CONGRESS. (TiiE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



181 



in Africa and for the reform of the revenue tariff of 



the Independent State of tin- Congo left this lioVem- 

 Illellt Illliil'le I" exchange 1 1 lose acts OH tlu; ilate fixed, 



.lulv _', !>'.'!. A inoilux riniit/i baa been concluded 

 h\ w hieli tlie power of the t .m^o Suite to levy duties 

 oil im|H>rts i* left unimpaired, anil, by agreement of 

 all the Mirnatoric.-. t"ihe general slave-trade act, the 

 time lortlu- exchange f ratifications on the part of 

 the l'nite.1 Stater- has been extended to Feb. a, 1892. 



The late outbreak against foreigners in various parts 

 of the Cliinese Kmpire has been a cause of deep 

 eoiieern in view uf the, numerous establishments of 

 our eiti/.ens in the interior of that country. This 

 Government can do no less than insist upon a con- 

 tinuance of the protective and punitory measures 

 which the chineso Government has heretofore ap- 

 plied. No effort will be omitttcd to protect our citi- 

 zciis peaceably sojourning in China, but recent un- 

 official information indicates that what was first 

 regarded as an outbreak of mob violence against 

 foreigners has assumed the larger form of an insur- 

 rection against public order. 



The Chinese Government has declined to receive 

 Mr. Blair as the Minister of the United States on the 

 ground that, as a participant, while a Senator, in the 

 enactment of the existing legislation against the intro- 

 duction of Chinese laborers, he has become unfriend- 

 ly and objectionable to China. 1 have felt constrained 

 to point out to the Chinese Government the unten- 

 ableness of this position, which seems to rest as 

 much on the unacccptability of our legislation as on 

 that of the person chosen, and which, if admitted, 

 would practically debar the selection of any repre- 

 sentative so long as the existing laws remain in force. 



You will be called upon to consider the expediency 

 of making special provision by law for the tempo- 

 rary admission of some Chinese artisans and laborers 

 in connection with the exhibit of Chinese industries 

 at the approaching Columbian Exposition. I regard 

 it as desirable that the Chinese exhibit be facilitated 

 in every proper way. 



A question has 'arisen with the Government of 

 Spain touching the right of American citizens in the 

 Caroline Islands. Our citizens there, long prior to 

 the confirmation of Spain's claim to the islands, had 

 secured by settlement and purchase certain rights, to 

 the recognition and maintenance of which the faith 

 of Spain was pledged. 1 have had reason within the 

 past year verv strongly to protest against the failure 

 to carry out tliis pledge on the part of His Majesty's 

 ministers, which has resulted m great injustice and 

 injury to the American residents. 



The Government and people of Spain propose to 

 celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the dis- 

 i-o very of America by holding an exposition at Mad- 

 rid, which will open on the 12th of September and 

 continue until the 31st of l>cceml>er, 1892. A cordial 

 invitation has been extended to the United States to 

 take part in this commemoration, and, as Spain was 

 one of the first nations to express the intention to par- 

 ticipate in the World's Columbian Exposition at Chi- 

 cago, it would be very appropriate for this Govern- 

 ment to give this invitation its friendly promotion. 



Surveys for the connecting links of the projected 

 Intercontinental Railway are in progress, not only in 

 Mexico, but at various points along the course mapped 

 out Three surveying parties are now in the neld 

 under the direction or the commission. Nearly one 

 thousand miles of the proposed road have been sur- 

 veyed, including the most difficult part, that through 

 Keuador and the southern part of Colombia. The 

 reports of the engineers are very satisfactory and 

 show that no insurmountable obstacles have been 

 met with. 



On Nov. 12, 1884, a treaty was concluded with 

 Mexico rcatlirming the boundary between the two 

 countries as described in the treaties of Feb. 2, 1848, 

 and Dec. 30, 1853. March 1, 1889, a further treaty 

 \\a> negotiated to facilitate the carrying out of the 

 principles of the treaty of 1884 and to avoid the diffi- 

 culties occasioned by reason of the changes and altera- 



tions that take place from natural cause* in the Rio 

 Grande and Colorado rivers in the portions thereof 

 constituting the boundary line between the two re- 

 publics. The International Boundary CommicMon, 

 provided for by the treaty of isv.t, to have exclusive 

 jurisdiction of any <|iic*uon that may arise, ha 

 named by the Mexican Government. An appropria- 

 tion is necessary to enable the United States to fulfill 

 it* treatv obligation in this respect 



The ifeuth of King Kalakaua in the United States 

 afforded occasion to testify our friendship for Hawaii 

 by conveying the King's body to his own land in a 

 naval vessel with all due honors. 'I he Government 

 of his successor, Queen Liliuokalani, is seeking to 

 promote closer commercial relations with the United 

 States. Surveys for the much-needed submarine 

 cable from our Pacific Coast to Honolulu are in prog- 

 ress, and this enterprise should have the suitable pro- 

 motion of the two government**. 1 strongly recom- 

 mend that provision be made for improving the har- 

 bor of Pearl river and equipping it as a naval station. 



The arbitration treaty formulated by the Interna- 

 tional American Conference lapsed by reason of the 

 failure to exchange ratifications fully within the limit 

 of time provided : but several of the governments con- 

 cerned have expressed a desire to save this important 

 result of the conference by an extension of the period. 

 It is, in my judgment, incumbent upon the United 

 States to conserve the influential initiative it has 

 taken in this measure by ratifying the instrument 

 and by advocating the proposed extension of the time 

 for exchange. These views have been made known 

 to the other signatories. 



This Government has found occasion to express, in 

 a friendly spirit but with much earnestness, to the 

 Government of the Czar, its serious concern because 

 of the harsh measures now being enforced against the 

 Hebrews in Russia. By the revival of antiseinitic 

 laws, long in abeyance, great numbers of these un- 

 fortunate people nave been constrained to abandon 

 their homes and leave the empire by reason of the 

 impossibility of finding subsistence within the pale 

 to which it is sought to confine them. The immi- 

 gration of these people to the United States many 

 other countries being closed to them is largely in- 

 creasing, and is likely to assume proportions w'hich 

 may make it difficult to find homes and employment 

 for them here and to seriously affect the labor market. 

 It is estimated that over one million will be forced 

 from Russia within a few years. The Hebrew is 

 never a beggar; he has always kept the law life by 

 toil often under severe and oppressive civil restric- 

 tions. It is also true that no race, sect, or class lias 

 more fully cared for its own than the Hebrew race. 

 But the sudden transfer of such a multitude, under 

 conditions that tend to strip them of their small accu- 

 mulations and to depress their energies and courage, 

 is neither good for them nor for us. 



The banishment, whether by direct decree or by 

 not less certain indirect methods, of so large a number 

 of men and women is not a local question. A decree 

 to leave one country is, in the nature of things, an 

 order to enter another some other. This considera- 

 tion, as well as the suggestions of humanity, furnishes 

 ample ground for the remonstrances which we have 

 presented to Russia, while our historic friendship for 

 that Government can not fail to give the assurance 

 that our representations are those of a sincere well- 

 wisher. 



The annual report of the Maritime Canal Com- 

 pany of Nicaragua shows that much costly and nece 

 sary preparatory work has been done during the venr 

 in the construction of shops, railroad tracks, and har- 

 bor piers and breakwaters, and that the work of canal 

 construction has made some progress. 



I deem it to be a matter of the highest concern to 

 the United States that this canal, connecting the 

 waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and giving 

 to us a short water communication between our ports 

 upon those two great seas, should be speedily eon 

 Btructed and at the smallest practicable limit of cost. 



