President Washington,
in a message to the House of Representatives of the 30th of March, 1796,
declined to comply with a request contained in a resolution of that
body, to lay before them "a copy of the instructions to the minister of
the United States who negotiated the treaty with the King of Great
Britain, together with the correspondence and other documents relative
to that treaty, excepting such of the said papers as any existing
negotiation may render improper to be disclosed." In assigning his
reasons for declining to comply with the call he declared that--
The nature of foreign negotiations requires caution, and their success
must often depend on secrecy; and even when brought to a conclusion a
full disclosure of all the measures, demands, or eventual concessions
which may have been proposed or contemplated would be extremely
impolitic; for this might have a pernicious influence on future
negotiations, or produce immediate inconveniences, perhaps danger and
mischief, in relation to other powers. The necessity of such caution and
secrecy was one cogent reason for vesting the power of making treaties
in the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, the
principle on which that body was formed confining it to a small number
of members.
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