Still it is to be observed that the statute, under consideration, made no provision for any accountability to the United States, in regard to the disposition of the arms, after their delivery to the State and Territorial authorities. When that took place, the control of the officers of the general Government over the arms ceased; and whether the future destination or use of the property was consistent with the design of the statute, depended wholly upon the good faith of the States and Territories themselves. Practically, then, they might do what they pleased with it, though the disposition male of it, by them, should defeat the ends of the statute; for no way existed, as I conceive, to compel the execution of the trust devolved upon them.

By the 7th section of the act of March 3, 1855, (10 Stat., 639,) the annual distribuhon of arms to the States, which, under the act of 1808, was made in proportion to the number of the effective militia thereof, was required to be made according to the number of their Representatives and Senators in Congress, respectively; and, in regard to the Territories and the District of Columbia, the arms were, by the same section, required to be distributed, in such quantities, and under such regulations as the President, in his discretion, might prescribe. These provisions are substantially empodied in section 1667 of the Revised Statutes. They modify the previous law no further than to introduce a new basis for making distribution of the arms to the States and Territories, which thenceforth took the place of the one originally prescribed. Thus the law remained, touching the transmission of arms to the several States and Territories for the militia, up to the time of the adoption of the Revised Statutes; and I discover nothing, in the provisions of the latter, indicative of an intention, on the part of Congress, to clothe the States with any right of property in the arms thereafter to be transmitted to them, other or different from that which they had in the arms theretofore deposited with them. The purpose of the annual appropriation thereby provided is the same precisely as was that of the similar appropriation, provided by the statute formerly in force, viz: to furnish arms for the militia. The basis, upon which the arms are to be distributed to the States, is likewise the same as that previously established, (i. e. by the act of 1855, cited above;) and they are required to be transmitted to the several States by the United States. It is true that in the Revised Statutes there is no clause expressly directing the arms to be distributed by each State to the militia thereof, as there was in the former statute; but the omission, to insert any such clause therein, is not to be understood as signifying an intent to relieve the States from that charge. The inference necessarily follows, from the declared purpose for which the appropriation, for procuring the arms, is made, that they are to be transmitted to the States for distribution among the militia, and for that object solely; and, an express direction to that effect, not being therefore really needed, it is proba ble that, for this reason, none was inserted.

Viewing the provisions of the Revised Statutes, above quoted, in connection with the previous legislation, I am unavoidably brought to the conclusion that, in contemplation of those provisions, the arms, transmitted to the States thereunder, are to be held by them for a specific purpose only, which is pointed out therein; that they therefore become, strictly speaking, invested with nothing more than a qualified property in such arms; and that they cannot, as a matter of right, and without thereby interfering with the regulations of Congress, on a subject over which its authority is necessarily paramount, make any disposition or use, of such arms, which defeats the purpose referred to, though, if this should be done, there would seem to be no remedy without

In answer, then, to the question propounded, I have the honor to state that, in my opinion, the States do not, by the existing laws, have "the right of property in the arms, issued for arming the militia," if an absolute right of property is there meant; and that they derive no authority, under those laws, to sell or dispose of such arms, at their pleasure. As I have already observed, the statute makes no provision for any accountability whatever, to the general Government, respecting the disposition of the arms, when they have once been delivered to the States; Congress, having seen fit to leave it entirely to the good faith of the latter, after the delivery takes place, to carry cut the purpose contemplated in furnishing the arms.

In regard to the actual case here presented, which concerns a part of the quota, of arms, due the State of Virginia, I may add that the disposition of the revolvers, herein before mentioned, recently sought to be made, by the authorities of that State. would clearly have been unwarranted by the existing laws of Congress, on the subject of arming the militia. It was accordingly very proper for the Chief of Ordnance to withhold the delivery of the revolvers to the parties to whom the orders issued therefor had been assigned. He could not, under those laws, recognize any right, in such parties, to the revolvers. But the arms cannot be indefinitely withheld from the State; the statute requiring them not only to be annually distributed, but to be transmitted to it by the general Government. After this is accomplished, the officers of the latter have nothing further to do with the arms so transmitted.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

GENERAL ORDERS

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE.

No. 133.

Washington, December 16, 1874.

I.. Medical officers in charge of hospitals, and company commanders, will hereafter not be permitted to dispose of any portion of the savings on rations except to the Subsistence Department.

II.. Whenever articles forming the component part of the ration are required for the use of companies or hospitals in addition to the quantities issued by the Government, they must be purchased from the Subsistence Department.

BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:

OFFICIAL:

E. D. TOWNSEND.

Adjutant General.