On the 26th day of May, 1848, Mr. Hempstead represented in a letter to the Department of State that the Indians had "applied to Her Majesty's superintendent at Belize for protection, and had desired him to take possession of the territory which they occupied and take them under his protection as British subjects;" and he added that in the event of the success of their application "the British Government would then have possession of the entire coast from Cape Conte to San Juan de Nicaragua." In another letter, dated the 29th day of July, 1848, he wrote:

I have not a doubt but the designs of Her Majesty's officers here and on the Mosquito shore are to obtain territory on this continent.

The receipt of this letter was regularly acknowledged on the 29th day of August, 1848.

When I came into office I found the British Government in possession of the port of San Juan, which it had taken by force of arms after we had taken possession of California and while we were engaged in the negotiation of a treaty for the cession of it, and that no official remonstrance had been made by this Government against the aggression, nor any attempt to resist it. Efforts were then being made by certain private citizens of the United States to procure from the State of Nicaragua by contract the right to cut the proposed ship canal by the way of the river San Juan and the lakes of Nicaragua and Managua to Realejo, on the Pacific Ocean. A company of American citizens entered into such a contract with the State of Nicaragua. Viewing the canal as a matter of great importance to the people of the United States, I resolved to adopt the policy of protecting the work and binding the Government of Nicaragua, through whose territory it would pass, also to protect it. The instructions to E. George Squier, appointed by me charge d'affaires to Guatemala on the 2d day of April, 1849, are herewith submitted, as fully indicating the views which governed me in directing a treaty to be made with Nicaragua. I considered the interference of the British Government on this continent in seizing the port of San Juan, which commanded the route believed to be the most eligible for the canal across the Isthmus, and occupying it at the very moment when it was known, as I believe, to Great Britain that we were engaged in the negotiation for the purchase of California, as an unfortunate coincidence, and one calculated to lead to the inference that she entertained designs by no means in harmony with the interests of the United States.

Seeing that Mr. Hise had been positively instructed to make no treaty, not even a treaty of commerce, with Nicaragua, Costa Rica, or Honduras, I had no suspicion that he would attempt to act in opposition to his instructions, and in September last I was for the first time informed that he had actually negotiated two treaties with the State of Nicaragua, the one a treaty of commerce, the other a treaty for the construction of the proposed ship canal, which treaties he brought with him on his return home. He also negotiated a treaty of commerce with Honduras; and in each of these treaties it is recited that he had full powers for the purpose. He had no such powers, and the whole proceeding on his part with reference to those States was not only unauthorized by instructions, but in opposition to those he had received from my predecessor and after the date of his letter of recall and the appointment of his successor. But I have no evidence that Mr. Hise, whose letter of recall (a copy of which is herewith submitted) bears date the 2d day of May, 1849, had received that letter on the 21st day of June, when he negotiated the treaty with Nicaragua. The difficulty of communicating with him was so great that I have reason to believe he had not received it. He did not acknowledge it.

The twelfth article of the treaty negotiated by Mr. Hise in effect guarantees the perfect independence of the State of Nicaragua and her sovereignty over her alleged limits from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, pledging the naval and military power of the United States to support it. This treaty authorizes the chartering of a corporation by this Government to cut a canal outside of the limits of the United States, and gives to us the exclusive right to fortify and command it. I have not approved it, nor have I now submitted it for ratification; not merely because of the facts already mentioned, but because on the 31st day of December last Senor Edwardo Carcache, on being accredited to this Government as charge d'affaires from the State of Nicaragua, in a note to the Secretary of State, a translation of which is herewith sent, declared that he was "only empowered to exchange ratifications of the treaty concluded with Mr. Squier, and that the special convention concluded at Guatemala by Mr. Hise, the charge d'affaires of the United States, and Senor Selva, the commissioner of Nicaragua, had been, as was publicly and universally known, disapproved by his Government."

We have no precedent in our history to justify such a treaty as that negotiated by Mr. Hise since the guaranties we gave to France of her American possessions. The treaty negotiated with New Granada on the 12th day of December, 1846, did not guarantee the sovereignty of New Granada on the whole of her territory, but only over "the single Province of the Isthmus of Panama," immediately adjoining the line of the railroad, the neutrality of which was deemed necessary by the President and Senate to the construction and security of the work.

The thirty-fifth article of the treaty with Nicaragua, negotiated by Mr. Squier, which is submitted for your advice in regard to its ratification, distinctly recognizes the rights of sovereignty and property which the State of Nicaragua possesses in and over the line of the canal therein provided for. If the Senate doubt on that subject, it will be clearly wrong to involve us in a controversy with England by adopting the treaty; but after the best consideration which I have been able to give to the subject my own judgment is convinced that the claims of Nicaragua are just, and that as our commerce and intercourse with the Pacific require the opening of this communication from ocean to ocean it is our duty to ourselves to assert their justice.

This treaty is not intended to secure to the United States any monopoly or exclusive advantage in the use of the canal. Its object is to guarantee protection to American citizens and others who shall construct the canal, and to defend it when completed against unjust confiscations or obstructions, and to deny the advantages of navigation through it to those nations only which shall refuse to enter into the same guaranties. A copy of the contract of the canal company is herewith transmitted, from which, as well as from the treaty, it will be perceived that the same benefits are offered to all nations in the same terms.

The message of my predecessor to the Senate of the 10th February, 1847, transmitting for ratification the treaty with New Granada, contains in general the principles by which I have been actuated in directing the negotiation with Nicaragua. The only difference between the two cases consists in this: In that of Nicaragua the British Government has seized upon part of her territory and was in possession of it when we negotiated the treaty with her. But that possession was taken after our occupation of California, when the effect of it was to obstruct or control the most eligible route for a ship communication to the territories acquired by us on the Pacific. In the case of New Granada, her possession was undisturbed at the time of the treaty, though the British possession in the right of the Mosquito King was then extended into the territories claimed by New Granada as far as Boca del Toro. The professed objects of both the treaties are to open communications across the Isthmus to all nations and to invite their guaranties on the same terms. Neither of them proposes to guarantee territory to a foreign nation in which the United States will not have a common interest with that nation. Neither of them constitutes an alliance for any political object, but for a purely commercial purpose, in which all the navigating nations of the world have a common interest. Nicaragua, like New Granada, is a power which will not excite the jealousy of any nation.

As there is nothing narrow, selfish, illiberal, or exclusive in the views of the United States as set forth in this treaty, as it is indispensable to the successful completion of the contemplated canal to secure protection to it from the local authorities and this Government, and as I have no doubt that the British pretension to the port of San Juan in right of the Mosquito King is without just foundation in any public law ever before recognized in any other instance by Americans or Englishmen as applicable to Indian titles on this continent, I shall ratify this treaty in case the Senate shall advise that course. Its principal defect is taken from the treaty with New Granada, the negotiator having made it liable to be abrogated on notice after twenty years. Both treaties should have been perpetual or limited only by the duration of the improvements they were intended to protect. The instructions to our charge d'affaires, it will be seen, prescribe no limitation for the continuance of the treaty with Nicaragua. Should the Senate approve of principle of the treaty, an amendment in this respect is deemed advisable; and it will be well to invite by another amendment the protection of other nations, by expressly offering them in the treaty what is now offered by implication only—the same advantages which we propose for ourselves on the same conditions upon which we shall have acquired them. The policy of this treaty is not novel, nor does it originate from any suggestion either of my immediate predecessor or myself. On the 3d day of March, 1835, the following resolution, referred to by the late President in his message to the Senate relative to the treaty with New Granada, was adopted in executive session by the Senate without division:

Resolved, That the President of the United States be respectfully requested to consider the expediency of opening negotiations with the Governments of Central America and New Granada for the purpose of effectually protecting, by suitable treaty stipulations with them, such individuals or companies as may undertake to open a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by the construction of a ship canal across the isthmus which connects North and South America, and of securing forever by such stipulations the free and equal rights of navigating such a canal to all such nations on the payment of such reasonable tolls as may be established to compensate the capitalists who may engage in such undertaking and complete the work.

