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State of the Union Address
Ulysses S. Grant
December 7, 1875
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
In submitting my seventh annual message to Congress, in this centennial
year of our national existence as a free and independent people, it affords
me great pleasure to recur to the advancement that has been made from the
time of the colonies, one hundred years ago. We were then a people
numbering only 3,000,000. Now we number more than 40,000,000. Then
industries were confined almost exclusively to the tillage of the soil. Now
manufactories absorb much of the labor of the country.
Our liberties remain unimpaired; the bondmen have been freed from slavery;
we have become possessed of the respect, if not the friendship, of all
civilized nations. Our progress has been great in all the arts--in science,
agriculture, commerce, navigation, mining, mechanics, law, medicine, etc.;
and in general education the progress is likewise encouraging. Our thirteen
States have become thirty-eight, including Colorado (which has taken the
initiatory steps to become a State), and eight Territories, including the
Indian Territory and Alaska, and excluding Colorado, making a territory
extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. On the south we have extended
to the Gulf of Mexico, and in the west from the Mississippi to the
Pacific.
One hundred years ago the cotton gin, the steamship, the railroad, the
telegraph, the reaping, sewing, and modern printing machines, and numerous
other inventions of scarcely less value to our business and happiness were
entirely unknown.
In 1776 manufactories scarcely existed even in name in all this vast
territory. In 1870 more than 2,000,000 persons were employed in
manufactories, producing more than $2,100,000,000 of products in amount
annually, nearly equal to our national debt. From nearly the whole of the
population of 1776 being engaged in the one occupation of agriculture, in
1870 so numerous and diversified had become the occupation of our people
that less than 6,000,000 out of more than 40,000,000 were so engaged. The
extraordinary effect produced in our country by a resort to diversified
occupations has built a market for the products of fertile lands distant
from the seaboard and the markets of the world.
The American system of locating various and extensive manufactories next to
the plow and the pasture, and adding connecting railroads and steamboats,
has produced in our distant interior country a result noticeable by the
intelligent portions of all commercial nations. The ingenuity and skill of
American mechanics have been demonstrated at home and abroad in a manner
most flattering to their pride. But for the extraordinary genius and
ability of our mechanics, the achievements of our agriculturists,
manufacturers, and transporters throughout the country would have been
impossible of attainment.
The progress of the miner has also been great. Of coal our production has
small; now many millions of tons are mined annually. So with iron, which
formed scarcely an appreciable part of our products half a century ago, we
now produce more than the world consumed at the beginning of our national
existence. Lead, zinc, and copper, from being articles of import, we may
expect to be large exporters of in the near future. The development of gold
and silver mines in the United States and Territories has not only been
remarkable, but has had a large influence upon the business of all
commercial nations. Our merchants in the last hundred years have had a
success and have established a reputation for enterprise, sagacity,
progress, and integrity unsurpassed by peoples of older nationalities. This
"good name" is not confined to their homes, but goes out upon every sea and
into every port where commerce enters. With equal pride we can point to our
progress in all of the learned professions.
As we are now about to enter upon our second centennial--commenting our
manhood as a nation--it is well to look back upon the past and study what
will be best to preserve and advance our future greatness From the fall of
Adam for his transgression to the present day no nation has ever been free
from threatened danger to its prosperity and happiness. We should look to
the dangers threatening us, and remedy them so far as lies in our power. We
are a republic whereof one man is as good as another before the law. Under
such a form of government it is of the greatest importance that all should
be possessed of education and intelligence enough to cast a vote with a
right understanding of its meaning. A large association of ignorant men can
not for any considerable period oppose a successful resistance to tyranny
and oppression from the educated few, but will inevitably sink into
acquiescence to the will of intelligence, whether directed by the demagogue
or by priestcraft. Hence the education of the masses becomes of the first
necessity for the preservation of our institutions. They are worth
preserving, because they have secured the greatest good to the greatest
proportion of the population of any form of government yet devised. All
other forms of government approach it just in proportion to the general
diffusion of education and independence of thought and action. As the
primary step, therefore, to our advancement in all that has marked our
progress in the past century, I suggest for your earnest consideration, and
most earnestly recommend it, that a constitutional amendment be submitted
to the legislatures of the several States for ratification, making it the
duty of each of the several States to establish and forever maintain free
public schools adequate to the education of all the children in the
rudimentary branches within their respective limits, irrespective of sex,
color, birthplace, or religions; forbidding the teaching in said schools of
religious, atheistic, or pagan tenets; and prohibiting the granting of any
school funds or school taxes, or any part thereof, either by legislative,
municipal, or other authority, for the benefit or in aid, directly or
indirectly, of any religious sect or denomination, or in aid or for the
benefit of any other object of any nature or kind whatever.
In connection with this important question I would also call your attention
to the importance of correcting an evil that, if permitted to continue,
will probably lead to great trouble in our land before the close of the
nineteenth century. It is the accumulation of vast amounts of untaxed
church property.
In 1850, I believe, the church property of the United States which paid no
tax, municipal or State, amounted to about $83,000,000. In 1860 the amount
had doubled; in 1875 it is about $1,000,000,000. By 1900, without check, it
is safe to say this property will reach a sum exceeding $3,000,000,000. So
vast a sum, receiving all the protection and benefits of Government without
bearing its proportion of the burdens and expenses of the same, will not be
looked upon acquiescently by those who have to pay the taxes. In a growing
country, where real estate enhances so rapidly with time as in the United
States, there is scarcely a limit to the wealth that may be acquired by
corporations, religious or otherwise, if allowed to retain real estate
without taxation. The contemplation of so vast a property as here alluded
to, without taxation, may lead to sequestration without constitutional
authority and through blood.
I would suggest the taxation of all property equally, whether church or
corporation, exempting only the last resting place of the dead and
possibly, with proper restrictions, church edifices.
Our relations with most of the foreign powers continue on a satisfactory
and friendly footing.
Increased intercourse, the extension of commerce, and the cultivation of
mutual interests have steadily improved our relations with the large
majority of the powers of the world, rendering practicable the peaceful
solution of questions which from time to time necessarily arise, leaving
few which demand extended or particular notice.
The correspondence of the Department of State with our diplomatic
representatives abroad is transmitted herewith.
I am happy to announce the passage of an act by the General Cortes of
Portugal, proclaimed since the adjournment of Congress, for the abolition
of servitude in the Portuguese colonies. It is to be hoped that such
legislation may be another step toward the great consummation to be
reached, when no man shall be permitted, directly or indirectly, under any
guise, excuse, or form of law, to hold his fellow-man in bondage. I am of
opinion also that it is the duty of the United States, as contributing
toward that end, and required by the spirit of the age in which we live, to
provide by suitable legislation that no citizen of the United States shall
hold slaves as property in any other country or be interested therein.
Chile has made reparation in the case of the whale ship Good Return, seized
without sufficient cause upward of forty years ago. Though she had hitherto
denied her accountability, the denial was never acquiesced in by this
Government, and the justice of the claim has been so earnestly contended
for that it has been gratifying that she should have at last acknowledged
it.
The arbitrator in the case of the United States steamer Montijo, for the
seizure and detention of which the Government of the United States of
Colombia was held accountable, has decided in favor of the claim. This
decision has settled a question which had been pending for several years,
and which, while it continued open, might more or less disturb the good
understanding which it is desirable should be maintained between the two
Republics.
A reciprocity treaty with the King of the Hawaiian Islands was concluded
some months since. As it contains a stipulation that it shall not take
effect until Congress shall enact the proper legislation for that purpose,
copies of the instrument are herewith submitted, in order that, if such
should be the pleasure of Congress, the necessary legislation upon the
subject may be adopted.
In March last an arrangement was made, through Mr. Cushing, our minister in
Madrid, with the Spanish Government for the payment by the latter to the
United States of the sum of $80,000 in coin, for the purpose of the relief
of the families or persons of the ship's company and certain passengers of
the Virginius. This sum was to have been paid in three installments at two
months each. It is due to the Spanish Government that I should state that
the payments were fully and spontaneously anticipated by that Government,
and that the whole amount was paid within but a few days more than two
months from the date of the agreement, a copy of which is herewith
transmitted. In pursuance of the terms of the adjustment, I have directed
the distribution of the amount among the parties entitled thereto,
including the ship's company and such of the passengers as were American
citizens. Payments are made accordingly, on the application by the parties
entitled thereto.
The past year has furnished no evidence of an approaching termination of
the ruinous conflict which has been raging for seven years in the
neighboring island of Cuba. The same disregard of the laws of civilized
warfare and of the just demands of humanity which has heretofore called
forth expressions of condemnation from the nations of Christendom has
continued to blacken the sad scene. Desolation, ruin, and pillage are
pervading the rich fields of one of the most fertile and productive regions
of the earth, and the incendiary's torch, firing plantations and valuable
factories and buildings, is the agent marking the alternate advance or
retreat of contending parties.
The protracted continuance of this strife seriously affects the interests
of all commercial nations, but those of the United States more than others,
by reason of close proximity, its larger trade and intercourse with Cuba,
and the frequent and intimate personal and social relations which have
grown up between its citizens and those of the island. Moreover, the
property of our citizens in Cuba is large, and is rendered insecure and
depreciated in value and in capacity of production by the continuance of
the strife and the unnatural mode of its conduct. The same is true,
differing only in degree, with respect to the interests and people of other
nations; and the absence of any reasonable assurance of a near termination
of the conflict must of necessity soon compel the States thus suffering to
consider what the interests of their own people and their duty toward
themselves may demand.
I have hoped that Spain would be enabled to establish peace in her colony,
to afford security to the property and the interests of our citizens, and
allow legitimate scope to trade and commerce and the natural productions of
the island. Because of this hope, and from an extreme reluctance to
interfere in the most remote manner in the affairs of another and a
friendly nation, especially of one whose sympathy and friendship in the
struggling infancy of our own existence must ever be remembered with
gratitude, I have patiently and anxiously waited the progress of events.
Our own civil conflict is too recent for us not to consider the
difficulties which surround a government distracted by a dynastic rebellion
at home at the same time that it has to cope with a separate insurrection
in a distant colony. But whatever causes may have produced the situation
which so grievously affects our interests, it exists, with all its
attendant evils operating directly upon this country and its people. Thus
far all the efforts of Spain have proved abortive, and time has marked no
improvement in the situation. The armed bands of either side now occupy
nearly the same ground as in the past, with the difference, from time to
time, of more lives sacrificed, more property destroyed, and wider extents
of fertile and productive fields and more and more of valuable property
constantly wantonly sacrificed to the incendiary's torch.
In contests of this nature, where a considerable body of people who have
attempted to free themselves of the control of the superior government have
reached such point in occupation of territory, in power, and in general
organization as to constitute in fact a body politic; having a government
in substance as well as in name; possessed of the elements of stability and
equipped with the machinery for the administration of internal policy and
the execution of its laws; prepared and able to administer justice at home,
as well as in its dealings with other powers, it is within the province of
those other powers to recognize its existence as a new and independent
nation. In such cases other nations simply deal with an actually existing
condition of things, and recognize as one of the powers of the earth that
body politic which, possessing the necessary elements, has in fact become a
new power. In a word, the creation of a new state is a fact.
To establish the condition of things essential to the recognition of this
fact there must be a people occupying a known territory, united under some
known and defined form of government, acknowledged by those subject
thereto, in which the functions of government are administered by usual
methods, competent to mete out justice to citizens and strangers, to afford
remedies for public and for private wrongs, and able to assume the
correlative international obligations and capable of performing the
corresponding international duties resulting from its acquisition of the
rights of sovereignty. A power should exist complete in its organization,
ready to take and able to maintain its place among the nations of the
earth.
While conscious that the insurrection in Cuba has shown a strength and
endurance which make it at least doubtful whether it be in the power of
Spain to subdue it, it seems unquestionable that no such civil organization
exists which may be recognized as an independent government capable of
performing its international obligations and entitled to be treated as one
of the powers of the earth. A recognition under such circumstances would be
inconsistent with the facts, and would compel the power granting it soon to
support by force the government to which it had really given its only claim
of existence. In my judgment the United States should adhere to the policy
and the principles which have heretofore been its sure and safe guides in
like contests between revolted colonies and their mother country, and,
acting only upon the clearest evidence, should avoid any possibility of
suspicion or of imputation.
A recognition of the independence of Cuba being, in my opinion,
impracticable and indefensible, the question which next presents itself is
that of the recognition of belligerent rights in the parties to the
contest.
In a former message to Congress I had occasion to consider this question,
and reached the conclusion that the conflict in Cuba, dreadful and
devastating as were its incidents, did not rise to the fearful dignity of
war. Regarding it now, after this lapse of time, I am unable to see that
any notable success or any marked or real advance on the part of the
insurgents has essentially changed the character of the contest. It has
acquired greater age, but not greater or more formidable proportions. It is
possible that the acts of foreign powers, and even acts of Spain herself,
of this very nature, might be pointed to in defense of such recognition.
But now, as in its past history, the United States should carefully avoid
the false lights which might lead it into the mazes of doubtful law and of
questionable propriety, and adhere rigidly and sternly to the rule, which
has been its guide, of doing only that which is right and honest and of
good report. The question of according or of withholding rights of
belligerency must be judged in every case in view of the particular
attending facts. Unless justified by necessity, it is always, and justly,
regarded as an unfriendly act and a gratuitous demonstration of moral
support to the rebellion. It is necessary, and it is required, when the
interests and rights of another government or of its people are so far
affected by a pending civil conflict as to require a definition of its
relations to the parties thereto. But this conflict must be one which will
be recognized in the sense of international law as war. Belligerence, too,
is a fact. The mere existence of contending armed bodies and their
occasional conflicts do not constitute war in the sense referred to.
Applying to the existing condition of affairs in Cuba the tests recognized
by publicists and writers on international law, and which have been
observed by nations of dignity, honesty, and power when free from sensitive
or selfish and unworthy motives, I fail to find in the insurrection the
existence of such a substantial political organization, real, palpable, and
manifest to the world, having the forms and capable of the ordinary
functions of government toward its own people and to other states, with
courts for the administration of justice, with a local habitation,
possessing such organization of force, such material, such occupation of
territory, as to take the contest out of the category of a mere rebellious
insurrection or occasional skirmishes and place it on the terrible footing
of war, to which a recognition of belligerency would aim to elevate it. The
contest, moreover, is solely on land; the insurrection has not possessed
itself of a single seaport whence it may send forth its flag, nor has it
any means of communication with foreign powers except through the military
lines of its adversaries. No apprehension of any of those sudden and
difficult complications which a war upon the ocean is apt to precipitate
upon the vessels, both commercial and national, and upon the consular
officers of other powers calls for the definition of their relations to the
parties to the contest. Considered as a question of expediency, I regard
the accordance of belligerent rights still to be as unwise and premature as
I regard it to be, at present, indefensible as a measure of right. Such
recognition entails upon the country according the rights which flow from
it difficult and complicated duties, and requires the exaction from the
contending parties of the strict observance of their rights and
obligations; it confers the right of search upon the high seas by vessels
of both parties; it would subject the carrying of arms and munitions of
war, which now may be transported freely and without interruption in the
vessels of the United States, to detention and to possible seizure; it
would give rise to countless vexatious questions, would release the parent
Government from responsibility for acts done by the insurgents, and would
invest Spain with the right to exercise the supervision recognized by our
treaty of 1795 over our commerce on the high seas, a very large part of
which, in its traffic between the Atlantic and the Gulf States and between
all of them and the States on the Pacific, passes through the waters which
wash the shores of Cuba. The exercise of this supervision could scarce fail
to lead, if not to abuses, certainly to collisions perilous to the peaceful
relations of the two States. There can be little doubt to what result such
supervision would before long draw this nation. It would be unworthy of the
United States to inaugurate the possibilities of such result by measures of
questionable right or expediency or by any indirection. Apart from any
question of theoretical right, I am satisfied that while the accordance of
belligerent rights to the insurgents in Cuba might give them a hope and an
inducement to protract the struggle, it would be but a delusive hope, and
would not remove the evils which this Government and its people are
experiencing, but would draw the United States into complications which it
has waited long and already suffered much to avoid. The recognition of
independence or of belligerency being thus, in my judgment, equally
inadmissible, it remains to consider what course shall be adopted should
the conflict not soon be brought to an end by acts of the parties
themselves, and should the evils which result therefrom, affecting all
nations, and particularly the United States, continue. In such event I am
of opinion that other nations will be compelled to assume the
responsibility which devolves upon them, and to seriously consider the only
remaining measures possible--mediation and intervention, Owing, perhaps, to
the large expanse of water separating the island from the peninsula, the
want of harmony and of personal sympathy between the inhabitants of the
colony and those sent thither to rule them, and want of adaptation of the
ancient colonial system of Europe to the present times and to the ideas
which the events of the past century have developed, the contending parties
appear to have within themselves no depository of common confidence to
suggest wisdom when passion and excitement have their sway and to assume
the part of peacemaker. In this view in the earlier days of the contest the
good offices of the United States as a mediator were tendered in good
faith, without any selfish purpose, in the interest of humanity and in
sincere friendship for both parties, but were at the time declined by
Spain, with the declaration, nevertheless, that at a future time they would
be indispensable. No intimation has been received that in the opinion of
Spain that time has been reached. And yet the strife continues, with all
its dread horrors and all its injuries to the interests of the United
States and of other nations. Each party seems quite capable of working
great injury and damage to the other, as well as to all the relations and
interests dependent on the existence of peace in the island; but they seem
incapable of reaching any adjustment, and both have thus far failed of
achieving any success whereby one party shall possess and control the
island to the exclusion of the other. Under these circumstances the agency
of others, either by mediation or by intervention, seems to be the only
alternative which must, sooner or later, be invoked for the termination of
the strife. At the same time, while thus impressed I do not at this time
recommend the adoption of any measure of intervention. I shall be ready at
all times, and as the equal friend of both parties, to respond to a
suggestion that the good offices of the United States will be acceptable to
aid in bringing about a peace honorable to both. It is due to Spain, so far
as this Government is concerned, that the agency of a third power, to which
I have adverted, shall be adopted only as a last expedient. Had it been the
desire of the United States to interfere in the affairs of Cuba, repeated
opportunities for so doing have been presented within the last few years;
but we have remained passive, and have performed our whole duty and all
international obligations to Spain with friendship, fairness, and fidelity,
and with a spirit of patience and forbearance which negatives every
possible suggestion of desire to interfere or to add to the difficulties
with which she has been surrounded.
The Government of Spain has recently submitted to our minister at Madrid
certain proposals which it is hoped may be found to be the basis, if not
the actual submission, of terms to meet the requirements of the particular
griefs of which this Government has felt itself entitled to complain. These
proposals have not yet reached me in their full text. On their arrival they
will be taken into careful examination, and may, I hope, lead to a
satisfactory adjustment of the questions to which they refer and remove the
possibility of future occurrences such as have given rise to our just
complaints.
It is understood also that renewed efforts are being made to introduce
reforms in the internal administration of the island. Persuaded, however,
that a proper regard for the interests of the United States and of its
citizens entitles it to relief from the strain to which it has been
subjected by the difficulties of the questions and the wrongs and losses
which arise from the contest in Cuba, and that the interests of humanity
itself demand the cessation of the strife before the whole island shall be
laid waste and larger sacrifices of life be made, I shall feel it my duty,
should my hopes of a satisfactory adjustment and of the early restoration
of peace and the removal of future causes of complaint be, unhappily,
disappointed, to make a further communication to Congress at some period
not far remote, and during the present session, recommending what may then
seem to me to be necessary.
The free zone, so called, several years since established by the Mexican
Government in certain of the States of that Republic adjacent to our
frontier, remains in full operation. It has always been materially
injurious to honest traffic, for it operates as an incentive to traders in
Mexico to supply without customs charges the wants of inhabitants on this
side of the line, and prevents the same wants from being supplied by
merchants of the United States, thereby to a considerable extent defrauding
our revenue and checking honest commercial enterprise.
Depredations by armed bands from Mexico on the people of Texas near the
frontier continue. Though the main object of these incursions is robbery,
they frequently result in the murder of unarmed and peaceably disposed
persons, and in some instances even the United States post-offices and mail
communications have been attacked. Renewed remonstrances upon this subject
have been addressed to the Mexican Government, but without much apparent
effect. The military force of this Government disposable for service in
that quarter is quite inadequate to effectually guard the line, even at
those points where the incursions are usually made. An experiment of an
armed vessel on the Rio Grande for that purpose is on trial, and it is
hoped that, if not thwarted by the shallowness of the river and other
natural obstacles, it may materially contribute to the protection of the
herdsmen of Texas.
