The Sun.
London, England, 1830-01-08 00:00:00

provision 4, as to baffle the arts of perversion, and ac-
complish the ends of its original etTaiitment.
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 fraud, and indeed all knowledge that
a fraud had been committed, were in possession of the
party accused, until after the two years_ bad elapsed.
Surely the statute ought not to run in favour of any man
while he retains all the evidences of his crime in his own
possession ; and, least of all, in favour 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 laws as well
give the injured party and the Government two years
after the disclosure of the fraud, er after the accused is
out of office, to commence their prosecution.
In connection with this subject, I invite the attention
of Congress to a general and minute inquiry into the con-
dition of Government; with a view to ascertain what
offices can be dispensed with, what expenses retrenched,
and what improvents 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, Fortifica-
tions, Arsenals, and Indian Affairs. The proper dis-
cipline 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 perpetuate.
The returns from the subordinate branches of this
service exhibit a regularity and order highly creditable to
its charaoter ; both officers and soldiers seem imbued with
a proper senile 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 Cangress of the 2d of March, 1821, to re-
duce and fix the military establishment, remaining unex-
ecuted as it regards the command of one of the regiments
of artillery, cannot now be deemed a guide to the Execu-
tive in making the proper appointment. An explanatory
Act, designating the class of officers nut of which the 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 iy also impor-
tant that the laws relating to the pay and emoluments of
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 d. ; but are silent as to allowances which, in certain
exigencies of the service, may be deemed indispensable to
the discharge of their duties. The 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 con-
struction 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 the 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 military service; and, in
a measure, secure to that class of troops the advantages
which, in this respect, belong to standing armies.
Another improvement would be effected by dispensing
altogether with the Navy Board, as now constituted ; and
substituting, in its stead, bureaus, similar to those already
existing in the War Department. Each Member of the
Board, tranferred to the head of a separate bureau,
charged with specific duties, would feel, in its highest de-
gree, that wholesome responsibility which cannot be divided
without a far more than proportionate diminution of its
force. Their valuable services would become still more
so when separately appropriated to distinct portions of
the great interests of the Nary, to the prosperity of
which each would be impelled to devote himself by the
strongest motives. Under such an arrangement, every
branch of this impartaet service would assume a more
simple and precise charaoter ; its efficiency would be in-
creased, and scrupulous economy in the expenditure of
public money promoted.
I would also recommend that the marina corps be
merged in the artillery or infantry, as the best mode of
.curing the many defects in its organization. But little
exceeding in uumber any of the regiments of infantry,
that carps has, besides its Lieutenant-Colonel Command-
ant, five Brevet Lieutenant-Colonels, who receive the full
pay and emoluments of their brevet rank, without render-
ing proportionate service. Details for marine service could
as well be made from the infantry or artillery, there being
no peculiar training requisite for it.
With these improvements, and such others as zealous
watchfulness and mature consideration may suggest, there
can be little doubt that under an energetic administration
of its affairs, the navy may soon be made every thing
that the nation wishes it to be. Its efficiency in the sup-
pression of piracy in the West India seas, and wherever
its squadrons have been employed in securing the interests
of the country, will appear from the report of the Secre-
tary, to which I refer you for other interesting details.
Among these, I would bespeak the attention of Congress,
for the views presented in relation to the inequality be-
tween the army and navy as to the pay of officers. No
such inequality should prevail between these brave de-
fenders of their country ; and where it does exist, it
is submitted to Congress whether it ought not to be rec-
tified. _ _

The report of the POstmaster General is referred to as
exhibiting a highly satisfactorily administration of the
department. Abuses have been reformed ; increased expe-
dition in the transportation of the mail secured ; and its
revenue much improved. In a political point of view,
this department is chiefly important as affording the
means of diffusing knowledge. It is to the body politic,
what the veins and arteries are to the natural, con-
veying rapidly and re,fularly, to the remotest parts of
the system, correct information of the operations of the
Government, and bringing back to it the wishes and feel-
ings of the people. Through its agency, we have secured
to ourselves the full enjoyment of the blessings of a free

press.
In this general survey of our affairs, a subject of high
importance presents itself in the present organization of
the Judiciary. An uniform operation of the Federal Go-
vernment in the different Stabs is certainly desirable ;
and, existing as they do in the Union, on the. basis of per-
fect equality, each State has a right to expect that the be-
nefits conferred on the citizens of others should be ex-
tended to hers. The judicial system of the United States
exists in all its efficiency in only fifteen Members of the
Union; to three others, the Circuit Courts, which con-
stitute an important part of that system, have been im-
perfectly extended; and to the :remaining six, altogether
denied. The effect has been to withhold from the inha-
bitants of the latter, the advantages afforded (by the Su-
preme Court), to their fellow citizens in other :States, in
the whole extent of the criminal, and much of the civil
authority of the Federal Judiciary. That this state of
things ought to be remedied, if it can he done consistently
with the public welfare, it ought not to be doubted ; nei-
ther is it to be disguised that the organization of our judi-
cial system is at once a difficult and delicate task. To
extend the Circuit Courts equally throughout the Union,
and, at the same time, to avoid such a multiplication
of members as would encumber the Supreme Appellate
Ti ibunal, is the object desired. Perhaps it might be
accomplished by dividing the Circuit Judges into two
classes, and providing that the Supreme Court should be
held by those classes alternately, the Chief Justice always
presiding.
If an extension of the Circuit Court Court system to
those States which do not now enjoy its benefits should be
determined upon it would, of course, be necessary to revise
the present arrangements of the circuit; and even if that
system should not be enlarged, such a revision is recom-
mended.

A provision for taking the census of the people of the
United States will, to insure the completion of that
work within a convenient time, claim the early attention
of Congress.
eine groat and constant increase of business in the de-
partment of State forced itself, at an early period, upon
the attention of the Executive. Thirteen years ago it
was, in Mr. Madison's last Message to Congress, made the
subject of an earnest reoininendation, which has bee❑
repeated by both his successors; and my comparatively
limited experience has satisfied me of its justness. It has
arisen from many causes, not the least of which is the
large addition that has bee❑ made to the family of inde-
pendent nations, and the proportionate extension of our
foreign relations. The remedy proposed was the establish..
went of a Home Department—a measure which does not
appear to have met the views of Congress, on account of
its supposed tendency to increase gradually and impercep-
tibly the already too strong bias of the fei'eral systetn to-
wards the exercise of authority not delegated to it. I am
not, therefore, disposed to revive the recommendation; but