No. of bond. Statement E shows the amount retained by the United States Treasury from the three per cent. fund accruing to the State of Indiana from the net proceeds of sales of public lands within her limits. From the records of the Indian Office it is found that when the sums making such amount were from time to time credited by the Treasury to the Pottawatomies and Chickasaw incompetent Indians, coupons for the sums thus credited were sent to that Department for delivery to the State authorities. (See statement marked F.) As at the dates mentioned in the statement, from 1849 to 1856, the Department held no other Indiana State bouds than the seventy described in Schedule A, the coupons so sent belonged to those bonds only. By that schedule it will be seen what coupons are attached to the bonds now in possession of this Department. There are no detached coupons belonging to these bonds in my custody. So far as this Department is informed no abstraction of coupons annexed to Indiana State bonds has occurred. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. SCHUYLER COLFAX, C. DELANO, Secretary. Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate. A. semi-annually at Abstract of Indiana five per cent. coupon bonds held in trust by the Secretary of the Interior for the benefit of certain Indian tribes, the interest on which is payable Washington City. *These bonds held in trust for the Pottawatomie Indians-"education "—and are of the issue known as the "Wabash and Erie Canal Loan," Nos. 501 to 563 inclusive, 13 coupons of $25 each for interest due from July, 1868; all coupons attached. No. of bond. No. of bond. A.-Abstract of Indiana five per cent, coupon bonds, &c.-Continued. Abstract of Indiana five per cent. coupon bonds held in trust by the Secretary of the Interior for the benefit of certain Indian tribes, the interest on which is payable semi-annually at New York. *Held in trust for Pottawatomies-" education"-"Wabash and Erie Canal Loan," 34 coupons of $25 each for interest due from July 1, 1868; all coupons attached. Held in trust for Chickasaw incompetents, internal improvement loan. Nos. 1823 and 1824 have 36 coupons of $25 each for interest due from July 1, 1868; all coupons attached. B. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, D. C., December 31, 1866. SIR Referring to the correspondence had between the Department and yourself some time since in relation to an Indiana State bond, No. 564, for one thousand dollars, belonging to the Indian trust fund of this Department, and which bond came into your possession in the year 1859, I have now the honor again to call your attention to the subject. The Government, in the character of trustee, has the absolute and exclusive title to the bond, and therefore it is my duty to hold you responsible for its value, and much as I shall regret to take the step, will, if after the lapse of a reasonable time from this date, the bond or its original value is not made good, endeavor by legal means to recover the same. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. G. N. FITCH, Secretary. Logansport, Indiana. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, D. C., August 8, 1865. SIR: I have received your letter of the 31st ultimo. I am not aware that the statutes of Indiana contain a provision which authorizes me to give, as you suggest, a notice to the authorities of the State of the time and place of taking depositions to prove the loss of the bond in question. Without such a provision, the notice and the proofs taken pursuant thereto would be without binding effect. Another difficulty occurs to It is not alleged that the bond is destroyed, but simply mislaid or lost. The instrument belongs to that class of public securities which are transferrable by delivery; and, although lost after you took charge of it, may now be in the hands of a lawful holder, for value. If so, he, and not the original holder, is entitled to claim the contents thereon from the State. In reply to your remark, that you do not perceive upon what ground you can be held responsible, I beg leave respectfully to refer you to my letter of the 6th ultimo. It states, I believe, with substantial accuracy, the circumstances under which the bond came into your possession. The failure, on your part, to return it on request, would seem conclusive as to your liability. I should, however, regret to be constrained, by a sense of public duty, to resort to legal measures for the enforcement of the rights of the Government. I sincerely trust, therefore, that a renewed inquiry and search will enable you to restore the bond to its proper custodian, and thus to relieve yourself and this Department from any further trouble on the subject. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. GRAHAM N. FITCH, Secretary. Logansport, Indiana. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, D. C., July 22, 1865. SIR: As the legal custodian of the bonds referred to in my letter of the 6th instant, and in your reply of the 17th, I deem it to be my duty to say, that, as the records of this Department trace the bond named to your possession, I suppose it will also be my duty to hold you responsible for its value, unless returned, and to make an effort to collect it. This I should very much regret, and hope some mode may be devised to secure the fund from loss and you from trouble and inconvenience. As a legal question, I do not think the State can compound with its creditors without their consent; the concurrence of the majority cannot bind the minority, and the United States, as trustee for these Indians, will be bound, as I think, in good faith, to collect principal and interest for the use of their wards. Heretofore, a part of the interest has been recovered from the State, through the Treasury, by withholding money due it from the United States. I will try to recover the residue in the same way when opportunity may occur, should the State make no provision for the payment, as I am almost certain she would if the case were properly represented to the legislature. I wish you would suggest some practicable means of restoring to the Department legal evidence of the liability of Indiana for principal and interest of said bonds, that you may no longer be annoyed with the matter. LOGANSPORT, INDIANA, July 31, 1865. SIR: Yours of 22d instant is received. It is difficult to perceive upon what principle of right you can make an effort to hold me pecuniarily responsible for the missing bond. I neither purchased it on credit nor borrowed it. It was simply placed in my hands, by desire, as I understood, of the officer or officers having it with others in charge, for the purpose of having me make an effort to induce the Indiana State authorities to make arrangement for its payment. In the prosecution of the effort the bond was lost. Its loss in no manner lessens the liability of the State, or probability of payment or account, for the loss can easily be proved. Indeed the proof, lacking only perhaps legal form, is now in the Interior Department. Although search for the bond has hitherto proved fruitless, I do not despair of yet finding it, but if not found, it appears to me the proper course for the Department is to give notice to the State authorities of its loss, and of intention on a day and at a place named to take proof of its loss. If this is done in my lifetime, there can be no difficulty whatever in the case, except such as arises from the refusal of the State to pay any of its class. If any are paid that one will be. I perfectly agree with you that the repudiation of its bonds by the State is wrong, and releases it in no manner from a moral obligation to pay, and I will cheerfully lend any aid in my power to induce an arrangement for that purpose, but shall doubtless be held excusable for declining to subject myself to the same annoyance or a similar one, which followed my heretofore well meant effort to that end. Very respectfully yours, Hon. JAMES HARLAN, Secretary of the Interior. G. N. FITCH. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, SIR: On examining the papers relating to the Indian trust fund, under the care of this Department, I noticed your letter of December 27, 1860, to the then Secretary of the Interior. It appears from it, and a letter of the date of August 8, 1859, addressed by you to G. Bailey, esq., as well as from a memorandum on file, that an Indiana State bond in the sum of one thousand dollars, forming a part of that fund, came into your possession in the year 1859, "for the purpose of copying a description, with a view of writing to the governor upon the subject of some arrangement for their payment." In your letter of December 27, above referred to, you state that circumstances had prevented a search for the bond, as promised in your first letter, but that it would "be made at the earliest opportunity." The Government, in its character as trustee, has the absolute and exclusive title to the bond, and should be in the possession of it, and I have therefore the honor to request that you will, at your earliest 'convenience, return it to this Department. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. GRAHAM N. FITCH, JAS. HARLAN, Secretary. Logansport, Indiana. LOGANSPORT, INDIANA, August 8, 1859. DEAR SIR: Yours of 2d instant received. I have received a previous letter from you on the same subject, and owe you an apology for not having answered it. It was laid aside for a search for the bond, and amid a multiplicity of engagements forgotten. I received the bond of you for the purpose of copying a description, (this State having issued bonds for more than one fund,) with the view of writing to the governor upon the subject of some arrangement for their payment. It has become misplaced. I have, after a search to-day, failed to find it, but intend soon moving my library and papers into a new room preparing for the purpose, and will then overhaul every package and can scarce fail to find it. If successful in my search it will be immediately forwarded to you. Respectfully yours, G. N. FITCH. G. BAILEY, Esq. WASHINGTON, D. C., December 27, 1860. SIR: Yours of yesterday is before me. You say "It is ascertained that a certain bond of Indiana State stocks of the issue of 1835 is miss |