Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at Washington, the 8th day of April, A. D. 1869, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-third. [SEAL.] I transmit to the Senate, for consideration with a view to ratification, a convention between the United States and the Emperor of the French, signed this day by the plenipotentiaries of the parties, for the mutual protection of trade-marks of their respective citizens and subjects. To the Senate of the United States: U. S. GRANT. WASHINGTON, April 21, 1869. I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution adopted in executive session on the 16th of February last, requesting copy of the official correspondence of Mr. Buchanan during his residence at St. Petersburg as minister of the United States, a report from the Secretary of State, with the accompanying papers. U. S. GRANT. PROCLAMATIONS. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. In pursuance of the provisions of the act of Congress approved April 10, 1869, I hereby designate the 6th day of July, 1869, as the time for submitting the constitution passed by the convention which met in Richmond, Va., on Tuesday, the 3d day of December, 1867, to the voters of said State registered at the date of such submission, viz, July 6, 1869, for ratification or rejection. And I submit to a separate vote the fourth clause of section I of article 3 of said constitution, which is in the following words: Every person who has been a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President or Vice-President, or who held any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath as a mem◄ ber of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. This clause shall include the following officers: Governor, lieutenantgovernor, secretary of state, auditor of public accounts, second auditor, register of the land office, State treasurer, attorney-general, sheriffs, sergeant of a city or town, commissioner of the revenue, county surveyors, constables, overseers of the poor, commissioner of the board of public works, judges of the supreme court, judges of the circuit court, judges of the court of hustings, justices of the county courts, mayor, recorder, alderman, councilmen of a city or town, coroners, escheators, inspectors of tobacco, flour, etc., clerks of the supreme, district, circuit, and county courts and of the court of hustings, and attorneys for the Commonwealth: Provided, That the legislature may, by a vote of three-fifths of both houses, remove the disabilities incurred by this clause from any person included therein, by a separate vote in each case. And I also submit to a separate vote the seventh section of article 3 of the said constitution, which is in the words following: In addition to the foregoing oath of office, the governor, lieutenant-governor, members of the general assembly, secretary of state, auditor of public accounts, State treasurer, attorney-general, and all persons elected to any convention to frame a constitution for this State or to amend or revise this constitution in any manner, and mayor and council of any city or town, shall, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: Provided, The disabilities therein contained may be individually removed by a threefifths vote of the general assembly: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have never sought nor accepted nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever under any authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power, or constitution within the United States hostile or inimical thereto. And I do further swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God." The above oath shall also be taken by all the city and county officers before entering upon their duties, and by all other State officers not included in the above provision. I direct the vote to be taken upon each of the above-cited provisions alone, and upon the other portions of the said constitution in the following manner, viz: Each voter favoring the ratification of the constitution (excluding the provisions above quoted) as framed by the convention of December 3, 1867, shall express his judgment by voting for the constitution. Each voter favoring the rejection of the constitution (excluding the provisions above quoted) shall express his judgment by voting against the constitution. Each voter will be allowed to cast a separate ballot for or against either or both of the provisions above quoted. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. [SEAL.] Done at the city of Washington, this 14th day of May, A. D. 1869, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-third. U. S. GRANT. By the President: HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas the act of Congress approved June 25, 1868, constituted, on and after that date, eight hours a day's work for all laborers, workmen, and mechanics employed by or on behalf of the Government of the United States, and repealed all acts afid parts of acts inconsistent therewith: Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States, do hereby direct that from and after this date no reduction shall be made in the wages paid by the Government by the day to such laborers, workmen, and mechanics on account of such reduction of the hours of labor. In testimony whereof I have hereto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. [SEAL.] Done at the city of Washington, this 19th day of May, A. D. 1869, and of the Independence of the United States the ninetythird. U. S. GRANT. By the President: HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me from His Majesty the Emperor of France, through the Count Faverney, his chargé d'affaires, that on and after this date the discriminating duties heretofore levied in French ports upon merchandise imported from the countries of its origin in vessels of the United States are to be discontinued and abolished: Now, therefore, I, U. S. Grant, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by an act of Congress of the 7th day of January, 1824, and by an act in addition thereto of the 24th day of May, 1828, do hereby declare and proclaim that on and after this date, so long as merchandise imported from the countries of its origin into French ports in vessels belonging to citizens of the United States is admitted into French ports on the terms aforesaid, the discriminating duties heretofore levied upon merchandise imported from the countries of its origin into ports of the United States in French vessels shall be, and are hereby, discontinued and abolished. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. [SEAL.] Done at the city of Washington, this 12th day of June, A. D. 1869, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-third. U. S. GRANT. By the President: HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. In pursuance of the provisions of the act of Congress approved April 10, 1869, I hereby designate Tuesday, the 30th day of November, 1869, as the time for submitting the constitution adopted on the 15th day of May, 1868, by the convention which met in Jackson, Miss., to the voters of said State registered at the date of such submission, viz, November 30, 1869. And I submit to a separate vote that part of section 3 of Article VII of said constitution which is in the following words: That I am not disfranchised in any of the provisions of the acts known as the reconstruction acts of the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congress, and that I admit the political and civil equality of all men. So help me God: Provided, If Congress shall at any time remove the disabilities of any person disfranchised in said reconstruction acts of the said Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congress (and the legislature of this State shall concur therein), then so much of this oath, and so much only, as refers to the said reconstruction acts shall not be required of such person so pardoned to entitle him to be registered. And I further submit to a separate vote section 5 of the same article of said constitution, which is in the following words: No person shall be eligible to any office of profit or trust, civil or military, in this State who, as a member of the legislature, voted for the call of the convention that passed the ordinance of secession, or who, as a delegate to any convention, voted for or signed any ordinance of secession, or who gave voluntary aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility to the United States, or who accepted or attempted to exercise the functions of any office, civil or military, under any authority or pretended government, authority, power, or constitution within the United States hostile or inimical thereto, except all persons who aided reconstruction by voting for this convention or who have continuously advocated the assembling of this convention and shall continuously and in good faith advocate the acts of the same; but the legislature may remove such disability: Provided, That nothing in this section, except voting for or signing the ordinance of secession, shall be so construed as to exclude from office the private soldier of the late so-called Confederate States army. And I further submit to a separate vote section 5 of Article XII of the said constitution, which is in the following words: The credit of the State shall not be pledged or loaned in aid of any person, asso |