bove his salary fixed by
law since the 1st of January, 1817, specifying the time when paid and
the fund out of which such payments have been made, I transmit a paper,
marked A, containing the information desired. I transmit also a paper,
marked B, containing a statement of sums paid to Attorney General of the
United States prior to the 1st of January, 1817, and in the paper marked
C a like statement of sums advanced to district attorneys for services
not required of them by law. These latter documents being necessary to
a full view of the subject, it is thought proper to comprise them in
this communication.

By the act of 24th September, 1789, instituting the office of Attorney
General, it was made his duty to prosecute and conduct all suits in the
Supreme Court in which the United States should be concerned, and to
give his advice and opinion upon questions of law when required by the
President of the United States, or when requested by the head of any
of the Departments, touching any matters that might concern their
Departments. It will be seen, therefore, by the statement communicated
that no money whatever has been paid to the Attorney General for his
services in that character, nor for any duty belonging to his office,
beyond his salary as fixed by law.

It will also be shewn by the documents communicated that the
construction given of the laws imposing duties on the Attorney General
and district attorneys have been invariably the same since the
institution of the Government. On the same authority it was thought
that the compensation allowed to the present Attorney General for
certain services, considering their importance and the time employed
in rendering them, did not exceed, regarding precedents, what might
fairly be claimed.

JAMES MONROE.

APRIL, 13, 1822.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

Having cause to infer that the reasons which led to the construction
which I gave to the act of the last session entitled "An act to reduce
and fix the peace establishment of the United States" have not been well
understood, I consider it my duty to explain more fully the view which
I took of that act and of the principles on which I executed the very
difficult and important duty enjoined on me by it.

To do justice to the subject it is thought proper to show the actual
state of the Army before the passage of the late act, the force in
service, the several corps of which it was composed, and the grades
a