Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/valueofspanishamOObutt 
 
vv^*-^ '(;y l/^^^*'^9^ f>^ t,-es' 
 
 "i— i^°»" I !■ » Il l I I i l ■ m ii -i i..«»iii u ii..iiii»jfae^jn»i^j^^p«»»»iig 
 
 VALUE of SPANISH-AI3ERICA 
 
 TO THE -'9^Sq yi' 
 
 THE PROMOTION OF AMEKICAN COM- 
 MEKCE; 
 
 HOW TO MAKE THE MONKOE DOCTRINE 
 EFFECTIVlj^ ; 
 
 THE EXTINGUISHMENT OF THE NATIONAL 
 DEBT IN A FEW YEARS, &e., &c. 
 
 BY GKIN. CAIJLOS^ BUTTER FIl±iLr>. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 MKTROPOl-lrAN Joi! PuiNltNG AND EnGBAVTN© ESTABLISHMENT, 9T NASSAlf St. 
 
 186S 
 
/ / 
 
TO THE GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE OF THE 
 UNITED STATES AND TO THOSE OF SPANISH- 
 AMERICA, THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE RE- 
 SPECTFULLY SUBMITTED : 
 
 The political power of this country resides in the people. 
 All questions, therefore, of general interest are here referred 
 for decision to the "collective wisdom " of the nation. 
 
 Whoever may seem to lead the public mind in any great 
 movement is virtually an organ, and his thought an inspiration 
 of the popular will. 
 
 For nearly half a century the question discussed in the 
 following pages has occupied the attention of our statesmen, 
 and on several occasions has been gravely considered by the 
 Government. Again and again postponed, it has recurred, 
 and will continue to recur until the body of the people shall 
 be aroused to the wisdom and necessity of finally disposing 
 of it. 
 
 Brought prominently to notice hy recent events, its impor- 
 tance seems now to be more generally recognized. From the 
 close of our late war to the present hour, thinking men have 
 been seeking the best remedy for the acknowledged evil of 
 European intervention in American afiaii-s, and for the 
 deterioration of American commerce. The Spanish-American 
 States, under the pressure of a more immediate interest and 
 anxiety, are also enquirhig : " How shall we secure to 
 ourselves the blessings of future peace, commercial prosperity 
 and exemption from European interference ?" 
 
 Now, theretbre, as if from a common sense of wrong and 
 cf danger, and with a common purpose to complete the work 
 of American independence continentally considered, the 
 Brotherhood of Nations in the New World are earnestly 
 
2 
 
 moving toward the settlement of the question upon principles 
 of reciprocal advantage to the American Powers. 
 
 The co-operative system of international relations between 
 the independent States of America herein indicated, if fully 
 carried out, will, it is confidently believed, prove a solution 
 of the difficulty, and embrace other great and desirable results, 
 as follows : 
 
 I^irst — The security of the independent States of this 
 Continent against European intrigue and intervenlion, and of 
 the colonies here established against any change of dominion, 
 except by transfer to some American Power or by the 
 achievement of their independence. 
 
 Second — A stable government in each of the Spanish- 
 American States, and permanent peace among themselves 
 and with all other nations. 
 
 Third — The rapid development of t]ie vast resources of the 
 Spanish-American States, and the diversion of their immense 
 foreign trade, thus augmented, into the ports of the United 
 States ; and, as one of the fruits of that profitable trade, the 
 payment in a few years of our National debt. 
 
 All this in the interest of peace, directly productive of 
 the largest benefits to the people of the countries more 
 immediately concerned ; and incidentally promoting the 
 welfare of mankind throughout the world 
 
 The facts adduced in support of the plan herein suggested 
 are from the most trustwortliy sources, and the data whereon 
 estimates of commercial results are founded, may, in the 
 main, be verified by statistics compiled under the direction of 
 the United States Government, or by the Balances Genemlcs 
 of universal authority. 
 
 The Spanish-American States comprise the richest portion ' 
 of this Continent, and yet their native wealth, in the main, 
 lies dormant, owing to revolutions, begun with their war for 
 independence and continued, with brief intervals of peace, to 
 the present time. Unfortunately the legacy left them by the 
 despotism overthrown by their arms, was far different from 
 
that preparation for self-government with which we assumed 
 a place among the nations. 
 
 We had received from tradition, and practised in our 
 local legislation, principles unknown to their colonial system. 
 We had prescriptive "rights, and our obedience was due to 
 laws of our own enactment, or binding equally the colonies 
 and the mother country. 
 
 The Spanish-American States enjoyed, at best, only privileges 
 granted and withdrawn at the pleasure of the Crown, or 
 of cornipt Viceroys, and creating monopohes in the hands of a 
 few, oppressive to the mass of the people ; the obedience 
 demanded of them being unquestioning submission to arbitrary 
 authority. Hence, they had to learn by experience the 
 self-control and practical statesmanship which were our 
 birthright. Besides, they have always had in their midst 
 factions representing the old monopolists and Court favorites, 
 secretly exciting discontent, and ever ready to betray them 
 for a price, as was done not long since in the case of Mexico. 
 
 In the absence of security to person and property, they 
 liave not only failed to derive from immigration and the 
 natural increase of their popnlation the benefits which have 
 so richly endowed us ; but the labor among them wanted 
 incentive, while their capital lacked exemption from hazard 
 — both matters indispensable for their most productive 
 employment. Yet their populations have largely increased 
 since they gained their independence. 
 
 The people of those countries, taught by experience, and 
 observing attentively the progress of the United States, have 
 learned that the foundation of National prosperity must be 
 laid in a stable government, changing its functionaries only 
 by the will of the people, according to its organic law. 
 
 Convinced that necessity demands they should secure them- 
 selves against both domestic strife and foreign aggression, and 
 thus be enabled to invite immigration, and develop those vast 
 regions of' incalculable wealth lying within their domain, and 
 confident of their ability, with the requisite moral influence, 
 to maintain the governments they have established, and under 
 them to reach a high degree of prosperity, they look to the 
 
United States, who, by a seasonable recognition, helped them 
 to achieve their independence, for moral support to confirm it 
 to their posterity. 
 
 They confidently look to the friendly Power who, after 
 acknowledging their National existence, once saved them from 
 re-conquest, to avert any danger threatening them from the 
 same quarter. 
 
