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Digitized by the Internet Archive
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http://archive.org/details/compilationofmes00v5unit

  

 

 

 

 

COPYRIGHT 1909 BY BUREAU OF

NATIONAL LITERATURE AND ART Smithsonian Institution

A

COMPILATION
OF THE

MESSAGES AND PAPERS
OF THE

PRESIDENTS
Prepared Under the Direction

on Printing,
Pursuant

to

of

an Act
of the

the
of

of the Joint

Committee

House and Senate,
the

Fifty-Second Congress

United States

(With Additions and Encyclopedic Index

by Private Enterprise)

VOLUME V
Lib

TheC

ieo/

Ha
Laie 8, T. H.
PUBLISHED BT

BUREAU OF NATIONAL LITERATURE,

NEW YORK

?

Inc.

 Cepyrilit, I097

 

ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME FIVE
PAGE
Smithsonian Institution

Frontispiece

Fremont Placing Flag on the Rockies
Improvements Bridge Building

—

Internal

The

Battle of Contreras,

.

.

.

1847

Storming of Chapultepec
James K. Polk (portrait)
(Sketch of his Tennessee home on
Sarah Childress Polk (portrait)

Westward Ho
Africans on Deck

.

.

'

of Slaver "Wildfire"

—Declaration

of

War

—A

Cotton Field

Against Mexico

.

.

.

.

The Battle of Churubusco
The Days of Forty-Nine in California
Siege of Vera Cruz
The Charge at Cerro Gordo
The Battle of Buena Vista, 1847
.

General Scott

—General

.

B

tissue)

!

Facsimile

2027
2091
2123
2187
2220

2344
2376
2408

.

Scott Entering

2220
2240
2248
2280
2312

Mexico City

.

.

2440
2472

D

 Messages and Papers of the Presidents

2284

be productive of the most disastrous consequences. The expenditure*
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
j^aowledge of the Executive during their pendency. Our laws require
lie 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

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 setI have had no occasion rendering it
tled on a Presidential certificate.
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
of the

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

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 pursirt of this object would penettate into the most

of Representatives,

and

that,

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 tes-

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
tify

 James K. Polk

2285

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 emer-

gencies

may

arise in

which it becomes absolutely necessary

for the public

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
safety or the public good to

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 appre-

hension that their names or their agency would in any contingency be
So it may often become necessary to incur an expenditure for
an object highly useful to the country; for example, the conclusion of a

divulged.

power whose customs require on such occasions
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
treaty with a barbarian

the use of presents.

may

occ^r in the history of a great nation, in

its intercourse with other
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 pro-

nations, wherein

it

vided such a fund, coeval with the organization of the Government, and
subsequently enacted the law of 18 10 as the permanent law of the land.

While

this law exists in full force I feel bound by a high sense of public
and duty to observe its provisions and the uniform practice of my
predecessors under it.

policy

With

great respect for the

House

desire to conform to tneir wishes, I

of Representatives

am

constrained to

and an anxious

come

to this con-

clusion.
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