CHAPTER 85.-Approved, July 16, 1798.-Vol. 1, p. 610.

An Act to alter and amend the several Acts for the establishment and regulation of the Treasury, War, and Navy Departments.

[EXTRACT.]

SEC. 3. That all purchases, and contracts for supplies or services for the military and naval service of the United States, shall be made by or under the direction of the chief officers of the departments of war and the navy, respectively, and all agents or contractors for supplies or services as aforesaid, shall render their accounts for settlement to the accountant of the proper department for which such supplies or services are required; subject, nevertheless, to the inspection and revision of the officers of the Treasury in manner before prescribed.

SEC. 4. That it shall be the duty of the purveyor of public supplies,1 to execute all such orders as he may, from time to time, receive from the secretary of war or secretary of the navy, relative to the procuring and providing of all kinds of stores and supplies; and shall render his accounts relative thereto, to the accountants of the proper departments, which accounts shall be subject to the inspection and revision of the officers of the treasury as aforesaid.

SEC. 5. That the provisions of the act, passed on the 8th day of May, 1792, entitled "An act making alterations in the treasury and war departments," ," and the act passed on the 23d day of February, 1795, entitled "An act to establish the office of purveyor of public supplies,' 113 so far as the same are repugnant to the provisions of this act, be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

SEC. 6. That all contracts to be made by virtue of this act, or of any law of the United States, and requiring the advance of money, or to be in any manner connected with the settlement of public accounts, shall be deposited in the office of the comptroller of the treasury of the United States, within ninety days after their dates, respectively.*

CHAPTER 27.-Approved, March 2, 1799.-Vol. 1, p. 721.

An Act to regulate the Medical Establishment.5

That in the medical establishment of the United States there shall be the following officers: A physician-general, who shall be charged with the superintendence and direction of all military hospitals, and, generally, of all medical and chirurgical practice or service concerning the army or navy of the United States, and of all persons who shall be employed in and about the same, in camps, garrisons, and hospitals. An apothecarygeneral, and one or more deputies, who shall be charged with the sale

1 The office of purveyor abolished, by act of 28 March, 1812. See chap. 46, sec. 9. 2 See chap. 37, 18 May, 1792. 3 See chap. 27, 23 February, 1795.

4 See 3 March, 1809, chap. 28.

5 Repealed and supplied by act of 16 March, 1802, chap. 9, secs. 3 and 29, and see acts of July, 1862.

keeping and delivery of all medicines, instruments, dressings, and other articles, for the use of the hospital and army. A purveyor, who shall be charged with providing medicines, stores, and whatsoever else may be necessary in relation to the said practice or service. A competent number of hospital surgeons, who shall be liable to serve in the field, and who shall have the immediate charge and direction of such military hospitals as may be committed to their care, respectively. A suitable number of hospital mates, who are to observe the directions of the hospital surgeons, and shall diligently perform all reasonable duties required of them for the recovery of the sick and wounded.

SEC. 2. That each military hospital shall have a steward, with a competent number of nurses, and other attendants; which steward shall be charged with the procuring of such supplies as may not otherwise be furnished, and with the safe keeping and issuing of all supplies.

SEC. 3. That the said physician-general, hospital-surgeons, purveyor, and apothecary and apothecaries, deputy or deputies, shall be appointed as other officers of the United States; that the said mates and stewards shall be appointed by the authority, and at the direction, of the said physiciangeneral, subject to the eventual approbation and control of the President of the United States, and shall be removable by the authority of the said physician-general; and that the surgeon of each hospital shall appoint, employ, and fix the compensations of, the nurses and other attendants of such hospital, subject to the control of the said physician-general, or the hospital surgeon, of senior appointment, with a separate army, or in a separate district.

SEC. 4. That as often as the regimental sick will not suffer by the employing of the regimental surgeons or mates in the temporary or other hospitals of the United States, the physician-general, or the hospital surgeon, of senior appointment, with a separate army, or in a separate district, with the consent of the general and commander-in-chief, or the officer commanding a separate army, may require the attendance of such surgeons, or surgeon's mates, as, in his opinion, can be with safety so withdrawn from their regiments.

SEC. 5. That it shall be the duty of the physician-general, with two or more hospital surgeons, to frame a system of directions relative to the description of patients to be admitted into the hospitals; to the means of promoting cleanliness in the hospitals; to the prevention of idleness, skulking, and gambling, in the hospitals; to the prevention of the spread of infectious distempers in the camps and hospitals, and the government of nurses, and all others charged with the care of the sick in camps or hospitals, subject, in the first instance, to the approbation and revision of the commander-in-chief, the commander of a separate army, or in a separate district, as the case may be, and, eventually, to the approbation and control of the President of the United States: Provided always, That the said directions, having received the sanction of the commander-in-chief, or the commander of a separate army, shall be operative, and remain in full force, unless altered or annulled by the President of the United States.

SEC. 6. That the compensations of the said several officers shall be as follows: of the physician-general, $100 pay per month, and $50 per month, which shall be in full compensation for forage, rations, and travelling expenses: of the purveyor, $100 pay per month, in full compensation for his services, and all expenses: of the apothecary-general, $80 pay per month, and $30 per month, in full compensation for forage, rations, and all expenses: of each of his deputies, $50 pay per month, and $16 per month, in full compensation for forage, rations, and all expenses: of each hospital

1

surgeon, $80 pay per month, and $40 per month, in full compensation for forage, rations, and all expenses: of each mate, $30 pay per month, and $20 per month, in full compensation for forage, rations, and all expenses: of each steward, $25 pay per month, and $8 per month, in full compensation for forage, rations, and all expenses: Provided, That none of the officers aforesaid shall be entitled to any part of the pay or emoluments aforesaid, until they shall, respectively, be called into actual service.

SEC. 7. That, for the accommodation of the sick of the army and navy of the United States, the physician-general, and hospital surgeon of senior appointment, with the approbation of the general commanding the army within the district where he shall be, shall have power to provide temporary hospitals; and the physician-general, with the approbation of the President of the United States, shall have power to provide and establish permanent hospitals.

SEC. 8. That all the said officers, and others, shall, as touching their several offices and duties, be liable to the rules and regulations for the government and discipline of the army; and shall be bound to obey, in conformity with law and the usages and customs of armies, the orders and directions of the chief military officers of the respective armies, and within the respective districts in which they shall respectively serve and be.

SEC. 9. That the physician-general, or, in his absence, the senior medical officer, with the approbation of the commander-in-chief, or commanding officer of a separate army, be, and hereby is, authorized and empowered, as often as may be judged necessary, to call a medical board, which shall consist of the three senior medical officers, then present, whose duty it shall be to examine all candidates for employment or promotion in the hospital department, and certify to the secretary of war the qualifications of each.

[Approved, March 2, 1799.]

CHAPTER 31.-Approved, March 2, 1799.-Vol. 1, p. 725.

An Act giving eventual authority to the President of the United States to augment the army.1

That it shall be lawful for the President of the United States, in case war shall break out between the United States and a foreign European power, or in case imminent danger of invasion of their territory by any such power, shall, in his opinion, be discovered to exist, to organize and cause to be raised, in addition to the other military force of the United States, twenty-four regiments of infantry, a regiment and a battalion of riflemen, a battalion of artillerists and engineers, and three regiments of cavalry, or such part thereof as he shall judge necessary; the non-commissioned officers and privates of which to be enlisted for a term not exceeding three years, and to be entitled each to a bounty of $10; one-half to be paid at the time of enlistment, and the remainder at the time of joining the regiment to which they may belong.

SEC. 2. That the President of the United States be authorized, whenever

1 The 1st and 2d sections of this act expired by the operation of the 11th section; the powers thereby conferred not having been continued for a longer time.

it shall appear to him expedient, if during the session of the Senate, with their advice and consent, if in their recess, alone, to appoint and commission all officers for the said troops, agreeably to the rules and regulations prescribed by law for the military establishment: Provided, That the general and field officers who may be appointed in the recess of the Senate, shall, at the next meeting thereof, be nominated and submitted to them for their advice and consent.

SEC. 3. That the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates, of the troops, which may be organized and raised pursuant to this act, shall be entitled to the like pay, clothing, rations, forage, and other emoluments. and to the like compensation in case of disability by wounds, or otherwise, incurred in the service, as the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates of other troops of correspondent denominations, composing the army of the United States; and, with them, shall be subject to the rules and articles of war, and to all other regulations for the discipline and government of the army. Provided, That no officer, except captains and subalterns who may be employed in the recruiting service, shall be entitled to any pay or other emolument until he shall be called into actual service.

SEC. 4. That the laws of the United States respecting the regulations and emoluments of recruiting officers, punishment of persons who shall procure or entice a soldier to desert, or shall purchase his arms, uniform, clothing, or any part thereof, and the punishment of every commanding officer of every ship or vessel, who shall receive on board his ship or vessel, as one of his crew, knowing him to have deserted, or otherwise carry away any soldier, or refuse to deliver him up to the orders of his commanding officer; and the law respecting the oath or affirmation to be taken by officers, noncommissioned officers, musicians, and privates; and respecting the inserting of conditions in the enlistments; and all other laws respecting the military establishment of the United States, excepting in such cases where different and specific regulations are made by this act, shall be in force, and apply to all persons, matters, and things, within the intent and meaning of this act, in the same manner as they would were they inserted at large in the

same.

SEC. 5. That it shall be lawful for the President of the United States, at his discretion, to discharge the whole, or any part of the troops which may be raised by virtue of this act, whensoever he shall think fit.

SEC. 6. That the President of the United States be authorized to organize all such companies of volunteers, as have been, or shall be, accepted by him pursuant to the act entitled "An act authorizing the President of the United States to raise a provisional army," into regiments, brigades, and divisions, and to appoint all officers thereof, agreeably to the organization prescribed by law for the army of the United States: and the said volunteers shall not be compelled to serve out of the state in which they reside, a longer time than three months after their arrival at the place of rendezvous.

SEC. 7. That it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to call forth and employ the said volunteers in all the cases, and to effect all the purposes, for which he is authorized to call forth and employ the militia, by the act entitled "An act to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions, and to repeal the act now in force for these purposes."

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SEC. 8. That it shall not be lawful for the President of the United States to accept a greater number of the said volunteers, in any of the states or

1 See chap. 47, 28 May, 1798.

2 See chap. 36, 28 February, 1795.

territories of the United States, than is hereinafter apportioned to them, respectively; that is to say: To New Hampshire, three thousand; to Massachusetts, ten thousand; to Rhode Island, one thousand; to Vermont, two thousand; to Connecticut, five thousand; to New York, seven thousand; to New Jersey, five thousand; to Pennsylvania, ten thousand; to Delaware, one thousand; to Maryland, five thousand; to Virginia, ten thousand; to Kentucky, one thousand; to North Carolina, seven thousand; to Tennessee, one thousand; to South Carolina, four thousand; to Georgia, fifteen hundred; to North-Western Territory, one thousand; and to Mississippi Territory, five hundred.

SEC. 9. That for the execution of this act, if it shall be found necessary to carry it, or any part of it, into effect, there be appropriated the sum of $2,000,000; and that the President be authorized to borrow, on behalf of the United States, the said sum, or so much thereof as he shall deem necessary, (which the bank of the United States is hereby empowered to lend,) and upon such terms and conditions as he shall judge most advantageous to the United States: Provided, That such terms and conditions shall not restrain the United States from paying off the sum which may be borrowed, after the expiration of fifteen years.

SEC. 10. That so much as may be necessary of the surplus of the duties on imports and tonnage, beyond the permanent appropriations heretofore charged upon them by law, shall be, and hereby is, pledged and appropriated for paying the interest of all such moneys as may be borrowed pursuant to this act, according to the terms and conditions on which the loan, or loans, respectively, may be effected; and also for paying, by discharging, the principal sum or sums of any such loan or loans, according to the terms and conditions to be fixed as aforesaid.

SEC. 11. That the powers, by the first and second sections of this act vested in the President of the United States, shall cease at the expiration of the session of Congress next ensuing the present, unless they shall be, by some future law, continued in force for a longer time.

[Approved, March 2, 1799.]

[By Chap. 47, 3d March, 1799, the President of the United States is authorized to make appointments to fill any vacancies in the army and navy which may have happened during the present session of the Senate.]

CHAPTER 48.-Approved, March 3, 1799.-Vol. 1, p. 749.

An Act for the better organizing of the troops of the United States, and for other purposes.1

That the troops heretofore authorized, and which hereafter may be authorized, to be raised, shall be composed and organized as follows, to wit: A regiment of infantry shall consist of one lieutenant-colonel commandant, two majors, first and second, one adjutant, one quartermaster, and one paymaster, each being a lieutenant, one surgeon, and two sur

1 Repealed and supplied by act of 16 March, 1802, chap. 9, so far as it conflicts with the provisions of that act. Sections 22, 23, and 24 do not appear to come within the operation of the repealing clause.