Rutherford B. Hayes: “Now, therefore, I, Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States, do appoint Thursday, the 28th day of November…”

The imperative necessity for prompt action and the pressure of public duties in this closing week of my term of office compel me to refrain from any attempt to make a full and satisfactory presentation of the objections to the bill.

Competitive examinations in aid of impartial appointments and promotions have been conducted for some years past in several of the Executive Departments, and by my direction this system has been adopted in the custom-houses and…

I submit the subject to your favorable consideration and recommend that a suitable appropriation be made to enable this Government to accept the foregoing invitation by appointing one or more delegates to attend the congress in question.

I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate, two treaties* signed at Peking on the 17th of November, 1880, by the commissioners plenipotentiary of the United States and China, respectively.