Veto Message

To the House of Representatives:

I have received and taken into consideration the bill entitled "An act for the relief of the children of John M. Baker, deceased," and, pursuant to the duty required of me by the Constitution, I return the same with my objections to the House of Representatives, in which it originated.

The bill proposes to pay a sum of money to the children of John M. Baker, deceased, late United States consul at Rio Janeiro, for services of that person as acting charge' d'affaires of the United States in the year 1834. So far as it can be ascertained it is apprehended that the bill may have received the sanction of Congress through some inadvertence, for upon inquiry at the proper Department it appears that Mr. Baker never did act as charge' d'affaires of the United States at Rio Janeiro, and that he was not authorized so to act, but, on the contrary, was expressly forbidden to enter into diplomatic correspondence with the Government of Brazil.

The letter of the 8th of February, 1854, a copy of which is annexed, addressed by William L. Marcy, then Secretary of State, to James M. Mason, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, specifies objections to the claim, which it is believed have not since diminished, and in which I fully concur.

U. S. GRANT.