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General by order of Congress, readvertised for proposals for this very service, the advertisement made since the giving of this extra compensation, the advertisement ordered by Congress with reference to the notice to discontinue the extra pay, the advertisement made in the New York papers, and which must then have been seen by the gentleman now so anxious to underbid Mr. Collins, and yet not a single proposition for this service was then made to the Post Office Department under that advertisement. Where then were Mr. Vanderbilt and Mr. Hansen? Sir, there is a mystery connected with these propositions, and I think I have the key that will explain it. Mr. Vanderbilt's agent has repeatedly urged me to give a favorable consideration to Mr. Vanderbilt's proposition, but at the same time, has been careful to let me know that Vanderbilt was a friend to Mr. Collins, and would withdraw any proposition, provided Mr. Collins would purchase a steamer which Vanderbilt has nearly ready for service. These offers, sir, are buy-out offers. But these gentlemen are mistaken in their man when they suppose they can frighten Mr. Collins into black mail.

Mr. Chairman, I have before said that the Collins steamers were designed by our Government in their construction to be adapted to war purposes; as illustrating this fact, as well as to show the difficulties encountered and overcome by Mr. Collins in establishing his line, I must be permitted to call the attention of this committee to a late correspondence between him and the Postmaster General. The letter of Mr. Collins is characteristic of the man. It manifests a national pride, and an American feeling, which contrasts beautifully with the selfish motives manifested by those who are now sending us propositions for the purpose of extorting hush-money from Mr. Collins.

The following is the letter of the Postmaster General, and the reply of Mr. Collins. I will thank the Clerk to read them.

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, January 24, 1854. SIR: Please state whether you employ more than four ships, viz: the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Baltic, for the service on your line between New York and Liverpool. I am requested by the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, of the House of Representatives, to inform him of the number employed.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAMES CAMPBell.

E. K. COLLINS, Esq., New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company, New York.

NEW YORK And LiverpooL U. S. M. S. S. Co., 56 WALL STREET, NEW YORK, January 27, le54. SIR: With much pleasure do I reply to your letter of 24th, in answer to your inquiries as to the number of ships cmployed to carry the United States mails between this and Liverpool. As this information is especially desired for the honorable Committee of Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, I beg you will pardon me for communicating some facts in relation to our mail steamers,

After the law passed authorizing the Postmaster General to make contracts for trans-Atlantic mail steamers, he advertised, for several months, for proposals for carrying the mails for five years, to which we inade no offer, knowing, as we did, that we could not get capitalists to incur the great outlay for that term of service, which would be necessary to build suitable steamers for the two fold object of war and mail steamers. (The clause requiring that all mail steamers should be built suitable for war purposes, so that they might, at almost a moment's notice, be converted into war steamers, was inserted at my instance, after the bill had passed a second reading in the Senate.) The Postmaster General reported to Congress that he had accepted the offer of Mr. Mills; and that, we supposed, was the finale of that service. Having business in Washington, with the Treasury Department, I called to pay my respects to Mr. Hobbie, then the First Assistant Postmaster General, who had long known the importance I had attached to the establishment of mail steamers. He expressed his astonishment at not having received from me a proposition to carry the mails. I gave him my reasons, as hercinbefore stated; he replied that the Postmaster General would like to see me. I arranged with Mr. II. to call on the Postmaster General; which arrangements were complied with. After a somewhat lengthy interview, he desired me (as you will see on reference to my letters in the Department) to make a proposal to carry the mails between New York and Liverpool, and, at the same time, to state in writing why Liverpool should be adopted as the terminus in Europe; which letter is also in the Department. Some time after my proposals were made, I called on the Postmaster General, to know what the Government had concluded to do. His reply was, that, as he could not recommend any further special mail service, the Administration would have the naval war steamer bill, then before Congress, for ten war steamers, reduced to half its number, and that our steamers would be considered as substituted for those taken from the bill. As soon as this was communicated to the chairman of the Naval Committee, as the wish of the Administration, they readily assented to it;

Ocean Mail Service—Mr. Kerr.

and, with some modifications, a bill was passed to build four war steamers, to which there was an amendment, authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to contract with us, in conformity to our proposal to the Postmaster General.

When we proposed to carry the mails, we intended, in good faith, to perform that service; and whether we have or not your Department must judge. When my proposition was first made, the average time of the steamers from Liverpool to Boston, was fifteen days and six hours, equal to at least sixteen days to New York; and I did not suppose that the service could be performed with less than five steamers, to insure the regular transmission of the mails, which is so essential to commerce and revenue of the Government; nor could that service of twenty trips, as called for in the original contract, have been performed with less than five ships of two thousand tons each. But, by our increased size and speed, we have not only been enabled to make our passages in the average time of a little over eleven days, the cost of which, over that of the time taken as herein stated by the English steamers, is more than doubled, but we are enabled to make twenty-six, instead of twenty voyages per annum, as at first contemplated.

As soon as it was known that our Government had con

tracted with us, no pains were spared in England to deride

the idea that America could build ocean steamers; and never was British influence more exerted to defeat the interest of her great maritime rival than in their endeavors to vanquish our line. We knew and felt, when we commenced building our vessels, that, to silence English clamor, and to have the stars and stripes float untarnished, we must do more than England had done; and we believe that the world now acknowledges that the trident of the seas is

ours.

After unceasing efforts of several months, owing to the discredit which had been thrown on ocean steamers by the steamers that had been built in this country, it was with great difficulty that we got subscribed a little over a million of dollars; and, although our company advertised in almost every large city in our country for additional subscribers, before and after we got the increased pay for the service, not a single share was taken, although every exertion was made to get new subscribers, to lessen the indebtedness of the company, which, as yet, remains nearly one million and a half. But, fortunately, the original subscribers to the stock were men who had full as much regard for the pride of the nation as for their own interests. They left me untrammeled with but one edict, which was, that you MUST NOT MAKE A FAILURE, IF YOU RISK EVERY DOLLAR. Does history produce as much devotion to country's honor by any other men? I think not. As before remarked, it was necessary to do more than England had done; and, in so doing, we built four ships of much greater tonnage and power than our competitors, by which means we are enabled to perform the service with three ships, and have always a spare ship in port; but the cost of keeping that spare ship is near $150,000 per annum.

The ships of our line are the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Baltic. We have at command the most essential part of the frame of the fifth ship, which the honorable Secretary Graham did not deem necessary to be built at present, remarking that we had better wait to see what improvements our rivals would make.

As many attempts have been made recently to throw discredit on mail steamers for war purposes, I beg leave to state, that the cost of ours was greatly enhanced to build them suitable for that purpose, and that a our plans were submitted to, and approved by the Navy Department; and I am not aware that a similar course has been pursued by any other contractors or their assigns.

I am at any time prepared to prove, that up to this time the equal of our four steamers has not been built for war or peace purposes, in or out of the Navy; and it would afford me much pleasure to appear before the Committee of Ways and Means to convince them of what I have herein stated. Yours, respectfully, E. K. COLLINS.

To the Hon. JAMES CAMPBELL, Postmaster General.

Mr. Chairman, I have endeavored, truthfully and fairly, to place before this committee the conclusions which I have arrived at as the result of the thorough investigation which I have given the subject.

I think I have established, beyond all controversy, that our Government, following the example of Great Britain, in our contracts with our ocean mail steamer companies, has looked to the construction and the maintenance of such vessels as, upon any sudden emergency, could be converted into efficient and available vessels of war.

I have no hesitation in affirming that I have established the fact that, in the vessels belonging to the Collins line, we have the very best steamers that ever navigated the ocean--such as fully answer the designs and expectations of the Govern

ment.

I have demonstrated, by the very highest scientific and naval authority, the practicability of converting these steamers into efficient vessels of war.

I have also demonstrated that the revenue arising from the mail service performed by the Collins line, has been steadily and constantly increasing.

I have also established the fact that it costs the Collins line $12,000 more to make the trip to Liv. erpool and back than it did before Congress gave the company the extra compensation.

I have also demonstrated that the extra speed of the Collins line over that made by the Cunard line,

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costs $16,800 per voyage. I have also shown that to make the round voyage from Liverpool to New York direct, as made by the Collins lige, costs $3,800 more than to make the voyage from Liverpool to Boston, via Halifax, as made by the Cunard line.

I have established the fact that Collins, with ordinary steamers and in ordinary time, can perform the mail service between New York and Liverpool at the price paid by the British Government to the Cunard line, or as low or lower than any offer now made by persons desiring contracts for that service.

I have shown, by facts and figures, that there was no cause existing in 1852, demanding the extra compensation then given, which does not exist at this time in much stronger force.

I have demonstrated that, by the act of 1852, the faith of the nation was pledged to continue the extra pay to Mr. Collins during the continuance of the contract, unless Congress should be convinced that the service could be performed at the speed required, and in such vessels as Collins has built, in accordance with the requirements of the Government, without loss to himself and his associates, at the price stipulated in the original

contract.

I maintain then, Mr. Chairman, that the amendment which I propose should be agreed to, and that the extra compensation should be continued to Mr. Collins, unless we determine to abandon our original policy of maintaining such mail steamers as, at any time, can be converted into vessels of war.

Sir, should we adopt the latter policy, we are bound in good faith to put an end to these contracts altogether, and to purchase from our ocean mail steamer companies, such vessels as have been approved and accepted by the Secretary of the Navy.

Such a policy, sir, must lead to the disposal of these noble steamers to some foreign Power. For our Government to take these vessels and keep them afloat, unemployed in our mail service, would cost us untold millions of dollars. The policy would be found so ruinous as to lead to its quick abandonment. I repeat, then, the declaration, that the policy would lead to the disposal of these steamers to some foreign nation. The Government can end these contracts, and sell these vessels without loss, for, sir, such steamers as these are now in demand in Europe. Other Powers will be glad to purchase them. Mr. Collins has, again and again, been importuned to dispose of them, but his answer uniformly has been "they are national vessels.

Now, then, Mr. Chairman, is this the time to let these noble steamers go into the hands of any other Government? Would the people of the United States tolerate their Representatives in permitting these vessels, so justly the pride and boast of the whole country, to pass into the possession of any foreign Power, where, perchance, they might be turned against the United States?

In the present condition of Europe, where all is war or "rumors of war," and where the utmost jealousy and feverish excitement prevails towards our Government, shall we permit these steamers to pass into the possession of England, France, or Spain, knowing, as we do, that they could sweep our coasts from the Bay of Fundy to the Gulf of Mexico, unchecked by any and all the naval force which our Government could bring to bear upon them? Should this be permitted, we may well exclaim, in the language of my friend from Illinois, [Mr. RICHARDSON,]"Adieu dear Cuba."

OCEAN MAIL SERVICE.

SPEECH OF HON. JOHN KERR,
OF NORTH CAROLINA,

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
February 16, 1855.

The House being in the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union

Mr. KERR said:

Mr. CHAIRMAN: I labor under great embarrassment and difficulty in rising to address the committee this morning. The impatience already manifested here has been quite sufficient to induce

33D CONG....2D SESS.

an apprehension, at least, upon my part, if not to produce an absolute conviction that the time I may consume would be more valued even by the friends of this measure than any argument I may be able to adduce in support of it.

I should not, in the present condition of my voice, and in view of the anxiety I see exhibited here to take final action upon the bill, undertake to debate it at all, except for the reason that I occupy a position in regard to it, at home, somewhat peculiar. I feel it, however, no less my duty than my privilege to make known to those whom I have the honor to represent upon this floor, the reasons by which I am governed in casting my vote to sustain the Collins line of steamers against all the competition to which they are subjected.

Like my friend from Virginia, [Mr. LETCHER,] I represent a plain, rural, (and I will superadd) sensible and patriotic people. They have very little acquaintance with the great commerical marts of the world, and they have comparatively little connection with the commercial operations of our country, and it is by no means a task of the greatest facility to satisfy them that it is a just policy on the part of the Government to give to one company a sum exceeding $800,000 for transporting the foreign mails, when another individual has offered to perform the same service for a much less sum. This, I say, requires explanation to such constituents as the gentleman from Virginia and myself represent. But, nevertheless, I trust I shall never be found capable of withholding my support from any measure which, in my judgment, I regard as just, from any apprehension of consequences at home. However, in this case, I confess I have no disturbing fears. I have not the slightest apprehension that I shall be complained of by my constituents for voting for the amendment which the gentleman from Ohio, [Mr. OLDS,] chairman of the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, has submitted.

Sir, I came into life about the period of our last war with England, and the first tidings which ever greeted my ears were those of the glorious triumph of our Navy upon the ocean. From my youth to the present time, I have looked with intense anxiety to the growth of our commercial marine, and the augmentation of our Navy. I regard the Navy as the right arm of our defense in war, and as the chief support of our extended and still extending commerce in peace.

Surely no gentleman upon this floor, whatever may be his opinion in regard to the proposition now pending, will dispute the fact that the owners of the Collins line of mail steamers have achieved as proud a triumph, in their contest with Great Britain, as was ever achieved in a contest between American and British skill and enterprise. The contest has been one marked by every feature which distinguishes England, and her offspring, America. Each has had its national pride excited to the highest point. Each has in turn triumphed, and each is aiming now to get the mastery of the seas. England has been defeated in the contest to which I now refer; and in the moment of our triumph, at a time when those who achieved this great advantage to our country are about to reap the reward of their patriotic services, we are called upon to take from them the contract which the Government has given them, and from the fulfillment of which on their part we have derived so much national advantage, and put it into the hands of others whose skill is unknown, whose efforts have been hitherto untried, and who, in all human probability, if they were to get this contract at the lowest bid, would, before they terminated it, ask an augmentation of pay. Such I believe would be the fact; for it is not only a general but almost a universal rule, for the Government employees, who underbid others, to ask for extra pay to perform their contracts, and they generally obtain it. Mr. SMITH, of Virginia. I suppose that the gentleman understands that the Collins line of steamers receive double the money that the Cunard line do, for the same amount of service.

Mr. KERR. The gentleman cannot have understood me in any such way, no more than I understood the facts of this case to be as he stated them. If correctly informed, I believe the Cunard line gets more than our line does. I believe that, in proportion to the service which they render, they get more. I believe the service rendered by

Ocean Mail Service-Mr. Kerr.

the Collins line has not only been equal to that for
which they stipulated, but has been more.

Mr. OLDS. I have before me the report made
to the British Parliament in 1852, from which we
see that the British Government pays the Cunard
line £188,000, while they only receive from them
in the way of postage £120,000. They pay
£822,390 per annum for all their mail steamship
service, and only receive in return £479,600-||
showing an excess of expenditures over receipts,
in our currency, of $1,713,950.

Mr. SMITH. The Cunard line make weekly
trips, while the Collins line only make semi-
monthly trips.

Mr. GOODE. The Collins line only make twenty-six trips each year, while the Cunard line make fifty-two.

Mr. CUTTING. Four steamers of the Cunard line do not perform the same service as the steamers of the Collins line, by the difference between Boston, and New York, and in coaling at Halifax, where fuel is cheaper than at New York.

Mr. KERR. Those are not the points upon
which I base my support of the bill. Therefore I
do not care to go into these matters of detail, even
it I had the time to do so. I again say that here
is a great national contest between England on the
one hand, and my own country on the other-a
contest which owes its inception to a Democratic
administration of the Government. It subse-
quently received the sanction of a Whig adminis-
tration. It has, therefore, been sanctioned by those
who represent the two great parties of our coun-
try, and by consequence by the people themselves;
and having been adopted and continued under such
auspices, and having been so eminently success-
ful, I do not care if it costs this Government twice
or thrice the amount they have to pay for it, I will
still vote to sustain it. I have, I trust, too much
of the spirit of our fathers in me to talk about
money when a contest is pending between this coun-
try and England for supremacy on the seas. We
have won the victory. We have the palm in our
hands. The note of triumph has gone up from
our shores, and now, even now, we are called on to
do just what the British Government, above all
other things in the world, would have us do-
withdraw the aid of our own Governmen from our
own people, and to permit her to snatch from us the
trident of the seas.

Sir, this is not a question of dollars and cents
|| merely. It is a question of national pride and honor.
The Postmaster General published proposals for
carrying the mails between this country and Eng-
land. There were no bidders except the Messrs.
Collins. They took the contract. They encoun-
tered all that was to be dreaded in the outset of
such an enterprise-the want of knowledge and
practical skill without which it would be impos-
sible to be ultimately very successful. They over-
came all difficulty in this undertaking. They have
perfected themselves in the knowledge necessary
to win and secure the triumph; and I regard them
as having done all that they have done upon the
invitation of our Government. I put it, then, to
every gentleman in this committee to say whether
the Government can be regarded as keeping good
faith with this company if, when they have achieved
what they have done, for a paltry consideration of
dollars and cents we deprive them of all the advant-
ages which they are now likely to reap from their
skill and enterprise, and transfer them to others? If
the facts which have been published to the world
in all quarters are to be relied on, these Collins
steamers have heretofore, and till within a very
short time, made no profit from their undertaking.
They are just now beginning to reap some remu-
neration for their skill, and for all they have done
for the good and the glory of the country. I be-
hold in the rivalry of the Cunard and the Collins
lines of mail steamers a contest between England
and America. It has now undoubtedly assumed
that most important and imposing aspect. For
one, I own my sympathies are enlisted on the side
of my own country, and such is the force of my
partiality for my own country, that I am willing
to sacrifice dollars and cents rather than mortify
national pride by giving the victory to England.
The gentleman from Virginia [Mr. SMITH] has
reproached the gentleman from Ohio with a change
of his opinions upon this subject since the last ses-
sion of Congress. He compared him to Saul of

HO. OF REPS.

Tarsus, from whose eyes, we are told, the scales suddenly fell as he was journeying to Damascus. I would that not only the gentleman from Ohio, but also the gentleman from Virginia, and all others who are opposing this great American enterprise, could have the scales taken from their eyes. They would then see the object in its proper light, and their patriotism would cause them to support it.

