of nearly every package has to take place before it can be put upon the back of a mule. We We have an abundance of wagons now at the Brazos, and are setting them up as fast as mules can be had. Colonel Hunt is shipping the latter, and we are buying largely. There is no difficulty in getting mules here, as I have often reported. They are small, but they are cheap. At this time we have with the army about four hundred and fifty wagons. One thousand would not be too many for present purposes. have great difficulty in getting and in keeping drivers. The present system should be changed. I propose that one man, or two at most, be enlisted as a part of each company in service, to serve as drivers or hostlers when needed. They could have the pay of artificers. This would save one-half the expense, and double the efficiency. They would be at hand and under control. Whether each regiment should have in addition a principal teamster, with the pay of quartermaster sergeant, might also be considered. Our supplies are now ample in all articles, so far as I know. I must bear witness to the readiness with which Colonel Hunt has aided me in all my calls; also to the industry and activity of all the assistants who have had charge of depots. They have all had hard, very hard duties to perform. When they had the choice, I had reason to fear they would all leave me. I was surprised they did not, though much pleased. To General TH. S. JESUP, HENRY WHITING, Assistant Quartermaster General. HEAD QUARTERS, Q. M. GENERAL'S OFFICE, COLONEL: I have received to-day your letters of the 7th of December and the 6th of January. In reply to the latter it is proper to remark, that you have been misinformed as to Captain Templeton's contract having superseded your arrangements. It is due to you, as well as to myself, to state why that contract was made, as well as all the circumstances attending it. Information had reached me here that General Patterson was delayed by the neglect of the quartermaster's department to provide transportation for his division: at the same time the grossest slanders were circulating here against the department in connexion with General Taylor's operations. I knew Colonel Cross considered Captain. Templeton an efficient man. He was here. I inquired of him whether mules could not be purchased in Mexico. He replied they could be had by thousands. I requested him to make me a proposition to furnish two thousand within the month of December. He offered at once to furnish them at twenty-five dollars each. They were to be well broke; or if not, he was to assist in breaking them, and the officers of the quartermaster's department to be the judges of their suitableness. When the contract was made I did not believe he could deliver a single one, except such as he could purchase in Texas, for I knew that the authority of some one of the generals was necessary, and I knew it was all that was necessary to obtain any number that we wanted. The result was as I believed it would be-he did not deliver one; the Mexicans north of the Rio Grande, as well as south of it, would not seli a mule without the order of the alcalde, and that officer could only be made to act by military authority. Had I believed the contract could have been executed, I would have communicated it to you; but on my arrival at Brazos Santiago on the 18th of December, that which I believed when I made the contract had to my mind become certain-that Captain Templeton would not be able to fulfil his contract. This contract never entered into my calculations at all in connexion with any military operations. It proved a fact most conclusively, which I had stated to the War Department officially long before, that nothing but the authority of the general in command of the army was necessary to obtain any amount of transportation, and proved that without that authority the most energetic business man could not obtain a single mule. I am fully aware, colonel, of your highly responsible position; and, so far from weakening, you may rest assured that I will do every thing in my power to sustain your authority. With great respect and regard I am, colonel, your obedient servant, To Colonel HENRY WHITING, TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. Head-quarters army, Mexico. 49 REFUSAL TO FURNISH INSTRUCTIONS TO MR. SLIDELL. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. TRANSMITTING Documents in relation to the return of Santa Anna and Paredes to Mexico, and refusing to furnish the instructions given to Mr. Slidell, as requested by the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 4th January, 1848. JANUARY 13, 1848. Read, and made the special order of the day for Tuesday next. To the House of Representatives of the United States: I have carefully considered the resolution of the House of Representatives, of the fourth instant, requesting the President to communicate to that House "any instructions which may have been given to any of the officers of the army or navy of the United States, or other persons, in regard to the return of President General Lopez de Santa Anna, or any other Mexican, to the republic of Mexico, prior or subsequent to the order of the President or Secretary of War, issued in January, 1816, for the march of the army from the Nueces river, across 'the stupendous deserts' which intervene to the Rio Grande; that the date of all such instructions, orders and correspondence, be set forth, together with the instructions and orders issued to Mr. Slidell at any time prior or subsequent to his departure for Mexico as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to that republic;" and requesting the President also to "communicate.all the orders and correspondence of the government in relation to the return of General Paredes to Mexico." I transmit herewith reports from the Secretary of State, the Sec retary of War, and the Secretary of the Navy, with the documents accompanying the same, which contains all the information in the possession of the Executive, which it is deemed