WASHINGTON, _January 17, 1853_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
I transmit herewith a communication lately received at the Department of
State from the minister of Her Most Catholic Majesty, accompanied by a
letter of instructions from the Spanish Government relative to the case
of the _Amistad_. In Mr. Calderon's communication reference is had to
former letters addressed by him to the Department of State on the same
subject, copies of which are herewith transmitted, and an earnest wish
is expressed that a final settlement of this long-pending claim should
be made. The tone of the letter of instructions from Mr. Manuel Bertran
de Lis is somewhat more peremptory than could be wished, but this
circumstance will not, probably, prevent Congress from giving his
suggestions the attention to which they may be entitled.
The claim of the Spanish Government on behalf of its subjects interested
in the _Amistad_ was the subject of discussion during the Administration
of President Tyler between the Spanish minister and Mr. Webster, then
Secretary of State. In an elaborate letter of the latter, addressed to
the Chevalier d'Argais on the 1st of September, 1841, the opinion is
confidently maintained that the claim is unfounded. The Administration
of President Polk took a different view of the matter. The justice of
the claim was recognized in a letter from the Department of State to the
Spanish minister of the 19th of March, 1847, and in his annual message
of the same year the President recommended its payment.
Under these circumstances the attention of Congress is again invited to
the subject. Respect to the Spanish Government demands that its urgent
representation should be candidly and impartially weighed. If Congress
should be of opinion that the claim is just, every consideration points
to the propriety of its prompt recognition and payment, and if the two
Houses should come to the opposite conclusion it is equally desirable
that the result should be announced without unnecessary delay.