Amos T. Akerman to J. W. Douglass, 6 December 1870

December 6, 1870. Hon. J. W. Douglass, Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Sir: I have received your letter of the first instant, recommending the employment of Mr. Pegram of Virginia as Special Counsel for the Government in certain Internal Revenue cases in that District. The Act to establish the Department of Justice seems to forbid the employment of special counsel except in cases which cannot receive proper attention from the District Attorneys and their regular assistants. There are now two regular assistants to the District Attorney for Virginia, and it seems to me that this number is adequate to all the exigencies of the public service. Moreover the estimates upon which the appropriations for the Department for the current year were made by the last Congress, did not include any such expenditure as such employments will occasion, and I am apprehensive that the funds of this Department would be insufficient to meet them. I therefore do not feel at liberty to make the engagement which you suggest. Very respectfully, &c, A. T. Akerman, Attorney General.