g fortifications
have been delayed only so far as the Corps of Engineers has been
inadequate to furnish officers for the necessary superintendence of the
works. Under the act confirming the statutes of Virginia and Maryland
incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, three commissioners
on the part of the United States have been appointed for opening books
and receiving subscriptions, in concert with a like number of
commissioners appointed on the part of each of those States. A meeting
of the commissioners has been postponed, to await the definitive report
of the board of engineers. The light-houses and monuments for the safety
of our commerce and mariners, the works for the security of Plymouth
Beach and for the preservation of the islands in Boston Harbor, have
received the attention required by the laws relating to those objects
respectively. The continuation of the Cumberland road, the most
important of them all, after surmounting no inconsiderable difficulty in
fixing upon the direction of the road, has commenced under the most
promising auspices, with the improvements of recent invention in the
mode of construction, and with the advantage of a great reduction in the
comparative cost of the work.

The operation of the laws relating to the Revolutionary pensioners may
deserve the renewed consideration of Congress. The act of the 18th of
March, 1818, while it made provision for many meritorious and indigent
citizens who had served in the War of Independence, opened a door to
numerous abuses and impositions. To remedy this the act of 1st May,
1820, exacted proofs of absolute indigence, which many really in want
were unable and all susceptible of that delicacy which is allied to many
virtues must be deeply reluctant to give. The result has been that some
among the least deserving have been retained, and some in whom the
requisites both of worth and want were combined have been stricken from
the list. As the numbers of these venerable relics of an age gone by
diminish; as the decays of body, mind, and estate of those that survive
must in the common course of nature increase, should not a more liberal
portion of indulgence be dealt out to them? May not the want in most
instances be inferred from the demand when the service can be proved,
and may not the last days of human infirmity be spared the mortification
of purchasing a pittance of relief only by the exposure of its own
necessities? I submit to Congress th