[Inclosure 1 in No. 685.]
Address of the President of the republic on the
formal opening of the second period of sessions of the Congress of
the Union, April 1.
[From The Two Republics,
Mexico, April 6, 1878.]
Gentlemen Deputies, Gentlemen Senators: The
republic will doubtless receive with satisfaction the intelligence of
your reunion to-day, as it inaugurates the continuation
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of your legislative duties at the time
fixed by our fundamental charter. It is indispensably necessary, in
order that you may continue your important labors, that you be made
acquainted with the present state of the country; and this necessity,
foreseen and provided for by the sixty-third article of the
constitution, will be complied with in part with the report which I
present to you of the condition of the different branches of the public
administration.
Our relations with foreign powers continue peaceful and cordially
friendly, and it may be asserted that, in general, they tend, in a
marked manner, to become strengthened. With respect to the United States
of America, the pending questions, of which Congress is already
informed, have not been settled.
The Executive has thought to favor the interests of Mexico by
accrediting, with the approbation of the Senate, legations to the
Republics of Central and South America, the first having already
commenced its duties and the second will soon be dispatched to its
destination. The new personnel of the Mexican
legation in Italy left for that kingdom in the latter part of January,
and should at the present time have entered upon its official duties.
Our legation for Germany will be sent off soon.
Concerning the interior condition of our country, it is satisfactory for
me to inform you that the public tranquillity has been preserved
unaltered. The powers of the States have exercised their functions with
regularity, preserving the most perfect constitutional harmony with
those of the Union. The Executive has fixed his attention in a special
manner upon the hospitals and asylums of charity, and has the
satisfaction to inform Congress that this department has improved
notably in consequence of the important improvements introduced into the
establishments by the laudable zeal of the executive committee.
The service of the mail department is in good condition and it is being
constantly endeavored to improve it. Our communications with foreign
parts have been made more easy and expeditious in virtue of the
contracts celebrated with mail steamship companies of the Gulf and of
the Pacific.
In the branch of justice I consider it my duty to call your attention to
the initiative, which the Executive presented to you on the 2d of
October of last year, the one required by article 96 of the constitution
for the organization of the district and circuit tribunals, and the
other provided for by articles 101 and 102 of the same constitution.
I recommend to you that after having made in both the modifications which
your wisdom suggests, you raise them to the rank of laws as soon as
other labors of preference permit it.
In respect to the branch of public instruction, I should inform you that
on the 20th of last December a regulation was issued in which the
necessary measures were provided for to make effective the abolition of
the present system of boarding schools.
On the 24th of January of the present year another one was issued for the
College La Paz, with the object of duly systematizing the studies in
that institution; and a third one, on the 28th of the following February
for the secondary national school for girls, with a like object, and for
the purpose of converting this establishment into a normal school for
teachers.
During the six months just past, the peace enjoyed at present by the
country has permitted some advancement in the pending labors of the
Department of Public Works.
In order to facilitate colonization in Lower California a contract has
been made with a Mexican company.
The labors for the formation and perfection of our statistics are
carefully continued, concerning which the publications most necessary
will soon be made. Geographical labors have also been commenced for the
formation of a general chart of the republic.
In so far as the circumstances of the treasury have permitted,
improvements have been introduced in the machinery, utensils, and
edifices of the mints operated directly by the government.
Attention has been given to the repair of existing wagon-roads, and at
the same time the necessary surveys have been made for their
prolongation to the coast and for the opening of other new roads.
The arrangement made for the construction of the railroad across the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec and others of this class will soon be submitted
to you.
In virtue of the authorization which Congress was pleased to give to the
Executive for the celebration of contracts relating to railroads with
the governors of the States, he has made them with the States of
Aguascalientes, Colima, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Queretaro,
San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas, Vera Cruz, Yucatan, and Zacatecas.
Work is carried on with activity in the construction of a railroad, at
the expense of the government, between the station of Esperanza and the
city of Tehuacan, for the purpose of extending to other sections the
benefits which the railroad from this city to Vera Cruz ought to
produce.
Lastly, the concession granted to the railroad company of Mexico and
Toluca, having been reformed, the latter has been able to extend its
works to Cuantitlan, which branch will be formally inaugurated
to-morrow.
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The necessary works for the drainage of the city and valley of Mexico
have progressed with activity.
