Washington telegraph., 1856-01-23
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
FsLorr- Citizens of the Senote and
Of the House Of Representatives.

Of the House Of Representatives.:
The Constitution of the United States pro
rides that Congress shall assemble annual
" on the first Monday of December, and i
has been usual for the President to make nc
communication of public character to the
Ssrz.e and House of Representatives unit
advised of their readiness to receive it,
have deferred to this usage until the close oil
the first month of the session, but nv con
victi0ns of duty will not permit me longe,
10 pcs.p6ne the discharge of the OBLIGATION
suioinei by the constitution upon the Pres
ident :. to give to the Congress information
of the state of the Union, and recommend to
their consideration such measures as he
shall judge necessary and expedient."
1t is a matter of congratuIation that the
Republic is TRANQUILITY advancing in a career
of prosperity and peace.
FOREIGN RELATIoNs-cENTRAL AMERICA
Whilst relations of amity continue to ex-
ist between the United States and all for
eign powers, with some of them grave oues-
ti0ns are pending. which may require the
consideration of Congress.
OF such questions, the most important is
that which has arisen out of the negotiations
with Great Britain in reference to Cen
traI America
Bv the convention concluded between the
two governments on the 18th of April 1850.
both parties cOvcnanted that IS neither will
4-ci occupy, or fortify. or colonize, or as
sumo, or exercise any dominion over Mic
aragua, Costa Rica. the Mosquito coast, or
anv part of Central America
IL was the undOubted understanding of
the United States in making this treaty. that
all the present States of the former republic
of Central America. and the entire terrific
" Of each, would thenceforth enjoy COM
pIete independence and that both contract
ing parties engaged equally and to the same
extent, for the present and for the future,
that if either then mad any claim of right
in Central America. such claim, and all oc-
cupatIOn or authority under it, were unre-
servedIy Eelinquished by the stipula,ions of
the convention ; and that no dominion was
thereafter to be assumed in any part of Gen.
trail America, by Great Britain or the Unit
ed States
The government consented to restrictions
in regard to "a region of country, wherein
we had specific and peculiar interests only
upon the conviction that the like restrictions
were in tise same sense obligatory on Great
Britain But for this understanding Of the
force and effect of the Convention, 1t would
never have been concluded by us
So clear this understanding on the
part of the United States, that. in correspon-
dence cOntempOraneOus with the ratification
of the convention, it was distinctly express
ed, that the mutual covenants of non-Occu-
patton were not intended to apply to the
British establishment at the Baltic This
qualification is 10 he ascribed To the fact,
that in virtue of successive treaties with
previous s1verelgns of the country. Grea
Britain had obtained IL concession of the
right To cut mahogany OF dye-woods at the
BIlIze, hut with pJsi tive exclusion of all do
main or sovereignty and thus it confirms
the natural construction and understood i'm
port of the treaty as to all the rest of the
region To which the stiPuiafions applied
lt, however. became apparent. at All early
day after entering upon the discharge of my
present functions, that Great Britain still
continued in the exercise OF assertion of
large authority TO I'll tlat part of Central
America commonly called the Mosquito
coast, and covering the entire length OF the
State OF Nicaragua, and part of Costa Rica
that she regarded the Bilize as her absolute
domain. and was gradually extending It's
limits at the expense of the State of Hpndu-
ras; and that slle had formally colonized a
considerable iasuiar group known rs the
Bay Islands, and belonging of right, to tina
State
All these acts or pretensions of Great
BrItaIn- being contrary To the rights of the
States OF Central An .ric... and 10 the mani
test tenor Of her stIpuiiti0ns with the Unit
ed States, as understood ny this government.
have been male the subject Of negotiation
through the American Minister in L1nd IN
transmit herewith the Instructions 10 him
on the subject, and the correspondence be-
tween him and The British Secretary for
Foreign AfIirs. BIZ which YOU will perceive
ilat tn. two z gIseru.nenIs diff.r widely and
irreconcIleably as 20 the construction of the
Convention. and las effect on their respective
relations to Central America.
Grelt Britain 50 constraes the convention
as TO maintain unchanged all her previous
pretensiIns over the Mpsquito coast, and Iu
dIhsrent parts Of Central America These
pretenslOns, to the Mosquito coast, are
founded on the assumption of political re-
latIons between Great Britain and the rem
hant OF a tribe of Indians on that coast, en-
Tered Into at a time when the whole country
was a colonial possession of Spain. Ii
cannot be successfully coatreve-ted, that
oy the public law of Europe and America
no possible act of such indians OF their pre-
decessJrs could confer on Great Britain an,
political rights
Great Britain DOES not allege the assen
oI op1In as the ori Z in Of her claims on tin
N0sqUItO coast Sle has. on the contrary
ny repeated and successive treaties, renewe,
and reIIlqalsiled all pretensions of aer own
anu recognized the full ani sovereign rig ut:
VI u opLln IN the most unequivOcai terms
let taess pretelsIOns. So without soli'
ioandt''on IN Fhe bsgianing, 4nd thus re
P@tOTuis 12lured. we're a. recent period
Revived ly Great Britain against tae Ceatri
American States. the ie,-i5iinafe success1
10 all the aneie ii it, N, N.
region fhey were first applied only I'd
defined Par' of the e1ast uf Ni,,r,.,,,,. a.
terwards 10 ii'e whole ri its At!antic c.r,ss
and lastly to part of Costa Rica and the
are now re-asserted to this extent. notwitb
standing engagements to the United States