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Organization of the Army.

character to execute the duties of this important office.

7. A provision for an Hospital department for the Army.

8. A power to procure from abroad one distinguished engineer, and also an officer of artillery, and suitable appointments for the same.

9. To provide for the appointment of an Inspector of Fortifications.

10. That the choice of an Inspector of Artillery be left at large.

11. A provision for altering and fitting the clothing issued to the soldiers.

12. An alteration in the ration to be issued to the troops.

13. A provision for the reasonable expenses of officers and soldiers in returning to their homes, when disbanded, or incapacitated by age or sickness for further service.

14. A revival and extension of the power to raise a provisional army.

15. A specific provision for the appointment of appropriate officers for the volunteer companies that are or may be accepted, when formed into regiments, brigades, or divisions; and for pay and rations to such volunteers, for those days in every year that it may be necessary to assemble them in bodies, for the purpose of discipline and training.

16. A further provision for the extra services and expenses of the Inspector General, and to allow him, besides his aids, one secretary.

17. The employment of a Purveyor of Public Supplies, exclusively for the War Department. All which the Secretary has the honor most respectfully to submit.

JAMES McHENRY. WAR DEPARTMENT, Dec. 24, 1798.

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1 paymaster,

1 quartermaster,

1 surgeon,

2 surgeon's mates,

10 captains,

10 first lieutenants,

10 second lieutenants,

5 cadets,

2 sergeant majors,

to be lieutenants, and in addition to the lieutenants hereinafter mentioned.

2 quartermaster sergeants,

2 chief musicians,

40 sergeants,

40 corporals,

10 musicians,

10 ensigns,

1 sergeant major,

1 quartermaster sergeant,

2 senior musicians,

40 sergeants,

40 corporals,

20 musicians,

600 privates.

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10 saddlers,

10 blacksmiths,

10 boot-makers,

890 privates.

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Organization of the Army.

to be lieutenants, and in addition to the lieutenants

hereinafter mentioned.

4 quartermaster sergeants,

64 sergeants,

64 corporals,

1 senior musician,

10 musicians,

128 artificers,

768 privates.

B.

Extract of a letter from the Secretary of War to the Hon. Samuel Sewall, Chairman of the Committee of Defence, &c., dated

"WAR DEPARTMENT, June 28, 1798. "3d. The act providing for raising and organizing a corps of artillerists and engineers, and the act to provide an additional regiment of the same, both enjoin the procurement, at the public expense, of all necessary books, instruments, and apparatus, for the benefit of the said respective regi

ments.

"The Secretary, without designing to derogate from the merits of the officers appointed to the corps established by the acts cited, feels it his duty to suggest that other and supplementary means of instruction, to the books and instruments to be provided, appear to be absolutely indispensable to enable them to acquire a due degree of knowledge in the objects of their corps. It is certain that the best faculties and inclinations for the arts and sciences cannot be unfolded and applied to useful purposes, when proper encouragement and assistance have been denied or neglected.

"The art of fortification is connected with so many others, is of such extent, and its operations dependent on, and affected by, circumstances so infinitely varied, that it is impossible any man can be rendered master of it by experience alone. Besides, the knowledge acquired by experience is often the result of our own faults, and acquired by a heavy, and, it may be, in this art, disastrous expense to the public.

"It is certainly to be wished, that more attention had been paid to this subject, and that past

recommendations had found a favorable access to the ear of Congress.

"If the present moment does not admit of carrying into effect all that is desirable, and ought, under different circumstances, to be done, to create a body of quartered and scientific engineers, it may, notwithstanding, be advisable to advance towards this point by such measures as are compatible with our present situation.

"The knowledge of certain arts and sciences is absolutely necessary to the artillerist and engineer; such are arithmetic, geometry, mechanics, hydraulics, and designing.

"Without a knowledge of arithmetic, an officer cannot calculate the expense incurred, or to be incurred, on any work, or any subject whatever.

"Without that of geometry, he cannot form a just plan or chart, regulate the design of a fortification, with its lines and angles, trace it upon the ground it is to occupy, nor estimate and measure the solidity and surface of its several parts.

"Without that of mechanics, he will not be able to appreciate the proportion of the machines used in war, the dimensions of carriages for artillery, nor to augment or diminish the force of the several kinds of machines when it may be necessary.

"Without that of designing, he will not have it in his power to give plans and profiles of works, nor to exhibit the topography of the environs of a work, or any part of a country.

"Without that of hydraulics, he will not be qualified to conduct water from one place to another, or to sustain and elevate it when there may be a necessity in sieges, or other military operations, for so doing.

