ina, on board. There is ground
for high commendation of the officers and men for the coolness and
intrepidity and perfect submission to discipline evinced under the most
trying circumstances. Surrounded by a raging fire, which the utmost
exertions could not subdue, and which threatened momentarily the
explosion of her well-supplied magazines, the officers exhibited no
signs of fear and the men obeyed every order with alacrity. Nor was she
abandoned until the last gleam of hope of saving her had expired. It is
well worthy of your consideration whether the losses sustained by the
officers and crew in this unfortunate affair should not be reimbursed
to them.

I can not take leave of this painful subject without adverting to the
aid rendered upon the occasion by the British authorities at Gibraltar
and the commander, officers, and crew of the British ship of the line
the _Malabar_, which was lying at the time in the bay. Everything that
generosity or humanity could dictate was promptly performed. It is by
such acts of good will by one to another of the family of nations that
fraternal feelings are nourished and the blessings of permanent peace
secured.

The report of the Postmaster-General will bring you acquainted with the
operations of that Department during the past year, and will suggest
to you such modifications of the existing laws as in your opinion
the exigencies of the public service may require. The change which
the country has undergone of late years in the mode of travel and
transportation has afforded so many facilities for the transmission of
mail matter out of the regular mail as to require the greatest vigilance
and circumspection in order to enable the officer at the head of the
Department to restrain the expenditures within the income. There is also
too much reason to fear that the franking privilege has run into great
abuse. The Department, nevertheless, has been conducted with the
greatest vigor, and has attained at the least possible expense all the
useful objects for which it was established.

In regard to all the Departments, I am quite happy in the belief that
nothing has been left undone which was called for by a true spirit of
economy or by a system of accountability rigidly enforced. This is in
some degree apparent from the fact that the Government has sustained no
loss by the default of any of its agents. In the complex, but at the
same time beautiful, machinery of our system of government, it