On British, sea, and American inland postage, the single letter is oz. ; on foreign postage, the single letter is less than oz. Letters weighing oz. and under 1⁄2 oz. are charged two rates; oz. and under, three rates, &c.; an additional rate being charged for each quarter of an ounce. Thus, a letter directed to the East Indies by a British steamer, and weighing less than oz., will be charged 65 cents postage; if oz. or more, and less than oz., 75 cents must be paid; the foreign postage only being doubled for each oz. On letters to Havre, or any place on the coast of France, to Germany, or any port on the Continent, where the United States steam-packets stop, except Great Britain and Ireland, the postage is 20 cents the single rate, prepayment required. Letters by this line are subject in France to an additional postage, if destined to Havre, of 6 cents; if to any other part of France or Algeria, of 12 cents, if weighing under oz.; 24 cents, if weighing over oz. and less than oz., &c. Newspapers 2 cents each, prepayment required. Letters, &c. may be sent to China, New South Wales, and the Sandwich Islands, via San Francisco, and thence by private ship. Postage 10 cents, being United States postage to San Francisco, to be prepaid. Postage on Pamphlets and Magazines to and from Foreign Countries, from and to any Point in the United States. The postage on magazines and pamphlets to all foreign countries, except Great Britain, the British North American Provinces, and the west coast of South America, is, by whatever line sent, one cent an ounce or fraction of an ounce. To the west coast of South America it is four cents an ounce or fraction of an ounce, to be collected in all cases in the United States. To and from the British North American Provinces the postage is the regular United States rate to and from the line, to be prepaid when sent, and collected when received. Editors may exchange free. On each periodical and pamphlet between Great Britain and the United States, the United States postage is 2 cents, if not over 2 ounces in weight, and 4 cents per ounce or fraction of an ounce over 2 ounces, always to be prepaid. An additional British postage of the same rate, when not exceeding 2 ounces, must be paid in England; but the third ounce raises the British charge to 6 pence (12 cents), with 2 pence (4 cents) additional for each additional ounce. When sent to or received from foreign countries, without passing through the United Kingdom, they will be charged with the regular United States rates, to be prepaid when sent, and collected when received. No pamphlet can be sent weighing over 8 ounces, and no periodical over 16 ounces, without being subject to letter postage. Newspapers and periodicals to foreign countries, and particularly to the Continent of Europe, must be sent in narrow bands, open at the sides or end; otherwise they are chargeable there with letter postage. 10. REGISTRATION OF LETTERS. The act of March 3, 1855, authorized the Postmaster-General to establish a uniform plan for the registration of valuable letters posted for transmis sion in the mails, for their greater security, upon the application of parties posting the same. A registration fee, to be prepaid, is charged upon each letter or packet, in addition to the regular postage. The registration is not compulsory, nor does it render the United States or the Department responsible for the safe carriage of such letters or packets. 11. Amounts actually credited for the Transportation of the Mails, by States and Territories, and the Amount of Postages collected in the same, in the Year ending June 30, 1854. XIII. CONGRESS.* THE Congress of the United States consists of a Senate and House of Representatives, and must assemble at least once every year, on the first Monday of December, unless it is otherwise provided by law. The Senate is composed of two members from each State; and, of course, the regular number is now 62. They are chosen by the Legislatures of the several States, for the term of six years, one third being elected biennially. The Vice-President of the United States is the President of the Senate, in which body he has only a casting vote, which is given in case of an equal division of the votes of the Senators. In his absence, a President pro tempore is chosen from among the Senators by the Senate. The House of Representatives is composed of members from the several States, elected by the people, for the term of two years. The Representatives are apportioned among the different States according to population, in the following manner. Under the provisions of the act of Congress of May 23, 1850, Ch. XI. §§ 25, 26, the number of Representatives is established at 233. After each decennial enumeration, the aggregate representative population of the United States is ascertained by the Secretary of the Interior, by adding to the whole number of free persons in all the States, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons. This aggregate is divided by 233, and the quotient, rejecting fractions, if any, is the ratio of apportionment among the several States. The representative population of each State is then ascertained in the same manner, and is divided by the above-named ratio, and this quotient gives the apportionment of Representatives to each State. The loss by fractions is compensated for by assigning to as many States having the largest fractions as may be necessary to make the whole number of Representatives 233, one additional member each for its fraction. If after the apportionment new States are admitted, Representatives are assigned to such States upon the above basis, in addition to the limited number of 233; but such excess continues only until the next apportionment under the succeeding census. When the apportionment is completed, the Secretary sends a certificate thereof to the House of Representatives, and to the Executive of each State a certificate of the number apportioned to such State. The present number of Representatives is 234, an additional representative being temporarily assigned to California by the act of July 30, 1852. There are, besides, seven Delegates, one each from Oregon, Minnesota, Utah, New Mexico, Washington, Kansas, and Nebraska, who have a right to speak, but not to vote. A previous law (Laws of 1842, Ch. 47) requires that in each State the Representatives "shall be elected by districts composed of contiguous territory, equal in number to the number of Representatives to which said State may be entitled, no one district electing more than one Representative." For a table of apportionments, &c. among the several States, see post, page 215. *The American Almanac for 1844, p. 149, contains a complete list of the Senators and Representatives in Congress from the several States, from the commencement of the government under the Constitution to the end of the 27th Congress, March 23, 1843, with the be ginning and termination of their respective periods of office. The American Almanac for 1854, p. 213, brings down the list from the commencement of the 28th Congress to the end of the 32d Congress, March 3, 1853. 17* Since the 4th of March, 1817, the compensation of each member of the Senate and House of Representatives has been $8 a day, during the period of his attendance in Congress, without deduction in case of sickness; and $8 for every twenty miles' travel, in the usual road, in going to and returning from the seat of government. The compensation of the President of the Senate pro tempore, and of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, is $16 a day. THIRTY-FOURTH CONGRESS. 1ST SESSION. THE SENATE. [The figures denote the expiration of the terms of the Senators.] Hon. Jesse D. Bright, President, pro tem. Asbury Dickins, Secretary. North Carolina. Maine. Hannibal Hamlin, Hampden, 1857 David S. Reid, Rockingham Co., 1859 Wm. Pitt Fessenden, Portland, 1859 Asa Biggs, New Hampshire. Williamstown, South Carolina. 1861 Josiah J. Evans, Society Hill, 1859 1861 A. P. Butler, Edgefield C.H.1861 Georgia. 1859 James A. Bayard, Wilmington, 1857 Thos. G. Pratt, Annapolis, 1857 Lewis Cass, Detroit, James A. Pearce, Chestertown, 1861 Charles E. Stuart, Kalamazoo, 1859 James M. Mason, Winchester, 1857 Jesse D. Bright, Madison, 1857 R.M.T.Hunter, Lloyds, Essex Co. 1859 Vacancy, 1861 |