It is within the power of Congress to grant or withhold appropriation of money for the payment of salaries and expenses of the foreign representatives of the Government.

In the early days of the Government a sum in gross was appropriated, leaving it to the Executive to determine the grade of the officers and the countries to which they should be sent.

Latterly, for very many years, specific sums have been appropriated for designated missions or employments, and as a rule the omission by Congress to make an appropriation for any specific port has heretofore been accepted as an indication of a wish on the part of Congress which the executive branch of the Government respected and complied with.

In calling attention to the passage which I have indicated I assume that the intention of the provision is only to exercise the constitutional prerogative of Congress over the expenditures of the Government and to fix a time at which the compensation of certain diplomatic and consular officers shall cease, and not to invade the constitutional rights of the Executive, which I should be compelled to resist; and my present object is not to discuss or dispute the wisdom of failing to appropriate for several offices, but to guard against the construction that might possibly be placed on the language used, as implying a right in the legislative branch to direct the closing or discontinuing of any of the diplomatic or consular offices of the Government.

U.S.  GRANT.

[For message of August 15, 1876, withdrawing objections to Senate bill No. 779, see p. 388.]

WASHINGTON, August 15, 1876.

To the Senate of the United States: 

I transmit to the Senate, in answer to its resolution of the 24th ultimo, a report from the Secretary of State, with its accompanying statement.[111]

U.S.  GRANT.

[Footnote 111:  Aggregate number of civil officers in or connected with the Department of State from 1859 to 1875, inclusive.]

VETO MESSAGES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 3, 1876.

To the House of Representatives: 

I have the honor to return herewith without my approval House bill No. 1561, entitled “An act transferring the custody of certain Indian trust funds from the Secretary of the Interior to the Treasurer of the United States,” for the reasons set forth in the accompanying communication from the Secretary of the Interior.

U.S.  GRANT.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, February 7, 1876.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR:  I acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 29th ultimo, transmitting House bill No. 1561 and requesting this Department to report whether any objections to its becoming a law are known to exist.