But then the gentleman should have remembered that the course now pursued by the honorable gentleman from Ohio is not without the sanction of precedent in the action of this House. Sir, it is within the memory of all of us that at the last session of Congress, the gentleman from Alabama [Mr. HARRIS] proposed to give additional compensation to certain mail carriers from Montgomery, in Alabama, I believe, to Mobile, in the same State. The persons to whom I allude had a prior contract, which had expired; and a joint resolu tion was introduced proposing to dispense with the usual forms of bidding, and to give them a new contract, at the compensation, I believe, of some $60,000. It was made known to the House at the time that a responsible man had offered to do the same service for a considerably less sum. It was, however, urged here that this company in Montgomery had provided itself with stage-coaches, and with stock; that it had made an immense outlay, and that good faith required that they should have the contract at the larger amount of compensation. We resisted it in some quarters of the House. Many of us could not see anything in that case which justified such a departure from the uniform practice of the Post Office Department; but we were voted down by a large majority of the House, and I think my friend from Virginia voted with the majority. At least his vote is so recorded upon the Journal.

Mr. LETCHER. Which friend from Virginia?

Mr. KERR. I referred to the gentleman over the way, [Mr. SMITH.]

Mr. LETCHER. Because I recollect distinctly that I voted against the bill to which he alludes.

Mr. KERR. I have no doubt the gentleman did. I never knew him to vote $60,000 when he could get the work done for $20,000. But, sir, if the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. SMITH] and the House were justified in the course they pursued in reference to that precedent, how much more are we justified in sustaining the Collins company, who have done so much for the common good of the country, while the undertaking of the Montgomery company was a private job, in nowise connected with the general welfare more than every other mail contract. We heard no complaints then of a lavish expenditure of the public treasure; we heard no murmurs; we heard of no appeals to public indignation. It was all right; it was justified by principles of sound policy; and let me say that it was sought by some to be justified upon the same principle upon which the friends of this measure now justify it.

Mr. Chairman, I regard the measure we are now considering as involving a question of good faith on the part of the United States; and, looking at it in that light, whatever potency other considerations might have, nothing that I can possibly conceive, nothing that I can imagine, will induce me to aid in violating a contract, the breach of which involves a breach of the public faith. I speak not of a breach of contract, in the strict legal sense. I am aware that the right is reserved to the Post Office Department to give the notice now proposed by the bill, and terminate the contract for extra service and extra pay. The Messrs. Collins would still retain the right to carry the mails, under the original contract, and would, I apprehend, be required to do so; at all events they could be required so to do. The effect would be to depress their energies, and, perhaps, ruin their fortunes; and thus give their adversaries of the Cunard line the victory over them in a noble contest, in which they have been induced to engage by the assurance of our support-an assurance implied in all that has been done for them heretofore, and fully merited on their part by the eminent success which has crowned their efforts.

Mr. SMITH, of Virginia. I hope the gentleman from North Carolina will allow me to make an explanation?

33r CONG....2D SESS.

Mr. KERR. Certainly.

Mr. SMITH. I understand-for I was unable to hear the gentleman distinctly-that the gentleman from North Carolina has hunted up a vote of mine, given at the last session, in favor of allowing $30,000 in addition to the regular mail pay, to a certain company in Alabama, and produced it for the purpose of convicting me of inconsistency. Mr. KERR. Oh no, sir.

Mr. SMITH. Then I misunderstood the gentleman.

Mr. KERR. The gentleman from Virginia would surely not do me the injustice to suppose that I would hunt up anything to convict him of inconsistency?

Mr. SMITH. Only to prove my inconsistency. There is nothing wrong in that.

Mr. KERR. That word "hunting up" might imply something, upon my part, of malice aforethought, which I utterly disclaim. But the gentle man will allow me to say that I did not allude to his vote with any purpose of involving him in the charge of inconsistency. My only purpose was to show that there was a case to be found, according to which, even in the judgment of the gentleman from Virginia, the Government might properly give the larger rather than the smaller sum for the same service.

Mr. SMITH. I do not suppose the gentleman has made the allusion in any unfriendly spirit. When the gentleman introduces arguments to show the propriety of this measure, which he is anxious to support, it is very natural for him to resort to precedents. But the gentleman's reference in this particular instance, it seems to me, is very unhappy-very unfortunate. In that case, the contractors proved that they had increased the service under pledges made by the Post Office Department-that Congress would make up the deficiency by an additional appropriation. I did vote for that bill. I voted for it merely as an act of justice. I voted for it then, and I would vote for it now.

Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. I dislike very much to interrupt the gentleman from North Carolina; but I rise to a question of order. These remarks are not pertinent to the proposition under consideration.

Mr. KERR. Of course they are not. I yielded to the gentleman as a matter of courtesy, and I am not, therefore, liable to the charge of departing from the proposition under consideration. But, Mr. Chairman, I confess that I am not able to perceive the distinction for which the gentleman contends. The gentleman from Virginia bases his support of the bill to which I have referred upon the ground that the contractors had performed better service than they originally contracted for. Well, sir, how does that differ from the present case? The very ground upon which the advocates of the proposition we are now considering place their support, is that we shall get better service than anybody else can render; because it will be rendered by men of more experience and better qualified than any others. But, I will not take up the time of the committee further upon this point.

Mr. Chairman, another objection which I have to this attempt to deprive the Collins company of their right is this: If I understand the proposition insisted upon by the otherside, it is simply to terminate by notice, so much of the contract existing with this company as applies to the extra pay, and for the extra trips. We have no power to go beyond that; we have stipulated with them in reference to their original undertaking, and we cannot deprive the company of that contract. By voting this notice, Collins & Co. would be still enabled to receive $385,000 a year, and the Government could not deprive them of it. The effect of this notice would therefore only be to cripple them in their operations, and give the Cunard line the advantage, as I have already stated. We will have Mr. Vanderbilt for example, and Mr. Hansen, or whatever his name may be, contending, not with the Cunard line, for they would be then evidently in the ascendant; but the conflict would be between our own people; it would be an illustration of the old fable of the Lion and Unicorn fighting for the crown, and the Cunard line would realize all the advantages from such an unnatural contest. Now, for one, I cannot give my sanction to a policy fraught with so much

Ocean Mail Service-Mr. Kerr.

injury to my own countrymen. In my opinion there is quite as much of feeling as of interest in the opposition to this measure, a feeling of hostility to everything which seems, even in the remotest degree, to savor of protection to American enterprise, and American industry.

