PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



635 



On the f.th df Juno lust, in i Solution of cnr neutral- 



prieaguint 



.Neil-Ill" All:. 



: ,.ii \\illiin the t. 



Mm nf the I'nitf.l Static. In nl>< -<\\<-\\> o 

 . .I upon ilic Executive by tho 

 e that the laws arc faithfully ex- 

 ecuted, all citizens were warned, by proclamation, 

 against taking part in or aiding such unhwful pn>- 

 o-filiiii;-, .in.7 the pinker civil, military, an. 1 n.ual 

 officer* were i take all necessary measures 



! the laws. Tho expedition 

 it has n it lieen without iis painful con- 

 sequences. s> ::n- : our citi/.-iis who, it was alleged. 

 were engaged in the expedition, were captured, and 

 hare been brought t<> trial as for a capital otl'unce in 

 iiiada. Judgment and sentence of 

 . pronounced against some, while 

 acquitted. Fully believing in the 

 < of government that severity of civil pnni-h- 

 ini'iit for misguided persons who have engaged in 

 revolutionary attempts which have disastrously 

 -.nnd and unwise, such representations 

 bare been made to the British Government, in be- 

 half 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 judicious amnesty to all who were engaged in 

 the movement. Counsel has been employed by the 

 mnit to defend citizens of the United States 

 on trial for capital offences in Canada, and a discon- 

 tinuance of the prosecutions which were instituted 

 in the courts of the United States against those who 

 took part in the expedition bus been directed. 



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 p;.rty in Ireland, 

 and, by striking at a British province on this con. 

 tinent, was designed to aid in obtaining redress for 

 political grievances which, it was assumed, the peo- 

 ple of Ireland had suffered at the bands of the British 

 Coverument during a period of several centuries. 

 The persons engaged in it were chiefly natives of that 

 country, some of whom hud, while others had not, 

 become citizens of the United States under our gen- 

 eral laws of naturalization. Complaints of misgpv- 

 ernment in Ireland continually engage the attention 

 of the British nation, and so great an agitation is 

 now prevailing in Ireland that the British Govern- 

 ment nave deemed it necessary to suspend the writ 

 of habtat corpus in that country. These circumstan- 

 ces must necessarily modify the opinion which we 

 might otherwise have entertained in regard to an 

 .lion expressly prohibited by our neutrality 

 laws. So long as those laws remain upon our stat- 

 ute-books they should be faithfully executed, and 

 if they operate harshly, unjustly, or oppres.-ively, 

 Congress alone can apply the remedy by their moil- 

 itieution or repeal. 



Political and commercial interests of the United 

 States are not unlikely to be affected in some degree 

 br events which are transpiring in the eastern regions 

 "I Kurope, 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 ab- 

 solute political right of self-expatriation, and a choice 

 of new national allegiance. Most of the European 

 States have dissented from this principle, and nave 

 el. limed u right to hold such of their subjects as have 

 emigrated to and been naturalized in the United 

 States, and afterward returned on transient visits 

 to their native countries, to the performance of mil- 

 tary service in like manner as resident subjects. 

 Complaints arising from the claim in this respect 

 made by foreign States, have heretofore been mat- 

 ters of controversy between the United States and 



some of the European powers, and the irritation con- 

 ; I upon tin' failure to settle thin question in- 

 I during the war in which Prussia, Italv, and 

 Austria were recently engaged. While Greut Britain 

 has nevei m knowledge? the right of expatriation, 

 she has not for some years past practically i> 

 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 

 m^' everywhere in Europe, and the present 

 seems to be a favorable time for an assertion hy Con- 

 gress 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 docs 

 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 Rep- 

 resentatives of the States and of the people such in- 

 formation 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 differ- 

 ences, and the reinauguration of all the pursuit- < f 

 peace. Directing our efforts to the.early accomplish- 

 ment of these great ends, let us endeavor to preserve 

 harmony between the coordinate Departments of the 

 Government, that each in its proper sphere may cor- 

 dially cooperate with the other in securing the main- 

 tenance ot the Constitution, the preservation of the 

 Uuion, and the perpetuity of our free institutions. 

 ANDREW JOHNSON. 



WASHISOTOX, December 8, 1866. 



Message of PRE^iDKyt JOHNSON to the Senate, on 

 F< liruary 19, I860, with his Objections to the 

 Act entitled "An Act to establish a Bureau 

 for the Relief of Freedmen, Refugees, and 

 Abandoned Lands." 

 To the Senate of the United States. 



I have examined with care the bill which origi- 

 nated in the Senate, and has been passed by the two 

 Houses of Congress, to amend an act entitled "An 

 Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen 

 and Refugees," and for other purposes. Having, 

 with much regret, come to the conclusion that if 

 would not be consistent with the public welfare to 

 give my approval to the measure, I return the bill to 

 the Senate with my objections to its becoming a law. 

 I might call to mind in advance of these objections 

 that there is no immediate necessity for the proposed 

 measure. The act to establish a Bureau for the Re- 

 lief of Freedmen and Refugees, which was approved 

 in the month of March last, has not yet expired. It 

 was thought stringent and extensive enough for the 



Eurpose in view in time of war. Before it ceases to 

 ave effect, further experience may assist to guide 

 us to a wise conclusion as to the policy to be adopted 

 in time of pease. 



I share with Congress the strongest desire to se- 

 cure to the freedmen the full enjoyment of their free- 

 dom and property, and their entire independence 

 and equality in making contracts for their labor; 

 but the bill before me contains provisions which in 

 my opinion are not warranted by the Constitution, 

 and are not well suited to -accomplish the end in 

 view. 



The bill proposes to establish, by authority of 

 Congress, military jurisdiction over nil parts of the 

 United States containing refugees and freedmen. It 

 would, by its very nature, apply with most force to 

 those parts of the United States in which the freed- 



