CONTENTS. PAGE FROM THE CONSTITUTION TO THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE (1789- THAT OF MR. VAN BUREN (1829-1841)-THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN POWER-SOUTH CAROLINA NULLIFICATION - THE FROM THE CLOSE OF VAN BUREN'S ADMINISTRATION TO THE FUGI- TIVE SLAVE LAW (1841-1850)-THE ERA OF MEDIOCRE PRESI FROM THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW TO THE JUDGMENT IN THE DRED SCOTT" CASE (1850-1856)-RESISTANCE TO THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. Pp. 118 and 127. The treaty with Spain of 1819 is erro neously referred to as if never ratified. From the minutes of " duly cession of Florida, it appears that the ratifications were exchanged at Washington" on the 22nd February, 1821. P. 181. Van Buren's Sub-Treasury Act, it should be observed, was repealed under Tyler. But it had done its work, and the Executive was never more threatened by an overbearing money power. P. 207. The Ashburton treaty. There are stories of withheld maps in reference to this treaty which, I think resolve themselves into nothing. According to the version with which we are familiar, the United States' Government was in possession of a map authenticated by a note in Franklin's handwriting, besides one found in Jefferson's collection, showing the exact line contended for by Great Britain, and even conceding something more. According to the American version, as set forth amongst ourselves in the House of Lords by Lord Brougham, England was in possession of the map used by Oswald, the British Commissioner in 1783, with a note upon it probably in the handwriting of George III., and giving the American line, and not the British. The simple fact seems to be, that at the negotiations of 1783, there had been an exchange of maps, each party being put in possession of, and retaining xxii ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. the one showing his adversary's claim. The whole wrangle on the subject seems thus to be one about a mare's nest. P. 214. The second treaty of Washington was dated "June" 15, 1850, and not "January." It is also quoted from an incorrect text. The main portion of its first article runs as follows: "From the point on the 49th parallel of North Latitude where the boundary laid down in existing treaties and conventions between Great Britain and the United States terminates, the line of boundary between the territories of Her Britannic Majesty and those of the United States shall be continued westward along the said 49th parallel of North Latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island, and then southerly through the middle of the said channel and of Fuca's Straits to the Pacific Ocean." P. 248. The Ostend Conference. I am assured that this proceeding was actually directed by the American Government, and that, though Mr. Buchanan drew up and signed the minutes, he went to the conference most reluctantly. The actual place of meeting moreover, it appears, was Aix-laChapelle. P. 250. The proposed treaty with the Dominican republic is alleged by the Americans to have been rejected at the instigation of France and England, on account of an intended cession to the United States of a coaling station at Samana; probably a very fair ground of opposition, considering the slave-trading and annexation propensities of the then dominant faction in America. |