Fillmore, Millard; Parker, Foxhall A.; De La Concha, Jose; et al. Message of the President of the United States, to the Two Houses of Congress, at the commencement of the first session of the Thirty-second Congress. [with accompanying papers]. Washington: Printed by A. Boyd Hamilton, 1851. First Edition. [12530]
Original brown sheep, red & black leather spine title labels, large 1 inch chip at top of spine, old stains, 9 x 6 inches, text block tight. Damp stains at the top of the pages in the preliminaries and first 30 pp. of the text; 42 pp. series index; 469 pp., one small folding map. Ex library with ink stamps on the front end papers; both boards with splits for about 3 inches at the top of the joints. One page is torn, detached, and laid in. Fair. Hardcover.
32d Congress, 1st Session, Senate Ex. Doc. No. 1.
"Since the close of the last Congress, certain Cubans, and other foreigners resident in the United States, who were more or less concerned in the previous invasion of Cuba, instead of being discouraged by its failure, have again abused the hospitality of this country, by making it the scene of the equipment of another military expedition against that possession of her Catholic majesty, in which they were countenanced, aided, and joined by citizens of the United States. On receiving intelligence that such designs were entertained, I lost no time in issuing such instructions to the proper officers of the United States, as seemed to be called for by the occasion. By the proclamation, a copy of which is herewith submitted, I also warned those who might be in danger of being inveigled into this scheme, of its unlawful character, and of the penalties which they would incur. For some time there was reason to hope that these measures had sufficed to prevent any such attempt. This hope, however, proved to be delusive. Very early in the morning of the third of August, a steamer called the Pampero departed from New Orleans for Cuba, having on board upwards of four hundred armed men, with evident intentions to make war upon the authorities of the island. This expedition was set on foot, in palpable violation of the laws of the United States. Its leader was a Spaniard, and several of the chief officers, and some others engaged in it, were foreigners. The persons composing it, however, were mostly citizens of the United States." - p. 1.
So reads a portion of President Fillmore's statement in regard to the facts of the matter, which take up the first 25 pages of this report. What follows are his Proclamation, with all of the accompanying documents and letters describing the naval and other actions which followed. These include the correspondence of Commodore Parker to Secretary of State Daniel Webster; statements by Narciso Lopez, the leader of the rebellion; letters by Jose de la Concha, Captain-General of Cuba; letters by and to the representatives of France and England; and on a different topic, correspondence and a small map on the Oregon Boundary.
This volume includes detailed descriptions, charts, and reports on other military affairs, including a Report by the Secretary of War on forts within the United States, on Military and Indian Affairs in Texas; on the same in New Mexico; on the same in California; and for Oregon, Florida; with detailed charts on the Organization of the Army of the United States in 1851.
