The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1856-01-09
The Presidents Message.

ton on the olSt ut.. the president sent MS an
nual message to the senate, with preface tbs
n be had delayed sending it until that time
i consequence OF the non organisation OF ii
10 house; but that his convictions Of duty to th
y country would not permit him any longer
is delay laying before congress information whic
d he had TO communicate un the state ofthe Tn
5 on, and recommending the adoption of sue
D. measures as he judges TO be necessary and es
e pedient for its welfare. - He commences by ez
= pressing satisfaction at being able TO announc
!; that relations of amity continue between the Q
S States and all foreign powers; but observe
S that with some of the latter there are yer
S grave questions pending, to which early an
e energetic action on the part of congress may b
n required.
The most important of these arise out of ques
5 tons connected with Central America. and TIL
Z. president goes into the history of the Clayton
S Bulwer treaty, and argues our construction 0
v that document in accordance with the views Q
5 Cas- and Clayton. England is charged viii
e having directly violated that treaty by main
e tanning the Mosquito protectorate and the gov.
eminent of the Ruatan colonies. The subjec
t has been for some time under negotiation be
; tween the two governments; but they diffe
? very widely and apparently irreconciabiy il
their constructions, and intimates that Grea
| Britain is unfair in her pretensons. She is re
presented to have contended that the treaty was
, intended 10 operate only prospectively, and thai
t it does not require herto abandon her previous
possessions. rights or privileges. 1t is mpos.
sible that the United States could acquiesce in
such construction; but he hopes that a peace.
full solution of the difficulty is yet practicable
No measures or steps, however, are suggested
/ BY the president. He insists that it was the
understanding of the United States, in making
| the treaty, that the states formerly composing
! the republic of Central America should thence
forth enjoy complete independence of action,
and that the United States and England engag-
ed equally for the present and future; that if
either Of them had any claim or right of CON
troll, it was unresevedly relinquished;. and that
neither should thereafter exercise influence or
dominion in any part of that region. This gov.
eminent consented to these restrictions. in re
gard to a country wherein wehad specific and
peculiar interests, -only upon heconviction that
they were binding in the same sense upon Great
Britain. Otherwise we would never have con
sented to them. But her majesty SO construes
the treaty as to maintain unimpaired all her
previous pretensions over the Mosquito coast.
These pretensions are founded upon the as
sumption of political relations with the remnant
ofthe Indians of the coast, which were entered
into when the whole country was subject to
Spain This assumption being contrary to the
rights of the Central American states, as I'M
dtrstood by us, had been the subject Of negoti-
alton through our minister at London. Not
outstanding Great Britain has by repeated
acts renounced all pretensions of her own and
recognised the full rights of Spain in the most
unequis ocal terms. she now resorts to the as
sertion of rights to this extent on the gulf-coast
along the eastern shore of Nicaragua Her in
reference, once exerted in the form of a mill
itself in the form of a protectorate of the Mos !
quito Indians. The president denies that at
the date of the Clayton Bulwer treaty Great
Britain had any other possessions in the region |
referred to than limited establishment at Be |
lze, and states that her majesty's government
admits no reason for the interruption Of peace
full relations on. account of these differences of
opinion. He has reasons to apprehend that G. |
Britain is in actual possession Of the disputed /
territories; and this international difficulty could
not long remain without involving serious peril .
to The friendly relations which is the interest of
both countries to maintain and preserve.
He next alludes to the violation of our neu-
trality laws by Great Britain in recruiting sol
diers in the United States for her army, and
denounces the deed as a violation of our SOW.
ereign rights as ration, as well as our NUM-
cipal law, and complains that it was pursued
BY high official functionaries in full view of the
wrong being perpetrated. The cause Of com
plant, he says, was the fact that the conduct
pursued, not of merely casual occurrence, but
of deliberate design. entered upon with full
of our laws and national policy and
conducted by responsible public functonaries.
This has compelled him to present the case to
the British government, in order not only to Sc
cure cessation Of the wrong, but also repara-
ton. The subject remains unadjusted.
He refers to the boundary between Wash
ington territory and British North America, and
recommends the appointment of Joint COM
mission to establish the line; he thinks there is
danger of a collision there, and intimates the
of buying out the claims of the Puget
sound company.
The message next treats of Kansas affairs.
It states that disorders have occurred there,
but nothing to Justify executive interference.
That, it is remarked, could be proper only in
cases of obstruction to federal laws or of or
ganized resistance to territorial laws, assuming
the character Of instruction. in which events,
the president says, it would become his duty
promptly TO meet and suppress them. The
people, lie remarks, must be protected in the +
exercise Of their rights without interference on
the part of the people of any other state. He
commends the subject to the early attention of
He eulogizes the doctrine of popu-
lar sovereignty, and gives history of the for
nation of our union. Enlarges on state rights
with particular reference to slavery and the flu
gitive slave law, regards the agitation of the
slavery question as dangerous to the durabilI-
ty of the union. regrets to see states violating Il
constitutional obligations and refusing to obey
the laws of congress, denies that the southern
states have obtained any advantage over the
north in the administration of the federal gov
refers to the ordinance of 1887, and
the acquisition of Louisiana, In their effects up
on the balance of power between the slave and
free states, carrying his review downto the an
nexation of Texas and the repeal of the Mis-
souri, compromise, and argues that the south
has obtained no more than what constitution