I confidently trust that Your Excellency will adopt such measures as will afford us prompt and efficient relief.

I remain, with great consideration, your obedient servant,

SAM. W. KING.



WASHINGTON, June 25, 1842.

Governor KING.

SIR: Your letter of the 23d instant was this day received by the hands of Governor Sprague, together with the documents accompanying the same. Your excellency has unintentionally overlooked the fact that the legislature of Rhode Island is now in session. The act of Congress gives to the Executive of the United States no power to summon to the aid of the State the military force of the United States unless an application shall be made by the legislature if in session; and that the State executive can not make such application except when the legislature can not be convened. (See act of Congress, February 28, 1795.)

I presume that your excellency has been led into the error of making this application (the legislature of the State being in session at the date of your dispatch) from a misapprehension of the true import of my letter of 7th May last. I lose no time in correcting such misapprehension if it exist.

Should the legislature of Rhode Island deem it proper to make a similar application to that addressed to me by your excellency, their communication shall receive all the attention which will be justly due to the high source from which such application shall emanate.

I renew to your excellency assurances of high consideration.

J. TYLER.



PROVIDENCE, R.I., June 23, 1842.

Hon. JOHN C. SPENCER,

Secretary of War.

SIR: I addressed you yesterday afternoon in great haste, that my letter might go by the mail (then about being closed), to inform you of the sudden change in the aspect of affairs in this State, and also to inform you that I should be this morning at Governors Island, New York.

At the urgent solicitation of Governor King, who crossed over from Newport to Stonington to intercept me on the route, I returned last night to this place from Stonington, having proceeded so far on my way to New York.

In addition to what I stated in my letter yesterday, I learn from Governor King (who has just called on me) that four citizens of this city who had gone to Chepachet to ascertain what was going on there were arrested as spies by the insurgents, bound, and sent last night to Woonsocket, where they were confined when his informer left there at 8 o'clock this morning; also that martial law had been proclaimed by the insurgents at Woonsocket and Chepachet, and no one was allowed to enter or depart from either place without permission.

The citizens of this city are in a state of intense excitement.

I shall return to-morrow to Newport to await any instructions you may be pleased to favor me with.

I have the honor to be, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

JAS. BANKHEAD, Colonel Second Regiment Artillery.



PROVIDENCE, R.I., June 23, 1842.

Brigadier-General R. JONES,

Adjutant-General United States Army.

SIR: I left Newport yesterday morning to return to Fort Columbus, with the belief that my presence could no longer be necessary for the purpose I had been ordered there for. The legislature was in session, and, as I was well assured, determined honestly and faithfully to adopt measures to meet the wishes of the citizens of this State to form a constitution on such liberal principles as to insure full satisfaction to all patriotic and intelligent men who had any interest in the welfare of the State. The well-known intention of the legislature in this respect would, I hoped and believed, reconcile the factious and produce tranquillity. But the aspect of affairs has suddenly become more threatening and alarming. There is an assemblage of men at Woonsocket and Chepachet, two small villages (say 15 miles distant hence) on the borders of Connecticut, composed principally of strangers or persons from other States. They have recently received 75 muskets from Boston and 80 from New York, in addition to former supplies. They have also several mounted cannon and a large quantity of ammunition, 48 kegs of which they stole from a powder house not far distant from this, the property of a manufacturer of powder. Dorr, it is supposed, joined his party at one of the above-named places the night before last; he has certainly returned from New York and passed through Norwich. His concentrated forces are variously estimated at from 500 to 1,000 men.

I had proceeded thus far yesterday afternoon on my return to New York, and had taken my seat in the cars for Stonington, when an express from Governor King, who was at Newport, overtook me, to request that I would not leave the State; too late, however, for me then to stop here, as the cars were just moving off. On getting to Stonington I there found Governor King, who had crossed over from Newport to intercept me, and at his solicitation I at once returned with him last night in an extra car to this place. Not then having a moment's time to write you, as the steamboat left immediately on the arrival of the cars at Stonington, I sent my adjutant on in the boat with directions to report to you the fact and the cause of my return.

I had written thus far when the governor called on me, and has informed me that four citizens of this State, who had gone to Chepachet to ascertain the exact state of affairs there, were arrested as spies, bound, and sent last night to Woonsocket, where two hours ago they were still in confinement. Martial law has been declared in Chepachet and Woonsocket, and no one allowed to enter or depart without permission. I yesterday afternoon wrote to the Secretary of War (as I had been directed), in great haste, however, to send by the mail, to inform him of the sudden change in the aspect of affairs here; in which letter I stated that I should be at Governors Island this morning. As I, of course, then did not contemplate to the contrary, I beg you will do me the favor to acquaint him with the cause of my return.

I can only add that the citizens of this place are in a state of intense anxiety and excitement. I remain here to-day at the special request of several who have just left me. To-morrow I shall return to Newport to await any communication from you.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAS. BANKHEAD, Colonel Second Regiment Artillery.



PROVIDENCE, R.I., June 27, 1842.

SIR:[123] As there was no mail yesterday from this, I could make no report to the Major-General Commanding of the military movements in this quarter up to that time. Since my last letter to you most of the volunteers and other military companies called out by the governor have assembled here to the amount of about 2,000 men. The force of the insurgents under the immediate direction of Mr. Dorr, and concentrated at Chepachet, is estimated at from 800 to 1,000 men armed with muskets, about 1,500 without arms, and 10 or 12 cannon mounted.

[Footnote 123: Addressed to Brigadier-General R. Jones, Adjutant-General United States Army.]

It seems to be impossible to avoid a conflict between the contending parties without the interposition of a strong regular force.

The State force here can defend this city, and it might successfully attack the insurgent force at Chepachet; but there would be danger in leaving the city without adequate means of protection to it, as there is doubtless a large number within the city with concealed arms ready to commence hostilities.

The position taken by Dorr's troops at Chepachet is naturally strong, and has been much strengthened by intrenchments, etc. It would therefore be highly imprudent to make the attack, even if no secret foes were left behind within the city, without a positive certainty of success; and with the aid of a few disciplined troops a defeat there would be ruinous and irreparable.

A force of 300 regular troops would insure success, and probably without bloodshed.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAS. BANKHEAD, Colonel Second Regiment Artillery.



WASHINGTON, June 27, 1842.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: The intelligence from Rhode Island since the call was made on you by the Senators from that State is of a character still more serious and urgent than that then communicated to you by Mr. Sprague, who was charged with communications to Your Excellency from Governor King. We are informed that a requisition was made upon the Government of the United States by the governor of Rhode Island, pursuant to resolutions passed by the general assembly of that State when in session in May last, calling for a proclamation against those engaged in an armed rebellion against the government of Rhode Island and for military aid in suppressing the same; that Your Excellency replied to Governor King that in the opinion of the Executive the force arrayed against the government of the State was not then such as to warrant immediate action on his part, but that Your Excellency in your reply proceeded to say: "If an exigency of lawless violence shall actually arise, the executive government of the United States, on the application of your excellency under the authority of the resolutions of the legislature already submitted, will stand ready to succor the authorities of the State in their efforts to maintain a due respect for the laws." Whereby it was understood that in the event of the assembling of such an armed force as would require the interference contemplated by the Constitution and laws of the United States the Executive of the United States, upon being duly notified of the fact by the governor of the State, would act upon the requisition already made by the legislature without further action on the part of that body.

We understand that upon this notice being given through the communications handed you by Mr. Sprague on Saturday, containing proof of the existence and array of a large body of armed men within the State of Rhode Island, who had already committed acts of lawless violence, both by depredating largely upon property in various parts of the State and by capturing and confining citizens, as well as owning and manifesting a determination to attack the constituted authorities, you considered that it was desirable that this communication should have been accompanied with a further resolution of the general assembly authorizing the governor to act in this instance, from the fact that the assembly was then in session by adjournment.

