THE

AMERICAN ALMANAC

AND

REPOSITORY

OF

USEFUL KNOWLEDGE,

FOR THE YEAR

1854.

BOSTON:

PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, AND COMPANY.

LONDON:

SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND COMPANY.

PARIS:

HECTOR BOSSANGE.

D42-99373

1857, Jab 20.

From the Steward's offices.

US/0071,20

HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by

GEORGE P. SANGER,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

49.63 вс

CAMBRIDGE:

METCALF AND COMPANY, PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY.

PREFACE.

THE twenty-fifth volume of the American Almanac, being the fifth volume of the third series, is now offered to the public. Unwearied pains has been taken to collect full, authentic, and varied information concerning the complex affairs of the general and State governments; and a mass of official documents and private correspondence has been digested relating to the government, finances, legislation, public institutions, internal improvements, and resources of the United States, and of the several States. It is hoped that the present volume will be found equal to its predecessors in fulness and accuracy, and that it will sustain the high character of the American Almanac as a trustworthy manual for reference and a full repository of useful knowledge.

The Astronomical Department has been prepared by Lieut. Charles Henry Davis, U. S. N., Superintendent of the American Nautical Almanac. The article upon "Atmospherical Electricity," with its full details, will be found to be instructive and useful.

In the Second Part of the volume will be found full lists of the Executive and Judiciary of the General Government, including the chief officers and clerks of the several Departments; of Collectors of Customs, of Postmasters in the principal cities, of Army and Navy Pension Agents, and of the Indian Superintendents and Agents; of the Inspectors of Steamboats and their Districts; of the Army, and the various Military Departments and Posts under the new organization; of the Navy, the public vessels, and the Marine Corps; of our Ministers and Consuls in Foreign Countries, and of Foreign Consuls in the United States. These have all been corrected from official sources to the latest dates possible for publication. Later changes are noted in the "Additions and Corrections," at the end of the volume. The titles Commerce and Navigation, and Revenue and Expenditure, published each year in the Almanac, are full and complete abstracts of the public documents of the same name, and the tables connected therewith, and with the Post-Office, Mint, and Public Lands, show the receipts and expenditures of the Government under their several heads, the public debt, the imports, exports, tonnage, coinage, sales of land, and the operations of the Post-Office Department, for each year since the adoption of the Federal Constitution. The exports for the last four years are given in detail. The rates of postage are under the new laws, and these, with the inland and foreign mail service, are believed to be complete and correct. The Seventh Census of the United States not yet having been printed, it has been found impossible to obtain full or authentic returns of the matters embraced therein. For obvious reasons the most authentic source of information is the official publication, and it is better to give in one of our volumes a complete abstract of the census from the official copy, than to publish portions of it from year to year in separate volumes from unofficial

and irresponsible authority. Especially is this the case, at this late period, when its publication will be useful to people generally for reference rather than for information. The Titles and Abstracts of the Public Laws and Joint Resolutions have been carefully prepared, and are sufficiently full, except for professional use. Among those this year of special interest are the acts relative to the new coinage, - to the fees and costs in the Courts of the United States, to prevent frauds on the Treasury, — to establish the Territorial Government of Washington,—to the classification of Clerks in the Departments at Washington, -to surveys of Public Lands in California and Oregon,-to offences against the Post-Office Laws, and to the printing and binding the returns of the Seventh Census. The tabular view of the railroads in the country is continued from the last volume; and the comparative view of the debts, property, and general financial condition of all the States, has been corrected with great care from the latest official returns. The list of Senators and Representatives in Congress from 1843 to 1853 inclusive, will be found correct and valuable for future reference. The information concerning the Individual States is as full as in former years. It is believed that nowhere else can be found such full details respecting the Executive and Judiciary, the finances, schools, charitable institutions, and pauperism and crime, of the several States. Should any one note inaccuracies or deficiencies therein, he is urgently requested to correct them. The European part of the work, revised from the best authority to late dates, gives the several States of Europe, with their form of government, the name, title, and date of accession of the reigning sovereigns, the area and population of the several countries. It also gives the Royal Family, the Ministry, and the Judiciary of England. The Ministry of France is added. A Foreign Obituary for 1851 and 1852 is given, which it is intended to continue hereafter. The obituary notices and Chronicle of Events have been prepared with care. The space is so limited, that many names and events which otherwise would be given are necessarily omitted.

The thanks of the Editor are particularly due to the heads of Department at Washington, and to his many contributors and correspondents, to whom the work is indebted for a great part of its value. A continuance of their favors is respectfully solicited. A work embracing such a multitude of facts must necessarily contain errors; persons who may detect any are earnestly requested to communicate them to the Editor. It is particularly desirable that these communications should not be anonymous. It is frequently a source of regret to the Editor, that he cannot suitably acknowledge the valuable hints and assistance of anonymous correspondents. It is a matter of some public interest, that a periodical which circulates so widely, both in Europe and America, and which is so universally trusted as a manual for reference, should be rendered as accurate as possible; and this end can be obtained only by the coöperation of many individuals. Communications should be addressed to the "Editor of the American Almanac,' "Boston.

Boston, Mass., October, 1853.