To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, February 18, 1867. I have received a resolution of the Senate dated the 8th day of January last, requesting the President to inform the Senate if any violations of the act entitled "An act to protect all persons in the United States in their civil rights and furnish the means of their vindication" have come to his knowledge, and, if so, what steps, if any, have been taken by him to enforce the law and punish the offenders. Not being cognizant of any cases which came within the purview of the resolution, in order that the inquiry might have the fullest range I referred it to the heads of the several Executive Departments, whose reports are herewith communicated for the information of the Senate. With the exception of the cases mentioned in the reports of the Secretary of War and the Attorney-General, no violations, real or supposed, of the act to which the resolution refers have at any time come to the knowledge of the Executive. The steps taken in these cases to enforce the law appear in these reports. The Secretary of War, under date of the 15th instant, submitted a series of reports from the General Commanding the armies of the United States and other military officers as to supposed violations of the act alluded to in the resolution, with the request that they should be referred to the Attorney-General "for his investigation and report, to the end that the cases may be designated which are cognizant by the civil authorities and such as are cognizant by military tribunals." I have directed the reference so to be made. ANDREW JOHNSON. To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, February 18, 1867. I transmit a letter of the 26th ultimo, addressed to me by W. F. M. Arny, secretary and acting governor of the Territory of New Mexico, with the memorials to Congress by which it was accompanied, requesting certain appropriations for that Territory. The attention of the House of Representatives is invited to the subject. ANDREW JOHNSON. To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, February 19, 1867. I transmit the accompanying reports from the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of War, in answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 28th May last, requesting certain information in regard to captured and forfeited cotton. ANDREW JOHNSON. To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, February 20, 1867. I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, giving information of States which have ratified the amendment to the Constitution proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress in addition to those named in his report which was communicated in my message of the 16th instant, in answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 15th instant. ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, February 21, 1867. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, February 21, 1867. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, February 21, 1867. To the Senate of the United States: I transmit to the Senate, in answer to their resolution of the 19th instant, a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents.‡ To the House of Representatives: ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, February 21, 1867. I transmit to the House of Representatives, in answer to their resolution of the 14th instant, a report § from the Secretary of State of this date. ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, February 21, 1867. To the Senate of the United States: *Correspondence relative to the refusal of the United States consul at Cadiz, Spain, to certify invoices of wines shipped from that port, etc. +Correspondence with foreign ministers of the United States relative to the policy of the President toward the States lately in rebellion. Correspondence relative to the salary of the United States minister to Portugal. Stating that the correspondence relative to the refusal of the United States consul at Cadiz, Spain, to certify invoices of wines shipped from that port had been sent to the Senate. For the purpose of concluding a new treaty. York Indians in Kansas and submitted to the Senate in the month of WASHINGTON CITY, D. C., February 23, 1867. To the Senate of the United States: I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty concluded in the city of Washington on the 19th of February, 1867, between the United States and the Sac and Fox tribes of Indians of Missouri. A letter of the Secretary of the Interior of the 23d and copy of a letter of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the 19th of February, 1867, accompany the treaty. ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON CITY, D. C., February 23, 1867. To the Senate of the United States: I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty concluded in the city of Washington on the 18th February, 1867, between the United States and the Sac and Fox tribes of Indians of the Mississippi. A letter of the Secretary of the Interior of the 23d and a copy of a letter of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the 19th February, 1867, accompany the treaty. ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON CITY, D. C., February 23, 1867. To the Senate of the United States: I herewith lay before the Senate, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty concluded on the 19th February, 1867, between the United States and the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of Indians. A letter of the Secretary of the Interior of the 23d instant and accompanying copies of letters of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and Major T. R. Brown, in relation to said treaty, are also herewith transmitted. ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, February 23, 1867. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit a copy of a letter of the 12th instant addressed to me by His Excellency Lucius Fairchild, governor of the State of Wisconsin, and of the memorial to Congress concerning the Paris Exposition adopted by the legislature of that State during its present session. ANDREW JOHNSON. EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 25, 1867. To the House of Representatives: I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Interior, in reply to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 11th instant, calling for certain information relative to removals and appointments in his Department since the adjournment of the first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress. ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, D. C., February 26, 1867. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit to Congress a copy of a correspondence between the Secretary of State and G. V. Fox, esq., relative to the presentation by the latter to the Emperor of Russia of the resolution of Congress expressive of the feelings of the people of the United States in reference to the providential escape of that sovereign from an attempted assassination. To the Senate of the United States: ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, February 26, 1867. I transmit to the Senate, with a view to ratification, a general convention of amity, commerce, and navigation and for the surrender of fugitive criminals between the United States and the Dominican Republic, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the parties at the city of St. Domingo on the 8th of this month. ANDREW JOHNSON. WASHINGTON, D. C., February 27, 1867. To the House of Representatives: I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of the Navy, in answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 21st instant, calling for a copy of a letter addressed by Richard M. Boynton and Harriet M. Fisher to the Secretary of the Navy in the month of February, 1863, together with the indorsement made thereon by the Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance. ANDREW JOHNSON. To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, March 2, 1867. I transmit herewith a report of the Attorney-General, additional to the one submitted by him December 13, 1866, in reply to the resolution of the House of Representatives of December 10, 1866, requesting “a list of names of all persons who have been engaged in the late rebellion against the United States Government who have been pardoned by the President from April 15, 1865, to this date; that said list shall also state the rank of each person who has been so pardoned, if he has been engaged in the military service of the so-called Confederate States, and the position if he shall have held any civil office under said so-called Confederate government; and shall also further state whether such person has at any time prior to April 14, 1861, held any office under the United States Government, and, if so, what office, together with the reasons for granting such pardons, and also the names of the person or persons at whose solicitation such pardon was granted." ANDREW JOHNSON. To the House of Representatives: MARCH 2, 1867. The act entitled "An act making appropriations for the support of the Army for the year ending June 30, 1868, and for other purposes contains provisions to which I must call attention. Those provisions are contained in the second section, which in certain cases virtually deprives the President of his constitutional functions as Commander in Chief of the Army, and in the sixth section, which denies to ten States of this Union their constitutional right to protect themselves in any emergency by means of their own militia. Those provisions are out of place in an appropriation act. I am compelled to defeat these necessary appropriations if I withhold my signature to the act. Pressed by these considerations, I feel constrained to return the bill with my signature, but to accompany it with my protest against the sections which I have indicated. ANDREW JOHNSON. VETO MESSAGES. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, January 5, 1867. I have received and considered a bill entitled "An act to regulate the elective franchise in the District of Columbia," passed by the Senate on the 13th of December and by the House of Representatives on the succeeding day. It was presented for my approval on the 26th ultimo—six days after the adjournment of Congress-and is now returned with my objections to the Senate, in which House it originated. Measures having been introduced at the commencement of the first session of the present Congress for the extension of the elective franchise to persons of color in the District of Columbia, steps were taken by the corporate authorities of Washington and Georgetown to ascertain and make known the opinion of the people of the two cities upon a subject so |