I submit herewith, for the information of the House of Representatives, copies of correspondence with the Department of State relating to an invitation extended by the French Republic to this Government to send one or more delegates to represent it at an international congress of electricians to be held at Paris on the 15th day of September, 1881. It appears from the same correspondence that an international exhibition of electricity is to be held at the palace of the Champs Élysées, in Paris, from August 15, 1881, to the 15th of November following, and it is therefore suggested by the French authorities that it might be well to invest the delegates selected to take part in the international congress with the additional character of commissioners to the international exhibition of electricity. In view of the important scientific, industrial, and commercial interests designed to be promoted by the proposed international congress of electricians and exhibition of electricity, I submit the subject to your favorable consideration and recommend that a suitable appropriation be made to enable this Government to accept the foregoing invitation by appointing one or more delegates to attend the congress in question. R.B. HAYES. EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 18, 1881_. _To the Senate and House of Representatives_: I have the honor to submit herewith the report of the Public Lands Commission, embracing the history and a codification of the public-land laws; and I desire earnestly to invite the attention of Congress to this important subject. R.B. HAYES. EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 20, 1881_. _To the Senate of the United States_: I transmit herewith to the Senate a letter from the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers, in relation to the recent effort of the Government of the United States to bring about peace between Chile and Peru and, Bolivia. R.B. HAYES. EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 1, 1881_. _To the Senate and House of Representatives_: In compliance with the request of a large number of intelligent and benevolent citizens, and believing that it was warranted by the extraordinary circumstances of the case, on the 18th day of December, 1880, I appointed a commission consisting of George Crook and Nelson A. Miles, brigadier-generals in the Army; William Stickney, of the District of Columbia, and Walter Allen, of Massachusetts, and requested them to confer with the Ponca Indians in the Indian Territory, and, if in their judgment it was advisable, also with that part of the tribe which remained in Dakota, and "to ascertain the facts in regard to their removal and present condition so far as was necessary to determine the question as to what justice and humanity required should be done by the Government of the United States, and to report their conclusions and recommendations in the premises."