Part 56

JAMES MONROE.

FEBRUARY 24, 1824.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of War, containing the information called for by a resolution of the House of Representatives of the United States, passed on the 4th instant, respecting any suit or suits which have been or are now depending, in which the United States are interested, for the recovery of the Pea Patch.

JAMES MONROE.

WASHINGTON, February 25, 1824.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In conformity with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 17th instant, I now transmit the report of the Secretary of the Navy, accompanied by statements marked A and B, shewing "the amount of money expended in conformity with the provisions of the act entitled 'An act for the gradual increase of the Navy of the United States,' approved April 29, 1816, and of the act to amend said act, approved 3d of March, 1821; also the number of vessels built or now on the stocks, with their rates, the value of the timber purchased, or for which contracts have been made, and whether sufficient timber has been purchased or contracted for to build the vessels contemplated by the provisions of said acts."

JAMES MONROE.

MARCH 3, 1824.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit to the Senate a report of the Secretary of the Treasury, containing copies of the contracts made by the Surveyor-General, and called for by a resolution of the Senate bearing date the 24th February, 1824.

JAMES MONROE.

MARCH 4, 1824.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

I transmit a report of the Secretary of the Treasury, which communicates all the information in possession of the Department called for by a resolution of the House requesting a copy of the report of the register of the land office in the eastern district of Louisiana, bearing date the 6th of January, 1821, together with all the information from the said register to the Treasury Department.

JAMES MONROE.

WASHINGTON, March 4, 1824.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 1st March, 1823, requesting information of the number and position of the permanent fortifications which have been and are now erecting for the defense of the coasts, harbors, and frontiers of the United States, with the classification and magnitude of each, with the amount expended on each, showing the work done and to be done, the number of guns of every caliber for each fortification, the total cost of a complete armament for each, the force required to garrison each in time of peace and of war, I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of War containing the information required by the resolution.

JAMES MONROE.

WASHINGTON, March 8, 1824.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

On the 3d March, 1819, James Miller was first commissioned as governor of the Territory of Arkansas for the term of three years from that date.

Before the expiration of that time, and in the winter of 1821-22, a nomination of him for reappointment was intended, and believed by me to have been made to the Senate, and to have received the confirmation of that body.

By some accident, the cause of which is unknown, it appears that this impression was erroneous, and in December, 1822, it was discovered that Mr. Miller had not then been recommissioned, though in the confidence that he had been he had continued to act in that capacity. He was then renominated to the Senate, with the additional proposal that his commission should take effect from 3d March, 1822, when his first commission had expired.

The nomination was confirmed by the Senate so far as regarded the appointment, but without concurrence in the retrospective effect proposed to be given to the commission.

His second commission, therefore, bears date on the 3d January, 1823, and the interposition of the Legislature becomes necessary to legalize his official acts in the interval between 3d March, 1822, and that time, a subject which I recommend to the consideration of Congress.