POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT.

Postmaster-General. The direction and management of the Post-office Department are assigned by the Constitution and laws to the Postmaster-General. That its business may be the more conveniently arranged and prepared for his final action, it is distributed among several bureaus, as follows:-The Appointment Office, in charge of the First Assistant Postmaster-General; the Contract Office, in charge of the Second Assistant Postmaster-General; the Finance Office, in charge of the Third Assistant Postmaster-General; and the Inspection Office, in charge of the Chief Clerk.

APPOINTMENT OFFICE.

First Assistant Postmaster-General and nineteen clerks. To this office are assigned all questions which relate to the establishment and discontinuance of post-offices, changes of sites and names, appointment and removal of postmasters, and route and local agents, as, also, the giving of instructions to postmasters. Postmasters are furnished with marking and rating stamps and letter balances by this bureau, which is charged also with providing blanks and stationery for the use of the Department, and with the superintendence of the several agencies established for supplying postmasters with blanks. To this bureau is likewise assigned the supervision of the ocean mail steamship lines, and of the foreign and international postal arrangements.

CONTRACT OFFICE.

Second Assistant Postmaster-General and twenty-six clerks. To this office is assigned the business of arranging the mail service of the United States, and placing the same under contract, embracing all correspondence and proceedings respecting the frequency of trips, mode of conveyance, and times of departures and arrivals on all the routes; the course of the mail between the different sections of the country, the points of mail distribution, and the regulations for the government of the domestic mail service of the United States. It prepares the advertisements for mail proposals, receives the bids, and takes charge of the annual and occasional mail lettings, and the adjustment and execution of the contracts. All applications for the establishment or alteration of mail arrangements, and the appointment of mail messengers, should be sent to this office. All claims should be submitted to it for transportation service not under contract, as the recognition of said service is first to be obtained through the Contract Office as a necessary authority for the proper credits at the Auditor's office. From this office all postmasters at the ends of routes receive the statement of mail arrangements prescribed for the respective routes. It reports weekly to the Auditor all contracts executed, and all orders affecting accounts for mail transportation; prepares the statistical exhibits of the mail service, and the reports of the mail lettings, giving a statement of each bid; also, of the contracts made, the new service originated, the curtailments ordered, and the additional allowances granted within the year.

FINANCE OFFICE.

Third Assistant Postmaster-General and twenty-one clerks. To this office are assigned the supervision and management of the financial business of the Department, not devolved by law upon the Auditor, embracing accounts with the draft offices and other depositories of the Department, the issuing of warrants and drafts in payment of balances, reported by the Auditor to be due to mail contractors and other persons, the supervision of the accounts of offices under orders to deposit their quarterly balances at designated points, and the superintendence of the rendition by postmasters of their quarterly returns of postages. It has charge of the dead-letter office, of the issuing of postage stamps and stamped envelopes for the prepayment of postage, and of the accounts connected therewith.

To the Third Assistant Postmaster-General all postmasters should direct their quarterly returns of postage; those at draft offices their letters reporting quarterly the net proceeds of their offices; and those at depositing offices their certificates of deposit; to him should also be directed the weekly and monthly returns of the depositaries of the Department, as well as all applications and receipts for postage stamps and stamped envelopes, and for dead-letters.

INSPECTION OFFICE.

Chief clerk and seventeen clerks. To this office is assigned the duty of receiving and examining the registers of the arrivals and departures of the mails, certificates of the service of route agents, and reports of mail failures; of noting the delinquencies of contractors, and preparing cases thereon for the action of the Postmaster-General; furnishing blanks for mail registers, and reports of mail failures; providing and sending out mail-bags and mail-locks and keys, and doing all other things which may be necessary to secure a faithful and exact performance of all mail contracts.

All cases of mail depredation, of violation of law by private expresses, or by the forging or illegal use of postage stamps, are under the supervision of this office, and should be reported to it.

All communications respecting lost money, letters, mail depredations, or other violations of law, or mail-locks and keys, should be directed, "Chief Clerk, Postoffice Department."

All registers of the arrivals and departures of the mails, certificates of the service of route agents, reports of mail failures, applications for blank registers, and reports of failures, and all complaints against contractors for irregular or imperfect service, should be directed, "Inspection-office, Post-office Department."

NAVY DEPARTMENT.

The Navy Department consists of the Navy Department proper, being the office of the Secretary and of five bureaus attached thereto, viz.: Bureau of Navy-yards and Docks; Bureau of Construction, Equipment, and Repair; Bureau of Provisions and Clothing; Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography; and the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

The following is a statement of the duties of each of these offices and of the force employed therein :—

SECRETARY'S OFFICE.

