the important duties imposed by the treaty. The boundary line, from the initial point on the Pacific to the junction of the Gila with the Colorado, will be an astronomical line connecting the two points. To obtain the azimuth of this line, the determination of latitude and longitude of its extremities was necessary. The determination of this line is nearly completed. Major Emory, the chief astronomer of the commission, finding no suitable point for an observatory at the initial point on the Pacific, established one at "camp Riley," and determined its geographical position in latitude and longitude by no less than three hundred observations on stars near the zenith, and its longitude by observations on every culmination of the moon and the moon culminating stars which were observable since the establishment of his observatory on the 20th July last; and these results have been carried from his observatory to the initial point by a single triangle. In a very few days all the necessary computations will be completed. On the 8th ultimo, Lieutenant Whipple, of the astronomical party, with a suitable escort, was sent to the Gila, and is now at the junction of that river with the Colorado, for the purpose of observing with a view to determine the latitude and longitude of that point. Captain Hardcastle, of the same corps, in the mean time, has been despatched to the mountains, this side of the desert, between the two points, to conduct the signals; by means of which Major Emory will be enabled to connect the two extremes of the line in longitude. In the event this fails, the absolute determinations in longitude made respectively by Major Emory and Lieutenant Whipple will be resorted to, and the azimuth of the line forming the boundary completed and marked on the ground. I will in a few days send a detachment of the surveying party along the line to make a topographical sketch of the country between the two points; and I have no doubt, within twenty or thirty days this great work on the west side of the Colorado will be completed, and nothing will remain except to fill in a few intermediate points. This, with the placing of suitable monuments on the Pacific and at the intersection of the Gila with the Colorado, will complete what has always been regarded the most difficult portion of the work. The distance will be about one hundred and thirty miles. As a natural boundary (the Gila and the Rio Grande) constitutes a large portion of the remainder of the line, it is thought no difficulty will be found in establishing it. I must again repeat, that unless Congress, at an early day in its next session, appropriates the necessary means, the work must be suspended. My movements have already been much retarded for the want of funds; and I trust the commission may not be thus embarrassed in future. If the joint commission is broken up from any cause, the work is inevitably suspended for an indefinite period. I send herewith a map prepared by the surveyor, Mr. Gray, with an explanatory note, showing his operations in determining the initial point in the boundary. No communication whatever has been received from your department since the 15th March last. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. JOHN M. CLAYTON, U. S. Commissioner. Secretary of St-te. SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, November 3, 1849. SIR: The forms and ceremonies necessary to fix and determine, upon the face of the earth, the initial point in the boundary between the United States and the republic of Mexico, on the Pacific, were gone through with on the 10th ultimo, in presence of various members of the joint commission and numerous other witnesses. In consequence of some changes, which have evidently taken place in the southern part of the port of San Diego since the survey of Don Juan Pantoja in 1782, it became necessary to make an accurate survey of that part of the harbor. This was executed, by the surveyors on each side, some weeks since. A difference of a few feet was found to exist between the representatives of the two governments, as to the precise point which ought to be regarded as "the southernmost point of the port of San Diego. This, however, was soon adjusted, in the spirit of compromise, by the commissioners on the ground, and a point selected, from which "a marine league due south" was measured. At the place thus selected as the initial point a temporary monument has been erected, until suitable materials for the construction of a permanent one can be obtained. The monument will be placed five hundred feet from the ocean, and on a point of land forty-two feet above the level of the sea. Its precise latitude, as agreed upon, is 32° 31' 59''.58, which will make it about eighteen miles south of this town. A small portion of the computations necessary to determine the exact longitude have not yet been completed, and, consequently, I am not now able to give it with precision. The astronomical detachment, under the charge of Lieutenant Whipple, referred to in my last communication, is still at the mouth of the Gila, having nearly completed the observations necessary to determine the geographical position of that point. His return is expected in a few days. On the 12th ultimo the surveyor, with a portion of his corps, left here for the Gila, with the view to exainine the point at which that river empties into the Colorado. For reasons perhaps satisfactory to himself, he returned without having reached that river. As to the extent or character of the information elicited by that expedition, I have no knowledge. Our movements have been much retarded for the want of the necessary means to purchase transportation, &c. If the department had seen proper to provide me even with the funds parsimoniously appropriated by Congress, the work from the Pacific to the Gila would have been finished before this. Although the steamers arrive here regularly from the northern as well as the southern portions of this coast, I have not had the honor to receive any communication whatever from your department, excepting your very kind note of the 15th March, sent by way of the city of Mexico. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN B. WELLER, United States Commissioner. Hon. JOHN M. CLAYTON, Secretary of State, Washington. WASHINGTON CITY, D. C., SIR: As an authorized agent and attorney for John B. Weller, commis-sioner to run and mark the boundary line between the United States and Mexico, I had the honor some months since to apply, through you, for additional funds to enable said commissioner to proceed with said service;. and believing now that your refusal at that time was induced principally by the belief that Mr. Weller would be relieved from the duties of commissioner, by a successor, before additional funds were, actually needed, and conceiving that such belief has not been borne out by the facts, and learn- ing that the new appointee (Col. Fremont) declines entering upon the duties of commissioner, I beg leave, most respectfully, to renew my appli cation. Up to the latest day of our last advices from California, the 5th of November, Mr. Weller was still acting in the capacity of commissioner, and was vigorously prosecuting the business of that office-having received no official information regarding a discharge therefrom. He has succeeded in completing the establishment of the initial point on the Pacific coast; has finished the survey and