There is a party in this country-albeit as patriotic and honest as any party in any countrywho, in my judgment, have permitted themselves to be swayed too much by this feeling. I, on the contrary, whether rightfully or wrongfully, have always sympathized with my own countrymen; I have always believed that this Government was designed for the benefit of our people and that as we have to bear its burdens, as we have to furnish the sinews of war to maintain that Government in the elevated position of preeminence which it now occupies, we, its own citizens, are entitled to its fostering care and the benefits of its protection. And whilst I would not grant protection as a mere matter of bounty, (I have never been in favor of that and never expect to be,) yet, when public service has to be rendered, or public burdens have to be imposed, I am always ready so to shape and direct the measures for those ends as to give incidental advantage to my own countrymen. This, I think, is eminently proper in the present case.

Sir, the ships of the Collins line are the very finest in the world. They have been constructed under the superintendence of an intelligent officer of our Navy; they are approved by Captain Lynch and the gallant Commodore Perry, who, to his claims upon our admiration and confidence arising out of his general merits and long service, has recently added the brilliant negotiations in Japan.

But, sir, my pride of country is greatly inflamed when I read the following high but just tribute to the superiority of the ships from the pen of a Captain in the British Navy.

"On arriving at New York, I took a passage in the Baltic, for which I paid $120, about £24, and now proceed to give a description of that vessel.

"The American steamship Baltic, belonging to the Collins line, was built by Jacob Bell, of New York, at a cost of $710,000, equal in round numbers to £142,000. She is bark rigged, and can spread about the same quantity of canvas as an ordinary sloop of war.

"Her dimensions are as follows: Length on deck, nearly the same as keel, 283 feet; breadth, 45 feet; depth, 32 feet; tonnage, 2,733; scathing, 20 inches in the throat; 9 inches at the plank sheer. She is fastened with diagonal iron braces throughout, and has three decks below the spar deck. With 1,100 tons of coal, 600 tons of freight, and full complement of passengers and baggage, she draws about 22 feet. She can accommodate 167 first class passengers, and 38 second class.

"She is fitted with two side lever engines, 96 inch cylinder, and ten feet stroke, and the entire cost of engines and boilers was $250,000, equal to £50,000.

"Her average consumption of fuel is 80 tons per day; her coals averaging 16s. 6d. a ton in Englaud, and 18s. 6d. in America; and she daily lightens 34 inches. Diameter of her water-wheels, 35 feet; length of buckets, 12 feet, width 20 inches; number of buckets to each wheel, 32; diameter of paddle-shaft in the bearing, 23 inches.

"In smooth water the wheels average 15 revolutions. Her average steam for the last year, 15 inches; limit permitted by the company, 18 inches: but it is seldom reached at sea, as the cylinders consume the steam faster than it can be produced. The highest speed ever made at sea is 15 knots per hour, and the least last winter, for 24 hours, 167 nautica. miles. None of the vessels of this line have been calked outside since they were launched, or were ever hove to at sea from stress of weather. Three thousand pounds, or $15,000, are expended to supply passengers and crew for one voyage to England and back. Wines and liquors are not included in this expenditure, and are a matter of accommodation to the passengers, as no profit is made, only a sufficient advance upon prime cost to cover losses from breakage, &c. The officers of the ship are charged same as passengers. I can answer for the cheapness and goodness of these articles from my own experience.

"The usual charge for passengers is £30 from England, and £24 from America-the return trip being thus considerably cheaper. It is usual to give the waiter that attends at table ten shillings, and likewise the bed-room attendants; the stewardess who attends ladies at same rate. The offcers mess together; there are likewise separate messes for the engineers, sailors, stokers, and coal-trimmers, so that they do not interfere with each other. The three latter classes have fresh meat in the morning and at soon, and salt pork and beef for supper. The firemen and coal-trimmers, in consequence of the severity of the work, have supplies of provisions set out for them all night. The officers and men are in two watches, and careful logs are kept both in the sailing and engine departments.

"I am only doing justice to those magnificent vessels in stating that they are, beyond any competition, the finest, the fastest, and the best sea boats in the world. I am sorry to be obliged to say this; but, as a naval officer, I feel bound in candor to admit their great superiority. Their extraor dinary easiness in a sea cannot fail to excite the admiration of a sailor; and I never beheld anything like it.

Ho. OF REPS.

There was none of that violent plunging, that sudden check usually tending a large ship in a heavy head sea. The elongated bow dipped, gently in when a vast, wall-sided, and threatening swell appeared overwhelmingly to rush upon her. The whole forelength of the vessel appeared to sink gently down until almost level with the water, and as gradually to rise again after passing. Most wondrous of all, no sea ever came on board, and the foaming and angry waters appeared to glide harmlessly past her peak and narrow bows. The extraordinary difference in this respect to the America was most marked, as a very ordinary head sea would dash angrily, and with huge volumes, over her bows. I attribute these admirable qualities to two reasons: First, the long and gently graduated bow; and, secondly, the lightness and bouyancy of the fore part of the vessel, when relieved from the bowsprit. This bowsprit, in the Cunard line, projects considerably from the bow, and its weight is greatly aggravated by the leverage caused by its projection. I am not aware of its exact weight, but it must be enormous, particularly at the extremity. The most experienced sailor would be very much deceived in forming a judgment of the sea going qualities of the Cunard and Collins steamships from a mere outside inspection: and I acknowledge that, at first, I could not conceive the Collins line to be so safe and easy in a sea as the Cunard line. From a considerable experience in all classes of steam vessels, besides the Cunard America, I advisedly assert that the Baltic is out and out, by long odds, the very best and easiest steamship I ever sailed in.

The

"I cannot refrain from calling the attention of steamship builders of England to the uselessness, and even absurdity, of a heavy bowsprit upon a vessel that mainly depends upon her steam. It would be considered an absolute absurdity for either of these vessels to attempt to beat to windward. Before the wind, there is little doubt that the Collins would run the Cunard out of sight in a dozen hours. vast and heavy bowsprit of the Cunard line is therefore an absolute excrescence; a bow-plunging, speed-stopping, money spending, and absurd acquiescence in old-fashioned prejudices about appearance, and what the old school attempt to swamp all argument by condemning as not shipshape. Pshaw! what confounded stuff! This is the sort of feeling that prevents improvements, and allows Brother Jonathan to build the finest sea-going steamers in the world, which the Collins liners undoubtedly are.

