On the contrary,
expressions of sincere regret that circumstances obliged him to complain
of acts that disturbed the harmony he wished to preserve with a nation
and Government to the high characters of which he did ample justice.
An honorable susceptibility to everything that may in the remotest
degree affect the honor of the country is a national sentiment in
France; but you will allow, sir, that it is carried too far when it
becomes impatient of just complaint, when it will allow none of its
acts to be arraigned and considers as an offense a simple and correct
examination of injuries received and as an insult a deliberation on the
means of redress. If it is forbidden, under the penalties of giving just
cause of offense, for the different branches of a foreign government to
consult together on the nature of wrongs it has received and review the
several remedies which the law of nations present and circumstances
justify, then no such consultation can take place in a government like
that of the United States, where all the proceedings are public, without
at once incurring the risk of war, which it would be the very object of
that consultation to avoid.
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