of their Government. In the second place, the interoceanic communication by the way of Nicaragua is effectually interrupted, and the persons and property of unoffending private citizens of the United States in that country require the attention of their Government. Neither of these objects can receive due consideration without resumption of diplomatic intercourse with the Government of Nicaragua. Further than this, the documents communicated show that while the interoceanic transit by the way of Nicaragua is cut off, disturbances at Panama have occurred to obstruct, temporarily at least, that by the way of New Granada, involving the sacrifice of the lives and property of citizens of the United States. A special commissioner has been dispatched to Panama to investigate the facts of this occurrence with a view particularly to the redress of parties aggrieved. But measures of another class will be demanded for the future security of interoceanic communication by this as by the other routes of the Isthmus. It would be difficult to suggest a single object of interest, external or internal, more important to the United States than the maintenance of the communication, by land and sea, between the Atlantic and Pacific States and Territories of the Union It is a material element of the national integrity and sovereignty. I have adopted such precautionary measures and have taken such action for the purpose of affording security to the several transit routes of Central America and to the persons and property of citizens of the United States connected with or using the same as are within my constitutional power and as existing circumstances have seemed to demand. Should these measures prove inadequate to the object, that fact will be communicated to Congress with such recommendations as the exigency of the case may indicate. FRANKLIN PIERCE. EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Washington, May 16, 1856. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I communicate to Congress a report from the Secretary of the Interior, containing estimates of appropriations required in the fulfillment of treaty stipulations with certain Indian tribes, and recommend that the appropriations asked for be made in the manner therein suggested. To the House of Representatives: FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, May 19, 1856. In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 7th ultimo, requesting the President "to communicate what information he may possess in regard to citizens of the United States being engaged in the slave trade, or in the transportation in American ships of coolies from China to Cuba and other countries with the intention of placing or continuing them in a state of slavery or servitude, and whether such traffic is not, in his opinion, a violation of the spirit of existing treaties, rendering those engaged in it liable to indictment for piracy; and especially that he be requested to communicate to this House the facts and circumstances attending the shipment from China of some 500 coolies in the ship Sea Witch, of the city of New York, lately wrecked on the coast of Cuba," I transmit the accompanying report of the Secretary of State. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, May 20, 1856. I transmit a copy of and extracts from dispatches of the late minister of the United States at London, and of his correspondence with Lord Clarendon which accompanied them, relative to the enlistment of soldiers for the British army within the United States by agents of the Government of Great Britain. These dispatches have been received since my message to the Senate upon the subject of the 27th of February last. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, May 22, 1856. I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of War, in response to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 12th instant, requesting me to inform the House "whether United States soldiers have been employed in the Territory of Kansas to arrest persons charged with a violation of certain supposed laws enacted by a supposed legislature assembled at Shawnee Mission." FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, May 29, 1856. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I have ceased to hold intercourse with the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland near this Government. In making communication of this fact it has been deemed by me proper also to lay before Congress the considerations of indispensable public duty which have led to the adoption of a measure of so much importance. They appear in the documents herewith transmitted to both Houses. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, May 29, 1856. 'In further answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 17th of January last, requesting a copy of any official correspondence not previously communicated touching the construction and purport of the convention between the United States and Great Britain of the 19th of April, 1850, I transmit a copy of an instruction of the 24th instant from the Secretary of State to the minister of the United States at London. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, June 3, 1856. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I herewith communicate a letter of the 26th instant from the Secretary of the Interior, and accompanying papers, relative to the conflict of jurisdiction between the Federal and Cherokee courts and the inadequacy of protection against the intrusion of improper persons into the Cherokee country, and recommend the subject to the consideration of Congress. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, June 3, 1856. I transmit a report* from the Secretary of State, in answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 29th ultimo. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, June 4, 1856. In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 8th of last month, requesting information in regard to a contemplated imposition of additional duties on American leaf tobacco by the Zollverein or Commercial Union of the German States, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom the resolution was referred. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, June 13, 1856. In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 18th of February last, requesting me to communicate to the House "the report of Captain E. B. Boutwell, and all the documents accompanying it, relative to the operations of the United States sloop of war John Adams, under his command, at the Fejee Islands in the year 1855," I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of the Navy. FRANKLIN PIERCE. *Stating that no information relative to the action of the leading powers of Europe on the subject of privateering has been officially communicated by any foreign government. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, June 18, 1856. I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents,* in answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 16th instant. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, June 20, 1856. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I communicate herewith a letter from the Secretary of the Interior and accompanying papers, respecting the sum of $16,024.80 now in the hands, of the agent of the Choctaw Indians, being a balance remaining from the sales of Choctaw orphan reservations under the nineteenth article of the treaty of 1830, and commend the subject to the favorable consideration of Congress. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, June 23, 1856. I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a convention for the mutual delivery of criminals fugitives from justice in certain cases, and for other purposes, concluded at The Hague on the 29th ultimo between the United States and His Majesty the King of the Netherlands. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, July 3, 1856. To the House of Representatives of the United States: In response to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 18th ultimo, requesting me to inform the House "what measures, if any, have been taken to carry out the provisions of a late act of Congress authorizing the President to contract with Hiram Powers, the great American sculptor, now in Italy, for some work of art for the new Capitol, and appropriating $25,000 for that purpose," I transmit herewith copies of three letters-one from Mr. Powers to Hon. Edward Everett and two from myself to the same gentleman. Since the date of my letter of July 24, 1855, I have communicated with Mr. Everett upon the subject verbally and in writing, and the final proposition on my part, resulting therefrom, will be found in the accompanying extract of a letter dated June 5, 1856. FRANKLIN PIERCE. *Instructions to Mr. Buchanan, late minister to England, on the subject of free ships making free goods, and letter from Mr. Buchanan to Lord Clarendon on the same subject. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, July 7, 1856. In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 6th ultimo, respecting the location of the District armory upon the Mall in this city, I transmit the accompanying report from the Secretary of War. To the Senate of the United States: FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, July 7, 1856. I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a convention for the mutual delivery of criminals fugitives from justice between the United States and Austria, signed in this city on the 3d instant. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, July 8, 1856. I communicate herewith a report of the Secretary of War, in reply to a resolution of the House of the 25th ultimo, "on the subject of Indian hostilities in Oregon and Washington Territories." . To the Senate of the United States: FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, July 11, 1856. In reply to a resolution of the Senate of May 23, requesting a “detailed statement of the sums which have been paid to newspapers published in Washington for advertisements or other printing published or executed under the orders or by authority of the several Departments since the 4th day of March, 1853," I communicate herewith reports from the several Departments. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, July 15, 1856. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit a copy of a letter of November 27, 1854, from the commissioner of the United States in China, and of the regulations, orders, and decrees which accompanied it, for such revision thereof as Congress may deem expedient, pursuant to the sixth section of the act approved August 1848. FRANKLIN PIERCE. II, EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Washington, July 21, 1856. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I communicate to Congress herewith a letter from the PostmasterGeneral and a copy of a conditional contract entered into under instruc |