SPECIAL MESSAGE. FEBRUARY 2, 1848. To the Senate of the United States :— IN answer to a resolution of the senate of the thirteenth of January, 1848, calling for information on the subject of the negotiation between the commissioner of the United States and the commissioners of Mexico, during the suspension of hostilities after the battles of Contreras and Churubusco, I transmit a report from the secretary of state, and the documents which accompany it. I deem it proper to add, that the invitation from the commissioner of the United States to submit the proposition of boundary, referred to in his despatch (No. 15) of the fourth of September, 1847, herewith communicated, was unauthorized by me, and was promptly disapproved; and this disapproval was communicated to the commissioner of the United States with the least possible delay. SPECIAL MESSAGE. FEBRUARY 10, 1848. To the Senate of the United States : IN answer to the resolution of the senate of the first instant, requesting to be informed whether "any taxes, duties, or imposts," have been "laid and collected upon goods and merchandise, belonging to citizens of the United States, exported by such citizens from the United States to Mexico; and, if so, what is the rate of such duties, and what amount has been collected; and, also, by what authority of law the same have been laid and collected," I refer the senate to my annual message of the seventh of December last, in which I informed Congress that orders had been given to our military and naval commanders in Mexico, to adopt the policy, as far as practicable, of levying military contributions upon the enemy for the support of our army. As one of the modes adopted for levying such contributions, it was stated in that message that, "On the thirty-first of March last, I caused an order to be issued to our military and naval commanders to levy and collect a military contribution upon all vessels and merchandise which might enter any of the ports of Mexico in our military occupation, and to apply such contributions toward defraying the expenses of the war. By virtue of the right of conquest and the laws of war, the conqueror, consulting his own safety or convenience, may either exclude foreign commerce altogether from all such ports, or permit it upon such terms and conditions as he may prescribe. Before the principal ports of Mexico were blockaded by our navy, the revenue derived from import duties, under the laws of Mexico, was paid into the Mexican treasury. After these ports had fallen into our military possession, the blockade was raised and commerce with them permitted upon prescribed terms and conditions. They were opened to the trade of all nations upon the payment of duties more moderate in their amount than those which had been previously levied by Mexico and the revenue, which was formerly paid into the Mexican treasury, was directed to be collected by our military and naval officers, and applied to the use of our army and navy. Care was taken that the officers, soldiers, and sailors, of our army and navy, should be exempted from the operations of the order; and as the merchandise imported, upon which the order operated, must be consumed by Mexican citizens, the contributions exacted were, in effect, the seizure of the public revenues of Mexico and the application of them to our own use. In directing this measure, the object was to compel the enemy to contribute, as far as practicable, toward the expenses of the war." A copy of the order referred to, with the documents accompanying it, has been communicated to Congress. The order operated upon the vessels and merchandise of all nations, whether belonging to citizens of the United States or to foreigners, arriving in any of the ports in Mexico in our military occupation. The contributions levied were a tax upon Mexican citizens, who were the consumers of the merchandise imported; but, for the permit or license granted by the order, all vessels and merchandise belonging to citizens of the United States were, necessarily, excluded from all commerce with Mexico from the commencement of the war. The coasts and ports of Mexico were ordered to be placed under blockade on the day Congress declared the war to exist; and, by the laws of nations, the blockade applied to the vessels of the United States as well as to the vessels of all other nations. Had no blockade been declared, or had any of our merchant-vessels entered any of the ports of Mexico not blockaded, they would have been liable to be seized and condemned as lawful prize by the Mexican authorities. When the order was issued, it operated as a privilege to the vessels of the United States as well as to those of foreign countries to enter the ports held by our arms upon prescribed terms and conditions. It was altogether optional with citizens of the United States and foreigners to avail themselves of the privileges granted upon the terms prescribed. Citizens of the United States and foreigners have availed themselves of these privileges. No principle is better established than that a nation at war has the right of shifting the burden off itself and imposing it on the enemy by exacting military contributions. The mode of making such exactions must be left to the discretion of the conqueror, but it should be exercised in a manner conformable to the rules of civilized warfare. The right to levy these contributions is essential to the successful prosecution of war in an enemy's country, and the practice of nations has been in accordance with this principle. It is as clearly necessary as the right to fight battles, and its exercise is often essential to the subsistence of the army. Entertaining no doubt that the military right to exclude commerce altogether from the ports of the enemy in our military occupation included the minor right of admitting it under prescribed conditions, it became an im portant question, at the date of the order, whether there should be a discrimination between vessels and cargoes belonging to citizens of the United States and vessels and cargoes belonging to neutral nations. Had the vessels and cargoes belonging to citizens of the United States been admitted without the payment of any duty, while a duty was levied on foreign vessels and cargoes, the object of the order would have been defeated The whole commerce would have been conducted in American vessels, no contributions could have been collected, and the enemy would have been furnished with goods without the exaction from him of any contribution whatever, and would have been thus benefited by our military occupation, instead of being made to feel the evils of the war. In order to levy these contributions, and to make them available for the support of the army, it became, therefore, absolutely necessary that they should be collected upon imports into Mexican ports, whether in vessels belonging to citizens of the United States or to foreigners. It was deemed proper to extend the privilege to vessels and their cargoes belonging to neutral nations. It has been my policy, since the commencement of the war with Mexico, to act justly and liberally toward all neutral nations, and to afford to them no just cause of complaint; and we have seen the good consequences of this policy by the general satisfaction which it has given. In answer to the inquiry contained in the resolution as to the rates of duties imposed, I refer you to the documents which accompanied my annual message of the 7th of December last, which contain the information. From the accompanying reports of the secretary of war and the secretary of the navy, it will be seen that the contributions