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MESSAGE of the President of The United States, on the Opening of Congress.-Washington, December 6, 1852.

FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND OF

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

THE brief space which has elapsed since the close of your last session has been marked by no extraordinary political event. The quadrennial election of chief magistrate has passed off with less than the usual excitement. However individuals and parties may have been disappointed in the result, it is, nevertheless, a subject of national congratulation that the choice has been effected by the independent suffrages of a free people, undisturbed by those influences which in other countries have too often affected the purity of popular elections.

Our grateful thanks are due to an all-merciful Providence, not only for staying the pestilence which, in different forms, has desolated some of our cities, but for crowning the labours of the husbandman with an abundant harvest, and the nation generally with the blessings of peace and prosperity.

Within a few weeks, the public mind has been deeply affected by the death of Daniel Webster, filling, at his decease, the office of Secretary of State. His associates in the executive Government have sincerely sympathized with his family and the public generally on this mournful occasion. His commanding talents, his great political and professional eminence, his well-tried patriotism, and his long and faithful services, in the most important public trusts, have caused his death to be lamented throughout the country, and have earned for him a lasting place in our history.

In the course of the last summer, considerable anxiety was caused, for a short time, by an official intimation from the Government of Great Britain that orders had been given for the protection of the fisheries upon the coasts of the British provinces in North America against the alleged encroachments of the fishing-vessels of The United States and France. The shortness of this notice, and the season of the year, seemed to make it a matter of urgent importance. It was at first apprehended that an increased naval force had been ordered to the fishing-grounds to carry into effect the British interpretation of those provisions in the Convention of 1818* in reference to the true intent of which the 2 Governments differ. It was soon discovered that such was not the design of Great Britain; and satisfactory explanations of the real objects of the measure have been given, both here and in London.

The unadjusted difference, however, between the 2 Governments, as to the interpretation of the 1st Article of the Convention of 1818,

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is still a matter of importance. American fishing-vessels, within 9 or 10 years, have been excluded from waters to which they had free access for 25 years after the negotiation of the Treaty. In 1845 this exclusion was relaxed so far as concerns the Bay of Fundy; but the just and liberal intention of the home Government, in compliance with what we think the true construction of the Convention, to open all the other outer bays to our fishermen, was abandoned, in consequence of the opposition of the colonies. Notwithstanding this, The United States have, since the Bay of Fundy was reopened to our fishermen in 1845, pursued the most liberal course toward the colonial fishing interests. By the revenue law of 1846, the duties on colonial fish entering our ports were very greatly reduced, and, by the Warehousing Act, it is allowed to be entered in bond without payment of duty. In this way, colonial fish has acquired the monopoly of the export trade in our market, and is entering, to some extent, into the home consumption. These facts were among those which increased the sensibility of our fishing interest at the movement in question.

These circumstances, and the instances above alluded to, have led me to think the moment favourable for a reconsideration of the entire subject of the fisheries on the coasts of the British provinces, with a view to place them upon a more liberal footing of reciprocal privilege. A willingness to meet us in some arrangement of this kind is understood to exist, on the part of Great Britain, with a desire on her part to include in one comprehensive settlement as well this subject as the commercial intercourse between The United States and the British provinces. I have thought that, whatever arrangements may be made on these 2 subjects, it is expedient that they should be embraced in separate Conventions. The illness and death of the late Secretary of State prevented the commencement of the contemplated negotiation. Pains have been taken to collect the information required for the details of such an arrangement. The subject is attended with considerable difficulty. If it is found practicable to come to an agreement mutually acceptable to the 2 parties, Conventions may be concluded in the course of the present winter. The control of Congress over all the provisions of such an arrangement, affecting the revenue, will of course be reserved.

The affairs of Cuba formed a prominent topic in my last annual message. They remain in an uneasy condition, and a feeling of alarm and irritation on the part of the Cuban authorities appears to exist. This feeling has interfered with the regular commercial intercourse between The United States and the island, and led to some acts of which we have a right to complain. But the Captain-General of Cuba is clothed with no power to treat with foreign Governments, nor is he in any degree under the control of the Spanish Minister at

Washington. Any communication which he may hold with an agent of a foreign Power is informal and matter of courtesy. Anxious to put an end to the existing inconveniences (which seemed to rest on a misconception), I directed the newly-appointed Minister to Mexico to visit Havana, on his way to Vera Cruz. He was respectfully received by the Captain-General, who conferred with him freely on the recent occurrences; but no permanent arrangement was effected.