 They are our neighbors — members of the American family 
 of nations — rand, as such, have our sympathy, and are entitled 
 to our good offices. 
 
 The revolutions that freed them from bondage were in- 
 spired by our successful struggle, and the governments they 
 framed, and are yet striving to uphold, were, many of them, 
 modelled after our own. 
 
 To extend to them proper encouragement, w^ould be 
 to honor the example and give effect to the purpose of our 
 fathers, whose tacit promise of continued friendship we should 
 thus redeem, and at the same time gracefully discharge the 
 obligation devolving on us as the leading nation on this 
 Continent. Our duty in this respect becomes imperative, 
 moreover, from the fact, that great benefits will accrue to us 
 if we pursue the course herein indicated. 
 
 There is, too, a political consideration of momentous 
 importance which has, from time to time, formed matter of 
 grave deliberation and concern with our government, and 
 demands the earnest attention ot the people. It has long 
 been a cherished purpose among the nations of Western 
 Europe to divide and weaken the United States, whose great 
 and growing power filled them with jealousy and alarm. 
 Those of us who before doubted the fact have been convinced 
 of it by the conduct of some of those Powers during our late 
 civil war. Within the last few years we have seen an 
 attempt, by armed intervention, to subvert the authority and 
 control the internal affairs of a neighboring Republic, and 
 on its ruins to erect a so-called Empire, essentiall}^ of 
 European institution, and evidently to serve European aims. 
 
 The plan concerted, and yet to be fully executed, it 
 permitted by our Government, was, after the conquest of 
 
31exico and tlie consolidation of tlie new Empire, to take 
 possession, one by one, of all the other independent Spanish- 
 American States, and, under various pretexts and counterfeit 
 tokens of popular consent, to parcel them out among the 
 several parties to this European enterprise, the aim of which 
 was nothing less than to obtain and wield the controlling 
 power and influence — both political and commercial — of all 
 America. The course pursued by Spain, after her withdrawal 
 from the -Mexican adventure, was strongly indicative of the 
 tacit understanding, as to that Power, with the covert design 
 herein charged, she liaving declared war against others of the 
 States, once her Colonies, upon more trivial grounds of 
 difference than existed between her and Mexico. 
 
 Such, is the condition of affairs, that the United States 
 have either to become the keystone of the arch of Spanish- 
 American independence, or eventually consent to the 
 establishment upon our Continent of Monarchical governments 
 against the will and despite the protest of the people. If we 
 embrace the latter alternative, it will be a departure fi-om the 
 policy we originated, and from which we have never deviated 
 in our intercourse with other nations — namely, to recognize 
 all governments emanating from the people, inquiring only as 
 to the fact of their domestic origin. 
 
 Now, as we are desirous of preserving amicable relations 
 with the European Powers, the question arises, what should 
 be our course towards the independent South and Central- 
 American States, so as to encourage them in maintaining 
 the governments we recognize. 
 
 This desirable end may be attained, in accordance with the 
 wish of the Spanish-American States, by an arrangement 
 tending greatly to our security and aggrandizement, while at 
 the same titae it is in strict conformity with our general 
 foreign policy, and violates no principle of International Law. 
 
 The suggestion about to be made is of no novel National 
 policy, but simply a practical method of making eflScient, 
 without war, that wise American policy discerned by some 
 of the Fathers of the Republic with prophetic eye, and 
 proclaimed by President Monroe, with the approval of the 
 
author of onr Declaration of Independence, as the position 
 then assumed, and to be maintained for all future time, bj 
 this countr}^ in reference to European interference in the 
 internal affairs of independent States, and as to attempted 
 transfers of colonial possessions on this Continent. 
 
 The popular instinct, which is simplj that of self- 
 preservation, now indorses tiiis theory of our Government 
 with remarkable firmness and unanimity, our people being 
 undecided onl)^ as to the means of carrying out the policy of 
 non-intervention williout entangling the United States with 
 any European Power. 
 
 A majority of the Spanish- American States, if assured of 
 the approval and moral support of their purpose on the 
 part of our Government, are willing to form an alliance 
 among themselves for mutual protection against both internal 
 revolution and European aggression, stipulating that, in 
 future, any difference or misunderstanding between any of the 
 contracting parties shall be referred for settlement to an 
 umpire to be chosen from among the American States. 
 Meantime, upon the joint invitation of a majority of the 
 Spanish- American States, presented to our Government by 
 their representatives, a convention may be entered into of a 
 different character, not involving domestic interference, but 
 having for its object tlie enforcement of our continental 
 poh'cy ; the United States engaging to recognize no 
 government on tliis Cmtinent, the establishment of which 
 shall be attempted by European intarvention— all the 
 American Powers embraced in the convention agreeing 
 to make common cause against any Power or cornbination 
 of Powers actually undertaking the subversion or control of 
 any independent American government now, or hereafter 
 to be, established. All parties to this convention will engage 
 to resist changes in the National dominion over any of the 
 European colonies in America, unless it be by transfer to 
 som(? American power, or tlirougli the achievement by such 
 colonies of their independence. The Spanish-Americjm 
 States, parties to tin's understanding, further agreeing that 
 the United States shall have, over all luitions not domiciled 
 
in America, every advantage in trade and intercourse 
 consistent with existing treaties. This wonld bind us only to 
 maintain the position we have ah-eady, of our own motion, 
 assumed. 
 
 It is evident that such an arrangement would make a 
 revolution impracticable in any of those Spanish American 
 States ; for no ambitious leader would dare attempt to 
 overthrow the legitimate government, if it could command 
 the aid of one or more of the neighboring States. Hence, 
 as a result of moral influence, without the exercise of physical 
 force, those countries would settle down in a state of peace 
 and prosperity. 
 
 Through a liberal commercial system and inducements to 
 immigration — such, for example, as already, much to her 
 advantage, Brazil has inaugurated — their genial and varied 
 climates and great natural resources would largely attract 
 labor, capital and enterprise from abroad, to result in such 
 and so rapid a development, as at an early day to produce 
 unexampled prosperity and an immense foreign trade, the 
 gi'eater share of which, with due encouragement from our 
 Government and appropriate facilities for communication, 
 would be enjoyed by the United States. The increase of our 
 commerce, from this source, would defy all calculation. Nor 
 would the political effect of tke proposed arrangement, once 
 made and promulgated, be less important or less desirable. 
 We would thereby restore and make permanent the peace 
 of this hemisphere, and earn the gratitude of mankind by 
 bringing to naught the effort to introduce a new element of 
 discord, and beget a war of races, in countries designed by 
 Providence for the reconciliation and common possession of all 
 the races. Unless the counsels and aims of narrow interests 
 shall prevail over the doctrine that the rights of the people 
 are to be preferred to the privileges of any class assuming to 
 govern without authority from the governed, America will be 
 the peaceful home of all kindreds, creeds and tongues, who 
 may, in their several communities, cultivate the arts, ameni- 
 ties and intercourse of a high state of civilization, with honest 
 
8 
 
 rivalry, but witliout dissensions because of difference in origin, 
 in religion, or in their forms of government. 
 
 Witli a view to tlie large benefits thence to arise, as well as 
 the common danger to which we are exposed, a wise forecast, it 
 would seem, should prompt all the independent American States 
 to strengthen their position, and prepare the way for future 
 prosperity, not only by harmonious action in a temporary 
 emergency, but by drawing together in closer connection the 
 remoter parts of all the countries concerned, through regular 
 and frequent ocean mail steam communication and a net-work 
 of railways and telegraph lines, which would insure both the 
 rapid conveyance of intelligence and a profitable interchange 
 of commodities. 
 
 The natural result of the adoption of the proposed arrange- 
 ment would be more advantageous to our people than is 
 apparent to those who have not carefully estimated the pros- 
 pective increase of our commercial and manufacturing inte- 
 restsywhen stimulated and fed by the mobilized resources of 
 an immense territory of surpassing fertility and inexhaustible 
 mineral wealth, wherewith our present trade is as nothing in 
 comparison with its capacity for augmentation. It would 
 soon relieve the country from the burden of taxation and 
 high prices, for it would enable the Government to pay off 
 the National debt in a few years, leaving the country with the 
 vast wealth of all America still flowing into its ports and 
 enriching its Treasury'. 
 
 And thus the important question of taxation enters promi- 
 nently into the subject. Every addirion to the national 
 wealth lightens the national burden. Every step toward the 
 extension of our foreign trade is an advance toward the 
 reduction of public indebtedness, and the consequent direct 
 relief of every individual in the community from the pressure 
 of onerous taxation, now so severely felt by all classes, xln 
 influx of foreign products brings with it a corresponding 
 revenue, while the stimulus given to trade in various 
 directions, by increased imports, and the advantages afforded 
 by new markets for our exports, cannot be over-estimated. 
 
9 
 
 It would seem superfluous to discuss the importance to 
 our shipping interest of a vahiable trade with Spanish-America* 
 It is proposed to show, however, by the briefest possible 
 estimate, founded upon oflicial statistics, the probable and 
 almost certain growth of our foreign commerce, and conse- 
 quent increase of revenue to flow from this arrangement, if 
 made eifective in its commercial as well as its political 
 aspect. 
 
 The Spanish-American States have a population of 35 mil- 
 lions, one-sixth greater than ours, in 1860, and an area 
 of 7,500,000 square miles, two and a half times that of the 
 United States before the acquisition of Alaska. The annual 
 value of their imports is about $240,000,000 ; of their ex- 
 ports something like $263,000,000 — a total foreign trade of 
 about $503,000,000. The share of this five hundred millions 
 of commerce now enjoyed by the United States is only 
 about $114,000,000, although every article we produce or 
 manufacture is consumed by those people, and we consume 
 or could manufacture and return to them for their use. almost 
 every commodity they export. It is a mooted question 
 with some as to whether we can compete with European 
 manufacturers in the production of certain classes of cotton 
 and other fabrics which form an important item of the 
 imports into Spanish-America. We think we can satisfy the 
 most skeptical on that point, and demonstrate the fact that 
 we are able, not only to compete with Europe, but, if the 
 plan herein suggested be adopted, we can control that branch 
 of trade with those countries in less than four years. Up to 
 1860, Great Britain had nearly $83,000,000 more of this 
 trade than we had. Her proportion of it is now much 
 larger. The value of the imports into Chili in 1864, 
 was, by official statistics, $18,867,363. Of this, England 
 exported 43 per cent., France 20, the United States but 5 
 per cent. Nearly $5,000,000 of these imports consisted of 
 products and manufactures in which we excel the rest of the 
 world, and yet we furnished but ten per cent, of them. In 
 the South Pacific coasting trade, of which we should have a 
 large share, it seems we participate to a very small extent, 
 
10 
 
 and by sailing vessels only. The English have on that coast 
 at the present time some thirty steamers tapping the com- 
 merce of those vast and productive countries, at every point 
 from Panama to Cape Horn, whereas the United States 
 mercantile marine is not represented by one ! ! ! A similar 
 humiliating state of affairs for us exists on the Atlantic Coast of 
 Spanish-America. The English have steamers touching 
 regularly at every available port on that coast, carrying off 
 the precious metals and other rich products of those countries 
 before our very eyes, which trade we might monopolize 
 if we pursued the same commercial policy, and had the same 
 governmental support that Great Britain extends to private 
 enterprise in developing the commerce of the world for its 
 own advantage. Official statistics inform us that, compared 
 with 1860, our domestic exports for 1867 have fallen off 
 nearly 39 millions of dollars, or over 10 per cent. During 
 the same period the domestic exports of the United Kingdom 
 have increased 237 millions of dollars, or 30 per cent., and 
 those of France (proper), 226.2 millions, or over 43 per cent. 
 Whatever have been the causes iliat have enabled Great 
 Britain and France to oustrip us in their foreign commerce, 
 it would seem that now no means should be neglected that 
 will tend to at least restore our lost position. France has 
 now double the amount of exports that we have ; the United 
 Kingdom three times the amount ; and when it is remembered, 
 not alone in its commercial, but in its social and political 
 aspect, what an important agent international commerce has 
 become in the diffusion of intelligence and capital, and in the 
 consequent promotion of peace and happiness, the suggestion 
 derives new force, and demands that it be regarded with more 
 than passing attention. It may not be out of place to add 
 here a brief statement of the past and present condition ol 
 our mercantile tonnage. 
 
 At the National Commercial Convention, held in Boston in 
 February, 1868, the Hon. E. S. Tobey, of that city, chair- 
 man of the Committee on Foreign and Domestic Commerce, 
 made a report, on behalf of that Committee, from which we 
 give extracts below. Mr. Tobey is a gentleman whose renown 
 
11 
 
 for business enterprise is world-wide, and his efforts on behalf 
 of American commerce have been as great as, if not greater 
 than, those of any other American citizen. 
 
 The committee and the convention at large were composed 
 of gentlemen of eminent business capacity, drawni from all 
 sections of the Union, whose interests are almost entirely 
 bound up in the success -of our commerce, and who, probably, 
 more than any other men in the country, were fully able to 
 judge of the disastrous effects that had resulted to the nation 
 in consequence of the deterioration of our commercial 
 advantages.* 
 
 The unanimous adoption of the report by this body of 
 gentlemen is better corroboration of the position we have 
 assumed than any statement of our own can possibly be. 
 The report quotes from the ofKeial report of the Secretary of 
 the Treasury of the United States as follows : 
 
 * The following delegates composed the Committee on Foreign and Do- 
 mestic Commerce: — Edward S. Tobey, Board of Trade, Boston; James 
 MoMartin, Board of Trade, Albany; N. G. Highborn, Shipbuilders' Associ- 
 ation, Augusta; William D. Sewall, Board of Trade, Bath. Avery Pltim- 
 MER, Corn Exchange, Boston ; Israel T. Hatch, Board of Trade, Buffalo ; 
 B. F. Culver, Board of Trade, Chicago; Robert Hosea, Chamber of Com- 
 merce, Cincinnati; A Hughes, Board of Trade, Cleveland; George B. Dick- 
 inson, Board of Trade, Detroit; John B. Green, Board of Trade, Louisville; 
 M. B. Medbury, Chamber of Commerce, Milwaukie; S. D. Baboook, Cham- 
 ber of Commerce, New York; John H. Boynton, Produce Exchange, New 
 York; D. W. C. Brown, Board of Trade, Ogdensburg; D. G. Fort, Board of 
 Trade, Oswego; George N. Tatham, Board of Trade, Philadelphia; Seneca E. 
 Malone. Commercial Exchange, Philadelphia ; Felix R. Brunot, Board of 
 Trade, Pittsburg; M. N. Rich, Board of Trade, Portland; John C. Osgood, 
 Board of Trade, Salem ; N. M. Warne, Board of Trade, St. Louis ; M. W. 
 Sandford, Union Merchants' Exchange, St. Louis ; Joseph A. Wheelock, 
 Board of Trade, St. Paul ; John B. Carson, Board of Trade, Toledo ; James 
 Forsyth, Board of Trade, Troy ; Franois Barry, Board of Trade, Wilming- 
 ton. The Officers of this Convention were : E. W. Fox, Esq., of St. 
 Louis, President, and the following named gentlemen Secretaries : Hamilton 
 A. Hill, Boston ; John F. Beaty, Chicago ; Jason Parker, Buffalo ; 
 Thomas Allman, Philadelphia; J. G. Sage, Cleveland; Edward Betts, 
 Wilmington. 
 
12 
 
 " SUMAliVRY OF TONNAGE ENTERING BKITISH POKTS. 
 
 In 1859. In 1863. 
 
 "British, 5,388,953 7,299,417 
 
 "All foreign, 3,700,597 3,838,529 
 
 " United States, 1,077,948 692,337 
 
 " The increase of British is near 2,000,000 tons, while that of 
 the United States declines 385,611 tons in five years. A still 
 greater decline is apparent wlien the maximum year, 1861, is 
 compared with 1863, the first giving a total of 1,647,076 tons, 
 and the decline to 1863 being therefore 954,739 tons. This 
 decline is undoubtedly due to the immense number of Ameri- 
 can vessels sold abroad in 1861, 1862 and 1863, the great ma- 
 jority of which were purchased by the British. 
 
 " Thu8 the increase of steam-vessels, ich'ich is wholly foreign^ 
 combines with the loss of the magmficent fleet of sailing shijJS, 
 long the pride of the United States cornmerce, to exjjel the 
 United States flag from the chief centres of foreign C07n~ 
 incrce.'''' 
 
 "Another striking illustration of the effect of steam com- 
 merce on export trade," remarks Mr. Tobey, " may be found in 
 the experience of England, in establishing a line of steamships 
 from there to Brazil in 1851. In five years from that 
 date the trade with that country increased three hundred per 
 cent. Earl Grey is said to have remarked that swift letters 
 bring back swift orders for manufactured goods." 
 
 After remarking as to the injury inflicted on the ship- 
 building portions of the country, in consequence of the lack 
 of demand for vessels, Mr. Tobey continues : 
 
 " The decline of our commerce is an admitted fact, and must 
 be obvious to all. As to the means b}^ which it shall be 
 restored, different opinions doubtless exist. Your Committee, 
 however, assume that the legislation and policy of England, 
 which, for nearly forty years, has been undeviatingly followed 
 with great advantage, not only by liberal encouragement to 
 steam commerce, but hy the remission of duties on all articles 
 entering into the construction of her vessels of any class, and 
 still further by allowing her vessels to be siipplied with tea, 
 coffee, sugar, and, indeed, all articles required on shipboard, 
 by being taken out of bonded warehouse, duty free, while at the 
 same time exactly the opposite policy has been imrsued by the 
 
13 
 
 Government of the United States, should furnish us with a 
 clear precedent i?i this '^natter" 
 
 According to official statistics, our merchant marine only 
 amounts, at the present time, to 3,419,502 tons, whereas in 
 1860 we had 5,353,868 tons, which shows a loss in eight 
 years of about 1,900,000 tons. In that period England 
 gained 5,000,000 tons — that is, her tonnage increased from 
 4,000,000 to 9,000,000. 
 
