reaus, among which the business is distributed permanently and upon a regular system. There is a first comptroller, and a second comptroller; a first auditor, second auditor, third auditor, fourth auditor, fifth auditor, and sixth auditor.

§ 475. There is in this department a treasurer, and an assistant treasurer in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Charleston; also a commissioner of customs, and a solicitor of the treasury, a law-officer whose duty it is to attend to the collection of debts due to the government, to the management of suits in the local courts of the United States, and the instruction of district attorneys and marshals in relation thereto.

§ 476. All claims due to the United States, after a failure or refusal to pay, are put in suit in the district where the parties or some of them reside, and, except postoffice suits, are placed upon the books of the solicitor of the treasury, and are collected under his direction.

§ 477. Accounts with the United States are received, examined, and settled by the proper auditors, and the settlements by them are then revised by one of the comptrollers. The decision of the comptroller upon all questions of law as well as of fact, in matters of account within the limits of his duty, is final, unless redress is granted by Congress. The auditors of the public accounts are authorized to administer oaths or affirmations to witnesses in any case in which they may deem it necessary for the due examination of accounts, and false swearing as to any matter concerning the expenditure of public money, or in support of any claim against the United States, is, by an act of Congress, made perjury.

§ 478. The coast-survey, the revenue-cutter service, (§ 218,) and the mint of the United States, with its

branches, are all attached to this department. The lighthouses of the United States were formerly under the control of the fifth auditor of the treasury; but by an act passed August 31, 1852, the "Light-house Board of the United States" was established.

§ 479. This board consists of two officers of the navy, of high rank, one officer of the corps of engineers of the army, one officer of the corps of topographical engineers of the army, two civilians of high scientific attainments, with an officer of the navy, and an officer of engineers of the army, as secretaries. The Secretary of the Treasury is, by virtue of his office, president of the board, and the board is attached to his department, and is under his superintendence.

§ 480. The duties of the Light-house Board relate to the construction, illumination, inspection, and supervision of light-houses, light-vessels, beacons, buoys, and sea-marks, and to rebuilding them, and keeping them in repair. The Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific, and Lake coasts of the United States, are divided into light-house districts, and the President of the United States assigns to each district an officer of the army or navy, as light-house inspector, under the orders of the board.

§ 481. List of Secretaries of the Treasury:

ALEXANDER HAMILTON, of New York. Appointed 11th September, 1789. Resigned.

OLIVER WOLCOTT, Jr., of Connecticut. Appointed 3d February, 1795. Resigned.

SAMUEL DEXTER, of Massachusetts, (Secretary of War.) Appointed B1st December, 1800.

ALBERT GALLATIN, of Pennsylvania. Appointed 14th May, 1801, in recess of Senate. Nomination confirmed and appointed 26th January,

1802.

GEORGE W. CAMPBELL, of Tennessee. Appointed 9th February, 1814 Resigned.

ALEXANDER JAMES DALLAS, of Pennsylvania, appointed 6th October,

1814.

WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD, of Georgia. Appointed 22d October, 1816, in recess of the Senate. Nomination confirmed and appointed 5th March, 1817.

RICHARD RUSH, of Pennsylvania. Appointed 7th March, 1825. SAMUEL D. INGHAM, of Pennsylvania. Appointed 6th March, 1829. Resigned.

Louis McLane, of Delaware. Appointed 8th August, 1831, in recess of the Senate. Nomination confirmed and appointed 13th January,

1832.

WILLIAM J. DUANE, of Pennsylvania. Appointed 29th May, 1833, in recess of the Senate.

ROGER B. TANEY, of Maryland. Appointed 23d September, 1833, in recess of the Senate.

LEVI WOODBURY, of New Hampshire. Appointed 27th June, 1834. THOMAS EWING, of Ohio. Appointed 5th March, 1841. Resigned. WALTER FORWARD, of Pennsylvania. Appointed 13th September, 1841.

JOHN C. SPENCER, of New York.
GEORGE M. BIBB, of Kentucky.

Appointed 3d March, 1843.
Appointed 15th June, 1844.

ROBERT J. WALKER, of Mississippi. Appointed 5th March, 1845. WILLIAM MORRIS MEREDITH, of Pennsylvania. Appointed 7th March, 1849. Resigned.

THOMAS CORWIN, of Ohio. Appointed 20th June, 1850.

JAMES GUTHRIE, of Kentucky. Appointed March 7th, 1853.

§ 482. The Department of the Navy was organized by act of Congress, April 30, 1798. The Secretary of the Navy executes all such orders as he shall receive from the President, relative to procuring naval stores and materials, and the construction, equipment, and employment of vessels of war, as well as all other matters connected with the naval establishment of the United States. His salary is $8000. Prior to the organization of the Navy Depart ment, all matters and things relative to the naval force of the United States were confided to the Secretary of the War Department.

$483. By act of Congress of August 21, 1842, reor

ganizing the navy department, the following bureaus were created within that department, among which its various duties are assigned and distributed by the Secretary. (1.) A bureau of navy-yards and docks.

(2.) A bureau of construction, equipment, and repair. (3.) A bureau of provisions and clothing.

(4.) A bureau of ordnance and hydrography. (5.) A bureau of medicine and surgery.

§ 484. The first officer in each of these bureaus is termed the chief of the bureau, and is appointed by the President; the clerks in the bureaus are appointed by the Secretary of the Navy. All the duties of the bureaus are performed under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy, and their orders and decisions are considered as emanating from him, and have force and effect as such.

§ 485. The following is a list of the Secretaries of the Navy :

GEORGE CABOT, of Massachusetts. Appointed 3d May, 1798.

BENJAMIN STODDERT, of Maryland. Appointed 21st May, 1798. Resigned.

ROBERT SMITH, of Maryland. Appointed 15th July, 1801, in recess of the Senate. Nomination confirmed and appointed 26th January, 1802. Appointed Attorney-General 2d March, 1805.

JACOB CROWNINSHIELD, of Massachusetts. Appointed 2d March, 1805. PAUL HAMILTON, of South Carolina. Appointed 7th March, 1809. Resigned.

WILLIAM JONES, of Pennsylvania. Appointed 12th January, 1812 Resigned.

BENJAMIN W. CROWNINSHIELD, of Massachusetts. Appointed 17th December, 1814.

SMITH THOMPSON, of New York. Appointed 9th November, 1818, in recess of the Senate. Nomination confirmed and appointed 30th November, 1818. Resigned.

JOHN RODGERS. Appointed 1st September, 1823, in recess of the Senate.

SAMUEL L SOUTHARD, of New Jersey. Appointe! 16th September,

1823, in recess of the Senate. Nomination confirmed and appointed th December, 1823.

JOHN BRANCH, of North Carolina. Appointed 9th March, 1829. Resigned.

LEVI WOODBURY, of New Hampshire. Appointed 23d May, 1831, in recess of the Senate. Nomination confirmed and appointed 27th December, 1831. Resigned.

MAHLON DICKERSON, of New Jersey. Appointed 30th June, 1834. Resigned.

JAMES K. PAULDING, of New York. Appointed 20th June, 1838. GEORGE E. BADGER, of North Carolina. Appointed 5th March, 1841. Resigned.

ABEL P. UPSHUR, of Virginia. Appointed 13th September, 1841. DAVID HENSHAW, of Massachusetts. Appointed 24th July, 1843, in recess of the Senate, and served until 15th January, 1844.

THOMAS W. GILMER, of Virginia. Nomination confirmed and appointed 15th February, 1844.

JOHN Y. MASON, of Virginia. Appointed 14th March, 1844. Appointed Attorney-General 5th March, 1845.

GEORGE BANCROFT, of Massachusetts. Appointed 10th March, 1845. Resigned.

JOHN Y. MASON, of Virginia. Appointed 9th September, 1846, in recess of the Senate. Nomination confirmed and appointed 17th De

cember, 1846.

WILLIAM BALLARD PRESTON, of Virginia. Appointed 7th March, 1849. Resigned.

WILLIAM A. GRAHAM, of North Carolina. Appointed 20th July, 1850. Resigned.

JOHN P. KENNEDY, of Maryland. Appointed 22d July, 1852.

JAMES C. DOBBIN, of North Carolina. Appointed March 7th 1853.

§ 486. The Post-Office Department, under the Constitution, was established September 22, 1789. A line of posts from Falmouth, in New England, to Savannah, in Georgia, with cross-posts, had been established by the Continental Congress as early as the year 1775, under the direction of a Postmaster-General. The duties of the PostmasterGeneral are to establish and superintend post-offices; appoint postmasters and other persons employed in the mail