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The course pursued by the Canadian authorities toward the fishermen of the United States during the past season has not been marked by a friendly feeling. By the first article of the convention of 1818 between Great Britain and the United States it was agreed that the inhabitants of the United States should have forever, in common with British subjects, the right of taking fish in certain waters therein defined. In the waters not included in the limits named in the convention (within 3 miles of parts of the British coast) it has been the custom for many years to give to intruding fishermen of the United States a reasonable warning of their violation of the technical rights of Great Britain. The Imperial Government is understood to have delegated the whole or a share of its jurisdiction or control of these inshore fishing grounds to the colonial authority known as the Dominion of Canada, and this semi-independent but irresponsible agent has exercised its delegated powers in an unfriendly way. Vessels have been seized without notice or warning, in violation of the custom previously prevailing, and have been taken into the colonial ports, their voyages broken up, and the vessels condemned. There is reason to believe that this unfriendly and vexatious treatment was designed to bear harshly upon the hardy fishermen of the United States, with a view to political effect upon this Government. The statutes of the Dominion of Canada assume a still broader and more untenable jurisdiction over the vessels of the United States. They authorize officers or persons to bring vessels hovering within 3 marine miles of any of the coasts, bays, creeks, or harbors of Canada into port, to search the cargo, to examine the master on oath touching the cargo and voyage, and to inflict upon him a heavy pecuniary penalty if true answers are not given; and if such a vessel is found "preparing to fish" within 3 marine miles of any of such coasts, bays, creeks, or harbors without a license, or after the expiration of the period named in the last license granted to it, they provide that the vessel, with her tackle, etc., shall be forfeited. It is not known that any condemnations have been made under this statute. Should the authorities of Canada attempt to enforce it, it will become my duty to take such steps as may be necessary to protect the rights of the citizens of the United States.
It has been claimed by Her Majesty's officers that the fishing vessels of the United States have no right to enter the open ports of the British possessions in North America, except for the purposes of shelter and repairing damages, of purchasing wood and obtaining water; that they have no right to enter at the British custom-houses or to trade there except in the purchase of wood and water, and that they must depart within twenty-four hours after notice to leave. It is not known that any seizure of a fishing vessel carrying the flag of the United States has been made under this claim. So far as the claim is founded on an alleged construction of the convention of 1818, it can not be acquiesced in by the United States. It is hoped that it will not be insisted on by Her Majesty's Government.
During the conferences which preceded the negotiation of the convention of 1818 the British commissioners proposed to expressly exclude the fishermen of the United States from "the privilege of carrying on trade with any of His Britannic Majesty's subjects residing within the limits assigned for their use;" and also that it should not be "lawful for the vessels of the United States engaged in said fishery to have on board any goods, wares, or merchandise whatever, except such as may be necessary for the prosecution of their voyages to and from the said fishing grounds; and any vessel of the United States which shall contravene this regulation may be seized, condemned, and confiscated, with her cargo."
This proposition, which is identical with the construction now put upon the language of the convention, was emphatically rejected by the American commissioners, and thereupon was abandoned by the British plenipotentiaries, and Article I, as it stands in the convention, was substituted.
If, however, it be said that this claim is founded on provincial or colonial statutes, and not upon the convention, this Government can not but regard them as unfriendly, and in contravention of the spirit, if not of the letter, of the treaty, for the faithful execution of which the Imperial Government is alone responsible.
Anticipating that an attempt may possibly be made by the Canadian authorities in the coming season to repeat their unneighborly acts toward our fishermen, I recommend you to confer upon the Executive the power to suspend by proclamation the operation of the laws authorizing the transit of goods, wares, and merchandise in bond across the territory of the United States to Canada, and, further, should such an extreme measure become necessary, to suspend the operation of any laws whereby the vessels of the Dominion of Canada are permitted to enter the waters of the United States.
A like unfriendly disposition has been manifested on the part of Canada in the maintenance of a claim of right to exclude the citizens of the United States from the navigation of the St. Lawrence. This river constitutes a natural outlet to the ocean for eight States, with an aggregate population of about 17,600,000 inhabitants, and with an aggregate tonnage of 661,367 tons upon the waters which discharge into it. The foreign commerce of our ports on these waters is open to British competition, and the major part of it is done in British bottoms.
If the American seamen be excluded from this natural avenue to the ocean, the monopoly of the direct commerce of the lake ports with the Atlantic would be in foreign hands, their vessels on transatlantic voyages having an access to our lake ports which would be denied to American vessels on similar voyages. To state such a proposition is to refute its justice.
During the Administration of Mr. John Quincy Adams Mr. Clay unanswerably demonstrated the natural right of the citizens of the United States to the navigation of this river, claiming that the act of the congress of Vienna in opening the Rhine and other rivers to all nations showed the judgment of European jurists and statesmen that the inhabitants of a country through which a navigable river passes have a natural right to enjoy the navigation of that river to and into the sea, even though passing through the territories of another power. This right does not exclude the coequal right of the sovereign possessing the territory through which the river debouches into the sea to make such regulations relative to the police of the navigation as may be reasonably necessary; but those regulations should be framed in a liberal spirit of comity, and should not impose needless burdens upon the commerce which has the right of transit. It has been found in practice more advantageous to arrange these regulations by mutual agreement. The United States are ready to make any reasonable arrangement as to the police of the St. Lawrence which may be suggested by Great Britain.
If the claim made by Mr. Clay was just when the population of States bordering on the shores of the Lakes was only 3,400,000, it now derives greater force and equity from the increased population, wealth, production, and tonnage of the States on the Canadian frontier. Since Mr. Clay advanced his argument in behalf of our right the principle for which he contended has been frequently, and by various nations, recognized by law or by treaty, and has been extended to several other great rivers. By the treaty concluded at Mayence in 1831 the Rhine was declared free from the point where it is first navigable into the sea. By the convention between Spain and Portugal concluded in 1835 the navigation of the Douro throughout its whole extent was made free for the subjects of both Crowns. In 1853 the Argentine Confederation by treaty threw open the free navigation of the Parana and the Uruguay to the merchant vessels of all nations. In 1856 the Crimean War was closed by a treaty which provided for the free navigation of the Danube. In 1858 Bolivia by treaty declared that it regarded the rivers Amazon and La Plata, in accordance with fixed principles of national law, as highways or channels opened by nature for the commerce of all nations. In 1859 the Paraguay was made free by treaty, and in December, 1866, the Emperor of Brazil by imperial decree declared the Amazon to be open to the frontier of Brazil to the merchant ships of all nations. The greatest living British authority on this subject, while asserting the abstract right of the British claim, says:
It seems difficult to deny that Great Britain may ground her refusal upon strict law, but it is equally difficult to deny, first, that in so doing she exercises harshly an extreme and hard law; secondly, that her conduct with respect to the navigation of the St. Lawrence is in glaring and discreditable inconsistency with her conduct with respect to the navigation of the Mississippi. On the ground that she possessed a small domain in which the Mississippi took its rise, she insisted on the right to navigate the entire volume of its waters. On the ground that she possesses both banks of the St. Lawrence, where it disembogues itself into the sea, she denies to the United States the right of navigation, though about one-half of the waters of Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, and Superior, and the whole of Lake Michigan, through which the river flows, are the property of the United States.
The whole nation is interested in securing cheap transportation from the agricultural States of the West to the Atlantic Seaboard. To the citizens of those States it secures a greater return for their labor; to the inhabitants of the seaboard it affords cheaper food; to the nation, an increase in the annual surplus of wealth. It is hoped that the Government of Great Britain will see the justice of abandoning the narrow and inconsistent claim to which her Canadian Provinces have urged her adherence.
Our depressed commerce is a subject to which I called your special attention at the last session, and suggested that we will in the future have to look more to the countries south of us, and to China and Japan, for its revival. Our representatives to all these Governments have exerted their influence to encourage trade between the United States and the countries to which they are accredited. But the fact exists that the carrying is done almost entirely in foreign bottoms, and while this state of affairs exists we can not control our due share of the commerce of the world; that between the Pacific States and China and Japan is about all the carrying trade now conducted in American vessels. I would recommend a liberal policy toward that line of American steamers—one that will insure its success, and even increased usefulness.
