Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 6, 1880

No. 486.
Mr. Morgan to Mr. Evarts.

Legation of the United States,
Mexico, September 16, 1880.

No. 101.]

Sir: Copies of the President’s message to the two houses of Congress to-day have just been sent to me. I have no time to have it translated in time for the mail, which is about to close. I therefore inclose a copy in the original, and will forward a translation of the same by the next steamer.

I am, &c.,

P. H. MORGAN.

[Inclosure in No. 101—Translation.]

Address delivered by the President at the opening of Congress, on the 16th of September, 1880.

Citizen Deputies; Citizen Senators: The Tenth Congress of the Union, upon solemnly inaugurating to-day the first period of its legislative labors, greatly elevates the prestige of our popular institutions, and contributes to give them credit.

The legal and peaceful renovation of the public powers is always an event of great political importance, but upon few occasions has it had a significance so clear and opportune as to-day. For this reason, my satisfaction is all the greater at seeing you assembled for the commencement of the important labors confided to you by the constitution and the votes of the people.

Our relations with the friendly powers continue with the same reciprocal and benevolent cordiality, and are carefully maintained by the worthy representatives of those powers and by the agents of Mexico abroad.

The Government of the United States of America appointed a new minister plenipotentiary, who, having been received in the month of April, of the present year, is now in the exercise of the functions of his high investiture.

The representative of Guatemala, being accredited to the Government of Mexico as minister of the republic of Salvador and Honduras, has been received in this character, which will contribute to strengthening the ties which unite us to the states of Central America.

The Argentine Confederation appointed a consul in Mexico, and the Executive hastened to issue to him the corresponding exequatur, being desirous of manifesting his great esteem for a people who for us have the many claims to fraternity.

The Government of His Majesty the King of Spain, through its legation in this capital, has invited that of Mexico to take part in an international conference for adopting measures to prevent conflicts of jurisdiction in cases of maritime disasters, in cases where collisions occur or ships are boarded. This invitation has been accepted, with the promise to appoint, at the proper time, a representative to attend the conference.

The negotiations for the re-establishment of relations between Mexico and France have resulted to the satisfaction of both countries. The executive will very soon report the details of 1hese negotiations to the senate.

With respect to the interior, the general elections have been held without any serious disturbance of public order. Their result, as well as that of some slight disturbances to which they gave rise, were opportunely reported to the permanent committee (of Congress), and the Executive expects from the patriotism and zeal of the present Congress that it will decide the questions that have arisen in a manner worthy of the character and respectability of our institutions.

Two cases which have recently occurred in the territory of the neighboring state of Mexico, the one a highway robbery and the other a murder, have aroused great alarm in society, which energetically demands the repression of these crimes by such prompt and efficacious means as will speedily free it from such dangers.

The Executive cannot do less than support these just demands, and he permits himself to recommend to Congress to decree the authority and regulations which it may deem necessary for the object of making effective the suspension of guarantees for certain delinquents of the common order which was approved by the permanent committee of the last Congress.

In his last message to the representatives of the nation, the Executive stated his determination to establish a penitentiary, within or without the federal district, to insure the safe custody of criminals, and thus fulfilling a precept of the constitution and the prescriptions of the penal code in force. He has now the satisfaction to announce that he has found an appropriate building, the old convent of Tepotzotlan, which was once ceded to the government of the state of Mexico for the purpose of converting it into a penitentiary, on condition that if it should not do so, as it has not done, it should return it to the government of the union. The return of the building has been secured through the proper department and the plans and estimates for the transformation are being made.

The Executive also announced in his message that, looking to public security in the federal district, the organization of the mounted police was being proceeded with. This body being organized, it has been rendering its services for several months, with the best results.

It is impossible not to recognize the importance to foreign commerce (in shortening international communication) of the contracts made with steamship lines. With this idea, the Executive has not omitted any efforts, upon the exiration of such contracts, to prorogue them under the conditions most favorable to the public and the interests of the government, Thus he has done with the contract with Messrs. Alexandre & Sons. The basis for an arrangement with the Morgan American Company for the establishment of a rapid and direct line of steamers between Vera Cruz and Morgan City, touching at Galveston, has been agreed on.