"As some slight proof of this assertion, let me describe what took place in the Baltic, on the 6th and 7th of November, 1852, on the passage to England, in about latitude 48° north, longitude 18° west. At ten a. m., on the former day, this vessel was proceeding with full power, at the rate of thirteen knots, the engines making sixteen revolutions per minute. At this time a slight breeze was blowing from the southwest, with a slight swell from the eastward About noon the swell increased, and a very dense, dark, coppery sky was perceived at the starboard bow, bearing southeast. The barometer, which had been carefully noted, had been gradually sinking for thirty-six hours, but still the southwest wind ever and anon breathed hoarsely into and filled the flapping canvass. The stormy indications in the southeast gradually increased in intensity as we rushed forward at the great velocity before described, namely, thirteen knots. At two p. m., the barometer-that faithful and valuable monitor-sank considerably. Captain Comstock, the experienced commander, invited me into his cabin, and began to discuss the now clear indications of an approaching storm. From the various signs afforded by changes in the direct on of the wind, swell of ocean, descending glass, and other infallible tokens, known only to experienced scamen, we speedily came to the conclusion that the Baltic was approaching the course of an Atlantic cyclone. From the position of the vessel and her rapid motion, we muta. ally agreed that the easterly breeze which had suddenly set in, clearly indicated that we were rapidly approaching the northern edge of the cyclone. This will be plainly understood by the landsman and uninitiated, when I explain that the cyclones in the northern hemisphere revolve against the sun with a progressive motion towards the southeast. The easterly breeze, therefore, could only strike the ship in its northern extremity. If she had been, for instance, at the southern extremity of the rotatory storm, it is clear that the wind would have been southwest until the vortex was passed, when the southeastern course of the circular or whirlwind storm would have struck the ship.

"Although we were confident that our theory was correct, yet Captain Comstock, like a prudent, careful, and able commander, as he is, made every preparation to withstand the worst weather. At this time the barometer had sunk lower than I ever experienced, (28 40,) ven in the most furious storms, and the gyratory motion of the tortured and fragmented clouds in the southeast showed, to the practiced eyes of the seaman, that a fearful war of the elements was going on in that direction. The eastern swell was now rapidly rising into a heavy and perpendicular sided sea, whose solid looking curl y tops threatened destruction to all that opposed their headlong course. The wind likewise increased in strength, urging on the too willing waves, until they were lashed into apparent destructive fury.

At in

"Let us ascend the bridge, between the paddle-boxes, and try to describe this sublime scene. A furious gale was raging, and wind and waves combined were hurled with gigantic force against the poor Baltic. To avoid rushing madly against the fierce watery barriers, the engines were slacked to nine revolutions, and the brave vessel still held her course at the rate of eight knots. Although the heavy spoondrift in a moment drenched everything exposed, still the ship held on with the most extraordinary ease. tervals a mountain would appear approaching giving the idea (often felt by the most experienced) of a gathering power in advance that nothing could withstand. Onward it rolls, so high that from your elevated position the horizon is concealed-it is upon us with a crash-nothing can avoid the avalanche of water-the decks are inundated fore and aft. Not at all; the ship rises gently, just sufficient to clear the crest of the surge; her bulwarks are even with the surface of rolling water, but not a drop comes in. Again and again did this happen; and although we were drenched

33D CONG....2D SESS.

to the skin by the spoondrift, we were fascinated by the wonderful triumph of the ship's course over the madlyvexed waters, and remained in our exposed situation speilbound at her casy performance over such rough and formidable obstacles. Place a Cunard liner, or any vessel, in this position with the present lines of English ocean steamers, and they would ship tons and tous of water. The heavy bows, bowsprit and all, would plunge into the sea with a crash and a bang that would shake and strain a ship to her center. On raising her forefoot from her watery bath, the bowsprit, enveloped with the gear, would visibly bend with the jerk. This is the main difference between the ocean steamers of England and America, and we strongly advise the builders of England to wake up from their lethargy, half composed of prejudice. I tell them again plainly, however unpleasant to myself, that there are no ocean steamers in England comparable with the Baltic.

"It is the fashion in England, amongst a certain class, unhappily too numerous, to shake their noddles when these steamers are mentioned. Oh,' say they, these steamers are all to pieces; they will be done up in a short time; they won't pay.' I beg to disabuse their minds-the minds of all persons in England who have not had such an opportunity as mine to judge for themselves. These steamers are as good and as strong as ever; they are as well officered and manued as any ships afloat; they treat their pas sengers with as much or more civility and attention than any other line; and, finally, their food and wine, and all arrangements of the table, (at least in the Baltic,) are as good as any person can require, even if spoiled by the Sy barite luxuries of the great metropolitan cities of the world. "The last day's steaming of this beautiful vessel was the Atthree o'clock, p. in., she was absolute poetry of motion. off the western extremity of Ireland, exactly three hundred miles from the light vessel, at the entrance of Liverpool harbor. The weather was beautiful, a light breeze from the northeast, just sufficient to ruffle slightly the glasslike surface of the water. Onwards she rushed with headlong speed, her ponderous engines revolving at the rate of nineteen revolutions a minute So clear and beautiful was her shape, that she appeared to glide through the water, leaving hardly a ripple behind. Numerous steam vessels likewise running up the Irish Channel, were passed as if at anchor, and, in twenty-two and a half hours from making the land on the previous afternoon, she had achieved the three hundred miles that separated her from her home. "Reader, this is a wonderful performance, and what I fear cannot be rivaled by any English vessel at present. The whole thing is obvious to the meanest understanding, and may clearly be traced to the unequaled beauty of the model. The English engines are allowed by the Americans to be superior. Why, therefore, should we allow Brother Jonathan to beat us on our own element? The reason is plain enough, and patent to the whole world, and is summed up briefly in one sentence: The British model is far inferior to the American. I say this in sorrow and jealously, and investigate calmly and dispassionately this momentous question. When once inquiry is thoroughly aroused in England, I do not fear the result. If, however, obstinacy and pride are allowed to blind our ship-builders, they will richly merit the fate that will inevitably befali them, namely, to be soundly beaten by the American naval architect.

"We arrived at Liverpool in ten days and a half from New ⚫ York, during which time the engines were never stopped, and not the slightest accident happened."

Ocean Mail Service-Mr. Breckinridge.

