"Some of the facts," said he in a letter to General Washington, written after permission to communicate the papers had been given, "are inaccurately stated and improperly coloured; but it is too true that the treaty has been violated.

On such occasions, I think it better fairly to confess and correct errors, than attempt to deceive ourselves and others, by fallacious though plausible palliations and excuses.
"To oppose popular prejudices, to censure the proceedings and expose the impropriety of states, is an unpleasant task, but it must be done."[29] [Footnote 29: The facts relative to this negotiation were stated in the correspondence of General Washington.

The statement is supported by the Secret Journals of Congress, vol.4, p.

329, and those which follow.] That the United States might with reason be required to fulfil the treaty before they could entitle themselves to demand a strict performance of it on the part of Great Britain, was a position the propriety of which they were prevented from contesting by the miserably defective organization of the government.

If their treaties were obligatory in theory, the inability of congress to enforce their execution had been demonstrated in practice.