The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1856-01-10
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
.EelLo,o citizens Of The Senate

provides that CongIess shall assemble an
nually ON the first Monday of December,
and il has been usual for the President t.
make no communication OF a public char
actrr To the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives un il advised OF their readiness
to receive it. | have deferred to thi,
usage until the close OF the first month o
the session, but my convict ons of duty
will not permit me longer to postp .ne he
discharge ofthe oblgalon enjoined byt he
constilu ion upon the I''csdent Ito give
to the Congress Information of the stat,
OF the Union, and recommend TO theil
consideration such measures rs he slA
JUICE necessary and cxpedient.'
ltis matter of congratuia,lon that the
Republic is TRANQUILITY advancing in ii CT
'reer of prosperity and peace.
FOREIGN MISUNDERSTANDING AMERICA
Whilst relations of amity continue &c
exist between the United States and al
foreign powers, with some of hem grave
questions are depend ny. which may re-
quire the consideration vi Congress.
Oh snch questions, lhe most important
is that khich has arisen out of the nego-
tiatons with Great B.itain in reference IL
Genital America.
By the convention concluded between
the Two governments on Tie l9th OF April,
1850, both parties covenante-'. that
s.neither will ev r" occupy, or forliiy, or
.colonize, or assume or exercise any do
,minion over, Nj aragua, Costa Rlca, the
Mu>qulto coast, or any p.rt oi Central
America"
Ii was The undoubtcd understanding 4
the United States, in making this treaty,
that all the present States oil The former
republic OF Central America, and the en-
tire territory OF each. would henceiorth en-
Joy complete indc cpendence; and that DO h
contracting parties engaged qually, ana
40 the same exent, for the p escnt ana
for the luure; that if either then had any
claim OF right in Central America. such
claim, and all occupation or authority un-
der it, were unr,servediy rellnqulShed by
the slipul ttions of the conventions; and
that no dominion was hereaiter TO be ex
-erci sed or assumed IN any part OF Central
America, by Great Britain Or the Uni,ed
STATES.
This government con ented to festric-
tions in regard To a region OF the country
wherein we had specific and pecttllar in
tcrests, only upon the conviction that the
like reslr cllons 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 beer
concluded by US.
30 clear was this understanding on the
part of the United States, that in CORES
pondence econtemporancous with the ratlt
cation of the cohven ION, IL was distinctly
expressed, that the mutual covenants oi
non occupation wer- not intended 10 APP
ply 10 the Brl isli establishment at the
B,iize. This qualification is to be as
crioed to the ia, t, that, IN virtue OF sue
cesslve treaties with previous sOverelgps
OF the country, Great Britain had rbLaine i
IA concession OF the right to cut mahoga
ny or dye woods AT the Baiize, but with
positive exclusion of all domain or sove-
reignty, and thus it confirms the natural
construction aud understood import Of the
treaty as to all the rest of the region to
which the sipulations appi d
1t, however. became apparent, at an
early day after entering upon the dis
charge OF my present functions, that Great
Britain still continued in tie exercise OF
assertion of large au hority in all that part
OF Central America commonly called the
Mosquito coast, and covering Tie entire
len. .th OF the State of Nicaragua, and a
par. of Costa Rico; that She regarded the
4, H. 4 >
gradually extending It's limits at the *
5pense OF HE State oil Hondurae; and that
she had formally colonized considerable
insular group known AS the Bay Is ands,
and belonging, of right, TO that State.
All these act or pretensions OF Great
Britain. being contrary to the rights OF
the States If Central America, and to the
manifest tenor OF her slipulalions wi Ii the
United States, as understood by this gov
ernment, have been made the subject OF
negotiati n through the American Minis
ter in London | transmit herewith tie
instructions to him on the subject and the
correspondence between him and the Brit
ish Secretary for Fore IN Affairs, by which
you will perceive that the two governments
differ widely and irreconcileabIy as TO the
construct of the convention. and its ef-
feet on their respective relations to Central
Amer Ca.
Great Britain SO construes the conven
ton as 10 maintain unchanged all her pre-
vlous preien ions over the Mosquito coast,
and in different parts oil Central America
These pretensions as. to the Mosquito
coast, are founded on the assumption o
political relation between Great Britain
and the remnant OF tri Z Of Indians or
that coast, entered into at time when tn,
whole country was colonial possession o
Spain. 1t cannot be successfully contro
yerten, that, by the public law Of Europ,
and America, no possible act of such In
dians or their predecessors could confeI
on Great B, ,itain any political rights.
Great Britain does not alege the assen
of Spain as the orig of her claims on tn,
Mosquito coast She has, on the contra
ry. by repeated and successive treaties
renounced and reiinquished all pretcntion
OF her OVID, and recug g1ized the full anc
sovereign rights of Sp hin in the most une
quiyocal terms. Yet these preteneions
SO without solid foundation in the begin
ming, and thus repeatedly abjured. were
at recent period, revived by Great Bri
tain against the Centra American States
the legitimate SUCCESSORS to all the anciei
jurisdiction of Spain in that region
They were first applied only to defneo
part OF the coast OF Nicaragua, aiterward
40 the whole OF its Atlantic coast, and last