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Title: A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Polk
       Section 3 (of 3) of Volume 4: James Knox Polk

Author: Compiled by James D. Richardson

Release Date: May 28, 2004 [EBook #12463]

Language: English

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A COMPILATION OF THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS

BY JAMES D. RICHARDSON


James K. Polk

March 4, 1845, to March 4, 1849




James K. Polk


JAMES KNOX POLK was born in Mecklenburg County, N.C., November 2, 1795.
He was a son of Samuel Polk, a farmer, whose father, Ezekiel, and his
brother, Colonel Thomas Polk, one of the signers of the Mecklenburg
Declaration of Independence, were sons of Robert Polk (or Pollock), who
was born in Ireland and emigrated to America. His mother was Jane,
daughter of James Knox, a resident of Iredell County, N.C., and a
captain in the War of the Revolution. His father removed to Tennessee in
the autumn of 1806, and settled in the valley of Duck River, a tributary
of the Tennessee, in a section that was erected the following year into
the county of Maury; he died in 1827. James was brought up on the farm;
was inclined to study, and was fond of reading. He was sent to school,
and had succeeded in mastering the English branches when ill health
compelled his removal. Was then placed with a merchant, but, having a
strong dislike to commercial pursuits, soon returned home, and in July,
1813, was given in charge of a private tutor. In 1815 entered the
sophomore class at the University of North Carolina. As a student he was
correct, punctual, and industrious. At his graduation in 1818 he was
officially acknowledged to be the best scholar in both the classics and
mathematics, and delivered the Latin salutatory. In 1847 the university
conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. In 1819 he entered the law office
of Felix Grundy, then at the head of the Tennessee bar. While pursuing
his legal studies he attracted the attention of Andrew Jackson, and an
intimacy was thus begun between the two men. In 1820 Mr. Polk was
admitted to the bar, and established himself at Columbia, the county
seat of Maury County. He attained immediate success, his career at the
bar only ending with his election to the governorship of Tennessee in
1839. Brought up as a Jeffersonian and early taking an interest in
politics, he was frequently heard in public as an exponent of the views
of his party. His style of oratory was so popular that his services soon
came to be in great demand, and he was not long in earning the title of
the "Napoleon of the Stump." His first public employment was that of
principal clerk of the senate of the State of Tennessee. In 1823 was
elected a member of that body. In January, 1824, he married Sarah,
daughter of Joel Childress, a merchant of Rutherford County, Tenn. In
August, 1825, he was elected to Congress from the Duck River district,
and reelected at every succeeding election till 1839, when he withdrew
from the contest to become a candidate for governor. With one or two
exceptions, he was the youngest member of the Nineteenth Congress. He
was prominently connected with every leading question, and upon all he
struck what proved to be the keynote for the action of his party. His
maiden speech was in defense of the proposed amendment to the
Constitution giving the choice of the President and Vice-President
directly to the people. It at once placed him in the front rank of
Congressional debaters. He opposed the appropriation for the Panama
mission, asked for by President Adams, contending that such action would
tend to involve the United States in a war with Spain and establish an
unfortunate precedent. In December, 1827, he was placed on the Committee
on Foreign Affairs, and afterwards was also appointed chairman of the
select committee to which was referred that portion of President Adams's
message calling attention to the probable accumulation of a surplus in
the Treasury after the anticipated extinguishment of the national debt.
As the head of the latter committee he made a report denying the
constitutional power of Congress to collect from the people for
distribution a surplus beyond the wants of the Government, and
maintaining that the revenue should be reduced to the requirements of
the public service. During the whole period of President Jackson's
Administration he was one of its leading supporters, and at times its
chief reliance. Early in 1833, as a member of the Ways and Means
Committee, he made a minority report unfavorable to the Bank of the
United States. During the entire contest between the bank and President
Jackson, caused by the removal of the deposits in October, 1833, Mr.
Polk, as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, supported the
Executive. He was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in
December, 1835, and held that office till 1839. It was his fortune to
preside over the House at a period when party feelings were excited to
an unusual degree, and notwithstanding the fact that during the first
session more appeals were taken from his decisions than were ever known
before, he was uniformly sustained by the House, and frequently by
leading members of the Whig party. He gave to the Administration of
Martin Van Buren the same unhesitating support he had accorded to that
of President Jackson. On leaving Congress he became the candidate of the
Democrats of Tennessee for governor, and was elected by over 2,500
majority. He was an unsuccessful candidate for governor again in 1841
and 1843. In 1839 he was nominated by the legislatures of Tennessee and
other States for Vice-President of the United States, but Richard M.
Johnson, of Kentucky, was the choice of the great body of the Democratic
party, and was accordingly nominated. On May 27, 1844, Mr. Polk was
nominated for President of the United States by the national Democratic
convention at Baltimore, and on November 12 was elected, receiving about
40,000 majority on the popular vote, and 170 electoral votes to 105 that
were cast for Henry Clay. He was inaugurated March 4, 1845. Among the
important events of his Administration were the establishment of the
United States Naval Academy; the consummation of the annexation of
Texas; the admission of Texas, Iowa, and Wisconsin as States; the war
with Mexico, resulting in a treaty of peace, by which the United States
acquired New Mexico and Upper California; the treaty with Great Britain
settling the Oregon boundary; the establishment of the "warehouse
system;" the reenactment of the independent-treasury system; the passage
of the act establishing the Smithsonian Institution; the treaty with New
Granada, the thirty-fifth article of which secured for citizens of the
United States the right of way across the Isthmus of Panama; and the
creation of the Department of the Interior. He declined to become a
candidate for reelection, and at the conclusion of his term retired to
his home in Nashville. He died June 15, 1849, and was buried at Polk
Place, in Nashville. September 19, 1893, the remains were removed by the
State to Capitol Square.




INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

FELLOW-CITIZENS: Without solicitation on my part, I have been chosen by
the free and voluntary suffrages of my countrymen to the most honorable
and most responsible office on earth. I am deeply impressed with
gratitude for the confidence reposed in me. Honored with this
distinguished consideration at an earlier period of life than any of my
fxpredecessors, I can not disguise the diffidence with which I am about
to enter on the discharge of my official duties.

If the more aged and experienced men who have filled the office of
President of the United States even in the infancy of the Republic
distrusted their ability to discharge the duties of that exalted
station, what ought not to be the apprehensions of one so much younger
and less endowed now that our domain extends from ocean to ocean, that
our people have so greatly increased in numbers, and at a time when so
great diversity of opinion prevails in regard to the principles and
policy which should characterize the administration of our Government?
Well may the boldest fear and the wisest tremble when incurring
responsibilities on which may depend our country's peace and prosperity,
and in some degree the hopes and happiness of the whole human family.

In assuming responsibilities so vast I fervently invoke the aid of that
Almighty Ruler of the Universe in whose hands are the destinies of
nations and of men to guard this Heaven-favored land against the
mischiefs which without His guidance might arise from an unwise public
policy. With a firm reliance upon the wisdom of Omnipotence to sustain
and direct me in the path of duty which I am appointed to pursue, I
stand in the presence of this assembled multitude of my countrymen to
take upon myself the solemn obligation "to the best of my ability to
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

A concise enumeration of the principles which will guide me in the
administrative policy of the Government is not only in accordance with
the examples set me by all my predecessors, but is eminently befitting
the occasion.

The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our
federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding
together in the bonds of peace and union this great and increasing
family of free and independent States, will be the chart by which I
shall be directed.

It will be my first care to administer the Government in the true spirit
of that instrument, and to assume no powers not expressly granted or
clearly implied in its terms. The Government of the United States is one
of delegated and limited powers, and it is by a strict adherence to the
clearly granted powers and by abstaining from the exercise of doubtful
or unauthorized implied powers that we have the only sure guaranty
against the recurrence of those unfortunate collisions between the
Federal and State authorities which have occasionally so much disturbed
the harmony of our system and even threatened the perpetuity of our
glorious Union.

"To the States, respectively, or to the people" have been reserved "the
powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor
prohibited by it to the States." Each State is a complete sovereignty
within the sphere of its reserved powers. The Government of the Union,
acting within the sphere of its delegated authority, is also a complete
sovereignty. While the General Government should abstain from the
exercise of authority not clearly delegated to it, the States should be
equally careful that in the maintenance of their rights they do not
overstep the limits of powers reserved to them. One of the most
distinguished of my predecessors attached deserved importance to "the
support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most
competent administration for our domestic concerns and the surest
bulwark against antirepublican tendencies," and to the "preservation of
the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet
anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad."

To the Government of the United States has been intrusted the exclusive
management of our foreign affairs. Beyond that it wields a few general
enumerated powers. It does not force reform on the States. It leaves
individuals, over whom it casts its protecting influence, entirely free
to improve their own condition by the legitimate exercise of all their
mental and physical powers. It is a common protector of each and all the
States; of every man who lives upon our soil, whether of native or
foreign birth; of every religious sect, in their worship of the Almighty
according to the dictates of their own conscience; of every shade of
opinion, and the most free inquiry; of every art, trade, and occupation
consistent with the laws of the States. And we rejoice in the general
happiness, prosperity, and advancement of our country, which have been
the offspring of freedom, and not of power.

This most admirable and wisest system of well-regulated self-government
among men ever devised by human minds has been tested by its successful
operation for more than half a century, and if preserved from the
usurpations of the Federal Government on the one hand and the exercise
by the States of powers not reserved to them on the other, will, I
fervently hope and believe, endure for ages to come and dispense the
blessings of civil and religious liberty to distant generations. To
effect objects so dear to every patriot I shall devote myself with
anxious solicitude. It will be my desire to guard against that most
fruitful source of danger to the harmonious action of our system which
consists in substituting the mere discretion and caprice of the
Executive or of majorities in the legislative department of the
Government for powers which have been withheld from the Federal
Government by the Constitution. By the theory of our Government
majorities rule, but this right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It
is a right to be exercised in subordination to the Constitution and in
conformity to it. One great object of the Constitution was to restrain
majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just
rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a
shield against such oppression.

That the blessings of liberty which our Constitution secures may be
enjoyed alike by minorities and majorities, the Executive has been
wisely invested with a qualified veto upon the acts of the Legislature.
It is a negative power, and is conservative in its character. It arrests
for the time hasty, inconsiderate, or unconstitutional legislation,
invites reconsideration, and transfers questions at issue between the
legislative and executive departments to the tribunal of the people.
Like all other powers, it is subject to be abused. When judiciously and
properly exercised, the Constitution itself may be saved from infraction
and the rights of all preserved and protected.

The inestimable value of our Federal Union is felt and acknowledged by
all. By this system of united and confederated States our people are
permitted collectively and individually to seek their own happiness in
their own way, and the consequences have been most auspicious. Since the
Union was formed the number of the States has increased from thirteen to
twenty-eight; two of these have taken their position as members of the
Confederacy within the last week. Our population has increased from
three to twenty millions. New communities and States are seeking
protection under its ćgis, and multitudes from the Old World are
flocking to our shores to participate in its blessings. Beneath its
benign sway peace and prosperity prevail. Freed from the burdens and
miseries of war, our trade and intercourse have extended throughout the
world. Mind, no longer tasked in devising means to accomplish or resist
schemes of ambition, usurpation, or conquest, is devoting itself to
man's true interests in developing his faculties and powers and the
capacity of nature to minister to his enjoyments. Genius is free to
announce its inventions and discoveries, and the hand is free to
accomplish whatever the head conceives not incompatible with the rights
of a fellow-being. All distinctions of birth or of rank have been
abolished. All citizens, whether native or adopted, are placed upon
terms of precise equality. All are entitled to equal rights and equal
protection. No union exists between church and state, and perfect
freedom of opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds.

These are some of the blessings secured to our happy land by our Federal
Union. To perpetuate them it is our sacred duty to preserve it. Who
shall assign limits to the achievements of free minds and free hands
under the protection of this glorious Union? No treason to mankind since
the organization of society would be equal in atrocity to that of him
who would lift his hand to destroy it. He would overthrow the noblest
structure of human wisdom, which protects himself and his fellow-man. He
would stop the progress of free government and involve his country
either in anarchy or despotism. He would extinguish the fire of liberty,
which warms and animates the hearts of happy millions and invites all
the nations of the earth to imitate our example. If he say that error
and wrong are committed in the administration of the Government, let him
remember that nothing human can be perfect, and that under no other
system of government revealed by Heaven or devised by man has reason
been allowed so free and broad a scope to combat error. Has the sword of
despots proved to be a safer or surer instrument of reform in government
than enlightened reason? Does he expect to find among the ruins of this
Union a happier abode for our swarming millions than they now have under
it? Every lover of his country must shudder at the thought of the
possibility of its dissolution, and will be ready to adopt the patriotic
sentiment, "Our Federal Union--it must be preserved." To preserve it the
compromises which alone enabled our fathers to form a common
constitution for the government and protection of so many States and
distinct communities, of such diversified habits, interests, and
domestic institutions, must be sacredly and religiously observed. Any
attempt to disturb or destroy these compromises, being terms of the
compact of union, can lead to none other than the most ruinous and
disastrous consequences.

It is a source of deep regret that in some sections of our country
misguided persons have occasionally indulged in schemes and agitations
whose object is the destruction of domestic institutions existing in
other sections--institutions which existed at the adoption of the
Constitution and were recognized and protected by it. All must see that
if it were possible for them to be successful in attaining their object
the dissolution of the Union and the consequent destruction of our happy
form of government must speedily follow.

I am happy to believe that at every period of our existence as a nation
there has existed, and continues to exist, among the great mass of our
people a devotion to the Union of the States which will shield and
protect it against the moral treason of any who would seriously
contemplate its destruction. To secure a continuance of that devotion
the compromises of the Constitution must not only be preserved, but
sectional jealousies and heartburnings must be discountenanced, and all
should remember that they are members of the same political family,
having a common destiny. To increase the attachment of our people to the
Union, our laws should be just. Any policy which shall tend to favor
monopolies or the peculiar interests of sections or classes must operate
to the prejudice of the interests of their fellow-citizens, and should
be avoided. If the compromises of the Constitution be preserved, if
sectional jealousies and heartburnings be discountenanced, if our laws
be just and the Government be practically administered strictly within
the limits of power prescribed to it, we may discard all apprehensions
for the safety of the Union.

With these views of the nature, character, and objects of the Government
and the value of the Union, I shall steadily oppose the creation of
those institutions and systems which in their nature tend to pervert it
from its legitimate purposes and make it the instrument of sections,
classes, and individuals. We need no national banks or other extraneous
institutions planted around the Government to control or strengthen it
in opposition to the will of its authors. Experience has taught us how
unnecessary they are as auxiliaries of the public authorities--how
impotent for good and how powerful for mischief.

Ours was intended to be a plain and frugal government, and I shall
regard it to be my duty to recommend to Congress and, as far as the
Executive is concerned, to enforce by all the means within my power the
strictest economy in the expenditure of the public money which may be
compatible with the public interests.

A national debt has become almost an institution of European monarchies.
It is viewed in some of them as an essential prop to existing
governments. Melancholy is the condition of that people whose government
can be sustained only by a system which periodically transfers large
amounts from the labor of the many to the coffers of the few. Such a
system is incompatible with the ends for which our republican Government
was instituted. Under a wise policy the debts contracted in our
Revolution and during the War of 1812 have been happily extinguished. By
a judicious application of the revenues not required for other necessary
purposes, it is not doubted that the debt which has grown out of the
circumstances of the last few years may be speedily paid off.

I congratulate my fellow-citizens on the entire restoration of the
credit of the General Government of the Union and that of many of the
States. Happy would it be for the indebted States if they were freed
from their liabilities, many of which were incautiously contracted.
Although the Government of the Union is neither in a legal nor a moral
sense bound for the debts of the States, and it would be a violation of
our compact of union to assume them, yet we can not but feel a deep
interest in seeing all the States meet their public liabilities and pay
off their just debts at the earliest practicable period. That they will
do so as soon as it can be done without imposing too heavy burdens on
their citizens there is no reason to doubt. The sound moral and
honorable feeling of the people of the indebted States can not be
questioned, and we are happy to perceive a settled disposition on their
part, as their ability returns after a season of unexampled pecuniary
embarrassment, to pay off all just demands and to acquiesce in any
reasonable measures to accomplish that object.

One of the difficulties which we have had to encounter in the practical
administration of the Government consists in the adjustment of our
revenue laws and the levy of the taxes necessary for the support of
Government. In the general proposition that no more money shall be
collected than the necessities of an economical administration shall
require all parties seem to acquiesce. Nor does there seem to be any
material difference of opinion as to the absence of right in the
Government to tax one section of country, or one class of citizens, or
one occupation, for the mere profit of another. "Justice and sound
policy forbid the Federal Government to foster one branch of industry to
the detriment of another, or to cherish the interests of one portion to
the injury of another portion of our common country." I have heretofore
declared to my fellow-citizens that "in my judgment it is the duty of
the Government to extend, as far as it may be practicable to do so, by
its revenue laws and all other means within its power, fair and just
protection to all the great interests of the whole Union, embracing
agriculture, manufactures, the mechanic arts, commerce, and navigation."
I have also declared my opinion to be "in favor of a tariff for
revenue," and that "in adjusting the details of such a tariff I have
sanctioned such moderate discriminating duties as would produce the
amount of revenue needed and at the same time afford reasonable
incidental protection to our home industry," and that I was "opposed to
a tariff for protection merely, and not for revenue."

The power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises" was
an indispensable one to be conferred on the Federal Government, which
without it would possess no means of providing for its own support.
In executing this power by levying a tariff of duties for the support
of Government, the raising of _revenue_ should be the _object_ and
_protection_ the _incident_. To reverse this principle and make
_protection_ the _object_ and _revenue_ the _incident_ would be to
inflict manifest injustice upon all other than the protected interests.
In levying duties for revenue it is doubtless proper to make such
discriminations within the _revenue principle_ as will afford incidental
protection to our home interests. Within the revenue limit there is a
discretion to discriminate; beyond that limit the rightful exercise
of the power is not conceded. The incidental protection afforded to
our home interests by discriminations within the revenue range it is
believed will be ample. In making discriminations all our home interests
should as far as practicable be equally protected. The largest portion
of our people are agriculturists. Others are employed in manufactures,
commerce, navigation, and the mechanic arts. They are all engaged
in their respective pursuits, and their joint labors constitute the
national or home industry. To tax one branch of this home industry for
the benefit of another would be unjust. No one of these interests can
rightfully claim an advantage over the others, or to be enriched by
impoverishing the others. All are equally entitled to the fostering care
and protection of the Government. In exercising a sound discretion in
levying discriminating duties within the limit prescribed, care should
be taken that it be done in a manner not to benefit the wealthy few at
the expense of the toiling millions by taxing _lowest_ the luxuries of
life, or articles of superior quality and high price, which can only be
consumed by the wealthy, and _highest_ the necessaries of life, or
articles of coarse quality and low price, which the poor and great mass
of our people must consume. The burdens of government should as far as
practicable be distributed justly and equally among all classes of our
population. These general views, long entertained on this subject,
I have deemed it proper to reiterate. It is a subject upon which
conflicting interests of sections and occupations are supposed to exist,
and a spirit of mutual concession and compromise in adjusting its
details should be cherished by every part of our widespread country as
the only means of preserving harmony and a cheerful acquiescence of all
in the operation of our revenue laws. Our patriotic citizens in every
part of the Union will readily submit to the payment of such taxes as
shall be needed for the support of their Government, whether in peace or
in war, if they are so levied as to distribute the burdens as equally as
possible among them.

The Republic of Texas has made known her desire to come into our Union,
to form a part of our Confederacy and enjoy with us the blessings of
liberty secured and guaranteed by our Constitution. Texas was once a
part of our country--was unwisely ceded away to a foreign power--is now
independent, and possesses an undoubted right to dispose of a part or
the whole of her territory and to merge her sovereignty as a separate
and independent state in ours. I congratulate my country that by an act
of the late Congress of the United States the assent of this Government
has been given to the reunion, and it only remains for the two countries
to agree upon the terms to consummate an object so important to both.

I regard the question of annexation as belonging exclusively to the
United States and Texas. They are independent powers competent to
contract, and foreign nations have no right to interfere with them or
to take exceptions to their reunion. Foreign powers do not seem to
appreciate the true character of our Government. Our Union is a
confederation of independent States, whose policy is peace with each
other and all the world. To enlarge its limits is to extend the
dominions of peace over additional territories and increasing millions.
The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government.
While the Chief Magistrate and the popular branch of Congress are
elected for short terms by the suffrages of those millions who must
in their own persons bear all the burdens and miseries of war, our
Government can not be otherwise than pacific. Foreign powers should
therefore look on the annexation of Texas to the United States not as
the conquest of a nation seeking to extend her dominions by arms and
violence, but as the peaceful acquisition of a territory once her own,
by adding another member to our confederation, with the consent of that
member, thereby diminishing the chances of war and opening to them new
and ever-increasing markets for their products.

To Texas the reunion is important, because the strong protecting arm of
our Government would be extended over her, and the vast resources of her
fertile soil and genial climate would be speedily developed, while the
safety of New Orleans and of our whole southwestern frontier against
hostile aggression, as well as the interests of the whole Union, would
be promoted by it.

In the earlier stages of our national existence the opinion prevailed
with some that our system of confederated States could not operate
successfully over an extended territory, and serious objections have at
different times been made to the enlargement of our boundaries. These
objections were earnestly urged when we acquired Louisiana. Experience
has shown that they were not well founded. The title of numerous Indian
tribes to vast tracts of country has been extinguished; new States have
been admitted into the Union; new Territories have been created and
our jurisdiction and laws extended over them. As our population has
expanded, the Union has been cemented and strengthened. As our
boundaries have been enlarged and our agricultural population has
been spread over a large surface, our federative system has acquired
additional strength and security. It may well be doubted whether it
would not be in greater danger of overthrow if our present population
were confined to the comparatively narrow limits of the original
thirteen States than it is now that they are sparsely settled over a
more expanded territory. It is confidently believed that our system may
be safely extended to the utmost bounds of our territorial limits, and
that as it shall be extended the bonds of our Union, so far from being
weakened, will become stronger.

None can fail to see the danger to our safety and future peace if Texas
remains an independent state or becomes an ally or dependency of some
foreign nation more powerful than herself. Is there one among our
citizens who would not prefer perpetual peace with Texas to occasional
wars, which so often occur between bordering independent nations? Is
there one who would not prefer free intercourse with her to high duties
on all our products and manufactures which enter her ports or cross
her frontiers? Is there one who would not prefer an unrestricted
communication with her citizens to the frontier obstructions which must
occur if she remains out of the Union? Whatever is good or evil in the
local institutions of Texas will remain her own whether annexed to the
United States or not. None of the present States will be responsible for
them any more than they are for the local institutions of each other.
They have confederated together for certain specified objects. Upon the
same principle that they would refuse to form a perpetual union with
Texas because of her local institutions our forefathers would have been
prevented from forming our present Union. Perceiving no valid objection
to the measure and many reasons for its adoption vitally affecting the
peace, the safety, and the prosperity of both countries, I shall on the
broad principle which formed the basis and produced the adoption of our
Constitution, and not in any narrow spirit of sectional policy, endeavor
by all constitutional, honorable, and appropriate means to consummate
the expressed will of the people and Government of the United States by
the reannexation of Texas to our Union at the earliest practicable
period.

Nor will it become in a less degree my duty to assert and maintain by
all constitutional means the right of the United States to that portion
of our territory which lies beyond the Rocky Mountains. Our title to the
country of the Oregon is "clear and unquestionable," and already are our
people preparing to perfect that title by occupying it with their wives
and children. But eighty years ago our population was confined on the
west by the ridge of the Alleghanies. Within that period--within the
lifetime, I might say, of some of my hearers--our people, increasing to
many millions, have filled the eastern valley of the Mississippi,
adventurously ascended the Missouri to its headsprings, and are already
engaged in establishing the blessings of self-government in valleys of
which the rivers flow to the Pacific. The world beholds the peaceful
triumphs of the industry of our emigrants. To us belongs the duty of
protecting them adequately wherever they may be upon our soil. The
jurisdiction of our laws and the benefits of our republican institutions
should be extended over them in the distant regions which they have
selected for their homes. The increasing facilities of intercourse will
easily bring the States, of which the formation in that part of our
territory can not be long delayed, within the sphere of our federative
Union. In the meantime every obligation imposed by treaty or
conventional stipulations should be sacredly respected.

In the management of our foreign relations it will be my aim to observe
a careful respect for the rights of other nations, while our own will be
the subject of constant watchfulness. Equal and exact justice should
characterize all our intercourse with foreign countries. All alliances
having a tendency to jeopard the welfare and honor of our country or
sacrifice any one of the national interests will be studiously avoided,
and yet no opportunity will be lost to cultivate a favorable
understanding with foreign governments by which our navigation and
commerce may be extended and the ample products of our fertile soil, as
well as the manufactures of our skillful artisans, find a ready market
and remunerating prices in foreign countries.

In taking "care that the laws be faithfully executed," a strict
performance of duty will be exacted from all public officers. From
those officers, especially, who are charged with the collection and
disbursement of the public revenue will prompt and rigid accountability
be required. Any culpable failure or delay on their part to account for
the moneys intrusted to them at the times and in the manner required by
law will in every instance terminate the official connection of such
defaulting officer with the Government.

Although in our country the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be
chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet
in his official action he should not be the President of a part only,
but of the whole people of the United States. While he executes the laws
with an impartial hand, shrinks from no proper responsibility, and
faithfully carries out in the executive department of the Government the
principles and policy of those who have chosen him, he should not be
unmindful that our fellow-citizens who have differed with him in opinion
are entitled to the full and free exercise of their opinions and
judgments, and that the rights of all are entitled to respect and
regard.

Confidently relying upon the aid and assistance of the coordinate
departments of the Government in conducting our public affairs, I enter
upon the discharge of the high duties which have been assigned me by the
people, again humbly supplicating that Divine Being who has watched over
and protected our beloved country from its infancy to the present hour
to continue His gracious benedictions upon us, that we may continue to
be a prosperous and happy people.

MARCH 4, 1845.




SPECIAL MESSAGE.


WASHINGTON, _March 15, _1845.

_To the Senate of the United States_:


I have received and maturely considered the two resolutions adopted by
the Senate in executive session on the 12th instant, the first
requesting the President to communicate information to the Senate (in
confidence) of any steps which have been taken, if any were taken, by
the late President in execution of the resolution of Congress entitled
"A joint resolution for the annexation of Texas to the United States,"
and if any such steps have been taken, then to inform the Senate whether
anything has been done by him to counteract, suspend, or reverse the
action of the late President in the premises; and the second requesting
the President "to inform the Senate what communications have been made
by the Mexican minister in consequence of the proceedings of Congress
and the Executive in relation to Texas."

With the highest respect for the Senate and a sincere desire to furnish
all the information requested by the first resolution, I yet entertain
strong apprehensions lest such a communication might delay and
ultimately endanger the success of the great measure which Congress so
earnestly sought to accomplish by the passage of the "joint resolution
for the annexation of Texas to the United States." The initiatory
proceedings which have been adopted by the Executive to give effect to
this resolution can not, therefore, in my judgment, at this time and
under existing circumstances, be communicated without injury to the
public interest.

In conformity with the second resolution, I herewith transmit to the
Senate the copy of a note, dated on the 6th instant, addressed by
General Almonte, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the
Mexican Republic, to the Hon. John C. Calhoun, late Secretary of State,
which is the only communication that has been made by the Mexican
minister to the Department of State since the passage of the joint
resolution of Congress for the annexation of Texas; and I also transmit
a copy of the answer of the Secretary of State to this note of the
Mexican minister.

JAMES K. POLK.




EXECUTIVE ORDERS.


WASHINGTON CITY, _June 16, 1845_.

Andrew Jackson is no more. He departed this life on Sunday, the 8th
instant, full of days and full of honors. His country deplores his loss,
and will ever cherish his memory. Whilst a nation mourns it is proper
that business should be suspended, at least for one day, in the
Executive Departments, as a tribute of respect to the illustrious dead.

I accordingly direct that the Departments of State, the Treasury, War,
the Navy, the Post-Office, the office of the Attorney-General, and the
Executive Mansion be instantly put into mourning, and that they be
closed during the whole day to-morrow.

JAMES K. POLK.



GENERAL ORDERS, NO. 27.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, June 16, 1845_.

The following general order of the President, received through the War
Department, announces to the Army the death of the illustrious
ex-President, General Andrew Jackson:



GENERAL ORDER.

WASHINGTON, _June 16, 1845_.

The President of the United States with heartfelt sorrow announces to
the Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps the death of Andrew Jackson. On
the evening of Sunday, the 8th day of June, about 6 o'clock, he resigned
his spirit to his Heavenly Father. The nation, while it learns with
grief the death of its most illustrious citizen, finds solace in
contemplating his venerable character and services. The Valley of the
Mississippi beheld in him the bravest and wisest and most fortunate of
its defenders; the country raised him to the highest trusts in military
and in civil life with a confidence that never abated and an affection
that followed him in undiminished vigor to retirement, watched over his
latest hours, and pays its tribute at his grave. Wherever his lot was
cast he appeared among those around him first in natural endowments and
resources, not less than first in authority and station. The power of
his mind impressed itself on the policy of his country, and still lives,
and will live forever in the memory of its people. Child of a forest
region and a settler of the wilderness, his was a genius which, as it
came to the guidance of affairs, instinctively attached itself to
general principles, and inspired by the truth which his own heart
revealed to him in singleness and simplicity, he found always a response
in the breast of his countrymen. Crowned with glory in war, in his whole
career as a statesman he showed himself the friend and lover of peace.
With an American heart, whose throbs were all for republican freedom and
his native land, he yet longed to promote the widest intercourse and
most intimate commerce between the many nations of mankind. He was the
servant of humanity. Of a vehement will, he was patient in council,
deliberating long, hearing all things, yet in the moment of action
deciding with rapidity. Of a noble nature and incapable of disguise, his
thoughts lay open to all around him and won their confidence by his
ingenuous frankness. His judgment was of that solidity that he ever
tempered vigor with prudence. The flushings of anger could never cloud
his faculties, but rather kindled and lighted them up, quickening their
energy without disturbing their balance. In war his eye at a glance
discerned his plans with unerring sagacity; in peace he proposed
measures with an instinctive wisdom of which the inspirations were
prophecy. In discipline stern, in a just resolution inflexible, he was
full of the gentlest affections, ever ready to solace the distressed and
to relieve the needy, faithful to his friends, fervid for his country.
Indifferent to other rewards, he aspired throughout life to an honorable
fame, and so loved his fellow-men that he longed to dwell in their
affectionate remembrance. Heaven gave him length of days and he filled
them with deeds of greatness. He was always happy--happy in his youth,
which shared the achievement of our national independence; happy in his
after years, which beheld the Valley of the West cover itself with the
glory of free and ever-increasing States; happy in his age, which saw
the people multiply from two to twenty millions and freedom and union
make their pathway from the Atlantic to the Pacific; thrice happy in
death, for while he believed the liberties of his country imperishable
and was cheered by visions of its constant advancement, he departed from
this life in a full hope of a blessed immortality through the merits and
atonement of the Redeemer.

Officers of the Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps will wear crape on
the left arm and on their swords and the colors of the several regiments
will be put in mourning for the period of six months. At the naval
stations and the public vessels in commission the flags will be worn at
half-mast for one week, and on the day after this order is received
twenty-one minute guns will be fired, beginning at 12 o'clock.

At each military station the day after the reception of this order the
national flag will be displayed at half-staff from sunrise to sunset,
thirteen guns will be fired at daybreak, half-hour guns during the day,
and at the close of the day a general salute. The troops will be paraded
at 10 o'clock and this order read to them, on which the labors of the
day will cease.

Let the virtues of the illustrious dead retain their influence, and when
energy and courage are called to trial emulate his example.

GEORGE BANCROFT,
  _Acting Secretary of War, and Secretary of the Navy_.

By order:
  R. JONES,
    _Adjutant-General_.




FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.


WASHINGTON, _December 2, 1845_.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

It is to me a source of unaffected satisfaction to meet the
representatives of the States and the people in Congress assembled, as
it will be to receive the aid of their combined wisdom in the
administration of public affairs. In performing for the first time the
duty imposed on me by the Constitution of giving to you information of
the state of the Union and recommending to your consideration such
measures as in my judgment are necessary and expedient, I am happy that
I can congratulate you on the continued prosperity of our country. Under
the blessings of Divine Providence and the benign influence of our free
institutions, it stands before the world a spectacle of national
happiness.

With our unexampled advancement in all the elements of national
greatness, the affection of the people is confirmed for the Union of the
States and for the doctrines of popular liberty which lie at the
foundation of our Government.

It becomes us in humility to make our devout acknowledgments to the
Supreme Ruler of the Universe for the inestimable civil and religious
blessings with which we are favored.

In calling the attention of Congress to our relations with foreign
powers, I am gratified to be able to state that though with some of them
there have existed since your last session serious causes of irritation
and misunderstanding, yet no actual hostilities have taken place.
Adopting the maxim in the conduct of our foreign affairs "to ask nothing
that is not right and submit to nothing that is wrong," it has been my
anxious desire to preserve peace with all nations, but at the same time
to be prepared to resist aggression and maintain all our just rights.

In pursuance of the joint resolution of Congress "for annexing Texas to
the United States," my predecessor, on the 3d day of March, 1845,
elected to submit the first and second sections of that resolution to
the Republic of Texas as an overture on the part of the United States
for her admission as a State into our Union. This election I approved,
and accordingly the chargé d'affaires of the United States in Texas,
under instructions of the 10th of March, 1845, presented these sections
of the resolution for the acceptance of that Republic. The executive
government, the Congress, and the people of Texas in convention have
successively complied with all the terms and conditions of the joint
resolution. A constitution for the government of the State of Texas,
formed by a convention of deputies, is herewith laid before Congress. It
is well known, also, that the people of Texas at the polls have accepted
the terms of annexation and ratified the constitution. I communicate to
Congress the correspondence between the Secretary of State and our
chargé d'affaires in Texas, and also the correspondence of the latter
with the authorities of Texas, together with the official documents
transmitted by him to his own Government. The terms of annexation which
were offered by the United States having been accepted by Texas, the
public faith of both parties is solemnly pledged to the compact of their
union. Nothing remains to consummate the event but the passage of an act
by Congress to admit the State of Texas into the Union upon an equal
footing with the original States. Strong reasons exist why this should
be done at an early period of the session. It will be observed that by
the constitution of Texas the existing government is only continued
temporarily till Congress can act, and that the third Monday of the
present month is the day appointed for holding the first general
election. On that day a governor, a lieutenant-governor, and both
branches of the legislature will be chosen by the people. The President
of Texas is required, immediately after the receipt of official
information that the new State has been admitted into our Union by
Congress, to convene the legislature, and upon its meeting the existing
government will be superseded and the State government organized.
Questions deeply interesting to Texas, in common with the other States,
the extension of our revenue laws and judicial system over her people
and territory, as well as measures of a local character, will claim the
early attention of Congress, and therefore upon every principle of
republican government she ought to be represented in that body without
unnecessary delay. I can not too earnestly recommend prompt action on
this important subject. As soon as the act to admit Texas as a State
shall be passed the union of the two Republics will be consummated by
their own voluntary consent.

This accession to our territory has been a bloodless achievement. No arm
of force has been raised to produce the result. The sword has had no
part in the victory. We have not sought to extend our territorial
possessions by conquest, or our republican institutions over a reluctant
people. It was the deliberate homage of each people to the great
principle of our federative union. If we consider the extent of
territory involved in the annexation, its prospective influence on
America, the means by which it has been accomplished, springing purely
from the choice of the people themselves to share the blessings of our
union, the history of the world may be challenged to furnish a parallel.
The jurisdiction of the United States, which at the formation of the
Federal Constitution was bounded by the St. Marys on the Atlantic, has
passed the capes of Florida and been peacefully extended to the Del
Norte. In contemplating the grandeur of this event it is not to be
forgotten that the result was achieved in despite of the diplomatic
interference of European monarchies. Even France, the country which had
been our ancient ally, the country which has a common interest with us
in maintaining the freedom of the seas, the country which, by the
cession of Louisiana, first opened to us access to the Gulf of Mexico,
the country with which we have been every year drawing more and more
closely the bonds of successful commerce, most unexpectedly, and to our
unfeigned regret, took part in an effort to prevent annexation and to
impose on Texas, as a condition of the recognition of her independence
by Mexico, that she would never join herself to the United States. We
may rejoice that the tranquil and pervading influence of the American
principle of self-government was sufficient to defeat the purposes of
British and French interference, and that the almost unanimous voice of
the people of Texas has given to that interference a peaceful and
effective rebuke. From this example European Governments may learn how
vain diplomatic arts and intrigues must ever prove upon this continent
against that system of self-government which seems natural to our soil,
and which will ever resist foreign interference.

Toward Texas I do not doubt that a liberal and generous spirit will
actuate Congress in all that concerns her interests and prosperity, and
that she will never have cause to regret that she has united her "lone
star" to our glorious constellation.

I regret to inform you that our relations with Mexico since your last
session have not been of the amicable character which it is our desire
to cultivate with all foreign nations. On the 6th day of March last the
Mexican envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the United
States made a formal protest in the name of his Government against the
joint resolution passed by Congress "for the annexation of Texas to the
United States," which he chose to regard as a violation of the rights of
Mexico, and in consequence of it he demanded his passports. He was
informed that the Government of the United States did not consider this
joint resolution as a violation of any of the rights of Mexico, or that
it afforded any just cause of offense to his Government; that the
Republic of Texas was an independent power, owing no allegiance to
Mexico and constituting no part of her territory or rightful sovereignty
and jurisdiction. He was also assured that it was the sincere desire of
this Government to maintain with that of Mexico relations of peace and
good understanding. That functionary, however, notwithstanding these
representations and assurances, abruptly terminated his mission and
shortly afterwards left the country. Our envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary to Mexico was refused all official intercourse
with that Government, and, after remaining several months, by the
permission of his own Government he returned to the United States. Thus,
by the acts of Mexico, all diplomatic intercourse between the two
countries was suspended.

Since that time Mexico has until recently occupied an attitude of
hostility toward the United States--has been marshaling and organizing
armies, issuing proclamations, and avowing the intention to make war on
the United States, either by an open declaration or by invading Texas.
Both the Congress and convention of the people of Texas invited this
Government to send an army into that territory to protect and defend
them against the menaced attack. The moment the terms of annexation
offered by the United States were accepted by Texas the latter became so
far a part of our own country as to make it our duty to afford such
protection and defense. I therefore deemed it proper, as a precautionary
measure, to order a strong squadron to the coasts of Mexico and to
concentrate an efficient military force on the western frontier of
Texas. Our Army was ordered to take position in the country between the
Nueces and the Del Norte, and to repel any invasion of the Texan
territory which might be attempted by the Mexican forces. Our squadron
in the Gulf was ordered to cooperate with the Army. But though our Army
and Navy were placed in a position to defend our own and the rights of
Texas, they were ordered to commit no act of hostility against Mexico
unless she declared war or was herself the aggressor by striking the
first blow. The result has been that Mexico has made no aggressive
movement, and our military and naval commanders have executed their
orders with such discretion that the peace of the two Republics has not
been disturbed. Texas had declared her independence and maintained it by
her arms for more than nine years. She has had an organized government
in successful operation during that period. Her separate existence as an
independent state had been recognized by the United States and the
principal powers of Europe. Treaties of commerce and navigation had been
concluded with her by different nations, and it had become manifest to
the whole world that any further attempt on the part of Mexico to
conquer her or overthrow her Government would be vain. Even Mexico
herself had become satisfied of this fact, and whilst the question of
annexation was pending before the people of Texas during the past summer
the Government of Mexico, by a formal act, agreed to recognize the
independence of Texas on condition that she would not annex herself to
any other power. The agreement to acknowledge the independence of Texas,
whether with or without this condition, is conclusive against Mexico.
The independence of Texas is a fact conceded by Mexico herself, and she
had no right or authority to prescribe restrictions as to the form of
government which Texas might afterwards choose to assume. But though
Mexico can not complain of the United States on account of the
annexation of Texas, it is to be regretted that serious causes of
misunderstanding between the two countries continue to exist, growing
out of unredressed injuries inflicted by the Mexican authorities and
people on the persons and property of citizens of the United States
through a long series of years. Mexico has admitted these injuries, but
has neglected and refused to repair them. Such was the character of the
wrongs and such the insults repeatedly offered to American citizens and
the American flag by Mexico, in palpable violation of the laws of
nations and the treaty between the two countries of the 5th of April,
1831, that they have been repeatedly brought to the notice of Congress
by my predecessors. As early as the 6th of February, 1837, the President
of the United States declared in a message to Congress that--


  The length of time since some of the injuries have been committed, the
  repeated and unavailing applications for redress, the wanton character
  of some of the outrages upon the property and persons of our citizens,
  upon the officers and flag of the United States, independent of recent
  insults to this Government and people by the late extraordinary Mexican
  minister, would justify in the eyes of all nations immediate war.


He did not, however, recommend an immediate resort to this extreme
measure, which, he declared, "should not be used by just and generous
nations, confiding in their strength for injuries committed, if it can
be honorably avoided," but, in a spirit of forbearance, proposed that
another demand be made on Mexico for that redress which had been so long
and unjustly withheld. In these views committees of the two Houses of
Congress, in reports made to their respective bodies, concurred. Since
these proceedings more than eight years have elapsed, during which, in
addition to the wrongs then complained of, others of an aggravated
character have been committed on the persons and property of our
citizens. A special agent was sent to Mexico in the summer of 1838 with
full authority to make another and final demand for redress. The demand
was made; the Mexican Government promised to repair the wrongs of which
we complained, and after much delay a treaty of indemnity with that view
was concluded between the two powers on the 11th of April, 1839, and was
duly ratified by both Governments. By this treaty a joint commission was
created to adjudicate and decide on the claims of American citizens on
the Government of Mexico. The commission was organized at Washington on
the 25th day of August, 1840. Their time was limited to eighteen months,
at the expiration of which they had adjudicated and decided claims
amounting to $2,026,139.68 in favor of citizens of the United States
against the Mexican Government, leaving a large amount of claims
undecided. Of the latter the American commissioners had decided in favor
of our citizens claims amounting to $928,627.88, which were left unacted
on by the umpire authorized by the treaty. Still further claims,
amounting to between three and four millions of dollars, were submitted
to the board too late to be considered, and were left undisposed of. The
sum of $2,026,139.68, decided by the board, was a liquidated and
ascertained debt due by Mexico to the claimants, and there was no
justifiable reason for delaying its payment according to the terms of
the treaty. It was not, however, paid. Mexico applied for further
indulgence, and, in that spirit of liberality and forbearance which has
ever marked the policy of the United States toward that Republic, the
request was granted, and on the 30th of January, 1843, a new treaty was
concluded. By this treaty it was provided that the interest due on the
awards in favor of claimants under the convention of the 11th of April,
1839, should be paid on the 30th of April, 1843, and that--


  The principal of the said awards and the interest accruing thereon
  shall be paid in five years, in equal installments every three months,
  the said term of five years to commence on the 30th day of April, 1843,
  aforesaid.


The interest due on the 30th day of April, 1843, and the three first of
the twenty installments have been paid. Seventeen of these installments
remain unpaid, seven of which are now due.

The claims which were left undecided by the joint commission, amounting
to more than $3,000,000, together with other claims for spoliations on
the property of our citizens, were subsequently presented to the Mexican
Government for payment, and were so far recognized that a treaty
providing for their examination and settlement by a joint commission was
concluded and signed at Mexico on the 20th day of November, 1843. This
treaty was ratified by the United States with certain amendments to
which no just exception could have been taken, but it has not yet
received the ratification of the Mexican Government. In the meantime our
citizens, who suffered great losses--and some of whom have been reduced
from affluence to bankruptcy--are without remedy unless their rights be
enforced by their Government. Such a continued and unprovoked series of
wrongs could never have been tolerated by the United States had they
been committed by one of the principal nations of Europe. Mexico was,
however, a neighboring sister republic, which, following our example,
had achieved her independence, and for whose success and prosperity all
our sympathies were early enlisted. The United States were the first to
recognize her independence and to receive her into the family of
nations, and have ever been desirous of cultivating with her a good
understanding. We have therefore borne the repeated wrongs she has
committed with great patience, in the hope that a returning sense of
justice would ultimately guide her councils and that we might, if
possible, honorably avoid any hostile collision with her. Without the
previous authority of Congress the Executive possessed no power to adopt
or enforce adequate remedies for the injuries we had suffered, or to do
more than to be prepared to repel the threatened aggression on the part
of Mexico. After our Army and Navy had remained on the frontier and
coasts of Mexico for many weeks without any hostile movement on her
part, though her menaces were continued, I deemed it important to put an
end, if possible, to this state of things. With this view I caused steps
to be taken in the month of September last to ascertain distinctly and
in an authentic form what the designs of the Mexican Government
were--whether it was their intention to declare war, or invade Texas, or
whether they were disposed to adjust and settle in an amicable manner
the pending differences between the two countries. On the 9th of
November an official answer was received that the Mexican Government
consented to renew the diplomatic relations which had been suspended in
March last, and for that purpose were willing to accredit a minister
from the United States. With a sincere desire to preserve peace and
restore relations of good understanding between the two Republics, I
waived all ceremony as to the manner of renewing diplomatic intercourse
between them, and, assuming the initiative, on the 10th of November a
distinguished citizen of Louisiana was appointed envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary to Mexico, clothed with full powers to adjust
and definitively settle all pending differences between the two
countries, including those of boundary between Mexico and the State of
Texas. The minister appointed has set out on his mission and is probably
by this time near the Mexican capital. He has been instructed to bring
the negotiation with which he is charged to a conclusion at the earliest
practicable period, which it is expected will be in time to enable me to
communicate the result to Congress during the present session. Until
that result is known I forbear to recommend to Congress such ulterior
measures of redress for the wrongs and injuries we have so long borne as
it would have been proper to make had no such negotiation been
instituted.

Congress appropriated at the last session the sum of $275,000 for the
payment of the April and July installments of the Mexican indemnities
for the year 1844:


  Provided it shall be ascertained to the satisfaction of the American
  Government that said installments have been paid by the Mexican
  Government to the agent appointed by the United States to receive the
  same in such manner as to discharge all claim on the Mexican Government,
  and said agent to be delinquent in remitting the money to the United
  States.


The unsettled state of our relations with Mexico has involved this
subject in much mystery. The first information in an authentic form from
the agent of the United States, appointed under the Administration of my
predecessor, was received at the State Department on the 9th of November
last. This is contained in a letter, dated the 17th of October,
addressed by him to one of our citizens then in Mexico with a view of
having it communicated to that Department. From this it appears that the
agent on the 20th of September, 1844, gave a receipt to the treasury of
Mexico for the amount of the April and July installments of the
indemnity. In the same communication, however, he asserts that he had
not received a single dollar in cash, but that he holds such securities
as warranted him at the time in giving the receipt, and entertains no
doubt but that he will eventually obtain the money. As these
installments appear never to have been actually paid by the Government
of Mexico to the agent, and as that Government has not, therefore, been
released so as to discharge the claim, I do not feel myself warranted in
directing payment to be made to the claimants out of the Treasury
without further legislation. Their case is undoubtedly one of much
hardship, and it remains for Congress to decide whether any, and what,
relief ought to be granted to them. Our minister to Mexico has been
instructed to ascertain the facts of the case from the Mexican
Government in an authentic and official form and report the result with
as little delay as possible.

My attention was early directed to the negotiation which on the 4th
of March last I found pending at Washington between the United States
and Great Britain on the subject of the Oregon Territory. Three several
attempts had been previously made to settle the questions in dispute
between the two countries by negotiation upon the principle of compromise,
but each had proved unsuccessful. These negotiations took place
at London in the years 1818, 1824, and 1826--the two first under the
Administration of Mr. Monroe and the last under that of Mr. Adams.

The negotiation of 1818, having failed to accomplish its object,
resulted in the convention of the 20th of October of that year. By the
third article of that convention it was--

  Agreed that any country that may be claimed by either party on the
  northwest coast of America westward of the Stony Mountains shall,
  together with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all
  rivers within the same, be free and open for the term of ten years from
  the date of the signature of the present convention to the vessels,
  citizens, and subjects of the two powers; it being well understood that
  this agreement is not to be construed to the prejudice of any claim
  which either of the two high contracting parties may have to any part of
  the said country, nor shall it be taken to affect the claims of any
  other power or state to any part of the said country, the only object of
  the high contracting parties in that respect being to prevent disputes
  and differences amongst themselves.


The negotiation of 1824 was productive of no result, and the convention
of 1818 was left unchanged.

The negotiation of 1826, having also failed to effect an adjustment by
compromise, resulted in the convention of August 6, 1827, by which it
was agreed to continue in force for an indefinite period the provisions
of the third article of the convention of the 20th of October, 1818; and
it was further provided that--

  It shall be competent, however, to either of the contracting parties,
  in case either should think fit, at any time after the 20th of October,
  1828, on giving due notice of twelve months to the other contracting
  party, to annul and abrogate this convention; and it shall in such case
  be accordingly entirely annulled and abrogated after the expiration of
  the said term of notice.


In these attempts to adjust the controversy the parallel of the
forty-ninth degree of north latitude had been offered by the United
States to Great Britain, and in those of 1818 and 1826, with a further
concession of the free navigation of the Columbia River south of that
latitude. The parallel of the forty-ninth degree from the Rocky
Mountains to its intersection with the northeasternmost branch of the
Columbia, and thence down the channel of that river to the sea, had been
offered by Great Britain, with an addition of a small detached territory
north of the Columbia. Each of these propositions had been rejected by
the parties respectively. In October, 1843, the envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary of the United States in London was authorized
to make a similar offer to those made in 1818 and 1826. Thus stood the
question when the negotiation was shortly afterwards transferred to
Washington, and on the 23d of August, 1844, was formally opened under
the direction of my immediate predecessor. Like all the previous
negotiations, it was based upon principles of "compromise," and the
avowed purpose of the parties was "to treat of the respective claims of
the two countries to the Oregon Territory with the view to establish a
permanent boundary between them westward of the Rocky Mountains to the
Pacific Ocean."

Accordingly, on the 26th of August, 1844, the British plenipotentiary
offered to divide the Oregon Territory by the forty-ninth parallel of
north latitude from the Rocky Mountains to the point of its intersection
with the northeasternmost branch of the Columbia River, and thence down
that river to the sea, leaving the free navigation of the river to be
enjoyed in common by both parties, the country south of this line to
belong to the United States and that north of it to Great Britain. At
the same time he proposed in addition to yield to the United States a
detached territory north of the Columbia extending along the Pacific and
the Straits of Fuca from Bulfinchs Harbor, inclusive, to Hoods Canal,
and to make free to the United States any port or ports south of
latitude 49° which they might desire, either on the mainland or on
Quadra and Vancouvers Island. With the exception of the free ports, this
was the same offer which had been made by the British and rejected by
the American Government in the negotiation of 1826. This proposition was
properly rejected by the American plenipotentiary on the day it was
submitted. This was the only proposition of compromise offered by the
British plenipotentiary. The proposition on the part of Great Britain
having been rejected, the British plenipotentiary requested that a
proposal should be made by the United States for "an equitable
adjustment of the question." When I came into office I found this to be
the state of the negotiation. Though entertaining the settled conviction
that the British pretensions of title could not be maintained to any
portion of the Oregon Territory upon any principle of public law
recognized by nations, yet in deference to what had been done by my
predecessors, and especially in consideration that propositions of
compromise had been thrice made by two preceding Administrations to
adjust the question on the parallel of 49°, and in two of them yielding
to Great Britain the free navigation of the Columbia, and that the
pending negotiation had been commenced on the basis of compromise, I
deemed it to be my duty not abruptly to break it off. In consideration,
too, that under the conventions of 1818 and 1827 the citizens and
subjects of the two powers held a joint occupancy of the country, I was
induced to make another effort to settle this long-pending controversy
in the spirit of moderation which had given birth to the renewed
discussion. A proposition was accordingly made, which was rejected by
the British plenipotentiary, who, without submitting any other
proposition, suffered the negotiation on his part to drop, expressing
his trust that the United States would offer what he saw fit to call
"some further proposal for the settlement of the Oregon question more
consistent with fairness and equity and with the reasonable expectations
of the British Government." The proposition thus offered and rejected
repeated the offer of the parallel of 49° of north latitude, which had
been made by two preceding Administrations, but without proposing to
surrender to Great Britain, as they had done, the free navigation of the
Columbia River. The right of any foreign power to the free navigation of
any of our rivers through the heart of our country was which I was
unwilling to concede. I also embraced a provision to make free to Great
Britain any port or ports on the cap of Quadra and Vancouvers Island
south of this parallel. Had this been a new question, coming under
discussion for the first time, this proposition would not have been
made. The extraordinary and wholly inadmissible demands of the British
Government and the rejection of the proposition made in deference alone
to what had been done by my predecessors and the implied obligation
which their acts seemed to impose afford satisfactory evidence that no
compromise which the United States ought to accept can be effected. With
this conviction the proposition of compromise which had been made and
rejected was by my direction subsequently withdrawn and our title to the
whole Oregon Territory asserted, and, as is believed, maintained by
irrefragable facts and arguments.

The civilized world will see in these proceedings a spirit of liberal
concession on the part of the United States, and this Government will be
relieved from all responsibility which may follow the failure to settle
the controversy.

All attempts at compromise having failed, it becomes the duty of
Congress to consider what measures it may be proper to adopt for the
security and protection of our citizens now inhabiting or who may
hereafter inhabit Oregon, and for the maintenance of our just title to
that Territory. In adopting measures for this purpose care should be
taken that nothing be done to violate the stipulations of the convention
of 1827, which is still in force. The faith of treaties, in their letter
and spirit, has ever been, and, I trust, will ever be, scrupulously
observed by the United States. Under that convention a year's notice is
required to be given by either party to the other before the joint
occupancy shall terminate and before either can rightfully assert or
exercise exclusive jurisdiction over any portion of the territory. This
notice it would, in my judgment, be proper to give, and I recommend that
provision be made by law for giving it accordingly, and terminating in
this manner the convention of the 6th of August, 1827.

It will become proper for Congress to determine what legislation they
can in the meantime adopt without violating this convention. Beyond all
question the protection of our laws and our jurisdiction, civil and
criminal, ought to be immediately extended over our citizens in Oregon.
They have had just cause to complain of our long neglect in this
particular, and have in consequence been compelled for their own
security and protection to establish a provisional government for
themselves. Strong in their allegiance and ardent in their attachment to
the United States, they have been thus cast upon their own resources.
They are anxious that our laws should be extended over them, and I
recommend that this be done by Congress with as little delay as possible
in the full extent to which the British Parliament have proceeded in
regard to British subjects in that Territory by their act of July 2,
1821, "for regulating the fur trade and establishing a criminal and
civil jurisdiction within certain parts of North America." By this act
Great Britain extended her laws and jurisdiction, civil and criminal,
over her subjects engaged in the fur trade in that Territory. By it the
courts of the Province of Upper Canada were empowered to take cognizance
of causes civil and criminal. Justices of the peace and other judicial
officers were authorized to be appointed in Oregon with power to execute
all process issuing from the courts of that Province, and to "sit and
hold courts of record for the trial of criminal offenses and
misdemeanors" not made the subject of capital punishment, and also of
civil cases where the cause of action shall not "exceed in value the
amount or sum of Ł200."

Subsequent to the date of this act of Parliament a grant was made from
the "British Crown" to the Hudsons Bay Company of the exclusive trade
with the Indian tribes in the Oregon Territory, subject to a reservation
that it shall not operate to the exclusion "of the subjects of any
foreign states who, under or by force of any convention for the time
being between us and such foreign states, respectively, may be entitled
to and shall be engaged in the said trade." It is much to be regretted
that while under this act British subjects have enjoyed the protection
of British laws and British judicial tribunals throughout the whole of
Oregon, American citizens in the same Territory have enjoyed no such
protection from their Government. At the same time, the result
illustrates the character of our people and their institutions. In spite
of this neglect they have multiplied, and their number is rapidly
increasing in that Territory. They have made no appeal to arms, but have
peacefully fortified themselves in their new homes by the adoption of
republican institutions for themselves, furnishing another example of
the truth that self-government is inherent in the American breast and
must prevail. It is due to them that they should be embraced and
protected by our laws. It is deemed important that our laws regulating
trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes east of the Rocky Mountains
should be extended to such tribes as dwell beyond them. The increasing
emigration to Oregon and the care and protection which is due from the
Government to its citizens in that distant region make it our duty, as
it is our interest, to cultivate amicable relations with the Indian
tribes of that Territory. For this purpose I recommend that provision be
made for establishing an Indian agency and such subagencies as may be
deemed necessary beyond the Rocky Mountains.

For the protection of emigrants whilst on their way to Oregon against
the attacks of the Indian tribes occupying the country through which
they pass, I recommend that a suitable number of stockades and
blockhouse forts be erected along the usual route between our frontier
settlements on the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains, and that an
adequate force of mounted riflemen be raised to guard and protect them
on their journey. The immediate adoption of these recommendations by
Congress will not violate the provisions of the existing treaty. It will
be doing nothing more for American citizens than British laws have long
since done for British subjects in the same territory.

It requires several months to perform the voyage by sea from the
Atlantic States to Oregon, and although we have a large number of whale
ships in the Pacific, but few of them afford an opportunity of
interchanging intelligence without great delay between our settlements
in that distant region and the United States. An overland mail is
believed to be entirely practicable, and the importance of establishing
such a mail at least once a month is submitted to the favorable
consideration of Congress.

It is submitted to the wisdom of Congress to determine whether at their
present session, and until after the expiration of the year's notice,
any other measures may be adopted consistently with the convention of
1827 for the security of our rights and the government and protection of
our citizens in Oregon. That it will ultimately be wise and proper to
make liberal grants of land to the patriotic pioneers who amidst
privations and dangers lead the way through savage tribes inhabiting the
vast wilderness intervening between our frontier settlements and Oregon,
and who cultivate and are ever ready to defend the soil, I am fully
satisfied. To doubt whether they will obtain such grants as soon as the
convention between the United States and Great Britain shall have ceased
to exist would be to doubt the justice of Congress; but, pending the
year's notice, it is worthy of consideration whether a stipulation to
this effect may be made consistently with the spirit of that convention.

The recommendations which I have made as to the best manner of securing
our rights in Oregon are submitted to Congress with great deference.
Should they in their wisdom devise any other mode better calculated to
accomplish the same object, it shall meet with my hearty concurrence.

At the end of the year's notice, should Congress think it proper to make
provision for giving that notice, we shall have reached a period when
the national rights in Oregon must either be abandoned or firmly
maintained. That they can not be abandoned without a sacrifice of both
national honor and interest is too clear to admit of doubt.

Oregon is a part of the North American continent, to which, it is
confidently affirmed, the title of the United States is the best now in
existence. For the grounds on which that title rests I refer you to the
correspondence of the late and present Secretary of State with the
British plenipotentiary during the negotiation. The British proposition
of compromise, which would make the Columbia the line south of 49°, with
a trifling addition of detached territory to the United States north of
that river, and would leave on the British side two-thirds of the whole
Oregon Territory, including the free navigation of the Columbia and all
the valuable harbors on the Pacific, can never for a moment be
entertained by the United States without an abandonment of their just
and clear territorial rights, their own self-respect, and the national
honor. For the information of Congress, I communicate herewith the
correspondence which took place between the two Governments during the
late negotiation.

The rapid extension of our settlements over our territories heretofore
unoccupied, the addition of new States to our Confederacy, the expansion
of free principles, and our rising greatness as a nation are attracting
the attention of the powers of Europe, and lately the doctrine has been
broached in some of them of a "balance of power" on this continent to
check our advancement. The United States, sincerely desirous of
preserving relations of good understanding with all nations, can not in
silence permit any European interference on the North American
continent, and should any such interference be attempted will be ready
to resist it at any and all hazards.

It is well known to the American people and to all nations that this
Government has never interfered with the relations subsisting between
other governments. We have never made ourselves parties to their wars or
their alliances; we have not sought their territories by conquest; we
have not mingled with parties in their domestic struggles; and believing
our own form of government to be the best, we have never attempted to
propagate it by intrigues, by diplomacy, or by force. We may claim on
this continent a like exemption from European interference. The nations
of America are equally sovereign and independent with those of Europe.
They possess the same rights, independent of all foreign interposition,
to make war, to conclude peace, and to regulate their internal affairs.
The people of the United States can not, therefore, view with
indifference attempts of European powers to interfere with the
independent action of the nations on this continent. The American system
of government is entirely different from that of Europe. Jealousy among
the different sovereigns of Europe, lest any one of them might become
too powerful for the rest, has caused them anxiously to desire the
establishment of what they term the "balance of power." It can not be
permitted to have any application on the North American continent, and
especially to the United States. We must ever maintain the principle
that the people of this continent alone have the right to decide their
own destiny. Should any portion of them, constituting an independent
state, propose to unite themselves with our Confederacy, this will be a
question for them and us to determine without any foreign interposition.
We can never consent that European powers shall interfere to prevent
such a union because it might disturb the "balance of power" which they
may desire to maintain upon this continent. Near a quarter of a century
ago the principle was distinctly announced to the world, in the annual
message of one of my predecessors, that--

  The American continents, by the free and independent condition which
  they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered
  as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.


This principle will apply with greatly increased force should any
European power attempt to establish any new colony in North America. In
the existing circumstances of the world the present is deemed a proper
occasion to reiterate and reaffirm the principle avowed by Mr. Monroe
and to state my cordial concurrence in its wisdom and sound policy. The
reassertion of this principle, especially in reference to North America,
is at this day but the promulgation of a policy which no European power
should cherish the disposition to resist. Existing rights of every
European nation should be respected, but it is due alike to our safety
and our interests that the efficient protection of our laws should be
extended over our whole territorial limits, and that it should be
distinctly announced to the world as our settled policy that no future
European colony or dominion shall with our consent be planted or
established on any part of the North American continent.

A question has recently arisen under the tenth article of the subsisting
treaty between the United States and Prussia. By this article the
consuls of the two countries have the right to sit as judges and
arbitrators "in such differences as may arise between the captains and
crews of the vessels belonging to the nation whose interests are
committed to their charge without the interference of the local
authorities, unless the conduct of the crews or of the captain should
disturb the order or tranquillity of the country, or the said consuls
should require their assistance to cause their decisions to be carried
into effect or supported."

The Prussian consul at New Bedford in June, 1844, applied to Mr. Justice
Story to carry into effect a decision made by him between the captain
and crew of the Prussian ship _Borussia_, but the request was refused on
the ground that without previous legislation by Congress the judiciary
did not possess the power to give effect to this article of the treaty.
The Prussian Government, through their minister here, have complained of
this violation of the treaty, and have asked the Government of the
United States to adopt the necessary measures to prevent similar
violations hereafter. Good faith to Prussia, as well as to other nations
with whom we have similar treaty stipulations, requires that these
should be faithfully observed. I have deemed it proper, therefore, to
lay the subject before Congress and to recommend such legislation as may
be necessary to give effect to these treaty obligations.

By virtue of an arrangement made between the Spanish Government and that
of the United States in December, 1831, American vessels, since the 20th
of April, 1832, have been admitted to entry in the ports of Spain,
including those of the Balearic and Canary islands, on payment of the
same tonnage duty of 5 cents per ton, as though they had been Spanish
vessels; and this whether our vessels arrive in Spain directly from the
United States or indirectly from any other country. When Congress, by
the act of 13th July, 1832, gave effect to this arrangement between the
two Governments, they confined the reduction of tonnage duty merely to
Spanish vessels "coming from a port in Spain," leaving the former
discriminating duty to remain against such vessels coming from a port in
any other country. It is manifestly unjust that whilst American vessels
arriving in the ports of Spain from other countries pay no more duty
than Spanish vessels, Spanish vessels arriving in the ports of the
United States from other countries should be subjected to heavy
discriminating tonnage duties. This is neither equality nor reciprocity,
and is in violation of the arrangement concluded in December, 1831,
between the two countries. The Spanish Government have made repeated and
earnest remonstrances against this inequality, and the favorable
attention of Congress has been several times invoked to the subject by
my predecessors. I recommend, as an act of justice to Spain, that this
inequality be removed by Congress and that the discriminating duties
which have been levied under the act of the 13th of July, 1832, on
Spanish vessels coming to the United States from any other foreign
country be refunded. This recommendation does not embrace Spanish
vessels arriving in the United States from Cuba and Porto Rico, which
will still remain subject to the provisions of the act of June 30, 1834,
concerning tonnage duty on such vessels. By the act of the 14th of July,
1832, coffee was exempted from duty altogether. This exemption was
universal, without reference to the country where it was produced or the
national character of the vessel in which it was imported. By the tariff
act of the 30th of August, 1842, this exemption from duty was restricted
to coffee imported in American vessels from the place of its production,
whilst coffee imported under all other circumstances was subjected to a
duty of 20 per cent _ad valorem_. Under this act and our existing treaty
with the King of the Netherlands Java coffee imported from the European
ports of that Kingdom into the United States, whether in Dutch or
American vessels, now pays this rate of duty. The Government of the
Netherlands complains that such a discriminating duty should have been
imposed on coffee the production of one of its colonies, and which is
chiefly brought from Java to the ports of that Kingdom and exported from
thence to foreign countries. Our trade with the Netherlands is highly
beneficial to both countries and our relations with them have ever been
of the most friendly character. Under all the circumstances of the case,
I recommend that this discrimination should be abolished and that the
coffee of Java imported from the Netherlands be placed upon the same
footing with that imported directly from Brazil and other countries
where it is produced.

Under the eighth section of the tariff act of the 30th of August, 1842,
a duty of 15 cents per gallon was imposed on port wine in casks, while
on the red wines of several other countries, when imported in casks, a
duty of only 6 cents per gallon was imposed. This discrimination, so far
as regarded the port wine of Portugal, was deemed a violation of our
treaty with that power, which provides that--

  No higher or other duties shall be imposed on the importation into
  the United States of America of any article the growth, produce, or
  manufacture of the Kingdom and possessions of Portugal than such as
  are or shall be payable on the like article being the growth, produce,
  or manufacture of any other foreign country.


Accordingly, to give effect to the treaty as well as to the intention of
Congress, expressed in a proviso to the tariff act itself, that nothing
therein contained should be so construed as to interfere with subsisting
treaties with foreign nations, a Treasury circular was issued on the
16th of July, 1844, which, among other things, declared the duty on the
port wine of Portugal, in casks, under the existing laws and treaty to
be 6 cents per gallon, and directed that the excess of duties which had
been collected on such wine should be refunded. By virtue of another
clause in the same section of the act it is provided that all imitations
of port or any other wines "shall be subject to the duty provided for
the genuine article." Imitations of port wine, the production of France,
are imported to some extent into the United States, and the Government
of that country now claims that under a correct construction of the act
these imitations ought not to pay a higher duty than that imposed upon
the original port wine of Portugal. It appears to me to be unequal and
unjust that French imitations of port wine should be subjected to a duty
of 15 cents, while the more valuable article from Portugal should pay a
duty of 6 cents only per gallon. I therefore recommend to Congress such
legislation as may be necessary to correct the inequality.

The late President, in his annual message of December last, recommended
an appropriation to satisfy the claims of the Texan Government against
the United States, which had been previously adjusted so far as the
powers of the Executive extend. These claims arose out of the act of
disarming a body of Texan troops under the command of Major Snively by
an officer in the service of the United States, acting under the orders
of our Government, and the forcible entry into the custom-house at
Bryarlys Landing, on Red River, by certain citizens of the United States
and taking away therefrom the goods seized by the collector of the
customs as forfeited under the laws of Texas. This was a liquidated debt
ascertained to be due to Texas when an independent state. Her acceptance
of the terms of annexation proposed by the United States does not
discharge or invalidate the claim. I recommend that provision be made
for its payment.

The commissioner appointed to China during the special session of the
Senate in March last shortly afterwards set out on his mission in the
United States ship _Columbus_. On arriving at Rio de Janeiro on his
passage the state of his health had become so critical that by the
advice of his medical attendants he returned to the United States early
in the month of October last. Commodore Biddle, commanding the East
India Squadron, proceeded on his voyage in the _Columbus_, and was
charged by the commissioner with the duty of exchanging with the proper
authorities the ratifications of the treaty lately concluded with the
Emperor of China. Since the return of the commissioner to the United
States his health has been much improved, and he entertains the
confident belief that he will soon be able to proceed on his mission.

Unfortunately, differences continue to exist among some of the nations
of South America which, following our example, have established their
independence, while in others internal dissensions prevail. It is
natural that our sympathies should be warmly enlisted for their welfare;
that we should desire that all controversies between them should be
amicably adjusted and their Governments administered in a manner to
protect the rights and promote the prosperity of their people. It is
contrary, however, to our settled policy to interfere in their
controversies, whether external or internal.

I have thus adverted to all the subjects connected with our foreign
relations to which I deem it necessary to call your attention. Our
policy is not only peace with all, but good will toward all the powers
of the earth. While we are just to all, we require that all shall be
just to us. Excepting the differences with Mexico and Great Britain, our
relations with all civilized nations are of the most satisfactory
character. It is hoped that in this enlightened age these differences
may be amicably adjusted.

The Secretary of the Treasury in his annual report to Congress will
communicate a full statement of the condition of our finances. The
imports for the fiscal year ending on the 30th of June last were of the
value of $117,254,564, of which the amount exported was $15,346,830,
leaving a balance of $101,907,734 for domestic consumption. The exports
for the same year were of the value of $114,646,606, of which the amount
of domestic articles was $99,299,776. The receipts into the Treasury
during the same year were $29,769,133.56, of which there were derived
from customs $27,528,112.70, from sales of public lands $2,077,022.30,
and from incidental and miscellaneous sources $163,998.56. The
expenditures for the same period were $29,968,206.98, of which
$8,588,157.62 were applied to the payment of the public debt. The
balance in the Treasury on the 1st of July last was $7,658,306.22. The
amount of the public debt remaining unpaid on the 1st of October last
was $17,075,445.52. Further payments of the public debt would have been
made, in anticipation of the period of its reimbursement under the
authority conferred upon the Secretary of the Treasury by the acts of
July 21, 1841, and of April 15, 1842, and March 3, 1843, had not the
unsettled state of our relations with Mexico menaced hostile collision
with that power. In view of such a contingency it was deemed prudent to
retain in the Treasury an amount unusually large for ordinary purposes.

A few years ago our whole national debt growing out of the Revolution
and the War of 1812 with Great Britain was extinguished, and we
presented to the world the rare and noble spectacle of a great and
growing people who had fully discharged every obligation. Since that
time the existing debt has been contracted, and, small as it is in
comparison with the similar burdens of most other nations, it should be
extinguished at the earliest practicable period. Should the state of the
country permit, and especially if our foreign relations interpose no
obstacle, it is contemplated to apply all the moneys in the Treasury as
they accrue, beyond what is required for the appropriations by Congress,
to its liquidation. I cherish the hope of soon being able to
congratulate the country on its recovering once more the lofty position
which it so recently occupied. Our country, which exhibits to the world
the benefits of self-government, in developing all the sources of
national prosperity owes to mankind the permanent example of a nation
free from the blighting influence of a public debt.

The attention of Congress is invited to the importance of making
suitable modifications and reductions of the rates of duty imposed by
our present tariff laws. The object of imposing duties on imports should
be to raise revenue to pay the necessary expenses of Government.
Congress may undoubtedly, in the exercise of a sound discretion,
discriminate in arranging the rates of duty on different articles, but
the discriminations should be within the revenue standard and be made
with the view to raise money for the support of Government.

It becomes important to understand distinctly what is meant by a revenue
standard the maximum of which should not be exceeded in the rates of
duty imposed. It is conceded, and experience proves, that duties may be
laid so high as to diminish or prohibit altogether the importation of
any given article, and thereby lessen or destroy the revenue which at
lower rates would be derived from its importation. Such duties exceed
the revenue rates and are not imposed to raise money for the support of
Government. If Congress levy a duty for revenue of 1 per cent on a given
article, it will produce a given amount of money to the Treasury and
will incidentally and necessarily afford protection or advantage to the
amount of 1 per cent to the home manufacturer of a similar or like
article over the importer. If the duty be raised to 10 per cent, it will
produce a greater amount of money and afford greater protection. If it
be still raised to 20, 25, or 30 per cent, and if as it is raised the
revenue derived from it is found to be increased, the protection or
advantage will also be increased; but if it be raised to 31 per cent,
and it is found that the revenue produced at that rate is less than at
30 per cent, it ceases to be a revenue duty. The precise point in the
ascending scale of duties at which it is ascertained from experience
that the revenue is greatest is the maximum rate of duty which can be
laid for the _bona fide_ purpose of collecting money for the support of
Government. To raise the duties higher than that point, and thereby
diminish the amount collected, is to levy them for protection merely,
and not for revenue. As long, then, as Congress may gradually increase
the rate of duty on a given article, and the revenue is increased by
such increase of duty, they are within the revenue standard. When they
go beyond that point, and as they increase the duties, the revenue is
diminished or destroyed; the act ceases to have for its object the
raising of money to support Government, but is for protection merely. It
does not follow that Congress should levy the highest duty on all
articles of import which they will bear within the revenue standard, for
such rates would probably produce a much larger amount than the
economical administration of the Government would require. Nor does it
follow that the duties on all articles should be at the same or a
horizontal rate. Some articles will bear a much higher revenue duty than
others. Below the maximum of the revenue standard Congress may and ought
to discriminate in the rates imposed, taking care so to adjust them on
different articles as to produce in the aggregate the amount which, when
added to the proceeds of the sales of public lands, may be needed to pay
the economical expenses of the Government.

In levying a tariff of duties Congress exercise the taxing power, and
for purposes of revenue may select the objects of taxation. They may
exempt certain articles altogether and permit their importation free of
duty. On others they may impose low duties. In these classes should be
embraced such articles of necessity as are in general use, and
especially such as are consumed by the laborer and poor as well as by
the wealthy citizen. Care should be taken that all the great interests
of the country, including manufactures, agriculture, commerce,
navigation, and the mechanic arts, should, as far as may be practicable,
derive equal advantages from the incidental protection which a just
system of revenue duties may afford. Taxation, direct or indirect, is a
burden, and it should be so imposed as to operate as equally as may be
on all classes in the proportion of their ability to bear it. To make
the taxing power an actual benefit to one class necessarily increases
the burden of the others beyond their proportion, and would be
manifestly unjust. The terms "protection to domestic industry" are of
popular import, but they should apply under a just system to all the
various branches of industry in our country. The farmer or planter who
toils yearly in his fields is engaged in "domestic industry," and is as
much entitled to have his labor "protected" as the manufacturer, the man
of commerce, the navigator, or the mechanic, who are engaged also in
"domestic industry" in their different pursuits. The joint labors of all
these classes constitute the aggregate of the "domestic industry" of the
nation, and they are equally entitled to the nation's "protection." No
one of them can justly claim to be the exclusive recipient of
"protection," which can only be afforded by increasing burdens on the
"domestic industry" of the others.

If these views be correct, it remains to inquire how far the tariff act
of 1842 is consistent with them. That many of the provisions of that act
are in violation of the cardinal principles here laid down all must
concede. The rates of duty imposed by it on some articles are
prohibitory and on others so high as greatly to diminish importations
and to produce a less amount of revenue than would be derived from lower
rates. They operate as "protection merely" to one branch of "domestic
industry" by taxing other branches.

By the introduction of minimums, or assumed and false values, and by the
imposition of specific duties the injustice and inequality of the act of
1842 in its practical operations on different classes and pursuits are
seen and felt. Many of the oppressive duties imposed by it under the
operation of these principles range from 1 per cent to more than 200 per
cent. They are prohibitory on some articles and partially so on others,
and bear most heavily on articles of common necessity and but lightly on
articles of luxury. It is so framed that much the greatest burden which
it imposes is thrown on labor and the poorer classes, who are least able
to bear it, while it protects capital and exempts the rich from paying
their just proportion of the taxation required for the support of
Government. While it protects the capital of the wealthy manufacturer
and increases his profits, it does not benefit the operatives or
laborers in his employment, whose wages have not been increased by it.
Articles of prime necessity or of coarse quality and low price, used by
the masses of the people, are in many instances subjected by it to heavy
taxes, while articles of finer quality and higher price, or of luxury,
which can be used only by the opulent, are lightly taxed. It imposes
heavy and unjust burdens on the farmer, the planter, the commercial man,
and those of all other pursuits except the capitalist who has made his
investments in manufactures. All the great interests of the country are
not as nearly as may be practicable equally protected by it.

The Government in theory knows no distinction of persons or classes, and
should not bestow upon some favors and privileges which all others may
not enjoy. It was the purpose of its illustrious founders to base the
institutions which they reared upon the great and unchanging principles
of justice and equity, conscious that if administered in the spirit in
which they were conceived they would be felt only by the benefits which
they diffused, and would secure for themselves a defense in the hearts
of the people more powerful than standing armies and all the means and
appliances invented to sustain governments founded in injustice and
oppression.

The well-known fact that the tariff act of 1842 was passed by a majority
of one vote in the Senate and two in the House of Representatives, and
that some of those who felt themselves constrained, under the peculiar
circumstances existing at the time, to vote in its favor, proclaimed its
defects and expressed their determination to aid in its modification on
the first opportunity, affords strong and conclusive evidence that it
was not intended to be permanent, and of the expediency and necessity of
its thorough revision.

In recommending to Congress a reduction of the present rates of duty and
a revision and modification of the act of 1842, I am far from
entertaining opinions unfriendly to the manufacturers. On the contrary,
I desire to see them prosperous as far as they can be so without
imposing unequal burdens on other interests. The advantage under any
system of indirect taxation, even within the revenue standard, must be
in favor of the manufacturing interest, and of this no other interest
will complain.

I recommend to Congress the abolition of the minimum principle, or
assumed, arbitrary, and false values, and of specific duties, and the
substitution in their place of _ad valorem_ duties as the fairest and
most equitable indirect tax which can be imposed. By the _ad valorem_
principle all articles are taxed according to their cost or value, and
those which are of inferior quality or of small cost bear only the just
proportion of the tax with those which are of superior quality or
greater cost. The articles consumed by all are taxed at the same rate. A
system of _ad valorem_ revenue duties, with proper discriminations and
proper guards against frauds in collecting them, it is not doubted will
afford ample incidental advantages to the manufacturers and enable them
to derive as great profits as can be derived from any other regular
business. It is believed that such a system strictly within the revenue
standard will place the manufacturing interests on a stable footing and
inure to their permanent advantage, while it will as nearly as may be
practicable extend to all the great interests of the country the
incidental protection which can be afforded by our revenue laws. Such a
system, when once firmly established, would be permanent, and not be
subject to the constant complaints, agitations, and changes which must
ever occur when duties are not laid for revenue, but for the "protection
merely" of a favored interest.

In the deliberations of Congress on this subject it is hoped that a
spirit of mutual concession and compromise between conflicting interests
may prevail, and that the result of their labors may be crowned with the
happiest consequences.

By the Constitution of the United States it is provided that "no money
shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations
made by law." A public treasury was undoubtedly contemplated and
intended to be created, in which the public money should be kept from
the period of collection until needed for public uses. In the collection
and disbursement of the public money no agencies have ever been employed
by law except such as were appointed by the Government, directly
responsible to it and under its control. The safe-keeping of the public
money should be confided to a public treasury created by law and under
like responsibility and control. It is not to be imagined that the
framers of the Constitution could have intended that a treasury should
be created as a place of deposit and safe-keeping of the public money
which was irresponsible to the Government. The first Congress under the
Constitution, by the act of the 2d of September, 1789, "to establish the
Treasury Department," provided for the appointment of a Treasurer, and
made it his duty "to receive and keep the moneys of the United States"
and "at all times to submit to the Secretary of the Treasury and the
Comptroller, or either of them, the inspection of the moneys in his
hands."

That banks, national or State, could not have been intended to be used
as a substitute for the Treasury spoken of in the Constitution as
keepers of the public money is manifest from the fact that at that time
there was no national bank, and but three or four State banks, of
limited capital, existed in the country. Their employment as
depositories was at first resorted to to a limited extent, but with no
avowed intention of continuing them permanently in place of the Treasury
of the Constitution. When they were afterwards from time to time
employed, it was from motives of supposed convenience. Our experience
has shown that when banking corporations have been the keepers of the
public money, and been thereby made in effect the Treasury, the
Government can have no guaranty that it can command the use of its own
money for public purposes. The late Bank of the United States proved to
be faithless. The State banks which were afterwards employed were
faithless. But a few years ago, with millions of public money in their
keeping, the Government was brought almost to bankruptcy and the public
credit seriously impaired because of their inability or indisposition to
pay on demand to the public creditors in the only currency recognized by
the Constitution. Their failure occurred in a period of peace, and great
inconvenience and loss were suffered by the public from it. Had the
country been involved in a foreign war, that inconvenience and loss
would have been much greater, and might have resulted in extreme public
calamity. The public money should not be mingled with the private funds
of banks or individuals or be used for private purposes. When it is
placed in banks for safe-keeping, it is in effect loaned to them without
interest, and is loaned by them upon interest to the borrowers from
them. The public money is converted into banking capital, and is used
and loaned out for the private profit of bank stockholders, and when
called for, as was the case in 1837, it may be in the pockets of the
borrowers from the banks instead of being in the public Treasury
contemplated by the Constitution. The framers of the Constitution could
never have intended that the money paid into the Treasury should be thus
converted to private use and placed beyond the control of the
Government.

Banks which hold the public money are often tempted by a desire of gain
to extend their loans, increase their circulation, and thus stimulate,
if not produce, a spirit of speculation and extravagance which sooner or
later must result in ruin to thousands. If the public money be not
permitted to be thus used, but be kept in the Treasury and paid out to
the public creditors in gold and silver, the temptation afforded by its
deposit with banks to an undue expansion of their business would be
checked, while the amount of the constitutional currency left in
circulation would be enlarged by its employment in the public
collections and disbursements, and the banks themselves would in
consequence be found in a safer and sounder condition. At present State
banks are employed as depositories, but without adequate regulation of
law whereby the public money can be secured against the casualties and
excesses, revulsions, suspensions, and defalcations to which from
overissues, overtrading, an inordinate desire for gain, or other causes
they are constantly exposed. The Secretary of the Treasury has in all
cases when it was practicable taken collateral security for the amount
which they hold, by the pledge of stocks of the United States or such of
the States as were in good credit. Some of the deposit banks have given
this description of security and others have declined to do so.

Entertaining the opinion that "the separation of the moneys of the
Government from banking institutions is indispensable for the safety of
the funds of the Government and the rights of the people," I recommend
to Congress that provision be made by law for such separation, and that
a constitutional treasury be created for the safe-keeping of the public
money. The constitutional treasury recommended is designed as a secure
depository for the public money, without any power to make loans or
discounts or to issue any paper whatever as a currency or circulation.
I can not doubt that such a treasury as was contemplated by the
Constitution should be independent of all banking corporations.
The money of the people should be kept in the Treasury of the people
created by law, and be in the custody of agents of the people chosen by
themselves according to the forms of the Constitution--agents who are
directly responsible to the Government, who are under adequate bonds and
oaths, and who are subject to severe punishments for any embezzlement,
private use, or misapplication of the public funds, and for any failure
in other respects to perform their duties. To say that the people or
their Government are incompetent or not to be trusted with the custody
of their own money in their own Treasury, provided by themselves, but
must rely on the presidents, cashiers, and stockholders of banking
corporations, not appointed by them nor responsible to them, would be
to concede that they are incompetent for self-government.

In recommending the establishment of a constitutional treasury in which
the public money shall be kept, I desire that adequate provision be made
by law for its safety and that all Executive discretion or control over
it shall be removed, except such as may be necessary in directing its
disbursement in pursuance of appropriations made by law.

Under our present land system, limiting the minimum price at which the
public lands can be entered to $1.25 per acre, large quantities of lands
of inferior quality remain unsold because they will not command that
price. From the records of the General Land Office it appears that of
the public lands remaining unsold in the several States and Territories
in which they are situated, 39,105,577 acres have been in the market
subject to entry more than twenty years, 49,638,644 acres for more than
fifteen years, 73,074,600 acres for more than ten years, and 106,176,961
acres for more than five years. Much the largest portion of these lands
will continue to be unsalable at the minimum price at which they are
permitted to be sold so long as large territories of lands from which
the more valuable portions have not been selected are annually brought
into market by the Government. With the view to the sale and settlement
of these inferior lands, I recommend that the price be graduated and
reduced below the present minimum rate, confining the sales at the
reduced prices to settlers and cultivators, in limited quantities. If
graduated and reduced in price for a limited term to $1 per acre, and
after the expiration of that period for a second and third term to lower
rates, a large portion of these lands would be purchased, and many
worthy citizens who are unable to pay higher rates could purchase homes
for themselves and their families. By adopting the policy of graduation
and reduction of price these inferior lands will be sold for their real
value, while the States in which they lie will be freed from the
inconvenience, if not injustice, to which they are subjected in
consequence of the United States continuing to own large quantities of
the public lands within their borders not liable to taxation for the
support of their local governments.

I recommend the continuance of the policy of granting preemptions in its
most liberal extent to all those who have settled or may hereafter
settle on the public lands, whether surveyed or unsurveyed, to which the
Indian title may have been extinguished at the time of settlement. It
has been found by experience that in consequence of combinations of
purchasers and other causes a very small quantity of the public lands,
when sold at public auction, commands a higher price than the minimum
rates established by law. The settlers on the public lands are, however,
but rarely able to secure their homes and improvements at the public
sales at that rate, because these combinations, by means of the capital
they command and their superior ability to purchase, render it
impossible for the settler to compete with them in the market. By
putting down all competition these combinations of capitalists and
speculators are usually enabled to purchase the lands, including the
improvements of the settlers, at the minimum price of the Government,
and either turn them out of their homes or extort from them, according
to their ability to pay, double or quadruple the amount paid for them to
the Government. It is to the enterprise and perseverance of the hardy
pioneers of the West, who penetrate the wilderness with their families,
suffer the dangers, the privations, and hardships attending the
settlement of a new country, and prepare the way for the body of
emigrants who in the course of a few years usually follow them, that we
are in a great degree indebted for the rapid extension and
aggrandizement of our country.

Experience has proved that no portion of our population are more
patriotic than the hardy and brave men of the frontier, or more ready to
obey the call of their country and to defend her rights and her honor
whenever and by whatever enemy assailed. They should be protected from
the grasping speculator and secured, at the minimum price of the public
lands, in the humble homes which they have improved by their labor. With
this end in view, all vexatious or unnecessary restrictions imposed upon
them by the existing preemption laws should be repealed or modified. It
is the true policy of the Government to afford facilities to its
citizens to become the owners of small portions of our vast public
domain at low and moderate rates.

The present system of managing the mineral lands of the United States is
believed to be radically defective. More than 1,000,000 acres of the
public lands, supposed to contain lead and other minerals, have been
reserved from sale, and numerous leases upon them have been granted to
individuals upon a stipulated rent. The system of granting leases has
proved to be not only unprofitable to the Government, but unsatisfactory
to the citizens who have gone upon the lands, and must, if continued,
lay the foundation of much future difficulty between the Government and
the lessees. According to the official records, the amount of rents
received by the Government for the years 1841, 1842, 1843, and 1844 was
$6,354.74, while the expenses of the system during the same period,
including salaries of superintendents, agents, clerks, and incidental
expenses, were $26,111.11, the income being less than one-fourth of the
expenses. To this pecuniary loss may be added the injury sustained by
the public in consequence of the destruction of timber and the careless
and wasteful manner of working the mines. The system has given rise to
much litigation between the United States and individual citizens,
producing irritation and excitement in the mineral region, and involving
the Government in heavy additional expenditures. It is believed that
similar losses and embarrassments will continue to occur while the
present system of leasing these lands remains unchanged. These lands are
now under the superintendence and care of the War Department, with the
ordinary duties of which they have no proper or natural connection. I
recommend the repeal of the present system, and that these lands be
placed under the superintendence and management of the General Land
Office, as other public lands, and be brought into market and sold upon
such terms as Congress in their wisdom may prescribe, reserving to the
Government an equitable percentage of the gross amount of mineral
product, and that the preemption principle be extended to resident
miners and settlers upon them at the minimum price which may be
established by Congress.

I refer you to the accompanying report of the Secretary of War for
information respecting the present situation of the Army and its
operations during the past year, the state of our defenses, the
condition of the public works, and our relations with the various Indian
tribes within our limits or upon our borders. I invite your attention to
the suggestions contained in that report in relation to these prominent
objects of national interest. When orders were given during the past
summer for concentrating a military force on the western frontier of
Texas, our troops were widely dispersed and in small detachments,
occupying posts remote from each other. The prompt and expeditious
manner in which an army embracing more than half our peace establishment
was drawn together on an emergency so sudden reflects great credit on
the officers who were intrusted with the execution of these orders, as
well as upon the discipline of the Army itself. To be in strength to
protect and defend the people and territory of Texas in the event Mexico
should commence hostilities or invade her territories with a large army,
which she threatened, I authorized the general assigned to the command
of the army of occupation to make requisitions for additional forces
from several of the States nearest the Texan territory, and which could
most expeditiously furnish them, if in his opinion a larger force than
that under his command and the auxiliary aid which under like
circumstances he was authorized to receive from Texas should be
required. The contingency upon which the exercise of this authority
depended has not occurred. The circumstances under which two companies
of State artillery from the city of New Orleans were sent into Texas and
mustered into the service of the United States are fully stated in the
report of the Secretary of War. I recommend to Congress that provision
be made for the payment of these troops, as well as a small number of
Texan volunteers whom the commanding general thought it necessary to
receive or muster into our service.

During the last summer the First Regiment of Dragoons made extensive
excursions through the Indian country on our borders, a part of them
advancing nearly to the possessions of the Hudsons Bay Company in the
north, and a part as far as the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains and
the head waters of the tributary streams of the Colorado of the West.
The exhibition of this military force among the Indian tribes in those
distant regions and the councils held with them by the commanders of the
expeditions, it is believed, will have a salutary influence in
restraining them from hostilities among themselves and maintaining
friendly relations between them and the United States. An interesting
account of one of these excursions accompanies the report of the
Secretary of War. Under the directions of the War Department Brevet
Captain Frémont, of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, has been
employed since 1842 in exploring the country west of the Mississippi and
beyond the Rocky Mountains. Two expeditions have already been brought to
a close, and the reports of that scientific and enterprising officer
have furnished much interesting and valuable information. He is now
engaged in a third expedition, but it is not expected that this arduous
service will be completed in season to enable me to communicate the
result to Congress at the present session.

Our relations with the Indian tribes are of a favorable character.
The policy of removing them to a country designed for their permanent
residence west of the Mississippi, and without the limits of the
organized States and Territories, is better appreciated by them than it
was a few years ago, while education is now attended to and the habits
of civilized life are gaining ground among them.

Serious difficulties of long standing continue to distract the several
parties into which the Cherokees are unhappily divided. The efforts of
the Government to adjust the difficulties between them have heretofore
proved unsuccessful, and there remains no probability that this
desirable object can be accomplished without the aid of further
legislation by Congress. I will at an early period of your session
present the subject for your consideration, accompanied with an
exposition of the complaints and claims of the several parties into
which the nation is divided, with a view to the adoption of such
measures by Congress as may enable the Executive to do justice to them,
respectively, and to put an end, if possible, to the dissensions which
have long prevailed and still prevail among them.

I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Navy for the present
condition of that branch of the national defense and for grave
suggestions having for their object the increase of its efficiency and a
greater economy in its management. During the past year the officers and
men have performed their duty in a satisfactory manner. The orders which
have been given have been executed with promptness and fidelity. A
larger force than has often formed one squadron under our flag was
readily concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico, and apparently without
unusual effort. It is especially to be observed that notwithstanding the
union of so considerable a force, no act was committed that even the
jealousy of an irritated power could construe as an act of aggression,
and that the commander of the squadron and his officers, in strict
conformity with their instructions, holding themselves ever ready
for the most active duty, have achieved the still purer glory of
contributing to the preservation of peace. It is believed that at all
our foreign stations the honor of our flag has been maintained and that
generally our ships of war have been distinguished for their good
discipline and order. I am happy to add that the display of maritime
force which was required by the events of the summer has been made
wholly within the usual appropriations for the service of the year, so
that no additional appropriations are required.

The commerce of the United States, and with it the navigating interests,
have steadily and rapidly increased since the organization of our
Government, until, it is believed, we are now second to but one power in
the world, and at no distant day we shall probably be inferior to none.
Exposed as they must be, it has been a wise policy to afford to these
important interests protection with our ships of war distributed in the
great highways of trade throughout the world. For more than thirty years
appropriations have been made and annually expended for the gradual
increase of our naval forces. In peace our Navy performs the important
duty of protecting our commerce, and in the event of war will be, as it
has been, a most efficient means of defense.

The successful use of steam navigation on the ocean has been followed by
the introduction of war steamers in great and increasing numbers into
the navies of the principal maritime powers of the world. A due regard
to our own safety and to an efficient protection to our large and
increasing commerce demands a corresponding increase on our part. No
country has greater facilities for the construction of vessels of this
description than ours, or can promise itself greater advantages from
their employment. They are admirably adapted to the protection of our
commerce, to the rapid transmission of intelligence, and to the coast
defense. In pursuance of the wise policy of a gradual increase of our
Navy, large supplies of live-oak timber and other materials for
shipbuilding have been collected and are now under shelter and in a
state of good preservation, while iron steamers can be built with great
facility in various parts of the Union. The use of iron as a material,
especially in the construction of steamers which can enter with safety
many of the harbors along our coast now inaccessible to vessels of
greater draft, and the practicability of constructing them in the
interior, strongly recommend that liberal appropriations should be made
for this important object. Whatever may have been our policy in the
earlier stages of the Government, when the nation was in its infancy,
our shipping interests and commerce comparatively small, our resources
limited, our population sparse and scarcely extending beyond the limits
of the original thirteen States, that policy must be essentially
different now that we have grown from three to more than twenty millions
of people, that our commerce, carried in our own ships, is found in
every sea, and that our territorial boundaries and settlements have been
so greatly expanded. Neither our commerce nor our long line of coast on
the ocean and on the Lakes can be successfully defended against foreign
aggression by means of fortifications alone. These are essential at
important commercial and military points, but our chief reliance for
this object must be on a well-organized, efficient navy. The benefits
resulting from such a navy are not confined to the Atlantic States. The
productions of the interior which seek a market abroad are directly
dependent on the safety and freedom of our commerce. The occupation of
the Balize below New Orleans by a hostile force would embarrass, if not
stagnate, the whole export trade of the Mississippi and affect the value
of the agricultural products of the entire valley of that mighty river
and its tributaries.

It has never been our policy to maintain large standing armies in time
of peace. They are contrary to the genius of our free institutions,
would impose heavy burdens on the people and be dangerous to public
liberty. Our reliance for protection and defense on the land must be
mainly on our citizen soldiers, who will be ever ready, as they ever
have been ready in times past, to rush with alacrity, at the call of
their country, to her defense. This description of force, however, can
not defend our coast, harbors, and inland seas, nor protect our commerce
on the ocean or the Lakes. These must be protected by our Navy.

Considering an increased naval force, and especially of steam vessels,
corresponding with our growth and importance as a nation, and
proportioned to the increased and increasing naval power of other
nations, of vast importance as regards our safety, and the great and
growing interests to be protected by it, I recommend the subject to the
favorable consideration of Congress.

The report of the Postmaster-General herewith communicated contains a
detailed statement of the operations of his Department during the past
year. It will be seen that the income from postages will fall short of
the expenditures for the year between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000. This
deficiency has been caused by the reduction of the rates of postage,
which was made by the act of the 3d of March last. No principle has been
more generally acquiesced in by the people than that this Department
should sustain itself by limiting its expenditures to its income.
Congress has never sought to make it a source of revenue for general
purposes except for a short period during the last war with Great
Britain, nor should it ever become a charge on the general Treasury. If
Congress shall adhere to this principle, as I think they ought, it will
be necessary either to curtail the present mail service so as to reduce
the expenditures, or so to modify the act of the 3d of March last as to
improve its revenues. The extension of the mail service and the
additional facilities which will be demanded by the rapid extension and
increase of population on our western frontier will not admit of such
curtailment as will materially reduce the present expenditures. In the
adjustment of the tariff of postages the interests of the people demand
that the lowest rates be adopted which will produce the necessary
revenue to meet the expenditures of the Department. I invite the
attention of Congress to the suggestions of the Postmaster-General on
this subject, under the belief that such a modification of the late law
may be made as will yield sufficient revenue without further calls on
the Treasury, and with very little change in the present rates of
postage. Proper measures have been taken in pursuance of the act of the
3d of March last for the establishment of lines of mail steamers between
this and foreign countries. The importance of this service commends
itself strongly to favorable consideration.

With the growth of our country the public business which devolves on the
heads of the several Executive Departments has greatly increased. In
some respects the distribution of duties among them seems to be
incongruous, and many of these might be transferred from one to another
with advantage to the public interests. A more auspicious time for the
consideration of this subject by Congress, with a view to system in the
organization of the several Departments and a more appropriate division
of the public business, will not probably occur.

The most important duties of the State Department relate to our foreign
affairs. By the great enlargement of the family of nations, the increase
of our commerce, and the corresponding extension of our consular system
the business of this Department has been greatly increased.

In its present organization many duties of a domestic nature and
consisting of details are devolved on the Secretary of State, which do
not appropriately belong to the foreign department of the Government and
may properly be transferred to some other Department. One of these grows
out of the present state of the law concerning the Patent Office, which
a few years since was a subordinate clerkship, but has become a distinct
bureau of great importance. With an excellent internal organization, it
is still connected with the State Department. In the transaction of its
business questions of much importance to inventors and to the community
frequently arise, which by existing laws are referred for decision to a
board of which the Secretary of State is a member. These questions are
legal, and the connection which now exists between the State Department
and the Patent Office may with great propriety and advantage be
transferred to the Attorney-General.

In his last annual message to Congress Mr. Madison invited attention to
a proper provision for the Attorney-General as "an important improvement
in the executive establishment," This recommendation was repeated by
some of his successors. The official duties of the Attorney-General have
been much increased within a few years,' and his office has become one
of great importance. His duties may be still further increased with
advantage to the public interests. As an executive officer his residence
and constant attention at the seat of Government are required. Legal
questions involving important principles and large amounts of public
money are constantly referred to him by the President and Executive
Departments for his examination and decision. The public business under
his official management before the judiciary has been so augmented by
the extension of our territory and the acts of Congress authorizing
suits against the United States for large bodies of valuable public
lands as greatly to increase his labors and responsibilities. I
therefore recommend that the Attorney-General be placed on the same
footing with the heads of the other Executive Departments, with such
subordinate officers provided by law for his Department as may be
required to discharge the additional duties which have been or may be
devolved upon him.

Congress possess the power of exclusive legislation over the District of
Columbia, and I commend the interests of its inhabitants to your
favorable consideration. The people of this District have no legislative
body of their own, and must confide their local as well as their general
interests to representatives in whose election they have no voice and
over whose official conduct they have no control. Each member of the
National Legislature should consider himself as their immediate
representative, and should be the more ready to give attention to their
interests and wants because he is not responsible to them. I recommend
that a liberal and generous spirit may characterize your measures in
relation to them. I shall be ever disposed to show a proper regard for
their wishes and, within constitutional limits, shall at all times
cheerfully cooperate with you for the advancement of their welfare.

I trust it may not be deemed inappropriate to the occasion for me to
dwell for a moment on the memory of the most eminent citizen of our
country who during the summer that is gone by has descended to the tomb.
The enjoyment of contemplating, at the advanced age of near fourscore
years, the happy condition of his country cheered the last hours of
Andrew Jackson, who departed this life in the tranquil hope of a blessed
immortality. His death was happy, as his life had been eminently useful.
He had an unfaltering confidence in the virtue and capacity of the
people and in the permanence of that free Government which he had
largely contributed to establish and defend. His great deeds had secured
to him the affections of his fellow-citizens, and it was his happiness
to witness the growth and glory of his country, which he loved so well.
He departed amidst the benedictions of millions of freemen. The nation
paid its tribute to his memory at his tomb. Coming generations will
learn from his example the love of country and the rights of man. In his
language on a similar occasion to the present, "I now commend you,
fellow-citizens, to the guidance of Almighty God, with a full reliance
on His merciful providence for the maintenance of our free institutions,
and with an earnest supplication that whatever errors it may be my lot
to commit in discharging the arduous duties which have devolved on me
will find a remedy in the harmony and wisdom of your counsels."

JAMES K. POLK.




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


Washington, _December 9, 1845_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:


I communicate herewith a letter received from the President of the
existing Government of the State of Texas, transmitting duplicate copies
of the constitution formed by the deputies of the people of Texas in
convention assembled, accompanied by official information that the said
constitution had been ratified, confirmed, and adopted by the people of
Texas themselves, in accordance with the joint resolution for annexing
Texas to the United States, and in order that Texas might be admitted as
one of the States of that Union.

JAMES K. POLK.


WASHINGTON, _December 10, 1845_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:


I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of War, in answer to a
resolution of the Senate of the 4th instant, calling for information
"with respect to the practicability and utility of a fort or forts on
Ship Island, on the coast of Mississippi, with a view to the protection
of said coast."

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _December 15, 1845_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith communicate to the Senate, for its consideration, a
convention signed on the 14th May of the present year by the minister
of the United States at Berlin with the minister of Saxony at the same
Court, for the mutual abolition of the _droit d'aubaine, droit de
détraction_, and taxes on emigration between the United States and
Saxony; and I communicate with the convention an explanatory dispatch
of the minister of the United States, dated on the 14th May, 1845, and
numbered 267.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _December 16, 1845_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith communicate to the Senate, for its consideration, a
convention concluded and signed at Berlin on the 29th day of January,
1845, between the United States and Prussia, together with certain other
German States, for the mutual extradition of fugitives from justice in
certain cases; and I communicate with the convention the correspondence
necessary to explain it.

In submitting this convention to the Senate I deem it proper to call
their attention to the third article, by which it is stipulated that
"none of the contracting parties shall be bound to deliver up its own
citizens or subjects under the stipulations of this convention."

No such reservation is to be found in our treaties of extradition with
Great Britain and France, the only two nations with whom we have
concluded such treaties. These provide for the surrender of all persons
who are fugitives from justice, without regard to the country to which
they may belong. Under this article, if German subjects of any of the
parties to the convention should commit crimes within the United States
and fly back to their native country from justice, they would not be
surrendered. This is clear in regard to all such Germans as shall not
have been naturalized under our laws. But even after naturalization
difficult and embarrassing questions might arise between the parties.
These German powers, holding the doctrine of perpetual allegiance, might
refuse to surrender German naturalized citizens, whilst we must ever
maintain the principle that the rights and duties of such citizens are
the same as if they had been born in the United States.

I would also observe that the fourth article of the treaty submitted
contains a provision not to be found in our conventions with Great
Britain and France.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _December 16, 1845_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of State, containing the
information called for by the resolution of the Senate of the 8th of
January last, in relation to the claim of the owners of the brig
_General Armstrong_ against the Government of Portugal.[1]

JAMES K. POLK.

[Footnote 1: For failing to protect the American armed brig _General
Armstrong_, while lying in the port of Fayal, Azores, from attack by
British armed ships on September 26, 1814.]



WASHINGTON, _December 19, 1845_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I communicate to the House of Representatives, in reply to their
resolution of the 25th of February last, a report from the Secretary of
State, together with the correspondence of George W. Slacum, late consul
of the United States at Rio de Janeiro, with the Department of State,
relating to the African slave trade.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _December 22, 1845_.

_To the Congress of the United States_:

I transmit to Congress a communication from the Secretary of State, with
a statement of the expenditures from the appropriation made by the act
entitled "An act providing the means of future intercourse between the
United States and the Government of China," approved the 3d of March,
1843.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _January 3, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate a report of the Secretary of the Navy,
communicating the information called for by their resolution of the 18th
of December, 1845, in relation to the "number of agents now employed for
the preservation of timber, their salaries, the authority of law under
which they are paid, and the allowances of every description made within
the last twenty years in the settlement of the accounts of said agents."

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _January 6, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate to the Senate the information called for by their
resolution of December 31, 1845, "requesting the President to cause to
be communicated to the Senate copies of the correspondence between the
Attorney-General and the Solicitor of the Treasury and the judicial
officers of Florida in relation to the authority of the Territorial
judges as Federal judges since the 3d of March, 1845."

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _January 12, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States:_

I nominate the persons named in the accompanying list[2] of promotions
and appointments in the Army of the United States to the several grades
annexed to their names, as proposed by the Secretary of War.

JAMES K. POLK.

[Footnote 2: Omitted.]



WAR DEPARTMENT, _January 8, 1846_.

_The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES._

SIR: I have the honor respectfully to propose for your approbation the
annexed list[3] of officers for promotion and persons for appointment
in the Army of the United States.

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

W.L. MARCY

[Footnote 3: Omitted.]



ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, January 8, 1846_.

Hon. W.L. Marcy,
  _Secretary of War_,

SIR: I respectfully submit the accompanying list[4] of promotions and
appointments to fill the vacancies in the Army which are known to have
happened since the date of the last list, December 12, 1845. The
promotions are all regular except that of Captain Martin Scott, Fifth
Infantry, whose name, agreeably to the decision of the President and
your instructions, is submitted to fill the vacancy of major in the
First Regiment of Infantry (_vice_ Dearborn, promoted), over the two
senior captains of Infantry, Captain John B. Clark, of the Third
Regiment, and Brevet Major Thomas Noel, of the Sixth. The reasons for
this departure from the ordinary course (as in other like cases of
disability) are set forth in the Adjutant-General's report of the 27th
ultimo and the General in Chief's indorsement thereon, of which copies
are herewith respectfully annexed, marked A.

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

R. JONES,
  _Adjutant-General._

[Footnote 4: Omitted.]



A.

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
  _Washington, December 27, 1845_.


Major-General WINFIELD SCOTT,
  _Commanding the Army_.

SIR: The death of Lieutenant-Colonel Hoffman, Seventh Infantry, on the
26th ultimo, having caused a vacancy in the grade of major, to which,
under the rule, Captain J.B. Clark, Third Infantry, would be entitled to
succeed, I deem it proper to submit the following statement, extracted
from the official returns of his regiment, touching his physical
capacity for the performance of military duty.

In May, 1836, Captain Clark went on the recruiting service, where he
remained till October 4, 1838, when he was granted a three months'
leave. He joined his company at Fort Towson in May, 1839, and continued
with it from that time till March, 1841, accompanying it meanwhile
(October, 1840) to Florida. He obtained a three months' leave on
surgeon's certificate of ill health March 23, 1841, but did not rejoin
till February 16, 1842. In the interim he was placed on duty for a
short time as a member of a general court-martial, which happened to be
convened at St. Louis, where he was then staying. He remained with his
company from February to November, 1842, when he again received a leave
for the benefit of his health, and did not return to duty till April 26,
1843 (after his regiment had been ordered to Florida), when he rejoined
it at Jefferson Barracks. He continued with it (with the exception of
one short leave) from April, 1843, till June, 1845, but the returns show
him to have been frequently on the sick report during that period. On
the 2d of June, 1845, his company being then encamped near Fort Jessup
in expectation of orders for Texas, he again procured a leave on account
of his health, and has not since been able to rejoin, reporting monthly
that his health unfitted him for the performance of duty. The signature
of his last report (not written by himself), of November 30
(herewith[5]), would seem to indicate great physical derangement or
decrepitude, approaching, perhaps, to paralysis.

From the foregoing it appears that during the last seven years (since
October, 1838) Captain Clark has been off duty two years and four
months, the greater part of the time on account of sickness, and that
even when present with his company his health is so much impaired that
very often he is unable to perform the ordinary garrison duties.

Under these circumstances it is respectfully submitted, for the
consideration of the proper authority, whether the senior captain of
infantry should not be passed over and (as Brevet Major Noel,[6] the
next in rank, is utterly disqualified) Captain Martin Scott, of the
Fifth Infantry, promoted to the vacant majority.

It is proper to state that Captain Clark has always been regarded as a
perfect gentleman, and as such, as far as I know, is equal to any
officer in the Army.

I am, sir, most respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. JONES,
  _Adjutant-General._

[Remarks indorsed on the foregoing report by the General in Chief.]


DECEMBER 30, 1845.

This report presents grave points for consideration. It is highly
improbable that the Captain will ever be fit for the active duties of
his profession. The question, therefore, seems to be whether he shall be
a pensioner on full pay as captain or as major, for he has long been,
not in name, but in fact, a pensioner on full pay. We have no half pay
in the Army to relieve marching regiments of crippled and superannuated
officers. We have many such--Colonel Maury, of the Third Infantry
(superannuated), and Majors Cobb and McClintock, Fifth Infantry and
Third Artillery (crippled). Many others are fast becoming superannuated.
The three named are on indefinite leaves of absence, and so are Majors
Searle and Noel, permanent cripples from wounds. General Cass's
resolution of yesterday refers simply to age. A half pay or retired list
with half pay would be much better. There are some twenty officers who
ought at once to be placed on such list and their places filled by
promotion.

Upon the whole, I think it best that Captain M. Scott should be
promoted, _vice_ Dearborn, _vice_ Lieutenant-Colonel Hoffman.

Respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War.

WINFIELD SCOTT.

[Footnote 5: Omitted.]

[Footnote 6: In 1839 Brevet Major Noel, Sixth Infantry, was severely
wounded (serving in the Florida War at the time) by the accidental
discharge of his own pistol. He left his company February 16, 1839, and
has ever since been absent from his regiment, the state of his wound and
great suffering rendering him utterly incapable of performing any kind
of duty whatever; nor is there any reason to hope he will ever be able
to resume his duties.]

R. JONES,
  _Adjutant-General_.


JANUARY 8, 1846.

It appearing from the within statements of the Commanding General and
the Adjutant-General that the two officers proposed to be passed over
are physically unable to perform the duties of major, and their
inability is not temporary, I recommend that Captain Martin Scott be
promoted to the vacant majority 3d January, 1846.

W.L. MARCY.



WASHINGTON, _January 13, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States:_

I transmit to the Senate a report of the Secretary of War, with
accompanying papers, showing the measures which have been adopted in
relation to the transfer of certain stocks between the Chickasaw and
Choctaw Indians under the treaty between those tribes of the 24th March,
1837. The claim presented by the Choctaw General Council, if deemed to
be founded in equity, can not be adjusted without the previous advice
and consent of the Senate.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _January 20, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

On the 15th of January, 1846, I withdrew the nomination of James H.
Tate, of Mississippi, as consul at Buenos Ayres. The withdrawal was made
upon the receipt on that day of a letter addressed to me by the Senators
from the State of Mississippi advising it. I transmit their letter
herewith to the Senate. At that time I had not been furnished with a
copy of the Executive Journal of the Senate, and had no knowledge of
the pendency of the resolution before that body in executive session
in relation to this nomination. Having since been furnished by the
Secretary of the Senate with a copy of the Executive Journal containing
the resolution referred to, I deem it proper and due to the Senate to
reinstate the nomination in the condition in which it was before it was
withdrawn. And with that view I nominate James H. Tate, of Mississippi,
to be consul at Buenos Ayres.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _January 28, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith communicate to the Senate, for its consideration with regard
to its ratification, a treaty of commerce and navigation between the
United States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, concluded and signed
on the 1st day of December last at Naples by the chargé d'affaires of
the United States with the plenipotentiaries of His Majesty the King of
the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

And I communicate at the same time portions of the correspondence (so
far as it has been received) in explanation of the treaty.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _February 3, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith communicate to the Senate, for its consideration in reference
to its ratification, a treaty of commerce and navigation between the
United States and Belgium, concluded and signed on the 10th November
last at Brussels by the chargé d'affaires of the United States with the
minister of foreign affairs of His Majesty the King of the Belgians.

And I communicate at the same time the correspondence and other papers
in explanation of the treaty,

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _February 5, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In pursuance with the request of the Senate in their resolution of the
4th instant, I "return" herewith, "for their further action, the
resolution advising and consenting to the appointment of Isaac H. Wright
as navy agent at Boston." It will be observed that the resolution of the
Senate herewith returned contains the advice and consent of that body to
the appointment of several other persons to other offices not embraced
in their resolution of the 4th instant, and it being impossible to
comply with the request of the Senate without communicating to them the
whole resolution, I respectfully request that so far as it relates to
the other cases than that of Mr. Wright it may be returned to me.

JAMES K. POLK.


WASHINGTON, _February 7, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the request of the Senate in their resolution of the
29th January last, I herewith communicate a report from the Secretary of
State, with the accompanying correspondence, which has taken place
between the Secretary of State and the minister of the United States at
London and between the Government of the United States and that of
England on the "subject of Oregon" since my communication of the 2d of
December last was made to Congress.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _February 7, 1846_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with the request of the House of Representatives in their
resolution of the 3d instant, I herewith communicate a report from the
Secretary of State, with the accompanying "correspondence, which has
taken place" between the Secretary of State and the minister of the
United States at London and "between the Government of Great Britain and
this Government in relation to the country west of the Rocky Mountains
since the last annual message of the President" to Congress.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _February 9, 1846_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate herewith, in answer to the resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 19th of December last, the report of the
Secretary of State inclosing "copies of correspondence between this
Government and Great Britain within the last two years in relation to
the Washington treaty, and particularly in relation to the free
navigation of the river St. John, and in relation to the
disputed-territory fund named in said treaty;" and also the accompanying
copies of documents filed in the Department of State, which embrace the
correspondence and information called for by the said resolution.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _February 9, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the request of the Senate in their resolution of the
5th instant, I herewith return "the resolution of the Senate advising
and consenting to the appointment of F.G. Mayson to be a second
lieutenant in the Marine Corps." As the same resolution which contains
the advice and consent of the Senate to the appointment of Mr. Mayson
contains also the advice and consent of that body to the appointment of
several other persons to other offices, to whom commissions have been
since issued, I respectfully request that the resolution, so far as it
relates to the persons other than Mr. Mayson, may be returned to me.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _February 12, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration and advice of the Senate with
regard to its ratification, a treaty concluded on the 14th day of
January last by Thomas H. Harvey and Richard W. Cummins, commissioners
on the part of the United States, and the chiefs and headmen of the
Kansas tribe of Indians, together with a report of the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs and other papers explanatory of the same.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _February 16, 1846_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit a communication from the Attorney-General relating
to a contract entered into by him with Messrs. Little & Brown for
certain copies of their proposed edition of the laws and treaties of the
United States, in pursuance of the joint resolution of the 3d March,
1845.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _February 16, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of the Navy,
communicating the correspondence called for by the resolution of the
Senate of the 25th of February, 1845, between the commander of the East
India Squadrons and foreign powers or United States agents abroad during
the years 1842 and 1843, relating to the trade and other interests of
this Government.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _February 18, 1846_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with the request of the House of Representatives in their
resolution of the 12th instant, asking for information relative to the
Mexican indemnity, I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of
State, with the paper accompanying it.

JAMES K. POLK.

[A similar message was sent to the Senate in compliance with a request
of that body.]



WASHINGTON, _March 23, 1846_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit, for your consideration, a correspondence between the
minister of Her Britannic Majesty in Washington and the Secretary of
State, containing an arrangement for the adjustment and payment of the
claims of the respective Governments upon each other arising from the
collection of certain import duties in violation of the second article
of the commercial convention of 3d of July, 1815, between the two
countries, and I respectfully submit to Congress the propriety of making
provision to carry this arrangement into effect.

The second article of this convention provides that "no higher or other
duties shall be imposed on the importation into the United States of any
articles the growth, produce, or manufacture of His Britannic Majesty's
territories in Europe, and no higher or other duties shall be imposed on
the importation into the territories of His Britannic Majesty in Europe
of any articles the growth, produce, or manufacture of the United
States, than are or shall be payable on the like articles being the
growth, produce, or manufacture of any other foreign country."

Previous to the act of Parliament of the 13th of August, 1836, the duty
on foreign rough rice imported into Great Britain was 2s. 6d. sterling
per bushel. By this act the duty was reduced to 1 penny per quarter (of
8 bushels) on the rough rice "imported from the west coast of Africa."

Upon the earnest and repeated remonstrances of our ministers at London
in opposition to this discrimination against American and in favor of
African rice, as a violation of the subsisting convention, Parliament,
by the act of 9th July, 1842, again equalized the duty on all foreign
rough rice by fixing it at 7s. per quarter., In the intervening period,
however, of nearly six years large importations had been made into Great
Britain of American rough rice, which was subjected to a duty of 2s. 6d.
per bushel; but the importers, knowing their rights under the
convention, claimed that it should be admitted at the rate of 1 penny
per quarter, the duty imposed on African rice. This claim was resisted
by the British Government, and the excess of duty was paid, at the first
under protest, and afterwards, in consequence of an arrangement with the
board of customs, by the deposit of exchequer bills.

It seems to have been a clear violation both of the letter and spirit of
the convention to admit rough rice "the growth" of Africa at 1 penny per
quarter, whilst the very same article "the growth" of the United States
was charged with a duty of 2s. 6d. per bushel.

The claim of Great Britain, under the same article of the convention, is
founded on the tariff act of 30th August, 1842. Its twenty-fifth section
provides "that nothing in this act contained shall apply to goods
shipped in a vessel bound to any port of the United States, actually
having left her last port of lading eastward of the Cape of Good Hope or
beyond Cape Horn prior to the 1st day of September, 1842; and all legal
provisions and regulations existing immediately before the 30th day of
June, 1842, shall be applied to importations which may be made in
vessels which have left such last port of lading eastward of the Cape of
Good Hope or beyond Cape Horn prior to said 1st day of September, 1842."

The British Government contends that it was a violation of the second
article of the convention for this act to require that "articles the
growth, produce, or manufacture" of Great Britain, when imported into
the United States in vessels which had left their last port of lading in
Great Britain prior to the 1st day of September, 1842, should pay any
"higher or other duties" than were imposed on "like articles" "the
growth, produce, or manufacture" of countries beyond the Cape of Good
Hope and Cape Horn.

Upon a careful consideration of the subject I arrived at the conclusion
that this claim on the part of the British Government was well founded.
I deem it unnecessary to state my reasons at length for adopting this
opinion, the whole subject being fully explained in the letter of the
Secretary of the Treasury and the accompanying papers.

The amount necessary to satisfy the British claim can not at present be
ascertained with any degree of accuracy, no individual having yet
presented his case to the Government of the United States. It is not
apprehended that the amount will be large. After such examination of the
subject as it has been in his power to make, the Secretary of the
Treasury believes that it will not exceed $100,000.

On the other hand, the claims of the importers of rough rice into Great
Britain have been already ascertained, as the duties were paid either
under protest or in exchequer bills. Their amount is stated by Mr.
Everett, our late minister at London, in a dispatch dated June 1, 1843,
to be Ł88,886 16s. 10d. sterling, of which Ł60,006 4d. belong to
citizens of the United States.

As it may be long before the amount of the British claim can be
ascertained, and it would be unreasonable to postpone payment to the
American claimants until this can be adjusted, it has been proposed to
the British Government immediately to refund the excess of duties
collected by it on American rough rice. I should entertain a confident
hope that this proposal would be accepted should the arrangement
concluded be sanctioned by an act of Congress making provision for the
return of the duties in question. The claimants might then be paid as
they present their demands, properly authenticated, to the Secretary of
the Treasury.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _March 24, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the inquiry of the Senate contained in their resolution of
the 17th instant, whether in my "judgment any circumstances connected
with or growing out of the foreign relations of this country require at
this time an increase of our naval or military force," and, if so, "what
those circumstances are," I have to express the opinion that a wise
precaution demands such increase.

In my annual message of the 2d of December last I recommended to the
favorable consideration of Congress an increase of our naval force,
especially of our steam navy, and the raising of an adequate military
force to guard and protect such of our citizens as might think proper to
emigrate to Oregon. Since that period I have seen no cause to recall or
modify these recommendations. On the contrary, reasons exist which, in
my judgment, render it proper not only that they should be promptly
carried into effect, but that additional provision should be made for
the public defense.

The consideration of such additional provision was brought before
appropriate committees of the two Houses of Congress, in answer to calls
made by them, in reports prepared, with my sanction, by the Secretary of
War and the Secretary of the Navy on the 29th of December and the 8th of
January last--a mode of communication with Congress not unusual, and
under existing circumstances believed to be most eligible. Subsequent
events have confirmed me in the opinion that these recommendations were
proper as precautionary measures.

It was a wise maxim of the Father of his Country that "to be prepared
for war is one of the most efficient means of preserving peace," and
that, "avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace," we should
"remember also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger
frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it." The general
obligation to perform this duty is greatly strengthened by facts known
to the whole world. A controversy respecting the Oregon Territory now
exists between the United States and Great Britain, and while, as far
as we know, the relations of the latter with all European nations are
of the most pacific character, she is making unusual and extraordinary
armaments and warlike preparations, naval and military, both at home and
in her North American possessions.

It can not be disguised that, however sincere may be the desire of
peace, in the event of a rupture these armaments and preparations would
be used against our country. Whatever may have been the original purpose
of these preparations, the fact is undoubted that they are now
proceeding, in part at least, with a view to the contingent possibility
of a war with the United States. The general policy of making additional
warlike preparations was distinctly announced in the speech from the
throne as late as January last, and has since been reiterated by the
ministers of the Crown in both houses of Parliament. Under this aspect
of our relations with Great Britain, I can not doubt the propriety of
increasing our means of defense both by land and sea. This can give
Great Britain no cause of offense nor increase the danger of a rupture.
If, on the contrary, we should fold our arms in security and at last be
suddenly involved in hostilities for the maintenance of our just rights
without any adequate preparation, our responsibility to the country
would be of the gravest character. Should collision between the two
countries be avoided, as I sincerely trust it may be, the additional
charge upon the Treasury in making the necessary preparations will
not be lost, while in the event of such a collision they would be
indispensable for the maintenance of our national rights and national
honor.

I have seen no reason to change or modify the recommendations of my
annual message in regard to the Oregon question. The notice to abrogate
the treaty of the 6th of August, 1827, is authorized by the treaty
itself and can not be regarded as a warlike measure, and I can not
withhold my strong conviction that it should be promptly given. The
other recommendations are in conformity with the existing treaty, and
would afford to American citizens in Oregon no more than the same
measure of protection which has long since been extended to British
subjects in that Territory.

The state of our relations with Mexico is still in an unsettled
condition. Since the meeting of Congress another revolution has taken
place in that country, by which the Government has passed into the hands
of new rulers. This event has procrastinated, and may possibly defeat,
the settlement of the differences between the United States and that
country. The minister of the United States to Mexico at the date of
the last advices had not been received by the existing authorities.
Demonstrations of a character hostile to the United States continue to
be made in Mexico, which has rendered it proper, in my judgment, to keep
nearly two-thirds of our Army on our southwestern frontier. In doing
this many of the regular military posts have been reduced to a small
force inadequate to their defense should an emergency arise.

In view of these "circumstances," it is my "judgment" that "an increase
of our naval and military force is at this time required" to place the
country in a suitable state of defense. At the same time, it is my
settled purpose to pursue such a course of policy as may be best
calculated to preserve both with Great Britain and Mexico an honorable
peace, which nothing will so effectually promote as unanimity in our
councils and a firm maintenance of all our just rights.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _April 1, 1846_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a letter received from the governor of the State of
Ohio in answer to a communication addressed to him in compliance with
a resolution of the House of Representatives of January 30, 1846,
"requesting the President of the United States to apply to the governor
of the State of Ohio for information in regard to the present condition
of the Columbus and Sandusky turnpike road; whether the said road is
kept in such a state of repair as will enable the Federal Government
to realize in case of need the advantages contemplated by the act of
Congress approved March 3, 1827."

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _April 1, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the request of a delegation of the Tonawanda band of
the Seneca Indians now in this city, I herewith transmit, for your
consideration, a memorial addressed to the President and the Senate in
relation to the treaty of January 15, 1838, with the "Six Nations of New
York Indians," and that of May 20, 1842, with the "Seneca Nation of
Indians'"

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _April 3, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Acting Secretary of State, with
accompanying papers, in answer to the resolution of the Senate of the
23d ultimo, requesting the President to communicate to that body, "if
not incompatible with public interests, any correspondence which took
place between the Government of the United States and that of Great
Britain on the subject of the northeastern boundary between the 20th of
June, 1840, and the 4th of March, 1841."

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _April 13, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 11th instant, calling
for "copies of any correspondence that may have taken place between the
authorities of the United States and those of Great Britain since the
last documents transmitted to Congress in relation to the subject
of the Oregon Territory, or so much thereof as may be communicated
without detriment to the public interest," I have to state that no
correspondence in relation to the Oregon Territory has taken place
between the authorities of the United States and those of Great Britain
since the date of the last documents on the subject transmitted by me
to Congress.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _April 13, 1846_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In my annual message of the 2d of December last it was stated that
serious difficulties of long standing continued to distract the several
parties into which the Cherokee tribe of Indians is unhappily divided;
that all the efforts of the Government to adjust these difficulties had
proved to be unsuccessful, and would probably remain so without the aid
of further legislation by Congress. Subsequent events have confirmed
this opinion.

I communicate herewith, for the information of Congress, a report of the
Secretary of War, transmitting a report of the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, with accompanying documents, together with memorials which have
been received from the several bands or parties of the Cherokees
themselves. It will be perceived that internal feuds still exist which
call for the prompt intervention of the Government of the United States.

Since the meeting of Congress several unprovoked murders have been
committed by the stronger upon the weaker party of the tribe, which will
probably remain unpunished by the Indian authorities; and there is
reason to apprehend that similar outrages will continue to be
perpetrated unless restrained by the authorities of the United States.

Many of the weaker party have been compelled to seek refuge beyond the
limits of the Indian country and within the State of Arkansas, and are
destitute of the means for their daily subsistence. The military forces
of the United States stationed on the western frontier have been active
in their exertions to suppress these outrages and to execute the treaty
of 1835, by which it is stipulated that "the United States agree to
protect the Cherokee Nation from domestic strife and foreign enemies,
and against intestine wars between the several tribes."

These exertions of the Army have proved to a great extent unavailing,
for the reasons stated in the accompanying documents, including
communications from the officer commanding at Fort Gibson.

I submit, for the consideration of Congress, the propriety of making
such amendments of the laws regulating intercourse with the Indian
tribes as will subject to trial and punishment in the courts of the
United States all Indians guilty of murder and such other felonies as
may be designated, when committed on other Indians within the
jurisdiction of the United States.

Such a modification of the existing laws is suggested because if
offenders against the laws of humanity in the Indian country are left
to be punished by Indian laws they will generally, if not always, be
permitted to escape with impunity. This has been the case in repeated
instances among the Cherokees. For years unprovoked murders have been
committed, and yet no effort has been made to bring the offenders to
punishment. Should this state of things continue, it is not difficult to
foresee that the weaker party will be finally destroyed. As the guardian
of the Indian tribes, the Government of the United States is bound by
every consideration of duty and humanity to interpose to prevent such
a disaster.

From the examination which I have made into the actual state of things
in the Cherokee Nation I am satisfied that there is no probability that
the different bands or parties into which it is divided can ever again
live together in peace and harmony, and that the well-being of the whole
requires that they should be separated and live under separate
governments as distinct tribes.

That portion who emigrated to the west of the Mississippi prior to the
year 1819, commonly called the "Old Settlers," and that portion who made
the treaty of 1835, known as the "treaty party," it is believed would
willingly unite, and could live together in harmony. The number of
these, as nearly as can be estimated, is about one-third of the tribe.
The whole number of all the bands or parties does not probably exceed
20,000. The country which they occupy embraces 7,000,000 acres of land,
with the privilege of an outlet to the western limits of the United
States. This country is susceptible of division, and is large enough for
all.

I submit to Congress the propriety of either dividing the country which
they at present occupy or of providing by law a new home for the one or
the other of the bands or parties now in hostile array against each
other, as the most effectual, if not the only, means of preserving the
weaker party from massacre and total extermination. Should Congress
favor the division of the country as suggested, and the separation of
the Cherokees into two distinct tribes, justice will require that the
annuities and funds belonging to the whole, now held in trust for them
by the United States, should be equitably distributed among the parties,
according to their respective claims and numbers.

There is still a small number of the Cherokee tribe remaining within the
State of North Carolina, who, according to the stipulations of the
treaty of 1835, should have emigrated with their brethren to the west of
the Mississippi. It is desirable that they should be removed, and in the
event of a division of the country in the West, or of a new home being
provided for a portion of the tribe, that they be permitted to join
either party, as they may prefer, and be incorporated with them.

I submit the whole subject to Congress, that such legislative measures
may be adopted as will be just to all the parties or bands of the tribe.
Such measures, I am satisfied, are the only means of arresting the
horrid and inhuman massacres which have marked the history of the
Cherokees for the last few years, and especially for the last few
months.

The Cherokees have been regarded as among the most enlightened of the
Indian tribes, but experience has proved that they have not yet advanced
to such a state of civilization as to dispense with the guardian care
and control of the Government of the United States.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _April 14, 1846_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the act of the 3d of March, 1845, I communicate
herewith to Congress a report of the Secretaries of War and the Navy on
the subject of a fireproof building for the War and Navy Departments,
together with documents explaining the plans to which it refers and
containing an estimate of the cost of erecting the buildings proposed.

Congress having made no appropriation for the employment of an architect
to prepare and submit the necessary plans, none was appointed. Several
skillful architects were invited to submit plans and estimates, and from
those that were voluntarily furnished a selection has been made of such
as would furnish the requisite building for the accommodation of the War
and Navy Departments at the least expense.

All the plans and estimates which have been received are herewith
communicated, for the information of Congress.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _April 20, 1846_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I have considered the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
9th instant, by which I am requested "to cause to be furnished to that
House an account of all payments made on President's certificates
from the fund appropriated by law, through the agency of the State
Department, for the contingent expenses of foreign intercourse from the
4th of March, 1841, until the retirement of Daniel Webster from the
Department of State, with copies of all entries, receipts, letters,
vouchers, memorandums, or other evidence of such payments, to whom paid,
for what, and particularly all concerning the northeastern-boundary
dispute with Great Britain."

With an anxious desire to furnish to the House any information requested
by that body which may be in the Executive Departments, I have felt
bound by a sense of public duty to inquire how far I could with
propriety, or consistently with the existing laws, respond to their
call.

The usual annual appropriation "for the contingent expenses of
intercourse between the United States and foreign nations" has been
disbursed since the date of the act of May 1, 1810, in pursuance of
its provisions. By the third section of that act it is provided--

  That when any sum or sums of money shall be drawn from the Treasury
  under any law making appropriation for the contingent expenses of
  intercourse between the United States and foreign nations the President
  shall be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause the same to be duly
  settled annually with the accounting officers of the Treasury in the
  manner following; that is to say, by causing the same to be accounted
  for specially in all instances wherein the expenditure thereof may in
  his judgment be made public, and by making a certificate of the amount
  of such expenditures as he may think it advisable not to specify; and
  every such certificate shall be deemed a sufficient voucher for the sum
  or sums therein expressed to have been expended.

Two distinct classes of expenditure are authorized by this law--the one
of a public and the other of a private and confidential character. The
President in office at the time of the expenditure is made by the law
the sole judge whether it shall be public or private. Such sums are to
be "accounted for specially in all instances wherein the expenditure
thereof may in his judgment be made public." All expenditures "accounted
for specially" are settled at the Treasury upon vouchers, and not on
"President's certificates," and, like all other public accounts, are
subject to be called for by Congress, and are open to public
examination. Had information as respects this class of expenditures been
called for by the resolution of the House, it would have been promptly
communicated.

Congress, foreseeing that it might become necessary and proper to apply
portions of this fund for objects the original accounts and vouchers for
which could not be "made public" without injury to the public interests,
authorized the President, instead of such accounts and vouchers, to make
a certificate of the amount "of such expenditures as he may think it
advisable not to specify," and have provided that "every such
certificate shall be deemed a sufficient voucher for the sum or sums
therein expressed to have been expended."

The law making these provisions is in full force. It is binding upon all
the departments of the Government, and especially upon the Executive,
whose duty it is "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." In
the exercise of the discretion lodged by it in the Executive several of
my predecessors have made "certificates" of the amount "of such
expenditures as they have thought it advisable not to specify," and upon
these certificates as the only vouchers settlements have been made at
the Treasury.

It appears that within the period specified in the resolution of the
House certificates were given by my immediate predecessor, upon which
settlements have been made at the Treasury, amounting to $5,460. He has
solemnly determined that the objects and items of these expenditures
should not be made public, and has given his certificates to that
effect, which are placed upon the records of the country. Under the
direct authority of an existing law, he has exercised the power of
placing these expenditures under the seal of confidence, and the whole
matter was terminated before I came into office. An important question
arises, whether a subsequent President, either voluntarily or at the
request of one branch of Congress, can without a violation of the spirit
of the law revise the acts of his predecessor and expose to public view
that which he had determined should not be "made public." If not a
matter of strict duty, it would certainly be a safe general rule that
this should not be done. Indeed, it may well happen, and probably would
happen, that the President for the time being would not be in possession
of the information upon which his predecessor acted, and could not,
therefore, have the means of judging whether he had exercised his
discretion wisely or not. The law requires no other voucher but the
President's certificate, and there is nothing in its provisions which
requires any "entries, receipts, letters, vouchers, memorandums, or
other evidence of such payments" to be preserved in the executive
department. The President who makes the "certificate" may, if he
chooses, keep all the information and evidence upon which he acts in his
own possession. If, for the information of his successors, he shall
leave the evidence on which he acts and the items of the expenditures
which make up the sum for which he has given his "certificate" on the
confidential files of one of the Executive Departments, they do not in
any proper sense become thereby public records. They are never seen or
examined by the accounting officers of the Treasury when they settle an
account on the "President's certificate." The First Congress of the
United States on the 1st of July, 1790, passed an act "providing the
means of intercourse between the United States and foreign nations," by
which a similar provision to that which now exists was made for the
settlement of such expenditures as in the judgment of the President
ought not to be made public. This act was limited in its duration. It
was continued for a limited term in 1793, and between that time and the
date of the act of May 1, 1810, which is now in force, the same
provision was revived and continued. Expenditures were made and settled
under Presidential certificates in pursuance of these laws.

If the President may answer the present call, he must answer similar
calls for every such expenditure of a confidential character, made under
every Administration, in war and in peace, from the organization of the
Government to the present period. To break the seal of confidence
imposed by the law, and heretofore uniformly preserved, would be
subversive of the very purpose for which the law was enacted, and might
be productive of the most disastrous consequences. The expenditures of
this confidential character, it is believed, were never before sought to
be made public, and I should greatly apprehend the consequences of
establishing a precedent which would render such disclosures hereafter
inevitable.

I am fully aware of the strong and correct public feeling which exists
throughout the country against secrecy of any kind in the administration
of the Government, and especially in reference to public expenditures;
yet our foreign negotiations are wisely and properly confined to the
knowledge of the Executive during their pendency. Our laws require the
accounts of every particular expenditure to be rendered and publicly
settled at the Treasury Department. The single exception which exists is
not that the amounts embraced under President's certificates shall be
withheld from the public, but merely that the items of which these are
composed shall not be divulged. To this extent, and no further, is
secrecy observed.

The laudable vigilance of the people in regard to all the expenditures
of the Government, as well as a sense of duty on the part of the
President and a desire to retain the good opinion of his
fellow-citizens, will prevent any sum expended from being accounted for
by the President's certificate unless in cases of urgent necessity. Such
certificates have therefore been resorted to but seldom throughout our
past history.

For my own part, I have not caused any account whatever to be settled on
a Presidential certificate. I have had no occasion rendering it
necessary in my judgment to make such a certificate, and it would be an
extreme case which would ever induce me to exercise this authority; yet
if such a case should arise it would be my duty to assume the
responsibility devolved on me by the law.

During my Administration all expenditures for contingent expenses of
foreign intercourse in which the accounts have been closed have been
settled upon regular vouchers, as all other public accounts are settled
at the Treasury.

It may be alleged that the power of impeachment belongs to the House of
Representatives, and that, with a view to the exercise of this power,
that House has the right to investigate the conduct of all public
officers under the Government. This is cheerfully admitted. In such a
case the safety of the Republic would be the supreme law, and the power
of the House in the pursuit of this object would penetrate into the most
secret recesses of the Executive Departments. It could command the
attendance of any and every agent of the Government, and compel them to
produce all papers, public or private, official or unofficial, and to
testify on oath to all facts within their knowledge. But even in a case
of that kind they would adopt all wise precautions to prevent the
exposure of all such matters the publication of which might injuriously
affect the public interest, except so far as this might be necessary to
accomplish the great ends of public justice. If the House of
Representatives, as the grand inquest of the nation, should at any time
have reason to believe that there has been malversation in office by an
improper use or application of the public money by a public officer, and
should think proper to institute an inquiry into the matter, all the
archives and papers of the Executive Departments, public or private,
would be subject to the inspection and control of a committee of their
body and every facility in the power of the Executive be afforded to
enable them to prosecute the investigation.

The experience of every nation on earth has demonstrated that
emergencies may arise in which it becomes absolutely necessary for the
public safety or the public good to make expenditures the very object of
which would be defeated by publicity. Some governments have very large
amounts at their disposal, and have made vastly greater expenditures
than the small amounts which have from time to time been accounted for
on President's certificates. In no nation is the application of such
sums ever made public. In time of war or impending danger the situation
of the country may make it necessary to employ individuals for the
purpose of obtaining information or rendering other important services
who could never be prevailed upon to act if they entertained the least
apprehension that their names or their agency would in any contingency
be divulged. So it may often become necessary to incur an expenditure
for an object highly useful to the country; for example, the conclusion
of a treaty with a barbarian power whose customs require on such
occasions the use of presents. But this object might be altogether
defeated by the intrigues of other powers if our purposes were to be
made known by the exhibition of the original papers and vouchers to the
accounting officers of the Treasury. It would be easy to specify other
cases which may occur in the history of a great nation, in its
intercourse with other nations, wherein it might become absolutely
necessary to incur expenditures for objects which could never be
accomplished if it were suspected in advance that the items of
expenditure and the agencies employed would be made public.

Actuated undoubtedly by considerations of this kind, Congress provided
such a fund, coeval with the organization of the Government, and
subsequently enacted the law of 1810 as the permanent law of the land.
While this law exists in full force I feel bound by a high sense of
public policy and duty to observe its provisions and the uniform
practice of my predecessors under it.

With great respect for the House of Representatives and an anxious
desire to conform to their wishes, I am constrained to come to this
conclusion.

If Congress disapprove the policy of the law, they may repeal its
provisions.

In reply to that portion of the resolution of the House which calls for
"copies of whatever communications were made from the Secretary of State
during the last session of the Twenty-seventh Congress, particularly
February, 1843, to Mr. Cushing and Mr. Adams, members of the Committee
of this House on Foreign Affairs, of the wish of the President of the
United States to institute a special mission to Great Britain," I have
to state that no such communications or copies of them are found in the
Department of State.

"Copies of all letters on the books of the Department of State to any
officer of the United States or any person in New York concerning
Alexander McLeod," which are also called for by the resolution, are
herewith communicated.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _April 20, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the
8th instant, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying
papers, containing the information and correspondence referred to in
that resolution, relative to the search of American vessels by British
cruisers subsequent to the date of the treaty of Washington.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _April 27, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith the information called for by a resolution of the
Senate of the 3d December last, relating to "claims arising under the
fourteenth article of the treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek" with the
Choctaw tribe of Indians, concluded in September, 1830.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _April 27, 1846_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of War and accompanying
papers, containing the information called for by the resolution of the
House of Representatives of December 19, 1845, relating to certain
claims of the Chickasaw tribe of Indians.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _April 27, 1846_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report and accompanying papers from the Secretary
of War, in reply to the resolution of the House of Representatives of
the 31st of December last, in relation to claims arising under the
Choctaw treaty of 1830 which have been presented to and allowed or
rejected by commissioners appointed in pursuance of the acts of 3d of
March, 1837, and 23d of August, 1842.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _May 6, 1846_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith reports from the Secretary of War and the Secretary
of the Treasury, with additional papers, relative to the claims of
certain Chickasaw Indians, which, with those heretofore communicated to
Congress, contain all the information called for by the resolution of
the House of Representatives of the 19th of December last.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _May 6, 1846_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with
accompanying papers, in answer to a resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 8th ultimo, requesting the President to
communicate to that body, "if not incompatible with the public interest,
copies of the correspondence of George William Gordon, late consul of
the United States at Rio de Janeiro, with the Department of State,
relating to the slave trade in vessels and by citizens of the United
States between the coast of Africa and Brazil."

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _May 6, 1846_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of War, in answer to the
resolution of the House of Representatives of the 4th instant, calling
for information "whether any soldier or soldiers of the Army of the
United States have been shot for desertion, or in the act of deserting,
and, if so, by whose order and under what authority."

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _May 11, 1846_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The existing state of the relations between the United States and Mexico
renders it proper that I should bring the subject to the consideration
of Congress. In my message at the commencement of your present session
the state of these relations, the causes which led to the suspension of
diplomatic intercourse between the two countries in March, 1845, and the
long-continued and unredressed wrongs and injuries committed by the
Mexican Government on citizens of the United States in their persons and
property were briefly set forth.

As the facts and opinions which were then laid before you were carefully
considered, I can not better express my present convictions of the
condition of affairs up to that time than by referring you to that
communication.

The strong desire to establish peace with Mexico on liberal and
honorable terms, and the readiness of this Government to regulate and
adjust our boundary and other causes of difference with that power on
such fair and equitable principles as would lead to permanent relations
of the most friendly nature, induced me in September last to seek the
reopening of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Every
measure adopted on our part had for its object the furtherance of these
desired results. In communicating to Congress a succinct statement of
the injuries which we had suffered from Mexico, and which have been
accumulating during a period of more than twenty years, every expression
that could tend to inflame the people of Mexico or defeat or delay a
pacific result was carefully avoided. An envoy of the United States
repaired to Mexico with full powers to adjust every existing difference.
But though present on the Mexican soil by agreement between the two
Governments, invested with full powers, and bearing evidence of the most
friendly dispositions, his mission has been unavailing. The Mexican
Government not only refused to receive him or listen to his
propositions, but after a long-continued series of menaces have at last
invaded our territory and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our
own soil.

It now becomes my duty to state more in detail the origin, progress, and
failure of that mission. In pursuance of the instructions given in
September last, an inquiry was made on the 13th of October, 1845, in the
most friendly terms, through our consul in Mexico, of the minister for
foreign affairs, whether the Mexican Government "would receive an envoy
from the United States intrusted with full powers to adjust all the
questions in dispute between the two Governments," with the assurance
that "should the answer be in the affirmative such an envoy would be
immediately dispatched to Mexico." The Mexican minister on the 15th of
October gave an affirmative answer to this inquiry, requesting at the
same time that our naval force at Vera Cruz might be withdrawn, lest its
continued presence might assume the appearance of menace and coercion
pending the negotiations. This force was immediately withdrawn. On the
10th of November, 1845, Mr. John Slidell, of Louisiana, was commissioned
by me as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United
States to Mexico, and was intrusted with full powers to adjust both the
questions of the Texas boundary and of indemnification to our citizens.
The redress of the wrongs of our citizens naturally and inseparably
blended itself with the question of boundary. The settlement of the one
question in any correct view of the subject involves that of the other.
I could not for a moment entertain the idea that the claims of our
much-injured and long-suffering citizens, many of which had existed for
more than twenty years, should be postponed or separated from the
settlement of the boundary question.

Mr. Slidell arrived at Vera Cruz on the 30th of November, and was
courteously received by the authorities of that city. But the Government
of General Herrera was then tottering to its fall. The revolutionary
party had seized upon the Texas question to effect or hasten its
overthrow. Its determination to restore friendly relations with the
United States, and to receive our minister to negotiate for the
settlement of this question, was violently assailed, and was made the
great theme of denunciation against it. The Government of General
Herrera, there is good reason to believe, was sincerely desirous to
receive our minister; but it yielded to the storm raised by its enemies,
and on the 21st of December refused to accredit Mr. Slidell upon the
most frivolous pretexts. These are so fully and ably exposed in the note
of Mr. Slidell of the 24th of December last to the Mexican minister of
foreign relations, herewith transmitted, that I deem it unnecessary to
enter into further detail on this portion of the subject.

Five days after the date of Mr. Slidell's note General Herrera yielded
the Government to General Paredes without a struggle, and on the 30th of
December resigned the Presidency. This revolution was accomplished
solely by the army, the people having taken little part in the contest;
and thus the supreme power in Mexico passed into the hands of a military
leader.

Determined to leave no effort untried to effect an amicable adjustment
with Mexico, I directed Mr. Slidell to present his credentials to the
Government of General Paredes and ask to be officially received by him.
There would have been less ground for taking this step had General
Paredes come into power by a regular constitutional succession. In that
event his administration would have been considered but a mere
constitutional continuance of the Government of General Herrera, and the
refusal of the latter to receive our minister would have been deemed
conclusive unless an intimation had been given by General Paredes of his
desire to reverse the decision of his predecessor. But the Government of
General Paredes owes its existence to a military revolution, by which
the subsisting constitutional authorities had been subverted. The form
of government was entirely changed, as well as all the high
functionaries by whom it was administered.

Under these circumstances, Mr. Slidell, in obedience to my direction,
addressed a note to the Mexican minister of foreign relations, under
date of the 1st of March last, asking to be received by that Government
in the diplomatic character to which he had been appointed. This
minister in his reply, under date of the 12th of March, reiterated the
arguments of his predecessor, and in terms that may be considered as
giving just grounds of offense to the Government and people of the
United States denied the application of Mr. Slidell. Nothing therefore
remained for our envoy but to demand his passports and return to his own
country.

Thus the Government of Mexico, though solemnly pledged by official acts
in October last to receive and accredit an American envoy, violated
their plighted faith and refused the offer of a peaceful adjustment of
our difficulties. Not only was the offer rejected, but the indignity of
its rejection was enhanced by the manifest breach of faith in refusing
to admit the envoy who came because they had bound themselves to receive
him. Nor can it be said that the offer was fruitless from the want of
opportunity of discussing it; our envoy was present on their own soil.
Nor can it be ascribed to a want of sufficient powers; our envoy had
full powers to adjust every question of difference. Nor was there room
for complaint that our propositions for settlement were unreasonable;
permission was not even given our envoy to make any proposition
whatever. Nor can it be objected that we, on our part, would not listen
to any reasonable terms of their suggestion; the Mexican Government
refused all negotiation, and have made no proposition of any kind.

In my message at the commencement of the present session I informed you
that upon the earnest appeal both of the Congress and convention of
Texas I had ordered an efficient military force to take a position
"between the Nueces and the Del Norte." This had become necessary to
meet a threatened invasion of Texas by the Mexican forces, for which
extensive military preparations had been made. The invasion was
threatened solely because Texas had determined, in accordance with a
solemn resolution of the Congress of the United States, to annex herself
to our Union, and under these circumstances it was plainly our duty to
extend our protection over her citizens and soil.

This force was concentrated at Corpus Christi, and remained there until
after I had received such information from Mexico as rendered it
probable, if not certain, that the Mexican Government would refuse to
receive our envoy.

Meantime Texas, by the final action of our Congress, had become an
integral part of our Union. The Congress of Texas, by its act of
December 19, 1836, had declared the Rio del Norte to be the boundary of
that Republic. Its jurisdiction had been extended and exercised beyond
the Nueces. The country between that river and the Del Norte had been
represented in the Congress and in the convention of Texas, had thus
taken part in the act of annexation itself, and is now included within
one of our Congressional districts. Our own Congress had, moreover, with
great unanimity, by the act approved December 31, 1845, recognized the
country beyond the Nueces as a part of our territory by including it
within our own revenue system, and a revenue officer to reside within
that district has been appointed by and with the advice and consent of
the Senate. It became, therefore, of urgent necessity to provide for the
defense of that portion of our country. Accordingly, on the 13th of
January last instructions were issued to the general in command of these
troops to occupy the left bank of the Del Norte. This river, which is
the southwestern boundary of the State of Texas, is an exposed frontier.
From this quarter invasion was threatened; upon it and in its immediate
vicinity, in the judgment of high military experience, are the proper
stations for the protecting forces of the Government. In addition to
this important consideration, several others occurred to induce this
movement. Among these are the facilities afforded by the ports at Brazos
Santiago and the mouth of the Del Norte for the reception of supplies by
sea, the stronger and more healthful military positions, the convenience
for obtaining a ready and a more abundant supply of provisions, water,
fuel, and forage, and the advantages which are afforded by the Del Norte
in forwarding supplies to such posts as may be established in the
interior and upon the Indian frontier.

The movement of the troops to the Del Norte was made by the commanding
general under positive instructions to abstain from all aggressive acts
toward Mexico or Mexican citizens and to regard the relations between
that Republic and the United States as peaceful unless she should
declare war or commit acts of hostility indicative of a state of war. He
was specially directed to protect private property and respect personal
rights.

The Army moved from Corpus Christi on the 11th of March, and on the 28th
of that month arrived on the left bank of the Del Norte opposite to
Matamoras, where it encamped on a commanding position, which has since
been strengthened by the erection of fieldworks. A depot has also been
established at Point Isabel, near the Brazos Santiago, 30 miles in rear
of the encampment. The selection of his position was necessarily
confided to the judgment of the general in command.

The Mexican forces at Matamoras assumed a belligerent attitude, and on
the 12th of April General Ampudia, then in command, notified General
Taylor to break up his camp within twenty-four hours and to retire
beyond the Nueces River, and in the event of his failure to comply with
these demands announced that arms, and arms alone, must decide the
question. But no open act of hostility was committed until the 24th of
April. On that day General Arista, who had succeeded to the command of
the Mexican forces, communicated to General Taylor that "he considered
hostilities commenced and should prosecute them." A party of dragoons of
63 men and officers were on the same day dispatched from the American
camp up the Rio del Norte, on its left bank, to ascertain whether the
Mexican troops had crossed or were preparing to cross the river, "became
engaged with a large body of these troops, and after a short affair, in
which some 16 were killed and wounded, appear to have been surrounded
and compelled to surrender."

The grievous wrongs perpetrated by Mexico upon our citizens throughout a
long period of years remain unredressed, and solemn treaties pledging
her public faith for this redress have been disregarded. A government
either unable or unwilling to enforce the execution of such treaties
fails to perform one of its plainest duties.

Our commerce with Mexico has been almost annihilated. It was formerly
highly beneficial to both nations, but our merchants have been deterred
from prosecuting it by the system of outrage and extortion which the
Mexican authorities have pursued against them, whilst their appeals
through their own Government for indemnity have been made in vain. Our
forbearance has gone to such an extreme as to be mistaken in its
character. Had we acted with vigor in repelling the insults and
redressing the injuries inflicted by Mexico at the commencement, we
should doubtless have escaped all the difficulties in which we are now
involved.

Instead of this, however, we have been exerting our best efforts to
propitiate her good will. Upon the pretext that Texas, a nation as
independent as herself, thought proper to unite its destinies with our
own, she has affected to believe that we have severed her rightful
territory, and in official proclamations and manifestoes has repeatedly
threatened to make war upon us for the purpose of reconquering Texas. In
the meantime we have tried every effort at reconciliation. The cup of
forbearance had been exhausted even before the recent information from
the frontier of the Del Norte. But now, after reiterated menaces, Mexico
has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory
and shed American blood upon the American soil. She has proclaimed that
hostilities have commenced, and that the two nations are now at war.

As war exists, and, notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it, exists
by the act of Mexico herself, we are called upon by every consideration
of duty and patriotism to vindicate with decision the honor, the rights,
and the interests of our country.

Anticipating the possibility of a crisis like that which has arrived,
instructions were given in August last, "as a precautionary measure"
against invasion or threatened invasion, authorizing General Taylor, if
the emergency required, to accept volunteers, not from Texas only, but
from the States of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and
Kentucky, and corresponding letters were addressed to the respective
governors of those States. These instructions were repeated, and in
January last, soon after the incorporation of "Texas into our Union of
States," General Taylor was further "authorized by the President to make
a requisition upon the executive of that State for such of its militia
force as may be needed to repel invasion or to secure the country
against apprehended invasion." On the 2d day of March he was again
reminded, "in the event of the approach of any considerable Mexican
force, promptly and efficiently to use the authority with which he was
clothed to call to him such auxiliary force as he might need." War
actually existing and our territory having been invaded, General Taylor,
pursuant to authority vested in him by my direction, has called on the
governor of Texas for four regiments of State troops, two to be mounted
and two to serve on foot, and on the governor of Louisiana for four
regiments of infantry to be sent to him as soon as practicable.

In further vindication of our rights and defense of our territory, I
invoke the prompt action of Congress to recognize the existence of the
war, and to place at the disposition of the Executive the means of
prosecuting the war with vigor, and thus hastening the restoration of
peace. To this end I recommend that authority should be given to call
into the public service a large body of volunteers to serve for not less
than six or twelve months unless sooner discharged. A volunteer force is
beyond question more efficient than any other description of citizen
soldiers, and it is not to be doubted that a number far beyond that
required would readily rush to the field upon the call of their country.
I further recommend that a liberal provision be made for sustaining our
entire military force and furnishing it with supplies and munitions of
war.

The most energetic and prompt measures and the immediate appearance in
arms of a large and overpowering force are recommended to Congress as
the most certain and efficient means of bringing the existing collision
with Mexico to a speedy and successful termination.

In making these recommendations I deem it proper to declare that it is
my anxious desire not only to terminate hostilities speedily, but to
bring all matters in dispute between this Government and Mexico to an
early and amicable adjustment; and in this view I shall be prepared to
renew negotiations whenever Mexico shall be ready to receive
propositions or to make propositions of her own.

I transmit herewith a copy of the correspondence between our envoy to
Mexico and the Mexican minister for foreign affairs, and so much of the
correspondence between that envoy and the Secretary of State and between
the Secretary of War and the general in command on the Del Norte as is
necessary to a full understanding of the subject.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _May 12, 1846_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit to Congress a copy of a communication[7] from the
officer commanding the Army in Texas, with the papers which accompanied
it. They were received by the Southern mail of yesterday, some hours
after my message of that date had been transmitted, and are of a prior
date to one of the communications from the same officer which
accompanied that message.

JAMES K. POLK.

[Footnote 7: Relating to the operations of the Army near Matamoras,
Mexico.]



WASHINGTON, _May 19, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, in answer to a
resolution of the Senate of the 4th of December last, which contains the
information called for "with respect to the practicability and utility
of a fort or forts on Ship Island, on the coast of Mississippi, with a
view to the protection of said coast."

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _May 26, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

A convention was concluded at Lima on 17th March, 1841, between the
United States and the Republic of Peru, for the adjustment of claims
of our citizens upon that Republic. It was stipulated by the seventh
article of this convention that "it shall be ratified by the contracting
parties, and the ratifications shall be exchanged within two years from
its date, or sooner if possible, after having been approved by the
President and Senate of the United States and by the Congress of Peru."

This convention was transmitted by the President to the Senate for their
consideration during the extra session of 1841, but it did not receive
their approbation until the 5th January, 1843. This delay rendered it
impracticable that the convention should reach Lima before the 17th
March, 1843, the last day when the ratifications could be exchanged
under the terms of its seventh article. The Senate therefore extended
the time for this purpose until the 20th December, 1843.

In the meantime, previous to the 17th March, 1843, General Menendez,
the constitutional President of Peru, had ratified the convention,
declaring, however, in the act of ratification itself (which is without
date), that "the present convention and ratification are to be submitted
within the time stipulated in the seventh article for the final
approbation of the National Congress." This was, however, rendered
impossible from the fact that no Peruvian Congress assembled from the
date of the convention until the year 1845.

When the convention arrived at Lima General Menendez had been deposed
by a revolution, and General Vivanco had placed himself at the head of
the Government. On the 16th July, 1843, the convention was ratified
by him in absolute terms without the reference to Congress which the
constitution of Peru requires, because, as the ratification states,
"under existing circumstances the Government exercises the legislative
powers demanded by the necessities of the State." The ratifications were
accordingly exchanged at Lima on the 22d July, 1843, and the convention
itself was proclaimed at Washington by the President on the 21st day of
February, 1844.

In the meantime General Vivanco was deposed, and on the 12th October,
1843, the Government then in existence published a decree declaring all
his administrative acts to be null and void, and notwithstanding the
earnest and able remonstrances of Mr. Pickett, our chargé d'affaires at
Lima, the Peruvian Government have still persisted in declaring that the
ratification of the convention by Vivanco was invalid.

After the meeting of the Peruvian Congress in 1845 the convention was
submitted to that body, by which it was approved on the 21st of October
last, "with the condition, however, that the first installment of
$30,000 on account of the principal of the debt thereby recognized, and
to which the second article relates, should begin from the 1st day of
January, 1846, and the interest on this annual sum, according to article
3, should be calculated and paid from the 1st day of January, 1842,
following in all other respects besides this modification the terms of
the convention."

I am not in possession of the act of the Congress of Peru containing
this provision, but the information is communicated through a note under
date of the 15th of November, 1845, from the minister of foreign affairs
of Peru to the chargé d'affaires of the United States at Lima. A copy of
this note has been transmitted to the Department of State both by our
chargé d'affaires at Lima and by the Peruvian minister of foreign
affairs, and a copy of the same is herewith transmitted.

Under these circumstances I submit to the Senate, for their
consideration, the amendment to the convention thus proposed by the
Congress of Peru, with a view to its ratification. It would have been
more satisfactory to have submitted the act itself of the Peruvian
Congress, but, on account of the great distance, if I should wait until
its arrival another year might be consumed, whilst the American
claimants have already been too long delayed in receiving the money
justly due to them. Several of the largest of these claimants would,
I am informed, be satisfied with the modification of the convention
adopted by the Peruvian Congress.

A difficulty may arise in regard to the form of any proceeding which the
Senate might think proper to adopt, from the fact that the original
convention approved by them was sent to Peru and was exchanged for the
other original, ratified by General Vivanco, which is now in the
Department of State. In order to obviate this difficulty as far as may
be in my power, I transmit a copy of the convention, under the seal of
the United States, on which the Senate might found any action they may
deem advisable.

I would suggest that should the Senate advise the adoption of the
amendment proposed by the Peruvian Congress the time for exchanging the
ratifications of the amended convention ought to be extended for a
considerable period, so as to provide against all accidents in its
transmission to Lima.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _May 27, 1846_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with the request contained in the resolution of the House
of Representatives of this date, I transmit copies of all the official
dispatches which have been received from General Taylor, commanding the
army of occupation on the Rio Grande, relating to the battles[8] of the
8th and 9th instant.

JAMES K. POLK.

[Footnote 8: Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.]



WASHINGTON, _May 28, 1846_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit a copy of a note, under date the 26th instant, from the envoy
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Her Britannic Majesty to
the Secretary of State, communicating a dispatch, under date of the 4th
instant, received by him from Her Majesty's principal secretary of state
for foreign affairs.

From these it will be seen that the claims of the two Governments upon
each other for a return of duties which had been levied in violation of
the commercial convention of 1815 have been finally and satisfactorily
adjusted. In making this communication I deem it proper to express my
satisfaction at the prompt manner in which the British Government has
acceded to the suggestion of the Secretary of State for the speedy
termination of this affair.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _June 1, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I propose, for the reason stated in the accompanying communication of
the Secretary of War, that the confirmation of Brevet Second Lieutenant
L.B. Wood by the Senate on the 5th of February, as a second lieutenant
in the Fifth Regiment of Infantry, be canceled; and I nominate the
officers named in the same communication for regular promotion in the
Army.

JAMES K. POLK.



WAR DEPARTMENT, _May 15, 1846_.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: On the 12th of December last a list of promotions and appointments
of officers of the Army was submitted to the Senate for confirmation, in
which list Brevet Second Lieutenant L.B. Wood, of the Eighth Infantry,
was nominated to the grade of second lieutenant in the Fifth Regiment of
Infantry, _vice_ Second Lieutenant Deas, promoted. He was entitled to
this vacancy by _seniority_, but in a letter dated November 30, 1845,
and received at the Adjutant-General's Office December 30, 1845
(eighteen days _after_ the list referred to above had been sent to the
Senate), he says: "I respectfully beg leave to be permitted to decline
promotion in any other regiment, and to fill the first vacancy which may
happen in the Eighth." This request was acceded to, and accordingly, on
the first subsequent list submitted to the Senate, dated January 8,
1846, Brevet Second Lieutenant Charles S. Hamilton, of the Second
Infantry (the next below Lieutenant Wood), was nominated to fill the
vacancy in the _Fifth_ Regiment and Lieutenant Wood to a vacancy which
has occurred meanwhile (December 31) in the _Eighth_.

The foregoing circumstances were explained in a note to the nomination
list of January 8, but it is probable the explanation escaped
observation in the Senate, as on the 5th of February Lieutenant Wood was
confirmed in the Fifth Infantry, agreeably to the first nomination,
while no action appears to have been taken on his nomination or that of
Lieutenant Hamilton on the subsequent list of January 8, 1846.

As no commissions have yet been issued to these officers, and as
Lieutenant Wood has renewed his application to be continued in the
Eighth Infantry, I respectfully suggest that the Senate be requested to
cancel their confirmation, on the 5th of February, of his promotion as a
second lieutenant in the Fifth Regiment of Infantry; and I have the
honor to propose the renomination of the lieutenants whose names are
annexed for regular promotion, to wit:

_Fifth Regiment of Infantry._

Brevet Second Lieutenant Charles S. Hamilton, of the Second Regiment
of Infantry, to be second lieutenant, November 17, 1846, _vice_ Deas,
promoted.

_Eighth Regiment of Infantry._

Brevet Second Lieutenant Lafayette B. Wood to be second lieutenant,
December 31, 1846, _vice_ Maclay, promoted.

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

W.L. MARCY.



WASHINGTON, _June 5, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 22d ultimo, calling for
information upon the subject of the treaties which were concluded
between the late Republic of Texas and England and France, respectively,
I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by
which it was accompanied.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _June 6, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolutions of the Senate of the 10th, 11th, and 22d of
April last, I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of State,
accompanied with the correspondence between the Government of the United
States and that of Great Britain in the years 1840, 1841, 1842, and 1843
respecting the right or practice of visiting or searching merchant
vessels in time of peace, and also the protest addressed by the minister
of the United States at Paris in the year 1842 against the concurrence
of France in the quintuple treaty, together with all correspondence
relating thereto.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _June 6, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith communicate to the Senate, for its consideration, a
convention signed on the 2d day of May, 1846, by the minister of the
United States at Berlin with the plenipotentiary of Hesse-Cassel, for
the mutual abolition of the _droit d'aubaine_ and duties on emigration
between that German State and the United States; and I communicate with
the convention an explanatory dispatch of the minister of the United
States dated on the same day of the present year and numbered 284.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _June 8, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of War, transmitting
the correspondence called for by the resolution of the Senate of the 5th
instant with General Edmund P. Gaines and General Winfield Scott, of the
Army of the United States.

The report of the Secretary of War and the accompanying correspondence
with General Gaines contain all the information in my possession in
relation to calls for "volunteers or militia into the service of the
United States" "by any officer of the Army" without legal "authority
therefor," and of the "measures which have been adopted" "in relation
to such officer or troops so called into service."

In addition to the information contained in the report of the Secretary
of War and the accompanying correspondence with "Major-General Scott, of
the United States Army, upon the subject of his taking the command of
the army of occupation on the frontier of Texas," I state that on the
same day on which I approved and signed the act of the 13th of May,
1846, entitled "An act providing for the prosecution of the existing war
between the United States and the Republic of Mexico," I communicated to
General Scott, through the Secretary of War, and also in a personal
interview with that officer, my desire that he should take command of
the Army on the Rio Grande and of the volunteer forces which I informed
him it was my intention forthwith to call out to march to that frontier
to be employed in the prosecution of the war against Mexico. The tender
of the command to General Scott was voluntary on my part, and was made
without any request or intimation on the subject from him. It was made
in consideration of his rank as Commander in Chief of the Army. My
communications with General Scott assigning him the command were verbal,
first through the Secretary of War and afterwards in person. No written
order was deemed to be necessary. General Scott assented to assume the
command, and on the following day I had another interview with him and
the Secretary of War, in relation to the number and apportionment among
the several States of the volunteer forces to be called out for
immediate service, the forces which were to be organized and held in
readiness subject to a future call should it become necessary, and other
military preparations and movements to be made with a view to the
vigorous prosecution of the war. It was distinctly settled, and was well
understood by General Scott, that he was to command the Army in the war
against Mexico, and so continued to be settled and understood without
any other intention on my part until the Secretary of War submitted to
me the letter of General Scott addressed to him under date of the 21st
of May, 1846, a copy of which is herewith communicated. The character of
that letter made it proper, in my judgment, to change my determination
in regard to the command of the Army, and the Secretary of War, by my
direction, in his letter of the 25th of May, 1846, a copy of which is
also herewith communicated, for the reasons therein assigned, informed
General Scott that he was relieved from the command of the Army destined
to prosecute the war against Mexico, and that he would remain in the
discharge of his duties at Washington. The command of the Army on the
frontier of Mexico has since been assigned to General Taylor, with his
brevet rank of major-general recently conferred upon him.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _June 10, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I lay before the Senate a proposal, in the form of a convention,
presented to the Secretary of State on the 6th instant by the envoy
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Her Britannic Majesty, for
the adjustment of the Oregon question, together with a protocol of this
proceeding. I submit this proposal to the consideration of the Senate,
and request their advice as to the action which in their judgment it may
be proper to take in reference to it.

In the early periods of the Government the opinion and advice of the
Senate were often taken in advance upon important questions of our
foreign policy. General Washington repeatedly consulted the Senate and
asked their previous advice upon pending negotiations with foreign
powers, and the Senate in every instance responded to his call by giving
their advice, to which he always conformed his action. This practice,
though rarely resorted to in later times, was, in my judgment, eminently
wise, and may on occasions of great importance be properly revived. The
Senate are a branch of the treaty-making power, and by consulting them
in advance of his own action upon important measures of foreign policy
which may ultimately come before them for their consideration the
President secures harmony of action between that body and himself. The
Senate are, moreover, a branch of the war-making power, and it may be
eminently proper for the Executive to take the opinion and advice of
that body in advance upon any great question which may involve in its
decision the issue of peace or war. On the present occasion the
magnitude of the subject would induce me under any circumstances to
desire the previous advice of the Senate, and that desire is increased
by the recent debates and proceedings in Congress, which render it, in
my judgment, not only respectful to the Senate, but necessary and
proper, if not indispensable to insure harmonious action between that
body and the Executive. In conferring on the Executive the authority to
give the notice for the abrogation of the convention of 1827 the Senate
acted publicly so large a part that a decision on the proposal now made
by the British Government, without a definite knowledge of the views of
that body in reference to it, might render the question still more
complicated and difficult of adjustment. For these reasons I invite the
consideration of the Senate to the proposal of the British Government
for the settlement of the Oregon question, and ask their advice on the
subject.

My opinions and my action on the Oregon question were fully made known
to Congress in my annual message of the 2d of December last, and the
opinions therein expressed remain unchanged.

Should the Senate, by the constitutional majority required for the
ratification of treaties, advise the acceptance of this proposition, or
advise it with such modifications as they may upon full deliberation
deem proper, I shall conform my action to their advice. Should the
Senate, however, decline by such constitutional majority to give such
advice or to express an opinion on the subject, I shall consider it my
duty to reject the offer.

I also communicate herewith an extract from a dispatch of the Secretary
of State to the minister of the United States at London under date of
the 28th of April last, directing him, in accordance with the joint
resolution of Congress "concerning the Oregon Territory," to deliver the
notice to the British Government for the abrogation of the convention of
the 6th of August, 1827, and also a copy of the notice transmitted to
him for that purpose, together with extracts from a dispatch of that
minister to the Secretary of State bearing date on the 18th day of May
last.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _June 11, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States:_

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of War, which is
accompanied by documents relating to General Gaines's calls for
volunteers, received since the answer was made to the resolution of the
Senate of the 5th instant on that subject, and which I deem it proper to
submit for the further information of the Senate.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _June 12, 1846_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_

I transmit herewith for the information of Congress, official reports
received at the War Department from the officer commanding the Army on
the Mexican frontier, giving a detailed report of the operations of the
Army in that quarter, and particularly of the recent engagements[9]
between the American and Mexican forces.

JAMES K. POLK.

[Footnote 9: Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.]



WASHINGTON, _June 15, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States:_

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of War,
accompanied by a report of an expedition led by Lieutenant Abert on the
Upper Arkansas and through the country of the Camanche Indians in the
fall of the year 1845, as requested by the resolution of the Senate of
the 9th instant.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _June 16, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 3d instant, I
communicate herewith estimates prepared by the War and Navy Departments
of the probable expenses of conducting the existing war with Mexico
during the remainder of the present and the whole of the next fiscal
year. I communicate also a report of the Secretary of the Treasury,
based upon these estimates, containing recommendations of measures for
raising the additional means required. It is probable that the actual
expenses incurred during the period specified may fall considerably
below the estimates submitted, which are for a larger number of troops
than have yet been called to the field. As a precautionary measure,
however, against any possible deficiency, the estimates have been made
at the largest amount which any state of the service may require.

It will be perceived from the report of the Secretary of the Treasury
that a considerable portion of the additional amount required may be
raised by a modification of the rates of duty imposed by the existing
tariff laws. The high duties at present levied on many articles totally
exclude them from importation, whilst the quantity and amount of others
which are imported are greatly diminished. By reducing these duties to a
revenue standard, it is not doubted that a large amount of the articles
on which they are imposed would be imported, and a corresponding amount
of revenue be received at the Treasury from this source. By imposing
revenue duties on many articles now permitted to be imported free of
duty, and by regulating the rates within the revenue standard upon
others, a large additional revenue will be collected. Independently of
the high considerations which induced me in my annual message to
recommend a modification and reduction of the rates of duty imposed by
the act of 1842 as being not only proper in reference to a state of
peace, but just to all the great interests of the country, the necessity
of such modification and reduction as a war measure must now be
manifest. The country requires additional revenue for the prosecution of
the war. It may be obtained to a great extent by reducing the
prohibitory and highly protective duties imposed by the existing laws to
revenue rates, by imposing revenue duties on the free list, and by
modifying the rates of duty on other articles.

The modifications recommended by the Secretary of the Treasury in his
annual report in December last were adapted to a state of peace, and the
additional duties now suggested by him are with a view strictly to raise
revenue as a war measure. At the conclusion of the war these duties may
and should be abolished and reduced to lower rates.

It is not apprehended that the existing war with Mexico will materially
affect our trade and commerce with the rest of the world. On the
contrary, the reductions proposed would increase that trade and augment
the revenue derived from it.

When the country is in a state of war no contingency should be permitted
to occur in which there would be a deficiency in the Treasury for the
vigorous prosecution of the war, and to guard against such an event it
is recommended that contingent authority be given to issue Treasury
notes or to contract a loan for a limited amount, reimbursable at an
early day. Should no occasion arise to exercise the power, still it may
be important that the authority should exist should there be a necessity
for it.

It is not deemed necessary to resort to direct taxes or excises, the
measures recommended being deemed preferable as a means of increasing
the revenue. It is hoped that the war with Mexico, if vigorously
prosecuted, as is contemplated, may be of short duration. I shall be at
all times ready to conclude an honorable peace whenever the Mexican
Government shall manifest a like disposition. The existing war has been
rendered necessary by the acts of Mexico, and whenever that power shall
be ready to do us justice we shall be prepared to sheath the sword and
tender to her the olive branch of peace.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _June 16, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In accordance with the resolution of the Senate of the 12th instant,
that "the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, advised
to accept the proposal of the British Government accompanying his
message to the Senate dated 10th June, 1846, for a convention to settle
boundaries, etc., between the United States and Great Britain west of
the Rocky or Stony Mountains," a convention was concluded and signed on
the 15th instant by the Secretary of State, on the part of the United
States, and the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Her
Britannic Majesty, on the part of Great Britain.

This convention I now lay before the Senate, for their consideration
with a view to its ratification.

JAMES K. POLK.


WASHINGTON, _June 17, 1846_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy,
accompanied with the correspondence called for by the resolution of the
House of Representatives of the 4th of May last, between Commander G.J.
Pendergrast and the Governments on the Rio de la Plata, and the foreign
naval commanders and the United States minister at Buenos Ayres and the
Navy Department, whilst or since said Pendergrast was in command of the
United States ship _Boston_ in the Rio de la Plata, touching said
service.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _June 23, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith communicate to the Senate, for its consideration, a
convention concluded by the minister of the United States at Berlin with
the Duchy of Nassau, dated on the 27th May, 1846, for the mutual
abolition of the _droit d'aubaine_ and taxes on emigration between that
State of the Germanic Confederation and the United States of America,
and also a dispatch from the minister explanatory of the convention.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _June 24, 1846_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of War,
accompanied by a report from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in
reply to the resolution of the Senate of the 9th instant, requiring
information on the subject of the removal of the Chippewa Indians from
the mineral lands on Lake Superior.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _July 2, 1846_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, together with
copies of the correspondence in the year 1841 between the President of
the United States and the governor of New York relative to the
appearance of Joshua A. Spencer, esq., district attorney of the United
States for the western district of New York in the courts of the State
of New York as counsel for Alexander McLeod, called for by the
resolution of the House of Representatives of the 10th of April, 1846.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _July 7,  1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith communicate to the Senate, for its consideration, a treaty of
commerce and navigation between the United States and the Kingdom of
Hanover, concluded and signed at Hanover on the 10th ultimo by the
respective plenipotentiaries.

And I communicate at the same time extracts of a dispatch from the agent
of the United States explanatory of the treaty.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _July 9, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration and advice of the Senate with
regard to its ratification, a treaty concluded on the 5th and 17th days
of June last by T.P. Andrews, Thomas A. Harvey, and Gideon C. Matlock,
commissioners on the part of the United States, and the various bands of
the Pottawatomies, Chippewa, and Ottawa Indians, together with a report
of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and other papers explanatory of
the same.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _July 9, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury,
transmitting a report from the Commissioner of Public Lands in reply to
the resolution of the Senate of the 22d of June, 1846, calling for
information of the "progress which has been made in the surveys of the
mineral region upon Lake Superior, and within what time such surveys may
probably be prepared for the sales of the lands in that country." In
answer to that portion of the resolution which calls for the "views" of
the Executive "respecting the proper mode of disposing of said lands,
keeping in view the interest of the United States and the equitable
claims of individuals who, under the authority of the War Department,
have made improvements thereon or acquired rights of possession," I
recommend that these lands be brought into market and sold at such price
and under such regulations as Congress may prescribe, and that the right
of preemption be secured to such persons as have, under the authority of
the War Department, made improvements or acquired rights of possession
thereon. Should Congress deem it proper to authorize the sale of these
lands, it will be necessary to attach them to suitable land districts,
and that they be placed under the management and control of the General
Land Office, as other public lands.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _July 11, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_.

I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of War, together with
copies of the reports of the board of engineers heretofore employed in
an examination of the coast of Texas with a view to its defense and
improvement, called for by the resolution of the 29th June, 1846.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _July 15, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate, a treaty
concluded on the 15th day of May last with the Comanche and other tribes
or bands of Indians of Texas and the Southwestern prairies. I also
inclose a communication from the Secretary of War and a report from the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, with accompanying documents, which
contain full explanations of the considerations which led to the
negotiation of the treaty and the general objects sought to be
accomplished by it.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _July 21, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith transmit, in compliance with the request of the Senate in
their resolution of the 17th of June, 1846, a report of the Secretary of
State, together with a copy of all "the dispatches and instructions"
"relative to the Oregon treaty" "forwarded to our minister, Mr. McLane,"
"not heretofore communicated to the Senate," including a statement of
the propositions for the adjustment of the Oregon question previously
made and rejected by the respective Governments. This statement was
furnished to Mr. McLane before his departure from the country, and is
dated on the 12th July, 1845, the day on which the note was addressed by
the Secretary of State to Mr. Pakenham offering to settle the
controversy by the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, which was rejected
by that minister on the 29th July following.

The Senate will perceive that extracts from but two of Mr. McLane's
"dispatches and communications to this Government" are transmitted, and
these only because they were necessary to explain the answers given to
them by the Secretary of State.

These dispatches are both numerous and voluminous, and, from their
confidential character, their publication, it is believed, would be
highly prejudicial to the public interests.

Public considerations alone have induced me to withhold the dispatches
of Mr. McLane addressed to the Secretary of State. I concur with the
Secretary of State in the views presented in his report herewith
transmitted, against the publication of these dispatches.

Mr. McLane has performed his whole duty to his country, and I am not
only willing, but anxious, that every Senator who may desire it shall
have an opportunity of perusing these dispatches at the Department of
State. The Secretary of State has been instructed to afford every
facility for this purpose.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _July 21, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of State, in answer
to the resolution of the Senate of the 18th of June, 1846, calling for
certain information in relation to the Oregon Territory.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _August 4, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith communicate to the Senate the copy of a letter, under date of
the 27th ultimo, from the Secretary of State of the United States to the
minister of foreign relations of the Mexican Republic, again proposing
to open negotiations and conclude a treaty of peace which shall adjust
all the questions in dispute between the two Republics. Considering the
relative power of the two countries, the glorious events which have
already signalized our arms, and the distracted condition of Mexico,
I did not conceive that any point of national honor could exist which
ought to prevent me from making this overture. Equally anxious to
terminate by a peace honorable for both parties as I was originally to
avoid the existing war, I have deemed it my duty again to extend the
olive branch to Mexico. Should the Government of that Republic accept
the offer in the same friendly spirit by which it was dictated,
negotiations will speedily commence for the conclusion of a treaty.

The chief difficulty to be anticipated in the negotiation is the
adjustment of the boundary between the parties by a line which shall at
once be satisfactory to both, and such as neither will hereafter be
inclined to disturb. This is the best mode of securing perpetual peace
and good neighborhood between the two Republics. Should the Mexican
Government, in order to accomplish these objects, be willing to cede any
portion of their territory to the United States, we ought to pay them a
fair equivalent--a just and honorable peace, and not conquest, being our
purpose in the prosecution of the war.

Under these circumstances, and considering the exhausted and distracted
condition of the Mexican Republic, it might become necessary in order to
restore peace that I should have it in my power to advance a portion of
the consideration money for any cession of territory which may be made.
The Mexican Government might not be willing to wait for the payment of
the whole until the treaty could be ratified by the Senate and an
appropriation to carry it into effect be made by Congress, and the
necessity for such a delay might defeat the object altogether. I would
therefore suggest whether it might not be wise for Congress to
appropriate a sum such as they might consider adequate for this purpose,
to be paid, if necessary, immediately upon the ratification of the
treaty by Mexico. This disbursement would of course be accounted for at
the Treasury, not as secret-service money, but like other expenditures.

Two precedents for such a proceeding exist in our past history, during
the Administration of Mr. Jefferson, to which I would call your
attention. On the 26th February, 1803, Congress passed an act
appropriating $2,000,000 for the purpose of defraying any extraordinary
expenses which may be incurred in the intercourse "between the United
States and foreign nations," "to be applied under the direction of the
President of the United States, who shall cause an account of the
expenditure thereof to be laid before Congress as soon as may be;" and
on the 13th February, 1806, an appropriation was made of the same amount
and in the same terms. The object in the first case was to enable the
President to obtain the cession of Louisiana, and in the second that of
the Florida. In neither case was the money actually drawn from the
Treasury, and I should hope that the result might be similar in this
respect on the present occasion, though the appropriation is deemed
expedient as a precautionary measure.

I refer the whole subject to the Senate in executive session. If they
should concur in opinion with me, then I recommend the passage of a law
appropriating such a sum as Congress may deem adequate, to be used by
the Executive, if necessary, for the purpose which I have indicated.

In the two cases to which I have referred the special purpose of the
appropriation did not appear on the face of the law, as this might have
defeated the object; neither, for the same reason, in my opinion, ought
it now to be stated.

I also communicate to the Senate the copy of a letter from the Secretary
of State to Commodore Conner of the 29th ultimo, which was transmitted
to him on the day it bears date.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _August 5, 1846._

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate herewith a copy of a convention for the settlement and
adjustment of the Oregon question, which was concluded in this city on
the 15th day of June last between the United States and Her Britannic
Majesty. This convention has since been duly ratified by the respective
parties, and the ratifications were exchanged at London on the 17th day
of July, 1846.

It now becomes important that provision should be made by law at the
earliest practicable period for the organization of a Territorial
government in Oregon.

It is also deemed proper that our laws regulating trade and intercourse
with the Indian tribes east of the Rocky Mountains should be extended to
such tribes within our territory as dwell beyond them, and that a
suitable number of Indian agents should be appointed for the purpose of
carrying these laws into execution.

It is likewise important that mail facilities, so indispensable for the
diffusion of information and for binding together the different portions
of our extended Confederacy, should be afforded to our citizens west of
the Rocky Mountains.

There is another subject to which I desire to call your special
attention. It is of great importance to our country generally, and
especially to our navigating and whaling interests, that the Pacific
Coast, and, indeed, the whole of our territory west of the Rocky
Mountains, should speedily be filled up by a hardy and patriotic
population. Emigrants to that territory have many difficulties to
encounter and privations to endure in their long and perilous journey,
and by the time they reach their place of destination their pecuniary
means are generally much reduced, if not altogether exhausted. Under
these circumstances it is deemed but an act of justice that these
emigrants, whilst most effectually advancing the interests and policy of
the Government, should be aided by liberal grants of land. I would
therefore recommend that such grants be made to actual settlers upon the
terms and under the restrictions and limitations which Congress may
think advisable.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _August 7, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with the
accompanying documents, in answer to the resolution of the Senate of
August 6, 1846, calling for the report of the board of naval officers,
recently in session in this city, including the orders under which it
was convened and the evidence which may have been laid before it.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _August 7, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration and constitutional action of
the Senate, articles of a treaty which has been concluded by the
commissioners appointed for the purpose with the different parties into
which the Cherokee tribe of Indians has been divided, through their
delegates now in Washington. The same commissioners had previously been
appointed to investigate the subject of the difficulties which have for
years existed among the Cherokees, and which have kept them in a state
of constant excitement and almost entirely interrupted all progress on
their part in civilization and improvement in agriculture and the
mechanic arts, and have led to many unfortunate acts of domestic strife,
against which the Government is bound by the treaty of 1835 to protect
them. Their unfortunate internal dissensions had attracted the notice
and excited the sympathies of the whole country, and it became evident
that if something was not done to heal them they would terminate in a
sanguinary war, in which other tribes of Indians might become involved
and the lives and property of our own citizens on the frontier
endangered. I recommended in my message to Congress on the 13th of April
last such measures as I then thought it expedient should be adopted to
restore peace and good order among the Cherokees, one of which was a
division of the country which they occupy and separation of the tribe.
This recommendation was made under the belief that the different
factions could not be reconciled and live together in harmony--a belief
based in a great degree upon the representations of the delegates of the
two divisions of the tribe. Since then, however, there appears to have
been a change of opinion on this subject on the part of these divisions
of the tribe, and on representations being made to me that by the
appointment of commissioners to hear and investigate the causes of
grievance of the parties against each other and to examine into their
claims against the Government it would probably be found that an
arrangement could be made which would once more harmonize the tribe and
adjust in a satisfactory manner their claims upon and relations with the
United States, I did not hesitate to appoint three persons for the
purpose. The commissioners entered into an able and laborious
investigation, and on their making known to me the probability of their
being able to conclude a new treaty with the delegates of all the
divisions of the tribe, who were fully empowered to make any new
arrangement which would heal all dissensions among the Cherokees and
restore them to their ancient condition of peace and good brotherhood,
I authorized and appointed them to enter into negotiations with these
delegates for the accomplishment of that object. The treaty now
transmitted is the result of their labors, and it is hoped that it will
meet the approbation of Congress, and, if carried out in good faith by
all parties to it, it is believed it will effect the great and desirable
ends had in view.

Accompanying the treaty is the report of the commissioners, and also a
communication to them from John Ross and others, who represent what is
termed the government party of the Cherokees, and which is transmitted
at their request for the consideration of the Senate.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _August 8, 1846_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I invite your attention to the propriety of making an appropriation to
provide for any expenditure which it may be necessary to make in advance
for the purpose of settling all our difficulties with the Mexican
Republic. It is my sincere desire to terminate, as it was originally to
avoid, the existing war with Mexico by a peace just and honorable to
both parties. It is probable that the chief obstacle to be surmounted in
accomplishing this desirable object will be the adjustment of a boundary
between the two Republics which shall prove satisfactory and convenient
to both, and such as neither will hereafter be inclined to disturb. In
the adjustment of this boundary we ought to pay a fair equivalent for
any concessions which may be made by Mexico.

Under these circumstances, and considering the other complicated
questions to be settled by negotiation with the Mexican Republic, I deem
it important that a sum of money should be placed under the control of
the Executive to be advanced, if need be, to the Government of that
Republic immediately after their ratification of a treaty. It might be
inconvenient for the Mexican Government to wait for the whole sum the
payment of which may be stipulated by this treaty until it could be
ratified by our Senate and an appropriation to carry it into effect made
by Congress. Indeed, the necessity for this delay might defeat the
object altogether. The disbursement of this money would of course be
accounted for, not as secret-service money, but like other expenditures.

Two precedents for such a proceeding exist in our past history, during
the Administration of Mr. Jefferson, to which I would call your
attention: On the 26th February, 1803, an act was passed appropriating
$2,000,000 "for the purpose of defraying any extraordinary expenses
which may be incurred in the intercourse between the United States and
foreign nations," "to be applied under the direction of the President of
the United States, who shall cause an account of the expenditure thereof
to be laid before Congress as soon as may be;" and on the 13th of
February, 1806, an appropriation was made of the same amount and in the
same terms. In neither case was the money actually drawn from the
Treasury, and I should hope that the result in this respect might be
similar on the present occasion, although the appropriation may prove
to be indispensable in accomplishing the object. I would therefore
recommend the passage of a law appropriating $2,000,000 to be placed at
the disposal of the Executive for the purpose which I have indicated.

In order to prevent all misapprehension, it is my duty to state that,
anxious as I am to terminate the existing war with the least possible
delay, it will continue to be prosecuted with the utmost vigor until
a treaty of peace shall be signed by the parties and ratified by the
Mexican Republic.

JAMES K. POLK.




VETO MESSAGES.


WASHINGTON, _August 3, 1846_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I have considered the bill entitled "An act making appropriations for
the improvement of certain harbors and rivers" with the care which
its importance demands, and now return the same to the House of
Representatives, in which it originated, with my objections to its
becoming a law. The bill proposes to appropriate $1,378,450 to be
applied to more than forty distinct and separate objects of improvement.
On examining its provisions and the variety of objects of improvement
which it embraces, many of them of a local character, it is difficult to
conceive, if it shall be sanctioned and become a law, what practical
constitutional restraint can hereafter be imposed upon the most extended
system of internal improvements by the Federal Government in all parts
of the Union. The Constitution has not, in my judgment, conferred upon
the Federal Government the power to construct works of internal
improvement within the States, or to appropriate money from the Treasury
for that purpose. That this bill assumes for the Federal Government the
right to exercise this power can not, I think, be doubted. The approved
course of the Government and the deliberately expressed judgment of the
people have denied the existence of such a power under the Constitution.
Several of my predecessors have denied its existence in the most solemn
forms.

The general proposition that the Federal Government does not possess
this power is so well settled and has for a considerable period been so
generally acquiesced in that it is not deemed necessary to reiterate the
arguments by which it is sustained. Nor do I deem it necessary, after
the full and elaborate discussions which have taken place before the
country on this subject, to do more than to state the general
considerations which have satisfied me of the unconstitutionality and
inexpediency of the exercise of such a power.

It is not questioned that the Federal Government is one of limited
powers. Its powers are such, and such only, as are expressly granted in
the Constitution or are properly incident to the expressly granted
powers and necessary to their execution. In determining whether a given
power has been granted a sound rule of construction has been laid down
by Mr. Madison. That rule is that--

  Whenever a question arises concerning a particular power, the first
  question is whether the power be expressed in the Constitution. If it
  be, the question is decided. If it be not expressed, the next inquiry
  must be whether it is properly an incident to an expressed power and
  necessary to its execution. If it be, it may be exercised by Congress.
  If it be not, Congress can not exercise it.


It is not pretended that there is any express grant in the Constitution
conferring on Congress the power in question. Is it, then, an incidental
power necessary and proper for the execution of any of the granted
powers? All the granted powers, it is confidently affirmed, may be
effectually executed without the aid of such an incident. "A power, to
be incidental, must not be exercised for ends which make it a principal
or substantive power, independent of the principal power to which it is
an incident." It is not enough that it may be regarded by Congress as
_convenient_ or that its exercise would advance the public weal. It must
be _necessary and proper_ to the execution of the principal expressed
power to which it is an incident, and without which such principal power
can not be carried into effect. The whole frame of the Federal
Constitution proves that the Government which it creates was intended
to be one of limited and specified powers. A construction of the
Constitution so broad as that by which the power in question is defended
tends imperceptibly to a consolidation of power in a Government intended
by its framers to be thus limited in its authority. "The obvious
tendency and inevitable result of a consolidation of the States into one
sovereignty would be to transform the republican system of the United
States into a monarchy." To guard against the assumption of all powers
which encroach upon the reserved sovereignty of the States, and which
consequently tend to consolidation, is the duty of all the true friends
of our political system. That the power in question is not properly an
incident to any of the granted powers I am fully satisfied; but if there
were doubts on this subject, experience has demonstrated the wisdom of
the rule that all the functionaries of the Federal Government should
abstain from the exercise of all questionable or doubtful powers. If an
enlargement of the powers of the Federal Government should be deemed
proper, it is safer and wiser to appeal to the States and the people
in the mode prescribed by the Constitution for the grant desired than
to assume its exercise without an amendment of the Constitution.
If Congress does not possess the general power to construct works of
internal improvement within the States, or to appropriate money from the
Treasury for that purpose, what is there to exempt some, at least, of
the objects of appropriation included in this bill from the operation of
the general rule? This bill assumes the existence of the power, and in
some of its provisions asserts the principle that Congress may exercise
it as fully as though the appropriations which it proposes were
applicable to the construction of roads and canals. If there be a
distinction in principle, it is not perceived, and should be clearly
defined. Some of the objects of appropriation contained in this bill are
local in their character, and lie within the limits of a single State;
and though in the language of the bill they are called _harbors_, they
are not connected with foreign commerce, nor are they places of refuge
or shelter for our Navy or commercial marine on the ocean or lake
shores. To call the mouth of a creek or a shallow inlet on our coast
a harbor can not confer the authority to expend the public money in
its improvement. Congress have exercised the power coeval with the
Constitution of establishing light-houses, beacons, buoys, and piers on
our ocean and lake shores for the purpose of rendering navigation safe
and easy and of affording protection and shelter for our Navy and
other shipping. These are safeguards placed in existing channels of
navigation. After the long acquiescence of the Government through all
preceding Administrations, I am not disposed to question or disturb the
authority to make appropriations for such purposes.

When we advance a step beyond this point, and, in addition to the
establishment and support, by appropriations from the Treasury, of
lighthouses, beacons, buoys, piers, and other improvements within the
bays, inlets, and harbors on our ocean and lake coasts immediately
connected with our foreign commerce, attempt to make improvements in the
interior at points unconnected with foreign commerce, and where they are
not needed for the protection and security of our Navy and commercial
marine, the difficulty arises in drawing a line beyond which
appropriations may not be made by the Federal Government.

One of my predecessors, who saw the evil consequences of the system
proposed to be revived by this bill, attempted to define this line by
declaring that "expenditures of this character" should be "confined
_below_ the ports of entry or delivery established by law." Acting on
this restriction, he withheld his sanction from a bill which had passed
Congress "to improve the navigation of the Wabash River." He was at the
same time "sensible that this restriction was not as satisfactory as
could be desired, and that much embarrassment may be caused to the
executive department in its execution, by appropriations for remote and
not well-understood objects." This restriction, it was soon found, was
subject to be evaded and rendered comparatively useless in checking the
system of improvements which it was designed to arrest, in consequence
of the facility with which ports of entry and delivery may be
established by law upon the upper waters, and in some instances almost
at the head springs of some of the most unimportant of our rivers, and
at points on our coast possessing no commercial importance and not used
as places of refuge and safety by our Navy and other shipping. Many of
the ports of entry and delivery now authorized by law, so far as foreign
commerce is concerned, exist only in the statute books. No entry of
foreign goods is ever made and no duties are ever collected at them. No
exports of American products bound for foreign countries ever clear from
them. To assume that their existence in the statute book as ports of
entry or delivery warrants expenditures on the waters leading to them,
which would be otherwise unauthorized, would be to assert the
proposition that the lawmaking power may ingraft new provisions on the
Constitution. If the restriction is a sound one, it can only apply to
the bays, inlets, and rivers connected with or leading to such, ports as
actually have foreign commerce--ports at which foreign importations
arrive in bulk, paying the duties charged by law, and from which exports
are made to foreign countries. It will be found by applying the
restriction thus understood to the bill under consideration that it
contains appropriations for more than twenty objects of internal
improvement, called in the bill _harbors_, at places which have never
been declared by law either ports of entry or delivery, and at which,
as appears from the records of the Treasury, there has never been an
arrival of foreign merchandise, and from which there has never been a
vessel cleared for a foreign country. It will be found that many of
these works are new, and at places for the improvement of which
appropriations are now for the first time proposed. It will be found
also that the bill contains appropriations for rivers upon which there
not only exists no foreign commerce, but upon which there has not been
established even a paper port of entry, and for the mouths of creeks,
denominated harbors, which if improved can benefit only the particular
neighborhood in which they are situated. It will be found, too, to
contain appropriations the expenditure of which will only have the
effect of improving one place at the expense of the local natural
advantages of another in its vicinity. Should this bill become a law,
the same _principle_ which authorizes the appropriations which it
proposes to make would also authorize similar appropriations for the
improvement of all the other bays, inlets, and creeks, which may with
equal propriety be called harbors, and of all the rivers, important or
unimportant, in every part of the Union. To sanction the bill with such
provisions would be to concede the _principle_ that the Federal
Government possesses the power to expend the public money in a general
system of internal improvements, limited in its extent only by the
ever-varying discretion of successive Congresses and successive
Executives. It would be to efface and remove the limitations and
restrictions of power which the Constitution has wisely provided to
limit the authority and action of the Federal Government to a few
well-defined and specified objects. Besides these objections, the
practical evils which must flow from the exercise on the part of the
Federal Government of the powers asserted in this bill impress my mind
with a grave sense of my duty to avert them from the country as far as
my constitutional action may enable me to do so.

It not only leads to a consolidation of power in the Federal Government
at the expense of the rightful authority of the States, but its
inevitable tendency is to embrace objects for the expenditure of the
public money which are local in their character, benefiting but few at
the expense of the common Treasury of the whole. It will engender
sectional feelings and prejudices calculated to disturb the harmony of
the Union. It will destroy the harmony which should prevail in our
legislative councils.

It will produce combinations of local and sectional interests, strong
enough when united to carry propositions for appropriations of public
money which could not of themselves, and standing alone, succeed, and
can not fail to lead to wasteful and extravagant expenditures.

It must produce a disreputable scramble for the public money, by the
conflict which is inseparable from such a system between local and
individual interests and the general interest of the whole. It is unjust
to those States which have with their own means constructed their own
internal improvements to make from the common Treasury appropriations
for similar improvements in other States.

In its operation it will be oppressive and unjust toward those States
whose representatives and people either deny or doubt the existence of
the power or think its exercise inexpedient, and who, while they equally
contribute to the Treasury, can not consistently with their opinions
engage in a general competition for a share of the public money. Thus
a large portion of the Union, in numbers and in geographical extent,
contributing its equal proportion of taxes to the support of the
Government, would under the operation of such a system be compelled to
see the national treasure--the common stock of all--unequally disbursed,
and often improvidently wasted for the advantage of small sections,
instead of being applied to the great national purposes in which all
have a common interest, and for which alone the power to collect the
revenue was given. Should the system of internal improvements proposed
prevail, all these evils will multiply and increase with the increase of
the number of the States and the extension of the geographical limits of
the settled portions of our country. With the increase of our numbers
and the extension of our settlements the local objects demanding
appropriations of the public money for their improvement will be
proportionately increased. In each case the expenditure of the public
money would confer benefits, direct or indirect, only on a section,
while these sections would become daily less in comparison with the
whole.

The wisdom of the framers of the Constitution in withholding power over
such objects from the Federal Government and leaving them to the local
governments of the States becomes more and more manifest with every
year's experience of the operations of our system.

In a country of limited extent, with but few such objects of expenditure
(if the form of government permitted it), a common treasury might be
used for their improvement with much less inequality and injustice than
in one of the vast extent which ours now presents in population and
territory. The treasure of the world would hardly be equal to the
improvement of every bay, inlet, creek, and river in our country which
might be supposed to promote the agricultural, manufacturing, or
commercial interests of a neighborhood.

The Federal Constitution was wisely adapted in its provisions to any
expansion of our limits and population, and with the advance of the
confederacy of the States in the career of national greatness it becomes
the more apparent that the harmony of the Union and the equal justice to
which all its parts are entitled require that the Federal Government
should confine its action within the limits prescribed by the
Constitution to its power and authority. Some of the provisions of this
bill are not subject to the objections stated, and did they stand alone
I should not feel it to be my duty to withhold my approval.

If no constitutional objections existed to the bill, there are others of
a serious nature which deserve some consideration. It appropriates
between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000 for objects which are of no pressing
necessity, and this is proposed at a time when the country is engaged in
a foreign war, and when Congress at its present session has authorized a
loan or the issue of Treasury notes to defray the expenses of the war,
to be resorted to if the "exigencies of the Government shall require
it." It would seem to be the dictate of wisdom under such circumstances
to husband our means, and not to waste them on comparatively unimportant
objects, so that we may reduce the loan or issue of Treasury notes which
may become necessary to the smallest practicable sum. It would seem to
be wise, too, to abstain from such expenditures with a view to avoid the
accumulation of a large public debt, the existence of which would be
opposed to the interests of our people as well as to the genius of our
free institutions.

Should this bill become a law, the principle which it establishes will
inevitably lead to large and annually increasing appropriations and
drains upon the Treasury, for it is not to be doubted that numerous
other localities not embraced in its provisions, but quite as much
entitled to the favor of the Government as those which are embraced,
will demand, through their representatives in Congress, to be placed on
an equal footing with them. With such an increase of expenditure must
necessarily follow either an increased public debt or increased burdens
upon the people by taxation to supply the Treasury with the means of
meeting the accumulated demands upon it.

With profound respect for the opinions of Congress, and ever anxious, as
far as I can consistently with my responsibility to our common
constituents, to cooperate with them in the discharge of our respective
duties, it is with unfeigned regret that I find myself constrained, for
the reasons which I have assigned, to withhold my approval from this
bill.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _August 8, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I return to the Senate, in which it originated, the bill entitled "An
act to provide for the ascertainment and satisfaction of claims of
American citizens for spoliations committed by the French prior to the
31st day of July, 1801," which was presented to me on the 6th instant,
with my objections to its becoming a law.

In attempting to give to the bill the careful examination it requires,
difficulties presented themselves in the outset from the remoteness of
the period to which the claims belong, the complicated nature of the
transactions in which they originated, and the protracted negotiations
to which they led between France and the United States.

The short time intervening between the passage of the bill by Congress
and the approaching close of their session, as well as the pressure of
other official duties, have not permitted me to extend my examination of
the subject into its minute details; but in the consideration which I
have been able to give to it I find objections of a grave character to
its provisions.

For the satisfaction of the claims provided for by the bill it is
proposed to appropriate $5,000,000. I can perceive no legal or equitable
ground upon which this large appropriation can rest. A portion of the
claims have been more than half a century before the Government in its
executive or legislative departments, and all of them had their origin
in events which occurred prior to the year 1800. Since 1802 they have
been from time to time before Congress. No greater necessity or
propriety exists for providing for these claims at this time than has
existed for near half a century, during all which period this
questionable measure has never until now received the favorable
consideration of Congress. It is scarcely probable, if the claim had
been regarded as obligatory upon the Government or constituting an
equitable demand upon the Treasury, that those who were contemporaneous
with the events which gave rise to it should not long since have done
justice to the claimants. The Treasury has often been in a condition to
enable the Government to do so without inconvenience if these claims had
been considered just. Mr. Jefferson, who was fully cognizant of the
early dissensions between the Governments of the United States and
France, out of which the claims arose, in his annual message in 1808
adverted to the large surplus then in the Treasury and its "probable
accumulation," and inquired whether it should "lie unproductive in the
public vaults;" and yet these claims, though then before Congress, were
not recognized or paid. Since that time the public debt of the
Revolution and of the War of 1812 has been extinguished, and at several
periods since the Treasury has been in possession of large surpluses
over the demands upon it. In 1836 the surplus amounted to many millions
of dollars, and, for want of proper objects to which to apply it, it was
directed by Congress to be deposited with the States.

During this extended course of time, embracing periods eminently
favorable for satisfying all just demands upon the Government, the
claims embraced in this bill met with no favor in Congress beyond
reports of committees in one or the other branch. These circumstances
alone are calculated to raise strong doubts in respect to these claims,
more especially as all the information necessary to a correct judgment
concerning them has been long before the public. These doubts are
strengthened in my mind by the examination I have been enabled to give
to the transactions in which they originated.

The bill assumes that the United States have become liable in these
ancient transactions to make reparation to the claimants for injuries
committed by France. Nothing was obtained for the claimants by
negotiation; and the bill assumes that the Government has become
responsible to them for the aggressions of France. I have not been able
to satisfy myself of the correctness of this assumption, or that the
Government has become in any way responsible for these claims. The
limited time allotted me before your adjournment precludes the
possibility of reiterating the facts and arguments by which in preceding
Congresses these claims have been successfully resisted.

The present is a period peculiarly unfavorable for the satisfaction of
claims of so large an amount and, to say the least of them, of so
doubtful a character. There is no surplus in the Treasury. A public debt
of several millions of dollars has been created within the last few
years.

We are engaged in a foreign war, uncertain in its duration and involving
heavy expenditures, to prosecute which Congress has at its present
session authorized a further loan; so that in effect the Government,
should this bill become a law, borrows money and increases the public
debt to pay these claims.

It is true that by the provisions of the bill payment is directed to be
made in land scrip instead of money, but the effect upon the Treasury
will be the same. The public lands constitute one of the sources of
public revenue, and if these claims be paid in land scrip it will from
the date of its issue to a great extent cut off from the Treasury the
annual income from the sales of the public lands, because payments for
lands sold by the Government may be expected to be made in scrip until
it is all redeemed. If these claims be just, they ought to be paid in
money, and not in anything less valuable. The bill provides that they
shall be paid in land scrip, whereby they are made in effect to be a
mortgage upon the public lands in the new States; a mortgage, too, held
in great part, if not wholly, by nonresidents of the States in which the
lands lie, who may secure these lands to the amount of several millions
of acres, and then demand for them exorbitant prices from the citizens
of the States who may desire to purchase them for settlement, or they
may keep them out of the market, and thus retard the prosperity and
growth of the States in which they are situated. Why this unusual mode
of satisfying demands on the Treasury has been resorted to does not
appear. It is not consistent with a sound public policy. If it be done
in this case, it may be done in all others. It would form a precedent
for the satisfaction of all other stale and questionable claims in the
same manner, and would undoubtedly be resorted to by all claimants who
after successive trials shall fail to have their claims recognized and
paid in money by Congress.

This bill proposes to appropriate $5,000,000, to be paid in land scrip,
and provides that "no claim or memorial shall be received by the
commissioners" authorized by the act "unless accompanied by a release or
discharge of the United States from all other and further compensation"
than the claimant "may be entitled to receive under the provisions of
this act." These claims are estimated to amount to a much larger sum
than $5,000,000, and yet the claimant is required to release to the
Government all other compensation, and to accept his share of a fund
which is known to be inadequate. If the claims be well founded, it would
be unjust to the claimants to repudiate any portion of them, and the
payment of the remaining sum could not be hereafter resisted. This bill
proposes to pay these claims not in the currency known to the
Constitution, and not to their full amount.

Passed, as this bill has been, near the close of the session, and when
many measures of importance necessarily claim the attention of Congress,
and possibly without that full and deliberate consideration which the
large sum it appropriates and the existing condition of the Treasury and
of the country demand, I deem it to be my duty to withhold my approval,
that it may hereafter undergo the revision of Congress. I have come to
this conclusion with regret. In interposing my objections to its
becoming a law I am fully sensible that it should be an extreme case
which would make it the duty of the Executive to withhold his approval
of any bill passed by Congress upon the ground of its inexpediency
alone. Such a case I consider this to be.

JAMES K. POLK.




PROCLAMATIONS.


[From Statutes at Large (Little & Brown), Vol. IX, p. 999.]


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 3d of
March, 1845, entitled "An act allowing drawback upon foreign merchandise
exported in the original packages to Chihuahua and Santa Fe, in Mexico,
and to the British North American Provinces adjoining the United States,"
certain privileges are extended in reference to drawback to ports
therein specially enumerated in the seventh section of said act, which
also provides "that such other ports situated on the frontiers of the
United States adjoining the British North American Provinces as may
hereafter be found expedient may have extended to them the like
privileges on the recommendation of the Secretary of the Treasury and
proclamation duly made by the President of the United States specially
designating the ports to which the aforesaid privileges are to be
extended;" and

Whereas the Secretary of the Treasury has duly recommended to me the
extension of the privileges of the law aforesaid to the port of
Lewiston, in the collection district of Niagara, in the State of New
York:

Now, therefore, I, James K. Polk, President of the United States of
America, do hereby declare and proclaim that the port of Lewiston, in
the collection district of Niagara, in the State of New York, is and
shall be entitled to all the privileges extended to the other ports
enumerated in the seventh section of the act aforesaid from and after
the date of this proclamation.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 17th day of January, A.D. 1846, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the seventieth.

JAMES K. POLK.

By the President:
  JAMES BUCHANAN,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the Congress of the United States, by virtue of the
constitutional authority vested in them, have declared by their act
bearing date this day that "by the act of the Republic of Mexico a state
of war exists between that Government and the United States:"

Now, therefore, I, James K. Polk, President of the United States of
America, do hereby proclaim the same to all whom it may concern; and I
do specially enjoin on all persons holding offices, civil or military,
under the authority of the United States that they be vigilant and
zealous in discharging the duties respectively incident thereto; and I
do, moreover, exhort all the good people of the United States, as they
love their country, as they feel the wrongs which have forced on them
the last resort of injured nations, and as they consult the best means,
under the blessing of Divine Providence, of abridging its calamities,
that they exert themselves in preserving order, in promoting concord,
in maintaining the authority and the efficacy of the laws, and in
supporting and invigorating all the measures which may be adopted by the
constituted authorities for obtaining a speedy, a just, and an honorable
peace.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed to these presents.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, the 13th day of May, A.D. 1846, of the
Independence of the United States the seventieth.

JAMES K. POLK.

By the President:
  JAMES BUCHANAN,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by the act of Congress approved July 9, 1846, entitled "An act
to retrocede the county of Alexandria, in the District of Columbia, to
the State of Virginia," it is enacted that, with the assent of the
people of the county and town of Alexandria, to be ascertained in the
manner therein prescribed, all that portion of the District of Columbia
ceded to the United States by the State of Virginia and all the rights
and jurisdiction therewith ceded over the same shall be ceded and
forever relinquished to the State of Virginia in full and absolute right
and jurisdiction, as well of soil as of persons residing or to reside
thereon; and

Whereas it is further provided that the said act "shall not be in force
until after the assent of the people of the county and town of
Alexandria shall be given to it in the mode therein provided," and, if a
majority of the votes should be in favor of accepting the provisions of
the said act, it shall be the duty of the President to make proclamation
of the fact; and

Whereas on the 17th day of August, 1846, after the close of the late
session of the Congress of the United States, I duly appointed five
citizens of the county or town of Alexandria, being freeholders within
the same, as commissioners, who, being duly sworn to perform the duties
imposed on them as prescribed in the said act, did proceed within ten
days after they were notified to fix upon the 1st and 2d days of
September, 1846, as the time, the court-house of the county of
Alexandria as the place, and _viva voce_ as the manner of voting, and
gave due notice of the same; and at the time and at the place, in
conformity with the said notice, the said commissioners presiding and
deciding all questions arising in relation to the right of voting under
the said act, the votes of the citizens qualified to vote were taken
_viva voce_ and recorded in poll books duly kept, and on the 3d day of
September instant, after the said polls were closed, the said
commissioners did make out and on the next day did transmit to me a
statement of the polls so held, upon oath and under their seals; and of
the votes so cast and polled there were in favor of accepting the
provisions of the said act 763 votes, and against accepting the same
222, showing a majority of 541 votes for the acceptance of the same:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, James K. Polk, President of the
United States of America, in fulfillment of the duty imposed upon me by
the said act of Congress, do hereby make proclamation of the "result" of
said "poll" as above stated, and do call upon all and singular the
persons whom it doth or may concern to take notice that the act
aforesaid "is in full force and effect."

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 7th day of September, A.D. 1846,
and of the Independence of the United States the seventy-first.

JAMES K. POLK.

By the President:
  N.P. TRIST,
    _Acting Secretary of State_.




SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.


WASHINGTON, _December 8, 1846_.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:_

In resuming your labors in the service of the people it is a subject of
congratulation that there has been no period in our past history when
all the elements of national prosperity have been so fully developed.
Since your last session no afflicting dispensation has visited our
country. General good health has prevailed, abundance has crowned the
toil of the husbandman, and labor in all its branches is receiving
an ample reward, while education, science, and the arts are rapidly
enlarging the means of social happiness. The progress of our country
in her career of greatness, not only in the vast extension of our
territorial limits and the rapid increase of our population, but in
resources and wealth and in the happy condition of our people, is
without an example in the history of nations.

As the wisdom, strength, and beneficence of our free institutions are
unfolded, every day adds fresh motives to contentment and fresh
incentives to patriotism.

Our devout and sincere acknowledgments are due to the gracious Giver of
All Good for the numberless blessings which our beloved country enjoys.

It is a source of high satisfaction to know that the relations of the
United States with all other nations, with a single exception, are of
the most amicable character. Sincerely attached to the policy of peace
early adopted and steadily pursued by this Government, I have anxiously
desired to cultivate and cherish friendship and commerce with every
foreign power. The spirit and habits of the American people are
favorable to the maintenance of such international harmony. In adhering
to this wise policy, a preliminary and paramount duty obviously consists
in the protection of our national interests from encroachment or
sacrifice and our national honor from reproach. These must be maintained
at any hazard. They admit of no compromise or neglect, and must be
scrupulously and constantly guarded. In their vigilant vindication
collision and conflict with foreign powers may sometimes become
unavoidable. Such has been our scrupulous adherence to the dictates of
justice in all our foreign intercourse that, though steadily and rapidly
advancing in prosperity and power, we have given no just cause of
complaint to any nation and have enjoyed the blessings of peace for more
than thirty years. From a policy so sacred to humanity and so salutary
in its effects upon our political system we should never be induced
voluntarily to depart.

The existing war with Mexico was neither desired nor provoked by the
United States. On the contrary, all honorable means were resorted to to
avert it. After years of endurance of aggravated and unredressed wrongs
on our part, Mexico, in violation of solemn treaty stipulations and of
every principle of justice recognized by civilized nations, commenced
hostilities, and thus by her own act forced the war upon us. Long before
the advance of our Army to the left bank of the Rio Grande we had ample
cause of war against Mexico, and had the United States resorted to this
extremity we might have appealed to the whole civilized world for the
justice of our cause. I deem it to be my duty to present to you on the
present occasion a condensed review of the injuries we had sustained,
of the causes which led to the war, and of its progress since its
commencement. This is rendered the more necessary because of the
misapprehensions which have to some extent prevailed as to its origin
and true character. The war has been represented as unjust and
unnecessary and as one of aggression on our part upon a weak and injured
enemy. Such erroneous views, though entertained by but few, have been
widely and extensively circulated, not only at home, but have been
spread throughout Mexico and the whole world. A more effectual means
could not have been devised to encourage the enemy and protract the war
than to advocate and adhere to their cause, and thus give them "aid and
comfort." It is a source of national pride and exultation that the great
body of our people have thrown no such obstacles in the way of the
Government in prosecuting the war successfully, but have shown
themselves to be eminently patriotic and ready to vindicate their
country's honor and interests at any sacrifice. The alacrity and
promptness with which our volunteer forces rushed to the field on their
country's call prove not only their patriotism, but their deep
conviction that our cause is just.

The wrongs which we have suffered from Mexico almost ever since she
became an independent power and the patient endurance with which we have
borne them are without a parallel in the history of modern civilized
nations. There is reason to believe that if these wrongs had been
resented and resisted in the first instance the present war might have
been avoided. One outrage, however, permitted to pass with impunity
almost necessarily encouraged the perpetration of another, until at last
Mexico seemed to attribute to weakness and indecision on our part a
forbearance which was the offspring of magnanimity and of a sincere
desire to preserve friendly relations with a sister republic.

Scarcely had Mexico achieved her independence, which the United States
were the first among the nations to acknowledge, when she commenced the
system of insult and spoliation which she has ever since pursued. Our
citizens engaged in lawful commerce were imprisoned, their vessels
seized, and our flag insulted in her ports. If money was wanted, the
lawless seizure and confiscation of our merchant vessels and their
cargoes was a ready resource, and if to accomplish their purposes it
became necessary to imprison the owners, captains, and crews, it was
done. Rulers superseded rulers in Mexico in rapid succession, but still
there was no change in this system of depredation. The Government of the
United States made repeated reclamations on behalf of its citizens, but
these were answered by the perpetration of new outrages. Promises of
redress made by Mexico in the most solemn forms were postponed or
evaded. The files and records of the Department of State contain
conclusive proofs of numerous lawless acts perpetrated upon the property
and persons of our citizens by Mexico, and of wanton insults to our
national flag. The interposition of our Government to obtain redress was
again and again invoked under circumstances which no nation ought to
disregard. It was hoped that these outrages would cease and that Mexico
would be restrained by the laws which regulate the conduct of civilized
nations in their intercourse with each other after the treaty of amity,
commerce, and navigation of the 5th of April, 1831, was concluded
between the two Republics; but this hope soon proved to be vain. The
course of seizure and confiscation of the property of our citizens, the
violation of their persons, and the insults to our flag pursued by
Mexico previous to that time were scarcely suspended for even a brief
period, although the treaty so clearly defines the rights and duties of
the respective parties that it is impossible to misunderstand or mistake
them. In less than seven years after the conclusion of that treaty our
grievances had become so intolerable that in the opinion of President
Jackson they should no longer be endured. In his message to Congress in
February, 1837, he presented them to the consideration of that body, and
declared that--

  The length of time since some of the injuries have been committed, the
  repeated and unavailing applications for redress, the wanton character
  of some of the outrages upon the property and persons of our citizens,
  upon the officers and flag of the United States, independent of recent
  insults to this Government and people by the late extraordinary Mexican
  minister, would justify in the eyes of all nations immediate war.


In a spirit of kindness and forbearance, however, he recommended
reprisals as a milder mode of redress. He declared that war should not
be used as a remedy "by just and generous nations, confiding in their
strength for injuries committed, if it can be honorably avoided," and
added:

  It has occurred to me that, considering the present embarrassed
  condition of that country, we should act with both wisdom and moderation
  by giving to Mexico one more opportunity to atone for the past before
  we take redress into our own hands. To avoid all misconception on the
  part of Mexico, as well as to protect our own national character from
  reproach, this opportunity should be given with the avowed design and
  full preparation to take immediate satisfaction if it should not be
  obtained on a repetition of the demand for it. To this end I recommend
  that an act be passed authorizing reprisals, and the use of the naval
  force of the United States by the Executive against Mexico to enforce
  them, in the event of a refusal by the Mexican Government to come to
  an amicable adjustment of the matters in controversy between us upon
  another demand thereof made from on board one of our vessels of war on
  the coast of Mexico.


Committees of both Houses of Congress, to which this message of the
President was referred, fully sustained his views of the character of
the wrongs which we had suffered from Mexico, and recommended that
another demand for redress should be made before authorizing war or
reprisals. The Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, in their
report, say:

  After such a demand, should prompt justice be refused by the Mexican
  Government, we may appeal to all nations, not only for the equity and
  moderation with which we shall have acted toward a sister republic, but
  for the necessity which will then compel us to seek redress for our
  wrongs, either by actual war or by reprisals. The subject will then be
  presented before Congress, at the commencement of the next session, in a
  clear and distinct form, and the committee can not doubt but that such
  measures will be immediately adopted as may be necessary to vindicate
  the honor of the country and insure ample reparation to our injured
  fellow-citizens.


The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives made a
similar recommendation. In their report they say that--

  They fully concur with the President that ample cause exists for taking
  redress into our own hands, and believe that we should be justified in
  the opinion of other nations for taking such a step. But they are
  willing to try the experiment of another demand, made in the most solemn
  form, upon the justice of the Mexican Government before any further
  proceedings are adopted.


No difference of opinion upon the subject is believed to have existed in
Congress at that time; the executive and legislative departments
concurred; and yet such has been our forbearance and desire to preserve
peace with Mexico that the wrongs of which we then complained, and which
gave rise to these solemn proceedings, not only remain unredressed to
this day, but additional causes of complaint of an aggravated character
have ever since been accumulating. Shortly after these proceedings a
special messenger was dispatched to Mexico to make a final demand for
redress, and on the 20th of July, 1837, the demand was made. The reply
of the Mexican Government bears date on the 29th of the same month, and
contains assurances of the "anxious wish" of the Mexican Government "not
to delay the moment of that final and equitable adjustment which is to
terminate the existing difficulties between the two Governments;" that
"nothing should be left undone which may contribute to the most speedy
and equitable determination of the subjects which have so seriously
engaged the attention of the American Government;" that the "Mexican
Government would adopt as the only guides for its conduct the plainest
principles of public right, the sacred obligations imposed by
international law, and the religious faith of treaties," and that
"whatever reason and justice may dictate respecting each case will be
done." The assurance was further given that the decision of the Mexican
Government upon each cause of complaint for which redress had been
demanded should be communicated to the Government of the United States
by the Mexican minister at Washington.

These solemn assurances in answer to our demand for redress were
disregarded. By making them, however, Mexico obtained further delay.
President Van Buren, in his annual message to Congress of the 5th of
December, 1837, states that "although the larger number" of our demands
for redress, "and many of them aggravated cases of personal wrongs, have
been now for years before the Mexican Government, and some of the causes
of national complaint, and those of the most offensive character,
admitted of immediate, simple, and satisfactory replies, it is only
within a few days past that any specific communication in answer to our
last demand, made five months ago, has been received from the Mexican
minister;" and that "for not one of our public complaints has
satisfaction been given or offered, that but one of the cases of
personal wrong has been favorably considered, and that but four cases of
both descriptions out of all those formally presented and earnestly
pressed have as yet been decided upon by the Mexican Government."
President Van Buren, believing that it would be vain to make any further
attempt to obtain redress by the ordinary means within the power of the
Executive, communicated this opinion to Congress in the message referred
to, in which he said:

  On a careful and deliberate examination of their contents [of the
  correspondence with the Mexican Government], and considering the spirit
  manifested by the Mexican Government, it has become my painful duty to
  return the subject as it now stands to Congress, to whom it belongs to
  decide upon the time, the mode, and the measure of redress.


Had the United States at that time adopted compulsory measures and taken
redress into their own hands, all our difficulties with Mexico would
probably have been long since adjusted and the existing war have been
averted. Magnanimity and moderation on our part only had the effect to
complicate these difficulties and render an amicable settlement of them
the more embarrassing. That such measures of redress under similar
provocations committed by any of the powerful nations of Europe would
have been promptly resorted to by the United States can not be doubted.
The national honor and the preservation of the national character
throughout the world, as well as our own self-respect and the protection
due to our own citizens, would have rendered such a resort
indispensable. The history of no civilized nation in modern times has
presented within so brief a period so many wanton attacks upon the honor
of its flag and upon the property and persons of its citizens as had at
that time been borne by the United States from the Mexican authorities
and people. But Mexico was a sister republic on the North American
continent, occupying a territory contiguous to our own, and was in a
feeble and distracted condition, and these considerations, it is
presumed, induced Congress to forbear still longer.

Instead of taking redress into our own hands, a new negotiation was
entered upon with fair promises on the part of Mexico, but with the
real purpose, as the event has proved, of indefinitely postponing
the reparation which we demanded, and which was so justly due. This
negotiation, after more than a year's delay, resulted in the convention
of the 11th of April, 1839, "for the adjustment of claims of citizens
of the United States of America upon the Government of the Mexican
Republic." The joint board of commissioners created by this convention
to examine and decide upon these claims was not organized until the
month of August, 1840, and under the terms of the convention they were
to terminate their duties within eighteen months from that time. Four
of the eighteen months were consumed in preliminary discussions on
frivolous and dilatory points raised by the Mexican commissioners, and
it was not until the month of December, 1840, that they commenced the
examination of the claims of our citizens upon Mexico. Fourteen months
only remained to examine and decide upon these numerous and complicated
cases. In the month of February, 1842, the term of the commission
expired, leaving many claims undisposed of for want of time. The claims
which were allowed by the board and by the umpire authorized by the
convention to decide in case of disagreement between the Mexican and
American commissioners amounted to $2,026,139.68. There were pending
before the umpire when the commission expired additional claims, which
had been examined and awarded by the American commissioners and had not
been allowed by the Mexican commissioners, amounting to $928,627.88,
upon which he did not decide, alleging that his authority had ceased
with the termination of the joint commission. Besides these claims,
there were others of American citizens amounting to $3,336,837.05, which
had been submitted to the board, and upon which they had not time to
decide before their final adjournment.

The sum of $2,026,139.68, which had been awarded to the claimants, was a
liquidated and ascertained debt due by Mexico, about which there could
be no dispute, and which she was bound to pay according to the terms of
the convention. Soon after the final awards for this amount had been
made the Mexican Government asked for a postponement of the time of
making payment, alleging that it would be inconvenient to make the
payment at the time stipulated. In the spirit of forbearing kindness
toward a sister republic, which Mexico has so long abused, the United
States promptly complied with her request. A second convention was
accordingly concluded between the two Governments on the 30th of
January, 1843, which upon its face declares that "this new arrangement
is entered into for the accommodation of Mexico." By the terms of this
convention all the interest due on the awards which had been made in
favor of the claimants under the convention of the 11th of April, 1839,
was to be paid to them on the 30th of April, 1843, and "the principal of
the said awards and the interest accruing thereon" was stipulated to
"be paid in five years, in equal installments every three months."
Notwithstanding this new convention was entered into at the request of
Mexico and for the purpose of relieving her from embarrassment, the
claimants have only received the interest due on the 30th of April,
1843, and three of the twenty installments. Although the payment of the
sum thus liquidated and confessedly due by Mexico to our citizens as
indemnity for acknowledged acts of outrage and wrong was secured by
treaty, the obligations of which are ever held sacred by all just
nations, yet Mexico has violated this solemn engagement by failing and
refusing to make the payment. The two installments due in April and
July, 1844, under the peculiar circumstances connected with them, have
been assumed by the United States and discharged to the claimants, but
they are still due by Mexico. But this is not all of which we have just
cause of complaint. To provide a remedy for the claimants whose cases
were not decided by the joint commission under the convention of April
11, 1839, it was expressly stipulated by the sixth article of the
convention of the 30th of January, 1843, that--

  A new convention shall be entered into for the settlement of all claims
  of the Government and citizens of the United States against the Republic
  of Mexico which were not finally decided by the late commission which
  met in the city of Washington, and of all claims of the Government and
  citizens of Mexico against the United States.


In conformity with this stipulation, a third convention was concluded
and signed at the city of Mexico on the 20th of November, 1843, by the
plenipotentiaries of the two Governments, by which provision was made
for ascertaining and paying these claims. In January, 1844, this
convention was ratified by the Senate of the United States with two
amendments, which were manifestly reasonable in their character. Upon a
reference of the amendments proposed to the Government of Mexico, the
same evasions, difficulties, and delays were interposed which have so
long marked the policy of that Government toward the United States. It
has not even yet decided whether it would or would not accede to them,
although the subject has been repeatedly pressed upon its consideration.
Mexico has thus violated a second time the faith of treaties by failing
or refusing to carry into effect the sixth article of the convention of
January, 1843.

Such is the history of the wrongs which we have suffered and patiently
endured from Mexico through a long series of years. So far from
affording reasonable satisfaction for the injuries and insults we had
borne, a great aggravation of them consists in the fact that while the
United States, anxious to preserve a good understanding with Mexico,
have been constantly but vainly employed in seeking redress for past
wrongs, new outrages were constantly occurring, which have continued to
increase our causes of complaint and to swell the amount of our demands.
While the citizens of the United States were conducting a lawful
commerce with Mexico under the guaranty of a treaty of "amity, commerce,
and navigation," many of them have suffered all the injuries which would
have resulted from open war. This treaty, instead of affording
protection to our citizens, has been the means of inviting them into the
ports of Mexico that they might be, as they have been in numerous
instances, plundered of their property and deprived of their personal
liberty if they dared insist on their rights. Had the unlawful seizures
of American property and the violation of the personal liberty of our
citizens, to say nothing of the insults to our flag, which have occurred
in the ports of Mexico taken place on the high seas, they would
themselves long since have constituted a state of actual war between the
two countries. In so long suffering Mexico to violate her most solemn
treaty obligations, plunder our citizens of their property, and imprison
their persons without affording them any redress we have failed to
perform one of the first and highest duties which every government owes
to its citizens, and the consequence has been that many of them have
been reduced from a state of affluence to bankruptcy. The proud name of
American citizen, which ought to protect all who bear it from insult and
injury throughout the world, has afforded no such protection to our
citizens in Mexico. We had ample cause of war against Mexico long before
the breaking out of hostilities; but even then we forbore to take
redress into our own hands until Mexico herself became the aggressor by
invading our soil in hostile array and shedding the blood of our
citizens.

Such are the grave causes of complaint on the part of the United States
against Mexico--causes which existed long before the annexation of Texas
to the American Union; and yet, animated by the love of peace and a
magnanimous moderation, we did not adopt those measures of redress which
under such circumstances are the justified resort of injured nations.

The annexation of Texas to the United States constituted no just cause
of offense to Mexico. The pretext that it did so is wholly inconsistent
and irreconcilable with well-authenticated facts connected with the
revolution by which Texas became independent of Mexico. That this may be
the more manifest, it may be proper to advert to the causes and to the
history of the principal events of that revolution.

Texas constituted a portion of the ancient Province of Louisiana, ceded
to the United States by France in the year 1803. In the year 1819 the
United States, by the Florida treaty, ceded to Spain all that part of
Louisiana within the present limits of Texas, and Mexico, by the
revolution which separated her from Spain and rendered her an
independent nation, succeeded to the rights of the mother country over
this territory. In the year 1824 Mexico established a federal
constitution, under which the Mexican Republic was composed of a number
of sovereign States confederated together in a federal union similar to
our own. Each of these States had its own executive, legislature, and
judiciary, and for all except federal purposes was as independent of the
General Government and that of the other States as is Pennsylvania or
Virginia under our Constitution. Texas and Coahuila united and formed
one of these Mexican States. The State constitution which they adopted,
and which was approved by the Mexican Confederacy, asserted that they
were "free and independent of the other Mexican United States and of
every other power and dominion whatsoever," and proclaimed the great
principle of human liberty that "the sovereignty of the state resides
originally and essentially in the general mass of the individuals who
compose it." To the Government under this constitution, as well as to
that under the federal constitution, the people of Texas owed
allegiance.

Emigrants from foreign countries, including the United States, were
invited by the colonization laws of the State and of the Federal
Government to settle in Texas. Advantageous terms were offered to induce
them to leave their own country and become Mexican citizens. This
invitation was accepted by many of our citizens in the full faith that
in their new home they would be governed by laws enacted by
representatives elected by themselves, and that their lives, liberty,
and property would be protected by constitutional guaranties similar to
those which existed in the Republic they had left. Under a Government
thus organized they continued until the year 1835, when a military
revolution broke out in the City of Mexico which entirely subverted the
federal and State constitutions and placed a military dictator at the
head of the Government. By a sweeping decree of a Congress subservient
to the will of the Dictator the several State constitutions were
abolished and the States themselves converted into mere departments of
the central Government. The people of Texas were unwilling to submit to
this usurpation. Resistance to such tyranny became a high duty. Texas
was fully absolved from all allegiance to the central Government of
Mexico from the moment that Government had abolished her State
constitution and in its place substituted an arbitrary and despotic
central government. Such were the principal causes of the Texan
revolution. The people of Texas at once determined upon resistance and
flew to arms. In the midst of these important and exciting events,
however, they did not omit to place their liberties upon a secure and
permanent foundation. They elected members to a convention, who in the
month of March, 1836, issued a formal declaration that their "political
connection with the Mexican nation has forever ended, and that the
people of Texas do now constitute a _free, sovereign, and independent
Republic_, and are fully invested with all the rights and attributes
which properly belong to independent nations." They also adopted for
their government a liberal republican constitution. About the same time
Santa Anna, then the Dictator of Mexico, invaded Texas with a numerous
army for the purpose of subduing her people and enforcing obedience to
his arbitrary and despotic Government. On the 21st of April, 1836, he
was met by the Texan citizen soldiers, and on that day was achieved by
them the memorable victory of San Jacinto, by which they conquered their
independence. Considering the numbers engaged on the respective sides,
history does not record a more brilliant achievement. Santa Anna himself
was among the captives.

In the month of May, 1836, Santa Anna acknowledged by a treaty with the
Texan authorities in the most solemn form "the full, entire, and perfect
independence of the Republic of Texas." It is true he was then a
prisoner of war, but it is equally true that he had failed to reconquer
Texas, and had met with signal defeat; that his authority had not been
revoked, and that by virtue of this treaty he obtained his personal
release. By it hostilities were suspended, and the army which had
invaded Texas under his command returned in pursuance of this
arrangement unmolested to Mexico.

From the day that the battle of San Jacinto was fought until the present
hour Mexico has never possessed the power to reconquer Texas. In the
language of the Secretary of State of the United States in a dispatch to
our minister in Mexico under date of the 8th of July, 1842--

  Mexico may have chosen to consider, and may still choose to consider,
  Texas as having been at all times since 1835, and as still continuing,
  a rebellious province; but the world has been obliged to take a very
  different view of the matter. From the time of the battle of San
  Jacinto, in April, 1836, to the present moment, Texas has exhibited the
  same external signs of national independence as Mexico herself, and with
  quite as much stability of government. Practically free and independent,
  acknowledged as a political sovereignty by the principal powers of the
  world, no hostile foot finding rest within her territory for six or
  seven years, and Mexico herself refraining for all that period from any
  further attempt to reestablish her own authority over that territory,
  it can not but be surprising to find Mr. De Bocanegra [the secretary
  of foreign affairs of Mexico] complaining that for that whole period
  citizens of the United States or its Government have been favoring the
  rebels of Texas and supplying them with vessels, ammunition, and money,
  as if the war for the reduction of the Province of Texas had been
  constantly prosecuted by Mexico, and her success prevented by these
  influences from abroad.


In the same dispatch the Secretary of State affirms that--

  Since 1837 the United States have regarded Texas as an independent
  sovereignty as much as Mexico, and that trade and commerce with citizens
  of a government at war with Mexico can not on that account be regarded
  as an intercourse by which assistance and succor are given to Mexican
  rebels. The whole current of Mr. De Bocanegra's remarks runs in the same
  direction, as if the independence of Texas had not been acknowledged.
  It has been acknowledged; it was acknowledged in 1837 against the
  remonstrance and protest of Mexico, and most of the acts of any
  importance of which Mr. De Bocanegra complains flow necessarily from
  that recognition. He speaks of Texas as still being "an integral part of
  the territory of the Mexican Republic," but he can not but understand
  that the United States do not so regard it. The real complaint of
  Mexico, therefore, is in substance neither more nor less than a
  complaint against the recognition of Texan independence. It may be
  thought rather late to repeat that complaint, and not quite just to
  confine it to the United States to the exemption of England, France, and
  Belgium, unless the United States, having been the first to acknowledge
  the independence of Mexico herself, are to be blamed for setting an
  example for the recognition of that of Texas.


And he added that--

  The Constitution, public treaties, and the laws oblige the President to
  regard Texas as an independent state, and its territory as no part of
  the territory of Mexico.


Texas had been an independent state, with an organized government,
defying the power of Mexico to overthrow or reconquer her, for more than
ten years before Mexico commenced the present war against the United
States. Texas had given such evidence to the world of her ability to
maintain her separate existence as an independent nation that she had
been formally recognized as such not only by the United States, but by
several of the principal powers of Europe. These powers had entered into
treaties of amity, commerce, and navigation with her. They had received
and accredited her ministers and other diplomatic agents at their
respective courts, and they had commissioned ministers and diplomatic
agents on their part to the Government of Texas. If Mexico,
notwithstanding all this and her utter inability to subdue or reconquer
Texas, still stubbornly refused to recognize her as an independent
nation, she was none the less so on that account. Mexico herself had
been recognized as an independent nation by the United States and by
other powers many years before Spain, of which before her revolution she
had been a colony, would agree to recognize her as such; and yet Mexico
was at that time in the estimation of the civilized world, and in fact,
none the less an independent power because Spain still claimed her as a
colony. If Spain had continued until the present period to assert that
Mexico was one of her colonies in rebellion against her, this would not
have made her so or changed the fact of her independent existence. Texas
at the period of her annexation to the United States bore the same
relation to Mexico that Mexico had borne to Spain for many years before
Spain acknowledged her independence, with this important difference,
that before the annexation of Texas to the United States was consummated
Mexico herself, by a formal act of her Government, had acknowledged the
independence of Texas as a nation. It is true that in the act of
recognition she prescribed a condition which she had no power or
authority to impose--that Texas should not annex herself to any other
power--but this could not detract in any degree from the recognition
which Mexico then made of her actual independence. Upon this plain
statement of facts, it is absurd for Mexico to allege as a pretext for
commencing hostilities against the United States that Texas is still a
part of her territory.

But there are those who, conceding all this to be true, assume the
ground that the true western boundary of Texas is the Nueces instead of
the Rio Grande, and that therefore in marching our Army to the east bank
of the latter river we passed the Texan line and invaded the territory
of Mexico. A simple statement of facts known to exist will conclusively
refute such an assumption. Texas, as ceded to the United States by
France in 1803, has been always claimed as extending west to the Rio
Grande or Rio Bravo. This fact is established by the authority of our
most eminent statesmen at a period when the question was as well, if not
better, understood than it is at present. During Mr. Jefferson's
Administration Messrs. Monroe and Pinckney, who had been sent on a
special mission to Madrid, charged among other things with the
adjustment of boundary between the two countries, in a note addressed to
the Spanish minister of foreign affairs under date of the 28th of
January, 1805, assert that the boundaries of Louisiana, as ceded to the
United States by France, "are the river Perdido on the east and the
river Bravo on the west," and they add that "the facts and principles
which justify this conclusion are so satisfactory to our Government as
to convince it that the United States have not a better right to the
island of New Orleans under the cession referred to than they have to
the whole district of territory which is above described." Down to the
conclusion of the Florida treaty, in February, 1819, by which this
territory was ceded to Spain, the United States asserted and maintained
their territorial rights to this extent. In the month of June, 1818,
during Mr. Monroe's Administration, information having been received
that a number of foreign adventurers had landed at Galveston with the
avowed purpose of forming a settlement in that vicinity, a special
messenger was dispatched by the Government of the United States with
instructions from the Secretary of State to warn them to desist, should
they be found there, "or any other place north of the Rio Bravo, and
within the territory claimed by the United States." He was instructed,
should they be found in the country north of that river, to make known
to them "the surprise with which the President has seen possession thus
taken, without authority from the United States, of a place within their
territorial limits, and upon which no lawful settlement can be made
without their sanction." He was instructed to call upon them to "avow
under what national authority they profess to act," and to give them due
warning "that the place is within the United States, who will suffer no
permanent settlement to be made there under any authority other than
their own." As late as the 8th of July, 1842, the Secretary of State of
the United States, in a note addressed to our minister in Mexico,
maintains that by the Florida treaty of 1819 the territory as far west
as the Rio Grande was confirmed to Spain. In that note he states that--

  By the treaty of the 22d of February, 1819, between the United States
  and Spain, the Sabine was adopted as the line of boundary between the
  two powers. Up to that period no considerable colonization had been
  effected in Texas; but the territory between the Sabine and the Rio
  Grande being confirmed to Spain by the treaty, applications were made
  to that power for grants of land, and such grants or permissions of
  settlement were in fact made by the Spanish authorities in favor of
  citizens of the United States proposing to emigrate to _Texas_ in
  numerous families before the declaration of independence by Mexico.


The Texas which was ceded to Spain by the Florida treaty of 1819
embraced all the country now claimed by the State of Texas between the
Nueces and the Rio Grande. The Republic of Texas always claimed this
river as her western boundary, and in her treaty made with Santa Anna in
May, 1836, he recognized it as such. By the constitution which Texas
adopted in March, 1836, senatorial and representative districts were
organized extending west of the Nueces. The Congress of Texas on the
19th of December, 1836, passed "An act to define the boundaries of the
Republic of Texas," in which they declared the Rio Grande from its mouth
to its source to be their boundary, and by the said act they extended
their "civil and political jurisdiction" over the country up to that
boundary. During a period of more than nine years which intervened
between the adoption of her constitution and her annexation as one of
the States of our Union Texas asserted and exercised many acts of
sovereignty and jurisdiction over the territory and inhabitants west of
the Nueces. She organized and defined the limits of counties extending
to the Rio Grande; she established courts of justice and extended her
judicial system over the territory; she established a custom-house and
collected duties, and also post-offices and post-roads, in it; she
established a land office and issued numerous grants for land within its
limits; a senator and a representative residing in it were elected to
the Congress of the Republic and served as such before the act of
annexation took place. In both the Congress and convention of Texas
which gave their assent to the terms of annexation to the United States
proposed by our Congress were representatives residing west of the
Nueces, who took part in the act of annexation itself. This was the
Texas which by the act of our Congress of the 29th of December, 1845,
was admitted as one of the States of our Union. That the Congress of the
United States understood the State of Texas which they admitted into the
Union to extend beyond the Nueces is apparent from the fact that on the
31st of December, 1845, only two days after the act of admission, they
passed a law "to establish a collection district in the State of Texas,"
by which they created a port of delivery at Corpus Christi, situated
west of the Nueces, and being the same point at which the Texas
custom-house under the laws of that Republic had been located, and
directed that a surveyor to collect the revenue should be appointed for
that port by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate. A surveyor was accordingly nominated, and confirmed by the
Senate, and has been ever since in the performance of his duties. All
these acts of the Republic of Texas and of our Congress preceded the
orders for the advance of our Army to the east bank of the Rio Grande.
Subsequently Congress passed an act "establishing certain post routes"
extending west of the Nueces. The country west of that river now
constitutes a part of one of the Congressional districts of Texas and is
represented in the House of Representatives. The Senators from that
State were chosen by a legislature in which the country west of that
river was represented. In view of all these facts it is difficult to
conceive upon what ground it can be maintained that in occupying the
country west of the Nueces with our Army, with a view solely to its
security and defense, we invaded the territory of Mexico. But it would
have been still more difficult to justify the Executive, whose duty it
is to see that the laws be faithfully executed, if in the face of all
these proceedings, both of the Congress of Texas and of the United
States, he had assumed the responsibility of yielding up the territory
west of the Nueces to Mexico or of refusing to protect and defend this
territory and its inhabitants, including Corpus Christi as well as the
remainder of Texas, against the threatened Mexican invasion.

But Mexico herself has never placed the war which she has waged upon the
ground that our Army occupied the intermediate territory between the
Nueces and the Rio Grande. Her refuted pretension that Texas was not in
fact an independent state, but a rebellious province, was obstinately
persevered in, and her avowed purpose in commencing a war with the
United States was to reconquer Texas and to restore Mexican authority
over the whole territory--not to the Nueces only, but to the Sabine. In
view of the proclaimed menaces of Mexico to this effect, I deemed it my
duty, as a measure of precaution and defense, to order our Army to
occupy a position on our frontier as a military post, from which our
troops could best resist and repel any attempted invasion which Mexico
might make. Our Army had occupied a position at Corpus Christi, west of
the Nueces, as early as August, 1845, without complaint from any
quarter. Had the Nueces been regarded as the true western boundary of
Texas, that boundary had been passed by our Army many months before it
advanced to the eastern bank of the Rio Grande. In my annual message of
December last I informed Congress that upon the invitation of both the
Congress and convention of Texas I had deemed it proper to order a
strong squadron to the coasts of Mexico and to concentrate an efficient
military force on the western frontier of Texas to protect and defend
the inhabitants against the menaced invasion of Mexico. In that message
I informed Congress that the moment the terms of annexation offered by
the United States were accepted by Texas the latter became so far a part
of our own country as to make it our duty to afford such protection and
defense, and that for that purpose our squadron had been ordered to the
Gulf and our Army to take a "position between the Nueces and the Del
Norte" or Rio Grande and to "repel any invasion of the Texan territory
which might be attempted by the Mexican forces."

It was deemed proper to issue this order, because soon after the
President of Texas, in April, 1845, had issued his proclamation
convening the Congress of that Republic for the purpose of submitting to
that body the terms of annexation proposed by the United States the
Government of Mexico made serious threats of invading the Texan
territory. These threats became more imposing as it became more apparent
in the progress of the question that the people of Texas would decide in
favor of accepting the terms of annexation, and finally they had assumed
such a formidable character as induced both the Congress and convention
of Texas to request that a military force should be sent by the United
States into her territory for the purpose of protecting and defending
her against the threatened invasion. It would have been a violation of
good faith toward the people of Texas to have refused to afford the aid
which they desired against a threatened invasion to which they had been
exposed by their free determination to annex themselves to our Union in
compliance with the overture made to them by the joint resolution of our
Congress. Accordingly, a portion of the Army was ordered to advance into
Texas. Corpus Christi was the position selected by General Taylor. He
encamped at that place in August, 1845, and the Army remained in that
position until the 11th of March, 1846, when it moved westward, and on
the 28th of that month reached the east bank of the Rio Grande opposite
to Matamoras. This movement was made in pursuance of orders from the War
Department, issued on the 13th of January, 1846. Before these orders
were issued the dispatch of our minister in Mexico transmitting the
decision of the council of government of Mexico advising that he should
not be received, and also the dispatch of our consul residing in the
City of Mexico, the former bearing date on the 17th and the latter on
the 18th of December, 1845, copies of both of which accompanied my
message to Congress of the 11th of May last, were received at the
Department of State. These communications rendered it highly probable,
if not absolutely certain, that our minister would not be received by
the Government of General Herrera. It was also well known that but
little hope could be entertained of a different result from General
Paredes in case the revolutionary movement which he was prosecuting
should prove successful, as was highly probable. The partisans of
Paredes, as our minister in the dispatch referred to states, breathed
the fiercest hostility against the United States, denounced the proposed
negotiation as treason, and openly called upon the troops and the people
to put down the Government of Herrera by force. The reconquest of Texas
and war with the United States were openly threatened. These were the
circumstances existing when it was deemed proper to order the Army under
the command of General Taylor to advance to the western frontier of
Texas and occupy a position on or near the Rio Grande.

The apprehensions of a contemplated Mexican invasion have been since
fully justified by the event. The determination of Mexico to rush into
hostilities with the United States was afterwards manifested from the
whole tenor of the note of the Mexican minister of foreign affairs to
our minister bearing date on the 12th of March, 1846. Paredes had then
revolutionized the Government, and his minister, after referring to the
resolution for the annexation of Texas which had been adopted by our
Congress in March, 1845, proceeds to declare that--

  A fact such as this, or, to speak with greater exactness, so notable an
  act of usurpation, created an imperious necessity that Mexico, for her
  own honor, should repel it with proper firmness and dignity. The supreme
  Government had beforehand declared that it would look upon such an act
  as a _casus belli_, and as a consequence of this declaration negotiation
  was by its very nature at an end, and war was the only recourse of the
  Mexican Government.


It appears also that on the 4th of April following General Paredes,
through his minister of war, issued orders to the Mexican general in
command on the Texan frontier to "attack" our Army "by every means which
war permits." To this General Paredes had been pledged to the army and
people of Mexico during the military revolution which had brought him
into power. On the 18th of April, 1846, General Paredes addressed a
letter to the commander on that frontier in which he stated to him: "At
the present date I suppose you, at the head of that valiant army, either
fighting already or preparing for the operations of a campaign;" and,
"Supposing you already on the theater of operations and with all the
forces assembled, it is indispensable that hostilities be commenced,
yourself taking the initiative against the enemy."

The movement of our Army to the Rio Grande was made by the commanding
general under positive orders to abstain from all aggressive acts toward
Mexico or Mexican citizens, and to regard the relations between the two
countries as peaceful unless Mexico should declare war or commit acts of
hostility indicative of a state of war, and these orders he faithfully
executed. Whilst occupying his position on the east bank of the Rio
Grande, within the limits of Texas, then recently admitted as one of the
States of our Union, the commanding general of the Mexican forces, who,
in pursuance of the orders of his Government, had collected a large army
on the opposite shore of the Rio Grande, crossed the river, invaded our
territory, and commenced hostilities by attacking our forces. Thus,
after all the injuries which we had received and borne from Mexico, and
after she had insultingly rejected a minister sent to her on a mission
of peace, and whom she had solemnly agreed to receive, she consummated
her long course of outrage against our country by commencing an
offensive war and shedding the blood of our citizens on our own soil.

The United States never attempted to acquire Texas by conquest. On the
contrary, at an early period after the people of Texas had achieved
their independence they sought to be annexed to the United States. At a
general election in September, 1836, they decided with great unanimity
in favor of "annexation," and in November following the Congress of the
Republic authorized the appointment of a minister to bear their request
to this Government. This Government, however, having remained neutral
between Texas and Mexico during the war between them, and considering it
due to the honor of our country and our fair fame among the nations of
the earth that we should not at this early period consent to annexation,
nor until it should be manifest to the whole world that the reconquest
of Texas by Mexico was impossible, refused to accede to the overtures
made by Texas. On the 12th of April, 1844, after more than seven years
had elapsed since Texas had established her independence, a treaty was
concluded for the annexation of that Republic to the United States,
which was rejected by the Senate. Finally, on the 1st of March, 1845,
Congress passed a joint resolution for annexing her to the United States
upon certain preliminary conditions to which her assent was required.
The solemnities which characterized the deliberations and conduct of the
Government and people of Texas on the deeply interesting questions
presented by these resolutions are known to the world. The Congress, the
Executive, and the people of Texas, in a convention elected for that
purpose, accepted with great unanimity the proposed terms of annexation,
and thus consummated on her part the great act of restoring to our
Federal Union a vast territory which had been ceded to Spain by the
Florida treaty more than a quarter of a century before.

After the joint resolution for the annexation of Texas to the United
States had been passed by our Congress the Mexican minister at
Washington addressed a note to the Secretary of State, bearing date on
the 6th of March, 1845, protesting against it as "an act of aggression
the most unjust which can be found recorded in the annals of modern
history, namely, that of despoiling a friendly nation like Mexico of a
considerable portion of her territory," and protesting against the
resolution of annexation as being an act "whereby the Province of Texas,
an integral portion of the Mexican territory, is agreed and admitted
into the American Union;" and he announced that as a consequence his
mission to the United States had terminated, and demanded his passports,
which were granted. It was upon the absurd pretext, made by Mexico
(herself indebted for her independence to a successful revolution), that
the Republic of Texas still continued to be, notwithstanding all that
had passed, a Province of Mexico that this step was taken by the Mexican
minister.

Every honorable effort has been used by me to avoid the war which
followed, but all have proved vain. All our attempts to preserve peace
have been met by insult and resistance on the part of Mexico. My efforts
to this end commenced in the note of the Secretary of State of the 10th
of March, 1845, in answer to that of the Mexican minister. Whilst
declining to reopen a discussion which had already been exhausted, and
proving again what was known to the whole world, that Texas had long
since achieved her independence, the Secretary of State expressed the
regret of this Government that Mexico should have taken offense at the
resolution of annexation passed by Congress, and gave assurance that our
"most strenuous efforts shall be devoted to the amicable adjustment of
every cause of complaint between the two Governments and to the
cultivation of the kindest and most friendly relations between the
sister Republics." That I have acted in the spirit of this assurance
will appear from the events which have since occurred. Notwithstanding
Mexico had abruptly terminated all diplomatic intercourse with the
United States, and ought, therefore, to have been the first to ask for
its resumption, yet, waiving all ceremony, I embraced the earliest
favorable opportunity "to ascertain from the Mexican Government whether
they would receive an envoy from the United States intrusted With full
power to adjust all the questions in dispute between the two
Governments." In September, 1845, I believed the propitious moment for
such an overture had arrived. Texas, by the enthusiastic and almost
unanimous will of her people, had pronounced in favor of annexation.
Mexico herself had agreed to acknowledge the independence of Texas,
subject to a condition, it is true, which she had no right to impose and
no power to enforce. The last lingering hope of Mexico, if she still
could have retained any, that Texas would ever again become one of her
Provinces, must have been abandoned.

The consul of the United States at the City of Mexico was therefore
instructed by the Secretary of State on the 15th of September, 1845, to
make the inquiry of the Mexican Government. The inquiry was made, and
on the 15th of October, 1845, the minister of foreign affairs of the
Mexican Government, in a note addressed to our consul, gave a favorable
response, requesting at the same time that our naval force might be
withdrawn from Vera Cruz while negotiations should be pending. Upon the
receipt of this note our naval force was promptly withdrawn from Vera
Cruz. A minister was immediately appointed, and departed to Mexico.
Everything bore a promising aspect for a speedy and peaceful adjustment
of all our difficulties. At the date of my annual message to Congress in
December last no doubt was entertained but that he would be received by
the Mexican Government, and the hope was cherished that all cause of
misunderstanding between the two countries would be speedily removed.
In the confident hope that such would be the result of his mission,
I informed Congress that I forbore at that time to "recommend such
ulterior measures of redress for the wrongs and injuries we had so long
borne as it would have been proper to make had no such negotiation been
instituted." To my surprise and regret the Mexican Government, though
solemnly pledged to do so, upon the arrival of our minister in Mexico
refused to receive and accredit him. When he reached Vera Cruz, on
the 30th of November, 1845, he found that the aspect of affairs had
undergone an unhappy change. The Government of General Herrera, who was
at that time President of the Republic, was tottering to its fall.
General Paredes, a military leader, had manifested his determination to
overthrow the Government of Herrera by a military revolution, and one of
the principal means which he employed to effect his purpose and render
the Government of Herrera odious to the army and people of Mexico was by
loudly condemning its determination to receive a minister of peace from
the United States, alleging that it was the intention of Herrera, by a
treaty with the United States, to dismember the territory of Mexico by
ceding away the department of Texas. The Government of Herrera is
believed to have been well disposed to a pacific adjustment of existing
difficulties, but probably alarmed for its own security, and in order
to ward off the danger of the revolution led by Paredes, violated its
solemn agreement and refused to receive or accredit our minister; and
this although informed that he had been invested with full power to
adjust all questions in dispute between the two Governments. Among the
frivolous pretexts for this refusal, the principal one was that our
minister had not gone upon a special mission confined to the question of
Texas alone, leaving all the outrages upon our flag and our citizens
unredressed. The Mexican Government well knew that both our national
honor and the protection due to our citizens imperatively required that
the two questions of boundary and indemnity should be treated of
together, as naturally and inseparably blended, and they ought to have
seen that this course was best calculated to enable the United States to
extend to them the most liberal justice. On the 30th of December, 1845,
General Herrera resigned the Presidency and yielded up the Government to
General Paredes without a struggle. Thus a revolution was accomplished
solely by the army commanded by Paredes, and the supreme power in Mexico
passed into the hands of a military usurper who was known to be bitterly
hostile to the United States.

Although the prospect of a pacific adjustment with the new Government
was unpromising from the known hostility of its head to the United
States, yet, determined that nothing should be left undone on our part
to restore friendly relations between the two countries, our minister
was instructed to present his credentials to the new Government and ask
to be accredited by it in the diplomatic character in which he had been
commissioned. These instructions he executed by his note of the 1st of
March, 1846, addressed to the Mexican minister of foreign affairs, but
his request was insultingly refused by that minister in his answer of
the 12th of the same month. No alternative remained for our minister but
to demand his passports and return to the United States.

Thus was the extraordinary spectacle presented to the civilized world of
a Government, in violation of its own express agreement, having twice
rejected a minister of peace invested with full powers to adjust all
the existing differences between the two countries in a manner just
and honorable to both. I am not aware that modern history presents a
parallel case in which in time of peace one nation has refused even to
hear propositions from another for terminating existing difficulties
between them. Scarcely a hope of adjusting our difficulties, even at a
remote day, or of preserving peace with Mexico, could be cherished while
Paredes remained at the head of the Government. He had acquired the
supreme power by a military revolution and upon the most solemn pledges
to wage war against the United States and to reconquer Texas, which he
claimed as a revolted province of Mexico. He had denounced as guilty
of treason all those Mexicans who considered Texas as no longer
constituting a part of the territory of Mexico and who were friendly to
the cause of peace. The duration of the war which he waged against the
United States was indefinite, because the end which he proposed of the
reconquest of Texas was hopeless. Besides, there was good reason to
believe from all his conduct that it was his intention to convert the
Republic of Mexico into a monarchy and to call a foreign European prince
to the throne. Preparatory to this end, he had during his short rule
destroyed the liberty of the press, tolerating that portion of it only
which openly advocated the establishment of a monarchy. The better to
secure the success of his ultimate designs, he had by an arbitrary
decree convoked a Congress, not to be elected by the free voice of the
people, but to be chosen in a manner to make them subservient to his
will and to give him absolute control over their deliberations.

Under all these circumstances it was believed that any revolution in
Mexico founded upon opposition to the ambitious projects of Paredes
would tend to promote the cause of peace as well as prevent any
attempted European interference in the affairs of the North American
continent, both objects of deep interest to the United States. Any such
foreign interference, if attempted, must have been resisted by the
United States. My views upon that subject were fully communicated to
Congress in my last annual message. In any event, it was certain that no
change whatever in the Government of Mexico which would deprive Paredes
of power could be for the worse so far as the United States were
concerned, while it was highly probable that any change must be for the
better. This was the state of affairs existing when Congress, on the
13th of May last, recognized the existence of the war which had been
commenced by the Government of Paredes; and it became an object of much
importance, with a view to a speedy settlement of our difficulties and
the restoration of an honorable peace, that Paredes should not retain
power in Mexico.

Before that time there were symptoms of a revolution in Mexico, favored,
as it was understood to be, by the more liberal party, and especially by
those who were opposed to foreign interference and to the monarchical
form of government. Santa Anna was then in exile in Havana, having been
expelled from power and banished from his country by a revolution which
occurred in December, 1844; but it was known that he had still a
considerable party in his favor in Mexico. It was also equally well
known that no vigilance which could be exerted by our squadron would in
all probability have prevented him from effecting a landing somewhere
on the extensive Gulf coast of Mexico if he desired to return to his
country. He had openly professed an entire change of policy, had
expressed his regret that he had subverted the federal constitution of
1824, and avowed that he was now in favor of its restoration. He had
publicly declared his hostility, in strongest terms, to the
establishment of a monarchy and to European interference in the affairs
of his country. Information to this effect had been received, from
sources believed to be reliable, at the date of the recognition of the
existence of the war by Congress, and was afterwards fully confirmed by
the receipt of the dispatch of our consul in the City of Mexico, with
the accompanying documents, which are herewith transmitted. Besides, it
was reasonable to suppose that he must see the ruinous consequences to
Mexico of a war with the United States, and that it would be his
interest to favor peace.

It was under these circumstances and upon these considerations that it
was deemed expedient not to obstruct his return to Mexico should he
attempt to do so. Our object was the restoration of peace, and, with
that view, no reason was perceived why we should take part with Paredes
and aid him by means of our blockade in preventing the return of his
rival to Mexico. On the contrary, it was believed that the intestine
divisions which ordinary sagacity could not but anticipate as the fruit
of Santa Anna's return to Mexico, and his contest with Paredes, might
strongly tend to produce a disposition with both parties to restore and
preserve peace with the United States. Paredes was a soldier by
profession and a monarchist in principle. He had but recently before
been successful in a military revolution, by which he had obtained
power. He was the sworn enemy of the United States, with which he had
involved his country in the existing war. Santa Anna had been expelled
from power by the army, was known to be in open hostility to Paredes,
and publicly pledged against foreign intervention and the restoration of
monarchy in Mexico. In view of these facts and circumstances it was that
when orders were issued to the commander of our naval forces in the
Gulf, on the 13th day of May last, the same day on which the existence
of the war was recognized by Congress, to place the coasts of Mexico
under blockade, he was directed not to obstruct the passage of Santa
Anna to Mexico should he attempt to return.

A revolution took place in Mexico in the early part of August following,
by which the power of Paredes was overthrown, and he has since been
banished from the country, and is now in exile. Shortly afterwards Santa
Anna returned. It remains to be seen whether his return may not yet
prove to be favorable to a pacific adjustment of the existing
difficulties, it being manifestly his interest not to persevere in the
prosecution of a war commenced by Paredes to accomplish a purpose so
absurd as the reconquest of Texas to the Sabine. Had Paredes remained in
power, it is morally certain that any pacific adjustment would have been
hopeless.

Upon the commencement of hostilities by Mexico against the United States
the indignant spirit of the nation was at once aroused. Congress
promptly responded to the expectations of the country, and by the act of
the 13th of May last recognized the fact that war existed, by the act of
Mexico, between the United States and that Republic, and granted the
means necessary for its vigorous prosecution. Being involved in a war
thus commenced by Mexico, and for the justice of which on our part we
may confidently appeal to the whole world, I resolved to prosecute it
with the utmost vigor. Accordingly the ports of Mexico on the Gulf and
on the Pacific have been placed under blockade and her territory invaded
at several important points. The reports from the Departments of War and
of the Navy will inform you more in detail of the measures adopted in
the emergency in which our country was placed and of the gratifying
results which have been accomplished.

The various columns of the Army have performed their duty under great
disadvantages with the most distinguished skill and courage. The
victories of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma and of Monterey, won
against greatly superior numbers and against most decided advantages in
other respects on the part of the enemy, were brilliant in their
execution, and entitle our brave officers and soldiers to the grateful
thanks of their country. The nation deplores the loss of the brave
officers and men who have gallantly fallen while vindicating and
defending their country's rights and honor.

It is a subject of pride and satisfaction that our volunteer citizen
soldiers, who so promptly responded to their country's call, with an
experience of the discipline of a camp of only a few weeks, have borne
their part in the hard-fought battle of Monterey with a constancy and
courage equal to that of veteran troops and worthy of the highest
admiration. The privations of long marches through the enemy's country
and through a wilderness have been borne without a murmur. By rapid
movements the Province of New Mexico, with Santa Fe, its capital, has
been captured without bloodshed. The Navy has cooperated with the Army
and rendered important services; if not so brilliant, it is because the
enemy had no force to meet them on their own element and because of the
defenses which nature has interposed in the difficulties of the
navigation on the Mexican coast. Our squadron in the Pacific, with the
cooperation of a gallant officer of the Army and a small force hastily
collected in that distant country, has acquired bloodless possession of
the Californias, and the American flag has been raised at every
important point in that Province.

I congratulate you on the success which has thus attended our military
and naval operations. In less than seven months after Mexico commenced
hostilities, at a time selected by herself, we have taken possession of
many of her principal ports, driven back and pursued her invading army,
and acquired military possession of the Mexican Provinces of New Mexico,
New Leon, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, and the Californias, a territory larger
in extent than that embraced in the original thirteen States of the
Union, inhabited by a considerable population, and much of it more than
1,000 miles from the points at which we had to collect our forces and
commence our movements. By the blockade the import and export trade of
the enemy has been cut off. Well may the American people be proud of the
energy and gallantry of our regular and volunteer officers and soldiers.
The events of these few months afford a gratifying proof that our
country can under any emergency confidently rely for the maintenance of
her honor and the defense of her rights on an effective force, ready at
all times voluntarily to relinquish the comforts of home for the perils
and privations of the camp. And though such a force may be for the time
expensive, it is in the end economical, as the ability to command it
removes the necessity of employing a large standing army in time of
peace, and proves that our people love their institutions and are ever
ready to defend and protect them.

While the war was in a course of vigorous and successful prosecution,
being still anxious to arrest its evils, and considering that after the
brilliant victories of our arms on the 8th and 9th of May last the
national honor could not be compromitted by it, another overture was
made to Mexico, by my direction, on the 27th of July last to terminate
hostilities by a peace just and honorable to both countries. On the 31st
of August following the Mexican Government declined to accept this
friendly overture, but referred it to the decision of a Mexican Congress
to be assembled in the early part of the present month. I communicate to
you herewith a copy of the letter of the Secretary of State proposing to
reopen negotiations, of the answer of the Mexican Government, and of the
reply thereto of the Secretary of State.

The war will continue to be prosecuted with vigor as the best means of
securing peace. It is hoped that the decision of the Mexican Congress,
to which our last overture has been referred, may result in a speedy and
honorable peace. With our experience, however, of the unreasonable
course of the Mexican authorities, it is the part of wisdom not to relax
in the energy of our military operations until the result is made known.
In this view it is deemed important to hold military possession of all
the Provinces which have been taken until a definitive treaty of peace
shall have been concluded and ratified by the two countries.

The war has not been waged with a view to conquest, but, having been
commenced by Mexico, it has been carried into the enemy's country and
will be vigorously prosecuted there with a view to obtain an honorable
peace, and thereby secure ample indemnity for the expenses of the war,
as well as to our much-injured citizens, who hold large pecuniary
demands against Mexico.

By the laws of nations a conquered country is subject to be governed by
the conqueror during his military possession and until there is either a
treaty of peace or he shall voluntarily withdraw from it. The old civil
government being necessarily superseded, it is the right and duty of the
conqueror to secure his conquest and to provide for the maintenance of
civil order and the rights of the inhabitants. This right has been
exercised and this duty performed by our military and naval commanders
by the establishment of temporary governments in some of the conquered
Provinces of Mexico, assimilating them as far as practicable to the free
institutions of our own country. In the Provinces of New Mexico and of
the Californias little, if any, further resistance is apprehended from
the inhabitants to the temporary governments which have thus, from the
necessity of the case and according to the laws of war, been
established. It may be proper to provide for the security of these
important conquests by making an adequate appropriation for the purpose
of erecting fortifications and defraying the expenses necessarily
incident to the maintenance of our possession and authority over them.

Near the close of your last session, for reasons communicated to
Congress, I deemed it important as a measure for securing a speedy peace
with Mexico, that a sum of money should be appropriated and placed in
the power of the Executive, similar to that which had been made upon two
former occasions during the Administration of President Jefferson.

On the 26th of February, 1803, an appropriation of $2,000,000 was made
and placed at the disposal of the President. Its object is well known.
It was at that time in contemplation to acquire Louisiana from France,
and it was intended to be applied as a part of the consideration which
might be paid for that territory. On the 13th of February, 1806, the
same sum was in like manner appropriated, with a view to the purchase of
the Floridas from Spain. These appropriations were made to facilitate
negotiations and as a means to enable the President to accomplish the
important objects in view. Though it did not become necessary for the
President to use these appropriations, yet a state of things might have
arisen in which it would have been highly important for him to do so,
and the wisdom of making them can not be doubted. It is believed that
the measure recommended at your last session met with the approbation of
decided majorities in both Houses of Congress. Indeed, in different
forms, a bill making an appropriation of $2,000,000 passed each House,
and it is much to be regretted that it did not become a law. The reasons
which induced me to recommend the measure at that time still exist, and
I again submit the subject for your consideration and suggest the
importance of early action upon it. Should the appropriation be made and
be not needed, it will remain in the Treasury; should it be deemed
proper to apply it in whole or in part, it will be accounted for as
other public expenditures.

Immediately after Congress had recognized the existence of the war with
Mexico my attention was directed to the danger that privateers might be
fitted out in the ports of Cuba and Porto Rico to prey upon the commerce
of the United States, and I invited the special attention of the Spanish
Government to the fourteenth article of our treaty with that power of
the 27th of October, 1795, under which the citizens and subjects of
either nation who shall take commissions or letters of marque to act as
privateers against the other "shall be punished as pirates."

It affords me pleasure to inform you that I have received assurances
from the Spanish Government that this article of the treaty shall be
faithfully observed on its part. Orders for this purpose were
immediately transmitted from that Government to the authorities of Cuba
and Porto Rico to exert their utmost vigilance in preventing any
attempts to fit out privateers in those islands against the United
States. From the good faith of Spain I am fully satisfied that this
treaty will be executed in its spirit as well as its letter, whilst the
United States will on their part faithfully perform all the obligations
which it imposes on them.

Information has been recently received at the Department of State that
the Mexican Government has sent to Havana blank commissions to
privateers and blank certificates of naturalization signed by General
Salas, the present head of the Mexican Government. There is also reason
to apprehend that similar documents have been transmitted to other parts
of the world. Copies of these papers, in translation, are herewith
transmitted.

As the preliminaries required by the practice of civilized nations for
commissioning privateers and regulating their conduct appear not to have
been observed, and as these commissions are in blank, to be filled up
with the names of citizens and subjects of all nations who may be
willing to purchase them, the whole proceeding can only be construed as
an invitation to all the freebooters upon earth who are willing to pay
for the privilege to cruise against American commerce. It will be for
our courts of justice to decide whether under such circumstances these
Mexican letters of marque and reprisal shall protect those who accept
them, and commit robberies upon the high seas under their authority,
from the pains and penalties of piracy.

If the certificates of naturalization thus granted be intended by Mexico
to shield Spanish subjects from the guilt and punishment of pirates
under our treaty with Spain, they will certainly prove unavailing. Such
a subterfuge would be but a weak device to defeat the provisions of a
solemn treaty.

I recommend that Congress should immediately provide by law for the
trial and punishment as pirates of Spanish subjects who, escaping the
vigilance of their Government, shall be found guilty of privateering
against the United States. I do not apprehend serious danger from these
privateers. Our Navy will be constantly on the alert to protect our
commerce. Besides, in case prizes should be made of American vessels,
the utmost vigilance will be exerted by our blockading squadron to
prevent the captors from taking them into Mexican ports, and it is not
apprehended that any nation will violate its neutrality by suffering
such prizes to be condemned and sold within its jurisdiction.

I recommend that Congress should immediately provide by law for granting
letters of marque and reprisal against vessels under the Mexican flag.
It is true that there are but few, if any, commercial vessels of Mexico
upon the high seas, and it is therefore not probable that many American
privateers would be fitted out in case a law should pass authorizing
this mode of warfare. It is, notwithstanding, certain that such
privateers may render good service to the commercial interests of the
country by recapturing our merchant ships should any be taken by armed
vessels under the Mexican flag, as well as by capturing these vessels
themselves. Every means within our power should be rendered available
for the protection of our commerce.

The annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury will exhibit a
detailed statement of the condition of the finances. The imports for the
fiscal year ending on the 30th of June last were of the value of
$121,691,797, of which the amount exported was $11,346,623, leaving the
amount retained in the country for domestic consumption $110,345,174.
The value of the exports for the same period was $113,488,516, of which
$102,141,893 consisted of domestic productions and $11,346,623 of
foreign articles.

The receipts into the Treasury for the same year were $29,499,247.06, of
which there was derived from customs $26,712,667.87, from the sales of
public lands $2,694,452.48, and from incidental and miscellaneous
sources $92,126.71. The expenditures for the same period were
$28,031,114.20, and the balance in the Treasury on the 1st day of July
last was $9,126,439.08.

The amount of the public debt, including Treasury notes, on the 1st of
the present month was $24,256,494.60, of which the sum of $17,788,799.62
was outstanding on the 4th of March, 1845, leaving the amount incurred
since that time $6,467,694.98.

In order to prosecute the war with Mexico with vigor and energy, as the
best means of bringing it to a speedy and honorable termination, a
further loan will be necessary to meet the expenditures for the present
and the next fiscal year. If the war should be continued until the 30th
of June, 1848, being the end of the next fiscal year, it is estimated
that an additional loan of $23,000,000 will be required. This estimate
is made upon the assumption that it will be necessary to retain
constantly in the Treasury $4,000,000 to guard against contingencies.
If such surplus were not required to be retained, then a loan of
$19,000,000 would be sufficient. If, however, Congress should at the
present session impose a revenue duty on the principal articles now
embraced in the free list, it is estimated that an additional annual
revenue of about two millions and a half, amounting, it is estimated,
on the 30th of June, 1848, to $4,000,000, would be derived from that
source, and the loan required would be reduced by that amount. It is
estimated also that should Congress graduate and reduce the price of
such of the public lands as have been long in the market the additional
revenue derived from that source would be annually, for several years
to come, between half a million and a million dollars; and the loan
required may be reduced by that amount also. Should these measures be
adopted, the loan required would not probably exceed $18,000,000 or
$19,000,000, leaving in the Treasury a constant surplus of $4,000,000.
The loan proposed, it is estimated, will be sufficient to cover the
necessary expenditures both for the war and for all other purposes up
to the 30th of June, 1848, and an amount of this loan not exceeding
one-half may be required during the present fiscal year, and the greater
part of the remainder during the first half of the fiscal year
succeeding.

In order that timely notice may be given and proper measures taken to
effect the loan, or such portion of it as may be required, it is
important that the authority of Congress to make it be given at an early
period of your present session. It is suggested that the loan should be
contracted for a period of twenty years, with authority to purchase the
stock and pay it off at an earlier period at its market value out of any
surplus which may at any time be in the Treasury applicable to that
purpose. After the establishment of peace with Mexico, it is supposed
that a considerable surplus will exist, and that the debt may be
extinguished in a much shorter period than that for which it may be
contracted. The period of twenty years, as that for which the proposed
loan may be contracted, in preference to a shorter period, is suggested,
because all experience, both at home and abroad, has shown that loans
are effected upon much better terms upon long time than when they are
reimbursable at short dates.

Necessary as this measure is to sustain the honor and the interests of
the country engaged in a foreign war, it is not doubted but that
Congress will promptly authorize it.

The balance in the Treasury on the 1st July last exceeded $9,000,000,
notwithstanding considerable expenditures had been made for the war
during the months of May and June preceding. But for the war the whole
public debt could and would have been extinguished within a short
period; and it was a part of my settled policy to do so, and thus
relieve the people from its burden and place the Government in a
position which would enable it to reduce the public expenditures to that
economical standard which is most consistent with the general welfare
and the pure and wholesome progress of our institutions.

Among our just causes of complaint against Mexico arising out of her
refusal to treat for peace, as well before as since the war so unjustly
commenced on her part, are the extraordinary expenditures in which we
have been involved. Justice to our own people will make it proper that
Mexico should be held responsible for these expenditures.

Economy in the public expenditures is at all times a high duty which all
public functionaries of the Government owe to the people. This duty
becomes the more imperative in a period of war, when large and
extraordinary expenditures become unavoidable. During the existence of
the war with Mexico all our resources should be husbanded, and no
appropriations made except such as are absolutely necessary for its
vigorous prosecution and the due administration of the Government.
Objects of appropriation which in peace may be deemed useful or proper,
but which are not indispensable for the public service, may when the
country is engaged in a foreign war be well postponed to a future
period. By the observance of this policy at your present session large
amounts may be saved to the Treasury and be applied to objects of
pressing and urgent necessity, and thus the creation of a corresponding
amount of public debt may be avoided.

It is not meant to recommend that the ordinary and necessary
appropriations for the support of Government should be withheld; but it
is well known that at every session of Congress appropriations are
proposed for numerous objects which may or may not be made without
materially affecting the public interests, and these it is recommended
should not be granted.

The act passed at your last session "reducing the duties on imports" not
having gone into operation until the 1st of the present month, there has
not been time for its practical effect upon the revenue and the business
of the country to be developed. It is not doubted, however, that the
just policy which it adopts will add largely to our foreign trade and
promote the general prosperity. Although it can not be certainly
foreseen what amount of revenue it will yield, it is estimated that it
will exceed that produced by the act of 1842, which it superseded. The
leading principles established by it are to levy the taxes with a view
to raise revenue and to impose them upon the articles imported according
to their actual value.

The act of 1842, by the excessive rates of duty which it imposed on many
articles, either totally excluded them from importation or greatly
reduced the amount imported, and thus diminished instead of producing
revenue. By it the taxes were imposed not for the legitimate purpose of
raising revenue, but to afford advantages to favored classes at the
expense of a large majority of their fellow-citizens. Those employed in
agriculture, mechanical pursuits, commerce, and navigation were
compelled to contribute from their substance to swell the profits and
overgrown wealth of the comparatively few who had invested their capital
in manufactures. The taxes were not levied in proportion to the value of
the articles upon which they were imposed, but, widely departing from
this just rule, the lighter taxes were in many cases levied upon
articles of luxury and high price and the heavier taxes on those of
necessity and low price, consumed by the great mass of the people. It
was a system the inevitable effect of which was to relieve favored
classes and the wealthy few from contributing their just proportion for
the support of Government, and to lay the burden on the labor of the
many engaged in other pursuits than manufactures.

A system so unequal and unjust has been superseded by the existing
law, which imposes duties not for the benefit or injury of classes or
pursuits, but distributes and, as far as practicable, equalizes the
public burdens among all classes and occupations. The favored classes
who under the unequal and unjust system which has been repealed have
heretofore realized large profits, and many of them amassed large
fortunes at the expense of the many who have been made tributary to
them, will have no reason to complain if they shall be required to
bear their just proportion of the taxes necessary for the support of
Government. So far from it, it will be perceived by an examination of
the existing law that discriminations in the rates of duty imposed
within the revenue principle have been retained in their favor. The
incidental aid against foreign competition which they still enjoy gives
them an advantage which no other pursuits possess, but of this none
others will complain, because the duties levied are necessary for
revenue. These revenue duties, including freights and charges, which
the importer must pay before he can come in competition with the home
manufacturer in our markets, amount on nearly all our leading branches
of manufacture to more than one-third of the value of the imported
article, and in some cases to almost one-half its value. With such
advantages it is not doubted that our domestic manufacturers will
continue to prosper, realizing in well-conducted establishments even
greater profits than can be derived from any other regular business.
Indeed, so far from requiring the protection of even incidental revenue
duties, our manufacturers in several leading branches are extending
their business, giving evidence of great ingenuity and skill and of
their ability to compete, with increased prospect of success, for the
open market of the world. Domestic manufactures to the value of several
millions of dollars, which can not find a market at home, are annually
exported to foreign countries. With such rates of duty as those
established by the existing law the system will probably be permanent,
and capitalists who are made or shall hereafter make their investments
in manufactures will know upon what to rely. The country will be
satisfied with these rates, because the advantages which the
manufacturers still enjoy result necessarily from the collection of
revenue for the support of Government. High protective duties, from
their unjust operation upon the masses of the people, can not fail to
give rise to extensive dissatisfaction and complaint and to constant
efforts to change or repeal them, rendering all investments in
manufactures uncertain and precarious. Lower and more permanent rates of
duty, at the same time that they will yield to the manufacturer fair and
remunerating profits, will secure him against the danger of frequent
changes in the system, which can not fail to ruinously affect his
interests.

Simultaneously with the relaxation of the restrictive policy by the
United States, Great Britain, from whose example we derived the system,
has relaxed hers. She has modified her corn laws and reduced many other
duties to moderate revenue rates. After ages of experience the statesmen
of that country have been constrained by a stern necessity and by a
public opinion having its deep foundation in the sufferings and wants of
impoverished millions to abandon a system the effect of which was to
build up immense fortunes in the hands of the few and to reduce the
laboring millions to pauperism and misery. Nearly in the same ratio that
labor was depressed capital was increased and concentrated by the
British protective policy.

The evils of the system in Great Britain were at length rendered
intolerable, and it has been abandoned, but not without a severe
struggle on the part of the protected and favored classes to retain the
unjust advantages which they have so long enjoyed. It was to be expected
that a similar struggle would be made by the same classes in the United
States whenever an attempt was made to modify or abolish the same unjust
system here. The protective policy had been in operation in the United
States for a much shorter period, and its pernicious effects were not,
therefore, so clearly perceived and felt. Enough, however, was known of
these effects to induce its repeal.

It would be strange if in the face of the example of _Great Britain_,
our principal foreign customer, and of the evils of a system rendered
manifest in that country by long and painful experience, and in the face
of the immense advantages which under a more liberal commercial policy
we are already deriving, and must continue to derive, by supplying her
starving population with food, the United States should restore a policy
which she has been compelled to abandon, and thus diminish her ability
to purchase from us the food and other articles which she so much needs
and we so much desire to sell. By the simultaneous abandonment of the
protective policy by Great Britain and the United States new and
important markets have already been opened for our agricultural and
other products, commerce and navigation have received a new impulse,
labor and trade have been released from the artificial trammels which
have so long fettered them, and to a great extent reciprocity in the
exchange of commodities has been introduced at the same time by both
countries, and greatly for the benefit of both. Great Britain has been
forced by the pressure of circumstances at home to abandon a policy
which has been upheld for ages, and to open her markets for our immense
surplus of breadstuffs, and it is confidently believed that other powers
of Europe will ultimately see the wisdom, if they be not compelled by
the pauperism and sufferings of their crowded population, to pursue a
similar policy.

Our farmers are more deeply interested in maintaining the just and
liberal policy of the existing law than any other class of our citizens.
They constitute a large majority of our population, and it is well known
that when they prosper all other pursuits prosper also. They have
heretofore not only received none of the bounties or favors of
Government, but by the unequal operations of the protective policy have
been made by the burdens of taxation which it imposed to contribute to
the bounties which have enriched others.

When a foreign as well as a home market is opened to them, they must
receive, as they are now receiving, increased prices for their products.
They will find a readier sale, and at better prices, for their wheat,
flour, rice, Indian corn, beef, pork, lard, butter, cheese, and other
articles which they produce. The home market alone is inadequate to
enable them to dispose of the immense surplus of food and other articles
which they are capable of producing, even at the most reduced prices,
for the manifest reason that they can not be consumed in the country.
The United States can from their immense surplus supply not only the
home demand, but the deficiencies of food required by the whole world.

That the reduced production of some of the chief articles of food in
Great Britain and other parts of Europe may have contributed to increase
the demand for our breadstuffs and provisions is not doubted, but that
the great and efficient cause of this increased demand and of increased
prices consists in the removal of artificial restrictions heretofore
imposed is deemed to be equally certain. That our exports of food,
already increased and increasing beyond former example under the more
liberal policy which has been adopted, will be still vastly enlarged
unless they be checked or prevented by a restoration of the protective
policy can not be doubted. That our commercial and navigating interests
will be enlarged in a corresponding ratio with the increase of our trade
is equally certain, while our manufacturing interests will still be the
favored interests of the country and receive the incidental protection
afforded them by revenue duties; and more than this they can not justly
demand.

In my annual message of December last a tariff of revenue duties based
upon the principles of the existing law was recommended, and I have seen
no reason to change the opinions then expressed. In view of the probable
beneficial effects of that law, I recommend that the policy established
by it be maintained. It has but just commenced to operate, and to
abandon or modify it without giving it a fair trial would be inexpedient
and unwise. Should defects in any of its details be ascertained by
actual experience to exist, these may be hereafter corrected; but until
such defects shall become manifest the act should be fairly tested.

It is submitted for your consideration whether it may not be proper, as
a war measure, to impose revenue duties on some of the articles now
embraced in the free list. Should it be deemed proper to impose such
duties with a view to raise revenue to meet the expenses of the war with
Mexico or to avoid to that extent the creation of a public debt, they
may be repealed when the emergency which gave rise to them shall cease
to exist, and constitute no part of the permanent policy of the country.

The act of the 6th of August last, "to provide for the better
organization of the Treasury and for the collection, safe-keeping,
transfer, and disbursement of the public revenue," has been carried into
execution as rapidly as the delay necessarily arising out of the
appointment of new officers, taking and approving their bonds, and
preparing and securing proper places for the safe-keeping of the public
money would permit. It is not proposed to depart in any respect from the
principles or policy on which this great measure is founded. There are,
however, defects in the details of the measure, developed by its
practical operation, which are fully set forth in the report of the
Secretary of the Treasury, to which the attention of Congress is
invited. These defects would impair to some extent the successful
operation of the law at all times, but are especially embarrassing when
the country is engaged in a war, when the expenditures are greatly
increased, when loans are to be effected and the disbursements are to be
made at points many hundred miles distant, in some cases, from any
depository, and a large portion of them in a foreign country. The
modifications suggested in the report of the Secretary of the Treasury
are recommended to your favorable consideration.

In connection with this subject I invite your attention to the
importance of establishing a branch of the Mint of the United States at
New York. Two-thirds of the revenue derived from customs being collected
at that point, the demand for specie to pay the duties will be large,
and a branch mint where foreign coin and bullion could be immediately
converted into American coin would greatly facilitate the transaction of
the public business, enlarge the circulation of gold and silver, and be
at the same time a safe depository of the public money.

The importance of graduating and reducing the price of such of the
public lands as have been long offered in the market at the minimum rate
authorized by existing laws, and remain unsold, induces me again to
recommend the subject to your favorable consideration. Many millions of
acres of these lands have been offered in the market for more than
thirty years and larger quantities for more than ten or twenty years,
and, being of an inferior quality, they must remain unsalable for an
indefinite period unless the price at which they may be purchased shall
be reduced. To place a price upon them above their real value is not
only to prevent their sale, and thereby deprive the Treasury of any
income from that source, but is unjust to the States in which they lie,
because it retards their growth and increase of population, and because
they have no power to levy a tax upon them as upon other lands within
their limits, held by other proprietors than the United States, for the
support of their local governments.

The beneficial effects of the graduation principle have been realized by
some of the States owning the lands within their limits in which it has
been adopted. They have been demonstrated also by the United States
acting as the trustee of the Chickasaw tribe of Indians in the sale of
their lands lying within the States of Mississippi and Alabama. The
Chickasaw lands, which would not command in the market the minimum price
established by the laws of the United States for the sale of their
lands, were, in pursuance of the treaty of 1834 with that tribe,
subsequently offered for sale at graduated and reduced rates for limited
periods. The result was that large quantities of these lands were
purchased which would otherwise have remained unsold. The lands were
disposed of at their real value, and many persons of limited means were
enabled to purchase small tracts, upon which they have settled with
their families. That similar results would be produced by the adoption
of the graduation policy by the United States in all the States in which
they are the owners of large bodies of lands which have been long in the
market can not be doubted. It can not be a sound policy to withhold
large quantities of the public lands from the use and occupation of our
citizens by fixing upon them prices which experience has shown they will
not command. On the contrary, it is a wise policy to afford facilities
to our citizens to become the owners at low and moderate rates of
freeholds of their own instead of being the tenants and dependents of
others. If it be apprehended that these lands if reduced in price would
be secured in large quantities by speculators or capitalists, the sales
may be restricted in limited quantities to actual settlers or persons
purchasing for purposes of cultivation.

In my last annual message I submitted for the consideration of Congress
the present system of managing the mineral lands of the United States,
and recommended that they should be brought into market and sold upon
such terms and under such restrictions as Congress might prescribe. By
the act of the 11th of July last "the reserved lead mines and contiguous
lands in the States of Illinois and Arkansas and Territories of
Wisconsin and Iowa" were authorized to be sold. The act is confined in
its operation to "lead mines and contiguous lands." A large portion of
the public lands, containing copper and other ores, is represented to be
very valuable, and I recommend that provision be made authorizing the
sale of these lands upon such terms and conditions as from their
supposed value may in the judgment of Congress be deemed advisable,
having due regard to the interests of such of our citizens as may be
located upon them.

It will be important during your present session to establish a
Territorial government and to extend the jurisdiction and laws of the
United States over the Territory of Oregon. Our laws regulating trade
and intercourse with the Indian tribes east of the Rocky Mountains
should be extended to the Pacific Ocean; and for the purpose of
executing them and preserving friendly relations with the Indian tribes
within our limits, an additional number of Indian agencies will be
required, and should be authorized by law. The establishment of
custom-houses and of post-offices and post-roads and provision for the
transportation of the mail on such routes as the public convenience will
suggest require legislative authority. It will be proper also to
establish a surveyor-general's office in that Territory and to make the
necessary provision for surveying the public lands and bringing them
into market. As our citizens who now reside in that distant region have
been subjected to many hardships, privations, and sacrifices in their
emigration, and by their improvements have enhanced the value of the
public lands in the neighborhood of their settlements, it is recommended
that liberal grants be made to them of such portions of these lands as
they may occupy, and that similar grants or rights of preemption be made
to all who may emigrate thither within a limited period, prescribed by
law.

The report of the Secretary of War contains detailed information
relative to the several branches of the public service connected with
that Department. The operations of the Army have been of a satisfactory
and highly gratifying character. I recommend to your early and favorable
consideration the measures proposed by the Secretary of War for speedily
filling up the rank and file of the Regular Army, for its greater
efficiency in the field, and for raising an additional force to serve
during the war with Mexico.

Embarrassment is likely to arise for want of legal provision authorizing
compensation to be made to the agents employed in the several States and
Territories to pay the Revolutionary and other pensioners the amounts
allowed them by law. Your attention is invited to the recommendations
of the Secretary of War on this subject. These agents incur heavy
responsibilities and perform important duties, and no reason exists why
they should not be placed on the same footing as to compensation with
other disbursing officers.

Our relations with the various Indian tribes continue to be of a pacific
character. The unhappy dissensions which have existed among the
Cherokees for many years past have been healed. Since my last annual
message important treaties have been negotiated with some of the tribes,
by which the Indian title to large tracts of valuable land within the
limits of the States and Territories has been extinguished and
arrangements made for removing them to the country west of the
Mississippi. Between 3,000 and 4,000 of different tribes have been
removed to the country provided for them by treaty stipulations, and
arrangements have been made for others to follow.

In our intercourse with the several tribes particular attention has been
given to the important subject of education. The number of schools
established among them has been increased, and additional means provided
not only for teaching them the rudiments of education, but of
instructing them in agriculture and the mechanic arts.

I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Navy for a
satisfactory view of the operations of the Department under his charge
during the past year. It is gratifying to perceive that while the war
with Mexico has rendered it necessary to employ an unusual number of our
armed vessels on her coasts, the protection due to our commerce in other
quarters of the world has not proved insufficient. No means will be
spared to give efficiency to the naval service in the prosecution of the
war; and I am happy to know that the officers and men anxiously desire
to devote themselves to the service of their country in any enterprise,
however difficult of execution.

I recommend to your favorable consideration the proposition to add to
each of our foreign squadrons an efficient sea steamer, and, as
especially demanding attention, the establishment at Pensacola of the
necessary means of repairing and refitting the vessels of the Navy
employed in the Gulf of Mexico.

There are other suggestions in the report which deserve and I doubt not
will receive your consideration.

The progress and condition of the mail service for the past year are
fully presented in the report of the Postmaster-General. The revenue for
the year ending on the 30th of June last amounted to $3,487,199, which
is $802,642.45 less than that of the preceding year. The payments for
that Department during the same time amounted to $4,084,297.22. Of this
sum $597,097.80 have been drawn from the Treasury. The disbursements for
the year were $236,434.77 less than those of the preceding year. While
the disbursements have been thus diminished, the mail facilities have
been enlarged by new mail routes of 5,739 miles, an increase of
transportation of 1,764,145 miles, and the establishment of 418 new
post-offices. Contractors, postmasters, and others engaged in this
branch of the service have performed their duties with energy and
faithfulness deserving commendation. For many interesting details
connected with the operations of this establishment you are referred to
the report of the Postmaster-General, and his suggestions for improving
its revenues are recommended to your favorable consideration. I repeat
the opinion expressed in my last annual message that the business of
this Department should be so regulated chat the revenues derived from it
should be made to equal the expenditures, and it is believed that this
may be done by proper modifications of the present laws, as suggested in
the report of the Postmaster-General, without changing the present rates
of postage.

With full reliance upon the wisdom and patriotism of your deliberations,
it, will be my duty, as it will be my anxious desire, to cooperate with
you in every constitutional effort to promote the welfare and maintain
the honor of our common country.

JAMES K. POLK.




SPECIAL MESSAGES.


WASHINGTON, _December 14, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice with regard
to its ratification, a convention for the mutual surrender of criminals
between the United States and the Swiss Confederation, signed by their
respective plenipotentiaries on the 15th of September last at Paris.

I transmit also a copy of a dispatch from the plenipotentiary of the
United States, with the accompanying documents.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _December 22, 1846_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with the request contained in the resolution of the House
of Representatives of the 15th instant, I communicate herewith reports
from the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy, with the
documents which accompany them.

These documents contain all the "orders or instructions" to any
military, naval, or other officer of the Government "in relation to the
establishment or organization of civil government in any portion of the
territory of Mexico which has or might be taken possession of by the
Army or Navy of the United States."

These orders and instructions were given to regulate the exercise of the
rights of a belligerent engaged in actual war over such portions of the
territory of our enemy as by military conquest might be "taken
possession of" and be occupied by our armed forces--rights necessarily
resulting from a state of war and clearly recognized by the laws of
nations. This was all the authority which could be delegated to our
military and naval commanders, and its exercise was indispensable to the
secure occupation and possession of territory of the enemy which might
be conquered. The regulations authorized were temporary, and dependent
on the rights acquired by conquest. They were authorized as belligerent
rights, and were to be carried into effect by military or naval
officers. They were but the amelioration of martial law, which modern
civilization requires, and were due as well to the security of the
conquest as to the inhabitants of the conquered territory.

The documents communicated also contain the reports of several highly
meritorious officers of our Army and Navy who have conquered and taken
possession of portions of the enemy's territory.

Among the documents accompanying the report of the Secretary of War will
be found a "form of government" "established and organized" by the
military commander who conquered and occupied with his forces the
Territory of New Mexico. This document was received at the War
Department in the latter part of the last month, and, as will be
perceived by the report of the Secretary of War, was not, for the
reasons stated by that officer, brought to my notice until after my
annual message of the 8th instant was communicated to Congress.

It is declared on its face to be a "temporary government of the said
Territory," but there are portions of it which purport to "establish and
organize" a permanent Territorial government of the United States over
the Territory and to impart to its inhabitants political rights which
under the Constitution of the United States can be enjoyed permanently
only by citizens of the United States. These have not been "approved and
recognized" by me. Such organized regulations as have been established
in any of the conquered territories for the security of our conquest,
for the preservation of order, for the protection of the rights of the
inhabitants, and for depriving the enemy of the advantages of these
territories while the military possession of them by the forces of the
United States continues will be recognized and approved.

It will be apparent from the reports of the officers who have been
required by the success which has crowned their arms to exercise the
powers of temporary government over the conquered territories that if
any excess of power has been exercised the departure has been the
offspring of a patriotic desire to give to the inhabitants the
privileges and immunities so cherished by the people of our own country,
and which they believed calculated to improve their condition and
promote their prosperity. Any such excess has resulted in no practical
injury, but can and will be early corrected in a manner to alienate as
little as possible the good feelings of the inhabitants of the conquered
territory.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _December 29, 1846_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

In order to prosecute the war against Mexico with vigor and success,
it is necessary that authority should be promptly given by Congress
to increase the Regular Army and to remedy existing defects in its
organization. With this view your favorable attention is invited to the
annual report of the Secretary of War, which accompanied my message of
the 8th instant, in which he recommends that ten additional regiments
of regular troops shall be raised, to serve during the war.

Of the additional regiments of volunteers which have been called for
from several of the States, some have been promptly raised; but this
has not been the case in regard to all. The existing law, requiring
that they should be organized by the independent action of the State
governments, has in some instances occasioned considerable delay, and it
is yet uncertain when the troops required can be ready for service in
the field.

It is our settled policy to maintain in time of peace as small a Regular
Army as the exigencies of the public service will permit. In a state of
war, notwithstanding the great advantage with which our volunteer
citizen soldiers can be brought into the field, this small Regular Army
must be increased in its numbers in order to render the whole force more
efficient.

Additional officers as well as men then become indispensable. Under the
circumstances of our service a peculiar propriety exists for increasing
the officers, especially in the higher grades. The number of such
officers who from age and other causes are rendered incapable of active
service in the field has seriously impaired the efficiency of the Army.

From the report of the Secretary of War it appears that about two-thirds
of the whole number of regimental field officers are either permanently
disabled or are necessarily detached from their commands on other
duties. The long enjoyment of peace has prevented us from experiencing
much embarrassment from this cause, but now, in a state of war,
conducted in a foreign country, it has produced serious injury to the
public service.

An efficient organization of the Army, composed of regulars and
volunteers, whilst prosecuting the war in Mexico, it is believed would
require the appointment of a general officer to take the command of all
our military forces in the field. Upon the conclusion of the war the
services of such an officer would no longer be necessary, and should be
dispensed with upon the reduction of the Army to a peace establishment.

I recommend that provision be made by law for the appointment of such a
general officer to serve during the war.

It is respectfully recommended that early action should be had by
Congress upon the suggestions submitted for their consideration, as
necessary to insure active and efficient service in prosecuting the war,
before the present favorable season for military operations in the
enemy's country shall have passed away.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _January 4, 1847_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate herewith a report of the Postmaster-General, which
contains the information called for by the resolution of the Senate of
the 16th instant, in relation to the means which have been taken for the
transmission of letters and papers to and from the officers and soldiers
now in the service of the United States in Mexico. In answer to the
inquiry whether any legislation is necessary to secure the speedy
transmission and delivery of such letters and papers, I refer you to the
suggestions of the Postmaster-General, which are recommended to your
favorable consideration.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _January 11, 1847_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 22d ultimo, calling for
information relative to the negotiation of the treaty of commerce with
the Republic of New Granada signed on the 20th of December, 1844, I
transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which
it was accompanied.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _January 19, 1847_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of War, with the
accompanying report from the Adjutant-General of the Army, made in
compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
5th instant, requesting the President to communicate to the House "the
whole number of volunteers which have been mustered into the service of
the United States since the 1st day of May last, designating the number
mustered for three months, six months, and twelve months; the number of
those who have been discharged before they served two months, number
discharged after two months' service, and the number of volunteer
officers who have resigned, and the dates of their resignations."

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _January 20, 1847_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate herewith a letter received from the president of the
convention of delegates of the people of Wisconsin, transmitting a
certified copy of the constitution adopted by the delegates of the
people of Wisconsin in convention assembled, also a copy of the act of
the legislature of the Territory of Wisconsin providing for the calling
of said convention, and also a copy of the last census, showing the
number of inhabitants in said Territory, requesting the President to
"lay the same before the Congress of the United States with the request
that Congress act upon the same at its present session."

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _January 25, 1847_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate herewith a report of the Secretary of the Treasury,
accompanied by a statement of the Register of the Treasury prepared in
compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 7th
instant, requesting the President "to furnish the House with a statement
showing the whole amount allowed and paid at the Treasury during the
year ending 30th June, 1846, for postages of the Executive Departments
of the Government and for the several officers and persons authorized by
the act approved 3d March, 1846, to send or receive matter through the
mails free, including the amount allowed or allowable, if charged in the
postages of any officers or agents, military, naval, or civil, employed
in or by any of said Departments." It will be perceived that said
statement is as full and accurate as can be made during the present
session of Congress.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _January 29, 1847_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate herewith a report of the Secretary of War, together with
reports of the Adjutant-General and Paymaster-General of the Army, in
answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 20th
instant, requesting the President to communicate to the House "whether
any, and, if any, which, of the Representatives named in the list
annexed have held any office or offices under the United States since
the commencement of the Twenty-ninth Congress, designating the office or
offices held by each, and whether the same are now so held, and
including in said information the names of all who are now serving in
the Army of the United States as officers and receiving pay as such, and
when and by whom they were commissioned."

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _February 3, 1847_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate herewith reports of the Secretary of War and the Secretary
of the Treasury, with accompanying documents, in answer to a resolution
of the Senate "requesting the President to inform the Senate whether any
funds of the Government, and, if any, what amount, have been remitted
from the Atlantic States to New Orleans or to the disbursing officers of
the American Army in Mexico since the 1st of September last, and, if any
remitted, in what funds remitted, whether in gold or silver coin,
Treasury notes, bank notes, or bank checks, and, if in whole or in part
remitted in gold and silver, what has been the expense to the Government
of each of said remittances."

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _February 10, 1847_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its
ratification, "a general treaty of peace, amity, navigation, and
commerce between the United States of America and the Republic of New
Granada," concluded at Bogota on the 12th December last by Benjamin A.
Bidlack, chargé d'affaires of the United States, on their part, and by
Manuel Maria Mallarino, secretary of state and foreign relations, on the
part of that Republic.

It will be perceived by the thirty-fifth article of this treaty that New
Granada proposes to guarantee to the Government and citizens of the
United States the right of passage across the Isthmus of Panama over the
natural roads and over any canal or railroad which may be constructed to
unite the two seas, on condition that the United States shall make a
similar guaranty to New Granada of the neutrality of this portion of her
territory and her sovereignty over the same.

The reasons which caused the insertion of this important stipulation in
the treaty will be fully made known to the Senate by the accompanying
documents. From these it will appear that our chargé d'affaires acted in
this particular upon his own responsibility and without instructions.
Under such circumstances it became my duty to decide whether I would
submit the treaty to the Senate, and after mature consideration I have
determined to adopt this course.

The importance of this concession to the commercial and political
interests of the United States can not easily be overrated. The route by
the Isthmus of Panama is the shortest between the two oceans, and from
the information herewith communicated it would seem to be the most
practicable for a railroad or canal.

The vast advantages to our commerce which would result from such a
communication, not only with the west coast of America, but with Asia
and the islands of the Pacific, are too obvious to require any detail.
Such a passage would relieve us from a long and dangerous navigation of
more than 9,000 miles around Cape Horn and render our communication with
our possessions on the northwest coast of America comparatively easy and
speedy.

The communication across the Isthmus has attracted the attention of the
Government of the United States ever since the independence of the South
American Republics. On the 3d of March, 1835, a resolution passed the
Senate in the following words:

  _Resolved_, That the President of the United States be respectfully
  requested to consider the expediency of opening negotiations with the
  governments of other nations, and particularly with the Governments
  of Central America and New Granada, for the purpose of effectually
  protecting, by suitable treaty stipulations with them, such individuals
  or companies as may undertake to open a communication between the
  Atlantic and Pacific oceans by the construction of a ship canal across
  the isthmus which connects North and South America, and of securing
  forever by such stipulations the free and equal right of navigating such
  canal to all nations on the payment of such reasonable tolls as may be
  established to compensate the capitalists who may engage in such
  undertaking and complete the work.


No person can be more deeply sensible than myself of the danger of
entangling alliances with any foreign nation. That we should avoid such
alliances has become a maxim of our policy consecrated by the most
venerated names which adorn our history and sanctioned by the unanimous
voice of the American people. Our own experience has taught us the
wisdom of this maxim in the only instance, that of the guaranty to
France of her American possessions, in which we have ever entered into
such an alliance. If, therefore, the very peculiar circumstances of the
present case do not greatly impair, if not altogether destroy, the force
of this objection, then we ought not to enter into the stipulation,
whatever may be its advantages. The general considerations which have
induced me to transmit the treaty to the Senate for their advice may be
summed up in the following particulars:

1. The treaty does not propose to guarantee a territory to a foreign
nation in which the United States will have no common interest with that
nation. On the contrary, we are more deeply and directly interested in
the subject of this guaranty than New Granada herself or any other
country.

2. The guaranty does not extend to the territories of New Granada
generally, but is confined to the single Province of the Isthmus of
Panama, where we shall acquire by the treaty a common and coextensive
right of passage with herself.

3. It will constitute no alliance for any political object, but for a
purely commercial purpose, in which all the navigating nations of the
world have a common interest.

4. In entering into the mutual guaranties proposed by the thirty-fifth
article of the treaty neither the Government of New Granada nor that of
the United States has any narrow or exclusive views. The ultimate
object, as presented by the Senate of the United States in their
resolution to which I have already referred, is to secure to all nations
the free and equal right of passage over the Isthmus. If the United
States, as the chief of the American nations, should first become a
party to this guaranty, it can not be doubted--indeed, it is confidently
expected by the Government of New Granada--that similar guaranties will
be given to that Republic by Great Britain and France. Should the
proposition thus tendered be rejected we may deprive the United States
of the just influence which its acceptance might secure to them and
confer the glory and benefits of being the first among the nations in
concluding such an arrangement upon the Government either of Great
Britain or France. That either of these Governments would embrace the
offer can not be doubted, because there does not appear to be any other
effectual means of securing to all nations the advantages of this
important passage but the guaranty of great commercial powers that the
Isthmus shall be neutral territory. The interests of the world at stake
are so important that the security of this passage between the two
oceans can not be suffered to depend upon the wars and revolutions which
may arise among different nations.

Besides, such a guaranty is almost indispensable to the construction of
a railroad or canal across the territory. Neither sovereign states nor
individuals would expend their capital in the construction of these
expensive works without some such security for their investments.

The guaranty of the sovereignty of New Granada over the Isthmus is a
natural consequence of the guaranty of its neutrality, and there does
not seem to be any other practicable mode of securing the neutrality of
this territory. New Granada would not consent to yield up this Province
in order that it might become a neutral state, and if she should it is
not sufficiently populous or wealthy to establish and maintain an
independent sovereignty. But a civil government must exist there in
order to protect the works which shall be constructed. New Granada is
a power which will not excite the jealousy of any nation. If Great
Britain, France, or the United States held the sovereignty over the
Isthmus, other nations might apprehend that in case of war the
Government would close up the passage against the enemy, but no such
fears can ever be entertained in regard to New Granada.

This treaty removes the heavy discriminating duties against us in the
ports of New Granada, which have nearly destroyed our commerce and
navigation with that Republic, and which we have been in vain
endeavoring to abolish for the last twenty years.

It may be proper also to call the attention of the Senate to the
twenty-fifth article of the treaty, which prohibits privateering in case
of war between the two Republics, and also to the additional article,
which nationalizes all vessels of the parties which "shall be provided
by the respective Governments with a patent issued according to its
laws," and in this particular goes further than any of our former
treaties.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _February 13, 1847_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

Congress, by the act of the 13th of May last, declared that "by the act
of the Republic of Mexico a state of war exists between that Government
and the United States" and "for the purpose of enabling the Government
of the United States to prosecute said war to a speedy and successful
termination" authority was vested in the President to employ the "naval
and military forces of the United States."

It has been my unalterable purpose since the commencement of hostilities
by Mexico and the declaration of the existence of war by Congress to
prosecute the war in which the country was unavoidably involved with the
utmost energy, with a view to its "speedy and successful termination" by
an honorable peace.

Accordingly all the operations of our naval and military forces have
been directed with this view. While the sword has been held in one hand
and our military movements pressed forward into the enemy's country and
its coasts invested by our Navy, the tender of an honorable peace has
been constantly presented to Mexico in the other.

Hitherto the overtures of peace which have been made by this Government
have not been accepted by Mexico. With a view to avoid a protracted war,
which hesitancy and delay on our part would be so well calculated to
produce, I informed you in my annual message of the 8th December last
that the war would "continue to be prosecuted with vigor, as the best
means of securing peace," and recommended to your early and favorable
consideration the measures proposed by the Secretary of War in his
report accompanying that message.

In my message of the 4th January last these and other measures deemed to
be essential to the "speedy and successful termination" of the war and
the attainment of a just and honorable peace were recommended to your
early and favorable consideration.

The worst state of things which could exist in a war with such a power
as Mexico would be a course of indecision and inactivity on our part.
Being charged by the Constitution and the laws with the conduct of the
war, I have availed myself of all the means at my command to prosecute
it with energy and vigor.

The act "to raise for a limited time an additional military force, and
for other purposes," and which authorizes the raising of ten additional
regiments to the Regular Army, to serve during the war and to be
disbanded at its termination, which was presented to me on the 11th
instant and approved on that day, will constitute an important part of
our military force. These regiments will be raised and moved to the seat
of war with the least practicable delay.

It will be perceived that this act makes no provision for the
organization into brigades and divisions of the increased force which it
authorizes, nor for the appointment of general officers to command it.
It will be proper that authority be given by law to make such
organization, and to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, such number of major-generals and brigadier-generals as the
efficiency of the service may demand. The number of officers of these
grades now in service are not more than are required for their
respective commands; but further legislative action during your present
session will, in my judgment, be required, and to which it is my duty
respectfully to invite your attention.

Should the war, contrary to my earnest desire, be protracted to the
close of the term of service of the volunteers now in Mexico, who
engaged for twelve months, an additional volunteer force will probably
become necessary to supply their place. Many of the volunteers now
serving in Mexico, it is not doubted, will cheerfully engage at the
conclusion of their present term to serve during the war. They would
constitute a more efficient force than could be speedily obtained by
accepting the services of any new corps who might offer their services.
They would have the advantage of the experience and discipline of a
year's service, and will have become accustomed to the climate and be
in less danger than new levies of suffering from the diseases of the
country. I recommend, therefore, that authority be given to accept the
services of such of the volunteers now in Mexico as the state of the
public service may require, and who may at the termination of their
present term voluntarily engage to serve during the war with Mexico,
and that provision be made for commissioning the officers. Should
this measure receive the favorable consideration of Congress, it is
recommended that a bounty be granted to them upon their voluntarily
extending their term of service. This would not only be due to these
gallant men, but it would be economy to the Government, because if
discharged at the end of the twelve months the Government would be bound
to incur a heavy expense in bringing them back to their homes and in
sending to the seat of war new corps of fresh troops to supply their
place.

By the act of the 13th of May last the President was authorized to
accept the services of volunteers "in companies, battalions, squadrons,
and regiments," but no provision was made for filling up vacancies which
might occur by death or discharges from the service on account of
sickness or other casualties. In consequence of this omission many of
the corps now in service have been much reduced in numbers. Nor was any
provision made for filling vacancies of regimental or company officers
who might die or resign. Information has been received at the War
Department of the resignation of more than 100 of these officers. They
were appointed by the State authorities, and no information has been
received except in a few instances that their places have been filled;
and the efficiency of the service has been impaired from this cause. To
remedy these defects, I recommend that authority be given to accept the
services of individual volunteers to fill up the places of such as may
die or become unfit for the service and be discharged, and that
provision be also made for filling the places of regimental and company
officers who may die or resign. By such provisions the volunteer corps
may be constantly kept full or may approximate the maximum number
authorized and called into service in the first instance.

While it is deemed to be our true policy to prosecute the war in the
manner indicated, and thus make the enemy feel its pressure and its
evils, I shall be at all times ready, with the authority conferred on
me by the Constitution and with all the means which may be placed at
my command by Congress, to conclude a just and honorable peace.

Of equal importance with an energetic and vigorous prosecution of the
war are the means required to defray its expenses and to uphold and
maintain the public credit.

In my annual message of the 8th December last I submitted for the
consideration of Congress the propriety of imposing, as a war measure,
revenue duties on some of the articles now embraced in the free list.
The principal articles now exempt from duty from which any considerable
revenue could be derived are tea and coffee. A moderate revenue duty on
these articles it is estimated would produce annually an amount
exceeding $2,500,000. Though in a period of peace, when ample means
could be derived from duties on other articles for the support of the
Government, it may have been deemed proper not to resort to a duty on
these articles, yet when the country is engaged in a foreign war and all
our resources are demanded to meet the unavoidable increased expenditure
in maintaining our armies in the field no sound reason is perceived why
we should not avail ourselves of the revenues which may be derived from
this source. The objections which have heretofore existed to the
imposition of these duties were applicable to a state of peace, when
they were not needed. We are now, however, engaged in a foreign war. We
need money to prosecute it and to maintain the public honor and credit.
It can not be doubted that the patriotic people of the United States
would cheerfully and without complaint submit to the payment of this
additional duty or any other that may be necessary to maintain the honor
of the country, provide for the unavoidable expenses of the Government,
and to uphold the public credit. It is recommended that any duties which
may be imposed on these articles be limited in their duration to the
period of the war.

An additional annual revenue, it is estimated, of between half a million
and a million of dollars would be derived from the graduation and
reduction of the price of such of the public lands as have been long
offered in the market at the minimum price established by the existing
laws and have remained unsold. And in addition to other reasons
commending the measure to favorable consideration, it is recommended as
a financial measure. The duty suggested on tea and coffee and the
graduation and reduction of the price of the public lands would secure
an additional annual revenue to the Treasury of not less than
$3,000,000, and would thereby prevent the necessity of incurring a
public debt annually to that amount, the interest on which must be paid
semiannually, and ultimately the debt itself by a tax on the people.

It is a sound policy and one which has long been approved by the
Government and people of the United States never to resort to loans
unless in cases of great public emergency, and then only for the
smallest amount which the public necessities will permit.

The increased revenues which the measures now recommended would produce
would, moreover, enable the Government to negotiate a loan for any
additional sum which may be found to be needed with more facility and at
cheaper rates than can be done without them.

Under the injunction of the Constitution which makes it my duty "from
time to time to give to Congress information of the state of the Union
and to recommend to their consideration such measures" as shall be
judged "necessary and expedient," I respectfully and earnestly invite
the action of Congress on the measures herein presented for their
consideration. The public good, as well as a sense of my responsibility
to our common constituents, in my judgment imperiously demands that I
should present them for your enlightened consideration and invoke
favorable action upon them before the close of your present session.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _February 13, 1847_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I nominate the officers named in the accompanying communication for
regular promotion in the Army of the United States, as proposed by the
Secretary of War.

JAMES K. POLK.



WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington, February 13, 1847_.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: I have the honor respectfully to propose for your approbation the
following-named captains[10] for promotion to the rank of major in the
existing regiments of the Army, in conformity with the third section of
the act approved February 11, 1847, which authorizes one additional
major to each of the regiments of dragoons, artillery, infantry, and
riflemen.

The promotions are all regular with one exception, that of Captain
Washington Seawell, of the Seventh Infantry, instead of Captain Edgar
Hawkins, of the same regiment, who stands at the head of the list of his
grade in the infantry arm. Captain Hawkins, who distinguished himself in
the defense of Fort Brown, is passed over on the ground of mental
alienation, it being officially reported that he is "insane," on which
account he was recently sent from the Army in Mexico. He is now in New
York, and is reported to be "unable to perform any duty." An officer
just returned from the Army in Mexico, and who had recently served with
Captain Hawkins, informed the Adjutant-General that he was quite
deranged, but that he had hopes of his recovery, as the malady was
probably caused by sickness. Should these hopes be realized at some
future day, Captain Hawkins will then of course be promoted without loss
of rank; meanwhile I respectfully recommend that he be passed over, as
the declared object of these additional majors (as set forth in the
Adjutant-General's report to this Department of the 30th of July last)
was to insure the presence of an adequate number of _efficient_ field
officers for duty with the marching regiments, which object would be
neutralized in part should Captain Hawkins now receive the appointment.

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

W.L. MARCY

[Footnote 10: List omitted.]



WASHINGTON, _February 20, 1847_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate herewith a report of the Secretary of State, with the
accompanying documents, in answer to a resolution of the Senate of the
2d instant, requesting the President to communicate such information in
possession of the Executive Departments in relation to the importation
of foreign criminals and paupers as he may deem consistent with the
public interests to communicate.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _February 26, 1847_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I nominate the persons named in the accompanying list[11] of promotions
and appointments in the Army of the United States to the several grades
annexed to their names, as proposed by the Secretary of War.

JAMES K. POLK.

[Footnote 11: Omitted.]



WAR DEPARTMENT,
  _February 26, 1847_.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: I have the honor respectfully to propose for your approbation the
annexed list[12] of officers for regular promotion and persons for
appointment in the Army of the United States.

It having been decided to be just and proper to restore Grafton D.
Hanson, late a lieutenant in the Eighth Infantry, to his former regiment
and rank, whose resignation was accepted in June, 1845, contrary to his
wish, he having in due time recalled the same, it will be seen that he
is reappointed accordingly. I deem it proper to state that the vacancy
of first lieutenant in the Eighth Infantry, now proposed to be filled by
Mr. Hanson's restoration and reappointment, has been occasioned by the
appointment of the senior captain of the regiment to be major under the
recent act authorizing an additional major to each regiment, being an
original vacancy, and therefore the less reason for any objection in
respect to the general principles and usages of the service, which
guarantee regular promotions to fill vacancies which occur by accident,
etc.

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

W.L. MARCY.

[Footnote 12: Omitted.]



WASHINGTON, _February 26, 1847_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I nominate the officers named in the accompanying list[13] for brevet
promotion in the Army of the United States, for gallant conduct in the
actions at Monterey.

JAMES K. POLK.

[Footnote 13: Omitted.]



WAR DEPARTMENT,
  _February 19, 1847_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: I present to you the following list[14] of officers engaged in the
actions at Monterey, whose distinguished conduct therein entitles them,
in my judgment, to the promotion by brevet. This list has been prepared
after a particular and careful examination of all the documents in this
Department in relation to the military operations at that place.

Lieutenant-Colonel Garland and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Childs (then a
captain of the line) also behaved in the actions of Monterey in a manner
deserving of particular notice, but as their names are now before the
Senate for colonelcies by brevet, I have not presented them for further
promotion. I am not aware that any officer below the lineal rank of
colonel has ever been made a brigadier-general by brevet.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W.L. MARCY.

[Footnote 14: Omitted.]


WASHINGTON, _February 27, 1847_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate herewith a report of the Secretary of War, with the
accompanying documents, in answer to the resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 1st instant, requesting the President "to
communicate to the House of Representatives all the correspondence with
General Taylor since the commencement of hostilities with Mexico which
has not yet been published, and the publication of which may not be
deemed detrimental to the public service; also the correspondence of the
Quartermaster-General in relation to transportation for General Taylor's
Army; also the reports of Brigadier-Generals Hamer and Quitman of the
operations of their respective brigades on the 21st of September last."

As some of these documents relate to military operations of our forces
which may not have been fully executed, I might have deemed it proper to
withhold parts of them under the apprehension that their publication at
this time would be detrimental to the public service; but I am satisfied
that these operations are now so far advanced and that the enemy has
already received so much information from other sources in relation to
the intended movements of our Army as to render this precaution
unnecessary.

JAMES K. POLK.



WASHINGTON, _March 2, 1847_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate herewith a report of the Secretary of War, with the
accompanying documents, in answer to the resolution of the Senate of the
27th ultimo, requesting to be informed "why the name of Captain
Theophilus H. Holmes was not sent in for brevet promotion amongst the
other officers who distinguished themselves at the military operations
at Monterey."

The report of the Secretary of War discloses the reasons for the
omission of the name of Captain Holmes in the list of brevet promotions
in my message of the ____ ultimo. Upon the additional testimony in
Captain Holmes's case which has been received at the War Department, and
to which the Secretary of War refers in his report, I deem it proper to
nominate him for brevet promotion.

I therefore nominate Captain Theophilus H. Holmes, of the Seventh
Regiment of Infantry, to be major by brevet from the 23d September,
1846, in the Army of the United States.

JAMES K. POLK.



WAR DEPARTMENT,
  _March,1 1847_.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: With a special reference to the resolution of the Senate of the
27th ultimo, requesting to be informed "why the name of Captain
Theophilus H. Holmes was not sent in for brevet promotion amongst the
other officers who distinguished themselves at the military operations
at Monterey," I have again examined the official reports of those
operations. I do not find that Captain Holmes is mentioned in General
Taylor's report, nor in that of any other officer except the report of
Brigadier-General Worth. The following extract from the latter contains
all that is said having relation to the conduct of Captain Holmes:

"My thanks are also especially due to Lieutenant-Colonel Stanford,
Eighth, commanding First Brigade; Major Munroe, chief of artillery,
general staff; Brevet Major Brown and Captain J.R. Vinton, artillery
battalion; Captain J.B. Scott, artillery battalion, light troops; Major
Scott (commanding) and Captain Merrill, Fifth; Captain Miles
(commanding), Holmes, and Ross, Seventh Infantry, and Captain Screven,
commanding Eighth Infantry; to Lieutenant-Colonel Walker, captain of
rifles; Major Chevalier and Captain McCulloch, of the Texan, and Captain
Blanchard, of the Louisiana, Volunteers; to Lieutenant Mackall,
commanding battery; Roland, Martin, Hays, Irons, Clark, and Curd, horse
artillery; Lieutenant Longstreet, commanding light company, Eighth;
Lieutenant Ayers, artillery battalion, who was among the first in the
assault upon the place and who secured the colors. Each of the officers
named either headed special detachments, columns of attack, storming
parties, or detached guns, and all were conspicuous for conduct and
courage."

It will be perceived that in this list there are twenty-one officers
(besides the medical staff and officers of volunteers) who are highly
commended by General Worth for gallant conduct. That they were justly
entitled to the praise bestowed on them is not doubted; but if I had
recommended all of them to be brevetted, together with all those in the
reports of other generals also in like manner highly commended, the
number of officers in my list submitted for your consideration would
have been probably trebled. Indeed, the whole Army behaved most
gallantly on that occasion. It was deemed proper to discriminate and
select from among the well deserving those who had peculiar claims to
distinction. In making this selection I exercised my best judgment,
regarding the official reports as the authentic source of information.
Six or seven only of the officers named in the foregoing extract from
General Worth's report were placed on the list. A close examination of
the reports will, I think, disclose the ground for the discrimination,
and I hope justify the distinction which I felt it my duty to make.
Without disparagement to Captain Holmes, whose conduct was highly
creditable, it appears to me that a rule of selection which would have
brought him upon the list for promotion by brevet would also have placed
on the same list nearly everyone named with him in General Worth's
report, and many of the reports of other generals not presented in my
report to you of the 19th ultimo. There is not time before the
adjournment of the Senate to make the thorough examination which a due
regard to the relative claims of the gallant officers engaged in the
actions of Monterey would require if the list of brevet promotions is to
be enlarged to this extent. Such enlargement would not accord with my
own views on the subject of bestowing brevet rewards.

There are on file other papers relative to Captain Holmes. They were not
written with reference to his brevet promotion, but for an appointment
in the new regiments. Copies of those are herewith transmitted. The
letter of the Hon. W.P. Mangum inclosing the statement from Generals
Twiggs and Smith is dated the 26th, and my report the 19th ultimo, and
was not, consequently, received at this Department until some days after
the list for brevets was made out and presented to you.

From the facts and recommendations of the official reports of the
actions at Monterey I should not feel warranted in presenting Captain
Holmes for brevet promotion without at the same time including on the
same list many others not recommended in my report of the 19th ultimo;
but as his conduct fell under the immediate observation of General Smith
(General Twiggs commanded in a different part of the town), it may be
proper to regard their statement, received since my former report was
prepared and handed to you, as additional evidence of his gallantry and
of claims to your particular notice. I therefore recommend him to be
promoted major by brevet.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W.L. MARCY,
  _Secretary of War_.




PROCLAMATIONS.


[From Statutes at Large (Little & Brown), Vol. IX, p. 1001.]


BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States approved the 3d
day of March, 1845, entitled "An act regulating commercial intercourse
within the islands of Miquelon and St. Pierre," it is provided that all
French vessels coming directly from those islands, either in ballast or
laden with articles the growth or manufacture of either of said islands,
and which are permitted to be exported therefrom in American vessels,
may be admitted into the ports of the United States on payment of no
higher duties of tonnage or on their cargoes aforesaid than are imposed
on American vessels and on like cargoes imported in American vessels,
provided that this act shall not take effect until the President of the
United States shall have received satisfactory information that similar
privileges have been allowed to American vessels and their cargoes at
said islands by the Government of France and shall have made
proclamation accordingly; and

Whereas satisfactory information has been received by me that similar
privileges have been allowed to American vessels and their cargoes at
said islands by the Government of France:

Now, therefore, I, James K. Polk, President of the United States of
America, do hereby declare and proclaim that all French vessels coming
directly from the islands of Miquelon and St. Pierre, either in ballast
or laden with articles the growth or manufacture of either of said
islands, and which are permitted to be exported therefrom in American
vessels, shall from this date be admitted into the ports of the United
States on payment of no higher duties on tonnage or on their cargoes
aforesaid than are imposed on American vessels and on like cargoes
imported in American vessels.

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, the 20th day of April,
A.D. 1847, and of the Independence of the United States the
seventy-first.

JAMES K. POLK.

By the President:
  JAMES BUCHANAN,
    _Secretary of State_.



BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 24th of
May, 1828, entitled "An act in addition to an act entitled 'An act
concerning discriminating duties of tonnage and impost' and to equalize
the duties on Prussian vessels and their cargoes," it is provided that
upon satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United
States by the government of any foreign nation that no discriminating
duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied in the ports of the
said nation upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United
States, or upon the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in
the same from the United States or from any foreign country, the
President is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that
the foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the
United States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as
respects the vessels of the said foreign nation and the produce,
manufactures, or merchandise imported into the United States in the same
from the said foreign nation or from any other foreign country, the said
suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given
to the President of the United States and to continue so long as the
reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United
States and their cargoes as aforesaid shall be continued, and no longer;
and

Whereas satisfactory evidence has lately been received by me from His
Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, through an official communication of Mr.
Felippe José Pereira Leal, his chargé d'affaires in the United States,
under date of the 25th of October, 1847, that no other or higher duties
of tonnage and impost are imposed or levied in the ports of Brazil upon
vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United States and upon the
produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in the same from the
United States and from any foreign country whatever than are levied on
Brazilian ships and their cargoes in the same ports under like
circumstances:

Now, therefore, I, James K. Polk, President of the United States of
America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts
imposing discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United
States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as respects
the vessels of Brazil and the produce, manufactures, and merchandise
imported into the United States in the same from Brazil and from any
other foreign country whatever, the said suspension to take effect from
the day above mentioned and to continue thenceforward so long as the
reciprocal exemption of the vessels of the United States and the
produce, manufactures, and merchandise imported into Brazil in the same
as aforesaid shall be continued on the part of the Government of Brazil.

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 4th day of
November, A.D. 1847, and the seventy-second of the Independence of the
United States.

JAMES K. POLK.

By the President:
  JAMES BUCHANAN,
    _Secretary of State_.




EXECUTIVE ORDERS.


WASHINGTON, _March 23, 1847_.

The SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

SIR: The Government of Mexico having repeatedly rejected the friendly
overtures of the United States to open negotiations with a view to the
restoration of peace, sound policy and a just regard to the interests of
our own country require that the enemy should be made, as far as
practicable, to bear the expenses of a war of which they are the
authors, and which they obstinately persist in protracting.

It is the right of the conqueror to levy contribution upon the enemy in
their seaports, towns, or provinces which may be in his military
possession by conquest and to apply the same to defray the expenses of
the war. The conqueror possesses the right also to establish a temporary
military government over such seaports, towns, or provinces and to
prescribe the conditions and restrictions upon which commerce with such
places may be permitted. He may, in his discretion, exclude all trade,
or admit it with limitation or restriction, or impose terms the
observance of which will be the condition of carrying it on. One of
these conditions may be the payment of a prescribed rate of duties on
tonnage and imports.

In the exercise of these unquestioned rights of war, I have, on full
consideration, determined to order that all the ports or places in
Mexico which now are or hereafter may be in the actual possession of our
land and naval forces by conquest shall be opened while our military
occupation may continue to the commerce of all neutral nations, as well
as our own, in articles not contraband of war, upon the payment of
prescribed rates of duties, which will be made known and enforced by our
military and naval commanders.

While the adoption of this policy will be to impose a burden on the
enemy, and at the same time to deprive them of the revenue to be derived
from trade at such ports or places, as well as to secure it to
ourselves, whereby the expenses of the war maybe diminished, a just
regard to the general interests of commerce and the obvious advantages
of uniformity in the exercise of these belligerent rights require that
well-considered regulations and restrictions should be prepared for the
guidance of those who may be charged with carrying it into effect.

You are therefore instructed to examine the existing Mexican tariff of
duties and report to me a schedule of articles of trade to be admitted
at such ports or places as may be at any time in our military
possession, with such rates of duty on them and also on tonnage as will
be likely to produce the greatest amount of revenue. You will also
communicate the considerations which may recommend the scale of duties
which you may propose, and will submit such regulations as you may deem
advisable in order to enforce their collection.

As the levy of the contribution proposed is a military right, derived
from the laws of nations, the collection and disbursement of the duties
will be made, under the orders of the Secretary of War and the Secretary
of the Navy, by the military and naval commanders at the ports or places
in Mexico which may be in possession of our arms. The report requested
is therefore necessary in order to enable me to give the proper
directions to the War and Navy Departments.

JAMES K POLK.



TREASURY DEPARTMENT, _March 30, 1847_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: Your instructions of the 23d instant have been received by this
Department, and in conformity thereto I present you herewith, for your
consideration, a scale of duties proposed to be collected as a military
contribution during the war in the ports of Mexico in possession of our
Army or Navy by conquest, with regulations for the ascertainment and
collection of such duties, together with the reasons which appear to me
to recommend their adoption.

It is clear that we must either adopt our own tariff or that of Mexico,
or establish a new system of duties. Our own tariff could not be
adopted, because the Mexican exports and imports are so different from
our own that different rates of duties are indispensable in order to
collect the largest revenue. Thus upon many articles produced in great
abundance here duties must be imposed at the lowest rate in order to
collect any revenue, whereas many of the same articles are not produced
in Mexico, or to a very inconsiderable extent, and would therefore bear
there a much higher duty for revenue. A great change is also rendered
necessary by the proposed exaction of duties on all imports to any
Mexican port in our possession from any other Mexican port occupied by
us in the same manner. This measure would largely increase the revenue
which we might collect. It is recommended, however, for reasons of
obvious safety, that this Mexican coastwise trade should be confined to
our own vessels, as well as the interior trade above any port of entry
in our possession, but that in all other respects the ports of Mexico
held by us should be freely opened at the rate of duties herein
recommended to the vessels and commerce of all the world. The _ad
valorem_ system of duties adopted by us, although by far the most just
and equitable, yet requires an appraisement to ascertain the actual
value of every article. This demands great mercantile skill, knowledge,
and experience, and therefore, for the want of skillful appraisers (a
class of officers wholly unknown in Mexico), could not at once be put
into successful operation there. If also, as proposed, these duties are
to be ascertained and collected as a military contribution through the
officers of our Army and Navy, those brave men would more easily perform
almost any other duty than that of estimating the value of every
description of goods, wares, and merchandise.

The system of specific duties already prevails in Mexico, and may be put
by us into immediate operation; and if, as conceded, specific duties
should be more burdensome upon the people of Mexico, the more onerous
the operation of these duties upon them the sooner it is likely that
they will force their military rulers to agree to a peace. It is certain
that a mild and forbearing system of warfare, collecting no duties in
their ports in our possession on the Gulf and levying no contributions,
whilst our armies purchase supplies from them at high prices, by
rendering the war a benefit to the people of Mexico rather than an
injury has not hastened the conclusion of a peace. It may be, however,
that specific duties, onerous as they are, and heavy contributions,
accompanied by a vigorous prosecution of the war, may more speedily
insure that peace which we have failed to obtain from magnanimous
forbearance, from brilliant victories, or from proffered negotiation.
The duties, however, whilst they may be specific, and therefore more
onerous than _ad valorem_ duties, should not be so high as to defeat
revenue.

It is impossible to adopt as a basis the tariff of Mexico, because the
duties are extravagantly high, defeating importation, commerce, and
revenue and producing innumerable frauds and smuggling. There are also
sixty articles the importation of which into Mexico is strictly
prohibited by their tariff, embracing most of the necessaries of life
and far the greater portion of our products and fabrics.

Among the sixty prohibited articles are sugar, rice, cotton, boots and
half-boots, coffee, nails of all kinds, leather of most kinds, flour,
cotton yarn and thread, soap of all kinds, common earthenware, lard,
molasses, timber of all kinds, saddles of all kinds, coarse woolen
cloth, cloths for cloaks, ready-made clothing of all kinds, salt,
tobacco of all kinds, cotton goods or textures, chiefly such as are made
by ourselves; pork, fresh or salted, smoked or corned; woolen or cotton
blankets or counterpanes, shoes and slippers, wheat and grain of all
kinds. Such is a list of but part of the articles whose importation is
prohibited by the Mexican tariff. These prohibitions should not be
permitted to continue, because they exclude most of our products and
fabrics and prevent the collection of revenue. We turn from the
prohibitions to the actual duties imposed by Mexico. The duties are
specific throughout, and almost universally by weight, irrespective of
value; are generally protective or exorbitant, and without any
discrimination for revenue. The duties proposed to be substituted are
moderate when compared with those imposed by Mexico, being generally
reduced to a standard more than one-half below the Mexican duties. The
duties are also based upon a discrimination throughout for revenue, and,
keeping in view the customs and habits of the people of Mexico, so
different from our own, are fixed in each case at that rate which it is
believed will produce in the Mexican ports the largest amount of
revenue.

In order to realize from this system the largest amount of revenue, it
would be necessary that our Army and Navy should seize every important
port or place upon the Gulf of Mexico or California, or on the Pacific,
and open the way through the interior for the free transit of exports
and imports, and especially that the interior passage through the
Mexican isthmus should be secured from ocean to ocean, for the benefit
of our commerce and that of all the world. This measure, whilst it would
greatly increase our revenue from these duties and facilitate
communication between our forces upon the eastern and western coasts of
Mexico, would probably lead at the conclusion of a peace to results of
incalculable importance to our own commerce and to that of all the
world.

In the meantime the Mexican Government monopoly in tobacco, from which a
considerable revenue is realized by Mexico, together with the culture
there which yields that revenue, should be abolished, so as to diminish
the resources of that Government and augment our own by collecting the
duty upon all the imported tobacco. The Mexican interior transit duties
should also be abolished, and also their internal Government duty on
coin and bullion. The prohibition of exports and the duties upon exports
should be annulled, and especially the heavy export duty on coin and
bullion, so as to cheapen and facilitate the purchase of imports and
permit the precious metals, untaxed, to flow out freely from Mexico into
general circulation. Quicksilver and machinery for working the mines of
precious metals in Mexico, for the same reasons, should also be admitted
duty free, which, with the measures above indicated, would largely
increase the production and circulation of the precious metals, improve
our own commerce and industry and that of all neutral powers.

In thus opening the ports of Mexico to the commerce of the world you
will present to all nations with whom we are at peace the best evidence
of your desire to maintain with them our friendly relations, to render
the war to them productive of as little injury as possible, and even to
advance their interests, so far as it safely can be done, by affording
to them in common with ourselves the advantages of a liberal commerce
with Mexico. To extend this commerce, you will have unsealed the ports
of Mexico, repealed their interior transit duties, which obstruct the
passage of merchandise to and from the coast; you will have annulled the
Government duty on coin and bullion and abolished the heavy export
duties on the precious metals, so as to permit them to flow out freely
for the benefit of mankind; you will have expunged the long list of
their prohibited articles and reduced more than one-half their duties on
imports, whilst the freest scope would be left for the mining of the
precious metals. These are great advantages which would be secured to
friendly nations, especially when compared with the exclusion of their
commerce by rigorous blockades. It is true, the duties collected from
these imports would be for the benefit of our own Government, but it is
equally true that the expenses of the war, which Mexico insists upon
prosecuting, are borne exclusively by ourselves, and not by foreign
nations. It can not be doubted but that all neutral nations will see in
the adoption of such a course by you a manifestation of your good will
toward them and a strong desire to advance those just and humane
principles which make it the duty of belligerents, as we have always
contended, to render the war in which they are engaged as little
injurious as practicable to neutral powers.

These duties would not be imposed upon any imports into our own country,
but only upon imports into Mexico, and the tax would fall upon the
people of Mexico in the enhancement to them of the prices of these
imports. Nearly all our own products are excluded by the Mexican tariff
even in time of peace; they are excluded also during the war so far as
we continue the system of blockading any of the ports of Mexico; and
they are also excluded even from the ports not blockaded in possession
of Mexico; whereas the new system would soon open to our commerce all
the ports of Mexico as they shall fall into our military possession.
Neither our own nor foreign merchants are required to send any goods to
Mexico, and if they do so voluntarily it will be because they can make a
profit upon the importation there, and therefore they will have no right
to complain of the duties levied in the ports of Mexico upon the
consumers of those goods--the people of Mexico. The whole money
collected would inure to the benefit of our own Government and people,
to sustain the war and to prevent to that extent new loans and increased
taxation. Indeed, in view of the fact that the Government is thrown upon
the ordinary revenues for peace, with no other additional resources but
loans to carry on the war, the income to be derived from the new system,
which it is believed will be large if these suggestions are adopted,
would be highly important to sustain the credit of the Government, to
prevent the embarrassment of the Treasury, and to save the country from
such ruinous sacrifices as occurred during the last war, including the
inevitable legacy to posterity of a large public debt and onerous
taxation. The new system would not only arrest the expensive transfer
and ruinous drain of specie to Mexico, but would cause it, in duties and
in return for our exports, to reflow into our country to an amount,
perhaps, soon exceeding the $9,000,000 which it had reached in 1835 even
under the restrictive laws of Mexico, thus relieving our own people from
a grievous tax and imposing it where it should fall, upon our enemies,
the people of Mexico, as a contribution levied upon them to conquer a
peace as well as to defray the expenses of the war; whereas by admitting
our exports freely, without duty, into the Mexican ports which we may
occupy from time to time, and affording those goods, including the
necessaries of life, at less than one-half the prices which they had
heretofore paid for them, the war might in time become a benefit instead
of a burden to the people of Mexico, and they would therefore be
unwilling to terminate the contest. It is hoped also that Mexico, after
a peace, will never renew her present prohibitory and protective system,
so nearly resembling that of ancient China or Japan, but that,
liberalized, enlightened, and regenerated by the contact and intercourse
with our people and those of other civilized nations, she will continue
the far more moderate system of duties resembling that prescribed by
these regulations.

In the meantime it is not just that Mexico, by her obstinate persistence
in this contest, should compel us to overthrow our own financial policy
and arrest this great nation in her high and prosperous career. To
reimpose high duties would be alike injurious to ourselves and to all
neutral powers, and, unless demanded by a stern necessity, ungenerous to
those enlightened nations which have adopted cotemporaneously with us a
more liberal commercial policy. The system you now propose of imposing
the burden as far as practicable upon our enemies, the people of Mexico,
and not upon ourselves or upon friendly nations, appears to be most just
in itself, and is further recommended as the only policy which is likely
to hasten the conclusion of a just and honorable peace.

A tonnage duty on all vessels, whether our own or of neutral powers, of
$1 per ton, which is greatly less than that imposed by Mexico, is
recommended in lieu of all port duties and charges. Appended to these
regulations are tables of the rates at which foreign money is fixed by
law, as also a separate table of currencies by usage, in which a
certificate of value is required to be attached to the invoice. There is
also annexed a table of foreign weights and measures reduced to the
standard of the United States, together with blank forms to facilitate
the transaction of business.

It is recommended that the duties herein suggested shall be collected
exclusively in gold or silver coin. These duties can only be collected
as a military contribution through the agency of our brave officers of
the Army and Navy, who will no doubt cheerfully and faithfully collect
and keep these moneys and account for them, not to the Treasury, but to
the Secretaries of War or of the Navy, respectively.

It is recommended that these duties be performed by the commandant of
the port, whether naval or military, aided by the paymaster or purser or
other officer, the accounts of each being countersigned by the other, as
a check upon mistakes or error, in the same manner as is now the case
with the collector and naval officer of our several principal ports,
which has introduced so much order and accuracy in our system. It is
suggested that as in some cases the attention of the commandant of the
port might be necessary for the performance of other duties that he be
permitted to substitute some other officer, making known the fact to the
Secretaries of War or of the Navy, and subject to their direction.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

R.J. WALKER,
  _Secretary of the Treasury_.



WASHINGTON, _March 31, 1847_.

SIR:[15] Being charged by the Constitution with the prosecution of the
existing war with Mexico, I deem it proper, in the exercise of an
undoubted belligerent right, to order that military contributions be
levied upon the enemy in such of their ports or other places as now are
or may be hereafter in the possession of our land and naval forces by
conquest, and that the same be collected and applied toward defraying
the expenses of the war. As one means of effecting this object, the
blockade at such conquered ports will be raised, and they will be opened
to our own commerce and that of all neutral nations in articles not
contraband of war during our military occupation of them, and duties on
tonnage and imports will be levied and collected through the agency of
our military and naval officers in command at such ports, acting under
orders from the War and Navy Departments.

I transmit to you herewith, for your information and guidance, a copy of
a communication addressed by me to the Secretary of the Treasury on the
23d instant, instructing him to examine the existing Mexican tariff and
to report to me, for my consideration, a scale of duties which he would
recommend to be levied on tonnage and imports in such conquered ports,
together with such regulations as he would propose as necessary and
proper in order to carry this policy into effect; and also a copy of the
report of the Secretary of the Treasury made on the 30th instant in
answer to my communication to him. The scale of duties and the
regulations for their collection as military contributions exacted from
the enemy, recommended by the Secretary of the Treasury in this report,
have been approved by me.

You will, after consulting with the Secretary of the Navy, so as to
secure concert of action between the War and Navy Departments, issue
the necessary orders to carry the measure proposed into immediate effect.

JAMES K. POLK.

[Footnote 15: Addressed to the Secretaries of War and of the Navy.]



TREASURY DEPARTMENT, _June 10, 1847_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: In compliance with your directions, I have examined the questions
presented by the Secretary of War in regard to the military
contributions proposed to be levied in Mexico under the tariff and
regulations sanctioned by you on the 31st of March last, and
respectfully recommend the following modifications, namely:

First. On all manufactures of cotton, or of cotton mixed with any other
material except wool, worsted, and silk, in the piece or in any other
form, a duty, as a military contribution, of 30 per cent _ad valorem_.

Second. When goods on which the duties are levied by weight are imported
into said ports in the package, the duties shall be collected on the net
weight only; and in all cases an allowance shall be made for all
deficiencies, leakage, breakage, or damage proved to have actually
occurred during the voyage of importation, and made known before the
goods are warehoused.

Third. The period named in the eighth of said regulations during which
the goods may remain in warehouse before the payment of duties is
extended from thirty to ninety days, and within said period of ninety
days any portion of the said goods on which the duties, as a military
contribution, have been paid may be taken, after such payment, from the
warehouse and entered free of any further duty at any other port or
ports of Mexico in our military possession, the facts of the case, with
a particular description of said goods and a statement that the duties
thereon have been paid, being certified by the proper officer of the
port or ports of reshipment.

Fourth. It is intended to provide by the treaty of peace that all goods
imported during the war into any of the Mexican ports in our military
possession shall be exempt from any new import duty or confiscation by
Mexico in the same manner as if said goods had been imported and paid
the import duties prescribed by the Government of Mexico.

Most respectfully, your obedient servant,

R.J. WALKER,
  _Secretary of the Treasury_.



JUNE 11, 1847.

The modifications as above recommended by the Secretary of the Treasury
are approved by me, and the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the
Navy will give the proper orders to carry them into effect.

JAMES K. POLK.



TREASURY DEPARTMENT, _November 5, 1847_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: The military contributions in the form of duties upon imports into
Mexican ports have been levied by the Departments of War and of the Navy
during the last six months under your order of the 31st of March last,
and in view of the experience of the practical operation of the system
I respectfully recommend the following modifications in some of its
details, which will largely augment the revenue:

That the duty on silk, flax, hemp or grass, cotton, wool, worsted or any
manufactures of the same, or of either or mixtures thereof; coffee,
teas, sugar, molasses, tobacco and all manufactures thereof, including
cigars and cigarritos; glass, china, and stoneware, iron and steel and
all manufactures of either not prohibited, be 30 per cent _ad valorem_;
on copper and all manufactures thereof, tallow, tallow candles, soap,
fish, beef, pork, hams, bacon, tongues, butter, lard, cheese, rice,
Indian corn and meal, potatoes, wheat, rye, oats, and all other grain,
rye meal and oat meal, flour, whale and sperm oil, clocks, boots and
shoes, pumps, bootees and slippers, bonnets, hats, caps, beer, ale,
porter, cider, timber, boards, planks, scantling, shingles, laths,
pitch, tar, rosin, turpentine, spirits of turpentine, vinegar, apples,
ship bread, hides, leather and manufactures thereof, and paper of all
kinds, 20 per cent _ad valorem;_ and these reduced rates shall also
apply to all goods on which the duties are not paid remaining not
exceeding ninety days in deposit in the Mexican ports, introduced under
previous regulations enforcing military contributions.

Yours, most respectfully,

R.J. WALKER,
  _Secretary of the Treasury_.



NOVEMBER 6, 1847.

The modifications as above recommended by the Secretary of the Treasury
are approved by me, and the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the
Navy will give the proper orders to carry them into effect.

JAMES K. POLK.



TREASURY DEPARTMENT, _November 16, 1847_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: With a view to augment the military contributions now collected by
the Departments of War and of the Navy under your order of the 31st of
March last, I recommend that the export duty exacted before the war by
the Government of Mexico be now collected at the port of exportation by
the same officers of the Army or Navy of the United States in the
Mexican ports in our possession who are authorized to collect the import
duties, abolishing, however, the prohibition of export established in
certain cases by the Mexican Government, as also all interior transit
duties; dispensing also with the necessity of any certificate of having
paid any duty to the Mexican Government.

The export duty would then be as follows:

  _____________________________________________________________
                                                      Per cent.
  Gold, coined or wrought                                 3
  Silver, coined                                          6
  Silver, wrought, with or without certificate
    of having paid any duty to the Mexican Government     7
  Silver, refined or pure, wrought in ingots,
    with or without certificate of having paid
    the Mexican Government duty                           7
  Gold, unwrought or in a state of ore or dust            3
  Silver, unwrought or in a state of ore                  7
  _____________________________________________________________

Where gold or silver in any form is taken from any interior Mexican city
in our military possession, the export duty must be paid there to the
officer of the United States commanding, and his certificate of such
prepayment must be produced at the Mexican port of exportation;
otherwise a double duty will be collected upon the arrival of such gold
or silver at the Mexican port of exportation. Whenever it is
practicable, all internal taxes of every description, whether upon
persons or property, exacted by the Government of Mexico, or by any
department, town, or city thereof, should be collected by our military
officers in possession and appropriated as a military contribution
toward defraying the expenses of the war, excluding however, all duties
on the transit of goods from one department to another, which duties,
being prejudicial to revenue and restrictive of the exchange of imports
for exports, were abolished by your order of the 31st of March last.

Yours, most respectfully,

R.J. WALKER
  _Secretary of the Treasury_.



NOVEMBER 16, 1847.

The modifications and military contributions as above recommended by the
Secretary of the Treasury are approved by me, and the Secretary of War
and the Secretary of the Navy will give the proper orders to carry them
into effect.

JAMES K. POLK.




THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.


WASHINGTON, _December 7, 1847_.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:

The annual meeting of Congress is always an interesting event. The
representatives of the States and of the people come fresh from their
constituents to take counsel together for the common good.

After an existence of near three-fourths of a century as a free and
independent Republic, the problem no longer remains to be solved whether
man is capable of self-government. The success of our admirable system
is a conclusive refutation of the theories of those in other countries
who maintain that a "favored few" are born to rule and that the mass of
mankind must be governed by force. Subject to no arbitrary or hereditary
authority, the people are the only sovereigns recognized by our
Constitution.

Numerous emigrants, of every lineage and language, attracted by the
civil and religious freedom we enjoy and by our happy condition,
annually crowd to our shores, and transfer their heart, not less than
their allegiance, to the country whose dominion belongs alone to the
people.

No country has been so much favored, or should acknowledge with deeper
reverence the manifestations of the divine protection. An all-wise
Creator directed and guarded us in our infant struggle for freedom and
has constantly watched over our surprising progress until we have become
one of the great nations of the earth.

It is in a country thus favored, and under a Government in which the
executive and legislative branches hold their authority for limited
periods alike from the people, and where all are responsible to their
respective constituencies, that it is again my duty to communicate with
Congress upon the state of the Union and the present condition of public
affairs.

During the past year the most gratifying proofs are presented that our
country has been blessed with a widespread and universal prosperity.
There has been no period since the Government was founded when all the
industrial pursuits of our people have been more successful or when
labor in all branches of business has received a fairer or better
reward. From our abundance we have been enabled to perform the pleasing
duty of furnishing food for the starving millions of less favored
countries.

In the enjoyment of the bounties of Providence at home such as have
rarely fallen to the lot of any people, it is cause of congratulation
that our intercourse with all the powers of the earth except Mexico
continues to be of an amicable character.

It has ever been our cherished policy to cultivate peace and good will
with all nations, and this policy has been steadily pursued by me.

No change has taken place in our relations with Mexico since the
adjournment of the last Congress. The war in which the United States
were forced to engage with the Government of that country still
continues.

I deem it unnecessary, after the full exposition of them contained in my
message of the 11th of May, 1846, and in my annual message at the
commencement of the session of Congress in December last, to reiterate
the serious causes of complaint which we had against Mexico before she
commenced hostilities.

It is sufficient on the present occasion to say that the wanton
violation of the rights of person and property of our citizens committed
by Mexico, her repeated acts of bad faith through a long series of
years, and her disregard of solemn treaties stipulating for indemnity to
our injured citizens not only constituted ample cause of war on our
part, but were of such an aggravated character as would have justified
us before the whole world in resorting to this extreme remedy. With an
anxious desire to avoid a rupture between the two countries, we forbore
for years to assert our clear rights by force, and continued to seek
redress for the wrongs we had suffered by amicable negotiation in the
hope that Mexico might yield to pacific counsels and the demands of
justice. In this hope we were disappointed. Our minister of peace sent
to Mexico was insultingly rejected. The Mexican Government refused even
to hear the terms of adjustment which he was authorized to propose, and
finally, under wholly unjustifiable pretexts, involved the two countries
in war by invading the territory of the State of Texas, striking the
first blow, and shedding the blood of our citizens on our own soil.

Though the United States were the aggrieved nation, Mexico commenced the
war, and we were compelled in self-defense to repel the invader and to
vindicate the national honor and interests by prosecuting it with vigor
until we could obtain a just and honorable peace.

On learning that hostilities had been commenced by Mexico I promptly
communicated that fact, accompanied with a succinct statement of our
other causes of complaint against Mexico, to Congress, and that body, by
the act of the 13th of May, 1846, declared that "by the act of the
Republic of Mexico a state of war exists between that Government and the
United States." This act declaring "the war to exist by the act of the
Republic of Mexico," and making provision for its prosecution "to a
speedy and successful termination," was passed with great unanimity by
Congress, there being but two negative votes in the Senate and but
fourteen in the House of Representatives.

The existence of the war having thus been declared by Congress, it
became my duty under the Constitution and the laws to conduct and
prosecute it. This duty has been performed, and though at every stage of
its progress I have manifested a willingness to terminate it by a just
peace, Mexico has refused to accede to any terms which could be accepted
by the United States consistently with the national honor and interest.

The rapid and brilliant successes of our arms and the vast extent of the
enemy's territory which had been overrun and conquered before the close
of the last session of Congress were fully known to that body. Since
that time the war has been prosecuted with increased energy, and, I am
gratified to state, with a success which commands universal admiration.
History presents no parallel of so many glorious victories achieved by
any nation within so short a period. Our Army, regulars and volunteers,
have covered themselves with imperishable honors. Whenever and wherever
our forces have encountered the enemy, though he was in vastly superior
numbers and often intrenched in fortified positions of his own selection
and of great strength, he has been defeated. Too much praise can not be
bestowed upon our officers and men, regulars and volunteers, for their
gallantry, discipline, indomitable courage, and perseverance, all
seeking the post of danger and vying with each other in deeds of noble
daring.

While every patriot's heart must exult and a just national pride animate
every bosom in beholding the high proofs of courage, consummate military
skill, steady discipline, and humanity to the vanquished enemy exhibited
by our gallant Army, the nation is called to mourn over the loss of many
brave officers and soldiers, who have fallen in defense of their
country's honor and interests. The brave dead met their melancholy fate
in a foreign land, nobly discharging their duty, and with their
country's flag waving triumphantly in the face of the foe. Their
patriotic deeds are justly appreciated, and will long be remembered by
their grateful countrymen. The parental care of the Government they
loved and served should be extended to their surviving families.

Shortly after the adjournment of the last session of Congress the
gratifying intelligence was received of the signal victory of Buena
Vista, and of the fall of the city of Vera Cruz, and with it the strong
castle of San Juan de Ulloa, by which it was defended. Believing that
after these and other successes so honorable to our arms and so
disastrous to Mexico the period was propitious to afford her another
opportunity, if she thought proper to embrace it, to enter into
negotiations for peace, a commissioner was appointed to proceed to the
headquarters of our Army with full powers to enter upon negotiations and
to conclude a just and honorable treaty of peace. He was not directed to
make any new overtures of peace, but was the bearer of a dispatch from
the Secretary of State of the United States to the minister of foreign
affairs of Mexico, in reply to one received from the latter of the 22d
of February, 1847, in which the Mexican Government was informed of his
appointment and of his presence at the headquarters of our Army, and
that he was invested with full powers to conclude a definitive treaty of
peace whenever the Mexican Government might signify a desire to do so.
While I was unwilling to subject the United States to another indignant
refusal, I was yet resolved that the evils of the war should not be
protracted a day longer than might be rendered absolutely necessary by
the Mexican Government.

Care was taken to give no instructions to the commissioner which could
in any way interfere with our military operations or relax our energies
in the prosecution of the war. He possessed no authority in any manner
to control these operations. He was authorized to exhibit his
instructions to the general in command of the Army, and in the event of
a treaty being concluded and ratified on the part of Mexico he was
directed to give him notice of that fact. On the happening of such
contingency, and on receiving notice thereof, the general in command was
instructed by the Secretary of War to suspend further active military
operations until further orders. These instructions were given with a
view to intermit hostilities until the treaty thus ratified by Mexico
could be transmitted to Washington and receive the action of the
Government of the United States. The commissioner was also directed on
reaching the Army to deliver to the general in command the dispatch
which he bore from the Secretary of State to the minister of foreign
affairs of Mexico, and on receiving it the general was instructed by the
Secretary of War to cause it to be transmitted to the commander of the
Mexican forces, with a request that it might be communicated to his
Government.

The commissioner did not reach the headquarters of the Army until after
another brilliant victory had crowned our arms at Cerro Gordo.

The dispatch which he bore from the Secretary of War to the general in
command of the Army was received by that officer, then at Jalapa, on the
7th of May, 1847, together with the dispatch from the Secretary of State
to the minister of foreign affairs of Mexico, having been transmitted to
him from Vera Cruz. The commissioner arrived at the headquarters of the
Army a few days afterwards. His presence with the Army and his
diplomatic character were made known to the Mexican Government from
Puebla on the 12th of June, 1847, by the transmission of the dispatch
from the Secretary of State to the minister of foreign affairs of
Mexico.

Many weeks elapsed after its receipt, and no overtures were made nor was
any desire expressed by the Mexican Government to enter into
negotiations for peace.

Our Army pursued its march upon the capital, and as it approached it was
met by formidable resistance. Our forces first encountered the enemy,
and achieved signal victories in the severely contested battles of
Contreras and Churubusco. It was not until after these actions had
resulted in decisive victories and the capital of the enemy was within
our power that the Mexican Government manifested any disposition to
enter into negotiations for peace, and even then, as events have proved,
there is too much reason to believe they were insincere, and that in
agreeing to go through the forms of negotiation the object was to gain
time to strengthen the defenses of their capital and to prepare for
fresh resistance.

The general in command of the Army deemed it expedient to suspend
hostilities temporarily by entering into an armistice with a view to the
opening of negotiations. Commissioners were appointed on the part of
Mexico to meet the commissioner on the part of the United States. The
result of the conferences which took place between these functionaries
of the two Governments was a failure to conclude a treaty of peace.

The commissioner of the United States took with him the project of a
treaty already prepared, by the terms of which the indemnity required by
the United States was a cession of territory.

It is well known that the only indemnity which it is in the power of
Mexico to make in satisfaction of the just and long-deferred claims of
our citizens against her and the only means by which she can reimburse
the United States for the expenses of the war is a cession to the United
States of a portion of her territory. Mexico has no money to pay, and no
other means of making the required indemnity. If we refuse this, we can
obtain nothing else. To reject indemnity by refusing to accept a cession
of territory would be to abandon all our just demands, and to wage the
war, bearing all its expenses, without a purpose or definite object.

A state of war abrogates treaties previously existing between the
belligerents and a treaty of peace puts an end to all claims for
indemnity for tortious acts committed under the authority of one
government against the citizens or subjects of another unless they are
provided for in its stipulations. A treaty of peace which would
terminate the existing war without providing for indemnity would enable
Mexico, the acknowledged debtor and herself the aggressor in the war, to
relieve herself from her just liabilities. By such a treaty our citizens
who hold just demands against her would have no remedy either against
Mexico or their own Government. Our duty to these citizens must forever
prevent such a peace, and no treaty which does not provide ample means
of discharging these demands can receive my sanction.

A treaty of peace should settle all existing differences between the two
countries. If an adequate cession of territory should be made by such a
treaty, the United States should release Mexico from all her liabilities
and assume their payment to our own citizens. If instead of this the
United States were to consent to a treaty by which Mexico should again
engage to pay the heavy amount of indebtedness which a just indemnity to
our Government and our citizens would impose on her, it is notorious
that she does not possess the means to meet such an undertaking. From
such a treaty no result could be anticipated but the same irritating
disappointments which have heretofore attended the violations of similar
treaty stipulations on the part of Mexico. Such a treaty would be but a
temporary cessation of hostilities, without the restoration of the
friendship and good understanding which should characterize the future
intercourse between the two countries.

That Congress contemplated the acquisition of territorial indemnity when
that body made provision for the prosecution of the war is obvious.
Congress could not have meant when, in May, 1846, they appropriated
$10,000,000 and authorized the President to employ the militia and naval
and military forces of the United States and to accept the services of
50,000 volunteers to enable him to prosecute the war, and when, at their
last session, and after our Army had invaded Mexico, they made
additional appropriations and authorized the raising of additional
troops for the same purpose, that no indemnity was to be obtained from
Mexico at the conclusion of the war; and yet it was certain that if no
Mexican territory was acquired no indemnity could be obtained. It is
further manifest that Congress contemplated territorial indemnity from
the fact that at their last session an act was passed, upon the
Executive recommendation, appropriating $3,000,000 with that express
object. This appropriation was made "to enable the President to conclude
a treaty of peace, limits, and boundaries with the Republic of Mexico,
to be used by him in the event that said treaty, when signed by the
authorized agents of the two Governments and duly ratified by Mexico,
shall call for the expenditure of the same or any part thereof." The
object of asking this appropriation was distinctly stated in the several
messages on the subject which I communicated to Congress. Similar
appropriations made in 1803 and 1806, which were referred to, were
intended to be applied in part consideration for the cession of
Louisiana and the Floridas. In like manner it was anticipated that in
settling the terms of a treaty of "limits and boundaries" with Mexico a
cession of territory estimated to be of greater value than the amount of
our demands against her might be obtained, and that the prompt payment
of this sum in part consideration for the territory ceded, on the
conclusion of a treaty and its ratification on her part, might be an
inducement with her to make such a cession of territory as would be
satisfactory to the United States; and although the failure to conclude
such a treaty has rendered it unnecessary to use any part of the
$3,000,000 appropriated by that act, and the entire sum remains in the
Treasury, it is still applicable to that object should the contingency
occur making such application proper.

The doctrine of no territory is the doctrine of no indemnity, and if
sanctioned would be a public acknowledgment that our country was wrong
and that the war declared by Congress with extraordinary unanimity was
unjust and should be abandoned--an admission unfounded in fact and
degrading to the national character.

The terms of the treaty proposed by the United States were not only just
to Mexico, but, considering the character and amount of our claims, the
unjustifiable and unprovoked commencement of hostilities by her, the
expenses of the war to which we have been subjected, and the success
which had attended our arms, were deemed to be of a most liberal
character.

The commissioner of the United States was authorized to agree to the
establishment of the Rio Grande as the boundary from its entrance into
the Gulf to its intersection with the southern boundary of New Mexico,
in north latitude about 32°, and to obtain a cession to the United
States of the Provinces of New Mexico and the Californias and the
privilege of the right of way across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The
boundary of the Rio Grande and the cession to the United States of New
Mexico and Upper California constituted an ultimatum which our
commissioner was under no circumstances to yield.

That it might be manifest, not only to Mexico, but to all other nations,
that the United States were not disposed to take advantage of a feeble
power by insisting upon wresting from her all the other Provinces,
including many of her principal towns and cities, which we had conquered
and held in our military occupation, but were willing to conclude a
treaty in a spirit of liberality, our commissioner was authorized to
stipulate for the restoration to Mexico of all our other conquests.

As the territory to be acquired by the boundary proposed might be
estimated to be of greater value than a fair equivalent for our just
demands, our commissioner was authorized to stipulate for the payment of
such additional pecuniary consideration as was deemed reasonable.

The terms of a treaty proposed by the Mexican commissioners were wholly
inadmissible. They negotiated as if Mexico were the victorious, and not
the vanquished, party. They must have known that their ultimatum could
never be accepted. It required the United States to dismember Texas by
surrendering to Mexico that part of the territory of that State lying
between the Nueces and the Rio Grande, included within her limits by her
laws when she was an independent republic, and when she was annexed to
the United States and admitted by Congress as one of the States of our
Union. It contained no provision for the payment by Mexico of the just
claims of our citizens. It required indemnity to Mexican citizens for
injuries they may have sustained by our troops in the prosecution of the
war. It demanded the right for Mexico to levy and collect the Mexican
tariff of duties on goods imported into her ports while in our military
occupation during the war, and the owners of which had paid to officers
of the United States the military contributions which had been levied
upon them; and it offered to cede to the United States, for a pecuniary
consideration, that part of Upper California lying north of latitude
37°. Such were the unreasonable terms proposed by the Mexican
commissioners.

The cession to the United States by Mexico of the Provinces of New
Mexico and the Californias, as proposed by the commissioner of the
United States, it was believed would be more in accordance with the
convenience and interests of both nations than any other cession of
territory which it was probable Mexico could be induced to make.

It is manifest to all who have observed the actual condition of the
Mexican Government for some years past and at present that if these
Provinces should be retained by her she could not long continue to hold
and govern them. Mexico is too feeble a power to govern these Provinces,
lying as they do at a distance of more than 1,000 miles from her
capital, and if attempted to be retained by her they would constitute
but for a short time even nominally a part of her dominions. This would
be especially the case with Upper California.

The sagacity of powerful European nations has long since directed their
attention to the commercial importance of that Province, and there can
be little doubt that the moment the United States shall relinquish their
present occupation of it and their claim to it as indemnity an effort
would be made by some foreign power to possess it, either by conquest or
by purchase. If no foreign government should acquire it in either of
these modes, an independent revolutionary government would probably be
established by the inhabitants and such foreigners as may remain in or
remove to the country as soon as it shall be known that the United
States have abandoned it. Such a government would be too feeble long to
maintain its separate independent existence, and would finally become
annexed to or be a dependent colony of some more powerful state.

Should any foreign government attempt to possess it as a colony, or
otherwise to incorporate it with itself, the principle avowed by
President Monroe in 1824, and reaffirmed in my first annual message,
that no foreign power shall with our consent be permitted to plant or
establish any new colony or dominion on any part of the North American
continent must be maintained. In maintaining this principle and in
resisting its invasion by any foreign power we might be involved in
other wars more expensive and more difficult than that in which we are
now engaged.

The Provinces of New Mexico and the Californias are contiguous to the
territories of the United States, and if brought under the government of
our laws their resources--mineral, agricultural, manufacturing, and
commercial--would soon be developed.

Upper California is bounded on the north by our Oregon possessions, and
if held by the United States would soon be settled by a hardy,
enterprising, and intelligent portion of our population. The Bay of San
Francisco and other harbors along the Californian coast would afford
shelter for our Navy, for our numerous whale ships, and other merchant
vessels employed in the Pacific Ocean, and would in a short period
become the marts of an extensive and profitable commerce with China and
other countries of the East.

These advantages, in which the whole commercial world would participate,
would at once be secured to the United States by the cession of this
territory; while it is certain that as long as it remains a part of the
Mexican dominions they can be enjoyed neither by Mexico herself nor by
any other nation.

New Mexico is a frontier Province, and has never been of any
considerable value to Mexico. From its locality it is naturally
connected with our Western settlements. The territorial limits of the
State of Texas, too, as defined by her laws before her admission into
our Union, embrace all that portion of New Mexico lying east of the Rio
Grande, while Mexico still claims to hold this territory as a part of
her dominions. The adjustment of this question of boundary is important.

There is another consideration which induced the belief that the Mexican
Government might even desire to place this Province under the protection
of the Government of the United States. Numerous bands of fierce and
warlike savages wander over it and upon its borders. Mexico has been and
must continue to be too feeble to restrain them from committing
depredations, robberies, and murders, not only upon the inhabitants of
New Mexico itself, but upon those of the other northern States of
Mexico. It would be a blessing to all these northern States to have
their citizens protected against them by the power of the United States.
At this moment many Mexicans, principally females and children, are in
captivity among them. If New Mexico were held and governed by the United
States, we could effectually prevent these tribes from committing such
outrages, and compel them to release these captives and restore them to
their families and friends.

In proposing to acquire New Mexico and the Californias, it was known
that but an inconsiderable portion of the Mexican people would be
transferred with them, the country embraced within these Provinces being
chiefly an uninhabited region.

These were the leading considerations which induced me to authorize the
terms of peace which were proposed to Mexico. They were rejected, and,
negotiations being at an end, hostilities were renewed. An assault was
made by our gallant Army upon the strongly fortified places near the
gates of the City of Mexico and upon the city itself, and after several
days of severe conflict the Mexican forces, vastly superior in number to
our own, were driven from the city, and it was occupied by our troops.

Immediately after information was received of the unfavorable result of
the negotiations, believing that his continued presence with the Army
could be productive of no good, I determined to recall our commissioner.
A dispatch to this effect was transmitted to him on the 6th of October
last. The Mexican Government will be informed of his recall, and that in
the existing state of things I shall not deem it proper to make any
further overtures of peace, but shall be at all times ready to receive
and consider any proposals which may be made by Mexico.

Since the liberal proposition of the United States was authorized to be
made, in April last, large expenditures have been incurred and the
precious blood of many of our patriotic fellow-citizens has been shed in
the prosecution of the war. This consideration and the obstinate
perseverance of Mexico in protracting the war must influence the terms
of peace which it may be deemed proper hereafter to accept.

Our arms having been everywhere victorious, having subjected to our
military occupation a large portion of the enemy's country, including
his capital, and negotiations for peace having failed, the important
questions arise, in what manner the war ought to be prosecuted and what
should be our future policy. I can not doubt that we should secure and
render available the conquests which we have already made, and that with
this view we should hold and occupy by our naval and military forces all
the ports, towns, cities, and Provinces now in our occupation or which
may hereafter fall into our possession; that we should press forward our
military operations and levy such military contributions on the enemy as
may, as far as practicable, defray the future expenses of the war.

Had the Government of Mexico acceded to the equitable and liberal terms
proposed, that mode of adjustment would have been preferred. Mexico
having declined to do this and failed to offer any other terms which
could be accepted by the United States, the national honor, no less than
the public interests, requires that the war should be prosecuted with
increased energy and power until a just and satisfactory peace can be
obtained. In the meantime, as Mexico refuses all indemnity, we should
adopt measures to indemnify ourselves by appropriating permanently a
portion of her territory. Early after the commencement of the war New
Mexico and the Californias were taken possession of by our forces. Our
military and naval commanders were ordered to conquer and hold them,
subject to be disposed of by a treaty of peace.

These Provinces are now in our undisputed occupation, and have been so
for many months, all resistance on the part of Mexico having ceased
within their limits. I am satisfied that they should never be
surrendered to Mexico. Should Congress concur with me in this opinion,
and that they should be retained by the United States as indemnity, I
can perceive no good reason why the civil jurisdiction and laws of the
United States should not at once be extended over them. To wait for a
treaty of peace such as we are willing to make, by which our relations
toward them would not be changed, can not be good policy; whilst our own
interest and that of the people inhabiting them require that a stable,
responsible, and free government under our authority should as soon as
possible be established over them. Should Congress, therefore, determine
to hold these Provinces permanently, and that they shall hereafter be
considered as constituent parts of our country, the early establishment
of Territorial governments over them will be important for the more
perfect protection of persons and property; and I recommend that such
Territorial governments be established. It will promote peace and
tranquillity among the inhabitants, by allaying all apprehension that
they may still entertain of being again subjected to the jurisdiction of
Mexico. I invite the early and favorable consideration of Congress to
this important subject.

Besides New Mexico and the Californias, there are other Mexican
Provinces which have been reduced to our possession by conquest. These
other Mexican Provinces are now governed by our military and naval
commanders under the general authority which is conferred upon a
conqueror by the laws of war. They should continue to be held, as a
means of coercing Mexico to accede to just terms of peace. Civil as well
as military officers are required to conduct such a government. Adequate
compensation, to be drawn from contributions levied on the enemy, should
be fixed by law for such officers as may be thus employed. What further
provision may become necessary and what final disposition it may be
proper to make of them must depend on the future progress of the war and
the course which Mexico may think proper hereafter to pursue.

With the views I entertain I can not favor the policy which has been
suggested, either to withdraw our Army altogether or to retire to a
designated line and simply hold and defend it. To withdraw our Army
altogether from the conquests they have made by deeds of unparalleled
bravery, and at the expense of so much blood and treasure, in a just war
on our part, and one which, by the act of the enemy, we could not
honorably have avoided, would be to degrade the nation in its own
estimation and in that of the world. To retire to a line and simply hold
and defend it would not terminate the war. On the contrary, it would
encourage Mexico to persevere and tend to protract it indefinitely. It
is not to be expected that Mexico, after refusing to establish such a
line as a permanent boundary when our victorious Army are in possession
of her capital and in the heart of her country, would permit us to hold
it without resistance. That she would continue the war, and in the most
harassing and annoying forms, there can be no doubt. A border warfare of
the most savage character, extending over a long line, would be
unceasingly waged. It would require a large army to be kept constantly
in the field, stationed at posts and garrisons along such a line, to
protect and defend it. The enemy, relieved from the pressure of our arms
on his coasts and in the populous parts of the interior, would direct
his attention to this line, and, selecting an isolated post for attack,
would concentrate his forces upon it. This would be a condition of
affairs which the Mexicans, pursuing their favorite system of guerrilla
warfare, would probably prefer to any other. Were we to assume a
defensive attitude on such a line, all the advantages of such a state of
war would be on the side of the enemy. We could levy no contributions
upon him, or in any other way make him feel the pressure of the war, but
must remain inactive and await his approach, being in constant
uncertainty at what point on the line or at what time he might make an
assault. He may assemble and organize an overwhelming force in the
interior on his own side of the line, and, concealing his purpose, make
a sudden assault upon some one of our posts so distant from any other as
to prevent the possibility of timely succor or reenforcements, and in
this way our gallant Army would be exposed to the danger of being cut
off in detail; or if by their unequaled bravery and prowess everywhere
exhibited during this war they should repulse the enemy, their numbers
stationed at any one post may be too small to pursue him. If the enemy
be repulsed in one attack, he would have nothing to do but to retreat to
his own side of the line, and, being in no fear of a pursuing army, may
reenforce himself at leisure for another attack on the same or some
other post. He may, too, cross the line between our posts, make rapid
incursions into the country which we hold, murder the inhabitants,
commit depredations on them, and then retreat to the interior before a
sufficient force can be concentrated to pursue him. Such would probably
be the harassing character of a mere defensive war on our part. If our
forces when attacked, or threatened with attack, be permitted to cross
the line, drive back the enemy, and conquer him, this would be again to
invade the enemy's country after having lost all the advantages of the
conquests we have already made by having voluntarily abandoned them.

To hold such a line successfully and in security it is far from being
certain that it would not require as large an army as would be necessary
to hold all the conquests we have already made and to continue the
prosecution of the war in the heart of the enemy's country. It is also
far from being certain that the expenses of the war would be diminished
by such a policy.

I am persuaded that the best means of vindicating the national honor and
interest and of bringing the war to an honorable close will be to
prosecute it with increased energy and power in the vital parts of the
enemy's country.

In my annual message to Congress of December last I declared that--

  The war has not been waged with a view to conquest, but, having been
  commenced by Mexico, it has been carried into the enemy's country and
  will be vigorously prosecuted there with a view to obtain an honorable
  peace, and thereby secure ample indemnity for the expenses of the war,
  as well as to our much-injured citizens, who hold large pecuniary
  demands against Mexico.


Such, in my judgment, continues to be our true policy; indeed, the only
policy which will probably secure a permanent peace.

It has never been contemplated by me, as an object of the war, to make a
permanent conquest of the Republic of Mexico or to annihilate her
separate existence as an independent nation. On the contrary, it has
ever been my desire that she should maintain her nationality, and under
a good government adapted to her condition be a free, independent, and
prosperous Republic. The United States were the first among the nations
to recognize her independence, and have always desired to be on terms of
amity and good neighborhood with her. This she would not suffer. By her
own conduct we have been compelled to engage in the present war. In its
prosecution we seek not her overthrow as a nation, but in vindicating
our national honor we seek to obtain redress for the wrongs she has done
us and indemnity for our just demands against her. We demand an
honorable peace, and that peace must bring with it indemnity for the
past and security for the future. Hitherto Mexico has refused all
accommodation by which such a peace could be obtained.

Whilst our armies have advanced from victory to victory from the
commencement of the war, it has always been with the olive branch of
peace in their hands, and it has been in the power of Mexico at every
step to arrest hostilities by accepting it.

One great obstacle to the attainment of peace has undoubtedly arisen
from the fact that Mexico has been so long held in subjection by one
faction or military usurper after another, and such has been the
condition of insecurity in which their successive governments have been
placed that each has been deterred from making peace lest for this very
cause a rival faction might expel it from power. Such was the fate of
President Herrera's administration in 1845 for being disposed even to
listen to the overtures of the United States to prevent the war, as is
fully confirmed by an official correspondence which took place in the
month of August last between him and his Government, a copy of which is
herewith communicated. "For this cause alone the revolution which
displaced him from power was set on foot" by General Paredes. Such may
be the condition of insecurity of the present Government.

There can be no doubt that the peaceable and well-disposed inhabitants
of Mexico are convinced that it is the true interest of their country to
conclude an honorable peace with the United States, but the apprehension
of becoming the victims of some military faction or usurper may have
prevented them from manifesting their feelings by any public act. The
removal of any such apprehension would probably cause them to speak
their sentiments freely and to adopt the measures necessary for the
restoration of peace. With a people distracted and divided by contending
factions and a Government subject to constant changes by successive
revolutions, the continued successes of our arms may fail to secure a
satisfactory peace. In such event it may become proper for our
commanding generals in the field to give encouragement and assurances of
protection to the friends of peace in Mexico in the establishment and
maintenance of a free republican government of their own choice, able
and willing to conclude a peace which would be just to them and secure
to us the indemnity we demand. This may become the only mode of
obtaining such a peace. Should such be the result, the war which Mexico
has forced upon us would thus be converted into an enduring blessing to
herself. After finding her torn and distracted by factions, and ruled by
military usurpers, we should then leave her with a republican government
in the enjoyment of real independence and domestic peace and prosperity,
performing all her relative duties in the great family of nations and
promoting her own happiness by wise laws and their faithful execution.

If, after affording this encouragement and protection, and after all the
persevering and sincere efforts we have made from the moment Mexico
commenced the war, and prior to that time, to adjust our differences
with her, we shall ultimately fail, then we shall have exhausted all
honorable means in pursuit of peace, and must continue to occupy her
country with our troops, taking the full measure of indemnity into our
own hands, and must enforce the terms which our honor demands.

To act otherwise in the existing state of things in Mexico, and to
withdraw our Army without a peace, would not only leave all the wrongs
of which we complain unredressed, but would be the signal for new and
fierce civil dissensions and new revolutions--all alike hostile to
peaceful relations with the United States. Besides, there is danger, if
our troops were withdrawn before a peace was concluded, that the Mexican
people, wearied with successive revolutions and deprived of protection
for their persons and property, might at length be inclined to yield to
foreign influences and to cast themselves into the arms of some European
monarch for protection from the anarchy and suffering which would ensue.
This, for our own safety and in pursuance of our established policy, we
should be compelled to resist. We could never consent that Mexico should
be thus converted into a monarchy governed by a foreign prince.

Mexico is our near neighbor, and her boundaries are coterminous with our
own through the whole extent across the North American continent, from
ocean to ocean. Both politically and commercially we have the deepest
interest in her regeneration and prosperity. Indeed, it is impossible
that, with any just regard to our own safety, we can ever become
indifferent to her fate.

It may be that the Mexican Government and people have misconstrued or
misunderstood our forbearance and our objects in desiring to conclude an
amicable adjustment of the existing differences between the two
countries. They may have supposed that we would submit to terms
degrading to the nation, or they may have drawn false inferences from
the supposed division of opinion in the United States on the subject of
the war, and may have calculated to gain much by protracting it, and,
indeed, that we might ultimately abandon it altogether without insisting
on any indemnity, territorial or otherwise. Whatever may be the false
impressions under which they have acted, the adoption and prosecution of
the energetic policy proposed must soon undeceive them.

In the future prosecution of the war the enemy must be made to feel its
pressure more than they have heretofore done. At its commencement it was
deemed proper to conduct it in a spirit of forbearance and liberality.
With this end in view, early measures were adopted to conciliate, as far
as a state of war would permit, the mass of the Mexican population; to
convince them that the war was waged, not against the peaceful
inhabitants of Mexico, but against their faithless Government, which had
commenced hostilities; to remove from their minds the false impressions
which their designing and interested rulers had artfully attempted to
make, that the war on our part was one of conquest, that it was a war
against their religion and their churches, which were to be desecrated
and overthrown, and that their rights of person and private property
would be violated. To remove these false impressions, our commanders in
the field were directed scrupulously to respect their religion, their
churches, and their church property, which were in no manner to be
violated; fhey were directed also to respect the rights of persons and
property of all who should not take up arms against us.

Assurances to this effect were given to the Mexican people by
Major-General Taylor in a proclamation issued in pursuance of
instructions from the Secretary of War in the month of June, 1846, and
again by Major-General Scott, who acted upon his own convictions of the
propriety of issuing it, in a proclamation of the 11th of May, 1847. In
this spirit of liberality and conciliation, and with a view to prevent
the body of the Mexican population from taking up arms against us, was
the war conducted on our part. Provisions and other supplies furnished
to our Army by Mexican citizens were paid for at fair and liberal
prices, agreed upon by the parties. After the lapse of a few months it
became apparent that these assurances and this mild treatment had failed
to produce the desired effect upon the Mexican population. While the war
had been conducted on our part according to the most humane and liberal
principles observed by civilized nations, it was waged in a far
different spirit on the part of Mexico. Not appreciating our
forbearance, the Mexican people generally became hostile to the United
States, and availed themselves of every opportunity to commit the most
savage excesses upon our troops. Large numbers of the population took up
arms, and, engaging in guerrilla warfare, robbed and murdered in the
most cruel manner individual soldiers or small parties whom accident or
other causes had separated from the main body of our Army; bands of
guerrilleros and robbers infested the roads, harassed our trains, and
whenever it was in their power cut off our supplies.

The Mexicans having thus shown themselves to be wholly incapable of
appreciating our forbearance and liberality, it was deemed proper to
change the manner of conducting the war, by making them feel its
pressure according to the usages observed under similar circumstances by
all other civilized nations.

Accordingly, as early as the 22d of September, 1846, instructions were
given by the Secretary of War to Major-General Taylor to "draw supplies"
for our Army "from the enemy without paying for them, and to require
contributions for its support, if in that way he was satisfied he could
get abundant supplies for his forces." In directing the execution of
these instructions much was necessarily left to the discretion of the
commanding officer, who was best acquainted with the circumstances by
which he was surrounded, the wants of the Army, and the practicability
of enforcing the measure. General Taylor, on the 26th of October, 1846,
replied from Monterey that "it would have been impossible hitherto, and
is so now, to sustain the Army to any extent by forced contributi