Your  obedient  servant,  EDWIN  M.  STANTON,

Secretary  of  War,


Washington,  April  23 ,  1864.
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives:

I  transmit  to  Congress  a  copy  of  a  note  of  the  19th  instant  from  Lord
Lyons  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  on  the  subject  of  two  British  naval  offi-
cers who  recently  received  medical  treatment  at  the  naval  hospital  at  Nor-
folk. The  expediency  of  authorizing  Surgeon  Solomon  Sharp  to  accept
the  piece  of  plate  to  which  the  note  refers,  as  an  acknowledgment  of  his
services,  is  submitted  to  your  consideration.
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.
To  the  House  of  Representatives:  '        ^'

In  obedience  to  the  resolution  of  your  honorable  body  a  copy  of  which
is  herewith  returned,  I  have  the  honor  to  make  the  following  brief  state-
ment, which  is  believed  to  contain  the  information  sought.
