power of the executive, and to enable Congress to act, at the present session, with as full knowledge and as little difficulty as possible, on all matters of interest in these territories, I sent the honorable Thomas Butler King as bearer of despatches to California, and certain officers to California and New Mexico, whose duties are particularly defined in the accompanying letters of instruction addressed to them severally by the proper departments.

I did not hesitate to express to the people of those territories my desire that each territory should, if prepared to comply with the requisitions of the constitution of the United States, form a plan of a state constitution, and submit the same to Congress, with a prayer for admission into the Union as a state; but I did not anticipate, suggest, or authorize, the establishment of any such government without the assent of Congress; nor did I authorize any government agent or officer to interfere with or exercise any influence or control over the election of delegates, or over any convention, in making or modifying their domestic institutions or any of the provisions of their proposed constitution. On the contrary, the instructions given by my orders were, that all measures of domestic policy adopted by the people of California must originate solely with themselves; that while the executive of the United States was desirous to protect them in the formation of any government republican in its character, to be, at the proper time, submitted to Congress, yet it was to be distinctly understood that the plan of such a government must, at the same time, be the result of their own deliberate choice, and originate with themselves, without the interference of the executive.

I am unable to give any information as to laws passed by any supposed government in California, or of any census taken in either of the territories mentioned in the resolution, as I have no information on those subjects.

As already stated, I have not disturbed the arrangements which I found had existed under my predecessor.

In advising an early application by the people of these territories for admission as states, I was actuated principally by an earnest desire to afford to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress the opportunity of avoiding occasions of bitter and angry dissensions among the people of the United States.

Under the constitution, every state has the right of establishing, and, from time to time, altering its municipal laws and domestic institutions, independently of every other state and of the general government, subject only to the prohibitions and guaranties expressly set forth in the constitution of the United States. The subjects thus left exclusively to the respective states were not designed or expected to become topics of national agitation. Still, as, under the constitution, Congress has power to make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territories of the United States, every new acquisition of territory has led to discussions on the question whether the system of involuntary servitude which prevails in many of the states should or should not be prohibited in that territory. The periods of excitement from this cause which have heretofore occurred have been safely passed; but during the interval, of whatever length, which may elapse before the admission of the territories ceded by Mexico as states, it appears probable that similar excitement will prevail 10 an undue extent.

Under these circumstances, I thought, and still think, that it was my duty to endeavor to put it in the power of Congress, by the admission of

California and New Mexico as states, to remove all occasions for the unnecessary agitation of the public mind.

It is understood that the people of the western part of California have formed a plan of a state constitution, and will soon submit the same to the judgment of Congress, and apply for admission as a state. This course on their part, though in accordance with, was not adopted exclusively in consequence of, any expression of my wishes, inasmuch as measures tending to this end had been promoted by the officers sent there by my predecessor, and were already in active progress of execution before any communication from me reached California. If the proposed constitution shall, when submitted to Congress, be found to be in compliance with the requisitions of the constitution of the United States, I earnestly recommend that it may receive the sanction of Congress.

The part of California not included in the proposed state of that name is believed to be uninhabited, except in a settlement of our countrymen in the vicinity of Salt Lake.

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 infalhibly 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 guarantied to them by the treaty of cession itself, shall ever be uttered by me, or encouraged and sus tained 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 sensation 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, tends 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.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JANUARY 23, 1850.

To the House of Representatives :—

I TRANSMIT to the house of representatives 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 among the claimants. Extracts from despatches 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 here with 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 treasurer of the United States.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

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 recognised 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 govern ment."

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

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.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 13, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States :

I HAVE received a resolution of the senate of the 28th ult, 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 chargé d'affaires at Guatemala, and all despatches and communications from said chargé 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 chargé 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 chargé d'affaires or our present chargé d'affaires to either of said states; and of all despatches or communications from our chargé 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 chargés des affaires touching the so-called kingdom of the Mosquitoes, 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.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 28, 1850.

To the Senate of the United States :—

In compliance with a resolution of the senate of the 22d instant, requesting the president of the United States to communicate to that body, a copy of the instructions given to the agent of the United States, who was employed to visit Hungary during the recent war between that country and Austria, and of the correspondence by and with such agent, so far as the publication of the same may be consistent with the public interest, I herewith transmit to the senate a copy of the instructions to A. Dudley Mann, Esq., relating to Hungary, he having been appointed by me special agent to that country on the 18th day of June last, together with a copy of the correspondence with our late chargé d'affaires to Austria, referred to in those instructions and of other papers, disclosing the policy of this government in reference to Hungary and her people. I also transmit, in compliance with the resolution of the senate, but in a separate packet, a copy of the correspondence of Mr. Mann with the department of state. The latter I have caused to be marked "Executive," the information contained in it being such as will be found, on examination, most appropriately to belong to the senate in the exercise of its executive functions. The pub