ITI'.LIO DOCUMENTS. 



641 



Spain bavo been more than a year 



,. Ifd. I ihall, on any |.r..|n-r occasion 'tl.at 

 :.-ncw tin- conciliatory i i-eommcinl.itions 

 which .1, with i-ii- 



' : anil comprclu-nsn , 



ship, : ...linn-Is of the Amazon 



ana in tril'iitarii--. I i universal commerce. One 

 tiling -'llul to assure a r.i|. 



in Sonlli America. I refer lo 

 I'ul habits without \\liii-h States .mil na- 



annot, in (Ins at:c, well expect material pro8- 



tnent. 



uiun of I nivci sal Industry at Paris has 

 fi to Inive fully reali/cd the hL'h BX- 

 ; tin' French Government. If due allow- 

 ance ! [ tin- recent politii-al il.Tairj-.'nirnl 

 of industiy hen-, tin- part which the United Stairs 



Tin' in this c\hiliition of invention and ait 

 may be regarded with very hi^li satisfaction. During 



.position a conference was held of delegates 

 from several nations, the United States being one, 

 in which the inconveniences of commerce und social 

 intereonrse resulting from the diverse standards of 

 money value were very fully discussed, and plans were 

 developed lor establishing, by universal consent, a 

 eommon principle for the coinage of gold. These 

 conferences are expected to be renewed, with the 

 attendance of many foreign States not hitherto rcp- 

 1. A report of th'-se interestinir proceedings 

 will be submitted to Congress, which will no doubt 

 justly appreciate the great object, and be ready to 

 adopt any measure which may tend to facilitate its 

 ultimate accomplishment. 



On the -"'th of February, 1862, Congress declared 

 by law that treasury notes without interest, autho- 

 rized bv that act, should be legal tender in payment 

 of all debts, public and private, within the United 

 States. An annual remittance of $30,000, less stip- 

 ulated expenses, accrues to claimants under the con- 



;i made with Spain in 1834. These remit- 

 tances, since the passage of that act, have been paid 

 in such notes. The claimants insist that the Gov- 

 ernment ought to require payment in coin. The 

 subject may DO deemed wortny of your attention. 



Tunjjeinent has as yet been reached for the 

 settlement of our claims for British depredations 

 upon the commerce of the United States. I have 

 felt it my duty to decline the proposition of arbitra- 

 tion made by her Majesty's (lovernment, because it 

 has hitherto been accompanied h\- reservations and 

 rimitations incompatible with the rights, interests, 

 and honor of our country. It is not to be appre- 

 hended that Great 1'ritain will persist in her refusal 

 to satisfy the.se just and reasonable claims, which 

 involve the sacred principle of non-intervention a 

 principle henceforth not more important to the 

 United States than to all other commercial nations. 



The West India Islands were settled arid colonized 

 by Kuropean States simultaneously with the settle- 

 ment and colonization of the American continent. 

 Most of the colonies planted here became independ- 

 ent nations in the close of the last and the beginning 

 of the present century. Our own country embraces 

 communities which, at one period, were 'colonies of 



liritain. France, Spain, Holland, Sweden, and 

 Russia. The people in the West Indies, with the 

 exception of those of the Island of Hayti, have 

 neither attained nor aspired to independence, nor 



hey become prepared for sell-defence. Al- 

 though possessing considerable commercial value, 

 they have been held by the several European States 

 which colonized or at some time conquered them, 

 chiefly for purposes of military and naval strategy 

 in carry inn out European policy and designs in re- 

 gard to this continent. In our revolutionary war, 

 ports and harbors in the West India Islands were 

 ii~ed by our enemy, to the ^reat injury and embar- 



nt of the United States. We had the same 

 experience in our second war with (!reat Britain. 

 The same European policy for a long time excluded 

 VOL. vii. 41 



us ev. !. wnh the West I iidiei, while we 



were at \-.i, e \\iih u || nation 



war, tin- n In N, and thi-ir j.iiaiii-al itnd Uockode- 

 bn-akinL' allies, found facilities in the Hume port* for 

 the Work, W bii'b tbi-\ , tO 



of injuring and deva.it. ,,-h we 



are now i-ngaired in rebiiildinir. \V- l.tl,.,i. 

 eially under this disaihantairi' th;' I 



ployed by our em-mi.--, found tiii-ndlv 

 .shelter, protection, and supplies in We it Indian 

 while our own naval operations were neces- 

 sarily carried on from our own distant shores. 

 Tin-re was then a universal feeling >f the want of an 

 advanced naval outpost between the Atlantic coast 

 ami Knropc. The duty of obtaining such an outpost 

 i'ully and lawfully, while neither doing nor 

 menacing uijnry to other States, earm -tly engaged 

 the attention of the Executive Department 

 the do>e of the war, and it has not been lost sight 

 of since that time. A not entirely dii-similar 

 want revealed itself during the same j,eriod on the 

 1'acilic coast. The required foothold there was for- 

 tunately secured by our late treaty with the Kmpcr- 

 or of Russia, and it now seems imperative that tl.e 

 more obvious necessities of the Atlantic coast should 

 not be less carefullv provided for. A good and con- 

 venient port and harbor, capable of easy defence, 

 will supply that want. With possession of such a 

 station by the United States, neither we nor any 

 other American nation need longer apprehend injury 

 or offence from any transatlantic enemv- I agree 

 with our early statesmen that the West Indies natu- 

 rally gravitate to, and may be expected ultimately to 

 be absorbed by, the continental States, including our 

 own. I agree with them also that it is wise to leave 

 the question of such absorption to this process of 

 natural political gravitation. The Islands of St. 

 Thomas and St. John's, which constitute a part of 

 the group called the Virgin Islands, seemed to offer 

 us advantages immediately desirable, while their ac- 

 quisition could be secured in harmony with the prin- 

 ciples to which I have alluded. A treaty has, there- 

 fore, been concluded with the King of Denmark for 

 the cession of those islands, and will be submitted to 

 the Senate for consideration. 



It will hardly be necessary to call the attention of 

 Congress to the subject of providing for the pavment 

 to Russia of the sum stipulated in the treaty for the 

 cession of Alaska. Possession having been formally 

 delivered to our commissioner, the territory remains 

 for the present in care of a military force, awaiting 

 such civil organization as shall be directed by Con- 

 gress. 



The annexation of many small German States to 

 Prussia and the reorganization of that country un- 

 der a new and liberal constitution have induce'd me 

 to renew the effort to obtain a just and prompt set- 

 tlement of the long-vexed question concerning the 

 claims of foreign States for military service from 

 their subjects naturalized in the United States. 



In connection with this subject, the attention of 

 Congress is respectfully called to a singular and em- 

 -ing conflict of laws. The Executive Depart- 

 ment of this Government has hitherto uniformly 

 held, as it now holds, that naturalization, in con- 

 formity with the Constitution and laws of the United 

 States, absolves the recipient from his native alle- 

 giance. The courts of Great Britain bold that alle- 

 giance to tin- British Crown is indefeasible, and is 

 not absolved by our laws of naturalization. British 

 judges cite courts and law authorities of the United 

 States in support of that theory against the position 

 held by the Executive authority of the United States. 

 This conflict perplexes the public mind concerning 

 the rights of naturalized citizens, and impairs the 

 national authority abroad. I called attention to this 

 subject in my last annual message, and now airain 

 respectfully appeal to Congress to declare the nation- 

 al will unmistakably upon this important question. 



The abuse of our" laws by the clandestine prosecu- 