compatible with the public interests to communicate. For further information relating to the return of Santa Anna to Mexico, I refer you to my annual message of December 8th, 1816. The facts and considerations stated in that message induced the order of the Secretary of the Navy to the commander of our squadron in the Gulf of Mexico, a copy of which is herewith communicated. This order was issued simultaneously with the order to blockade the coasts of Mexico, both bearing date the 13th of May, 1846, the day on which the existence of the war with Mexico was recognized by Congress. It was issued solely upon the views of policy presented in that message, and without any understanding on the subject, direct or indirect, with Santa Anna or any other person. General Paredes evaded the vigilance of our combined forces by land and sea, and made his way back to Mexico, from the exile into which he had been driven, landing at Vera Cruz, after that city and the castle of San Juan d'Ulloa were in our military occupation, as will appear from the accompanying reports and documents. The resolution calls for the "instructions and orders, issued to Mr. Slidell at any time prior or subsequent to his departure for Mexico as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to that republic." The customary and usual reservation, contained in calls of either house of Congress upon the Executive for information relating to our intercourse with foreign nations, has been omitted in the resolution before me. The call of the House is unconditional. It is, that the information requested be communicated, and thereby be made public, whether in the opinion of the Executive, who is charged by the constitution with the duty of conducting negotiations with foreign powers, such information, when disclosed, would be prejudicial to the public interests or not. It has been a subject of serious deliberation with me, whether I could consistently with my constitutional duty, and my sense of the public interests involved and to be affected by it, violate an important principle, always heretofore held sacred by my predecessors, as I should do by a compliance with the request of the House. President Washington, in a message to the House of Representatives, of the 30th of March, 1796, declined to comply with a request contained in a resolution of that body, to lay before them "a copy of the instructions to the minister of the United States, who negotiated the treaty with the King of Great Britain," "together with the correspondence and other documents relative to the said treaty, excepting such of the said papers as any existing negotiations may render improper to be disclosed." In assigning his reasons for declining to comply with the call, he declared that, "the nature of foreign negotiations requires caution, and their success must often depend on secrecy; and even when brought to a conclusion, a full disclosure of all the measures, demands, and eventual concessions, which may have been proposed or contemplated, would be extremely impolitic; for this might have a pernicious in fluence on future negotiations, or produce immediate inconveniences; perhaps danger and mischief in relation to other powers! The necessity of such caution and secrecy was one cogent reason for vesting the power of making treaties in the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate; the principle on which that body was formed, confining it to a small number of members. To admit, then, a right in the House of Representatives to demand, and to have, as a matter of course, all the papers respecting a negotiation with a foreign power, would be to establish a dangerous precedent." In that case, the instructions and documents called for related to a treaty which had been concluded and ratified by the President and Senate, and the negotiations in relation to it had been terminated. There was an express reservation too, "excepting" from the call, all such papers as related to "any existing negotiations" which it might be improper to disclose. In that case, President Washington deemed it to be a violation of an important principle, the establishment of a "dangerous precedent," and prejudicial to the public interests, to comply with the call of the House. Without deeming it to be necessary, on the present occasion, to examine or decide upon the other reasons assigned by him, for his refusal to communicate the information requested by the House, the one which is herein recited, is, in my judgment, conclusive in the case under consideration. Indeed, the objections to complying with the request of the House, contained in the resolution before me, are much stronger than those which existed in the case of the resolution in 1796. This resolution calls for the "instructions and orders" to the minister of the United States to Mexico, which relate to negotiations which have not been terminated, and which may be resumed. The information called for, respects negotiations which the United States offered to open with Mexico immediately preceding the commencement of the existing war. The instructions given to the minister of the United States, relate to the differences between the two countries, out of which the war grew, and the terms of adjustment, which we were prepared to offer to Mexico, in our anxiety to prevent the war. These differences still remain unsettled, and to comply with the call of the House, would be to make public through that channel, and to communicate to Mexico, now a public enemy, engaged in war, information which could not fail to produce serious embarrassments in any future negotiation between the two countries. I have, heretofore, communicated to Congress all the correspondence of the minister of the United States to Mexico, which, in the existing state of our relations with that republic, can, in my judgment, be at this time communicated, without serious injury to the public interest. Entertaining this conviction, and with a sincere desire to furnish any information which may be in possession of the executive de |