Secretary of the Navy, chief clerk, and eleven clerks. The Secretary of the Navy has charge of everything connected with the naval establishment, and the execution of all laws relating thereto is intrusted to him, under the general direction of the President of the United States, who, by the Constitution, is Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy. All instructions to commanders of squadrons, and commanders of vessels, all orders of officers, commissions of officers both in the navy and marine corps, appointments of commissioned and warrant officers, orders for the enlistment and discharge of seamen, emanate from the Secretary's office. All the duties of the different bureaus are performed under the authority of the Secretary, and their orders are considered as emanating from him. The general superintendence of the marine corps forms, also, a part of the duties of the Secretary, and all the orders of the commandant of that corps should be approved by him.

BUREAU OF NAVY-YARDS AND DOCKS.

Commodore Joseph Smith, chief of the bureau, four clerks, one civil engineer, and one draughtsman. All the navy-yards, docks, and wharves, buildings and machinery in navy-yards, and everything immediately connected with them, are under the superintendence of this bureau. It is also charged with the management of the Naval Asylum.

BUREAU OF CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT, AND REPAIR.

Chief of the bureau, eight clerks, and one draughtsman. The office of the Engineer-in-Chief of the Navy is attached to this bureau, who is assisted by three assistant engineers. This bureau has charge of the building and repairs of all vessels-of-war, purchase of materials, and the providing of all vessels with their equipments, as sails, anchors, water-tanks, etc. The Engineer-in-Chief superintends the construction of all marine steam-engines for the navy, and, with the approval of the Secretary, decides upon plans for their construction.

BUREAU OF PROVISIONS AND CLOTHING.

Purser, United States Navy, chief of bureau, and four clerks. All provisions for the use of the navy, and clothing, together with the making of contracts for furnishing the same, come under the charge of this bureau.

BUREAU OF ORDNANCE AND HYDROGRAPHY.

Captain Duncan Ingraham, chief of bureau, four clerks, and one draughtsman. This bureau has charge of all ordnance and ordnance stores, the manufacture or purchase of cannon, guns, powder, shot, shells, etc., and the equipment of vesselsof-war, with everything connected therewith. It also provides them with maps, charts, chronometers, barometers, etc., together with such books as are furnished ships-of-war. "The United States Naval Observatory and Hydrographical Office," at Washington, and the Naval Academy, at Annapolis, are also under the general superintendence of the chief of this bureau.

BUREAU OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY.

Dr. William Whelan, Surgeon, United States Navy, chief of bureau, one passed assistant surgeon United States Navy, and two clerks. Everything relating to medicines and medical stores, treatment of sick and wounded, and management of hospitals, comes within the superintendence of this bureau.

WAR DEPARTMENT.

Secretary of War, chief clerk, seven subordinate clerks, two messengers, and four watchmen. The following bureaus are attached to this Department:

COMMANDING GENERAL'S OFFICE.

This office, at the head of which is Lieutenant-General Scott, is at New York.

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFice.

Colonel Samuel Cooper, Adjutant-General. Assistants: Brevet-Major E. D. Townsend, Brevet-Captain S. Williams, and Brevet-Captain J. P. Garesche. Judge-Advocate, Brevet-Major John F. Lee; nine clerks and one messenger. In this office are kept all the records which refer to the personel of the army, the rolls, etc. It is here where all military commissions are made out.

QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL'S OFFICE.

Brevet-Major-General T. S. Jesup, Quartermaster-General. Assistants:Colonel C. Thomas, Captain M. S. Miller, and Brevet-Major J. Belger; eleven clerks, and one messenger.

PAYMASTER-GENERAL'S OFFICE.

Colonel B. F. Larned, Paymaster-General; Major T. J. Leslie, District Paymaster; eight clerks, and one messenger.

COMMISSARY-GENERAL'S OFFICE.

General George Gibson, Commissary-General; Assistant: Captain M. D. L. Simpson; six clerks, and one messenger.

SURGEON-GENERAL'S OFFICE.

General Thomas Lawson, Surgeon-General; Assistants: Dr. R. C. Wood, and Dr. G. K. Wood; three clerks.

ENGINEER'S OFFICE.

General Joseph G. Totten, Chief Engineer; Assistant: Captain H. G. Wright; five clerks, and one messenger.

TOPOGRAPHICAL BUREAU.

Colonel J. J. Abert, colonel of the corps; Assistant: Captain J. C. Woodruff; four clerks, and one messenger.

ORDNANCE BUREAU.

Colonel H. R. Craig, Colonel of Ordnance; Assistant: Captain William Maynadier; eight clerks, and one messenger.