They at least deserve to
be met by adequate preparation on our part, and I therefore strongly
urge large and speedy appropriations for the increase of the Navy and
the completion of our coast defenses.
If this array of military force be really designed to affect the action
of the Government and people of the United States on the questions now
pending between the two nations, then indeed would it be dishonorable
to pause a moment on the alternative which such a state of things would
present to us. Come what may, the explanation which France demands can
never be accorded, and no armament, however powerful and imposing, at a
distance or on our coast, will, I trust, deter us from discharging the
high duties which we owe to our constituents, our national character,
and to the world.
The House of Representatives at the close of the last session of
Congress unanimously resolved that the treaty of the 4th of July, 1831,
should be maintained and its execution insisted on by the United States.
It is due to the welfare of the human race not less than to our own
interests and honor that this resolution should at all hazards be
adhered to.
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