A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Ulysses S. Grant
by
James D. Richardson
Part 2 out of 13
their persons or their property, or when their native state drafts them
into its military service, that the fact of their change of allegiance
is made known. They reside permanently away from the United States,
they contribute nothing to its revenues, they avoid the duties of
its citizenship, and they only make themselves known by a claim of
protection. I have directed the diplomatic and consular officers of the
United States to scrutinize carefully all such claims for protection.
The citizen of the United States, whether native or adopted, who
discharges his duty to his country, is entitled to its complete
protection. While I have a voice in the direction of affairs I shall not
consent to imperil this sacred right by conferring it upon fictitious or
fraudulent claimants.
On the accession of the present Administration it was found that the
minister for North Germany had made propositions for the negotiation
of a convention for the protection of emigrant passengers, to which no
response had been given. It was concluded that to be effectual all the
maritime powers engaged in the trade should join in such a measure.
Invitations have been extended to the cabinets of London, Paris,
Florence, Berlin, Brussels, The Hague, Copenhagen, and Stockholm to
empower their representatives at Washington to simultaneously enter
into negotiations and to conclude with the United States conventions
identical in form, making uniform regulations as to the construction of
the parts of vessels to be devoted to the use of emigrant passengers, as
to the quality and quantity of food, as to the medical treatment of the
sick, and as to the rules to be observed during the voyage, in order
to secure ventilation, to promote health, to prevent intrusion, and to
protect the females; and providing for the establishment of tribunals in
the several countries for enforcing such regulations by summary process.
Your attention is respectfully called to the law regulating the tariff
on Russian hemp, and to the question whether to fix the charges on
Russian hemp higher than they are fixed upon manila is not a violation
of our treaty with Russia placing her products upon the same footing
with those of the most favored nations.
Our manufactures are increasing with wonderful rapidity under the
encouragement which they now receive. With the improvements in machinery
already effected, and still increasing, causing machinery to take the
place of skilled labor to a large extent, our imports of many articles
must fall off largely within a very few years. Fortunately, too,
manufactures are not confined to a few localities, as formerly, and it
is to be hoped will become more and more diffused, making the interest
in them equal in all sections. They give employment and support to
hundreds of thousands of people at home, and retain with us the means
which otherwise would be shipped abroad. The extension of railroads in
Europe and the East is bringing into competition with our agricultural
products like products of other countries. Self-interest, if not
self-preservation, therefore dictates caution against disturbing any
industrial interest of the country. It teaches us also the necessity of
looking to other markets for the sale of our surplus. Our neighbors
south of us, and China and Japan, should receive our special attention.
It will be the endeavor of the Administration to cultivate such
relations with all these nations as to entitle us to their confidence
and make it their interest, as well as ours, to establish better
commercial relations.
Through the agency of a more enlightened policy than that heretofore
pursued toward China, largely due to the sagacity and efforts of one of
our own distinguished citizens, the world is about to commence largely
increased relations with that populous and hitherto exclusive nation.
As the United States have been the initiators in this new policy, so
they should be the most earnest in showing their good faith in making it
a success. In this connection I advise such legislation as will forever
preclude the enslavement of the Chinese upon our soil under the name
of coolies, and also prevent American vessels from engaging in the
transportation of coolies to any country tolerating the system. I also
recommend that the mission to China be raised to one of the first class.
On my assuming the responsible duties of Chief Magistrate of the United
States it was with the conviction that three things were essential to
its peace, prosperity, and fullest development. First among these is
strict integrity in fulfilling all our obligations; second, to secure
protection to the person and property of the citizen of the United
States in each and every portion of our common country, wherever he may
choose to move, without reference to original nationality, religion,
color, or politics, demanding of him only obedience to the laws and
proper respect for the rights of others; third, union of all the States,
with equal rights, indestructible by any constitutional means.
To secure the first of these, Congress has taken two essential steps:
First, in declaring by joint resolution that the public debt shall be
paid, principal and interest, in coin; and, second, by providing the
means for paying. Providing the means, however, could not secure the
object desired without a proper administration of the laws for the
collection of the revenues and an economical disbursement of them.
To this subject the Administration has most earnestly addressed
itself, with results, I hope, satisfactory to the country. There has
been no hesitation in changing officials in order to secure an efficient
execution of the laws, sometimes, too, when, in a mere party view,
undesirable political results were likely to follow; nor any hesitation
in sustaining efficient officials against remonstrances wholly
political.
It may be well to mention here the embarrassment possible to arise from
leaving on the statute books the so-called "tenure-of-office acts," and
to earnestly recommend their total repeal. It could not have been the
intention of the framers of the Constitution, when providing that
appointments made by the President should receive the consent of the
Senate, that the latter should have the power to retain in office
persons placed there by Federal appointment against the will of the
President. The law is inconsistent with a faithful and efficient
administration of the Government. What faith can an Executive put in
officials forced upon him, and those, too, whom he has suspended for
reason? How will such officials be likely to serve an Administration
which they know does not trust them?
For the second requisite to our growth and prosperity time and a firm
but humane administration of existing laws (amended from time to time as
they may prove ineffective or prove harsh and unnecessary) are probably
all that are required.
The third can not be attained by special legislation, but must be
regarded as fixed by the Constitution itself and gradually acquiesced in
by force of public opinion.
From the foundation of the Government to the present the management
of the original inhabitants of this continent--the Indians--has been
a subject of embarrassment and expense, and has been attended with
continuous robberies, murders, and wars. From my own experience upon
the frontiers and in Indian countries, I do not hold either legislation
or the conduct of the whites who come most in contact with the Indian
blameless for these hostilities. The past, however, can not be undone,
and the question must be met as we now find it. I have attempted a new
policy toward these wards of the nation (they can not be regarded in any
other light than as wards), with fair results so far as tried, and which
I hope will be attended ultimately with great success. The Society of
Friends is well known as having succeeded in living in peace with the
Indians in the early settlement of Pennsylvania, while their white
neighbors of other sects in other sections were constantly embroiled.
They are also known for their opposition to all strife, violence,
and war, and are generally noted for their strict integrity and fair
dealings. These considerations induced me to give the management of
a few reservations of Indians to them and to throw the burden of the
selection of agents upon the society itself. The result has proven most
satisfactory. It will De found more fully set forth in the report of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs. For superintendents and Indian agents
not on the reservations, officers of the Army were selected. The reasons
for this are numerous. Where Indian agents are sent, there, or near
there, troops must be sent also. The agent and the commander of troops
are independent of each other, and are subject to orders from different
Departments of the Government. The army officer holds a position for
life; the agent, one at the will of the President. The former is
personally interested in living in harmony with the Indian and in
establishing a permanent peace, to the end that some portion of his life
may be spent within the limits of civilized society; the latter has no
such personal interest. Another reason is an economic one; and still
another, the hold which the Government has upon a life officer to secure
a faithful discharge of duties in carrying out a given policy.
