Litchfield enquirer., 1875-12-16
corporation, exempting only the last rest ing place of the dead and possibly, with prupef restrictions, church edificesg <
OUR RELATIONS WITH STAIN

prupef restrictions. church edifices. : TT OUR RELATIONS WITH SPAIN
 Tn March last an arrangement was made through Mir. Cushing. our minister at Madrid. with the Spanish government for the payment by the latter to the United States of the sum of $SO, 900 in coin for the purpose of the relief of the families or persons of the ships company and certain passengers of the Virginius. This sum was to have teen paid in three install ments at tWo months each. It Is due to the spanish government that I should state that the payments were fully and spontaneously anticipated by that govern ment, and that the whole amount was paid within but few days more than two months from the date of the agreement, a copy of which is herewith transmitted. In pursuance of the terms of the adjust ment, I have directed the distribution of the amount among the parties entitled thereto. including the ships company and such of the passengers as were American citizens. Payments are made accordingly on the application of the parties entitled thereto.
 BORDER TROUBLES,
 The free zone, so called. several years since established by the Mexican govern ment in certain of the states of that repub- lie adjacent to our frontier, remains in full operation. It has always been injurious to honest traffic for 1t operates as an in- centive to traders in Mexico to supply. without the customary charges, the wants of the inhabitants on this side of the line and prevents the same wants from being arrrrHIia1 hv fho pHo 1S l1 States, thereby to a considerable extent defraudlng our revenue and checking hon. est commercial enterprise. Depredstions by armed bands from Mexico on the peo- pie of Texas near the frontier continue. Though the main object of these incur sions IS robbery they frequently result in the murder of unarmed and peaceably dis posed persons. and in some instances even United States post offices and mail com munications have been attacked. Renew ed remonstranees upon this subject have been addressed to the Mexican govern ment disposabie for service in that quar- ter is quite inadequate to effcctually guard the line even at those points where the lncursions are usually made. An experi- meDt of an armed vessel on the Rio Grande for that purpose is on trial and 1t is hoped that If not thwarted by the shal- lowness of the river and other natural Ob- stacles it may materially contribute to the protection of the herdsmen of Texas. The proceedings of the joint commission under the convention between the United States and Mexico of the 4th of July, 1868, on the subject of claims will soon be brought to a close. The result of those proceedings will then be communicated to Congress
 OCEAN TELEGRAPHY
 The electric telegraph has become an essential and indispensable agent in the transmission of business and social messa- ges. Its operation on land and within the limit of particular states is necessarily un- der the control of the jurisdiction within which it operates. The lines on the high seas however are moi subject to the partic- ular control of any one government. In 1863 concession was granted by the French Government to a company which proposed to lay a cable from the shores of France to the United States. At that time there was . telegraphic connection bets cen the United States and the conti- nent of Europe, through the possessions of Great Britain at either end of the line, the control of which had at large outlay of capital and at great risk shown the practicability of maintaining such a means of communication. The cost of cores pondence by this agency was great, possi- ply not too large at the time for a proper remuneration for so hazardous and so costly an undertaking. It was, however, heavy charge upon the means of commit nication which the progress in the social and commercial intercourse of the world found to be necessity, and the obtaining of this French concession showed that other capital than that was ready to go into competition, with the assurance of an adequate return for the outlay and trouble. Impressed with the convictions that the interests not only of the people of the United States but of the world at large demanded or would demand the multipli. cation of such means of communication between separated continents was desir. ous that the proposed connection should be made but certain provisions of this commission were deemed by me to be ob. jectionable, particularly one which gave for long term of years the exclusive right of telegrapbic communication by submarine cable, between the shores of France and the United States. l could' not concede that any poa CT should claim the right to land q cable on the shores of AOA kOb@SCD @uS hL buG baUuG LILuS ueDy 10 the United States or to it's citizens, an equal right to land cables on it's shores. The right to control conditions for the laying of cable within jurisdiction of the United States to connect our shores with those of any foreign state pertains exclu- slvely to the government of the United States under such limitations and condi- tlons az congress may impose. In the ab- RQnNp of lQOiGIakInn hv willing on the one hand to yieldto foreign state the right to say it's grantees might land on our shores, while it denied a sim liar right to our people to land on its shores, and on the other hand was reluc- tant to deny to the great interests of the world and of civilization the facilities of such communication as were proposed. therefore withheld any resistance te the landing of any cable on the condition that the offensive monopoly feature of the con nection be abandoned, and the right of any cable which may be established by authority of this government to land upon French territory, and to connect with the French land lines, and engage all the nec- essary facilities or privileges incident to the use thereof upon as favorable terms as any other company be conceded. As the result thereof the company in question renounced the exclusive privilege, and the representatives of France were informed that there was an understanding that this re hnquishment was to be construed as grant ing the entire reciprocity and equal facil- ities which had been demanded The op- position to the landing of the cable was withdrawn, and the cable under this French concession was landed in the month of July, 1869, and has been an efficient and valuable agent of communication between this country and the other continent. It soon passed under the control, however, of those who had the management of the ca- ble connecting Great Britain With this continent. Thus whatever benefit to the public might have ensued from a compe- tition between the two lines. was lost, leaving the greater facilities of an addi- tional line, and the additional security in case of an accident to one of them. But these increased facilities and this addi- honal security together with the control of the combined capital of the companies gave also greater power to prevent the fu- ture construction of other lines, and to