WASHINGTON, _March 8, 1824_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
On the 3d March, 1819, James Miller was first commissioned as governor
of the Territory of Arkansas for the term of three years from that date.
Before the expiration of that time, and in the winter of 1821-22, a
nomination of him for reappointment was intended, and believed by me
to have been made to the Senate, and to have received the confirmation
of that body.
By some accident, the cause of which is unknown, it appears that this
impression was erroneous, and in December, 1822, it was discovered that
Mr. Miller had not then been recommissioned, though in the confidence
that he had been he had continued to act in that capacity. He was then
renominated to the Senate, with the additional proposal that his
commission should take effect from 3d March, 1822, when his first
commission had expired.
The nomination was confirmed by the Senate so far as regarded the
appointment, but without concurrence in the retrospective effect
proposed to be given to the commission.
His second commission, therefore, bears date on the 3d January, 1823,
and the interposition of the Legislature becomes necessary to legalize
his official acts in the interval between 3d March, 1822, and that time,
a subject which I recommend to the consideration of Congress.