the claim for their release, nothing more being intended in that respect than that proper time should be allowed to the government of Mexico to make such further inquiries as may

necessary.

be

Your predecessor has already been directed that, if any of the persons suffer for the want of the common necessaries of life, he should provide for such wants until otherwise supplied: a direction which you will also observe,

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

DANIEL WEBSTER,

Pleni-}

potentiary of the United States to the Mexican Republic,

CAPTAIN JONES'S ATTACK ON MONTEREY. Message from the President of the United States, in reply to the Resolution of the House of Representatives of the 2d of Febru ary, calling for Information in Relation to the taking Possession of Monterey by Commodore Thomas Ap Catesby Jones, February 22, 1843.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

A resolution has been communicated to me, which was adopted by the House of Representatives on the 2d instant, in the following terms:

"Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to inform this House by what authority and under whose instructions Captain Thomas Ap Catesby, Jones, commander of the squadron of the United States in the Pacific Ocean, did, on or about the 19th of October last, invade in warlike array the territories of the Mexican Republic, take possession of the town of Monterey, and declare himself the commander of the naval and military expedition for the occupation of the Californias.

"Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to communicate to this House copies of all the instructions given by him, or under his authority, to the said Captain Jones, from the time of his appointment to the command of the said squadron; also, copies of all communications received from him relating to his expedition for the occupation of the Californias; and also to inform this House whether orders have been dispatched to the said Captain Jones recalling him from his command."

The proceeding of Captain Jones, in taking possession of the town of Monterey, in the possessions of Mexico, was entirely of his own authority, and not in consequence of any orders or instructions of any kind given to him by the government of the United States. For that proceeding he has been recalled, and

the letter recalling him will be found among the papers herewith communicated.

The resolution of the House of Representatives asks for "copies of all the instructions given to Captain Jones, from the time of his appointment to the command of the said squadron; also, copies of all communications received from him relating to his expedition for the occupation of the Californias," without confining the request to such instructions and correspondence as relate to the transactions at Monterey, and without the usual reservation of such portions of the instructions or correspondence as, in the President's judgment, could not be made public without prejudice or danger to the public interests.

It may well be supposed that cases may arise, even in time of peace, in which it would be highly injurious to the country to make public, at a particular moment, the instructions under which a commander may be acting on a distant and foreign service. In such a case, should it arise, and in all similar cases, the discretion of the executive can not be controlled by the request of either House of Congress for the communication of papers. The duties which the Constitution and the laws devolve on the President must be performed by him under his official responsibility; and he is not at liberty to disregard high interests or thwart important public objects by untimely publications, made against his own judgment, by whomsoever such publications may be requested. In the present case, not seeing that any injury is likely to arise from so doing, I have directed copies of all the papers asked for to be communicated. And I avail myself of the opportunity of transmitting, also, copies of sundry letters, as noted below. JOHN TYLER.

WASHINGTON, February 18, 1843..

Mr. Webster to Mr. Thompson.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 17, 1843. SIR-Your dispatches to No.-, inclusive, and your private letter of the 15th ultimo, have been received.

Although the department is without official, intelligence of the seizure of Monterey by Commodore Jones, in command of the United States squadron in the Pacific, it is deemed proper that no time should be lost in acquainting the Mexican government that the transaction was entirely unauthorized. If, therefore, the account of that event should prove to be authentic, you will take occasion to inform the Minister for Foreign Af fairs orally that Commodore Jones had no warrant from this government for the proceeding, and that the President exceedingly regrets its occurrence.

EBSTER.

I am, sir, your obedient servant, DANIEL WE WADDY THOMPSON, E., Ene y Extraordinary and Minister }

Plenipotentiary of the United States, Mexico.

Mr. Webster to General Almonte.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 21, 1843. The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, has the honor to communicate to General Almonte, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the Mexican Republic, a copy of an instruction which has been addressed by this department to the minister of the United States at Mexico, upon the subject of the reported seizure of Monterey, on the Mexican coast, by Commodore Jones, in command of the United States squadron in the Pacific.

The undersigned avails himself of the occasion to offer General Almonte renewed assurances of his very distinguished consideration. DANIEL WEBSTER.

General Don J. N. ALMONTE, &C.

General Almonte to Mr. Webster.[TRANSLATION.]

MEXICAN LEGATION, Washington, January 24, 1843. The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the Mexican Republic near the government of the United States of America, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note which the Hon. Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, was pleased to address to him on the 21st instant, inclosing a copy of the instructions addressed by him, on the 17th instant, to Mr. Waddy Thompson, the American minister at Mexico, respecting the capture of Monterey, in Upper California, by Commodore Jones.

