be placed under the management and control of the General
Land Office, as other public lands.

JAMES K. POLK.

WASHINGTON, _July 11, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_.

I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of War, together with
copies of the reports of the board of engineers heretofore employed in
an examination of the coast of Texas with a view to its defense and
improvement, called for by the resolution of the 29th June, 1846.

JAMES K. POLK.

WASHINGTON, _July 15, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate, a treaty
concluded on the 15th day of May last with the Comanche and other tribes
or bands of Indians of Texas and the Southwestern prairies. I also
inclose a communication from the Secretary of War and a report from the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, with accompanying documents, which
contain full explanations of the considerations which led to the
negotiation of the treaty and the general objects sought to be
accomplished by it.

JAMES K. POLK.

WASHINGTON, _July 21, 1846_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith transmit, in compliance with the request of the Senate in
their resolution of the 17th of June, 1846, a report of the Secretary of
State, together with a copy of all "the dispatches and instructions"
"relative to the Oregon treaty" "forwarded to our minister, Mr. McLane,"
"not heretofore communicated to the Senate," including a statement of
the propositions for the adjustment of the Oregon question previously
made and rejected by the respective Governments. This statement was
furnished to Mr. McLane before his departure from the country, and is
dated on the 12th July, 1845, the day on which the note was addressed by
the Secretary of State to Mr. Pakenham offering to settle the
controversy by the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, which was rejected
by that minister on the 29th July following.

The Senate will perceive that extracts from but two of Mr. McLane's
"dispatches and communications to this Government" are transmitted, and
these only because they were necessary to explain the answers given to
them by the Secretary of State.

These dispatches are both numerous and voluminous, and, from their
confidential character, their publication, it is believed, would be
highly prejudicial to the public interests.

Public considerations alone have induced me to withhold the dispatc