I have only to add that nothing has arisen since the date of my former message to “dispense with the suggestions therein contained touching the propriety of provisional measures by Congress.”

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, August 2, 1854.

To the Senate of the United States: 

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, with the accompanying documents,[32] in answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 5th ultimo.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 32:  Correspondence relative to the imprisonment of George Marsden and to the seizure of the cargo of the American bark Griffon by the authorities of Brazil.]

WASHINGTON, August 2, 1854.

To the House of Representatives: 

I herewith transmit to you a copy of a treaty between the United States and Great Britain, negotiated at Washington on the 5th of June last.  It has been concurred in by the Senate, and I have no doubt that the ratifications of it will be soon exchanged.  It will be observed that by the provision of the fifth article the treaty does not go into operation until after legislation thereon by the respective parties.

Should Congress at its present session pass the requisite law on the part of the United States to give effect to its stipulations, the fishing grounds on the coasts of the British North American Provinces, from which our fishermen have been heretofore excluded, may be opened to them during the present season, and apprehended collisions between them and British fishermen avoided.

For this reason and for the purpose of securing to the citizens of the United States at the earliest practicable period other advantages which it is believed they will derive from this treaty, I recommend the passage by Congress at the present session of such a law as is necessary on the part of the United States to give effect to its provisions.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

VETO MESSAGES.

WASHINGTON, May 3, 1854.

To the Senate of the United States: 

The bill entitled “An act making a grant of public lands to the several States for the benefit of indigent insane persons,” which was presented to me on the 27th ultimo, has been maturely considered, and is returned to the Senate, the House in which it originated, with a statement of the objections which have required me to withhold from it my approval.

In the performance of this duty, prescribed by the Constitution, I have been compelled to resist the deep sympathies of my own heart in favor of the humane purpose sought to be accomplished and to overcome the reluctance with which I dissent from the conclusions of the two Houses of Congress, and present my own opinions in opposition to the action of a coordinate branch of the Government which possesses so fully my confidence and respect.