[Inclosure in No. 157.]
President Pardo’s message.
[From the “South Pacific Times” of
February 6,
1875.]
On the 3d instant, the extraordinary sessions of Congress were formally
opened in Lima. The gallery was well filled, and the speech, which was
read by President Pardo, was listened to with marked attention. The
following is a translation of this document:
Honorable representatives, my first duty on finding myself in the midst
of you, in the tranquil performance of your constitutional attributes,
is to render thanks to Almighty God for the rapid and happy termination
of the civil war which two months ago threatened the republic, and for
the proofs of civic virtues which the citizens have evinced in
consequence of it.
The crisis through which the republic has passed has sufficed to prove
the power which order, law, and progress hold in our social
organization, and the national guards, the army, and the navy have
exercised through their spirit and conduct a moral and material
influence greatly to the benefit of the true interests of the country.
The result has proved that the consciousness of the existence of that
power was well founded, and has been a source of satisfaction to
right-thinking men of all parties, who desire that their ideas or their
political aspirations may be carried out after honorable and peaceable
legal conflict.
The army, the navy, and the national guards have acquired just title to
public gratitude in this short though vigorous defense of social order,
justice, and our institutions.
To consolidate the labor effected, and insure the interests and rights of
society [Page 1001] against future
attacks, it is urgently requisite to determine a number of important
matters which, await your decision, and for this reason I have summoned
these extraordinary sessions, in the hope that your intelligence and
patriotism will give them that correct and prompt solution which the
condition of the country imperiously demands.
The most important of these questions are those with reference to the
finances.
The country is passing through a crisis which is so serious that we
cannot ignore it, because social evils cannot be cured unless the
authorities examine into them.
The advances received on account of the sales of guano have resulted in
three consequences which to-day are combined in one. The natural
reaction in business and industry after passing through an epoch in
which the ordinary product of the guano was consumed, and also the sales
of future years, the difficulty which the foreign trade of Peru feels in
consequence of guano having thus temporarily ceased to serve as a
national return, and the blank which the discount of this rental has
produced in the receipts, to the great embarrassment of the regular
public service.
The first of these results refers to a circumstance already realized, and
it cannot therefore be corrected, except by the gradual action of
economical laws. The second, i. e., the decreased
commercial return in proportion to the imports, will diminish as the
production of the country increases. But the third cannot be remedied,
except by yourselves, and it is urgently necessary that you undertake
the task.
An equality between receipts and expenditures is indispensably necessary
for the proper administration of the executive powers, which, as you
well know, exercise an important part in the moral and material welfare
of a nation. Only the equality can insure credit, and we require to make
use of ours in order to terminate the public works which have been
commenced, and increase European immigration, which is rendered
necessary by them, and which is the most powerful element in increasing
production.
If the solution of our financial question places us in a position to make
use of our credit, the resources we obtain from it will contribute to a
great extent to decrease the ill-effects we at present experience from a
want of exportable products, and our foreign trade will to that extent
be a gainer. Consequently, the public peace, social order, the due
carrying on of the government, the national credit, the termination of
the public works and their necessary effects on the prosperity of
industry and commerce, all depend on your success in restoring a fiscal
equilibrium by determining the sums which are to be permanently devoted
to meeting our ordinary expenses.
The solution of this problem has become a necessity to the republic, and
it is worthy of receiving the whole of your time, study, and attention,
since the difficulties and dangers attendant on its solution are equally
as great as those which must result from its non-determination. I call
your attention most seriously to this matter, because the future of my
country is a question which gives me much thought, and because my duty
to it compels me to explain its necessity to you, and to urge you to
come to a resolution.
The discussion of the budget and the determination of the receipts with
which its expenses are to be permanently met; the determination of
unsettled questions as to the administration of guano and nitrate in
reference to each other, and in reference to the public treasury; the
formation of a special school-fund on a scale which shall enable
instruction to be generalized and allow the municipalities freedom of
action in the matter with their own funds, and thus liberate the budget
from charges for local expenses; and, finally, the determination of
funds for the perfection of our public works and for foreign
immigration—these are the primary questions which have led to my calling
this extraordinary Congress, and to which I especially direct your
attention in consequence of their intimate connection with the present
and the future of the republic.
Honorable legislators, the responsibility which to-day weighs on the
representatives of the people is as great as are the problems submitted
to their decision by public necessity; and problems such as these, on
which the present and future of a nation depend, can only be solved by
disregarding the minor interests of the present and acting for the
permanent welfare of society.
After the President had terminated, the speaker of Congress answered him
in a short speech, and the sessions were declared to have commenced.
