A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Volume - James D. Richardson
Clergy of the District of Columbia and elsewhere.
Officers and soldiers of the Revolution.
Corporate authorities of Washington.
Corporate authorities of Georgetown.
Officers and soldiers who served in the War of 1812 and in the late war.
Presidents, professors, and students of the colleges of the District of
Columbia.
Such societies and fraternities as may wish to join the procession, to
report to the marshal of the District, who will assign them their
respective positions.
Citizens and strangers.
The procession will move from the President's house at 1 o'clock
precisely, or on the conclusion of the religious services.
DANIEL WEBSTER,
_Chairman of the Committee on the part of the Senate_.
CHAS. M. CONRAD,
_Chairman of the Committee on the part of the House of Representatives_.
[From official records in the War Department.]
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 22.
WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
_Washington, July 11, 1850_.
The joint committees of the Congress of the United States having
designated the General in Chief, Major-General Scott, to take charge of
the military arrangements for the funeral ceremonies of the late
President of the United States, the Secretary of War directs that the
Commanding General of the Army give the necessary orders and
instructions accordingly. The military arrangements will conform to the
directions found in the reports of the special committees of the Senate
and House of Representatives.
By order of the Secretary of War:
R. JONES,
_Adjutant-General._
GENERAL ORDERS.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
_Washington, July 12, 1850_.
The Major-General Commanding the Army of the United States, having been
charged by the joint committees of Congress with the military
preparations for the funeral honors to be paid to the illustrious
statesman, soldier, and citizen, Zachary Taylor, late President of the
United States, directs the following order of arrangement:
ORDER OF THE MILITARY PROCESSION.
FUNERAL ESCORT.
(In column of march.)
_Infantry_.--Maryland volunteers; volunteer troops from other States;
battalion of volunteers from the District of Columbia.
_Firing party_ (to be commanded by an officer of the Army).--Two
companies of volunteers from Washington; two companies of volunteers
from Baltimore; battalion of United States marines; battalion of United
States artillery, as infantry; troop of United States light artillery.
Dismounted officers of volunteers, Marine Corps, Navy, and Army, in the
order named.
Mounted officers of volunteers, Marine Corps, Navy, and Army, in the
order named.
Major-General Walter Jones, commanding the militia; aids-de-camp.
Major-General Winfield Scott, commanding the Army; aids-de-camp.
The troops will be formed in line in the Avenue, north of the
President's mansion, precisely at 11 o'clock a.m., Saturday, the 13th
instant, with the right (Brevet Major Sedgwick's troop of light
artillery) resting opposite the War Department.
The procession will move at 1 o'clock p.m., when minute guns will be
fired by detachments of artillery stationed near St. John's church, the
City Hall, and the Capitol, respectively.
On arriving on the north front of the Congressional Burial Ground the
escort will be formed in two lines, the first consisting of the firing
party, facing the cemetery and 30 paces from it; the second composed of
the rest of the infantry, 20 paces in rear; the battery of artillery to
take position on the rising ground 100 paces in rear of the second line.
At sunrise to-morrow (the 13th instant) a Federal salute will be fired
from the military stations in the vicinity of Washington, minute guns
between the hours of 1 and 3, and a national salute at the setting of
the sun.
The usual badge of mourning will be worn on the left arm and on the hilt
of the sword.
The Adjutant-General of the Army is charged with the details of the
military arrangements of the day, aided by the Assistant
Adjutants-General on duty at Washington, by Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel
Swords, of the staff, and Lieutenant W.T. Sherman, Third Artillery.
The United States marshal of the District of Columbia having been
charged with the direction of the civic procession, the military will
cooperate in the general order of arrangements.
By command of Major-General Scott:
R. JONES,
_Adjutant-General_.
[From the Daily National Intelligencer, July 12, 1850.]
GENERAL ORDER.
The major-general, zealous to execute the honorable commission in which
the joint committees of Congress have associated him with the General in
Chief of the Army, deems it proper and conducive to the end in view to
make the best preparation in his power for carrying into effect the
field arrangements of the military movements in the procession of the
funeral of the late President, arrangements which must necessarily await
the arrival of the General in Chief. For that purpose he thinks it
expedient to appoint a general rendezvous where all the corps and
companies of militia, including all who may march from any of the
States with those of this District, may assemble at an early hour in the
morning of Saturday, the 13th instant, and there receive final orders
for being formed and posted. They are therefore requested to take notice
that such rendezvous is in front of the City Hall. The corps and
companies from the States are requested to repair to this general
rendezvous immediately on arrival; those of the District not later than
9 o'clock a.m. The commandants of corps and companies are expected to
report, immediately on arriving at the rendezvous, to the major-general
or such staff officer as may be detailed for the purpose, the strength
of their respective commands.
All officers not on duty in their respective corps or companies are
requested to appear in full uniform and mounted. The post intended for
them is in the personal suite of the General in Chief. The major-general
knows of no more honorable or more interesting post that he could assign
them in time of peace than that of following the lead of the renowned
Scott in the procession of the funeral of the renowned Taylor.
WALTER JONES,
_Major-General Militia District of Columbia_.
RESOLUTION OF CONDOLENCE BY CONGRESS.
[From original in the State Department.]
A RESOLUTION expressing the condolence of Congress for Mrs. Margaret S.
Taylor.
_Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,_ That the President of the
United States be requested to transmit a copy of the proceedings of the
two Houses on the 10th instant in relation to the death of the late
President of the United States to Mrs. Margaret S. Taylor, and to assure
her of the profound respect of the two Houses of Congress for her person
and character and of their sincere condolence on the late afflicting
dispensation of Providence.
Millard Fillmore
July 10, 1850, to March 4, 1853
Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore was born February 7, 1800, in the township of Locke
(now Summerhill), Cayuga County, N.Y. He was the second son of
Nathaniel Fillmore and Phoebe Millard. His ancestors served with
distinction in the French and Revolutionary wars. He attended the
primitive schools in the neighborhood three months in the year,
devoting the other nine to working on his father's farm. His father,
having formed a distaste for farming, was desirous that his sons
should follow other occupations. Accordingly, Millard, after serving
an apprenticeship for a few months, began in 1815 the business of
carding and dressing cloth. Was afterwards a school-teacher. In 1819
decided to become a lawyer, and in 1823, although he had not completed
the usual course required, was admitted as an attorney by the court of
common pleas of Erie County. February 5, 1826, was married to Miss
Abigail Powers, daughter of a clergyman. In 1827 was admitted as an
attorney and two years later as counselor before the supreme court. In
1830 removed to Buffalo and became a successful lawyer. His political
career began and ended with the birth and extinction of the Whig
party. Was elected to the legislature of his State in 1828, and served
three terms; while there he was distinguished by his advocacy of the
act to abolish imprisonment for debt, which passed in 1831. In 1832
was elected to Congress, and after serving one term retired till 1836,
when he was reelected, and again returned in 1838 and 1840, declining
a renomination in 1842. Was the author of the tariff of 1842. He
retired from Congress in 1843. Was an unsuccessful candidate for
Vice-President before the Whig convention at Baltimore in 1844. Was
nominated by acclamation for governor of New York in the following
September, but was defeated by Silas Wright. In 1847 was elected
comptroller of the State. In 1848 was nominated by the Whigs for
Vice-President on the ticket with General Taylor and was elected in
the following November. He presided as Vice-President with strict
impartiality during exciting debates in the Senate. By the death of
President Taylor became President July 10, 1850. Was a candidate for
President at the Whig convention in 1852, but General Scott received
the nomination. Three weeks after the close of his Administration his
wife died. Afterwards married Caroline C. McIntosh, who survived him.
In 1856, while in Rome, he was nominated for the Presidency by the
American (Whig) party, but was defeated by Mr. Buchanan. After his
retirement from office he resided in Buffalo the remainder of his
life. He established the Buffalo Historical Society. Was called upon
to welcome distinguished visitors to his city, and frequently presided
over conventions and other public meetings, but held no office after
retiring from the Presidency. He again visited Europe in 1866. Died at
Buffalo, N.Y., March 8, 1874, and was buried in that city in Forest
Lawn Cemetery.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
WASHINGTON, _July 10, 1850_.
_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:
A great man has fallen among us, and a whole country is called to an
occasion of unexpected, deep, and general mourning.
I recommend to the two Houses of Congress to adopt such measures as in
their discretion may seem proper to perform with due solemnities the
funeral obsequies of Zachary Taylor, late President of the United
States, and thereby to signify the great and affectionate regard of
the American people for the memory of one whose life has been devoted
to the public service, whose career in arms has not been surpassed in
usefulness or brilliancy, who has been so recently raised by the
unsolicited voice of the people to the highest civil authority in the
Government, which he administered with so much honor and advantage to
his country, and by whose sudden death so many hopes of future
usefulness have been blighted forever.
To you, Senators and Representatives of a nation in tears, I can say
nothing which can alleviate the sorrow with which you are oppressed. I
appeal to you to aid me, under the trying circumstances which surround
me, in the discharge of the duties from which, however much I may be
oppressed by them, I dare not shrink; and I rely upon Him who holds in
His hands the destinies of nations to endow me with the requisite
strength for the task and to avert from our country the evils
apprehended from the heavy calamity which has befallen us.
I shall most readily concur in whatever measures the wisdom of the two
Houses may suggest as befitting this deeply melancholy occasion.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _July 15, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, a treaty between the United States and the Republic of
Peru, signed in this city on the 13th instant by the plenipotentiaries
of the parties. A report from the Secretary of State relative to the
treaty, and the documents therein referred to, are also herewith
transmitted.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _July 17, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
In further answer to a resolution of the Senate of the 27th ultimo, in
reference to a proclamation issued by the military officer commanding
in New Mexico and other matters, I herewith transmit a report from
the Secretary of War, communicating information not received at the
Department until after the date of his report of the 1st instant on
this subject.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _July 17, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
In answer to a resolution of the Senate of the 1st instant, requesting
the President to furnish the Senate with "the report and map of
Lieutenant J.D. Webster, Corps of Topographical Engineers, of a survey
of the Gulf coast at the mouth of the Rio Grande and its vicinity,"
and in compliance therewith, I transmit herewith a report from the
Secretary of War, accompanied by the report and map above referred to.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _July 18, 1850_.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives, in compliance with
the request contained in their resolution of the 24th day of January
last, the information asked for by that resolution, relating to certain
proceedings of the British Government in the forcible seizure and
occupation of the island of Tigre; also all the "facts, circumstances,
and communications within the knowledge of the Executive relative to any
seizure or occupation, or attempted seizure or occupation, by the
British Government of any port, river, town, territory, or island
belonging to or claimed by any of the States of Central America."
The resolution of the House speaks of the island of Tigre, in the
State of Nicaragua. I am not aware of the existence of any such island
in that State, and presume that the resolution refers to the island of
the same name in the Gulf of Fonseca, in the State of Honduras.
The concluding part of the resolution, requesting the President to
communicate to the House all treaties not heretofore published which
may have been negotiated with any of the States of Central America "by
any person acting by authority of the late Administration or under the
auspices of the present Administration," so far as it has reference to
treaties negotiated with any of those States by instructions from this
Government, can not be complied with, inasmuch as those treaties have
not been acted upon by the Senate of the United States, and are now in
the possession of that body, to whom by the Constitution they are
directed to be transmitted for advice in regard to their ratification.
But as its communication is not liable to the same objection, I
transmit for the information of the House a copy of a treaty in regard
to a ship canal across the Isthmus, negotiated by Elijah Hise, our
late charge d'affaires in Guatemala, with the Government of Nicaragua
on the 21st day of June, 1849, accompanied by copies of his
instructions from and correspondence with the Department of State.
I shall cheerfully comply with the request of the House of
Representatives to lay before them the treaties negotiated with the
States of Central America, now before the Senate, whenever it shall be
compatible with the public interest to make the communication. For the
present I communicate herewith a copy of the treaty with Great Britain
and of the correspondence between the American Secretary of State
and the British plenipotentiary at the time it was concluded. The
ratifications of it were exchanged at Washington on the 4th day of
July instant.
I also transmit the report of the Secretary of State, to whom the
resolution of the House was referred, and who conducted the
negotiations relative to Central America, under the direction of
my lamented predecessor.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _July 20, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I herewith transmit to the Senate, with a view to its ratification, a
convention between the United States and the Mexican Republic for the
extradition of fugitives from justice. This convention was negotiated
under the directions of my predecessor, and was signed this day by
John M. Clayton, Secretary of State, on the part of the United States,
and by Senor Don Luis de la Rosa, envoy extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary of Mexico, on the part of that Republic. The length of
the boundary line between the two countries, extending, as it does,
from the Pacific to the Gulf, renders such a convention indispensable
to the maintenance of good order and the amicable relations now so
happily subsisting between the sister Republics.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _July 23, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I lay before the Senate, for their consideration and advice as to its
ratification, a treaty concluded in the city of Washington on the 1st
day of April, 1850, by and between Ardavan S. Loughery, commissioner
on the part of the United States, and delegates of the Wyandott tribe
of Indians.
I also lay before the Senate a letter from the Secretary of the Interior
and the papers therein referred to.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _July 30, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I herewith transmit to the Senate, in answer to its resolution of the
5th instant, requesting the President to communicate to that body "any
information, if any has been received by the Government, showing that
an American vessel has been recently stopped upon the high seas and
searched by a British ship of war," the accompanying copies of papers.
The Government has no knowledge of any alleged stopping or searching
on the high seas of American vessels by British ships of war except in
the cases therein mentioned. The circumstances of these cases will
appear by the inclosed correspondence, taken from the files of the
Navy Department. No remonstrance or complaint by the owners of these
vessels has been presented to the Government of the United States.
