

PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



643 



taking away the political power of the sect which en- 

 courages and sustains it. 



The power of Congress to enact suitable laws to 

 protect the Territories is ample. It is not a case for 

 hall-way measures. ^ The political power of the Mor- 

 mon sect is increasing ; it controls now one of our 

 wealthiest and most populous Territories. It is ex- 

 tending steadily into other Territories. Wherever it 

 goes it establishes polygamy and sectarian political 

 power. The sanctity of marriage and the family rela- 

 tion are the corner-stone of our American society and 

 civilization. Religious liberty and the separation of 

 church and state are among the elementary ideas of 

 free institutions. To reestablish the interests and prin- 

 ciples which polygamy and Mormonism have imper- 

 iled, and to hilly "reopen to intelligent and virtuous 

 immigrants of all creeds that part of our domain which 

 has been, in a great degree, closed to general immi- 

 gration by intolerant and immoral institutions, it is 

 recommended that the Government of the Territory 

 of Utah be reorganized. 



I recommend that Congress provide for the Gov- 

 ernment of Utah by a governor and judges, or com- 

 missioners, appointed by the President and confirmed 

 by the Senate a government analogous to the pro- 

 visional government established for the territory north- 

 west of the Ohio by the ordinance of 1787. If, how- 

 ever, it is deemed best to continue the existing form 

 of local government, I recommend that the right to 

 vote, hold office, and sit on juries in the Territory of 

 Utah be confined to those who neither practice nor 

 uphold polygamy. If thorough measures are adopted, 

 it is believed that within a few years the evils which 

 now afflict Utah will be eradicated, and that this Ter- 

 ritory will in good time become one of the most pros- 

 perous and attractive of the new States of the Union. 



Our relations with all foreign countries have been 

 those of undisturbed peace, and have presented no 

 occasion for concern as to their continued mainte- 

 nance. 



My anticipation of an early reply from the British 

 Government to the demand of indemnity to our fish- 

 ermen for the injuries suffered by that industry at 

 Fortune Bay, in January, 1878^ which I expressed in 

 my last annual message, was disappointed. This an- 

 swer was received only in the latter part of April in 

 the present year, and when received exhibited a fail- 

 ure of accord between the two governments as to the 

 measure of the inshore-fishing privilege secured to our 

 fishermen by the Treaty of Washington of so serious 

 a character that I made it the subject of a communica- 

 tion to Congress, in which I recommended the adop- 

 tion of the measures which seemed to me proper to be 

 taken by this Government in maintenance of the rights 

 accorded to our fishermen under the treaty, and to- 

 ward securing an indemnity for the injury these in- 

 terests had suffered. A bill to carry out these recom- 

 mendations was under consideration by the House of 

 Representatives at the time of the adjournment of 

 Congress in June last. 



Within a few weeks I have received a communica- 

 tion from her Majesty's Government, renewing the 

 consideration of the subject, both of the indemnity for 

 the injuries at Fortune Bay and of the interpretation 

 of the treaty in which the previous correspondence 

 had shown the two governments to be at variance. 

 Upon both these topics the disposition tovvard a 

 friendly agreement is manifested by a recognition of 

 our right to an indemnity for the transaction at For- 

 tune Bay, leaving the measure of such indemnity to 

 further conference, and by an assent to the view of 

 this Government, presented in the previous corre- 

 spondence, that the regulation of conflicting interests 

 of the shore fishing of the provincial sea-coasts, and 

 the vessel fishery of our fishermen, should be made 

 the subject of conference and concurrent arrangement 

 between the two governments. 



I sincerely hope that the basis may be found for a 

 speedy adjustment of the very serious divergence of 

 views in the interpretation of the fishery clauses of 

 the Treaty of Washington, which, as the correspond- 



ence between the two governments stood at the close 

 of the last session of Congress, seemed to be irrecon- 

 cilable. 



In the important exhibition of arts and industries 

 which was held last year at Sydney, New South 

 Wales, as well as in that now in progrc-s at Mel- 

 bourne, the United States have been efficiently an. I 

 honorably represented. The exhibitors from tin- 

 country at the former place received a lar.'c number 

 of awards in some of the most considerable depart- 

 ments^ and the participation of the United States was 

 recognized by a special mark of distinction. In the 

 exhibition at Melbourne the share taken by our coun- 

 try is no less notable, and an equal degree of success 

 is confidently expected. 



The state of peace and tranquillity now enjoyed by 

 all the nations of the continent of Europe has* its fa- 

 vorable influence upon our diplomatic and commer- 

 cial relations with them. We have concluded and 

 ratified a convention with the French Republic for the 

 settlement of claims of the citizens of cither country 

 against the other. Under this convention a commis- 

 sion, presided over by a distinguished publicist, ap- 

 pointed, in pursuance of the request of both nations, 

 by his Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, has been or- 

 ganized and has begun its sessions in this city. A 

 congress to consider means for the protection of in- 

 dustrial property has recently been in session in Paris 

 to which I have appointed the ministers of the United 

 States in France and in Belgium as delegates. The 

 International Commission upon Weights and Meas- 

 ures also continues its work in Paris. I invite your 

 attention to the necessity of an appropriation to be 

 made in time to enable this Government to comply 

 with its obligations under the Metrical Convention. 



Our friendly relations with the German Empire con- 

 tinue without interruption. At the recent Interna- 

 tional Exhibition of Fish and Fisheries at Berlin, the 

 participation of the United States^ notwithstanding 

 the haste, with which the commission was forced to 

 make its preparations, was extremely successful and 

 meritorious, winning for private exhibitors numerous 

 awards of a high class, and for the country at large 

 the principal prize of honor offered by his Majesty 

 the Emperor. The results of this great success can 

 not but be advantageous to this important and grow- 

 ing industry. There have been some questions raised 

 between the two governments as to the proper effect 

 and interpretation of our treaties of naturalization, 

 but recent dispatches from our minister at Berlin show 

 that favorable progress is making toward an under- 

 standing, in accordance with the views of this Govern- 

 ment, which makes and admits' no distinction what- 

 ever between the rights of a native and a naturalized 

 citizen of the United States. In practice, the com- 

 plaints of molestation suffered by naturalized citizens 

 abroad have never been fewer than at present. 



There is nothing of importance to note in our un- 

 broken friendly relations with the governments of 

 Austria-Hungary, Russia, Portugal, Sweden and Nor- 

 way, Switzerland, Turkey, and Greece. 



I)urin the last summer several vessels belonging to 

 the merchant marine of this country, sailing in neu- 

 tral waters of the West Indies 2 were fired at, boarded, 

 and searched by an armed cruiser of the Spanish Gov- 

 ernment. The circumstances, as reported, involve not 

 only a private injury to the persons concerned, but 

 also seemed too little observant of the friendly rela- 

 tions existing for a century between this country and 

 Spain. The wrong was brought to the attention of 

 the Spanish Government in a serious protest and re- 

 monstrance, and the matter is undergoing investiga- 

 tion by the royal authorities with a view to such ex- 

 planation or reparation as may be called for by the 



The Commission sitting in this city for the adjudi- 

 cation of claims of our citizens against the Government 

 of Spain is, I hope, approaching the termination of its 

 labors. 



The claims against the United States under the 

 Florida Treaty with Spain were submitted to Con- 