President Jackson accorded with the policy suggested in this resolution, and in pursuance of it sent Charles Biddle as agent to negotiate with the Governments of Central America and New Granada. The result is fully set forth in the report of a select committee of the House of Representatives of the 20th of February, 1849, upon a joint resolution of Congress to authorize the survey of certain routes for a canal or railroad between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The policy indicated in the resolution of the 3d March, 1835, then adopted by the President and Senate, is that now proposed for the consideration and sanction of the Senate. So far as my knowledge extends, such has ever been the liberal policy of the leading statesmen of this country, and by no one has it been more earnestly recommended than by my lamented predecessor.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, March 26, 1850.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

I herewith transmit, for the information of Congress, a copy of the report[4a] of Thomas Butler King, esq., appointed bearer of dispatches and special agent to California, made in pursuance of instructions issued from the Department of State on the 3d day of April last.

[Footnote 4a: On California affairs.]

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, March 28, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 22d instant, requesting the President of the United States to communicate to that body a copy of the instructions given to the agent of the United States who was employed to visit Hungary during the recent war between that country and Austria, and of the correspondence by and with such agent, so far as the publication of the same may be consistent with the public interest, I herewith transmit to the Senate a copy of the instructions to A. Dudley Mann, esq., relating to Hungary, he having been appointed by me special agent to that country on the 18th day of June last, together with a copy of the correspondence with our late charge d'affaires to Austria referred to in those instructions and of other papers disclosing the policy of this Government in reference to Hungary and her people. I also transmit, in compliance with the resolution of the Senate, but in a separate packet, a copy of the correspondence of Mr. Mann with the Department of State. The latter I have caused to be marked "executive"—the information contained in it being such as will be found on examination most appropriately to belong to the Senate in the exercise of its executive functions. The publication of this correspondence of the agent sent by me to Hungary is a matter referred entirely to the judgment and discretion of the Senate.

It will be seen by the documents now transmitted that no minister or agent was accredited by the Government of Hungary to this Government at any period since I came into office, nor was any communication ever received by this Government from the minister of foreign affairs of Hungary or any other executive officer authorized to act in her behalf.

My purpose, as freely avowed in this correspondence, was to have acknowledged the independence of Hungary had she succeeded in establishing a government de facto on a basis sufficiently permanent in its character to have justified me in doing so according to the usages and settled principles of this Government; and although she is now fallen and many of her gallant patriots are in exile or in chains, I am free still to declare that had she been successful in the maintenance of such a government as we could have recognized we should have been the first to welcome her into the family of nations.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, April 3, 1850.

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

I transmit a translation of a note, under date the 20th of last month, addressed to the Secretary of State by the minister of the Mexican Republic accredited to this Government, expressing the views of that Government with reference to the control of the wild Indians of the United States on the frontier of Mexico, as stipulated for in the eleventh article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, April 22, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

I herewith transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its ratification, a convention between the United States and Great Britain, concluded at Washington on the 19th instant by John M. Clayton, Secretary of State, on the part of the United States, and by the Right Hon. Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, on the part of Great Britain.

This treaty has been negotiated in accordance with the general views expressed in my message to Congress in December last. Its object is to establish a commercial alliance with all great maritime states for the protection of a contemplated ship canal through the territory of Nicaragua to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and at the same time to insure the same protection to the contemplated railways or canals by the Tehuantepec and Panama routes, as well as to every other interoceanic communication which may be adopted to shorten the transit to or from our territories on the Pacific.

It will be seen that this treaty does not propose to take money from the public Treasury to effect any object contemplated by it. It yields protection to the capitalists who may undertake to construct any canal or railway across the Isthmus, commencing in the southern part of Mexico and terminating in the territory of New Granada. It gives no preference to any one route over another, but proposes the same measure of protection for all which ingenuity and enterprise can construct. Should this treaty be ratified, it will secure in future the liberation of all Central America from any kind of foreign aggression.

At the time negotiations were opened with Nicaragua for the construction of a canal through her territory I found Great Britain in possession of nearly half of Central America, as the ally and protector of the Mosquito King. It has been my object in negotiating this treaty not only to secure the passage across the Isthmus to the Government and citizens of the United States by the construction of a great highway dedicated to the use of all nations on equal terms, but to maintain the independence and sovereignty of all the Central American Republics. The Senate will judge how far these objects have been effected.

If there be any who would desire to seize and annex any portion of the territories of these weak sister republics to the American Union, or to extend our dominion over them, I do not concur in their policy; and I wish it to be understood in reference to that subject that I adopt the views entertained, so far as I know, by all my predecessors.

The principles by which I have been regulated in the negotiation of this treaty are in accordance with the sentiments well expressed by my immediate predecessor on the 10th of February, 1847, when he communicated to the Senate the treaty with New Granada for the protection of the railroad at Panama. It is in accordance with the whole spirit of the resolution of the Senate of the 3d of March, 1835, referred to by President Polk, and with the policy adopted by President Jackson immediately after the passage of that resolution, who dispatched an agent to Central America and New Granada "to open negotiations with those Governments for the purpose of effectually protecting, by suitable treaty stipulations with them, such individuals or companies as might undertake to open a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by the construction of a ship canal across the isthmus which connects North and South America, and of securing forever by such stipulations the free and equal right of navigating such canal to all such nations on the payment of such reasonable tolls as might be established to compensate the capitalists who should engage in such undertaking and complete the work."

I also communicate herewith a copy of the correspondence between the American Secretary of State and the British plenipotentiary at the time of concluding the treaty. Whatever honor may be due to the party first proposing such a treaty justly belongs to the United States. My predecessor, in his message of the 10th of February, 1847, referring to the treaty with New Granada for the protection of the Panama Railroad, observes that—

Should the proposition thus tendered be rejected we may deprive the United States of the just influence which its acceptance might secure to them, and confer the glory and benefits of being the first among the nations in concluding such an arrangement upon the Government either of Great Britain or France. That either of these Governments would embrace the offer can not be doubted, because there does not appear to be any other effectual means of securing to all nations the advantages of this important passage but the guaranty of great commercial powers that the Isthmus shall be neutral territory. The interests of the world at stake are so important that the security of this passage between the two oceans can not be suffered to depend upon the wars and revolutions which may arise among different nations.

Should the Senate in its wisdom see fit to confirm this treaty, and the treaty heretofore submitted by me for their advice in regard to its ratification, negotiated with the State of Nicaragua on the 3d day of September last, it will be necessary to amend one or both of them, so that both treaties may stand in conformity with each other in their spirit and intention. The Senate will discover by examining them both that this is a task of no great difficulty.

