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 officers who recently received medical treatment at the naval hospital at Norfolk. 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.
Abraham Lincoln, Special Message Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/202194