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"accounted for specially, in all instances wherein the expenditure thereof may, in his judgment, be made public." All expenditures "accounted for specially" are settled at the treasury, upon vouchers, and not on president's certificates," and, like all other public accounts, are subject to be called for by Congress, and are open to public examination. Had information as respects this class of expenditures been called for by the resolution of the house, it would have been promptly communicated.

Congress, foreseeing that it might become necessary and proper to apply portions of this fund for objects, the original accounts and vouchers for which could not be "made public" without injury to the public interests, authorized the president, instead of such accounts and vouchers, to make a certificate of the amount "of such expenditures as he may think it advisable not to specify," and have provided that "every such certificate shall be deemed a sufficient voucher for the sum or sums therein expressed to have been expended."

The law making these provisions is in full force. It is binding upon all the departments of the government, and especially upon the executive, whose duty it is "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." In the exercise of the discretion lodged by it in the executive, several of my predecessors have made "certificates" of the amount" of such expenditures as they have thought it advisable not to specify," and upon these certificates, as the only vouchers, settlements have been made at the treasury.

It appears that within the period specified in the resolution of the house, certificates were given by my immediate predecessor, upon which settlements have been made at the treasury, amounting to five thousand, four hundred and sixty dollars. He has solemnly determined that the objects and items of these expenditures should not be made public, and has given his certificates to that effect, which are placed upon the records of the country. Under the direct authority of an existing law, he has exercised the power of placing these expenditures under the seal of confidence, and the whole matter was terminated before I came into office. An important question arises, whether a subsequent president, either voluntarily, or at the request of one branch of Congress, can, without a violation of the spirit of the law, revise the acts of his predecessor, and expose to public view that which he had determined should not be " made public." If not a matter of strict duty, it would certainly be a safe general rule that this should not be done. Indeed, it may well happen, and probably would happen, that the president for the time being would not be in possession of the information upon which his predecessor acted, and could not, therefore, have the means of judging whether he had exercised his discretion wisely or not. The law requires no other voucher but the president's certificate, and there is nothing in its provisions which requires any "entries, receipts, letters, vouchers, memorandums, or other evidence of such payments," to be preserved in the executive department. The president who makes the "certificate," may, if he chooses, keep all the information and evidence upon which he acts, in his own possession. If, for the information of his successors, he shall leave the evidence on which he acts, and the items of the expenditures which make up the sum for which he has given his "certificate," on the confidential files of one of the executive departments, they do not, in any proper sense, become thereby public records. They are never seen or examined by the accounting officers of the treasury, when they settle an account on the "president's certifi

cate." The first Congress of the United States, on the 1st of July, 1790, passed an act" providing the means of intercourse between the United States and foreign nations," by which a similar provision to that which now exists, was made for the settlement of such expenditures as, in the judgment of the president, ought not to be made public. This act was limited in its duration. It was continued, for a limited term, in 1793, and between that time and the date of the act of May 1, 1810, which is now in force, the same provision was revived and continued. Expenditures were made and settled under presidential certificates, in pursuance of these laws.

If the president may answer the present call, he must answer similar calls for every such expenditure of a confidential character, made under every administration, in war and in peace, from the organization of the government to the present period. To break the seal of confidence imposed by the law, and heretofore uniformly preserved, would be subversive of the very purpose for which the law was enacted, and might be productive of the most disastrous consequences. The expenditures of this confidential character, it is believed, were never before sought to be made public, and I should greatly apprehend the consequences of establishing a precedent which would render such disclosures hereafter inevitable.

I am fully aware of the strong and correct public feeling which exists throughout the country, against secrecy of any kind, in the administration of the government, and especially in reference to public expenditures, yet our foreign negotiations are wisely and properly confined to the knowledge of the executive, during their pendency. Our laws require the accounts of every particular expenditure to be rendered and publicly settled. at the treasury department. The single exception which exists is, not that the amounts embraced under president's certificates shall be withheld from the public, but merely that the items of which these are composed shall not be divulged. To this extent, and no further, is secrecy observed.

The laudable vigilance of the people in regard to all the expenditures of the government, as well as a sense of duty on the part of the president, and a desire to retain the good opinion of his fellow-citizens, will prevent any sum expended from being accounted for by the president's certificate, unless in cases of urgent necessity. Such certificates have, therefore, been resorted to but seldom throughout our past history.

For my own part, I have not caused any account whatever to be settled on a presidential certificate. I have had no occasion rendering it necessary, in my judgment, to make such a certificate, and it would be an extreme case which would ever induce me to exercise this authority; yet, if such a case should arise, it would be my duty to assume the responsibility devolved on me by the law.

During my administration, all expenditures for contingent expenses of foreign intercourse, in which the accounts have been closed, have been settled upon regular vouchers, as all other public accounts are settled at the treasury.

It may be alleged that the power of impeachment belongs to the house of representatives, and that, with a view to the exercise of this power, that house has the right to investigate the conduct of all public officers under the government. This is cheerfully admitted. In such a case, the safety of the republic would be the supreme law; and the power of the house, in the pursuit of this object, would penetrate into the most secret

recesses of the executive departments. It could command the attendance of any and every agent of the government, and compel them to produce all papers, public or private, official or unofficial, and to testify on oath to all facts within their knowledge. But, even in a case of that kind, they would adopt all wise precautions to prevent the exposure of all such matters, the publication of which might injuriously affect the public interest, except so far as this might be necessary to accomplish the great ends of public justice. If the house of representatives, as the grand inquest of the nation, should, at any time, have reason to believe that there has been malversation in office, by an improper use or application of the public money by a public officer, and should think proper to institute an inquiry into the matter, all the archives and papers of the executive departments, public or private, would be subject to the inspection and control of a committee of their body, and every facility in the power of the executive be afforded, to enable them to prosecute the investigation.

The experience of every nation on earth has demonstrated, that emergencies may arise, in which it becomes absolutely necessary for the public safety or the public good to make expenditures, the very object of which would be defeated by publicity. Some governments have very large amounts at their disposal, and have made vastly greater expenditures than the small amounts which have from time to time been accounted for on president's certificates. In no nation is the application of such sums ever made public. In time of war, or impending danger, the situation of the country may make it necessary to employ individuals, for the purpose of obtaining information, or rendering other important services, who could never be prevailed upon to act, if they entertained the least apprehension that their names, or their agency, would, in any contingency, be divulged. So, it may often become necessary to incur an expenditure for an object highly useful to the country; for example, the conclusion of a treaty with a barbarian power, whose customs require, on such occasions, the use of presents; but this object might be altogether defeated by the intrigues of other powers, if our purposes were to be made known by the exhibition of the original papers and vouchers to the accounting officers of the treasury. It would be easy to specify other cases which may occur in the history of a great nation, in its intercourse with other nations, wherein it might become absolutely necessary to incur expenditures for objects which could never be accomplished if it were suspected in advance that the items of expenditure, and the agencies employed, would be made public.

Actuated undoubtedly by considerations of this kind, Congress provided such a fund, coeval with the organization of the government; and subsequently enacted the law of 1810 as the permanent law of the land. While this law exists in full force, I feel bound by a high sense of public policy and duty to observe its provisions, and the uniform practice of my predecessors under it.

With great respect for the house of representatives, and an anxious desire to conform to their wishes, I am constrained to come to this conclusion.

If Congress disapprove the policy of the law, they may repeal its pro

visions.

In reply to that portion of the resolution of the house which calls for "copies of whatever communications were made from the secretary of state during the last session of the twenty-seventh Congress, particularly February, 1843, to Mr. Cushing and Mr. Adams, members of the commit

tee of this house on foreign affairs, of the wish of the president of the United States to institute a special mission to Great Britain," I have to state that no such communications, or copies of them, are found in the department of state.

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Copies of all letters on the books of the department of state, to any officer of the United States, or any person in New York, concerning Alexander McLeod," which are also called for by the resolution, are herewith communicated.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MAY 6, 1846.

To the House of Representatives of the United States :

I TRANSMIT here with a report from the secretary of state, with accompanying papers, in answer to a resolution of the house of representatives of the 8th ultimo, requesting the president to communicate to that body, "if not incompatible with the public interest, copies of the correspondence of George W. Gordon, late consul of the United States at Rio de Janeiro, with the department of state, relating to the slave-trade in vessels and by citizens of the United States, between the coast of Africa and Brazil."

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MAY 6, 1846.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

I TRANSMIT herewith a report of the secretary of war, in answer to the resolution of the house of representatives of the 4th instant, calling for information whether any "soldier or soldiers of the army of the United States have been shot for desertion, or in the act of desertion, and if so, by whose order, and under what authority."

MEXICAN WAR MESSAGE.

MAY 11, 1846.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :THE existing state of the relations between the United States and Mexico, renders it proper that I should bring the subject to the consideration of Congress. In my message at the commencement of your present session, the state of these relations, the causes which led to the suspension of diplomatic intercourse between the two countries in March, 1845, and the long-continued and unredressed wrongs and injuries committed by the Mexican government on citizens of the United States, in their persons and property, were briefly set forth.

As the facts and opinions which were then laid before you were carefully considered, I can not better express my present convictions of the condition of affairs up to that time, than by referring you to that communication.

The strong desire to establish peace with Mexico, on liberal and honorable terms, and the readiness of this government to regulate and adjust our boundary, and other causes of difference with that power, on such fair and equitable principles as would lead to permanent relations of the most friendly nature, induced me, in September last, to seek the reopening of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Every measure adopted on our part had for its object the furtherance of these desired results.

In communicating to Congress a succinct statement of the injuries which we had suffered from Mexico, and which have been accumulating during a period of more than twenty years, every expression that could tend to inflame the people of Mexico, or defeat or delay a pacific result, was carefully avoided. An envoy of the United States repaired to Mexico with full powers to adjust every existing difference. But though present on the Mexican soil, by agreement between the two governments, invested with full powers, and bearing evidence of the most friendly dispositions, his mission has been unavailing. The Mexican government not only refused to receive him, or listen to his propositions, but, after a long-continued series of menaces, have at last invaded our territory, and

shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil.

It now becomes my duty to state more in detail the origin, progress, and failure of that mission. In pursuance of the instructions given in September last, an inquiry was made, on the thirteenth of October, in 1845, in the most friendly terms, through our consul in Mexico, of the minister of foreign affairs, whether the Mexican government "would receive an envoy from the United States intrusted with full powers to adjust all the questions in dispute between the two governments;" with the assurance that "should the answer be in the affirmative, such an envoy would be immediately despatched to Mexico."

The Mexican minister, on the fifteenth of October, gave an affirmative answer to this inquiry, requesting, at the same time, that our naval force at Vera Cruz might be withdrawn, lest its continued presence might assume the appearance of menace and coercion pending the negotiations. This force was immediately withdrawn. On the 10th of November, 1845, Mr. John Slidell, of Louisiana, was commissioned by me as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to Mexico, and was intrusted with full powers to adjust both the questions of the Texas boundary and of indemnification to our citizens.

The redress of the wrongs of our citizens naturally and inseparably blended itself with the question of boundary. The settlement of the one question in any correct view of the subject, involves that of the other. I could not, for a moment, entertain the idea that the claims of our much-injured and long-suffering citizens, many of which had existed for more than twenty years, should be postponed, or separated from the settlement of the boundary question.

Mr. Slidell arrived at Vera Cruz on the 30th of November, and was courteously received by the authorities of that city. But the government of General Herrera was then tottering to its fall. The revolutionary party had seized upon the Texas question to effect or hasten its overthrow. Its

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