yond what may be required for its current service. As then the period approaches when the application of the revenue to the payment of debt will cease, the disposition of the surplus will present a subject for the serious deliberation of Congress; and it may be fortunate for the country that it is yet to be decided. Considered in connexion with the difficulties which have heretofore attended appropriations for purposes of internal improvement; and with those which this experience tells us will certainly arise, whenever power over such subjects may be exercised by the General Government; it is hoped that it may lead to the adoption of some plan which will reconcile the diversified interests of the States, and strengthen the bonds which unite them. Every member of the Union, in peace and in war, will be benefited by the improvement of inland navigation and the construction of highways in the several States.

Let us then endeavor to attain this benefit in a mode which will be satisfactory to all. That hitherto adopted has, by many of our fellow-citizens, been deprecated as an infraction of the Constitution; while by others it has been viewed as inexpedient. All feel that it has been employed at the expense of harmony in the legislative councils.

To avoid these evils, it appears to me that the most safe, just, and federal disposition which could be made of the surplus revenue, would be its apportionment among the several States according to their ratio of representation; and should this measure not be found warrant

ed by the Constitution, that it would be expedient to propose to the States an amendment authorizing it. I regard an appeal to the source of power, in cases of real doubt, and where its exercise is deemed indispensable to the general welfare, as among the most sacred of all our obligations. Upon this country, more than any other, has, in the providence of God, been cast the special guardianship of the great principle of adherence to written constitutions. If it fail here, all hope in regard to it will be extinguished. That this was intended to be a Government of limited and specific, and not general powers, must be admitted by all; and it is our duty to preserve for it the character intended by its framers. If experience points out the necessity for an enlargement of these powers, let us apply for it to those for whose benefit it is to be exercised; and not undermine the whole system by a resort to overstrained constructions. The scheme has worked well. It has exceeded the hopes of those who devised it, and become an object of admiration to the world. We are responsible to our country, and to the glorious cause of self-government, for the preservation of so great a good. The great mass of legislation relating to our internal affairs, was intended to be left where the Federal Convention found it - in the State Governments. Nothing is clearer, in my view, than that we are chiefly indebted for the success of the Constitution under which we are now acting, to the watchful and auxiliary operation of the State autho

rities. This is not the reflection of a day, but belongs to the most deeply rooted convictions of my mind. I cannot, therefore, too strongly or earnestly, for my own sense of its importance, warn you against all encroachments upon the legitimate sphere of State sovereignty. Sustained by its healthful and invigorating influence, the Federal system can never fall. In the collection of the revenue, the long credits authorized on goods imported from beyond the Cape of Good Hope are the chief cause of the losses at present sustained. If these were shortened to six, nine, and twelve months, and warehouses provided by Government, sufficient to receive the goods offered in deposite for security and for debenture; and if the right of the United States to a priority of payment out of the estates of its insolvent debtors were more effectually secured - this evil would, in a great measure, be obviated. An authority to construct such houses, is, therefore with the proposed alteration of the credits, recommended to your at

tention.

It is worthy of notice, that the laws for the collection and security of the revenue arising from imposts, were chiefly framed when the rates of duties on imported goods presented much less temptation for illicit trade than at present exists. There is reason to believe that these laws are, in some respects, quite insufficient for the proper security of the revenue, and the protection of the interests of those who are disposed to observe them. The injurious and demoralizing tendency of a suc

cessful system of smuggling is so obvious as not to require comment, and cannot be too carefully guarded against. I therefore suggest to Congress the propriety of adopting sufficient measures to prevent this evil, avoiding, however, as much as possible, every unnecessary infringement of individual liberty, and embarrassment of fair and lawful business.

On an examination of the records of the Treasury, I have been forcibly struck with the large amount of public money which appears to be outstanding. Of the sum thus due from individuals to the Government, a considerable portion is undoubtedly desperate; and in many instances, has probably been rendered so by remissness in the agents charged with its collection. By proper exertions, a great part, however, may yet be recovered; and, whatever may by the portions respectively belonging to these two classes, it behooves the Government to ascertain the real state of the fact. This can be done only by the prompt adoption of judicious measures for the collection of such as may be made available. It is believed that a very large amount has been lost through the inadequacy of the means provided for the collection of debts due to the public; and that this inadequacy lies chiefly in the want of legal skill, habitually and constantly employed in the direction of the agents engaged in the service. It must, I think, be admitted, that the supervisory power over suits brought by the public, which is now vested in an accounting officer of the Treasury, not selected

with a view to his legal knowledge, and encumbered as he is with numerous other duties, operates unfavorably to the public interest. It is important that this branch of the public service should be subjected to the supervision of such professional skill as will give it efficiency. 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 proceedings, 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 connexion with the foregoing views, I would suggest, 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 want of power in the Government to compromise 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, and 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 oppressive, debt is the bane of enterprise; and it should be the care of a Republic not to 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 be 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 subtilties, 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 prosecution 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 possession of the party accused, until after the two years had elapsed. Surely the statute ought

not to run in favor of any man 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 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 must ardently desire to perpe

tuate.

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 is 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 officers generally, should be inore specific than they now are. Those, for example, in relation to the Paymaster and Surgeon General, assign to them an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars; 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.

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. These 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 addition to the list of