To the Senate:
I herewith transmit, in answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 3d ultimo, a report from the Acting Secretary of State of the 17th instant, transmitting information relative to and his opinion as to the purchase of the unpublished correspondence and manuscripts of President James Monroe.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, March 24, 1892.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a communication from the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia, accompanied by a letter from the chairman of the executive committee organized by the citizens of Washington for the reception and entertainment of the Twenty-sixth Annual Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, which is to be held in Washington during September next. An appeal is made for an appropriation by Congress of $100,000, one-half to be paid out of the District revenues, to aid in defraying the expenses attending this reception.
The event is one of very high and, as I believe, of national interest, and the attendance of the surviving Union soldiers will, I do not doubt, be larger than at any annual encampment that has ever been held. The public authorities of the cities or States, or both, in which the encampments have been held have, I believe, usually appropriated liberally to make the occasions worthy and the entertainment hospitable. The parade of the survivors of our great armies upon Pennsylvania avenue will bring vividly back to us those joyful and momentous days when the great victorious armies of the East and of the West marched through the streets of Washington in high parade and were received by our citizens with joyful acclaim. It seems to me that it will be highly appropriate for Congress suitably to aid in making this demonstration impressive and in extending to those soldiers whose lives a beneficent Providence has prolonged an opportunity to see in the security and peace, development and prosperity, which now so happily pervade the national capital the fruits of their sacrifice and valor.
BENJ. HARRISON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, April 1, 1892.
To the Senate of the United States: