A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Volume - James D. Richardson
A claim has been advanced by the State of Texas to a very large portion
of the most populous district of the Territory commonly designated by
the name of New Mexico. If the people of New Mexico had formed a plan of
a State government for that Territory as ceded by the treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, and had been admitted by Congress as a State, our
Constitution would have afforded the means of obtaining an adjustment of
the question of boundary with Texas by a judicial decision. At present,
however, no judicial tribunal has the power of deciding that question,
and it remains for Congress to devise some mode for its adjustment.
Meanwhile I submit to Congress the question whether it would be
expedient before such adjustment to establish a Territorial government,
which by including the district so claimed would practically decide the
question adversely to the State of Texas, or by excluding it would
decide it in her favor. In my opinion such a course would not be
expedient, especially as the people of this Territory still enjoy the
benefit and protection of their municipal laws originally derived from
Mexico and have a military force stationed there to protect them against
the Indians. It is undoubtedly true that the property, lives, liberties,
and religion of the people of New Mexico are better protected than they
ever were before the treaty of cession.
Should Congress, when California shall present herself for incorporation
into the Union, annex a condition to her admission as a State affecting
her domestic institutions contrary to the wishes of her people, and even
compel her temporarily to comply with it, yet the State could change her
constitution at any time after admission when to her it should seem
expedient. Any attempt to deny to the people of the State the right of
self-government in a matter which peculiarly affects themselves will
infallibly be regarded by them as an invasion of their rights, and, upon
the principles laid down in our own Declaration of Independence, they
will certainly be sustained by the great mass of the American people. To
assert that they are a conquered people and must as a State submit to
the will of their conquerors in this regard will meet with no cordial
response among American freemen. Great numbers of them are native
citizens of the United States, not inferior to the rest of our
countrymen in intelligence and patriotism, and no language of menace to
restrain them in the exercise of an undoubted right, substantially
guaranteed to them by the treaty of cession itself, shall ever be
uttered by me or encouraged and sustained by persons acting under my
authority. It is to be expected that in the residue of the territory
ceded to us by Mexico the people residing there will at the time of
their incorporation into the Union as a State settle all questions of
domestic policy to suit themselves.
No material inconvenience will result from the want for a short period
of a government established by Congress over that part of the territory
which lies eastward of the new State of California; and the reasons for
my opinion that New Mexico will at no very distant period ask for
admission into the Union are founded on unofficial information which, I
suppose, is common to all who have cared to make inquiries on that
subject.
Seeing, then, that the question which now excites such painful
sensations in the country will in the end certainly be settled by the
silent effect of causes independent of the action of Congress, I again
submit to your wisdom the policy recommended in my annual message of
awaiting the salutary operation of those causes, believing that we shall
thus avoid the creation of geographical parties and secure the harmony
of feeling so necessary to the beneficial action of our political
system. Connected, as the Union is, with the remembrance of past
happiness, the sense of present blessings, and the hope of future peace
and prosperity, every dictate of wisdom, every feeling of duty, and
every emotion of patriotism tend to inspire fidelity and devotion to it
and admonish us cautiously to avoid any unnecessary controversy which
can either endanger it or impair its strength, the chief element of
which is to be found in the regard and affection of the people for each
other.
Z. TAYLOR.
[A similar message, dated January 21, 1850, was sent to the House of
Representatives, in answer to a resolution of that body.]
WASHINGTON, _January 23, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate a copy of the convention between the United
States and His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, providing for the
satisfaction of claims of citizens of the United States against the
Brazilian Government, signed at Rio de Janeiro on the 27th of January
last, and the ratifications of which were exchanged in this city on the
18th instant. It is desirable that Congress should prescribe the mode in
which the claims referred to are to be adjusted and the money stipulated
to be paid by Brazil shall be distributed amongst the claimants.
Extracts from dispatches of the minister of the United States at Rio de
Janeiro and a copy of a letter from an agent of claimants there are also
herewith communicated, to which your attention is invited. I have
authorized our minister to demand, receive, and give acquittances for
the amount payable by Brazil, and have caused him to be instructed to
remit the same to the Treasury of the United States.
Z. TAYLOR.
[The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.]
WASHINGTON, _January 30, 1850 _.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In reply to the resolution of the Senate of the 7th instant, requesting
of me all the official correspondence since the 4th of March last
between this Government and its military authorities at Santa Fe or with
the authorities of the State of Texas relating to the boundary or
occupation of Texas, and the reasons why the judicial authority of Texas
has not been recognized by the military authority at Santa Fe, I
herewith submit the accompanying reports, which contain the information
called for by the resolution.
I have not been informed of any acts of interference by the military
forces stationed at Santa Fe with the judicial authority of Texas
established or sought to be established there. I have received no
communication from the governor of Texas on any of the matters referred
to in the resolution. And I concur in the opinion expressed by my
predecessor in the letter addressed by the late Secretary of State to
the governor of Texas on the 12th day of February, 1847, that the
boundary between the State of Texas and the Territory of New Mexico "is
a subject which more properly belongs to the legislative than to the
executive branch of the Government."
Z. TAYLOR.
WASHINGTON, _February 6, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In reply to the resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo, I have to
state that the resolution of the Senate of the 2d of March, 1849,
respecting James W. Schaumburg, was in April of that year submitted for
the opinion of the Attorney-General upon questions arising in the case.
No opinion had been given by him when it became necessary, prior to the
meeting of the Senate, to prepare the nominations for promotions in the
Army. The nomination of Lieutenant Ewell was then decided upon, after
due consideration was given to the resolution of the Senate of the 2d of
March, 1849.
I herewith submit a report from the Secretary of War, showing the
grounds upon which the decision above referred to was made.
Z. TAYLOR.
WASHINGTON, _February 13, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I have received a resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo,
requesting the President of the United States "to cause to be laid
before the Senate, in open session if in his opinion consistent with the
public interest, otherwise in executive session, copies of all
instructions and communications of the late Secretary of State to our
late charge d'affaires to Guatemala and all dispatches and
communications from said charge d'affaires to the Department of State,
including any conventions or treaties he may have concluded with either
of the States composing the late Republic of Central America; and also
all correspondence between our said charge d'affaires and the Government
or representatives of either of said States; and also all instructions
and communications from the present Secretary of State to our late
charge d'affaires or our present charge d'affaires to either of said
States and all dispatches or communications from our charge d'affaires
to the Department of State, including any conventions or treaties he may
have concluded with either of said States; and also all correspondence
between the Department of State and either of said charges d'affaires
touching the so-called Kingdom of the Mosquitos and the right of way
from the Atlantic to the Pacific through Lake Nicaragua."
The information called for by this resolution will be cheerfully
communicated to the Senate as soon as it shall be found to be compatible
with the public interest.
Z. TAYLOR.
WASHINGTON, _February 13, 1850_.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States:_
I have received a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 24th
ultimo, requesting the President of the United States "to communicate to
that body (provided the publication thereof be not prejudicial to the
public interest) all such information as may be within the knowledge of
the executive department relative to the alleged extraordinary
proceedings of the English Government in the forcible seizure and
occupation of the island of Tigre, in the State of Nicaragua, Central
America; also all facts, circumstances, or communications within the
knowledge of the Executive relative to any seizure, occupation, or
attempted seizure or occupation, by the English Government of any port,
river, town, territory, or island belonging to or claimed by any of the
States of Central America; also that he be requested to communicate to
this House, if not incompatible with the public interest, all treaties
not heretofore published which may have been negotiated with any of the
States of Central America by any person acting by authority from the
late Administration or under the auspices of the present Executive." The
information called for by this resolution will be cheerfully
communicated to the House as soon as it shall be found compatible with
the public interest.
Z. TAYLOR.
WASHINGTON, _February 13, 1850_.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States:_
I transmit herewith to the House of Representatives, for the information
of that body, an authenticated copy of the constitution of the State of
California, received by me from General Riley.
Z. TAYLOR.
WASHINGTON, _February 13, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit herewith to the Senate, for the information of that body, an
authenticated copy of the constitution of California, received by me
from the Hon. William M. Gwyn.
Z. TAYLOR.
WASHINGTON, _March 1, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In reply to the resolution of the Senate of the 12th ultimo, requesting
the President of the United States "to inform the Senate of the amount
of prize money paid into the Treasury in conformity with the eighteenth
section of the act of March 3, 1849," etc., I transmit herewith a report
from the Secretary of the Navy, with accompanying documents.
Z. TAYLOR.
WASHINGTON, _March 4, 1850_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:_
I herewith transmit to Congress copies of a recent correspondence
between the Department of State and the British minister at Washington,
relating to subjects[3a] which seem to require the consideration of the
legislative rather than the executive branch of the Government.
[Footnote 3a: Navigation laws and tariff on British productions.]
Z. TAYLOR.
WASHINGTON, _March 6, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In answer to the inquiries contained in the resolution of the Senate of
the 4th instant, in relation to the appointment of postmasters by the
Postmaster-General, I send to the Senate herewith the letter of the
Postmaster-General furnishing the desired information.
