armoured vessels of about 6000 tons displacement, designed for a speed of at least 16 knots an hour, to have each a complete torpedo outfit and be armed in the most effective manner. 2. One protected double-bottomed cruiser of not less than 3500 nor more than 5000 tons displacement, designed to have the highest practicable speed. 3. One first-class torpedo - boat; and to complete the double-turreted monitors Puritan, Amphitrite, Monadnock, and Terror. "The engines, boilers, and machinery of all the new vessels . . . shall be of domestic manufacture," and "the armour used in constructing said armoured vessels and for completing said monitors shall be of the best obtainable quality and of domestic manufacture." The Secretary of the Navy was also authorised to contract with the Pneumatic Dynamite Gun Company of New York for 4. One dynamite gun cruiser of not less than 230 feet long, 26 feet breadth of beam, 7 feet draught, 3200 horse-power, and guaranteed to attain a speed of 20 knots an hour, and to be equipped with three pneumatic dynamite guns of 10 inches calibre, and guaranteed to throw shells containing 200 lb. of dynamite or other high explosives at least one mile, each gun to be capable of being discharged once in two minutes. In 1883 the three steel cruisers Chicago, Boston, and Atlanta, and despatch-boat Dolphin, were authorised to be constructed, and work was stopped on the double-turreted monitors Monadnock, Terror, Amphitrite, and Puritan. In 1884 a sum of $50,000 was appropriated for completing the Mohican at the Mare Island navy yard, and "for care and safe-keeping of the ironclad monitors now in the hands of the contractors, when they shall have been turned over to the Government by said contractors, $5000." In 1885 the President was enabled "to strengthen the naval establishment of the United States by additional vessels of the best and most modern design, having the highest attainable speed," by the appropriation of $1,895,000 for the construction of two cruisers of not less than 3000 nor more than 5000 tons displacement, one heavily armed gunboat of about 1600 tons displacement, and one light gunboat of about 800 tons displacement. But the strength of the United States Navy does not increase much from year to year, as vessels are continually being sold, broken up, or retired for other purposes. In 1885 the United States Navy consisted of 41 naval steam-vesselsall screw-propellers except four-besides 12 wooden sailing vessels, 19 ironclad vessels, 2 torpedo-rams, and 13 tugs-total, 87 vessels, 514 guns. Not many of the vessels were efficient for service. The vessels of the United States Navy are divided into four classes, and are commanded as nearly as may be as follows: first-rates by commodores, second-rates by captains, thirdrates by commanders, fourth-rates by lieutenant-commanders. Steamships of 40 guns or more are classed as first-rates, those of 20 guns and under 40 guns as second-rates, and those of less than 20 guns as third - rates. Vessels of the Navy are named by the Secretary of the Navy, under the direction of the President, according to the following rule: sailing-vessels of the first class are named after the states of the Union, those of the second class after the rivers, those of the third class after the principal cities and towns, and those of the fourth class as the President may direct. The President is authorised to keep in actual service in the time of peace such of the public armed vessels as in his opinion are required | thereafter exempt from sea-duty ex by the nature of the service, and to cause the residue thereof to be laid up in ordinary in convenient ports. Those in actual service are officered and manned as the President directs, but commanded according to classrating as stated. During war rear-admirals are selected from those officers on the active list, not below the grade of commanders, who have eminently distinguished themselves by courage, skill, and genius in their profession; but no officer is so promoted unless, upon recommendation of the Presi- | dent by name, he has received the thanks of Congress for distinguished service. During peace, vacancies in that grade are filled by regular promotion from the list of commodores, subject to examination according to law. The commanding-officer of any fleet, squadron, or vessel acting singly when upon the high seas, or in any foreign port where there is no resident consul of the United States, is authorised to exercise all the powers of a consul in relation to mariners of the United States. The President may select any officer, not below the grade of commander, on the active list of the Navy, and assign him to the command of a squadron, with the rank and title of "flag officer," and any officer so assigned has the same authority and receives the same obedience from the commanders of ships in his squadron holding commissions of an older date than his that he would be entitled to receive if his commission were the oldest. Lieutenant - com manders may be assigned to duty as first lieutenants of naval stations, as navigation and watch officers on board of vessels of war, and as first lieutenants of vessels not commanded by lieutenant - commanders. Any staff-officer who has performed the duty of a chief of a bureau of the Navy Department for a full term, is cept in time of war. If any officer of the Navy accepts or holds an appointment in the diplomatic or consular service of the Government, he is considered as having resigned his place in the Navy, and it is filled as a vacancy. No officer of the Navy who has been dismissed by the sentence of a court-martial, or suffered to resign in order to escape such dismissal, ever again becomes an officer of the Navy. The Secretary of the Navy has authority to place on furlough any officer on the active list of the