[Footnote 13: Relating to the free navigation of the St. Lawrence, St.
John, and other large rivers, and to the free enjoyment of the British
North American fisheries by United States citizens.]
WASHINGTON, _December 15, 1851_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I have received a resolution of the Senate, adopted on the 12th instant,
in the following terms:
_Resolved_, That the President of the United States be requested to
communicate to the Senate, if not inconsistent with the public interest,
any information the Executive may have received respecting the firing
into and seizure of the American steamship _Prometheus_ by a British
vessel of war in November last near Greytown, on the Mosquito Coast,
and also what measures have been taken by the Executive to ascertain
the state of the facts and to vindicate the honor of the country.
In answer to this request I submit to the Senate the accompanying
extracts from a communication addressed to the Department of State by
Mr. Joseph L. White, as counsel of the American, Atlantic and Pacific
Ship Canal Company, dated 2d instant.
This communication is the principal source of the information received
by the Executive in relation to the subject alluded to, and is presumed
to be essentially correct in its statement of the facts. Upon receiving
this communication instructions such as the occasion seemed to demand
were immediately dispatched to the minister of the United States in
London. Sufficient time has not elapsed for the return of any answer
to this dispatch from him, and in my judgment it would at the present
moment be inconsistent with the public interest to communicate those
instructions. A communication, however, of all the correspondence will
be made to the Senate at the earliest moment at which a proper regard
to the public interest will permit.
At the same time instructions were given to Commodore Parker, commanding
the Home Squadron, a copy of which, so far as they relate to the case of
the _Prometheus_, is herewith transmitted to the Senate.