Z. TAYLOR.
MARCH 8, 1850.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
The Postmaster-General has this day communicated to me the letter
herewith transmitted, in addition to his communication by me sent to the
Senate on the 6th instant, in relation to the inquiries contained in the
resolution of the Senate as to the appointment of postmasters.
Z. TAYLOR.
WASHINGTON, _March 19, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit herewith, for the consideration and constitutional action of
the Senate, a communication from the Secretary of the Interior, covering
two treaties with Indians of New Mexico, one negotiated with the Navajo
tribe on the 9th of September last by Colonel John Washington, of the
Army, and J.S. Calhoun, United States Indian agent at Santa Fe, and the
other with the Utah tribe, negotiated by J.S. Calhoun on the 13th of
December last.
Z. TAYLOR.
WASHINGTON, _March 19, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I herewith transmit to the Senate, for their advice in regard to its
ratification, "a general treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce"
between the United States of America and the State of Nicaragua,
concluded at Leon by E. George Squier, charge d'affaires of the United
States, on their part, and Senor Zepeda, on the part of the Republic of
Nicaragua.
I also transmit, for the advice of the Senate in regard to its
ratification, "a general treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce"
negotiated by Mr. Squier with the Republic of San Salvador.
I also transmit to the Senate a copy of the instructions to and
correspondence with the said charge d'affaires relating to those
treaties.
I also transmit, for the advice of the Senate in regard to its
ratification, "a general treaty of peace, amity, commerce, and
navigation" negotiated by Elijah Hise, our late charge d'affaires, with
the State of Guatemala.
I also transmit, for the information of the Senate, a copy of a treaty
negotiated by Mr. Hise with the Government of Nicaragua on the 21st of
June last, accompanied by copies of his instructions from and
correspondence with the Department of State.
On the 12th day of November, 1847, Senor Buetrago, secretary of state
and of the affairs of war and foreign relations and domestic
administration of the Supreme Government of the State of Nicaragua,
addressed a letter from the Government House at Leon to Mr. Buchanan,
then Secretary of State of the United States, asking the friendly
offices of this Government to prevent an attack upon the town of San
Juan de Nicaragua, then contemplated by the British authorities as the
allies of the Mosquito King. That letter, a translation of which is
herewith sent, distinctly charges that--
The object of the British in taking this key of the continent is not
to protect the small tribe of the Mosquitos, but to establish their own
empire over the Atlantic extremity of the line, by which a canal
connecting the two oceans is most practicable, insuring to them the
preponderance on the American continent, as well as their direct
relations with Asia, the East Indies, and other important countries in
the world.
No answer appears to have been returned to this letter.
A communication was received by my predecessor from Don Jose Guerrero,
President and Supreme Director of the State of Nicaragua, dated the 15th
day of December, 1847, expressing his desire to establish relations of
amity and commerce with the United States, a translation of which
is herewith inclosed. In this the President of Nicaragua says:
My desire was carried to the utmost on seeing in your message at
the opening of the Twenty-ninth Congress of your Republic a sincere
profession of political faith in all respects conformable with the
principles professed by these States, determined, as they are, to
sustain with firmness the continental cause, the rights of Americans in
general, and the noninterference of European powers in their concerns.
This letter announces the critical situation in which Nicaragua was
placed and charges upon the Court of St. James a "well-known design to
establish colonies on the coast of Nicaragua and to render itself master
of the interoceanic canal, for which so many facilities are presented by
the isthmus in that State." No reply was made to this letter.
The British ships of war _Alarm_ and _Vixen_ arrived at San Juan de
Nicaragua on the 8th day of February, 1848, and on the 12th of that
month the British forces, consisting of 260 officers and men, attacked
and captured the post of Serapaqui, garrisoned, according to the British
statements, by about 200 soldiers, after a sharp action of one hour and
forty minutes.
On the 7th day of March, 1848, articles of agreement were concluded by
Captain Locke, on the part of Great Britain, with the commissioners of
the State of Nicaragua in the island of Cuba, in the Lake of Nicaragua,
a copy of which will be found in the correspondence relating to the
Mosquito Territory presented to and published by the House of Commons of
Great Britain on the 3d day of July, 1848, herewith submitted. A copy of
the same document will also be found accompanying the note of the
minister for foreign affairs of Nicaragua to the Secretary of State of
the United States under date the 17th March, 1848.
By the third article of the agreement it is provided that Nicaragua
"shall not disturb the inhabitants of San Juan, understanding that any
such act will be considered by Great Britain as a declaration of open
hostilities." By the sixth article it is provided that these articles of
agreement will not "hinder Nicaragua from soliciting by means of a
commissioner to Her Britannic Majesty a final arrangement of these
affairs."
The communication from Senor Sebastian Salinas, the secretary of foreign
affairs of the State of Nicaragua, to Mr. Buchanan, the Secretary of
State of the United States, dated 17th March, 1848, a translation of
which is herewith submitted, recites the aggressions of Great Britain
and the seizure of a part of the Nicaraguan territory in the name of the
Mosquito King. No answer appears to have been given to this letter.
On the 28th day of October, 1847, Joseph W. Livingston was appointed by
this Government consul of the United States for the port of San Juan de
Nicaragua. On the 16th day of December, 1847, after having received his
exequatur from the Nicaraguan Government, he addressed a letter to Mr.
Buchanan, Secretary of State, a copy of which is herewith submitted,
representing that he had been informed that the English Government would
take possession of San Juan de Nicaragua in January, 1848.
In another letter, dated the 8th of April, 1848, Mr. Livingston states
that "at the request of the minister for foreign affairs of Nicaragua
he transmits a package of papers containing the correspondence relative
to the occupation of the port of San Juan by British forces in the name
of the Mosquito nation."
On the 3d day of June, 1848, Elijah Hise, being appointed charge
d'affaires of the United States to Guatemala, received his instructions,
a copy of which is herewith submitted. In these instructions the
following passages occur:
The independence as well as the interests of the nations on this
continent require that they should maintain the American system of
policy entirely distinct from that which prevails in Europe. To
suffer any interference on the part of the European Governments with
the domestic concerns of the American Republics and to permit them
to establish new colonies upon this continent would be to jeopard
their independence and to ruin their interests. These truths ought
everywhere throughout this continent to be impressed on the public
mind. But what can the United States do to resist such European
interference whilst the Spanish American Republics continue to weaken
themselves by division and civil war and deprive themselves of the
ability of doing anything for their own protection?
This last significant inquiry seems plainly to intimate that the United
States could do nothing to arrest British aggression while the Spanish
American Republics continue to weaken themselves by division and civil
war and deprive themselves of the ability of doing anything for their
protection.
These instructions, which also state the dissolution of the Central
American Republic, formerly composed of the five States of Nicaragua,
Costa Rica, Honduras, San Salvador, and Guatemala, and their continued
separation, authorize Mr. Hise to conclude treaties of commerce with the
Republics of Guatemala and San Salvador, but conclude with saying that
it was not deemed advisable to empower Mr. Hise to conclude a treaty
with either Nicaragua, Honduras, or Costa Rica until more full and
statistical information should have been communicated by him to the
Department in regard to those States than that which it possesses.
The States of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Honduras are the only Central
American States whose consent or cooperation would in any event be
necessary for the construction of the ship canal contemplated between
the Pacific and Atlantic oceans by the way of Lake Nicaragua.
In pursuance of the sixth article of the agreement of the 7th of March,
1848, between the forces of Great Britain and the authorities of
Nicaragua, Senor Francisco Castillon was appointed commissioner from
Nicaragua to Great Britain, and on the 5th day of November, 1848, while
at Washington on his way to London, addressed a letter to the Secretary
of State, a translation of which is herewith submitted, asking this
Government to instruct its minister plenipotentiary residing in London
to sustain the right of Nicaragua to her territory claimed by Mosquito,
and especially to the port of San Juan, expressing the hope of Nicaragua
"that the Government of the Union, firmly adhering to its principle of
resisting all foreign intervention in America, would not hesitate to
order such steps to be taken as might be effective before things reached
a point in which the intervention of the United States would prove of no
avail."
To this letter also no answer appears to have been returned, and no
instructions were given to our minister in London in pursuance of the
request contained in it.
On the 3d day of March, 1847, Christopher Hempstead was appointed consul
at Belize, and an application was then made for his exequatur through
our minister in London, Mr. Bancroft. Lord Palmerston referred Mr.
Bancroft's application for an exequatur for Mr. Hempstead to the
colonial office. The exequatur was granted, and Mr. Hempstead, in a
letter to the Department of State bearing date the 12th day of February,
1848, a copy of which is herewith submitted, acknowledged the receipt of
his exequatur from Her Britannic Majesty, by virtue of which he has
discharged his consular functions. Thus far this Government has
recognized the existence of a British colony at Belize, within the
territory of Honduras. I have recalled the consul, and have appointed no
one to supply his place.
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.