Special Message

To the Senate and House of Representatives.

GENTLEMEN: The accompanying gold medal, commemorative of the delivery of the Liberator President of the Republic of Colombia from the daggers of assassins on the night of the 25th of September last, has been offered for my acceptance by that Government. The respect which I entertain as well for the character of the Liberator President as for the people and Government over which he presides renders this mark of their regard most gratifying to my feelings; but I am prevented from complying with their wishes by the provision of our Constitution forbidding the acceptance of presents from a foreign state by officers of the United States, and it is therefore placed at the disposal of Congress.

The powerful influence in the affairs of his country which the sacrifices and heroic deeds of General Boltvat have acquired for him creates an anxiety as to his future course in which the friends of liberal institutions throughout the world deeply participate. The favorable estimate which I have formed of the nature of the services rendered by him, and of his personal character, impresses me with the strongest confidence that his conduct in the present condition of his country will be such as may best promote her true interest and best secure his own permanent fame.

I deem the present a suitable occasion to inform you that shortly after my communication to Congress at the opening of the session dispatches were received from Mr. Moore, the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to Colombia, stating that he had succeeded in obtaining the assent of the council of ministers to the allowance of the claims of our citizens upon that Government in the cases of the brig Josephine and her cargo and the schooner Ranger and part of her cargo. An official copy of the convention subsequently entered into between Mr. Moore and the secretary of foreign affairs, providing for the final settlement of those claims, has just been received at the Department of State. By an additional article of this convention the claim in the case of the brig Morris is suspended until further information is obtained by the Colombian Government from the Court at Carracas; and Mr. Moore anticipates its early and satisfactory adjustment. The convention only waited the ratification of the Liberator President, who was at the time absent from Bogota, to be binding upon the Colombian Government. Although these claims are not, comparatively, of a large amount, yet the prompt and equitable manner in which the application of Mr. Moore in behalf of our injured citizens was met by that Government entities its conduct to our approbation, and promises well for the future relations of the two countries.

It gives me pleasure to add an expression of my entire satisfaction with the conduct of Mr. Moore since his arrival at Bogota. The judgment and discretion evinced by him on occasions of much interest and delicacy, the assiduity displayed in bringing so nearly to a conclusion within five weeks after his arrival claims which had been pending for years, and the promptitude and capacity with which he has entered upon other and more important portions of his official duty are calculated to inspire strong confidence in his future usefulness.

ANDREW JACKSON