I have good reason to believe that France and Russia stand ready to accede to this treaty, and that no other great maritime state will refuse its accession to an arrangement so well calculated to diffuse the blessings of peace, commerce, and civilization, and so honorable to all nations which may enter into the engagement.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, May 6, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a consular convention between the United States and the Republic of New Granada, signed in this city on the 4th of this month by the Secretary of State on the part of the United States, and by Senor Don Rafael Rivas, charge d'affaires of New Granada, on the part of that Republic.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, May 7, 1850.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives copies of a correspondence between the Department of State and the British legation in this city, relative to the reciprocal admission of the natural products of the United States and Canada free of duty into the territories of both countries. It will be seen by the accompanying documents that the late Secretary of the Treasury recommended, in his correspondence with the Committee on Commerce in the House of Representatives, reciprocal free trade in the natural products of the United States and Canada; that in March and June, 1849, a correspondence was opened between the British charge d'affaires then residing in Washington and the Secretary of State upon the subject of a commercial convention or treaty to carry out the views of Her Majesty's Government in relation thereto, and that the proposition for such a convention or treaty was declined on the part of the American Government for reasons which are fully set forth in the note of the Secretary of State to Mr. Crampton of the 26th of June last. During the negotiations connected with this correspondence, not considering the markets of Canada as an equivalent for those of the United States, I directed the Secretary of State to inquire what other benefits of trade and commerce would be yielded by the British authorities in connection with such a measure, and particularly whether the free navigation of the St. Lawrence would be conceded to us. That subject has accordingly been presented to the British Government, and the result was communicated by Her Majesty's minister in Washington on the 27th of March last in reply to a note from the Secretary of State of the 26th of that month. From these papers it will be perceived that the navigation of the St. Lawrence and of the canals connecting it with the Western lakes will be opened to the citizens of the United States in the event that the bill referred to in the correspondence, providing for the admission of their natural products, should become a law. The whole subject is now submitted to the consideration of Congress, and especially whether the concession proposed by Great Britain is an equivalent for the reciprocity desired by her.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, May 8, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

With reference to the convention between the United States and Her Britannic Majesty relative to interoceanic communication by the way of Nicaragua, recently submitted to the Senate, I transmit a copy of a note, under date the 29th ultimo, addressed to the Secretary of State by Sir Henry L. Bulwer, Her Britannic Majesty's minister here, and of Mr. Clayton's reply, under date the 30th ultimo. Intelligence received from the charge d'affaires of the United States in Central America and from other quarters having led to an apprehension that Mr. Chatfield, Her Britannic Majesty's minister in that country, had concluded a treaty with the Government of Costa Rica placing that State under the protection of the British Government, I deemed it my duty to cause inquiries upon the subject to be addressed to Her Majesty's Government through Sir Henry L. Bulwer. The note of that functionary communicates the answer to those inquiries, and may be deemed satisfactory, both from the denial of the fact that any such treaty has been concluded and from its positive disavowal on behalf of the British Government of the policy intended to be subserved by such treaties.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, May 18, 1850.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives a report of the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers,[5a] in answer to its resolution of the 28th of March last.

Z. TAYLOR.

[Footnote 5a: Communications from the United States consul at Vienna.]



WASHINGTON, May 20, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit herewith reports from the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of War, in reply to the resolution of the Senate of the 30th ultimo, calling for information in relation to the hostilities and outrages committed during the past year by the Seminole Indians in Florida, the steps taken for their removal west of the Mississippi, the area now occupied by them, etc.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, May 22, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

I herewith transmit to the Senate reports of the several heads of Departments, to whom were referred the resolutions of the Senate of the 9th instant, "requesting the President of the United States to furnish to the Senate copies of all correspondence between any of the Executive Departments and General Persifor F. Smith and Brigadier-General B. Riley, or either of them, relative to affairs in California, which had not been communicated to the Senate; and also all information existing in any of the Executive Departments respecting the transactions of the convention in California by which the project of a State government was prepared, and particularly a copy of the journals of said convention and of such of the ordinances adopted by it as may in any way have been communicated to any of the said Departments; and likewise to inform the Senate if the surrender of General Riley to the jurisdiction and civil authority of the government made by the aforesaid convention was by order of the Executive of the United States, and, if not, whether the proclamation of General Riley recognizing the said State government and submitting to its jurisdiction has received the sanction of the Executive; and also that he furnish to the Senate whatever intelligence may have been received in the executive department respecting the condition of civil affairs in the Oregon Territory."

The reports, with the official correspondence accompanying them, it is believed, embrace all the information in the Departments called for by the resolutions.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, May 24, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

In the month of January last I nominated Thomas Sewall to be consul of the United States for the port of Santiago de Cuba, to which office he had been appointed by me during the recess of the Senate. The Spanish Government having refused to recognize Mr. Sewall as consul for that port, I now withdraw that nomination and nominate William N. Adams to fill the vacancy thus occasioned.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, May 29, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit to the Senate a copy of a dispatch from the minister of the United States at London, together with the memorial and other documents addressed to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States by Count de Bronno Bronski which accompanied it, relative to an improved breed of silkworms which he desires to have introduced into this country.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, June 3, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit to the Senate herewith reports from the several heads of Departments, which contain all the information in possession of the Executive relative to the subject of the resolution of the 23d instant [ultimo].

No information has been received establishing the existence of any revolutionary movement in the island of Cuba among the inhabitants of that island. The correspondence submitted discloses, however, the fact that repeated attempts have been made under the direction of foreigners enjoying the hospitality of this country to get up armed expeditions in the United States for the purpose of invading Cuba. It will be seen by that correspondence that this Government has been faithful in the discharge of its treaty obligations with Spain and in the execution of the acts of Congress which have for their object the maintenance in this regard of the peace and honor of this country.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, June 10, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

I submit herewith, in reply to a resolution of the Senate of the 3d instant, calling for "copies of the instructions given and orders issued in relation to the assemblage of persons on Round Island, coast of Mississippi, during the summer of 1849, and of the correspondence between the President or heads of Departments and the governor of Mississippi and the officers, naval or military, of the United States in reference to the observation, investment, and dispersion of said assemblage upon said island," a report from the Secretary of the Navy and accompanying documents, which contain all the information on the subject not heretofore communicated to the Senate.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, June 13, 1850.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

I transmit to the House of Representatives a copy of a dispatch addressed by the minister of the United States at Paris to the Secretary of State, with a translation of the documents which accompanied it, relative to the memorial of Pierre Piron, a citizen of the French Republic, who, it will be perceived, presents a just claim to pecuniary remuneration from this Government on account of services rendered to citizens of the United States.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, June 17, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

I have received a copy of the resolution of the Senate of the 11th June instant, requesting me "to inform the Senate whether any orders have been issued to any military officer or officers at Santa Fe to hold possession against the authority of Texas, or in any way to embarrass or prevent the exercise of her jurisdiction over that country, and to furnish the Senate with copies of any correspondence which may have taken place between the War Department and the military stationed at Santa Fe since the date of my last communication to the Senate on that subject."

In reply to that resolution I state that no such orders have been given.

I herewith present to the Senate copies of all the correspondence referred to in the resolution. All the other orders relating to the subject-matter of the resolution have been heretofore communicated to the Senate.

