on the east of it, the gun will shortly be entirely hid from view. It is presumed that its removal to the New-York arsenal by land will not involve a great expense. Its weight is about three tons. This piece of ordnance is said to have cost the State six hundred dollars. A piece of the same caliber will cost, at an average price, three hundred and thirty dollars, at the present time.

Former reports and statements made to the Legislature, cause it to appear, that the State has deposited at Governor's Island, thirteen pieces of iron ordnance and as many garrison gun carriages. The caliber of the ordnance was stated in 1821 to be one 32 pounder, and twelve 24 pounders, and subsequently it is stated to be thirteen 24 pounders. Wishing to know more of this property than reports state, but finding no other evidence on the subject in the office, the Commissary-General addressed a letter to Col. Fanning U. S. Commander at the post at Fort Columbus, Governor's Island, which induced the annexed correspondence, marked from No. 1 to No. 7, which is submitted.

There being no doubt, that the United State received during the late war, and still is in possession of twelve 24 pounders, the property of the people of this State, which fact is satisfactorily shown by Major William Dustan's letter, it is respectfully suggested that the account with the United States be settled, provided the State shall have no further use for the property, on terms justly estimating its value to the United States at the delivery of it. The ascertained value can, if the Legislature please, be furnished to the State in field artillery, with carriages and equipment complete for the service of the artillery companies of the State unprovided

for.

The walls of the arsenal building at New-York, from its location and the weight from time to time imposed on them, have, on the east side of the building, become cracked and weakened.— Several tons of ordnance stores have, during the season, been removed from the building, and placed under sheds formed into store rooms, where equal security and protection are afforded to the articles removed. The roof of this building wants some repairs, and new gutters are necessary. The exterior of the building wants painting, and the second story of the interior should also be painted, no part of the wood work there except the window-sashes having been painted.

Besides the field pieces and carriages in this arsenal, there are housed under sheds at the yards, thirty-two brass pieces of ordnance, nine tumbrels, and six caissons, in the possession of artillery companies; and besides three large baggage wagons, two tumbrels, and three caissons not issued. Some of these for want of shed room, have remained unprotected, and others are under sheds which afford insufficient protection, in consequence of the old and leaky state of the roofs under which they are housed. To secure the property in field carriages here deposited, some of the present sheds at least should be replaced by better accommodations in sheds, and shed roof coverings.

The additional building made to the dwelling-house occupied by the Commissary-General, for which an appropriation of nine hundred dollars was made by the Legislature, is completed, and the cellar of the dwelling has been filled up, as far as necessary to ren der the premises comparatively dry and comfortable, which they now are. Owing to a want of exact information, however, by Mr. Tucker, the builder, he has set down some of the articles of his estimate, at a price less than their cost has been, which circumstance involves an additional sum of fifty-four dollars and twenty. seven cents more than was anticipated, for materials, labor, and the expense of the alterations contemplated. The Commissary-General would therefore respectfully recommend the payment of the balance due Mr. John C. Tucker.

The magazine and premises on York Island are in good repair. A barn erected on these premises in 1832, remains in the state it was finished, without being painted. A coat of paint is necessary for its preservation.

The arsenal building at Albany wants some small repairs, and the outside of the building wants painting.

The arsenal at Onondaga Hollow, if it be continued for an arsenal, requires repairs, which will not exceed fifty dollars to put the building in good repair, but it is questionable whether this site is now a proper and suitable one as a depot for the ordnance, arms, and ordnance stores of the State. In the opinion of the Commissary. General, this property should be sold, and a more suitable site be selected, and a building be erected for an arsenal at Syracuse, where security of position and facility of communication are amply afforded. Mr. George Hall claims the land on which the ar

senal building stands at the hollow, as his land, on the right of which, the Commissary-Gencral has no opinion to offer.

The arsenal at Canandaigua requires a small expenditure to make the building secure, and to put it in good repair. The amount will not exceed fifty dollars. An out building of wood, small, and much dilapidated, having become a subject of complaint from respectable inhabitants of Canandaigua, the Commissary-General therefore directed it to be sold as soon as convenient, and the payment of the proceeds to be made into the treasury.

The arsenal at Batavia is a good building, but requires repairs. The walls at several parts of the building want pointing with mortar, and the building wants painting. The fences want putting in order, and an out building wants a new roof. The expense of this arsenal, fences and out buildings, to put them in good repair, will be about one hundred and fifty dollars. The arms and equipments in depot here want cleaning, repairing and oiling, which should be done as early as the weather of the ensuing spring will permit. They were not cleaned since 1830.