Measures have been taken for the prorogation of the contract with the owners of the steamer Front era, which will give the advantage of rendering its service in combination with the Alexandria line, which from this month should double the number of its trips between the various ports of the Gulf and New York. The obstacles which presented themselves to realization of the project of the Monte Piedad issuing certificates of deposit, payable to the bearer, having been removed, the first series of those bills was put in circulation, with the best results, on the 30th of last June, the establishment being open to deposits and discount in conformity with the rules adopted.

The superior council of health is carefully engaged in the study of different measures for improving the hygienic conditions of the capital of the republic. It has presented various projects, which are at present being examined by the proper department or the city council.

The Executive announces to the chambers with the greatest satisfaction that the sepulchral monument destined to contain the remains of the benemérito of the country, the citizen Benito Juarez, has been completed, and there are only wanting a little polishing and a few ornaments to this work which for a long time has been demanded by the memory of one of our most illustrious patriarchs.

In the department of justice and public instructions, some works of great importance have been completed. The Executive being authorized by the decree of the 1st of June of the present year to prepare a code of penal procedure and to reform that in force of civil procedure, as well as to promulgate both during the recess which expires to-day, and to give a new provisional organization to the courts and tribunals of the federal district and Lower California, the proper department at once devoted itself assiduously, aided by experience and competent jurists, to the tasks made necessary by works of such vast importance. Notwithstanding the short available time, and thanks to industry with which the said department has proceeded in the work confided to it by Congress, and making use of work of committees appointed in previous epochs by the Executive, and even of those of the committee of justice of the Chamber of Deputies, as regards civil procedure, I have the satisfaction to state that the two codes to which I have alluded, and the organic law for the tribunals of the federal district and Lower California, had been promulgated. In compliance with the provisions of the said decree, the secretary of justice will report to you very soon the result of his labors towards those important sections of the republic which are entirely subject to federal legislation, with codes of procedure which are deserved by the enlightenment of the inhabitants and in keeping with the merit which distinguished the civil and penal codes which have served as a basis.

With the code of civil procedure will be sent a statement of the reasons which have been borne in mind upon making each of the modifications now made; and that of penal procedure will be accompanied by a brief explanation of the principal changes introduced by it in the legislation and practices now in force, especially regarding the popular institution, the jury.

Some truly lamentable abuses have given rise to complaints against this institution; but with the precautions which will now surround it, it is hoped that it will, by degrees, approach what a jury should be in a democratic country—a guarantee of impartial justice to all, and a continuous school for the people, whom it obliges to interest themselves in looking to public security.

The more careful organization which it has now been possible to give to it, after consulting with the superior tribunal of the district and functionaries of well known experience, and the regulation of the debates before the jury, are, among other modifications, real guarantees that in the future the par excellence popular tribunal can act with fewer inconveniences than have been experienced up to the present.

Besides the codes referred to, which will go in force the first of next November, a commercial code, already printed and revised, which under the supervision of the secretary of justice has just been formed from material collected by a special committee and which has been on hand for some years, will be sent to the chambers.

The members of the committee have been able to complete the work recently, after long conferences which commenced since the present Secretary took charge of the department. The importance of this project, which not only interests the Federal district and Lower California, but the entire republic, as containing general bases of mercantile legislation, which are subjects for federal legislation in conformity with our constitution, obliges me to recommend you to revise it, in order that it may go into effect in the shortest possible time, shaping the commercial transactions of the nation, and more especially those of the district and the aforementioned territory.

Notwithstanding the extra duties of the department of justice, those relating to public instruction have not been neglected. Thus it is that, besides providing for the continual necessities of the national schools, a normal class has been opened in the preparatory school building, principally destined to the instruction of assistants of both sexes in the primary schools. In this manner an imperious necessity is provided for, and preparations are continued for the establishment of a normal school for professors, there having been up to the present no other normal class than that in the secondary school for girls.

In the asylum for the deaf and dumb has been created a fund of the small savings that remain from the pensions assigned by law to the inmates for the purpose of supplying them with pecuniary aid when they leave the establishment.

The work of repairing and reforming the school-buildings has been continued, and m useful acquisitions have been made for them, as, for example, a considerable number of books of interest to artists, with engravings of merit, which have been .given to the national school of fine arts.

To advance the discipline and morals of the pupils, all the schools are required to send to the proper department their interior regulation, for the purpose of uniforming them as regards correctional measures, the want of which uniformity has been felt with great frequency.

Public improvements, which exercise such a decisive influence upon the welfare and progress of nations, have continued, as hitherto, to receive the attention of the Executive, and have made notable advances, as Congress, in its wisdom, will appreciate.

The telegraphic net-work has continued to be extended over the vast surface of our territory, the following lines having recently been completed: from Tepic to Rosario, and from Mazatlan to Culiacan, with a branch from Elota to Cosalà. The line from Guaymas to Hermosillo has also been constructed; that following along the Rio Grande has been prolonged to Bagdad, and that going towards the Huasteca has reached the town of Alaquines.

Some of the obstacles to the continuation of the line from Monterey to Nuevo Laredo having been removed, the work will very soon be resumed and that important line completed. In the State of Chiapas work on that going in the direction of Guatemala has been resumed. Work has been commenced on that from Matehuala to Linares and on that from Morelia to Zamora, and so soon as the material which has been ordered from abroad arrives the construction of other lines no less important will be commenced.

In order that Congress may have an idea of the advance made in prolonging the federal telegraph lines, it is sufficient to state that their entire length is 10,500 kilometers, and adding to this number that of the lines belonging to the States and private companies there is a total of 15,000 kilometers.

The estimate in force assigns $620,000 for roads and bridges and drainage of the valley of Mexico and works in the ports; that sum has been distributed to the best possible advantage in the various works to which it was destined. As regards roads, besides those repaired in the last fiscal year, work has been recommenced on that from Merida to Progreso, on that from Campeche to Mérida, on that from Jalapa to Perote, on that from Matehuala to Linares, and on that from Guadalajara to San Bias. Now, there is an engineer in the State of Chiapas studying a way of communication between said State and Tabasco, and a committee of two engineers is studying the line of the road which Congress decreed should be opened between this capital and Acapulco, under the conditions established by the decree of December 12 of last year.

Four iron bridges have been constructed, one on the road to Guadalupe Hidalgo, another in Ixtacalco across the National Canal, the third across the Remedios River, and the fourth across Rio Hondo on the Taluca road. This last was brought from the United States, where three others are being constructed for the Cuitzeo road.

The drainage commission has completed another bridge of stone across the Consulado River.

One of the most important works in the ports is the construction of the foundation for the light house at Tampico, the work being well advanced, and the iron tower manufactured in the United States having arrived in that port, that important work will soon be completed. Work on the Chijol and Escobal Canal is continued at that port.

Before the end of the present year the light-house at Frontera will also be finished, and very soon the construction will commence of the light-house tower in the port of Manzanillo, as the respective plan and estimates have already been approved.

In the enumeration of public improvements should be mentioned the fact that the public monuments which commemorate noble deeds will be definitely concluded during the course of the present year. One has been erected at Chapultepec in memory of the students of the military college who in 1847 defended the castle and forest against the invaders of the country. The other is the monument recently erected in the place of the constitution, and which has been dedicated to the memory of Enrico Martinez, the directing engineer of the work of Nochistongo. This monument will be completed with a bronze statue which is to crown it, the molding of which is now assured.

With reference to the progress of railroads, it is pleasant for me to state that in the State of Morelos work is continued with great activity in the direction of Cuautla, the road to Ozumba, 70 kilometers being already constructed and in operation. In the State of Hidalgo 15 kilometers have been terminated; on the road from Mérida to Peto, 8; on that from Vera Cruz to Alvarado, 6; and on that from Puebla to Izúcar de Matamoras, 13.

The railroad company of the district has increased the number of kilometers in operation to 88. The railroad from Celaya to Leon has become the property of the Central Railway Company, with an extension of 60 kilometers recently completed and received. On the San Martin Texmelucan Railway, which is being constructed on account of the government, an extension of 25 kilometers is prepared for the superstructure, and rails for that distance have been ordered.

The Toluca Railway Company, not having complied with the obligations imposed on it by the law of the 22d of December, 1877, the executive declared the concession to be expired, the work being in consequence suspended on the lines under construction in June last, when the declaration was made.