The proceedings of the joint commission under the convention between the
United States and Mexico of the 4th of July, 1868, on the subject of
claims, will soon be brought to a close. The result of those proceedings
will then be communicated to Congress.
I am happy to announce that the Government of Venezuela has, upon further
consideration, practically abandoned its objection to pay to the United
States that share of its revenue which some years since it allotted toward
the extinguishment of the claims of foreigners generally. In thus
reconsidering its determination that Government has shown a just sense of
self-respect which can not fail to reflect credit upon it in the eyes of
all disinterested persons elsewhere. It is to be regretted, however, that
its payments on account of claims of citizens of the United States are
still so meager in amount, and that the stipulations of the treaty in
regard to the sums to be paid and the periods when those payments were to
take place should have been so signally disregarded.
Since my last annual message the exchange has been made of the ratification
of a treaty of commerce and navigation with Belgium, and of conventions
with the Mexican Republic for the further extension of the joint commission
respecting claims; with the Hawaiian Islands for commercial reciprocity,
and with the Ottoman Empire for extradition; all of which have been duly
proclaimed.
The Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims has prosecuted its important
duties very assiduously and very satisfactorily. It convened and was
organized on the 22d day of July, 1874, and by the terms of the act under
which it was created was to exist for one year from that date. The act
provided, however, that should it be found impracticable to complete the
work of the court before the expiration of the year the President might by
proclamation extend the time of its duration to a period not more than six
months beyond the expiration of the one year.
Having received satisfactory evidence that it would be impracticable to
complete the work within the time originally fixed, I issued a proclamation
(a copy of which is presented herewith) extending the time of duration of
the court for a period of six months from and after the 22d day of July
last.
A report made through the clerk of the court (communicated herewith) shows
the condition of the calendar on the 1st of November last and the large
amount of work which has been accomplished. One thousand three hundred and
eighty-two claims have been presented, of which 682 had been disposed of at
the date of the report. I am informed that 170 cases were decided during
the month of November. Arguments are being made and decisions given in the
remaining cases with all the dispatch consistent with the proper
consideration of the questions submitted. Many of these claims are in
behalf of mariners, or depend on the evidence of mariners, whose absence
has delayed the taking or the return of the necessary evidence.
It is represented to me that it will be impracticable for the court to
finally dispose of all the cases before it within the present limit of its
duration. Justice to the parties claimant, who have been at large expense
in preparing their claims and obtaining the evidence in their support,
suggests a short extension, to enable the court to dispose of all of the
claims which have been presented.
I recommend the legislation which may be deemed proper to enable the court
to complete the work before it.
I recommend that some suitable provision be made, by the creation of a
special court or by conferring the necessary jurisdiction upon some
appropriate tribunal, for the consideration and determination of the claims
of aliens against the Government of the United States which have arisen
within some reasonable limitation of time, or which may hereafter arise,
excluding all claims barred by treaty provisions or otherwise. It has been
found impossible to give proper consideration to these claims by the
Executive Departments of the Government. Such a tribunal would afford an
opportunity to aliens other than British subjects to present their claims
on account of acts committed against their persons or property during the
rebellion, as also to those subjects of Great Britain whose claims, having
arisen subsequent to the 9th day of April, 1865, could not be presented to
the late commission organized pursuant to the provisions of the treaty of
Washington.
The electric telegraph has become an essential and indispensable agent in
the transmission of business and social messages. Its operation on land,
and within the limit of particular states, is necessarily under the control
of the jurisdiction within which it operates. The lines on the high seas,
however, are not subject to the particular control of any one government.
In 1869 a concession was granted by the French Government to a company
which proposed to lay a cable from the shores of France to the United
States. At that time there was a telegraphic connection between the United
States and the continent of Europe (through the possessions of Great
Britain at either end of the line), under the control of an association
which had, at large outlay of capital and at great risk, demonstrated the
practicability of maintaining such means of communication. The cost of
correspondence by this agency was great, possibly not too large at the time
for a proper remuneration for so hazardous and so costly an enterprise. It
was, however, a heavy charge upon a means of communication which the
progress in the social and commercial intercourse of the world found to be
a necessity, and the obtaining of this French concession showed that other
capital than that already invested was ready to enter into competition,
with assurance of adequate return for their outlay. Impressed with the
conviction that the interests, not only of the people of the United States,
but of the world at large, demanded, or would demand, the multiplication of
such means of communication between separated continents, I was desirous
that the proposed connection should be made; but certain provisions of this
concession were deemed by me to be objectionable, particularly one which
gave for a long term of years the exclusive right of telegraphic
communication by submarine cable between the shores of France and the
United States. I could not concede that any power should claim the right to
land a cable on the shores of the United States and at the same time deny
to the United States, or to its citizens or grantees, an equal fight to
land a cable on its shores. The right to control the conditions for the
laying of a cable within the jurisdictional waters of the United States, to
connect our shores with those of any foreign state, pertains exclusively to
the Government of the United States, under such limitations and conditions
as Congress may impose. In the absence of legislation by Congress I was
unwilling, on the one hand, to yield to a foreign state the right to say
that its grantees might land on our shores while it denied a similar right
to our people to land on its shores, and, on the other hand, I was
reluctant to deny to the great interests of the world and of civilization
the facilities of such communication as were proposed. I therefore withheld
any resistance to the landing of the cable on condition that the offensive
monopoly feature of the concession be abandoned, and that the right of any
cable which may be established by authority of this Government to land upon
French territory and to connect with French land lines and enjoy all the
necessary facilities or privileges incident to the use thereof upon as
favorable terms as any other company be conceded. As the result thereof the
company in question renounced the exclusive privilege, and the
representative of France was informed that, understanding this
relinquishment to be construed as granting the entire reciprocity and equal
facilities which had been demanded, the opposition to the landing of the
cable was withdrawn. The cable, under this French concession, was landed in
the month of July, 1869, and has been an efficient and valuable agent of
communication between this country and the other continent. It soon passed
under the control, however, of those who had the management of the cable
connecting Great Britain with this continent, and thus whatever benefit to
the public might have ensued from competition between the two lines was
lost, leaving only the greater facilities of an additional line and the
additional security in case of accident to one of them. But these increased
facilities and this additional security, together with the control of the
combined capital of the two companies, gave also greater power to prevent
the future construction of other lines and to limit the control of
telegraphic communication between the two continents to those possessing
the lines already laid. Within a few months past a cable has been laid,
known as the United States Direct Cable Company, connecting the United
States directly with Great Britain. As soon as this cable was reported to
be laid and in working order the rates of the then existing consolidated
companies were greatly reduced. Soon, however, a break was announced in
this new cable, and immediately the rates of the other line, which had been
reduced, were again raised. This cable being now repaired, the rates appear
not to be reduced by either line from those formerly charged by the
consolidated companies.
There is reason to believe that large amounts of capital, both at home and
abroad, are ready to seek profitable investment in the advancement of this
useful and most civilizing means of intercourse and correspondence. They
await, however, the assurance of the means and conditions on which they may
safely be made tributary to the general good.
As these cable telegraph lines connect separate states, there are questions
as to their organization and control which probably can be best, if not
solely, settled by conventions between the respective states. In the
absence, however, of international conventions on the subject, municipal
legislation may secure many points which appear to me important, if not
indispensable for the protection of the public against the extortions which
may result from a monopoly of the right of operating cable telegrams or
from a combination between several lines:
I. No line should be allowed to land on the shores of the United States
under the concession from another power which does not admit the right of
any other line or lines, formed in the United States, to land and freely
connect with and operate through its land lines.
II. No line should be allowed to land on the shores of the United States
which is not, by treaty stipulation with the government from whose shores
it proceeds, or by prohibition in its charter, or otherwise to the
satisfaction of this Government, prohibited from consolidating or
amalgamating with any other cable telegraph line, or combining therewith
for the purpose of regulating and maintaining the cost of telegraphing.
III. All lines should be bound to give precedence in the transmission of
the official messages of the governments of the two countries between which
it may be laid.
IV. A power should be reserved to the two governments, either conjointly or
to each, as regards the messages dispatched from its shores, to fix a limit
to the charges to be demanded for the transmission of messages.