The department of the navy also has general charge of the _United States Naval Academy_ at Annapolis. The academy was founded in 1846, by George Bancroft, then secretary of the navy. A specified number of midshipmen are allowed for each member of Congress and each territorial delegate, and certain numbers from the District of Columbia, from Porto Rico, and from the United States at large.[90] Appointments are made by the President after a physical and intellectual examination by a board, and an allowance is made for maintaining each midshipman while in residence at the academy. The course lasts four years and includes instruction in gunnery, naval construction, steam engineering, navigation, mathematics, international law, modern languages, etc. After the completion of the course, midshipmen spend two years at sea, after which they receive subordinate appointments in the navy or marine corps. [90] In addition, the secretary of the navy may appoint each year 100 midshipmen from the enlisted men of the navy less than twenty years old, the selection being based on competitive examinations. =The Department of Justice.=--The office of attorney-general was created in 1789, and from the first the attorney-general was a member of the cabinet; but for a long time the duties of the office were not extensive, and it was not until 1870 that the office was made an executive department with its present title and organization. _The Attorney-General_ is the chief law officer of the national government and is the legal adviser of the President and the heads of departments. He represents the United States before the Supreme Court in cases in which it is a party, exercises a sort of administrative supervision over the United States district attorneys and marshals and over the federal penitentiaries, examines applications for pardons, and advises the President in the exercise of his pardoning power. The opinions which he renders on constitutional and legal questions referred to him are published by the government in a series of volumes, and altogether they constitute an important body of constitutional and administrative law. Under the direction of the President he institutes proceedings and prosecutes cases against corporations and persons for violations of the laws of the United States, or directs the district attorneys to do so.