entitled to the privileges of the Convention between The United States and Great Britain, of the 3d of July, 1815; but British Vessels arriving from such Colonial Ports, are liable to 1 dollar per ton for tonnage duties and light money, and their Cargoes to the usual discriminating duty of 10 per cent. between importations of goods in Vessels of The United States, and Foreign Vessels not privileged by Treaty stipulations. Although the Proclamation has no special reference to exportations from The United States, of the productions thereof, in British Vessels, yet from the spirit and intention of the regulation contemplated by it, I am of opinion that the Ports of The United States are to be considered so opened to British Vessels, as to render the provisions of the Act concerning Navigation, of the 18th of April, 1818, and of the Act supplementary thereto, of the 15th of May, 1820, entirely inoperative, as well with respect to exportations as to importations. You will, therefore, consider British Vessels, having the qualifications mentioned in the Proclamation, as being privileged to export the productions of The United States to any of the British Colonial Ports or Places specified in it, and grant Clearances accordingly. The Collectors, Naval Officers, and Surveyors, of The United States. REPORT of the Secretary of War, relative to the Expenses of the Army and Militia. 1818 to 1822.-1st March, 1822. The Secretary of War to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. SIR, Department of War, 1st March, 1822. PURSUANT to a Resolution of the House of Representatives of the 7th ultimo, I have now the honour of submitting" a comparative view of the Expenses of the Army proper, and Military Academy, for the Years 1818, 1819, 1820, and 1821, and Estimates for 1822, arranged under the various heads of Expenditures according to the present and former organization of the Department of War." The Military disbursements for the Years 1816 and 1817, as explained by the Letter from the Second Auditor, accompanying this Report, are so blended with the arrearages of prior Years, pay and subsistence of the Militia, and Claims of certain States and Individuals, arising out of the late War, as to preclude the possibility of ascertaining the Expenses of the Army for those Years, and so as to put it out of my power to embrace them in the comparative view called for; though it is believed, if it could be embraced in the comparison, the result would not vary materially from that founded on the Expenditure of the Year 1818, in which Year a separation was made, for the first time, between the cur rent expenses of the Army and the arrearages growing out of the Expenditures of the late War. Table A, accompanying this Report, is the statement of the Second Auditor, and exhibits a view of the Expenditure of the Army proper, including the Military Academy, from the Year 1818 to 1821, inclusive; from which it appears that the Expenditures, after deducting for the increased expense on account of the Seminole War, in 1818, were, respectively, for those Years, 3,702,495 04 Dollars, 3,374,731 95 Dollars, 2,816,414 11 Dollars, and 2,180,093 53 Dollars; adding to the Expenditure of the last Year the arrearages of the Quarter-master's Department, and subtracting the Expenditure incident to the reducing the Military Establishment in June last, the Estimate for the Expenditure of the Year 1822, including the balances of such of the appropriations of the last Year as are required for the service of this, amount to 1,800,424 85 Dollars. Table B is an abstract of the general returns of the Army, for the Years 1818, 1819, 1820, and 1821, showing the number of Officers and enlisted Men, as reported by the last Returns received at the Adjutant General's Office, together with the Academic Staff and Military School at West Point, to which is added the number of the Military Establishment, by the present organization, for the Year 1822. From the exhibit in the Table, it appears that the average strength of the Army, including Officers and Cadets, for the Year 1818, was 8,199; for 1819, 8,428; for 1820, 9,693; for 1821, 8,109; and that, from the organization of the present Military Establishment, if the rank and file are kept full, the strength, for 1822, will amount to 6,442. It also appears from the same Table, that the Commissioned Officers were, in proportion to the Cadets and rank and file of the Army, in service, for those Years, thus: In 1818, as 1 to 11.75. In 1819, as 1 to 12.11. In 1820, as 1 to 13.57. In 1821, as 1 to 12.18. Table C. exhibits the result of the comparative view of the Expenditures of the Army for the Years 1818, 1819, 1820, 1821, and estimates of Expenditures for 1822. To illustrate distinctly the operations of the present system, in controlling the disbursements of the Army, through the instrumentality of a proper organized Staff, the items composing the Expenditures of the Army have been classed under 2 divisions, viz: 1st. Those which are fixed by Law, and which cannot be materially affected by Administration; such as, pay to the Officers and Men, subsistence to the former, and the allowance to them for Servants, forage, transportation for baggage, &c. 2ndly. Those items which are embraced under the general character of supplies for the Army, and which may be reduced by correct administration; such as subsistence to Soldiers, Clothing, Quarter masters' and medical Stores. As most of the articles embraced under the above denomination, are exposed to fluctuate in price, and a considerable reduction took place in the medical, subsistence, and clothing supplies, within the periods compared, proper allowances have been made on that account, amounting, in the price of provisions, from 40 to 39 per Centum, and, in that of clothing and medical stores, from 7 to 8 per Centum. The Contracts made by the different Departments, and the price currents for those Years, in the principal Cities, have been the guides in fixing on those allowances. To the Quartermaster's disbursements no additions have been made, as any reduction, which may have taken place in the price of supplies furnished by that Department, has been more than balanced by the increased Expenditures to which it has been subject from the extension and multiplication of the Frontier Posts. From Table C. it appears, that the Expenditures of the Army, (additions being made as above stated, for the reduction in prices of stores and supplies, in the Years subsequent to 1818, so as to raise the prices of those Years to the standard of those of that Year,) would amount to, In 1818...........................3,702,495 04 dollars. In 1821...........................2,327,552 13 And by Estimates for 1822...1,929,179 91 From the above data and average strength of each Year, conformably to an Abstract of the general Returns of the Army, it results, that the average cost of the Army, for each Individual, taking the aggregate of the Officers, Professors of the Military Academy, Cadets, and enlisted Men, in the service of The United States, for 1818, was, In Expenditures, not materially affected by administration, on an average, each Its expenditures, which may be affected by administration, on an average, each 151 93 299 64 Total average cost for Officers and enlisted Men, &c. each, For the Year 1821: In Expenditures of the 1st Class, each.......... 136 62 150 40 Total average Cost, each... Dollars... 287 02 For the Year 1822: 155 30 144 16 Total average Cost, each... Dollars... 299 46 From the above it appears that there has been an actual annual reduction in the average expense of each Officer and Soldier in the Service. 16 87 Dollars, each. 135 69 In the Year 1820, of............... And by Estimates for 1822, of...... 153 11 The Act of Congress for organizing the General Staff, agreeably to its present formation, was not approved until the 14th April, 1818, and the change in the system for controlling the disbursements of the Army, under the superintendence of the Chiefs of each Department located at Washington, could not be sufficiently matured before the close of the Year 1819, which, with the additional expense to which the Quarter-master's Department was unavoidably subjected in the Year 1819, from occupying advanced Military Posts on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, will account for the comparatively little reduction in the Expenditure in that Year. The Expenditure for the Year 1822, compared with the aggregate of Individuals composing the Military Establishment, though favourable as contrasted with the expenses of 1818, 1819, and 1820, is not so with 1821. This difference is accounted for from the present organization of the Military Establishment, the Officers being in larger proportion to the rank and file, than under the former organization; but, if we should suppose the proportion to be the same, the comparison, founded on the Estimates for 1822, would be more favourable in its results than in the Expenditures of the preceding Year. From Table C it further appears, that the Army for the Year 1818, being 8,199 strong, including General Staff, Professors of the Military Academy, Cadets, and enlisted Men, cost, for that Year 3,702,495 04 dollars, and that the same numerical Force, at the rate of the expenditure in 1818, would have cost, For 1819........ For 1820....... For 1821............ 3,564,105 30 dollars. 2,589,900 12 2,353,276 98 And on the Estimates for 1822... 2,455,272 51 After making an allowance for the difference in prices of articles of supplies, as above stated, the results in favour of the latter Years are, respectively, 138,389 74, 1,112,594 92, 1,349,218, and 1,247,222 50 dollars. Such are the results, as founded on the Statement of the Second Auditor of the Treasury Department, but which, for the reasons which he has assigned in his Report, may not be strictly correct, as the Accounts of the Expenditure of each Year are not kept separately. It is, however, confidently believed that any inaccuracy in the mode of ascertaining the amount of the Expenditures of the several Years, cannot, in any considerable degree, vary the result. This great reduction in the Expenditure has been effected by the present organization, principally by the more minute controul which, through it, has been given both to the disbursements of publick money and the preservation of publick property. Its beneficial effects have been no less striking in the prompt rendition and settlement of the Accounts of Disbursing Officers. All the Accounts for Supplies, and Disbursements in the Department of the Commissary of Subsistence, for the Year ending the 1st June last, the period at which the Contracts for supplying the Army expired, are settled, except a few small ones, amounting, in the whole, to 5,405 46 dollars, though there were 71 Contracts formed, and 91 Disbursing Officers attached to this Department during that Year. The settlements of the other subordinate branches of this Department are not less prompt. It is believed that the system has attained nearly all the perfection of which it is susceptible, as by reference to the Table marked C, it will be seen that those Expenditures, liable to be affected by administration, and which are principally on account of the Soldiers, will be but little reduced in this Year, when compared with those of last Year, and it is not doubted but that if preserved, the system will hereafter prevent the accumulation of unsettled Accounts, and of any considerable losses in the expenditure for the Army. Taking every circumstance into consideration, the number and distance of the Posts, the quantity and quality of the Supplies, and the large propor tion of Officers and Cadets, which, while it better fulfils the object of 3 Peace Establishment, renders the Army more expensive, when com pared with the aggregate of Individuals, including Officers, Cadets, and Privates, it is believed that, at no period, has the expense of the Military Establishment been, in proportion to its size, so small as under its present organization. Table marked D contains a comparative statement of the expense of supplying the Army, from the 1st of June, 1816, till the 31st of May, 1817, under the former system, and the same under the present, from the 1st of June, 1820, till the 31st of May, 1821. The new system commenced its operation on the 1st of June, 1819, and, as some additional expenses were necessarily incurred in the first Year, it was thought that the operation of the system would be more fairly |