GADSDEN TREATY MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 10, 1854.

To the Senate of the United States:

I TRANSMIT to the senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty between the United States of America and the Mexican republic, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the parties in the city of Mexico, on the 13th day of December last. Certain amendments are proposed to the instrument, as hereinafter specified, viz.: in order to make the duties and obligations stipulated in the second article reciprocal, it is proposed to add to that article the following:

"And the government of Mexico agrees that the stipulations contained in this article, to be performed by the United States, shall be reciprocal; and Mexico shall be under like obligations to the United States and the citizens thereof, as those hereinabove imposed upon the latter in favor of the republic of Mexico and Mexican citizens."

It is also recommended, that for the third article of the original treaty, the following shall be adopted as a substitute :

"In consideration of the grants received by the United States, and the obligations relinquished by the Mexican republic pursuant to this treaty, the former agree to pay to the latter the sum of fifteen millions of dollars, in gold or silver coin, at the treasury at Washington: one fifth of the amount on the ratification of the present treaty at Washington, and the remaining four fifths in monthly instalments of three millions each, with interest at the rate of six per cent. per annum, until the whole be paid; the government of the United States reserving the right to pay up the whole sum of fifteen millions at an earlier date, as may be to it convenient. The United States also agree to assume all the claims of the citizens against the Mexican republic, which may have arisen under the treaty or the law of nations since the date of the signature of the treaty of Guadalupe. And the Mexican republic agrees to exonerate the United States of America from all claims of Mexico or Mexican citizens which may have arisen under the treaty of Guadalupe, so that each government, in the most formal and effective manner, shall be exempted and exonerated of all such obligations to each other respectively."

I also recommend that the eighth article be modified by striking out all after the word "attempts," in the twenty-third line of that article. The part to be omitted is to be as follows:

"They mutually and especially obligate themselves, in all cases of such lawless enterprises, which may not have been prevented through the civil authorities before formation, to aid with the naval and military forces, on due notice being given by the aggrieved party of aggressions of the citizens and subjects of the other, so that the lawless adventurers may be pursued and overtaken on the high seas, their elements of war destroyed, and the deluded captives held responsible in their persons, and meet with the merited retribution inflicted by the law of nations against all such disturbers of the peace and happiness of contiguous and friendly powers; it being understood, that in all cases of successful pursuit and capture, the delinquent so captured shall be judged and punished by the government of that nation to which the vessel capturing them may belong, conformably to the laws of each nation."

At the close of the instrument, it will also be advisable to substitute seventy-eighth for seventy-seventh year of the independence of the United States.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 10, 1854.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I HEREWITH transmit a communication from the secretary of the navy, accompanied by the second part of Lieutenant Herndon's report of the exploration of the valley of the Amazon and its tributaries, made by him in connection with Lieutenant Lardner Gibbon, under instructions from the navy department.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 1, 1854.

To the House of Representatives:

In accordance with the resolution of the house of representatives of the 13th instant, requesting information respecting negotiations with Peru for the removal of restrictions upon the exportation of guano, I transmit herewith a report from the secretary of state, with the correspondence therein referred to.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 1, 1854.

To the House of Representatives:

I TRANSMIT here with a report of the attorney-general, in answer to the resolutions of the house of the 22d of December, requesting me to communicate to the house the plan for the modification and enlargement of the judicial system of the United States recommended in my annual. message to Congress.

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SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 15, 1854.

To the House of Representatives:

IN compliance with the resolution of the house of representatives of the 10th instant, I herewith transmit a report of the secretary of state, containing all the information received at the department in relation to the seizure of the Black Warrior, at Havana, on the 28th ultimo.

There have been, in the course of a few years past, many other instances of aggression upon our commerce, violations of the rights of American citizens, and insults to the national flag, by the Spanish authorities in Cuba, and all attempts to obtain redress have led to protracted, and as yet fruitless negotiations.

The documents in these cases are voluminous, and, when prepared, will be sent to Congress.

Those now transmitted relate exclusively to the seizure of the "Black Warrior," and present so clear a case of wrong, that it would be reasonable to expect full indemnity therefor, as soon as this unjustifiable and offensive conduct shall be made known to her catholic majesty's government; but similar expectations, in other cases, have not been realized.

The offending party is at our doors, with large powers for aggression, but none, it is alleged, for reparation. The source of redress is in another hemisphere; and the answers to our just complaints, made to the home government, are but the repetition of excuses rendered by inferior officials to their superiors, in reply to representations of misconduct. The peculiar situation of the parties has, undoubtedly, much aggravated the annoyances and injuries which our citizens have suffered from the Cuban authorities, and Spain does not seem to appreciate, to its full extent, her responsibility for the conduct of these authorities. In giving very extraordinary powers to them, she owes it to justice, and to her friendly relations with this government, to guard with great vigilance against the exorbitant exercise of these powers, and, in case of injuries, to provide for prompt redress.

I have already taken measures to present to the government of Spain the wanton injury of the Cuban authorities, in the detention and seizure of the "Black Warrior," and to demand immediate indemnity for the injury which has thereby resulted to our citizens.

In view of the position of the island of Cuba, its proximity to our coast, the relations which it must ever bear to our commercial and other interests, it is vain to expect that a series of unfriendly acts infringing our commercial rights, and the adoption of a policy threatening the honor and security of these states, can long consist with peaceful relations.

