A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 5, part 1: Presidents Taylor and Fillmore

by Unknown

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

WASHINGTON, December 7, 1852.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation, between the United States and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, signed at Montevideo on the 28th of August last.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, December 8, 1852.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, an additional article, signed in this city on the 16th ultimo, to the convention for the mutual delivery of criminals fugitives from justice in certain cases between the United States on the one part and Prussia and other States of the Germanic Confederation on the other part, concluded on the 15th of June, 1852.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, January 4, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 30th ultimo, requesting information in regard to the establishment of a new British colony in Central America, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which it was accompanied.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, January 4, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the Senate's resolution of the 3d instant, calling for information relative to a proposed tripartite convention on the subject of the island of Cuba, I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of State and the papers which accompanied it.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, January 12, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

In pursuance of the eleventh article of the treaty with the Chickasaw Indians signed on the 20th day of October, 1832, I herewith transmit a recommendation from the Secretary of the Treasury for the investment of a portion of the funds belonging to said nation, for the purpose of obtaining the advice and consent of the Senate to make the investment as therein recommended.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, January 12, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

In reply to the resolution of your honorable body of the 5th instant, I herewith communicate a report of the Secretary of the Interior giving the information[²⁷] required.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate dated the 13th ultimo, requesting further information in regard to the imprisonment of the United States consul and of other American citizens in the castle at Acapulco, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which it is accompanied.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

JANUARY 17, 1853.

WASHINGTON, January 17, 1853.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I transmit herewith a communication lately received at the Department of State from the minister of Her Most Catholic Majesty, accompanied by a letter of instructions from the Spanish Government relative to the case of the Amistad. In Mr. Calderon's communication reference is had to former letters addressed by him to the Department of State on the same subject, copies of which are herewith transmitted, and an earnest wish is expressed that a final settlement of this long-pending claim should be made. The tone of the letter of instructions from Mr. Manuel Bertran de Lis is somewhat more peremptory than could be wished, but this circumstance will not, probably, prevent Congress from giving his suggestions the attention to which they may be entitled.

The claim of the Spanish Government on behalf of its subjects interested in the Amistad was the subject of discussion during the Administration of President Tyler between the Spanish minister and Mr. Webster, then Secretary of State. In an elaborate letter of the latter, addressed to the Chevalier d'Argais on the 1st of September, 1841, the opinion is confidently maintained that the claim is unfounded. The Administration of President Polk took a different view of the matter. The justice of the claim was recognized in a letter from the Department of State to the Spanish minister of the 19th of March, 1847, and in his annual message of the same year the President recommended its payment.

Under these circumstances the attention of Congress is again invited to the subject. Respect to the Spanish Government demands that its urgent representation should be candidly and impartially weighed. If Congress should be of opinion that the claim is just, every consideration points to the propriety of its prompt recognition and payment, and if the two Houses should come to the opposite conclusion it is equally desirable that the result should be announced without unnecessary delay.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, January 18, 1853.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

I have the honor herewith to transmit a report from the Secretary of the Interior, from which it appears that the efforts of that Department to induce the Indians remaining in Florida to migrate to the country assigned to their tribe west of the Mississippi have been entirely unsuccessful. The only alternative that now remains is either to compel them by force to comply with the treaty made with the tribe in May, 1832, by which they agreed to migrate within three years from that date, or allow the arrangement made with them in 1842, referred to in the Secretary's report, by which they were permitted to remain in the temporary occupancy of a portion of the peninsula until the Government should see fit to remove them, to continue.

It can not be denied that the withholding so large a portion of her territory from settlement is a source of injury to the State of Florida; and although, ever since the arrangement above referred to, the Indians have manifested a desire to remain at peace with the whites, the presence of a people who may at any time and upon any real or fancied provocation be driven to acts of hostility is a source of constant anxiety and alarm to the inhabitants on that border.

