drawn from the language
of the report under consideration is contradicted by the official
declarations of the British Government, and may therefore be considered
as the individual act of the authors, not as the deliberate voice of the
nation by which they were employed.

It might have been easy to have retorted similar charges, and thus have
excited in the Government of Great Britain feelings of irritation
similar to those which pervaded the whole population of the United
States on the reception of that report. While, however, it is due
to the honor of the United States to declare that no desire of undue
aggrandizement has been felt, no claim advanced beyond what a strict
construction of their rights will warrant, it is trusted that the
pretensions of Great Britain, however unfounded in fact or principle,
have been advanced with a like disregard to mere extension of territory,
and urged with the same good faith which has uniformly characterized the
proceedings of the United States.

It is not to be wondered that the claims of Great Britain have been
urged with the utmost pertinacity and supported by every possible form
of argument. The territory in question is of great value to her, by
covering the only mode of communication which can exist for nearly six
months in the year, not only between two valuable colonies, but between
the most important of all her possessions and the mother country. The
time is not long past when the use of this very communication was not an
unimportant part of the means by which that colony was restrained from
an attempt to assert its independence. It is not, therefore, surprising
that the feelings of British statesmen and of those who desired to win
their favor have been more obvious in the several arguments which have
appeared on that side of the question than a sober view of the true
principles, on which alone a correct opinion of the case can be founded.

To the United States in their collective capacity the territory in
dispute is, on the other hand, of comparatively little moment. No other
desire is felt throughout the greater part of the Union than that the
question should be settled upon just principles. No regret could,
therefore, be widely felt if it should be satisfactorily shown that the
title of Great Britain to this region is indisputable. But should it be
shown, as is beyond all question the fact, that the title is in truth in
the United States, national honor forbids that this