Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JANUARY 5, 1852.

To the Senate of the United States:

I TRANSMIT to the senate a report of the secretary of state relative to the persons belonging to the expedition of Lopez, who were taken prisoners in Cuba and afterward 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 recommend to the consideration of Congress, with the single additional suggestion, that to be avail able, it should be promptly made.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 14, 1852.

To the Senate of the United States:

I COMMUNICATE to the senate, 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 33d Congress, as required by the act of 23d of 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.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 4, 1852.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

I TRANSMIT to Congress a despatch 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 here with transmitted. It will be seen that a sum of twenty-five hundred or three thousand dollars, in addition to the amount appropriated by the act of Congress, approved 28th September, 1850, is represented to be necessary to carry the objects of that appropriation into full effect. I accordingly recommend that provision therefor be made.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

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 despatch addressed to the department of state by the minister of the United States at London.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 26, 1852.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

Ar 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 safekeeping 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 offence.

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 offence 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.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

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 map accompanying the same.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

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.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MAY 29, 1852.

To the Senate of the United States:

papers

THE resolution of the senate of the 6th instant, requesting the " and proofs on file in any of the executive departments, touching the claim of Samuel A. Belden and Company, of Brownsville, Texas, against the Mexican government for injuries inflicted upon said Belden and Company, as alleged by him, 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-generai, there are no papers in their respective departments relative to the claim of Messrs. Belden and Company.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JUNE 14, 1852.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I TRANSMIT here with for your consideration a report from the secretary of state, accompanied by a communication from his excellency Señor Don A. Calderon de la Barca, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of her catholie majesty, claiming indemnity for those Spanish subjects in New Orleans who sustained injury from the unlawful violence of the mob in that city, consequent upon hearing the news of the execution of those persons who unlawfully invaded Cuba in August, 1851. My own views of the national liability upon this subject were expressed in the note of the secretary of state to Mr. Calderon, of the 13th November, 1851, and I do not understand that her catholic majesty's minister controverts the correctness of the position there taken. He, however, insists that the 13th article of the treaty of 1795 promises indemnity for such iujuries sustained within one year after the commencement of war between the two nations; and, although he admits this is not within the letter of the treaty, yet he conceives that, as between two friendly nations, it is within the spirit of it.

This view of the case is at his request submitted for your consideration, but whether you may deem it correct or not, there is, perhaps, one ground upon which this indemnity, which can not be large in amount, may be granted without establishing a dangerous precedent, and the granting of which would commend itself to the generous feelings of the entire country, and that is this: The queen of Spain, with a magnanimity worthy of all commendation, in a case where we had no legal right to solicit the favor, granted a free pardon to all the persons who had so unjustifiably invaded her dominions and murdered her subjects in Cuba, in violation of her own laws as well as those of the United States and the public law of nations. Such an act of mercy which restored many misguided and unfortunate youth of this country to their parents and friends seems to me to merit some corresponding act of magnanimity and generosity on the part of the government of this country, and I think that there can be none more appropriate than to grant an indemnity to those Spanish subjects who were resident among us and who suffered by the violence of the mob, not on account of any fault which they themselves had committed, but because they were the subjects of the queen of Spain. Such an act would tend to confirm that friendship which has so long existed between the two nations and to perpetuate it as a blessing to both, and I therefore recommend it to your favorable consideration.

SPECIAL, MESSAGE.

JULY 2, 1852.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

By an act of Congress approved on the 10th day of February, 1852, an appropriation of six thousand dollars was made for the relief of American citizens then lately imprisoned and pardoned by the queen of Spain, intended to provide for the return of such of the Cuban prisoners as were citizens of the United States who had been transported to Spain and there pardoned by the Spanish government. It will be observed that no provision was made for such foreigners or aliens as were engaged in the Cuban expedition, and who had shared the fate of American citizens for whose relief the said act was intended to provide. I now transmit a report from the first comptroller, with accompanying papers, from which it will be perceived that fifteen foreigners were connected with that expedition who were also pardoned by the queen of Spain, and have been transported to the United States under a contract made with our consul, at an expense of one thousand and thirteen dollars, and thirty-four cents. for the payment of which no provision has been made by law. The consul having evidently acted with good intentions, the claim is submitted for the consideration of Congress.

« ZurückWeiter »