The building of railroads, and the access thereby given to all the
agricultural and mineral regions of the country, is rapidly bringing
civilized settlements into contact with all the tribes of Indians. No
matter what ought to be the relations between such settlements and the
aborigines, the fact is they do not harmonize well, and one or the other
has to give way in the end. A system which looks to the extinction of a
race is too horrible for a nation to adopt without entailing upon itself
the wrath of all Christendom and engendering in the citizen a disregard
for human life and the rights of others, dangerous to society. I see no
substitute for such a system, except in placing all the Indians on large
reservations, as rapidly as it can be done, and giving them absolute
protection there. As soon as they are fitted for it they should be
induced to take their lands in severalty and to set up Territorial
governments for their own protection. For full details on this subject
I call your special attention to the reports of the Secretary of the
Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
The report of the Secretary of War shows the expenditures of the War
Department for the year ending June 30, 1869, to be $80,644,042, of
which $23,882,310 was disbursed in the payment of debts contracted
during the war, and is not chargeable to current army expenses. His
estimate of $34,531,031 for the expenses of the Army for the next fiscal
year is as low as it is believed can be relied on. The estimates of
bureau officers have been carefully scrutinized, and reduced wherever it
has been deemed practicable. If, however, the condition of the country
should be such by the beginning of the next fiscal year as to admit of a
greater concentration of troops, the appropriation asked for will not be
expended.
The appropriations estimated for river and harbor improvements and for
fortifications are submitted separately. Whatever amount Congress may
deem proper to appropriate for these purposes will be expended.
The recommendation of the General of the Army that appropriations be
made for the forts at Boston, Portland, New York, Philadelphia, New
Orleans, and San Francisco, if for no other, is concurred in. I also ask
your special attention to the recommendation of the general commanding
the Military Division of the Pacific for the sale of the seal islands of
St. Paul and St. George, Alaska Territory, and suggest that it either be
complied with or that legislation be had for the protection of the seal
fisheries from which a revenue should be derived.
The report of the Secretary of War contains a synopsis of the reports of
the heads of bureaus, of the commanders of military divisions, and of
the districts of Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, and the report of the
General of the Army in full. The recommendations therein contained have
been well considered, and are submitted for your action. I, however,
call special attention to the recommendation of the Chief of Ordnance
for the sale of arsenals and lands no longer of use to the Government;
also, to the recommendation of the Secretary of War that the act of 3d
March, 1869, prohibiting promotions and appointments in the staff corps
of the Army, be repealed. The extent of country to be garrisoned and the
number of military posts to be occupied is the same with a reduced Army
as with a large one. The number of staff officers required is more
dependent upon the latter than the former condition.
The report of the Secretary of the Navy accompanying this shows the
condition of the Navy when this Administration came into office and the
changes made since. Strenuous efforts have been made to place as many
vessels "in commission," or render them fit for service if required, as
possible, and to substitute the sail for steam while cruising, thus
materially reducing the expenses of the Navy and adding greatly to its
efficiency. Looking to our future, I recommend a liberal, though not
extravagant, policy toward this branch of the public service.
The report of the Postmaster-General furnishes a clear and comprehensive
exhibit of the operations of the postal service and of the financial
condition of the Post Office Department. The ordinary postal revenues
for the year ending the 30th of June, 1869, amounted to $18,344,510, and
the expenditures to $23,698,131, showing an excess of expenditures over
receipts of $5,353,620. The excess of expenditures over receipts for the
previous year amounted to $6,437,992. The increase of revenues for 1869
over those of 1868 was $2,051,909, and the increase of expenditures was
$967,538. The increased revenue in 1869 exceeded the increased revenue
in 1868 by $996,336, and the increased expenditure in 1869 was
$2,527,570 less than the increased expenditure in 1868, showing by
comparison this gratifying feature of improvement, that while the
increase of expenditures over the increase of receipts in 1868 was
$2,439,535, the increase of receipts over the increase of expenditures
in 1869 was $1,084,371.
Your attention is respectfully called to the recommendations made by the
Postmaster-General for authority to change the rate of compensation to
the main trunk railroad lines for their services in carrying the mails;
for having post-route maps executed; for reorganizing and increasing the
efficiency of the special-agency service; for increase of the mail
service on the Pacific, and for establishing mail service, under the
flag of the Union, on the Atlantic; and most especially do I call your
attention to his recommendation for the total abolition of the franking
privilege. This is an abuse from which no one receives a commensurate
advantage; it reduces the receipts for postal service from 25 to 30 per
cent and largely increases the service to be performed. The method by
which postage should be paid upon public matter is set forth fully in
the report of the Postmaster-General.
The report of the Secretary of the Interior shows that the quantity of
public lands disposed of during the year ending the 30th of June, 1869,
was 7,666,152 acres, exceeding that of the preceding year by 1,010,409
acres. Of this amount 2,899,544 acres were sold for cash and 2,737,365
acres entered under the homestead laws. The remainder was granted to aid
in the construction of works of internal improvement, approved to the
States as swamp land, and located with warrants and scrip. The cash
receipts from all sources were $4,472,886, exceeding those of the
preceding year $2,840,140.
During the last fiscal year 23,196 names were added to the pension rolls
and 4,876 dropped therefrom, leaving at its close 187,963. The amount
paid to pensioners, including the compensation of disbursing agents, was
$28,422,884, an increase of $4,411,902 on that of the previous year.
The munificence of Congress has been conspicuously manifested in its
legislation for the soldiers and sailors who suffered in the recent
struggle to maintain "that unity of government which makes us one
people." The additions to the pension rolls of each successive year
since the conclusion of hostilities result in a great degree from the
repeated amendments of the act of the 14th of July, 1862, which extended
its provisions to cases not falling within its original scope. The large
outlay which is thus occasioned is further increased by the more liberal
allowance bestowed since that date upon those who in the line of duty
were wholly or permanently disabled. Public opinion has given an
emphatic sanction to these measures of Congress, and it will be conceded
that no part of our public burden is more cheerfully borne than that
which is imposed by this branch of the service. It necessitates for the
next fiscal year, in addition to the amount justly chargeable to the
naval pension fund, an appropriation of $30,000,000.
During the year ending the 30th of September, 1869, the Patent Office
issued 13,762 patents, and its receipts were $686,389, being $213,926
more than the expenditures.
I would respectfully call your attention to the recommendation of the
Secretary of the Interior for uniting the duties of supervising the
education of freedmen with the other duties devolving upon the
Commissioner of Education.
If it is the desire of Congress to make the census which must be taken
during the year 1870 more complete and perfect than heretofore, I would
suggest early action upon any plan that may be agreed upon. As Congress
at the last session appointed a committee to take into consideration
such measures as might be deemed proper in reference to the census and
report a plan, I desist from saying more.
I recommend to your favorable consideration the claims of the
Agricultural Bureau for liberal appropriations. In a country so
diversified in climate and soil as ours, and with a population so
largely dependent upon agriculture, the benefits that can be conferred
by properly fostering this Bureau are incalculable.
I desire respectfully to call the attention of Congress to the
inadequate salaries of a number of the most important offices of the
Government. In this message I will not enumerate them, but will specify
only the justices of the Supreme Court. No change has been made in their
salaries for fifteen years. Within that time the labors of the court
have largely increased and the expenses of living have at least doubled.
During the same time Congress has twice found it necessary to increase
largely the compensation of its own members, and the duty which it owes
to another department of the Government deserves, and will undoubtedly
receive, its due consideration.
There are many subjects not alluded to in this message which might with
propriety be introduced, but I abstain, believing that your patriotism
and statesmanship will suggest the topics and the legislation most
conducive to the interests of the whole people. On my part I promise
a rigid adherence to the laws and their strict enforcement.
U.S. GRANT.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
WASHINGTON, _December 6, 1869_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I submit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, an additional article to the convention of the 24th of
October, 1867, between the United States of America and His Majesty the
King of Denmark.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _December 6, 1869_
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I submit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, a convention between the United States and His Hawaiian
Majesty, signed in this city on the 8th day of May last, providing for
the extension of the term for the exchange of the ratifications of the
convention for commercial reciprocity between the same parties, signed
on the 21st day of May, 1867.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _December 6, 1869_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I submit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, a protocol, signed in this city on the 23d of October
last, to the convention upon the subject of claims between the United
States and the Mexican Republic, signed the 4th of July, 1868.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _December 7, 1869_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I transmit, for the consideration of the Senate, the accompanying copy
of a correspondence between the Secretary of State and the minister
of the United States at Berlin, in relation to the exchange of the
ratifications of the naturalization convention dated July 27, 1868,
between the United States and the Government of Wurtemberg, which was
not effected within the time named in the convention.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _December 7, 1869_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I transmit, for the consideration of the Senate, the accompanying copy
of a correspondence between the Secretary of State and the legation
of the United States at Brussels, in relation to the exchange of the
ratifications of the consular convention with Belgium signed on the 5th
of December, 1868, which was not effected within the time named in the
convention.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _December 7, 1869_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I transmit to the Senate a copy of a correspondence, a list of which is
hereto annexed, between the Secretary of State and the minister resident
of the United States at Constantinople, and invite its consideration of
the question as to the correct meaning of the fourth article of the
treaty of 1830 between the United States and Turkey.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D.C., _December 9, 1869_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 6th instant,
requesting reports of the military commander of the district of which
Georgia is a part in regard to the political and civil condition of that
State, the accompanying papers are submitted.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _December 9, 1869_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, in answer to a
resolution of the House of Representatives of yesterday, asking to be
informed what legislatures have ratified the proposed fifteenth
amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _December 15, 1869_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
I transmit a further report from the Secretary of State in answer to the
resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th instant, making
known that official notice has been received at the Department of State
of the ratification by the legislature of the State of Alabama of the
amendment to the Constitution recently proposed by Congress as Article
XV.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _December 15, 1869_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 13th
instant, requesting a copy of official correspondence on the subject of
Cuba, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, to whom the
resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., December 15, 1869_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
In answer to the resolution of December 9, 1869, requesting a copy
of the charges, testimony, findings, and sentence in the trial by
court-martial of Passed Assistant Surgeon Charles L. Green, United
States Navy, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the
Navy, to whom the resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., December 20, 1869_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I hereby request the return of such part of my message of December 9, in
response to Senate resolution of December 6, requesting the reports of
the military commander of the district of which Georgia is a part, to
wit, an anonymous letter purporting to be from "a Georgia woman." By
accident the paper got with those called for by the resolution, instead
of in the wastebasket, where it was intended it should go.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _December 20, 1869_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate, in relation to their resolution of the 8th
instant, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying
documents.[6]
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 6: Relating to the revolution in Cuba and the political and
civil condition of that island.]
WASHINGTON, _December 22, 1869_.
_To the Senate:_
In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 20th instant, in
relation to correspondence between the United States and Great Britain
concerning questions pending between the two countries since the
rejection of the claims convention by the Senate, I transmit a report
from the Secretary of State upon the subject and the papers by which it
was accompanied.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _December 22, 1869_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 8th
instant, a report[7] from the Secretary of State.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 7: Stating that neither correspondence nor negotiation upon
the subject of trade and commerce between the United States and Canada
had been entered into.]
WASHINGTON, _January 10, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I transmit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to its
ratification, a convention between the United States and the Dominican
Republic for a lease to the former of the bay and peninsula of Samana.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _January 10, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to its
ratification, a treaty for the annexation of the Dominican Republic to
the United States, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the parties on the
29th of November last.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., January 10, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In response to the resolution of the Senate of December 9, 1869,
requesting the information in possession of the President or any of the
Departments relating to the action which has been had in the District of
Virginia under the act "authorizing the submission of the constitutions
of Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas to a vote of the people, and
authorizing the election of State officers provided by the said
constitutions, and Members of Congress," approved April 10, 1869, I have
the honor to transmit herewith the reports of the Secretary of State,
the Secretary of War, and the Attorney-General, to whom, severally, the
resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., January 21, 1870_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
In answer to the resolution passed by the House of Representatives on
the 17th instant, requesting to be informed "under what act of Congress
or by other authority appropriations for the Navy are diverted to the
survey of the Isthmus of Darien," I transmit a report by the Secretary
of the Navy, to whom the resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., January 29, 1870_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_
I herewith transmit to Congress a report, dated 29th instant, with
the accompanying papers,[8] received from the Secretary of State, in
compliance with the requirements of the eighteenth section of the act
entitled "An act to regulate the diplomatic and consular systems of
the United States," approved August 18, 1856.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 8: Report of fees collected, etc., by consular officers of
the United States for 1868, and tariff of consular fees.]
WASHINGTON, _February 1, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate, in compliance with its resolution of the 31st
ultimo, a report from the Secretary of State, communicating information
in relation to the action of the legislature of the State of Mississippi
on the proposed fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United
States.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _February 2, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 8th ultimo, I transmit a
report[9] from the Secretary of State and the papers which accompanied it.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 9: Relating to the insurrection in the Red River settlement,
in British North America.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I herewith lay before the Senate, for the consideration and action of
that body in connection with a treaty of December 4, 1868, with the
Seneca Nation of Indians, now pending, amendments to said treaty
proposed at a council of said Indians held at their council house on
the Catteraugus Reservation, in New York, on the 26th ultimo.
A letter of the Secretary of the Interior, of the 3d instant,
accompanies the papers.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
For the reasons stated in the accompanying communication from the
Secretary of the Interior, I respectfully request to withdraw the
treaties hereinafter mentioned, which are now pending before the Senate:
First. Treaty concluded with the Great and Little Osages May 27, 1868.
Second. Treaty concluded with the Sacs and Foxes of the Missouri and
Iowa tribes of Indians February 11, 1869.
Third. Treaty concluded with the Otoc and Missouria Indians February 13,
1869.
Fourth. Treaty concluded with the Kansas or Kaw Indians March 13, 1869.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _February 8, 1870_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
3d instant, calling for the number of copies of the tributes of the
nations to Abraham Lincoln now in possession of the Department of
State, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the paper
which accompanied it.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _February 11, 1870_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives
requesting me to furnish any information which may have been received by
the Government in relation to the recent assault upon and reported
murder of one or more American citizens in Cuba, I communicate a report
from the Secretary of State, with the papers accompanying it.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON CITY, _February 11, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
The papers in the case of Commander Jonathan Young, of the United States
Navy, show--
That when the naval promotions were made in 1866 the name of Commander
Jonathan Young was not included among them, and he was passed over,
while Commander George W. Young was not passed over; that among other
testimonials is one from Vice-Admiral D.D. Porter stating that
"Commander Jonathan Young was passed over by mistake; that he was
recommended for promotion, while Commander George W. Young was not
recommended for promotion, and by some singular mistake the latter was
promoted, while the former was passed over."
That eminent officers, formerly _junior_ to Commander Young, but
promoted over his head, desire his restoration to his former position,
because they consider such restoration due to his character, ability,
and services.
In view, therefore, of these facts, and of the general good standing
of Commander Jonathan Young, and of his gallant and efficient services
during the war, and to remedy so far as is now possible what is believed
to have been a clerical error of the Department, which has worked to
his injury, the Department now recommends that he be restored to his
original standing upon the navy list.
For these reasons I nominate Commander Jonathan Young to be restored to
his original position, to take rank from the 25th July, 1866, and next
after Commander William T. Truxtun.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D.C., _February 11, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In reply to the resolution of the Senate of the 4th instant, requesting
information in regard to the proceedings had in the State of Georgia in
pursuance of the recent act of Congress entitled "An act to promote
the reconstruction of the State of Georgia," and in relation to the
organization of the legislature of that State since the passage of that
act, I herewith transmit the report of the Secretary of War, to whom the
resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _February 15, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In reply to a resolution of the Senate of the 9th instant, in relation
to the Central Branch, Union Pacific Railroad Company, I transmit a copy
of a letter addressed to me on the 27th ultimo by the Secretary of the
Interior. It contains all the information in my possession touching
the action of any of the Departments on the claim of that company to
continue and extend its road and to receive in aid of the construction
thereof lands and bonds from the United States.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _February 16, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In response to the resolution of the Senate of the 8th instant, asking
"how much of the appropriations heretofore made, amounting to $100,000,
to provide for the defense of certain suits now pending in the Court of
Claims, known as the cotton cases, has been expended, and to whom the
same has been paid; for what services rendered, and the amount paid to
each of said persons; and also the number of clerks in the Treasury
Department, and other persons, with their names, engaged or occupied
in the defense of said suits," I herewith transmit the report of the
Secretary of the Treasury, to whom the resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _February 16, 1870_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
10th instant, I transmit a report[10] from the Secretary of State, with
accompanying documents.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 10: Relating to the payment in currency, instead of coin, of
the semiannual installments of interest due to the United States under
the convention with Spain concluded February 17, 1834, and opinion of
the Attorney-General relative thereto.]
WASHINGTON, _February 17, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 24th
ultimo, the report from the Secretary of State, with accompaniments.[11]
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 11: Lists of officers commissioned by the Department of State,
their compensation, etc.]
WASHINGTON, _February 18, 1870_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
I transmit to the House of Representatives, in further answer to their
resolution requesting information in relation to the recent assault upon
and reported murder of one or more American citizens in Cuba, a report
from the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _February 19, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In reply to the resolution of the Senate of the 11th instant, requesting
"any information which may have been received by the Government of the
recently reported engagement of Colonel Baker with the Indians,[86] with
copies of all orders which led to the same," I transmit a report from
the Secretary of War, to whom the resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 12: Piegan in Montana.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., February 21, 1870_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
I transmit to the House of Representatives, in answer to their resolution
of the 7th instant, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying
documents.[13]
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 13: Correspondence relative to affairs connected with Cuba and
to the struggle for independence in that island.]
WASHINGTON, _February 23, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 14th
instant, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying
documents.[14]
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 14: Correspondence of the United States minister to Japan
relative to American interests in that country.]
WASHINGTON, _February 24, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 21st instant, directing
the Secretary of State to furnish the Senate with copies of all
correspondence relating to the imprisonment of Mr. Davis Hatch by the
Dominican Government, I transmit a report of the Secretary of State upon
the subject.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _February 28, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 19th instant,
requesting to be informed "if any officer of the Government has,
contrary to the treaty of July 19, 1866, with the Cherokee Nation,
enforced or sought to enforce the payment of taxes by Cherokees on
products manufactured in the Cherokee Nation and sold within the Indian
Territory," I transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, to
whom the resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _February 28, 1870_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 15th
instant, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State upon the
subject,[15] and the papers by which it was accompanied.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 15: Imprisonment of American citizens in Great Britain for
political offenses.]
WASHINGTON, _March 1, 1870_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_
I transmit to Congress a communication from the Secretary of State, with
the accompanying documents, relative to the claims of citizens of the
United States on the Government of Venezuela which were adjusted by the
commission provided for by the convention with that Republic of April
25, 1866.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., March 3, 1870_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
I transmit herewith, in response to the resolution of the House asking
for information in relation to the repairs of Spanish war vessels at the
docks of the United States, the report of the Secretary of the Navy, to
whom the resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., March 8, 1870_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_
Herewith I have the honor to transmit a communication from the Secretary
of the Interior, relative to the obligation of Congress to make the
necessary appropriations to carry out the Indian treaties made by what
is known as the Peace Commission of 1867.
The history of those treaties and the consequences of noncompliance with
them by the Government are so clearly set forth in this statement that
I deem it better to communicate it in full than to ask the necessary
appropriation in a shorter statement of the reasons for it. I earnestly
desire that if an Indian war becomes inevitable the Government of the
United States at least should not be responsible for it. Pains will be
taken, and force used if necessary, to prevent the departure of the
expeditions referred to by the Secretary of the Interior.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _March 10, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 4th instant, in
relation to the "Transcontinental, Memphis, El Paso and Pacific Railroad
Company," I transmit reports from the Secretary of State and the
Secretary of the Interior, with accompanying papers.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _March 10, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 28th
ultimo, a report[90] from the Secretary of State, with accompanying
documents.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 16: Relating to legislation necessary to insure the
administration of justice and the protection of American interests in
China and Japan.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., March 14, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In reply to your resolution of the 14th of February, requesting to be
informed whether I desire that any of the Indian treaties now pending
before you be considered confidentially, I have to inform you that there
are none of them which I object to having discussed in open session.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., March 14, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I would respectfully call your attention to a treaty now before you for
the acquisition of the Republic of St. Domingo, entered into between the
agents of the two Governments on the 29th of November, 1869, and by its
terms to be finally acted upon by the people of St. Domingo and the
Senate of the United States within four months from the date of signing
the treaty. The time for action expires on the 29th instant, a fact to
which I desire expressly to call your attention. I would also direct
your notice to the fact that the Government of St. Domingo has no agent
in the United States who is authorized to extend the time for further
deliberation upon its merits.
The people of St. Domingo have already, so far as their action can go,
ratified the treaty, and I express the earnest wish that you will not
permit it to expire by limitation. I also entertain the sincere hope
that your action may be favorable to the ratification of the treaty.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _March 15, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, in answer to a
resolution of the Senate of the 3d instant, asking to be informed what
States have ratified the amendment known as the fifteenth amendment to
the Constitution of the United States, so far as official notice thereof
has been transmitted to the Department of State, and that information
from time to time may be communicated to that body, as soon as
practicable, of such ratification hereafter by any State.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., March 23, 1870_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_
In the Executive message of December 6, 1869, to Congress the importance
of taking steps to revive our drooping merchant marine was urged, and
a special message promised at a future day during the present session,
recommending more specifically plans to accomplish this result. Now that
the committee of the House of Representatives intrusted with the labor
of ascertaining "the cause of the decline of American commerce" has
completed its work and submitted its report to the legislative branch of
the Government, I deem this a fitting time to execute that promise.
The very able, calm, and exhaustive report of the committee points out
the grave wrongs which have produced the decline in our commerce. It is
a national humiliation that we are now compelled to pay from twenty to
thirty million dollars annually (exclusive of passage money, which we
should share with vessels of other nations) to foreigners for doing the
work which should be done by American vessels, American built, American
owned, and American manned. This is a direct drain upon the resources of
the country of just so much money, equal to casting it into the sea, so
far as this nation is concerned.
A nation of the vast and ever-increasing interior resources of the
United States, extending, as it does, from one to the other of the
great oceans of the world, with an industrious, intelligent, energetic
population, must one day possess its full share of the commerce of these
oceans, no matter what the cost. Delay will only increase this cost and
enhance the difficulty of attaining the result.
I therefore put in an earnest plea for early action in this matter, in
a way to secure the desired increase of American commerce. The advanced
period of the year and the fact that no contracts for shipbuilding will
probably be entered into until this question is settled by Congress, and
the further fact that if there should be much delay all large vessels
contracted for this year will fail of completion before winter sets in,
and will therefore be carried over for another year, induces me to
request your early consideration of this subject.
I regard it of such grave importance, affecting every interest of the
country to so great an extent, that any method which will gain the end
will secure a rich national blessing. Building ships and navigating them
utilizes vast capital at home; it employs thousands of workmen in their
construction and manning; it creates a home market for the products of
the farm and the shop; it diminishes the balance of trade against us
precisely to the extent of freights and passage money paid to American
vessels, and gives us a supremacy upon the seas of inestimable value in
case of foreign war.
Our Navy at the commencement of the late war consisted of less than 100
vessels, of about 150,000 tons and a force of about 8,000 men. We drew
from the merchant marine, which had cost the Government nothing, but
which had been a source of national wealth, 600 vessels, exceeding
1,000,000 tons, and about 70,000 men, to aid in the suppression of the
rebellion.
This statement demonstrates the value of the merchant marine as a means
of national defense in time of need.
The Committee on the Causes of the Reduction of American Tonnage, after
tracing the causes of its decline, submit two bills, which, if adopted,
they believe will restore to the nation its maritime power. Their report
shows with great minuteness the actual and comparative American tonnage
at the time of its greatest prosperity; the actual and comparative
decline since, together with the causes; and exhibits all other
statistics of material interest in reference to the subject. As the
report is before Congress, I will not recapitulate any of its
statistics, but refer only to the methods recommended by the committee
to give back to us our lost commerce.
As a general rule, when it can be adopted, I believe a direct money
subsidy is less liable to abuse than an indirect aid given to the same
enterprise. In this case, however, my opinion is that subsidies, while
they may be given to specified lines of steamers or other vessels,
should not be exclusively adopted, but, in addition to subsidizing very
desirable lines of ocean traffic, a general assistance should be given
in an effective way. I therefore commend to your favorable consideration
the two bills proposed by the committee and referred to in this message.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 25, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
In reply to a Senate resolution of the 24th instant, requesting to
be furnished with a report, written by Captain Selfridge, upon the
resources and condition of things in the Dominican Republic, I have
to state that no such report has been received.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _March 25, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 15th ultimo, I transmit
a report, with accompanying paper,[17] from the Secretary of the Navy,
to whom the resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 17: Statement of the number and character of the ironclad
vessels of the Navy, their cost, by whom designed, who recommended their
construction, and their condition.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 29, 1870_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
In reply to your resolution of December 20, 1869, asking "whether any
citizens of the United States are imprisoned or detained in military
custody by officers of the Army of the United States, and, if any, to
furnish their names, date of arrest, the offenses charged, together
with a statement of what measures have been taken for the trial and
punishment of the offenders," I transmit herewith the report of the
Secretary of War, to whom the resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 30, 1870_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
It is unusual to notify the two Houses of Congress by message of
the promulgation, by proclamation of the Secretary of State, of the
ratification of a constitutional amendment. In view, however, of the
vast importance of the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution, this day
declared a part of that revered instrument, I deem a departure from the
usual custom justifiable. A measure which makes at once 4,000,000 people
voters who were heretofore declared by the highest tribunal in the land
not citizens of the United States, nor eligible to become so (with the
assertion that "at the time of the Declaration of Independence the
opinion was fixed and universal in the civilized portion of the white
race, regarded as an axiom in morals as well as in politics, that black
men had no rights which the white man was bound to respect"), is indeed
a measure of grander importance than any other one act of the kind from
the foundation of our free Government to the present day.
Institutions like ours, in which all power is derived directly from the
people, must depend mainly upon their intelligence, patriotism, and
industry. I call the attention, therefore, of the newly enfranchised
race to the importance of their striving in every honorable manner to
make themselves worthy of their new privilege. To the race more favored
heretofore by our laws I would say, Withhold no legal privilege of
advancement to the new citizen. The framers of our Constitution firmly
believed that a republican government could not endure without
intelligence and education generally diffused among the people. The
Father of his Country, in his Farewell Address, uses this language:
Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the
general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a
government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public
opinion should be enlightened.
In his first annual message to Congress the same views are forcibly
presented, and are again urged in his eighth message.
I repeat that the adoption of the fifteenth amendment to the
Constitution completes the greatest civil change and constitutes the
most important event that has occurred since the nation came into life.
The change will be beneficial in proportion to the heed that is given to
the urgent recommendations of Washington. If these recommendations were
important then, with a population of but a few millions, how much more
important now, with a population of 40,000,000, and increasing in a
rapid ratio. I would therefore call upon Congress to take all the means
within their constitutional powers to promote and encourage popular
education throughout the country, and upon the people everywhere to see
to it that all who possess and exercise political rights shall have the
opportunity to acquire the knowledge which will make their share in the
Government a blessing and not a danger. By such means only can the
benefits contemplated by this amendment to the Constitution be secured.
U.S. GRANT.
HAMILTON FISH, SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES.
_To all to whom these presents may come, greeting:_
Know ye that the Congress of the United States, on or about the 27th
day of February, in the year 1869, passed a resolution in the words
and figures following, to wit:
A RESOLUTION proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United
States.
_Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled_ (_two-thirds of both Houses
concurring_), That the following article be proposed to the legislatures
of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United
States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said legislatures,
shall be valid as a part of the Constitution, viz;
ARTICLE XV.
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not
be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account
of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
SEC. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
And further, that it appears from official documents on file in this
Department that the amendment to the Constitution of the United States,
proposed as aforesaid, has been ratified by the legislatures of the
States of North Carolina, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Wisconsin,
Maine, Louisiana, Michigan, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Arkansas,
Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New York, New Hampshire,
Nevada, Vermont, Virginia, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Iowa,
Kansas, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Nebraska, and Texas; in all,
twenty-nine States;
And further, that the States whose legislatures have so ratified the
said proposed amendment constitute three-fourths of the whole number
of States in the United States;
And further, that it appears from an official document on file in this
Department that the legislature of the State of New York has since
passed resolutions claiming to withdraw the said ratification of the
said amendment, which had been made by the legislature of that State,
and of which official notice had been filed in this Department;
And further, that it appears from an official document on file in this
Department that the legislature of Georgia has by resolution ratified
the said proposed amendment:
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State of
the United States, by virtue and in pursuance of the second section of
the act of Congress approved the 20th day of April, in the year 1818,
entitled "An act to provide for the publication of the laws of the
United States, and for other purposes," do hereby certify that the
amendment aforesaid has become valid to all intents and purposes as
part of the Constitution of the United States.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the Department of State to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington this 30th day of March, A.D. 1870, and
of the Independence of the United States the ninety-fourth.
HAMILTON FISH.
WASHINGTON, _March 31, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I transmit, for consideration with a view to its ratification, a treaty
between the United States and the United States of Colombia for the
construction of an interoceanic canal across the Isthmus of Panama or
Darien, signed at Bogota on the 26th of January last.
A copy of a dispatch of the 1st ultimo to the Secretary of State from
General Hurlbut, the United States minister at Bogota, relative to the
treaty, is also transmitted for the information of the Senate.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _March 31, 1870_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_
I transmit to Congress a further communication from the Secretary of
State, with the accompanying documents, relative to the claims of
citizens of the United States on the Government of Venezuela which were
adjusted by the commission provided for by the convention with that
Republic of April 25, 1866.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _March 31, 1870_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 7th
instant, relating to fisheries in British waters, I transmit a report
from the Secretary of State and the papers which accompanied it, and I
have to state that the commanding officer of the naval steamer ordered
to the fishing grounds will be instructed to give his attention, should
circumstances require it, to cases which may arise under any change
which may be made in the British laws affecting fisheries within British
jurisdiction, with a view to preventing, so far as it may be in his
power, infractions by citizens of the United States of the first article
of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain of 1818, the
laws in force relating to fisheries within British jurisdiction, or any
illegal interference with the pursuits of the fishermen of the United
States.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _April 5, 1870_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 28th
ultimo, I transmit a report[18] from the Secretary of State, to whom the
resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 18: Declining to communicate a copy of the list of privileges
accompanying or relating to the San Domingo treaty while the subject is
pending before the Senate in executive session.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 6, 1870_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
In answer to your resolution of the 7th ultimo, requesting to be
furnished with a copy of orders, correspondence, reports of councils
with Indians by military and civil officers of the Government, in
possession of the Interior and War Departments, relating to difficulties
with the Cheyenne, Comanche, Arapahoe, Apache, and Kiowa tribes of
Indians during the year 1867, etc., I herewith transmit the reports
received from those Departments.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _April 14, 1870_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_
I transmit to Congress a report from the Secretary of State, relative
to results of the proceedings of the joint commission at Lima under the
convention between the United States and Peru of 4th of December, 1868,
and recommend that an appropriation be made to discharge the obligation
of the United States in the case of the claim of Esteban G. Montano, to
which the report refers.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _April 20, 1870_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
In answer to your resolution of the 21st ultimo, requesting to be
informed "whether any portion of the military forces of the United
States has been sent into the counties of Bourbon, Crawford, and
Cherokee, in the State of Kansas, and, if so, when, what number, for
what purpose, and on whose procurement; and also whether they have been
required to erect there any winter quarters, forts, fortifications, or
earth-works, and, if so, what, for what purpose, and at whose expense,
and at what probable expense to the Government have all said acts been
done," I transmit herewith a report, dated 18th instant, from the
Secretary of War, to whom the resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _April 26, 1870_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th
instant, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the
paper[19] which accompanied it.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 19: Supplemental report to the Department of State by Samuel
B. Ruggles, United States delegate to the International Monetary
Conference at Paris, 1867.]
WASHINGTON, _May 6, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 26th ultimo, I transmit
a report from the Secretary of State and the papers[20] by which it was
accompanied.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 20: Dispatches of J. Somers Smith, commercial agent of the
United States at San Domingo, relative to the imprisonment of Davis
Hatch by the Dominican Government.]
WASHINGTON, _May 21, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 18th
instant, calling for information relative to the passage of any English
or Canadian steamer through the canal of Sault Ste. Marie, a report from
the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _May 23, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In response to your resolution of the 12th instant, requesting
information "in relation to an organized band of persons at Cheyenne, in
the Territory of Wyoming, or vicinity, the number and designs of such
persons," I transmit herewith the reports of the Secretary of War and
the Secretary of the Interior, to whom the resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _May 23, 1870_.
_To the House of Representatives:_
I transmit to the House of Representatives, in answer to their
resolution of the 5th instant, a report from the Secretary of State and
its accompanying papers.[21]
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 21: Relating to the claims of United States citizens against
Venezuela.]
WASHINGTON, _May 26, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I have the satisfaction of transmitting to the Senate, for consideration
with a view to its ratification, a convention between the United States
and Her Britannic Majesty, relative to naturalization, signed in London
on the 13th instant.
The convention is substantially the same as the protocol on the subject
signed by Mr. Reverdy Johnson and Lord Stanley on the 9th of October,
1868, and approved by the Senate on the 13th April, 1869.
If the instrument should go into effect, it will relieve the parties
from a grievance which has hitherto been a cause of frequent annoyance
and sometimes of dangerous irritation.
A copy of Mr. Motley's dispatch on the subject and of the act of
Parliament of May 12, 1870, are also transmitted.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _May 28, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 24th instant, I
transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the document[22] by
which it was accompanied.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 22: Dispatch from Henry T. Blow, United States minister to
Brazil, relative to the commercial interests of the United States with
South America.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 31, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to its
ratification, an additional article to the treaty of the 29th of
November last, for the annexation of the Dominican Republic to the
United States, stipulating for an extension of the time for exchanging
the ratifications thereof, signed in this city on the 14th instant by
the plenipotentiaries of the parties.
It was my intention to have also negotiated with the plenipotentiary of
San Domingo amendments to the treaty of annexation to obviate objections
which may be urged against the treaty as it is now worded; but on
reflection I deem it better to submit to the Senate the propriety of
their amending the treaty as follows: First, to specify that the
obligations of this Government shall not exceed the $1,500,000
stipulated in the treaty; secondly, to determine the manner of
appointing the agents to receive and disburse the same; thirdly, to
determine the class of creditors who shall take precedence in the
settlement of their claims; and, finally, to insert such amendments as
may suggest themselves to the minds of Senators to carry out in good
faith the conditions of the treaty submitted to the Senate of the United
States in January last, according to the spirit and intent of that
treaty. From the most reliable information I can obtain, the sum
specified in the treaty will pay every just claim against the Republic
of San Domingo and leave a balance sufficient to carry on a Territorial
government until such time as new laws for providing a Territorial
revenue can be enacted and put in force.
I feel an unusual anxiety for the ratification of this treaty, because
I believe it will redound greatly to the glory of the two countries
interested, to civilization, and to the extirpation of the institution
of slavery.
The doctrine promulgated by President Monroe has been adhered to by
all political parties, and I now deem it proper to assert the equally
important principle that hereafter no territory on this continent shall
be regarded as subject of transfer to a European power.
The Government of San Domingo has voluntarily sought this annexation.
It is a weak power, numbering probably less than 120,000 souls, and yet
possessing one of the richest territories under the sun, capable of
supporting a population of 10,000,000 people in luxury. The people of
San Domingo are not capable of maintaining themselves in their present
condition, and must look for outside support.
They yearn for the protection of our free institutions and laws, our
progress and civilization. Shall we refuse them?
I have information which I believe reliable that a European power stands
ready now to offer $2,000,000 for the possession of Samana Bay alone.
If refused by us, with what grace can we prevent a foreign power from
attempting to secure the prize?
The acquisition of San Domingo is desirable because of its geographical
position. It commands the entrance to the Caribbean Sea and the Isthmus
transit of commerce. It possesses the richest soil, best and most
capacious harbors, most salubrious climate, and the most valuable
products of the forests, mine, and soil of any of the West India
Islands. Its possession by us will in a few years build up a coastwise
commerce of immense magnitude, which will go far toward restoring to us
our lost merchant marine. It will give to us those articles which we
consume so largely and do not produce, thus equalizing our exports and
imports.
In case of foreign war it will give us command of all the islands
referred to, and thus prevent an enemy from ever again possessing
himself of rendezvous upon our very coast.
At present our coast trade between the States bordering on the Atlantic
and those bordering on the Gulf of Mexico is cut into by the Bahamas and
the Antilles. Twice we must, as it were, pass through foreign countries
to get by sea from Georgia to the west coast of Florida.
San Domingo, with a stable government, under which her immense resources
can be developed, will give remunerative wages to tens of thousands of
laborers not now on the island.
This labor will take advantage of every available means of
transportation to abandon the adjacent islands and seek the blessings of
freedom and its sequence--each inhabitant receiving the reward of his
own labor. Porto Rico and Cuba will have to abolish slavery, as a
measure of self-preservation to retain their laborers.
San Domingo will become a large consumer of the products of Northern
farms and manufactories. The cheap rate at which her citizens can be
furnished with food, tools, and machinery will make it necessary that
the contiguous islands should have the same advantages in order to
compete in the production of sugar, coffee, tobacco, tropical fruits,
etc. This will open to us a still wider market for our products.
The production of our own supply of these articles will cut off more
than one hundred millions of our annual imports, besides largely
increasing our exports. With such a picture it is easy to see how our
large debt abroad is ultimately to be extinguished. With a balance of
trade against us (including interest on bonds held by foreigners and
money spent by our citizens traveling in foreign lands) equal to the
entire yield of the precious metals in this country, it is not so easy
to see how this result is to be otherwise accomplished.
The acquisition of San Domingo is an adherence to the "Monroe doctrine;"
it is a measure of national protection; it is asserting our just claim
to a controlling influence over the great commercial traffic soon to
flow from east to west by the way of the Isthmus of Darien; it is to
build up our merchant marine; it is to furnish new markets for the
products of our farms, shops, and manufactories; it is to make slavery
insupportable in Cuba and Porto Rico at once and ultimately so in
Brazil; it is to settle the unhappy condition of Cuba, and end an
exterminating conflict; it is to provide honest means of paying our
honest debts, without overtaxing the people; it is to furnish our
citizens with the necessaries of everyday life at cheaper rates than
ever before; and it is, in fine, a rapid stride toward that greatness
which the intelligence, industry, and enterprise of the citizens of the
United States entitle this country to assume among nations.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C. June 2, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In reply to your resolution of the 1st instant, requesting, "in
confidence," any information in possession of the President "touching
any proposition, offer, or design of any foreign power to purchase or
obtain any part of the territory of San Domingo or any right to the
Bay of Samana," I transmit herewith a copy of a letter, dated 27th of
April, 1870. addressed to "Colonel J.W. Fabens, Dominican minister,
Washington," by "E. Herzberg Hartmount, Dominican consul-general in
London."
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _June 3, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 18th
ultimo, a report from the Secretary of State, with an accompanying
paper.[23]
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 23: Communication from George Bancroft, United States minister
at Berlin, relative to political questions in Germany.]
WASHINGTON, _June 3, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to its
ratification, an additional convention to the treaty of the 7th of
April, 1862, for the suppression of the African slave trade, which
additional convention was signed on this day in the city of Washington
by the plenipotentiaries of the high contracting parties.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _June 6, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 3d
instant, the accompanying report[24] from the Secretary of State.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 24: Stating that he has received no official information
relative to a reported persecution and massacre of Israelites in
Roumania.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 13, 1870_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_
In my annual message to Congress at the beginning of its present session
I referred to the contest which had then for more than a year existed in
the island of Cuba between a portion of its inhabitants and the
Government of Spain, and the feelings and sympathies of the people and
Government of the United States for the people of Cuba, as for all
peoples struggling for liberty and self-government, and said that "the
contest has at no time assumed the conditions which amount to war in the
sense of international law, or which would show the existence of a _de
facto_ political organization of the insurgents sufficient to justify a
recognition of belligerency."
During the six months which have passed since the date of that message
the condition of the insurgents has not improved, and the insurrection
itself, although not subdued, exhibits no signs of advance, but seems to
be confined to an irregular system of hostilities, carried on by small
and illy armed bands of men, roaming without concentration through the
woods and the sparsely populated regions of the island, attacking from
ambush convoys and small bands of troops, burning plantations and the
estates of those not sympathizing with their cause.
But if the insurrection has not gained ground, it is equally true that
Spain has not suppressed it. Climate, disease, and the occasional bullet
have worked destruction among the soldiers of Spain; and although the
Spanish authorities have possession of every seaport and every town on
the island, they have not been able to subdue the hostile feeling which
has driven a considerable number of the native inhabitants of the island
to armed resistance against Spain, and still leads them to endure the
dangers and the privations of a roaming life of guerrilla warfare.
On either side the contest has been conducted, and is still carried on,
with a lamentable disregard of human life and of the rules and practices
which modern civilization has prescribed in mitigation of the necessary
horrors of war. The torch of Spaniard and of Cuban is alike busy in
carrying devastation over fertile regions; murderous and revengeful
decrees are issued and executed by both parties. Count Valmaseda and
Colonel Boet, on the part of Spain, have each startled humanity and
aroused the indignation of the civilized world by the execution, each,
of a score of prisoners at a time, while General Quesada, the Cuban
chief, coolly and with apparent unconsciousness of aught else than a
proper act, has admitted the slaughter, by his own deliberate order,
in one day, of upward of 650 prisoners of war.
A summary trial, with few, if any, escapes from conviction, followed by
immediate execution, is the fate of those arrested on either side on
suspicion of infidelity to the cause of the party making the arrest.
Whatever may be the sympathies of the people or of the Government of the
United States for the cause or objects for which a part of the people of
Cuba are understood to have put themselves in armed resistance to the
Government of Spain, there can be no just sympathy in a conflict carried
on by both parties alike in such barbarous violation of the rules of
civilized nations and with such continued outrage upon the plainest
principles of humanity.
We can not discriminate in our censure of their mode of conducting their
contest between the Spaniards and the Cubans. Each commit the same
atrocities and outrage alike the established rules of war.
The properties of many of our citizens have been destroyed or embargoed,
the lives of several have been sacrificed, and the liberty of others has
been restrained. In every case that has come to the knowledge of the
Government an early and earnest demand for reparation and indemnity has
been made, and most emphatic remonstrance has been presented against
the manner in which the strife is conducted and against the reckless
disregard of human life, the wanton destruction of material wealth,
and the cruel disregard of the established rules of civilized warfare.
I have, since the beginning of the present session of Congress,
communicated to the House of Representatives, upon their request, an
account of the steps which I had taken in the hope of bringing this sad
conflict to an end and of securing to the people of Cuba the blessings
and the right of independent self-government. The efforts thus made
failed, but not without an assurance from Spain that the good offices of
this Government might still avail for the objects to which they had been
addressed.
During the whole contest the remarkable exhibition has been made of
large numbers of Cubans escaping from the island and avoiding the risks
of war; congregating in this country, at a safe distance from the scene
of danger, and endeavoring to make war from our shores, to urge our
people into the fight which they avoid, and to embroil this Government
in complications and possible hostilities with Spain. It can scarce be
doubted that this last result is the real object of these parties,
although carefully covered under the deceptive and apparently plausible
demand for a mere recognition of belligerency.
It is stated on what I have reason to regard as good authority that
Cuban bonds have been prepared to a large amount, whose payment is made
dependent upon the recognition by the United States of either Cuban
belligerency or independence. The object of making their value thus
contingent upon the action of this Government is a subject for serious
reflection.
In determining the course to be adopted on the demand thus made for a
recognition of belligerency the liberal and peaceful principles adopted
by the Father of his Country and the eminent statesmen of his day, and
followed by succeeding Chief Magistrates and the men of their day, may
furnish a safe guide to those of us now charged with the direction and
control of the public safety.
From 1789 to 1815 the dominant thought of our statesmen was to keep
the United States out of the wars which were devastating Europe. The
discussion of measures of neutrality begins with the State papers of
Mr. Jefferson when Secretary of State. He shows that they are measures
of national right as well as of national duty; that misguided individual
citizens can not be tolerated in making war according to their own
caprice, passions, interests, or foreign sympathies; that the agents of
foreign governments, recognized or unrecognized, can not be permitted
to abuse our hospitality by usurping the functions of enlisting or
equipping military or naval forces within our territory. Washington
inaugurated the policy of neutrality and of absolute abstinence from
all foreign entangling alliances, which resulted, in 1794, in the first
municipal enactment for the observance of neutrality.
The duty of opposition to filibustering has been admitted by every
President. Washington encountered the efforts of Genet and of the French
revolutionists; John Adams, the projects of Miranda; Jefferson, the
schemes of Aaron Burr. Madison and subsequent Presidents had to deal
with the question of foreign enlistment or equipment in the United
States, and since the days of John Quincy Adams it has been one of the
constant cares of Government in the United States to prevent piratical
expeditions against the feeble Spanish American Republics from leaving
our shores. In no country are men wanting for any enterprise that holds
out promise of adventure or of gain.
In the early days of our national existence the whole continent of
America (outside of the limits of the United States) and all its islands
were in colonial dependence upon European powers.
The revolutions which from 1810 spread almost simultaneously through all
the Spanish American continental colonies resulted in the establishment
of new States, like ourselves, of European origin, and interested in
excluding European politics and the questions of dynasty and of balances
of power from further influence in the New World.
The American policy of neutrality, important before, became doubly so
from the fact that it became applicable to the new Republics as well as
to the mother country.
It then devolved upon us to determine the great international question
at what time and under what circumstances to recognize a new power
as entitled to a place among the family of nations, as well as the
preliminary question of the attitude to be observed by this Government
toward the insurrectionary party pending the contest.
Mr. Monroe concisely expressed the rule which has controlled the action
of this Government with reference to revolting colonies pending their
struggle by saying:
As soon as the movement assumed such a steady and consistent form as
to make the success of the Provinces probable, the rights to which
they were entitled by the laws of nations as equal parties to a civil
war were extended to them.
The strict adherence to this rule of public policy has been one of
the highest honors of American statesmanship, and has secured to this
Government the confidence of the feeble powers on this continent,
which induces them to rely upon its friendship and absence of designs
of conquest and to look to the United States for example and moral
protection. It has given to this Government a position of prominence and
of influence which it should not abdicate, but which imposes upon it the
most delicate duties of right and of honor regarding American questions,
whether those questions affect emancipated colonies or colonies still
subject to European dominion.
The question of belligerency is one of fact, not to be decided by
sympathies for or prejudices against either party. The relations
between the parent state and the insurgents must amount in fact to
war in the sense of international law. Fighting, though fierce and
protracted, does not alone constitute war. There must be military forces
acting in accordance with the rules and customs of war, flags of truce,
cartels, exchange of prisoners, etc.; and to justify a recognition
of belligerency there must be, above all, a _de facto_ political
organization of the insurgents sufficient in character and resources
to constitute it, if left to itself, a state among nations capable
of discharging the duties of a state and of meeting the just
responsibilities it may incur as such toward other powers in the
discharge of its national duties.
Applying the best information which I have been enabled to gather,
whether from official or unofficial sources, including the very
exaggerated statements which each party gives to all that may prejudice
the opposite or give credit to its own side of the question, I am unable
to see in the present condition of the contest in Cuba those elements
which are requisite to constitute war in the sense of international law.
The insurgents hold no town or city; have no established seat of
government; they have no prize courts; no organization for the receiving
and collecting of revenue; no seaport to which a prize may be carried or
through which access can be had by a foreign power to the limited
interior territory and mountain fastnesses which they occupy. The
existence of a legislature representing any popular constituency is more
than doubtful.
In the uncertainty that hangs around the entire insurrection there is no
palpable evidence of an election, of any delegated authority, or of any
government outside the limits of the camps occupied from day to day by
the roving companies of insurgent troops; there is no commerce, no
trade, either internal or foreign, no manufactures.
The late commander in chief of the insurgents, having recently come to
the United States, publicly declared that "all commercial intercourse or
trade with the exterior world has been utterly cut off;" and he further
added: "To-day we have not 10,000 arms in Cuba."
It is a well-established principle of public law that a recognition by
a foreign state of belligerent rights to insurgents under circumstances
such as now exist in Cuba, if not justified by necessity, is a
gratuitous demonstration of moral support to the rebellion. Such
necessity may yet hereafter arrive, but it has not yet arrived, nor is
its probability clearly to be seen.
If it be war between Spain and Cuba, and be so recognized, it is
our duty to provide for the consequences which may ensue in the
embarrassment to our commerce and the interference with our revenue.
If belligerency be recognized, the commercial marine of the United
States becomes liable to search and to seizure by the commissioned
cruisers of both parties; they become subject to the adjudication of
prize courts.
Our large coastwise trade between the Atlantic and the Gulf States and
between both and the Isthmus of Panama and the States of South America
(engaging the larger part of our commercial marine) passes of necessity
almost in sight of the island of Cuba. Under the treaty with Spain of
1795, as well as by the law of nations, our vessels will be liable
to visit on the high seas. In case of belligerency the carrying of
contraband, which now is lawful, becomes liable to the risks of
seizure and condemnation. The parent Government becomes relieved from
responsibility for acts done in the insurgent territory, and acquires
the right to exercise against neutral commerce all the powers of a party
to a maritime war. To what consequences the exercise of those powers may
lead is a question which I desire to commend to the serious
consideration of Congress.
In view of the gravity of this question, I have deemed it my duty to
invite the attention of the war-making power of the country to all the
relations and bearings of the question in connection with the
declaration of neutrality and granting of belligerent rights.
There is not a _de facto_ government in the island of Cuba sufficient to
execute law and maintain just relations with other nations. Spain has
not been able to suppress the opposition to Spanish rule on the island,
nor to award speedy justice to other nations, or citizens of other
nations, when their rights have been invaded.
There are serious complications growing out of the seizure of American
vessels upon the high seas, executing American citizens without proper
trial, and confiscating or embargoing the property of American citizens.
Solemn protests have been made against every infraction of the rights
either of individual citizens of the United States or the rights of our
flag upon the high seas, and all proper steps have been taken and are
being pressed for the proper reparation of every indignity complained
of.
The question of belligerency, however, which is to be decided upon
definite principles and according to ascertained facts, is entirely
different from and unconnected with the other questions of the manner in
which the strife is carried on on both sides and the treatment of our
citizens entitled to our protection.
The questions concern our own dignity and responsibility, and they have
been made, as I have said, the subjects of repeated communications with
Spain and of protests and demands for redress on our part. It is hoped
that these will not be disregarded, but should they be these questions
will be made the subject of a further communication to Congress.
U.S. GRANT.
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