and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 26th day of October, A.D. 1876, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and
first.

U.S. GRANT.

By the President:
HAMILTON FISH,
_Secretary of State_.

EXECUTIVE ORDERS.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, May 20, 1876_.

SIR:[114] The President directs me to say that the several Departments of
the Government will be closed on Tuesday, the 30th instant, to enable the
employees to participate in the decoration of the graves of the soldiers
who fell during the rebellion.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

C.C. SNIFFEN, _Secretary_.

[Footnote 114: Addressed to the heads of the Executive Departments, etc.]

WAR DEPARTMENT, _Washington City, August 10, 1876_.

By direction of the President, General W.T. Sherman and
Brigadier-General M.C. Meigs, Quartermaster-General United States Army,
are appointed members of the commission to examine "the whole subject of
reform and reorganization of the Army of the United States," as provided
by section 4, act approved July 24, 1876, "making appropriations for the
support of the Army for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877, and for
other purposes."

J.D. CAMERON, _Secretary of War_.

WASHINGTON, _August 21, 1876_.

It is with extreme pain that the President announces to the
people of the United States the death of the Speaker of the House
of Representatives, the Hon. Michael C. Kerr, of Indiana.

A man of great intellectual endowments, large culture, great probity and
earnestness in his devotion to the public interests, has passed from the
position, power, and usefulness to which he had been recently called.

The body over which he had been selected to preside not being in
session to render its tribute of affection and respect to the memory of
the deceased, the President invites the people of the United States to a
solemn recognition of the public and private worth and the services of a
pure and eminent character.

U.S. GRANT.

By the President:
JOHN L. CADWALADER,
_Acting Secretary of State_.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _November 23, 1876_.

A joint resolution adopted by Congress August 5, 1876, declares that--

Whereas it is ascertained that the hostile Indians of the Northwest are
largely equipped with arms which require special metallic cartridges,
and that such special ammunition is