To admit, then, a right in the House of Representatives to
demand and to have as a matter of course all the papers respecting a
negotiation with a foreign power would be to establish a dangerous
precedent.
In that case the instructions and documents called for related to a
treaty which had been concluded and ratified by the President and
Senate, and the negotiations in relation to it had been terminated.
There was an express reservation, too, "excepting" from the call all
such papers as related to "any existing negotiations" which it might be
improper to disclose. In that case President Washington deemed it to be
a violation of an important principle, the establishment of a "dangerous
precedent," and prejudicial to the public interests to comply with the
call of the House. Without deeming it to be necessary on the present
occasion to examine or decide upon the other reasons assigned by him for
his refusal to communicate the information requested by the House, the
one which is herein recited is in my judgment conclusive in the case
under consideration.
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