The intervening time to my first inauguration was filled up with

wranglings between Congress and the new Executive as to the best mode

of "reconstruction," or, to speak plainly, as to whether the control

of the Government should be thrown immediately into the hands of those

who had so recently and persistently tried to destroy it, or whether

the victors should continue to have an equal voice with them in this

control. Reconstruction, as finally agreed upon, means this and only

this, except that the late slave was enfranchised, giving an increase,

as was supposed, to the Union-loving and Union-supporting votes. If

_free_ in the full sense of the word, they would not disappoint this

expectation. Hence at the beginning of my first Administration the

work of reconstruction, much embarrassed by the long delay, virtually

commenced. It was the work of the legislative branch of the Government.

My province was wholly in approving their acts, which I did most

heartily, urging the legislatures of States that had not yet done so

to ratify the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution. The country

was laboring under an enormous debt, contracted in the suppression of

rebellion, and taxation was so oppressive as to discourage production.

Another danger also threatened us--a foreign war. The last difficulty

had to be adjusted, and was adjusted without a war and in a manner

highly honorable to all parties concerned. Taxes have been reduced

within the last seven years nearly $300,000,000, and the national debt

has been reduced in the same time over $435,000,000. By refunding

the 6 per cent bonded debt for bonds bearing 5 and 4-1/2 per cent

interest, respectively, the annual interest has been reduced from over

$130,000,000 in 1869 to but little over $100,000,000 in 1876. The

balance of trade has been changed from over $130,000,000 against the

United States in 1869 to more than $120,000,000 in our favor in 1876.

It is confidently believed that the balance of trade in favor of the

United States will increase, not diminish, and that the pledge of

Congress to resume specie payments in 1879 will be easily accomplished,

even in the absence of much-desired further legislation on the subject.

A policy has been adopted toward the Indian tribes inhabiting a large

portion of the territory of the United States which has been humane and

has substantially ended Indian hostilities in the whole land except in a

portion of Nebraska, and Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana Territories--the

Black Hills region and approaches thereto. Hostilities there have grown

out of the avarice of the white man, who has violated our treaty

stipulations in his search for gold. The question might be asked why

the Government has not enforced obedience to the terms of the treaty

prohibiting the occupation of the Black Hills region by whites. The

answer is simple: The first immigrants to the Black Hills were removed

by troops, but rumors of rich discoveries of gold took into that region

increased numbers. Gold has actually been found in paying quantity,

and an effort to remove the miners would only result in the desertion

of the bulk of the troops that might be sent there to remove them. All

difficulty in this matter has, however, been removed--subject to the

approval of Congress--by a treaty ceding the Black Hills and approaches

to settlement by citizens.

The subject of Indian policy and treatment is so fully set forth by the

Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and my

views so fully expressed therein, that I refer to their reports and

recommendations as my own.

The relations of the United States with foreign powers continue on a

friendly footing.

Questions have arisen from time to time in the foreign relations of the

Government, but the United States have been happily free during the past

year from the complications and embarrassments which have surrounded

some of the foreign powers.

The diplomatic correspondence submitted herewith contains information as

to certain of the matters which have occupied the Government.

The cordiality which attends our relations with the powers of the earth

has been plainly shown by the general participation of foreign nations

in the exhibition which has just closed and by the exertions made by

distant powers to show their interest in and friendly feelings toward

the United States in the commemoration of the centennial of the nation.

The Government and people of the United States have not only fully

appreciated this exhibition of kindly feeling, but it may be justly and

fairly expected that no small benefits will result both to ourselves and

other nations from a better acquaintance, and a better appreciation of

our mutual advantages and mutual wants.

Congress at its last session saw fit to reduce the amount usually

appropriated for foreign intercourse by withholding appropriations for

representatives of the United States in certain foreign countries and

for certain consular officers, and by reducing the amounts usually

appropriated for certain other diplomatic posts, and thus necessitating

a change in the grade of the representatives. For these reasons,

immediately upon the passage of the bill making appropriations for

the diplomatic and consular service for the present fiscal year,

instructions were issued to the representatives of the United States at

Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia, and to the consular officers for whom no

appropriation had been made, to close their respective legations and

consulates and cease from the performance of their duties; and in like

manner steps were immediately taken to substitute chargés d'affaires

for ministers resident in Portugal, Denmark, Greece, Switzerland, and

Paraguay.

While thoroughly impressed with the wisdom of sound economy in the

foreign service, as in other branches of the Government, I can not

escape the conclusion that in some instances the withholding of

appropriations will prove an expensive economy, and that the small

retrenchment secured by a change of grade in certain diplomatic posts is

not an adequate consideration for the loss of influence and importance

which will attend our foreign representatives under this reduction. I am

of the opinion that a reexamination of the subject will cause a change

in some instances in the conclusions reached on these subjects at the

last session of Congress.

The Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims, whose functions were

continued by an act of the last session of Congress until the 1st day

of January, 1877, has carried on its labors with diligence and general

satisfaction. By a report from the clerk of the court, transmitted

herewith, bearing date November 14, 1876, it appears that within the

time now allowed by law the court will have disposed of all the claims

presented for adjudication. This report also contains a statement of the

general results of the labors of the court to the date thereof. It is a

cause of satisfaction that the method adopted for the satisfaction of

the classes of claims submitted to the court, which are of long standing

and justly entitled to early consideration, should have proved

successful and acceptable.

It is with satisfaction that I am enabled to state that the work of the

joint commission for determining the boundary line between the United

States and British possessions from the northwest angle of the Lake of

the Woods to the Rocky Mountains, commenced in 1872, has been completed.

The final agreements of the commissioners, with the maps, have been duly

signed, and the work of the commission is complete.

The fixing of the boundary upon the Pacific coast by the protocol of

March 10, 1873, pursuant to the award of the Emperor of Germany by

Article XXXIV of the treaty of Washington, with the termination of the

work of this commission, adjusts and fixes the entire boundary between

the United States and the British possessions, except as to the portion

of territory ceded by Russia to the United States under the treaty of

1867. The work intrusted to the commissioner and the officers of the

Army attached to the commission has been well and satisfactorily

performed. The original of the final agreement of the commissioners,

signed upon the 29th of May, 1876, with the original official "lists

of astronomical stations observed," the original official "list of

monuments marking the international boundary line," and the maps,

records, and general reports relating to the commission, have been

deposited in the Department of State. The official report of the

commissioner on the part of the United States, with the report of the

chief astronomer of the United States, will be submitted to Congress

within a short time.

I reserve for a separate communication to Congress a statement of the

condition of the questions which lately arose with Great Britain

respecting the surrender of fugitive criminals under the treaty of 1842.

The Ottoman Government gave notice, under date of January 15, 1874,

of its desire to terminate the treaty of 1862, concerning commerce and

navigation, pursuant to the provisions of the twenty-second article

thereof. Under this notice the treaty terminated upon the 5th day of

June, 1876. That Government has invited negotiations toward the

conclusion of a new treaty.

By the act of Congress of March 23, 1874, the President was authorized,

when he should receive satisfactory information that the Ottoman

Government or that of Egypt had organized new tribunals likely to secure

to citizens of the United States the same impartial justice enjoyed

under the exercise of judicial functions by diplomatic and consular

officers of the United States, to suspend the operation of the act of

June 22, 1860, and to accept for citizens of the United States the

jurisdiction of the new tribunals. Satisfactory information having been

received of the organization of such new tribunals in Egypt, I caused a

proclamation[115] to be issued upon the 27th of March last, suspending

the operation of the act of June 22, 1860, in Egypt, according to the

provisions of the act. A copy of the proclamation accompanies this

message. The United States has united with the other powers in the

organization of these courts. It is hoped that the jurisdictional

questions which have arisen may be readily adjusted, and that this

advance in judicial reform may be hindered by no obstacles.

The necessary legislation to carry into effect the convention respecting

commercial reciprocity concluded with the Hawaiian Islands in 1875

having been had, the proclamation to carry into effect the convention,

as provided by the act approved August 15, 1876, was duly issued upon

the 9th day of September last. A copy thereof accompanies this

message.[116]

The commotions which have been prevalent in Mexico for some time past,

and which, unhappily, seem to be net yet wholly quieted, have led to

complaints of citizens of the United States of injuries by persons in

authority. It is hoped, however, that these will ultimately be adjusted

to the satisfaction of both Governments. The frontier of the United

States in that quarter has not been exempt from acts of violence by

citizens of one Republic on those of the other. The frequency of these

is supposed to be increased and their adjustment made more difficult

by the considerable changes in the course of the lower part of the

Rio Grande River, which river is a part of the boundary between the

two countries. These changes have placed on either side of that

river portions of land which by existing conventions belong to the

jurisdiction of the Government on the opposite side of the river.

The subject of adjustment of this cause of difficulty is under

consideration between the two Republics.

The Government of the United States of Colombia has paid the award

in the case of the steamer _Montijo_, seized by authorities of that

Government some years since, and the amount has been transferred to the

claimants.

It is with satisfaction that I am able to announce that the joint

commission for the adjustment of claims between the United States and

Mexico under the convention of 1868, the duration of which has been

several times extended, has brought its labors to a close. From the

report of the agent of the United States, which accompanies the papers

transmitted herewith, it will be seen that within the time limited by

the commission 1,017 claims on the part of citizens of the United States

against Mexico were referred to the commission. Of these claims 831 were

dismissed or disallowed, and in 186 cases awards were made in favor of

the claimants against the Mexican Republic, amounting in the aggregate

to $4,125,622.20. Within the same period 998 claims on the part of

citizens of the Mexican Republic against the United States were referred

to the commission. Of these claims 831 were dismissed or disallowed, and

in 167 cases awards were made in favor of the claimants against the

United States, amounting in the aggregate to $150,498.41.

By the terms of the convention the amount of these awards is to be

deducted from the amount awarded in favor of our citizens against

Mexico, and the balance only to be paid by Mexico to the United States,

leaving the United States to make provision for this proportion of the

awards in favor of its own citizens.

I invite your attention to the legislation which will be necessary to

provide for the payment.

In this connection I am pleased to be able to express the

acknowledgments due to Sir Edward Thornton, the umpire of the

commission, who has given to the consideration of the large number of

claims submitted to him much time, unwearied patience, and that firmness

and intelligence which are well known to belong to the accomplished

representative of Great Britain, and which are likewise recognized by

the representative in this country of the Republic of Mexico.

Monthly payments of a very small part of the amount due by the

Government of Venezuela to citizens of the United States on account of

claims of the latter against that Government continue to be made with

reasonable punctuality. That Government has proposed to change the

system which it has hitherto pursued in this respect by issuing bonds

for part of the amount of the several claims. The proposition, however,

could not, it is supposed, properly be accepted, at least without the

consent of the holders of certificates of the indebtedness of Venezuela.

These are so much dispersed that it would be difficult, if not

impossible, to ascertain their disposition on the subject.

In former messages I have called the attention of Congress to the

necessity of legislation with regard to fraudulent naturalization and to

the subject of expatriation and the election of nationality.

The numbers of persons of foreign birth seeking a home in the United

States, the ease and facility with which the honest emigrant may, after

the lapse of a reasonable time, become possessed of all the privileges

of citizenship of the United States, and the frequent occasions which

induce such adopted citizens to return to the country of their birth

render the subject of naturalization and the safeguards which experience

has proved necessary for the protection of the honest naturalized

citizen of paramount importance. The very simplicity in the requirements

of law on this question affords opportunity for fraud, and the want of

uniformity in the proceedings and records of the various courts and in

the forms of the certificates of naturalization issued affords a

constant source of difficulty.

I suggest no additional requirements to the acquisition of citizenship

beyond those now existing, but I invite the earnest attention of

Congress to the necessity and wisdom of some provisions regarding

uniformity in the records and certificates, and providing against the

frauds which frequently take place and for the vacating of a record of

naturalization obtained in fraud.

These provisions are needed in aid and for the protection of the honest

citizen of foreign birth, and for the want of which he is made to suffer

not infrequently. The United States has insisted upon the right of

expatriation, and has obtained, after a long struggle, an admission

of the principle contended for by acquiescence therein on the part of

many foreign powers and by the conclusion of treaties on that subject.

It is, however, but justice to the government to which such naturalized

citizens have formerly owed allegiance, as well as to the United States,

that certain fixed and definite rules should be adopted governing such

cases and providing how expatriation may be accomplished.

While emigrants in large numbers become citizens of the United States,

it is also true that persons, both native born and naturalized, once

citizens of the United States, either by formal acts or as the effect of

a series of facts and circumstances, abandon their citizenship and cease

to be entitled to the protection of the United States, but continue on

convenient occasions to assert a claim to protection in the absence of

provisions on these questions.

And in this connection I again invite your attention to the necessity

of legislation concerning the marriages of American citizens contracted

abroad, and concerning the status of American women who may marry

foreigners and of children born of American parents in a foreign

country.

The delicate and complicated questions continually occurring with

reference to naturalization, expatriation, and the status of such

persons as I have above referred to induce me to earnestly direct your

attention again to these subjects.

In like manner I repeat my recommendation that some means be provided

for the hearing and determination of the just and subsisting claims of

aliens upon the Government of the United States within a reasonable

limitation, and of such as may hereafter arise. While by existing

provisions of law the Court of Claims may in certain cases be resorted

to by an alien claimant, the absence of any general provisions governing

all such cases and the want of a tribunal skilled in the disposition of

such cases upon recognized fixed and settled principles, either provides

no remedy in many deserving cases or compels a consideration of such

claims by Congress or the executive department of the Government.

It is believed that other governments are in advance of the United

States upon this question, and that the practice now adopted is entirely

unsatisfactory.

Congress, by an act approved the 3d day of March, 1875, authorized the

inhabitants of the Territory of Colorado to form a State government,

with the name of the State of Colorado, and therein provided for the

admission of said State, when formed, into the Union upon an equal

footing with the original States.

A constitution having been adopted and ratified by the people of that

State, and the acting governor having certified to me the facts as

provided by said act, together with a copy of such constitution and

ordinances as provided for in the said act, and the provisions of

the said act of Congress having been duly complied with, I issued

a proclamation[117] upon the 1st of August, 1876, a copy of which is

hereto annexed.

The report of the Secretary of War shows that the Army has been actively

employed during the year in subduing, at the request of the Indian

Bureau, certain wild bands of the Sioux Indian Nation and in preserving

the peace at the South during the election. The commission constituted

under the act of July 24, 1876, to consider and report on the "whole

subject of the reform and reorganization of the Army" met in August

last, and has collected a large mass of statistics and opinions bearing

on the subject before it. These are now under consideration, and their

report is progressing. I am advised, though, by the president of the

commission that it will be impracticable to comply with the clause of

the act requiring the report to be presented, through me, to Congress

on the first day of this session, as there has not yet been time for

that mature deliberation which the importance of the subject demands.

Therefore I ask that the time of making the report be extended to the

29th day of January, 1877.

In accordance with the resolution of August 15, 1876, the Army

regulations prepared under the act of March 1, 1875, have not been

promulgated, but are held until after the report of the above-mentioned

commission shall have been received and acted on.

By the act of August 15, 1876, the cavalry force of the Army was

increased by 2,500 men, with the proviso that they should be discharged

on the expiration of hostilities. Under this authority the cavalry

regiments have been strengthened, and a portion of them are now in the

field pursuing the remnants of the Indians with whom they have been

engaged during the summer.

The estimates of the War Department are made up on the basis of the

number of men authorized by law, and their requirements as shown by

years of experience, and also with the purpose on the part of the bureau

officers to provide for all contingencies that may arise during the

time for which the estimates are made. Exclusive of engineer estimates

(presented in accordance with acts of Congress calling for surveys and

estimates for improvements at various localities), the estimates now

presented are about six millions in excess of the appropriations for the

years 1874-75 and 1875-76. This increase is asked in order to provide

for the increased cavalry force (should their services be necessary),

to prosecute economically work upon important public buildings, to

provide for armament of fortifications and manufacture of small arms,

and to replenish the working stock in the supply departments. The

appropriations for these last named have for the past few years been

so limited that the accumulations in store will be entirely exhausted

during the present year, and it will be necessary to at once begin to

replenish them.

I invite your special attention to the following recommendations of the

Secretary of War:

First. That the claims under the act of July 4, 1864, for supplies

taken by the Army during the war be removed from the offices of the

Quartermaster and Commissary Generals and transferred to the Southern

Claims Commission. These claims are of precisely similar nature to those

now before the Southern Claims Commission, and the War Department

bureaus have not the clerical force for their examination nor proper

machinery for investigating the loyalty of the claimants.

Second. That Congress sanction the scheme of an annuity fund for the

benefit of the families of deceased officers, and that it also provide

for the permanent organization of the Signal Service, both of which were

recommended in my last annual message.

Third. That the manufacturing operations of the Ordnance Department be

concentrated at three arsenals and an armory, and that the remaining

arsenals be sold and the proceeds applied to this object by the Ordnance

Department.

The appropriations for river and harbor improvements for the current

year were $5,015,000. With my approval, the Secretary of War directed

that of this amount $2,000,000 should be expended, and no new works

should be begun and none prosecuted which were not of national

importance. Subsequently this amount was increased to $2,237,600, and

the works are now progressing on this basis.

The improvement of the South Pass of the Mississippi River, under James

B. Eads and his associates, is progressing favorably. At the present

time there is a channel of 20.3 feet in depth between the jetties at

the mouth of the pass and 18.5 feet at the head of the pass. Neither

channel, however, has the width required before payments can be made by

the United States. A commission of engineer officers is now examining

these works, and their reports will be presented as soon as received.

The report of the Secretary of the Navy shows that branch of the service

to be in condition as effective as it is possible to keep it with the

means and authority given the Department. It is, of course, not possible

to rival the costly and progressive establishments of great European

powers with the old material of our Navy, to which no increase has been

authorized since the war, except the eight small cruisers built to

supply the place of others which had gone to decay. Yet the most

has been done that was possible with the means at command; and by

substantially rebuilding some of our old ships with durable material and

completely repairing and refitting our monitor fleet the Navy has been

gradually so brought up that, though it does not maintain its relative

position among the progressive navies of the world, it is now in a

condition more powerful and effective than it ever has been in time of

peace.

The complete repairs of our five heavy ironclads are only delayed on

account of the inadequacy of the appropriations made last year for the

working bureaus of the Department, which were actually less in amount

than those made before the war, notwithstanding the greatly enhanced

price of labor and materials and the increase in the cost of the naval

service growing out of the universal use and great expense of steam

machinery. The money necessary for these repairs should be provided at

once, that they may be completed without further unnecessary delay and

expense.

