Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1856-01-05
Presidents Message.
p The Gentlemen of The Senate


the hrst Monday of December, and it has been
usual for the President to make no communi-
cation of public character 10 the Senate and
House Of Representatives until advised of their
readiness 70 receive il. have deferred to this
usage until the close Of the first month Of the
sesslon, but my convictions OF duty will not
permit me longer TO postpone the discharge Of
the obligation enjOined by the constitution up
90 The President Ito give TO the Congress in
formation Of the state of the Union and recctn-
mend to their consideration such measures
as lac shall judge necessary aud expedieut"
IL IS matter of coBgratulstion that the
Republic is TRANQUILITY advancing in q career of
prosperity and peace.
FOREIGN RELATioNs.-CENTRAL AMERICA
whilst relations of amity continue TO exist
between the United States and all foreign
powers, with some of them grave Questions
are depending, which may require the consid-
Grafton OF Congress
/ Of such questions, the most important is that
which has arisen out of the negotiations with
Great Britain in reference to Central America
by the convention concluded between the two
governments on the 18th of April, 1850. both
parties cOvenented, that 'nether will ever
occupy, or tOrtify, or cOlonize, or assume, or
exercise any dominion over, Nicaragua, Costa
Rica, the Mosquito coast, or any part of Cen
tral America"
II was the pndOubted understanding of the
United States, in making this treaty, that ali
the present States OF the former republic of
Central America, and the entire territory of
each, would hencelOrth enjoy complete indie
pendeDce; and that both contracting parties
| engaged equally, and to the same extent, for
the present and for the future; that if either
then had any claim of right in Central Amer-
4 Il.
under it, were unreservedly relinquished by
the stipulatioDs of the convention; and that no
dominion was hereafter to be exercised or as
sumed in any part of Central America, by
Great Britain or the United States.
This government consented to restrictions
in regard to q region Of the country, wherein
we had specific and peculiar interests, only
] upon the conviction that the like restrictions
were in the same sense obligatory on Great
! Britain. But for this understanding of the
force and effect of the convention, it would
! never have been concluded by us.
| So clear was this understanding on the part
| of the United States, that in correspondence
! contemporaneous with the ratification of the
| convention, it was distinctly expressed, that
! the mutual covenants Of non occupation were
/ not intended to apply to the British establish
men; at the Balize This qualification is to be
! ascribed 10 the fact that, in virtue of success
! sive treaties with previous sovereigns of the
| country, Great Britain had obtained conces-
sion of the right to cut mahogany or dye
woods al the Balize, but with positive exclu-
sion of all domain or sovereignty; and thus it.
confirms the natural construction and under
stood import of the treaty as TO all the rest of
! the region 20 which the slipulations applied
lt,however, became apparen' at an early day
after entering upon the discharge of my pres
! ent functions that Great Britain still continu-
| ed in the exercise or assertion OF large author
j ity in all that part of Central America com
! monty called the Mosquito coast, and covering
! the entire length of the State of Nicargsuq,
and part of Costa Rica; that she regarded
| the Balize as her absOl tie domain, aud was
! gradually extending its limits at the expense
! of the State of Honduras; and that size had
formally colonized considerable insular group
| known as the Bay Islands, and belonging, of
! right, 10 that State.
All these acts or pretensions of Great Bri
tain, being contrary to the rights of the States
/ of Central America and to the manifest tenor
| Of her stipnlations with the United States, as
! understood by this government, have been
made the subject of negotiation through the
! American Minister in London. / transmit
/ herewith the instructions TO him on that sub
]
| the British Secretary for Foreign Affairs, by
| which you will perceive that the tive govern
mems differ widely and irreconceably al to
the construction of the convention, and its
effect on their respective relations to Central
| America.
Great Britain so construes the convention as
! to maintain unchanged all her previous pre:en-
/ siuns over the Mosquito coast, and in different
| parts of Central America. These preten.iOns,
! rs 10 the Mosquito coast, are founded on the
assumption of political relation between Great
! Britain and the remnant of Il Tribe of Indians
on that coast, entered into at n time when the
! whole country was colonial possession of
! Spain. 1t cannot be successfully contrOverted,
that, by the public law of Europe aud Ameri-
ca, no possible act Of such Indians or their pre-
decessors could confer on Great Britain any
political rights.
Great Britain does not allege the consent Of
Spain as the origin of her claims on che Mos
quito coast. She has, on the contrary, by re-
peated ana successive treaties, renouDced and
relinquished all pretensons OF her own, and
recognised the full and sovereign rights OF
! Spain in the most unequvocal terms. Yet
! these pretensions, so without solid foundation
| in the beginning, and thus repeatedly abiured,
were, at a recent period, revived by Great Bri-
! tain against the Central American States. the
} legitimate successors TO all the ancient juris-
/ diction OF Spain in that region. They were
! first applied only TO defined part Of the coast
/ of Nicaragua, afterwards TO the whole OF lie
! Atlantic coast, and lastly to part OF the coast
/ of Costa RiGa; and they are new re asserted
/ to this extent Notwithstanding engagements
! TO the United States.
! Ga the eastern coast of Nicaragua and Gotta
| Rica, the interference of Great Britain, though
| exerted at one time in the form of military oc-
cupatiun of the port Of San Juan del Norte,
then in the peaceful possession of the appro.
| pirate authorities Of the Central American
States, is now presented by her as the rightful
exercise Of protectOrate over the Mosquito
tribe Of Indians.
But the establishment at the Balize, now
reaching beyond its treaty limits into the state
of Honduras, and that OF the Bay Islands, APP
peri aiming of right to the same state, are as
distinctly colonial governments as those OF
Jamaica OF Canrda, and therefore contrary 20
the letter ss we'll as spirit OF the convention
with the United States, as il was &C the time
OF ratification, aud now is, understood by this
government.
The Interpretation which the British govern
ment, thus 10 assertion and act, persists in as-
cribing the convention, entirely changes its
character While il holds us Ia al Our obliga.
tions, il in great measure releases Great Bril-
tain from those which constituted the c0nside-
ration of this government for entering into the
convention. IL is impossible, ia my judgment,
for the United States 10 acquiercv IN such a
construction Of the respective editions OF the
two governments to Central America.
To a renewed call by this government npon
Great Britain TO sbide by and carry into effect
tie stipnlaIions of tile convection according
TO its obvious import, by Withdrawing from
the possession or colonization OF portions Of
the Cendal American States of Honduras, Nj
caragus, and Costa Rioa. the British govern
Inent has 81 length replied, affirming that the