The cost of building iron vessels, the only ones that can compete with foreign ships in the carrying trade, is so much greater in the United States than in foreign countries that without some assistance from the Government they can not be successfully built here. There will be several propositions laid before Congress in the course of the present session looking to a remedy for this evil. Even if it should be at some cost to the National Treasury, I hope such encouragement will be given as will secure American shipping on the high seas and American shipbuilding at home.
The condition of the archives at the Department of State calls for the early action of Congress. The building now rented by that Department is a frail structure, at an inconvenient distance from the Executive Mansion and from the other Departments, is ill adapted to the purpose for which it is used, has not capacity to accommodate the archives, and is not fireproof. Its remote situation, its slender construction, and the absence of a supply of water in the neighborhood leave but little hope of safety for either the building or its contents in case of the accident of a fire. Its destruction would involve the loss of the rolls containing the original acts and resolutions of Congress, of the historic records of the Revolution and of the Confederation, of the whole series of diplomatic and consular archives since the adoption of the Constitution, and of the many other valuable records and papers left with that Department when it was the principal depository of the governmental archives. I recommend an appropriation for the construction of a building for the Department of State.
I recommend to your consideration the propriety of transferring to the Department of the Interior, to which they seem more appropriately to belong, all powers and duties in relation to the Territories with which the Department of State is now charged by law or usage; and from the Interior Department to the War Department the Pension Bureau, so far as it regulates the payment of soldiers' pensions. I would further recommend that the payment of naval pensions be transferred to one of the bureaus of the Navy Department.
The estimates for the expenses of the Government for the next fiscal year are $18,244,346.01 less than for the current one, but exceed the appropriations for the present year for the same items $8,972,127.56. In this estimate, however, is included $22,338,278.37 for public works heretofore begun under Congressional provision, and of which only so much is asked as Congress may choose to give. The appropriation for the same works for the present fiscal year was $11,984,518.08.
The average value of gold, as compared with national currency, for the whole of the year 1869 was about 134, and for eleven months of 1870 the same relative value has been about 115. The approach to a specie basis is very gratifying, but the fact can not be denied that the instability of the value of our currency is prejudicial to our prosperity, and tends to keep up prices, to the detriment of trade. The evils of a depreciated and fluctuating currency are so great that now, when the premium on gold has fallen so much, it would seem that the time has arrived when by wise and prudent legislation Congress should look to a policy which would place our currency at par with gold at no distant day.
The tax collected from the people has been reduced more than $80,000,000 per annum. By steadiness in our present course there is no reason why in a few short years the national taxgatherer may not disappear from the door of the citizen almost entirely. With the revenue stamp dispensed by postmasters in every community, a tax upon liquors of all sorts and tobacco in all its forms, and by a wise adjustment of the tariff, which will put a duty only upon those articles which we could dispense with, known as luxuries, and on those which we use more of than we produce, revenue enough may be raised after a few years of peace and consequent reduction of indebtedness to fulfill all our obligations. A further reduction of expenses, in addition to a reduction of interest account, may be relied on to make this practicable. Revenue reform, if it means this, has my hearty support. If it implies a collection of all the revenue for the support of the Government, for the payment of principal and interest of the public debt, pensions, etc., by directly taxing the people, then I am against revenue reform, and confidently believe the people are with me. If it means failure to provide the necessary means to defray all the expenses of Government, and thereby repudiation of the public debt and pensions, then I am still more opposed to such kind of revenue reform. Revenue reform has not been defined by any of its advocates to my knowledge, but seems to be accepted as something which is to supply every man's wants without any cost or effort on his part.
A true revenue reform can not be made in a day, but must be the work of national legislation and of time. As soon as the revenue can be dispensed with, all duty should be removed from coffee, tea, and other articles of universal use not produced by ourselves. The necessities of the country compel us to collect revenue from our imports. An army of assessors and collectors is not a pleasant sight to the citizen, but that or a tariff for revenue is necessary. Such a tariff, so far as it acts as an encouragement to home production, affords employment to labor at living wages, in contrast to the pauper labor of the Old World, and also in the development of home resources.
Under the act of Congress of the 15th day of July, 1870, the Army has gradually been reduced, so that on the 1st day of January, 1871, the number of commissioned officers and men will not exceed the number contemplated by that law.
The War Department building is an old structure, not fireproof, and entirely inadequate in dimensions to our present wants. Many thousands of dollars are now paid annually for rent of private buildings to accommodate the various bureaus of the Department. I recommend an appropriation for a new War Department building, suited to the present and growing wants of the nation.
The report of the Secretary of War shows a very satisfactory reduction in the expenses of the Army for the last fiscal year. For details you are referred to his accompanying report.
The expenses of the Navy for the whole of the last year—i.e., from December 1, 1869, the date of the last report—are less than $19,000,000, or about $1,000,000 less than they were the previous year. The expenses since the commencement of this fiscal year—i.e., since July 1—show for the five months a decrease of over $2,400,000 from those of the corresponding months last year. The estimates for the current year were $28,205,671.37. Those for next year are $20,683,317, with $955,100 additional for necessary permanent improvements. These estimates are made closely for the mere maintenance of the naval establishment as it now is, without much in the nature of permanent improvement. The appropriations made for the last and current years were evidently intended by Congress, and are sufficient only, to keep the Navy on its present footing by the repairing and refitting of our old ships.
This policy must, of course, gradually but surely destroy the Navy, and it is in itself far from economical, as each year that it is pursued the necessity for mere repairs in ships and navy-yards becomes more imperative and more costly, and our current expenses are annually increased for the mere repair of ships, many of which must soon become unsafe and useless. I hope during the present session of Congress to be able to submit to it a plan by which naval vessels can be built and repairs made with great saving upon the present cost.
It can hardly be wise statesmanship in a Government which represents a country with over 5,000 miles of coast line on both oceans, exclusive of Alaska, and containing 40,000,000 progressive people, with relations of every nature with almost every foreign country, to rest with such inadequate means of enforcing any foreign policy, either of protection or redress. Separated by the ocean from the nations of the Eastern Continent, our Navy is our only means of direct protection to our citizens abroad or for the enforcement of any foreign policy.
The accompanying report of the Postmaster-General shows a most satisfactory working of that Department. With the adoption of the recommendations contained therein, particularly those relating to a reform in the franking privilege and the adoption of the "correspondence cards," a self-sustaining postal system may speedily be looked for, and at no distant day a further reduction of the rate of postage be attained.
I recommend authorization by Congress to the Postmaster-General and Attorney-General to issue all commissions to officials appointed through their respective Departments. At present these commissions, where appointments are Presidential, are issued by the State Department. The law in all the Departments of Government, except those of the Post-Office and of Justice, authorizes each to issue its own commissions.
Always favoring practical reforms, I respectfully call your attention to one abuse of long standing which I would like to see remedied by this Congress. It is a reform in the civil service of the country. I would have it go beyond the mere fixing of the tenure of office of clerks and employees who do not require "the advice and consent of the Senate" to make their appointments complete. I would have it govern, not the tenure, but the manner of making all appointments. There is no duty which so much embarrasses the Executive and heads of Departments as that of appointments, nor is there any such arduous and thankless labor imposed on Senators and Representatives as that of finding places for constituents. The present system does not secure the best men, and often not even fit men, for public place. The elevation and purification of the civil service of the Government will be hailed with approval by the whole people of the United States.
Reform in the management of Indian affairs has received the special attention of the Administration from its inauguration to the present day. The experiment of making it a missionary work was tried with a few agencies given to the denomination of Friends, and has been found to work most advantageously. All agencies and superintendencies not so disposed of were given to officers of the Army. The act of Congress reducing the Army renders army officers ineligible for civil positions. Indian agencies being civil offices, I determined to give all the agencies to such religious denominations as had heretofore established missionaries among the Indians, and perhaps to some other denominations who would undertake the work on the same terms—i.e. as a missionary work. The societies selected are allowed to name their own agents, subject to the approval of the Executive, and are expected to watch over them and aid them as missionaries, to Christianize and civilize the Indian, and to train him in the arts of peace. The Government watches over the official acts of these agents, and requires of them as strict an accountability as if they were appointed in any other manner. I entertain the confident hope that the policy now pursued will in a few years bring all the Indians upon reservations, where they will live in houses, and have schoolhouses and churches, and will be pursuing peaceful and self-sustaining avocations, and where they may be visited by the law-abiding white man with the same impunity that he now visits the civilized white settlements. I call your special attention to the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for full information on this subject.
During the last fiscal year 8,095,413 acres of public land were disposed of. Of this quantity 3,698,910.05 acres were taken under the homestead law and 2,159,515.81 acres sold for cash. The remainder was located with military warrants, college or Indian scrip, or applied in satisfaction of grants to railroads or for other public uses. The entries under the homestead law during the last year covered 961,545 acres more than those during the preceding year. Surveys have been vigorously prosecuted to the full extent of the means applicable to the purpose. The quantity of land in market will amply supply the present demand. The claim of the settler under the homestead or the preemption laws is not, however, limited to lands subject to sale at private entry. Any unappropriated surveyed public land may, to a limited amount, be acquired under the former laws if the party entitled to enter under them will comply with the requirements they prescribe in regard to the residence and cultivation. The actual settler's preference right of purchase is even broader, and extends to lands which were unsurveyed at the time of his settlement. His right was formerly confined within much narrower limits, and at one period of our history was conferred only by special statutes. They were enacted from time to time to legalize what was then regarded as an unauthorized intrusion upon the national domain. The opinion that the public lands should be regarded chiefly as a source of revenue is no longer maintained. The rapid settlement and successful cultivation of them are now justly considered of more importance to our well-being than is the fund which the sale of them would produce. The remarkable growth and prosperity of our new States and Territories attest the wisdom of the legislation which invites the tiller of the soil to secure a permanent home on terms within the reach of all. The pioneer who incurs the dangers and privations of a frontier life, and thus aids in laying the foundation of new commonwealths, renders a signal service to his country, and is entitled to its special favor and protection. These laws secure that object and largely promote the general welfare. They should therefore be cherished as a permanent feature of our land system.
Good faith requires us to give full effect to existing grants. The time-honored and beneficent policy of setting apart certain sections of public land for educational purposes in the new States should be continued. When ample provision shall have been made for these objects, I submit as a question worthy of serious consideration whether the residue of our national domain should not be wholly disposed of under the provisions of the homestead and preemption laws.
In addition to the swamp and overflowed lands granted to the States in which they are situated, the lands taken under the agricultural-college acts and for internal-improvement purposes under the act of September, 1841, and the acts supplemental thereto, there had been conveyed up to the close of the last fiscal year, by patent or other equivalent title, to States and corporations 27,836,257.63 acres for railways, canals, and wagon roads. It is estimated that an additional quantity of 174,735,523 acres is still due under grants for like uses. The policy of thus aiding the States in building works of internal improvement was inaugurated more than forty years since in the grants to Indiana and Illinois, to aid those States in opening canals to connect the waters of the Wabash with those of Lake Erie and the waters of the Illinois with those of Lake Michigan. It was followed, with some modifications, in the grant to Illinois of alternate sections of public land within certain limits of the Illinois Central Railway. Fourteen States and sundry corporations have received similar subsidies in connection with railways completed or in process of construction. As the reserved sections are rated at the double minimum, the sale of them at the enhanced price has thus in many instances indemnified the Treasury for the granted lands. The construction of some of these thoroughfares has undoubtedly given a vigorous impulse to the development of our resources and the settlement of the more distant portions of the country. It may, however, be well insisted that much of our legislation in this regard has been characterized by indiscriminate and profuse liberality. The United States should not loan their credit in aid of any enterprise undertaken by States or corporations, nor grant lands in any instance, unless the projected work is of acknowledged national importance. I am strongly inclined to the opinion that it is inexpedient and unnecessary to bestow subsidies of either description; but should Congress determine otherwise I earnestly recommend that the right of settlers and of the public be more effectually secured and protected by appropriate legislation.
During the year ending September 30, 1870, there were filed in the Patent Office 19,411 applications for patents, 3,374 caveats, and 160 applications for the extension of patents. Thirteen thousand six hundred and twenty-two patents, including reissues and designs, were issued, 1,010 extended, and 1,089 allowed, but not issued by reason of the non-payment of the final fees. The receipts of the office during the fiscal year were $136,304.29 in excess of its expenditures.
The work of the Census Bureau has been energetically prosecuted. The preliminary report, containing much information of special value and interest, will be ready for delivery during the present session. The remaining volumes will be completed with all the dispatch consistent with perfect accuracy in arranging and classifying the returns. We shall thus at no distant day be furnished with an authentic record of our condition and resources. It will, I doubt not, attest the growing prosperity of the country, although during the decade which has just closed it was so severely tried by the great war waged to maintain its integrity and to secure and perpetuate our free institutions.
During the last fiscal year the sum paid to pensioners, including the cost of disbursement, was $27,780,811.11, and 1,758 bounty-land warrants were issued. At its close 198,686 names were on the pension rolls.
The labors of the Pension Office have been directed to the severe scrutiny of the evidence submitted in favor of new claims and to the discovery of fictitious claims which have been heretofore allowed. The appropriation for the employment of special agents for the investigation of frauds has been judiciously used, and the results obtained have been of unquestionable benefit to the service.
The subjects of education and agriculture are of great interest to the success of our republican institutions, happiness, and grandeur as a nation. In the interest of one a bureau has been established in the Interior Department—the Bureau of Education; and in the interest of the other, a separate Department, that of Agriculture. I believe great general good is to flow from the operations of both these Bureaus if properly fostered. I can not commend to your careful consideration too highly the reports of the Commissioners of Education and of Agriculture, nor urge too strongly such liberal legislation as to secure their efficiency.
In conclusion I would sum up the policy of the Administration to be a thorough enforcement of every law; a faithful collection of every tax provided for; economy in the disbursement of the same; a prompt payment of every debt of the nation; a reduction of taxes as rapidly as the requirements of the country will admit; reductions of taxation and tariff, to be so arranged as to afford the greatest relief to the greatest number; honest and fair dealings with all other peoples, to the end that war, with all its blighting consequences, may be avoided, but without surrendering any right or obligation due to us; a reform in the treatment of Indians and in the whole civil service of the country; and finally, in securing a pure, untrammeled ballot, where every man entitled to cast a vote may do so, just once at each election, without fear of molestation or proscription on account of his political faith, nativity, or color.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 29: See pp. 86-89.]
[Footnote 30: See pp. 89-92.]
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
DECEMBER 6, 1870.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
In pursuance of the provisions of the second section of an act approved June 20, 1864, entitled "An act making appropriations for the consular and diplomatic expenses of the Government for the year ending June 30, 1865, and for other purposes," I inform Congress that Louis W. Viollier, a consular clerk, was, on the 26th day of September last, removed from office for the following causes, namely: For disobedience of orders and continued absence from duty after orders to proceed to his post.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, December 6, 1870.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I herewith transmit to Congress a report, dated the 5th instant, with the accompanying papers,[31] received from the Secretary of State, in compliance with the requirements of the eighteenth section of the act entitled "An act to regulate the diplomatic and consular systems of the United States," approved August 18, 1856.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 31: Report of fees collected, etc., by consular officers of the United States for 1868, and tariff of consular fees prescribed by the President October 1, 1870.]
WASHINGTON, December 6, 1870.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a convention for the surrender of criminals between the United States of America and the Republic of Guatemala, signed on the 11th day of October last, together with correspondence on the subject, a list of which is given.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, December 6, 1870.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a convention for the extradition of criminals fugitives from justice between the United States of America and the Republic of Nicaragua, signed at the city of Nicaragua on the 5th day of June last, together with correspondence upon the subject, of which a list is annexed.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, December 6, 1870.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty for the extradition of criminals fugitives from justice between the United States and the Republic of Peru, signed at Lima on the 12th day of September last. As this treaty contains some stipulations of an unusual character, the special attention of the Senate is called to them.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, December 6, 1870.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation between the United States of America and the Republic of Peru, signed at the city of Lima on the 6th day of September last, together with the correspondence in relation thereto, a list of which is annexed.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, December 6, 1870.
To the Senate of the United States:
Referring to my message of the 1st of February last, transmitting to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty between the United States and the United States of Colombia for the construction of an interoceanic canal across the Isthmus of Panama or Darien, signed at Bogota on the 26th of January last, I herewith submit correspondence upon the subject between the Secretary of State and the minister of the United States at Bogota, a list of which is hereto appended.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, December 8, 1870.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In answer to its resolution of the 1st of July, 1870, I transmit to the House of Representatives a report[32] from the Secretary of State.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 32: Stating that the correspondence relative to the arrest and detention of American fishing vessels in the Straits of Canso by armed vessels flying the British flag had been communicated to Congress with the President's annual message on the 5th instant.]
WASHINGTON, December 8, 1870.
To the Senate of the United States:
In answer to a resolution of the 5th instant, I transmit to the Senate a report[33] from the Secretary of State.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 33: Stating that the correspondence with the United States minister at Paris relative to the Franco-Prussian war had been communicated with the President's annual message on the 5th instant.]
WASHINGTON, December 12, 1870.
To the Senate of the United States:
I submit to the Senate, for their consideration with a view to ratification, a convention relating to naturalization between the United States and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, signed at Vienna on the 20th of September, 1870, which is accompanied by the papers mentioned in the subjoined list.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, December 13, 1870.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit, in answer to the resolution of the Senate of June 14, 1870, a report from the Secretary of State and the papers[34] by which it was accompanied.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 34: Relating to charges for messages made by the International Ocean Telegraph Company.]
WASHINGTON, December 15, 1870.
To the House of Representatives:
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th of April, 1869, I herewith transmit a report[35] from the Secretary of State.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 35: Stating that all the correspondence relative to the condition of affairs in Paraguay believed to be required by the public interest had been made public.]
WASHINGTON, December 15, 1870.
To the House of Representatives:
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 20th of January last, I herewith transmit a report[36] from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 36: Stating that the claim for indemnity in the case of the ship Canada, wrecked on the coast of Brazil in 1865, had been referred to the British minister as arbiter, and submitting a summary of the case, correspondence connected with it, and a copy of the award of the arbiter.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 19, 1870.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit herewith a report[37] of the Secretary of the Treasury, made in compliance with section 2 of the act approved July n, 1870, "making appropriations for the consular and diplomatic expenses of the Government for the year ending June 30, 1871, and for other purposes."
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 37: Transmitting reports of consular agents.]
WASHINGTON, December 19, 1870.
To the House of Representatives:
I transmit to the House of Representatives a report of the Secretary of State and the papers[38] by which it was accompanied, in answer to its resolution of the 7th instant.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 38: Relating to the seizure at Port Hood, Nova Scotia, by a Canadian revenue cutter, of the schooner Granada, of Provincetown, Mass.]
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 4, 1871.
To the House of Representatives:
I transmit to the House of Representatives, in answer to their resolution of the 12th of December, 1870, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents.[39]
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 39: Correspondence relative to public documents or libraries in the care of legations of the United States.]
WASHINGTON, January 9, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 5th instant, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents.[40]
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 40: The last correspondence with Mr. Motley, including telegraphic dispatches, etc., relative to his recall as minister to the Court of St. James.]
WASHINGTON, January 9, 1871.
To the House of Representatives:
I transmit to the House of Representatives, in answer to their resolution of the 5th instant, a report from the Secretary of State, with the accompanying documents.[41]
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 41: Correspondence, etc., in 1844 and 1845 relative to the resources and condition of the Dominican Republic.]
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 9, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit, for consideration with a view to its ratification, a treaty of amity, commerce, and consular privileges between the United States and the Republic of Salvador, signed at the city of San Salvador on the 6th of December last.
A copy of the official correspondence relating to the instrument is also herewith transmitted.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 11, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
In view of a proclamation having been published in newspapers of the United States purporting to emanate from Cabral, a chieftain who opposed the constitutional authorities of the Republic of San Domingo, I deem it but just to communicate to the Senate of the United States the views of that chieftain and his followers, as voluntarily communicated by him through the United States minister to the Republic of Hayti in June last. It will be observed by the letter of Minister Bassett that Cabral did not wish his views to be made public before the question of annexation was disposed of, in a way to work prejudice to his interest. But as the object which Cabral had already in view was to declare to the treaty-making power of the United States his views and those of his followers upon the subject of annexation of the Republic of San Domingo, and as the Senate is a branch of that power, I deem it no breach of confidence to communicate this letter to the Senate. I ask, however, that it may be read in executive session and that the request of Cabral be observed, so that in no case they shall be made public or used against him until the question of annexation is disposed of.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 11, 1871.
To the House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, in reply to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 5th instant, copies of the reports of Captain George B. McClellan upon the Dominican Republic, made in the year 1854.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 13, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
In reply to the resolution of the Senate of the 16th of December, 1870, requesting to be furnished with information relative to the organization of disloyal persons in North Carolina having in view resistance of the United States laws, denial of protection, and the enjoyment of the rights and liberties secured under the United States, etc., I transmit herewith abstracts of reports and other papers on file in the War Department relative to outrages in North Carolina, and also, for the information of the Senate, those relative to outrages in the other Southern States. The original reports and papers are too voluminous to be copied in season to be used by the present Congress, but are easily accessible for reference, and copies of such papers can be furnished as the Senate may deem necessary.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, January 16, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of 4th instant, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents, relating to the proposed annexation of the Dominican portion of the island of San Domingo.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 17, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
In answer to their resolution of the 16th of December, 1870, I herewith transmit copies of certain reports received at the War Department relative to disloyal organizations in the State of North Carolina, intended to resist the laws or to deprive the citizens of the United States of the protection of law or the enjoyment of their rights under the Constitution of the United States. These reports are in addition to the abstracts of those sent to the Senate on the 13th instant.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 24, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
In answer to your resolution of the 21st December, 1870, requesting the President "to furnish the Senate with the amount of money expended by the United States for freight and passage to the Pacific Coast by the way of the Isthmus and Cape Horn during the twelve months now last past," I herewith transmit reports from the Secretary of the Treasury, of War, and of the Navy, to whom, respectively, the resolution was referred.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, January 27, 1871.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, a report of the Secretary of State and the papers which accompanied it, concerning regulations for the consular courts of the United States in Japan.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, January 27, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit, for consideration with a view to its ratification, a treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation between the United States and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, which was signed at Montevideo, it is presumed, in the course of last month, though the precise date has inadvertently been omitted.
A copy of the correspondence relating to the instrument is also herewith transmitted. From this it will be seen that the treaty is substantially the same as one between the same parties which has already been approved by the Senate and ratified by the President of the United States, but the ratifications of which have never been exchanged. If the Senate should approve the new treaty, it is suggested that their resolution to that effect should include authority to insert the precise date when that shall have been ascertained.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 30, 1871.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith an official copy of the proceedings of the council of Indian tribes held at Ocmulgee in December last, which resulted in the adoption of a declaration of rights and a constitution for their government, together with a copy of the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the views of the Secretary of the Interior thereon.
It would seem highly desirable that the civilized Indians of the country should be encouraged in establishing for themselves forms of Territorial government compatible with the Constitution of the United States and with the previous customs toward communities lying outside of State limits.
I concur in the views expressed by the Secretary of the Interior, that it would not be advisable to receive the new Territory with the constitution precisely as it is now framed. As long as a Territorial form of government is preserved, Congress should hold the power of approving or disapproving of all legislative action of the Territory, and the Executive should, with "the advice and consent of the Senate," have the power to appoint the governor and judicial officers (and possibly some others) of the Territory.
This is the first indication of the aborigines desiring to adopt our form of government, and it is highly desirable that they become self-sustaining, self-relying, Christianized, and civilized. If successful in this their first attempt at Territorial government, we may hope for a gradual concentration of other Indians in the new Territory. I therefore recommend as close an adherence to their wishes as is consistent with safety.
It might be well to limit the appointment of all Territorial officials appointed by the Executive to native citizens of the Territory. If any exception is made to this rule, I would recommend that it should be limited to the judiciary.
It is confidently hoped that the policy now being pursued toward the Indian will fit him for self-government and make him desire to settle among people of his own race where he can enjoy the full privileges of civil and enlightened government.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 7, 1871.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
The union of the States of Germany into a form of government similar in many respects to that of the American Union is an event that can not fail to touch deeply the sympathies of the people of the United States.
This union has been brought about by the long-continued, persistent efforts of the people, with the deliberate approval of the governments and people of twenty-four of the German States, through their regularly constituted representatives.
In it the American people see an attempt to reproduce in Europe some of the best features of our own Constitution, with such modifications as the history and condition of Germany seem to require. The local governments of the several members of the union are preserved, while the power conferred upon the chief imparts strength for the purposes of self-defense, without authority to enter upon wars of conquest and ambition.
The cherished aspiration for national unity which for ages has inspired the many millions of people speaking the same language, inhabiting a contiguous and compact territory, but unnaturally separated and divided by dynastic jealousies and the ambition of short-sighted rulers, has been attained, and Germany now contains a population of about 34,000,000, united, like our own, under one Government for its relations with other powers, but retaining in its several members the right and power of control of their local interests, habits, and institutions.
The bringing of great masses of thoughtful and free people under a single government must tend to make governments what alone they should be—the representatives of the will and the organization of the power of the people.
The adoption in Europe of the American system of union under the control and direction of a free people, educated to self-restraint, can not fail to extend popular institutions and to enlarge the peaceful influence of American ideas.
The relations of the United States with Germany are intimate and cordial. The commercial intercourse between the two countries is extensive and is increasing from year to year; and the large number of citizens and residents in the United States of German extraction and the continued flow of emigration thence to this country have produced an intimacy of personal and political intercourse approaching, if not equal to, that with the country from which the founders of our Government derived their origin.
The extent of these interests and the greatness of the German Union seem to require that in the classification of the representatives of this Government to foreign powers there should no longer be an apparent undervaluation of the importance of the German mission, such as is made in the difference between the compensation allowed by law to the minister to Germany and those to Great Britain and France. There would seem to be a great propriety in placing the representative of this Government at Berlin on the same footing with that of its representatives at London and Paris. The union of the several States of Germany under one Government and the increasing commercial and personal intercourse between the two countries will also add to the labors and the responsibilities of the legation.
I therefore recommend that the salaries of the minister and of the secretary of legation at Berlin be respectively increased to the same amounts as are allowed to those at London and Paris.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 7, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
In answer to that part of your resolution of the 4th of January last requesting copies of "instructions to the commander of our naval squadron in the waters of the island [of San Domingo] since the commencement of the late negotiations, with the reports and correspondence of such commander," I herewith transmit a report, with accompanying papers, received from the Secretary of the Navy.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 8, 1871.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith an extract of a paper addressed to the President, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs by the committee of Friends on Indian affairs having charge of the northern superintendency, in relation to a desire of certain Indian tribes to sell a portion of the lands owned by them, with a view of locating on other lands that they may be able to purchase, together with the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs thereon and a letter of the Secretary of the Interior Department approving the report of the Commissioner.
I submit the draft of a bill which has been prepared, and which it is believed will effect the object desired by the committee, and request the consideration thereof by Congress.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, February 9, 1871.
To the Senate:
The British minister accredited to this Government recently, in compliance with instructions from his Government, submitted a proposal for the appointment of a "joint high commission," to be composed of members to be named by each Government, to hold its session at Washington, and to treat and discuss the mode of settling the different questions which have arisen out of the fisheries, as well as those which affect the relations of the United States toward the British possessions in North America.
I did not deem it expedient to agree to the proposal unless the consideration of the questions growing out of the acts committed by the vessels which have given rise to the claims known as the "Alabama claims" were to be within the subject of discussion and settlement by the commission. The British Government having assented to this, the commission is expected shortly to meet. I therefore nominate as such commissioners, jointly and separately, on the part of the United States:
Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State.
Robert C. Schenck, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain.
Samuel Nelson, an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Ebenezer R. Hoar, of Massachusetts.
George H. Williams, of Oregon.
I communicate herewith the correspondence which has passed on this subject between the Secretary of State and the British minister.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 10, 1871.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I submit herewith, for the information of Congress, the second annual report of the Board of Indian Commissioners to the Secretary of the Interior.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 13, 1871.
To the House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith, in answer to the resolution of the House of the 6th instant, copies of the correspondence between the governor of the State of California and the President of the United States in the month of October, 1868, relative to the use of the military forces of the National Government in preserving the peace at the approaching State election.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 15, 1871.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I have this day transmitted to the Senate the announcement that Senate bill No. 218, "An act prescribing an oath of office to be taken by persons who participated in the late rebellion, but who are not disqualified from holding office by the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States," has become a law in the manner prescribed by the Constitution, without the signature of the President.
If this were a bill for the repeal of the "test oath" required of persons "elected or appointed to offices of honor or trust," it would meet my approval. The effect of the law, however, is to relieve from taking a prescribed oath all those persons whom it was intended to exclude from such offices and to require it from all others. By this law the soldier who fought and bled for his country is to swear to his loyalty before assuming official functions, while the general who commanded hosts for the overthrow of his Government is admitted to place without it. I can not affix my name to a law which discriminates against the upholder of his Government.
I believe, however, that it is not wise policy to keep from office by an oath those who are not disqualified by the Constitution, and who are the choice of legal voters; but while relieving them from an oath which they can not take, I recommend the release also of those to whom the oath has no application.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 17, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
In answer to your resolution of the 19th of December last, requesting the President "to furnish the Senate with the entire cost of transportation of mails and freights of every description to the Pacific Coast, also to all intermediate points west of the Missouri River, from the annexation of California to July 1, 1864; and also the expenses of the War Department and Indian Bureau during the same period in guarding the overland route from the Missouri River to California against Indians and Mormons, and the cost of the Indian service on the same line, including in all cases freights and all other expenditures," I transmit herewith reports received from the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of War, and the Postmaster-General.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, February 27, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a convention between the United States and Great Britain, concluded at Washington on the 23d instant, supplemental to the convention between the two countries concluded May 13, 1870, concerning the citizenship of citizens or subjects of either country emigrating to the other.
The conclusion of the supplemental convention now submitted was found to be expedient in view of the stipulation contained in Article II of the before-named convention of May 13, 1870, that the two Governments should agree upon the manner in which the renunciation within the periods specified, by naturalized citizens and subjects of either country, of their naturalization should be effected.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, March 3, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 2d instant, a report of the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents.[42]
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 42: Correspondence from the United States legation at Constantinople relative to restrictions on the passage of the straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus by the ships of other nations.]
WASHINGTON, March 3, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of February 1, 1871, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents.[43]
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 43: Dispatches, etc., from the United States minister to the Court of Brazil relative to the Paraguayan war, the culture of cotton in Brazil, trade with Brazil, etc.]
VETO MESSAGES.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 4, 1871.
To the House of Representatives:
I herewith return without my approval House bill No. 1395, entitled "An act for the relief of Charles Cooper, Goshorn A. Jones, Jerome Rowley, William Hannegan, and John Hannegan," for the following reasons:
The act directs the discontinuance of an action at law said to be now pending in the United States district court for the northern district of Ohio for the enforcement of the bond executed by said parties to the United States, whereas in fact no such suit is pending in the district court, but such a suit is now pending in the circuit court of the United States for the sixth circuit and northern district of Ohio.
Neither the body of said act nor the proviso requires the obligors in said bond, who are released from all liability to the United States on account thereof, to abandon or release their pretended claim against the Government.
