pers of the Executive Departments, public or private,
would be subject to the inspection and control of a committee of their
body and every facility in the power of the Executive be afforded to
enable them to prosecute the investigation.

The experience of every nation on earth has demonstrated that
emergencies may arise in which it becomes absolutely necessary for the
public safety or the public good to make expenditures the very object of
which would be defeated by publicity. Some governments have very large
amounts at their disposal, and have made vastly greater expenditures
than the small amounts which have from time to time been accounted for
on President's certificates. In no nation is the application of such
sums ever made public. In time of war or impending danger the situation
of the country may make it necessary to employ individuals for the
purpose of obtaining information or rendering other important services
who could never be prevailed upon to act if they entertained the least
apprehension that their names or their agency would in any contingency
be divulged. So it may often become necessary to incur an expenditure
for an object highly useful to the country; for example, the conclusion
of a treaty with a barbarian power whose customs require on such
occasions the use of presents. But this object might be altogether
defeated by the intrigues of other powers if our purposes were to be
made known by the exhibition of the original papers and vouchers to the
accounting officers of the Treasury. It would be easy to specify other
cases which may occur in the history of a great nation, in its
intercourse with other nations, wherein it might become absolutely
necessary to incur expenditures for objects which could never be
accomplished if it were suspected in advance that the items of
expenditure and the agencies employed would be made public.

Actuated undoubtedly by considerations of this kind, Congress provided
such a fund, coeval with the organization of the Government, and
subsequently enacted the law of 1810 as the permanent law of the land.
While this law exists in full force I feel bound by a high sense of
public policy and duty to observe its provisions and the uniform
practice of my predecessors under it.

With great respect for the House of Representatives and an anxious
desire to conform to their wishes, I am constrained to come to this
conclusion.

If Congress disapprove the policy of the law, they