7115. PUBLICITY, Expediency of.—
If
the negotiations with England are at an end,
if not given to the public now, when are
they to be given? and what moment can be so
interesting? If anything amiss should happen
from the concealment, where will the
blame originate at least? It may be said, indeed,
that the President puts it in the power
of the Legislature to communicate these
proceedings to their constituents; but is it
more their duty to communicate them to
their constituents, than it is the President's
to communicate them to his constituents?
And if they were desirous of communicating
them, ought the President to restrain them
by making the communication confidential?
I think no harm can be done by the publication,
because it is impossible England, after
doing us an injury, should declare war
against us, merely because we tell our constituents
of it; and I think good may be
done, because while it puts it in the power
of the Legislature to adopt peaceable measures
of doing ourselves justice, it prepares
the minds of our constituents to go cheerfully
into an acquiescence under these measures,
by impressing them with a thorough and
enlightened conviction that they are founded
in right.—
To President Washington. Washington ed. iv, 89.
Ford ed., vi, 461.
(Dec. 1793)
