No. 132.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Dix. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 27, 1867. SIR: I have received Mr. Hoffman's despatch of the 15th instant, No. 152. You cannot have been more surprised by learning from the Parisian journals that this department has given you instructions concerning the affairs at Rome than the department was a day or two since by learning through the cable telegraph that you have pledged the United States to take a seat in the European conference proposed to be held for the adjustment of the Italian question. Such intervention would not accord with the settled principles or with the present policy of the United States. I am, sir, your obedient servant, JOHN A. DIX, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE FRENCH LEGATION. [Translation.] LEGATION OF FRANCE TO THE UNITED STATES, Washington, December 15, 1866. SIR: I had the honor on the 13th of October last to transmit to the Department of State the text of the law promulgated in France 16th of May, 1866, in relation to the merchant marine. I at the same time requested your excellency to be so good as to let me know whether the American government was disposed to grant to our ships in the ports of the Union the like treatment as that law stipulated in favor of American ships in the ports of the empire. The minister for foreign affairs reminds me, in a despatch which I have just received, that, article 4 of the law of 16th May being applicable at and from the 1st of January next, it is indispensable, in order that we may be enabled, from that date, to extend to the American marine the benefit of its provisions, that we should receive, preliminarily, the assurance of full and complete reciprocity. The minister, Mr. de Moustier, instructs me, in consequence, to call anew this question to the attention of your excellency. I should, therefore, be much obliged to you, Mr. Secretary of State, if it should be possible for you, to put me in position to make known to my government, before the expiration of the time indicated for putting in force our new legislation, whether the federal government is disposed to consent to the suppression of the tonnage duties now levied on our merchant vessels in the United States. American legislation having anticipated cases of this kind, the minister for foreign affairs hopes the solution of this affair is not of a nature to involve delay or difficulty. Accept, Mr. Secretary of State, the assurances of my high consideration. MONTHOLON. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Seward to the Marquis de Montholon. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 15th instant, recalling the attention of this department to your communication of the 13th of October last, respecting a proposition on the part of the government of France for a reciprocal arrangement between the two countries, having for its object the abolition of tonnage dues now enforced on the merchant marine of France and the United States, and in reply to enclose a copy of a letter of the 11th instant upon the subject from the Secretary of the Treasury. I take great pleasure in assuring you of the earnest desire of this government to enter into an arrangement with that of France, with the view to securing the reciprocal privileges referred to. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, The MARQUIS DE MONTHOLON, &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. McCulloch to Mr. Seward. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, December 11, 1866. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th ultimo, covering and submitting for the views of this department thereon a translation of the note of the same date from the Marquis de Montholon, transmitting copy of the laws of the merchant service published in France on the 16th of May, 1866, by the terms of which "no foreign vessel shall, after the 1st of January, 1867, be required to pay tonnage dues in France, and after the 19th of May, 1869, all differential tax on flags, when covering produce from their native country, shall be abolished; which exemption, it appears, may be enjoyed by vessels of the United States if reciprocal privileges be extended in the ports of the United States to French merchant vessels." I have to state in reply that I have read the note of the Marquis de Montholon, and examined the accompanying law published in France on the 16th of May, 1866; and after carefully considering the same I cannot but express to you my firm conviction that the timehonored policy of our government in inviting and seconding international efforts for the removal of all unnecessary shackles on commerce and navigation, is the true one; and that we should not cease to encourage and to follow any well-directed measures to that end, so constantly cherished by us, and now so well and wisely adopted by France in seeming response to proposals made by the United States in their very infancy as a nation. In accordance with this policy differential duties on foreign cargoes have never found favor in the United States, and such imposts, as well as the discriminating tonnage dues imposed on certain foreign vessels by the earlier acts of Congress, were mainly retaliatory in their nature, and only levied to countervail the exactions or restrictions of nations upon our flag and productions; and the act of 7th January, 1824, repeals all such duties whenever the President of the United States is satisfied that the discriminating or countervailing duties of any foreign nation, so far as they operate to the disadvantage of the United States, have been abolished. The wisdom of this act thus empowering the President to meet the exigencies of the case now presented in the spirit of free navigation and trade, has never been questioned or disturbed by succeeding legislation. Under treaty of June 24, 1822, proclaimed February 12, 1823, and the act of 3d of March, 1823, now in force, vessels of France pay in the ports of the United States a tonnage duty of 94 cents per ton over and above what is required of vessels of the United States, that being the amount levied in France upon vessels of the United States over and above what is exacted of national vessels. By the proposition now made by the French government, as understood, vessels of that country are to be admitted into the ports of the United States on the payment of the same tonnage tax as is paid by our own vessels; and vessels of the United States are to be admitted into the ports of France on the same terms as are French vessels. This reciprocal arrangement meets with the entire approbation and concurrence of this department. Very respectfully, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, H. MCCULLOCH, Secretary of State. Mr. Seward to M. Berthemy. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 28, 1866. SIR: I have the honor to state that, in accordance with a proposition made by his Majesty's government, through the Marquis de Montholon, to the government of the United States, the President has this day issued a proclamation, to take effect on the 1st day of January, 1867, removing the imposition of discriminating tonnage dues upon French vessels coming into ports of the United States. Accept, sir, a renewed assurance of my very high consideration. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. M. BERTHEMY, &c.,.&c., &c. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A Proclamation. Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me from his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of France, through the Marquis de Montholon, his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, that vessels belonging to citizens of the United States entering any port of France or of its dependencies, on or after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, will not be subjected to the payment of higher duties on tonnage than are levied upon vessels belonging to citizens of France entering the said ports Now, therefore, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by an act of Congress of the seventh day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, entitled, "An act concerning discriminating duties of tonnage and impost," and by an act in addition thereto of the twenty-fourth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight, do hereby declare and proclaim that on and after the said first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, so long as vessels of the United States shall be admitted to French ports on the terms aforesaid, French vessels entering ports of the United States will be subject to no higher rates of duty on tonnage than are levied upon vessels of the United States in the ports thereof. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, and of the independence of the United States of America the ninety-first. ANDREW JOHNSON. M. Berthemy to Mr. Seward. [Translation.] LEGATION OF FRANCE AT WASHINGTON, Washington, January 9, 1867. Mr. SECRETARY OF STATE: In transmitting to your excellency, the 28th of September last year, a copy of the new code of French maritime signals, I had the honor to announce to you that the governments of France and Great Britain, after coming to an understanding on the subject, had thought they could, in the interest of general utility, recommend the adoption of these signals to the other maritime powers. To follow up this communication, I hasten to send you to-day a note relative to the application of this new code, and to the establishment of an electro-semaphoric service on the coasts of France. I avail of this occasion to recall to your excellency the importance which the government of the Emperor would attach to the knowledge of the views of the United States on a question which interests in so high a degree the marine of every country. Please accept, Mr. Secretary of State, the assurance of my high consideration. Hon. WILLIAM H. Seward, &c., &c., &c. BERTHEMY. Note relative to the adoption of the commercial code, and to the imperial decree fixing the opening of the electro-semaphoric service. An imperial decree has fixed the 15th November, 1866, for opening the electro-semaphoric service. Every French or foreign vessel passing in view of one of these semaphores scattered along the coast can, if supplied with a commercial code, exchange with such post the signals which may interest her navigation. Besides, if the vessel, French or foreign, has a correspondent in France, he might send to the last, in French or by cypher," a despatch, the charge for which shall be paid by the party to whom addressed. The latter can then use the telegraph to send abroad the news given him, until an international convention regulate the question of collection of charges, and permit the direct transmission abroad by sea. Mr. Seward to M. Berthemy. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 21, 1867. Mr. Seward presents his compliments to M. Berthemy, and has the honor to enclose a memorandum of a conversation which passed between them on the 17th instant. Memorandum of a conversation between the Secretary of State and Mr. Berthemy, minister plenipotentiary from the court of France to the United States. Mr. BERTHEMY said: I have been instructed by my government to communicate to the Secretary of State the satisfaction with which the Emperor has received the good assurances made by General Dix in his speech on the occasion of his reception at Paris. From those assurances his Majesty's government feel themselves authorized to expect a disposition on the part of the cabinet at Washington favorable to a friendly understanding between the two governments in respect to the termination of the Mexican question. I am further instructed by my government to say that the name of Señor Juarez being excluded from our combination, and also it being expected that the Emperor Maximilian will either abdicate or assent to such combinations as the French government might propose, in concert with the United States, we have no settled resolution in favor of any aspirant or candidate for reconstituting the political situation of Mexico, whether Señor Ortega or any other person or persons. What France desires is simply that there may be a restoration of government and order satisfactory to the people of Mexico, and acceptable to the United States and to France. Although Señor Ortega might seem to both governments most fit, by reason of his position, to take in hand provisional measures for the reorganization of Mexico, yet we have in regard to him no bias or prejudice. I am authorized, therefore, to say to the Secretary of State, that if he has in view another name better answering to the exigencies of the situation, we should be ready to examine, with a sincere desire to an understanding, any proposition which the government of the United States may deem it proper to make. Mr. SEWARD said he would reply frankly and without reservation. The disposition of the United States in regard to the subject mentioned is entirely friendly and cordial toward *One signal of the commercial code allows the sender to indicate to the semaphose in what manner he may wish his despatch to be sent. In the interest of all, the exact translation of each phase of the code is indispensable, for one and the same thought should be expressed by the same signals, and this universal language once adopted, commerce would immediately feel its benefits. France. They would do whatever they could consistently with their established relations towards the republic of Mexico to accommodate France. The attitude, however, which the government of the United States has held in regard to a republican government in Mexico has hitherto been, and yet is, that of recognition, exclusively, of President Juarez as the chief executive of that State. The United States do not think that the circumstances in Mexico are at the present time such as would justify them in changing that attitude. The United States are expecting that as a probable event the President of Mexico will recover the power which will enable him to exercise constitutional authority adequate to the pacification of Mexico and the restoration of order there when the French forces shall have completed their evacuation. In any view of the case that we may take, we hold ourselves forbidden by our engagements from acting injuriously towards the republican government existing there or in derogation of its authority. The United States are intensely desirous to avoid not only such transaction, but even au appearance of intervention in the troubled affairs of Mexico, even although President Juarez should desire or solicit, which he does not. For these reasons this government is not prepared at this time to accede to the policy which is suggested by the Emperor. The Secretary said: I am sure that I shall have the President's authority for expressing his satisfaction with the directness and frankness of your communication. This answer, like all my communications, leaves the Prince Maximilian, Ortega, and others, without special mention. My answer to you would have been exactly the same if you had left them unmentioned on your part. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, January 17, 1867. Mr. Seward to M. Berthemy. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 30, 1867. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 9th instant, enclosing a note relative to the application of a new code of signals transmitted by you to this department on the 28th of September last, and also to the establishment of an electro-semaphoric service on the coasts of France. In reply, I have the honor to state that a translation of your communication and of its accompaniment has been submitted for the information of the Secretary of the Treasury, to whose consideration I have already referred a copy of the code in question. In compliance with your request, the attention of that officer has been recalled to the latter matter, with a view to ascertain whether any decision has been made as to the expediency of the adoption of these commercial signals by the government of the United States. Accept, sir, a renewed assurance of my very high consideration. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. M. BERTHEMY, &c., &c., &c. [Memorandum.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 7, 1867. The French minister to-day informed me at the department that France has, in concert with Great Britain, agreed to express to Spain their hope that the tendered mediation of the United States in wars between Spain and Spanish American republics may be accepted and result in a restoration of peace. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. |