FRANKLIN PIERCE.



WASHINGTON, January 21, 1857.

To the House of Representatives:

In further compliance with resolution of the House of Representatives of the 22d ultimo, calling upon me for "statements of the amounts of money paid and liabilities incurred for the pay, support, and other expenses of persons called into the service of the United States in the Territory of Kansas, either under the designation of the militia of Kansas or of posses summoned by the civil officers in that Territory, since the date of its establishment; also statements of the amounts paid to marshals, sheriffs, and other deputies, and to witnesses and for other expenses in the arrest, detention, and trial of persons charged in said Territory with treason against the United States or with violations of the alleged laws of said Territory," I transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with accompanying documents.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.



WASHINGTON, January 28, 1857.

To the Senate of the United States:

I communicate to the Senate herewith, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty made and concluded at Grand Portage, in the Territory of Minnesota, on the 16th day of September, 1856, between Henry C. Gilbert, Indian agent, acting as commissioner on the part of the United States, and the Bois Porte bands of Chippewa Indians, by their chiefs and headmen.

The treaty is accompanied by communications from the Secretary of the Interior, transmitting a letter to him from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and a report from Agent Gilbert of the 24th December, 1856.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.



WASHINGTON, January 30, 1857.

To the Senate of the United States:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate passed December 23, 1856, requesting "any information upon the files of the Department in relation to pay and emoluments of Lieutenant-General Scott or his staff under the resolution of February 15, 1855, which may not have been communicated in Executive Document No. 56, first session Thirty-fourth Congress," and a resolution passed December 30, requesting "a statement of all payments and allowances which have been made, and of all claims which have been disallowed, to Brevet Lieutenant-General Scott from the date when he joined the army serving in Mexico up to December 1, 1856," and "also copies of all correspondence on file in the Executive Departments relating to said claims, payments, or allowances," I herewith transmit a report of the Secretary of War, to whom the resolutions were referred in order that the information, statements, and copies of correspondence therein required might be prepared and furnished.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.



WASHINGTON, February 4, 1857.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolutions of the Senate of yesterday, adopted in executive session, I transmit reports[69] from the Secretary of State, to whom they were referred.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 69: Relating to the convention between Great Britain and Honduras respecting the island of Ruatan.]



WASHINGTON, February 4, 1857.

To the House of Representatives:

I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents,[70] in answer to the resolution of the House of December 26, 1854.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 70: Consular returns on shipping, shipbuilding, etc., in foreign countries.]



WASHINGTON, February 9, 1857.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers,[71] in answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 30th ultimo.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 71: Relating to the proclamation of martial law in Washington Territory, etc.]



WASHINGTON, February 11, 1857.

To the Senate of the United States:

In further compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 5th instant, requesting me to communicate transcripts of papers relative to the proclamation of martial law by Governor Stevens, of Washington Territory, I transmit the accompanying report from the Secretary of War.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.



WASHINGTON, February 11, 1857.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty of friendship and commerce between the United States and the Shah of Persia, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the parties at Constantinople on the 13th of December last.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.



WASHINGTON, February 11, 1857.

To the Senate of the United States:

I communicate to the Senate herewith, for its constitutional action thereon, articles of agreement and convention made and concluded at the places and dates therein named by Joel Palmer, superintendent of Indian affairs, on the part of the United States, and the chiefs and headmen of the confederate tribes and bands of Indians residing along the coast west of the summit of the Coast Range of mountains and between the Columbia River on the north and the southern boundary of Oregon on the south. A letter from the Secretary of the Interior, including one from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, accompanies the treaty.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.



WASHINGTON, February 14, 1857.

To the House of Representatives:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 19th ultimo, requesting me "to furnish to the House all correspondence and documents, not incompatible with the public interest, relating to Indian affairs in the Department of the Pacific, those of the Interior as well as those of the War Department," I transmit the accompanying report and documents from the Secretary of War.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.



WASHINGTON, February, 1857.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

I communicate herewith a letter of the Secretary of War, recommending an appropriation of $10,000 for the purpose of instituting a series of researches for the discovery of a more efficient mode of manufacturing niter.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.



WASHINGTON, February 16, 1857.

To the Senate of the United States:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 4th of August last, calling for information in relation to certain internal improvements, I transmit reports[72] from the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of War.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 72: Appropriations made by Congress within eleven years for light-houses, beacons, buoys, etc, on Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, St. Clair, Erie, Ontario, and Champlain; duties collected and expenses of collection at each of the lake ports annually for eleven fiscal years, ending June 30, 1856; tonnage of the lake ports, etc.]



WASHINGTON, February 19, 1857.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit for the consideration of the Senate with a view to ratification a consular convention between the United States and the Republic of Chili, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the parties at the city of Santiago on the 1st day of December last.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.



WASHINGTON, February 23, 1857.

To the House of Representatives:

I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers,[73] in answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 6th instant.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 73: Relating to the claim of F. Dainese for salary, expenses, etc., while acting consul at Constantinople.]



To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit herewith a report from the Attorney-General, in reply to the resolution[74] of the Senate in executive session of the 19th instant.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

FEBRUARY 23, 1857.

[Footnote 74: Asking whether Samuel D. Lecompte has been allowed to perform the functions of chief justice of the Territory of Kansas since the nomination of J.O. Harrison to that office.]



To the Senate of the United States:

I communicate herewith a report from the Attorney-General, in reply to the resolution of the Senate of the 20th instant, asking for correspondence of Samuel D. Lecompte, chief justice of the Territory of Kansas.[75]

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

FEBRUARY 23, 1857.

[Footnote 75: Explanatory of his judicial conduct in the Territory of Kansas.]



WASHINGTON, March 2, 1857.

To the Senate of the United States:

I communicate herewith a letter[76] from the Secretary of the Navy, in response to a resolution of the Senate of August 15, 1856.

Concurring in the views presented in the documents to which the Secretary of the Navy refers, I am not prepared at this time to recommend any legislation on the subject.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 76: Relating to the discontinuance or change of location of any navy-yard or naval station on the Atlantic Seaboard.]



WASHINGTON, March 2, 1857.

To the Senate of the United States:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th ultimo, in relation to correspondence between the Treasury and Interior Departments and Edward F. Beale, late superintendent of Indian affairs in California, and accounts of remittances, etc., I transmit the accompanying report from the Secretary of the Treasury.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.



WASHINGTON, March 3, 1857.

To the House of Representatives:

As a further answer to resolutions of the House of Representatives adopted on the 6th and 10th of February, I transmit a second report from the Secretary of State, relating to the "accounts," "claims," and "difficulties" at Constantinople, referred to in said resolutions.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.



PROCLAMATION.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas objects of interest to the United States require that the Senate should be convened at 12 o'clock on the 4th of March next to receive and act upon such communications as may be made to it on the part of the Executive:

Now, therefore, I, Franklin Pierce, President of the United States, have considered it to be my duty to issue this my proclamation, declaring that an extraordinary occasion requires the Senate of the United States to convene for the transaction of business at the Capitol, in the city of Washington, on the 4th day of March next, at 12 o'clock at noon of that day, of which all who shall at that time be entitled to act as members of that body are hereby required to take notice.

[SEAL.]

Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at Washington, this 16th day of February, A.D. 1857, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-first.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

By the President: W.L. MARCY, Secretary of State.

THE END