demarcation of the line from the Pacific coast to the Colorado, (a very considerable portion of the work) and has ascertained the latitude and longitude of each of the two extreme points. In short, I will refer you to the correspondence and documents in your department, received from him, for the amount and nature of the service he has performed, and then ask whether it is not altogether likely that, in order thereto, he has been compelled to incur liabilities greater in amount than the funds that have been directly furnished him? I think it cannot be said, when all the facts are known, that he ought to have, or possibly can have funds to any considerable amount remaining in his hands out of the advances heretofore made him. The vouchers returned by him, and now in the Fifth Auditor's office, will show that all he has had advanced him has been expended for subsistence stores for his party for six months, and for the necessary expenses in getting his party out to the field of labor. The department, with the ample data in its possession, is able to form a correct estimate of the probable cost of the work completed by Mr. Weller, and therefore, also, of the probable sum now actually needed by the commissioner. The department is also able, no doubt, to fix the probable time at which Mr. Weller will leave the service, and can, therefore, form a tolerably correct estimate of the amount of funds it will take to keep up the service to that time; and here the assumption, that the department is unwilling to suffer the entire suspension of the service for any limited period, I hope is correct, as it is natural and justifiable. And it is quite certain that, unless funds are furnished the commissioner soon, he will be compelled to suspend the work, let the consequences be what they maythe nature of which, I am glad to believe the department can sufficiently estimate to induce it to avert them. I sincerely hope, sir, you will see the necessity as well as the justice of furnishing Mr. Weller more funds, and that I shall have the pleasure of conveying the same to him, as I am fully authorized by him to do, the evidence of which I will exhibit to you at any time you shall name. I have now only to inform you that, being a subaltern of the commission, I have received orders to repair to San Diego, but am unable to do so for want of the necessary means; and unless you can and will furnish me the necessary amount of funds on account of the commission, I shall remain totally unable to execute the orders of the commissioner. I have received no payment upon my salary since I first entered the commission; and if you cannot furnish me funds, as just intimated, but will have the goodness to allow me to draw from the treasury (as I am authorized by the commissioner to do) a sufficient portion of my salary to enable me to obey the orders of the commissioner to repair to San Diego, I can and will execute a voucher which shall secure the accounting officer against any charge of wrong-doing, as well as secure the public treasury against any possible loss. I shall feel greatly obliged to you for an early answer; and in the mean ume, I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, C. L. WELLER, Disbursing officer U. S. & M. B. Commission, and agent and attorney for John B. eller. Hon. JOHN M. CLAYTON, WASHINGTON CITY, D. C., December 24, 1849. SIR: Your favor of the 20th instant, in answer to mine of the 15th, has been received. It informs me that "the commissioner is charged with the disbursement of the appropriation made by Congress for the boundary service," and that "my application for pay on account of my salary as a subaltern in the commission should be made to him." And what I now wish to say in reply, is, that all the commissioner desires is that you will not intervene between him and the strict discharge of his duty, as set forth in your letter. He cannot disburse said appropriation so long as the department refuses to allow it to pass into his hands, or dishonors his requisitions upon the department, given in discharge of liabilities incurred on account of the service. I am the disbursing officer of the commission, as will be seen in the commissioner's report on the organization of the commission, now in the State Department, and as such hold a requisition of the commissioner upon the department for a portion of said appropriation, which I am to disburse, agreeably to directions, on account of the service. And in the name and on behalf of the commissioner, I only ask that the discharge of his duty, as set forth in your letter, may be rendered possible by having placed under his control the appropriation made by Congress. Your reference of me back to the commissioner for my pay is useless, since he cannot be allowed to draw from the treasury funds for the purpose. The commissioner, in recognition and part payment of my claim, put into my hands a draft upon the department, which has not yet been honored. If the commissioner's requisitions are to be dishonored, and yet it be made his duty to defray the expenses of the service, how, I ask, with all due deference, is it proposed he shall accomplish his mission? Whilst so much time is being consumed in getting a successor to Mr. Weller installed, is it expected of him to keep up the service, or is a sus pension desired? If the former, it cannot be done without funds; and if the latter, would it not be a saving to the government, and just and magnanimous towards Mr. Weller, to relieve him from the service unconditionally? The commissioner asks you, through me, to be allowed to pay a portion of the salary of his disbursing officer, and for that purpose has drawn. a draft for $500, which I will present at any time you may have the kindness to allow its payment. With no desire to become importunate, but with a sincere belief that there has been some misconception of the facts of the case, my object in addressing you now is to give you a clearer statement in regard to the draft I hold, hoping thereby to overcome your objections to its payment here. With a respectful request to be informed, as soon as convenient, whether or not you still adhere to your former decision regarding the payment here, in part, of my salary, agreeably to the requisition of the commissioner, I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, Hon. THOMAS EWING, Secretary of Interior Department. C. L. WELLER. No. 4. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIor, Office of Indian Affairs, January 11, 1850. SIR: In compliance with the directions in your letter of the 3d instant, I have the honor to transmit, herewith, a copy of all the correspondence that has been had between this office and " any agent of the government of the United States in California or New Mexico." Respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. THOMAS EWING, Secretary of the Interior. ORLANDO BROWN. No. 5. Report of J. S. Calhoun, Indian agent at Santa Fe, New Mexico. SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO, SIR: I forward to you, for the information of whom it may concern, the printed "Journal of the Convention of the Territory of New Mexico." It is stated that the election for delegates to the convention was held "in conformity with the proclamation of Lieutenant Colonel Beall, civil and military commandant," &c., &c. I have not been able to procure a copy of the proclamation; therefore, one is not enclosed to you. |