tes of the late Bank of the United
States to the amount of $27,561,866, of which $6,175,861 were in actual
circulation, $1,468,627 at State bank agencies, and $3,002,390 _in
transitu_, thus showing that upward of ten millions and a half of the
notes of the old bank were then still kept outstanding.

The impropriety of this procedure is obvious, it being the duty of the
trustee to cancel and not to put forth the notes of an institution whose
concerns it had undertaken to wind up. If the trustee has a right to
reissue these notes now, I can see no reason why it may not continue
to do so after the expiration of the two years. As no one could have
anticipated a course so extraordinary, the prohibitory clause of the
charter above quoted was not accompanied by any penalty or other special
provision for enforcing it, nor have we any general law for the
prevention of similar acts in future.

But it is not in this view of the subject alone that your interposition
is required. The United States in settling with the trustee for their
stock have withdrawn their funds from their former direct liability to
the creditors of the old bank, yet notes of the institution continue
to be sent forth in its name, and apparently upon the authority of the
United States. The transactions connected with the employment of the
bills of the old bank are of vast extent, and should they result
unfortunately the interests of individuals may be deeply compromised.
Without undertaking to decide how far or in what form, if any, the
trustee could be made liable for notes which contain no obligation on
its part, or the old bank for such as are put in circulation after the
expiration of its charter and without its authority, or the Government
for indemnity in case of loss, the question still presses itself upon
your consideration whether it is consistent with duty and good faith on
the part of the Government to witness this proceeding without a single
effort to arrest it.

The report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, which will
be laid before you by the Secretary of the Treasury, will show how the
affairs of that office have been conducted for the past year. The
disposition of the public lands is one of the most important trusts
confided to Congress. The practicability of retaining the title and
control of such extensive domains in the General Government, and at the
same time admitting the Territories embracing them into the Federal
Union as