“This was an action of debt brought in the district court, upon the official bond given by the defendant, conditioned for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office, as collector of the internal taxes and duties, in the twelfth district of Pennsylvania, and for collecting and paying over the said taxes and duties. The demand was founded on a statement from the treasury department, of certain uncollected bonds and duties due within this district. These bonds, or most of them, had been placed in the hands of an attorney for collection and suit, by a preceding collector, with the approbation of the commissioner of the revenue, by whom his compensation was fixed. Whether the collection of any of the uncollected bonds and duties, and if any, to what amount, was entrusted to that attorney, by the defendant, does not distinctly appear.”