for terms of four years. When a vacancy in the position of chief of any staff corps or department is filled by the appointment of an officer below the rank now provided by law for said office, said chief shall, while so serving, have the same rank, pay, and allowances now provided for the chief of such corps or department. And any officer now holding office in any corps or department who shall hereafter serve as chief of a staff corps or department and shall subsequently be retired, shall be retired with the rank, pay, and allowances authorized by law for the retirement of such corps or department chief: Provided, That so long as there remain in service officers of any staff corps or department holding permanent appointments, the chief of such staff corps or department shall be selected from the officers so remaining therein. SEC. 27. That each position vacated by officers of the line, transferred to any department of the staff for tours of service under this act, shall be filled by promotion in the line until the total number detailed equals the number authorized for duty in each staff department. Thereafter vacancies caused by details from the line to the staff shall be filled by officers returning from tours of staff duty. If under the operation of this act the number of officers returned to any particular arm of the service at any time exceeds the number authorized by law in any grade, promotions to that grade shall cease until the number has been reduced to that authorized. Act of March 2, 1901 (31 Stats., —). AN ACT making appropriation for the support of the Army for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and two. Provided, That appointments to fill original vacancies in the lowest grade in the Adjutant-General's Department, may be made from officers of volunteers commissioned since April twenty-first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight. THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT. ́ The Inspector-General's Department was first established under the act of March 3, 1813, with an organization of eight inspectors-general and sixteen adjutants-general. The office of Inspector-General dates from December 13, 1777, although Lieutenant-Colonel de la Balme, a French officer of cavalry, was appointed by Congress July 8, 1777, Inspector-General of Cavalry; and on August 11 Monsieur du Coudray, a French artillery officer, was appointed Inspector-General of Ordnance and Military Manufactures. The Continental Congress resolved that two inspectorsgeneral be appointed, and Brig. Gen. Thomas Conway was elected, but the other was not chosen. Fortunately, for the discipline of the Army and the conduct of military operations, the proposed plan of administering the inspectorship was not carried out, for its effect would have placed the Inspector-General in direct communication with Congress and the board of war. Although General Washington did not employ Conway as Inspector-General, he still gave heed to the duties of an office which ever held a high place in his mind, as on his commendation Congress appointed Baron Steuben with the rank of major-general. That the services of Baron Steuben had proved of immense value to the Army was evidenced by the letter addressed him by General Washington on the day (December 23, 1783) he resigned his commission and retired to private life: "I wish to make use of this last moment of my public life to signify in the strongest terms my entire approbation of your conduct, and to express my sense of the obligation the public is under to you, for your faithful and meritorious services. July 8, 1777.-Col. Mottin de la Balme (Inspector-General of Cavalry). Stores). Dec. 13, 1777.—Maj. Gen. Thomas Conway, Inspector-General. May 5, 1778.-Major-General Baron Steuben, Inspector-General. Apr. 17, 1784.-Maj. William North,' Inspector. July 3, 1788.-Mr. John Stagg, Inspector. 1788.-Lieut. Col. Francis Mentges, Inspector. Mar. 10, 1792.-Lieut. Henry de Butts, Fourth Infantry (Maryland), Acting Adjutant and Inspector-General. Apr. 11, 1792.-Lieut. Col. Winthorp Sargent," Militia (Massachusetts). Feb. 23, 1793.-Maj. Michael Rudolph, Light Dragoons (Georgia), Adjutant and July 18, 1793.-Sublegionary Inspector Edward Butler (Pennsylvania), Deputy Adju- 1On the general disbandment of the Continental Army, Captain North, who had been designated as inspector to the troops remaining in service, acted as Adjutant and Inspector to October 28, 1787. "Colonel Sargent declined the appointment, assigning as a reason that the office was not attended with sufficient rank. |