PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



Ml 



for this proportion of the award* in favor of its own 



citizens. 



I invite your attention to the legislation which 

 will bo necessary to provide for the payment. 



In this connection I uni pit-used to be able to 

 express tlio acknowledgments duo to Sir Edward 

 Thornton, tin- umpire of the commission, wno has 

 givou to tlio consideration of the large number of 

 elainirt submitted to him much time, unwearied pa- 

 tience, and that firmness ami intelligence which uru 

 well known to belong to the accomplished repre- 

 sentative of Great Britain, and which ure likewise 

 recognized by the representative in this country of 

 the republic of Mexico. 



Monthly payments of a very small part of the 

 amount duo by the Government of Venezuela to citi- 

 zens of the United States on account of claims of the 

 latter against that Government continue to be made 

 with reasonable punctuality. That Government has 

 proposed to change the system which it has hitherto 

 pursued in this respect, by issuing bonus for port of 

 the amount of the several claims. The proposition, 

 however, could not. it is supposed, properly be ac- 

 cepted, at least without the consent of the holders 

 of certificates of the indebtedness of Venezuela. 

 These are so much dispersed that it would be diffi- 

 cult, if not impossible, to ascertain their disposition 

 on the subject. 



In firmer messages I have called the attention of 

 Congress to the necessity of legislation with regard 

 to fraudulent naturalization and to the subject of ex- 

 patriation and the election of nationality. - 



The number of persons of foreign birth seeking a 

 home in the United States, the ease and facility with 

 which the honest immigrant may after the lapse 

 of a reasonable time become possessed of all the 

 privileges of citizenship of the United States, and 

 the frequent occasions which induce such adopted 

 citizens to return to the country of their birth, ren- 

 der tlie subject of naturalization and the safeguards 

 which experience has proved necessary for the pro- 

 tection of the honest naturalized citizen of para- 

 mount importance. The very simplicity in the re- 

 quirements of law on this question affords oppor- 

 tunity for fraud, and the want of uniformity in the 

 proceedings ana records of the various courts, and 

 in the forms of the certificates of naturalization 

 issued, affords a constant source of difficulty. 



I suggest no additional requirements to the acqui- 

 sition of citizenship beyond those now existing, out 

 I invite the earnest attention of Congress to the 

 necessity and wisdom of some provisions regarding 

 uniformity in the records and certificates, and pro- 

 viding against the frauds which frequently take 

 place, and for the vacating of a record of naturaliza- 

 tion obtained in fraud. 



These provisions are needed in aid and for the 

 protection of the honest citizen of foreign birth, and 

 for the want of which he is made to suffer not in- 

 frequently. The United States has insisted upon 

 the right of expatriation, and has obtained after a 

 long struggle an admission of the principle con- 

 tended for by acquiescence therein on the part of 

 many foreign powers and by the conclusion of 

 treaties on that subject. It is, however, but justice 

 to the government to which such naturalized citizens 

 have formerly owed allegiance, as well as to the 

 United States, that certain fixed and definite rules 

 should be adopted governing such cases, and pro- 

 viding how expatriation may be accomplished. 



While immigrants In largo numbers become citi- 

 zens of the United States, it is also true that per- 

 sons, both native-born and naturalized, once citizens 

 of the United States either by formal acts or as the 

 effect of a series of facts and circumstances, abandon 

 their citizenship and cease to be entitled to the pro- 

 tection of the United States, but continue on con- 

 venient occasions to assert a claim to protection in 

 the absence of provisions on these questions. 



And in this connection 1 again invite your atten- 



tion to the necessity of legislation concerning the 

 marriages of American citizens contracted abroad, 

 and concerning the status of American women who 

 may marry foreigners, and of children born of 

 American parents in a foreign country. 



The delicate and complicated questions continually 

 occurring with reference to niiturulizution, expatria- 

 tion, and tin: status of uch persons as 1 huve above 

 referred to, induce me to earnestly direet your at- 

 tention again to these, subjects. 



In like manner, I repeat my recommendation that 

 some means be provided for the hearing and deter- 

 mination of the just and subsisting claims of aliens 

 upon tiie Government of the United States within a 

 reasonable limitation, and of such as may hereafter 

 arise. While, by existing provisions of law, the 

 Court of Claims may in certain cases be resorted to 

 by an alien claimant, the absence of any general pro- 

 visions governing all such cases, and the want of a 

 tribunal skilled in the disposition of such cases upon 

 recognized fixed and settled principles, either pro- 

 vides no remedy in many deserving cases or com- 

 pels a consideration of such claims by Congress or 

 the Executive Department of the Government. 



It is believed that other governments are in ad- 

 vance of the United States upon this question, and 

 that the practice now adopted is entirely unsatisfac- 

 tory. 



Congress by an act approved the 3d day of March, 



1875, authorized the inhabitants of the Territory of 

 Colorado to form a State gavernmcnt, with the name 

 of the State of Colorado, and therein provided for 

 the admission of said State, when formed, into 

 tho Union, upon an equal footing with the original 

 States. 



A constitution having been adopted and ratified 

 by the people of that State and the acting Governor 

 Laving certified to me the facts as provided by said 

 act, together with a copy of such constitution and 

 ordinances as provided for in the said act, and the 

 provisions of the said act of Congress having been 

 duly complied with, I issued a proclamation upon 

 the 1st of August, 1876, a copy of which is hereto 

 annexed. 



The report of the Secretary of War shows that the 

 Army has been actively employed during the year 

 in subduing, at the request of the Indian Bureau, 

 certain wild bands of tho Sioux Indian nation rnd 

 in preserving the peace at the South during the elec- 

 tion. The commission constituted under the act of 

 July 24, 1876, to consider and report on the " whole 

 subject of the reform and reorganization of the 

 Army " met in August last, and has collected a large 

 mass of statistics and opinions bearing on the sub- 

 ject before it. These are row under consideration, 

 im<l their report is progressing. I am advised, 

 though, by the president of the commission that it 

 will be impracticable to comply with the oluise of 

 the act requiring the report to be presented, through 

 me, to Congress on the first day of this session, as 

 there has not yet been time for thnt mature delibera- 

 tion which the importance of the subject demands. 

 Therefore, I ask that tho time of making the report 

 be extended to the 29th day of January, 1877. 



In accordance with the resolution of August 15, 



1876, the Army regulations prepared under the act 

 of March 1. 1875, have not oeen promulgated, bus 

 are held until after the report of the above-men- 

 tioned commission shall have been received and 

 acted on. 



By the act of August 15, 1876, the cavalry force 

 of the Army was increased by 2,500 men, with the 

 proviso that they should be discharged on the ex- 

 piration of hostilities. Under this authority, the 

 cavalry regiments have been strengthened, aad a 

 portion of thorn are now in the field pursuing the 

 remnants of the Indians with whom they have oeen 

 engaged during the summer. 



The estimates of the War Department are mada 

 up on the basis of the number of men authorized by 