It is the purpose of this communication respectfully to state that we conceive the existing circumstances call for the immediate action of the Executive upon the information and papers now in its possession.

The meeting of the legislature during the last week was by adjournment. It is in law regarded as the May session of the general assembly, and can be regarded in no other light than if it had been a continuous session of that body held from day to day by usual adjournments. Had this last been the case, it can not be conceived that new action on its part would have been required to give notice of any movements of hostile forces engaged in the same enterprise which was made known to the Executive by its resolutions of May last.

Our intelligence authorizes us to believe that a multitude of lawless and violent men, not citizens of Rhode Island, but inhabitants of other States, wickedly induced by pay and by hopes of spoil, and perhaps instigated also by motives arising from exasperation on the part of their instigators and of themselves at the course heretofore indicated in this matter by the executive government of the Union, have congregated themselves and are daily increasing their numbers within the borders of our State, organized, armed, and arrayed in open war upon the State authorities, and ready to be led, and avowedly about to be led, to the attack of the principal city of the State as part of the same original plan to overthrow the government, and that in the prosecution of this plan our citizens have reason to apprehend the most desperate and reckless assaults of ruffianly violence upon their property, their habitations, and their lives.

We beg leave to refer you, in addition, to a letter which we understand was received yesterday by General Scott from Colonel Bankhead, detailing some information in his possession.

We therefore respectfully request an immediate compliance on the part of the Executive with the requisition communicated in the papers from Governor King, as the most effectual, and, in our opinion, the only measure that can now prevent the effusion of blood and the calamities of intestine violence, if each has not already occurred.

We are, with the highest respect, Your Excellency's obedient servants,

JAMES F. SIMMONS. WM. SPRAGUE. JOSEPH L. TILLINGHAST.



WASHINGTON, June 29,1842.

The Secretary Of War.

SIR: From the official communication of Colonel Bankhead to you, this day laid before me, it is evident that the difficulties in Rhode Island have arrived at a crisis which may require a prompt interposition of the Executive of the United States to prevent the effusion of blood. From the correspondence already had with the governor of Rhode Island I have reason to expect that a requisition will be immediately made by the government of that State for the assistance guaranteed by the Constitution to protect its citizens from domestic violence. With a view to ascertain the true condition of things and to render the assistance of this Government (if any shall be required) as prompt as may be, you are instructed to proceed to Rhode Island, and, in the event of a requisition being made upon the President in conformity with the laws of the United States, you will cause the proclamation herewith delivered to be published. And should circumstances in your opinion render it necessary, you will also call upon the governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut, or either of them, for such number and description of the militia of their respective States as may be sufficient to terminate at once the insurrection in Rhode Island. And in the meantime the troops in the vicinity of Providence may with propriety be placed in such positions as will enable them to defend that city from assault.

JOHN TYLER.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the legislature of the State of Rhode Island has applied to the President of the United States setting forth the existence of a dangerous insurrection in that State, composed partly of deluded citizens of the State, but chiefly of intruders of dangerous and abandoned character coming from other States, and requiring the immediate interposition of the constitutional power vested in him to be exercised in such cases, I do issue this my proclamation, according to law, hereby commanding all insurgents and all persons connected with said insurrection to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty-four hours from the time when this proclamation shall be made public in Rhode Island.

In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed, and signed the same with my hand.

Done at the city of Washington this —— day of —— A.D. 1842, and of the Independence of the United States the sixty-sixth.

[L.S.] JOHN TYLER.

By the President: DANL. WEBSTER, Secretary of State.



WASHINGTON, April 22, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit herewith, for your approval and ratification, a treaty which I have caused to be negotiated between the United States and Texas, whereby the latter, on the conditions therein set forth, has transferred and conveyed all its right of separate and independent sovereignty and jurisdiction to the United States. In taking so important a step I have been influenced by what appeared to me to be the most controlling considerations of public policy and the general good, and in having accomplished it, should it meet with your approval, the Government will have succeeded in reclaiming a territory which formerly constituted a portion, as it is confidently believed, of its domain under the treaty of cession of 1803 by France to the United States.

The country thus proposed to be annexed has been settled principally by persons from the United States, who emigrated on the invitation of both Spain and Mexico, and who carried with them into the wilderness which they have partially reclaimed the laws, customs, and political and domestic institutions of their native land. They are deeply indoctrinated in all the principles of civil liberty, and will bring along with them in the act of reassociation devotion to our Union and a firm and inflexible resolution to assist in maintaining the public liberty unimpaired—a consideration which, as it appears to me, is to be regarded as of no small moment. The country itself thus obtained is of incalculable value in an agricultural and commercial point of view. To a soil of inexhaustible fertility it unites a genial and healthy climate, and is destined at a day not distant to make large contributions to the commerce of the world. Its territory is separated from the United States in part by an imaginary line, and by the river Sabine for a distance of 310 miles, and its productions are the same with those of many of the contiguous States of the Union. Such is the country, such are its inhabitants, and such its capacities to add to the general wealth of the Union. As to the latter, it may be safely asserted that in the magnitude of its productions it will equal in a short time, under the protecting care of this Government, if it does not surpass, the combined production of many of the States of the Confederacy. A new and powerful impulse will thus be given to the navigating interest of the country, which will be chiefly engrossed by our fellow-citizens of the Eastern and Middle States, who have already attained a remarkable degree of prosperity by the partial monopoly they have enjoyed of the carrying trade of the Union, particularly the coastwise trade, which this new acquisition is destined in time, and that not distant, to swell to a magnitude which can not easily be computed, while the addition made to the boundaries of the home market thus secured to their mining, manufacturing, and mechanical skill and industry will be of a character the most commanding and important. Such are some of the many advantages which will accrue to the Eastern and Middle States by the ratification of the treaty—advantages the extent of which it is impossible to estimate with accuracy or properly to appreciate. Texas, being adapted to the culture of cotton, sugar, and rice, and devoting most of her energies to the raising of these productions, will open an extensive market to the Western States in the important articles of beef, pork, horses, mules, etc., as well as in breadstuffs. At the same time, the Southern and Southeastern States will find in the fact of annexation protection and security to their peace and tranquillity, as well against all domestic as foreign efforts to disturb them, thus consecrating anew the union of the States and holding out the promise of its perpetual duration. Thus, at the same time that the tide of public prosperity is greatly swollen, an appeal of what appears to the Executive to be of an imposing, if not of a resistless, character is made to the interests of every portion of the country. Agriculture, which would have a new and extensive market opened for its produce; commerce, whose ships would be freighted with the rich productions of an extensive and fertile region; and the mechanical arts, in all their various ramifications, would seem to unite in one universal demand for the ratification of the treaty. But important as these considerations may appear, they are to be regarded as but secondary to others. Texas, for reasons deemed sufficient by herself, threw off her dependence on Mexico as far back as 1836, and consummated her independence by the battle of San Jacinto in the same year, since which period Mexico has attempted no serious invasion of her territory, but the contest has assumed features of a mere border war, characterized by acts revolting to humanity. In the year 1836 Texas adopted her constitution, under which she has existed as a sovereign power ever since, having been recognized as such by many of the principal powers of the world; and contemporaneously with its adoption, by a solemn vote of her people, embracing all her population but ninety-three persons, declared her anxious desire to be admitted into association with the United States as a portion of their territory. This vote, thus solemnly taken, has never been reversed, and now by the action of her constituted authorities, sustained as it is by popular sentiment, she reaffirms her desire for annexation. This course has been adopted by her without the employment of any sinister measures on the part of this Government. No intrigue has been set on foot to accomplish it. Texas herself wills it, and the Executive of the United States, concurring with her, has seen no sufficient reason to avoid the consummation of an act esteemed to be so desirable by both. It can not be denied that Texas is greatly depressed in her energies by her long-protracted war with Mexico. Under these circumstances it is but natural that she should seek for safety and repose under the protection of some stronger power, and it is equally so that her people should turn to the United States, the land of their birth, in the first instance in the pursuit of such protection. She has often before made known her wishes, but her advances have to this time been repelled. The Executive of the United States sees no longer any cause for pursuing such a course. The hazard of now defeating her wishes may be of the most fatal tendency. It might lead, and most probably would, to such an entire alienation of sentiment and feeling as would inevitably induce her to look elsewhere for aid, and force her either to enter into dangerous alliances with other nations, who, looking with more wisdom to their own interests, would, it is fairly to be presumed, readily adopt such expedients; or she would hold out the proffer of discriminating duties in trade and commerce in order to secure the necessary assistance. Whatever step she might adopt looking to this object would prove disastrous in the highest degree to the interests of the whole Union. To say nothing of the impolicy of our permitting the carrying trade and home market of such a country to pass out of our hands into those of a commercial rival, the Government, in the first place, would be certain to suffer most disastrously in its revenue by the introduction of a system of smuggling upon an extensive scale, which an army of custom-house officers could not prevent, and which would operate to affect injuriously the interests of all the industrial classes of this country. Hence would arise constant collisions between the inhabitants of the two countries, which would evermore endanger their peace. A large increase of the military force of the United States would inevitably follow, thus devolving upon the people new and extraordinary burdens in order not only to protect them from the danger of daily collision with Texas herself, but to guard their border inhabitants against hostile inroads, so easily excited on the part of the numerous and warlike tribes of Indians dwelling in their neighborhood. Texas would undoubtedly be unable for many years to come, if at any time, to resist unaided and alone the military power of the United States; but it is not extravagant to suppose that nations reaping a rich harvest from her trade, secured to them by advantageous treaties, would be induced to take part with her in any conflict with us, from the strongest considerations of public policy. Such a state of things might subject to devastation the territory of contiguous States, and would cost the country in a single campaign more treasure, thrice told over, than is stipulated to be paid and reimbursed by the treaty now proposed for ratification. I will not permit myself to dwell on this view of the subject. Consequences of a fatal character to the peace of the Union, and even to the preservation of the Union itself, might be dwelt upon. They will not, however, fail to occur to the mind of the Senate and of the country. Nor do I indulge in any vague conjectures of the future. The documents now transmitted along with the treaty lead to the conclusion, as inevitable, that if the boon now tendered be rejected Texas will seek for the friendship of others. In contemplating such a contingency it can not be overlooked that the United States are already almost surrounded by the possessions of European powers. The Canadas, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, the islands in the American seas, with Texas trammeled by treaties of alliance or of a commercial character differing in policy from that of the United States, would complete the circle. Texas voluntarily steps forth, upon terms of perfect honor and good faith to all nations, to ask to be annexed to the Union. As an independent sovereignty her right to do this is unquestionable. In doing so she gives no cause of umbrage to any other power; her people desire it, and there is no slavish transfer of her sovereignty and independence. She has for eight years maintained her independence against all efforts to subdue her. She has been recognized as independent by many of the most prominent of the family of nations, and that recognition, so far as they are concerned, places her in a position, without giving any just cause of umbrage to them, to surrender her sovereignty at her own will and pleasure. The United States, actuated evermore by a spirit of justice, has desired by the stipulations of the treaty to render justice to all. They have made provision for the payment of the public debt of Texas. We look to her ample and fertile domain as the certain means of accomplishing this; but this is a matter between the United States and Texas, and with which other Governments have nothing to do. Our right to receive the rich grant tendered by Texas is perfect, and this Government should not, having due respect either to its own honor or its own interests, permit its course of policy to be interrupted by the interference of other powers, even if such interference were threatened. The question is one purely American. In the acquisition, while we abstain most carefully from all that could interrupt the public peace, we claim the right to exercise a due regard to our own. This Government can not consistently with its honor permit any such interference. With equal, if not greater, propriety might the United States demand of other governments to surrender their numerous and valuable acquisitions made in past time at numberless places on the surface of the globe, whereby they have added to their power and enlarged their resources.

To Mexico the Executive is disposed to pursue a course conciliatory in its character and at the same time to render her the most ample justice by conventions and stipulations not inconsistent with the rights and dignity of the Government. It is actuated by no spirit of unjust aggrandizement, but looks only to its own security. It has made known to Mexico at several periods its extreme anxiety to witness the termination of hostilities between that country and Texas. Its wishes, however, have been entirely disregarded. It has ever been ready to urge an adjustment of the dispute upon terms mutually advantageous to both. It will be ready at all times to hear and discuss any claims Mexico may think she has on the justice of the United States and to adjust any that may be deemed to be so on the most liberal terms. There is no desire on the part of the Executive to wound her pride or affect injuriously her interest, but at the same time it can not compromit by any delay in its action the essential interests of the United States. Mexico has no right to ask or expect this of us; we deal rightfully with Texas as an independent power. The war which has been waged for eight years has resulted only in the conviction with all others than herself that Texas can not be reconquered. I can not but repeat the opinion expressed in my message at the opening of Congress that it is time it had ceased. The Executive, while it could not look upon its longer continuance without the greatest uneasiness, has, nevertheless, for all past time preserved a course of strict neutrality. It could not be ignorant of the fact of the exhaustion which a war of so long a duration had produced. Least of all was it ignorant of the anxiety of other powers to induce Mexico to enter into terms of reconciliation with Texas, which, affecting the domestic institutions of Texas, would operate most injuriously upon the United States and might most seriously threaten the existence of this happy Union. Nor could it be unacquainted with the fact that although foreign governments might disavow all design to disturb the relations which exist under the Constitution between these States, yet that one, the most powerful amongst them, had not failed to declare its marked and decided hostility to the chief feature in those relations and its purpose on all suitable occasions to urge upon Mexico the adoption of such a course in negotiating with Texas as to produce the obliteration of that feature from her domestic policy as one of the conditions of her recognition by Mexico as an independent state. The Executive was also aware of the fact that formidable associations of persons, the subjects of foreign powers, existed, who were directing their utmost efforts to the accomplishment of this object. To these conclusions it was inevitably brought by the documents now submitted to the Senate. I repeat, the Executive saw Texas in a state of almost hopeless exhaustion, and the question was narrowed down to the simple proposition whether the United States should accept the boon of annexation upon fair and even liberal terms, or, by refusing to do so, force Texas to seek refuge in the arms of some other power, either through a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, or the adoption of some other expedient which might virtually make her tributary to such power and dependent upon it for all future time. The Executive has full reason to believe that such would have been the result without its interposition, and that such will be the result in the event either of unnecessary delay in the ratification or of the rejection of the proposed treaty.

In full view, then, of the highest public duty, and as a measure of security against evils incalculably great, the Executive has entered into the negotiation, the fruits of which are now submitted to the Senate. Independent of the urgent reasons which existed for the step it has taken, it might safely invoke the fact (which it confidently believes) that there exists no civilized government on earth having a voluntary tender made it of a domain so rich and fertile, so replete with all that can add to national greatness and wealth, and so necessary to its peace and safety that would reject the offer. Nor are other powers, Mexico inclusive, likely in any degree to be injuriously affected by the ratification of the treaty. The prosperity of Texas will be equally interesting to all; in the increase of the general commerce of the world that prosperity will be secured by annexation.

But one view of the subject remains to be presented. It grows out of the proposed enlargement of our territory. From this, I am free to confess, I see no danger. The federative system is susceptible of the greatest extension compatible with the ability of the representation of the most distant State or Territory to reach the seat of Government in time to participate in the functions of legislation and to make known the wants of the constituent body. Our confederated Republic consisted originally of thirteen members. It now consists of twice that number, while applications are before Congress to permit other additions. This addition of new States has served to strengthen rather than to weaken the Union. New interests have sprung up, which require the united power of all, through the action of the common Government, to protect and defend upon the high seas and in foreign parts. Each State commits with perfect security to that common Government those great interests growing out of our relations with other nations of the world, and which equally involve the good of all the States. Its domestic concerns are left to its own exclusive management. But if there were any force in the objection it would seem to require an immediate abandonment of territorial possessions which lie in the distance and stretch to a far-off sea, and yet no one would be found, it is believed, ready to recommend such an abandonment. Texas lies at our very doors and in our immediate vicinity.

