96 ATTIWANDARONK ATTORNEY GENERAL cessions. A series of drawings, representing Chinese battles, were engraved in France, so gratifying the emperor that he appointed the artist a mandarin. ATTIWANDAROIVK, a tribe of Indians of the same family as the Hurons and Iroquois, liv- ing in early times on both banks of the Ni- agara river, but chiefly on the Canada side. They were called Atirhagenratha by the Iro- quois, and by the French the Neutral Nation, as they at first took no part in the war between the Iroquois on one side and the Hurons, Tio- nontatez, Algonquins, and Montagnais on the other. They were however at war with the Mascoutins beyond Lake Michigan. Their ter- ritory was an area of about 150 sq. m. They were first visited by the Recollect father Dail- lon in 1627, and by Brebeuf and Chaumonot in 1642,; but no missions or posts were estab- lished. On the fall of the Hurons they were attacked by the Iroquois (1651-'3), and after severe losses a part submitted and joined the Senecas ; the rest fled west and joined the rem- nant of the Hurons on Lake Superior. ATTLEBOROCGH, a township of Bristol coun- ty, Mass., 31 m. S. 8. W.of Boston, and 11 m. N. N. E. of Providence, R. I. ; pop. in 1871, 6,769. It has very extensive manufactures of jewelry, printed calicoes, metal buttons, and clocks, for which there is abundant water power in Mill river. ATTOCK, or Atak, a fortified town of India, in the Punjaub, on the Indus, nearly opposite the mouth of the Cabool, in lat. 33 54' N., Ion. 72 20' E., 40 m. E. S. E. of Peshawer ; pop. about 2,000. The Indus is here about 800 feet wide, and from 30 to 70 feet deep ac- cording to the season, with high banks and a rapid current. The fort was built by Akbar to command the passage, this being the route by which invasions from the northwest have generally entered India. Runjeet Singh took it from the Afghans by treache'ry, and it came into the possession of the British by the con- quest of Sinde. The town has gone to decay ATTORNEY. See LAWYER. ATTORNEY GENERAL, a law officer of state. In England he is the counsel to the crown. He may be required by either of the houses of par- liament to institute prosecutions for offences against the honor and dignity of the houses, or against the public laws of the nation, and by cus- tom may prosecute for misdemeanors by infor- mation without first procuring an indictment. He may also file information in civil causes, under penal statutes, and he is charged by special statutes with other duties in the public interest. The attorney general of the United States is the first law officer of the govern- ment. The judiciary act of 1789, which first defined his office, provided that there should be appointed a meet person, learned in the law, whose duty it should bo to prosecute and conduct all suits in the supreme court in which the United States should be concerned, and to give his advice and opinion upon questions of law when required by the president or by the heads of any of the departments touching any matters which concerned the affairs of their offices. By an act of 1830 the attorney gen- eral was required to consult and advise with the solicitor general of the treasury as to the conduct of suits and other proceedings pertain- ing to the revenue ; and by an act of 1861 he was charged with a general supervision and direction of the district attorneys and marshals of the United States, and of their discharge of their duties ; and they were required to report to him an account of their proceedings and the condition of their offices. In practice also it has been conceded that either house of con- gress may call upon the attorney general for information on any matter within the scope of his office, and that it is his duty to communicate such informa- tion. He has also conducted all suits of the United States in the supreme court. It has been al- ways understood that the opin- ion of the attorney general is not conclusive upon the president or the secretaries ; but it has been the practice, for the sake of pre- serving harmony and uniformity of decision and action in the different departments, to gov- ern the 'administration of their affairs according to the attor- ney general's advice. The opin- ions of the attorneys general from the earliest period have thus come to be a body of precedents on questions of public law which have a cer- tain authority, of the same character, though not of the same imperative force, as the adju- dication of courts of justice. It is a settled rule, in construction of the functions of this officer, that he has no right to give an opinion in any other cases than those in which the statutes make it his duty to give it. There- fore he will not give an opinion to any subor- dinate officer of any of the departments; nor will he give an opinion to individuals in re- spect to their claims against the government ;