In order to benefit by the facilities presented by the lakes situated in
the valley of Mexico, in affording communication between various towns,
the opening of a navigable canal was commenced on the 1st of January of
this year between this city and that of Chalco, which canal will soon be
completed; and with a like object it was determined to prosecute
actively the labors commenced for communicating the lakes of Tamiahua
and Pueblo Viejo, by the canal of Chijol, which will also be concluded
soon.
Besides the renewal of the works commenced long since in the port of
Manzanillo, others have been begun in those of Vera Cruz and Tampico.
Those at Mazatlan have been finished, and the new mole will be placed at
the service of the public to-morrow.
Some of these works are already approaching their termination, and their
inauguration will take place on some of the coming civic holidays.
The pains taken to better the telegraph lines belonging to the federation
have produced in all of them notable improvement, and secured the
conclusion among others of those to Vera Cruz, Acapulco, Chihuahua, and
Ciudad Victoria.
In the last months of the last fiscal year there was some delay in the
payment of the civil and military lists, which was done with a
proportionate reduction. During the present, the payments authorized by
the estimate and subsequent laws have been made with all possible
regularity, and without any discount. Nine months of the fiscal year
have passed, and there is no reason to believe that this regularity will
be altered in the three that are to come.
The second installment of the debt contracted with the United States of
America, in consequence of the convention of July 4, 1868, was paid
without the necessity of having recourse to unusual measures, if we
except the patriotic assistance of the Mexicans, and principally of the
civil and military employés, who have deposited and continue to deposit
in the public treasuries the products of volunteer subscriptions
destined to that object.
The sums ordered to be delivered to the States of Sonora, Sinaloa,
Chihuahua, and the territory of Lower California by the law of December
6, 1877, to aid them to pass through the crisis which they have suffered
in consequence of the loss of the crops, have been paid in their
totality, as the Executive was convinced of the urgency of these
payments.
It has also been possible during the present fiscal year to fund near a
million dollars worth of credits against the nation.
All these and other heavy outlays have been made without having to make
transactions ruinous to the nation, thanks to the system of economy and
morality which has been established in the collection and administration
of public funds.
In compliance with the precept contained in the article 69 of the
constitution, the treasury department presented to the Chamber of
Deputies, on the day designated by law, the proposed estimate for the
next fiscal year, and the financial statement of the former year.
Notwithstanding the disturbances suffered by the republic in that year,
it was possible, at the cost of great labor, to present that statement,
the formation of which, even in normal times and in perfect peace, has
often been done by overcoming almost insurmountable difficulties.
Great national interests are intimately linked with the initiative
relative to substitution of the toll-tax in the federal district, the
free exportation of national products and the settlement of the public
debt, which were presented to the Chamber of Deputies in the last period
of its session by the Treasury Department. For this reason I consider it
highly important to recommend them to your benevolent consideration.
The reorganization of the army has been continued, by disbanding some
forces and by consolidating others, the result being that the army has
been reduced one-fifth.
In the management of the army measures contributing to moralize it have
constantly been dictated, it being proper to mention the orders given
for the formation of an administrative board for the military hospitals
and the regulations for general depots of uniforms and equipages.
The committee of general officers appointed to form a new system of
infantry tactics has terminated its labors and presented the respective
report.
In respect to military justice, you will very soon be presented an
initiative of a penal code and a code of proceedings which will be in
harmony with our institutions, and assures to military judges the
justification of their acts, and to the accused the exercise of their
rights.
The establishments of construction have continued to be improved in a
notable manner. The powder factory, at present being established in the
edifice of Santa Fé, will be in operation before the end of this fiscal
year, all the machinery having been purchased, part of which has already
been put in its place.
The iron foundery at Molino del Rey is also about finished. With this
improvement the war material of this class can be had in the future at a
much lower price than heretofore.
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Gentlemen Deputies, gentlemen Senators: The present session of Congress
opens in the midst of general peace, and there is no fear that it will
be disturbed.
The Executive, while manifesting to Congress his determination to give it
all the support he should, hopes that on the part of the Chambers the
co-operation indispensable to the fulfillment of his obligations will be
rendered. In the harmony of the different departments that constitute
the government consists the prosperity of the republic.
It is necessary that all the public powers combine their efforts for the
preservation of peace. It would be an offense to your intelligence and
to your patriotism to dwell upon this point, especially as the intimate
contact in which you have been during the recess with the constituents
whom you represent in the two Chambers must have afforded you an
opportunity of observing that peace is the principal condition of
progress and the first of their aspirations.
