France, Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Sardinia, and Turkey, assembled at
Paris, took into consideration the subject of maritime rights, and put
forth a declaration containing the two principles which this Government had
submitted nearly two years before to the consideration of maritime powers,
and adding thereto the following propositions: "Privateering is and remains
abolished," and "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 to the declaration thus composed of four points,
two of which had already been proposed by the United States, this
Government has been invited to accede by all the powers represented at
Paris except Great Britain and Turkey. To the last of the two additional
propositions--that in relation to blockades--there can certainly be no
objection. It is merely the definition of what shall constitute the
effectual investment of a blockaded place, a definition for which this
Government has always contended, claiming indemnity for losses where a
practical violation of the rule thus defined has been injurious to our
commerce. As to the remaining article of the declaration of the conference
of Paris, that "privateering is and remains abolished," I certainly can not
ascribe to the powers represented in the conference of Paris any but
liberal and philanthropic views in the attempt to change the unquestionable
rule of maritime law in regard to privateering. Their proposition was
doubtless intended to imply approval of the principle that private property
upon the ocean, although it might belong to the citizens of a belligerent
state, should be exempted from capture; and had that proposition been so
framed as to give full effect to the principle, it would have received my
ready assent on behalf of the United States. But the measure proposed is
inadequate to that purpose. It is true that if adopted private property
upon the ocean would be withdrawn from one mode of plunder, but left
exposed meanwhile to another mode, which could be used with increased
effectiveness. The aggressive capacity of great naval powers would be
thereby augmented, while the defensive ability of others would be reduced.
Though the surrender of the means of prosecuting hostilities by employing
privateers, as proposed by the conference of Paris, is mutual in terms, yet
in practical effect it would be the relinquishment of a right of little
value to one class of states, but of essential importance to another and a
far larger class. It ought not to have been anticipated that a measure so
inadequate to the accomplishment of the proposed object and so unequal in
its operation would receive the assent of all maritime powers. Private
property would be still left to the depredations of the public armed
cruisers.
I have expressed a readiness on the part of this Government to accede to
all the principles contained in the declaration of the conference of Paris
provided that the one relating to the abandonment of privateering can be so
amended as to effect the object for which, as is presumed, it was
intended--the immunity of private property on the ocean from hostile
capture. To effect this object, it is proposed to add to the declaration
that "privateering is and remains abolished" the following amendment:
And that the private property of subjects and citizens of a belligerent on
the high seas shall be exempt from seizure by the public armed vessels of
the other belligerent, except it be contraband.
This amendment has been presented not only to the powers which have asked
our assent to the declaration to abolish privateering, but to all other
maritime states. Thus far it has not been rejected by any, and is favorably
entertained by all which have made any communication in reply.
Several of the governments regarding with favor the proposition of the
United States have delayed definitive action upon it only for the purpose
of consulting with others, parties to the conference of Paris. I have the
satisfaction of stating, however, that the Emperor of Russia has entirely
and explicitly approved of that modification and will cooperate in
endeavoring to obtain the assent of other powers, and that assurances of a
similar purport have been received in relation to the disposition of the
Emperor of the French. The present aspect of this important subject allows
us to cherish the hope that a principle so humane in its character, so just
and equal in its operation, so essential to the prosperity of commercial
nations, and so consonant to the sentiments of this enlightened period of
the world will command the approbation of all maritime powers, and thus be
incorporated into the code of international law.
My views on the subject are more fully set forth in the reply of the
Secretary of State, a copy of which is herewith transmitted, to the
communications on the subject made to this Government, especially to the
communication of France.
The Government of the United States has at all times regarded with friendly
interest the other States of America, formerly, like this country, European
colonies, and now independent members of the great family of nations. But
the unsettled condition of some of them, distracted by frequent
revolutions, and thus incapable of regular and firm internal
administration, has tended to embarrass occasionally our public intercourse
by reason of wrongs which our citizens suffer at their hands, and which
they are slow to redress.
Unfortunately, it is against the Republic of Mexico, with which it is our
special desire to maintain a good understanding, that such complaints are
most numerous; and although earnestly urged upon its attention, they have
not as yet received the consideration which this Government had a right to
expect. While reparation for past injuries has been withheld, others have
been added. The political condition of that country, however, has been such
as to demand forbearance on the part of the United States. I shall continue
my efforts to procure for the wrongs of our citizens that redress which is
indispensable to the continued friendly association of the two Republics.
The peculiar condition of affairs in Nicaragua in the early part of the
present year rendered it important that this Government should have
diplomatic relations with that State. Through its territory had been opened
one of the principal thoroughfares across the isthmus connecting North and
South America, on which a vast amount of property was transported and to
which our citizens resorted in great numbers in passing between the
Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States. The protection of both
required that the existing power in that State should be regarded as a
responsible Government, and its minister was accordingly received. But he
remained here only a short time. Soon thereafter the political affairs of
Nicaragua underwent unfavorable change and became involved in much
uncertainty and confusion. Diplomatic representatives from two contending
parties have been recently sent to this Government, but with the imperfect
information possessed it was not possible to decide which was the
Government de facto, and, awaiting further developments, I have refused to
receive either.
Questions of the most serious nature are pending between the United States
and the Republic of New Granada. The Government of that Republic undertook
a year since to impose tonnage duties on foreign vessels in her ports, but
the purpose was resisted by this Government as being contrary to existing
treaty stipulations with the United States and to rights conferred by
charter upon the Panama Railroad Company, and was accordingly refurbished
at that time, it being admitted that our vessels were entitled to be exempt
from tonnage duty in the free ports of Panama and Aspinwall. But the
purpose has been recently revived on the part of New Granada by the
enactment of a law to subject vessels visiting her ports to the tonnage
duty of 40 cents per ton, and although the law has not been put in force,
yet the right to enforce it is still asserted and may at any time be acted
on by the Government of that Republic.
