with numerous other duties, operates unfavorably to the public interest.

It is important that this branch of the public service should be subject to the supervision of such professional skill as will give it efficacy. The expense attendant upon such a modification of the executive department, would be justified by the soundest principles of economy. I would recommend, therefore, that the duties now assigned to the agent of the treasury, so far as they relate to the superintendence and management of legal proceed. ings on the part of the United States, be transferred to the attorney-general; and that this officer be placed on the same footing, in all respects, as the heads of the other departments-receiving like compensation, and having such subordinate officers provided for his department, as may be requisite for the discharge of these additional duties. The professional skill of the attorney-general, employed in directing the conduct of marshals and district attorneys, would hasten the collection of debts now in suit, and hereafter save much to the government. It might be further extended to the superintendence of all criminal proceedings for offences against the United States. In making this transfer, great care should be taken, however, that the power necessary to the treasury department be not impaired; one of its greatest securities consisting in a control over all accounts until they are audited or reported for suit.

In connection with the foregoing views, I would sug gest, also, an inquiry, whether the provisions of the act of Congress, authorizing the discharge of the persons of debtors to the government from imprisonment, may not, consistently with the public interest, be extended to the release of the debt, where the conduct of the debtor is wholly exempt from the imputation of fraud. Some more liberal policy than that which now prevails in reference to this unfortunate class of citizens is certainly due to them, and would prove beneficial to the country. The continuance of the liability after the means to discharge it have been exhausted, can only serve to dispirit the debtor; or where his resources are but partial, the wont of power in the government to com

promise and release the demand, instigates to fraud, as the only resource for securing a support to his family He thus sinks into a state of apathy, or becomes a useless drone in society, or a vicious member of it, if not a feeling witness of the rigor and inhumanity of his country. All experience proves that an oppressive debt is the bane of enterprise; and it should be the care of a republic not ta exert a grinding power over misfortune and poverty.

Since the last session of Congress, numerous frauds on the treasury have been discovered, which I thought it my duty to bring under the cognizance of the United States. Court, for this district, by a criminal prosecution. It was my opinion, and that of able counsel who were consulted, that the cases came within the penalties of the act of the 17th Congress, approved 3d March, 1823, providing for the punishment of frauds committed on the government of the United States. Either from some defect in the law or in its administration, every effort to bring the accused to trial under its provisions proved ineffectual, and the government was driven to the necessity of resorting to the vague and inadequate provisions of the common law. It is therefore my duty to call your attention to the laws which have been passed for the protection of the treasury. If, indeed, there is no provision by which those who may be unworthily entrusted with its guardianship, can be punished for the most flagrant violation of duty, extending even to the most fraudulent appropriation of the public funds to their own use, it is time to remedy so dangerous an omission. Or, if the law has been perverted from its original purposes, and criminals deserving to be punished under its provisions, have been rescued by legal subtleties, it ought to be made so plain, by amendatory provisions, as to baffle the arts of perversion, and accomplish the ends of its original enactment.

In one of the most flagrant cases, the court decided that the prosecution was barred by the statute which limits prosecutions for fraud to two years. In this case

all the evidences of the fraud, and indeed all knowledge that a fraud had been committed, were in the possession of the party accused, until after the two years had elapsed. Surely the statute ought not to run in favor of any mar

while he retains all the evidences of his crime in his own possession; and least of all, in favor of a public officer who continues to defraud the treasury, and conceal the transaction for the brief term of two years. I would therefore recommend such an alteration of the law as will give the injured party and the government two years after the disclosure of the fraud, or after the accused is out of office, to commence their prosecution.

In connexion with this subject, I invite the attention of Congress to a general and minute inquiry into the condition of the government; with a view to ascertain what offices can be dispensed with, what expenses retrenched, and what improvements may be made in the organization of its various parts to secure the proper responsibility of public agents, and promote efficiency and justice in all its operations.

The report of the Secretary of War will make you acquainted with the condition of our army, fortifications, arsenals, and Indian affairs. The proper discipline of the army, the training and equipment of the militia, the education bestowed at West Point, and the accumulation of the means of defence, applicable to the naval force, will tend to prolong the peace we now enjoy, and which every good citizen, more especially those who have felt the miseries of even a successful warfare, most ardently desire to perpetuate.

The returns from the subordinate branches of this service exhibit a regularity and order highly creditable to its character: both officers and soldiers seem imbued with a proper sense of duty, and conform to the restraints of exact discipline with that cheerfulness which becomes the profession of arms. There is need, however, of further legislation to obviate the inconveniences specified in the report under consideration; to some of which it is proper that I should call your particular attention.

The act of Congress of the 2d March, 1821, to reduce and fix the military establishment, remaining unexecuted as it regards the command of one of the regiments of artillery, cannot now be deemed a guide to the executive in making the proper appointment. An explanatory act, designating the class of officers out of which this grade

13 to be filled--whether from the military list, as existing prior to the act of 1821, or from it, as it has been fixed by that act-would remove this difficulty. It is also important that the laws regulating the pay and emoluments of the officers generally, should be more specific than they now are. Those, for example, in relation to the paymaster and surgeon-general, assign to them an annual salary of $2,500; but are silent as to allowances which, in certain exigencies of the service, may be deemed indispensable to the discharge of their duties. This circumstance has been the authority for extending to them various allowances at different times under former administrations; but no uniform rule has been observed on the subject. Similar inconveniences exist in other cases, in which the construction put upon the laws by the public accountants may operate unequally, produce confusion, and expose officers to the odium of claiming what is not

their due..

I recommend to your fostering care, as one of our safest means of national defence, the Military Academy. This institution has already exercised the happiest influence upon the moral and intellectual character of our army; and such of the graduates as, from various causes, may not pursue the profession of arms, will be scarcely less useful as citizens. Their knowledge of the military art will be advantageously employed in the militia service; and in a measure secure to that class of troops the advantages which in this respect belong to standing armies.

Those

I would also suggest a review of the pension law, for the purpose of extending its benefits to every revolutionary soldier who aided in establishing our liberties, and who is unable to maintain himself in comfort. relics of the war of independence have strong claims upon their country's gratitude and bounty. The law is defective in not embracing within its provisions all those who were during the last war disabled from supporting themselves by manual labor. Such an amendment would add but little to the amount of pensions, and is called for by the sympathies of the people, as well as by considerations of sound policy. It will be perceived that a large addi

tion to the list of pensioners has been occasione. by an order of the late administration, dep urting materially from the rules which had previously prevailed. Considering it an act of legislation, I suspended its operation as soon as I was informed that it had commenced. Before this period, however, applications under the new regula tion had been preferred, to the number of one hundred and fifty-four; of which, on the 27th March, the date of its revocation, eighty-seven were admitted. For the amount there was neither estimate nor appropriation, and besides this deficiency, the regular allowances, ac cording to the rules which have heretofore governed the department, exceed the estimate of its late secretary, by about fifty thousand dollars, for which an appropriation is asked.

Your particular attention is requested to that part of the report of the Secretary of War which relates to the money held in trust for the Seneca tribe of Indians. It will be perceived that, without legislative aid, the execu tive cannot obviate the embarrassments occasioned by the diminution of the dividends on that fund, which originally amounted to $100,000, and has recently been invested in the United States three per cent. stock.

The condition and ulterior destiny of the Indian tribes within the limits of some of our states, have become objects of much interest and importance. It has long been the policy of government to introduce among them the arts of civilization, in the hope of gradually reclaiming them from a wandering life. This policy has, however, been coupled with another wholly incompatible with its success. Professing a desire to civilize and settle them, we have at the same time lost no opportunity to purchase their lands, and thrust them further into the wilderness By this means they have not only been kept in a wandering state, but been led to look upon us as unjust and indifferent to their fate. Thus, though lavish in expenditures upon the subject, government has constantly defeated its own policy; and the Indians, in general, receding further and further to the west, have retained their savage habits. A portion, however, of the southern tribes, hav ing mingled much with the whites, and made some pro