Under every view which I have been able to take of the subject, I think that the interests of our common constituents, the people of all the States, and a love of the Union left the Executive no other alternative than to negotiate the treaty. The high and solemn duty of ratifying or rejecting it is wisely devolved on the Senate by the Constitution of the United States.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, April 22, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit herewith an additional article to the treaty of extradition lately concluded between the Governments of France and the United States, for your approval and ratification. The reason upon which it is founded is explained on the face of the article and in the letter from Mr. Pageot which accompanies this communication.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, April 26, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 22d instant, requesting the President to communicate to that body any communication, papers, or maps in possession of this Government specifying the southern, southwestern, and western boundaries of Texas, I transmit a map of Texas and the countries adjacent, compiled in the Bureau of Topographical Engineers, under the direction of Colonel J.J. Abert, by Lieutenant U.E. Emory, of that Corps, and also a memoir upon the subject by the same officer.

JOHN TYLER.



To the Senate of the United States:

In my annual message at the commencement of the present session of Congress I informed the two Houses that instructions had been given by the Executive to the United States envoy at Berlin to negotiate a commercial treaty with the States composing the Germanic Customs Union for a reduction of the duties on tobacco and other agricultural productions of the United States, in exchange for concessions on our part in relation to certain articles of export the product of the skill and industry of those countries. I now transmit a treaty which proposes to carry into effect the views and intentions thus previously expressed and declared, accompanied by two dispatches from Mr. Wheaton, our minister at Berlin. This is believed to be the first instance in which the attempt has proved successful to obtain a reduction of the heavy and onerous duties to which American tobacco is subject in foreign markets, and, taken in connection with the greatly reduced duties on rice and lard and the free introduction of raw cotton, for which the treaty provides, I can not but anticipate from its ratification important benefits to the great agricultural, commercial, and navigating interests of the United States. The concessions on our part relate to articles which are believed not to enter injuriously into competition with the manufacturing interest of the United States, while a country of great extent and embracing a population of 28,000,000 human beings will more thoroughly than heretofore be thrown open to the commercial enterprise of our fellow-citizens.

Inasmuch as the provisions of the treaty come to some extent in conflict with existing laws, it is my intention, should it receive your approval and ratification, to communicate a copy of it to the House of Representatives, in order that that House may take such action upon it as it may deem necessary to give efficiency to its provisions.

JOHN TYLER.

APRIL 29, 1844



WASHINGTON, April 29, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

I herewith transmit to the Senate, with reference to my message of the 22d instant, the copy of a recent correspondence[124] between the Department of State and the minister of Her Britannic Majesty in this country.

JOHN TYLER.

[Footnote 124: With reference to the annexation of Texas.]



WASHINGTON, April 29, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit to the Senate a report of the Secretary of War, prepared in compliance with the request contained in a resolution of the 10th instant.[125]

JOHN TYLER.

[Footnote 125: Proceedings under act of March 3, 1843, for the relief of the Stockbridge tribe of Indians in the Territory of Wisconsin.]



WASHINGTON, May 1, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit herewith a dispatch from the British minister, addressed to the Secretary of State, bearing date the 30th April, in reply to the letter of the Secretary of State of the 27th April, which has already been communicated to the Senate, having relation to the Texas treaty.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, May 3, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 29th ultimo, requesting a copy of additional papers upon the subject of the relations between the United States and the Republic of Texas, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which it was accompanied.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, May 6, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

I herewith transmit the accompanying correspondence, relating to the treaty recently concluded by the minister of the United States at Berlin with the States comprising the Zollverein.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, May 6, 1844.

To the House of Representatives:

I transmit to the House of Representatives a report[126] of the Secretary of War, prepared as requested by the resolution of the House of the 18th of January last.

JOHN TYLER.

[Footnote 126: Transmitting lists of persons employed by the War Department since March 4, 1837, without express authority of law, etc.]



WASHINGTON, May 6, 1844.

To the House of Representatives:

I transmit herewith a report and accompanying documents from the Secretary of War, containing all the information that can be now furnished by that Department, in answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 18th of January, respecting the allowance of claims previously rejected.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, May 7, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a postal convention between the United States and the Republic of New Granada, signed in the city of Bogota on the 6th of March last.

In order that the Senate may better understand the objects of the convention and the motives which have made those objects desirable on the part of the United States, I also transmit a copy of a correspondence between the Department of State and the chairman of the Committee on Commerce in the Senate, and between the same Department and Mr. Blackford, the charge d'affaires of the United States at Bogota, who concluded the convention on the part of this Government.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, May 10, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

I deem it proper to transmit the accompanying dispatch, recently received from the United States envoy at London, having reference to the treaty now before the Senate lately negotiated by Mr. Wheaton, our envoy at Berlin, with the Zollverein.

I will not withhold the expression of my full assent to the views expressed by Mr. Everett in his conference with Lord Aberdeen.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, May 10, 1844.

To the House of Representatives:

I communicate to Congress a letter from the Imaum of Muscat and a translation of it, together with sundry other papers, by which it will be perceived that His Highness has been pleased again to offer to the United States a present of Arabian horses. These animals will be in Washington in a short time, and will be disposed of in such manner as Congress may think proper to direct.

JOHN TYLER.

WASHINGTON, May 11, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

I herewith communicate to the Senate, for its consideration, two conventions concluded by the minister of the United States at Berlin—the one with the Kingdom of Wurtemberg, dated on the 10th day of April, and the other with the Grand Duchy of Hesse, dated on the 26th day of March, 1844—for the mutual abolition of the droit d'aubaine and the droit de detraction between those Governments and the United States, and I communicate with the conventions copies of the correspondence necessary to explain the reasons for concluding them.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, May 15, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 13th instant, requesting to be informed "whether, since the commencement of the negotiations which resulted in the treaty now before the Senate for the annexation of Texas to the United States, any military preparation has been made or ordered by the President for or in anticipation of war, and, if so, for what cause, and with whom was such war apprehended, and what are the preparations that have been made or ordered; has any movement or assemblage or disposition of any of the military or naval forces of the United States been made or ordered with a view to such hostilities; and to communicate to the Senate copies of all orders or directions given for any such preparation or for any such movement or disposition or for the future conduct of such military or naval forces," I have to inform the Senate that, in consequence of the declaration of Mexico communicated to this Government and by me laid before Congress at the opening of its present session, announcing the determination of Mexico to regard as a declaration of war against her by the United States the definitive ratification of any treaty with Texas annexing the territory of that Republic to the United States, and the hope and belief entertained by the Executive that the treaty with Texas for that purpose would be speedily approved and ratified by the Senate, it was regarded by the Executive to have become emphatically its duty to concentrate in the Gulf of Mexico and its vicinity, as a precautionary measure, as large a portion of the home squadron, under the command of Captain Conner, as could well be drawn together, and at the same time to assemble at Fort Jesup, on the borders of Texas, as large a military force as the demands of the service at other encampments would authorize to be detached. For the number of ships already in the Gulf and the waters contiguous thereto and such as are placed under orders for that destination, and of troops now assembled upon the frontier, I refer you to the accompanying reports from the Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments. It will also be perceived by the Senate, by referring to the orders of the Navy Department which are herewith transmitted, that the naval officer in command of the fleet is directed to cause his ships to perform all the duties of a fleet of observation and to apprise the Executive of any indication of a hostile design upon Texas on the part of any nation pending the deliberations of the Senate upon the treaty, with a view that the same should promptly be submitted to Congress for its mature deliberation. At the same time, it is due to myself that I should declare it as my opinion that the United States having by the treaty of annexation acquired a title to Texas which requires only the action of the Senate to perfect it, no other power could be permitted to invade and by force of arms to possess itself of any portion of the territory of Texas pending your deliberations upon the treaty without placing itself in an hostile attitude to the United States and justifying the employment of any military means at our disposal to drive back the invasion. At the same time, it is my opinion that Mexico of any other power will find in your approval of the treaty no just cause of war against the United States, nor do I believe that there is any serious hazard of war to be found in the fact of such approval. Nevertheless, every proper measure will be resorted to by the Executive to preserve upon an honorable and just basis the public peace by reconciling Mexico, through a liberal course of policy, to the treaty.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, May 15, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 13th instant, requesting to be informed "whether a messenger has been sent to Mexico with a view to obtain her consent to the treaty with Texas, and, if so, to communicate to the Senate a copy of the dispatches of which he is bearer and a copy of the instructions given to said messenger; and also to inform the Senate within what time said messenger is expected to return," I have to say that no messenger has been sent to Mexico in order to obtain her assent to the treaty with Texas, it not being regarded by the Executive as in any degree requisite to obtain such consent in order (should the Senate ratify the treaty) to perfect the title of the United States to the territory thus acquired, the title to the same being full and perfect without the assent of any third power. The Executive has negotiated with Texas as an independent power of the world, long since recognized as such by the United States and other powers, and as subordinate in all her rights of full sovereignty to no other power. A messenger has been dispatched to our minister at Mexico as bearer of the dispatch already communicated to the Senate, and which is to be found in the letter addressed to Mr. Green, and forms a part of the documents ordered confidentially to be printed for the use of the Senate. That dispatch was dictated by a desire to preserve the peace of the two countries by denying to Mexico all pretext for assuming a belligerent attitude to the United States, as she had threatened to do, in the event of the annexation of Texas to the United States, by the dispatch of her Government which was communicated by me to Congress at the opening of its present session. The messenger is expected to return before the 15th of June next, but he may be detained to a later day. The recently appointed envoy from the United States to Mexico will be sent so soon as the final action is had on the question of annexation, at which time, and not before, can his instructions be understandingly prepared.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, May 16, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

