In answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 27th May ultimo, I transmit the response of the Secretary of State, accompanied by a copy of the papers called for by the resolution.

The battle of Gettysburg will probably always be regarded as the battle which did more than any other to determine the result of the great civil war in the United States.

Let us here give heed to the words of Abraham Lincoln.

The honored dead who fought and perished will, therefore, be held in special and grateful remembrance.

They believed that our institutions were equal to any emergency, and that they ought to be maintained at the cost of property or of life.

If our assembling In this place shall fitly honor those whom we wish remembered with gratitude, it will be because, beholding these scenes and contemplating the example of the heroes who made Gettysburg illustrious, we shall be able to…

I am directed by the President to say that the several Departments of the Government will be closed on Thursday, the 30th instant, in respect to the memory of those who fell in defense of the Union, and to enable the employees to…

To the Senate of the United States: I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to its ratification, a consular convention between the United States and the Netherlands, signed on the 23d instant.

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 29th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with its accompanying papers.

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a convention defining the rights, immunities, and privileges of consular officers, between the United States and His Majesty the King of Italy, signed on the 8th…

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of April 16, 1878, I transmit herewith reports

To the House of Representatives:I transmit herewith, in compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 21st ultimo, a report from the Secretary of State and its accompanying papers.

In answer to the Senate's resolution of the 14th ultimo, requesting to be furnished with a copy of correspondence between the Government of the United States and that of China respecting the 'Ward' claims and the claim of Charles E. Hill…

To the Senate of the United States:In further answer to the resolution of the Senate of December 7, 1877, as to the cost of the Sioux War, I transmit copies of additional reports on the subject received from the Military Division of the…

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 11th of March instant, I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents.

The Government can not prepare for trial at said special term, because no fund appropriated by Congress can be made available for that purpose.

The act can not be executed, inasmuch as there is not sufficient time to give the notice of the holding of the special term which Congress thought proper to require.

If, therefore, the Government is compelled to go to trial at the special term provided for by this bill, the United States must be defeated for want of time and means to make preparation for the proper vindication of its rights.