have been collected on all vessels and cargoes, whether American or foreign; but the returns to the department do not show, with exactness, the amounts collected on American as distinguishable from foreign vessels and merchandise. SPECIAL MESSAGE. FEBRUARY 10, 1848. To the House of Representatives of the United States: In answer to the resolution of the house of representatives of the 7th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the secretary of state. No communication has been received from Mexico "containing propositions from the Mexican authorities or commissioners for a treaty of peace," except the "counter projet" presented by the Mexican commissioners to the commissioners of the United States on the 6th of September last, a copy of which, with the documents accompanying it, I communicated to the senate of the United States on the second instant. A copy of my communication. to the senate embracing this "projet" is herewith communicated. MEXICAN TREATY MESSAGE. FEBRUARY 22, 1848. To the Senate of the United States : I LAY before the senate, for their consideration and advice as to its ratification, a treaty of peace, friendship, limits, and settlement, signed at the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo, on the second day of February, 1848, by N. P. Trist, on the part of the United States, and by plenipotentiaries appointed for that purpose on the part of the Mexican government. I deem it to be my duty to state that the recall of Mr. Trist as commissioner of the United States, of which Congress was informed in my annual message, was dictated by a belief that his continued presence with the army could be productive of no good, but might do much harm by encouraging the delusive hopes and false impressions of the Mexicans; and that his recall would satisfy Mexico that the United States had no terms of peace more favorable to offer. Directions were given that any propositions for peace, which Mexico might make, should be received and transmitted, by the commanding general of our forces, to the United States. It was not expected that Mr. Trist would remain in Mexico, or continue in the exercise of the functions of the office of commissioner, after he received his letter of recall. He has, however, done so, and the plenipotentiaries of the government of Mexico, with a knowledge of the fact, have concluded with him this treaty. I have examined it with a full sense of the extraneous circumstances attending its conclusion and signature, which might be objected to; but, conforming as it does, substantially, on the main questions of boundary and indemnity, to the terms which our commissioner, when he left the United States in April last, was authorized to offer, and animated, as I am, by the spirit which has governed all my official conduct toward Mexico, I have felt it to be my duty to submit it to the senate for their consideration, with a view to its ratification. To the tenth article of the treaty there are serious objections, and no instructions given to Mr. Trist contemplated or authorized its insertion. The public lands within the limits of Texas belong to that state, and this government has no power to dispose of them, or to change the conditions of grants already made. All valid titles to lands within the other territories ceded to the United States will remain unaffected by the change of sovereignty; and I therefore submit that this article should not be ratified as a part of the treaty. There may be reason to apprehend that the ratification of the "additional and secret article" might unreasonably delay and embarrass the final action on the treaty by Mexico. I therefore submit whether that article should not be rejected by the senate. If the treaty shall be ratified as proposed to be amended, the cessions of territory made by it to the United States as indemnity, the provision for the satisfaction of the claims of our injured citizens, and the permanent establishment of the boundary of one of the states of the Union, are objects gained of great national importance; while the magnanimous forbearance exhibited toward Mexico, it is hoped, may insure a lasting peace and good neighborhood between the two countries. I communicate here with a copy of the instructions given to Mr. Slidell in November, 1845, as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Mexico; a copy of the instructions given to Mr. Trist in April last, and such of the correspondence of the latter with the department of state, not heretofore communicated to Congress, as will enable the senate to understand the action which has been had with a view to the adjustment of our difficulties with Mexico. SPECIAL MESSAGE. FEBRUARY 28, 1848. To the Senate of the United States: IN answer to the resolution of the senate of the 24th instant, requesting to be informed whether the active operations of the army of the United States in Mexico, have been, and now are, suspended, and, if so, by whose agency, and in virtue of what authority, such armistice has been effected, I have to state, that I have received no information relating to the subject, other than that communicated to the senate with my executive message of the 22d instant. SPECIAL MESSAGE. FEBRUARY 29, 1848. To the Senate of the United States :— In compliance with the resolution of the senate, passed in "executive session" on yesterday, requesting the president "to communicate to the senate in confidence the entire correspondence between Mr. Trist and the Mexican commissioners, from the time of his arrival in Mexico until the time of the negotiation of the treaty submitted to the senate; and also the entire correspondence between Mr. Trist and the secretary of state, in relation to his negotiations with the Mexican commissioners; also, all the correspondence between General Scott and the government, and between General Scott and Mr. Trist, since the arrival of Mr. Trist in Mexico, which may be in possession of the government," I transmit herewith the correspondence called for. These documents are very voluminous, and presuming that the senate desired them in reference to early action on the treaty with Mexico, submitted to the consideration of that body by my message of the 22d instant, the originals of several of the letters of Mr. Trist are herewith communicated, in order to save the time which would necessarily be required to make copies of them. These original letters it is requested may be returned when the senate shall have no further use for them. The letters of Mr. Trist to the secretary of state, and especially such of them as bear date subsequent to the receipt by him of his letter of recall as commissioner, it will be perceived, contain much matter that is impertinent, irrelevant, and highly exceptionable. Four of these letters, bearing date respectively the 29th of December, 1847, January 12, January 22, and January 25, 1848, have been received since the treaty was submitted to the senate. In the latter, it is stated that the Mexican commissioners who signed the treaty derived "their full powers bearing date on the 30th of December, 1847, from the president ad interim of the republic (General Anaya), constitutionally elected to that office in November by the sovereign constituent Congress" of Mexico. It is impossible that I can approve the conduct of Mr. Trist in disobeying the positive orders of his government, contained in the letter recalling him, or do otherwise than condemn much of the matter with which he has chosen to encumber his voluminous correspondence. Though all of his acts, since his recall, might have been disavowed by his government, yet Mexico can take no |
