with the Governments of Austria-Hungary, Russia, Portugal, Sweden and
Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, and Greece.
During the last summer several vessels belonging to the merchant marine of
this country, sailing in neutral waters of the West Indies, were fired at,
boarded, and searched by an armed cruiser of the Spanish Government. The
circumstances as reported involve not only a private injury to the persons
concerned, but also seemed too little observant of the friendly relations
existing for a century between this country and Spain. The wrong was
brought to the attention of the Spanish Government in a serious protest and
remonstrance, and the matter is undergoing investigation by the royal
authorities with a view to such explanation or reparation as may be called
for by the facts.
The commission sitting in this city for the adjudication of claims of our
citizens against the Government of Spain is, I hope, approaching the
termination of its labors.
The claims against the United States under the Florida treaty with Spain
were submitted to Congress for its action at the late session, and I again
invite your attention to this long-standing question, with a view to a
final disposition of the matter.
At the invitation of the Spanish Government, a conference has recently been
held at the city of Madrid to consider the subject of protection by foreign
powers of native Moors in the Empire of Morocco. The minister of the United
States in Spain was directed to take part in the deliberations of this
conference, the result of which is a convention signed on behalf of all the
powers represented. The instrument will be laid before the Senate for its
consideration. The Government of the United States has also lost no
opportunity to urge upon that of the Emperor of Morocco the necessity, in
accordance with the humane and enlightened spirit of the age, of putting an
end to the persecutions, which have been so prevalent in that country, of
persons of a faith other than the Moslem, and especially of the Hebrew
residents of Morocco.
The consular treaty concluded with Belgium has not yet been officially
promulgated, owing to the alteration of a word in the text by the Senate of
the United States, which occasioned a delay, during which the time allowed
for ratification expired. The Senate will be asked to extend the period for
ratification.
The attempt to negotiate a treaty of extradition with Denmark failed on
account of the objection of the Danish Government to the usual clause
providing that each nation should pay the expense of the arrest of the
persons whose extradition it asks.
The provision made by Congress at its last session for the expense of the
commission which had been appointed to enter upon negotiations with the
Imperial Government of China on subjects of great interest to the relations
of the two countries enabled the commissioners to proceed at once upon
their mission. The Imperial Government was prepared to give prompt and
respectful attention to the matters brought under negotiation, and the
conferences proceeded with such rapidity and success that on the 17th of
November last two treaties were signed at Peking, one relating to the
introduction of Chinese into this country and one relating to commerce. Mr.
Trescot, one of the commissioners, is now on his way home bringing the
treaties, and it is expected that they will be received in season to be
laid before the Senate early in January.
Our minister in Japan has negotiated a convention for the reciprocal relief
of shipwrecked seamen. I take occasion to urge once more upon Congress the
propriety of making provision for the erection of suitable fireproof
buildings at the Japanese capital for the use of the American legation and
the court-house and jail connected with it. The Japanese Government, with
great generosity and courtesy, has offered for this purpose an eligible
piece of land.
In my last annual message I invited the attention of Congress to the
subject of the indemnity funds received some years ago from China and
Japan. I renew the recommendation then made that whatever portions of these
funds are due to American citizens should be promptly paid and the residue
returned to the nations, respectively, to which they justly and equitably
belong.
The extradition treaty with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Which has been
for some time in course of negotiation, has during the past year been
concluded and duly ratified.
Relations of friendship and amity have been established between the
Government of the United States and that of Roumania. We have sent a
diplomatic representative to Bucharest, and have received at this capital
the special envoy who has been charged by His Royal Highness Prince Charles
to announce the independent sovereignty of Roumania. We hope for a speedy
development of commercial relations between the two countries.
In my last annual message I expressed the hope that the prevalence of quiet
on the border between this country and Mexico would soon become so assured
as to justify the modification of the orders then in force to our military
commanders in regard to crossing the frontier, without encouraging such
disturbances as would endanger the peace of the two countries. Events moved
in accordance with these expectations, and the orders were accordingly
withdrawn, to the entire satisfaction of our own citizens and the Mexican
Government. Subsequently the peace of the border was again disturbed by a
savage foray under the command of the Chief Victoria, but by the combined
and harmonious action of the military forces of both countries his band has
been broken up and substantially destroyed.
There is reason to believe that the obstacles which have so long prevented
rapid and convenient communication between the United States and Mexico by
railways are on the point of disappearing, and that several important
enterprises of this character will soon be set on foot, which can not fail
to contribute largely to the prosperity of both countries.
New envoys from Guatemala, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Nicaragua have
recently arrived at this capital, whose distinction and enlightenment
afford the best guaranty of the continuance of friendly relations between
ourselves and these sister Republics.
The relations between this Government and that of the United States of
Colombia have engaged public attention during the past year, mainly by
reason of the project of an interoceanic canal across the Isthmus of
Panama, to be built by private capital under a concession from the
Colombian Government for that purpose. The treaty obligations subsisting
between the United States and Colombia, by which we guarantee the
neutrality of the transit and the sovereignty and property of Colombia in
the Isthmus, make it necessary that the conditions under which so
stupendous a change in the region embraced in this guaranty should be
effected--transforming, as it would, this Isthmus from a barrier between
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans into a gateway and thoroughfare between
them for the navies and the merchant ships of the world--should receive the
approval of this Government, as being compatible with the discharge of
these obligations on our part and consistent with our interests as the
principal commercial power of the Western Hemisphere. The views which I
expressed in a special message to Congress in March last in relation to
this project I deem it my duty again to press upon your attention.
Subsequent consideration has but confirmed the opinion "that it is the
right and duty of the United States to assert and maintain such supervision
and authority over any interoceanic canal across the isthmus that connects
North and South America as will protect our national interest."
The war between the Republic of Chile on the one hand and the allied
Republics of Peru and Bolivia on the other still continues. This Government
has not felt called upon to interfere in a contest that is within the
belligerent rights of the parties as independent states. We have, however,
always held ourselves in readiness to aid in accommodating their
difference, and have at different times reminded both belligerents of our
willingness to render such service.
Our good offices in this direction were recently accepted by all the
belligerents, and it was hoped they would prove efficacious; but I regret
to announce that the measures which the ministers of the United States at
Santiago and Lima were authorized to take with the view to bring about a
peace were not successful. In the course of the war some questions have
arisen affecting neutral rights. In all of these the ministers of the
United States have, under their instructions, acted with promptness and
energy in protection of American interests.
The relations of the United States with the Empire of Brazil continue to be
most cordial, and their commercial intercourse steadily increases, to their
mutual advantage.
The internal disorders with which the Argentine Republic has for some time
past been afflicted, and which have more or less influenced its external
trade, are understood to have been brought to a close. This happy result
may be expected to redound to the benefit of the foreign commerce of that
Republic, as well as to the development of its vast interior resources.
In Samoa the Government of King Malietoa, under the support and recognition
of the consular representatives of the United States, Great Britain, and
Germany, seems to have given peace and tranquillity to the islands. While
it does not appear desirable to adopt as a whole the scheme of tripartite
local government which has been proposed, the common interests of the three
great treaty powers require harmony in their relations to the native frame
of government, and this may be best secured by a simple diplomatic
agreement between them. It would be well if the consular jurisdiction of
our representative at Apia were increased in extent and importance so as to
guard American interests in the surrounding and outlying islands of
Oceanica.
The obelisk generously presented by the Khedive of Egypt to the city of New
York has safely arrived in this country, and will soon be erected in that
metropolis. A commission for the liquidation of the Egyptian debt has
lately concluded its work, and this Government, at the earnest solicitation
of the Khedive, has acceded to the provisions adopted by it, which will be
laid before Congress for its information. A commission for the revision of
the judicial code of the reform tribunal of Egypt is now in session in
Cairo. Mr. Farman, consul-general, and J. M. Batchelder, esq., have been
appointed as commissioners to participate in this work. The organization of
the reform tribunals will probably be continued for another period of five
years.
In pursuance of the act passed at the last session of Congress, invitations
have been extended to foreign maritime states to join in a sanitary
conference in Washington, beginning the 1st of January. The acceptance of
this invitation by many prominent powers gives promise of success in this
important measure, designed to establish a system of international
notification by which the spread of infectious or epidemic diseases may be
more effectively checked or prevented. The attention of Congress is invited
to the necessary appropriations for carrying into effect the provisions of
the act referred to.
The efforts of the Department of State to enlarge the trade and commerce of
the United States, through the active agency of consular officers and
through the dissemination of information obtained from them, have been
unrelaxed. The interest in these efforts, as developed in our commercial
communities, and the value of the information secured by this means to the
trade and manufactures of the country were recognized by Congress at its
last session, and provision was made for the more frequent publication of
consular and other reports by the Department of State. The first issue of
this publication has now been prepared, and subsequent issues may regularly
be expected. The importance and interest attached to the reports of
consular officers are witnessed by the general demand for them by all
classes of merchants and manufacturers engaged in our foreign trade. It is
believed that the system of such publications is deserving of the approval
of Congress, and that the necessary appropriations for its continuance and
enlargement will commend itself to your consideration.
