James Buchanan: “In the meantime, who can foretell what would be the sufferings and privations of the people during its existence?”

Before accepting this proposition I have thought it right to take the advice of the Senate.

There is but one mode left of settling the dispute, and that is by submitting it to the arbitration of some friendly and impartial power.

In compliance with the resolutions of the Senate of the 17th and 18th February, 1858, requesting information upon the subject of the Aves Island, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents which accompanied it.

The safety of the immense amount of public property in this city and that of the archives of the Government, in which all the States, and especially the new States in which the public lands are situated, have a deep interest.