I have already, in a former message, referred to the fact that the boundary between Texas and New Mexico is disputed. I have now to state that information has been recently received that a certain Robert S. Neighbors, styling himself commissioner of the State of Texas, has proceeded to Santa Fe with a view of organizing counties in that district under the authority of Texas. While I have no power to decide the question of boundary, and no desire to interfere with it, as a question of title, I have to observe that the possession of the territory into which it appears that Mr. Neighbors has thus gone was actually acquired by the United States from Mexico, and has since been held by the United States, and, in my opinion, ought so to remain until the question of boundary shall have been determined by some competent authority. Meanwhile, I think there is no reason for seriously apprehending that Texas will practically interfere with the possession of the United States.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, June 26, 1850.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

I herewith transmit a report of the Secretary of War, communicating the information, as far as it can be furnished, required by the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 17th instant, respecting the amount of money collected from customs in California from the conclusion of the war until the collector appointed under the act of March 3, 1849, entered upon his duties, the objects for which said money has been expended, and the authority under which the collections and disbursements were made.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, June 27, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 3d instant, requesting information in regard to the indemnity stipulated to be paid by the Government of Peru to the Government of the United States pursuant to the modified convention of the 17th of March, 1841, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which it was accompanied. The sums paid by that Government under the convention are mentioned in the letters of Messrs. E. McCall & Co., of Lima, who were appointed by my predecessor the agents to receive the installments as they might fall due.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, July 1, 1850.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In reply to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 17th ultimo, in regard to the number of vessels, guns, and men constituting the African squadron, the annual expenses of that squadron, etc., I submit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with accompanying documents.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, July 1, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of War, prepared in answer to a resolution of the Senate of the 27th ultimo, requesting information of the proceedings of the Executive in regard to the appointment of the officer now commanding in New Mexico, the orders and instructions given to and correspondence with him, and upon other subjects mentioned in the resolution.

Z. TAYLOR.



WASHINGTON, July 2, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

In the month of March last I nominated William McNeir to be a justice of the peace in and for the county of Washington, in the District of Columbia, and on the 24th day of June the Senate advised and consented to the nomination. Since then I have learned from the late mayor of the city of Washington, upon whose recommendation the nomination was made, that the person whom he intended to recommend for that office was George McNeir, whom I now nominate to be a justice of the peace in and for the county of Washington, in the District of Columbia.

In the month of February last I nominated Benjamin Riddells as consul of the United States for Chihuahua, and on the 10th day of June last the Senate advised and consented to that nomination. I have since learned that the persons recommending the appointment of Mr. Riddells by the praenomen of Benjamin intended to recommend Bennet Riddells, whom I now nominate to be consul of the United States for Chihuahua in order to correct the mistake thus inadvertently made.

Z. TAYLOR.



PROCLAMATIONS.

ZACHARY TAYLOR, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

To all whom it may concern:

An exequatur having been granted to Senor Carlos de Espana, bearing date the 29th October, 1846, recognizing him as the consul of Her Catholic Majesty at the port of New Orleans and declaring him free to exercise and enjoy such functions, powers, and privileges as are allowed to the consuls of the most favored nations in the United States:

These are now to declare that I do no longer recognize the said Carlos de Espana as consul of Her Catholic Majesty in any part of the United States, nor permit him to exercise and enjoy any of the functions, powers, or privileges allowed to the consuls of Spain; and I do hereby wholly revoke and annul the said exequatur heretofore given, and do declare the same to be absolutely null and void from this day forward.

In testimony whereof I have caused these letters to be made patent and the seal of the United States of America to be hereunto affixed.

[SEAL.]

Given under my hand this 4th day of January, A.D. 1850, and of the Independence of the United States the seventy-fourth.

Z. TAYLOR.

By the President: JOHN M. CLAYTON, Secretary of State.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 14th of August, 1848, entitled "An act to establish the Territorial government of Oregon," the President of the United States is authorized to establish such ports of delivery in the collection district created by that act, not exceeding two in number (one of which shall be located on Pugets Sound), as he may deem proper:

Now, therefore, I, Zachary Taylor, President of the United States of America, do hereby declare and proclaim the ports of Nesqually (on Pugets Sound) and Portland, in the collection district of Oregon, in the Territory of Oregon, to be constituted ports of delivery, with all the privileges authorized by law to such ports.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 10th day of January, A.D. 1850, and of the Independence of the United States the seventy-fourth.

Z. TAYLOR.

By the President: J.M. CLAYTON, Secretary of State.



DEATH OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR.

ANNOUNCEMENT TO MR. FILLMORE.

[From official records in the State Department.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, July 9, 1850.

MILLARD FILLMORE,

President of the United States.

SIR: The melancholy and most painful duty devolves on us to announce to you that Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States, is no more. He died at the President's mansion this evening at half-past 10 o'clock.

We have the honor to be, etc.,

JOHN M. CLAYTON, Secretary of State.

W.M. MEREDITH, Secretary of the Treasury.

T. EWING, Secretary of the Interior.

GEO. W. CRAWFORD, Secretary of War.

WM. BALLARD PRESTON, Secretary of the Navy.

J. COLLAMER, Postmaster-General.

[The announcement as published in the Daily National Intelligencer of July 11, 1850, contains also the signature of Reverdy Johnson, Attorney-General.]



REPLY OF MR. FILLMORE.

[From official records in the State Department.]

WASHINGTON, July 9, 1850.

To the Hons. JOHN M. CLAYTON, Secretary of State; W.M. MEREDITH, Secretary of the Treasury; T. EWING, Secretary of the Interior; GEO. W. CRAWFORD, Secretary of War; WM. BALLARD PRESTON, Secretary of the Navy; J. COLLAMER, Postmaster-General; REVERDY JOHNSON, Attorney-General.

GENTLEMEN: I have just received your note conveying the melancholy and painful intelligence of the decease of Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States. I have no language to express the emotions of my heart. The shock is so sudden and unexpected that I am overwhelmed with grief.

I shall avail myself of the earliest moment to communicate this sad intelligence to Congress, and shall appoint a time and place for taking the oath of office prescribed to the President of the United States. You are requested to be present and witness the ceremony.

I am, gentlemen, etc.,

MILLARD FILLMORE.



COMMUNICATION TO THE SENATE FROM MR. FILLMORE.

[From Senate Journal, Thirty-first Congress, first session, p. 443.]

WASHINGTON, July 10, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

In consequence of the lamented death of Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States, I shall no longer occupy the chair of the Senate, and I have thought that a formal communication to the Senate to that effect, through your Secretary, might enable you the more promptly to proceed to the choice of a presiding officer.

MILLARD FILLMORE



ANNOUNCEMENT TO CONGRESS.

[From Senate Journal, Thirty-first Congress, first session, p. 443.]

WASHINGTON, July 10, 1850.

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

I have to perform the melancholy duty of announcing to you that it has pleased Almighty God to remove from this life Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States. He deceased last evening at the hour of half-past 10 o'clock, in the midst of his family and surrounded by affectionate friends, calmly and in the full possession of all his faculties. Among his last words were these, which he uttered with emphatic distinctness:

I have always done my duty. I am ready to die. My only regret is for the friends I leave behind me.

Having announced to you, fellow-citizens, this most afflicting bereavement, and assuring you that it has penetrated no heart with deeper grief than mine, it remains for me to say that I propose this day at 12 o'clock, in the Hall of the House of Representatives, in the presence of both Houses of Congress, to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution, to enable me to enter on the execution of the office which this event has devolved on me.

MILLARD FILLMORE.



ANNOUNCEMENT TO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES ABROAD.

[From official records in the State Department]

CIRCULAR.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, July 10, 1850.

Sir: It has become my most painful duty to announce to you the decease of Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States.

This afflicting event took place on the 9th instant at the Executive Mansion in this city, at thirty minutes after 10 o'clock in the evening.

I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN M. CLAYTON.



ANNOUNCEMENT TO REPRESENTATIVES OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES.

[From official records in the State Department.]

CIRCULAR.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, July 10, 1850.

SIR: It is my great misfortune to be obliged to inform you of an event not less afflicting to the people of the United States than distressing to my own feelings and the feelings of all those connected with the Government.

The President, Zachary Taylor, departed this life yesterday at half-past 10 o'clock in the evening.

You are respectfully invited to attend the funeral ceremonies, which will take place on Saturday next, and with the particular arrangements for which you will be made acquainted in due time.

Not doubting your sympathy and condolence with the Government and people of the country on this bereavement, I have the honor to be, sir, with high consideration, your obedient servant,

JOHN M. CLAYTON.



ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE ARMY.

[From official records in the War Department.]

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 21.

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington July 11, 1850.

I. The following order of the President of the United States announces to the Army the lamented death of the illustrious General Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States:

WAR DEPARTMENT, July 11, 1850.

The President of the United States with profound sorrow announces to the Army, the Navy, and Marine Corps the death of Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States. He died at the Executive Mansion on the night of the 9th instant at half-past 10 o'clock.

His last public appearance was in participating in the ceremonies of our national anniversary at the base of the monument now rearing to the memory of Washington. His last official act was to affix his signature to the convention recently concluded between the United States and Great Britain.

The vigor of a constitution strong by nature and confirmed by active and temperate habits had in later years become impaired by the arduous toils and exposures of his military life.

Solely engrossed in maintaining the honor and advancing the glory of his country, in a career of forty years in the Army of the United States he rendered himself signal and illustrious. An unbroken current of success and victory, terminated by an achievement unsurpassed in our annals, left nothing to be accomplished for his military fame.

His conduct and courage gave him this career of unexampled fortune, and with the crowning virtues of moderation and humanity under all circumstances, and especially in the moment of victory, revealed to his countrymen those great and good qualities which induced them unsolicited to call him from his high military command to the highest civil office of honor and trust in the Republic; not that he desired to be first, but that he was felt to be worthiest.

The simplicity of his character, the singleness of his purpose, the elevation and patriotism of his principles, his moral courage, his justice, magnanimity and benevolence, his wisdom, moderation, and power of command, while they have endeared him to the heart of the nation, add to the deep sense of the national calamity in the loss of a Chief Magistrate whom death itself could not appall in the consciousness of "having always done his duty."

The officers of the Army, of the Navy, and Marine Corps will, as a manifestation of their respect for the exalted character and eminent public services of the illustrious dead, and of their sense of the calamity the country has sustained by this afflicting dispensation of Providence, wear crape on the left arm and upon the hilt of the sword for six months.

It is further directed that funeral honors be paid at each of the military posts according to general regulations, and at navy-yards and on board all public vessels in commission, by firing thirty minute guns, commencing at meridian, on the day after the receipt of this order, and by wearing their flags at half-mast.

By order of the President:

GEORGE W. CRAWFORD,

Secretary of War.

II. The day after the receipt of this general order at each military post the troops will be paraded at 10 o'clock a.m. and the order read to them, after which all labors for the day will cease.

The national flag will be displayed at half-staff.

At dawn of day thirteen guns will be fired, and afterwards at intervals of thirty minutes between the rising and setting sun a single gun, and at the close of the day a national salute of thirty guns.

The officers of the Army will wear the badge of mourning on the left arm and on their swords and the colors of the several regiments will be put in mourning for the period of six months.

By order: R. JONES,

Adjutant-General.

[The Secretary of the Navy made the same announcement to the Navy as that portion of the above signed by the Secretary of War.]



ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT.

[From the Daily National Intelligencer, July 12, 1850.]

WASHINGTON, July 10, 1850.

In consequence of the death of the President of the United States, I direct that the several Executive Departments be closed until after the funeral of the illustrious deceased, and that they, as well as the Executive Mansion, be placed in mourning, and that the several officers of the Government wear the usual badge of mourning for the term of six months.

MILLARD FILLMORE.



ACTION OF CONGRESS.

[From Senate Journal, Thirty-first Congress, first session, p. 445.]

RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE.

Whereas it has pleased Divine Providence to remove from this life Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States, the Senate, sharing in the general sorrow which this melancholy event must produce, is desirous of manifesting its sensibility on this occasion: Therefore

Resolved, That a committee consisting of Messrs. Webster, Cass, and King be appointed on the part of the Senate to meet such committee as may be appointed on the part of the House of Representatives to consider and report what measures it may be deemed proper to adopt to show the respect and affection of Congress for the memory of the illustrious deceased and to make the necessary arrangements for his funeral.

[From House Journal, Thirty-first Congress, first session, p. 1121.]

RESOLUTION OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Whereas it has pleased Divine Providence to remove from this life Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States, the House of Representatives, sharing in the general sorrow which this melancholy event must produce, is desirous of manifesting its sensibility on the occasion: Therefore

Resolved, That a committee consisting of thirteen members be appointed on the part of this House to meet such committee as may be appointed on the part of the Senate to consider and report what measures it may be deemed proper to adopt in order to show the respect and affection of Congress for the memory of the illustrious deceased and to make the necessary arrangements for his funeral.

[The committee consisted of Messrs. Conrad, of Louisiana; McDowell, of Virginia; Winthrop, of Massachusetts; Bissell, of Illinois; Duer, of New York; Orr, of South Carolina; Breck, of Kentucky; Strong, of Pennsylvania; Vinton, of Ohio; Cabell, of Florida; Kerr, of Maryland; Stanly, of North Carolina; Littlefield, of Maine.]



OFFICIAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE FUNERAL.

[From the Daily National Intelligencer, July 13, 1850.]

WASHINGTON, July 11, 1850.

The Committee of Arrangements of the two Houses of Congress, having consulted with the family of the deceased, have concluded that the funeral of the late President be solemnized on Saturday, the 13th of July, at 12 o'clock; the religious services to be performed by the Rev. Dr. Pyne at the Executive Mansion, according to the usage of the Episcopal Church, in which church the deceased most usually worshiped; the body to be afterwards taken from the President's house to the Congress Burying Ground, accompanied by a military escort and civic procession, and deposited in the receiving tomb.

The military arrangements to be under the direction of Major-General Scott, the General Commanding in Chief of the Army of the United States, and Major-General Walter Jones, of the militia of the District of Columbia.

Commodore Warrington, the senior naval officer now in the city, to have the direction of the naval arrangements.

The marshal of the District of Columbia to have the direction of the civic procession.

All the members of the diplomatic corps, all officers of Government, the clergy of the District and elsewhere, all associations and fraternities, and citizens generally are invited to attend.

And it is respectfully recommended to the officers of the Government that they wear the usual badge of mourning.

ORDER OF THE PROCESSION.

FUNERAL ESCORT.

(In column of march.)

Composed of such corps of the Army and the militia as may be ordered or as may report themselves for duty on the occasion.

CIVIC PROCESSION.

The United States marshal of the District of Columbia and his aids.

The mayors of Washington and Georgetown.

The Committee of Arrangements of the two Houses of Congress.

The chaplains of the two Houses of Congress and the officiating clergyman of the occasion.

Attending physicians to the late President.

Pallbearers.—Hon. Henry Clay, Hon. T.H. Benton, Hon. Lewis Cass, Hon. Daniel Webster, Hon. J.M. Berrien, Hon. Truman Smith, Hon. R.C. Winthrop, Hon. Linn Boyd, Hon. James McDowell, Hon. S.F. Vinton, Hon. Hugh White, Hon. Isaac E. Holmes, G.W.P. Custis, esq., Hon. R.J. Walker, Chief Justice Cranch, Joseph Gales, esq., Major-General Jesup, Major-General Gibson, Commodore Ballard, Brigadier-General Henderson.

The horse used by General Taylor in the late war.

Family and relatives of the late President.

The President of the United States and the heads of Departments.

The Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate.

The Senate of the United States, preceded by the President pro tempore and Secretary.

The Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives.

The House of Representatives, preceded by their Speaker and Clerk.

The Chief Justice and associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States and its officers.

The diplomatic corps.

Governors of States and Territories.

Ex-members of Congress.

Members of State legislatures.

District judges of the United States.

Judges of the circuit and criminal courts of the District of Columbia, with the members of the bar and officers of the courts.

The judges of the several States.

The Comptroller of the Treasury, Auditors, Treasurer, Register, Solicitor, and Commissioners of Land Office, Pensions, Indian Affairs, Patents, and Public Buildings.

The clerks, etc., of the several Departments, preceded by their respective chief clerks, and all other civil officers of the Government.

Clergy of the District of Columbia and elsewhere.

Officers and soldiers of the Revolution.

Corporate authorities of Washington.

Corporate authorities of Georgetown.

Officers and soldiers who served in the War of 1812 and in the late war.

Presidents, professors, and students of the colleges of the District of Columbia.

Such societies and fraternities as may wish to join the procession, to report to the marshal of the District, who will assign them their respective positions.

Citizens and strangers.

The procession will move from the President's house at 1 o'clock precisely, or on the conclusion of the religious services.

DANIEL WEBSTER, Chairman of the Committee on the part of the Senate.

CHAS. M. CONRAD, Chairman of the Committee on the part of the House of Representatives.



[From official records in the War Department.]

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 22.

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington, July 11, 1850.

The joint committees of the Congress of the United States having designated the General in Chief, Major-General Scott, to take charge of the military arrangements for the funeral ceremonies of the late President of the United States, the Secretary of War directs that the Commanding General of the Army give the necessary orders and instructions accordingly. The military arrangements will conform to the directions found in the reports of the special committees of the Senate and House of Representatives.

By order of the Secretary of War:

R. JONES,

Adjutant-General.



GENERAL ORDERS.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington, July 12, 1850.

The Major-General Commanding the Army of the United States, having been charged by the joint committees of Congress with the military preparations for the funeral honors to be paid to the illustrious statesman, soldier, and citizen, Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States, directs the following order of arrangement:

ORDER OF THE MILITARY PROCESSION.

FUNERAL ESCORT.

(In column of march.)

Infantry.—Maryland volunteers; volunteer troops from other States; battalion of volunteers from the District of Columbia.

Firing party (to be commanded by an officer of the Army).—Two companies of volunteers from Washington; two companies of volunteers from Baltimore; battalion of United States marines; battalion of United States artillery, as infantry; troop of United States light artillery.

Dismounted officers of volunteers, Marine Corps, Navy, and Army, in the order named.

Mounted officers of volunteers, Marine Corps, Navy, and Army, in the order named.

Major-General Walter Jones, commanding the militia; aids-de-camp.

Major-General Winfield Scott, commanding the Army; aids-de-camp.

The troops will be formed in line in the Avenue, north of the President's mansion, precisely at 11 o'clock a.m., Saturday, the 13th instant, with the right (Brevet Major Sedgwick's troop of light artillery) resting opposite the War Department.

The procession will move at 1 o'clock p.m., when minute guns will be fired by detachments of artillery stationed near St. John's church, the City Hall, and the Capitol, respectively.

On arriving on the north front of the Congressional Burial Ground the escort will be formed in two lines, the first consisting of the firing party, facing the cemetery and 30 paces from it; the second composed of the rest of the infantry, 20 paces in rear; the battery of artillery to take position on the rising ground 100 paces in rear of the second line.

At sunrise to-morrow (the 13th instant) a Federal salute will be fired from the military stations in the vicinity of Washington, minute guns between the hours of 1 and 3, and a national salute at the setting of the sun.

The usual badge of mourning will be worn on the left arm and on the hilt of the sword.

The Adjutant-General of the Army is charged with the details of the military arrangements of the day, aided by the Assistant Adjutants-General on duty at Washington, by Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Swords, of the staff, and Lieutenant W.T. Sherman, Third Artillery.

The United States marshal of the District of Columbia having been charged with the direction of the civic procession, the military will cooperate in the general order of arrangements.

By command of Major-General Scott:

R. JONES,

Adjutant-General.



[From the Daily National Intelligencer, July 12, 1850.]

GENERAL ORDER.

The major-general, zealous to execute the honorable commission in which the joint committees of Congress have associated him with the General in Chief of the Army, deems it proper and conducive to the end in view to make the best preparation in his power for carrying into effect the field arrangements of the military movements in the procession of the funeral of the late President, arrangements which must necessarily await the arrival of the General in Chief. For that purpose he thinks it expedient to appoint a general rendezvous where all the corps and companies of militia, including all who may march from any of the States with those of this District, may assemble at an early hour in the morning of Saturday, the 13th instant, and there receive final orders for being formed and posted. They are therefore requested to take notice that such rendezvous is in front of the City Hall. The corps and companies from the States are requested to repair to this general rendezvous immediately on arrival; those of the District not later than 9 o'clock a.m. The commandants of corps and companies are expected to report, immediately on arriving at the rendezvous, to the major-general or such staff officer as may be detailed for the purpose, the strength of their respective commands.

All officers not on duty in their respective corps or companies are requested to appear in full uniform and mounted. The post intended for them is in the personal suite of the General in Chief. The major-general knows of no more honorable or more interesting post that he could assign them in time of peace than that of following the lead of the renowned Scott in the procession of the funeral of the renowned Taylor.

WALTER JONES, Major-General Militia District of Columbia.



RESOLUTION OF CONDOLENCE BY CONGRESS.

[From original in the State Department.]

A RESOLUTION expressing the condolence of Congress for Mrs. Margaret S. Taylor.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be requested to transmit a copy of the proceedings of the two Houses on the 10th instant in relation to the death of the late President of the United States to Mrs. Margaret S. Taylor, and to assure her of the profound respect of the two Houses of Congress for her person and character and of their sincere condolence on the late afflicting dispensation of Providence.



Millard Fillmore

July 10, 1850, to March 4, 1853



Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore was born February 7, 1800, in the township of Locke (now Summerhill), Cayuga County, N.Y. He was the second son of Nathaniel Fillmore and Phoebe Millard. His ancestors served with distinction in the French and Revolutionary wars. He attended the primitive schools in the neighborhood three months in the year, devoting the other nine to working on his father's farm. His father, having formed a distaste for farming, was desirous that his sons should follow other occupations. Accordingly, Millard, after serving an apprenticeship for a few months, began in 1815 the business of carding and dressing cloth. Was afterwards a school-teacher. In 1819 decided to become a lawyer, and in 1823, although he had not completed the usual course required, was admitted as an attorney by the court of common pleas of Erie County. February 5, 1826, was married to Miss Abigail Powers, daughter of a clergyman. In 1827 was admitted as an attorney and two years later as counselor before the supreme court. In 1830 removed to Buffalo and became a successful lawyer. His political career began and ended with the birth and extinction of the Whig party. Was elected to the legislature of his State in 1828, and served three terms; while there he was distinguished by his advocacy of the act to abolish imprisonment for debt, which passed in 1831. In 1832 was elected to Congress, and after serving one term retired till 1836, when he was reelected, and again returned in 1838 and 1840, declining a renomination in 1842. Was the author of the tariff of 1842. He retired from Congress in 1843. Was an unsuccessful candidate for Vice-President before the Whig convention at Baltimore in 1844. Was nominated by acclamation for governor of New York in the following September, but was defeated by Silas Wright. In 1847 was elected comptroller of the State. In 1848 was nominated by the Whigs for Vice-President on the ticket with General Taylor and was elected in the following November. He presided as Vice-President with strict impartiality during exciting debates in the Senate. By the death of President Taylor became President July 10, 1850. Was a candidate for President at the Whig convention in 1852, but General Scott received the nomination. Three weeks after the close of his Administration his wife died. Afterwards married Caroline C. McIntosh, who survived him. In 1856, while in Rome, he was nominated for the Presidency by the American (Whig) party, but was defeated by Mr. Buchanan. After his retirement from office he resided in Buffalo the remainder of his life. He established the Buffalo Historical Society. Was called upon to welcome distinguished visitors to his city, and frequently presided over conventions and other public meetings, but held no office after retiring from the Presidency. He again visited Europe in 1866. Died at Buffalo, N.Y., March 8, 1874, and was buried in that city in Forest Lawn Cemetery.



SPECIAL MESSAGES.

WASHINGTON, July 10, 1850.

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

A great man has fallen among us, and a whole country is called to an occasion of unexpected, deep, and general mourning.

I recommend to the two Houses of Congress to adopt such measures as in their discretion may seem proper to perform with due solemnities the funeral obsequies of Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States, and thereby to signify the great and affectionate regard of the American people for the memory of one whose life has been devoted to the public service, whose career in arms has not been surpassed in usefulness or brilliancy, who has been so recently raised by the unsolicited voice of the people to the highest civil authority in the Government, which he administered with so much honor and advantage to his country, and by whose sudden death so many hopes of future usefulness have been blighted forever.

To you, Senators and Representatives of a nation in tears, I can say nothing which can alleviate the sorrow with which you are oppressed. I appeal to you to aid me, under the trying circumstances which surround me, in the discharge of the duties from which, however much I may be oppressed by them, I dare not shrink; and I rely upon Him who holds in His hands the destinies of nations to endow me with the requisite strength for the task and to avert from our country the evils apprehended from the heavy calamity which has befallen us.

I shall most readily concur in whatever measures the wisdom of the two Houses may suggest as befitting this deeply melancholy occasion.

MILLARD FILLMORE.



WASHINGTON, July 15, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty between the United States and the Republic of Peru, signed in this city on the 13th instant by the plenipotentiaries of the parties. A report from the Secretary of State relative to the treaty, and the documents therein referred to, are also herewith transmitted.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, July 17, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

In further answer to a resolution of the Senate of the 27th ultimo, in reference to a proclamation issued by the military officer commanding in New Mexico and other matters, I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of War, communicating information not received at the Department until after the date of his report of the 1st instant on this subject.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, July 17, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to a resolution of the Senate of the 1st instant, requesting the President to furnish the Senate with "the report and map of Lieutenant J.D. Webster, Corps of Topographical Engineers, of a survey of the Gulf coast at the mouth of the Rio Grande and its vicinity," and in compliance therewith, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, accompanied by the report and map above referred to.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, July 18, 1850.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives, in compliance with the request contained in their resolution of the 24th day of January last, the information asked for by that resolution, relating to certain proceedings of the British Government in the forcible seizure and occupation of the island of Tigre; also all the "facts, circumstances, and communications within the knowledge of the Executive relative to any seizure or occupation, or attempted seizure or occupation, by the British Government of any port, river, town, territory, or island belonging to or claimed by any of the States of Central America."

The resolution of the House speaks of the island of Tigre, in the State of Nicaragua. I am not aware of the existence of any such island in that State, and presume that the resolution refers to the island of the same name in the Gulf of Fonseca, in the State of Honduras.

The concluding part of the resolution, requesting the President to communicate to the House all treaties not heretofore published which may have been negotiated with any of the States of Central America "by any person acting by authority of the late Administration or under the auspices of the present Administration," so far as it has reference to treaties negotiated with any of those States by instructions from this Government, can not be complied with, inasmuch as those treaties have not been acted upon by the Senate of the United States, and are now in the possession of that body, to whom by the Constitution they are directed to be transmitted for advice in regard to their ratification.

But as its communication is not liable to the same objection, I transmit for the information of the House a copy of a treaty in regard to a ship canal across the Isthmus, negotiated by Elijah Hise, our late charge d'affaires in Guatemala, with the Government of Nicaragua on the 21st day of June, 1849, accompanied by copies of his instructions from and correspondence with the Department of State.

I shall cheerfully comply with the request of the House of Representatives to lay before them the treaties negotiated with the States of Central America, now before the Senate, whenever it shall be compatible with the public interest to make the communication. For the present I communicate herewith a copy of the treaty with Great Britain and of the correspondence between the American Secretary of State and the British plenipotentiary at the time it was concluded. The ratifications of it were exchanged at Washington on the 4th day of July instant.

I also transmit the report of the Secretary of State, to whom the resolution of the House was referred, and who conducted the negotiations relative to Central America, under the direction of my lamented predecessor.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, July 20, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

I herewith transmit to the Senate, with a view to its ratification, a convention between the United States and the Mexican Republic for the extradition of fugitives from justice. This convention was negotiated under the directions of my predecessor, and was signed this day by John M. Clayton, Secretary of State, on the part of the United States, and by Senor Don Luis de la Rosa, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Mexico, on the part of that Republic. The length of the boundary line between the two countries, extending, as it does, from the Pacific to the Gulf, renders such a convention indispensable to the maintenance of good order and the amicable relations now so happily subsisting between the sister Republics.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, July 23, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

I lay before the Senate, for their consideration and advice as to its ratification, a treaty concluded in the city of Washington on the 1st day of April, 1850, by and between Ardavan S. Loughery, commissioner on the part of the United States, and delegates of the Wyandott tribe of Indians.

I also lay before the Senate a letter from the Secretary of the Interior and the papers therein referred to.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, July 30, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

I herewith transmit to the Senate, in answer to its resolution of the 5th instant, requesting the President to communicate to that body "any information, if any has been received by the Government, showing that an American vessel has been recently stopped upon the high seas and searched by a British ship of war," the accompanying copies of papers. The Government has no knowledge of any alleged stopping or searching on the high seas of American vessels by British ships of war except in the cases therein mentioned. The circumstances of these cases will appear by the inclosed correspondence, taken from the files of the Navy Department. No remonstrance or complaint by the owners of these vessels has been presented to the Government of the United States.

MILLARD FILLMORE

WASHINGTON, August 2, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States:

I have the honor to transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of War, in answer to a resolution of the Senate passed on the 8th of July last, calling for information in relation to the removal of Fort Polk, etc. The documents accompanying the report contain all the information required by the resolution.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, August 6, 1850.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I herewith transmit to the two Houses of Congress a letter from his excellency the governor of Texas, dated on the 14th day of June last, addressed to the late President of the United States, which, not having been answered by him, came to my hands on his death; and I also transmit a copy of the answer which I have felt it to be my duty to cause to be made to that communication.

Congress will perceive that the governor of Texas officially states that by authority of the legislature of that State he dispatched a special commissioner with full power and instructions to extend the civil jurisdiction of the State over the unorganized counties of El Paso, Worth, Presidio, and Santa Fe, situated on its northwestern limits.

He proceeds to say that the commissioner had reported to him in an official form that the military officers employed in the service of the United States stationed at Santa Fe interposed adversely with the inhabitants to the fulfillment of his object in favor of the establishment of a separate State government east of the Rio Grande, and within the rightful limits of the State of Texas. These four counties, which Texas thus proposes to establish and organize as being within her own jurisdiction, extend over the whole of the territory east of the Rio Grande, which has heretofore been regarded as an essential and integral part of the department of New Mexico, and actually governed and possessed by her people until conquered and severed from the Republic of Mexico by the American arms.

The legislature of Texas has been called together by her governor for the purpose, as is understood, of maintaining her claim to the territory east of the Rio Grande and of establishing over it her own jurisdiction and her own laws by force.

