No. 302.
Mr. Adee
to Mr. Evarts.
Madrid, July 23, 1877. (Received August 9.)
Sir: On pages 213–214 of the Gaceta of yesterday’s date, which accompanies my No. 617, will be found a royal order of hacienda, dated the 20th instant, as follows:
Excellency: In view of the expediente, instituted with respect to whether it is or is not advisable to make use of the authorization conceded to the government by the [Page 519] thirty-sixth article of the present law of estimates, for the imposition of an additional charge upon the import duties of products of America and Asia which may come hither from foreign depots (bonded stores?) in Europe;
Considering that the idea of this authorization does not involve any tendency in favor of the interests of the treasury;
Considering that the principal products of foreign America already come, for the most part, directly to the peninsula from the producing countries, without the necessity of differential duties, and by reason of the natural benefit which inures to commerce by shipping them at the points of production;
And considering that, from the moment when foreign vessels can, in consequence of the suppression of the discriminating duty of the flag, trade directly with the same advantage as may be established for Spanish ships, a free competition remains open to the shipping of all countries, those obtaining the carrying trade which offer the best conditions therefor, and without our merchant vessels deriving any special and concrete benefit from differential duties affecting the ports of departure:
His Majesty the King (whom may God guard), in conformity with what your excellency proposes, and with the report of the consultative junta of tariffs and valuations, has been pleased to decide that no use be made of the authorization conceded to the government by the thirty-sixth article of the existing law of estimates.
By royal order, I say this to your excellency for your cognizance and the consequent effects.
May God guard your excellency many years.
Madrid, July 20, 1877.
OROVIO.
To the Director-General of Customs.
As the foregoing royal order clearly shows the inefficacy and needlessness of the authorization granted by the thirty-sixth article of the budget, and as the reports and inquiries upon which the order is founded have been pending for some time past, one is tempted to inquire what object was to be subserved by including such a provision in a solemn law, only to show its unwisdom by formally renouncing the right a few days after the law has been sanctioned and promulgated. Be this as it may, the present measure shows a healthy desire to avoid needless interference with the foreign trade.
I have, &c.,