To the Senate of the United States WASHINGTON, February 3, 1853. In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 11th ultimo, asking for information with regard to the execution of the postal convention between the United States and Great Britain, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied it. MILLARD FILLMORE. To the Senate and House of Representatives: Having in my message to Congress at the opening of the session adverted to the pending negotiations between this Government and that of Great Britain relative to the fisheries and commercial reciprocity with the British American Provinces, I transmit for the information of Congress the accompanying report from the Department of State on the present state of the negotiations, and I respectfully invite the attention of the two Houses to the suggestion in the latter part of the report. MILLARD FILLMORE. WASHINGTON, February 9, 1853. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of the Navy, accompanied by the first 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. MILLARD FILLMORE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, February 14, 1853. I herewith communicate to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a convention on the subject of the extradition of fugitives from justice between the United States and Belgium, concluded and signed in this city on the 11th instant by the respective plenipotentiaries. MILLARD FILLMORE. WASHINGTON, February 18, 1853. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, embodying the substance of recent communications made by the minister of Her Britannic Majesty to the Department of State on the subject of the interoceanic canal by the Nicaragua route, which formed the chief object of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain of the 19th April, 1850, and the relations of Great Britain to the protectorate of Mosquito, which she expresses herself desirous of relinquishing on terms consistent with her honorable engagements to the Indians of that name. In consequence of these communications and other considerations stated in the report, it is deemed advisable by the Department that our diplomatic relations with the States of Central America should be placed on a higher and more efficient footing, and this measure meets my approbation. The whole subject is one of so much delicacy and importance that I should have preferred, so near the close of my Administration, not to make it the subject of an Executive communication. But inasmuch as the measure proposed can not, even if deemed expedient by my successor, take effect for near a twelvemonth unless an appropriation is made by this Congress, I have thought it my duty to submit the report of the Department to the two Houses. The importance of the measure seemed to require an exposition somewhat in detail of the grounds on which it is recommended. MILLARD FILLMORE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, February 18, 1853. I transmit to the Senate, with the view to its ratification, a convention which was yesterday concluded between the United States and Great Britain for the establishment of international copyright. MILLARD FILLMORE. 1 To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, February 19, 1853. In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 14th instant, relative to the fisheries on the coasts of Florida, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied it. MILLARD FILLMORE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, February 21, 1853. In compliance with your resolution of the 19th of February instant, I herewith communicate a report from the Secretary of War, containing the report of Lieutenant Meigs, of the Engineer Corps, on the surveys, projects, and estimates for supplying the cities of Washington and Georgetown with an unfailing and abundant supply of water. MILLARD FILLMORE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, February 21, 1853. I have the honor to transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury of the 21st instant, in reference to the reinvestment of certain moneys belonging to the Chickasaw Nation of Indians which will come into the Treasury during the succeeding vacation of the Senate, and I respectfully concur in the recommendation made by the Secretary. MILLARD FILLMORE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, February 23, 1853. I transmit to the Senate, for advice and consent with a view to ratification, a convention between the United States and Her Britannic Majesty for the adjustment of certain claims of citizens of the United States on the British Government and of British subjects on the Government of the United States, signed in London on the 8th instant. Although it is stipulated by the terms of the first article of the convention that the commissioner on the part of this Government shall be appointed by the President of the United States, it is not understood that this stipulation was intended to dispense with the concurrence of the Senate in such appointment. To the Senate of the United States: MILLARD FILLMORE. WASHINGTON, February 25, 1853. I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratincation, a consular convention concluded in this city on the 23d instant between the United States and His Majesty the Emperor of the French. MILLARD FILLMORE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, February 26, 1853. I transmit a copy of a proclamation of yesterday, which I deemed it advisable to issue, relative to an extraordinary session of the Senate on the 4th of March next. To the Senate of the United States: MILLARD FILLMORE. WASHINGTON, February 28, 1855. In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 17th January last, requesting information in regard to the fisheries on the coasts of the British North American Provinces, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied it. MILLARD FILLMORE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, February 28, 1853. I herewith transmit, for the consideration and advice of the Senate, a treaty recently entered into with the Apache Indians in New Mexico by Colonel Sumner and Mr. Greiner, acting on behalf of the United States, together with the letter of Colonel Sumner on the subject of the treaty and reports thereon from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the Secretary of the Interior. MILLARD FILLMORE. PROCLAMATION. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF America. A PROCLAMATION. The attention of the President having been called to the proceedings of Congress at the close of its session on the 4th of March, 1851, from which it appears that the constitutional term of that body was held not to have expired until 12 o'clock at noon of that day, and a notice having been issued, agreeably to former usage, to convene the Senate at II o'clock a. m. on the 4th of March next, it is apparent that such call is in conflict with the decision aforesaid: Now, therefore, as well for the purpose of removing all doubt as to the legality of such call as of establishing a precedent of what is deemed a proper mode of convening the Senate, I, Millard Fillmore, President of the United States, have considered it to be my duty to issue this my proclamation, revoking said call and hereby declaring that an extraordinary occasion requires the Senate of the United States to convene for the transaction of business at the Capitol, in the city of Washington, on Friday, the 4th day of March next, at 12 o'clock at noon of that day, of which all who shall at that time be entitled to act as members of that body are hereby required to take notice. Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at Washington, this 25th day of February, A. D. 1853, and of the Independence of the United States the seventy-seventh. [SEAL.] By the President: EDWARD EVERETT, MILLARD FILLMORE. Secretary of State. |