 The mercantile marine of France grew in that time from 
 1,500,000 to 3,000,000 tons. This shows that the tonnage of 
 England has more than doubled, and that of France about 
 doubled, whereas that of the United States has declined more 
 than one-third. It would therefore seem that the time has 
 arrived when our Government, merchants, and capitalists 
 should begin to ponder over these humiliating facts and do 
 something for the restoration of our commercial interests, 
 and particularly with our neighboring Republics. 
 
 The Charleston M'ercury of October 31, 1868, contains the 
 following notice of the arrival at that port of the British 
 steamer " Golden Horn " : 
 
 " At an early hour yesterday morning this splendid steamer 
 crossed the Bar and steamed up to the city, presenting an 
 imposing appearance. And well she might ; for no such 
 vessel, as regards size and cost, has ever before come to our 
 ancient city," etc., etc., etc. 
 
 This is the pioneer steamer of a line to be established 
 between England and Charleston, the object of which is to 
 relieve American vessels from the carrying trade of that 
 section of the United States. It would not surprise us to see 
 lines of British steamers established with several, if not all, 
 the principal ports of the South, thus completing the work, 
 long since begun, of assuming control of our carrying trade. 
 Meanwhile our own ships are idle. Unless measures for the 
 protection and encouragement of our shipping interests be 
 speedily adopted, we shall find our commerce controlled by 
 England, as is that of Spanish-America, and our shipbuilders 
 will b^ forced to abandon their vocation, Our ship-owners, 
 
14 
 
 too, will have presented them the alternative of allowing 
 their vessels to rot at the docks, or of placing them under the 
 British flag. The law of England now oifers no impediment 
 to the purchase by British merchants of foreign-built vessels, 
 or to their navigation by crews of foreign birth. Two acts 
 of Parliament passed during the reign of the present Queen 
 liaving swept away the restraints upon commerce which are 
 yet imposed by our laws, Great Britain is now in a position 
 to command the labor and to employ the capital of the 
 world. 
 
 In striking contrast with the course pursued by our 
 Government tow^ard our shipping interests has been the 
 wise and liberal policy to which the country is indebted for 
 the Union Pacific Railroad. This great national enterprise 
 will be one of the most powerful agents in the fulfillment of 
 our mission to ally the interests of the different countries of 
 the whole American Continent as those of one great free 
 commercial people. But to accomplish that great and 
 end, we df es -i - i ^blc must imitate to a certain extent the policy 
 of Great Britain, w^th a view to secure and control the 
 commerce of those countries for ourselves. 
 
 Great Britain has, as one of its commercial measures, 
 special commissioners, or agents, constantly travelling in 
 almost every part of the habitable globe, investigating 
 and reporting on the present and probable future commercial 
 resources of the countries they visit. This serves that 
 Government as the initial point for its far-sighted commercial 
 policy. For example : A commissioner from some part of 
 the coast of Africa reports, that at a certain point, where 
 little or no trade actually exists, a large trade might be 
 created were the proper facilities for communication provided. 
 The Government forthwith awards a subsidy of several 
 hundred pounds sterling, for the establishment of a line of 
 steamers to that point, and, within three or five years, it 
 realizes from 20 to 30 per cent, from the investment of such 
 subsidy. In view of the well-known advantages accruing to 
 the commercial and financial interests of England from this 
 
15 
 
 policy, it would seem to be wisdom on the part of the United 
 States to adopt measures tending to the same result. 
 
 With the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad, which 
 will be within a year, and the consummation of the policy 
 herein suggested, there would be established in a short time 
 lines of steamers between San Francisco and the different 
 South-American ports on the Pacific Coast, which would soon 
 draw off the trade now enjoyed by Europe to our own ports. 
 This would aflbrd the means of extending our natural 
 protection to the weaker neighboring Republics, a measure 
 tending not only to our commercial advantage, but also to the 
 perpetuity of republican institutions throughout the Western 
 Hemisphere. 
 
 The late disruption of the Spanish monarchy, it must also 
 be borne in mind, will necessarily have an infiuence on the 
 future of Cuba. This question is one which, whether considered 
 in its political or commercial bearing, eminent!}' deserves 
 the gravest consideration of the Government and people of the 
 United States. Whether that island is to be an independent 
 Republic, or whether it is to join its fortunes with ours, 
 is a problem as yet unsolved. It is plain, however, that, 
 considering the vastness of our national interests involved in 
 the proper solution of this important question, it behooves 
 the American Government to take such prompt and decisive 
 measures as shall secure to the United States all the benefits 
 that may naturally accrue from intimate commercial relations 
 with that country, let its status in the future be whatever it 
 may. 
 
 The foreign trade of England and France has been rapidly 
 increased within the last eight years. From the reports of 
 the British Board of Trade we learn that the foreign exports 
 of Great Britain last year amounted to over six hundred 
 milhons of dollars, which, though a falling off from the previous 
 year, vastly exceeds ours. But, in addition to this amount, 
 the exports to the colonies reached about a hundred and 
 twenty millions. The foreign imports for the same period 
 were over five hundred and thirtj^ millions, and the colonial 
 
16 
 
 over a hundred millions. The foreign imports and exports of 
 France approach those of England. The Paris Temps says 
 that during the first half of the present year France has 
 imported merchandise to the amount of 1,738,000,000 francs, 
 or about three hundred and forty millions of dollars. This is 
 at the rate of six hundred and eighty millions a year. 
 
 Commenting upon these facts, the New York Herald very 
 appropriately says : 
 
 " The question arises, how is it that the United States, v^hich 
 have a population larger than that of Great Britain, and nearly 
 if not quite as large as that of France, and greater resources 
 than both, are so far behind these countries in foreign 
 commerce ? Why, the surplus of our cotton and gold crops 
 which we export amounts to two or three hundred millions 
 a year, to say nothing of tobacco, rice, wheat, corn and 
 other productions. No country is so favorably situated for 
 commerce with the rest of the world, and none has such 
 resources or a more enterprising population ; yet we are far 
 behind in the race. This should not be. There is something 
 wrong, evidently, in our laws and in the manner in which 
 Congress legislates with regard to commercial interests. 
 Nothing should be left undone to promote the commerce of 
 the country and to bring it up to that of Great Britain and 
 France. This ought to be the first commercial nation on 
 the globe, and doubtless will be at no distant day ; but that 
 period may be deferred by bad legislation, and, in the 
 meantime, we may lose much by neglecting this great 
 interest and the opportunities we possess." 
 