In case the measures taken for amicable adjustment of our difficulties with Spain should unfortunately fail, I shall not hesitate to use the authority and means which Congress may grant, to insure the observance of our just rights, to obtain redress for injuries received, and to vindicate the honor of our flag.

In anticipation of that contingency, which I earnestly hope may not arise, I suggest to Congress the propriety of adopting such provisional measures as the exigency may seem to demand.

INDIGENT INSANE LAND-BILL VETO.

MAY 3, 1854.

To the Senate of the United States :—

THE bill entitled "An act making a grant of public lands to the several states for the benefit of indigent insane persons," which was presented to me on the 27th ultimo, has been maturely considered, and is returned to the senate, the house in which it originated, with a statement of the objections which have required me to withhold from it my approval.

In the performance of this duty prescribed by the constitution, I have been compelled to resist the deep sympathies of my own heart in favor of the humane purpose sought to be accomplished, and to overcome the reluctance with which I dissent from the conclusions of the two houses of Congress, and present my own opinions in opposition to the action of a co-ordinate branch of the government, which possesses so fully my confidence and respect.

If, in presenting my objectious to this bill, I should say more than strictly belongs to the measure, or is required for the discharge of my official obligation, let it be attributed to a sincere desire to justify my act before those whose good opinion I so highly value, and to that earnestness which springs from my deliberate conviction, that a strict adherence to the terms and purposes of the federal compact offers the best, if not the only, security for the preservation of our blessed inheritance of representative liberty.

The bill provides, in substance :—

First. That ten millions of acres of land be granted to the several states, to be apportioned among them in the compound ratio of the geographical area, and representation of said states in the house of representatives.

Second. That wherever there are public lands in a state subject to sale at the regular price of private entry, the proportion of said ten millions of acres falling to such state shall be selected from such lands within it; and that to the states in which there are no such public lands, land scrip shall be issued to the amount of their distributive shares, respectively; said scrip not to be entered by said states, but to be sold by them, and subject to entry by their assignees, provided that none of it shall be sold at less than one dollar per acre, under penalty of forfeiture of the same to the United States.

Third. That the expenses of the management and superintendence of said lands, and of the moneys received therefrom, shall be paid by the states to which they may belong, out of the treasury of said states.

Fourth. That the gross proceeds of the sales of such lands, or scrip so granted, shall be invested by the several states in safe stocks, to constitute a perpetual fund, the principal of which shall remain forever undiminished, and the interest to be appropriated to the maintenance of the indigent insane within the several states.

Fifth. That annual returns of lands or scrip sold shall be made by the states to the secretary of the interior, and the whole grant be subject to certain conditions and limitations prescribed in the bill, to be assented to by legislative acts of said states.

This bill, therefore, proposes that the federal government shall make provision to the amount of the value of ten millions of acres of land, for an eleemosynary object within the several states, to be administered by the political authority of the same; and it presents at the threshold the question, whether any such act, on the part of the federal government, is warranted and sanctioned by the constitution, the provisions and principles of which are to be protected and sustained as a first and paramount duty.

It can not be questioned that if Congress have power to make provision for the indigent insane without the limits of this district, it has the same power to provide for the indigent who are not insane; and thus to transfer to the federal government the charge of all the poor in all the states. It has the same power to provide hospitals and other local establishments for the care and cure of every species of human infirmity, and thus to assume all that duty of either public philanthropy, or public necessity to the dependent, the orphan, the sick, or the needy, which is now discharged by the states themselves, or by corporate institutions, or private endowments existing under the legislation of the states. The whole field of public beneficence is thrown open to the care and culture of the federal government. Generous impulses no longer encounter the limita tions and control of our imperious fundamental law. For, however worthy may be the present object in itself, it is only one of a class. It is not exclusively worthy of benevolent regard. Whatever considerations dictate sympathy for this particular object, apply in like manner, if not in the same degree, to idiotcy, to physical disease, to extreme destitution. If Congress may and ought to provide for any one of these objects, it may and ought to provide for them all. And if it be done in this case, what answer shall be given, when Congress shall be called upon, as it doubtless will be, to pursue a similar course of legislation in the others? It will, obviously, be vain to reply that the object is worthy, but that the application has taken a wrong direction.

The power will have been deliberatively assumed; the general obligation will, by this act, have been acknowledged; and the question of means and expediency will alone be left for consideration. The decision upon the principle, in any one case, determines it for the whole class. The question presented, therefore, clearly is upon the constitutionality and propriety of the federal government assuming to enter into a novel and vast field of legislation, namely, that of providing for the care and support of all those, among the people of the United States, who, by any form of calamity, become fit objects of public philanthropy.

I readily, and I trust feelingly, acknowledge the duty incumbent on us all, as men and citizens, and as among the highest and holiest of our duties, to provide for those who, in the mysterious order of Providence, are subject to want and to disease of body or mind; but I can not find any authority in the constitution for making the federal government the great almoner of public charity throughout the United States. To do so, would, in my judgment, be contrary to the letter and spirit of the constitution, and subversive of the whole theory upon which the Union of these states is founded. And if it were admissible to contemplate the exercise of this power, for any object whatever, I can not avoid the belief that it would, in the end, be prejudicial, rather than beneficial, to the noble offices of charity, to have the charge of them transferred from the states to the federal government. Are we not too prone to forget that the fed