es the additional inquiry "_why_ the fact of said appointment has not
been communicated to the Senate,"

I take it for granted that the Senate did not mean to call for the
reasons upon which I acted in performing an Executive duty nor to demand
an account of the motives which governed me in an act which the law and
the Constitution left to my own discretion. It is sufficient, therefore,
for that part of the resolution to say that a provisional or temporary
appointment like that in question is not required by law to be
communicated to the Senate, and that there is no instance on record
where such communication ever has been made.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

WASHINGTON, _January 22, 1861_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives a communication from
the Secretary of the Navy, with accompanying reports, of the persons who
were sent to the Isthmus of Chiriqui to make the examinations required
by the fifth section of the act making appropriations for the naval
service, approved June 22, 1860.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

WASHINGTON, _January 24, 1861_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 19th instant,
requesting a copy of correspondence between the Department of State and
ministers of foreign powers at Washington in regard to foreign vessels
in Charleston, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the
documents by which it was accompanied.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

WASHINGTON CITY, _January 28, 1861_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I deem it my duty to submit to Congress a series of resolutions adopted
by the legislature of Virginia on the 19th instant, having in view a
peaceful settlement of the exciting questions which now threaten the
Union. They were delivered to me on Thursday, the 24th instant, by
ex-President Tyler, who has left his dignified and honored retirement in
the hope that he may render service to his country in this its hour of
peril. These resolutions, it will be perceived, extend an invitation
"to all such States, whether slaveholding or nonslaveholding, as are
willing to unite with Virginia in an earnest effort to adjust the
present unhappy controversies in the spirit in which the Constitution
was originally formed, and consistently with its principles, so as to
afford to the people of the slaveholding States adequate guaranties
for the securities of t