These proceedings of Texas, may well arrest the attention of all branches of the Government of the United States, and I rejoice that they occur while the Congress is yet in session. It is, I fear, far from being impossible that, in consequence of these proceedings of Texas, a crisis may be brought on which shall summon the two Houses of Congress, and still more emphatically the executive government, to an immediate readiness for the performance of their respective duties.

By the Constitution of the United States the President is constituted Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, and of the militia of the several States when called into the actual service of the United States. The Constitution declares also that he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed and that he shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the Union.

Congress has power by the Constitution to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, and suitable and appropriate acts of Congress have been passed as well for providing for calling forth the militia as for placing other suitable and efficient means in the hands of the President to enable him to discharge the constitutional functions of his office.

The second section of the act of the 28th of February, 1795, declares that whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed or their execution obstructed in any State by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings or the power vested in the marshals, the President may call forth the militia, as far as may be necessary, to suppress such combinations and to cause the laws to be duly executed.

By the act of March 3, 1807, it is provided that in all cases of obstruction to the laws either of the United States or any individual State or Territory, where it is lawful for the President to call forth the militia for the purpose of causing the laws to be duly executed, it shall be lawful for him to employ for the same purposes such part of the land or naval force of the United States as shall be judged necessary.

These several enactments are now in full force, so that if the laws of the United States are opposed or obstructed in any State or Territory by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the judicial or civil authorities it becomes a case in which it is the duty of the President either to call out the militia or to employ the military and naval force of the United States, or to do both if in his judgment the exigency of the occasion shall so require, for the purpose of suppressing such combinations. The constitutional duty of the President is plain and peremptory and the authority vested in him by law for its performance clear and ample.

Texas is a State, authorized to maintain her own laws so far as they are not repugnant to the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States; to suppress insurrections against her authority, and to punish those who may commit treason against the State according to the forms provided by her own constitution and her own laws.

But all this power is local and confined entirely within the limits of Texas herself. She can possibly confer no authority which can be lawfully exercised beyond her own boundaries.

All this is plain, and hardly needs argument or elucidation. If Texas militia, therefore, march into any one of the other States or into any Territory of the United States, there to execute or enforce any law of Texas, they become at that moment trespassers; they are no longer under the protection of any lawful authority, and are to be regarded merely as intruders; and if within such State or Territory they obstruct any law of the United States, either by power of arms or mere power of numbers, constituting such a combination as is too powerful to be suppressed by the civil authority, the President of the United States has no option left to him, but is bound to obey the solemn injunction of the Constitution and exercise the high powers vested in him by that instrument and by the acts of Congress.

Or if any civil posse, armed or unarmed, enter into any Territory of the United States, under the protection of the laws thereof, with intent to seize individuals, to be carried elsewhere for trial for alleged offenses, and this posse be too powerful to be resisted by the local civil authorities, such seizure or attempt to seize is to be prevented or resisted by the authority of the United States.

The grave and important question now arises whether there be in the Territory of New Mexico any existing law of the United States opposition to which or the obstruction of which would constitute a case calling for the interposition of the authority vested in the President.

The Constitution of the United States declares that—

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land.

If, therefore, New Mexico be a Territory of the United States, and if any treaty stipulation be in force therein, such treaty stipulation is the supreme law of the land, and is to be maintained and upheld accordingly.

In the letter to the governor of Texas my reasons are given for believing that New Mexico is now a Territory of the United States, with the same extent and the same boundaries which belonged to it while in the actual possession of the Republic of Mexico, and before the late war. In the early part of that war both California and New Mexico were conquered by the arms of the United States, and were in the military possession of the United States at the date of the treaty of peace.

By that treaty the title by conquest was confirmed and these territories, provinces, or departments separated from Mexico forever, and by the same treaty certain important rights and securities were solemnly guaranteed to the inhabitants residing therein.

By the fifth article of the treaty it is declared that—

The boundary line between the two Republics shall commence in the Gulf of Mexico 3 leagues from land, opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande, otherwise called Rio Bravo del Norte, or opposite the mouth of its deepest branch if it should have more than one branch emptying directly into the sea; from thence up the middle of that river, following the deepest channel where it has more than one, to the point where it strikes the southern boundary of New Mexico; thence westwardly, along the whole southern boundary of New Mexico (which runs north of the town called Paso) to its western termination; thence northward along the western line of New Mexico until it intersects the first branch of the river Gila (or, if it should not intersect any branch of that river, then to the point on the said line nearest to such branch, and thence in a direct line to the same); thence down the middle of the said branch and of the said river until it empties into the Rio Colorado; thence across the Rio Colorado, following the division line between Upper and Lower California, to the Pacific Ocean.

The eighth article of the treaty is in the following terms:

Mexicans now established in territories previously belonging to Mexico, and which remain for the future within the limits of the United States as defined by the present treaty, shall be free to continue where they now reside or to remove at any time to the Mexican Republic, retaining the property which they possess in the said territories, or disposing thereof and removing the proceeds wherever they please without their being subjected on this account to any contribution, tax, or charge whatever.

Those who shall prefer to remain in the said territories may either retain the title, and rights of Mexican citizens or acquire those of citizens of the United States; but they shall be under the obligation to make their election within one year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty; and those who shall remain in the said territories after the expiration of that year without having declared their intention to retain the character of Mexicans shall be considered to have elected to become citizens of the United States.

In the said territories property of every kind now belonging to Mexicans not established there shall be inviolably respected. The present owners, the heirs of these, and all Mexicans who may hereafter acquire said property by contract shall enjoy with respect to it guaranties equally ample as if the same belonged to citizens of the United States.

The ninth article of the treaty is in these words:

The Mexicans who, in the territories aforesaid, shall not preserve the character of citizens of the Mexican Republic, conformably with what is stipulated in the preceding article, shall be incorporated into the Union of the United States and be admitted at the proper time (to be judged of by the Congress of the United States) to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the United States according to the principles of the Constitution, and in the meantime shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty and property and secured in the free exercise of their religion without restriction.

It is plain, therefore, on the face of these treaty stipulations that all Mexicans established in territories north or east of the line of demarcation already mentioned come within the protection of the ninth article, and that the treaty, being a part of the supreme law of the land, does extend over all such Mexicans, and assures to them perfect security in the free enjoyment of their liberty and property, as well as in the free exercise of their religion; and this supreme law of the land, being thus in actual force over this territory, is to be maintained until it shall be displaced or superseded by other legal provisions; and if it be obstructed or resisted by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the civil authority the case is one which comes within the provisions of law and which obliges the President to enforce those provisions. Neither the Constitution nor the laws nor my duty nor my oath of office leave me any alternative or any choice in my mode of action.

The executive government of the United States has no power or authority to determine what was the true line of boundary between Mexico and the United States before the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, nor has it any such power now, since the question has become a question between the State of Texas and the United States. So far as this boundary is doubtful, that doubt can only be removed by some act of Congress, to which the assent of the State of Texas may be necessary, or by some appropriate mode of legal adjudication; but in the meantime, if disturbances or collisions arise or should be threatened, it is absolutely incumbent on the executive government, however painful the duty, to take care that the laws be faithfully maintained; and he can regard only the actual state of things as it existed at the date of the treaty, and is bound to protect all inhabitants who were then established and who now remain north and east of the line of demarcation in the full enjoyment of their liberty and property, according to the provisions of the ninth article of the treaty. In other words, all must be now regarded as New Mexico which was possessed and occupied as New Mexico by citizens of Mexico at the date of the treaty until a definite line of boundary shall be established by competent authority.