Eastern times., 1856-01-03
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.

snnust message was received and read, as fol
t,xs -
Fello,6 Citisens Of The Senate and House o.
Representations Iaa.tT
The constitution of the United States pro
sidrs that congress shall assemble annually or
the first Monday of December. and il has beer
"snal iur the President To make M cummun
ca'l"n IT public character To the Senate anc
h""se ot representatives until advised Of iheiI
rradiness To receive il. have deferred 10 this
usage until the close Of the first mouth Of the
session. but my conviciions Of duty will moi
persni, me longer to postpone the discharge of
the obligation enjoined by the constitution or
The President, To give 10 congress information
on the state Of the Union, and recommend Ia
their consideration such measures as he shall
Judge necessary and expedlent.
Ii is a matter Of congrarulaiou that the re.
public is TRANQUILITY advancing in career oI
prosperity and peace.
FOREIGN RELATI0Ns-CKNTRALA AMERICA,
Whilst relations Of amty continue To exist
betw cen the United States and all fureipn pow
Prs, With some 0f them grave questions are
pending which may require rhs consideration
of congress. OF such qnesiions, the most i'm
pOrtaht is that which has arisen out of the ne
Rotiations with Great Britain in reference To
Central America
Bv the convention concluded between the two
governments nn the 18th of April. 1850, both
parties cuvenanied that neither will ever Occu-
Pv, turtity, cU0nize, assume, or exercise any
dominion over Nicaragua, Costa Rca, the
Mosquito Coast, or any part Of Central Ameri-
Ga. Ii was The undoubied understanding uf the
United States, in making this treaty, that all
the present states of the former republic Of Cen
America, and the entire territory of each,
would thenceiorih enjoy complete independence,
and that both contracting parties engaged equal
ly and TO the same extent, for the present and
fur the future, that if either then had any claim
ar right Ia Central America, such claim, aud
all occupation or authority unde--it, was unre-
servedly relInquishld by the sipuIaiions of the
convention aud that no dominion was thereat-
ter to he exercised, IN any part Of Central
America by Great Britain or the United States
This government consented To restrictions in
regard la re ion of country wherein we had
specific and peculiar interests only upon the
convection that the like restrictions were in the
same sense obligatory on Great Britain. But
for This understand ny of the force and effect of
the convention II would never have been con-
rIuded hv US. S" clear was this unde rsiandIng
on the part Of the United States, that in a cor
respondence cntempuraneous with the raiifica-
ton of the convention, it was distinctly ex-
pressed that the mutual covenants OF non-ucc,I-
patton were not Intended TO apply To the British
establishment at the Balize. This quaifica-
iion is To be ascrbed 10 the fact, that IN virtue
of successive treaties with previous sovereigns
of the country, Great Britain had obiained
concession Of the right 10 cut mahugony or dye
wOods at the Balize, but with positive exclu-
sion OF all domain or sovereignty and thus il
confirms the natural construction and under
stood import Of the treaty, as To all the rest of
the reglun TO which the stipulations applied. -
IL, however, became apparent, al an early day
after entering nn the discharge of my present
functions. that Great Britain sill cnnlinued in
exercise, or assertion, Of large auihoiitv in oil
parts Of Central America. commonly called the
Mosquito Coast, and covering The entire length
Of the stale OF Nicaragua, and a part of Costa
Rica !; that she regarded the BalIze as her alb.
solute domain, and was gradually extending its
limits at the expense Of the state of Honduras,
and that she had formally colonized cousder-
able insular group, known as The Bay Islands,
and belonging by right To that state. All these
acts or pretensions Of Great Britain beng con
trary to the rights Of the states of Central
hMcElCd, d0u " Tue OldtllteSl TENOR Ol ter Slid
ulations with the United States, as understood
by this government. have been made the sub
ject Of Negotiations through the American miil-
lister in London.
transmit herewith the instruction to him on
the subject, and the correspondence between
him and the British secretary for foreign affairs,
by which you will perceive that the two gov
ernments differ widely, and ir.econcilahly, as
fhxa< ,..fs 81,
feet on their respective relations To Central
America. Great Britain construes the con-
ventiun as To maintain all her previous preien-
siuns over the Mosquito coast. aud in different
parts of Central America. These professions
as To the Mnsquno Coast are founded on the as
sumption Of political relations between Great
Britain and the remnant of tribe of Indians on
that cuast, entered into when h,e whole cuun-
try was colonial possession Of Spain 1t can
not be successfully controveried that by the
public law Of Europe anj America, no possible
act of such Indians ur their predecessors could
ronfer on Great Britain any political rights
Great Britain does not allege the assent Of
Spain as the origin Of her claims On the Mas-
quito Coast. She has, the contrary, by
repeated aud successive treaties, renounced and
relinquislled all pretensiaus of her own, and
recognized the full and sovereign rights Of
Spain ~ unequlvucal terms. Yet these preten-
sluns, without solId foundation in the begin
nlRg, and thus repeatedly abjnred, were at a
recent perod revived BY Great Britain, against
the Central American states, the legitimate
successors Of all the ancient jurisdiction of
Spain in 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 ire now re-asseried TO this xteni, not
withsianding engagements To the United States.
On the eastern cuast of Nicaragua AMI Costa
RIca, the interference of Great Britain, thongh
exerled at one time in the form of military oc-
cupatlon of the port of San Juan del Norte,
then IN the peaceful possession of the appropri-
ate authorizes of the Central American states,
Is now presented by her The rightful exer-
else over the Mosquito tribe of Indilns. But
the establishment al the Balize, now reaching
far beyond lis territorial limits inu The stale Of
Honduras, aud that of The B Nv Islanie, apper-
lalnlns oil night 10 the same state, are as dis
ilnctly colonial governments as Ihuse of Jamai-
or Caaada ,and therefore cuntrarv In The very
letter as well as The spirit of the convention
with the United States, as II was at the time of
the ratification, aud now Is understood by this
government.
The Interpretation which the British govern
ment thus in assertion aud act persists in as
crIhIng 10 the conventIua entirely changes its