Weekly flag of the Union. (Jackson, Miss.) 185?-18??, 1856-01-16
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
Feliose-citisens IF the Senate uaR Of

the House Of Reptescntatafe fes
The Constitution Of the United Shtes pro-
yides that Congress shall assemble annually
on the FIRST Monday of December, aid it has
been usual for the President to makesno COM
,nnnication Of public character to ti$ Senate
and House of Representatives, until advised
of their readiness to receive it. Have de-
ferred to this usage until the close ofEhe first
month Of the session, but my convit tions OF
/ duty will not permit me longer to isstpone
the discharge Of the obligations (nidued by
tie Constitution upon the Presidfit, TO givc /
S t.e iitsoTlnaties the state Of
n iaattzx .tIIl ls 1
Republic il 1ananill adyane ID / -
i of prosperity and peace:
FOREIGN RELATIONS RAL AalERfck
Whilst relations Of aInity continue ID sx-
1 ist between the United States and all foreign
powers, with some Of them grave questions
are depending which may req,,ire the con-
sidsration Of Congress.
IF such questions. the most important Is
that which has arisen ont Of the negotiations
with Great Britain IN reference to gauirai
America.
By the convention concluded between the
! two governments On the 10Th of April, 1850.
both parties covenanted that neither will
ever" occupy or fortify, q colonize. Of as.
sumo, or exercise any dominion over Nicara-
qua, Costa Rica. tile Mosquito coast, OF ailv
part of Central America
Il was the undoubted understanding Of The
United States, in making this treaty, that all
tho present States of the former Replblic Of
Central America, and the entire territory Of
each, would thenceforth enjoy complete m.
dependence and that both contracting i.arfies
engaged equally and to the same extent, for
the present and for the future, ,sthaf if eisner,
then had any claim Of right in Central Ape-
rlca, such claim, and all occupation or autho-
rity under it, were unreservedly relinquished
by the stipulations Of the convention and
that no dominion was thereafter to be assumed
in any part Of Central America by Great
Britain or the United States.
The Government consented to restrictirne
in regard to region of country, wherein ne
had specific and peculiar interests, only upon
the conviction that the like restrictions wore
in the same sense obligatory on Great Britain.
But for this understanding of the force and
&ms.-cct Of the convention, it would never have
been eossius istssa ey US
So clear was tbe NJ arstanding on the part
| Of the United States. TN ip correspondence
contcmporaneous with the rafifazF y e e snel
convention, it was distinctly expressed ssa1I
the mutual covenants Of non occupation a'i'ze
not intended to apply TO the British estabI lisa.
ment at the Baltic. This qualification IS fo:
be ascribed to the fact, that, in virtue oi ssiez
cessive treaties with previous soyeraipns oE
the country, Great Britain had obtained d.
scs,seassistQf The lieh to chi a1a - IA
dye-Woods at the Balize but with positig9 ex-I
e.usion of all domain or sovereicntY and
thus it confirms the natural constructions and
understood import of the treaty as to all the
rest of the region to which the stipulations
applied.
1t, however, became apparent, ab an early
day after entering upon the discharge of my
present functions that Great Britain still
continued in the exercise or assertion Of large
authority to fill that 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 Balize as her absolute domain,
and was gradually extending It's limits at the
expense of the State of Honduras; and that
she had formally colonized considerable in
sular group known as the Bay Islands. and
belonging of right to that State.
All these acts or pretensions of Great
Rn;f fosa hain ~ ,,f ff,o
States of Central America, and to the mani-
fest tenor of her stipulations with the United
States, as understood by this government,
have been made the subject of negotiation
through the American Minister In London.
I transmit herewith the instructions to him
on the subject, and the correspondence be.
tween him and the British Secretary for
Foreign Affairs, by which you viii perceive
that the two governments differ widely and
irreeoncileably as to the construction Of the /
convention. and its effect on their respective
relations to Central America.
Great Britain so eonstrues the convention
as to maintain unchanged all her pregiouspre-
tensions over the Mosquito coast. and IN tlife- |
rent parts of Central America These pre-
tensions, over the Mosquito coast, are found
ed on the assumption Of political relations
between Great Britain and the remnant of
tribe Of Indians on the coast, entered into at |
time when tho whole country was colonial
possession of Spain. IT cannot be success
fully controverted, that, By the public law of !
Europe and America, no possible act of such
Indians or their predecessors could confer on
Great Britain any political rights
Great Britain does not allege the assent of
Spain as the origin Of her claims on the Mos
quito coast. She has, on the contrary, by /
repeated and successive treaties renouneed
and recognized the full and sovereign rights
Of Spain in the most unequiyocal terms. Yet
these pretensions, 50 without solid foundation
in the beginning, and thus repeatedly abjured,
were, at q recent period, revived by Great
Britain against the, Central American States,
the legitimate successors to al the ancient
jurisdiction Of Spain ID that region They
were first applied only to . defined part Of the |
coast Of Nicaragua, afterwards TO the whole
Of. its Atlantic coast, and lastly to part Of
the coast Of Costa Rica; and they are now
re-asserted TO this extent, notwithstanding the
engagements to the United States
On the eastern coast Of Nicaragua and
Costa Rica, the interference of Great Britain,
though exerted at one tiple IN the form Of /
military occupation Of the port of San Juan
del sNorte, then ID the peaceful possession Of
the appropriate authorities Of the Central
American States, Is now presented by hor IS
tho rightful exercise Of j protectorship Ger
the Mesquite tribe Of Indians.
But the establishment at The Balize, now
reaching far beyond its treaty limits into the |
Site of Honduras, and that of the, Bar