In my message communicating the treaty with Texas I expressed the opinion that if Texas was not now annexed it was probable that the opportunity of annexing it to the United States would be lost forever. Since then the subject has been much agitated, and if an opinion may be formed of the chief ground of the opposition to the treaty, it is not that Texas ought not at some time or other to be annexed, but that the present is not the proper time. It becomes, therefore, important, in this view of the subject, and is alike due to the Senate and the country, that I should furnish any papers in my possession which may be calculated to impress the Senate with the correctness of the opinion thus expressed by me. With this view I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of State, accompanied by various communications on the subject. These communications are from private sources, and it is to be remarked that a resort must in all such cases be had chiefly to private sources of information, since it is not to be expected that any government, more especially if situated as Texas is, would be inclined to develop to the world its ulterior line of policy.

Among the extracts is one from a letter from General Houston to General Andrew Jackson, to which I particularly invite your attention, and another from General Jackson to a gentleman of high respectability, now of this place. Considering that General Jackson was placed in a situation to hold the freest and fullest interview with Mr. Miller, the private and confidential secretary of President Houston, who, President Houston informed General Jackson, "knows all his actions and understands all his motives," and who was authorized to communicate to General Jackson the views of the policy entertained by the President of Texas, as well applicable to the present as the future; that the declaration made by General Jackson in his letter "that the present golden moment to obtain Texas must not be lost, or Texas might from necessity be thrown into the arms of England and be forever lost to the United States," was made with a full knowledge of all circumstances, and ought to be received as conclusive of what will be the course of Texas should the present treaty fail—from this high source, sustained, if it requires to be sustained, by the accompanying communications, I entertain not the least doubt that if annexation should now fail it will in all human probability fail forever. Indeed, I have strong reasons to believe that instructions have already been given by the Texan Government to propose to the Government of Great Britain, forthwith on the failure, to enter into a treaty of commerce and an alliance offensive and defensive.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, May 17, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 13th instant, relating to a supposed armistice between the Republics of Mexico and Texas, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the papers by which it was accompanied.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, May 18, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 29th ultimo, upon the subject of unpublished correspondence in regard to the purchase of or title to Texas, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which it was accompanied.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, May 18, 1844.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 3d of January last, requesting the President of the United States "to cause to be communicated to that House copies of all the instructions given to the commanding officers of the squadron stipulated by the treaty with Great Britain of 9th of August, 1842, to be kept on the coast of Africa for the suppression of the slave trade," and also copies of the "instructions given by the British Government to their squadron stipulated by the same, if such instructions have been communicated to this Government," I have to inform the House of Representatives that in my opinion it would be incompatible with the public interests to communicate to that body at this time copies of the instructions referred to.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, May 20, 1844.

To the House of Representatives:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 22d ultimo, I communicate a report[127] from the Secretary of State, which embraces the information called for by said resolution.

JOHN TYLER.

[Footnote 127: Relating to indemnity from Denmark for three ships and their cargoes sent by Commodore John Paul Jones in 1779 as prizes into Bergen, and there surrendered by order of the Danish King to the British minister, in obedience to the demand of that minister.]



WASHINGTON, May 20. 1844.

To the House of Representatives:

I herewith transmit a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, accompanied by a report from the Bureau of Construction and Equipment and a communication from Lieutenant Hunter, of the Navy, prepared at the request of the Secretary, upon the subject of a plan for the establishment in connection with the Government of France of a line of steamers between the ports of Havre and New York, with estimates of the expense which may be necessary to carry the said plan into effect.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, May 23, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

Your resolution of the 18th instant, adopted in executive session, addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury ad interim, has been communicated to me by that officer. While I can not recognize this call thus made on the head of a Department as consistent with the constitutional rights of the Senate when acting in its executive capacity, which in such case can only properly hold correspondence with the President of the United States, nevertheless, from an anxious desire to lay before the Senate all such information as may be necessary to enable it with full understanding to act upon any subject which may be before it, I herewith transmit communications[128] which have been made to me by the Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments, in full answer to the resolution of the Senate.

JOHN TYLER.

[Footnote 128: Relating to money drawn from the Treasury to carry into effect orders of the War and Navy Departments made since April 12, 1844, for stationing troops or increasing the military force upon the frontiers of Texas and the Gulf of Mexico and for placing a naval force in the Gulf of Mexico, etc.]



WASHINGTON CITY, D.C., May 24, 1844.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

I transmit herewith a report[129] from the Secretary of the Navy, in compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 18th of January last.

JOHN TYLER.

[Footnote 129: Transmitting list of persons employed by the Navy Department without express authority of law from March 4, 1837, to January 18, 1844, etc.]



WASHINGTON, May 31, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 22d instant, requesting information in regard to any promise by the President of military or other aid to Texas in the event of an agreement on the part of that Republic to annex herself to the United States, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which it was accompanied.

In my message to the Senate of the 15th of this month I adverted to the duty which, in my judgment, the signature of the treaty for the annexation of Texas had imposed upon me, to repel any invasion of that country by a foreign power while the treaty was under consideration by the Senate, and I transmitted reports from the Secretaries of War and of the Navy, with a copy of the orders which had been issued from those Departments for the purpose of enabling me to execute that duty. In those orders General Taylor was directed to communicate directly with the President of Texas upon the subject, and Captain Conner was instructed to communicate with the charge d'affaires of the United States accredited to that Government. No copy of any communication which either of those officers may have made pursuant to those orders has yet been received at the Departments from which they emanated.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, June 1, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit herewith to the Senate a copy of a letter dated the 25th of August, 1829, addressed by Mr. Van Buren, Secretary of State, to Mr. Poinsett, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to Mexico, which letter contains, it is presumed, the instructions a copy of which was requested by the resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo in executive session.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, June 3, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo, upon the subject of a "private letter" quoted in the instruction from the late Mr. Upshur to the charge d'affaires of the United States in Texas, dated the 8th of August last, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom the resolution was referred.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, June 4, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of yesterday in executive session, requesting a copy of a note supposed to have been addressed to the Secretary of State by the diplomatic agents of the Republic of Texas accredited to this Government, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom the resolution was referred.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, June 5, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

I herewith transmit to the Senate, with reference to previous Executive communications to that body relating to the same subject, the copy of a letter[130] recently received at the Department of State from the minister of the United States in London.