When this is done, all the strength that there is in our Navy will be

developed and useful to its full capacity, and it will be powerful for

purposes of defense, and also for offensive action, should the necessity

for that arise within a reasonable distance from our shores.

The fact that our Navy is not more modern and powerful than it is has

been made a cause of complaint against the Secretary of the Navy by

persons who at the same time criticise and complain of his endeavors to

bring the Navy that we have to its best and most efficient condition;

but the good sense of the country will understand that it is really due

to his practical action that we have at this time any effective naval

force at command.

The report of the Postmaster-General shows the excess of expenditures

(excluding expenditures on account of previous years) over receipts for

the fiscal year ended June 30, 1876, to be $4,151,988.66.

Estimated expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1878, are

$36,723,432.43.

Estimated revenue for same period is $30,645,165, leaving estimated

excess of expenditure, to be appropriated as a deficiency, of

$6,078,267.43.

The Postmaster-General, like his predecessor, is convinced that a

change in the basis of adjusting the salaries of postmasters of the

fourth class is necessary for the good of the service as well as

for the interests of the Government, and urgently recommends that the

compensation of the class of postmasters above mentioned be based upon

the business of their respective offices, as ascertained from the sworn

returns to the Auditor of stamps canceled.

A few postmasters in the Southern States have expressed great

apprehension of their personal safety on account of their connection

with the postal service, and have specially requested that their reports

of apprehended danger should not be made public lest it should result in

the loss of their lives. But no positive testimony of interference has

been submitted, except in the case of a mail messenger at Spartanburg,

in South Carolina, who reported that he had been violently driven away

while in charge of the mails on account of his political affiliations.

An assistant superintendent of the Railway Mail Service investigated

this case and reported that the messenger had disappeared from his post,

leaving his work to be performed by a substitute. The Postmaster-General

thinks this case is sufficiently suggestive to justify him in

recommending that a more severe punishment should be provided for the

offense of assaulting any person in charge of the mails or of retarding

or otherwise obstructing them by threats of personal injury.

"A very gratifying result is presented in the fact that the

deficiency of this Department during the last fiscal year was reduced

to $4,081,790.18, as against $6,169,938.88 of the preceding year. The

difference can be traced to the large increase in its ordinary receipts

(which greatly exceed the estimates therefor) and a slight decrease in

its expenditures."

The ordinary _receipts_ of the Post-Office Department for the past seven

fiscal years have increased at an average of over 8 per cent per annum,

while the increase of _expenditures_ for the same period has been but

about 5.50 per cent per annum, and the _decrease_ of _deficiency_ in the

revenues has been at the rate of nearly 2 per cent per annum.

The report of the Commissioner of Agriculture accompanying this message

will be found one of great interest, marking, as it does, the great

progress of the last century in the variety of products of the soil;

increased knowledge and skill in the labor of producing, saving, and

manipulating the same to prepare them for the use of man; in the

improvements in machinery to aid the agriculturist in his labors,

and in a knowledge of those scientific subjects necessary to a thorough

system of economy in agricultural production, namely, chemistry,

botany, entomology, etc. A study of this report by those interested in

agriculture and deriving their support from it will find it of value in

pointing out those articles which are raised in greater quantity than

the needs of the world require, and must sell, therefore, for less than

the cost of production, and those which command a profit over cost of

production because there is not an overproduction.

I call special attention to the need of the Department for a new

gallery for the reception of the exhibits returned from the Centennial

Exhibition, including the exhibits donated by very many foreign nations,

and to the recommendations of the Commissioner of Agriculture generally.

The reports of the District Commissioners and the board of health are

just received--too late to read them and to make recommendations

thereon--and are herewith submitted.

The international exhibition held in Philadelphia this year, in

commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of American independence,

has proven a great success, and will, no doubt, be of enduring advantage

to the country. It has shown the great progress in the arts, sciences,

and mechanical skill made in a single century, and demonstrated that we

are but little behind older nations in any one branch, while in some we

scarcely have a rival. It has served, too, not only to bring peoples and

products of skill and labor from all parts of the world together, but in

bringing together people from all sections of our own country, which

must prove a great benefit in the information imparted and pride of

country engendered.

It has been suggested by scientists interested in and connected with

the Smithsonian Institution, in a communication herewith, that the

Government exhibit be removed to the capital and a suitable building

be erected or purchased for its accommodation as a permanent exhibit.

I earnestly recommend this; and believing that Congress would second

this view, I directed that all Government exhibits at the Centennial

Exhibition should remain where they are, except such as might be injured

by remaining in a building not intended as a protection in inclement

weather, or such as may be wanted by the Department furnishing them,

until the question of permanent exhibition is acted on.

Although the moneys appropriated by Congress to enable the participation

of the several Executive Departments in the International Exhibition

of 1876 were not sufficient to carry out the undertaking to the full

extent at first contemplated, it gives me pleasure to refer to the

very efficient and creditable manner in which the board appointed from

these several Departments to provide an exhibition on the part of the

Government have discharged their duties with the funds placed at their

command. Without a precedent to guide them in the preparation of such a

display, the success of their labors was amply attested by the sustained

attention which the contents of the Government building attracted during

the period of the exhibition from both foreign and native visitors.

I am strongly impressed with the value of the collection made by the

Government for the purposes of the exhibition, illustrating, as it does,

the mineral resources of the country, the statistical and practical

evidences of our growth as a nation, and the uses of the mechanical arts

and the applications of applied science in the administration of the

affairs of Government.

Many nations have voluntarily contributed their exhibits to the United

States to increase the interest in any permanent exhibition Congress may

provide for. For this act of generosity they should receive the thanks

of the people, and I respectfully suggest that a resolution of Congress

to that effect be adopted.

The attention of Congress can not be too earnestly called to the

necessity of throwing some greater safeguard over the method of

choosing and declaring the election of a President. Under the present

system there seems to be no provided remedy for contesting the

election in any one State. The remedy is partially, no doubt, in the

enlightenment of electors. The compulsory support of the free school

and the disfranchisement of all who can not read and write the English

language, after a fixed probation, would meet my hearty approval. I

would not make this apply, however, to those already voters, but I would

to all becoming so after the expiration of the probation fixed upon.

Foreigners coming to this country to become citizens, who are educated

in their own language, should acquire the requisite knowledge of ours

during the necessary residence to obtain naturalization. If they did not

take interest enough in our language to acquire sufficient knowledge of

it to enable them to study the institutions and laws of the country

intelligently, I would not confer upon them the right to make such

laws nor to select those who do.

I append to this message, for convenient reference, a synopsis of

administrative events and of all recommendations to Congress made by me

during the last seven years. Time may show some of these recommendations

not to have been wisely conceived, but I believe the larger part will

do no discredit to the Administration. One of these recommendations

met with the united opposition of one political party in the Senate

and with a strong opposition from the other, namely, the treaty for

the annexation of Santo Domingo to the United States, to which I will

specially refer, maintaining, as I do, that if my views had been

concurred in the country would be in a more prosperous condition to-day,

both politically and financially.

Santo Domingo is fertile, and upon its soil may be grown just those

tropical products of which the United States use so much, and which are

produced or prepared for market now by slave labor almost exclusively,

namely, sugar, coffee, dyewoods, mahogany, tropical fruits, tobacco,

etc. About 75 per cent of the exports of Cuba are consumed in the United

States. A large percentage of the exports of Brazil also find the same

market. These are paid for almost exclusively in coin, legislation,

particularly in Cuba, being unfavorable to a mutual exchange of the

products of each country. Flour shipped from the Mississippi River

to Havana can pass by the very entrance to the city on its way to a

port in Spain, there pay a duty fixed upon articles to be reexported,

transferred to a Spanish vessel and brought back almost to the point of

starting, paying a second duty, and still leave a profit over what would

be received by direct shipment. All that is produced in Cuba could be

produced in Santo Domingo. Being a part of the United States, commerce

between the island and mainland would be free. There would be no export

duties on her shipments nor import duties on those coming here. There

would be no import duties upon the supplies, machinery, etc., going

from the States. The effect that would have been produced upon Cuban

commerce, with these advantages to a rival, is observable at a glance.

The Cuban question would have been settled long ago in favor of "free

Cuba." Hundreds of American vessels would now be advantageously used in

transporting the valuable woods and other products of the soil of the

island to a market and in carrying supplies and emigrants to it. The

island is but sparsely settled, while it has an area sufficient for the

profitable employment of several millions of people. The soil would have

soon fallen into the hands of United States capitalists. The products

are so valuable in commerce that emigration there would have been

encouraged; the emancipated race of the South would have found there a

congenial home, where their civil rights would not be disputed and where

their labor would be so much sought after that the poorest among them

could have found the means to go. Thus in cases of great oppression and

cruelty, such as has been practiced upon them in many places within the

last eleven years, whole communities would have sought refuge in Santo

Domingo. I do not suppose the whole race would have gone, nor is it

desirable that they should go. Their labor is desirable--indispensable

almost--where they now are. But the possession of this territory would

have left the negro "master of the situation," by enabling him to demand

his rights at home on pain of finding them elsewhere.