"It is therefore submitted, whether provision ought not to be made for the employment of three or four teachers of the enumerated sciences, to be attached generally to the two corps of artillerists and lessons, at such times, places, and under such and engineers, and obligated to give instructions regulations, as the President may direct.

"The employment of teachers would give the intended effect to the provision of the laws, for the appointment of two cadets to each company. It was supposed that these cadets would form a nursery, from which qualified officers might be drawn to fill vacancies, &c.; but it must occur, that without proper masters to teach them the sciences, necessary to the engineer and artillerist, this nursery can produce no valuable plants.

"It is also submitted, whether it might not be proper to augment the pay of cadets to nine dollars per month, with two rations. This would excite their emulation, give them a consideration above sergeants, and enable them to appear in a more respectable dress.

"It is with infinite regret the Secretary is obliged to mention that the ordnance of our country is by no means in a situation to command respect. That part of it was collected during a season of difficulty and necessity, from different

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Brevet Rank.

countries, and consequently, the guns are, many of them, essentially defective, and those of the same class differ in length, weight, and caliber. The variance in these particulars occasions much trouble and inconvenience, in providing appropriate ammunition, stores, apparatus, and carriages, besides subjecting the military service to injurious delays, and the fatal consequences which might result from ammunition and implements being supplied, which, in time of need, will be found not adapted to the piece.

"As there is no established standard, it has also happened, from a defect of knowledge in our founders, or some other cause, that most of the cannon that have been cast within, or on account of the United States, are defective in very essential points, and exhibit varieties in those cast at the same furnace, and of the same class, with those procured from abroad.

"It is important that some arrangement should be immediately adopted, calculated to give efficacy to a proper system, and correct these evils. It is not enough that the President determine upon the size, weight, dimensions, and calibers of the different kinds of cannon, either to be made, or imported into the United States, for their use, unless an inspector of artillery can be appointed, to see that all regulations appertaining to the orduance department be executed and observed with exacti

tude.

"We cannot presume that contracts, however carefully made, and conditioned, or even a national foundry, will produce cannon conformable to a given specific standard for each class, so long as the United States are without an officer of skill to inspect, and receive, or reject them.

"I cannot conceive any appointment more necessary to our military undertakings, and infant Navy, than an inspector of artillery, and I must flatter myself that the committee will feel as I do upon this occasion.

"They will not, I am persuaded, imagine that it can be possible for a Secretary of War. to discharge the duties of his appointment, and, at the same time, to visit foundries, examine all kinds of ordnance, direct the dimensions of gun carriages and implements, order the proper moulds for casting shot, shells, &c., review and decide upon the qualities of every different production, and point out the means of remedying existing defects, and generally perform all the other duties attached to the office of inspector of artillery.

"The Secretary indulges the hope, that the committee will recommend, and the wisdom of Congress think proper to create, in the Department of War, the office of inspector of artillery, with a salary adequate to its nature and importance, and calculated to obtain a person qualified to fill it. On this important head he takes leave further to mention, that other countries owe the excellency of their ordnance to the establishment of such an officer, and that in England, particularly, and at a late day, the appointment of a scientific and experienced inspector has given a perfection to their ordnance never before known."

BREVET RANK.

[Communicated to the House of Representatives, February 4, 1799.]

Mr. Dwight Foster, from the Committee of Claims, to whom was referred the petition of Moses White, with the report of the former Secretary of the Treasury thereon, made the following report:

That the object of the petitioner was to obtain a settlement and allowance of his account against the United States, for services and expenditures on behalf of the public during the war.

The powers vested by law in the officers of the Treasury Department are competent to adjust and settle most of the items mentioned in the account of the petitioner; and, since his petition was originally referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, those items have been considered, and partially adjusted by the proper officers. The committee are therefore of opinion, that with respect to that part of the petitioner's account, it would not be expedient or proper for the Legislature to interfere; but the item of the greatest magnitude, and of most importance to the petitioner, which is a claim for additional pay as Aid-de-camp to Brigadier General Moses Hazen, from the first of August, 1781, to November 3, 1783, not having been expressly authorized by an act of Congress, has not been allowed in the settlement of the account.

claim, the committee report, that by the act of With respect to this part of the petitioner's Congress of the 21st of June, 1775, the Commander-in-chief was allowed three, and each Major General two Aids-de-camp, whose pay and rank were established by subsequent resolutions. By a resolution of Congress on the 30th of March, 1776, each Brigadier General, when on command, was empowered to appoint a Brigadier Major; and, by another resolution, on the first day of July, in the same year, a Brigadier General, acting in a separate department, was allowed an Aid-de-camp.

On the 27th day of May, 1778, it was provided, "that the Brigade Major should be appointed as heretofore by the Commander-in-chief, or commander in a separate department, out of the Captains in the brigade to which he should be appointed;" and by a resolution of that date, the additional pay of Aids-de-camp and of Brigade Majors was established. Upon the 28th of June, 1782, so much of the act of the 27th day of May, as relates to the additional pay given to Captains and subalterns, acting as Aids-de-camp and Brigade Majors, was repealed, and, on the same day, Congress resolved "that there should be such additional pay and emoluments to the pay of Captains and subalterns, serving as Aids-de-camp to Major Generals or Brigadier Generals, and to Brigade Majors, as should make their pay and emoluments equal to the pay and emoluments of a Major in the line of the Army."

Vessels of War.

By a resolution of Congress, on the 29th day of June, 1781, General Hazen was "appointed a

VESSELS OF WAR.

Brigadier in the Army of the United States, by Letter from the Secretary of the Navy to the Chairman

brevet." It appears by a certificate from General Hazen, that the petitioner acted as his Aid-decamp during the time for which he prays compensation.

The only doubt which appears to have arisen respecting the propriety of allowing this claim, is understood to have been because General Hazen held the rank of Brigadier by brevet commission only.

of the Committee on the Naval Establishment, with sundry estimates relative to the expense of building and equipping certain vessels of war for the service of the United States.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Dec. 29, 1798. SIR: I have given to the inquiries you have done me the honor, as chairman of a committee all the consideration my desire to comply promptly of the House of Representatives, to make of me, with the wishes of the committee would permit; and now proceed, with great diffidence, to submit

the result.

Although brevet officers were not entitled to any additional pay in consequence of their brevet promotion, yet it gave them conditional rank. When on command of mixed corps, or on courts martial, they took rank with the youngest officer of the grade to which they were promoted; hence, The protection of our coast; the security of in the local command of his own regiment, Gene- our extensive country from invasion, in some of ral Hazen had no additional rank; but on com- its weaker parts; the safety of our important command, &c., he took rank as the youngest Briga-merce, and our future peace, when the maritime dier. With respect to the circumstance of his nations of Europe war with each other, all seem receiving no additional pay, in consequence of the to demand that our naval force should be augappointment, the committee conceive it will not mented-so much augmented, indeed, as to make apply to the question now under consideration. the most powerful nations desire our friendship, If a Brigadier held the rank and command, whe- the most unprincipled respect our neutrality. The ther he was a volunteer, or held it by courtesy, or peaceful character of America will afford to the received no pay, they apprehend, by established world sufficient security that we shall not be custom, he was entitled to his staff officers, and easily provoked to carry war into the country of they to the customary allowance for their ser- an enemy; and it well becomes the wisdom of vices. America to provide a cheap defence to keep it from our own.

The Secretary of the Treasury, in his report on this part of the petitioner's claim, states that he had not been able "to discover any resolution of Congress by which the claim could be decided; but that there were precedents in practice in favor of it as applied to Brigadiers by commission; that if this practice were to govern, the circumstance of a brevet appointment would not, in the opinion of the Secretary, constitute a ground of difference to the prejudice of the petitioner, inasmuch as the Brigadier is understood to have the actual command of a brigade at the time; in which case, the principles of service, with regard to an Aid-de-camp, would apply as fully to him as to the Brigadier by commis

sion."

The committee concur with the Secretary of the Treasury in the opinion above expressed, and think that the petitioner ought to receive compensation for his services as Aid-de-camp; they therefore submit to the consideration of the House the following resolution, viz:

Resolved, That in the adjustment of the account of Moses White, late a Captain in the Army of the United States, the accounting officers of the Treasury be, and they are hereby, directed to credit and allow the account of the said Moses White, for his additional pay and emoluments as an Aid-de-camp, during the time he acted in that capacity to Brigadier General Moses Hazen, upon the same principles which have heretofore prevailed in the settlement of accounts of officers acting as Aids-de-camp to Brigadier Generals in the line of the Army.

Twelve ships of 74 guns, as many frigates, and twenty or thirty smaller vessels, would probably be found (our geographical situation and our means of annoying the trade of the maritime Powers considered) a force sufficient to insure our future peace with the nations of Europe. It would not, perhaps, be hazarding too much to say that, had we possessed this force a few years ago, we should not have lost, by depredations on our trade, four times the sum necessary to have created and maintained it during the whole time the war has existed in Europe. If we do not profit by experience, and put ourselves in a situation to resent insult, and punish aggression, nothing is more likely than that in less than half a dozen years another occasion may be presented for a repetition of the same mortifying observation. In another and still more interesting view of this subject, mutual safety was a leading motive, and must ever remain a strong cement, of our Union. Whether this security can be afforded, unless we are able to command our own coast; and whether the Union of all the States can be long preserved without it, are questions which merit the most serious and attentive consideration of American legislators. I forbear to dwell on this fruitful, perhaps delicate topic.