In the mean time, the refusal of the Captain-General to allow passengers and the mail to be landed in certain cases, for a reason which does not furnish, in the opinion of this Government, even a good presumptive ground for such a prohibition, has been made the subject of a serious remonstrance at Madrid; and I have no reason to doubt that due respect will be paid by the Government of Her Catholic Majesty to the representations which our Minister has been instructed to make on the subject.

It is but justice to the Captain-General to add, that his conduct toward the steamers employed to carry the mails of The United States to Havana has, with the exceptions above alluded to, been marked with kindness and liberality, and indicates no general purpose of interfering with the commercial correspondence and intercourse between the island and this country.

Early in the present year, official notes were received from the Ministers of France and England, inviting the Government of The United States to become a party with Great Britain and France to a tripartite Convention, in virtue of which the 3 Powers should severally and collectively disclaim, now and for the future, all intention to obtain possession of the Island of Cuba, and should bind themselves to discountenance all attempts to that effect on the part of any Power or individual whatever. This invitation has been respectfully declined, for reasons which it would occupy too much space in this communication to state in detail, but which led me to think that the proposed measure would be of doubtful constitutionality, impolitic and unavailing. I have, however, in common with several of my predecessors, directed the Ministers of France and England to be assured that The United States entertain no designs against Cuba; but that, on the contrary, I should regard its incorporation into the Union at the present time as fraught with serious peril.

Were this island comparatively destitute of inhabitants, or occupied by a kindred race, I should regard it, if voluntarily ceded by Spain, as a most desirable acquisition. But, under existing circumstances, I should look upon its incorporation into our Union as a very hazardous measure. It would bring into the Confederacy a population of a different national stock, speaking a different language, and not likely to harmonize with the other members. It would probably affect, in a prejudicial manner, the industrial interests of

the South; and it might revive those conflicts of opinion between the different sections of the country which lately shook the Union to its centre, and which have been so happily compromised.

The rejection by the Mexican Congress of the Convention which had been concluded between that Republic and The United States, for the protection of a transit way across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and of the interests of those citizens of The United States who had become proprietors of the rights which Mexico had conferred on one of her own citizens in regard to that transit, has thrown a serious obstacle in the way of the attainment of a very desirable national object. I am still willing to hope that the differences on the subject which exist, or may hereafter arise, between the Governments, will be amicably adjusted. This subject, however, has already engaged the attention of the Senate of The United States, and requires no further comment in this communication.

The settlement of the question respecting the port of San Juan de Nicaragua, and of the controversy between the Republics of Costa Rica and Nicaragua in regard to their boundaries, was considered indispensable to the commencement of the ship-canal between the 2 oceans, which was the subject of the Convention between The United States and Great Britain of the 19th of April, 1850.* Accordingly, a proposition for the same purposes, addressed to the 2 Governments in that quarter, and to the Mosquito Indians, was agreed to in April last by the Secretary of State and the Minister of Her Britannic Majesty. Besides the wish to aid in reconciling the differences of the 2 Republics, I engaged in the negotiation from a desire to place the great work of a ship-canal between the 2 oceans under one jurisdiction, and to establish the important port of San. Juan de Nicaragua under the Government of a civilized Power. The proposition in question was assented to by Costa Rica and the Mosquito Indians. It has not proved equally acceptable to Nicaragua; but it is to be hoped that the further negotiations on the subject which are in train will be carried on in that spirit of conciliation and compromise which ought always to prevail on such occasions, and that they will lead to a satisfactory result.

I have the satisfaction to inform you that the executive Government of Venezuela has acknowledged some claims of citizens of The United States which have for many years past been urged by our Chargé d'Affaires at Caracas. It is hoped that the same sense of justice will actuate the Congress of that Republic in providing the means for their payment.

The recent revolution in Buenos Ayres and the Confederated States having opened the prospect of an improved state of things in that quarter, the Governments of Great Britain and France deter

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