I do not present these views now as a recommendation for a renewal of

the subject of annexation, but I do refer to it to vindicate my previous

action in regard to it.

With the present term of Congress my official life terminates. It is not

probable that public affairs will ever again receive attention from me

further than as a citizen of the Republic, always taking a deep interest

in the honor, integrity, and prosperity of the whole land.

U.S. GRANT.

[Footnote 115: See pp. 390-391.]

[Footnote 116: See pp. 394-395.]

[Footnote 117: See pp. 392-394.]

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 6, 1876_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I have the honor to transmit herewith a letter (accompanied by

testimony) addressed to me by Hon. John Sherman and other distinguished

citizens, in regard to the canvass of the vote for electors in the State

of Louisiana.

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 14, 1876_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to a resolution of the 7th instant of the House of

Representatives, asking to be informed whether any, and what,

negotiations have or are being made with the Sioux Indians for their

removal to the Indian Territory, and under what authority the same has

been and is being done, I submit herewith a report received from the

Secretary of the Interior, which contains, it is believed, all the

information in possession of his Department touching the matter of the

resolution.

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 14, 1876_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 6th instant, requesting

information "as to whether troops of the United States were stationed

at the city of Petersburg, in the State of Virginia, on the 7th of

November, 1876, and, if so, under what authority and for what purpose,"

I submit the inclosed letters from the Secretary of War, to whom the

resolution was referred, together with the report of the General of the

Army and accompanying papers.

These inclosures will give all the information called for by the

resolution, and I confidently believe will justify the action taken.

It is well understood that the presence of United States troops at

polling places never prevented the free exercise of the franchise by

any citizen, of whatever political faith. If, then, they have had any

effect whatever upon the ballot cast, it has been to insure protection

to the citizen casting it, in giving it to the candidate of his unbiased

choice, without fear, and thus securing the very essence of liberty.

It may be the presence of twenty-four United States soldiers, under the

command of a captain and lieutenant, quartered in the custom-house at

Petersburg, Va., on the 7th of November, at a considerable distance from

any polling place, without any interference on their part whatever, and

without going near the polls during the election, _may have secured a

different result from what would have been obtained if they had not

been there_ (to maintain the peace in case of riot) _on the face of

the returns_; but if such is the case it is only proof that in this

one Congressional district in the State of Virginia the legal and

constitutional voters have been able to return as elected the candidate

of their choice.

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 22, 1876_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I have the honor to transmit herewith a letter, submitted by the

Secretary of the Interior, from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,

accompanied by the report and journal of proceedings of the commission

appointed on the 24th day of August last to obtain certain concessions

from the Sioux Indians, in accordance with the provisions contained in

the Indian appropriation act for the current fiscal year.

I ask your special consideration of these articles of agreement, as

among other advantages to be gained by them is the clear right of

citizens to go into a country of which they have taken possession and

from which they can not be excluded.

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 22, 1876_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I have the honor to transmit herewith a report (and papers which

accompanied it) of the progress of the work committed to their charge,

addressed to me by the commissioners appointed under the act of Congress

approved July 19, 1876, authorizing the repavement of Pennsylvania

avenue.

U.S. GRANT.

WASHINGTON, _December 23, 1876_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

When Congress adjourned in August last the execution of the extradition

article of the treaty of 1842 between the United States and Great

Britain had been interrupted.

The United States had demanded of Her Majesty's Government the surrender

of certain fugitives from justice charged with crimes committed within

the jurisdiction of the United States, who had sought asylum and were

found within the territories of Her British Majesty, and had, in due

compliance with the requirements of the treaty, furnished the evidence

of the criminality of the fugitives, which had been found sufficient to

justify their apprehension and commitment for trial, as required by the

treaty, and the fugitives were held and committed for extradition.

Her Majesty's Government, however, demanded from the United States

certain assurances or stipulations as a condition for the surrender of

these fugitives.

As the treaty contemplated no such conditions to the performance of the

obligations which each Government had assumed, the demand for

stipulations on the part of this Government was repelled.

Her Majesty's Government thereupon, in June last, released two of the

fugitives (Ezra D. Winslow and Charles J. Brent), and subsequently

released a third (one William E. Gray), and, refusing to surrender, set

them at liberty.

In a message to the two Houses of Congress on the 20th day of June last,

in view of the condition of facts as above referred to, I said:

The position thus taken by the British Government, if adhered to, can

not but be regarded as the abrogation and annulment of the article of

the treaty on extradition.

Under these circumstances it will not, in my judgment, comport with

the dignity or self-respect of this Government to make demands upon

that Government for the surrender of fugitive criminals, nor to

entertain any requisition of that character from that Government

under the treaty.

Article XI of the treaty of 1842 provided that "the tenth article [that

relating to extradition] should continue in force until one or the other

of the parties should signify its wish to terminate it, and no longer."

In view, however, of the great importance of an extradition treaty,

especially between two states as intimately connected in commercial and

social relations as are the United States and Great Britain, and in the

hope that Her Majesty's Government might yet reach a different decision

from that then attained, I abstained from recommending any action by

Congress terminating the extradition article of the treaty. I have,

however, declined to take any steps under the treaty toward extradition.

It is with great satisfaction that I am able now to announce to Congress

and to the country that by the voluntary act of Her Majesty's Government

the obstacles which had been interposed to the execution of the

extradition article of the treaty have been removed.

On the 27th of October last Her Majesty's representative at this

capital, under instructions from Lord Derby, informed this Government

that Her Majesty's Government would be prepared, as a temporary measure,

until a new extradition treaty can be concluded, to put in force all

powers vested in it for the surrender of accused persons to the

Government of the United States under the treaty of 1842, without asking

for any engagement as to such persons not being tried in the United

States for other than the offenses for which extradition had been

demanded.

I was happy to greet this announcement as the removal of the obstacles

which had arrested the execution of the extradition treaty between the

two countries.

In reply to the note of Her Majesty's representative, after referring to

the applications heretofore made by the United States for the surrender

of the fugitives referred to in the correspondence which was laid before

Congress at its last session, it was stated that on an indication of

readiness to surrender these persons an agent would be authorized to

receive them, and I would be ready to respond to requisitions which may

be made on the part of Her Majesty's Government under the tenth article

of the treaty of 1842, which I would then regard as in full force until

such time as either Government shall avail itself of the right to

terminate it provided by the eleventh article, or until a more

comprehensive arrangement can be reached between the two Governments in

regard to the extradition of criminals--an object to which the attention

of this Government would gladly be given, with an earnest desire for a

mutually satisfactory result.

A copy of the correspondence between Her Majesty's representative at

this capital and the Secretary of State on the subject is transmitted

herewith.

It is with great satisfaction that I have now to announce that Her

Majesty's Government, while expressing its desire not to be understood

to recede from the interpretation which in its previous correspondence

it has put upon the treaty, but having regard to the prospect of

a new treaty and the power possessed by either party of spontaneously

denouncing the old one, caused the rearrest on the 4th instant of Brent,

one of the fugitives who had been previously discharged, and, after

awaiting the requisite time within which the fugitive is entitled to

appeal or to apply for his discharge, on the 21st instant surrendered

him to the agent appointed on behalf of this Government to receive and

to convey him to the United States.

Her Majesty's Government has expressed an earnest desire to rearrest

and to deliver up Winslow and Gray, the other fugitives who had been

arrested and committed on the requisition of the United States, but

were released because of the refusal of the United States to give

the assurances and stipulations then required by Great Britain.

These persons, however, are believed to have escaped from British

jurisdiction; a diligent search has failed to discover them.

As the surrender of Brent without condition or stipulation of any kind

being asked removes the obstacle which interrupted the execution of the

treaty, I shall no longer abstain from making demands upon Her Majesty's

Government for the surrender of fugitive criminals, nor from

entertaining requisitions of that character from that Government under

the treaty of 1842, but will again regard the treaty as operative,

hoping to be able before long to conclude with Her Majesty's Government

a new treaty of a broader and more comprehensive nature.

U.S. GRANT.

WASHINGTON, _January 8, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 19th

ultimo, I transmit herewith the report of the Secretary of State, together

with the papers[118] which accompanied it.

U.S. GRANT.

[Footnote 118: Correspondence relative to the Venezuelan mixed commission

held under the convention of April 25, 1866, for the settlement of

claims against Venezuela.]

[For message of January 12, 1877, withdrawing objections to Senate bill

No. 561, see pp. 389-390.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 12, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In reply to a resolution of inquiry dated December 23, 1876, of the

House of Representatives, respecting the expenditure of certain moneys

appropriated by the act of August 14, 1876, for river and harbor

improvements, I have the honor to transmit herewith, for your

information, a report and accompanying papers received from the

Secretary of War, to whom the resolution was referred.

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 15, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

The joint resolution authorizing the Secretary of War to supply blankets

to the Reform School in the District of Columbia is before me.

I am in entire sympathy with the purpose of the resolution, but

before taking any action upon it I deem it my duty to submit for your

consideration the accompanying letter, received from the Secretary of

War, embodying a report, made in anticipation of the passage of the

resolution, by the Quartermaster-General of the Army, in which, among

other facts, it is stated that--

The appropriation for clothing for the Army for this fiscal year is much

smaller than usual, and the supply of blankets which it will allow us to

purchase is so small that none can properly be spared for other purposes

than the supply of the Army.