There can be no doubt, also, that the welfare of the Indians would be promoted by their removal from a territory where frequent collisions between them and their more powerful neighbors are daily becoming more inevitable.

On the other hand, there is every reason to believe that any manifestation of a design to remove them by force or to take possession of the territory allotted to them would be immediately retaliated by acts of cruelty on the defenseless inhabitants.

The number of Indians now remaining in the State is, it is true, very inconsiderable (not exceeding, it is believed, 500), but owing to the extent of the country occupied by them and its adaptation to their peculiar mode of warfare, a force very disproportioned to their numbers would be necessary to capture them, or even to protect the white settlements from their incursions. The military force now stationed in that State would be inadequate to these objects, and if it should be determined to enforce their removal or to survey the territory allotted to them some addition to it would be necessary, as the Government has but a small force available for that service. Additional appropriations for the support of the Army would also, in that event, be necessary.

For these reasons I have deemed it proper to submit the whole matter to Congress, for such action as they may deem best.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, January 19, 1853.

To the House of Representatives:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 27th ultimo, requesting information relative to the claims on Spain in the cases of the bark Georgiana and the brig Susan Loud, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom the resolution was referred.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, January 21, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 10th instant, requesting certain correspondence relative to Central America, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which it was accompanied.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, January 24, 1853.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In obedience to a resolution of your honorable body of December 27, 1852, in reference to claims of custom-house officers for additional pay, I have the honor herewith to transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury giving the desired information; and in answer to the seventh interrogatory, asking "whether in my opinion further legislation is necessary or advisable either to protect the Treasury from unjust claims or to secure to the claimants their just rights," I would state that in my opinion no further legislation is necessary to effect either object. My views on this subject will be more fully seen on reference to an opinion given by me to the Secretary of the Treasury, a copy of which is annexed to his report.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, January 24, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 14th instant, relative to the award of the Emperor Louis Napoleon, of France, in the case of the brig General Armstrong, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which it was accompanied.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, January 27, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 13th instant, requesting a copy of correspondence and other documents relative to Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the territory claimed by the Mosquito Indians, I transmit a report of the Secretary of State, to whom the resolution was referred.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, January 27, 1853.

To the House of Representatives:

Since my last message to your honorable body, communicating a report from the Treasury Department, in answer to your resolution of the 3d instant [27th ultimo?], in reference to the compensation of weighers and gangers, further communications on that subject have been received from New Orleans, which have just been reported to me by the Secretary of the Treasury and which I deem it my duty to communicate to the House.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 3, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit herewith to the Senate in a new draft the convention with the Swiss Confederation, originally negotiated at Berne and concluded in that city on the 25th of November, 1850. On the 7th of March, 1851, it was considered by the Senate of the United States, whose assent was given to it with certain amendments, as will appear from the Journal of the Senate of that day. The convention was sent back to Switzerland with these alterations, which were taken into consideration by the Government of that Confederation, whose action in the premises will be learned by a letter from its President of the 5th of July, 1852.

The modifications which the Government of the Swiss Confederation are desirous of introducing into the amendments made by the Senate of the United States and the articles affected by them are not inconsistent with the object and spirit of those amendments, and appear to me to proceed upon a reasonable principle of compromise.

I have thought it expedient, in submitting them to the Senate with a view to their advice and consent to the ratification of the treaty in its present form, to have the entire instrument taken into a continuous draft, as well the portions—by far the greater part—already assented to by the Senate as the modifications proposed by the Government of the Swiss Confederation in reference to these amendments. In preparing the new draft a few slight alterations have been made in the modifications proposed by the Swiss Government.

Should the convention receive the approbation of the Senate in its present form, it will be immediately transmitted to Switzerland for ratification by the Swiss Confederation.

The delays which have taken place in the negotiation of this treaty have been principally caused by the want of a resident diplomatic agent of the United States at Berne, and are among the reasons for which an appropriation for a chargé d'affaires to that Government has recently, by my direction, been recommended in a letter from the Department of State to the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 3, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 11th ultimo, asking for information with regard to the execution of the postal convention between the United States and Great Britain, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied it.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 7, 1853.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

Having in my message to Congress at the opening of the session adverted to the pending negotiations between this Government and that of Great Britain relative to the fisheries and commercial reciprocity with the British American Provinces, I transmit for the information of Congress the accompanying report from the Department of State on the present state of the negotiations, and I respectfully invite the attention of the two Houses to the suggestion in the latter part of the report.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 9, 1853.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of the Navy, accompanied by the first part of Lieutenant Herndon's report of the exploration of the valley of the Amazon and its tributaries, made by him in connection with lieutenant Gardner Gibbon, under instructions from the Navy Department.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 14, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

I herewith communicate to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a convention on the subject of the extradition of fugitives from justice between the United States and Belgium, concluded and signed in this city on the 11th instant by the respective plenipotentiaries.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 18, 1853.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, embodying the substance of recent communications made by the minister of Her Britannic Majesty to the Department of State on the subject of the interoceanic canal by the Nicaragua route, which formed the chief object of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain of the 19th April, 1850, and the relations of Great Britain to the protectorate of Mosquito, which she expresses herself desirous of relinquishing on terms consistent with her honorable engagements to the Indians of that name.

In consequence of these communications and other considerations stated in the report, it is deemed advisable by the Department that our diplomatic relations with the States of Central America should be placed on a higher and more efficient footing, and this measure meets my approbation. The whole subject is one of so much delicacy and importance that I should have preferred, so near the close of my Administration, not to make it the subject of an Executive communication. But inasmuch as the measure proposed can not, even if deemed expedient by my successor, take effect for near a twelvemonth unless an appropriation is made by this Congress, I have thought it my duty to submit the report of the Department to the two Houses. The importance of the measure seemed to require an exposition somewhat in detail of the grounds on which it is recommended.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 18, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit to the Senate, with the view to its ratification, a convention which was yesterday concluded between the United States and Great Britain for the establishment of international copyright.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 19, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 14th instant, relative to the fisheries on the coasts of Florida, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied it.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 21, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

In compliance with your resolution of the 19th of February instant, I herewith communicate a report from the Secretary of War, containing the report of Lieutenant Meigs, of the Engineer Corps, on the surveys, projects, and estimates for supplying the cities of Washington and Georgetown with an unfailing and abundant supply of water.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 21, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

I have the honor to transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury of the 21st instant, in reference to the reinvestment of certain moneys belonging to the Chickasaw Nation of Indians which will come into the Treasury during the succeeding vacation of the Senate, and I respectfully concur in the recommendation made by the Secretary.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 23, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit to the Senate, for advice and consent with a view to ratification, a convention between the United States and Her Britannic Majesty for the adjustment of certain claims of citizens of the United States on the British Government and of British subjects on the Government of the United States, signed in London on the 8th instant. Although it is stipulated by the terms of the first article of the convention that the commissioner on the part of this Government shall be appointed by the President of the United States, it is not understood that this stipulation was intended to dispense with the concurrence of the Senate in such appointment.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 25, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a consular convention concluded in this city on the 23d instant between the United States and His Majesty the Emperor of the French.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 26, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit a copy of a proclamation of yesterday, which I deemed it advisable to issue, relative to an extraordinary session of the Senate on the 4th of March next.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 28, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 17th January last, requesting information in regard to the fisheries on the coasts of the British North American Provinces, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied it.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 28, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States:

I herewith transmit, for the consideration and advice of the Senate, a treaty recently entered into with the Apache Indians in New Mexico by Colonel Stunner and Mr. Greiner, acting on behalf of the United States, together with the letter of Colonel Sumner on the subject of the treaty and reports thereon from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the Secretary of the Interior.

MILLARD FILLMORE.