relieving the diplomatic agents of this Government from the delicate
duty they undertook at the request of both countries of rendering such
service to the subjects of either belligerent within the territorial
limits of the other as our neutral position permitted, developed a
domestic condition in the Chinese Empire which has caused much anxiety
and called for prompt and careful attention. Either as a result of a
weak control by the central Government over the provincial
administrations, following a diminution of traditional governmental
authority under the stress of an overwhelming national disaster, or as
a manifestation upon good opportunity of the aversion of the Chinese
population to all foreign ways and undertakings, there have occurred in
widely separated provinces of China serious outbreaks of the old
fanatical spirit against foreigners, which, unchecked by the local
authorities, if not actually connived at by them, have culminated in
mob attacks on foreign missionary stations, causing much destruction of
property and attended with personal injuries as well as loss of life.
Although but one American citizen was reported to have been actually
wounded, and although the destruction of property may have fallen more
heavily upon the missionaries of other nationalities than our own, it
plainly behooved this Government to take the most prompt and decided
action to guard against similar or perhaps more dreadful calamities
befalling the hundreds of American mission stations which have grown up
throughout the interior of China under the temperate rule of
toleration, custom, and imperial edict. The demands of the United
States and other powers for the degradation and punishment of the
responsible officials of the respective cities and provinces who by
neglect or otherwise had permitted uprisings, and for the adoption of
stern measures by the Emperor's Government for the protection of the
life and property of foreigners, were followed by the disgrace and
dismissal of certain provincial officials found derelict in duty and
the punishment by death of a number of those adjudged guilty of actual
participation in the outrages.
This Government also insisted that a special American commission should
visit the province where the first disturbances occurred for the
purpose of investigation. The latter commission, formed after much
opposition, has gone overland from Tientsin, accompanied by a suitable
Chinese escort, and by its demonstration of the readiness and ability
of our Government to protect its citizens will act, it is believed, as
a most influential deterrent of any similar outbreaks.
The energetic steps we have thus taken are all the more likely to
result in future safety to our citizens in China because the Imperial
Government is, I am persuaded, entirely convinced that we desire only
the liberty and protection of our own citizens and redress for any
wrongs they may have suffered, and that we have no ulterior designs or
objects, political or otherwise. China will not forget either our
kindly service to her citizens during her late war nor the further fact
that, while furnishing all the facilities at our command to further the
negotiation of a peace between her and Japan, we sought no advantages
and interposed no counsel.
The Governments of both China and Japan have, in special dispatches
transmitted through their respective diplomatic representatives,
expressed in a most pleasing manner their grateful appreciation of our
assistance to their citizens during the unhappy struggle and of the
value of our aid in paving the way to their resumption of peaceful
relations.
The customary cordial relations between this country and France have
been undisturbed, with the exception that a full explanation of the
treatment of John L. Waller by the expeditionary military authorities
of France still remains to be given. Mr. Waller, formerly United States
consul at Tamatav, remained in Madagascar after his term of office
expired, and was apparently successful in procuring business
concessions from the Hovas of greater or less value. After the
occupation of Tamatav and the declaration of martial law by the French
he was arrested upon various charges, among them that of communicating
military information to the enemies of France, was tried and convicted
by a military tribunal, and sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment.
Following the course justified by abundant precedents, this Government
requested from that of France the record of the proceedings of the
French tribunal which resulted in Mr. Waller's condemnation. This
request has been complied with to the extent of supplying a copy of the
official record, from which appear the constitution and organization of
the court, the charges as formulated, and the general course and result
of the trial, and by which it is shown that the accused was tried in
open court and was defended by counsel; but the evidence adduced in
support of the charges, which was not received by the French minister
for foreign affairs till the first week in October, has thus far been
withheld, the French Government taking the ground that its production
in response to our demand would establish a bad precedent. The efforts
of our ambassador to procure it, however, though impeded by recent
changes in the French ministry, have not been relaxed, and it is
confidently expected that some satisfactory solution of the matter will
shortly be reached. Meanwhile it appears that Mr. Waller's confinement
has every alleviation which the state of his health and all the other
circumstances of the case demand or permit.
In agreeable contrast to the difference above noted respecting a matter
of common concern, where nothing is sought except such a mutually
satisfactory outcome as the true merits of the case require, is the
recent resolution of the French Chambers favoring the conclusion of a
permanent treaty of arbitration between the two countries.
An invitation has been extended by France to the Government and people
of the United States to participate in a great international exposition
at Paris in 1900 as a suitable commemoration of the close of this the
world's marvelous century of progress. I heartily recommend its
acceptance, together with such legislation as will adequately provide
for a due representation of this Government and its people on the
occasion.
Our relations with the States of the German Empire are in some aspects
typical of a condition of things elsewhere found in countries whose
productions and trade are similar to our own. The close rivalries of
competing industries; the influence of the delusive doctrine that the
internal development of a nation is promoted and its wealth increased
by a policy which, in undertaking to reserve its home markets for the
exclusive use of its own producers, necessarily obstructs their sales
in foreign markets and prevents free access to the products of the
world; the desire to retain trade in time-worn ruts, regardless of the
inexorable laws of new needs and changed conditions of demand and
supply, and our own halting tardiness in inviting a freer exchange of
commodities, and by this means imperiling our footing in the external
markets naturally open to us, have created a situation somewhat
injurious to American export interests, not only in Germany, where they
are perhaps most noticeable, but in adjacent countries. The exports
affected are largely American cattle and other food products, the
reason assigned for unfavorable discrimination being that their
consumption is deleterious to the public health. This is all the more
irritating in view of the fact that no European state is as jealous of
the excellence and wholesomeness of its exported food supplies as the
United States, nor so easily able, on account of inherent soundness, to
guarantee those qualities.
Nor are these difficulties confined to our food products designed for
exportation. Our great insurance companies, for example, having built
up a vast business abroad and invested a large share of their gains in
foreign countries in compliance with the local laws and regulations
then existing, now find themselves within a narrowing circle of onerous
and unforeseen conditions, and are confronted by the necessity of
retirement from a field thus made unprofitable, if, indeed, they are
not summarily expelled, as some of them have lately been from Prussia.
It is not to be forgotten that international trade can not be
one-sided. Its currents are alternating, and its movements should be
honestly reciprocal. Without this it almost necessarily degenerates
into a device to gain advantage or a contrivance to secure benefits
with only the semblance of a return. In our dealings with other nations
we ought to be open-handed and scrupulously fair. This should be our
policy as a producing nation, and it plainly becomes us as a people who
love generosity and the moral aspects of national good faith and
reciprocal forbearance.
These considerations should not, however, constrain us to submit to
unfair discrimination nor to silently acquiesce in vexatious hindrances
to the enjoyment of our share of the legitimate advantages of proper
trade relations. If an examination of the situation suggests such
measures on our part as would involve restrictions similar to those
from which we suffer, the way to such a course is easy. It should,
however, by no means be lightly entered upon, since the necessity for
the inauguration of such a policy would be regretted by the best
sentiment of our people and because it naturally and logically might
lead to consequences of the gravest character.
I take pleasure in calling to your attention the encomiums bestowed on
those vessels of our new Navy which took part in the notable ceremony
of the opening of the Kiel Canal. It was fitting that this
extraordinary achievement of the newer German nationality should be
celebrated in the presence of America's exposition of the latest
developments of the world' s naval energy.
Our relations with Great Britain, always intimate and important, have
demanded during the past year even a greater share of consideration
than is usual.
Several vexatious questions were left undetermined by the decision of
the Bering Sea Arbitration Tribunal. The application of the principles
laid down by that august body has not been followed by the results they
were intended to accomplish, either because the principles themselves
lacked in breadth and definiteness or because their execution has been
more or less imperfect. Much correspondence has been exchanged between
the two Governments on the subject of preventing the exterminating
slaughter of seals. The insufficiency of the British patrol of Bering
Sea under the regulations agreed on by the two Governments has been
pointed out, and yet only two British ships have been on police duty
during this season in those waters.
The need of a more effective enforcement of existing regulations as
well as the adoption of such additional regulations as experience has
shown to be absolutely necessary to carry out the intent of the award
have been earnestly urged upon the British Government, but thus far
without effective results. In the meantime the depletion of the seal
herds by means of pelagic hunting has so alarmingly progressed that
unless their slaughter is at once effectively checked their extinction
within a few years seems to be a matter of absolute certainty.
The understanding by which the United States was to pay and Great
Britain to receive a lump sum of $425,000 in full settlement of all
British claims for damages arising from our seizure of British sealing
vessels unauthorized under the award of the Paris Tribunal of
Arbitration was not confirmed by the last Congress, which declined to
make the necessary appropriation. I am still of the opinion that this
arrangement was a judicious and advantageous one for the Government,
and I earnestly recommend that it be again considered and sanctioned.
If, however, this does not meet with the favor of Congress, it
certainly will hardly dissent from the proposition that the Government
is bound by every consideration of honor and good faith to provide for
the speedy adjustment of these claims by arbitration as the only other
alternative. A treaty of arbitration has therefore been agreed upon,
and will be immediately laid before the Senate, so that in one of the
modes suggested a final settlement may be reached.
Notwithstanding that Great Britain originated the proposal to enforce
international rules for the prevention of collisions at sea, based on
the recommendations of the Maritime Conference of Washington, and
concurred in, suggesting March 11, 1895, as the date to be set by
proclamation for carrying these rules into general effect, Her
Majesty's Government, having encountered opposition on the part of
British shipping interests, announced its inability to accept that
date, which was consequently canceled. The entire matter is still in
abeyance, without prospect of a better condition in the near future.
The commissioners appointed to mark the international boundary in
Passamaquoddy Bay according to the description of the treaty of Ghent
have not yet fully agreed.
The completion of the preliminary survey of that Alaskan boundary which
follows the contour of the coast from the southernmost point of Prince
of Wales Island until it strikes the one hundred and forty-first
meridian at or near the summit of Mount St. Elias awaits further
necessary appropriation, which is urgently recommended. This survey was
undertaken under the provisions of the convention entered into by this
country and Great Britain July 22, 1892, and the supplementary
convention of February 3, 1894.
As to the remaining section of the Alaskan boundary, which follows the
one hundred and forty-first meridian northwardly from Mount St. Elias
to the Frozen Ocean, the settlement of which involves the physical
location of the meridian mentioned, no conventional agreement has yet
been made. The ascertainment of a given meridian at a particular point
is a work requiring much time and careful observations and surveys.
Such observations and surveys were undertaken by the United States
Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1890 and 1891, while similar work in the
same quarters, under British auspices, is believed to give nearly
coincident results; but these surveys have been independently
conducted, and no international agreement to mark those or any other
parts of the one hundred and forty-first meridian by permanent
monuments has yet been made. In the meantime the valley of the Yukon is
becoming a highway through the hitherto unexplored wilds of Alaska, and
abundant mineral wealth has been discovered in that region, especially
at or near the junction of the boundary meridian with the Yukon and its
tributaries. In these circumstances it is expedient, and, indeed,
imperative, that the jurisdictional limits of the respective
Governments in this new region be speedily determined. Her Britannic
Majesty's Government has proposed a joint delimitation of the one
hundred and forty-first meridian by an international commission of
experts, which, if Congress will authorize it and make due provision
therefor, can be accomplished with no unreasonable delay. It is
impossible to overlook the vital importance of continuing the work
already entered upon and supplementing it by further effective measures
looking to the exact location of this entire boundary line.
I call attention to the unsatisfactory delimitation of the respective
jurisdictions of the United States and the Dominion of Canada in the
Great Lakes at the approaches to the narrow waters that connect them.
The waters in question are frequented by fishermen of both
nationalities and their nets are there used. Owing to the uncertainty
and ignorance as to the true boundary, vexations disputes and injurious
seizures of boats and nets by Canadian cruisers often occur, while any
positive settlement thereof by an accepted standard is not easily to be
reached. A joint commission to determine the line in those quarters on
a practical basis, by measured courses following range marks on shore,
is a necessity for which immediate provision should be made.
It being apparent that the boundary dispute between Great Britain and
the Republic of Venezuela concerning the limits of British Guiana was
approaching an acute stage, a definite statement of the interest and
policy of the United States as regards the controversy seemed to be
required both on its own account and in view of its relations with the
friendly powers directly concerned. In July last, therefore, a dispatch
was addressed to our ambassador at London for communication to the
British Government in which the attitude of the United States was fully
and distinctly set forth. The general conclusions therein reached and
formulated are in substance that the traditional and established policy
of this Government is firmly opposed to a forcible increase by any
European power of its territorial possessions on this continent; that
this policy is as well rounded in principle as it is strongly supported
by numerous precedents; that as a consequence the United States is
bound to protest against the enlargement of the area of British Guiana
in derogation of the rights and against the will of Venezuela; that
considering the disparity in strength of Great Britain and Venezuela
the territorial dispute between them can be reasonably settled only by
friendly and impartial arbitration, and that the resort to such
arbitration should include the whole controversy, and is not satisfied
if one of the powers concerned is permitted to draw an arbitrary line
through the territory in debate and to declare that it will submit to
arbitration only the portion lying on one side of it. In view of these
conclusions, the dispatch in question called upon the British
Government for a definite answer to the question whether it would or
would not submit the territorial controversy between itself and
Venezuela in its entirety to impartial arbitration. The answer of the
British Government has not yet been received, but is expected shortly,
when further communication on the subject will probably be made to the
Congress.
