nity by foreigners as well as by citizens of the United States arising out of the late civil war shall be adjudicated and determined. I have no doubt that the subject of all such claims will engage your attention at a convenient and proper time.

It is a matter of regret that no considerable advance has been made toward an adjustment of the differences between the United States and Great Britain arising out of the depredations upon our national commerce and other trespasses committed during our civil war by British subjects, in violation of international law and treaty obligations. The delay, however, may be believed to have resulted in no small degree from the domestic situation of Great Britain. An entire change of ministry occurred in that country during the last session of Parliament. The attention of the new ministry was called to the subject at an early day, and there is some reason to expect that it will now be considered in a becoming and friendly spirit. The importance of an early disposition of the question can not be exaggerated. Whatever might be the wishes of the two Governments, it is manifest that good will and friendship between the two countries can not be established until a reciprocity in the practice of good faith and neutrality shall be restored between the respective nations.

On the 6th of June last, in violation of our neutrality laws, a military expedition and enterprise against the British North American colonies was projected and attempted to be carried on within the territory and jurisdiction of the United States. In obedience to the obligation imposed upon the Executive by the Constitution to see that the laws are faithfully executed, all citizens were warned by proclamation against taking part in or aiding such unlawful proceedings, and the proper civil, military, and naval officers were directed to take all necessary measures for the enforcement of the laws. The expedition failed, but it has not been without its painful consequences. Some of our citizens who, it was alleged, were engaged in the expedition were captured, and have been brought to trial as for a capital offense in the Province of Canada. Judgment and sentence of death have been pronounced against some, while others have been acquitted. Fully believing in the maxim of government that severity of civil punishment for misguided persons who have engaged in revolutionary attempts which have disastrously failed is unsound and unwise, such representations have been made to the British Government in behalf of the convicted persons as, being sustained by an enlightened and humane judgment, will, it is hoped, induce in their cases an exercise of clemency and a judicious amnesty to all who were engaged in the movement. Counsel has been employed by the Government to defend citizens of the United States on trial for capital offenses in Canada, and a discontinuance of the prosecutions which were instituted in the courts of the United States against those who took part in the expedition has been directed.

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I have regarded the expedition as not only political in its nature, but as also in a great measure foreign from the United States in its causes, character, and objects. The attempt was understood to be made in sympathy with an insurgent party in Ireland, and by striking at a British Province on this continent was designed to aid in obtaining redress for political grievances which, it was assumed, the people of Ireland had suffered at the hands of the British Government during a period of several centuries. The persons engaged in it were chiefly natives of that country, some of whom had, while others had not, become citizens of the United States under our general laws of naturalization. Complaints of misgovernment in Ireland continually engage the attention of the British nation, and so great an agitation is now prevailing in Ireland that the British Government have deemed it necessary to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in that country. These circumstances must necessarily modify the opinion which we might otherwise have entertained in regard to an expedition expressly prohibited by our neutrality laws. So long as those laws remain upon our statute books they should be faithfully executed, and if they operate harshly, unjustly, or oppressively Congress alone can apply the remedy by their modification or repeal.

Political and commercial interests of the United States are not unlikely to be affected in some degree by events which are transpiring in the eastern regions of Europe, and the time seems to have come when our Government ought to have a proper diplomatic representation in Greece.

This Government has claimed for all persons not convicted or accused or suspected of crime an absolute political right of self-expatriation and a choice of new national allegiance. Most of the European States have dissented from this principle, and have claimed a right to hold such of their subjects as have emigrated to and been naturalized in the United States and afterwards returned on transient visits to their native countries to the performance of military service in like manner as resident subjects. Complaints arising from the claim in this respect made by foreign states have heretofore been matters of controversy between the United States and some of the European powers, and the irritation consequent upon the failure to settle this question increased during the war in which Prussia, Italy, and Austria were recently engaged. While Great Britain has never acknowledged the right of expatriation, she has not for some years past practically insisted upon the opposite doctrine. France has been equally forbearing, and Prussia has proposed a compromise, which, although evincing increased liberality, has not been accepted by the United States. Peace is now prevailing everywhere in Europe, and the present seems to be a favorable time for an assertion by Congress of the principle so long maintained by the executive department that naturalization by one state fully exempts the native-born subject of any other state from the performance of military service under any

foreign government, so long as he does not voluntarily renounce its rights and benefits.

In the performance of a duty imposed upon me by the Constitution I have thus submitted to the representatives of the States and of the people such information of our domestic and foreign affairs as the public interests seem to require. Our Government is now undergoing its most trying ordeal, and my earnest prayer is that the peril may be successfully and finally passed without impairing its original strength and symmetry. The interests of the nation are best to be promoted by the revival of fraternal relations, the complete obliteration of our past differences, and the reinauguration of all the pursuits of peace. Directing our efforts to the early accomplishment of these great ends, let us endeavor to preserve harmony between the coordinate departments of the Government, that each in its proper sphere may cordially cooperate with the other in securing the maintenance of the Constitution, the preservation of the Union, and the perpetuity of our free institutions.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

To the House of Representatives:

WASHINGTON, December 8, 1866.

In reply to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 5th instant, inquiring if any portion of Mexican territory has been occupied by United States troops, I transmit the accompanying report upon the subject from the Secretary of War.

To the House of Representatives:

ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, December 8, 1866.

I have the honor to communicate a report of the Secretary of State relating to the discovery and arrest of John H. Surratt.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, D. C., December 11, 1866.

To the House of Representatives:

I transmit herewith reports from the Secretary of War and the Attorney-General, in compliance with a resolution of the 3d instant, requesting the President to communicate to the House, "if not in his opinion. incompatible with the public interests, the information asked for in a resolution of this House dated the 23d June last, and which resolution he has up to this time failed to answer, as to whether any application

has been made to him for the pardon of G. E. Pickett, who acted as a major-general of the rebel forces in the late war for the suppression of insurrection, and, if so, what has been the action thereon; and also to communicate copies of all papers, entries, indorsements, and other documentary evidence in relation to any proceeding in connection with such application; and that he also inform this House whether, since the adjournment at Raleigh, N. C., on the 30th of March last, of the last board or court of inquiry convened to investigate the facts attending the hanging of a number of United States soldiers for alleged desertion from the rebel army, any further measures have been taken to bring the said Pickett or other perpetrators of that crime to punishment.”

In transmitting the accompanying papers containing the information requested by the House of Representatives it is proper to state that, instead of bearing date the 23d of June last, the first resolution was dated the 23d of July, and was received by the Executive only four days before the termination of the session.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, December 14, 1866.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I communicate a translation of a letter of the 17th of August last addressed to me by His Majesty Alexander, Emperor of Russia, in reply to the joint resolution of Congress approved on the 16th day of May, 1866, relating to the attempted assassination of the Emperor, a certified copy of which was, in compliance with the request of Congress, forwarded to His Majesty by the hands of Gustavus V. Fox, late Assistant Secretary of the Navy of the United States. ANDREW JOHNSON.

To the House of Representatives:

WASHINGTON, December 15, 1866.

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Interior, in answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 10th instant, in relation to the Atchison and Pikes Peak Railroad Company. ANDREW JOHNSON.

To the House of Representatives:

WASHINGTON, December 20, 1866.

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of December 4 last, requesting information "relating to the attempt of Santa Anna and Ortega to organize armed expeditions within the United States for the purpose of overthrowing the National Government of the Republic of Mexico," I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the papers accompanying it. ANDREW JOHNSON.

To the House of Representatives:

WASHINGTON, December 21, 1866.

In answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 19th instant, calling for a copy of certain correspondence relating to the joint occupancy of the island of San Juan, in Washington Territory, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State on the subject.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

To the House of Representatives:

WASHINGTON, January 3, 1867.

I have the honor to communicate an additional report of the Secretary of State relating to the discovery and arrest of John H. Surratt.

To the House of Representatives:

ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, January 8, 1867.

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War and the accompanying papers, in reply to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 13th ultimo, requesting copies of all official documents, orders, letters, and papers of every description relative to the trial by a military commission and conviction of Crawford Keys and others for the murder of Emory Smith and others, and to the respite of the sentence in the case of said Crawford Keys or either of his associates, their transfer to Fort Delaware, and subsequent release upon a writ of habeas corpus. ANDREW JOHNSON.

To the House of Representatives:

WASHINGTON, January 8, 1867.

I transmit the accompanying report from the Attorney-General as a partial reply to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 10th ultimo, requesting a "list of names of all persons 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 government, 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.