THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH Three achievements of industry are typical of the vigor with which the pursuits of commerce were resumed after the close of the Civil War. The Atlantic telegraph is one; the Great Eastern and the Pacific Railroad are the others. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, saw no reason why messages could not be transmitted across the Atlantic and energetically expressed his views in public and private. When Cyrus W. Field of New York was interviewed regarding investing in a 400-mile system in Newfoundland, Morse's ideas occurred to him and he determined to run the system from Newfoundland to Europe. In 1854 an association for the purpose was formed. After many failures and disappointments the two vessels supplied by the United States and British Governments met in mid-ocean, spliced their respective portions of the cable, and turned homeward, paying out the cable as they went, as shown by the illustration. The cable extended 1,950 miles and connected Ireland and Newfoundland. This cable soon ceased to work, and the Civil War prevented further efforts until 1865, when the Great Eastern started to lay an improved cable. Again failure overtook the project; a sudden heave of the ship snapped the cable and it sank. On July 27, 1866, a permanent cable was laid and Field's labor was rewarded by success. Presidential references to this undertaking are cited in the index (volume eleven), under the heading "Atlantic Telegraph." To the House of Representatives. WASHINGTON, January 7, 1868. I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, in answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of yesterday, making inquiry how many and what State legislatures have ratified the proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States known as the fourteenth article. ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, January 7, 1868. To the Senate and House of Representatives: A Spanish steamer named Nuestra Señora being in the harbor of Port Royal, S. C., on the 1st of December, 1861, Brigadier-General T. W. Sherman, who was in command of the United States forces there, received information which he supposed justified him in seizing her, as she was on her way from Charleston to Havana with insurgent correspondence on board. The seizure was made accordingly, and during the ensuing spring the vessel was sent to New York, in order that the legality of the seizure might be tried. By a decree of June 20, 1863, Judge Betts ordered the vessel to be restored, and by a subsequent decree, of October 15, 1863, he referred the adjustment of damages to amicable negotiations between the two Governments. While the proceeding in admiralty was pending, the vessel was appraised and taken by the Navy Department at the valuation of $28,000, which sum that Department paid into the Treasury. As the amount of this valuation can not legally be drawn from the Treasury without authority from Congress, I recommend an appropriation for that purpose. It is proposed to appoint a commissioner on the part of this Government to adjust, informally in this case, with a similar commissioner on the part of Spain, the question of damages, the commissioners to name an arbiter for points upon which they may disagree. When the amount of the damages shall thus have been ascertained, application will be made to Congress for a further appropriation toward paying them. ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, D. C., January 14, 1868. To the House of Representatives: I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of War ad interim, with the accompanying papers, prepared in compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of March 15, 1867, requesting information in reference to contracts for ordnance projectiles and small ANDREW JOHNSON. arms. M P-VOL V-22 WASHINGTON, D. C., January 14, 1868. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit herewith the report made by the commissioners appointed under the act of Congress approved on the 20th day of July, 1867, entitled "An act to establish peace with certain hostile Indian tribes," together with the accompanying papers. To the Senate of the United States: ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, January 14, 1868. In answer to the resolution of the Senate of yesterday, calling for information relating to the appointment of the American minister at Pekin to a diplomatic or other mission on behalf of the Chinese Government by the Emperor of China, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State upon the subject, together with the accompanying papers. ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON CITY, January 14, 1868. To the Senate of the United States: I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, the following treaties, concluded at "Medicine Lodge Creek," Kansas, between the Indian tribes therein named and the United States, by their commissioners appointed by the act of Congress approved July 20, 1867, entitled "An act to establish peace with certain hostile Indian tribes," viz: A treaty with the Kiowa and Comanche tribes, concluded October 21, 1867. A treaty with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache tribes, concluded October 28, 1867. A treaty with the Arapahoe and Cheyenne tribes, dated October 28, 1867. A letter of this date from the Secretary of the Interior, transmitting said treaties, is herewith inclosed. To the Senate of the United States: ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, January 17, 1868. With reference to the convention between the United States and Denmark for the cession of the islands of St. Thomas and St. John, in the West Indies, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State on the subject of the vote of St. Thomas on the question of accepting the cession. ANDREW JOHNSON WASHINGTON, D. C., January 23, 1868. To the Senate of the United States: In compliance with the request of the Senate of yesterday, I return herewith their resolution of the 21st instant, calling for information in reference to James A. Seddon, late Secretary of War of the so-called Confederate States. To the Senate of the United States: ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, January 23, 1868. I have received the following preamble and resolution, adopted by the Senate on the 8th instant: Whereas Senate bill No. 141, and entitled "An act for the further security of equal rights in the District of Columbia," having at this present session passed both Houses of Congress, was afterwards, on the 11th day of December, 1867, duly presented to the President of the United States for his approval and signature; and Whereas more than ten days, exclusive of Sundays, have since elapsed in this session without said bill having been returned, either approved or disapproved: Therefore, Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to inform the Senate whether said bill has been delivered to and received by the Secretary of State, as provided by the second section of the act of the 27th day of July, 1789. As the act which the resolution mentions has no relevancy to the subject under inquiry, it is presumed that it was the intention of the Senate to refer to the law of the 15th September, 1789, the second section of which prescribes That whenever a bill, order, resolution, or vote of the Senate and House of Representatives, having been approved and signed by the President of the United States, or not having been returned by him with his objections, shall become a law or take effect, it shall forthwith thereafter be received by the said Secretary from the President; and whenever a bill, order, resolution, or vote shall be returned by the President with his objections, and shall, on being reconsidered, be agreed to be passed, and be approved by two-thirds of both Houses of Congress, and thereby become a law or take effect, it shall in such case be received by the said Secretary from the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, in whichsoever House it shall last have been so approved. Inasmuch as the bill "for the further security of equal rights in the District of Columbia" has not become a law in either of the modes designated in the section above quoted, it has not been delivered to the Secretary of State for record and promulgation. The Constitution expressly declares that If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law. As stated in the preamble to the resolution, the bill to which it refers was presented for my approval on the 11th day of December, 1867. On the 20th of same month, and before the expiration of the ten days after the presentation of the bill to the President, the two Houses, in accordance with a concurrent resolution adopted on the 3d [13th] of December, adjourned until the 6th of January, 1868. Congress by their adjournment thus prevented the return of he bill within the time prescribed by the Constitution, and it was therefore left in the precise condition in which that instrument positively declares a bill "shall not be a law.” If the adjournment in December did not cause the failure of this bill, because not such an adjournment as is contemplated by the Constitution in the clause which I have cited, it must follow that such was the nature of the adjournments during the past year, on the 30th day of March until the first Wednesday of July and from the 20th of July until the 21st of November. Other bills will therefore be affected by the decision which may be rendered in this case, among them one having the same title as that named in the resolution, and containing similar provisions, which, passed by both Houses in the month of July last, failed to become a law by reason of the adjournment of Congress before ten days for its consideration had been allowed the Executive. ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, January 27, 1868. To the House of Representatives of the United States: In answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 22d instant, calling for a copy of the report of Abram S. Hewitt, commissioner of the United States to the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the papers which accompany it ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, January 27, 1868. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents to which it refers, in relation to the formal transfer of territory from Russia to the United States in accordance with the treaty of the 30th of March last. To the Senate of the United States: ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, January 28, 1868. I transmit, for the consideration of the Senate with a view to its ratification, an additional article to the treaty of navigation and commerce with Russia of the 18th of December, 1832, which additional article was concluded and signed between the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments at Washington on the 27th instant. ANDREW JOHNSON. |