Since these parties have gone to Congress to ask relief from liability for a large sum of money on account of the failure of the principals in the bond to execute their contract, it is but just and proper that they at the same time should abandon the claim heretofore asserted by them against the Government growing out of the same transaction.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 7, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
I hereby return without my approval Senate resolution No. 92, entitled "A resolution for the relief of certain contractors for the construction of vessels of war and steam machinery," for the following reasons:
The act of March 2, 1867 (14 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 424), directs the Secretary of the Navy—
to investigate the claims of all contractors for building vessels of war and steam machinery for the same under contracts made after the 1st day of May, 1861, and prior to the 1st day of January, 1864; and said investigation to be made upon the following basis: He shall ascertain the additional cost which was necessarily incurred by each contractor in the completion of his work by reason of any changes or alterations in the plans and specifications required, and delays in the prosecution of the work occasioned by the Government, which were not provided for in the original contract; but no allowance for any advance in the price of labor or material shall be considered unless such advance occurred during the prolonged time for completing the work rendered necessary by the delay resulting from the action of the Government aforesaid, and then only when such advance could not have been avoided by the exercise of ordinary prudence and diligence on the part of the contractor. * * *
The present joint resolution transfers the investigation to the Court of Claims, and repeals "so much of said act as provides against considering any allowance in favor of any such parties for any advance in the price of labor or material, unless such advance could have been avoided by the exercise of ordinary diligence and prudence on the part of the contractor." It seems to me that the provision thus repealed is a very reasonable one. It prevents the contractor from receiving any allowance for an advance in the price of labor and material when he could have avoided that advance by the exercise of ordinary prudence and diligence. The effect of the repeal will be to relieve contractors from the consequences of their own imprudence and negligence. I see no good reason for thus relieving contractors who have not exercised ordinary prudence and diligence in their business transactions.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 28, 1871.
To the House of Representatives:
I herewith return without my approval House bill No. 2566, entitled "An act for the relief of Henry Willman, late a private in the Third Regiment of Indiana Cavalry," for the following reasons:
The records of the War Department show that Henry Willman was mustered into the military service April 4, 1862, and that he was mounted on a private horse. It appears from evidence presented by himself that his horse died May 18, 1862; that he remounted himself on June 8, 1862, and so continued mounted till October 1, 1862, when his horse was killed by the enemy, and that he was not afterwards mounted upon a private horse.
Upon presenting a claim against the United States for the legal value of the two horses lost by him in the public service, the claim, after investigation, was allowed; but it being discovered that he had erroneously been paid for the use and risk of a private horse from May 18 to June 8, 1862, and from October 1, 1862, to April 30, 1864, during which periods he had no horse in the public service, the amount so overpaid was offset against his claim, leaving the latter fully liquidated and the claimant indebted to the United States in an amount not yet refunded.
The person named in the act is not, in law or equity, entitled to the relief therein provided, and has no unsatisfied demands against the United States.
U.S. GRANT.
PROCLAMATION.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas satisfactory evidence was given to me on the 17th day of this month by the Government of Portugal that the discriminating duties heretofore levied in the ports of Portugal on merchandise imported in vessels of the United States into said ports from other countries than those of which said merchandise was the growth, production, or manufacture have been abolished:
Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by an act of Congress of January 7, 1824, and by an act in addition thereto of May 24, 1828, do hereby declare and proclaim that the discriminating duties heretofore levied in ports of the United States upon merchandise imported in Portuguese vessels from countries other than those of which such merchandise is the growth, produce, or manufacture shall be, and are hereby, suspended and discontinued, this suspension or discontinuance to take effect on and after the said 17th day of this month and to continue so long as the reciprocal exemption of merchandise belonging to citizens of the United States from such discriminating duties shall be granted in the ports of Portugal.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 25th day of February, A.D. 1871, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-fifth.
U.S. GRANT.
By the President: HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State.
[NOTE.—The Forty-second Congress, first session, met March 4, 1871, in accordance with the act of January 22, 1867.]
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
WASHINGTON, March 17, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, in compliance with its resolution of the 14th instant, a report from the Secretary of State, making known that official notice has been received at the Department of State of the ratification by the legislature of one, and only one, additional State—to wit, that of New Jersey—of the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States since the 30th of March, 1870, the date of his certificate that three-fourths of the whole number of States in the United States had ratified that amendment and that it had become valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution of the United States.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 23, 1871.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
A condition of affairs now exists in some of the States of the Union rendering life and property insecure and the carrying of the mails and the collection of the revenue dangerous. The proof that such a condition of affairs exists in some localities is now before the Senate. That the power to correct these evils is beyond the control of the State authorities I do not doubt; that the power of the Executive of the United States, acting within the limits of existing laws, is sufficient for present emergencies is not clear.
Therefore I urgently recommend such legislation as in the judgment of Congress shall effectually secure life, liberty, and property and the enforcement of law in all parts of the United States.
It may be expedient to provide that such law as shall be passed in pursuance of this recommendation shall expire at the end of the next session of Congress.
There is no other subject upon which I would recommend legislation during the present session.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, March 28, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 16th instant, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the papers[44] which accompanied it.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 44: Reports, communications, etc., relative to the International Statistical Congress held at The Hague in 1869.]
WASHINGTON, March 30, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit, for consideration with a view to its ratification, a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and the Kingdom of Italy, signed at Florence on the 26th of last month.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, March 31, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
In answer to your resolution of the 17th instant, requesting, "if not incompatible with the public service, the report recently made by a board of officers of the Engineer Department on the condition of the Mississippi River near Vicksburg, Miss., with such remarks, suggestions, or recommendations as may be made by the Chief Engineer of the Army," I herewith transmit a report, dated 28th instant, with accompanying papers, received from the Secretary of War.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, April 5, 1871.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I have the honor to submit herewith to the two Houses of Congress the report of the commissioners appointed in pursuance of joint resolution approved January 12, 1871.
It will be observed that this report more than sustains all that I have heretofore said in regard to the productiveness and healthfulness of the Republic of San Domingo, of the unanimity of the people for annexation to the United States, and of their peaceable character.
It is due to the public, as it certainly is to myself, that I should here give all the circumstances which first led to the negotiation of a treaty for the annexation of the Republic of San Domingo to the United States.
When I accepted the arduous and responsible position which I now hold, I did not dream of instituting any steps for the acquisition of insular possessions. I believed, however, that our institutions were broad enough to extend over the entire continent as rapidly as other peoples might desire to bring themselves under our protection. I believed further that we should not permit any independent government within the limits of North America to pass from a condition of independence to one of ownership or protection under a European power.
Soon after my inauguration as President I was waited upon by an agent of President Baez with a proposition to annex the Republic of San Domingo to the United States. This gentleman represented the capacity of the island, the desire of the people, and their character and habits about as they have been described by the commissioners whose report accompanies this message. He stated further that, being weak in numbers and poor in purse, they were not capable of developing their great resources; that the people had no incentive to industry on account of lack of protection for their accumulations, and that if not accepted by the United States—with institutions which they loved above those of any other nation—they would be compelled to seek protection elsewhere. To these statements I made no reply and gave no indication of what I thought of the proposition. In the course of time I was waited upon by a second gentleman from San Domingo, who made the same representations, and who was received in like manner.
In view of the facts which had been laid before me, and with an earnest desire to maintain the "Monroe doctrine," I believed that I would be derelict in my duty if I did not take measures to ascertain the exact wish of the Government and inhabitants of the Republic of San Domingo in regard to annexation and communicate the information to the people of the United States. Under the attending circumstances I felt that if I turned a deaf ear to this appeal I might in the future be justly charged with a flagrant neglect of the public interests and an utter disregard of the welfare of a downtrodden race praying for the blessings of a free and strong government and for protection in the enjoyment of the fruits of their own industry.
Those opponents of annexation who have heretofore professed to be preeminently the friends of the rights of man I believed would be my most violent assailants if I neglected so clear a duty. Accordingly, after having appointed a commissioner to visit the island, who declined on account of sickness, I selected a second gentleman, in whose capacity, judgment, and integrity I had, and have yet, the most unbounded confidence.
He visited San Domingo, not to secure or hasten annexation, but, unprejudiced and unbiased, to learn all the facts about the Government, the people, and the resources of that Republic. He went certainly as well prepared to make an unfavorable report as a favorable one, if the facts warranted it. His report fully corroborated the views of previous commissioners, and upon its receipt I felt that a sense of duty and a due regard for our great national interests required me to negotiate a treaty for the acquisition of the Republic of San Domingo.