Navy. Any officer of the Navy who has been forty years in the service of the United States may be retired from active service by the President, upon his own application. There is no promotion or increase of pay in the retired list, but the rank and pay of officers on it shall be the same as they are when such officers are retired. Whenever on an inquiry, pursuant to law, concerning the fitness of an officer for promotion, it appears that such officer is unfit to perform at sea the required duties by reason of drunkenness, or from any cause arising from his own misconduct, if the finding of the board be approved by the President, he is not put on the retired list, but discharged with not more than one year's pay. Those below the rank of vice-admiral are, upon attaining sixty years of age, retired by the President; but lieu| tenant-commanders, lieutenants, masters, ensigns, midshipmen, passed assistant surgeons, passed assistant paymasters, first assistant engineers, assistant surgeons, assistant paymasters, or second assistant engineers are not placed upon the retired list, except on account of physical or mental disability. When the case of any officer has been acted upon by a board of naval surgeons and an examining board for promotion, and he has not been recommended for promotion by both of these boards, he is placed upon the retired list. Whenever any officer, on being ordered to perform the duties appropriate to his commission, reports himself unable to comply with such order, or whenever, in the judgment of the President, an officer is incapacitated, the President at his discretion may direct the Secretary of the Navy to refer such case to a board of not more than nine nor less than five commissioned officers, twofifths of whom shall be members of the medical corps of the Navy; and this retiring board has such powers of a court-martial and of a court of inquiry as may be necessary. The members are sworn in each case to discharge their duties honestly and impartially. A record of the proceedings and decision of the board is transmitted to the Secretary of the Navy, who lays it before the President for his approval or disapproval or orders in the case. cers found incapacitated by the result of an incident of the service are, with approval of the President, retired from active service with retired pay; those incapacitated not by the result of an incident of the service are, with approval of the President, retired on furlough pay, or wholly retired with one year's pay. Every officer before being retired is entitled to a full and fair hearing before the retiring board. No officer is placed on the retired list because of misconduct, but he is brought to trial by court-martial for such misconduct. Officers on the retired list are entitled to promotion as their several dates upon the active lists are promoted, but are not employed on active duty except in time of war. Retired officers detailed for the command of squadrons and single ships may be restored to the active list if, upon the recommendation of the President, Offi they receive a vote of thanks of Congress for their services and gallantry in action against the enemy, and not otherwise. All officers of the Navy are credited with the actual time they may have served as officers or enlisted men in the regular or volunteer Army or Navy, or both, and receive all the benefits of such actual service in all respects in the same manner as if all said service had been continuous, and in the regular Navy. But this does not authorise any change in the dates of commission, or in the relative rank of such officers. All appointments in the Medical Corps are made by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. No person is appointed assistant surgeon until he has been examined and approved by a board of naval surgeons designated by the Secretary of the Navy, nor who is under twenty-one or over twenty-six years of age. No person is appointed surgeon until he has served as an assistant surgeon at least two years on board a public vessel of the United States, nor until he has been examined and approved for such appointment by a board of naval surgeons designated by the Secretary of the Navy. The President may designate among the surgeons in the service, and appoint to every fleet or squadron, an experienced and intelligent surgeon, who is denominated "Surgeon of the Fleet," and is surgeon of the flag-ship. The Surgeon of the Fleet examines and approves all requisitions for medical and hospital stores for the squadron or fleet, and inspects their quality-consulting in difficult cases with the surgeons of the several ships, and making and transmitting to the Navy Department records of the character and treatment of diseases in the squadron or fleet. A surgeon, assistant surgeon, or passed assistant surgeon, is detailed as assistant to the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, or promoted in the engineer corps and receives the highest shore-pay of his grade. The Secretary of the Navy could appoint for temporary service such acting assistant surgeons as the exigencies of the service required, who received the compensation of assistant surgeons, but since 15th February 1879 he cannot appoint any. All appointments in the pay corps are made by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Assistant paymasters must, at date of appointment, be over twenty-one, and not over twenty-six, years of age, and have been examined and approved by a board of paymasters appointed by the Secretary of the Navy, as to their physical, mental, and moral qualifications. Passed assistant paymasters are regularly promoted and commissioned from assistant paymasters, and paymasters from passed assistant paymasters, subject to such examinations as are prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy. The