The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1856-01-02
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
~. ,.i,i.ens nf fk, .Sfnatf ard

,,srrss shall assemble annually on the first
wSrd.v of December, and Il has been usual for
the President to maze no cohmunieanon OF pub
w. character 10 the Senate and House Of Repre-
until advised of their readiness to receive
have deferred to this usage until the close OF
H. n frst month OF the session, but my convictions
,f duty will not permit me longer 10 postpone the
tscharcc OF the obligation enloined by the cpnsti-
ion mon the President ITO give TO the Congress
'rtormasion OF the state of the Union and recon-
,ond 10 their consideration such measures as ne
bsu iudge necessary and expedent.
I, i q matter of congratuation that the kepuohe
= ,ranouily advancing in career OF prosperity
and peace .. ...,,,., ,,,.xr,,, ,,,p,,c,
vhiIs, relations of amity continue to exist be-
,-oen the United States and all foreign powers,
With some of them grave questions arc depending
,vbich NAV require the consideration of Congress.
of such questions the most important is that,
,bich has arisen out of the negotiations with Great
nri,sin in reference to Central America.
~, the convention concluded between the two
,o,arnments on the 10th of April 1850, both par
TICS covcnantcd, that neither will ever" occu-
ny or fortifv, or coonize, or assume or exercise
any dominion over, Nicaragua, Costa Rca the
M6Sduto coast, or any part OF Central America.
TWAS the undoubted understanding of the Uni
tod States in making this treaty that all the pre-
..n States Of the former republic of Central Amer
ica and the entire territory of each, would thence
forth enjoy complete independence and that both
contracting parties engaged equally, and to the
same extent. for the present and for the future,
that if either of them had any claim of right to
Central America, such claim and all occupation or
authority under il, were unreServedly reinquished
ly the stipulatons of the conventions; and that no
dominion was thereafter 10 be eX ercised or as.
sum,d in any part of Central America, by Great
Britain or the United States
This Gov ernmcnt consented 10 restrictions III
REGARD 10 a region OF country, wherein we lad
specific and peculiar interests, only upon the CON
ylctiun that the like restrictions were i'll the same
san,e obligatory on Great Bril.in But for this
l. 4pfIp af nO al
,.eutiou it would have never been concluded by
so clear was this understanding the part Of
The United States, that, IN correspondence CON
temuoraneous with the ratification OF the eOnvCn-
to- II was distinctly expressed, that the mutual
covenants of non-occupaton were not intended to
apply 10 the British establishment at the BaliZc.-
This qualification is to be ascribcd to the fact hat
in virtue Of successive treaties with previous
ereies of the country, Great Britain had obtained
q concession of the right to cut mahogany or dye
woods Al the Balze but with positive exclusion OF
all dominion or sovereignty; aud thus II confirms
the natural construction and understood import of
she treaty all the rest OF the region TO which
the stIpulatlOnS applied.
= 1t. however. became apparent, at an early day
after entering upon the discharge of any present
functions that Great Britain still continued in the
exercise assertion of large authority in all that
part of Central America commonly called the
Mosquito coast. and covering the entire length of
the State OF Nicaragua, ana d part OF Costa Rlca
that she regarded the Balize Is her absolute do
s4an. and was gradually extending its limits at
fk. expense of the State of Honduras and that she
Aad formerly coonizcd a considerable insular group
known the Bay Islands, and belonging, OF right,
70 tf&t state
All these acts of pretensions of Great Britain,
being contrary to the rights of the States of Cen
fgal America, and to the manifest tenor of her sti
ful4tions with the United States, as understood by
fhis government, have been made the subject of
pegOtis&ion through the American Minister at Lon
DON. ] transmit herewith the instructions TO him
on the subject and the correspondence between
him and the British Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
by which you wifi perceive that the two govern
rnahts differ widely and irreconcilably as to the
l.Gnstr,sction of the convention andits effect on
their Respective relations to Central America.
Great Britain CONSTITUTES the convention, as to
maintain unchanged all her previous pretensons
the Mosquito coast, and in different parts of
Central America. These pretensions, as to the
Mosquito coast are founded on the assumption of
political relation between Great Britain and the
remnant of a tribe of Indians that coast enter
ed into at a time when the whole country was a
Colonial possession OF Spain 1t cannst be success
fully contrOverted, that, by the public law of Eu-
rI5pe ahd America no possible act of such Indians
or their predecessors could confer on Great Britain
any political rigAtr
Great Britain does not allege the assent Of Spain
a. the origin of her claims on the Nusquito ceast
She has, on the contrary, by repeated and success,
aiYe treaties, renounced and relinqushed all pre-
G@Krions Of her OVID, and recognized the full and
sovereign rights of Spain in the most unequvocal
termS. let these pretensionS. without solid
foundation in the beginning, and thus repeatedly
abiured were, at recent period, revived by
Great Britain against the Central American
States, the legitimate successors to all the ancient
jarisdicton of Spain in that region. They were
rfx applied only to a defined part OF the coasts of
Nicaragua afterwards to the whole of its Atlantic
coast, and lastly to part of the coast of Costa
ffica ana they are now reasSerted to this extent,
Notwithstanding engagements to the United
States.
On the eastern coast of Nicaragua and Costa Ri
ga. ;he interference Of Great Britain, though
erted at one time in the form 81 military occupa
zion of tE port Of San Juan del NoFts, tlen in the
peaceful INoSseSson of the appropriate authorities
Of the Central American States, is now presented
by her as the risatfai exercise of proteetorship
over the Mosquito tribe o. Indians
But the establishment 81 thE BalZe, now reach
Tag far beyond its treaty limits anta the State of
Honduras. and that of the Bay islands appertain-
ing OF right TO the same State are as distinctly CO.
Iomal governments as those of Jamaica or Cana
ia and therefore contrary to the very letter
well as the spirit of the eonyentiop with the Uni
ted States ar it was at the time of rafeation, and
now is understood by this government.
The Interpretation which the British govern
ment, thus Ill assertion and aet persists in aScEih
ing TO the convention, entirely changes its charac-
ter. While it holds us TO all obligations, il in
great measure releases Great Britain ifrom those
which constituted the consideration of this govern
ineiF Tor entering into the convention 1t is i'm
possible, 10 my judgment, for the United States
10 aequiesce IN such construction of the respec'
iiSe rel&tCps os the two governments to Central
America.
To renewed cad by thIs government upon
Great Britain, to abide by, ana carry into effect,
fhe siipulations of the convention according its
'bFnoas import, by withdrawing froa she posses
-'on CT colonization of portions of the Central
american States of Honduras, Nicaragua, ana
Costa Rica, the British Government has at length
teS1@d Atirpfng tAzt the operation of the treaty
PoopostIFe only and did not require Great Bri-
tam to abandon or contract any possessions held
ny her in Central America al the date of its con-
duSion.
This reply substitutes partial iss4e ~ the
fhaee Of the general presented by the United
states. The British government passes over the
flee"iion q the rights of Great Britain, real or
supposed lR Central America, and assumes that
.e Sl~a ouch fagttts at the date of the treaty and
va, tLnse rights comprehended the protectorship
oi me huslnto indians, tie extended jurisdiction
anu hiii's u The Baiize, aud tue colony OF the Bay
isiahus' ana thereupon pToeaads by implication
l" INFER mat the stipdiati0ns CT tits treaty be
E-$re1y iuture III effect, Great Britain may still
'SENsIe 10 hold the contested portions of Gen.
tAi A+@riea The United States cannot ad,nit
THhet % tne tLierenee OF the premises We steadily
N4oHy, LnAd. ak The date of fhe treaty f.raat