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. 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. To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, December 23, 1876. 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* which accompanied it. U. S. GRANT. [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. *Correspondence relative to the Venezuelan mixed commission held under the convention of April 25, 1866, for the settlement of claims against Venezuela. M P-VOL VII-27 |