the ratifications of that instrument should be effected within twenty-four months of its date; that is, on or before the 4th March, 1855. From circumstances, however, over which the Government of the United States had no control, but which are not supposed to indicate any indisposition on the part of the Paraguayan Government to consummate the final formalities necessary to give full force and validity to the treaty, the exchange of ratifications has not yet been effected. A similar condition exists in regard to the treaty between the United States and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay of the 28th August, 1852. The Senate, by a resolution of 13th June, 1854, extended the time within which the ratifications of that treaty might be exchanged to thirty months. from its date. That limit, however, has expired, and the exchange has not been effected. I deem it expedient to direct a renewal of negotiations with the Governments referred to, with a view to secure the exchange of the ratifications of these important conventions. But as the limit prescribed by the Senate in both cases has passed by, it is necessary that authority be conferred on the Executive for that purpose. I consequently recommend that the Senate sanction an exchange of the ratifications of the treaties above mentioned at any time which may be deemed expedient by the President within three years from the date of the resolution to that effect. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, August 1, 1856. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I communicate to Congress herewith the report of Major W. H. Emory, United States commissioner, on the survey of the boundary between the United States and the Republic of Mexico, referred to in the accompanying letter of this date from the Secretary of the Interior. FRANKLIN PIERCE. EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Washington, August 4, 1856. To the House of Representatives of the United States: I herewith lay before the House of Representatives a report of the Secretary of War, in reply to a resolution of the House requesting “information in regard to the construction of the Capitol and Post-Office extensions." FRANKLIN PIERCE. EXECUTIVE OFFICE, August 4, 1856. To the Senate of the United States: I communicate herewith a report of the Secretary of War, in response to a resolution of the Senate calling for information in relation to instruc tions "issued to any military officer in command in Kansas to disperse any unarmed meeting of the people of that Territory, or to prevent by military power any assemblage of the people of that Territory." FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, August 4, 1856. In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 1st instant, requesting a copy of papers touching recent events in the Territory of Washington, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which it was accompanied. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the Senate of the United States: EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Washington, August 6, 1856. In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo, requesting the President to inform the Senate in relation to any application "by the governor of the State of California to maintain the laws and peace of the said State against the usurped authority of an organization calling itself the committee of vigilance in the city and county of San Francisco," and also "to lay before the Senate whatever information he may have in respect to the proceedings of the said committee of vigilance," I transmit the accompanying reports from the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Navy. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, August 8, 1856. I herewith submit to the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty negotiated with the Creek and Seminole Indians, together with the accompanying papers. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, August 9, 1856. With a message of the 23d of June last I transmitted, for the consideration of the Senate, 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 of May last between the United States and His Majesty the King of the Netherlands. Deeming it advisable to withdraw that instrument from the consideration of the Senate, I request that it may be returned to me. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the Senate of the United States: I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, and for the surrender of fugitive criminals, between the United States and the Republic of Venezuela, signed at Caracas on the 10th of July last. AUGUST 9, 1856. To the Senate of the United States: FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, August 11, 1856. In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 3d March, 1855, requesting information relative to the proceedings of the commissioners for the adjustment of claims under the convention with Great Britain of the 8th of February, 1853, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom the resolution was referred. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, August 11, 1856. To the House of Representatives of the United States: I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of War, in reply to a resolution of the House of Representatives of May 26, 1856, in relation to the Capitol and Post-Office extensions. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, August 12, 1856. To the Senate of the United States: I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers,* in answer to the resolution of the Senate of yesterday. To the Senate of the United States: FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, August 12, 1856. In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 7th instant, in relation to the refusal of the Government of Honduras to receive a commercial agent from this country, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied it. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, August 13, 1856. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of War, inclosing a report of Captain M. C. Meigs, stating that the sum of $750,000 *Relating to "The declaration concerning maritime law," adopted by the plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey at Paris April 16, 1856. will be necessary for the prosecution of the Capitol extension until the close of the next session of Congress, and recommend that that amount may be appropriated. To the House of Representatives: FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, August 15, 1856. In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 4th instant, requesting a copy of letters and papers touching the pardons or remission of the imprisonment of Daniel Drayton and Edward Sayres in August, 1852, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom the resolution was referred. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, August 15, 1856. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, in relation to an error in a communication* of Captain Meigs. To the Senate of the United States: FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, August 16, 1856. In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 11th instant, in relation to the public accounts of John C. Frémont, I transmit the accompanying report from the Secretary of the Treasury, to whom the resolution was referred. To the House of Representatives: FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, August 16, 1856. In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 17th April, 1856, requesting me to have prepared and presented to the House of Representatives "a statement showing the appropriations made by the Thirty-first, Thirty-second, and Thirty-third Congresses, distinguishing the appropriations made at each session of each Congress, distinguishing also the appropriations made on the recommendations of the President, heads of Departments, or heads of bureaus from those that were made without such recommendation, and showing what expenditures have been made by the Government in each fiscal year, commencing with the 1st day of July, 1850, and ending on the 30th day of June, 1855; and also what, if any, defalcations have occurred from the 30th day of June, 1850, to the 1st day of July, 1855, and the amount of such defalcations severally, and such other information as may be in his power bearing upon the matters above mentioned," I submit the following reports from the Secretaries of the Treasury, War, Navy, and Interior Departments and the Postmaster-General. FRANKLIN PIERCE. *Relating to the Capitol extension. M P-VOL V-25 VETO MESSAGES. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, May 19, 1856. I return herewith to the Senate, in which it originated, the bill entitled "An act to remove obstructions to navigation in the mouth of the Mississippi River at the Southwest Pass and Pass à l'Outre," which proposes to appropriate a sum of money, to be expended under the superintendence of the Secretary of War, "for the opening and keeping open ship channels of sufficient capacity to accommodate the wants of commerce through the Southwest Pass and Pass à l'Outre, leading from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico." In a communication addressed by me to the two Houses of Congress on the 30th of December, 1854, my views were exhibited in full on the subject of the relation of the General Government to internal improvements. I set forth on that occasion the constitutional impediments, which in my mind are insuperable, to the prosecution of a system of internal improvements by means of appropriations from the Treasury of the United States, more especially the consideration that the Constitution does not confer on the General Government any express power to make such appropriations, that they are not a necessary and proper incident of any of the express powers, and that the assumption of authority on the part of the Federal Government to commence and carry on a general system of internal improvements, while exceptionable for the want of constitutional power, is in other respects prejudicial to the several interests and inconsistent with the true relation to one another of the Union and of the individual States. These objections apply to the whole system of internal improvements, whether such improvements consist of works on land or in navigable waters, either of the seacoast or of the interior lakes or rivers. I have not been able, after the most careful reflection, to regard the bill before me in any other light than as part of a general system of internal improvements, and therefore feel constrained to submit it, with these objections, to the reconsideration of Congress. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, May 19, 1856. I return herewith to the Senate, in which it originated, a bill entitled "An act making an appropriation for deepening the channel over the St. Clair flats, in the State of Michigan," and submit it for reconsideration, because it is, in my judgment, liable to the objections to the prose |