If it be thought by Congress worth while to cause the supply of blankets

for the institution referred to to be procured through the War

Department, it is respectfully suggested that provision to meet the

expense be made by special appropriation.

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 19, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

At the request of the Attorney-General, I have the honor to transmit

herewith a report in answer to the resolution of the House adopted

on the 1st of August, 1876, relative to certain matters occurring in

the administration of the provisional government of the District of

Columbia, and chiefly affecting the Commissioners and the late board

of audit.

U.S. GRANT.

WASHINGTON, _January 20, 1877_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

Herewith I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with

accompanying papers, relating to the Court of Commissioners of Alabama

Claims.

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 22, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 8th

of December last, inquiring whether any increase in the cavalry force of

the army on the Mexican frontier of Texas has been made, as authorized

by the act of July 24, 1876, and whether any troops have been removed

from the frontier of Texas and from the post of Fort Sill, on the Kiowa

and Comanche Reservation, and whether, if so, their places have been

supplied by other forces, I have the honor to transmit a report received

from the Secretary of War.

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 22, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

On the 9th day of December, 1876, the following resolution of the House

of Representatives was received, namely:

_Resolved_, That the President be requested, if not incompatible with

the public interest, to transmit to this House copies of any and all

orders or directions emanating from him or from either of the Executive

Departments of the Government to any military commander or civil officer

with reference to the service of the Army, or any portion thereof, in

the States of Virginia, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida since the

1st of August last, together with reports by telegraph or otherwise from

either or any of said military commanders or civil officers.

It was immediately or soon thereafter referred to the Secretary of War

and the Attorney-General, the custodians of all retained copies of

"orders or directions" given by the Executive Departments of the

Government covered by the above inquiry, together with all information

upon which such "orders or directions" were given.

The information, it will be observed, is voluminous, and, with the

limited clerical force in the Department of Justice, has consumed the

time up to the present. Many of the communications accompanying this

have been already made public in connection with messages heretofore

sent to Congress. This class of information includes the important

documents received from the governor of South Carolina and sent to

Congress with my message on the subject of the Hamburg massacre; also

the documents accompanying my response to the resolution of the House

of Representatives in regard to the soldiers stationed at Petersburg.

There have also come to me and to the Department of Justice, from time

to time, other earnest written communications from persons holding

public trusts and from others residing in the South, some of which I

append hereto as bearing upon the precarious condition of the public

peace in those States. These communications I have reason to regard as

made by respectable and responsible men. Many of them deprecate the

publication of their names as involving danger to them personally.

The reports heretofore made by committees of Congress of the results of

their inquiries in Mississippi and Louisiana, and the newspapers of

several States recommending "the Mississippi plan," have also furnished

important data for estimating the danger to the public peace and order

in those States.

It is enough to say that these different kinds and sources of evidence

have left no doubt whatever in my mind that intimidation has been used,

and actual violence, to an extent requiring the aid of the United States

Government, where it was practicable to furnish such aid, in South

Carolina, in Florida, and in Louisiana, as well as in Mississippi, in

Alabama, and in Georgia.

The troops of the United States have been but sparingly used, and in no

case so as to interfere with the free exercise of the right of suffrage.

Very few troops were available for the purpose of preventing or

suppressing the violence and intimidation existing in the States above

named. In no case, except that of South Carolina, was the number of

soldiers in any State increased in anticipation of the election, saving

that twenty-four men and an officer were sent from Fort Foote to

Petersburg, Va., where disturbances were threatened prior to the

election.

No troops were stationed at the voting places. In Florida and in

Louisiana, respectively, the small number of soldiers already in the

said States were stationed at such points in each State as were most

threatened with violence, where they might be available as a posse

for the officer whose duty it was to preserve the peace and prevent

intimidation of voters. Such a disposition of the troops seemed to me

reasonable and justified bylaw and precedent, while its omission would

have been inconsistent with the constitutional duty of the President of

the United States "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed."

The statute expressly forbids the bringing of troops to the polls

"except where it is necessary to keep the peace," implying that to keep

the peace it may be done. But this even, so far as I am advised, has not

in any case been done. The stationing of a company or part of a company

in the vicinity, where they would be available to prevent riot, has been

the only use made of troops prior to and at the time of the elections.

Where so stationed, they could be called in an emergency requiring it by

a marshal or deputy marshal as a posse to aid in suppressing unlawful

violence. The evidence which has come to me has left me no ground to

doubt that if there had been more military force available it would have

been my duty to have disposed of it in several States with a view to the

prevention of the violence and intimidation which have undoubtedly

contributed to the defeat of the election law in Mississippi, Alabama,

and Georgia, as well as in South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida.

By Article IV, section 4, of the Constitution--

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a

republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against

invasion, and on application of the legislature, or of the executive

(when the legislature can not be convened), against domestic violence.

By act of Congress (U.S. Revised Statutes, secs. 1034, 1035) the

President, in case of "insurrection in any State" or of "unlawful

obstruction to the enforcement of the laws of the United States by the

ordinary course of judicial proceedings," or whenever "domestic violence

in any State so obstructs the execution of the laws thereof and of the

United States as to deprive any portion of the people of such State" of

their civil or political rights, is authorized to employ such parts

of the land and naval forces as he may deem necessary to enforce the

execution of the laws and preserve the peace and sustain the authority

of the State and of the United States. Acting under this title (69) of

the Revised Statutes United States, I accompanied the sending of troops

to South Carolina with a proclamation[119] such as is therein prescribed.

The President is also authorized by act of Congress "to employ such

part of the land or naval forces of the United States * * * as shall

be necessary to prevent the violation and to enforce the due execution

of the provisions" of title 24 of the Revised Statutes of the United

States, for the protection of the civil rights of citizens, among

which is the provision against conspiracies "to prevent, by force,

intimidation, or threat, any citizen who is lawfully entitled to vote

from giving his support or advocacy in a legal manner toward or in

favor of the election of any lawfully qualified person as an elector

for President or Vice-President or as a member of Congress of the

United States." (U.S. Revised Statutes, sec. 1989.)

In cases falling under this title I have not considered it necessary to

issue a proclamation to precede or accompany the employment of such part

of the Army as seemed to be necessary.

In case of insurrection against a State government or against the

Government of the United States a proclamation is appropriate; but in

keeping the peace of the United States at an election at which Members

of Congress are elected no such call from the State or proclamation by

the President is prescribed by statute or required by precedent.

In the case of South Carolina insurrection and domestic violence against

the State government were clearly shown, and the application of the

governor founded thereon was duly presented, and I could not deny his

constitutional request without abandoning my duty as the Executive of

the National Government.

The companies stationed in the other States have been employed to secure

the better execution of the laws of the United States and to preserve

the peace of the United States.

After the election had been had, and where violence was apprehended by

which the returns from the counties and precincts might be destroyed,

troops were ordered to the State of Florida, and those already in

Louisiana were ordered to the points in greatest danger of violence.

I have not employed troops on slight occasions, nor in any case where

it has not been necessary to the enforcement of the laws of the United

States. In this I have been guided by the Constitution and the laws

which have been enacted and the precedents which have been formed under

it.

It has been necessary to employ troops occasionally to overcome

resistance to the internal-revenue laws from the time of the resistance

to the collection of the whisky tax in Pennsylvania, under Washington,

to the present time.

In 1854, when it was apprehended that resistance would be made in Boston

to the seizure and return to his master of a fugitive slave, the troops

there stationed were employed to enforce the master's right under the

Constitution, and troops stationed at New York were ordered to be in

readiness to go to Boston if it should prove to be necessary.

In 1859, when John Brown, with a small number of men, made his attack

upon Harpers Ferry, the President ordered United States troops to assist

in the apprehension and suppression of him and his party without a

formal call of the legislature or governor of Virginia and without

proclamation of the President.

Without citing further instances in which the Executive has exercised

his power, as Commander of the Army and Navy, to prevent or suppress

resistance to the laws of the United States, or where he has exercised

like authority in obedience to a call from a State to suppress

insurrection, I desire to assure both Congress and the country that it

has been my purpose to administer the executive powers of the Government

fairly, and in no instance to disregard or transcend the limits of the

Constitution.

U.S. GRANT.

[Footnote 119: See pp. 396-397.]

WASHINGTON, _January 23, 1877_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit, in answer to a resolution of the Senate of the 16th instant,

a report of the Secretary of State, with its accompanying papers.[120]

U.S. GRANT.

[Footnote 120: Correspondence with diplomatic officers of the United

States in Turkey relative to atrocities and massacres by Turks in

Bulgaria.]

WASHINGTON, _January 25, 1877_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to ratification,

a treaty between the United States and His Majesty the King of Spain, in

relation to the extradition of criminals, signed on the 5th of January,

1877.

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 29, 1877_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I have the honor to transmit herewith the proceedings of the commission

appointed to examine "the whole subject of reform and reorganization of

the Army of the United States," under the provisions of the act of

Congress approved July 24, 1876.

The commission report that so fully has their time been occupied by

other important duties that they are not at this time prepared to submit

a plan or make proper recommendations.

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 29, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I have the honor to transmit herewith reports and accompanying papers

received from the Secretaries of State and War, in answer to the

resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th instant, relative

"to the imprisonment and detention by the Mexican authorities at

Matamoras of John Jay Smith, an American citizen, and also to the

wounding and robbing by Mexican soldiers at New Laredo of Dr. Samuel

Huggins, an American citizen."

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 29, 1877_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I follow the example heretofore occasionally permitted of communicating

in this mode my approval of the "act to provide for and regulate the

counting of votes for President and Vice-President, and the decision of

questions arising thereon, for the term commencing March 4, A.D. 1877,"

because of my appreciation of the imminent peril to the institutions of

the country from which, in my judgment, the act affords a wise and

constitutional means of escape.

For the first time in the history of our country, under the Constitution

as it now is, a dispute exists with regard to the result of the election

of the Chief Magistrate of the nation.

It is understood that upon the disposition of disputes touching the

electoral votes cast at the late election by one or more of the States

depends the question whether one or the other of the candidates for

the Presidency is to be the lawful Chief Magistrate. The importance of

having clearly ascertained, by a procedure regulated by law, which of

the two citizens has been elected, and of having the right to this high

office recognized and cheerfully agreed in by all the people of the

Republic, can not be overestimated, and leads me to express to Congress

and to the nation my great satisfaction at the adoption of a measure

that affords an orderly means of decision of a gravely exciting

question.

While the history of our country in its earlier periods shows that

the President of the Senate has counted the votes and declared their

standing, our whole history shows that in no instance of doubt or

dispute has he exercised the power of deciding, and that the two Houses

of Congress have disposed of all such doubts and disputes, although in

no instance hitherto have they been such that their decision could

essentially have affected the result.

For the first time the Government of the United States is now brought to

meet the question as one vital to the result, and this under conditions

not the best calculated to produce an agreement or to induce calm

feeling in the several branches of the Government or among the people

of the country. In a case where, as now, the result is involved,

it is the highest duty of the lawmaking power to provide in advance a

constitutional, orderly, and just method of executing the Constitution

in this most interesting and critical of its provisions. The doing so,

far from being a compromise of right, is an enforcement of right and

an execution of powers conferred by the Constitution on Congress.

I think that this orderly method has been secured by the bill, which,

appealing to the Constitution and the law as the guide in ascertaining

rights, provides a means of deciding questions of single returns through

the direct action of Congress, and in respect to double returns by

a tribunal of inquiry, whose decisions stand unless both Houses of

Congress shall concur in determining otherwise, thus securing a definite

disposition of all questions of dispute, in whatever aspect they may

arise. With or without this law, as all of the States have voted, and

as a tie vote is impossible, it must be that one of the two candidates

has been elected; and it would be deplorable to witness an irregular

controversy as to which of the two should receive or which should

continue to hold the office. In all periods of history controversies

have arisen as to the succession or choice of the chiefs of states, and

no party or citizens loving their country and its free institutions can

sacrifice too much of mere feeling in preserving through the upright

course of law their country from the smallest danger to its peace on

such an occasion; and it can not be impressed too firmly in the hearts

of all the people that true liberty and real progress can exist only

through a cheerful adherence to constitutional law.

The bill purports to provide only for the settlement of questions

arising from the recent elections. The fact that such questions can

arise demonstrates the necessity, which I can not doubt will before long

be supplied, of permanent general legislation to meet cases which have

not been contemplated in the Constitution or laws of the country.

The bill may not be perfect, and its provisions may not be such as would

be best applicable to all future occasions, but it is calculated to meet

the present condition of the question and of the country.

The country is agitated. It needs and it desires peace and quiet

and harmony between all parties and all sections. Its industries are

arrested, labor unemployed, capital idle, and enterprise paralyzed by

reason of the doubt and anxiety attending the uncertainty of a double

claim to the Chief Magistracy of the nation. It wants to be assured that

the result of the election will be accepted without resistance from the

supporters of the disappointed candidate, and that its highest officer

shall not hold his place with a questioned title of right. Believing

that the bill will secure these ends, I give it my signature.

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 30, 1877_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I desire to call the attention of Congress to the importance of

providing for the continuance of the board for testing iron, steel,

and other metals, which by the sundry civil appropriation act of last

year was ordered to be discontinued at the end of the present fiscal

year. This board, consisting of engineers and other scientific experts

from the Army, the Navy, and from civil life (all of whom, except

the secretary, give their time and labors to this object without

compensation), was organized by authority of Congress in the

spring of 1875, and immediately drafted a comprehensive plan for

its investigations and contracted for a testing machine of 400 tons

capacity, which would enable it to properly conduct the experiments.

Meanwhile the subcommittees of the board have devoted their time to such

experiments as could be made with the smaller testing machines already

available. This large machine is just now completed and ready for

erection at the Watertown Arsenal, and the real labors of the board are

therefore just about to be commenced. If the board is to be discontinued

at the end of the present fiscal year, the money already appropriated

and the services of the gentlemen who have given so much time to the

subject will be unproductive of any results. The importance of these

experiments can hardly be overestimated when we consider the almost

endless variety of purposes for which iron and steel are employed in

this country and the many thousands of lives which daily depend on the

soundness of iron structures. I need hardly refer to the recent disaster

at the Ashtabula bridge, in Ohio, and the conflicting theories of

experts as to the cause of it, as an instance of what might have been

averted by a more thorough knowledge of the properties of iron and the

best modes of construction. These experiments can not properly be

conducted by private firms, not only on account of the expense, but

because the results must rest upon the authority of disinterested

persons. They must therefore be undertaken under the sanction of the

Government. Compared with their great value to the industrial interests

of the country, the expense is very slight.

The board recommend an appropriation of $40,000 for the next

fiscal year, and I earnestly commend their request to the favorable

consideration of Congress. I also recommend that the board be required

to conduct their investigations under the direction of the Secretary of

War, and to make full report of their progress to that officer in time

to be incorporated in his annual report.

U.S. GRANT.

WASHINGTON, _February 2, 1877_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit, in answer to a resolution of the Senate of the 10th ultimo,

a report of the Secretary of State, with its accompanying papers.[121]

U.S. GRANT.

[Footnote 121: Preliminary and final reports of J. Hubley Ashton, agent

of the United States before the United States and Mexican Claims

Commission.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 3, 1877_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

By the act of Congress approved January 14, 1875, "to provide for the

resumption of specie payments," the 1st of January, 1879, is fixed as

the date when such resumption is to begin. It may not be desirable to

fix an earlier date when it shall actually become obligatory upon the

Government to redeem its outstanding legal-tender notes in coin on

presentation, but it is certainly most desirable, and will prove most

beneficial to every pecuniary interest of the country, to hasten the day

when the paper circulation of the country and the gold coin shall have

equal values.

At a later day, if currency and coin should retain equal values, it

might become advisable to authorize or direct resumption. I believe the

time has come when by a simple act of the legislative branch of the

Government this most desirable result can be attained. I am strengthened

in this view by the course trade has taken in the last two years and by

the strength of the credit of the United States at home and abroad.

For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1876, the exports of the United

States exceeded the imports by $120,213,102; but our exports include

$40,569,621 of specie and bullion in excess of imports of the same

commodities. For the six months of the present fiscal year from July 1,

1876, to January 1, 1877, the excess of exports over imports amounted

to $107,544,869, and the import of specie and bullion exceeded the

export of the precious metals by $6,192,147 in the same time. The actual

excess of exports over imports for the six months, exclusive of specie

and bullion, amounted to $113,737,040, showing for the time being the

accumulation of specie and bullion in the country amounting to more than

$6,000,000, in addition to the national product of these metals for the

same period--a total increase of gold and silver for the six months not

far short of $60,000,000. It is very evident that unless this great

increase of the precious metals can be utilized at home in such a way

as to make it in some manner remunerative to the holders it must seek a

foreign market as surely as would any other product of the soil or the

manufactory. Any legislation which will keep coin and bullion at home

will, in my judgment, soon bring about practical resumption, and will

add the coin of the country to the circulating medium, thus securing

a healthy "inflation" of a sound currency, to the great advantage of

every legitimate business interest.

The act to provide for the resumption of specie payments authorizes

the Secretary of the Treasury to issue bonds of either of the

descriptions named in the act of Congress approved July 14, 1870,

entitled "An act to authorize the refunding of the national debt," for

not less than par in gold. With the present value of the 4-1/2 per cent

bonds in the markets of the world, they could be exchanged at par for

gold, thus strengthening the Treasury to meet final resumption and to

keep the excess of coin over demand, pending its permanent use as a

circulating medium, at home. All that would be further required would be

to reduce the volume of legal-tender notes in circulation. To accomplish

this I would suggest an act authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to

issue 4 per cent bonds, with forty years to run before maturity, to be

exchanged for legal-tender notes whenever presented in sums of $50 or

any multiple thereof, the whole amount of such bonds, however, not to

exceed $150,000,000. To increase the home demand for such bonds I would

recommend that they be available for deposit in the United States

Treasury for banking purposes under the various provisions of law

relating to national banks.

I would suggest further that national banks be required to retain a

certain percentage of the coin interest received by them from the bonds

deposited with the Treasury to secure their circulation.

I would also recommend the repeal of the third section of the joint

resolution "for the issue of silver coin," approved July 22, 1876,

limiting the subsidiary coin and fractional currency to $50,000,000.

I am satisfied that if Congress will enact some such law as will

accomplish the end suggested they will give a relief to the country

instant in its effects, and for which they will receive the gratitude of

the whole people.