 These arguments apply with remarkable force to the trade 
 which we ought to have, but, unfortunately, have not 
 possessed ourselves of, with Spanish-America. 
 
 One of the great articles of export from Spanish-America 
 is specie and bullion, five-eighths of which now go into 
 European coffers. There is no reason why seven-eighths 
 of it should not come to the United States, and it certainly 
 would if a wise commercial policy with those countries were 
 pursued and governmental support extended to private 
 enterprise, so as to make such policy effective. Undoubtedly, 
 the most natural channel for the outflow of specie, as well 
 
1^ 
 
 ai of all the other products of Spanish-America, is th^t which 
 leads to the United States. 
 
 The ability of the Spanish-American States to sustain a 
 much larger foreign trade, is shown by the results already- 
 attained in some of them ; for in natural resources they are 
 all nearly equal. The foreign commerce of Cuba is 300 per 
 cent, greater than ours, in proportion to pjpulation ; that of 
 Chili 30 per cent, greater ; that of Brazil nearly equals our 
 OM'n in the same ratio. 
 
 The Government of Brazil, in the scope and liberality 
 of its commercial system and the re-inforcement of all 
 branches of internal trade and industry it has introduced 
 and is laboring to perfect, through encouragement to 
 immigrants, and the beginning of an extensive steam 
 commercial marine, will soon have a largely increased foreign 
 trade and a greatly enhanced prosperity, as is evident from 
 the stimulus already imparted to private enterprise and the 
 effect in growth of population and general business. 
 
 Nothing but the want of tranquility, and the absence of 
 the means of communication, prevent the trade of any of 
 those countries from equaling per capita the present trade 
 of Cuba, which last has by no means attained the maximum 
 of its capacity. With proper facilities for intercourse, there 
 is no reason why their commerce with the United States 
 should not within ten years amount to $1,000,000,000 per 
 annum. 
 
 In 1850 United States' steamers commenced touchine: 
 regularly at Havana. Our total trade with Cuba for that year 
 was $15,282,625. For the year ending, June 30, 1858, to 
 which it had grown gradually but rapidly through the preceding 
 years, it was $41,648,037, an annual increase in eight years 
 of over $26,000,000. (Butterfield's United States and Mexico, 
 pp. 50, 51.) The value of her exports to the United States 
 was, for that year, $27,214,846. In 1867 it had increased 
 to $39,324,765 — her population being about 1,500,000, and 
 her trade with the United States over $53,000,000. 
 
18 
 
 The annual value of our commerce with all Spanish- 
 America, increased in the same ratio, would be over 
 $1,219,000,000. Of this sum, taking the exports of Cuba 
 to this country as the basis of calculation, the annual 
 value of their exports to the United States would be 
 $598,000,000. 
 
 The annual yield of the silver mines of Mexico might 
 easily be made to exceed in value the gold product or 
 California, its control secui'ed and its benefits enjoyed by 
 the United States. The intercliange of trade between the 
 United States and Mexico alone, increased in proportion to 
 population, to what it now is witli Cuba, would be about 
 $282,000,000 per annum. 
 
 The receipts from Customs on $598,000,000, the estimated 
 annual value of our imports from all of tlie Spanish- American 
 States, after the establishment of the intercourse contemplated 
 by this plan, taking for our basis the average rate of duty, 
 about thirty-one per cent., would be $185,380,000. But 
 suppose the duty be increased to forty per cent, as it probably 
 will be, this trade would yield from Customs $239,200,000 
 per annum. But allowing for undutiable goods, the odd 
 $9,200,000, and much less would suffice, w^e find that, without 
 increase of population, we would derive from this trade, 
 in ten years, $2,300,000,000, or within $235,614,313 of the 
 amount of our National Debt, according to the estimate on the 
 1st of September, 1868— $2,535,614,313. Allowing four years, 
 and less time would be needed, to perfect the working of the 
 system, the debt could be discharged in sixteen years without 
 considering the effect of each annual contribution in paying 
 off maturing bonds. No small benefit would thence enure to 
 the people, in lessening the interest to be met by internal 
 revenue, for it would make practicable a gradual and rapid 
 reduction of the direct tax. The Internal Eevenue will pay 
 the interest on the debt. The duties on imports from other 
 countries at the present rate ought to defray the current 
 expensesof our Government. So that the duties on om* imports 
 irom the Spanish-American States may be wholly applied 
 toward the payment of the debt. 
 
19 
 
 It may be objected to this argument that our trade with 
 Cuba is exceptional — her exports to us largely exceeding ours to 
 her. But any apparent unfairness in the estimate is not real. 
 This country consumes an enormous quantity of the articles 
 forming the greater part of our imports from that Island. We 
 can never meet the demand by home production, our soils and 
 climates not being adapted to the most valuable of those 
 products. The increase ot our population and wealth would 
 so augment the consumption of those commodities, already 
 largely exported from some of the independent Spanish- 
 American Republics, that though not maintaining the same 
 ratio between exports and imports as now exists in our 
 Cuban trade, which is surely undesirable, the ratio to their 
 population of the value of the exports to us from all of the 
 Spanish- American States would equal, if it did not far exceed, 
 that of the exports of Cuba to us in proportion to its population, 
 with this decided advantage to us, due to the arrangement 
 herein suggested, that, instead of adjusting the balance of 
 trade as with Cuba by the payment of specie, we should settle 
 it by receiving specie, owing to the immense demand those 
 countries would make upon us for our fabrics, machinery, &c. 
 Cuba is of necessity the starting-point in our calculation, 
 because it is the only one of the Spanish- American countries 
 with which we have had for a sufficient period regular mail 
 steam communication . 
 
 But the estimate is far less than the probable actual 
 result. The growth of population from natural increase, 
 and from immigration, with every branch of industry thereby 
 stimulated, would greatly augment the foreign commerce of 
 those countries. 
 
 Should the proposed Convention between the Spanish 
 American States be concluded, it would be advisable, as has 
 been suggested by some of them, to establish at Washington, 
 under the auspices of the contracting powers, a bureau charged 
 with the duty of collecting and preserving accurate information 
 of all the countries embraced in the arrangement, and reporting 
 thereon to the respective governments whenever directed so 
 
20 
 
 to do, a full and detailed statement, showing the progress in 
 industry, population, commerce and wealth due to the influence 
 of the arrangement, and recommending such new features in 
 its own system as experience may dictate. An arrangement 
 of this character will do much toward opening the way for the 
 establishment of lines of transport and frequent communication 
 between this country and the Spanish- American States. These 
 lines should, ot right, receive subsidies from the countries 
 interested in, and to be benefitted by, their establishment, 
 which subsidies might be graduated in accordance with the 
 population of the respective States. 
 
 The archives of this office would constitute a reservoir of 
 valuable information, competent to supply the wants and 
 guide the action of commercial men throughout the continent 
 in all the international relations of trade. 
 
 With a reliable record of the statistics of supply and demand 
 in all of the different American markets, the merchant w^ould 
 be at no loss in making up a cargo and choosing its destination, 
 and purchasers would be furnished with the means of deciding 
 where to procure, on the best terms, whatever commodities 
 they might require. Capitalists, desirous of embarking in 
 mining, manufacturing, or other enterprises, would here find 
 the data requisite to enable them to determine judiciously the 
 site of their operations ; while inventors, engineers, and other 
 men of skill and ingenuity, would be directed to appropriate 
 and remunerative fields of labor. It is believed that such a 
 medium of intelh'gence woiild meet a want which has been 
 long and seriously felt by commercial men, and that it would 
 prove an invaluable aid and stimulus to profitable intercourse 
 between the ports of the different countries. 
 
 Enjoying the facilities for investigation which would be 
 afforded its agents by the several governments under whose 
 countenance and authority they would prosecute their inquiries, 
 the Bureau would be incomparably superior to any private 
 system which could be devised. Free, too, from any bias of 
 personal interest, its testimony could be appealed to with 
 absolute confidence in its truth. 
 
21 
 
 To crown this plan with success, it would seem to be 
 necessary that all the nations concerned should co-operate 
 in the promotion of commercial intercourse. The benefit 
 to accrue therefrom to the United States will of course 
 be proportioned to their relative commercial importance. 
 The peculiar merit of this measure is, that it is at once 
 conservative and progressive ; being a middle course between 
 two extremes. Eminently a peace measure, it w^ill at the same 
 time fully vindicate our national honor, and result in great 
 political and pecuniary advantage. 
 
 This seems to be a favorable time for its adoption ; for it 
 will meet the wishes of a large majority of our ovi^n people, 
 receive the cordial support of the other independent 
 po\ver8 on the American Continent, and will constitute an 
 irreversible establishment of the '• Monroe Doctrine " as the 
 law of nations for the western world. It is well known a 
 similar plan, just forty years ago, had the approval of some of 
 our wisest statesmen, who enjoyed in an eminent degree the 
 confidence of the people. But " the fullness of time " had not 
 come. The proposition had to encounter the strength of 
 our Southern slave-holding interests then in the pride of 
 their power, and exceedingly sensitive of the approach of any 
 influence that would possibly afi'ect their social system. 
 The grounds of their opposition, apart from technical 
 objections, w^ere mainly that no occasion had arisen demanding 
 an American Combination to meet a European Coalition, 
 and that many of the Spanish-American States had, by 
 constitutional provision, prohibited slavery and admitted as 
 citizens people of African descent. 
 
 Nevertheless, despite the magnitude of the interest thought 
 to be endangered, and the great political influence exerted to 
 uphold it in opposition to the measure, such was the popular 
 sympathy with the views of the Government, then led by 
 John Quincy Adams, President, and Mr. Clay, Secretary of 
 State, with the support of Mr. Webster in the legislative branch, 
 that the Senate confirmed the nomination, and the House 
 of Bepresentatives appropriated the outfit and salaries of 
 
22 
 
 ministers to the " Panama Congress," through popular 
 pressure, against the weight of the personal influence of the 
 great political leaders in Congress. And yet the " Slave 
 Interest" prevailed, through the delays, in a large part due to 
 the long discussion of the •' Panama Mission." The influence 
 of the same interest thenceforward restrained our Government 
 from cultivating the necessary commercial intercourse with 
 the Spanish-American States, and virtually drove them with 
 their profitable trade into closer relations wdth Europe. In 
 corroboration of this last statement, we take the liberty ol 
 quoting again from Mr. Tobey's able report. He says :- — 
 
 " England now exports annually to Brazil thirty-two 
 millions of dollars' worth of its products, against only ten 
 millions imported from there, leaving a balance in favor of 
 England of twenty-three millions. In 1859, exports from the 
 United States to Brazil were six and a quarter millions oi 
 dollars, nearly half of which was in flour, and our imports 
 from there twenty-two and a half millions of dollars, leaving 
 a balance to be met in our settlement of exchange, and paid 
 for in England, in gold. The produ(;ts exported from the 
 port of Boston to Brazil formerly amounted to a million of 
 dollars, and it has now fallen to less than two hundred 
 thousand dollars. We cite this tact, as one of many, to show' 
 the intimate relations between commerce and the export of 
 the products of the country. Does it not clearly show, that 
 facility of transportation by steam largely stimulates the 
 exports of a country to distant markets ? 
 
 " It is this well-devised system of subsidized steam commerce, 
 persistently pursued by England for nearly forty years, which 
 has transferred the great bulk of transportation of valuable 
 merchandise, of specie, flrst-class passengers and mails, from 
 American vessels to a foreign flag ; for, previous to the war, 
 not a successful line of American steamships toas running 
 between the United States and England, and to-day the 
 Arnerican flag is not borne across the Atlantic hy a single 
 Arnerican-huilt steamshi/p. Our diplomatic agents and 
 Government despatches must be conveyed under a foreign 
 flao:. But while American steam commerce has thus been 
 driven trom the Atlantic by our subsidized and otherwise 
 favored rivals, England and France, it is an important and 
 striking fact, that American-built sailing vessels, without 
 Government aid in any form, were enabled to compete with 
 
23 
 
 foreign sailing vessels in the carrying trade in every part of 
 the world ; taking guano from the islands of the Pacitic to 
 fertilize the soil ot England, and transporting the products of 
 China and of India directly in successful competition with 
 British sailing vessels into London docks," 
 
 It is well known that the slave holding power in this 
 country prevented the recognition by our Government of 
 Hayti and Dominica, the former of which countries was 
 excluded from our acquaintance for fifty years after the 
 achievement of its independence, and the latter from the vear 
 1824 until 1866. 
 
 Some of the most powerful opponents of the Mission to 
 Panama, and notably Mr. Benton, declared that if the occasion 
 should ever come for a practical application of the Monroe 
 doctrine, we should not only make common cause with the 
 Spanish-American States, but take their lead, and oppose with 
 the whole strength of the country the forcible intervention of 
 a European power, or combination of powers, in the internal 
 affairs of any of those States, viewing any attempt to control 
 their destiny as necessarily endangering the peace and safety 
 of the United States. 
 
 The commercial class of our population, always the first to 
 perceive the approach of any danger touching their interests, 
 foresaw a recurrence of European combinations to reconquer 
 Spanish-America and control its commerce, one such design 
 while yet in embryo having been thwarted by the bold 
 position taken by Mr. Monroe. 
 
 Their fears have been verified most remarkably, not only 
 by our own diminished trade with those countries, but 
 by the political interference, lately defeated in Mexico ; 
 the diminished trade, however, having preceded armed 
 interference, inasmuch as the arts of diplomacy, taking 
 advantage of our indifference, paved the way for the 
 employment of force. 
 
 The people of the United States will readily see the 
 benefits to be derived from a plan the accomplishment of 
 which will open this ample field for enterprise, and create a 
 
u 
 
 new and ever-growing demand for the products of their geniuS 
 and industry, at once bringing to them riches, of which no 
 adequate conception can be formed, and reh'ef from the 
 taxation now l)urdening every interest in the country. 
 
 The people of the Spanish-American States will hail with 
 delight the advent of peace. They will be incited to 
 greater energy by the promise of comfort and luxury from 
 the increased production of their lands and mines, and the 
 wealth with its whole train of enjoyments," to flow in upon 
 them from a rich foreign trade. They will more carefully 
 practise frugality when every citizen shall be secure in the 
 possession of the fruits of his labor, and will become more 
 and more ambitious of accumulating wealth in proportion to 
 the pride and pleasure awakened by the contemplation and 
 experience of all the forms of an improved social life. 
 
 They will learn that the means of comfort and enjoyment 
 can be procured by exchanging with us their products for 
 our manufactures, without the impoverishing effects of their 
 present system of paying for their imports in large part 
 with the precious metals, leaving but little in the form of 
 currency and capital to stimulate industry, and provide 
 improved facilities for internal trade. Then they will keep 
 at home much of their silver and gold, converting it into 
 fixed capital and a circulating medium, which will infuse 
 new life into every branch of business, and enable them to 
 cover their broad territory with railways and telegraphs, and 
 to build up a permanent prosperity in a lucrative, domestic 
 and foreign trade, both to their own and our advantage. 
 
 The Governments of those countries would reap the first 
 fruitB of the benefits of an alliance between themselves, and 
 a more intimate relationship with the United States, in a 
 ready sale of their bonds. An assurance of peace at home 
 would be, to them, an assurance of credit abroad, for peace 
 would be a guarantee of prosperity. Such is the fame of the 
 native opulence of those regions that the promise of a tranquil 
 future, consecrated to labor under the guardianship of law, 
 would immediately attract attention to their public securities, 
 
25 
 
 atid create a new demahct for surplus capital. The proceeds 
 of these loans, employed, as they would be, in stimulating 
 improvements through aid afforded to various private 
 enterprises, would call into exietence other securities inviting 
 further investment. 
 
 The impetus which would be given to mining, under the 
 influence of greatly augmented means and the employment 
 of scientific and skilled labor and improved machinery, where 
 the material is perhaps richer and more abundant than in any 
 other quarter of the globe, and where the precious metals 
 are in such purity, as not to require expensive processes to 
 eliminate them from their ores, should, of itself, in the 
 certainty and value of its results, be a sufficient inducement 
 to enlist in behalf of this arrangement the earnest efforts of 
 all the leading men throughout the American Continent. 
 
 The natural products of forests, unparalleled in wealth of 
 raw material for the arts both of useful and elegant life — 
 including particularly inexhaustible supplies of ship timber, 
 drugs, dye woods, mahogany, India rubber, etc., — would 
 present a field for industry and trade scarcely less inviting 
 than the mines. These forests would furnish a congenial 
 pursuit for a large and enterprising class of people in the 
 United States and in Europe, who, possessed of both means 
 and energy, would bring- to their new homes an element of 
 wealth highly desirable in the view of statesmen and patriots, 
 looking to the establishment of their country's prosperity as 
 much in the character and productive power of immigrants 
 as in their immediate contributions to capital. The trafiic 
 arising from the working of both mines and forests 
 would greatly swell the volume of the foreign commerce of 
 all those countries. These are simply among the prominent 
 sources of wealth which would be largely and most favorably 
 affected by this system of Internationa,! co-operation. 
 
 The policy herein advocated, as auxiliary to the general 
 American policy is submitted to the people with greater 
 confidence from its entire conformity with the firm and 
 dignified, yet moderate and pacific course hitherto pursued 
 
26 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 015 995 555 2 
 
 bj the Government in the conduct of our foreign relations. 
 It is presented with the hope that it may aid in the peaceful 
 solution of the political problem now to be worked out and 
 settled, as a decree to be observed in future by all nations, 
 and with entire faith in its ability, if fully established, to 
 l)estow much larger benefits upon the United States, and the 
 other countries embraced in the arrangement, than they have 
 realized from the commercial treaties now regulating the 
 trade of this continent with all the world. 
 
 Apart, however, from material results, it is a matter afiecting 
 our pride and dignity as a nation, and within the province of 
 our mission, to insure the peaceful triumph of our principles, 
 and, against the assumed prerogative and authority of any 
 European association of monarchs to govern either with or 
 w^ithout the consent of the people, to prove our ability to uphold, 
 by diplomacy, as we have done by arms, the supremacy of the 
 rights of man, whose defenders, the w^orld over, have caught 
 from us their inspiration, and could not long maintain their 
 ground were they not cheered by our success and shielded by 
 our power.