Part 17
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation between the United States and the Republic of Costa Rica, signed in this city on the 10th day of July last.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _December 15, 1851_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I transmit to the Senate a report[13] of the Secretary of State, in answer to their resolution of the 8th of March last.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
[Footnote 13: Relating to the free navigation of the St. Lawrence, St. John, and other large rivers, and to the free enjoyment of the British North American fisheries by United States citizens.]
WASHINGTON, _December 15, 1851_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I have received a resolution of the Senate, adopted on the 12th instant, in the following terms:
_Resolved_, That the President of the United States be requested to communicate to the Senate, if not inconsistent with the public interest, any information the Executive may have received respecting the firing into and seizure of the American steamship _Prometheus_ by a British vessel of war in November last near Greytown, on the Mosquito Coast, and also what measures have been taken by the Executive to ascertain the state of the facts and to vindicate the honor of the country.
In answer to this request I submit to the Senate the accompanying extracts from a communication addressed to the Department of State by Mr. Joseph L. White, as counsel of the American, Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company, dated 2d instant.
This communication is the principal source of the information received by the Executive in relation to the subject alluded to, and is presumed to be essentially correct in its statement of the facts. Upon receiving this communication instructions such as the occasion seemed to demand were immediately dispatched to the minister of the United States in London. Sufficient time has not elapsed for the return of any answer to this dispatch from him, and in my judgment it would at the present moment be inconsistent with the public interest to communicate those instructions. A communication, however, of all the correspondence will be made to the Senate at the earliest moment at which a proper regard to the public interest will permit.
At the same time instructions were given to Commodore Parker, commanding the Home Squadron, a copy of which, so far as they relate to the case of the _Prometheus_, is herewith transmitted to the Senate.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _December 16, 1851_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 9th instant, requesting information in regard to the imprisonment of John S. Thrasher at Havana, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied it.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _December 16, 1851_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 8th instant, requesting the communication of a dispatch[14] addressed to the Department of State by Mr. Niles, late chargé d'affaires of the United States at Turin, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, which is accompanied by a copy of the dispatch.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
[Footnote 14: On the subject of a ship canal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.]
WASHINGTON, _December 23, 1851_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary of State, in answer to the first part[15] of a resolution of the 15th December, 1851, and also a report from the Secretary of the Navy, in answer to the remaining part[16] of the same resolution.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
[Footnote 15: Relating to the conclusion of a treaty between Spain, France, and Great Britain in respect to the island of Cuba.]
[Footnote 16: Pertaining to the relative strength of the British, French, and United States squadrons in the West India seas, and whether additional appropriations are necessary to increase the United States force on that station.]
WASHINGTON, _December 23, 1851_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
In answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 15th instant, requesting information in regard to the imprisonment, trial, and sentence of John S. Thrasher in the island of Cuba, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied it.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _December 29, 1851_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
I transmit herewith a copy of a letter of the 26th instant, addressed to the Secretary of State by the contractors for paying the next installment due to Mexico pursuant to the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, representing the necessity of an immediate appropriation by Congress of the money necessary for that purpose.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _January 2, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
As a further answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 15th ultimo, calling for information respecting the imprisonment, trial, and sentence of John S. Thrasher in the island of Cuba, I transmit another report from the Secretary of State.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _January 2, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit to the House of Representatives a copy of the resolution adopted by the Legislative Council of Canada, together with the copy of the note by which the resolution was communicated to this Government, expressing the satisfaction of that Council at receiving intelligence of certain donations in aid of the reconstruction of the library of the Canadian Parliament.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
[The same message, dated January 6, 1852, was sent to the Senate.]
WASHINGTON, _January 3, 1852_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I nominate Elisha Whittlesey and Elias S. Terry to be commissioners under the seventeenth article of the treaty concluded with the Cherokee tribe of Indians at New Echota on the 29th day of December, 1835, to adjudicate the claim of David Taylor for 640 acres of land, which has been duly appraised in accordance with the terms of the ninth article of said treaty, but not paid for. The facts of the case will more fully appear in the accompanying papers from the Department of the Interior.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _January 5, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I transmit to the House of Representatives a report of the Secretary of State, relative to the persons belonging to the expedition of Lopez who were taken prisoners in Cuba and afterwards sent to Spain, and who have now been pardoned and released by Her Catholic Majesty. The appropriation the expediency of which is suggested in the report I cordially commend to the consideration of Congress, with the single additional suggestion that to be available it should be promptly made.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
[The same message was sent to the Senate.]
WASHINGTON, _January 9, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
In answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 15th ultimo, requesting information in regard to the Territory of Utah, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom the resolution was referred.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _January 12, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 5th instant, I herewith transmit to it a report and accompanying papers[17] from the Secretary of State.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
[Footnote 17: Relating to a circular issued by the secretary of state for the British colonial department relative to the employment in the British West India colonies of free blacks and liberated slaves from the United States.]
WASHINGTON, _January 16, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I transmit a copy of a letter which has been addressed to me by the secretary of the Territory of Utah since my recent message to the House of Representatives in answer to its resolution requesting information in regard to the affairs of that Territory.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _January 19, 1852_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit to Congress a report from the Secretary of State, accompanied by a letter to him from the contractors for paying the installment of Mexican indemnity due on the 31st May next, and respectfully invite attention to the subject.
MILLARD FILLMORE
WASHINGTON, _January 20, 1852_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I communicate to both Houses of Congress a report from the Department of State, containing copies of the correspondence which has taken place between that Department and the minister of the United States in Paris respecting the political occurrences which have recently taken place in France.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _January 22, 1852_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
In compliance with a resolution of the Senate passed March 13, 1851, I herewith transmit a report of the Secretary of War, containing information in regard to the claims of citizens of California for services rendered and for money and for property furnished in 1846 and 1847 in the conquest of that country.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _January 23, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied it, upon the subject of a resolution of the House of Representatives of yesterday, relative to the Mexican indemnity.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _January 28, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 15th ultimo, requesting information respecting the seizure and confiscation of the bark _Georgiana_, of Maine, and brig _Susan Loud_, of Massachusetts,[18] I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied it.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
[Footnote 18: By the Spanish or Cuban authorities]
WASHINGTON, _January 28, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 7th August, 1850, and the 17th December, 1851, requesting information touching the claims of citizens of the United States on the Government of Portugal, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied the same.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _February 9, 1852_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation between the United States and the Republic of Peru, concluded and signed at Lima on the 26th day of July last.
A copy of a dispatch of Mr. J.R. Clay, the chargé d'affaires of the United States at Lima, to the Secretary of State, bearing date the 6th December last, is also transmitted for the information of the Senate.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _February 10, 1852_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
I transmit to Congress a copy of the instruction dispatched from the Department of State to the minister of the United States at London respecting the attack on the United States steamer _Prometheus_ in the harbor of San Juan de Nicaragua by the British brig of war _Express_, and also a copy of the dispatches of Mr. Lawrence to that Department and of his correspondence with Her Britannic Majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs on the same subject.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
_Washington City, February 10, 1852_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Interior, containing a report from Thomas U. Walter, architect for the extension of the Capitol.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _February 12, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 26th of December last, requesting information in regard to the seizure of the brig _Arve_[19] at Jeremie, in the island of St. Domingo, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which it was accompanied.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
[Footnote 19: By Haytien authorities.]
WASHINGTON, _February 12, 1852_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 26th ultimo, requesting information upon the subject of the mission of Mr. Balistier, late consul at Singapore, to eastern Asia, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied it.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _February 13, 1852_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I transmit herewith, for the constitutional action of the Senate, treaties recently concluded with certain Indian tribes at Traverse des Sioux, Mendota, Pembina, and Fort Laramie, together with communications from the Department of the Interior and other documents connected therewith.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _February 14, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I communicate to the House of Representatives herewith a report to me, dated the 13th instant, from the Secretary of the Interior, respecting the delay and difficulty in making the apportionment among the several States of the Representatives in the Thirty-third Congress, as required by the act of 23d May, 1850, in consequence of the want of full returns of the population of the State of California, and suggesting the necessity for remedial legislation.
The subject is one of much importance, and I earnestly commend it to the early consideration of Congress.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
[The same message was sent to the Senate.]
WASHINGTON, _February 16, 1852_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit to Congress a letter addressed to the Secretary of State by the commissioner of the United States under the convention with Brazil, setting forth the obstacles which have impeded the conclusion of the business of that commission.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _February 16, 1852_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I herewith communicate to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty of commerce and navigation concluded by the minister resident of the United States at Constantinople with the chargé d'affaires of the Shah of Persia at the same place. The treaty is in the Persian and French languages, but is accompanied by an English translation. A copy of the correspondence between the Department of State and the legation of the United States at Constantinople on the subject is also herewith communicated.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _February 18, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives requesting the official correspondence respecting an alleged misunderstanding between Captain Long, of the Navy of the United States, and Louis Kossuth, I transmit reports from the Secretaries of State and of the Navy and the papers which accompanied them.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _March 1, 1852_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
In compliance with the provisions of the act of Congress of the 11th August, 1848, I transmit to that body the copy of a dispatch from the commissioner _ad interim_ of the United States at Canton, together with the copy of certain rules and regulations for masters, officers, and seamen of vessels of the United States of America at the free ports of China, which accompanied said dispatch, and which are submitted for the revision of Congress.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _March 4, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 17th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy and a report from the Solicitor of the Treasury Department in relation to the accounts of Prosper M. Wetmore, late navy agent in the city of New York.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _March 4, 1852_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit to Congress a letter addressed to me by the governor of the Territory of Minnesota, with the statements to which it refers, of the disbursements up to the 1st of January last of the money appropriated by the act approved June 11, 1850, for the erection of public buildings in that Territory.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _March 4, 1852_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit to Congress a dispatch addressed to the Secretary of State by the minister of the United States at Mexico, and the papers therein referred to, relative to the cemetery which has been constructed in the neighborhood of that city as a place of sepulture for the remains of the officers and soldiers of the United States who died or were killed in that vicinity during the late war, and for such citizens of the United States as may hereafter die there. A copy of the report of the agent who was sent for the purpose of superintending the work is also herewith transmitted. It will be seen that a sum of $2,500 or $3,000, in addition to the amount appropriated by the act of Congress approved September 28, 1850, is represented to be necessary to carry the objects of that appropriation into full effect. I accordingly recommend that provision therefor may be made.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _March 25, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
As a further answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 5th of January last, requesting information in regard to a circular of Her Britannic Majesty's secretary of state for colonial affairs in respect to the encouragement of the emigration of colored laborers from the United States to the British West India islands, I transmit another dispatch addressed to the Department of State by the minister of the United States at London.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _March 26, 1852_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
At the close of the commission to adjudicate upon the claims of citizens of the United States under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo I directed a list to be made of papers which had been presented to that commission, and, pursuant to the act of Congress approved 3d March, 1849, the papers themselves to be carefully arranged and deposited for safe-keeping in the Department of State. I deemed all this necessary as well for the interest of the claimants as to secure the Government against fraudulent claims which might be preferred hereafter. A few days since I was surprised to learn that some of these papers had been fraudulently abstracted by one of the claimants, and upon the case being made known to me by the Secretary of State I referred it to the Attorney-General for the purpose of ascertaining what punishment could be inflicted upon the person who had been guilty of this offense.
I now communicate to you his opinion and that of the attorney of the United States for this District, by which you will perceive that it is doubtful whether there be any law for punishing the very grave offense of fraudulently abstracting or mutilating the papers and public documents in the several Departments of this Government. It appears to me that the protection of the public records and papers requires that such acts should be made penal and a suitable punishment inflicted upon the offender, and I therefore bring the subject to your consideration, to enable you to act upon it should you concur with me in this opinion.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _March 26, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 18th instant, I transmit a copy of the correspondence with John P. Gaines, governor of the Territory of Oregon, relative to the seat of government of said Territory.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _March 29, 1852_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 24th instant, relating to the extension of the Capitol, I have the honor to submit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Interior, which furnishes, it is believed, the required information.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON CITY, _March 29, 1852_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I have the resolution of your honorable body adopted in executive session March 24, 1852, by which I am requested to return to the Senate the resolution advising and consenting to the appointment of George C. Laurason as collector of the customs for the district of New Orleans, provided a commission had not been issued to him, and in reply thereto I would respectfully state that prior to the receipt of said resolution I had signed the commission to Mr. Laurason and transmitted it to the Secretary of the Treasury, to whom your resolution was immediately referred; and I have the honor now to transmit his reply, by which it will be seen that the commission, after having been duly executed, was sent to the First Comptroller, where it still remains. I suppose, according to the doctrine laid down in the case of Marbury _v._ Madison (1 Cranch R., 137), the appointment must be deemed complete, and nothing short of the removal of Mr. Laurason can enable me again to submit his nomination to the consideration of the Senate; but as the commission has not been technically issued to Mr. Laurason, I deem it most respectful to comply with your request by returning the copy of the resolution which notified me that the Senate advised and consented to his appointment.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON CITY, _April 6, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 31st ultimo, I have the honor herewith to transmit a report from the Secretary of War, accompanied by the original manuscript report of Captain Thomas J. Crane, dated February 3, 1844, on the best mode of improving the navigation of the Ohio River at the Falls of Louisville, together with the original maps accompanying the same.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _April 8, 1852_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I herewith transmit to the Senate, in reply to their resolution of the 4th ultimo, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers.[20]
MILLARD FILLMORE.
[Footnote 20: Relating to the relations between the United States and Japan.]
WASHINGTON, _April 19, 1852_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I invite the attention of Congress to the state of affairs in the Territory of Oregon, growing out of a conflict of opinion among the authorities of that Territory in regard to a proper construction of the acts of Congress approved the 14th August, 1848, and 11th June, 1850, the former entitled "An act to establish a Territorial government of Oregon," and the latter entitled "An act to make further appropriations for public buildings in the Territories of Minnesota and Oregon." In order to enable Congress to understand the controversy and apply such remedy with a view to adjust it as may be deemed expedient, I transmit--
1. An act of the legislative assembly of that Territory, passed February 1, 1851, entitled "An act to provide for the selection of places for the location and erection of public buildings of the Territory of Oregon."
2. Governor Gaines's message to the legislative assembly of the 3d February, 1851.
3. The opinion of the Attorney-General of the United States of 23d April, in regard to the act of the legislative assembly of the 1st February, 1851.
4. The opinion of the supreme court of Oregon, pronounced on the 9th December, 1851.
5. A letter of Judge Pratt of the 15th December, 1851, dissenting from that opinion.
6. Governor Gaines's letter to the President of the 1st January, 1852.