ANDREW JOHNSON.

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

WASHINGTON, December 11, 1865.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: 

I transmit a report of this date from the Secretary of State, and the papers referred to therein, concerning the Universal Exposition to be held at Paris in the year 1867, in which the United States have been invited by the Government of France to take part.  I commend the subject to your early and favorable consideration.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, December 13, 1865.

To the Senate of the United States: 

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 11th instant, requesting information on the subject of a decree of the so-called Emperor of Mexico of the 3d of October last, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which it was accompanied.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, December 14, 1865.

To the House of Representatives: 

In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 11th instant, requesting information relative to a so-called decree concerning the reestablishment of slavery or peonage in the Republic of Mexico, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which it was accompanied.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 18, 1865.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: 

In compliance with the requirements of the third section of the act approved March 3, 1865, I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of War, with the accompanying report and estimates of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, December 18, 1865.

To the Senate of the United States: 

In reply to the resolution adopted by the Senate on the 12th instant, I have the honor to state that the rebellion waged by a portion of the people against the properly constituted authority of the Government of the United States has been suppressed; that the United States are in possession of every State in which the insurrection existed, and that, as far as it could be done, the courts of the United States have been restored, post-offices reestablished, and steps taken to put into effective operation the revenue laws of the country.

As the result of the measures instituted by the Executive with the view of inducing a resumption of the functions of the States comprehended in the inquiry of the Senate, the people of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee have reorganized their respective State governments, and “are yielding obedience to the laws and Government of the United States” with more willingness