Mr. Chairman, I have already endeavored, feebly, I admit, to appeal to the sense of justice of the House, and to its regard for plighted faith. 1 now appeal to its patriotism. I ask gentlemen if they are willing to see Great Britain retain the hold she has had upon the commercial trident of the world? I ask if they are willing to see the whole commerce of the country cast down at the feet of the British Government, and to make us dependent on Great Britain not only for carrying the mails, but for protecting the other great and inestimable commercial interests of the country? To oppose the Collins line now is not according to the maxims which I learned in early life. I think it is preeminently the destiny of our country to take the lead of the world in commercial enterprise. A few years ago, comparatively-but few in the history of the world-and we were a weak, and almost a despised people. We had no commerce, we had but few ships. Under the benign influence of what I regard as the true American policy-that policy which gives the preference to our own citizens above all others-in our commercial regulations, behold the result! If not the very first Power of the world, certainly we are among the first. Our commerce extends to all seas and all oceans. There is no portion of the inhabited globe where our people have not penetrated. Our canvas floats in the breeze in all latitudes and longitudes, and the richest resources of the world are at our command. Inspired by such reflections, I delight to contemplate the increasing glory of my country. Her citizens are no longer oppressed with a sense of inferiority in any respect. They can turn to her history, and its pages are illustrated by the triumph of her arms in every conflict which she has been called to encounter, either on earth or ocean, and especially may they exult in her superiority in nautical skill and enterprise. We may repair to the ocean, and

"Far as the breeze can bear the billows foam, Survey our empire and behold our home;" These are our realms-no limit to their sway, Our flug the sceptre-all who meet obey. But our greatest struggle is now pending. It s a contest for the commerce of the East. Engand, by her steam marine, is endeavoring to establish a line of rapid communication with the East Indies. But support the policy which I am now advocating; sustain the enterprise which has given us, so far, the advantage in this contest with England, and who can doubt that, in a few years, we shall have a route to the East Indies by the Isthmus of Panama, and the Pacific, which in every respect is preferable to the one from Southampton by way of Alexandria?

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sonal remarks touching either members of the House or any of the gentlemen connected with this mail steamer line. I think that if Congress, instead of confining itself to the discharge of its appropriate legitimate duties, chooses to embark in contracts and jobs, Mr. Collins and his asse ciates, and every other citizen, have a perfect right to come here and consume the time of this House in quarreling among themselves as to who shall get the best bargain. I attach no blame whatever to them. I intend to use the language of the distinguished gentleman from Missouri [Mr. BENTON]-to substitute, before I am done, some figures of arithmetic for the figures of rhétoric which have been so lavishly expended on this subject; and if I can get the attention of my friend from North Carolina, [Mr. KERR,] who has just taken his seat, I hope to be able to satisfy him that he has not given this subject the investigation which it deserved at his hands. I think I will be able to show that there has been no breach of faith on the part of the Government towards the Collins company; and that none is involved in the bill reported by the Committee of Ways and Means. Let me, for the purpose of getting a clear statement of the proposition before the House, advert to the history of this transaction.

In the year 1847 Mr. Collins and his associates proposed to carry the mails of the United States between New York and Liverpool, twenty trips annually, at the sum of $19,250 the round trip, in vessels capable of being converted, at small cost, and in a short time, into war steamers of the first class. At that time, I believe, the Cunard line was in operation. Mr. Collins and his associates were business men in the city of New York. They obtained the contract at their own price, and on their own terms. It was to exist for ten years. The company went on performing the service, at twenty trips annually, until 1852, when they came to Congress and said, "We must have an increase; we propose to increase the trips to twenty-six annually, instead of twenty, and we ask $33,000 per trip, instead of $19,250."

Mr. KERR. I ask the gentleman from Kentucky if that proposition did not come first from the Post Office Department?

Mr. BRECKINRIDGE, Why, sir, the contract was never made with the Post Office Department, but with the Secretary of the Navy.

Mr. KERR. No, sir. Mr. Hall proposed that the company should increase the number of trips, and he said he should recommend that there should be a pro rata increase of compensation.

Mr. HAVEN. If the gentleman from Kentucky will allow me, I will make a statement on this particular point of the case.

Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. With pleasure. Mr. HAVEN. It was a conditional arrangement which was made between the Postmaster General and Mr. Collins. It was, that Mr. Collins might run these additional trips and stand his chance in Congress of getting additional compenIf Congress gave it, very well; if not, he was to close his mouth and make no claim on the Post Office Department.

It will thus be seen that Captain McKennon declares that they are better for war purposes, as well as to weather storms, than the Cunard ships. What more, then, can we ask than that while we are deriving from them such great commercial advantages, we are, at the same time, realizing the benefits of a policy which makes the arts of peace eminently conducive to our success in war? By the use of these steamers we bring commercial enterprise into subordination to the great end of maintaining the preeminence of our country in its conflicts with the nations of the earth upon the ocean; and such a policy can hardly be too highly appreciated. It promises the most brilliant results in the future. If peace continues, it insures our highest success in commercial adventures; if war unhappily occurs, we are prepared at the very moment of its outbreak to convert these magnificent steamers into war vessels of the very best description. England has already withdrawn some of the Cunard ships from the mail SPEECH OF J. C. BRECKINRIDGE,

Mr. Chairman, I have spoken with very great difficulty of voice; I would be glad indeed if I had time to say more. But I will conclude with one observation more; and that is, whether I am sustained or not by this House, and by the people, I am the decided, unwavering advocate of Amer ican enterprise and industry, against all competi-sation. tion, and especially against the competition of our ancient enemy, whose policy it has ever been to oppress us; and who has ever been able to carry out that policy with more success than any other nation.

The

service, and dispatched them to aid in the siege of Sebastopol. And, Mr. Chairman, I can but remember that just before these Collins steamers were built, we had driven the British packets from the trade between this country and Europe. Our enterprising countrymen had vanquished our great adversaries in that contest. Cunard line was established by the British Government in order to regain the advantages thus lost, and that Cunard line had hardly begun to perform the office for which it was designed, when, true to their instinctive devotion to the interests and to the honor of our country, our high-spirited countrymen engaged in a like enterprise. Whatever may have been the mortification on the part of England at her defeat in the first contest, it has been immensely augmented by her signal failure to contend successfully with the Collins line.

OCEAN MAIL SERVICE.

OF KENTUCKY,

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
February 16, 1855.

