A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Volume - James D. Richardson
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 charge 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 charge
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.
7. Report of the Attorney-General of the United States on that letter,
dated 22d March, 1852.
If it should be the sense of Congress that the seat of government
of Oregon has not already been established by the local authorities
pursuant to the law of the United States for the organization of that
Territory, or, if so established, should be deemed objectionable, in
order to appease the strife upon the subject which seems to have arisen
in that Territory I recommend that the seat of government be either
permanently or temporarily ordained by act of Congress, and that that
body should in the same manner express its approval or disapproval
of such laws as may have been enacted in the Territory at the place
alleged to be its seat of government, and which may be so enacted
until intelligence of the decision of Congress shall reach there.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _May 1, 1852_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice with regard
to its ratification, a convention between the United States and the Free
and Hanseatic Republics of Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck, signed in this
city by their respective plenipotentiaries on the 30th day of April,
A.D. 1852, for the mutual extension of the jurisdiction of consuls. A
copy of a note from the special plenipotentiary of Hamburg, Bremen, and
Lubeck accompanies the convention.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _May 5, 1852_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
On the 3d of March, 1849, a general convention of peace, amity,
commerce, and navigation between the United States and the Republic of
Guatemala, by Elijah Hise, the charge d'affaires of the United States
to that Republic, on the part of this Government, and by Senor Don Jose
Mariano Rodriguez, minister for foreign affairs, on the part of the
Government of Guatemala. This convention was approved by the Senate
on the 24th of September, 1850, and by a resolution of the 27th of
that month that body authorized the ratification of this Government
to be exchanged for the ratification of the Government of Guatemala at
any time prior to the 1st of April, 1851. I accordingly ratified the
convention on the 14th of November, 1850, but there was then no person
in this country authorized to effect the exchange of ratifications on
the part of the Guatemalan Government, and the United States had no
diplomatic representative there. When, however, in the summer of 1851,
Mr. J. Bozman Kerr proceeded to Nicaragua as the charge d'affaires of
the United States, he was empowered and instructed, when he should have
concluded the business, which it was presumed would not have detained
him long, in Nicaragua, to repair to Guatemala and effect the exchange
on the part of this Government. Circumstances, however, have hitherto
prevented him from accomplishing this object. Meanwhile Senor Don Felipe
Molina has been received as charge d'affaires of Guatemala here, and has
been empowered to effect the exchange on the part of that Government.
I accordingly recommend that the Senate authorize a further extension
of the period for exchanging the ratifications, in order that the
convention may go into operation. It is presumed that if this
recommendation should be adopted a few weeks from the date of the
decision of the Senate upon the subject would be necessary to complete
the preparations for carrying it into effect.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _May 29, 1852_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
The resolution of the Senate of the 6th instant, requesting the "papers
and proofs on file in any of the Executive Departments touching the
claim of Samuel A. Belden & Co., of Brownsville, Tex., against the
Mexican Government for injuries inflicted upon said Belden & Co., as
alleged by them in violation of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo," was
referred to the heads of those Departments, and the documents herewith
transmitted have been reported to me from the Department of State
as comprising all on the files of that Department called for by the
resolution, with the exception of those of a diplomatic character. As
the claim referred to is a subject of negotiation with the Mexican
Government, it is not deemed expedient at this juncture to make public
the documents which have been reserved. According to the reports of
the Secretary of the Treasury, of the Secretary of the Interior,
of the Secretary of War, of the Secretary of the Navy, and of the
Postmaster-General, there are no papers in their respective Departments
relative to the claim of Messrs. Belden & Co.