50 HAND-BOOK OF WASHINGTON . opened by the clerks, and only i-ead when found to contain money or other valuables, after which they are all consumed. The city Post Office is an unpretending build ing adjoining the General Post Office on seventh street. With regard to the Office of the Attorney General, which we have classed with the Exec utive branches of the Government, we have only to say that it derives its chief attraction from the person who may occupy it, who must be of necessity, a man of distinguished ability. Rooms are assigned to him in the Treasury building, and it is to him that all knotty questions, in all the departments, are submitted for final settlement. Within a few years past the power to appoint all marshals and district attorneys has been transferred from the Department of State to this office. THE NATIONAL OBSERVATORY. The National Observatory is situated on the banks of the Potomac, in an oblique direction from the President’s House, towards Georgetown The site is a beautiful one, having a commanding view of Washington and Georgetown, of the