Trade with Brazil: We import largely from, but export little to Brazil; American products are shipped to, and sold in, England, reshipped to Brazil, and resold at advanced rates; steamship lines established with Europe, but none with the United States; the need of such line indi- cated; the Emperor favors its establishment. Contract for monthly steamers to the United States entered into: Mail subsidy of $100,000 for ten years granted by Brazil; the question deter- mined by the intervention of the Emperor; in- creased steam communication with Brazil recom- mended to attention of Congress. Resignation of the ministry: Parliament not in session; temporary appointments to be made; American influence extending.
Liberal ministry formed: Probable dissolution of Parliament; discussion of political affairs. Interest manifested in new steamship line: First shipment of coffee will be at least 30.000 sacks; Brazilian trade may be secured by extending the facilities of intercommunication. Arrival of the City of Rio: Ceremonies upon the occasion of the visit of the Emperor and empress: return cargo, 37,000 sacks of coffee, valued at $700,000; the largest and most valuable single cargo ever shipped from Brazil. Requesting a letter commending the commander of the Madeira River surveying party to the con- sideration of the authorities of Para. Inviting suggestions relative to a common mode and form of procedure respecting consular cer- tifications to port clearances.
Ceremonies upon the delivery of the awards of the Centennial Exposition.
Commander Rodgers's action respecting the Punta Arenas revolt approved; no more convicts to be sent to that settlement; claims commission ap pointed. Adjournment of Congress; commercial depression continues: state of the finances unsatisfactory; deficits, for 1876, $2,000,000; for 1877, $3,000,000; probable deficit for current year, $2,000,000; bonds issued to meet deficits; commission of in- quiry appointed.
Inquiry as to the effect upon our relations with Chili of her notice of 1849 to terminate certain clauses of the treaty of 1832; the present a fa- vorable time for the negotiation of a commercial treaty.
9 Probability of the submission of the Argentine boundary question to the arbitration of the King of the Belgians. The effect of the notice of 1849 is full and complete in respect of all clauses of the treaty of 1832, except those relating to peace and friendship: Should Chili favor the negotiation of a new treaty, power to negotiate will be granted. Account of the earthquake of May 9, 1877. Congress opened by the President: Financial state- ment unsatisfactory; income tax, and increase of duties, recommended; imports and exports show a falling off; work upon the code, and upon coast and interior surveys, progressing satisfac- torily; public education liberally maintained. Pitcairn's Island, and its population
The viceroi of Tientsin grants concession to Mr. Tong-King-Sing to mine coal and iron and build service-railway in Chihli; report upon mineral
Mar. 22 Treaty revision discussed: Inequality of rights enjoyed by Chinese in America and of Ameri cans in China; question submitted as to whether the time has not come to remove, or at least modify, this inequality by negotiation.
Mr. Holcombe to Mr. Evarts June 20 Imprisonment of Monseigneur Ridel, French
bishop, by the Coreans; war with Japan appre hended by Corea.
Extended memorandum upon the currency of China by Mr. Seward.
Letter of thanks of the Shanghai chamber of commerce to Mr. Seward.
Mr. Noyes to Mr. Evarts .. Oct. 19 Election for deputies passed off quietly: Govern
ment defeated; Bonapartists make largest rela- tive gains; a ministry from the "left" will be constituted.
Nov. 9 Resignations of ministry refused by the Presi dent: A change inevitable.
The conduct of the recent elections to be inquired into by the chambers: The people restless; busi- ness paralyzed.
Ministers again resign: Resignations to be ac cepted.
A reconstitution of the ministry will end the crisis: Peaceful measures prevail; interview of the Duke d'Audiffret Pasquier with the Presi dent; Dufaure, Leon Say, Waddington, and Leon Renault will enter the ministry.
5 The thanks of the United States to be conveyed to Captain Aube, of the French man-of-war Le Seignelay, for assistance rendered the consul at Apia, Samoa.
7 The Dufaure cabinet to be constituted upon the principle of responsibility to the chambers: Min- isters to have the right of removal from office; effect of the bureaucratic spirit.
Dec. 14 110 Mr. Seward to Mr. Noyes... Dec. 19
Mr. Waddington appointed minister of foreign af. fairs, and Mr. Leon Say minister of finance. Invitation to participate in the Paris Exposition accepted: Mr. McCormick appointed commis. sioner-general.
The President accepts the result of the elections as the judgment of the people in favor of par- liamentary government with ministerial respon. sibility.
Invitation to Paris Exposition accepted......
Note from Mr. Waddington relative to the appoint- ment of Mr. McCormick.
Tariff revision receiving attention: Prior to 1860, France was protectionist; since 1860, the French tariff has been twofold in character, conventional, i. e., regulated by special commercial treaties, and general and retaliatory in respect of the products of nations having no tariff treaties with her. The policy of the new bill is retal- iative, i. e., the duties imposed are protective, with the reservation that its stipulations may be modified by treaty stipulation. The growth of protectionist ideas and theories in Europe recognized. (See Mr. Kasson's dispatches of November 10, 1877, and March 4, 1878.) France to consult members of Latin Union: Prob. ability of acceptance of invitation to monetary conference.
Mr. Outrey to Mr. Evarts... Jan. 14 Respecting the refusal of the captain of an Ameri
can vessel to transport from Guiana to Salem, Massachusetts, persons released from imprison. ment, and asking copies of State or national laws upon the subject.
Jan. 23 Inclosing extract from statutes of Massachusetts, and copy of act of Congress of March 3, 1875, forbidding such transportation.
Prince Bismarck's speech in the Reichstag, February 19, respecting the Eastern question; Germany's position that of mediator; the meeting of the congress probable.
4 Measures to reorganize the imperial chancery and 1 to revise taxation to increase revenue, discussed by the Reichstag: the budget for 1878-79. Mar. 11 The budget debate continues; the appointment of Mr. Taylor gives satisfaction; the veto of the silver bill favorably commented on.
Mr. Seward to Mr. Everett. Apr. 30
The chancery substitution bill passed; report upon emigration; aggregate from ports of Hamburg and Bremen for current year, 41,759. The celebration of the Emperor's birthday. Prussian Diet closed; ministerial changes; comments upon Lord Salisbury's circular of April 1; the meeting of the congress probable. The case of Julius Baumer, a naturalized citizen, arrested in contravention of the treaty of 1868, while upon a visit to his former home in Westphalia, to be called to the attention of the Gerinan Government and reparation asked.
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