President may designate among the paymasters in the service, and appoint to every fleet or squadron, a paymaster, to be called "Paymaster of the Fleet." Every paymaster, passed assistant, and assistant paymaster, before entering on the duties of his office, has to give bond with one or more sufficient sureties, to be approved by the Secretary of the Navy, for the faithful performance thereof paymasters in $25,000, passed assistant paymasters, $15,000, assistant paymasters, $10,000,--and when required they have to give new bonds. The President appoints the engineers of the engineer corps of the Navy, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. No person under nineteen or over twenty-six years is appointed a second assistant engineer, and no person is appointed until he has been found qualified by a board of competent engineers and medical officers designated by the Secretary of the Navy, and has complied with existing regulations. The President may designate among the chief engineers in the service, and appoint to every fleet or squadron, an engineer, to be denominated "Engineer of the Fleet." Cadet engineers who are graduated with credit in the scientific and mechanical class of the Naval Academy may, upon the recommendation of the academic board, be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate as second assistant engineers. Chaplains not less than twenty-one nor more than thirty-five years at date of appointment are appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for the public armed vessels of the United States in actual service. They are permitted to conduct public worship according to the manner and forms of the Church of which each may be a member. They report annually to the Secretary of the Navy the official services performed by them. The professors of mathematics who have rank and pay as officers of the Navy are appointed and commissioned by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and perform such duties as may be assigned to them by order of the Secretary of the Navy, at the Naval Academy, the Naval Observatory, and on board ships of war, in instructing the midshipmen of the Navy, or otherwise. They have to pass a physical examination before a board of naval surgeons, and a professional examination before a board of professors of mathematics in the Navy. Cadet engineers who are graduated with credit in the scientific and mechanical class of the Naval Acad emy may, upon the recommendation of the academic board, be immediately appointed as assistant naval constructors. Naval constructors may be required to perform duty at any navy-yard or other station. The President may appoint for the vessels in actual service as many boatswains, gunners, carpenters, and sailmakers as may, in his opinion, be necessary and proper, who are known and entered upon the Naval Register as "warrant officers in the naval service of the United States." Seamen distinguishing themselves in battle, or by extraordinary heroism in the line of their profession, may be promoted to forward warrant officers upon the recommendation of their commanding officer, approved by the flag-officer and Secretary of the Navy, and upon such recommendation receive a gratuity of $100 and a medal of honour, to be prepared under the direction of the Navy Department. Mates may be rated, under authority of the Secretary of the Navy, from seamen and ordinary seamen who have enlisted in the naval service for not less than two years; but such rating, or his appointment as a warrant officer, does not discharge him from his enlistment. All officers not holding commissions or warrants, or who are not entitled to them, except those who are temporarily appointed to do the duties, and except secretaries and clerks, are deemed petty officers, and are entitled to obedience in the execution of their offices from persons of inferior ratings. Storekeepers are required to give a bond in such amount as may be fixed by the Secretary of the Navy for the faithful performance of duty. The enlisted men include seamen, ordinary seamen, landsmen, mechanics, firemen, coal heavers, apprentices, and boys, and the number is from time to time regulated by the United States laws. Boys between the ages No of fourteen and eighteen years may, with the consent of their parents or guardians, be enlisted to serve in the Navy until they reach twenty-one years; other persons may be enlisted to serve for a period not exceeding five years, unless sooner discharged by direction of the President. minor under fourteen years, no insane or intoxicated person, and no deserter from the naval or military service of the United States, shall be enlisted in the naval service. Any person enlisted in the military service of the United States may, on application to the Navy Department, approved by the President, be transferred to the Navy or Marine Corps, to serve therein the residue of the term of his enlistment, subject to the laws and regulations for the government of the Navy. Honourable discharges, in a form prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy, may be granted to seamen, ordinary seamen, landsmen, firemen, coalheavers, and boys who have enlisted for three years. The relative rank between officers of the Navy, whether on the active or retired list, and officers of the Army, is as follows, lineal rank only being considered : The vice-admiral ranks with the lieutenant-general. Rear-admirals with major-generals. Commodores with brigadier - generals. Captains with colonels. Commanders with lieutenant-colonels. Lieutenant commanders majors. with Lieutenants with captains. Ensigns with second lieutenants. Line officers take rank in each grade according to the dates of their commissions. Commanding officers of vessels of war and of naval stations take precedence over all officers placed |