Early in January last an uprising against the Government of Hawaii was
promptly suppressed. Martial law was forthwith proclaimed and numerous
arrests were made of persons suspected of being in sympathy with the
Royalist party. Among these were several citizens of the United States,
who were either convicted by a military court and sentenced to death,
imprisonment, or fine or were deported without trial. The United
States, while denying protection to such as had taken the Hawaiian oath
of allegiance, insisted that martial law, though altering the forms of
justice, could not supersede justice itself, and demanded stay of
execution until the proceedings had been submitted to this Government
and knowledge obtained therefrom that our citizens had received fair
trial. The death sentences were subsequently commuted or were remitted
on condition of leaving the islands. The cases of certain Americans
arrested and expelled by arbitrary order without formal charge or trial
have had attention, and in some instances have been found to justify
remonstrance and a claim for indemnity, which Hawaii has not thus far
conceded.
Mr. Thurston, the Hawaiian minister, having furnished this Government
abundant reason for asking that he be recalled, that course was
pursued, and his successor has lately been received.
The deplorable lynching of several Italian laborers in Colorado was
naturally followed by international representations, and I am happy to
say that the best efforts of the State in which the outrages occurred
have been put forth to discover and punish the authors of this
atrocious crime. The dependent families of some of the unfortunate
victims invite by their deplorable condition gracious provision for
their needs.
These manifestations against helpless aliens may be traced through
successive stages to the vicious padroni system, which, unchecked by
our immigration and contract-labor statutes, controls these workers
from the moment of landing on our shores and farms them out in distant
and often rude regions, where their cheapening competition in the
fields of bread-winning toil brings them into collision with other
labor interests. While welcoming, as we should, those who seek our
shores to merge themselves in our body politic and win personal
competence by honest effort, we can not regard such assemblages of
distinctively alien laborers, hired out in the mass to the profit of
alien speculators and shipped hither and thither as the prospect of
gain may dictate, as otherwise than repugnant to the spirit of our
civilization, deterrent to individual advancement, and hindrances to
the building up of stable communities resting upon the wholesome
ambitions of the citizen and constituting the prime factor in the
prosperity and progress of our nation. If legislation can reach this
growing evil, it certainly should be attempted.
Japan has furnished abundant evidence of her vast gain in every trait
and characteristic that constitutes a nation's greatness. We have
reason for congratulation in the fact that the Government of the United
States, by the exchange of liberal treaty stipulations with the new
Japan, was the first to recognize her wonderful advance and to extend
to her the consideration and confidence due to her national
enlightenment and progressive character.
The boundary dispute which lately threatened to embroil Guatemala and
Mexico has happily yielded to pacific counsels, and its determination
has, by the joint agreement of the parties, been submitted to the sole
arbitration of the United States minister to Mexico.
The commission appointed under the convention of February 18, 1889, to
set new monuments along the boundary between the United States and
Mexico has completed its task.
As a sequel to the failure of a scheme for the colonization in Mexico
of negroes, mostly immigrants from Alabama under contract, a great
number of these helpless and suffering people, starving and smitten
with contagious disease, made their way or were assisted to the
frontier, where, in wretched plight, they were quarantined by the Texas
authorities. Learning of their destitute condition, I directed rations
to be temporarily furnished them through the War Department. At the
expiration of their quarantine they were conveyed by the railway
companies at comparatively nominal rates to their homes in Alabama,
upon my assurance, in the absence of any fund available for the cost of
their transportation, that I would recommend to Congress an
appropriation for its payment. I now strongly urge upon Congress the
propriety of making such an appropriation. It should be remembered that
the measures taken were dictated not only by sympathy and humanity, but
by a conviction that it was not compatible with the dignity of this
Government that so large a body of our dependent citizens should be
thrown for relief upon the charity of a neighboring state.
In last year's message I narrated at some length the jurisdictional
questions then freshly arisen in the Mosquito Indian Strip of
Nicaragua. Since that time, by the voluntary act of the Mosquito
Nation, the territory reserved to them has been incorporated with
Nicaragua, the Indians formally subjecting themselves to be governed by
the general laws and regulations of the Republic instead of by their
own customs and regulations, and thus availing themselves of a
privilege secured to them by the treaty between Nicaragua and Great
Britain of January 28, 1860.