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 9, 1877_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The accompanying memorial is transmitted to Congress at the request of a

committee, composed of many distinguished citizens of New York, recently

appointed to cooperate with a generous body of French citizens who

design to erect in the harbor of New York a colossal statue of "Liberty

Enlightening the World." Very little is asked of us to do, and I hope

that the wishes of the memorialists may receive your very favorable

consideration.

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 9, 1877_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith the catalogues and report of the board on behalf of

the Executive Departments at the International Exhibition of 1876, with

their accompanying illustrations.

The labors performed by the members of the board, as evinced by the

voluminous mass of information found in the various papers from the

officers charged with their preparation, have been in the highest

degree commendable, and believing that the publication of these papers

will form an interesting memorial of the greatest of international

exhibitions and of the centennial anniversary of the independence of

our country, I recommend that they be printed in a suitable form for

distribution and preservation.

The letter of the chairman of the board will give to Congress the

history of its organization, the law and Executive orders under which it

has acted, and the steps which have been taken to preserve the large and

instructive collections made, with a view to their forming a part of a

national museum, should Congress make the necessary appropriations for

such a desirable object.

U.S. GRANT.

WASHINGTON, _February 15, 1877_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, in answer to the resolution of the Senate of the

13th instant, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying

papers.[122]

U.S. GRANT.

[Footnote 122: Statements of appropriations and expenditures of the

Department of State from March 4, 1789, to June 30, 1876, inclusive.]

WASHINGTON, _February 23, 1877_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, bearing date

the 20th instant, with its accompaniments, being the report of the

commissioner of the United States and of the officers of engineers

attached to the commission appointed to determine the boundary line

between the United States and the possessions of Great Britain from the

northwest angle of the Lake of the Woods to the summit of the Rocky

Mountains. These reports announce the completion of the labors of this

commission, whereby the entire boundary line between the United States

and the possessions of Great Britain is marked and determined, except

as to that part of the territory of the United States which was ceded

by Russia under the treaty of 1867.

U.S. GRANT.

WASHINGTON, _February 24, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith, in answer to the resolution of the House of

Representatives of the 25th ultimo, a report from the Secretary of

State, with accompanying papers.[123]

U.S. GRANT.

[Footnote 123: Correspondence, etc., connected with the agency of A.B.

Steinberger in the Samoan Islands.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 26, 1877_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have the honor to return herewith Senate bill No. 234, entitled "An

act to allow a pension of $37 per month to soldiers who have lost both

an arm and a leg." Under existing law soldiers who have lost both an

arm and a leg are entitled to draw a monthly pension of $18. As the

object of this bill is to allow them $18 per month for each of these

disabilities, or $36 in all, it is returned simply for an amendment of

title which shall agree with its provisions. When this shall have been

done, I will very gladly give it my immediate approval.

U.S. GRANT.

WASHINGTON, _February 28, 1877_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution[124] of the Senate of the 27th instant,

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, together with

the papers which accompanied it.

U.S. GRANT.

[Footnote 124: Directing the Secretary of State to transmit any

communication demanding the payment of moneys claimed to be due the

Dominican Government from the United States.]

VETO MESSAGES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 15, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

For the reasons set forth in the accompanying communication addressed to

the Secretary of the Interior by the Commissioner of the General Land

Office, I have the honor to return herewith without my signature the

bill (H.R. 2041) entitled "An act to amend section 2291 of the Revised

Statutes of the United States, in relation to proof required in

homestead entries."

U.S. GRANT.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, _Washington, D.C., January 12, 1877_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: I have the honor to return herewith enrolled bill H.R. No. 2041,

entitled "An act to amend section 2291 of the Revised Statutes of the

United States, in relation to proof required in homestead entries,"

which accompanied your letter of the 10th instant, requesting to be

informed whether any objection was known to this Department why the same

should not become a law.

The matter was referred to the Commissioner of the General Land Office,

and I transmit herewith a copy of a letter from him suggesting certain

amendments to the second section of said act.

I concur in the recommendations made by the Commissioner.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

Z. CHANDLER, _Secretary_.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

GENERAL LAND OFFICE,

_Washington, D.C., January 11, 1877_.

The HONORABLE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

SIR: I am in receipt, by your reference of yesterday's date, of "An act

to amend section 2291 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in

relation to proof required in homestead entries," which has passed both

Houses of Congress and now awaits the signature of the President.

The purpose of the act is to enable parties seeking title under the

homestead law to make final proof before a judge or clerk of court in

the county or district where the lands are situated.

Its provisions are in conformity with the views and recommendations of

this office, and I see no objection to them in so far as relates to the

taking of the testimony.

I observe, however, that the second section provides that the proofs,

affidavits, and oaths shall be filed in the office of the register, and

no provision is made for the transmission of either the original papers

or duplicates to this office, in order that patents may properly issue

thereon, the provisions relating to certification for the purposes

of evidence seeming to require that they shall remain on file in the

district office. There is, therefore, no opportunity for the supervisory

control of the Commissioner over entries so made to be exercised under

the statutes, and thus the express requirements of existing law, as well

as the essential harmony of the land system, are interfered with by its

provisions. To remedy this defect in the proposed law I recommend that

the act be returned to the legislative body with the request for an

enactment in lieu of the second section which shall provide for the

regular transmission of the papers to this office, as in other cases, or

the simple striking out of the section altogether, as the provisions of

existing law would then cover the case, and require the same disposal

of this class of entries as obtains under present regulations so far as

relates to the transmission of papers and proof to this office and the

certification of the same by the Commissioner, under seal, for purposes

of evidence.

I observe in section 3, line 4, the omission of the word "he" after the

word "corrupt," which destroys the grammatical construction of the

language and was probably a clerical error.

I return herewith the act referred to.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. WILLIAMSON, _Commissioner_.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 23, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return herewith House bill (No. 4350) to abolish the board of

commissioners of the Metropolitan police of the District of Columbia and

to transfer its duties to the Commissioners of the District of Columbia,

without my approval.

It is my judgment that the police commissioners, while appointed by the

Executive, should report to and receive instructions from the District

Commissioners. Under other circumstances than those existing at present

I would have no objection to the entire abolition of the board and

seeing the duties devolved directly upon the District Commissioners.

The latter should, in my opinion, have supervision and control over the

acts of the police commissioners under any circumstances; but as recent

events have shown that gross violations of law have existed in this

District for years directly under the eyes of the police, it is highly

desirable that the board of police commissioners should be continued in

some form until the evil complained of is eradicated and until the

police force is put on a footing to prevent, if possible, a recurrence

of the evil. The board of police commissioners have recently been

charged with the direct object of accomplishing this end.

U.S. GRANT.

WASHINGTON, _January 26, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return to the House of Representatives, in which they originated,

two joint resolutions, the one entitled "Joint resolution relating to

congratulations from the Argentine Republic," the other entitled "Joint

resolution in reference to congratulations from the Republic of

Pretoria, South Africa."

The former of these resolutions purports to direct the Secretary of

State to acknowledge a dispatch of congratulation from the Argentine

Republic and the high appreciation of Congress of the compliment thus

conveyed. The other directs the Secretary of State to communicate

to the Republic of Pretoria the high appreciation of Congress of the

complimentary terms in which said Republic has referred to the first

centennial of our national independence.

Sympathizing, as I do, in the spirit of courtesy and friendly

recognition which has prompted the passage of these resolutions, I can

not escape the conviction that their adoption has inadvertently involved

the exercise of a power which infringes upon the constitutional rights

of the Executive.

The usage of governments generally confines their correspondence

and interchange of opinion and of sentiments of congratulation, as

well as of discussion, to one certain established agency. To allow

correspondence or interchange between states to be conducted by or with

more than one such agency would necessarily lead to confusion, and

possibly to contradictory presentation of views and to international

complications.

The Constitution of the United States, following the established usage

of nations, has indicated the President as the agent to represent the

national sovereignty in its intercourse with foreign powers and to

receive all official communications from them. It gives him the power,

by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties and

to appoint embassadors and other public ministers; it intrusts to him

solely "to receive embassadors and other public ministers," thus vesting

in him the origination of negotiations and the reception and conduct of

all correspondence with foreign states, making him, in the language of

one of the most eminent writers on constitutional law, "the

constitutional organ of communication with foreign states."

No copy of the addresses which it is proposed to acknowledge is

furnished. I have no knowledge of their tone, language, or purport. From

the tenor of the two joint resolutions it is to be inferred that these

communications are probably purely congratulatory. Friendly and kindly

intentioned as they may be, the presentation by a foreign state of any

communication to a branch of the Government not contemplated by the

Constitution for the reception of communications from foreign states

might, if allowed to pass without notice, become a precedent for the

address by foreigners or by foreign states of communications of a

different nature and with wicked designs.

If Congress can direct the correspondence of the Secretary of State

with foreign governments, a case very different from that now under

consideration might arise, when that officer might be directed to

present to the same foreign government entirely different and

antagonistic views or statements.

By the act of Congress establishing what is now the Department of State,

then known as the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Secretary is to

"perform and execute such duties as shall from time to time be enjoined

on or intrusted to him by the President of the United States, agreeably

to the Constitution, relative to correspondence, commissions, or

instructions to or with public ministers or consuls from the United

States, or to negotiations with public ministers from foreign states

or princes, or to memorials or other applications from foreign public

ministers or other foreigners, or to such other matters respecting

foreign affairs as the President of the United States shall assign to

the said Department; and furthermore, the said principal officer [the

Secretary of State] shall conduct the business of the said Department

in such manner as the President of the United States shall from time

to time order or instruct."

