possible. You will use all diligence-return as soon as may be practicable and gel her running and in complete order as early as possible. Messrs T. Toby & Brother will aid you all in their power, in haste
Your Obt Servant David G Burnet
[4313] [G0R0STIZA to DICKENS]
Washington, October 15, 1836. The undersigned has learned with most profound regret, by the note dated the 13th instant, which he yesterday received from the honorable Asbury Dickins, acting Secretary of State of the United States, that the President, relying solely on the principle of self-defence, has nol thought proper to attend lo the just complaints of the undersigned respecting the violation of the Mexican territory by the troops of General Gaines; and that, on the contrary, he persists in his intention to maintain the right which, in his opinion, he possesses, to continue such violations hereafter, whensoever he may consider them proper for the better defence of the frontier of the United States. The undersigned evidently cannot for a moment admit the existence of such a right, because it would be equivalent to acknowledging that every nation might occupy with its troops the territory of another, without taking any further trouble than merely to conceive beforehand that there appeared to be a necessity for this measure, and because such a right would be a continued threat held out against the sovereignty and independence of every other nation; otherwise, what nation would not desire to strengthen its frontier at the expense of its neighbors, if its own conviction were admitted as sufficient to justify the act? It is also evident that the undersigned cannot accede to the latitude which the President gives to the principle of self-defence, as applied to the present case. This principle would never have been allowed, were it not, as it is, founded in justice and reason; were it not like all the other principles, together composing the law of nations, derived from that natural law which the ancients termed the law of God, and which, while it fixes upon us the obligation of perserving and defending ourselves, equally prohibits
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