PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



585 



The commissioners for determining the north- 

 western land-boundary between the United States 

 and the British possessions, under the treaty of 1856, 

 have completed their labor, and the commission has 

 been dissolved. 



In conformity with the recommendation of Con- 

 gress, a proposition was early made to the British 

 Government to abolish the mixed courts created 

 under the treaty of April 1, 1862, for the suppression 

 of the slave-trade. The subject is still under nego- 

 tiation. < 



It having come to my knowledge that a corporate 

 company, organized under the British law, proposed 

 to land upon the shores of the United States, and to 

 operate there ? a submarine cable, under a concession 

 from his Majesty the Emperor of the French^ of an 

 exclusive right for twenty years, of communication 

 between the shores of France and the United States. 

 with the very objectionable feature of subjecting all 

 messages conveyed thereby to the scrutiny and con- 

 trol of the French Government, I caused the French 

 and British legations at Washington to be made ac- 

 quainted with the probable policy of Congress on the 

 subject, as foreshadowed by the bill which passed the 

 Senate in March last. This drew from the represent- 

 atives of the company an agreement to accept as the 

 basis of their operations the provisions of that bill, 

 or of such other enactment on the subject as might 

 be passed during the approaching session of Con- 

 gress also, to use their influence to secure from the 

 French Government a modification of their concession 



the Union, and on their part not to oppose the estab- 

 lishment of any such cable. In consideration of this 

 agreement, I directed the withdrawal of all opposi- 

 tion by the United States authorities to the landing 

 of the cable and to the working of it until the meeting 

 of Congress. I regret to say that there has been no 

 modification made in the company's concession, nor, 

 so far as I can learn, have they attempted to secure 

 one. Their concession excludes the capital and the 

 citizens of the United States from competition upon 

 the shores of France. I recommend legislation to 



United States, as 

 of the nation 



protect the rights of citizens of the Uni 



well as the dignity and sovereignty < 



against such an assumption. I shall also endeavor 



to secure by negotiation an abandonment of the 



principle of monopolies in ocean telegraphic cables. 



Copies of this correspondence are herewith furnished. 



The unsettled political condition of other countries 

 less fortunate than our own, sometimes induces their 

 citizens to come to the United States for the sole 

 purpose of becoming naturalized. Having secured 

 this, they return to their native country and reside, 

 without disclosing their change of allegiance. They 

 accept official positions of trust or honor which can 

 only be held by citizens of their native land. They 

 journey under passports describing them as such 

 citizens, and it is only when civil discord, after, 

 perhaps, years of quiet, threatens their persons or 

 their property, or when their native state drafts them 

 into its military service, that the fact of their change 

 of allegiance is made known. They reside perma- 

 nently away from the United States, and they con- 

 tribute nothing to its revenues ; they avoid the duties 

 of its citizenship, and they only make themselves 

 known by a claim of protection. I have directed the 

 diplomatic and consular officers of the United States 

 to scrutinize carefully all such claims of protection. 

 The citizen of the United States, whether native 

 or adopted, who discharges his duty to his country, 

 is entitled to its complete protection. While I have 

 a voice in the direction of affairs I shall not consent 

 to imperil this sacred right by conferring it upon fic- 

 titious or fraudulent claimants. 



On the accession of the present Administration 

 it was found that the minister for North Germany 

 had made propositions for the negotiation of a con- 



vention for the protection of immigrant passengers, 

 to which no response had been given. It was con- 

 cluded that to be effectual all the maritime pow- 

 ers engaged in the trade should join in such a 

 measure. Invitations have been extended to the 

 Cabinets of London, Paris, Florence, Berlin, Brus- 

 sels, the Hague, Copenhagen, and Stockholm, to 

 empower their representatives at Washington to si- 

 multaneously enter into negotiations, arid to con- 

 clude with the United States conventions identical in 

 form, making uniform regulations as to the construc- 

 tion of the parts of vessels to be devoted to the use 

 of immigrant passengers, as to the quantity of food, as 

 to the medical treatment of the sick, and as to the 

 rules to be observed during the voyage, in order to 

 secure ventilation, to promote health, to prevent in- 

 trusion, and to protect the families, and providing 

 for the establishment of tribunals in the several 

 countries for enforcing such regulations by summary 

 process. 



And your attention is respectfully called to the 

 law regulating the tariff on Russian hemp, and to 

 the question whether to fix the charges on Eussian 

 hemp higher than they are fixed upon manilla is not 

 a violation of our treaty with Eussia, placing her 

 products upon the same footing with those of the 

 most favored nations. 



Our manufactures are increasing with wonderful 

 rapidity under the encouragement which they now 

 receive. With the improvement in machinery al- 

 ready effected and still increasing, causing machinery 

 to take the place of skilled labor to a large extent, our 

 imports of many articles must fall off largely within 

 a very few years. 



Fortunately, manufactures are not confined to a 

 few localities as formerly, and it is to be hopped will 

 become more and more diffused, making the interest 

 in them equal in all sections. They give employ- 

 ment and support to hundreds of thousands of people 

 at home, and retain with us the means which other- 

 wise would be shipped abroad. 



The extension of railroads in Europe and the East 

 is bringing into competition with our agricultural 

 products like products of other countries. Self-in- 

 terest, if not self-preservation, therefore, dictates cau- 

 tion against disturbing any industrial interest of the 

 country. It teaches us also the necessity of looking 

 to other markets for the sale of our surplus. Our 

 neighbors south of us, and China and Japan, should 

 receive our special attention. 



It will be the endeavor of the Administration to 

 cultivate such relations with all these nations as to 

 entitle us to their confidence, and make it their in- 

 terest as well as ours to establish better commercial 

 relations. 



Through the agency of a more enlightened policy 

 than that heretofore pursued toward China, largely 

 due to the sagacity and efforts of one of our own dis- 

 tinguished citizens, the world is about to commence 

 largely-increased relations with that populous and 

 hitherto exclusive nation. As the United States have 

 been the initiators in this new policy, so they should 

 be the most earnest in showing their good faith in 

 making it a success. In this connection, I would ad- 

 vise such legislation as will forever preclude the en- 

 slavement of the Chinese upon our soil under the 

 name of coolies, and also prevent American vessels 

 from engaging in the transportation of coolies to any 

 country tolerating the system. I also recommend 

 that the mission to China be raised to one of the first 

 class. 



On my assuming the responsible duties of Chief 

 Magistrate of the United States, it was with the con- 

 viction that three things were essential to its peace, 

 perpetuity, and fullest development : 



1. Among these is strict integrity in fulfilling all 

 our obligations. 



2. To secure protection to the person and property 

 of the citizen of the United States in each and every 

 portion of our common country, wherever he may 