JOHN TYLER.

[Footnote 130: Relating to the treaty of annexation with Texas.]



WASHINGTON, June 7, 1844.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives the copy of a letter recently addressed to the Secretary of State by the British minister at Washington, with the view of ascertaining "whether it would be agreeable to this Government that an arrangement should be concluded for the transmission through the United States of the mails to and from Canada and England which are now landed at Halifax and thence forwarded through the British dominions to their destination."

It will be perceived that this communication has been referred to the Postmaster-General, and his opinion respecting the proposition will accordingly be found in his letter to the Department of State of the 5th instant, a copy of which is inclosed. I lose no time in recommending the subject to the favorable consideration of the House and in bespeaking for it early attention.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, June 8, 1844.

To the House of Representatives:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 29th of April last, I communicate to that body a report[131] from the Secretary of State, which embraces the information called for by that resolution.

JOHN TYLER.

[Footnote 131: Transmitting correspondence from 1816 to 1820, inclusive, between United States ministers to Spain and the Department of State, between those ministers and Spanish secretaries of state, and between the Department of State and the Spanish ministers accredited to the United States.]



WASHINGTON, June 10, 1844.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

The treaty negotiated by the Executive with the Republic of Texas, without a departure from any form of proceeding customarily observed in the negotiations of treaties for the annexation of that Republic to the United States, having been rejected by the Senate, and the subject having excited on the part of the people no ordinary degree of interest, I feel it to be my duty to communicate, for your consideration, the rejected treaty, together with all the correspondence and documents which have heretofore been submitted to the Senate in its executive sessions. The papers communicated embrace not only the series already made public by orders of the Senate, but others from which the veil of secrecy has not been removed by that body, but which I deem to be essential to a just appreciation of the entire question. While the treaty was pending before the Senate I did not consider it compatible with the just rights of that body or consistent with the respect entertained for it to bring this important subject before you. The power of Congress is, however, fully competent in some other form of proceeding to accomplish everything that a formal ratification of the treaty could have accomplished, and I therefore feel that I should but imperfectly discharge my duty to yourselves or the country if I failed to lay before you everything in the possession of the Executive which would enable you to act with full light on the subject if you should deem it proper to take any action upon it.

I regard the question involved in these proceedings as one of vast magnitude and as addressing itself to interests of an elevated and enduring character. A Republic coterminous in territory with our own, of immense resources, which require only to be brought under the influence of our confederate and free system in order to be fully developed, promising at no distant day, through the fertility of its soil, nearly, if not entirely, to duplicate the exports of the country, thereby making an addition to the carrying trade to an amount almost incalculable and giving a new impulse of immense importance to the commercial, manufacturing, agricultural, and shipping interests of the Union, and at the same time affording protection to an exposed frontier and placing the whole country in a condition of security and repose; a territory settled mostly by emigrants from the United States, who would bring back with them in the act of reassociation an unconquerable love of freedom and an ardent attachment to our free institutions—such a question could not fail to interest most deeply in its success those who under the Constitution have become responsible for the faithful administration of public affairs. I have regarded it as not a little fortunate that the question involved was no way sectional or local, but addressed itself to the interests of every part of the country and made its appeal to the glory of the American name.

It is due to the occasion to say that I have carefully reconsidered the objections which have been urged to immediate action upon the subject without in any degree having been struck by their force. It has been objected that the measure of annexation should be preceded by the consent of Mexico. To preserve the most friendly relations with Mexico; to concede to her, not grudgingly, but freely, all her rights; to negotiate fairly and frankly with her as to the question of boundary; to render her, in a word, the fullest and most ample recompense for any loss she might convince us she had sustained, fully accords with the feelings and views the Executive has always entertained.

But negotiation in advance of annexation would prove not only abortive, but might be regarded as offensive to Mexico and insulting to Texas. Mexico would not, I am persuaded, give ear for a moment to an attempt at negotiation in advance except for the whole territory of Texas. While all the world beside regards Texas as an independent power, Mexico chooses to look upon her as a revolted province. Nor could we negotiate with Mexico for Texas without admitting that our recognition of her independence was fraudulent, delusive, or void. It is only after acquiring Texas that the question of boundary can arise between the United States and Mexico—a question purposely left open for negotiation with Mexico as affording the best opportunity for the most friendly and pacific arrangements. The Executive has dealt with Texas as a power independent of all others, both de facto and de jure. She was an independent State of the Confederation of Mexican Republics. When by violent revolution Mexico declared the Confederation at an end, Texas owed her no longer allegiance, but claimed and has maintained the right for eight years to a separate and distinct position. During that period no army has invaded her with a view to her reconquest; and if she has not yet established her right to be treated as a nation independent de facto and de jure, it would be difficult to say at what period she will attain to that condition.

Nor can we by any fair or any legitimate inference be accused of violating any treaty stipulations with Mexico. The treaties with Mexico give no guaranty of any sort and are coexistent with a similar treaty with Texas. So have we treaties with most of the nations of the earth which are equally as much violated by the annexation of Texas to the United States as would be our treaty with Mexico. The treaty is merely commercial and intended as the instrument for more accurately defining the rights and securing the interests of the citizens of each country. What bad faith can be implied or charged upon the Government of the United States for successfully negotiating with an independent power upon any subject not violating the stipulations of such treaty I confess my inability to discern.

The objections which have been taken to the enlargement of our territory were urged with much zeal against the acquisition of Louisiana, and yet the futility of such has long since been fully demonstrated. Since that period a new power has been introduced into the affairs of the world, which has for all practical purposes brought Texas much nearer to the seat of Government than Louisiana was at the time of its annexation. Distant regions are by the application of the steam engine brought within a close proximity.

With the views which I entertain on the subject, I should prove faithless to the high trust which the Constitution has devolved upon me if I neglected to invite the attention of the representatives of the people to it at the earliest moment that a due respect for the Senate would allow me so to do. I should find in the urgency of the matter a sufficient apology, if one was wanting, since annexation is to encounter a great, if not certain, hazard of final defeat if something be not now done to prevent it. Upon this point I can not too impressively invite your attention to my message of the 16th of May and to the documents which accompany it, which have not heretofore been made public. If it be objected that the names of the writers of some of the private letters are withheld, all that I can say is that it is done for reasons regarded as altogether adequate, and that the writers are persons of the first respectability and citizens of Texas, and have such means of obtaining information as to entitle their statements to full credit. Nor has anything occurred to weaken, but, on the contrary, much to confirm, my confidence in the statements of General Jackson, and my own statement, made at the close of that message, in the belief, amounting almost to certainty, "that instructions have already been given by the Texan Government to propose to the Government of Great Britain, forthwith on the failure [of the treaty], to enter into a treaty of commerce and an alliance offensive and defensive."