As soon as it became publicly known that such a treaty had been negotiated, the attention of the country was occupied with allegations calculated to prejudice the merits of the case and with aspersions upon those whose duty had connected them with it. Amid the public excitement thus created the treaty failed to receive the requisite two-thirds vote of the Senate, and was rejected; but whether the action of that body was based wholly upon the merits of the treaty, or might not have been in some degree influenced by such unfounded allegations, could not be known by the people, because the debates of the Senate in secret session are not published.
Under these circumstances I deemed it due to the office which I hold and due to the character of the agents who had been charged with the investigation that such proceedings should be had as would enable the people to know the truth. A commission was therefore constituted, under authority of Congress, consisting of gentlemen selected with special reference to their high character and capacity for the laborious work intrusted to them, who were instructed to visit the spot and report upon the facts. Other eminent citizens were requested to accompany the commission, in order that the people might have the benefit of their views. Students of science and correspondents of the press, without regard to political opinions, were invited to join the expedition, and their numbers were limited only by the capacity of the vessel.
The mere rejection by the Senate of a treaty negotiated by the President only indicates a difference of opinion between two coordinate departments of the Government, without touching the character or wounding the pride of either. But when such rejection takes place simultaneously with charges openly made of corruption on the part of the President or those employed by him the case is different. Indeed, in such case the honor of the nation demands investigation. This has been accomplished by the report of the commissioners herewith transmitted, and which fully vindicates the purity of the motives and action of those who represented the United States in the negotiation.
And now my task is finished, and with it ends all personal solicitude upon the subject. My duty being done, yours begins; and I gladly hand over the whole matter to the judgment of the American people and of their representatives in Congress assembled. The facts will now be spread before the country, and a decision rendered by that tribunal whose convictions so seldom err, and against whose will I have no policy to enforce. My opinion remains unchanged; indeed, it is confirmed by the report that the interests of our country and of San Domingo alike invite the annexation of that Republic.
In view of the difference of opinion upon this subject, I suggest that no action be taken at the present session beyond the printing and general dissemination of the report. Before the next session of Congress the people will have considered the subject and formed an intelligent opinion concerning it, to which opinion, deliberately made up, it will be the duty of every department of the Government to give heed; and no one will more cheerfully conform to it than myself. It is not only the theory of our Constitution that the will of the people, constitutionally expressed, is the supreme law, but I have ever believed that "all men are wiser than any one man;" and if the people, upon a full presentation of the facts, shall decide that the annexation of the Republic is not desirable, every department of the Government ought to acquiesce in that decision.
In again submitting to Congress a subject upon which public sentiment has been divided, and which has been made the occasion of acrimonious debates in Congress, as well as of unjust aspersions elsewhere, I may, I trust, be indulged in a single remark.
No man could hope to perform duties so delicate and responsible as pertain to the Presidential office without sometimes incurring the hostility of those who deem their opinions and wishes treated with insufficient consideration; and he who undertakes to conduct the affairs of a great government as a faithful public servant, if sustained by the approval of his own conscience, may rely with confidence upon the candor and intelligence of a free people whose best interests he has striven to subserve, and can bear with patience the censure of disappointed men.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, April 5, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit confidentially, for the information and consideration of the Senate, a copy of a dispatch of the 25th of February last relative to the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, addressed to the Department of State by Henry A. Pierce, minister resident of the United States at Honolulu. Although I do not deem it advisable to express any opinion or to make any recommendation in regard to the subject at this juncture, the views of the Senate, if it should be deemed proper to express them, would be very acceptable with reference to any future course which there might be a disposition to adopt.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, April 11, 1871.
To the House of Representatives:
I transmit to the House of Representatives, in answer to their resolution of March 31, 1871, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents.[45]
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 45: Dispatches from the United States minister at Florence relative to the occupation of Rome by the King of Italy.]
[The following messages were sent to the special session of the Senate convened by proclamation (see pp. 133-134) of April 20, 1871.]
WASHINGTON, May 10, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty between the United States and Great Britain for the settlement of pending questions between the two countries, signed at Washington on the 8th instant by the commissioners of the United States and Great Britain, respectively.
Copies of the powers and instructions to the commissioners on the part of the United States and the protocols of the conferences are also transmitted.
U.S. GRANT.
WASHINGTON, May 15, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 10th instant, a report[46] from the Secretary of State and the papers which accompanied it.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 46: Relating to claims of the subjects of foreign nations growing out of the War of the Rebellion.]
WASHINGTON, May 17, 1871.
To the Senate of the United States:
In answer to a resolution of the Senate of the 15th instant, I transmit herewith a report [47] from the Secretary of State.
U.S. GRANT.
[Footnote 47: Relating to claims under the treaty of Washington of May 8 1871.]
PROCLAMATIONS.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas it is provided in the Constitution of the United States that the United States shall protect every State in this Union, on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature can not be convened), against domestic violence; and
Whereas it is provided in the laws of the United States that in all cases of insurrection in any State or of obstruction to the laws thereof it shall be lawful for the President of the United States, on application of the legislature of such State, or of the executive (when the legislature can not be convened), to call forth the militia of any other State or States, or to employ such part of the land and naval force as shall be judged necessary for the purpose of suppressing such insurrection or of causing the laws to be duly executed; and
Whereas I have received information that combinations of armed men, unauthorized by law, are now disturbing the peace and safety of the citizens of the State of South Carolina and committing acts of violence in said State of a character and to an extent which render the power of the State and its officers unequal to the task of protecting life and property and securing public order therein; and
Whereas the legislature of said State is not now in session and can not be convened in time to meet the present emergency, and the executive of said State has therefore made application to me for such part of the military force of the United States as may be necessary and adequate to protect said State and the citizens thereof against the domestic violence hereinbefore mentioned and to enforce the due execution of the laws; and
Whereas the laws of the United States require that whenever it may be necessary, in the judgment of the President, to use the military force for the purpose aforesaid, he shall forthwith, by proclamation, command such insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within a limited time:
Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States, do hereby command the persons composing the unlawful combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 24th day of March, A.D. 1871, and of the Independence of the United States the ninety-fifth.
U.S. GRANT.
By the President: HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas objects of interest to the United States require that the Senate should be convened at 12 o'clock on Wednesday, the 10th day of May next, to receive and act upon such communications as may be made to it on the part of the Executive:
Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States, have considered it to be my duty to issue this my proclamation, declaring that an extraordinary occasion requires the Senate of the United States to convene for the transaction of business at the Capitol, in the city of Washington, on Wednesday, the 10th day of May next, at 12 o'clock on that day, of which all who shall at that time be entitled to act as members of that body are hereby required to take notice.
[SEAL.]
Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at Washington, the 20th day of April, A.D. 1871, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-fifth.
U.S. GRANT.
By the President: HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION
The act of Congress entitled "An act to enforce the provisions of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes," approved April 20, A.D. 1871, being a law of extraordinary public importance, I consider it my duty to issue this my proclamation, calling the attention of the people of the United States thereto enjoining upon all good citizens, and especially upon all public officers, to be zealous in the enforcement thereof, and warning all persons to abstain from committing any of the acts thereby prohibited.
This law of Congress applies to all parts of the United States and will be enforced everywhere to the extent of the powers vested in the Executive. But inasmuch as the necessity therefor is well known to have been caused chiefly by persistent violations of the rights of citizens of the United States by combinations of lawless and disaffected persons in certain localities lately the theater of insurrection and military conflict, I do particularly exhort the people of those parts of the country to suppress all such combinations by their own voluntary efforts through the agency of local laws and to maintain the rights of all citizens of the United States and to secure to all such citizens the equal protection of the laws.
Fully sensible of the responsibility imposed upon the Executive by the act of Congress to which public attention is now called, and reluctant to call into exercise any of the extraordinary powers thereby conferred upon me except in cases of imperative necessity, I do, nevertheless, deem it my duty to make known that I will not hesitate to exhaust the powers thus vested in the Executive whenever and wherever it shall become necessary to do so for the purpose of securing to all citizens of the United States the peaceful enjoyment of the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution and laws.
