MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 9, 1853.

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of the Navy, accompanied by the first part of Lieutenant Herndon’s report of the exploration of the valley of the Amazon and its tributaries, made by him in connection with lieutenant Gardner Gibbon, under instructions from the Navy Department.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 14, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States: 

I herewith communicate to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a convention on the subject of the extradition of fugitives from justice between the United States and Belgium, concluded and signed in this city on the 11th instant by the respective plenipotentiaries.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 18, 1853.

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, embodying the substance of recent communications made by the minister of Her Britannic Majesty to the Department of State on the subject of the interoceanic canal by the Nicaragua route, which formed the chief object of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain of the 19th April, 1850, and the relations of Great Britain to the protectorate of Mosquito, which she expresses herself desirous of relinquishing on terms consistent with her honorable engagements to the Indians of that name.

In consequence of these communications and other considerations stated in the report, it is deemed advisable by the Department that our diplomatic relations with the States of Central America should be placed on a higher and more efficient footing, and this measure meets my approbation.  The whole subject is one of so much delicacy and importance that I should have preferred, so near the close of my Administration, not to make it the subject of an Executive communication.  But inasmuch as the measure proposed can not, even if deemed expedient by my successor, take effect for near a twelvemonth unless an appropriation is made by this Congress, I have thought it my duty to submit the report of the Department to the two Houses.  The importance of the measure seemed to require an exposition somewhat in detail of the grounds on which it is recommended.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 18, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States: 

I transmit to the Senate, with the view to its ratification, a convention which was yesterday concluded between the United States and Great Britain for the establishment of international copyright.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, February 19, 1853.

To the Senate of the United States: 

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 14th instant, relative to the fisheries on the coasts of Florida, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied it.