Thus also after the annual examinations, which are attended by a board of Officers and Professors appointed for that purpose, a list is printed, with remarks upon the general good or bad conduct, attention to studies, &c. of each cadet. One of these lists is sent to the parents and relations, to the War-office (where it is preserved), and to many officers of the army, and to other individuals in office, who take an interest in the establishment. The names of those who have particularly distinguished themselves are printed in the annual Army List. If at the annual examination, the Board finds that any cadet has not made a respectable progress, he is turned back into the class below; and so severe and impartial are the examiners, that this happens frequently in each class. Thus, by the printed list of the examinations of 1822, I saw, that of the first class, (or of those who were about to graduate and become officers,) two were turned back ;-of the second class, three of the third class, four; and of the fourth, or junior class, no less than thirteen.

Of those who graduate, the first in merit are appointed to the Engineers, the next to the Artillery, and the rest to the Infantry. In addition to the examination, every cadet, before graduating, is obliged to manœuvre the battallion and the battery

of

guns, for two hours, in the presence of the inspecting officers. All vacancies in the United States' army are filled up from the College; and in

the present reduced state of the military force there are no ensigns, but all cadets on graduating become at once lieutenants.

Colonel Thayer informed me, that there had been some difficulty at first in selecting text books, and particularly in mathematics, for almost all the good works on Fortification, Artillery, Strategy, &c. are written in French, and have not yet been translated. A foolish prejudice has long existed in England, against the introduction of the powerful Analysis used by the French Mathematicians. Even when I was at Cambridge, many of the old Fellows of colleges still preferred the antiquated geometrical method; though it was evident that in consequence of pursuing it, the English were, as regarded Mathematics, nearly half a century behind the disciples of La Place and La Croix. The cadets however at the United States' Military College apply so closely to French during their first year, that they are enabled to read that language as easily as English.

The following is a List of the Text Books in use at the College:-.

Class.

FIRST CLASS--Fourth Year's Course.

UNITED STATES' MILITARY ACADEMY.-STUDIES AND CLASS BOOKS.

Class Books.

Class.

FOURTH CLASS-First Year's Course.

TABLE-continued.

Department.

Subjects.

Class Books.

There is no vacation allowed at the institution; but furloughs are granted to a few cadets in the months of July and August, when the remainder leave the College and encamp in different parts of the country, attending only to practical military operations.

Upon looking over the table of studies, it will be seen that the subjects are not very varied; but the greatest possible pains are taken, in order to make the cadets perfect in all of them. Indeed I have no hesitation in saying, that for severity of study, for order, regularity, and quiet, this institution very far exceeds any place of either military or civil education I have ever visited or even heard of.

The College, without considering it merely in a military point of view, will be of incalculable benefit to the United States, as a nursery for science; for it is the only place where the higher branches of mathematics are attended to, and the education which the cadets receive is such, that if they prosecute their studies, they may vie with the scientific men of any part of the world.

Many, after entering the army, remain in it but a short time, and are appointed civil engineers to different States, or are employed in superintending public works and topographical surveys.

As I have before mentioned, it is only since Colonel Thayer was appointed superintendent of the College, that its present admirable system has