could be allowed to deter the legislature of the Union from approaching the solemn act of duty which is involved here."

The following resolutions were, with others, adopted by the Memphis convention:

"That safe communication between the Gulf of Mexico and the interior, afforded by the navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and their principal tributaries, is indispensable to the defence of the country in time of war, and essential also to its commerce.

"That the improvement and preservation of the navigation of those great rivers are objects as strictly national as any other preparation for the defence of the country; and that such improvements are deemed by this convention impracticable by the States or individual enterprises, and call for the appropriation of money for the same by the general government."

The following statements, compiled chiefly from a valuable and useful report, already referred to, on the steam marine of the inland waters, are presented here to exhibit the necessity for secure inland navigation, and as having a special bearing on the trade of the Mississippi valley and the St. Lawrence basin:

"The order in which the several collection districts on the lakes and rivers of the interior are shown, commences on Lake Champlain, from which it extends up the St. Lawrence river and Lake Ontario to the Niagara river; thence up Lake Erie, the Detroit river, and Lake Huron, to Michilimackinac; thence up Lake Michigan to Chicago; thence across the Mississippi river, and down that stream to New Orleans; thus extending, on a natural line of interior navigation, which has but two slight interruptions, from the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to those of the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of not less than 2,850 miles, upon which is employed, for purposes of trade and travel, a steam tonnage of 69,166 tons.* The Ohio basin forms of itself a cross-section some 1,100 miles in length, embracing simply the districts on that river and its tributaries.

"Immediately west of Lake Superior lies the Minnesota district, with a collector at Pembina, on the line between our own and the British possessions, and a deputy at St. Paul, on the Mississippi, within the Territory of Minnesota. This is a new district, and steamboats employed on its waters have hitherto been enrolled at St. Louis. During the years 1850 and 1851, three or four good steamers ran regularly between St. Louis and St. Paul, and Fort Snelling, two of which took several large pleasure parties almost two hundred miles up the Minnesota (St. Peter's) river. A small boat (the only one yet built in the Territory) has been running the past year above the falls of St. Anthony, 1,700 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi. Steamers run earlier and later on the waters of Minnesota than on those of the region of the northern lakes, in the same latitude.

"Following the water-flow south from the Minnesota district, we reach

*This distance is traced from Montreal to Lewiston on the regular line of steamboat navigation; thence by land (the first interruption) to Buffalo; thence on the regular line of steamboat navigation to Chicago; thence by the Illinois and Michigan canal, (the second interruption,) and the Illinois river, to the Mississippi; and by that river to the Gulf.

the Gulf of Mexico by the Mississippi river, along which another imerior section may be constructed, to show separately the strength of that division of our steam-marine. This section presents the following results:

Steam-marine of the Mississippi Valley.

"By a summary of aggregates, it appears that the entire strength of the steam-marine of the lakes and rivers of the interior is comprised in 765 vessels, measuring 204,725,3 tons, and employing 17,607 persons as officers, crews, &c. Of this aggregate, 663 are ordinary steamers, measuring 184,26233 tons, and employing 16,576 persons; 52 are propellers, measuring 15,729,3 tons, and employing 817 persons; and 50 are ferry-boats, measuring 4,733 tons, and employing 214 perOf the lake steamers, 56 of the ordinary, and all but two of the propellers, are moved by high-pressure engines, and 48 of the or

sons.

dinary by low-pressure. All of the river steamers, and all of the ferryboats, have high-pressure engines. Low-pressure engines have at several periods been partially tried on the western rivers, and abandoned. In the year 1818, three boats of this description were built on those waters; in 1819, seven boats; in 1820, two; in 1822, one; in 1823, one; in 1824, two; in 1825, six; in 1826, eight; in 1827, four; in 1828, two; in 1829, three; in 1830, two; in 1831, four; total, forty-seven; of which thirty-three were built at Cincinnati, five at Louisville, three at New Orleans, and the remaining six at different points on the Ohio. On the lakes, except for propellers, high-pressure engines have now comparatively few advocates, and within the last four or five years very few of them have been built.

"The highest of the navigable waters of the United States is Lake Superior, which is embraced in the district of Michilimackinac, with the St. Mary's river, Green Bay, and the Straits of Mackinac. Following the water-flow from this district, we reach the Gulf of St. Lawrence through Lakes Huron, Erie, Ontario, and the St. Lawrence river; and the Atlantic coast by Lake Champlain and the New England improvements in one direction, and in another by the Erie canal and the Hudson river.

Tabular statement of steamers on the rivers.

In order to show correctly the currents of actual travel by the waters of these several lines of interior collection districts, with the local movement at the principal port of each, the following statement of the several lines is presented: