
Africa Squadron, 1
Afro-Bahamians, 1.1-1.2
Albert (Prince of Saxe), 1
Alexander I (Czar), 1
AME See African Methodist Episcopal
Amelioration Act of 1824, 1.1-1.2
Amendment XXV (1967), 1
American Anti-Slavery Society, 1 constitution for, 1
American Colonization Society, 1
American consulate in Nassau, 1
American flag, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 slave trade and, 1 , 2 , 3
American literature, 1
American Notes for the Federal Circulation (Dickens), 1 , 2
American Revolution, 1
Amistad, 1.1-1.2 , 2 , 3 claims, 1
judicial proceedings, 1.1-1.2
See also United States v. Amistad
Anderson, G. C., 1 , 2.1-2.2 , 3 , 4
Andrews, James, 1
Anglo-Bahamians, 1.1-1.2
Antelope case, 1 , 2
Aroostook “War,” 1.1-1.2
Ashburton (Lord) See Baring, Alexander “Lord Ashburton”
Ashtabula Sentinel, 1.1-1.2
Atherton, Charles G., 1.1-1.2
“
“Atherton” Resolution, 1.1-1.2
A
Auld, Thomas, 1 , 2
Autographs for Freedom, 1
B
Bacon, John F., 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 Cockburn, F., correspondence, 1.1-1.2
death, 1
in Nassau, 1.1-1.2 , 2.1-2.2 , 3.1-3.2 , 4
protest, 1 , 2
Badger, George E., 1
Bahamas (British), 1 , 2.1-2.2 , 3.1-3.2 , 4.1-4.2 Civil War and, 1
independence, 1
jurisdiction, 1
slavery in, 1.1-1.2 , 2
War of 1812 and, 1
See also Nassau
Baldwin, Henry, 1
Baldwin, Roger Sherman, 1 , 2
Bankruptcy Act of 1841, 1
Barbour, Philip P., 1
Baring, Alexander “Lord Ashburton,” 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 death, 1
housing, 1 , 2.1-2.2 , 3
notes, 1.1-1.2 , 2.1-2.2
US arrival, 1
See also Webster-Ashburton Treaty
Barnaby Rudge (Dickens), 1
barque, 1
Barrow, Alexander, 1.1-1.2
Bates, Joshua, 1.1-1.2 Creole claims and, 1.1-1.2
Enterprise claims and, 1
Hermosa claims and, 1
McLeod affair and, 1.1-1.2
Bayard, Thomas, 1
Bell, John, 1
Benjamin, Judah, 1 , 2 , 3.1-3.2 , 4.1-4.2 post-Creole affair era, 1.1-1.2
See also McCargo v. the Merchants Insurance Company of New Orleans
Benjamin’s Treatise On the Law of Sale of Personal Property, With Reference to the American Decisions, And to the French Code and Civil Law (Benjamin), 1
Benton, Thomas Hart, 1
Berret, James G., 1
black marines, 1
Borden, Luther, 1
Botchford, P., 1
Botts, John M., 1
brig, 1
British Loyalists, 1 , 2
British Parliament Act of Union of 1840, 1
Brown, John, 1 , 2
Bullard, Henry A., 1.1-1.2 , 2.1-2.2
Bunker Hill Monument celebration, 1
Burns, Alexander, 1
Butler, Ben, 1
Butler, Pierce, 1
C
Calhoun, John C., 1.1-1.2 , 2 Resolution, 1.1-1.2
Webster-Ashburton Treaty and, 1
Canada (British), 1.1-1.2 Aroostook “War,” 1.1-1.2
Caroline affair and, 1.1-1.2
McLeod affair and, 1.1-1.2
Northeast border dispute, 1 , 2
See also specific tensions
Caribbean (British), 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 shipwrecks in, 1.1-1.2
See also specific places See also specific shipwrecks
Caribbean Community (Caricom), 1
Caroline affair, 1 , 2.1-2.2 , 3 Tyler on, 1
in Tyler presidential message, 1 , 2.1-2.2
Webster-Ashburton Treaty negotiations and, 1.1-1.2
Caroline Rule, 1
Catron, John, 1
censorship, 1 , 2 , 3 of Giddings, 1.1-1.2
Chesapeake Bay, 1
Child, Lydia Maria, 1
Christie, Agatha, 1
Cincinnati, 1
Civil War, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 Bahamas and, 1
Tyler and, 1.1-1.2
Claims Commission, 1.1-1.2 Creole, 1.1-1.2
Enterprise, 1.1-1.2
Hermosa, 1.1-1.2
McLeod affair, 1.1-1.2
slave ships, 1.1-1.2
Clay, Henry, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5.1-5.2 , 6 , 7 , 8 Dickens on, 1
Tyler and, 1
Clinton, Henry, 1
Cockburn, Francis, 1 , 2 , 3.1-3.2 , 4.1-4.2 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 Bacon correspondence, 1.1-1.2