In Tehuantepec five kilometers are ready to receive the rails, which have not been laid for want of the accessories, as in consequence of the recent hurricane, it appears that two vessels on their way to the isthmus loaded with material for the railroad were lost. Five more kilometers will soon be completed, and the work of reconnaissance and survey is well advanced. According to the reports received by the government, so soon as the rainy season is over work on that road will receive a notable impulse.

The distance which separates the port of Guaymas from the capital of the republic and the difficulty of communication prevent the executive from giving recent reports regarding work on the Sonora Railway; but by the last received the government learned that the want of laborers prevents the proper impulse being given to that work. Nevertheless, a wagon road had been opened from Guaymas to Cabo Blanco, and the earthworks were well advanced.

Work on the Central Railway is prosecuted with activity. Nineteen and a half kilometers of earthworks have been constructed, and a cargo of rails having arrived a good portion of the new line can be finished.

The executive, conforming to the just desires of the States to obtain the beneficent results of ways of communication, and being authorized by the various decrees of Congress, has granted various railway concessions to the States of Tamaulipas, Guerrero, Chihuahua, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Oaxaca, Puebla, Vera Cruz, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, and Yucatan.

The executive was also authorized to reform the contracts made with foreign companies for the construction of international and interoceanic railways and to make new contracts, subjecting them to the law giving the authorization.

In the exercise of those rights, the executive has made contracts with several companies. To one has been given the line starting from this capital and passing by the cities of Queretaro, Leon, Zacatecas, and Chihuahua, and terminating on the frontier of the north, and besides, another line which will go to the Pacific, passing by Guadalajara. To another company has been granted a concession for a line to the Pacific, passing by Toluca, Morelia, and Zamora, it being stipulated that from a convenient point on this line another will branch to the frontier of the north, touching the cities of San Luis, Saltillo, and Monterey. Lastly, the contract executed with the Sonora company for the conclusion of the line which it has been constructing from Guaymas to the frontier of the north has been modified.

In conformity with the law which has served as a basis for these concessions, the executive will report to Congress the use made by him of the facilities granted to him.

The Mexican Cable Company, of New York, reports having made a contract for the manufacture and laying of the cable, with a company in London, which engages to send it out by the middle of December, and lay it during the month of January, 1881, from a point in the State of Texas to Vera Cruz, with a connection at the mouth of the Pánuco.

The department will immediately send Congress a general statement of the receipts and expenditures of the federal treasury for the fiscal year 1879–’80, which shows that gradually the beneficent effects of the laws and administrative dispositions dictated for the improvement of the condition of the treasury are making themselves felt; the increase over the $17,811,124 of the previous year being $3,378,905, has made it possible not only to pay with punctuality the ordinary expenses of the administration, but also great part of the deficit caused the previous year by a considerable decrease in the receipts.

The executive this time, as on former occasions, giving his first attention to the payment of the debt to the Government of the United States, is now prepared to pay the fifth installment of the debt, which is due in January next, and will place the amount before the time in that country in order to fulfill this national obligation. The payment of the Mexican creditors of the United States is being made with all regularity by the treasury of Mexico, in conformity with the stipulations of the convention of the 4th of July, 1868.

The three revenue cutters which the executive caused to be constructed in the United States for the service of the custom-houses of Tampico, Campeche, and Progreso have just arrived at Vera Cruz, and will commence to render service immediately, thus facilitating the suppression of contraband in the interest of commerce and of the treasury. For the same purpose two new custom-houses have been established in Sonora, and those at Altar and Magdalena have been removed to the vicinity of the boundary line with the United States, thus preparing to give special care to commercial development encouraged by the completion of the railway lines to Tucson and the well-grounded hope of the conclusion and connection with them of the railroad from Guaymas to Hermosillo.

With the efficacy and care demanded by a work of such importance, has the executive endeavored to fulfill the obligation imposed by the law of estimates of consolidating into a single body the laws in force regarding the stamp tax and maritime customhouses, and he has the satisfaction to state that the stamp law has been published and the consolidation of the custom-house law is being industriously proceeded with and is very well advanced, it being hoped that even before the expiration of the time fixed by law for carrying out the work it will be published, when commerce will commence to feel the beneficent results of the precision and clearness of the law of the important subject of commerce.

