In discharging this pleasant duty I beg you will please advise me of your wishes in this matter.  It is the intention in returning each flag to give its history as far as it is possible to do so, stating the circumstances of its capture and recovery.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R.C.  DRUM, Adjutant-General.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, June 16, 1887.

The SECRETARY OF WAR: 

I have to-day considered with more care than when the subject was orally presented me the action of your Department directing letters to be addressed to the governors of all the States offering to return, if desired, to the loyal States the Union flags captured in the War of the Rebellion by the Confederate forces and afterwards recovered by Government troops, and to the Confederate States the flags captured by the Union forces, all of which for many years have been packed in boxes and stored in the cellar and attic of the War Department.

I am of the opinion that the return of these flags in the manner thus contemplated is not authorized by existing law nor justified as an executive act.

I request, therefore, that no further steps be taken in the matter except to examine and inventory these flags and adopt proper measures for their preservation.  Any direction as to the final disposition of them should originate with Congress.

Yours, truly,

GROVER CLEVELAND.

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL’S OFFICE,
  Washington, June —­, 1887.

Hon. ——­ ——­,
  Governor of ——­.

SIR:  Referring to the letter from this office dated June —­, 1887, on the subject of the return to the respective States of the flags now in the custody of the War Department, I am instructed by the Secretary of War to inform you of the withdrawal of the offer made therein, as on a more careful consideration of the legal points involved in the proposed action the President of the United States is of the opinion that the return of these flags is not authorized by existing law nor justified as an executive act, and that any direction as to their final disposition should originate with Congress.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

——­ ——­, Adjutant-General.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, August 25, 1887.

It appearing to me that the promoters of the International Military Encampment to be held in Chicago in October proximo, in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of that city, have extended to the militia organizations of foreign countries, in behalf of the citizen soldiers of the State of Illinois, an invitation to take part in said encampment as the guests of the city of Chicago, and that representatives of the soldiery of certain foreign countries have accepted such invitation and are about to arrive in the United States: