no such exigency may occur, and that every citizen of Rhode Island will manifest his love of peace and good order by submitting to the laws and seeking a redress of grievances by other means than intestine commotions. I tender to your excellency assurances of my distinguished consideration. JOHN TYLER, President of the United States. JOHN TYLER. SIR: As requested by the general assembly, I have the honor of transmitting te you, under the seal of the State, the accompanying resolutions. And I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, THOMAS W. DORR, Governor of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS, General Assembly, May Session, in the City of Providence, A. D. 1842. Resolved, That the governor be requested to inform the President of the United States that the government of this State has been duly elected and organized under the constitution of the same, and that the general assembly are now in session and proceeding to discharge their duties according to the provisions of said constitution. Resolved, That the governor be requested to make the same communication to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to be laid before the two Houses of the Congress of the United States. Resolved, That the governor be requested to make the same communication to the governors of the several States, to be laid before the respective legislatures. A true copy. Witness: [L. S.] WM. H. SMITH, Governor KING, of Rhode Island. MAY 9, 1842. SIR: Messrs. Randolph and Potter will hand you an official letter, but I think it important that you should be informed of my views and opinions as to the best mode of settling all difficulties. I deprecate the use of force except in the last resort, and I am persuaded that measures of conciliation will at once operate to produce quiet. 7 am well advised, if the general assembly would authorize you to announce a general amnesty and pardon for the past, without making any exception, upon the condition of a return to allegiance, and follow it up by a call for a new convention upon somewhat liberal principles, that all difficulty would at once cease. And why should not this be done? A government never loses anything by mildness and forbearance to its own citizens, more especially when the consequences of an opposite course may be the shedding of blood. In your case the one-half of your people are involved in the consequences of recent proceedings. Why urge matters to an extremity? If you succeed by the bayonet, you succeed against your own fellow-citizens and by the shedding of kindred blood, whereas by taking the opposite course you will have shown a paternal care for the lives of your people. My own opinion is that the adoption of the above measures will give you peace and insure you harmony. A resort to force, on the contrary, will engender for years to come feelings of animosity. I have said that I speak advisedly. Try the experiment, and if it fail then your justification in using force becomes complete. Excuse the freedom I take, and be assured of my respect. JOHN TYLER. THE BATTLE OF CHURUBUSCO On August 20, 1847, after the victory at Contreras, the Americans pursued the fleeing Mexicans to a small village called Churubusco. Here, at the head of the causeway running to Mexico City, and in front of a bridge over the Churubusco River, stood a strong redoubt. Inside the hamlet stood the convent church of San Pablo, its walls pierced for cannon and filled with munitions of war saved from the wreck at Contreras. Twelve thousand Mexicans under Santa Ana held the place. The redoubt at the bridge was carried, as shown in the illustration, at the point of the bayonet. For three hours the troops in the church held out, the stubbornest resistance being made by deserters from the American Army, who hauled down the white flag each time it was raised, knowing that escape was impossible and that capture meant court-martial and the gallows. In the Encyclopedic Index, there is an article describing the action under the heading “Churubusco (Mexico), Battle of." Beneath is an entry directing the reader to a presidential reference to the victory. PROVIDENCE, R. I., May 12, 1842. His Excellency the PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES. MY DEAR SIR: I have had the honor to receive your communication of 9th instant by Mr. Randolph, and assure you it has given me much satisfaction to know that your views and opinions as to the course proper to be pursued by the government of this State in the present unhappy condition of our political affairs is so much in conformity with my own. Our legislature will undoubtedly at their session in June next adopt such measures as will be necessary to organize a convention for the formation of a new constitution of government, by which all the evils now complained of may be removed. It has already been announced as the opinion of the executive that such of our citizens as are or have been engaged in treasonable and revolutionary designs against the State will be pardoned for the past on the condition only that they withdraw themselves from such enterprise and signify their return to their allegiance to the governmer. With high consideration and respect, your obedient and very hun ble servant, His Excellency JOHN TYLER, President of the United States. KINGSTON, R. I., May 15, 1842. DEAR SIR: We arrived at Newport on Wednesday morning in time to attend the meeting of our legislature. The subject of calling a convention immediately, and upon a liberal basis as to the right