speaking peoples of the world
as being otherwise than friendly competitors in the onward march of
civilization and strenuous and worthy rivals in all the arts of peace,
there is no calamity which a great nation can invite which equals that
which follows a supine submission to wrong and injustice and the
consequent loss of national self-respect and honor, beneath which are
shielded and defended a people's safety and greatness.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

[Footnote 28: See p. 632.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, December 19, 1895_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In response to the resolution of the Senate of the 4th instant,
requesting the President, "if in his judgment not incompatible with the
public interest, to communicate to the Senate all information which has
been received by him or by the State Department in regard to injuries
inflicted upon the persons or property of American citizens in Turkey
and in regard to the condition of affairs there in reference to the
oppression or cruelties practiced upon the Armenian subjects of the
Turkish Government; also to inform the Senate whether all the American
consuls in the Turkish Empire are at their posts of duty, and, if not,
to state any circumstances which have interfered with the performance
of the duties of such consuls," I transmit herewith a report from the
Secretary of State.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 20, 1895_.

_To the Congress_:

In my last annual message the evils of our present financial system
were plainly pointed out and the causes and means of the depletion of
Government gold were explained. It was therein stated that after all the
efforts that had been made by the executive branch of the Government
to protect our gold reserve by the issuance of bonds amounting to more
than $162,000,000, such reserve then amounted to but little more than
$79,000,000; that about $16,000,000 had been withdrawn from such reserve
during the month next previous to the date of that message, and that
quite large withdrawals for shipment in the immediate future were
predicted.

The contingency then feared has reached us, and the withdrawals of gold
since the communication referred to and others that appear inevitable
threaten such a depletion in our Government gold reserve as brings us
face to face to the necessity of further action for its protection. This
condition is intensified by the prevalence in certain quarters of sudden
and u