This law, which remains substantially unchanged, confirms the view that

the whole correspondence of the Government with and from foreign states

is intrusted to the President; that the Secretary of State conducts such

correspondence exclusively under the orders and instructions of the

President, and that no communication or correspondence from foreigners

or from a foreign state can properly be addressed to any branch or

Department of the Government except that to which such correspondence

has been committed by the Constitution and the laws.

I therefore feel it my duty to return the joint resolutions without my

approval to the House of Representatives, in which they originated.

In addition to the reasons already stated for withholding my

constitutional approval from these resolutions is the fact that

no information is furnished as to the terms or purport of the

communications to which acknowledgments are desired; no copy of the

communications accompanies the resolutions, nor is the name even of the

officer or of the body to whom an acknowledgment could be addressed

given; it is not known whether these congratulatory addresses proceed

from the head of the state or from legislative bodies; and as regards

the resolution relating to the Republic of Pretoria, I can not learn

that any state or government of that name exists.

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _January 26, 1877_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have the honor to return herewith without my approval Senate bill No.

685, entitled "An act to place the name of Daniel H. Kelly upon the

muster roll of Company F, Second Tennessee Infantry."

The reasons for withholding my signature to this bill may be found in

the accompanying report received from the Secretary of War.

U.S. GRANT.

WAR DEPARTMENT, _January 24, 1877_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: I have the honor to return herewith Senate bill 685, "to place the

name of Daniel H. Kelly upon the muster roll of Company F, Second

Tennessee Infantry," with the report of the Adjutant-General, as

follows:

"The inclosed act directs the Secretary of War to place the name of

Daniel H. Kelly upon the muster roll of Company F, Second Tennessee

Infantry, to date December 1, 1861. There is no record of the

enlistment, service, or death of this man on file in this office, and if

this act becomes a law as it now reads it will be of no benefit to the

heirs."

I have the honor to be, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

J.D. CAMERON, _Secretary of War_.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 14, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I have the honor to return herewith without my approval House bill No.

3367, entitled "An act to remove the charge of desertion from the

military record of Alfred Rouland."

The reasons for withholding my signature may be found in the

accompanying report received from the Secretary of War.

U.S. GRANT.

WAR DEPARTMENT, _Washington City, February 8, 1877_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: I have the honor to return House bill 3367, "to remove the charge

of desertion from the military record of Alfred Rouland," and inclose

copy of the report of the Adjutant-General, dated the 8th instant, who

recommends that the bill be not approved.

In this connection I would invite attention to reports of the Military

Committees of the House and Senate (House Report No. 461, Forty-fourth

Congress, first session; Senate Report No. 578, Forty-fourth Congress,

second session) in the case, of which copies are herewith.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J.D. CAMERON, _Secretary of War_.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_February 8, 1877_.

Respectfully returned to the Secretary of War.

This man is reported on the muster-out roll of his company as having

"deserted at Wilmington, N.C., April 16, 1866."

In his petition of December 28, 1874, on file in this office, occurs the

following language:

"I was transferred to the Twenty-eighth Michigan Volunteers, and

performed duty with that regiment from the 28th June, 1865, until the

16th day of April, 1866, when, being in a reduced and weak condition

from continued chills and fever, and being in great fear of smallpox,

which had become very prevalent at Wilmington, N.C., where my company

was then stationed, I left my command without leave and returned to

Michigan." * * *

This man is consequently a deserter in fact, and should this bill,

restoring to an honorable status an admitted deserter, become a law,

it will defeat every end of military discipline and justice, besides

working a great injustice to every soldier who served faithfully and

honorably.

It is therefore strongly recommended that it be not approved.

E.D. TOWNSEND, _Adjutant-General_.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 14, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return the House bill No. 3155, entitled "An act to perfect the

revision of the statutes of the United States," without my approval.

My objection is to the single provision which amends section 3823 of

the Revised Statutes.

That section is as follows:

SEC. 3823. The Clerk of the House of Representatives shall select in

Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama,

Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas one or more newspapers, not

exceeding the number allowed by law, in which such treaties and laws of

the United States as may be ordered for publication in newspapers

according to law shall be published, and in some one or more of which

so selected all such advertisements as may be ordered for publication

in said districts by any United States court or judge thereof, or by

any officer of such courts, or by any executive officer of the United

States, shall be published, the compensation for which and other terms

of publication shall be fixed by said Clerk at a rate not exceeding

$2 per page for the publication of treaties and laws, and not exceeding

$1 per square of eight lines of space for the publication of

advertisements, the accounts for which shall be adjusted by the proper

accounting officers and paid in the manner now authorized by law in the

like cases.

The bill proposes to amend this section as follows:

By striking out all after the word "in" in the first line to the word

"one" in the third line, and inserting therefor the words "each State

and Territory of the United States."

Prior to 1867 the advertising of the Executive Departments had been

subject to the direction of the heads of those Departments, and had been

published in newspapers selected by them and on terms fixed by them.

In the year 1867 (14 U.S. Statutes at Large, pp. 466, 467), while the

ten States above named were yet unrestricted, and when there existed

a radical difference of opinion between the executive and legislative

departments as to the administration of the Government in those States,

this provision was enacted. Subsequently, during the same year (15 U.S.

Statutes at Large, p. 8), so much of this provision "as relates to the

publication of the laws and treaties of the United States" was extended

to all the States and Territories, leaving the advertisements ordered

by Congress and by the Executive Departments unaffected thereby. The

continuance of this provision after the reconstruction acts had taken

effect and the bringing it forward into the Revised Statutes were

probably through inadvertence.

The existence of this section (3823) of the Revised Statutes seems to

have been ignored by Congress itself in the adoption of section 3941,

authorizing the Postmaster-General to advertise in such newspapers as

he may choose. But the present act, if it should go into effect, would

compel him and the other heads of the Executive Departments, as well

as all the courts, to publish all their advertisements in newspapers

selected by the Clerk of the House of Representatives. It would make

general in its operation a provision which, was exceptional and

temporary in its origin and character. This, in my judgment, would

be unwise, if not also an actual encroachment upon the constitutional

rights of the executive branch of the Government. The person who should

be appointed by law to select all the newspapers throughout the country

to which the patronage of all branches of the Government of the United

States should be given, if not an officer of the United States under

Article II, section 2, clause 2, of the Constitution, would certainly

have powers and duties which have hitherto been regarded as official.

But without reference to the question of its constitutionality, I am

satisfied that this provision would not operate usefully or fairly. I am

constrained, therefore, to withhold from it my approval. I regret that

my objection to this one clause of the act can not be made available

without withholding my approval from the entire act, which is otherwise

unobjectionable.

U.S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 28, 1877_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have the honor to return herewith without my approval Senate bill

No. 691, entitled "An act for the relief of Edward A. Leland." The

reasons for withholding my approval may be found in the accompanying

communication received from the Secretary of the Interior.

U.S. GRANT.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, _Washington, February 27, 1877_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: I have the honor to return herewith the bill (S. 691) entitled

"An act for the relief of Edward A. Leland," accompanied by a copy of

a letter from the Commissioner of Patents suggesting an objection to

the bill in its present form, and to recommend that it be returned

to Congress for amendment in accordance with the suggestions of the

Commissioner.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully,

Z. CHANDLER, _Secretary_.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

_Washington, D.C., February 27, 1877_.

Hon. Z. CHANDLER,

_Secretary of the Interior_.

SIR: In the matter of the enrolled bill (S. 691) extending letters

patent of Edward A. Leland, I have the honor to report that said letters

patent were granted for an improved paint can August 14, 1860, for the

term of fourteen years; that they consequently expired on the 14th day

of August, 1874, whereupon the invention became the property of the

public.

The present act proposes to extend the term of the patent seven years

from said 14th day of August, 1874, and give to it the same effect in

law as if it had been originally granted for the term of twenty-one

years.

It will be seen, therefore, that those who have innocently used and

purchased the invention since the expiration of the letters patent on

the 14th of August, 1874, under the impression that the invention was

the property of the public, will, by the retroactive terms of the bill,

be liable for damages for such use upon suits for infringement.

This hardship is generally, if not always, provided against by a proviso

to such bills, setting forth in terms "that no person shall be held

liable for the infringement of said patent, if extended, for making use

of said invention since the expiration of the original term of said

patent and prior to the date of its extension."

Unless such a proviso is incorporated into the present bill, the

injustice alluded to may be done.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ELLIS SPEAR, _Commissioner of Patents_.

PROCLAMATION.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas objects of interest to the United States require that the Senate

should be convened at 12 o'clock on the 5th day of March next to receive

and act upon such communications as may be made to it on the part of the

Executive:

Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States,

have considered it to be my duty to issue this my proclamation,

declaring that an extraordinary occasion requires the Senate of the

United States to convene for the transaction of business at the Capitol,

in the city of Washington, on the 5th day of March next, at 12 o'clock

at noon on that day, of which all who shall at that time be entitled to

act as members of that body are hereby required to take notice.

[SEAL.]

Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at Washington,

the 2d day of March, A.D. 1877, and of the Independence of the United

States of America the one hundred and first.

U.S. GRANT.

By the President:

HAMILTON FISH,

_Secretary of State_.