The undersigned expected no less from the sense of justice of the Hon. Mr. Webster's government; he, however, regrets to observe that, in the instructions given to the aforesaid Mr. Waddy Thompson, minister of the United States at Mexico, while it is denied that the proceedings of Commodore Jones were authorized, the declaration is omitted that he will be exemplarily punished for the extraordinary act of excess [inaudito atentado] committed by him, in violating the faith of treaties, and abusing the hospitality with which the peaceful inhabitants of Monterey were preparing to receive him. The undersigned will, nevertheless, without loss of time, communicate to his government the note from the Hon. Mr. Webster, and the accompanying copy of the instructions; but he will, in the mean time, inform the Secretary of State that he has just received communications and instructions from his Excellency the Minister of Foreign Relations of Mexico, wherein he is directed to press for the immediate satisfaction and indemnification which his government expects to receive from this republic. The Hon. Mr. Webster will have already been informed of the tenor of the communication addressed to Mr. Waddy Thomp

son, on the 19th of December last, by the Mexican government; and the undersigned doubts not, from the good faith of the government of the United States, that, in reparation of the scandalous infraction of the treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation existing between the two republics, committed by one of its officers who has invoked its name, the said officer will be exemplarily punished, as a warning to other chiefs, who, incited by his example, might be disposed to commit excesses of equal enormity, if they could be pardoned by their own government. The delinquency of Commodore Jones is so serious, so obvious, and so notorious, that it would be superfluous to particularize its enormities.

The undersigned trusts that the government of the United States will repair the losses and injuries inflicted by the said Commodore Jones, as well on the inhabitants of Monterey as on the Mexican Republic. This is an act of rigorous justice, which Mexico has a right to expect, and which it is confident of obtaining if, as she believes, and as the Hon. Mr. Webster assures, her government is a government of law.

The undersigned, being desirous for the removal of every obstacle to the intimacy of the relations of friendship and good understanding which should subsist between two friendly nations, bound by solemn treaties, and anticipating a happy result to their communications with each other (as he has no grounds for believing the contrary), requests the Hon. Mr. Webster, Secretary of State, to have the kindness to submit the contents of this note to his Excellency the President, and to communicate to him the resolution of his excellency as soon as possible, in order that he may avail himself of the departure of a messenger, whom the undersigned proposes to dispatch to Mexico, and who will quit this city on the 27th instant.

The undersigned embraces the opportunity here afforded to repeat to the Hon. Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, the assurances of his distinguished consideration. J. N. ALMONTE.

Hon. DANIEL WEBSTER, Secretary of State.

Mr. Webster to General Almonte.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 30, 1843. The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, has had the honor to receive the note of the 24th instant of General Almonte, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the Mexican Republic:

General Almonte has already been made acquainted with the instruction addressed from this department, on the 17th instant, to the minister of the United States at Mexico, respecting the transaction at Monterey, in Upper California, in which

Commodore Jones was concerned; but General Almonte now expresses his regret that he sees in that instruction no decla ration that Commodore Jones will be exemplarily punished for the extraordinary act of excess committed by him, in violation of the faith of treaties, and in abuse of the hospitality with which the peaceable inhabitants of Monterey were prepared to receive him.

The undersigned has the honor to inform General Almonte, that, before the receipt of his note, the President had given directions for the adoption of such a course of proceeding toward Commodore Jones as, in his opinion, was due to the circumstan ces of the case, to the preservation of the principle and practice of absolute and entire abstinence, on the part of militarypower, from all aggression in time of peace, and especially due to the friendly relations at the present time happily subsisting between the United States and Mexico.

But General Almonte and his government must see that Commodore Jones intended no indignity to the government of Mexico, nor any thing unlawful toward her citizens. Unfortu-, nately, he supposed, as he asserts, that a state of war actually existed, at the time, between the two countries. If this supposition had been well founded, all that he did would have been justifiable; so that, whatever of imprudence or impropriety he may be chargeable with, there is nothing to show that he intended any affront to the honor of the Mexican government, or to violate the relations of peace..

General Almonte is aware of some of the circumstances in which this belief of the actual existence of a state of hostilities probably might have had its origin. It is not deemed necessary now to advert to those circumstances, nor is it at present known to the government of the United States, what other causes may have existed to strengthen this belief, or to make it general along the western shore of this Continent. In the clearly manifest absence of all illegal and improper intent, some allowance may be properly extended toward acts of indiscretion in a quarter so very remote, and in which correct information of distant events is not soon or easily obtained.

If, in this transaction, citizens of Mexico have received any injury in their persons or property, the government of the United States will undoubtedly feel itself bound to make ample reparation; and the representations of General Almonte on that subject will receive the most respectful and immediate consideration.

1

Happily, no lives were lost; nor is it understood that any considerable injury was suffered by any one.

The undersigned is directed by the President to assure General Almonte and his government that the government of the

Y