ates is bound to see respected. He also refers to the
reports of the officers appointed to examine the Pacific Coasts of the
United States, in order to select suitable sites for fortifications and
naval depots there. Captain Stansbury's Expedition to the Great Salt
Lake, the Secretary says, is understood to be completed, and a report of
his operations is supposed to be now on its way home. Other Expeditions,
similar to this, are also referred to. The Secretary renews the
recommendation of his predecessor for the formation of a retired list of
officers of the Army. An asylum for disabled and destitute soldiers is
also urged upon the attention of Congress. The financial estimates for
this Department, for the ensuing year, do not appear quite so favorable
as could be wished. The sum required for the next fiscal year will
considerably exceed the aggregate for the current year--an increase
caused, among other things, by the act of last Congress increasing the
rank and file of all the companies serving on the Western
frontier--paying nearly double all the officers and men in California
and Oregon--and by increased expenditures in the Quartermaster's
department. The Secretary points out several departments of the service
where principles of economy may be introduced to advantage, and to them
he calls the earnest and immediate attention of Congress.

The Report of Mr. GRAHAM, Secretary of the Navy, is also brief, and
gives an account of the six different squadrons into which the naval
force in commission is divided. The Secretary remarks that occasional
instances of British interference with vessels bearing our flag on the
African coast have occurred, but that in each case explanations and
apologies have been made to our officers on that station, and the
reports thereof transmitted to the Government. The existing _personnel_
of the Navy embraces 68 captains, 97 commanders, 327 lieutenants, 111
surgeons, 43 assistant surgeons, 64 pursers, 24 chaplains, 12 professors
of mathematics, 11 masters in the line of promotion, 464 passed and
other midshipmen, and 7500 petty officers, seamen, landsmen, boys, etc.
The Secretary says that this system of officers is unshapely and
disproportioned, there being great disparity between the head and the
subordinate parts, and he recommends a great reduction in the three
highest grades. The report discusses other questions respecting the
organization and distribution of the service. The Secretary n