No. 69.
Mr. Connery to Mr. Bayard.
Legation of the United States,
Mexico, October 10, 1887. (Received October
20.)
No. 244.]
Sir: I am only this moment in receipt
of a note from Mr. Mariscal, dated the 20th ultimo, and
addressed to Mr. Manning, in regard to the invitation contained
in your printed circular of July 9, this year, to the Government
of Mexico, to cooperate with the Government of the United States
in the wise movement for the abolition of tonnage and equivalent
charges on navigation.
I inclose a copy of Mr. Mariscal’s note, translated, giving his
reasons why, in the the present straitened condition of the
finances of his country, and while its mercantile marine is but
yet in its infancy, it would be impossible for the Mexican
Government to accept your invitation. The movement, you will
observe, he admits is based on excellent principles, but he adds
that in Mexico’s present situation the advantages would be all
on one side, as her vessels are few and engaged mainly in the
coasting trade, while the revenues of the country are chiefly
derived from the duties levied through her customhouses duties
which could not be dispensed with in the absence of some other
and better plan to supply the Government with the necessary
funds.
I am, etc,
[Inclosure in No.
244.Translation.]
Mr. Mariscal to Mr. Manning.
Department of Foreign
Affairs,
Mexico, September
20, 1887.
Mr. Minister: Having requested of
the Treasury Department a report respecting the propositions
contained in your excellency’s note of August 18 with regard
to the abolition, by reciprocal action, of tonnage dues and
equivalent charges on navigation, I have the honor to reply
to your excellency that, while not failing to recognize the
excellence of the bases indicated by your Government with
the object of arriving at an agreement on the subject, the
Government of Mexico is not able at the present time to
accept such propositions, for the reason that in the present
condition of the mercantile marine of the Republic the
reciprocity would be illusory in view of the fact that the
vessels of which it is composed are very few, and are
employed for the greater part simply in the coasting
trade.
On the other hand, the economical state of the country,
though it has notably improved in the last few years, still
feels in too marked a manner the effects of the adverse
circumstances that operated against it in the past to
warrant the treasury in dispensing with legitimate sources
of revenue that it has gone on collecting, unless another
manner of supplying the revenue could be conveniently
substituted; a matter which at the present moment it would
be extremely difficult to do.
With respect to the duties that are actually imposed on
vessels in the ports of the Republic, I have the honor to
assure your excellency that none of these duties are imposed
specially on vessels of the United States or any other
State, but that the regulations are general for all foreign
nations alike.
Your excellency will be able, if so desired, to examine in
detail the established (existing) duties in articles 17 to
20 of the general customhouse law, and in sections third,
eighth, and tenth of the first article of the law of
entries, issued on the 28th of April of this year.
While assuring your excellency that on the part of the
Mexicau Government there exists the strongest desire to
maintain and encourage commercial relations with the United
States, it pleases me to reiterate, etc.,
