It is held to be the right to levy contributions upon the enemy in all places which may be in military possession by conquest.

You are therefore instructed to examine the existing Spanish laws in relation to duties and taxes.

In the exercise of these high powers the commander must be guided by his judgment and his experience and a high sense of justice.

You are instructed to confer with the Secretary of War in order that measures may be devised by which any conflict of authority between the officers of our army and navy in the Philippines may be avoided.

All public means of transportation, such as telegraph lines, cables, railways, and boats belonging to the state may be appropriated to his use, but unless in case of military necessity they are not to be destroyed.

I fail to see any reason in the facts connected with these claims for granting to these parties relief of this extraordinary nature.

To permit such an action to be brought now is simply, without any reason of a special nature, to grant a privilege to these claimants which is denied to all other citizens of the United States.

The Government can only defend itself against claims of this nature through its public officers and with the use of such public records as the Departments may furnish.

For these reasons I am constrained to withhold my approval from this bill.

Promptly obeying that order, the United States squadron, consisting of the flagship Olympia, Baltimore, Raleigh, Boston, Concord, and Petrel, with the revenue cutter McCulloch as an auxiliary dispatch boat, entered the harbor of Manila at…

Feeling as our people feel, and speaking in their name, I at once sent a message to Commodore Dewey thanking him and his officers and men for their splendid achievement and overwhelming victory and informing him that I had appointed him an…

I now recommend that, following our national precedents and expressing the fervent gratitude of every patriotic heart, the thanks of Congress be given Acting Rear-Admiral George Dewey, of the United States Navy, for highly distinguished…

The magnitude of this victory can hardly be measured by the ordinary standard of naval warfare.

by virtue of the power vested in me by the Constitution and the laws, and deeming sufficient occasion to exist, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, volunteers to the aggregate number of 125,000 in order to carry into…

Neutral vessels lying in any of said ports at the time of the establishment of such blockade will be allowed thirty days to issue therefrom.

I, William McKinley, President of the United States, in order to enforce the said resolution, do hereby declare and proclaim that the United States of America have instituted and will maintain a blockade of the north coast of Cuba…

I did not consider the irregularities into which the surveyor-general had fallen as of sufficient magnitude to induce his dismissal from office at the time that the papers reached me

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 23d ultimo, requesting information upon the subject of embezzlement of public money, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State.