Yours, most respectfully,

R.J.  WALKER,
  Secretary of the Treasury.

NOVEMBER 6, 1847.

The modifications as above recommended by the Secretary of the Treasury are approved by me, and the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy will give the proper orders to carry them into effect.

JAMES K. POLK.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, November 16, 1847.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR:  With a view to augment the military contributions now collected by the Departments of War and of the Navy under your order of the 31st of March last, I recommend that the export duty exacted before the war by the Government of Mexico be now collected at the port of exportation by the same officers of the Army or Navy of the United States in the Mexican ports in our possession who are authorized to collect the import duties, abolishing, however, the prohibition of export established in certain cases by the Mexican Government, as also all interior transit duties; dispensing also with the necessity of any certificate of having paid any duty to the Mexican Government.

The export duty would then be as follows: 

_______________________________________________________

______
Per cent. 
Gold, coined or wrought                                 3
Silver, coined                                          6
Silver, wrought, with or without certificate
of having paid any duty to the Mexican Government     7
Silver, refined or pure, wrought in ingots,
with or without certificate of having paid
the Mexican Government duty                           7
Gold, unwrought or in a state of ore or dust            3
Silver, unwrought or in a state of ore                  7
____________________________________________________________

_

Where gold or silver in any form is taken from any interior Mexican city in our military possession, the export duty must be paid there to the officer of the United States commanding, and his certificate of such prepayment must be produced at the Mexican port of exportation; otherwise a double duty will be collected upon the arrival of such gold or silver at the Mexican port of exportation.  Whenever it is practicable, all internal taxes of every description, whether upon persons or property, exacted by the Government of Mexico, or by any department, town, or city thereof, should be collected by our military officers in possession and appropriated as a military contribution toward defraying the expenses of the war, excluding however, all duties on the transit of goods from one department to another, which duties, being prejudicial to revenue and restrictive of the exchange of imports for exports, were abolished by your order of the 31st of March last.

Yours, most respectfully,

R.J.  WALKER
  Secretary of the Treasury.

NOVEMBER 16, 1847.