Every possible question that can be raised, or at least that ought to be raised, in any suit relating to these lands has been determined by the highest judicial authority in the land.

I transmit herewith a communication of the 5th instant from the Secretary of the Interior, submitting, with accompanying papers, a draft of a bill, prepared in the Office of Indian Affairs, 'for the relief of the Omaha tribe of Indians in…

I am constrained to interpose an objection to a measure which proposes to suspend general and wholesome laws for the purpose of granting what appears to me to be an undeserved gratuity.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:I transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, the report of the National Board of Health for the year 1885.

I transmit herewith a communication of the 27th ultimo from the Secretary of the Interior.

I am quite prepared to avow that the cases are not few in which suspensions from office have depended more upon oral representations made to me by citizens of known good repute than upon any letters and documents presented for my…

I have forborne addressing the Senate upon the subject.

Were there no treaty in existence referring to the rights of Chinese subjects; did they come hither as all other strangers who voluntarily resort to this land of freedom, of self-government, and of laws, here peaceably to win their bread…

I do not suppose that 'the public offices of the United States' are regulated or controlled in their relations to either House of Congress by the fact that they were 'created by laws enacted by themselves.'

Race prejudice is the chief factor in originating these disturbances.

I consider them in no proper sense as upon the files of the Department.

That the exclusion of Chinese labor is demanded in other countries where like conditions prevail is strongly evidenced in the Dominion of Canada.

I believe the power to remove or suspend such officials is vested in the President alone by the Constitution.

The harmony of our relations with China is fully sustained.

Every pledge which I have made by which I have placed a limitation upon my exercise of executive power has been faithfully redeemed.

I am not responsible to the Senate, and I am unwilling to submit my actions and official conduct to them for judgment.

The important question, then, is whether it is within the constitutional competence of either House of Congress to have access to the official papers and documents in the various public offices of the United States.

This outrage upon law and treaty engagements was committed by a lawless mob.