16. THE REPORT BOOK. In this book (at present, the general report book of settlements) are recorded all the certificates of settlements of the money accounts of the Engineer Department, transmitted to the Second Comptroller, (see the general report book of settlements,) making part of (62 vols.)

17. THE LETTER Book. In this book (at present the general letter book on settlements of accounts and claims) are recorded all letters addressed to the parties interested in the settlement of Engineer Accounts, (see general letter book in relation to accounts and claims,) making part of (156 vols.)

(Of Pension Agents.)

18. THE REGISTER OF THE ACCOUNTS OF PENSION AGENTS. In this book are registered all the money accounts received from disbursing agents charged with the payment of military pensions-noting the dates of their reception, and the official action on them, with appropriate remarks. (4 vols.)

19. THE RECORD OF ABSTRACTS OF THE RESULTS OF SETTLEMENTS. In this book are recorded abstracts of the results of the settlements of all the accounts rendered by agents for the payment of military pensions, on their being returned to this office by the Second Comptroller. (4 vols.)

20. THE REPORT BOOK. In this book (at present the general report book of settlements) are recorded all the certificates of settlements of the accounts of agents for military pensions transmitted to the Second Comptroller, (see general report book of settlements,) making part of (62 vols.)

21. THE LETTER Book. In this book (at present the general letter book on settlements of accounts and claims) are recorded all letters addressed to parties interested in the settlement of said accounts, (see general letter book in relation to the settlement of accounts and claims,) making part of (156 vols.) (Of Unclaimed Pensions of Persons on the Pension Roll.)

22. THE REGISTER ACCOUNTS OF UNCLAIMED PENSIONS. In this book are registered all claims presented on account of pensions (of persons on the pension roll) which have been neglected to be claimed or paid for fourteen months-noting the dates of reception, and the official action on them, with appropriate remarks. (10 vols.)

23. THE REPORT BOOK. In this book (at present the general report book of settlements) are recorded all the certificates of settlements of said claims, transmitted to the Second Comptroller, (see general report book of settlements,) making part of (62 vols.)

24. THE LETTER BOOK. In this book (separately kept, as the rest might be) are recorded all letters addressed to the claimants or their attorneys in relation to such settlements. (8 vols.)

(Of Unclaimed Pensions of Persons not on the Pension Roll.)

25. THE REGISTER OF SOLDIERS' UNCLAIMED PENSIONS. In this book are registered the pension claims presented at this office in behalf of soldiers not on the pension roll-noting the dates of reception, and the official action on them, with appropriate remarks. (1 vol.)

26. THE REGISTER OF WIDOWS' AND ORPHANS' UNCLAIMED PENSIONS. In this book are registered the pension claims presented at this office in behalf of widows and orphans not on the pension roll-noting the dates of their reception, and the official action on them, with appropriate remarks. (4 vols.)

27. THE REPORT BOOK. In this book (at present the general report book of settlements) are recorded all the certificates of settlements of those claims transmitted to the Second Comptroller, (see general report book of settlements,) making part of (62 vols.)

28. THE LETTER RECORD. In this book "(separately kept, as the rest might be) are recorded all letters addressed to the claimants or their attorneys in relation to such settlements. ( vols.)

(Of claims for horses and other property destroyed.)

29. THE REGISTER of CLAIMS FOR HORSES, &C. In this book are registered all CLAIMS presented for horses and other property lost or destroyed in the military service, distinguished into three classes, according to regulations noting the dates of their reception, and official action on them, with appropriate remarks. (12 vols.)

30. THE RECORD OF THE AUDITOR'S AWARDS. In this book are recorded all the Auditor's "awards" for the amounts ascertained to be due on the said claims for horses, &c., and transmitted to the First Auditor, (without being reported to the Second Comptroller, except in cases of appeal.) (14 vols.)

31. THE LETTER RECORD. In this book are recorded (separately, as the rest might be) all letters addressed to the claimants or their attorneys relating to the settlement of their claims. (10 vols.)

