21. IV. Saturday— Sun rose 4:42. Ride to Rock-Creek
- Jones— Roger
- Hamilton A. W.
- Conner. Benjamin
- Porter— Peter B.
- Clay— Henry
- Rush— Richard
Coll.
Jones the Adjutant General brought me a copy, printed and
Manuscript, of all the General Regulations of the army, adopted since
the commencement of the present Administration— He also brought a Copy
of his argument in 1826. to establish his claim to double rations; which
was successful; and he has now addressed a Letter to me requesting the
re-examination of the principles of that argument; to establish his
claim to the right of communicating on various subjects of official
duty, directly with the Secretary of War; which 582he apprehends may be contested by the present Major General Macomb— Major Hamilton came to apply for
an appointment as purser in one of our public ships— I told him there
was a difficulty in appointing to a purser’s office any person not
belonging to the Navy. He said Mr Rush had taken an interest
in his favour; and I said some opportunity might occur for giving him
employment, of which he should have the advantage— Captain Conner also renewed his
importunities for an appointment; but Mr Southard thinks he can
be of no service— General Porter
brought me the Report of the Visitors at the West-Point Academy, and
informed me that he had this day taken the Oath of Office as Secretary
of War, and entered upon the discharge of its duties. He said he felt
some diffidence of his competency for discharging them, but I told him I
had no doubt they would soon become familiar and easy to him— I
recommended to him to give his early attention to the accountability of
all the various branches of service in the Department— I observed there
had been some irregularities which had crept into practice from the
illegal controul over the expenditures first assumed by Mr Calhoun,
and which Governor Barbour
finding established, had not entirely rectified. I mentioned
particularly the abuses in the Indian Department, and the difficulty
with regard to the Settlement of Mr M’Kenney’s account, which I
believed was not yet removed— I also mentioned the appropriations for
Surveys, and works of Internal Improvement, under the Act of April
1824. and subsequent acts in furtherance of it— I said it was necessary
to specify the head of Department under whose direction each Survey or
purposed work should be placed which I proposed to do by giving written
authorities— That distinct accounts should be opened at the Treasury for
each separate work, and that nothing should be charged to those
accounts, paid to the Officers of the Army employed upon the surveys,
except the extra allowance to them, for being employed on that service—
Their pay and other allowances as Officers being of course charged to
the Army Accounts. Mr Clay called to take leave; intending to take
his departure upon his Summer excursion to-morrow— He said he hoped to
be back here in August. Mr Rush called with
two large bundles of papers, which he said were the Letters received
yesterday, and this day relating to the Execution of the Law for the
Relief of the Revolutionary Officers and Soldiers— He spoke of the
Election yesterday of the President and Directors of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal; which was
satisfactorily accomplished— Mr Rush said
that his Engagements of duty here, would not permit him to be absent
from the City this Summer. He recurred again to the Construction of the
Act for the Relief of the Revolutionary Warriors, and urged the
allowance of the highest Captain’s pay, to Officers of Infantry above
that rank; to which I finally assented. We rode this morning by the
Race-ground to Rock Creek; before which I read Evelyn, and visited the Garden— After
dinner I walked round the Nursery— In the Garden I cut down a stem of
Althea, and set it in the Corner of my Seedling box N. 4. but this is
not the right Season. There are in my Southern Seedling bed three
flourishing Catalpas of last years spontaneous growth. Of the 8. Pots of
Brazilian flower seeds planted 8. May one shoot only, the Jasminum
Muscoza, just appears. I put in to seedling Pot N. 4. a deposit of
decaying raspberries; and took from it one Tangier Orange-seed planted
in it 3 June, which had a tap-root half an inch long. I now placed it in
N.E. Corner of Box N. 3— I planted in Pot N. 7. 12. Black-heart Cherry
Stones. The Althea in Box N. 4. is putting out its second leaf proper—
The Persimon in Pot N. 1. puts forth its 7th
leaf— In the Nursery— No appearance of new Cork Oaks since the 16th:—one black walnut in the South border,
planted 11. April. The English Walnuts and Shag barks suffer severely
from the depredations of nightly bugs. The Chesnuts not quite so much— I
found four young trees of spontaneous growth, but know not what they
are—Mulberry? Sycamore? Willow Oak?
