Part 6

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 13th instant, requesting a confidential communication of information touching the expedition under the authority of this Government for the purpose of opening trade with Japan, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom the resolution was referred.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, D.C., _April 1, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith the report of the Secretary of State in reply to the resolution of the Senate of the 27th ultimo.

That part of the document which purports to recite my official instructions is strictly correct; that which is avowedly unofficial and unauthorized, it can hardly be necessary for me to say, in view of the documents already before the Senate, does not convey a correct impression of my "views and wishes."

At no time after an intention was entertained of sending Mr. Ward as special agent to Mexico was either the Garay grant or the convention entered into by Mr. Conkling alluded to otherwise than as subjects which might embarrass the negotiation of the treaty, and were consequently not included in the instructions.

While the departure of Mr. Ward, under any circumstances or in any respect, from the instructions committed to him is a matter of regret, it is just to say that, although he failed to convey in his letter to General Gadsden the correct import of remarks made by me anterior to his appointment as special agent, I impute to him no design of misrepresentation.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _April 5, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate a report of the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents,[14] in compliance with their resolution of the 14th ultimo.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 14: Correspondence relative to the seizure of Martin Koszta by Austrian authorities at Smyrna.]

WASHINGTON, _April 5, 1854_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to the House of Representatives a report of the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents,[15] in further compliance with their resolution of the 10th of March, 1854.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 15: Relating to violations of the rights of American citizens by Spanish authorities and their refusal to allow United States vessels to enter ports of Cuba, etc.]

WASHINGTON, _April 5, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report[16] from the Secretary of State, in answer to the resolution of the Senate in executive session of the 3d instant.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 16: Relating to expeditions organized in California for the invasion of Sonora, Mexico.]

WASHINGTON, _April 8, 1854_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith to the House of Representatives a report[17] of the Secretary of State, in answer to their resolution of the 3d instant.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 17: Stating that the correspondence relative to the refusal by the authorities of Cuba to permit the United States mail steamer _Crescent City_ to land mail and passengers at Havana had been transmitted with the message to the House of April 5, 1854.]

WASHINGTON, _April 10, 1854_

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate to the Senate herewith a communication from the Secretary of the Interior, accompanied by the articles of a convention recently entered into for an exchange of country for the future residence of the Winnebago Indians, and recommend their ratification with the amendment suggested by the Secretary of the Interior.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _April 11, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report[18] from the Secretary of State, in reply to the Senate's resolution of yesterday passed in executive session.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 18: Relating to claims growing out of the eleventh article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.]

WASHINGTON, _April 12, 1854_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents,[19] in compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 4th instant.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 19: Correspondence relative to the seizure of Martin Koszta by Austrian authorities at Smyrna.]

WASHINGTON, _April 13, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report[20] from the Secretary of State, in reply to the resolution of the Senate adopted in executive session yesterday.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 20: Relating to the abrogation of the eleventh article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, etc.]

WASHINGTON, _April 24, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have the honor to transmit herewith a report of the Attorney-General, suggesting modifications in the manner of conducting the legal business of the Government, which are respectfully commended to your favorable consideration.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[The same message was also addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.]

WASHINGTON, _April 27, 1834_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress a copy of a correspondence between the Secretary of State and Her Britannic Majesty's minister accredited to this Government, and between the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury, relative to the expediency of further measures for the safety, health, and comfort of immigrants to the United States by sea. As it is probable that further legislation may be necessary for the purpose of securing those desirable objects, I commend the subject to the consideration of Congress.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _May 2, 1854_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit the report[21] of the Secretary of State in compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 5th ultimo.

It is presumed that the omission from the resolution of the usual clause giving the Executive a discretion in its answer was accidental, and as there does not appear to be anything in the accompanying papers which upon public considerations should require them to be withheld, they are communicated accordingly.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 21: Relating to the application of Rev. James Cook Richmond for redress of wrongs alleged to have been committed by Austrian authorities in Pest, and to the refusal to grant an exequatur upon the commission of the United States consul appointed for Trieste.]

WASHINGTON, _May 5, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents,[22] in compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 12th ultimo.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 22: Correspondence relative to the arrest and detention at Bremen of Conrad Schmidt, and arrest and maltreatment at Heidelberg of E.T. Dana, W.B. Dingle, and David Ramsay, all citizens of the United States; correspondence with the King of Prussia relative to religious toleration.]

WASHINGTON, _May 5, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report[23] from the Secretary of State, together with the documents therein referred to, in compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 12th January last.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 23: Relating to the impressment of seamen from the United States whale ship _Addison_ at Valparaiso, and imprisonment of William A. Stewart, an American citizen, at Valparaiso on the charge of murder, and on conviction released by Chilean authorities.]

WASHINGTON, _May 11, 1854_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers,[24] in answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 1st instant.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 24: Relating to the rights accorded to neutrals and the rights claimed by belligerents in the war between certain European powers.]

WASHINGTON, _May 20, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents,[25] in compliance with the Senate's resolution of the 30th of January last.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 25: Correspondence relative to the difficulties between Rev. Jonas King and the Government of Greece.]

WASHINGTON, _May 23, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, on the subject of documents[26] called for by the resolution of the Senate of the 9th instant.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 26: Researches of H.S. Sanford, late chargé d'affaires at Paris, on the condition of penal law in continental Europe, etc.; also a "Memoir on the Administrative Changes in France since the Revolution of 1848," by H.S. Sanford.]

WASHINGTON, _May 25, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate to the Senate herewith, for its constitutional action thereon, four several treaties recently negotiated in this city by George W. Manypenny, as commissioner on the part of the United States, with the delegates of the Delaware, Ioway, Kickapoo, and Sac and Fox tribes of Indians.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _May 29, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate to the Senate herewith, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty negotiated on the 12th instant at the Falls of Wolf River, in Wisconsin, by Francis Huebschmann, superintendent of Indian affairs for the northern superintendency, and the Menomonee Indians, by the chiefs, headmen, and warriors of that tribe.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _May 30, 1854_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents,[27] in compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 20th December last.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 27: Correspondence relative to the imposition of Sound dues, etc., upon United States commerce to the Baltic.]

WASHINGTON, _June 12, 1854_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers,[28] in answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 24th of April last.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 28: Relating to the instructions referred to by President Monroe in his annual message of December 2, 1823, on the subject of the issue of commissions to private armed vessels.]

WASHINGTON, _June 19, 1854_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents,[29] in compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 30th ultimo.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 29: Correspondence of the American minister to Turkey relative to the expulsion of the Greeks from Constantinople.]

WASHINGTON, _June 20, 1854_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I have received information that the Government of Mexico has agreed to the several amendments proposed by the Senate to the treaty between the United States and the Republic of Mexico signed on the 30th of December last, and has authorized its envoy extraordinary to this Government to exchange the ratifications thereof. The time within which the ratifications can be exchanged will expire on the 30th instant.

There is a provision in the treaty for the payment by the United States to Mexico of the sum of $7,000,000 on the exchange of ratifications and the further sum of $3,000,000 when the boundaries of the ceded territory shall be settled.

To be enabled to comply with the stipulation according to the terms of the treaty relative to the payments therein mentioned, it will be necessary that Congress should make an appropriation of $7,000,000 for that purpose before the 30th instant, and also the further sum of $3,000,000, to be paid when the boundaries shall be established.

I therefore respectfully request that these sums may be put at the disposal of the Executive.

I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives a copy of the said treaty.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _June 20, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty extending the right of fishing and regulating the commerce and navigation between Her Britannic Majesty's possessions in North America and the United States, concluded in this city on the 5th instant between the United States and Her Britannic Majesty.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _June 24, 1854_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit to Congress the copy of two communications of the 26th ultimo and 4th instant, respectively, from Her Britannic Majesty's minister accredited to this Government to the Secretary of State, relative to the health on shipboard of immigrants from foreign countries to the United States. This was the subject of my message to Congress of the 27th of April last.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON CITY, _June 29, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith communicate to the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, three treaties recently negotiated in this city by George W. Manypenny, as commissioner on the part of the United States; one concluded on the 19th ultimo with the delegates of the Shawnee Indians, one on the 5th instant with the Miami Indians, and the other on the 30th ultimo with the united tribes of Kaskaskia and Peoria and Wea and Piankeshaw Indians.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _July 3, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, an article of agreement made on the 13th day of June, 1854, by William H. Garrett, agent on the part of the United States, and a delegation of Creek Indians, supplementary to the Creek treaty of 1838.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _July 5, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 1st instant, I herewith return the articles of convention made and concluded with the Winnebago Indians on the 6th of August, 1853, together with the Senate resolution of the 9th ultimo, advising and consenting to the ratification of the same with amendments.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _July 12, 1854_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith the inclosed communication from the Secretary of the Navy, respecting the observations of Lieutenant James M. Gillis, of the United States Navy, and the accompanying documents.[30]

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 30: Report of the United States naval astronomical expedition to the Southern Hemisphere.]

WASHINGTON, _July 12, 1854_.

_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 Empire of Japan, signed at Kanagawa on the 31st day of March last by the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments. The Chinese and Dutch translations of the instrument and the chart and sketch to which it refers are also herewith communicated.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _July 17, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a convention between the United States and Her Britannic Majesty for the extension of the period limited for the duration of the mixed commission under convention between the United States and Great Britain of the 8th of February, 1853.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _July 19, 1854_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers,[31] in answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 6th of February last.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 31: Correspondence of Humphrey Marshall, commissioner to China.]

WASHINGTON, _July 22, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have this day given my signature to the "Act making further appropriations for the improvement of the Cape Fear River, in North Carolina."

The occasion seems to render it proper for me to deviate from the ordinary course of announcing the approval of bills by an oral statement only, and, for the purpose of preventing any misapprehension which might otherwise arise from the phraseology of this act, to communicate in writing that my approval is given to it on the ground that the obstructions which the proposed appropriation is intended to remove are the result of acts of the General Government.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _July 24, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a convention concerning the rights of neutrals, concluded in this city on the 22d instant between the United States and His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _July 26, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, in answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 23d of May last, relative to the slave trade in the island of Cuba.

The information contained in the papers accompanying the report will, it is believed, be considered important, and perhaps necessary to enable the Senate to form an opinion upon the subjects to which they relate; but doubts may be entertained in regard to the expediency of publishing some of the documents at this juncture.

This communication is accordingly addressed to the Senate in executive session, in order that a discretion may be exercised in regard to its publication.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _July 27, 1854_.

The PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 24th instant, requesting me to cause to be transmitted to the Senate the Fourth Meteorological Report of Professor Espy, the accompanying papers and charts are respectfully submitted.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _July 29, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the Senate resolution of the 10th July instant, requesting that I would "cause to be communicated to the Senate copies of all the correspondence and other official documents on file in the Department of the Interior respecting the claims of persons for services performed and supplies and subsistence furnished to Indians in California under contracts with Indian agents in the year 1851, and embracing the names of claimants, the amount, respectively, of their claims, on what account created and by what authority, if any," I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of the Interior, accompanied by copies of all the papers called for which have not heretofore been furnished. As it appears that most of the papers called for were communicated to the Senate at its first and special sessions of the Thirty-second Congress, I have not supposed that it was the intention of the Senate to have them again sent, and I have therefore not directed them to be copied.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _July 31, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 28th instant, requesting information in respect to the bombardment of San Juan de Nicaragua, I transmit reports from the Secretaries of State and of the Navy, with the documents which accompanied them.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _July 31, 1854_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 28th instant, requesting information in regard to the destruction of San Juan de Nicaragua, I transmit reports from the Secretaries of State and of the Navy, with the documents accompanying them.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _August 1, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I hasten to respond briefly to the resolution of the Senate of this date, "requesting the President to inform the Senate, if in his opinion it be not incompatible with the public interest, whether anything has arisen since the date of his message to the House of Representatives of the 15th of March last concerning our relations with the Government of Spain which in his opinion may dispense with the suggestions therein contained touching the propriety of 'provisional measures' by Congress to meet any exigency that may arise in the recess of Congress affecting those relations."

In the message to the House of Representatives referred to I availed myself of the occasion to present the following reflections and suggestions:

In view of the position of the island of Cuba, its proximity to our coast, the relations which it must ever bear to our commercial and other interests, it is vain to expect that a series of unfriendly acts infringing our commercial rights and the adoption of a policy threatening the honor and security of these States can long consist with peaceful relations.

In case the measures taken for amicable adjustment of our difficulties with Spain should, unfortunately, fail, I shall not hesitate to use the authority and means which Congress may grant to insure the observance of our just rights, to obtain redress for injuries received, and to vindicate the honor of our flag.

In anticipation of that contingency, which I earnestly hope may not arise, I suggest to Congress the propriety of adopting such provisional measures as the exigency may seem to demand.

The two Houses of Congress may have anticipated that the hope then expressed would be realized before the period of its adjournment, and that our relations with Spain would have assumed a satisfactory condition, so as to remove past causes of complaint and afford better security for tranquillity and justice in the future. But I am constrained to say that such is not the fact. The formal demand for immediate reparation in the case of the _Black Warrior_, instead of having been met on the part of Spain by prompt satisfaction, has only served to call forth a justification of the local authorities of Cuba, and thus to transfer the responsibility for their acts to the Spanish Government itself.

Meanwhile information, not only reliable in its nature, but of an official character, was received to the effect that preparation was making within the limits of the United States by private individuals under military organization for a descent upon the island of Cuba with a view to wrest that colony from the dominion of Spain. International comity, the obligations of treaties, and the express provisions of law alike required, in my judgment, that all the constitutional power of the Executive should be exerted to prevent the consummation of such a violation of positive law and of that good faith on which mainly the amicable relations of neighboring nations must depend. In conformity with these convictions of public duty, a proclamation was issued to warn all persons not to participate in the contemplated enterprise and to invoke the interposition in this behalf of the proper officers of the Government. No provocation whatever can justify private expeditions of hostility against a country at peace with the United States. The power to declare war is vested by the Constitution in Congress, and the experience of our past history leaves no room to doubt that the wisdom of this arrangement of constitutional power will continue to be verified whenever the national interest and honor shall demand a resort to ultimate measures of redress. Pending negotiations by the Executive, and before the action of Congress, individuals could not be permitted to embarrass the operations of the one and usurp the powers of the other of these depositaries of the functions of Government.

I have only to add that nothing has arisen since the date of my former message to "dispense with the suggestions therein contained touching the propriety of provisional measures by Congress."

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _August 2, 1854_.

_To the Senate of the United States_: