A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Ulysses S. Grant
by
James D. Richardson
Part 3 out of 13
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 17, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 8th instant, requesting
the President "to communicate, in confidence, the instructions of the
Navy Department to the navy officers in command on the coast of Dominica
and Hayti, and the reports of such officers to the Navy Department,
from the commencement of the negotiation of the treaty with Dominica,"
I herewith transmit the papers received from the Secretary of the Navy,
to whom the resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 25, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In answer to the resolution of the 22d instant, requesting to be
furnished with "proposals received from any company or citizens of
the United States for constructing and placing iron steamships in
transatlantic service," I transmit herewith the only proposal of that
nature received by me.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _July 9, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In answer to the resolutions of the Senate of the 26th of May and of
the 14th of June last, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State
thereupon, and the papers[25] by which it was accompanied.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 25: Lists of American vessels seized by Spanish authorities in
Cuba; of American citizens executed and imprisoned in Cuba; of American
citizens whose property was confiscated or embargoed in Cuba, and of
decrees under which the Spanish authorities acted, and correspondence
showing steps taken by the United States Government in reference
thereto.]
WASHINGTON, _July 12, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to ratification,
a convention between the United States and Austria, concerning the
rights, privileges, and immunities of consuls in the two countries,
signed at Washington on the 11th instant.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _July 13, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 8th
instant, a report from the Secretary of State and the papers[26] which
accompanied it.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 26: Instructions to the minister to Spain stating the basis
on which the United States offered its good offices for the purpose of
terminating the war in Cuba, correspondence relative thereto, etc.]
WASHINGTON, _July 13, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In answer to their resolution of the 8th instant, I transmit to the
Senate a report from the Secretary of State and the papers[27] which
accompanied it.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 27: Correspondence between the United States and Great Britain
concerning questions pending between the two countries.]
WASHINGTON, _July 14, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 7th
instant, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying
documents.
U.S. GRANT.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, _Washington, July 14, 1870_.
The Secretary of State, to whom was referred the resolution of the
Senate requesting the President "to institute an inquiry, by such means
as in his judgment shall be deemed proper, into the present condition
of the commercial relations between the United States and the Spanish
American States on this continent, and between those countries and other
nations, and to communicate to the Senate full and complete statements
regarding the same, together with such recommendations as he may think
necessary to promote the development and increase of our commerce with
those regions and to secure to the United States that proportionate
share of the trade of this continent to which their close relations of
geographical contiguity and political friendship with all the States
of America justly entitle them," has the honor to report:
The resolution justly regards the commercial and the political relations
of the United States with the American States of Spanish origin as
necessarily dependent upon each other. If the commerce of those
countries has been diverted from its natural connection with the United
States, the fact may probably be partly traced to political causes,
which have been swept away by the great civil convulsion in this
country.
For the just comprehension of the position of this Government in the
American political system, and for the causes which have failed to give
it hitherto the influence to which it is properly entitled by reason of
its democratic system and of the moderation and sense of justice which
have distinguished its foreign policy through successive Administrations
from the birth of the nation until now, it is necessary to make a brief
notice of such measures as affect our present relations to the other
parts of this continent.
The United States were the first of the European colonies in America to
arrive at maturity as a people and assume the position of an independent
republic. Since then important changes have taken place in various
nations and in every part of the world. Our own growth in power has been
not the least remarkable of all the great events of modern history.
When, at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, having conquered by
arms our right to exist as a sovereign state, that right was at length
recognized by treaties, we occupied only a narrow belt of land along the
Atlantic coast, hemmed in at the north, the west, and the south by the
possessions of European Governments, or by uncultivated wastes beyond
the Alleghanies, inhabited only by the aborigines. But in the very
infancy of the United States far-sighted statesmen saw and predicted
that, weak in population and apparently restricted in available
territory as the new Republic then was, it had within it the germs of
colossal grandeur, and would at no remote day occupy the continent of
America with its institutions, its authority, and its peaceful
influence.
That expectation has been thus far signally verified. The United States
entered at once into the occupation of their rightful possessions
westward to the banks of the Mississippi. Next, by the spontaneous
proffer of France, they acquired Louisiana and its territorial
extension, or right of extension, north to the line of the treaty
demarcation between France and Great Britain, and west to the Pacific
Ocean. Next, by amicable arrangement with Spain, they acquired the
Floridas, and complete southern maritime frontiers upon the Gulf of
Mexico. Then came the union with the independent State of Texas,
followed by the acquisitions of California and New Mexico, and then of
Arizona. Finally, Russia has ceded to us Alaska, and the continent of
North America has become independent of Europe, except so much of it as
continues to maintain political relations with Great Britain.
Meanwhile, partly by natural increase and partly by voluntary
immigration from Europe, our population has risen from 3,000,000 to
nearly 40,000,000; the number of States and Territories united under
the Constitution has been augmented from thirteen to forty-seven; the
development of internal wealth and power has kept pace with political
expansion; we have occupied in part and peopled the vast interior of
the continent; we have bound the Pacific to the Atlantic by a chain of
intervening States and organized Territories; we have delivered the
Republic from the anomaly and the ignominy of domestic servitude; we
have constitutionally fixed the equality of all races and of all men
before the law; and we have established, at the cost of a great civil
war--a cost, however, not beyond the value of such a result--the
indissoluble national unity of the United States.
In all these marked stages of national progress, from the Declaration
of Independence to the recent amendments of the Constitution, it is
impossible not to perceive a providential series and succession of
events, intimately attached one to the other, and possessed of definite
character as a whole, whatever incidental departures from such
uniformity may have marked, or seemed to mark, our foreign policy under
the influence of temporary causes or of the conflicting opinions of
statesmen.
In the time of Washington, of the first Adams, of Jefferson, and of
Madison the condition of Europe, engaged in the gigantic wars of the
French Revolution and of the Empire, produced its series of public
questions and gave tone and color to our foreign policy. In the time of
Monroe, of the second Adams, and of Jackson, and subsequently thereto,
the independence of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies of America
produced its series of questions and its apparent modification of our
public policy. Domestic questions of territorial organization, of social
emancipation, and of national unity have also largely occupied the minds
and the attention of the later Administrations.
The treaties of alliance and guaranty with France, which contributed so
much to our independence, were one source of solicitude to the early
Administrations, which were endeavoring to protect our commerce from the
depredations and wrongs to which the maritime policy of England and the
reaction of that policy on France subjected it. For twenty years we
struggled in vain to accomplish this, and at last drifted into war.
The avoidance of entangling alliances, the characteristic feature of the
foreign policy of Washington, sprang from this condition of things. But
the entangling alliances which then existed were engagements made with
France as a part of the general contract under which aid was furnished
to us for the achievement of our independence. France was willing to
waive the letter of the obligation as to her West India possessions, but
demanded in its stead privileges in our ports which the Administration
was unwilling to concede. To make its refusal acceptable to a public
which sympathized with France, the Cabinet of General Washington
exaggerated the principle into a theory tending to national isolation.
The public measures designed to maintain unimpaired the domestic
sovereignty and the international neutrality of the United States
were independent of this policy, though apparently incidental to it.
The municipal laws enacted by Congress then and since have been but
declarations of the law of nations. They are essential to the
preservation of our national dignity and honor; they have for their
object to repress and punish all enterprises of private war, one of the
last relics of mediaeval barbarism; and they have descended to us from
the fathers of the Republic, supported and enforced by every succeeding
President of the United States.
The foreign policy of these early days was not a narrow one. During
this period we secured the evacuation by Great Britain of the country
wrongfully occupied by her on the Lakes; we acquired Louisiana; we
measured forces on the sea with France, and on the land and sea with
England; we set the example of resisting and chastising the piracies of
the Barbary States; we initiated in negotiations with Prussia the long
line of treaties for the liberalization of war and the promotion of
international intercourse; and we steadily demanded, and at length
obtained, indemnification from various governments for the losses we
had suffered by foreign spoliations in the wars of Europe.
To this point in our foreign policy we had arrived when the
revolutionary movements in Spanish and Portuguese America compelled a
modification of our relations with Europe, in consequence of the rise of
new and independent states in America.
The revolution which commenced in 1810, and extended through all the
Spanish American continental colonies, after vain efforts of repression
on the part of Spain, protracted through twenty years, terminated in
the establishment of the independent States of Mexico, Guatemala, San
Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador,
Peru, Chile, Bolivia, the Argentine Republic, Uruguay, and Paraguay,
to which the Empire of Brazil came in time to be added. These events
necessarily enlarged the sphere of action of the United States, and
essentially modified our relations with Europe and our attitude to the
rest of this continent.
The new States were, like ourselves, revolted colonies. They continued
the precedent we had set, of separating from Europe. Their assumption of
independence was stimulated by our example. They professedly imitated
us, and copied our National Constitution, sometimes even to their
inconvenience.
The Spanish American colonies had not the same preparation for
independence that we had. Each of the British colonies possessed
complete local autonomy. Its formal transition from dependence to
independence consisted chiefly in expelling the British governor of the
colony and electing a governor of the State, from which to the organized
Union was but a step. All these conditions of success were wanting in
Spanish America, and hence many of the difficulties in their career
as independent states; and, further, while the revolution in British
America was the exclusive result of the march of opinion in the British
colonies, the simultaneous action of the separate Spanish colonies,
though showing a desire for independence, was principally produced by
the accident of the invasion of Spain by France.
The formation of these new sovereignties in America was important to us,
not only because of the cessation of colonial monopolies to that extent,
but because of the geographical relations to us held by so many new
nations, all, like ourselves, created from European stock and interested
in excluding European politics, dynastic questions, and balances of
power from further influence in the New World.
Thus the United States were forced into new lines of action, which,
though apparently in some respects conflicting, were really in harmony
with the line marked out by Washington. The avoidance of entangling
political alliances and the maintenance of our own independent
neutrality became doubly important from the fact that they became
applicable to the new Republics as well as to the mother country.
The duty of noninterference had been admitted by every President.
The question came up in the time of the first Adams, on the occasion
of the enlistment projects of Miranda. It appeared again under Jefferson
(anterior to the revolt of the Spanish colonies) in the schemes of Aaron
Burr. It was an ever-present question in the Administrations of Madison,
Monroe, and the younger Adams, in reference to the questions of foreign
enlistment or equipment in the United States, and when these new
Republics entered the family of nations, many of them very feeble, and
all too much subject to internal revolution and civil war, a strict
adherence to our previous policy and a strict enforcement of our laws
became essential to the preservation of friendly relations with them;
for since that time it has been one of the principal cares of those
intrusted with the administration of the Government to prevent piratical
expeditions against these sister Republics from leaving our ports.
And thus the changed condition of the New World made no change in the
traditional and peaceful policy of the United States in this respect.
In one respect, however, the advent of these new States in America did
compel an apparent change of foreign policy on our part. It devolved
upon us the determination of 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. There was but little of
precedent to guide us, except our own case. Something, indeed, could be
inferred from the historical origin of the Netherlands and Switzerland.
But our own case, carefully and conscientiously considered, was
sufficient to guide us to right conclusions. We maintained our position
of international friendship and of treaty obligations toward Spain, but
we did not consider that we were bound to wait for its recognition of
the new Republics before admitting them into treaty relations with us
as sovereign states. We held that it was for us to judge whether or
not they had attained to the condition of actual independence, and the
consequent right of recognition by us. We considered this question of
fact deliberately and coolly. We sent commissioners to Spanish America
to ascertain and report for our information concerning their actual
circumstances, and in the fullness of time we acknowledged their
independence; we exchanged diplomatic ministers, and made treaties of
amity with them, the earliest of which, negotiated by Mr. John Quincy
Adams, served as the model for the subsequent treaties with the Spanish
American Republics. We also, simultaneously therewith, exerted our good
offices with Spain to induce her to submit to the inevitable result and
herself to accept and acknowledge the independence of her late colonies.
We endeavored to induce Russia to join us in these representations.
In all this our action was positive, in the direction of promoting the
complete political separation of America from Europe.
A vast field was thus opened to the statesmen of the United States for
the peaceful introduction, the spread, and the permanent establishment
of the American ideas of republican government, of modification of the
laws of war, of liberalization of commerce, of religious freedom and
toleration, and of the emancipation of the New World from the dynastic
and balance of power controversies of Europe.
Mr. John Quincy Adams, beyond any other statesman of the time in this
country, had the knowledge and experience, both European and American,
the comprehension of thought and purpose, and the moral convictions
which peculiarly fitted him to introduce our country into this new field
and to lay the foundation of an American policy. The declaration known
as the Monroe doctrine, and the objects and purposes of the congress of
Panama, both supposed to have been largely inspired by Mr. Adams, have
influenced public events from that day to this as a principle of
government for this continent and its adjacent islands.
It was at the period of the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle and of
Laybach, when the "Holy Alliance" was combined to arrest all political
changes in Europe in the sense of liberty, when they were intervening
in southern Europe for the reestablishment of absolutism, and when they
were meditating interference to check the progress of free government
in America, that Mr. Monroe, in his annual message of December, 1823,
declared that the United States would consider any attempt to extend
the European system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to
our peace and safety. "With the existing colonies or dependencies of
any European power," he said, "we have not interfered and shall not
interfere; but with the governments who have declared their independence
and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great
consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view
any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in
any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light
than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United
States."
This declaration resolved the solution of the immediate question of the
independence of the Spanish American colonies, and is supposed to have
exercised some influence upon the course of the British cabinet in
regard to the absolutist schemes in Europe as well as in America.
It has also exercised a permanent influence on this continent. It was at
once invoked in consequence of the supposed peril of Cuba on the side of
Europe; it was applied to a similar danger threatening Yucatan; it was
embodied in the treaty of the United States and Great Britain as to
Central America; it produced the successful opposition of the United
States to the attempt of Great Britain to exercise dominion in Nicaragua
under the cover of the Mosquito Indians; and it operated in like manner
to prevent the establishment of a European dynasty in Mexico.
The United States stand solemnly committed by repeated declarations and
repeated acts to this doctrine, and its application to the affairs of
this continent. In his message to the two Houses of Congress at the
commencement of the present session the President, following the
teachings of all our history, said that the existing "dependencies are
no longer regarded as subject to transfer from one European power to
another. When the present relation of colonies ceases, they are to
become independent powers, exercising the right of choice and of
self-control in the determination of their future condition and
relations with other powers."
This policy is not a policy of aggression; but it opposes the creation
of European dominion on American soil, or its transfer to other European
powers, and it looks hopefully to the time when, by the voluntary
departure of European Governments from this continent and the adjacent
islands, America shall be wholly American.
It does not contemplate forcible intervention in any legitimate contest,
but it protests against permitting such a contest to result in the
increase of European power or influence; and it ever impels this
Government, as in the late contest between the South American Republics
and Spain, to interpose its good offices to secure an honorable peace.
The congress of Panama was planned by Bolivar to secure the union of
Spanish America against Spain. It had originally military as well as
political purposes. In the military objects the United States could take
no part; and, indeed, the necessity for such objects ceased when the
full effects of Mr. Monroe's declarations were felt. But the pacific
objects of the congress--the establishment of close and cordial
relations of amity, the creation of commercial intercourse, of
interchange of political thought, and of habits of good understanding
between the new Republics and the United States and their respective
citizens--might perhaps have been attained had the Administration of
that day received the united support of the country. Unhappily, they
were lost; the new States were removed from the sympathetic and
protecting influence of our example, and their commerce, which we might
then have secured, passed into other hands, unfriendly to the United
States.
In looking back upon the Panama congress from this length of time it is
easy to understand why the earnest and patriotic men who endeavored to
crystallize an American system for this continent failed.
Mr. Clay and Mr. Adams were far-sighted statesmen, but, unfortunately,
they struck against the rock of African slavery. One of the questions
proposed for discussion in the conference was "the consideration of
the means to be adopted for the entire abolition of the African slave
trade," to which proposition the committee of the United States Senate
of that day replied: "The United States have not certainly the right,
and ought never to feel the inclination, to dictate to others who may
differ with them upon this subject; nor do the committee see the
expediency of insulting other states with whom we are maintaining
relations of perfect amity by ascending the moral chair and proclaiming
from thence mere abstract principles, of the rectitude of which each
nation enjoys the perfect right of deciding for itself." The same
committee also alluded to the possibility that the condition of the
islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, still the possessions of Spain and
still slaveholding, might be made the subject of discussion and of
contemplated action by the Panama congress. "If ever the United States,"
they said, "permit themselves to be associated with these nations in any
general congress assembled for the discussion of common plans in any way
affecting European interests, they will by such act not only deprive
themselves of the ability they now possess of rendering useful
assistance to the other American States, but also produce other effects
prejudicial to their own interests."
Thus the necessity at that day of preserving the great interest of the
Southern States in African slavery, and of preventing a change in the
character of labor in the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, lost to the
United States the opportunity of giving a permanent direction to the
political and commercial connections of the newly enfranchised Spanish
American States, and their trade passed into hands unfriendly to the
United States, and has remained there ever since.
Events subsequent to that date have tended to place us in a position to
retrieve our mistakes, among which events may be particularly named the
suppression of the rebellion, the manifestation of our undeveloped and
unexpected military power, the retirement of the French from Mexico, and
the abolition of slavery in the United States.
There is good reason to believe that the latter fact has had an
important influence in our favor in Spanish America. It has caused us
to be regarded there with more sympathetic as well as more respectful
consideration. It has relieved those Republics from the fear of
filibusterism which had been formerly incited against Central America
and Mexico in the interest of slave extension, and it has produced
an impression of the stability of our institutions and of our public
strength sufficient to dissipate the fears of our friends or the hopes
of those who wish us ill.
Thus there exists in the Spanish American Republics confidence toward
the United States. On our side they find a feeling of cordial amity and
friendship, and a desire to cultivate and develop our common interests
on this continent. With some of these States our relations are more
intimate than with others, either by reason of closer similarity of
constitutional forms, of greater commercial intercourse, of proximity in
fact, or of the construction or contemplated construction of lines of
transit for our trade and commerce between the Atlantic and the Pacific.
With several of them we have peculiar treaty relations. The treaty of
1846 between the United States and New Granada contains stipulations
of guaranty for the neutrality of that part of the Isthmus within the
present territory of Colombia, and for the protection of the rights
of sovereignty and property therein belonging to Colombia. Similar
stipulations appear in the treaty of 1867 with Nicaragua, and of July,
1864, with Honduras. Those treaties (like the treaty of alliance made
with France in 1778 by Dr. Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee)
constitute _pro tanto_ a true protective alliance between the United
States and each of those Republics. Provisions of like effect appear
in the treaty of April 19, 1850, between Great Britain and the United
States.
Brazil, with her imperial semblance and constitutional reality, has
always held relations of amity with us, which have been fortified by
the opening of her great rivers to commerce. It needs only that, in
emulation of Russia and the United States, she should emancipate her
slaves to place her in more complete sympathy with the rest of America.
It will not be presumptuous, after the foregoing sketch, to say, with
entire consideration for the sovereignty and national pride of the
Spanish American Republics, that the United States, by the priority
of their independence, by the stability of their institutions, by the
regard of their people for the forms of law, by their resources as a
government, by their naval power, by their commercial enterprise, by the
attractions which they offer to European immigration, by the prodigious
internal development of their resources and wealth, and by the
intellectual life of their population, occupy of necessity a prominent
position on this continent, which they neither can nor should abdicate,
which entitles them to a leading voice, and which imposes upon them
duties of right and of honor regarding American questions, whether those
questions affect emancipated colonies or colonies still subject to
European dominion.
The public questions which existed as to all European colonies prior to
and during the revolutions in the continental colonies of Spain and
Portugal still exist with reference to the European colonies which
remain; and they now return upon us in full force, as we watch events in
Cuba and Porto Rico.
Whatever may be the result of the pending contest in Cuba, it appears
to be the belief of some of the leading statesmen of Spain that the
relations which now exist between the island and the mother country can
not be long continued. It is understood that the resources for carrying
on the struggle have been supplied mainly from Cuba, by the aid of that
portion of the population which does not desire to see its political
destinies intrusted to the persons who direct the movements of the
insurgents; but it does not follow that its political relations with
Spain are to remain unchanged, or that even the party which is now
dominant in the island will wish to forever continue colonists.
These facts give reason to think that when the contest shall close,
Cuba, with her resources strained, but unexhausted (whatever may be
her political relations), will resume and continue her old commercial
relations with the United States; and it is not impossible that at some
day, not far distant when measured by the course of history, she will be
called upon to elect her position in the family of nations.
Although the resolution of the Senate does not in terms apply to the
islands of the Antilles, it is impossible to answer it without speaking
of them. They outlie the southern coast of the United States and guard
the approaches to the ports of Mexico, Venezuela, and the Isthmus, by
which we reach from the east the western coasts of Mexico and of the
Spanish States. The people of the Spanish islands speak the language
and share the traditions, customs, ideas, and religion of the Spanish
American States of the continent, and will probably, like them, become
at some time independent of the mother country. It would, therefore,
be unwise, while shaping a commercial policy for the continent, to
disregard the islands which lie so much nearer to our seaports.
With the Spanish islands of Cuba and Porto Rico we maintain, in spite of
their adverse legislation, a large commerce by reason of our necessities
and of their proximity. In the year ending June 30, 1869, we imported
from them merchandise valued at $65,609,274. During the same time we
sent them goods to the value only of $15,313,919.
The prohibitory duties forced upon them by the policy of Spain
shut out much that we might supply. Their tropical productions, for
instance, are too valuable to allow their lands to be given up to the
growth of breadstuffs; yet, instead of taking these articles from the
superabundant fields of their nearest neighbors, they are forced to
go to the distant plains of Spain. It will be for the interest of the
United States to shape its general policy so that this relation of
imports and exports shall be altered in Cuba when peace is restored
and its political condition is satisfactorily established.
With none of the other Spanish American States in North and South
America are our commercial relations what they should be. Our total
imports in the year ending June 30, 1869, from these countries were less
than $25,000,000 (or not one-half the amount from Cuba alone), and our
exports for the same time to them were only $17,850,313; and yet these
countries have an aggregate population nearly or quite as great as that
of the United States; they have republican forms of government, and they
profess to be, and probably really are, in political sympathy with us.
This Department is not able to give with entire accuracy the imports
and exports of Great Britain with the same countries during the
corresponding period. It is believed, however, the following figures
will be found to be not far from correct: Imports to Great Britain,
$42,820,942; exports from Great Britain, $40,682,102.
It thus appears that notwithstanding the greater distance which
the commerce has to travel in coming to and from Great Britain,
notwithstanding the political sympathy which ought naturally to exist
between republics, notwithstanding the American idea which has been
so prominently and so constantly put forward by the Government of the
United States, notwithstanding the acknowledged skill of American
manufacturers, notwithstanding the ready markets which the great cities
of the United States afford for the consumption of tropical productions,
the inhabitants of the Spanish American continent consume of the
products of Great Britain more than twice the quantity they take of
the products of the United States, and that they sell to us only
three-fifths of the amount they sell to Great Britain.
The Secretary of State appends to this report the tables on which these
statements are founded. That their commerce with the United States is
not large may be partially explained by the fact that these States have
been subject to many successive revolutions since the failure of the
congress of Panama. These revolutions not only exhaust their resources
and burden them with debt, but they check emigration, prevent the flow
of foreign capital into the country, and stop the enterprise which needs
a stable government for its development.
These suggestions are, however, applicable to the British commerce as
well as to our own, and they do not explain why we, with the natural
advantages in our favor, fall so far behind. The Isthmus of Panama is
the common point where the commerce of the western coasts of Mexico and
South America meets. When it arrives there, why should it seek Liverpool
and London rather than New York?
The political causes which have operated to divert this commerce from us
the Secretary of State has endeavored to explain. A favorable time has
now come for removing them--for laying the foundation of an American
policy which shall bind in closer union the American Republics. Let
them understand that the United States do not covet their territories;
that our only desire is to see them peaceful, with free and stable
governments, increasing in wealth and population, and developing in the
lines in which their own traditions, customs, habits, laws, and modes
of thought will naturally take them. Let them feel that, as in 1826,
so now, this Government is ready to aid them to the full extent of its
constitutional power in any steps which they may take for their better
protection against anarchy. Let them be convinced that the United States
is prepared, in good faith and without ulterior purposes, to join them
in the development of a peaceful American commercial policy that may in
time include this continent and the West Indian Islands. Let this be
comprehended, and there will be no political reason why we may not
"secure to the United States that proportionate share of the trade of
this continent to which their close relations of geographical contiguity
and political friendship with all the States of America justly entitle
them."
It may not be enough to remove the political obstacles only. The
financial policy which the war made necessary may have operated
injuriously upon our commerce with these States. The resolution of the
Senate calls, on these points, for detailed information which is not
within the control of the Secretary of State, and for recommendations
for the future which he is not prepared to give without that
information. To fully answer the Senate's call, it would probably be
necessary to employ some competent agent, familiar with the Spanish
American States, to collate and arrange the information asked for.
For this there is no appropriation by Congress.
Respectfully submitted.
HAMILTON FISH.
_Commerce of the United States with the countries on this continent and
adjacent islands for the year ended June 30, 1860_.
[Compiled from the Annual Report on Commerce and Navigation.]
Countries. Imports. Exports. Reexports. Total Total
exports. commerce.
_______________________________________________________________________
Dominion of
Canada $3,353,010 $18,188,613 $2,858,782 $21,047,395 $51,400,405
All other
British
possessions
in North
America 1,737,304 2,703,173 446,664 3,149,837 4,887,141
British West
Indies 6,682,391 9,142,344 101,760 9,244,104 15,926,495
==========================================================
Total 38,772,705 30,034,130 3,407,206 33,441,336 72,214,041
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cuba 58,201,374 12,643,955 7,064,787 19,708,742 77,910,116
Porto Rico 7,407,900 2,669,964 114,037 2,784,001 10,191,901
==========================================================
Total 65,609,274 15,313,919 7,178,824 22,492,743 88,102,017
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
French
possessions
in America 696,952 1,174,056 45,514 1,219,570 1,916,522
Danish West
Indies 638,550 1,500,000 39,121 1,539,121 2,177,671
Dutch West
Indies and
Guiana 999,099 926,051 29,595 955,646 1,954,745
Hayti and
San Domingo 729,632 1,349,438 129,462 1,478,900 2,208,532
Sandwich
Islands 1,298,065 700,962 86,665 787,627 2,085,712
==========================================================
Total 4,362,318 5,650,507 330,357 5,980,864 10,343,182
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mexico 7,232,006 3,836,699 1,047,408 4,884,107 12,116,113
Central
American
States 733,296 1,324,336 52,146 1,376,482 2,109,778
Colombia 5,291,706 4,900,075 180,267 5,080,342 10,372,048
Peru 1,386,310 1,556,434 116,911 1,673,445 3,059,755
Chile 1,186,982 1,969,580 115,905 2,085,485 3,272,467
Argentine
Republic 5,162,966 2,235,089 272,425 2,507,514 7,670,480
Uruguay 1,472,608 835,112 58,270 894,382 2,366,990
Brazil 24,912,450 5,910,565 158,514 6,069,079 30,981,529
Venezuela 2,431,760 1,191,888 29,176 1,221,064 3,652,824
==========================================================
Total 49,810,084 23,760,878 2,031,022 25,791,900 75,601,984
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand
total 158,554,381 74,759,434 12,947,409 87,706,843 246,261,224
==========================================================
Total
commerce
of
United
States 437,314,255 413,954,615 25,173,414 439,128,029 876,442,284
_______________________________________________________________________
_Imports and exports of Great Britain with Spanish America and some
of the West India Islands for parts of the years 1868 and 1869_.
Year. Imports. Exports.
==================================================================
Cuba and Porto Rico 1869 L3,228,292 L1,374,242
French possessions in America 1868 4,252 3,002
Danish West Indies 1868 295,102 9,211
Dutch West Indies and Guiana 1868 148,882 4,444
Hayti and San Domingo 1868 220,806 6,043
Sandwich Islands 1868 33,336 917
Mexico 1868 350,664 92,077
Central American States 1868 939,827 173,611
Colombia 1869 971,396 2,500,039
Peru 1869 2,734,784 1,180,931
Chile 1869 3,211,174 1,596,905
Argentine Republic 1869 1,034,445 1,841,953
Uruguay 1869 535,015 1,009,425
Brazil 1869 7,754,526 5,477,439
Venezuela 1868 69,997 10,452
==================================================================
WASHINGTON, _July 14, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit, for the consideration of the Senate with a view to
ratification, a convention between the United States and His Majesty the
King of Sweden and Norway, relative to the citizenship of natives of the
one country who may emigrate to the other. A protocol on the subject is
also herewith transmitted.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _July 14, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I transmit, for consideration with a view to its ratification, a
convention between the United States and the Republic of Salvador for
the surrender of fugitive criminals, signed at San Salvador on the 23d
day of May last.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D.C., _July 15, 1870_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_
Your attention is respectfully called to the necessity of passing an
Indian appropriation bill before the members of Congress separate.
Without such appropriation Indian hostilities are sure to ensue, and
with them suffering, loss of life, and expenditures vast as compared
with the amount asked for.
The latest intelligence from Europe indicates the imminence of a
war between France and North Germany. In view of this a sound policy
indicates the importance of some legislation tending to enlarge the
commercial marine of this country. The vessels of this country at the
present time are insufficient to meet the demand which the existence of
a war in Europe will impose upon the commerce of the United States, and
I submit to the consideration of Congress that the interests of the
country will be advanced by the opportunity afforded to our citizens to
purchase vessels of foreign construction for the foreign trade of the
country. An act to this effect may be limited in its duration to meet
the immediate exigency.
The foreign-mail service of the United States is in a large degree
dependent upon the Bremen and Hamburg lines of steamers. The Post-Office
Department has entered into contracts in writing with the two companies
above named, and with the Williams and Guion lines, respectively, for a
regular and continuous service of two years. The only arrangement that
could be made with the Inman and Cunard lines is temporary, and may be
broken off at any time.
The North German lines are first class in point of speed and equipment,
their steamers usually making the trip across the Atlantic in from
twenty-four to thirty-six hours in advance of the Williams and Guion
lines.
Should the North German steamers be blockaded or impeded by France, our
postal intercourse with foreign nations will be greatly embarrassed
unless Congress shall interpose for its relief.
I suggest to Congress the propriety of further postponing the time for
adjournment, with the view of considering the questions herein
communicated.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, _July 15, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
In answer to their resolution of the 9th instant, I transmit a report[28]
from the Secretary of State and the papers which accompanied it.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 28: Relating to the importation of Chinese coolies into the
United States.]
VETO MESSAGES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., January 11, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I return herewith without my approval Senate bill No. 273, entitled
"An act for the relief of Rollin White," for the reasons set forth in
the accompanying communication, dated December n, 1869, from the Chief
of Ordnance.
U.S. GRANT.
ORDNANCE OFFICE, WAR DEPARTMENT, _Washington, December 11, 1869_.
Hon. W.W. BELKNAP,
_Secretary of War_.
SIR: In the year 1855 Rollin White obtained letters patent for
improvements in repeating pistols, in (among other things) extending the
chambers of the rotating cylinder through to the rear, so as to enable
the chambers to be charged at the rear by hand or by a self-acting
charger.
Some time afterwards, and prior to the breaking out of the rebellion,
he assigned this patent to Smith & Wesson, of Springfield, Mass., for
the sum of $500 in cash and their obligation to pay him 25 cents royalty
on each pistol manufactured under the patent, binding himself to apply
for and to use his influence to procure a renewal of the patent. He
afterwards surrendered this original patent and obtained a reissue
in three divisions. Two years before the expiration of the latter he
applied to the Commissioner of Patents for an extension, upon the
ground of insufficiency of compensation. The Commissioner rejected the
application for an extension, without assigning any reason, and the
patents expired by limitation on the 3d of April, 1869, and the
invention became public property.
On the 9th of April, 1869, a bill authorizing the Commissioner of
Patents to reconsider the application of Rollin White for extension of
his patents was introduced in the Senate and passed without debate. It
passed the House without debate on the 10th of April, but failed to
receive the signature of the Vice-President before Congress adjourned.
It is understood that it has now been signed by that officer, and only
awaits the approval of the President to become a law.
Unless the ends of justice require the extension of this patent, it
should not be renewed. So far as I have been able to ascertain, justice
to the Government and to the public forbids this patent from being
renewed.
The validity of the patent has been questioned for many years, and it is
understood that it was only affirmed by the Supreme Court by a tie vote,
four of the justices voting affirmatively and an equal number
negatively.
Its renewal is urged by Rollin White upon the ground that he has not
been sufficiently compensated for his invention. Rollin White has
received nearly $71,000 as royalty. Smith & Wesson, for the years 1862,
1863, 1864, 1865, 1866, 1867, and 1868, returned incomes amounting in
the aggregate to about $1,000,000. This was derived chiefly from the
manufacture of firearms under Rollin White's patent, that firm holding
the exclusive right to manufacture under it and being engaged almost
exclusively in their manufacture.
It is believed that the Government suffered inconvenience and
embarrassment enough during the war in consequence of the inability of
manufacturers to use this patent, and that its further extension will
operate prejudicially to its interest by compelling it to pay to parties
already well paid a large royalty for altering its revolvers to use
metallic cartridges.
For these reasons I respectfully request that you will call the
attention of the President of the United States to this subject before
he acts upon the bill which is now before him.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
A.B. DYER,
_Brevet Major-General, Chief of Ordnance_.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 14, 1870_.
_To the Senate of the United States:_
I herewith return without my approval Senate bill No. 476, "An act to
fix the status of certain Federal soldiers enlisting in the Union Army
from the States of Alabama and Florida," for the reasons embodied in the
following facts, which have been obtained from the office of the Second
Comptroller:
The First Regiment of Florida Cavalry, composed of six companies, was
organized from December, 1862, to August, 1864, to serve three years.
It was mustered out of service November 17, 1865, by reason of general
order from the War Department discharging all cavalry organizations east
of the Mississippi.
The men of this regiment enlisting prior to July 18, 1864, received $25
advance bounty at muster-in, and the discharged soldiers and heirs of
those deceased have been paid the same bounty under act of July 22,
1861, joint resolution of January 13, 1864, an act of July 28, 1866,
as men enlisted at the same time in other volunteer organizations.
The Second Regiment of Florida Cavalry, composed of seven companies, was
organized from December, 1863, to June, 1864, to serve three years. It
was mustered out November 29, 1865, by reason of the order discharging
cavalry organizations east of the Mississippi. Most of the men received
the $25 advance bounty at muster-in, and the discharged men and heirs of
deceased men have received bounty under the several acts of Congress
cited above, subject to the same conditions which apply to men who
enlisted at the same time in other volunteer organizations.
The First Alabama Cavalry was originally organized as a one-year
regiment from December, 1862, to September, 1863, and two companies
of three-years men (Companies I and K) were added to complete its
organization. These companies were formerly Companies D and E of the
First Middle Tennessee Cavalry. Prior to the expiration of the term
of the one-year men, the Adjutant-General of the Army, of date May 15,
1863, authorized General Dodge to fill up this command, and in accordance
therewith the places of the companies discharged by reason of expiration
of term were filled by companies of men enlisted for three years. The
original companies, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and L, were organized from
December, 1862, to September 25, 1863, and were discharged by companies
from December 22, 1863, to September 28, 1864, in order as the term (one
year) of each company expired. Companies I and K, mustered in August,
1862, to serve three years, were discharged in July, 1865, by reason
of expiration of term of service. As reorganized under the order above
mentioned, the regiment consisted of Companies A, B, C, D, E, and G,
organized from February 5, 1864, to October, 1864, to serve three years;
Companies F, L, and M, organized from December 28, 1863, to October 31,
1864, to serve one and three years; Company H, organized in March and
April, 1865, to serve three years, and Companies I and K, of the old
organization described above. The men of the First Alabama Cavalry who
enlisted for three years have been paid bounty under the several acts
of Congress upon the same principles which apply to other three-years
volunteers. The one-year men enlisted prior to July 18, 1864, received
no bounty, but $100 bounty has been paid the proper heirs of the
one-year men of this organization who died in the service, in accordance
with the act of July 22, 1861, under which the regiment was originally
organized.
Some of the men of these organizations were erroneously paid by the Pay
Department at the time of their muster out of service, they having been
paid but $100, when they should have been allowed $300 under the joint
resolution of January 13, 1864. The balance of bounty due these men is
being paid by the proper accounting officers. It will be seen by
comparing the above statement with the act under consideration that the
effect of the act will be to give the one-year men of the First Alabama
Cavalry, nearly all of whom enlisted in 1862 and 1863, a bounty of $100
each, or a proportionate part, according to the time served. It would
give each man of Companies I and K of the First Alabama Cavalry $100
more bounty. The bounty of the other three-years men of the First
Alabama Cavalry, First Florida Cavalry, and Second Florida Cavalry, who
enlisted prior to December 25, 1863, and from April 1, 1864, to July 17,
1864, inclusive, and who were discharged by reason of orders from the
War Department, will not be affected.
The men enlisting in these organizations under joint resolution of
January 13, 1864, receive under existing laws $100 more bounty than they
would be entitled to receive if the act under consideration becomes a
law.
In case of deceased men the working of the act is still more perplexing,
as the prescribed order of inheritance under the act of July 4, 1864, is
entirely different from that under all other acts.
A large proportion of the claims in case of the deceased men have been
settled, and the bounties have been paid fathers, mothers, brothers,
and sisters, the proper heirs under existing laws, which under this act
would go only to the widow, children, and widowed mother. Bounty has
also been paid to parents under act of July 28, 1866, which this act
would require to be paid to the widow, although she may have remarried.
Under the act of July 28, 1866, children of age are not entitled, but
this act makes them joint heirs with the minor children.
In case of the deceased one-year men, and the three-years men enlisted
under joint resolution of January 13, 1864, the effect of this act would
only be to change the prescribed order of inheritance.
In case of the three-years men enlisted under act of July 22, 1861, the
order of inheritance is changed by this act, and the heirs entitled
(widow, children, and widowed mother) will receive $100 more bounty than
they are now entitled to receive.
It may be well to state that November 14, 1864, the War Department gave
authority to enlist men who had deserted from the rebel army as recruits
for the First Alabama Cavalry, with the distinct understanding that they
were to receive no bounty. Such recruits have not been paid bounty, and
it may be a question whether the act under consideration would entitle
them to any.
U.S. GRANT.
PROCLAMATIONS.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, pursuant to the first section of the act of Congress approved
the 11th day of June, 1864, entitled "An act to provide for the
execution of treaties between the United States and foreign nations
respecting consular jurisdiction over the crews of vessels of such
foreign nations in the waters and ports of the United States," it is
provided that before that act shall take effect as to the ships and
vessels of any particular nation having such treaty with the United
States the President of the United States shall have been satisfied that
similar provisions have been made for the execution of such treaty by
the other contracting party, and shall have issued his proclamation to
that effect, declaring that act to be in force as to such nation; and
Whereas due inquiry having been made and satisfactory answers having
been received that similar provisions are in force in France, Prussia
and the other States of the North German Union, and Italy:
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim the same accordingly.
Done at the city of Washington, this 10th day of February, A.D. 1870,
and of the Independence of the United States of America the
ninety-fourth.
[SEAL.]
U.S. GRANT.
By the President:
HAMILTON FISH,
_Secretary of State_.
ULYSSES S. GRANT, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
_To all whom it may concern:_
An exequatur, bearing date the 17th day of June, 1865, having been
issued to Joaquin de Palma, recognizing him as vice-consul of Portugal
at Savannah, Ga., and declaring him free to exercise and enjoy such
functions, powers, and privileges as are allowed to vice-consuls by the
law of nations or by the laws of the United States and existing treaty
stipulations between the Government of Portugal and the United States;
but for satisfactory reasons it is deemed advisable that the said
Joaquin de Palma should no longer be permitted to continue in the
exercise of said functions, powers, and privileges:
These are therefore to declare that I no longer recognize the said
Joaquin de Palma as vice-consul of Portugal at Savannah, Ga., and will
not permit him to exercise or enjoy any of the functions, powers, or
privileges allowed to a consular officer of that nation; and that I do
hereby wholly revoke and annul the said exequatur heretofore given, and
do declare the same to be absolutely null and void from this day
forward.
In testimony whereof I have caused these letters to be made patent and
the seal of the United States of America to be hereunto affixed.
[SEAL.]
Given under my hand, at Washington, this 12th day of May, A.D. 1870, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-fourth.
U.S. GRANT.
By the President:
HAMILTON FISH,
_Secretary of State_.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas it has come to my knowledge that sundry illegal military
enterprises and expeditions are being set on foot within the territory
and jurisdiction of the United States with a view to carry on the same
from such territory and jurisdiction against the people and district of
the Dominion of Canada, within the dominions of Her Majesty the Queen of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with whom the United
States are at peace:
Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States, do
hereby admonish all good citizens of the United States and all persons
within the territory and jurisdiction of the United States against
aiding, countenancing, abetting, or taking part in such unlawful
proceedings; and I do hereby warn all persons that by committing such
illegal acts they will forfeit all right to the protection of the
Government or to its interference in their behalf to rescue them from
the consequences of their own acts; and I do hereby enjoin all officers
in the service of the United States to employ all their lawful authority
and power to prevent and defeat the aforesaid unlawful proceedings and
to arrest and bring to justice all persons who may be engaged therein.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 24th day of May, A.D. 1870, and of
the Independence of the United States the ninety-fourth.
U.S. GRANT.
By the President:
HAMILTON FISH,
_Secretary of State_.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas a state of war unhappily exists between France on the one side
and the North German Confederation and its allies on the other side; and
Whereas the United States are on terms of friendship and amity with all
the contending powers and with the persons inhabiting their several
dominions; and
Whereas great numbers of the citizens of the United States reside within
the territories or dominions of each of the said belligerents and carry
on commerce, trade, or other business or pursuits therein, protected by
the faith of treaties; and
Whereas great numbers of the subjects or citizens of each of the said
belligerents reside within the territory or jurisdiction of the United
States and carry on commerce, trade, or other business or pursuits
therein; and
Whereas the laws of the United States, without interfering with the free
expression of opinion and sympathy, or with the open manufacture or sale
of arms or munitions of war, nevertheless impose upon all persons who
may be within their territory and jurisdiction the duty of an impartial
neutrality during the existence of the contest:
Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States,
in order to preserve the neutrality of the United States and of their
citizens and of persons within their territory and jurisdiction, and to
enforce their laws, and in order that all persons, being warned of the
general tenor of the laws and treaties of the United States in this
behalf and of the law of nations, may thus be prevented from an
unintentional violation of the same, do hereby declare and proclaim that
by the act passed on the 20th day of April, A.D. 1818, commonly known as
the "neutrality law," the following acts are forbidden to be done, under
severe penalties, within the territory and jurisdiction of the United
States, to wit:
1. Accepting and exercising a commission to serve either of the said
belligerents, by land or by sea, against the other belligerent.
2. Enlisting or entering into the service of either of the said
belligerents as a soldier or as a marine or seaman on board of any
vessel of war, letter of marque, or privateer.
3. Hiring or retaining another person to enlist or enter himself in the
service of either of the said belligerents as a soldier or as a marine
or seaman on board of any vessel of war, letter of marque, or privateer.
4. Hiring another person to go beyond the limits or jurisdiction of the
United States with intent to be enlisted as aforesaid.
5. Hiring another person to go beyond the limits of the United States
with intent to be entered into service as aforesaid.
6. Retaining another person to go beyond the limits of the United States
with intent to be enlisted as aforesaid.
7. Retaining another person to go beyond the limits of the United States
with intent to be entered into service as aforesaid. (But the said act
is not to be construed to extend to a citizen or subject of either
belligerent who, being transiently within the United States, shall, on
board of any vessel of war which at the time of its arrival within the
United States was fitted and equipped as such vessel of war, enlist or
enter himself, or hire or retain another subject or citizen of the same
belligerent who is transiently within the United States to enlist or
enter himself, to serve such belligerent on board such vessel of war,
if the United States shall then be at peace with such belligerent.)
8. Fitting out and arming, or attempting to fit out and arm, or
procuring to be fitted out and armed, or knowingly being concerned in
the furnishing, fitting out, or arming of any ship or vessel with intent
that such ship or vessel shall be employed in the service of either of
the said belligerents.
9. Issuing or delivering a commission within the territory or
jurisdiction of the United States for any ship or vessel to the intent
that she may be employed as aforesaid.
10. Increasing or augmenting, or procuring to be increased or augmented,
or knowingly being concerned in increasing or augmenting, the force of
any ship of war, cruiser, or other armed vessel which at the time of her
arrival within the United States was a ship of war, cruiser, or armed
vessel in the service of either of the said belligerents, or belonging
to the subjects or citizens of either, by adding to the number of guns
of such vessel, or by changing those on board of her for guns of a
larger caliber, or by the addition thereto of any equipment solely
applicable to war.
11. Beginning or setting on foot or providing or preparing the means
for any military expedition or enterprise to be carried on from the
territory or jurisdiction of the United States against the territories
or dominions of either of the said belligerents.
And I do further declare and proclaim that by the nineteenth article of
the treaty of amity and commerce which was concluded between His Majesty
the King of Prussia and the United States of America on the 11th day of
July, A.D. 1799, which article was revived by the treaty of May 1, A.D.
1828, between the same parties, and is still in force, it was agreed
that "the vessels of war, public and private, of both parties shall
carry freely, wheresoever they please, the vessels and effects taken
from their enemies, without being obliged to pay any duties, charges, or
fees to officers of admiralty, of the customs, or any others; nor shall
such prizes be arrested, searched, or put under legal process when they
come to and enter the ports of the other party, but may freely be
carried out again at any time by their captors to the places expressed
in their commissions, which the commanding officer of such vessel shall
be obliged to show."
And I do further declare and proclaim that it has been officially
communicated to the Government of the United States by the envoy
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the North German
Confederation at Washington that private property on the high seas will
be exempted from seizure by the ships of His Majesty the King of
Prussia, without regard to reciprocity.
And I do further declare and proclaim that it has been officially
communicated to the Government of the United States by the envoy
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of His Majesty the Emperor of
the French at Washington that orders have been given that in the conduct
of the war the commanders of the French forces on land and on the seas
shall scrupulously observe toward neutral powers the rules of
international law and that they shall strictly adhere to the principles
set forth in the declaration of the congress of Paris of the 16th of
April, 1856; that is to say:
First. That privateering is and remains abolished.
Second. That the neutral flag covers enemy's goods, with the exception
of contraband of war.
Third. That neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are
not liable to capture under the enemy's flag.
Fourth. That blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective--that
is to say, maintained by a force sufficient really to prevent access to
the coast of the enemy; and that, although the United States have not
adhered to the declaration of 1856, the vessels of His Majesty will not
seize enemy's property found on board of a vessel of the United States,
provided that property is not contraband of war.
And I do further declare and proclaim that the statutes of the United
States and the law of nations alike require that no person within the
territory and jurisdiction of the United States shall take part,
directly or indirectly, in the said war, but shall remain at peace with
each of the said belligerents and shall maintain a strict and impartial
neutrality, and that whatever privileges shall be accorded to one
belligerent within the ports of the United States shall be in like
manner accorded to the other.
And I do hereby enjoin all the good citizens of the United States and
all persons residing or being within the territory or jurisdiction of
the United States to observe the laws thereof and to commit no act
contrary to the provisions of the said statutes or in violation of the
law of nations in that behalf.
And I do hereby warn all citizens of the United States and all persons
residing or being within their territory or jurisdiction that while the
free and full expression of sympathies in public and private is not
restricted by the laws of the United States, military forces in aid of
either belligerent can not lawfully be originated or organized within
their jurisdiction; and that while all persons may lawfully and without
restriction, by reason of the aforesaid state of war, manufacture and
sell within the United States arms and munitions of war and other
articles ordinarily known as "contraband of war," yet they can not carry
such articles upon the high seas for the use or service of either
belligerent, nor can they transport soldiers and officers of either,
or attempt to break any blockade which may be lawfully established and
maintained during the war, without incurring the risk of hostile capture
and the penalties denounced by the law of nations in that behalf.
And I do hereby give notice that all citizens of the United States
and others who may claim the protection of this Government who may
misconduct themselves in the premises will do so at their peril, and
that they can in no wise obtain any protection from the Government of
the United States against the consequences of their misconduct.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 22d day of August, A.D. 1870, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-fifth.
U.S. GRANT.
By the President:
HAMILTON FISH,
_Secretary of State_.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas on the 22d day of August, 1870, my proclamation was issued
enjoining neutrality in the present war between France and the North
German Confederation and its allies, and declaring, so far as then
seemed to be necessary, the respective rights and obligations of the
belligerent parties and of the citizens of the United States; and
Whereas subsequent information gives reason to apprehend that armed
cruisers of the belligerents may be tempted to abuse the hospitality
accorded to them in the ports, harbors, roadsteads, and other waters of
the United States, by making such waters subservient to the purposes of
war:
Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States of
America, do hereby proclaim and declare that any frequenting and use of
the waters within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States by
the armed vessels of either belligerent, whether public ships or
privateers, for the purpose of preparing for hostile operations or as
posts of observation upon the ships of war or privateers or merchant
vessels of the other belligerent lying within or being about to enter
the jurisdiction of the United States, must be regarded as unfriendly
and offensive and in violation of that neutrality which it is the
determination of this Government to observe; and to the end that the
hazard and inconvenience of such apprehended practices may be avoided, I
further proclaim and declare that from and after the 12th day of October
instant, and during the continuance of the present hostilities between
France and the North German Confederation and its allies, no ship of war
or privateer of either belligerent shall be permitted to make use of any
port, harbor, roadstead, or other waters within the jurisdiction of the
United States as a station or place of resort for any warlike purpose or
for the purpose of obtaining any facilities of warlike equipment; and
no ship of war or privateer of either belligerent shall be permitted to
sail out of or leave any port, harbor, roadstead, or waters subject to
the jurisdiction of the United States from which a vessel of the other
belligerent (whether the same shall be a ship of war, a privateer, or a
merchant ship) shall have previously departed until after the expiration
of at least twenty-four hours from the departure of such last-mentioned
vessel beyond the jurisdiction of the United States. If any ship
of war or privateer of either belligerent shall, after the time this
notification takes effect, enter any port, harbor, roadstead, or waters
of the United States, such vessel shall be required to depart and to
put to sea within twenty-four hours after her entrance into such port,
harbor, roadstead, or waters, except in case of stress of weather or of
her requiring provisions or things necessary for the subsistence of her
crew or for repairs, in either of which cases the authorities of the
port or of the nearest port (as the case may be) shall require her to
put to sea as soon as possible after the expiration of such period of
twenty-four hours, without permitting her to take in supplies beyond
what may be necessary for her immediate use; and no such vessel which
may have been permitted to remain within the waters of the United States
for the purpose of repair shall continue within such port, harbor,
roadstead, or waters for a longer period than twenty-four hours after
her necessary repairs shall have been completed, unless within such
twenty-four hours a vessel, whether ship of war, privateer, or merchant
ship, of the other belligerent shall have departed therefrom, in which
case the time limited for the departure of such ship of war or privateer
shall be extended so far as may be necessary to secure an interval of
not less than twenty-four hours between such departure and that of any
ship of war, privateer, or merchant ship of the other belligerent which
may have previously quit the same port, harbor, roadstead, or waters.
No ship of war or privateer of either belligerent shall be detained in
any port, harbor, roadstead, or waters of the United States more than
twenty-four hours by reason of the successive departures from such
port, harbor, roadstead, or waters of more than one vessel of the other
belligerent. But if there be several vessels of each or either of the
two belligerents in the same port, harbor, roadstead, or waters, the
order of their departure therefrom shall be so arranged as to afford
the opportunity of leaving alternately to the vessels of the respective
belligerents and to cause the least detention consistent with the
objects of this proclamation. No ship of war or privateer of either
belligerent shall be permitted, while in any port, harbor, roadstead,
or waters within the jurisdiction of the United States, to take in any
supplies except provisions and such other things as may be requisite
for the subsistence of her crew, and except so much coal only as may be
sufficient to carry such vessel, if without sail power, to the nearest
European port of her own country, or, in case the vessel is rigged to go
under sail and may also be propelled by steam power, then with half the
quantity of coal which she would be entitled to receive if dependent
upon steam alone; and no coal shall be again supplied to any such ship
of war or privateer in the same or any other port, harbor, roadstead, or
waters of the United States, without special permission, until after the
expiration of three months from the time when such coal may have been
last supplied to her within the waters of the United States, unless such
ship of war or privateer shall, since last thus supplied, have entered a
European port of the Government to which she belongs.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 8th day of October, A.D. 1870, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-fifth.
U.S. GRANT.
By the President:
HAMILTON FISH,
_Secretary of State_.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas divers evil-disposed persons have at sundry times within the
territory or jurisdiction of the United States begun or set on foot, or
provided or prepared the means for, military expeditions or enterprises
to be carried on thence against the territories or dominions of powers
with whom the United States are at peace, by organizing bodies
pretending to have powers of government over portions of the territories
or dominions of powers with whom the United States are at peace, or, by
being or assuming to be members of such bodies, by levying or collecting
money for the purpose or for the alleged purpose of using the same in
carrying on military enterprises against such territories or dominions
by enlisting and organizing armed forces to be used against such powers,
and by fitting out, equipping, and arming vessels to transport such
organized armed forces to be employed in hostilities against such
powers; and
Whereas it is alleged and there is reason to apprehend that such
evil-disposed persons have also at sundry times within the territory and
jurisdiction of the United States violated the laws thereof by accepting
and exercising commissions to serve by land or by sea against powers
with whom the United States are at peace by enlisting themselves or
other persons to carry on war against such powers by fitting out and
arming vessels with intent that the same shall be employed to cruise or
commit hostilities against such powers, or by delivering commissions
within the territory or jurisdiction of the United States for such
vessels to the intent that they might be employed as aforesaid; and
Whereas such acts are in violation of the laws of the United States in
such case made and provided, and are done in disregard of the duties and
obligations which all persons residing or being within the territory or
jurisdiction of the United States owe thereto, and are condemned by all
right-minded and law-abiding citizens:
Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States of
America, do hereby declare and proclaim that all persons hereafter found
within the territory or jurisdiction of the United States committing any
of the aforerecited violations of law or any similar violations of the
sovereignty of the United States for which punishment is provided by
law will be rigorously prosecuted therefor, and, upon conviction and
sentence to punishment, will not be entitled to expect or receive the
clemency of the Executive to save them from the consequences of their
guilt; and I enjoin upon every officer of this Government, civil or
military or naval, to use all efforts in his power to arrest for trial
and punishment every such offender against the laws providing for the
performance of our sacred obligations to friendly powers.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 12th day of October, A.D. 1870, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-fifth.
U.S. GRANT.
By the President:
HAMILTON FISH,
_Secretary of State_.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas it behooves a people sensible of their dependence on the
Almighty publicly and collectively to acknowledge their gratitude for
his favors and mercies and humbly to beseech for their continuance; and
Whereas the people of the United States during the year now about to end
have special cause to be thankful for general prosperity, abundant
harvests, exemption from pestilence, foreign war, and civil strife:
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the
United States, concurring in any similar recommendations from chief
magistrates of States, do hereby recommend to all citizens to meet in
their respective places of worship on Thursday, the 24th day of November
next, there to give thanks for the bounty of God during the year about
to close and to supplicate for its continuance hereafter.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 21st day of October, A.D. 1870, and
of the Independence of the United States the ninety-fifth.
U.S. GRANT.
By the President:
HAMILTON FISH,
_Secretary of State_.
EXECUTIVE ORDERS.
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 83.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY
ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
_Washington, December 24, 1869_.
Brevet Major-General A.H. Terry, in addition to his duties as commander
of the Department of the South, is, by order of the President of the
United States, appointed to exercise the duties of commanding general of
the District of Georgia, as defined by the act of Congress approved
December 22, 1869.
By command of General Sherman:
E.D. TOWNSEND,
_Adjutant-General_.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., December 24, 1869_.
The painful duty devolves upon the President of announcing to the people
of the United States the death of one of her most distinguished citizens
and faithful public servants, the Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, which occurred
in this city at an early hour this morning.
He was distinguished in the councils of the nation during the entire
period of its recent struggle for national existence--first as
Attorney-General, then as Secretary of War: He was unceasing in his
labors, earnest and fearless in the assumption of responsibilities
necessary to his country's success, respected by all good men, and
feared by wrongdoers. In his death the bar, the bench, and the nation
sustain a great loss, which will be mourned by all.
As a mark of respect to his memory it is ordered that the Executive
Mansion and the several Departments at Washington be draped in mourning,
and that all business be suspended on the day of the funeral.
U.S. GRANT.
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 1.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
_Washington, January 4, 1870_.
By direction of the President of the United States, so much of General
Orders, No. 103, dated Headquarters Third Military District (Department
of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama), Atlanta, Ga., July 22, 1868, and
so much of General Orders, No. 55, dated Headquarters of the Army,
Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, July 28, 1868, as refers to the
State of Georgia is hereby countermanded. Brevet Major-General Terry
will until further orders exercise within that State the powers of the
commander of a military district, as provided by the act of March 2,
1867, and the acts supplementary thereto, under his assignment by
General Orders, No. 83, dated Headquarters of the Army,
Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, December 24, 1869.
By command of General Sherman:
E.D. TOWNSEND,
_Adjutant-General_.
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 11.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
_Washington, January 29, 1870_.
I. The Senators and Representatives from the State of Virginia having
been admitted to their respective Houses of Congress, the command known
as the First Military District has ceased to exist.
II. By direction of the President, the States of Maryland, Virginia,
West Virginia, and North Carolina will compose the Department of
Virginia, under the command of Brevet Major-General E.R.S. Canby,
headquarters at Richmond, Va., and will form a part of the Military
Division of the Atlantic.
III. Commanding officers of all posts and detachments now serving in the
limits of the new department will report to General Canby for
instructions. The companies of the Eighth Infantry now serving in the
State of North Carolina will be relieved as early as possible, and
report to Brevet Major-General A.H. Terry, commanding Department of the
South, for orders.
By command of General Sherman:
E.D. TOWNSEND,
_Adjutant-General_.
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 25.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
_Washington, February 26, 1870_.
I. The Senators and Representatives from the State of Mississippi having
been admitted to their respective Houses of Congress, the command known
as the Fourth Military District has ceased to exist.
II. By direction of the President, the State of Mississippi is attached
to the Department of the Cumberland, and the officers and troops within
the late Fourth Military District will accordingly report to Brevet
Major-General Cooke, commanding the department.
III. The general commanding the late Fourth Military District will
complete the records of that district as soon as practicable and send
them to the Adjutant-General of the Army, except such military records
as should properly be retained at the headquarters of the department,
which he will send there.
By command of General Sherman:
E.D. TOWNSEND,
_Adjutant-General_.
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 35.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
_Washington, March 31, 1870_.
I. By order of the President of the United States, the State of
Texas having been admitted to representation in Congress, the command
heretofore known as the Fifth Military District will cease to exist, and
will hereafter constitute a separate military department, headquarters
Austin, Tex., Brevet Major-General J.J. Reynolds commanding.
II. The department known as the Department of Louisiana will be
broken up; the State of Louisiana is hereby added to the Department of
Texas, and the State of Arkansas to the Department of the Missouri.
The commanding general Department of the Missouri will, as soon as
convenient, relieve the garrison at Little Rock by a detachment from the
Sixth Infantry, and the commanding officer of the troops now in Arkansas
will report to General J.J. Reynolds for orders, to take effect as soon
as replaced.
III. The new Department of Texas will form a part of the Military
Division of the South.
By command of General Sherman:
E.D. TOWNSEND,
_Adjutant-General_.
SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 5, 1870_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_
A year of peace and general prosperity to this nation has passed since
the last assembling of Congress. We have, through a kind Providence,
been blessed with abundant crops, and have been spared from
complications and war with foreign nations. In our midst comparative
harmony has been restored. It is to be regretted, however, that a free
exercise of the elective franchise has by violence and intimidation been
denied to citizens in exceptional cases in several of the States lately
in rebellion, and the verdict of the people has thereby been reversed.
The States of Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas have been restored to
representation in our national councils. Georgia, the only State now
without representation, may confidently be expected to take her place
there also at the beginning of the new year, and then, let us hope, will
be completed the work of reconstruction. With an acquiescence on the
part of the whole people in the national obligation to pay the public
debt created as the price of our Union, the pensions to our disabled
soldiers and sailors and their widows and orphans, and in the changes to
the Constitution which have been made necessary by a great rebellion,
there is no reason why we should not advance in material prosperity and
happiness as no other nation ever did after so protracted and
devastating a war.
Soon after the existing war broke out in Europe the protection of the
United States minister in Paris was invoked in favor of North Germans
domiciled in French territory. Instructions were issued to grant
the protection. This has been followed by an extension of American
protection to citizens of Saxony, Hesse and Saxe-Coburg, Gotha,
Colombia, Portugal, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Chile,
Paraguay, and Venezuela in Paris. The charge was an onerous one,
requiring constant and severe labor, as well as the exercise of
patience, prudence, and good judgment. It has been performed to the
entire satisfaction of this Government, and, as I am officially
informed, equally so to the satisfaction of the Government of North
Germany.
As soon as I learned that a republic had been proclaimed at Paris and
that the people of France had acquiesced in the change, the minister
of the United States was directed by telegraph to recognize it and to
tender my congratulations and those of the people of the United States.
The reestablishment in France of a system of government disconnected
with the dynastic traditions of Europe appeared to be a proper subject
for the felicitations of Americans. Should the present struggle
result in attaching the hearts of the French to our simpler forms
of representative government, it will be a subject of still further
satisfaction to our people. While we make no effort to impose our
institutions upon the inhabitants of other countries, and while we
adhere to our traditional neutrality in civil contests elsewhere, we can
not be indifferent to the spread of American political ideas in a great
and highly civilized country like France.
We were asked by the new Government to use our good offices, jointly
with those of European powers, in the interests of peace. Answer was
made that the established policy and the true interests of the United
States forbade them to interfere in European questions jointly with
European powers. I ascertained, informally and unofficially, that the
Government of North Germany was not then disposed to listen to such
representations from any power, and though earnestly wishing to see the
blessings of peace restored to the belligerents, with all of whom the
United States are on terms of friendship, I declined on the part of this
Government to take a step which could only result in injury to our true
interests, without advancing the object for which our intervention was
invoked. Should the time come when the action of the United States
can hasten the return of peace by a single hour, that action will be
heartily taken. I deemed it prudent, in view of the number of persons
of German and French birth living in the United States, to issue, soon
after official notice of a state of war had been received from both
belligerents, a proclamation[29] defining the duties of the United
States as a neutral and the obligations of persons residing within
their territory to observe their laws and the laws of nations. This
proclamation was followed by others,[30] as circumstances seemed to call
for them. The people, thus acquainted in advance of their duties and
obligations, have assisted in preventing violations of the neutrality
of the United States.
It is not understood that the condition of the insurrection in Cuba has
materially changed since the close of the last session of Congress. In
an early stage of the contest the authorities of Spain inaugurated a
system of arbitrary arrests, of close confinement, and of military trial
and execution of persons suspected of complicity with the insurgents,
and of summary embargo of their properties, and sequestration of their
revenues by executive warrant. Such proceedings, so far as they affected
the persons or property of citizens of the United States, were in
violation of the provisions of the treaty of 1795 between the United
States and Spain.
Representations of injuries resulting to several persons claiming to be
citizens of the United States by reason of such violations were made to
the Spanish Government. From April, 1869, to June last the Spanish
minister at Washington had been clothed with a limited power to aid in
redressing such wrongs. That power was found to be withdrawn, "in view,"
as it was said, "of the favorable situation in which the island of Cuba"
then "was," which, however, did not lead to a revocation or suspension
of the extraordinary and arbitrary functions exercised by the executive
power in Cuba, and we were obliged to make our complaints at Madrid. In
the negotiations thus opened, and still pending there, the United States
only claimed that for the future the rights secured to their citizens
by treaty should be respected in Cuba, and that as to the past a
joint tribunal should be established in the United States with full
jurisdiction over all such claims. Before such an impartial tribunal
each claimant would be required to prove his case. On the other hand,
Spain would be at liberty to traverse every material fact, and thus
complete equity would be done. A case which at one time threatened
seriously to affect the relations between the United States and Spain
has already been disposed of in this way. The claim of the owners of the
_Colonel Lloyd Aspinwall_ for the illegal seizure and detention of that
vessel was referred to arbitration by mutual consent, and has resulted
in an award to the United States, for the owners, of the sum of
$19,702.50 in gold. Another and long-pending claim of like nature, that
of the whaleship _Canada_, has been disposed of by friendly arbitrament
during the present year. It was referred, by the joint consent of Brazil
and the United States, to the decision of Sir Edward Thornton, Her
Britannic Majesty's minister at Washington, who kindly undertook the
laborious task of examining the voluminous mass of correspondence and
testimony submitted by the two Governments, and awarded to the United
States the sum of $100,740.09 in gold, which has since been paid by the
Imperial Government. These recent examples show that the mode which the
United States have proposed to Spain for adjusting the pending claims is
just and feasible, and that it may be agreed to by either nation without
dishonor. It is to be hoped that this moderate demand may be acceded
to by Spain without further delay. Should the pending negotiations,
unfortunately and unexpectedly, be without result, it will then become
my duty to communicate that fact to Congress and invite its action on
the subject.
The long-deferred peace conference between Spain and the allied South
American Republics has been inaugurated in Washington under the auspices
of the United States. Pursuant to the recommendation contained in the
resolution of the House of Representatives of the 17th of December,
1866, the executive department of the Government offered its friendly
offices for the promotion of peace and harmony between Spain and the
allied Republics. Hesitations and obstacles occurred to the acceptance
of the offer. Ultimately, however, a conference was arranged, and was
opened in this city on the 29th of October last, at which I authorized
the Secretary of State to preside. It was attended by the ministers of
Spain, Peru, Chile, and Ecuador. In consequence of the absence of a
representative from Bolivia, the conference was adjourned until the
attendance of a plenipotentiary from that Republic could be secured or
other measures could be adopted toward compassing its objects.
The allied and other Republics of Spanish origin on this continent may
see in this fact a new proof of our sincere interest in their welfare,
of our desire to see them blessed with good governments, capable of
maintaining order and of preserving their respective territorial
integrity, and of our sincere wish to extend our own commercial and
social relations with them. The time is not probably far distant when,
in the natural course of events, the European political connection with
this continent will cease. Our policy should be shaped, in view of this
probability, so as to ally the commercial interests of the Spanish
American States more closely to our own, and thus give the United States
all the preeminence and all the advantage which Mr. Monroe, Mr. Adams,
and Mr. Clay contemplated when they proposed to join in the congress of
Panama.
During the last session of Congress a treaty for the annexation of the
Republic of San Domingo to the United States failed to receive the
requisite two-thirds vote of the Senate. I was thoroughly convinced then
that the best interests of this country, commercially and materially,
demanded its ratification. Time has only confirmed me in this view.
I now firmly believe that the moment it is known that the United States
have entirely abandoned the project of accepting as a part of its
territory the island of San Domingo a free port will be negotiated for
by European nations in the Bay of Samana. A large commercial city will
spring up, to which we will be tributary without receiving corresponding
benefits, and then will be seen the folly of our rejecting so great
a prize. 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?
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 upon 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
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 west to east by 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.
In view of the importance of this question, I earnestly urge upon
Congress early action expressive of its views as to the best means of
acquiring San Domingo. My suggestion is that by joint resolution of
the two Houses of Congress the Executive be authorized to appoint a
commission to negotiate a treaty with the authorities of San Domingo
for the acquisition of that island, and that an appropriation be made
to defray the expenses of such a commission. The question may then
be determined, either by the action of the Senate upon the treaty or
the joint action of the two Houses of Congress upon a resolution of
annexation, as in the case of the acquisition of Texas. So convinced am
I of the advantages to flow from the acquisition of San Domingo, and of
the great disadvantages--I might almost say calamities--to flow from
nonacquisition, that I believe the subject has only to be investigated
to be approved.
It is to be regretted that our representations in regard to the
injurious effects, especially upon the revenue of the United States,
of the policy of the Mexican Government in exempting from impost
duties a large tract of its territory on our borders have not only been
fruitless, but that it is even proposed in that country to extend the
limits within which the privilege adverted to has hitherto been enjoyed.
The expediency of taking into your serious consideration proper measures
for countervailing the policy referred to will, it is presumed, engage
your earnest attention.
It is the obvious interest, especially of neighboring nations, to
provide against impunity to those who may have committed high crimes
within their borders and who may have sought refuge abroad. For this
purpose extradition treaties have been concluded with several of the
Central American Republics, and others are in progress.
The sense of Congress is desired, as early as may be convenient, upon
the proceedings of the commission on claims against Venezuela, as
communicated in my messages of March 16, 1869, March 1, 1870, and March
31, 1870. It has not been deemed advisable to distribute any of the
money which has been received from that Government until Congress shall
have acted on the subject.
Back to Full Books
|