The executive being desirous to procure a proper solution of the difficult question of the public debt in order to give a solid basis to the national credit, by liquidating the many values of which the debt is composed, and making the regular payments, has submitted the question to the study of a special committee, and he hopes that after examining the project which it shall formulate, he can again present this important question for the country to the enlightened consideration of Congress before the termination of its present period of sessions.

In order to properly facilitate the works of the military section of the geographical exploring commission, it was directed that it should be joined by officers of the staff, and in its greater part it is composed of persons from this body, who are rendering their service in the State of Puebla, and they will contribute with their labor to accumulate valuable data which at a later period will serve in the study of our budding national history and in the formation of geological maps.

In the military college the corps of professors of the marine section has been filled, and there the students who devote their time to this study can follow their career upon a good basis of instruction.

One of the most notable events for the future welfare of Vera Cruz has been the demolition of the wall and forts surrounding that place on the land side. The government, in view of the uselessness of those old works, which do not satisfy the military requirements of the present day, ordered their demolition in part, there remaining nothing standing at present but the walks and bulwarks which defend the port.

Work on the national powder factory in Santa Fé is continued with activity, and can very soon be put in movement, thus economizing much of the money which at present it is necessary and indispensable to spend in the manufacture of powder and munitions of war.

Instruction in target shooting having been neglected up to the present, a provisional school for that purpose has been organized, which has given the most satisfactory results. The executive in order that our soldiers may know and appreciate the advantages of the present system of breech-loading arms, and that their effect may be in keeping with the advancement and precepts of modern tactics, recently put in practice, has ordered the construction of a national building for a shooting gallery. This improvement will in a short time assist in the reduction of the army which the government has projected, and for its complete reorganization the respective departments will ask the Congress of the union for the indispensable faculties.

Two nautical schools have been created, one in Campeche and one in Mazatlan, both for commercial pilots. These schools are provided with a director and two professors, who have been selected by competitive examination and they will enter upon their duties next October.

In the artillery service it has been endeavored to give an impulse to everything having relation to military establishments of construction.

A hydraulic press of great power has been purchased in the United States, and is now being put up for the manufacture of steel and bronze cannon.

Both the national arms factory and the ordnance department have been supplied with machinery and apparatus, for increasing their production and hastening the completion of their different works.

For the purpose of facilitating communication between the war department and the corps of the garrison and the other military offices and buildings, direct telephone lines have been established to each one of those establishments, the central register being in the department itself.

A practical medical military school has been established in the hospital of instruction, and, professors having been appointed, there are now remaining only a few small necessities to be attended to in conformity with the regulations which have just been issued.

The executive appointed a special committee to study reforms of the general ordnance of the army. This committee, fulfilling the trust placed in it, has terminated its interesting work, which will be submitted to the deliberation of Congress.

As. a rule, peace has been preserved throughout the republic. The events which took place in Lower California, Sonora, and Sinaloa have not been of serious consequences. The revolutionists, having been pursued and defeated with promptness, have lost all their munitions of war, and it will be impossible for them to reorganize to commence the revolution anew.

Much less importance should be given to other movements which have taken place in different parts of the country. These movements having a local character, they have been opportunely and energetically repressed by the respective authorities. It can be stated that there does not exist at present a single group of rebels.

During June and July last a considerable number of savage Indians from the United States invaded the national territory. In consequence, orders were given to Colonel Valle to open, in conjunction with the American forces, a formal campaign against the Indians, with the understanding that neither the Mexicans nor the American forces should cross their respective lines in making the pursuit. He was also authorized to organize the auxiliary forces strictly necessary. The Indians being besieged by our forces, they were compelled to abandon the country, crossing the Rio Grande to Ojo Caliente and entering the American territory.

The executive has resolved to establish military colonies at the watering places frequented by the Indians, and in this manner he hopes those invasions which have caused so many calamities on the frontier will be prevented.

Affairs of the gravest importance and most serious consequences in matters of politics and administration will engage the attention of both chambers from the very commencement of their regular session.

The executive, confiding, as he has always done, in the enlightenment and zeal of the representatives of the people and the States, trusts that they will determine those questions with a view to the well-being of the republic.