The Congress of New Granada has also enacted a law during the last year
which levies a tax of more than $3 on every pound of mail matter
transported across the Isthmus. The sum thus required to be paid on the
mails of the United States would be nearly $2,000,000 annually in addition
to the large sum payable by contract to the Panama Railroad Company. If the
only objection to this exaction were the exorbitancy of its amount, it
could not be submitted to by the United States.
The imposition of it, however, would obviously contravene our treaty with
New Granada and infringe the contract of that Republic with the Panama
Railroad Company. The law providing for this tax was by its terms to take
effect on the 1st of September last, but the local authorities on the
Isthmus have been induced to suspend its execution and to await further
instructions on the subject from the Government of the Republic. I am not
yet advised of the determination of that Government. If a measure so
extraordinary in its character and so clearly contrary to treaty
stipulations and the contract rights of the Panama Railroad Company,
composed mostly of American citizens, should be persisted in, it will be
the duty of the United States to resist its execution.
I regret exceedingly that occasion exists to invite your attention to a
subject of still graver import in our relations with the Republic of New
Granada. On the 15th day of April last a riotous assemblage of the
inhabitants of Panama committed a violent and outrageous attack on the
premises of the railroad company and the passengers and other persons in or
near the same, involving the death of several citizens of the United
States, the pillage of many others, and the destruction of a large amount
of property belonging to the railroad company. I caused full investigation
of that event to be made, and the result shows satisfactorily that complete
responsibility for what occurred attaches to the Government of New Granada.
I have therefore demanded of that Government that the perpetrators of the
wrongs in question should be punished; that provision should be made for
the families of citizens of the United States who were killed, with full
indemnity for the property pillaged or destroyed.
The present condition of the Isthmus of Panama, in so far as regards the
security of persons and property passing over it, requires serious
consideration. Recent incidents tend to show that the local authorities can
not be relied on to maintain the public peace of Panama, and there is just
ground for apprehension that a portion of the inhabitants are meditating
further outrages, without adequate measures for the security and protection
of persons or property having been taken, either by the State of Panama or
by the General Government of New Granada. Under the guaranties of treaty,
citizens of the United States have, by the outlay of several million
dollars, constructed a railroad across the Isthmus, and it has become the
main route between our Atlantic and Pacific possessions, over which
multitudes of our citizens and a vast amount of property are constantly
passing; to the security and protection of all which and the continuance of
the public advantages involved it is impossible for the Government of the
United States to be indifferent.
I have deemed the danger of the recurrence of scenes of lawless violence in
this quarter so imminent as to make it my duty to station a part of our
naval force in the harbors of Panama and Aspinwall, in order to protect the
persons and property of the citizens of the United States in those ports
and to insure to them safe passage across the Isthmus. And it would, in my
judgment, be unwise to withdraw the naval force now in those ports until,
by the spontaneous action of the Republic of New Granada or otherwise, some
adequate arrangement shall have been made for the protection and security
of a line of interoceanic communication, so important at this time not to
the United States only, but to all other maritime states, both of Europe
and America.
Meanwhile negotiations have been instituted, by means of a special
commission, to obtain from New Granada full indemnity for injuries
sustained by our citizens on the Isthmus and satisfactory security for the
general interests of the United States.
In addressing to you my last annual message the occasion seems to me an
appropriate one to express my congratulations, in view of the peace,
greatness, and felicity which the United States now possess and enjoy. To
point you to the state of the various Departments of the Government and of
all the great branches of the public service, civil and military, in order
to speak of the intelligence and the integrity which pervades the whole,
would be to indicate but imperfectly the administrative condition of the
country and the beneficial effects of that on the general welfare. Nor
would it suffice to say that the nation is actually at peace at home and
abroad; that its industrial interests are prosperous; that the canvas of
its mariners whitens every sea, and the plow of its husbandmen is marching
steadily onward to the bloodless conquest of the continent; that cities and
populous States are springing up, as if by enchantment, from the bosom of
oar Western wilds, and that the courageous energy of our people is making
of these United States the great Republic of the world. These results have
not been attained without passing through trials and perils, by experience
of which, and thus only, nations can harden into manhood. Our forefathers
were trained to the wisdom which conceived and the courage which achieved
independence by the circumstances which surrounded them, and they were thus
made capable of the creation of the Republic. It devolved on the next
generation to consolidate the work of the Revolution, to deliver the
country entirely from the influences of conflicting transatlantic
partialities or antipathies which attached to our colonial and
Revolutionary history, and to organize the practical operation of the
constitutional and legal institutions of the Union. To us of this
generation remains the not less noble task of maintaining and extending the
national power. We have at length reached that stage of our country's
career in which the dangers to be encountered and the exertions to be made
are the incidents, not of weakness, but of strength. In foreign relations
we have to attemper our power to the less happy condition of other
Republics in America and to place ourselves in the calmness and conscious
dignity of right by the side of the greatest and wealthiest of the Empires
of Europe. In domestic relations we have to guard against the shock of the
discontents, the ambitions, the interests, and the exuberant, and therefore
sometimes irregular, impulses of opinion or of action which are the natural
product of the present political elevation, the self-reliance, and the
restless spirit of enterprise of the people of the United States.
I shall prepare to surrender the Executive trust to my successor and retire
to private life with sentiments of profound gratitude to the good
Providence which during the period of my Administration has vouchsafed to
carry the country through many difficulties, domestic and foreign, and
which enables me to contemplate the spectacle of amicable and respectful
relations between ours and all other governments and the establishment of
constitutional order and tranquillity throughout the Union.
End of Project Gutenberg's State of the Union Addresses, by Franklin Pierce