1863. apr. 27 From the Steward's Office. USI0071,20 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by GEORGE P. SANGER, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 1. ERRATA IN THE AMERICAN ALMANAC FOR 1861. 49-Opposite "No. for reference 57." For longitude in arc, "67 deg., 47 min., 56.55 sec.," read "67 deg., 46 min., Dor tea Sta At a wel an Μα ma Wo twe thi nu а с COS im kn 35-2 PREFACE. THE THIRTY-SECOND volume of the American Almanac, being the Second volume of the Fourth 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 Mr. George P. Bond, Director of the Observatory at Cambridge. There is an interesting paper upon Meteorology by Professor Lovering, and an elaborate and exceedingly valuable article upon Pleuro-Pneumonia by Dr. Wyman, giving the history, pathology, symptoms, and nature of that destructive disease. 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, and of the Court of Claims; of Collectors of Customs, of Postmasters in the principal places, 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, with the new rates of pay, the public vessels, and the Marine Corps; of our Ministers and Consuls in Foreign Countries, and of Foreign Ministers and Consuls in the United States. These lists have 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 rates of postage are believed to be complete and corThe 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 for the rect. better protection of female passengers; to increase and regulate the pay of the Navy; for carrying to the coast of Africa Negroes captured on board Slavers; to aid in establishing a telegraph line between the Atlantic and Pacific States; concerning divorces in the District of Columbia; giving judicial powers to ministers and consuls of the United States, in certain foreign countries; relating to the redemption of Treasury-notes, and the Public printing. Tables of the Fineness, Weight, and Value of foreign gold and silver coins; of the prices of certain articles of commerce in New York for forty years; of Railroads in this country, and of the surveyed routes to the Pacific; of Telegraphs and Submarine Telegraphs; of Colleges and Professional Schools in the United States; of the Population of the several States at the decennial periods, including the census of 1860; of the Debts, Property, and Expenses of the States; and of the Times of the State Elections and the Meetings of the State Legislatures, are given. The alphabetical arrangement of the Individual States, for obvious reasons substituted for the geographical, has been continued in this volume. The information concerning the Individual States is as full as in former years. It is believed that nowhere else can be found collected 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 the latest 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, and the Ministry of France. The table of the population of the British Colonies was made up at the Colonial Office. 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 Departments 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 co-operation of many individuals. Communications should be addressed to the Editor of the American Almanac," Boston. Boston, Mass., January, 1861. |