of voting for the delegates, was seriously agitated amongst us. The only objection made was that they did not wish to concede while the people's party continued their threats. All allowed that the concession must be made, and the only difference of opinion was as to time. For my own part, I fear we shall never see the time when concession could have been made with better grace or with better effect than now. If two or three noisy folks among the suffrage party could only have their mouths stopped for a week or two, a reconciliation could be brought about at any time, or if Mr. Dorr would allow himself to be arrested peaceably and give bail no one could then object. But the supporters of the government say it is wrong to give up so long as Mr. Dorr threatens actual resistance to the laws in case he is arrested. If this could be done, they would then consider that they had sufficiently shown their determination to support the laws, and the two measures which you proposed to us in conversation at Washington—a convention and then a general amnesty-would succeed beyond a doubt. Allow me to suggest that if Mr. Wickliffe, or someone who you might think would have most influence, would address a letter to Governor Fenner on the subject of conciliation it might be of great service. Governor F. is the father-in-law of General Mallett and a member of our senate. Our assembly adjourned to the third Monday of June, but it is in the power of the governor to call it sooner, which can be done in a day at any time. Unless, however, there is a little more prudence in the leaders on both sides, we shall then be farther from reconciliation than now. The great mass of both parties I believe to be sincerely anxious for a settlement. I do not know whether a letter addressed to the President upon a subject of this nature would of course be considered as public and liable to inspection. Few would write freely if that were the case. If private, I will cheerfully communicate from time to time any information that may be in my power and which might be of any service. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, ELISHA R. POTTER. Mr. Dorr returned to Providence this (Monday) morning with an armed escort. WASHINGTON, May 20, 1842. ELISHA R. POTTER, Esq. DEAR SIR: You have my thanks for your favor of the 16th [15th] instant, and I have to request that you will write to me without reserve whenever anything of importance shall arise. My chief motives for desiring the adoption of the measures suggested to you, viz, a general amnesty and a call of a convention, were, first, because I felt convinced that peace and harmony would follow in their train, and, secondly, if in this I was disappointed the insurgents would have had no longer a pretense for an appeal to the public sympathies in their behalf. I saw nothing to degrade or to give rise to injurious reflections against the government of the State for resorting to every proper expedient in order to quiet the disaffection of any portion of her own people. Family quarrels are always the most difficult to appease, but everybody will admit that those of the family who do most to reconcile them are entitled to the greatest favor. Mr. Dorr's recent proceedings have been of so extravagant a character as almost to extinguish the last hope of a peaceable result, and yet I can not but believe that much is meant for effect and for purposes of intimidation merely. I certainly hope that such may be the case, though the recent proceedings in New York may have excited new feelings and new desires. This mustering of the clans may place Governor King in a different situation from that which he occupied when I had the pleasure of seeing you. Then he might have yielded with grace; whether he can do so now is certainly a question of much difficulty and one on which I can not venture to express an opinion at this distance from the scene of action. I shall be always most happy to hear from you, and your letters will never be used to your prejudice. Accept assurances of my high respect. The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. JOHN TYLER. PROVIDENCE, May 16, 1842. SIR: At the request of Governor King, I inclose to you an extra of the Providence Daily Express of this morning, containing the proclamation of Thomas W. Dorr to the people of this State. It states definitely the position assumed by him and his faction against the gov ernment of this State and of the United States. His excellency tenders to you the highest respect and consideration. THOS. A. JENCKES, STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. A PROCLAMATION. BY THOMAS W. DORR, GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE SAME. FELLOW-CITIZENS: Shortly after the adjournment of the general assembly and the completion of indispensable executive business I was induced by the request of the most active friends of our cause to undertake the duty (which had been previously suggested) of representing in person the interests of the people of Rhode Island in other States and at the seat of the General Government. By virtue of a resolution of the general assembly, I appointed Messrs. Pearce and Anthon, commissioners for the same purpose. Of the proposed action of the Executive in the affairs of our State you have been already apprised. In case of the failure of the civil posse (which expression was intended by the President, as I have been informed, to embrace the military power) to execute any of the laws of the charter assembly, including their law of pains |