WASHINGTON, _December 17, 1850_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I herewith transmit a letter from the Secretary of War, communicating a
report of a board of officers to which, in pursuance of a resolution of
the Senate passed on the 30th of September last, were submitted the
questions proposed therein, relative to the expediency and necessity of
creating additional grades of commissioned officers in the Army and of
enacting provisions authorizing officers of the Army to exercise civil
functions in emergencies to be enumerated and restraining them from
usurping the powers of civil functionaries.