cted that any system
of rules can be entirely effective and prove a perfect remedy for the
existing evils until they have been thoroughly tested by actual practice
and amended according to the requirements of the service. During my
term of office it shall be my earnest endeavor to so apply the rules
as to secure the greatest possible reform in the civil service of the
Government, but it will require the direct action of Congress to render
the enforcement of the system binding upon my successors; and I hope
that the experience of the past year, together with appropriate
legislation by Congress, may reach a satisfactory solution of this
question and secure to the public service for all time a practical
method of obtaining faithful and efficient officers and employees.

U.S. GRANT.

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

WASHINGTON, _December 2, 1872_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_

I transmit herewith a report, dated the 2d instant, received from the
Secretary of State, supplementary to the report submitted by him under
date of the 8th of November, 1871, with reference to the expenditures
authorized by the fourth and fifth paragraphs of the act of March 3,
1871, and by the act of May 18, 1872, making appropriations for the
increased expenses and compensation for extraordinary services of
certain diplomatic and consular officers of the United States by reason
of the late war between France and Prussia. These expenditures have been
made on my approval.

U.S. GRANT.

WASHINGTON, _December 3, 1872_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives:_

I transmit herewith to Congress a report, dated the 2d instant, with
the accompanying papers,[69] received from the Secretary of State, in
compliance with the requirements of the eighteenth section of the act
entitled "An act to regulate the diplomatic and consular systems of
the United States," approved August 18, 1856.

U.S. GRANT.

[Footnote 69: Report of fees collected, etc., by consular officers of
the United States for 1871, and tariff of consular fees.]

WASHINGTON, _December 3, 1872_.

_To the Senate of the United States:_

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, a convention between the United States of America and the
United States of Mexico, signed in this city on the 27th ultimo, further
extending the time fixed by the convention between the same parties of
the 4th of July, 1868, for the duration of the