Part 54

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, May 19, 1856.

To the House of Representatives:

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.

WASHINGTON, May 20, 1856.

To the Senate of the United States:

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 2th of February last.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, May 22, 1856.

To the House of Representatives:

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.

WASHINGTON, May 29, 1856.

To the Senate of the United States:

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.

WASHINGTON, June 3, 1856.

To the House of Representatives: