The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1851-12-11

is among the humane reforms of the age; but
to abolish one of severity, which applied so
generally to offences ship-board and provide
nothing i'll its stead, is to suppose a progress of
improvement in every individual among seamen
which is not assumed by the Legislature in re-
spect to any other class of men. 1t is hoped
that Congress, in the ample opportunity afford
ed by the present session, will thoroughly in
vestigate this important subject, and establish
such modes of determining guilt, and such gr;i-
dations of punishment consistent with
humanity and the personal lights of individuals,
and at the same time shall ensure the most en-
ergetic and efficient performance of duty and
the suppression of crime in our ships of war.
The stone dock in the navy yard at New York
which was ten years in process of construction,
has been so far finished as to be surrendered up
to the authorities of the yard. The dry dock
at Philadelphia is reported as completed and is
expected soon to be tested and delivered ever to
the agents of the Government. That at Ports
mouth, New Hampshire, is also nearly ready
for delivery; and contract has been concluded,
agreeably to the act of Congress at its last scs-
sion, for floating sectional dock on the Bay of
San Francisco. ! invite your attention to the
Recommendation of the Department touching
the establishment Of a navy yard in conjunction
with this dock on the Pacific. Such station is
ighly necessary to the convenience and effect
iveness of our fleet in that ocean, which must
be expected to increase with the growth of COM
merce, and the rapid extension Of our whale
fisheries over its waters.
The Naval Academy at Annapolis, under a
revised and improved system of regulations,
now affords opportunities of education and in
structon to the pupils quite equal, it is believed,
for professional improvement, to those enjoyed
by the cadets in the Military Academy. large
class Of acting midshipmen received at the
commencement of the last academic term, and
practice ship has been attached to the institu-
ton, to afford the amplest means to regular in
struction in seamansh!p, as well as for cruises
during the vacations Of three or four months in
each year.
The advantages of science in nautical affairs
have rarely been more strikingly illustrated than
in the fact stated in the report of the Navy De-
partment, that, by means Of the wind and cur
rent charts projected and prepared by Lieuten-
ant Maury, the Superintendent of the Naval
Observatory, the passage from the Atlantic to
the Pacific ports of our country has been short
ened by about forty days
The estimates for the support of the Navy
and Marine Corps the ensuing fiscal year will
be found to be So, $50, ,472 10, the estimates for
the current year being 50, 900, 621.
The estimates for special objects under the
control Of this Department amount to 81, 6S4,-
go SO, against 50, ,210, $50 for the present year,
the increase being occasioned by the additional
mail service on the Pacific coast and the con-
struction of the dock in California, authorized
at the last session of Congress, and some slight
additions under the head of improvements and
repairs in navy yards, buildings and machinery.
L deem it of much importance to a just econ
omy and correct understanding of naval eX-
penditures, that there should be entire sep
aration Of the appropriations for the support of
the naval service proper from those for perma
nent improvements at navy yards and stations,
and from ocean steam mail service, and other
special objects assigned to the supervision of
this Department
The report of the Postmaster General, here
with communicated, presents an interesting view
of the progress, operations, and condition of
his Department
AT the close of the last fiscal year, the length
of mail routes within the United States was
196, 290 miles; the annual transportation there
on SO, 81, ,252 miles; and the annual cost of
such transportation Sd, ,421, ,754.
The length of the foreign mail routes is esti-
mated at Is, $40 miles; and the annual trans
portatien thereon at 615y y206 miles The annual
cost of the service Is 81 Az 1877, of which
S544S 937 is paid by the Post Office Department
and 81, ,023, 250 is paid through the Navy De-
,,,:s.rtment. "a,
The annual transportation ;stlhnt the United
States (excluding the service in Califorli!a and
Oregon which is now, for the first time, reported
and embraced in the tabular statements of the
Department) exceeds that of the precediug year
g. 1G2 $50 miles, at an increased cost of S547, 10.
The whole number of post offices III the Uni
ted States, on the Both day of June last was
10, 796. There were 1,69S post offices estab
lshed, and 256 discontinued, during the year.
The gross revenues of the Department for the
fiscal year, including the appropriations for the
franked matter of Congress, of the Departments,
and officers of Government, and excluding the
foreign postages, collected for and payable to, the
British post office, amounted to Sc, 727 sec rs.
The expenditures for the same period (eXclu
ding $50, ,599 40, paid under award of the
Auditor, in pursuance of a resolution Of the
last Congress- for mail service on the Ohio and
Mississippi rivers in 1882 and 1888, and the
amount paid to the British post Office for foreign
postages collected for and payable to that ofice)
amounted to Sc, ,024, sec 10; leaving balance
of revenue the proper expenditures of the
year of S7o3, 299 80.
The receipts for postages during the year
Excluding the foreign pOstages collected for
and payable to the British post office) amounted
to Sc, ,345, l47 21, being an increase of 997,-
610 10, or 1S.65-l0O per cent. over the like re-
ceipts for the preceding year.
The reduction of postage, under the act of
March last, did not take effect until the COM
mencement of the present fiscal year The ac
counts for the first quarter, under the operation
of the reduced rates, will not be settled before
January next; and no reliable estimate of the
receipts for the present year can yet be made
1t is believed however, that they will fall far
short of those of tho last year. The surplus of
the revenues now on hand is, however, so large
that no further appropriation from the treasury,
in aid of the revenues of the Department, is re-
quired for the current fiscal year; but an addi-
tional appropriation for the year ending June
80 1853, will probably be found necessary when
the receipts of the first two quarters of the is-