Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by GEORGE P. SANGER, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. CAMBRIDGE: PREFACE. THE twenty-seventh volume of the American Almanac, being the seventh 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. "At The Astronomical Department has been prepared by Mr. George P. Bond, Assistant Observer at the Cambridge Observatory. The article upon mospheric Electricity," with its full details, is a continuation of the popular article in the Almanac of last year. 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 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. Under the Navy and Army Lists, respectively, will be found the Navy Officers dropped or retired, and the Officers of the new Infantry and Cavalry Regiments. 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 Quantity and Value of the Cotton, Rice, Tobacco, and Breadstuffs, exported each year, since 1820, are given in one of the Tables. The exports for the last four years are given in detail. The rates of postage are under the new law, and these, with the inland and foreign mail service, are believed to be complete and correct. The Titles and Abstracts of the Pub lic 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 circulation of small notes as Currency in the District of Columbia; the Court of Claims; the Reform and Discipline of the Navy; the Payment of the Creditors of the Republic of Texas; the remodelling of the Diplomatic and Consular System; the new Postage Rates, and the Registration of Letters; the carriage of Passengers in Steamships and other Vessels; the provisions for the Insane of the Army and Navy; the Codifying the Laws of the District of Columbia; the carrying into effect the Reciprocity Treaty; the Salaries of the District Judges; the additional Bounty Lands; the conferring of the Title of Lieutenant-General by Brevet; the children of citizens born out of the United States; the Telegraph to the Pacific; and the Purchasers and Locators of Swamp Lands. The tabular view of the railroads in the country is continued from the last volume. There are also given a list of the Railroads in Canada, and a Table comparing the surveys of the different proposed routes to the Pacific. 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 Life Annuity and other Tables will be found convenient and valuable for 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. Fuller details in regard to the other States of Europe were prepared, but are necessarily postponed until another year. A Foreign Obituary for 1854 and 1855 is given. 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 co-operation of many individuals. Communications should be addressed to the Editor of the American Almanac," Boston. Boston, Mass., December, 1855. 22. Seventh Census of United States... 215 23. Population of some Principal Cities, 216 Revenue and Expenditure,..... Rates of Foreign Letter and News- ........ Foreign Magazine and Pamphlet 4. Massachusetts, ............................................. 245 24. Ohio, 6. Connecticut, ..................... 258 26. Indiana,............... |