(Of claims of States and Territories.)

32. THE REGISTER OF THE CLAIMS OF STATES, &c. In this book are registered all claims authorized by special acts of Congress to States and Territories, for military services, (other than Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa volunteer claims.) (1 vol.)

33. THE RECORD OF REPORTS. In this book are recorded (separately, as the others might be) all the certificates of settlements of these claims, reported to the Second Comptroller. ( vols.)

(Of Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa Claims.)

34. THE REGISTER OF VOLUNTEER CLAIMS, &C. In this book are registered (separately from other State claims) the claims of the volunteers of Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, for military services to the United States, provided for by special acts of Congress. (1 vol.)

35. THE RECORD OF REPORTS. In this book are recorded (separately, as others might be) all the certificates of settlements of these claims reported to the Second Comptroller. (4 vols.)

36. THE LETTER RECORD. In this book (at present the general letter book relating to the settlements of accounts and claims) are recorded all letters addressed to parties interested in the settlements of these claims, (see the general letter book in relation to the settlements of accounts and claims,) making part of (156 vols.)

III. Letter Books, viz:

1. THE REGISTER OF LETTERS RECEIVED. In this book are registered all letters received or referred to this office-noting the dates of their reception, the dates and subjects of the letters, and the official action on them. . vols.)

2. THE GENERAL LETTER BOOK OF SETTLEMENTS. In this book are recorded (in common, with a few exceptions) (64) all letters addressed to disbursing agents on the settlement of their accounts, and to claimants or their attorneys on the settlement of their claims, or in relation thereto. (156 vols.)

3. THE RECORD OF REPORTS OF SETTLEMENTS. In this book are recorded in common, with a few exceptions, all certificates of settlements of accounts and claims reported to the Second Comptroller, with his certificate of approval, or other action thereon. (62 vols.)

4. THE RECORD of LETTERS TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. In this book are recorded all letters addressed to members of Congress on the business of this office, since December, 1832. (8 vols.)

(64) The other letters and reports not included in these books, are already mentioned in their respective places, with the registers, &c., of the accounts and claims received and acted on

CHAPTER IX..

FOURTH AUDITOR OF THE TREASURY.

THE ORIGIN, FUNCTIONS, AND OPERATIONS, OF THE FOURTH AUDITOR'S OFFICE.

Summary of the laws relative thereto.

The act of the 3d March, 1817, "providing for the prompt settlement of Public Accounts," after abolishing certain offices, and establishing others, (the Fourth Auditor's among the rest,) as already mentioned in the beginning of several of the preceding chapters, defines the duties of the Fourth Auditor in the 4th, 5th, 6th, 11th, and 12th sections, thus: "It shall be the duty of the Fourth Auditor to receive all accounts accruing in the Navy Department, or relative thereto; he shall examine said accounts, certify the balances, and transmit the accounts, with the vouchers and certificate, to the Second Comptroller, for his decision thereon." "And he shall keep all accounts of the receipts and expenditures of the public money in regard to the Navy Department, or rather the naval establishment, and of all debts due to the United States on moneys advanced relative to said establishment; and he shall receive from the Second Comptroller, the accounts which shall have been finally adjusted, and preserve such accounts, with their vouchers and certificates; and he shall record all warrants drawn by the Secretary of the Navy for the objects whereof he audits the accounts of expenditure; and it shall be his duty to make such reports to the Secretary of the Navy, on the business assigned to him, as the Secretary may deem necessary, and require, for the service of the Department." "And the said Auditor shall, annually, on the first Monday in November, report to the Secretary of the Treasury the application of the money appropriated for the naval service for the preceding year-which shall be laid before Congress by the Secretary, with his annual statement of the public expenditure. And, the provision contained in the 2d section of the act of the 3d March, 1797, to provide more effectually for the settlement of accounts between the United States and receivers of public money,' which directs that in every case where suit has been, or shall be, instituted, a transcript from the books and proceedings of the Treasury, certified by the Register, shall be admitted as evidence,' shall be extended, in regard to the accounts of the War and Navy Departments, to the Auditors respectively [including the Fourth Auditor] charged with the examination of those accounts; and that certificates signed by them, shall be of the same effect as that signed by the Register. "And the Auditors of public accounts [including the Fourth Auditor] shall be empowered to administer oaths or affirmations to witnesses, in any case in which they may deem it necessary for the due examination of the accounts with which they shall be charged."

By the 3d section of the act of the 7th May, 1822, "further to amend the several acts relative to the Treasury, War, and Navy Departments," the Fourth Auditor is required to register in his office, all the "requisitions" drawn by the Secretary of the Navy on the Secretary of the Treasury for advances or payments of money under the various heads of appropriations for the use of that Department, of which the accounts of expenditure are audited or adjusted and certified by him to the Second Comptroller-the agency of the Treasurer for the War and Navy Departments being abolished by this act, and the Secretaries of those Departments being required to make "requisitions" on the Secretary of the Treasury.

Summary of Operations, and Classification of Duties.

The following summary of the operations of the Fourth Auditor's office is extracted from his letter to the Secretary of the Treasury, of the 31st of January, 1842. In that letter, he says: "The principal accounts settled in the Fourth Auditor's office, are those of navy agents in the United States and in foreign countries, pursers, recruiting officers, navy and privateer pension agents, and of the paymaster and the quartermaster of the marine corps: besides which, there is a great variety of miscellaneous accounts of temporary disbursing agents, and persons not disbursing agents, which do not admit of being classified. Each quarter-yearly account of the disbursing agents is separately examined and settled, except those of pursers at sea, which it has always been the practice, in consequence of the distance at which their expenditures occur, and the manner in which many of their payments are required to be made, to settle all together at the termination of the cruise.

"The process of settling the accounts of these various disbursing officers, at this office, is so similar, that, with the exception of a further brief explanation which I shall hereafter give in relation to those of pursers, one general description may answer for all, though there may be some differences of detail. The act of the 3d March, 1809, requiring, that officers, agents, and other persons who may be receivers of public moneys, shall

render distinct accounts of the application of moneys according to the appropriation or appropriations under which the same shall have been drawn, the accounts are, and have been ever since the passage of that act, stated in such form as to present the receipts and expenditures under each head of appropriation.

"The disbursing agent presents an ACCOUNT CURRENT, in which he debits himself upon one side with his receipts, and credits himself on the other with his expenditures. This account either designates the amounts of receipt and expenditure under the proper heads, or else is accompanied by an abstract which does so. It is also accompanied by the vouchers to support it. An account thus received is critically examined, item by item, and compared with the vouchers, which are carefully scanned to ascertain their sufficiency, and the legality of the charges which they are offered to prove-and the calculations are revised. Recourse is bad to the books of the office, for the purpose of determining the correctness of the debits. The account is then 'dissected' (as the term is) and each item is arranged under its proper head of appropriation; from which dissection an abstract is compiled, showing the amounts under the several heads. The dissections are entered in bound volumes, which are preserved in the office, for reference. A statement of the account is then made up, exhibiting the result of the examination thus gone through, in which the officer is charged, under the proper heads of appropriation, with the sums that appear by the books of the office to have been advanced to him, together with such additional sums as he may have debited himself with in his ACCOUNT CURRENT; and he is credited, also under the proper heads, with such expenditures as appear to have been lawfully made by him. If the.account thus stated by the office should not agree with that presented by him, the differences are shown in what is called a 'reconciling statement,' of which one copy is sent to him, and another filed with the account, and which is also recorded in a book kept for that purpose [since discontinued.] If it should prove, as is very often the case, that the officer accounting is indebted to the United States under one head of appropriation, and the United States indebted to him under another head, an adjustment is made by means of a transfer requisition,' the effect of which is, to debit the head of appropriation under which more has been expended than was drawn from it, with the excess, and to credit the same amount, to the appropriation from which more was drawn than was expended. The account thus stated, is reported [otherwise, "certified"] to the Second Comptroller of the Treasury for revision; and, when returned, the report, with his certificate, [otherwise, “approval,"] is recorded, and the papers are placed together, upon the FILES of the office." [Such a file as this, consists of an "account current"-an "abstract" usually presented with the account current-a "dissection"-an "official abstract"-a "stated account"-a "reconciling statement"—and a "report" to the Second Comptroller, with his certificate of approval subjoined to it, making seven documents in each settlement.]

Here the Auditor enters into the " further brief explanation" of "the procoss of settling the accounts of pursers' in particular-first stating that the "mode," or rather form, of their accounts for the payment and subsistence of officers and men belonging to the vessels to which they are attached, is prescribed by regulations established by the accounting officers with the approval of the Secretary of the Navy, (though the law requires that the Secretary of the Treasury shall approve the forms of all public accounts,) and refers to the forms of a "muster roll," a "pay roll," and a "receipt roll," which the pursers are obliged to furnish with their accounts, as the examinations of which are affected by, and necessarily require a reference to these rolls of a ship's crew, the number of whom, in a ship of the line, including her complement and the changes made by transfers, amount to a thousand or twelve hundred names on these rolls. The Auditor then says: "The first step in the examination of the purser's account is, to compare the pay roll with the muster roll, to see that they correspond, in names, rank, and dates of entry and discharge. The calculation of the time of service of each individual, and of the pay and undrawn rations due to him, is then gone over. The orders of the officers and the transfer rolls of the men are next examined, to see that the periods and rate of pay are correctly stated in the pay roll; after which, the 'allotments' (which are powers of attorney left by the officers and men, assigning a portion of their pay for the support of their families during their absence, to be paid by the navy agents, according to form) are examined, and the sums charged on them compared with the charges made in the accounts of the navy agents settled in this office. The receipts of the officers and men are then inspected, to see that they correspond with the sums charged to them on the pay roll; and the deductions for hospital money are looked into. The transfers stated to have been made to other vessels, are then tested by an examination of the transfer rolls. The accuracy of the pay roll having been thus throughly proved, the separate vouchers are then examined, and a statement of the debits and credits is prepared, as in the case of other accounts" [before described.]

"In the case of CLAIMS presented to this office by creditors of the Navy Department, the evidence is examined, and an account stated in the ordinary form of debit and credit, specifying the appropriation out of which the sum due is payable. This account is certified to the Second Comptroller, and when it has been admitted by him, the papers are returned, and filed in this office; and the debt is paid directly from the Treasury by means of a 'requisition' from the Navy Department, when the account requires an entry on the books of the office; but, when that is not the case, (and most frequently,) it is satisfied by some particular navy agent, out of funds in his hands, agreeably to a note, appended to the certificate of the amount due, made to the Second Comptroller; which certificate, after having been approved by him, is delivered to the claimant, to be presented to the navy agent, with whose accounts it is (after payment) returned to this office as a voucher," &c.

"By the act of the 3d March, 1837, for the more equitable administration of the navy pension fund,' arrearages of pensions became payable to a vast number of persons, dating from the antecedent death or disability' of officers, seamen, or marines; in each of which cases, when presented, an account has been stated at this office, and certified to the Second Comptroller; and the individual entitled has been paid, either by a pension agent, upon an order appended to such certificate, or by means of a requisition of the Secretary of the Navy and the accounts thus stated and paid have been entered in a book styled a pension register; also, a roll of all the navy pensioners is kept in this office, showing for what periods they have been paid," &c.

6

"In consequence of the act of the 16th August, 1841, directing that no officer, seaman, or marine, entitled to a pension from the navy pension fund, who receives pay from the public Treasury, shall receive more from the said fund than is sufficient to make the whole amount received from both the above named sources, equal to the pay fixed by law for the grade to which the officer, seaman, or marine may belong, as an officer in the services in which he may be engaged during the year, so that no officer shall receive pay at the same time, both as a pensioner and an officer in the service,' the Second Comptroller, on the 14th of December of that year, issued an order, that the pensions of invalid officers of the navy accruing subsequently to the 30th June of that year (1841) should be settled at the Treasury, upon application at this office, and not by the pension agents.' This order makes it necessary to state a separate account for every such officer applying, at each period of payment, which is certified to the Second Comptroller for revision; and the amount of which, when approved, is paid by a pension agent, agreeably to an order of the accounting officers annexed to the certificate."

These various accounts and claims, the operations of auditing and settling the same, together with the keeping of the books of appropriations and requisitions-of advances to, and disbursements by, agents-of registries, records, reports, general correspondence, and other clerical duties appertaining to such accounts and claims, seem to be susceptible of a distribution and grouping, into sub-bureaus, divisions, branches, or classes, as here subjoined, viz:

1. BUREAU RELATING TO APPROPRIATIONS AND REQUISITIONS-For keeping the registries and records of the APPROPRIATIONS and REQUISITIONS, under their respective heads, for the expenditures on account of the naval establishment. See Tables of Details, (D) Books kept, I. 1. 2.

2. BUREAU RELATING TO ADVANCES AND BALANCES, &c.-For keeping the JOURNAL and LEDGERS of money transactions, in making advances, and showing balances, on the personal account of disbursing agents and individual claimants, in connection with the naval establishment. See Tables of Details, (D) Books kept, III. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

3. BUREAU RELATING TO THE ACCOUNTS OF PURSERS-For the adjustment of the quarterly accounts of PURSERS of the navy, whether on board ships, at navy yards, or at navy stations; and for the adjustment of incidental accounts or claims of officers and seamen, of consuls and commercial agents, &c.—including such clerical duties as appertain thereto, respectively. See Tables of Details, (A) Accounts, 1. 1. 2. 3: (B) Claims, 1. 3. 5: (C) Reports, I. 1. 2: and (D) for the books connected therewith.

4. BUREAU RELATING TO THE ACCOUNTS OF NAVY AGENTS-For the adjustment of the quarterly accounts of NAVY AGENTS, whether on foreign stations, or home stations, [but for the adjustment of the accounts of navy contractors, and others, for navy supplies; and the accounts of naval constructors-see Nos. 10 and 11, which dispense with these here ;] also, the incidental claims of marshals, and others, for expenses incurred in connection with the suppression of the slave trade-including such clerical duties as appertain thereto, respectively. See Tables of Details, (A) Accounts, II. 1. 2: (B) Claims, 4. 5. 6. 7. 8: (C) Reports, 1. 1. 2. &c.; and (D) for the Books connected therewith.

5. BUREAU RELATING TO THE ACCOUNTS OF PAYMASTER OF THE MARINE CORPS-For the adjustment of the quarterly accounts of the PAYMASTER of the marine corps; and for the adjustment of the incidental accounts or claims of officers, and others, of the marine corps-including such clerical duties as appertain thereto, respectively. See Tables of Details, (A) Accounts, III. 1: (B) Claims, 2. 5., &c.: (C) Reports, 1. 1. 2. &c.: and (D) for the Books connected therewith.

6. BUREAU RELATING TO THE ACCOUNTS OF QUARTERMASTER OF THE MARINE CORPS-For the adjustment of the quarterly accounts of the QUARTERMASTER of the marine corps; and for the adjustinent of the incidental accounts or claims of officers, and others, (which are proper to the quartermaster's department ;) and the accounts of contractors for the supplies of the marine corps-with such clerical duties as appertain thereto, respectively. See Tables of Details, (A) Accounts, IV. 1: (B) Claims, 2. 5. 7: (C) Reports, I. 1. 2., &c.: and (D) for the Books connected therewith.

7. BUREAU RELATING TO THE ACCOUNTS OF RECRUITING OFFICERS-For the adjustment of the quarterly accounts of RECRUITING OFFICERS of the navy, and of the marine corps-including such clerical duties