State of the Union | Page 3

judicial tribunal. I would respectfully suggest that although the
crime charged to have been committed in this case is held odious, as
being in conflict with our opinions on the subject of national
sovereignty and personal freedom, there is no prohibition of it or
punishment for it provided in any act of Congress. The expediency of
supplying this defect in our criminal code is therefore recommended to
your consideration.
I have scrupulously avoided any interference in the wars and
contentions which have recently distracted Europe. During the late
conflict between Austria and Hungary there seemed to be a prospect
that the latter might become an independent nation. However faint that
prospect at the time appeared, I thought it my duty, in accordance with
the general sentiment of the American people, who deeply sympathized
with the Magyar patriots, to stand prepared, upon the contingency of
the establishment by her of a permanent government, to be the first to

welcome independent Hungary into the family of nations. For this
purpose I invested an agent then in Europe with power to declare our
willingness promptly to recognize her independence in the event of her
ability to sustain it. The powerful intervention of Russia in the contest
extinguished the hopes of the struggling Magyars. The United States
did not at any time interfere in the contest, but the feelings of the nation
were strongly enlisted in the cause, and by the sufferings of a brave
people, who had made a gallant, though unsuccessful, effort to be free.
Our claims upon Portugal have been during the past year prosecuted
with renewed vigor, and it has been my object to employ every effort of
honorable diplomacy to procure their adjustment. Our late charge
d'affaires at Lisbon, the Hon. George W. Hopkins, made able and
energetic, but unsuccessful, efforts to settle these unpleasant matters of
controversy and to obtain indemnity for the wrongs which were the
subjects of complaint. Our present charge' d'affaires at that Court will
also bring to the prosecution of these claims ability and zeal. The
revolutionary and distracted condition of Portugal in past times has
been represented as one of the leading causes of her delay in
indemnifying our suffering citizens. But I must now say it is matter of
profound regret that these claims have not yet been settled. The
omission of Portugal to do justice to the American claimants has now
assumed a character so grave and serious that I shall shortly make it the
subject of a special message to Congress, with a view to such ultimate
action as its wisdom and patriotism may suggest.
With Russia, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, the
Netherlands, and the Italian States we still maintain our accustomed
amicable relations.
During the recent revolutions in the Papal States our charge d'affaires at
Rome has been unable to present his letter of credence, which, indeed,
he was directed by my predecessor to withhold until he should receive
further orders. Such was the unsettled condition of things in those
States that it was not deemed expedient to give him any instructions on
the subject of presenting his credential letter different from those with
which he had been furnished by the late Administration until the 25th
of June last, when, in consequence of the want of accurate information
of the exact state of things at that distance from us, he was instructed to
exercise his own discretion in presenting himself to the then existing

Government if in his judgment sufficiently stable, or, if not, to await
further events. Since that period Rome has undergone another
revolution, and he abides the establishment of a government
sufficiently permanent to justify him in opening diplomatic intercourse
with it.
With the Republic of Mexico it is our true policy to cultivate the most
friendly relations. Since the ratification of the treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo nothing has occurred of a serious character to disturb them. A
faithful observance of the treaty and a sincere respect for her rights can
not fail to secure the lasting confidence and friendship of that Republic.
The message of my predecessor to the House of Representatives of the
8th of February last, communicating, in compliance with a resolution of
that body, a copy of a paper called a protocol, signed at Queretaro on
the 30th of May, 1848, by the commissioners of the United States and
the minister of foreign affairs of the Mexican Government, having been
a subject of correspondence between the Department of State and the
envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of that Republic
accredited to this Government, a transcript of that correspondence is
herewith submitted.
The commissioner on the part of the United States for marking the
boundary between the two Republics, though delayed in reaching San
Diego by unforeseen obstacles, arrived at that place within a