I also particularly invite your attention to the letter from Mr. Everett, our envoy at London, containing an account of a conversation in the House of Lords which lately occurred between Lord Brougham and Lord Aberdeen in relation to the question of annexation. Nor can I do so without the expression of some surprise at the language of the minister of foreign affairs employed upon the occasion. That a Kingdom which is made what it now is by repeated acts of annexation—beginning with the time of the heptarchy and concluding with the annexation of the Kingdoms of Ireland and Scotland—should perceive any principle either novel or serious in the late proceedings of the American Executive in regard to Texas is well calculated to excite surprise. If it be pretended that because of commercial or political relations which may exist between the two countries neither has a right to part with its sovereignty, and that no third power can change those relations by a voluntary treaty of union or annexation, then it would seem to follow that an annexation to be achieved by force of arms in the prosecution of a just and necessary war could in no way be justified; and yet it is presumed that Great Britain would be the last nation in the world to maintain any such doctrine. The commercial and political relations of many of the countries of Europe have undergone repeated changes by voluntary treaties, by conquest, and by partitions of their territories without any question as to the right under the public law. The question, in this view of it, can be considered as neither "serious" nor "novel." I will not permit myself to believe that the British minister designed to bring himself to any such conclusion, but it is impossible for us to be blind to the fact that the statements contained in Mr. Everett's dispatch are well worthy of serious consideration. The Government and people of the United States have never evinced nor do they feel any desire to interfere in public questions not affecting the relations existing between the States of the American continent. We leave the European powers exclusive control over matters affecting their continent and the relations of their different States; the United States claim a similar exemption from any such interference on their part. The treaty with Texas was negotiated from considerations of high public policy, influencing the conduct of the two Republics. We have treated with Texas as an independent power solely with a view of bettering the condition of the two countries. If annexation in any form occur, it will arise from the free and unfettered action of the people of the two countries; and it seems altogether becoming in me to say that the honor of the country, the dignity of the American name, and the permanent interests of the United States would forbid acquiescence in any such interference. No one can more highly appreciate the value of peace to both Great Britain and the United States and the capacity of each to do injury to the other than myself, but peace can best be preserved by maintaining firmly the rights which belong to us as an independent community.

So much have I considered it proper for me to say; and it becomes me only to add that while I have regarded the annexation to be accomplished by treaty as the most suitable form in which it could be effected, should Congress deem it proper to resort to any other expedient compatible with the Constitution and likely to accomplish the object I stand prepared to yield my most prompt and active cooperation.

The great question is not as to the manner in which it shall be done, but whether it shall be accomplished or not.

The responsibility of deciding this question is now devolved upon you.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, June 10, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 7th instant, upon the subject of the supposed employment of Mr. Duff Green in Europe by the Executive of the United States, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom the resolution was referred.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, June 12, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 4th instant, calling for a correspondence[132] between the late minister of the United States in Mexico and the minister for foreign affairs of that Republic, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which it was accompanied.

JOHN TYLER.

[Footnote 132: On the subject of an order issued by the Mexican Government expelling all natives of the United States from Upper California and other departments of the Mexican Republic, and of the order prohibiting foreigners the privilege of the retail trade in Mexico.]



WASHINGTON, June, 12, 1844.

To the Senate of the United States;

The resolution of the Senate of the 3d instant, requesting the President to lay before that body, confidentially, "a copy of any instructions which may have been given by the Executive to the American minister in England on the subject of the title to and occupation of the Territory of Oregon since the 4th of March, 1841; also a copy of any correspondence which may have passed between this Government and that of Great Britain in relation to the subject since that time," has been received.

In reply I have to state that in the present state of the subject-matter to which the resolution refers it is deemed inexpedient to communicate the information requested by the Senate.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, June 15, 1844.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives, in answer to their resolution of the 4th instant, a report from the Secretary of State, with the correspondence[133] therein referred to.

JOHN TYLER.

[Footnote 133: With Great Britain relative to the duties exacted by that Government on rough rice exported from the United States, contrary to the treaty of 1815.]



WASHINGTON, June 17, 1844.

The PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, in answer to a resolution of the 12th instant. Although the contingent fund for foreign intercourse has for all time been placed at the disposal of the President, to be expended for the purposes contemplated by the fund without any requisition upon him for a disclosure of the names of persons employed by him, the objects of their employment, or the amount paid to any particular person, and although any such disclosures might in many cases disappoint the objects contemplated by the appropriation of that fund, yet in this particular instance I feel no desire to withhold the fact that Mr. Duff Green was employed by the Executive to collect such information, from private or other sources, as was deemed important to assist the Executive in undertaking a negotiation then contemplated, but afterwards abandoned, upon an important subject, and that there was paid to him through the hands of the Secretary of State $1,000, in full for all such service. It is proper to say that Mr. Green afterwards presented a claim for an additional allowance, which has been neither allowed nor recognized as correct.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, June 17, 1844.

To the Senate:

I have learned that the Senate has laid on the table the nomination, heretofore made, of Reuben H. Walworth to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court, in the place of Smith Thompson, deceased. I am informed that a large amount of business has accumulated in the second district, and that the immediate appointment of a judge for that circuit is essential to the administration of justice. Under these circumstances I feel it my duty to withdraw the name of Mr. Walworth, whose appointment the Senate by their action seems not now prepared to confirm, in the hope that another name may be more acceptable.

The circumstances under which the Senate heretofore declined to advise and consent to the nomination of John C. Spencer have so far changed as to justify me in my again submitting his name to their consideration.

I therefore nominate John C. Spencer, of New York, to be appointed an associate justice of the Supreme Court, in the place of Smith Thompson, deceased.

JOHN TYLER.



VETO MESSAGES.[134]

[Footnote 134: The first is a pocket veto.]

WASHINGTON, December 18, 1843.

To the House of Representatives:

I received within a few hours of the adjournment of the last Congress a resolution "directing payment of the certificates or awards issued by the commissioners under the treaty with the Cherokee Indians." Its provisions involved principles of great importance, in reference to which it required more time to obtain the necessary information than was allowed.

The balance of the fund provided by Congress for satisfying claims under the seventeenth article of the Cherokee treaty, referred to in the resolution, is wholly insufficient to meet the claims still pending. To direct the payment, therefore, of the whole amount of those claims which happened to be first adjudicated would prevent a ratable distribution of the fund among those equally entitled to its benefits. Such a violation of the individual rights of the claimants would impose upon the Government the obligation of making further appropriations to indemnify them, and thus Congress would be obliged to enlarge a provision, liberal and equitable, which it had made for the satisfaction of all the demands of the Cherokees. I was unwilling to sanction a measure which would thus indirectly overturn the adjustment of our differences with the Cherokees, accomplished with so much difficulty, and to which time is reconciling those Indians.

If no such indemnity should be provided, then a palpable and very gross wrong would be inflicted upon the claimants who had not been so fortunate as to have their claims taken up in preference to others. Besides, the fund having been appropriated by law to a specific purpose, in fulfillment of the treaty, it belongs to the Cherokees, and the authority of this Government to direct its application to particular claims is more than questionable.

The direction in the joint resolution, therefore, to pay the awards of the commissioners to the amount of $100,000 seemed to me quite objectionable, and could not be approved.

The further direction that the certificates required to be issued by the treaty, and in conformity with the practice of the board heretofore, shall be proper and sufficient vouchers, upon which payments shall be made at the Treasury, is a departure from the system established soon after the adoption of the Constitution and maintained ever since. That system requires that payments under the authority of any Department shall be made upon its requisition, countersigned by the proper Auditor and Comptroller. The greatest irregularity would ensue from the mode of payment prescribed by the resolution.

I have deemed it respectful and proper to lay before the House of Representatives these reasons for having withheld my approval of the above-mentioned joint resolution.

JOHN TYLER.



WASHINGTON, June 11, 1844.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

I return to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, the bill entitled "An act making appropriations for the improvement of certain harbors and rivers," with the following objections to its becoming a law:

At the adoption of the Constitution each State was possessed of a separate and independent sovereignty and an exclusive jurisdiction over all streams and water courses within its territorial limits. The Articles of Confederation in no way affected this authority or jurisdiction, and the present Constitution, adopted for the purpose of correcting the defects which existed in the original Articles, expressly reserves to the States all powers not delegated. No such surrender of jurisdiction is made by the States to this Government by any express grant, and if it is possessed it is to be deduced from the clause in the Constitution which invests Congress with authority "to make all laws which are necessary and proper for carrying into execution" the granted powers. There is, in my view of the subject, no pretense whatever for the claim to power which the bill now returned substantially sets up. The inferential power, in order to be legitimate, must be clearly and plainly incidental to some granted power and necessary to its exercise. To refer it to the head of convenience or usefulness would be to throw open the door to a boundless and unlimited discretion and to invest Congress with an unrestrained authority. The power to remove obstructions from the water courses of the States is claimed under the granted power "to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the several States, and with the Indian tribes;" but the plain and obvious meaning of this grant is that Congress may adopt rules and regulations prescribing the terms and conditions on which the citizens of the United States may carry on commercial operations with foreign states or kingdoms, and on which the citizens or subjects of foreign states or kingdoms may prosecute trade with the United States or either of them. And so the power to regulate commerce among the several States no more invests Congress with jurisdiction over the water courses of the States than the first branch of the grant does over the water courses of foreign powers, which would be an absurdity.

The right of common use of the people of the United States to the navigable waters of each and every State arises from the express stipulation contained in the Constitution that "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States." While, therefore, the navigation of any river in any State is by the laws of such State allowed to the citizens thereof, the same is also secured by the Constitution of the United States on the same terms and conditions to the citizens of every other State; and so of any other privilege or immunity.

The application of the revenue of this Government, if the power to do so was admitted, to improving the navigation of the rivers by removing obstructions or otherwise would be for the most part productive only of local benefit. The consequences might prove disastrously ruinous to as many of our fellow-citizens as the exercise of such power would benefit. I will take one instance furnished by the present bill—out of no invidious feeling, for such it would be impossible for me to feel, but because of my greater familiarity with locations—in illustration of the above opinion: Twenty thousand dollars are proposed to be appropriated toward improving the harbor of Richmond, in the State of Virginia. Such improvement would furnish advantages to the city of Richmond and add to the value of the property of its citizens, while it might have a most disastrous influence over the wealth and prosperity of Petersburg, which is situated some 25 miles distant on a branch of James River, and which now enjoys its fair portion of the trade. So, too, the improvement of James River to Richmond and of the Appomattox to Petersburg might, by inviting the trade to those two towns, have the effect of prostrating the town of Norfolk. This, too, might be accomplished without adding a single vessel to the number now engaged in the trade of the Chesapeake Bay or bringing into the Treasury a dollar of additional revenue. It would produce, most probably, the single effect of concentrating the commerce now profitably enjoyed by three places upon one of them. This case furnishes an apt illustration of the effect of this bill in several other particulars.

There can not, in fact, be drawn the slightest discrimination between the improving the streams of a State under the power to regulate commerce and the most extended system of internal improvements on land. The excavating a canal and paving a road are equally as much incidents to such claim of power as the removing obstructions from water courses; nor can such power be restricted by any fair course of reasoning to the mere fact of making the improvement. It reasonably extends also to the right of seeking a return of the means expended through the exaction of tolls and the levying of contributions. Thus, while the Constitution denies to this Government the privilege of acquiring a property in the soil of any State, even for the purpose of erecting a necessary fortification, without a grant from such State, this claim to power would invest it with control and dominion over the waters and soil of each State without restriction. Power so incongruous can not exist in the same instrument.

The bill is also liable to a serious objection because of its blending appropriations for numerous objects but few of which agree in their general features. This necessarily produces the effect of embarrassing Executive action. Some of the appropriations would receive my sanction if separated from the rest, however much I might deplore the reproduction of a system which for some time past has been permitted to sleep with apparently the acquiescence of the country. I might particularize the Delaware Breakwater as an improvement which looks to the security from the storms of our extended Atlantic seaboard of the vessels of all the country engaged either in the foreign or the coastwise trade, as well as to the safety of the revenue; but when, in connection with that, the same bill embraces improvements of rivers at points far in the interior, connected alone with the trade of such river and the exertion of mere local influences, no alternative is left me but to use the qualified veto with which the Executive is invested by the Constitution, and to return the bill to the House in which it originated for its ultimate reconsideration and decision.

In sanctioning a bill of the same title with that returned, for the improvement of the Mississippi and its chief tributaries and certain harbors on the Lakes, if I bring myself apparently in conflict with any of the principles herein asserted it will arise on my part exclusively from the want of a just appreciation of localities. The Mississippi occupies a footing altogether different from the rivers and water courses of the different States. No one State or any number of States can exercise any other jurisdiction over it than for the punishment of crimes and the service of civil process. It belongs to no particular State or States, but of common right, by express reservation, to all the States. It is reserved as a great common highway for the commerce of the whole country. To have conceded to Louisiana, or to any other State admitted as a new State into the Union, the exclusive jurisdiction, and consequently the right to make improvements and to levy tolls on the segments of the river embraced within its territorial limits, would have been to have disappointed the chief object in the purchase of Louisiana, which was to secure the free use of the Mississippi to all the people of the United States. Whether levies on commerce were made by a foreign or domestic government would have been equally burdensome and objectionable. The United States, therefore, is charged with its improvement for the benefit of all, and the appropriation of governmental means to its improvement becomes indispensably necessary for the good of all.

As to the harbors on the Lakes, the act originates no new improvements, but makes appropriations for the continuance of works already begun.

It is as much the duty of the Government to construct good harbors, without reference to the location or interests of cities, for the shelter of the extensive commerce of the Lakes as to build breakwaters on the Atlantic coast for the protection of the trade of that ocean. These great inland seas are visited by destructive storms, and the annual loss of ships and cargoes, and consequently of revenue to the Government, is immense. If, then, there be any work embraced by that act which is not required in order to afford shelter and security to the shipping against the tempests which so often sweep over those great inland seas, but has, on the contrary, originated more in a spirit of speculation and local interest than in one of the character alluded to, the House of Representatives will regard my approval of the bill more as the result of misinformation than any design to abandon or modify the principles laid down in this message. Every system is liable to run into abuse, and none more so than that under consideration; and measures can not be too soon taken by Congress to guard against this evil.

JOHN TYLER.



EXECUTIVE ORDERS.

CIRCULAR[135]

[Footnote 135: Sent to all diplomatic and consular officers of the United States.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, February 29, 1844.

SIR: It has become my most painful duty to announce to you the sudden and violent death of the Hon. Abel P. Upshur, late Secretary of State of the United States. This afflicting dispensation occurred on the afternoon of yesterday, from the bursting of one of the great guns on board the Government steamship Princeton, near Alexandria, on her return from an excursion of pleasure down the river Potomac. By this most unfortunate accident several of our distinguished citizens, amongst whom were the Secretaries of State and of the Navy, were immediately killed, and many other persons mortally wounded or severely injured. It is the wish of the President that the diplomatic and consular agents of the United States, and all other officers connected with the State Department, either at home or abroad, shall wear the usual badge of mourning, in token of their grief and of respect for the memory of Mr. Upshur, during thirty days from the time of receiving this order.

In consequence of this event, the President has been pleased to charge me ad interim with the direction of the Department of State, and I have accordingly this day entered upon the duties of this appointment.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, sir, your obedient servant,

JNO. NELSON.



GENERAL ORDERS.

WAR DEPARTMENT, February 29, 1844.

In the deepest grief the President of the United States has instructed the undersigned to announce to the Army that from the accidental explosion of a gun yesterday on board the United States steamship Princeton the country and its Government lost at the same moment the Secretary of State, the Hon. A.P. Upshur, and the Secretary of the Navy, the Hon. T.W. Gilmer.

Called but a few days since to preside over the administration of the War Department, it is peculiarly painful to the undersigned that his first official communication to the Army should be the announcement of a calamity depriving the country of the public services of two of our most accomplished statesmen and popular and deeply esteemed fellow-citizens. Their virtues, talents, and patriotic services will ever be retained in the grateful recollection of their countrymen and perpetuated upon the pages of the history of our common country.