The arsenal at Watertown is a good building, but like the others, it is in want of some repairs, and of painting. It is presumed that about seventy dollars will cover the necessary expenses of repairs and painting of this building. The arms at this place want cleaning, and the equipments oiling. The arms here have accumulated more rust than those at Batavia. They were cleaned in 1830.

The arsenal at Russell the Commissary-General did not visit. The arms at that arsenal want cleaning, and the roof of the building is represented by the keeper to be in a leaky condition. The number of arms is 436 muskets, and they were last cleaned in 1830.

The arsenal at Malone is a good building, but it and the fences are in want of repairs. It will perhaps cost one hundred dollars to put the building and fences in good repair.

The arsenal at Elizabethtown the Commissary-General did not visit. Having had a conversation with Augustus C. Hand, Esq, the keeper, he inferred, that the arms and other stores in that arsenal, were in a similar state to those that he had personally examined. The article of tents, of which there were a considerable [Assem. No. 79.]

number, were represented as being damaged, and out of repair; the Commissary-General directed these to be sent to the arsenal at New-York, where they have arrived, and are now being overhauled and repaired.

An iron 6 pounder in the possession of an artillery company in the town of Traxton, Cortland county, under the command of Captain Anson L. Angle, was, on the 4th of July last, bursted. An affidavit of the occurrence is annexed, and marked No. 8. Captain Angle was directed to send the piece to the Albany arsenal.

The science of war is an advancing one, says Secretary Cass of the War Department of the U. S., in his report to Congress in Nov. 1831. "In Europe, where peace is seldom long maintained, a large portion of the talent and intelligence of the community is devoted to this study, and to the consideration and suggestion of changes and improvements in all the branches of their military establishments, whether they relate to the operations in the field, to the various supplies, or to the necessary course of administration. We must look to those nations for the benefit of their experience."

Under this view, the Commissary-General would respectfully suggest to the Legislature, that the State should possess model arms, one sample at least, of the different arms of the armies of the different powers of Europe, from which a judgment by comparison may be advantageously made, of the arms and equipments proper to be selected, for arming the militia of this State. The arms which he refers to, are, one model musket for infantry of the line, one light infantry musket, one artillery musket, with one set of equipments for each. Also one carbine, one pair of pistols, one sabre for heavy cavalry, one sabre for light cavalry, onc lance, one artillery carriage for four pounders, new French model, one caisson for ditto, together with one set of implements and equipments, and model harness for the same. A memorandum of the cost of French arms is annexed, marked No. 9.

The best standard model may by this means be obtained, and the arms for the State be made on the improved models, approved by the skill-tested experience of military science as now obtaining. He would urge this suggestion further, because the mode of discharging ordnance and small arms, is undergoing a change in Europe. The flint lock, portfire and slow-match method, is about to

be superseded in the discharge of fire arms by locks applied on the percussion principle. The greater certainty of action of percussion locks, whether applied to small arms or to cannon, in all states of the weather; celerity of the discharges in the latter arm, and the improvement of the service of the field piece, thereby seem to indicate that this improvement will prevail.

The following statements of experiments of the precussion lock as applied to muskets, taken from a foreign journal, is submitted as evidence in support of the suggestion and opinion advanced.

"The question as to using the percussion locks in the French army, is on the point of being decided. Amongst the various trials which have been made, we must refer to those reported in the Spectateur Militaire, from a statement of Captain Hauburg of the Hanoverian army, where every thing tending to the inprovement of the art of war, has always met with great consideration. At first, each infantry regiment received 40 percussion muskets with instructions to ascertain by experiment whether such guns charged with the ordinary ball cartridges used in actual service, would answer in a campaign, by comparing them with the action of the same number of the muskets with flint locks used under the same circumstances. The experiments were tried before twelve committees appointed for the purpose at the same time, that is in the month of April, when the weather was very rainy, in order that the effect might be ascertained under circumstances the most unfavorable that can arise in the course of the campaign. Out of 340 muskets with percussion locks, consuming together 27,000 cartridges, there were only 21 that missed fire from the failure of the priming, and 72 from the defect in the charge, making in all 93; while out of the same number of muskets with flint locks, consuming the same quantity of cartridges, 1,440 missed fire from the priming and 378 from the charge, making together 1,826. The experiments did not stop here. It was desired to ascertain the effect of firing each species of musket reiterated for a long time, without being cleaned. Eleven committees returned that out of 22 percussion muskets firing 11,000 shots, 8 failed in the priming and 6 in the charge; out of the same number of muskets with flint locks, 207 shots failed from the priming, and 599 from the charge, in all 806. Still further experiments were made, both in exposing the muskets to a constant rain, by wetting the inside of the cap, and putting a drop of water into the touch-hole. The result was, that the percussion