Mr. Plumb to Mr.
Seward.
No. 103.]
Legation of the United States,
City of Mexico,
April 3, 1868.
Sir: In dispatch No. 92, of the 23d ultimo, I
referred to the opposition made by the minister of treasury in the name
of the government, in congress, to the second article of the provisional
appropriation bill, which provided that the excess in the public
revenues, after meeting the sums assigned to the different departments
of the government, should be applied to the payment of the interest on
the national debt; the government desiring that such excess should be
applied to the buying in of the debt, and not to the payment of interest
upon it.
I have now to transmit herewith translation of the appropriation bill
which was finally adopted by congress, and which, as will be seen, was
modified in article 2 to conform to the wishes of the executive.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[From the Diario Oficial, city of
Mexico, April 2,
1868.—Translation.]
Department of Treasury and Public Credit.
The citizen President of the republic has been pleased to direct to
me the following decree:
Benito Juarez, constitutional President of the United Mexican States,
to the inhabitants
[Page 446]
of the
same; be it known that the congress of the Union has thought proper
to issue the following decree:
The congress of the Union decrees:
Article I. The monthly expenses of the
federation will be made in conformity with the following
provisions:
| 1st. There is assigned to the department of relations, for
the expenses of administration, the sum of nine thousand
three hundred and ninety-five dollars |
$9,395 00 |
| 2d. That of government, eighty-five thousand and
eighty-three dollars thirty-three cents |
85,083 33 |
| 3d. That of justice and public instruction, sixty-six
thousand two hundred and sixty-three dollars seventy-three
cents |
66,263 73 |
| 4th. To that of fomento, one hundred and seventy-five
thousand one hundred and fifteen dollars |
175,115 00 |
| 5th. To that of war, for expenses of administration, five
hundred and twelve thousand five hundred and ninety-seven
dollars fifty cents |
512,597 50 |
| 6th. For the same, for material and extraordinary
expenses, ninety thousand six hundred and twenty-two dollars
eight cents |
90,622 08 |
| 7th. For the same, to place five thousand dollars at the
disposal of each of the States of Coahuila, Chihuahua,
Durango, and Nuevo Leon, for the purpose of the defense of
those States against the babarous Indians, twenty-thousand
dollars |
20,000 00 |
| 8th. To that of the department of treasury, for the
expenses of administration and pensions, one hundred and
eighty thousand four hundred and fifty-eight dollars
twenty-one cents |
180,458 21 |
| Total |
1,139,534 85 |
Art. II. The preceding estimates being met,
the excess which there may be in the revenue shall be applied to the
payment of the national debt.
Art. III. This law will remain in force
until congress shall decree that of permanent estimates, in
conformity with the provisions of article 69 of the
constitution.
Hall of sessions of the congress of
the Union, Mexico, March 28,
1868.
JOAQUIN M. ALCALDE, Vice-President.
Francisco Vaca,
Secretary.
Elenterio Avila,
Secretary.
Wherefore I order that it be printed, published, circulated, and
that due compliance be given to it.
National Palace, in
Mexico, March 30,
1868.
BENITO JUAREZ.
The Citizen Matias Romero,
Minister of Treasury and Public
Credit.
And I communicate the same to you for your information and the
corresponding ends.
Independence and liberty!
Mexico, March 30,
1868.
ROMERO.
