of the claimants, and upon the case being made known to me by the Secretary of State I referred it to the Attorney-General for the purpose of ascertaining what punishment could be inflicted upon the person who had been guilty of this offense. I now communicate to you his opinion and that of the attorney of the United States for this District, by which you will perceive that it is doubtful whether there be any law for punishing the very grave offense of fraudulently abstracting or mutilating the papers and public documents in the several Departments of this Government. It appears to me that the protection of the public records and papers requires that such acts should be made penal and a suitable punishment inflicted upon the offender, and I therefore bring the subject to your consideration, to enable you to act upon it should you concur with me in this opinion. MILLARD FILLMORE. To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, March 26, 1852. In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 18th instant, I transmit a copy of the correspondence with John P. Gaines, governor of the Territory of Oregon, relative to the seat of government of said Territory. MILLARD FILLMORE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, March 29, 1852. In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 24th instant, relating to the extension of the Capitol, I have the honor to submit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Interior, which furnishes, it is believed, the required information. MILLARD FILLMORE. WASHINGTON CITY, March 29, 1852. To the Senate of the United States: I have the resolution of your honorable body adopted in executive session March 24, 1852, by which I am requested to return to the Senate the resolution advising and consenting to the appointment of George C. Laurason as collector of the customs for the district of New Orleans, provided a commission had not been issued to him, and in reply thereto I would respectfully state that prior to the receipt of said resolution I had signed the commission to Mr. Laurason and transmitted it to the Secretary of the Treasury, to whom your resolution was immediately referred; and I have the honor now to transmit his reply, by which it will be seen that the commission, after having been duly executed, was sent to the First Comptroller, where it still remains. I suppose, according to the doctrine laid down in the case of Marbury v. Madison (1 Cranch R., 137), the appointment must be deemed complete, and nothing short of the removal of Mr. Laurason can enable me again to submit his nomination to the consideration of the Senate; but as the commission has not been technically issued to Mr. Laurason, I deem it most respectful to comply with your request by returning the copy of the resolution which notified me that the Senate advised and consented to his appointment. To the House of Representatives: MILLARD FILLMORE. WASHINGTON CITY, April 6, 1852. In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 31st ultimo, I have the honor herewith to transmit a report from the Secretary of War, accompanied by the original manuscript report of Captain Thomas J. Crane, dated February 3, 1844, on the best mode of improving the navigation of the Ohio River at the Falls of Louisville, together with the original maps accompanying the same. To the Senate of the United States: MILLARD FILLMORE. WASHINGTON, April 8, 1852. I herewith transmit to the Senate, in reply to their resolution of the 4th ultimo, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers.* MILLARD FILLMORE. WASHINGTON, April 19, 1852. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I invite the attention of Congress to the state of affairs in the Territory of Oregon, growing out of a conflict of opinion among the authorities of that Territory in regard to a proper construction of the acts of Congress approved the 14th August, 1848, and 11th June, 1850, the former entitled "An act to establish a Territorial government of Oregon," and the latter entitled "An act to make further appropriations for public buildings in the Territories of Minnesota and Oregon." In order to enable Congress to understand the controversy and apply such remedy with a view to adjust it as may be deemed expedient, I transmit 1. An act of the legislative assembly of that Territory, passed February 1, 1851, entitled "An act to provide for the selection of places for the location and erection of public buildings of the Territory of Oregon." 2. Governor Gaines's message to the legislative assembly of the 3d February, 1851. 3. The opinion of the Attorney-General of the United States of 23d *Relating to the relations between the United States and Japan. April, in regard to the act of the legislative assembly of the 1st Febru ary, 1851. 4. The opinion of the supreme court of Oregon, pronounced on the 9th December, 1851. 5. A letter of Judge Pratt of the 15th December, 1851, dissenting from that opinion. 6. Governor Gaines's letter to the President of the 1st January, 1852. 7. Report of the Attorney-General of the United States on that letter, dated 22d March, 1852. If it should be the sense of Congress that the seat of government of Oregon has not already been established by the local authorities pursuant to the law of the United States for the organization of that Territory, or, if so established, should be deemed objectionable, in order to appease the strife upon the subject which seems to have arisen in that Territory I recommend that the seat of government be either permanently or temporarily ordained by act of Congress, and that that body should in the same manner express its approval or disapproval of such laws as may have been enacted in the Territory at the place alleged to be its seat of government, and which may be so enacted until intelligence of the decision of Congress shall reach there. MILLARD FILLMORE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, May 1, 1852. I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice with regard to its ratification, a convention between the United States and the Free and Hanseatic Republics of Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck, signed