584 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



the United States that the captain of the frigate in 

 making the capture had acted without law ; that he 

 had been reprimanded for the irregularity of his 

 conduct, and that the Spanish authorities in Cuba 

 would not sanction any act that could violate the 

 rights or treat with disrespect the sovereignty of this 

 nation. The question of the seizure of the brig Mary 

 Lowell, at one of the Bahama Islands by the Spanish 

 authorities, is now the subject of correspondence be- 

 tween this Government and those of Spain and Great 

 Britain. The Captain- General of Cuba, about May 

 last, issued a proclamation, authorizing search to be 

 made of vessels on the high-seas. Immediate re- 

 monstrance was made against this, whereupon the 

 captain-general issued a new proclamation, limiting 

 the right of search to vessels of the United States, so 

 far as authorized under the treaty of 1795. This 

 proclamation, however, was immediately withdrawn. 

 I have always felt that the most intimate relations 

 should be cultivated between the Kepublic of the 

 United States and all independent nations on this 

 continent. It may be well worth considering wheth- 

 er new treaties between the United States and them 

 may not be profitably entered into to secure more 

 intimate relations friendly, commercial, or other- 

 wise. 



The subject of an interoceanic canal, to con- 

 nect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, through the 

 Isthmus of Darien, is one in which commerce is 

 greatly interested. Instructions have been given to 

 our minister to the Kepublic of the United States of 

 Colombia, to endeavor to obtain authority for a 

 survey by this Government, in order to determine 

 the practicability of such an undertaking, and a 

 charter for the right of way to build, by private 

 enterprise, such a work, if the survey proves it to be 

 practicable. 



In order to comply with the agreement of the 

 United States as to a mixed commission at Lima 

 for the adjustment of claims, it became necessary to 

 send a commissioner and secretary to Lima in Au- 

 gust last. No appropriation having been made by 

 Congress for this purpose, it is now asked that one 

 be made, covering the past and future expenses of 

 the commission. 



The good offices of the United States to bring 

 about a peace between Spain and the South American 

 republics, with which she is at war, having been 

 accepted by Spain, Peru, and Chili, a congress has 

 been invited to be held in Washington during the 

 present winter. >A grant has been given to Euro- 

 peans of an exclusive right of transit over the terri- 

 tory of Nicaragua, to which Costa Rica has given its 

 assent, which, it is alleged, conflicts with the vested 

 rights of citizens of the United States. The Depart- 

 ment of State has now this subject under considera- 

 tion. The minister of Peru having made representa- 

 tions that there was a state of war between Peru and 

 Spain, and that Spain was constructing, in and near 

 New York, thirty gunboats which might be used by 

 Spain in such a way as to relieve the naval force in 

 Cuba, and also to operate against Peru, orders were 

 given to prevent their departure. No further steps 

 having been taken by the representative of the Peru- 

 vian Government to prevent the departure of these 

 vessels, and I, not feeling authorized to detain the 

 property of a nation with which we were at peace on 

 a mere Executive order, the matter has been referred 

 to the courts to decide. . 



The conduct of the war between the allies and 

 the Eepublic of Paraguay has made the intercourse 

 with that country so difficult that it has been deemed 

 advisable to withdraw our representative from her. 



Toward the close of the last Administration a 

 convention was signed at London for the settle- 

 ment of all outstanding claims between Great Brit- 

 ain and the United States, which failed to receive 

 the advice and consent of the Senate to its ratifica- 

 tion. The time and the circumstances attending 

 the negotiations of that treaty were unfavorable 



to its acceptance by the people of the United States, 

 and its provisions were wholly inadequate for the 

 settlement of the grave wrongs that had been sus- 

 tained by this Government, as well as by its citi- 

 zens. The injuries resulting to the United States by 

 reason of the course adopted by Great Britain during 

 pur late civil war, in the increased rate of insurance, 

 in the diminution of exports and imports, and other 

 obstructions to domestic industry and production; 

 in its effect upon the foreign commerce of the country ; 

 in the decrease and transfer to Great Britain of our 

 commercial marine ; in the prolongation of the war, 

 and in the increased cost, Iboth in treasure and in 

 lives, if its suppression could not be adjusted and 

 satisfied as ordinary commercial claims which con- 

 tinually arise between commercial nations ; and yet 

 the convention treated these simply as such ordinary 

 claims, from which they differ more widely in the 

 gravity of their character than in the magnitude of 

 their amount. Great even as is that difference, not a 

 word was found in the treaty, and not an inference 

 could be drawn from it, to remove the sense of the 

 unfriendliness of the course of Great Britain in our 

 struggle for existence, which had so deeply and uni- 

 versally impressed itself upon the people of this 

 country. Believing that a convention thus miscon- 

 ceived in its scope and inadequate in its provisions 

 would not have produced the hearty, cordial settle- 

 ment of pending questions which alone is consistent 

 with the relations which I desire to have established 

 between the United States and Great Britain, I 

 regarded the action of the Senate in rejecting the 

 treaty to have been wisely taken, in the interest of 

 peace, and as a necessary step in the direction of a 

 perfect and cordial friendship (between the two coun- 

 tries. A sensitive people, conscious of their power, are 

 more at ease under a great wrong wholly unatoned than 

 under the restraint of a settlement which satisfies 

 neither their ideas of justice nor their grave sense of 

 the grievance they have sustained. The rejection of the 

 treaty was followed by a state of public feeling on 

 both sides, which I thought not favorable to an im- 

 mediate attempt at renewed negotiations. I accord- 

 ingly so instructed the minister of the United States 

 to Great Britain, and found that my views in this 

 regard were shared by her Majesty's minister. I 

 hope that the time may soon arrive when the two 

 Governments can approach the solution of this mo- 

 mentous question with an appreciation of what is due 

 to the rights, dignity, and honor of each, and with 

 the determination not only to remove the causes of 

 complaint in the past, but to lay the foundation of a 

 broad principle of public law which will prevent 

 future difficulties, and tend to a firm and continued 

 peace and friendship. This is now the only grave 

 question which the United States have with any 

 foreign nation. 



The question of renewing a treaty for reciprocal 

 trade between the United States and the British 

 provinces on this continent has not been favorably 

 considered by the Administration. The advantages 

 of such a treaty would be wholly in favor of the 

 British provinces, except possibly a few engaged in 

 the trade between the two sections. No citizen of 

 the United States would be benefited by reciprocity. 

 Our internal taxation would prove a protection to 

 the British producer almost equal to the protection 

 which our manufacturers now receive from the tariff. 

 Some arrangement, however, for the regulation of 

 commercial intercourse between the United States 

 and the Dominion of Canada may be desirable. 



The commission for adjusting the claims of the 

 Hudson Bay and Puget's Sound Agricultural Company 

 upon the United States has terminated its labors. The 

 award of $650,000 has been made, and all the rights 

 and titles of the company on the Territory of the 

 United States have been extinguished. Deeds for 

 the property of the company have been delivered. 

 An appropriation by Congress to meet this sum is 

 asked. 