The prosperous energies of our domestic industries and their immense
production of the subjects of foreign commerce invite, and even require, an
active development of the wishes and interests of our people in that
direction. Especially important is it that our commercial relations with
the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America, with the West Indies and
the Gulf of Mexico, should be direct, and not through the circuit of
European systems, and should be carried on in our own bottoms. The full
appreciation of the opportunities which our front on the Pacific Ocean
gives to commerce with Japan, China, and the East Indies, with Australia
and the island groups which lie along these routes of navigation, should
inspire equal efforts to appropriate to our own shipping and to administer
by our own capital a due proportion of this trade. Whatever modifications
of our regulations of trade and navigation may be necessary or useful to
meet and direct these impulses to the enlargement of our exchanges and of
our carrying trade I am sure the wisdom of Congress will be ready to
supply. One initial measure, however, seems to me so dearly useful and
efficient that I venture to press it upon your earnest attention. It seems
to be very evident that the provision of regular steam postal communication
by aid from government has been the forerunner of the commercial
predominance of Great Britain on all these coasts and seas, a greater share
in whose trade is now the desire and the intent of our people. It is also
manifest that the efforts of other European nations to contend with Great
Britain for a share of this commerce have been successful in proportion
with their adoption of regular steam postal communication with the markets
whose trade they sought. Mexico and the States of South America are anxious
to receive such postal communication with this country and to aid in their
development. Similar cooperation may be looked for in due time from the
Eastern nations and from Australia. It is difficult to see how the lead in
this movement can be expected from private interests. In respect of foreign
commerce quite as much as in internal trade postal communication seems
necessarily a matter of common and public administration, and thus
pertaining to Government. I respectfully recommend to your prompt attention
such just and efficient measures as may conduce to the development of our
foreign commercial exchanges and the building up of our carrying trade.
In this connection I desire also to suggest the very great service which
might be expected in enlarging and facilitating our commerce on the Pacific
Ocean were a transmarine cable laid from San Francisco to the Sandwich
Islands, and thence to Japan at the north and Australia at the south. The
great influence of such means of communication on these routes of
navigation in developing and securing the due share of our Pacific Coast in
the commerce of the world needs no illustration or enforcement. It may be
that such an enterprise, useful, and in the end profitable, as it would
prove to private investment, may need to be accelerated by prudent
legislation by Congress in its aid, and I submit the matter to your careful
consideration.
An additional and not unimportant, although secondary, reason for fostering
and enlarging the Navy may be found in the unquestionable service to the
expansion of our commerce which would be rendered by the frequent
circulation of naval ships in the seas and ports of all quarters of the
globe. Ships of the proper construction and equipment to be of the greatest
efficiency in case of maritime war might be made constant and active agents
in time of peace in the advancement and protection of our foreign trade and
in the nurture and discipline of young seamen, who would naturally in some
numbers mix with and improve the crews of our merchant ships. Our merchants
at home and abroad recognize the value to foreign commerce of an active
movement of our naval vessels, and the intelligence and patriotic zeal of
our naval officers in promoting every interest of their countrymen is a
just subject of national pride.
The condition of the financial affairs of the Government, as shown by the
report of the Secretary of the Treasury, is very satisfactory. It is
believed that the present financial situation of the United States, whether
considered with respect to trade, currency, credit, growing wealth, or the
extent and variety of our resources, is more favorable than that of any
other country of our time, and has never been surpassed by that of any
country at any period of its history. All our industries are thriving; the
rate of interest is low; new railroads are being constructed; a vast
immigration is increasing our population, capital, and labor; new
enterprises in great number are in progress, and our commercial relations
with other countries are improving.
The ordinary revenues from all sources for the fiscal year ended June 30,
1880, were--
From customs - $186,522,064.60
From internal revenue - 124,009,373.92
From sales of public lands - 1,016,506.60
From tax on circulation and deposits of national banks - 7,014,971.44
From repayment of interest by Pacific Railway companies - 1,707,367.18
From sinking fund for Pacific Railway companies - 786,621.22
From customs fees, fines, penalties, etc - 1,148,800.16
From fees-consular, letters patent, and lands - 2,337,029.00
From proceeds of sales of Government property - 282,616.50
From profits on coinage, etc - 2,792,186.78
From revenues of the District of Columbia - 1,809,469.70
From miscellaneous sources - 4,099,603.88