The Union and eastern journal. [volume] (Biddeford [Me.]) 1854-1858, 1856-01-11
MARCUS WATSON, Printer.
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
FtllO,r Ciii:ns et'ihs Senafe and

Dttn urull lOr tIlc Irtrlucut w haAc w
communication Of a public character to tn
Senate and House Of Representatives unit
advised Of their readiness TO receive it.
have deferred TO this usage until the close o
the first month of the session, but my con
yictions Of duty will not permit me longer Il
postpone the discharge Of the obligation en-
joined by the Constitution upon the Presi
dent /" 10 give 10 the Congress information
Of the state of the Union, and recommend Il
their consideration such measures as he shal
judge necessary and expedient."
Ii is u matter Of oongratulation that th'
Republic is TRANQUILITY advancing in a careeI
Of prosperity and peace.
foREIGS RELArIoSS-CESTRAL AMERICA.
Whilst relations of amity continue to ox
list between the United States and all foreign
powers, with some of them grave questions
are depending, which may require the con
sidention of Congress.
of such questions, the most important il
that which haSarisen out of the negotiation
with Great Britain in reference to Centa
America.
BY the convention concluded between. tn,
two governments ON the 10Th Of April, 1850
both parties cOyenantcd. that " neither viii
cyer"" occupy, or fortily, or eolonize, or
assume or exercise any dominion over Nicar
aqua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito Coast, ol
any part of Central America"
lt was the undoubted understanding OF
the United States, in making this treaty
that all the present States of the former Re
public Of Central America, and the entir,
territory Of each, would thenceforth enjoy
complete independence and that both con-
tracing parties engaged equally, and to the
same extent, for the present and for the fu-
ture that il either then had any claim OF
right in Central America, such claim, and
all occupation or authority under il, were
unreservcdly relinquished by the stipulations
of the convention; and that no dominion
was thereafter 10 be exercised OF assumed in
any part Of Central America, by Great
Britain or the United States.
This government consented to restrictions
in regard to region of country, wherein
we had specific and peculiar interests, only
upon the conviction that the like restrictions
were in the same sense obligatory on Great
Britain. But for this understanding of the
force and effect OF the convention, il would
never have been concluded by Us.
So clear was this understanding on the
part of the United States, that, in CORES
pondence cOntemporaneOus with the ratiiica-
tion of the convention, il was distinctly ex-
pressed, that the mutual covenants of non
occupations were not intended 10 apply To
the British establishment at the Balize.-
This qualification is to he ascribed to the
fact, that. in virtue of successive treaties
with previous soyereigns of the country,
Great Britain had obtained n concession Oi
the right to cut mahogony or dye-woods AT
the Balile, but with positive exclusion ofall
domain or sovereignty and thus il confirms
the natural construction and understood i'm.
port of the treaty as 10 all the rest of the
region to which the stipulationS applied.
Ii however, became apparent, at an early
day after entering upon the discharge OF my
present functions, that Great Britain still
continued in the exercise or assertion oi
large authority in all that part of Central
America commonly called the Mosquito
coast, and covering the entire length OF thC
State Of Nicaragua, and part of Costa
Rica that she regarded the Balize as her
absolute domain, and was gradually extend.
ing its limits at the expense of the State oI
Honduras and that she had formally col
onized considerable insular group known
as the Bay Islands, and belonging of right
to that State
All these acts or pretcntiOns of Great
Britain, being contrary to the rights of the
States of Central America, and to the mani
fest tenor Other stipulations with the United
States, as understood by this government,
have been made the subject of negotiation
through the American Minister at London.
l transmit herewith the instructions TO him
on the subject, and the correspondence be-
tween him and the British Secretary for For
eign Affairs, by which you will perceive that
the two governments differ widely and ir-
reconcilably as the construction of the con-
vention, and its effects on their respective
relations to Central America.
Great Britain so construes the convention
rs 20 main tain unchanged all her previous
petcntions Ser the Mosquito coast, and in
different parts OF Central America. Thesc
pretentions, as To the Mosquito coast, ar
founded ON the asSump! zion of political rela'
tion between Great Britain and the rene
nant Of a tribe Of Indians ON that coast, en-
tered into at time when the whole country
was colonial possession of II 0in. lt can
not b. successfully controvertt u, that, by
the public law of Europe and \ merica, ne
possible act OF such Indians or their prede-
ccssors could confer on Great Brita IN any
political rights.
Great Britain does not allegc the assent
Of Spain as the origin of her claims ON the
Mosquito coast. She has, on the contrary,
by repeated and successive tryaties, renolinc-
cd and relinquished all pretentions of her
own, and recognized the full and soverei On
rights OF Spain in the most unequivooil
terms. Yet these pretentiOns, 50 without
solid foundation in the beginning, and thus
repeatedly abjured, were, at a recent period
revived by Great Britain against the Central
American States, the legitimate succcSsOrs
20 all the ancient jurisdiction Of Spain in
that region. They were first applied only
10 defined part Of the coast of Nicaragua,
afterwards TO the whole of its Atlantic coast,
and lastly TO n part Of the coast OF Costa
Rica ; and they are now rcaSerted To this
extent, Notwithstanding engagements to the
United States.
On the eastern coast of Nicamgua and
Costa Rica, the interference Of Great Britain
though exerted at one time in the form OF
military occupation Of the port Of San Juan
del NOrtc, then in the peaceful possession ol
the appropriate authorities Of the Central
American States, Is now presented by her as
the rightiul exercise of n protectorship ovei
the Mosquito tribe of Indians.
But the establishment at the Balire, nov
reaching Gar beyond its treaty limits into tn,
State of Honduras, and that Of the Bay
Islands, appertaining Of right to the same
State, arc as distinctly colonial governments
as those Of Jamaica or Canada, and there
fore contrary 10 the very letter as well a'
the spirit Of the convention with the United
States, Us il was at the time Of MITIGATION,
and now Is, understood by this Government
The Interpretation which the British gov.