correspondence to London, 1 , 2.1-2.2 , 3.1-3.2 , 4.1-4.2
death, 1
Cockburn, George, 1 , 2
Columbus, Christopher, 1
Comet, 1.1-1.2
Commercial Court of New Orleans, 1 , 2
Committee of the Whole, 1.1-1.2
“
“common man” style, 1.1-1.2
C
compensation, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4
Compromise of 1850, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4
Confederate States of America (CSA), 1
Congress, 1.1-1.2 , 2 Creole affair in, 1.1-1.2
Webster-Ashburton Treaty in, 1.1-1.2
Congress, 1
Conrad, F. B., 1
Constitution, US, 1 , 2.1-2.2 See also specific amendments
Constitutional Convention of 1787, 1
Convention of 1853, 1
Cooper, James Fenimore, 1
Creole, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 claim controversy, 1.1-1.2
Claims Commission, 1.1-1.2
departure from Nassau, 1
Doctors’ Commons answers regarding, 1.1-1.2
magistrates on board, 1.1-1.2
in Nassau harbor, 1.1-1.2 , 2.1-2.2
in New Orleans, 1.1-1.2 , 2
rebellion, 1.1-1.2
See also slaves, on board Creole
Creole affair, 1 Adams and, 1.1-1.2
Ashburton notes and, 1.1-1.2
Barrow on, 1.1-1.2
in Congress, 1.1-1.2
Dickens and, 1.1-1.2
Dorr Rebellion and, 1
Giddings and, 1.1-1.2
The Heroic Slave and, 1.1-1.2
in London, 1.1-1.2
McCargo v. the Merchants Insurance Company of New Orleans and, 1.1-1.2
Mississippi Resolution and, 1.1-1.2
in Nassau, 1.1-1.2
Prigg case and, 1.1-1.2
slave point of view, 1
Supreme Court and, 1.1-1.2
in Washington, 1.1-1.2
Webster-Ashburton Treaty negotiations and, 1.1-1.2 , 2.1-2.2 , 3
Webster notes and, 1.1-1.2
witness testimonies, 1.1-1.2
Crittenden, John, 1 , 2
Crown legal advisers, 1
CSA See Confederate States of America
Cushing, Caleb, 1
D
Daniel, Peter V., 1
Daniel Webster Memorial, 1
Darling, Timothy, 1 , 2
Davis, Jefferson, 1
T
The Deerslayer (Cooper), 1
D
Democracy in America (Tocqueville), 1
Democrat split, 1
Dickens, Charles, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 on Adams, 1
on Clay, 1
Creole affair and, 1.1-1.2
death, 1
on Giddings, 1
post-Creole affair era, 1.1-1.2
/>
slavery and, 1.1-1.2 , 2
Tyler and, 1.1-1.2 , 2.1-2.2
US return, 1.1-1.2
on Webster, 1
dicta, 1.1-1.2
Doctors’ Commons, 1.1-1.2
domestic slave trade, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 abolitionism and, 1
interstate, 1.1-1.2 , 2 , 3.1-3.2
Dorr, Thomas, 1.1-1.2 , 2 Tyler meeting with, 1
Dorr Rebellion, 1 , 2.1-2.2
Douglass, Frederick, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4.1-4.2 death, 1
European tour, 1.1-1.2
freedom, 1
post-Creole affair era, 1.1-1.2
Doyle, Arthur Conan, 1
Dred Scott case, 1
Duncome, Robert, 1
Dunmore (Lord), 1
E
Edward VIII (King), 1
Emancipation Day, 1
Emancipation Proclamation, 1
Encomium, 1.1-1.2
England, John, 1
Ensor, Robert, 1 , 2 , 3.1-3.2 , 4 , 5 in Nassau, 1
wife and children, 1
Enterprise, 1.1-1.2 Claims Commission, 1.1-1.2
Eve, Joseph, 1.1-1.2
Everett, Edward, 1 , 2.1-2.2 , 3 , 4 death, 1
post-Creole affair era, 1.1-1.2
Webster correspondence, 1.1-1.2
Ewing, Thomas, 1 , 2
“
“Federal Government Slave Power,” 1
F
federal-state conflict, 1 , 2
Fillmore, Millard, 1 , 2
Fletcher v. Peck, 1
Florida (east), 1.1-1.2
Florida Territory, 1
Foreign Slave Trade Act of 1806, 1
Forsyth, John, 1 , 2 , 3.1-3.2
Fort Charlotte, 1 , 2 , 3
Fort Monroe, 1
Forward, Walter, 1 , 2
Fox, Henry S., 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 McLeod affair and, 1.1-1.2 , 2.1-2.2 , 3
post-Creole affair era, 1
Frederick Douglass Paper, 1
T
The Freedmen (Child), 1
F
free states, 1 , 2 , 3
Fugitive Slave Act (new), 1 , 2.1-2.2 , 3
Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, 1 , 2.1-2.2 , 3
fugitive slaves See runaway slaves