in this city by their respective plenipotentiaries on the 30th day of April, A. D. 1852, for the mutual extension of the jurisdiction of conA copy of a note from the special plenipotentiary of Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck accompanies the convention. To the Senate of the United States: MILLARD FILLMORE. WASHINGTON, May 5, 1852. On the 3d of March, 1849, a general convention of peace, amity, commerce, and navigation between the United States and the Republic of Guatemala, by Elijah Hise, the chargé d'affaires of the United States to that Republic, on the part of this Government, and by Señor Don Jose Mariano Rodriguez, minister for foreign affairs, on the part of the Government of Guatemala. This convention was approved by the Senate on the 24th of September, 1850, and by a resolution of the 27th of that month that body authorized the ratification of this Government to be exchanged for the ratification of the Government of Guatemala at any time prior to the 1st of April, 1851. I accordingly ratified the convention on the 14th of November, 1850, but there was then no person in this country authorized to effect the exchange of ratifications on the part of the Guatemalan Government, and the United States had no diplomatic representative there. When, however, in the summer of 1851, Mr. J. Bozman Kerr proceeded to Nicaragua as the chargé d'affaires of the United States, he was empowered and instructed, when he should have concluded the business, which it was presumed would not have detained him long, in Nicaragua, to repair to Guatemala and effect the exchange on the part of this Government. Circumstances, however, have hitherto prevented him from accomplishing this object. Meanwhile Señor Don Felipe Molina has been received as chargé d'affaires of Guatemala here, and Has been empowered to effect the exchange on the part of that Government. I accordingly recommend that the Senate authorize a further extension of the period for exchanging the ratifications, in order that the convention may go into operation. It is presumed that if this recommendation should be adopted a few weeks from the date of the decision of the Senate upon the subject would be necessary to complete the prepa. rations for carrying it into effect. MILLARD FILLMORE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, May 29, 1852. The resolution of the Senate of the 6th instant, requesting the "papers and proofs on file in any of the Executive Departments touching the claim of Samuel A. Belden & Co., of Brownsville, Tex., against the Mexican Government for injuries inflicted upon said Belden & Co., as alleged by them in violation of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo," was referred to the heads of those Departments, and the documents herewith transmitted have been reported to me from the Department of State as comprising all on the files of that Department called for by the resolution, with the exception of those of a diplomatic character. As the claim referred to is a subject of negotiation with the Mexican Government, it is not deemed expedient at this juncture to make public the documents which have been reserved. According to the reports of the Secretary of the Treasury, of the Secretary of the Interior, of the Secretary of War, of the Secretary of the Navy, and of the Postmaster-General, there are no papers in their respective Departments relative to the claim of Messrs. Belden & Co. MILLARD FILLMORE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, June 1, 1852. I communicate to the Senate herewith, for its constitutional action thereon, eighteen treaties nègotiated with Indian tribes in California, as described in the accompanying letter of the Secretary of the Interior, dated the 22d ultimo, with a copy of the report of the superintendent of Indian affairs for the State of California and other correspondence in relation thereto. To the Senate of the United States: MILLARD FILLMORE. WASHINGTON, June 11, 1852. I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a convention between the United States and the Sultan of Borneo, signed at Bruni on the 23d of June, 1850. A copy of two dispatches to this department from Mr. Balestier, who concluded the convention on the part of this Government, one dated the 22d of April and the other the 24th June, 1851, is also transmitted for the information of the Senate. As the period limited for the exchange of the ratifications, which is to be effected at Bruni, will expire on the 23d instant, I recommend that if the Senate should approve the convention authority may be given to perform that ceremony within a year from that date. The instrument would have been submitted to the Senate in season for the ratification to be exchanged within the stipulated time had not Mr. Balestier's arrival with it in the United States been unavoidably delayed. MILLARD FILLMORE. WASHINGTON, June 11, 1852. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit to Congress a report from the Secretary of State, on the subject of the disorders on the Rio Grande frontier, and recommend the legislation which it suggests, in order that the duties and obligations of this Government occasioned thereby may be more effectually discharged and the peace and security of the inhabitants of the United States in that quarter more efficiently maintained. MILLARD FILLMORE. WASHINGTON, June 14, 1852. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit herewith, for your consideration, a report from the Secretary of State, accompanied by a communication from His Excellency Señor Don A. Calderon de la Barca, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Her Catholic Majesty, claiming indemnity for those Spanish subjects in New Orleans who sustained injury from the unlawful violence of the mob in that city consequent upon hearing the news of the execution of those persons who unlawfully invaded Cuba in August, 1851. My own views of the national liability upon this subject were expressed in the note of the Secretary of State to Mr. Calderon of the 13th November, 1851, and I do not understand that Her Catholic Majesty's minister con |