In alluding to these means it would obviously be premature at this time
to anticipate that which is offered merely as matter for consultation,
or to pronounce upon those measures which have been or may be suggested.
The purpose of this Government is to concur in none which would import
hostility to Europe or justly excite resentment in any of her States.
Should it be deemed advisable to contract any conventional engagement on
this topic, our views would extend no further than to a mutual pledge of
the parties to the compact to maintain the principle in application to
its own territory, and to permit no colonial lodgments or establishment
of European jurisdiction upon its own soil; and with respect to the
obtrusive interference from abroad--if its future character may be
inferred from that which has been and perhaps still is exercised in more
than one of the new States--a joint declaration of its character and
exposure of it to the world may be probably all that the occasion would
require. Whether the United States should or should not be parties to
such a declaration may justly form a part of the deliberation.
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