war, Liberty and Invincible, have been placed under the command of efficient officers and are now on duty, and the schooners of war, Independence and Brutus, are daily expected on our coast from New Orleans, which will fill out our navy as contemplated by law. Our agents have also made arrangments for a steamboat, which may soon be expected, calculated to run between New Orleans and our seaports, and operate as circumstances shall direct. Arrangements have been made by law for the organization of the militia; but, with very few exceptions, returns have not been made as was contemplated, so that the plan resorted to seems to have proved ineffectual. The military department has been but partially organized, and for want of means, in a pecuniary point of view, the recruiting service has not progressed to any great extent, nor can it be expected, until that embarrassment can be removed. . Our volunteer army of the frontier has been kept under continual excitement and thrown into confusion owing to the improvident acts of the General Council by their infringements upon the prerogative of the commander-in-chief, by passing resolutions, ordinances, and making appointments, etc., which, in their practical effect, were calculated, in an eminent degree, to thwart everything like systematic organization in that department. The offices of auditor and controller of public accounts have some time since been created and filled, but what amount of claims have been passed against the government, I am not advised, as no report has yet been made to my office; but of one thing I am certain, that many claims have been passed for which the government, in justice, should not be bound or chargeable. The General Council has tenaciously held on to a controlling power over these offices, and forced accounts through them contrary to justice and good faith, and for which evil, I have never yet been able to find a remedy; and if such a state of things shall be continued long, the public debt will soon be increased .to an amount beyond all reasonable conception. With a fervent and anxious desire that your deliberations may be fraught with that unity of feeling and harmony of action, so desirable and necessary to quiet and settle the disturbed and distracted interests of the country, and that your final conclusions
484
Powered by FlippingBook