PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



G09 



the schedule, and have labored faithfully therein ever 

 since. 1 therefore recommend that they be compen- 

 sate! at the same rate as chaplains in the army. I 

 further suggest that general provision be made for 

 chaplains to serve atliospitals, as well as with regi- 

 ments. 



The report of the Secretary of the Navy presents in 

 detail the operations of that branch of the service, the 

 activity and energy which have characterized its ad- 

 in'nistratiou, and the results of measures to increase 

 its efficiency and power. Such have been the addi- 

 tions, by construction and purchase, that it may almost 

 be said a navy has been created and brought into ser- 

 ve our difficulties commenced. 



IJesides blockading our extensive coast, squadrons 

 larger than ever before assembled under our flag have 

 been put afloat, and performed deeds which have in- 

 creased our naval renown. 



I would invite special attention to the recommenda- 

 tion of the Secretary for a more perfect organization 

 of the navy, by introducing additional grades in the 

 service. 



The present organization is defective and unsatis- 

 factory, and the suggestions submitted by the depart- 

 ment will, it is believed, if adopted, obviate the diffi- 

 culties alluded to, promote harmony, and increase the 

 efficiency of the navy. 



There" are three vacancies on the bench of the Su- 

 preme Court two by the decease of Justices Daniel 

 and McLean, and one by the resignation of Justice 

 Campbell. I have so far forborne making nominations 

 to fill these vacancies for reasons which I will now 

 state. Two of 'the outgoing judges resided within the 

 States now overrun by revolt ; so that if successors 

 were appointed in the same localities, they could not 

 now serve upon their circuits ; and many of the most 

 competent men there probably would not take the per- 

 sonal hazard of accepting to serve, even here, upon the 

 supreme bench. I have been unwilling to throw all 

 the appointments northward, thus disabling myself 

 from doing justice to the South on the return of peace ; 

 although I may remark that to transfer to the North 

 one which has heretofore been in the South, would not, 

 with reference to territory and population, be unjust. 



During the long and brilliant judicial career of Judge 

 McLean his circuit grew into an empire altogether 

 too large for any one judge to give the courts therein 

 more than a nominal attendance rising in population 

 from one million four hundred and seventy thousand 

 and eighteen, in 1S30, to six million one hundred aud 

 fifty-one thousand four hundred and five, in 1660. 



Besides this, the country generally has outgrown our 

 present judicial system. If uniformity was at all in- 

 tended, the system requires that all the States shall be 

 accommodated with circuit courts, attended by supreme 

 judges, while, in fact, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, 

 Kansas, Florida, Texas, California, and Oregon have 

 never had any such courts. Nor can this well be rem- 

 , edied without a change of the system ; because the 

 adding of judges to the Supreme Court, enough for the 

 accommodation of all parts of the country with circuit 

 courts, would create a court altogether too numerous 

 for a judicial body of any sort. And the evil, if it be 

 one, will increase as new States come into the Union. 

 Circuit courts are useful, or they are not useful. If 

 useful, no State should be denied them ; if not useful, 

 no State should have them. Let them be provided for 

 all, or abolished as to all. 



Three modifications occur to me, either of which, I 

 think, would be an improvement upon our present 

 system. Let the Supreme Court be of convenient num- 

 ber in every event. Then, first, let the whole country 

 be divided into circuits of convenient size, the supreme 

 judges to serve in a number of them corresponding to 

 their own number, and independent circuit judges be 

 provided for all the rest. Or, secondly, let the supreme 

 judges be relieved from circuit duties, and circuit 

 judges provided for all the circuits. Or, thirdly, dis- 

 pense with circuit courts altogether, leaving the judi- 

 cial functions wholly to the district courts and an in- 

 dependent Supreme Court. 



39 



I respectfully recommend to the consideration of 

 Congress the. present condition of the statute laws, 

 with the hope that Congress will be able to find :m uasv 

 remedy for many of the inconveniences and evils which 

 constantly embarrass those engaged in the practical 

 administration of them. Since the organization of the 

 Government, Congress has enacted sunn- live thousand 

 acts aud joint resolutions, which fill more than six 

 thousand closely printed pages, and are scattered 

 through many volumes. Many of these acts have been 

 drawn in haste and without sufficient caution, so that 

 their provisions are often obscure in themselves, or in 

 conflict with each other, or at least so doubtful as to 

 render it very difficult for even the best informed 

 persons to ascertain precisely what the statute law 

 really is. 



It seems to me very important that the statute laws 

 should be made as plain and intelligible as possible, 

 and be reduced to as small a compass as may consist 

 with the fulness and precision of the will of the legis- 

 lature and the perspicuity of its language. This, well 

 done, would, I think, greatly facilitate the labors of 

 those whose duty it is to assist in the administration 

 of the laws, and would be a lasting benefit to the peo- 

 ple, by placing before them, in a more, accessible and 

 intelligible form, the laws which so deeply concern 

 their interests and their duties. 



I am informed by some whose opinions I respect, 

 that all the acts of Congress now in force, and of a per- 

 manent and general nature, might be revised and re- 

 written, so as to be embraced in one volume (or, at 

 most, two volumes) of ordinary and convenient size. 

 And I respectfully recommend to Congress to consider 

 of the subject, and, if my suggestion be approved, to 

 devise such plan as to their wisdom shall seem most 

 proper for the attainment of the end proposed. 



One of the unavoidable consequences of the present 

 insurrection is the entire suppression, in many places, 

 of all the ordinary means of administering civil justice 

 by the officers, and in the forms of existing law. This 

 is the case, in whole or in part, in all the insurgent 

 States ; and as our armies advance upon and take pos- 

 session of parts of those States, the practical evil be- 

 comes more apparent. There are no courts nor officers 

 to whom the citizens of other States may apply for the 

 enforcement of their lawful claims against citizens of 

 the insurgent States; and there is a vast amount of 

 debt constituting such claims. Some have estimated 

 it as high as two hundred million dollars, due, in large 

 part, from insurgents in open rebellion to loyal citizens 

 who are, even now, making great sacrifices in the dis- 

 charge of their patriotic duty to support the Govern- 

 ment. 



Under these circumstances, I have been urgently 

 solicited to establish, by military power, courts to ad- 

 minister summary justice in such cases. I have thus 

 far declined to do it, not because I had any doubt that 

 the end proposed the collection of the debts was 

 just and right in itself, but because I have been un- 

 willing to go beyond the pressure of necessity in the 

 unusual exercise of power. But the powers of Con- 

 gress I suppose are equal to the anomalous occasion, 

 and therefore I refer the whole matter to Congress, 

 with the hope that a plan may be devised for the ad- 

 ministration of justice in all such parts of the insurgent 

 States and Territories as may be under the control of 

 this Government, whether by a voluntary return to 

 allegiance and order, or by the power of our arms : 

 this, however, not to be a permanent institution, but 

 a temporary substitute, and to cease as soon as the 

 ordinary courts can be reestablished in peace. 



It is "important that some more convenient means 

 should be provided, if possible, for the adjustment of 

 claims against the Government, especially in view of 

 their increased number by reason of the war. It is as 

 much the duty of Government to render prompt justice 

 airainst itself, in favor of citizens, as it is to administer 

 the same between private individuals. The investiga- 

 tion and adjudication of claims, in their nature belong 

 to the judicial department ; besides, it is apparent that 

 the attention of Congress will be more than usually 



