The recall of the disavowed minister having been followed by the
appointment of a successor, hopes were indulged that the new mission
would contribute to alleviate the disappointment which had been
produced, and to remove the causes which had so long embarrassed the
good understanding of the two nations. It could not be doubted that it
would at least be charged with conciliatory explanations of the step
which had been taken and with proposals to be substituted for the
rejected arrangement. Reasonable and universal as this expectation was,
it also has not been fulfilled. From the first official disclosures of
the new minister it was found that he had received no authority to enter
into explanations relative to either branch of the arrangement disavowed
nor any authority to substitute proposals as to that branch which
concerned the British orders in council, and, finally, that his
proposals with respect to the other branch, the attack on the frigate
_Chesapeake_, were founded on a presumption repeatedly declared to
be inadmissible by the United States, that the first step toward
adjustment was due from them, the proposals at the same time omitting
even a reference to the officer answerable for the murderous aggression,
and asserting a claim not less contrary to the British laws and British
practice than to the principles and obligations of the United States.
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