MILLARD FILLMORE
WASHINGTON, _August 2, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I have the honor to transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of
War, in answer to a resolution of the Senate passed on the 8th of July
last, calling for information in relation to the removal of Fort Polk,
etc. The documents accompanying the report contain all the information
required by the resolution.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _August 6, 1850_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
I herewith transmit to the two Houses of Congress a letter from his
excellency the governor of Texas, dated on the 14th day of June last,
addressed to the late President of the United States, which, not
having been answered by him, came to my hands on his death; and I also
transmit a copy of the answer which I have felt it to be my duty to
cause to be made to that communication.
Congress will perceive that the governor of Texas officially states
that by authority of the legislature of that State he dispatched a
special commissioner with full power and instructions to extend the
civil jurisdiction of the State over the unorganized counties of El
Paso, Worth, Presidio, and Santa Fe, situated on its northwestern
limits.
He proceeds to say that the commissioner had reported to him in an
official form that the military officers employed in the service of
the United States stationed at Santa Fe interposed adversely with
the inhabitants to the fulfillment of his object in favor of the
establishment of a separate State government east of the Rio Grande,
and within the rightful limits of the State of Texas. These four
counties, which Texas thus proposes to establish and organize as being
within her own jurisdiction, extend over the whole of the territory
east of the Rio Grande, which has heretofore been regarded as an
essential and integral part of the department of New Mexico, and
actually governed and possessed by her people until conquered and
severed from the Republic of Mexico by the American arms.
The legislature of Texas has been called together by her governor
for the purpose, as is understood, of maintaining her claim to the
territory east of the Rio Grande and of establishing over it her own
jurisdiction and her own laws by force.
These proceedings of Texas, may well arrest the attention of all
branches of the Government of the United States, and I rejoice that
they occur while the Congress is yet in session. It is, I fear, far
from being impossible that, in consequence of these proceedings of
Texas, a crisis may be brought on which shall summon the two Houses of
Congress, and still more emphatically the executive government, to an
immediate readiness for the performance of their respective duties.
By the Constitution of the United States the President is constituted
Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, and of the militia of the
several States when called into the actual service of the United
States. The Constitution declares also that he shall take care that
the laws be faithfully executed and that he shall from time to time
give to the Congress information of the state of the Union.
Congress has power by the Constitution to provide for calling forth
the militia to execute the laws of the Union, and suitable and
appropriate acts of Congress have been passed as well for providing
for calling forth the militia as for placing other suitable and
efficient means in the hands of the President to enable him to
discharge the constitutional functions of his office.
The second section of the act of the 28th of February, 1795, declares
that whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed or their
execution obstructed in any State by combinations too powerful to be
suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings or the power
vested in the marshals, the President may call forth the militia, as
far as may be necessary, to suppress such combinations and to cause
the laws to be duly executed.
By the act of March 3, 1807, it is provided that in all cases of
obstruction to the laws either of the United States or any individual
State or Territory, where it is lawful for the President to call forth
the militia for the purpose of causing the laws to be duly executed,
it shall be lawful for him to employ for the same purposes such part
of the land or naval force of the United States as shall be judged
necessary.
These several enactments are now in full force, so that if the laws of
the United States are opposed or obstructed in any State or Territory
by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the judicial or civil
authorities it becomes a case in which it is the duty of the President
either to call out the militia or to employ the military and naval
force of the United States, or to do both if in his judgment the
exigency of the occasion shall so require, for the purpose of
suppressing such combinations. The constitutional duty of the
President is plain and peremptory and the authority vested in him by
law for its performance clear and ample.
Texas is a State, authorized to maintain her own laws so far as they
are not repugnant to the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the
United States; to suppress insurrections against her authority, and to
punish those who may commit treason against the State according to the
forms provided by her own constitution and her own laws.
But all this power is local and confined entirely within the limits
of Texas herself. She can possibly confer no authority which can be
lawfully exercised beyond her own boundaries.
All this is plain, and hardly needs argument or elucidation. If Texas
militia, therefore, march into any one of the other States or into any
Territory of the United States, there to execute or enforce any law of
Texas, they become at that moment trespassers; they are no longer
under the protection of any lawful authority, and are to be regarded
merely as intruders; and if within such State or Territory they
obstruct any law of the United States, either by power of arms or mere
power of numbers, constituting such a combination as is too powerful
to be suppressed by the civil authority, the President of the United
States has no option left to him, but is bound to obey the solemn
injunction of the Constitution and exercise the high powers vested in
him by that instrument and by the acts of Congress.
Or if any civil posse, armed or unarmed, enter into any Territory of
the United States, under the protection of the laws thereof, with
intent to seize individuals, to be carried elsewhere for trial for
alleged offenses, and this posse be too powerful to be resisted by the
local civil authorities, such seizure or attempt to seize is to be
prevented or resisted by the authority of the United States.
The grave and important question now arises whether there be in
the Territory of New Mexico any existing law of the United States
opposition to which or the obstruction of which would constitute a
case calling for the interposition of the authority vested in the
President.