However, to attend to our more pressing concerns: We cannot feel entirely secure that we are not to be exposed to great calamities from the ambition or animosity of France, until a considerable addition be made to our naval force. If twelve ships of 74 guns, are added to our navy, an

Vessels of War.

invasion of any part of our country would be rendered so difficult, that it would scarcely be attempted; for it is not possible to conceive that France could promise herself any advantage by an invasion of this country, equal to the enormous expense, and still more enormous risk, if we should ! be so prepared to resist her. She would be obliged to employ more than double the number of ships of equal force, to convoy her armies, provisions, and stores, and to keep the communication open between her armies and her own country. France can calculate, and will calculate, the loss and probable gain of her enterprises. When she finds that she cannot deceive us; that she cannot arm our citizens to carry on her work of subjugation(insolent and unfounded expectation!)—that we are determined on manly resistance; and that we take vigorous measures to put ourselves in a proper posture of defence-even France, with all her pride, and all her heroism, will consult her interest and avoid war with America; and, like other nations, she will discover that it will not only be just, but politic, to indulge us in our favorite wish of preserving peace with all the world.

Thus, then, in whatever view the subject is considered, whether our object be to prevent invasion, to protect our commerce, to obtain a speedy and proper peace, to maintain peace hereafter, or by affording security to every part of our country, to guard against the long train of ills which must result from disunion; the wisest, cheapest, and most peaceable means of obtaining the end we aim at, will be prompt and vigorous measures for the creation of a navy, sufficient for defence, but not for conquest.

The United States are doubtless able to bear any expense necessary for their present safety and their future tranquillity. No country increases so fast in population and resources, and no country can incur a debt with such an absolute certainty of discharging it, without laying new burdens on the people. Our revenue, arising from the impost and other sources, must increase in proportion to the increase of population; and, as the increase of the latter is certain, no country ever had less to fear from the consequences of incurring any debt necessary for defence and

safety.

On the subject of procuring ships of 74 guns, we probably have it in our option to buy them or to build them. The former will be the most expeditious mode of procuring them, but the latter, if the pressure of our affairs will admit, will be the most honorable, and the most advantageous for our country. If we buy them from a foreign nation, it is not to be expected that we shall be able to obtain those of the best quality; and the sum given for them will not be kept at home, and distributed among our own citizens, but will operate against us, like an unfavorable balance of trade. My own idea is, that we certainly ought to build the vessels, in preference to purchasing them; that immediate measures should be taken to secure all the necessary timber; but that the President should be authorized to obtain, as the exigency of our affairs may require, twelve ships

of 74 guns, by purchase or otherwise. If it should be found necessary to procure them sooner than they can be built, the timber may be preserved, by docking, until those purchased decay, or for a century, if it should not be sooner wanted.

The estimates herewith will show the expense of building and equipping twelve ships of 74 guns, and six brigs or schooners to mount not exceeding eighteen guns. The latter would be highly useful in scouring the West Indies, and we have not a sufficient proportion of vessels of this size. Three of the largest of the 24-gun ships might be converted into frigates of 32 guns. The whole annual expense of maintaining the Navy would then be $5,383,540 06

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In times of peace a small proportion of this sum would be sufficient to keep the ships in a state of preservation.

Every material article for the building and equipment of ships of war, copper excepted, and probably copper also. may be procured the growth or manufacture of our own country. It is true that we have heretofore used cordage made of hemp of foreign growth, and imported canvass; and these articles constitute, if wear and tear be included, one-third of the expense of building, equipping, and refitting our vessels of war. But manufactories of canvass have been heretofore established in the Eastern States, and with proper public encouragement may be revived, and made to supply at least the public demand: and it is most certain that any quantity of hemp can be raised on the Ohio and Mississippi, the Susquehanna, the Potomac, James river, and other parts of the United States, if the growers of it are assured of a ready market, and at a price less than that given for imported hemp: though if the prices of cordage and canvass, the entire growth and manufacture of the country, should be found at first a little dearer than the imported, the good policy of paying the difference to our own citizens, to render ourselves independent of foreign countries for articles so essential to our defence, cannot for a moment be doubted.

Timber can at present be had in almost every part of the United States; but in the greatest abundance, and of the best quality, on the Chesapeake bay, and the waters which empty into it-and in the Southern States. The live oak of Georgia is thought to be almost indispensable in the construction of our largest ships, to be used in those parts most subject to decay; but the white oak of the Chesapeake is not greatly inferior. It is, however, highly desirable to use the live oak of Georgia as long as it can be obtained, more especially in the ships built eastward of the Chesapeake and by a proper mixture of this timber with that of the

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