It is my earnest wish that peace and cheerful obedience to law may prevail throughout the land and that all traces of our late unhappy civil strife may be speedily removed. These ends can be easily reached by acquiescence in the results of the conflict, now written in our Constitution, and by the due and proper enforcement of equal, just, and impartial laws in every part of our country.
The failure of local communities to furnish such means for the attainment of results so earnestly desired imposes upon the National Government the duty of putting forth all its energies for the protection of its citizens of every race and color and for the restoration of peace and order throughout the entire country.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of May, A.D. 1871, and of the Independence of the United States the ninety-fifth.
[SEAL.]
U.S. GRANT.
By the President: HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas unlawful combinations and conspiracies have long existed and do still exist in the State of South Carolina for the purpose of depriving certain portions and classes of the people of that State of the rights, privileges, immunities, and protection named in the Constitution of the United States and secured by the act of Congress approved April 20, 1871, entitled "An act to enforce the provisions of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States;" and
Whereas in certain parts of said State, to wit, in the counties of Spartanburg, York, Marion, Chester, Laurens, Newberry, Fairfield, Lancaster, and Chesterfield, such combinations and conspiracies do so obstruct and hinder the execution of the laws of said State and of the United States as to deprive the people aforesaid of the rights, privileges, immunities, and protection aforesaid and do oppose and obstruct the laws of the United States and their due execution and impede and obstruct the due course of justice under the same; and
Whereas the constituted authorities of said State are unable to protect the people aforesaid in such rights within the said counties; and
Whereas the combinations and conspiracies aforesaid, within the counties aforesaid, are organized and armed and are so numerous and powerful as to be able to defy the constituted authorities of said State and of the United States within the said State, and by reason of said causes the conviction of such offenders and the preservation of the public peace and safety have become impracticable in said counties:
Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States of America, do hereby command all persons composing the unlawful combinations and conspiracies aforesaid to disperse and to retire peaceably to their homes within five days of the date hereof, and to deliver either to the marshal of the United States for the district of South Carolina, or to any of his deputies, or to any military officer of the United States within said counties, all arms, ammunition, uniforms, disguises, and other means and implements used, kept, possessed, or controlled by them for carrying out the unlawful purposes for which the combinations and conspiracies are organized.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 12th day of October, A.D. 1871, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-sixth.
[SEAL.]
U.S. GRANT.
By the President: HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas by an act of Congress entitled "An act to enforce the provisions of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and for other purposes," approved the 20th day of April, A.D. 1871, power is given to the President of the United States, when in his judgment the public safety shall require it, to suspend the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus in any State or part of a State whenever combinations and conspiracies exist in such State or part of a State for the purpose of depriving any portion or class of the people of such State of the rights, privileges, immunities, and protection named in the Constitution of the United States and secured by the act of Congress aforesaid; and whenever such combinations and conspiracies do so obstruct and hinder the execution of the laws of any such State and of the United States as to deprive the people aforesaid of the rights, privileges, immunities, and protection aforesaid, and do oppose and obstruct the laws of the United States and their due execution, and impede and obstruct the due course of justice under the same; and whenever such combinations shall be organized and armed, and so numerous and powerful as to be able by violence either to overthrow or to set at defiance the constituted authorities of said State and of the United States within such State; and whenever by reason of said causes the conviction of such offenders and the preservation of the public peace shall become in such State or part of a State impracticable; and
Whereas such unlawful combinations and conspiracies for the purposes aforesaid are declared by the act of Congress aforesaid to be rebellion against the Government of the United States; and
Whereas by said act of Congress it is provided that before the President shall suspend the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus he shall first have made proclamation commanding such insurgents to disperse; and
Whereas on the 12th day of the present month of October the President of the United States did issue his proclamation, reciting therein, among other things, that such combinations and conspiracies did then exist in the counties of Spartanburg, York, Marion, Chester, Laurens, Newberry, Fairfield, Lancaster, and Chesterfield, in the State of South Carolina, and commanding thereby all persons composing such unlawful combinations and conspiracies to disperse and retire peaceably to their homes within five days from the date thereof, and to deliver either to the marshal of the United States for the district of South Carolina, or to any of his deputies, or to any military officer of the United States within said counties, all arms, ammunition, uniforms, disguises, and other means and implements used, kept, possessed, or controlled by them for carrying out the unlawful purposes for which the said combinations and conspiracies are organized; and
Whereas the insurgents engaged in such unlawful combinations and conspiracies within the counties aforesaid have not dispersed and retired peaceably to their respective homes, and have not delivered to the marshal of the United States, or to any of his deputies, or to any military officer of the United States within said counties, all arms, ammunition, uniforms, disguises, and other means and implements used, kept, possessed, or controlled by them for carrying out the unlawful purposes for which the combinations and conspiracies are organized, as commanded by said proclamation, but do still persist in the unlawful combinations and conspiracies aforesaid:
Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution of the United States and the act of Congress aforesaid, do hereby declare that in my judgment the public safety especially requires that the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus be suspended, to the end that such rebellion may be overthrown, and do hereby suspend the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus within the counties of Spartanburg, York, Marion, Chester, Laurens, Newberry, Fairfield, Lancaster, and Chesterfield, in said State of South Carolina, in respect to all persons arrested by the marshal of the United States for the said district of South Carolina, or by any of his deputies, or by any military officer of the United States, or by any soldier or citizen acting under the orders of said marshal, deputy, or such military officer within any one of said counties, charged with any violation of the act of Congress aforesaid, during the continuance of such rebellion.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 17th day of October, A.D. 1871, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-sixth.
[SEAL.]
U.S. GRANT.
By the President: J.C. BANCROFT DAVIS, Acting Secretary of State.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
The process of the seasons has again enabled the husbandman to garner the fruits of successful toil. Industry has been generally well rewarded. We are at peace with all nations, and tranquillity, with few exceptions, prevails at home. Within the past year we have in the main been free from ills which elsewhere have afflicted our kind. If some of us have had calamities, these should be an occasion for sympathy with the sufferers, of resignation on their part to the will of the Most High, and of rejoicing to the many who have been more favored.
I therefore recommend that on Thursday, the 30th day of November next, the people meet in their respective places of worship and there make the usual annual acknowledgments to Almighty God for the blessings He has conferred upon them, for their merciful exemption from evils, and invoke His protection and kindness for their less fortunate brethren, whom in His wisdom He has deemed it best to chastise.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 28th day of October, A.D. 1871, and of the Independence of the United States the ninety-sixth.
[SEAL.]
U.S. GRANT.
By the President: HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas in my proclamation of the 12th day of October, in the year 1871, it was recited that certain unlawful combinations and conspiracies existed in certain counties in the State of South Carolina for the purpose of depriving certain portions and classes of the people of that State of the rights, privileges, and immunities and protection named in the Constitution of the United States and secured by the act of Congress approved April 20, 1871, entitled "An act to enforce the provisions of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States," and the persons composing such combinations and conspiracies were commanded to disperse and to retire peaceably to their homes within five days from said date; and
Whereas by my proclamation of the 17th day of October, in the year 1871, the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus were suspended in the counties named in said proclamation; and
Whereas the county of Marion was named in said proclamations as one of the counties in which said unlawful combinations and conspiracies for the purposes aforesaid existed, and in which the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus were suspended; and
Whereas it has been ascertained that in said county of Marion said combinations and conspiracies do not exist to the extent recited in said proclamations; and
Whereas it has been ascertained that unlawful combinations and conspiracies of the character and to the extent and for the purposes described in said proclamations do exist in the county of Union in said State:
Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States of America, do hereby revoke, as to the said county of Marion, the suspension of the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus directed in my said proclamation of the 17th day of October, 1871.
And I do hereby command all persons in the said county of Union composing the unlawful combinations and conspiracies aforesaid to disperse and to retire peaceably to their homes within five days of the date hereof, and to deliver either to the marshal of the United States for the district of South Carolina, or to any of his deputies, or to any military officer of the United States within said county, all arms, ammunition, uniforms, disguises, and other means and implements used, kept, possessed, or controlled by them for carrying out the unlawful purposes for which the combinations and conspiracies are organized.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of November, A.D. 1871, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-sixth. |
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