serious question would be raised as to whether these officers were not at once legislated out of office and vacancies created. As these vacancies could not be filed immediately the business of the courts would seriously suffer. The law should at least have contained a provision for the continued discharge of their duties by the incumbents until the new officers were appointed and qualified. BENJ. HARRISON. EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 27, 1893. PROCLAMATIONS AND ORDERS. THANKSGIVING, 1889. A highly favored people, mindful of their dependence on the bounty of divine Providence, should seek fitting occasion to testify gratitude and ascribe praise to Him who is the author of their many blessings. It behooves us then to look back with thankful hearts over the past year and bless God for his infinite mercy in vouchsafing to our land enduring peace, to our people freedom from pestilence and famine, to our husbandmen abundant harvests, and to them that labor a recompense of their toil. Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, do earnestly recommend that Thursday, the 28th day of this present month of November, be set apart as a day of national thanksgiving and prayer, and that the people of our country, ceasing from the cares and labors of their working day, shall assemble in their respective places of worship and give thanks to God, who has prospered us on our way and made our paths the paths of peace; beseeching Him to bless the day to our present and future. good, making it truly one of thanksgiving for each reunited home circle as for the nation at large. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington this first day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty[SEAL.] nine, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and fourteenth. By the President: JAMES G. BLAINE, BENJ. HARRISON. Secretary of State. THANKSGIVING, 1890. By the grace and favor of Almighty God the people of this nation have been led to the closing days of the passing year, which has been full of the blessings of peace and the comforts of plenty. Bountiful compensation has come to us for the work of our minds and of our hands in every department of human industry. Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, do hereby appoint Thursday, the 27th day of the present month of November, to be observed as a day of prayer and thanksgiving; and I do invite the people, upon that day to cease from their labors, to meet in their accustomed houses of worship and to join in rendering gratitude and praise to our beneficent Creator for the rich blessings He has granted to us as a nation, and in invoking the continuance of His protection and grace for the future. I commend to my fellow-citizens the privilege of remembering the poor, the homeless, and the sorrowful. Let us endeavor to merit the promised recompense of charity and the gracious acceptance of our praise. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington this eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and [SEAL] ninety, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifteenth. By the President: JAMES G. BLAINE, Secretary of State BENJ. HARRISON. THANKSGIVING, 1891. It is a very glad incident of the marvelous prosperity which has crowned the year now drawing to a close that its helpful and reassuring touch has been felt by all our people. It has been as wide as our country, and so special that every home has felt its comforting influence. It is too great to be the work of man's power and too particular to be the device of his mind. To God, the Beneficent and the All Wise, who makes the labors of men to be fruitful, redeems their losses by His grace, and the measure of whose giving is as much beyond the thoughts of man as it is beyond his 15151-16 deserts, the praise and gratitude of the people of this favored nation are justly due. Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, do hereby appoint Thursday, the 26th day of November present, to be a day of joyful thanksgiving to God for the bounties of His providence, for the peace in which we are permitted to enjoy them, and for the preservation of those institutions of civil and religious liberty which He gave our fathers the wisdom to devise and establish, and us the courage to preserve. Among the appropriate observances of the day are rest from toil, worship in the public congregation, the renewal of family ties about our American firesides, and thoughtful helpfulness towards those who suffer lack of the body or of the spirit. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and [SEAL.] ninety-one, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and sixteenth. By the President: JAMES G. BLAINE, Secretary of State. BENJ. HARRISON. THANKSGIVING, 1892. The gifts of God to our people during the past year have been so abundant and so special that the spirit of devout thanksgiving awaits not a call, but only the appointment of a day when it may have a common expression. He has stayed the pestilence at our door; He has given us more love for the free civil institutions in the creation of which His directing providence was so conspicuous; He has awakened a deeper reverence for law; He has widened our philanthropy by a call to succor the distress in other lands; He has blessed our schools and is bringing forward a patriotic and Godfearing generation to execute His great and benevolent designs for our country; He has given us great increase in material wealth and a wide diffusion of contentment and comfort in the homes of our people; He has given His grace to the sorrowing. Wherefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, do call upon all our people to observe, as we have been wont, Thursday, the 24th day of this month of November, as a day of thanksgiving to God for His mercies and of supplication for His continued care and grace. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington this fourth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two, and of the [SEAL.] Independence of the United States the one hundred and seventeenth. By the President; JOHN W. Foster, Secretary of State. BENJ. HARRISON. WASHINGTON CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY. A hundred years have passed since the Government which our forefathers founded was formally organized. At noon on the 30th day of April, 1789, in the city of New York, and in the presence of an assemblage of the heroic men whose patriotic devotion had led the colonies to victory and independence, George Washington took the oath of office as Chief Magistrate of the new-born Republic. This impressive act was preceded, at 9 o'clock in the morning, in all the churches of the city, by prayer for God's blessing on the Government and its first President. The centennial of this illustrious event in our history has been declared a general holiday by act of Congress to the end that the people of the whole country may join in commemorative exercises appropriate to the day. In order that the joy of the occasion may be associated with a deep thankfulness in the minds of the people for all our blessings in the past, and a devout supplication to God for their gracious continuance in the future, the representatives of the religious creeds, both Christian and Hebrew, have memorialized the Government to designate an hour for prayer and thanksgiving on that day. Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, in response to this pious and reasonable request, do recommend that on Tuesday, April 30, at the hour of 9 o'clock in the morning, the people of the entire country repair to their respective places of divine worship, to implore the favor of God that the blessings of liberty, prosperity and peace may abide with us as a people, and that His hand may lead us in the paths of righteousness and good deeds. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed. Done in the city of Washington this fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty[SEAL.] nine, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and thirteenth. By the President: JAMES G. BLAINE, Secretary of State. BENJ. HARRISON. THE COLUMBUS QUARTO CENTENARY. Whereas, by a joint resolution approved June 29, 1892, it was resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, "That the president of the United States be authorized and directed to issue a proclamation recommending to the people the observance in all their localities of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America, on the twenty-first of October, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, by public demonstrations and by suitable exercises in their schools and other places of assembly." Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, in pursuance of the aforesaid joint resolution, do hereby appoint Friday, October 21, 1892, the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus, as a general holiday for the people of the United States. On that day let the people, so far as possible, cease from toil and devote themselves to such exercises as may best express honor to the discoverer and their appreciation of the great achievements of the four completed centuries of American life. Columbus stood in his age as the pioneer of progress and enlightenment. The system of universal education is in our age the most prominent and salutary feature of the spirit of enlightenment, and it is peculiarly appropriate that the schools be made by the people the center of the day's demonstration. Let the national flag float over every school house in the country, and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship. |