Treasury.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

[Footnote 9: Relating to the seizure of the British ship _Albion_.]



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, _February 19, 1851_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have received the resolution of the Senate of the 18th instant,
requesting me to lay before that body, if not incompatible with the
public interest, any information I may possess in regard to an alleged
recent case of a forcible resistance to the execution of the laws of the
United States in the city of Boston, and to communicate to the Senate,
under the above conditions, what means I have adopted to meet the
occurrence, and whether in my opinion any additional legislation is
necessary to meet the exigency of the case and to more vigorously
execute existing laws.

The public newspapers contain an affidavit of Patrick Riley, a
deputy marshal for the district of Massachusetts, setting forth the
circumstances of the case, a copy of which affidavit is herewith
communicated. Private and unofficial communications concur in
establishing the main facts of this account, but no satisfactory
official information has as yet been received; and in some important
respects the accuracy of the account has been denied by persons whom it
implicates. Nothing could be more unexpected than that such a gross