29 Congress 2d Session

S. 118

(Pub.)

In the Senate of the United States.
January 22^d 1847.

A Bill

Creating the office of Assistant Secretary of State, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be in the Department of State, instead of the chief clerk created by the existing law, an officer called the Assistant Secretary of State, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; and before entering upon the duties of his office, he shall take an oath or affirmation to support the constitution of the United States, and well and faithfully to execute the trust confided to him

over

Sec. 2^d And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Assistant Secretary of State to take under his special care such branches or branches of the business of the Department of State as may, from time to time, be assigned to him by the Secretary of State, with the approbation of the President of the United States; and that, in the discharge of the official duties so assigned to him, he shall have the same power and authority, and be subject to the same obligations, as are now or may hereafter be conferred or imposed by law on the Secretary of State, subject, however, in all cases, to the direction of the latter.

Sec. 3^d And be it further enacted, That, in the absence of the Secretary of State from the seat of government, or in case of vacancy in his office, the Department of State shall be in the charge of the Assistant Secretary of State, who shall perform all the duties thereof until a successor shall have been appointed, or the vacancy otherwise supplied by the President. And in case the Secretary of State shall be incapacitated by illness, the charge of the department shall then also devolve upon the Assistant Secretary of State; but in every such case of incapacity, an order from the President of the United States, stating the fact of such incapacity, and addressed to the Assistant Secretary of State, shall be requisite before the latter can take charge of the Department.

Sec. 4^th And be it further enacted, That the Assistant secretary of state shall be allowed and paid a compensation at the rate of three thousand dollars per annum.

Sec. 5^th And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Secretary of State to employ, in addition to the clerks authorized by existing laws, four principal clerks, whose salaries, respectively, shall not exceed the sum of two thousand dollars per annum; and one clerk whose salary shall not exceed fourteen hundred dollars per annum.

Sec. 6^th And be it further enacted, That this act shall be in force from and after its passage; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State, with the least practicable delay, to organize the department in such manner as, in his judgment, with the approval of the President of the United States, shall be best adapted to give it efficiency; making such distribution and assignment of its various duties among the several officers employed therein, as shall seem most advisable. And the organization so determined upon shall be reported to Congress at their next session.

Sec. 7^th And be it further enacted, That all laws now in force, so far as they may be inconsistent with the provisions of this act, shall be, and they are hereby, repealed.

over

Sec. 8^th And be it further enacted, That for the purpose of carrying this act into immediate effect, the sum of dollars be, and it hereby is appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.