On his arrival he does not know States or corporations, but confides implicitly in the protecting arm of the great, free country of which he has heard so much before leaving his native land.  It is a source of serious disappointment and discouragement to those who start with means sufficient to support them comfortably until they can choose a residence and begin employment for a comfortable support to find themselves subject to ill treatment and every discomfort on their passage here, and at the end of their journey seized upon by professed friends, claiming legal right to take charge of them for their protection, who do not leave them until all their resources are exhausted, when they are abandoned in a strange land, surrounded by strangers, without employment and ignorant of the means of securing it.  Under the present system this is the fate of thousands annually, the exposures on shipboard and the treatment on landing driving thousands to lives of vice and shame who, with proper humane treatment, might become useful and respectable members of society.

I do not advise national legislation in affairs that should be regulated by the States; but I see no subject more national in its character than provision for the safety and welfare of the thousands who leave foreign lands to become citizens of this Republic.

When their residence is chosen, they may then look to the laws of their locality for protection and guidance.

The mass of immigrants arriving upon our shores, coming, as they do, on vessels under foreign flags, makes treaties with the nations furnishing these immigrants necessary for their complete protection.  For more than two years efforts have been made on our part to secure such treaties, and there is now reasonable ground to hope for success.

U.S.  GRANT.

WASHINGTON, May 14, 1872.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to a resolution of the Senate of the 28th of March last, I transmit herewith copies of the correspondence between the Department of State and the consul of the United States at Bucharest relative to the persecution and oppression of the Israelites in the Principality of Roumania.

U.S.  GRANT.

WASHINGTON, May 15, 1872.

To the House of Representatives:

I transmit herewith, for the information of the House of Representatives, the correspondence which has recently taken place respecting the differences of opinion which have arisen between this Government and that of Great Britain with regard to the powers of the tribunal of arbitration created under the treaty signed at Washington May 8, 1871, and which has led to certain negotiations, still pending, between the two Governments.

U.S.  GRANT.

WASHINGTON, May 17, 1872.

To the Senate of the United States:

I herewith transmit to the Senate a communication of this date from the Acting Secretary of the Interior, and the papers therein described, containing information[65] called for in the Senate resolution of the 23d ultimo, which was answered in part on the 8th [7th] instant.