WASHINGTON, _February 10, 1848_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 1st instant, requesting
to be informed whether "any taxes, duties, or imposts" have been "laid
and collected upon goods and merchandise belonging to citizens of the
United States exported by such citizens from the United States to
Mexico, and, if so, what is the rate of such duties, and what amount has
been collected, and also by what authority of law the same have been
laid and collected," I refer the Senate to my annual message of the 7th
of December last, in which I informed Congress that orders had been
given to our military and naval commanders in Mexico to adopt the
policy, as far as practicable, of levying military contributions upon
the enemy for the support of our Army.
As one of the modes adopted for levying such contributions, it was
stated in that message that--
On the 31st of March last I caused an order to be issued to our military
and naval commanders to levy and collect a military contribution upon
all vessels and merchandise which might enter any of the ports of Mexico
in our military occupation, and to apply such contributions toward
defraying the expenses of the war. By virtue of the right of conquest
and the laws of war, the conqueror, consulting his own safety or
convenience, may either exclude foreign commerce altogether from all
such ports or permit it upon such terms and conditions as he may
prescribe. Before the principal ports of Mexico were blockaded by our
Navy the revenue derived from import duties under the laws of Mexico was
paid into the Mexican treasury. After these ports had fallen into our
military possession the blockade was raised and commerce with them
permitted upon prescribed terms and conditions. They were opened to the
trade of all nations upon the payment of duties more moderate in their
amount than those which had been previously levied by Mexico, and the
revenue, which was formerly paid into the Mexican treasury, was directed
to be collected by our military and naval officers and applied to the
use of our Army and Navy. Care was taken that the officers, soldiers,
and sailors of our Army and Navy should be exempted from the operations
of the order, and, as the merchandise imported upon which the order
operated must be consumed by Mexican citizens, the contributions exacted
were in effect the seizure of the public revenues of Mexico and the
application of them to our own use. In directing this measure the object
was to compel the enemy to contribute as far as practicable toward the
expenses of the war.
A copy of the order referred to, with the documents accompanying it, has
been communicated to Congress.
The order operated upon the vessels and merchandise of all nations,
whether belonging to citizens of the United States or to foreigners,
arriving in any of the ports in Mexico in our military occupation. The
contributions levied were a tax upon Mexican citizens, who were the
consumers of the merchandise imported. But for the permit or license
granted by the order all vessels and merchandise belonging to citizens
of the United States were necessarily excluded from all commerce with
Mexico from the commencement of the war. The coasts and ports of Mexico
were ordered to be placed under blockade on the day Congress declared
the war to exist, and by the laws of nations the blockade applied to the
vessels of the United States as well as to the vessels of all other
nations. Had no blockade been declared, or had any of our merchant
vessels entered any of the ports of Mexico not blockaded, they would
have been liable to be seized and condemned as lawful prize by the
Mexican authorities. When the order was issued, it operated as a
privilege to the vessels of the United States as well as to those of
foreign countries to enter the ports held by our arms upon prescribed
terms and conditions. It was altogether optional with citizens of the
United States and foreigners to avail themselves of the privileges
granted upon the terms prescribed.
Citizens of the United States and foreigners have availed themselves of
these privileges.
No principle is better established than that a nation at war has the
right of shifting the burden off itself and imposing it on the enemy by
exacting military contributions. The mode of making such exactions must
be left to the discretion of the conqueror, but it should be exercised
in a manner conformable to the rules of civilized warfare.
The right to levy these contributions is essential to the successful
prosecution of war in an enemy's country, and the practice of nations
has been in accordance with this principle. It is as clearly necessary
as the right to fight battles, and its exercise is often essential to
the subsistence of the army.
Entertaining no doubt that the military right to exclude commerce
altogether from the ports of the enemy in our military occupation
included the minor right of admitting it under prescribed conditions,
it became an important question at the date of the order whether there
should be a discrimination between vessels and cargoes belonging to
citizens of the United States and vessels and cargoes belonging to
neutral nations.
Had the vessels and cargoes belonging to citizens of the United States
been admitted without the payment of any duty, while a duty was levied
on foreign vessels and cargoes, the object of the order would have been
defeated. The whole commerce would have been conducted in American
vessels, no contributions could have been collected, and the enemy would
have been furnished with goods without the exaction from him of any
contribution whatever, and would have been thus benefited by our
military occupation, instead of being made to feel the evils of the war.
In order to levy these contributions and to make them available for the
support of the Army, it became, therefore, absolutely necessary that
they should be collected upon imports into Mexican ports, whether in
vessels belonging to citizens of the United States or to foreigners.
It was deemed proper to extend the privilege to vessels and their
cargoes belonging to neutral nations. It has been my policy since the
commencement of the war with Mexico to act justly and liberally toward
all neutral nations, and to afford to them no just cause of complaint;
and we have seen the good consequences of this policy by the general
satisfaction which it has given.
In answer to the inquiry contained in the resolution as to the rates of
duties imposed, I refer you to the documents which accompanied my annual
message of the 7th of December last, which contain the information.
From the accompanying reports of the Secretary of War and the Secretary
of the Navy it will be seen that the contributions have been collected
on all vessels and cargoes, whether American or foreign; but the returns
to the Departments do not show with exactness the amounts collected on
American as distinguishable from foreign vessels and merchandise.