The House being in the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union

Mr. BRECKINRIDGE said:

The duty of taking part in this debate has been thrown upon me unexpectedly, and I do not enter upon it with the preparation which the question deserves; I am comforted on this point, however, when I observe the loose manner in which the discussion is managed by some gentlemen on the other side. This bill was precipitated on the committee yesterday. The chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means was taken sick, and he has requested me to take charge of the measure. I desire to discuss it without any invidious per

Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. Very well. Mr. Collins proposed to make six additional trips in the year, and to take his chance of getting increased compensation from Congress; yet his application to Congress was not for additional compensation in proportion to the increase of service, which would have been $19,250 for each of the twenty-six trips, but he asked, and after a severe struggle, obtained the enormous sum of $33,000 & trip, including as well the twenty contained in his contract, as the six afterwards added. Congress, however, did not intend to bind the Government to this arrangement for the whole period of the contract with Collins & Co. The power was reserved to terminate it upon certain conditions, and to prove this I desire to call the attention of the committee to the language of the act increasing the compensation of this line. (Act to supply deficiencies for the fiscal year ending 30th June, 1852, approved July 21, 1852:)

"For additional compensation for increasing the transportation of the United States mail between New York and Liverpool, in the Collins line of steamers, to twenty-six trips per annum, at such times as shall be directed by the Postmaster General, and in conformity to his last annual report to Congress, and his letter of the 15th of November last to the Secretary of the Navy, commencing said in

33D CONG....2D SESS.

creased service on the first day of January, 1852, at the rate of $33,000 per trip, in lieu of the present allowance, the sum of $236,500: Provided, That it shall be in the power of Congress at any time after the 31st day of December, 1854, to terminate the arrangement for the additional allowance herein provided for, upon giving six months' notice."

The committee will not fail to observe that while the act professes to appropriate only for the increased service, (being six trips,) it actually gives nearly double the contract price for the original twenty trips. Sir, strange and indefensible proceedings are clothed in strange and misleading language,

But the power to cut off the bounty, upon notice, was reserved, and gentlemen who were here at that time know that the act would not have passed without the proviso. Well, Collins & Co. got the increase, a large part of which was mere bounty. No one can now deny that a stipulation was inserted in the act by which Congress should have the power, upon giving six months' notice, to terminate the arrangement for the additional allowance; and yet gentlemen say, in proposing, under that reserved power, to terminate the arrangement, that Congress is guilty of a breach of faith! The bounty to that line in 1852 was carried here after a very hard struggle, and we were upon the eve of embarking in a system of Government patronage to commercial steam lines which would have involved the expenditure of countless millions of dollars, and would have fastened the carrying trade of this country upon the public Treasury. I had the honor at that time to make a speech in opposition to the increase of pay to the Collins line, and I had a table prepared of the new propositions then before Congress. There were seventeen new proposals to establish Government commercial lines (nearly all of them containing the plausible pretext of the war clause) from the principal ports of this country to almost all the ports of the world. The bounty to Collins was the entering wedge of all these propositions, and it was the only one of the whole brood that survived the conflict. If they had been adopted, it would have involved an expenditure, for ocean mail service alone, of more than double the whole cost of our interior mail service, and we should have been paying to commercial companies out of the public Treasury for the transportation of ocean mails more than double the sum which the whole interior mail service costs this Government. What would have been the result in other respects? Why, under the pretext of getting a convertible steam navy, you would have formed an extensive commercial alliance between the Government and private companies; you would have given an unnatural, and, therefore, unprofitable direction to commercial pursuits; these Government companies supported by your subsidies, and being the protected interest in navigation, would have driven private commerce from the chief thoroughfares of trade; and to complete the injustice of the whole proceeding, you would have collected the capital subscribed by taxation, from the people who were to be oppressed by the monopolies.

My friend from North Carolina, and other gentlemen, have said that it was necessary to give the bounty originally, and to keep it up now in order to prevent the British Government from driving us from the seas by the support they afford the Cunard line. On this point I refer these gentlemen to some facts which, I hope, will relieve their patriotic anxiety, and put the case on its true, grounds. In 1852, when the question of the bounty was before Congress, I made the following statement, which, I think, was not denied at the time, and will not now be denied:

"By the British Constitution all moneys expended upon the mail or naval service must be appropriated by Parliament. A register of these appropriations, made every year, exhibits the amounts annually appropriated to the different lines. The London Times of March 12, 1852, contains a complete table of the ocean mail service of that country for the years 1851-52 and 1852-53, which was compiled from a parliamentary report, and is probably accurate. [For table see next column.]

"It will be seen that the compensation of the Cunard company, instead of being increased in proportion to the increase of their trips, in the most dangerous portion of the year, has been actually diminished from $17,500 per trip to about $10,000, and that this amount is all that the Cunard line received from the English Government, The amount now paid by our Government to the Collins line is $19,250 a trip; the amount proposed to be paid is $33,000 a trip." This is official and uncontradicted, while the

Ocean Mail Service-Mr. Breckinridge.

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appeals to our prejudices about "British competition, uttered with a view to sustain a system of Government bounties, are wholly unsupported by facts.

Can gentlemen be serious when they talk about this system being necessary to enable American enterprise to compete with British enterprise upon the ocean? But if you enter upon this course of policy at all, do you want to pay them double bounty? Is it necessary to give these extraordi'nary gratuities to enable the steam marine of this country to compete with the steam marine of other countries? In the remarks which I had the honor to make at the time the additional allowance was given to Collins & Co., I inserted an official report from the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, exhibiting the condition of the internal and external steam marine of the United States, and of the internal and external steam marine of Great Britain. What is the result? Why, the external steam marine alone of the United States, exceeds both the external and internal steam marine of Great Britain by many thousands of tons! What made it so? Sir, it was the spur of sharp competition, and not the favors of the Government in the shape of appropriations. These seventeen proposals were put to sleep in the struggle upon granting an increase of pay to the Collins line, which left but six steam lines in special connection with the Government, three of them being foreign, and three coastwise and domestic.

The sober second thought of the country consequent upon the discussions then, and upon the manner in which Congress was continually assailed by these steam monopolies for increase of pay produced a change of policy, as indicated by the vote of this House at the last session of Congress. This House, by quite a decided majority, voted to terminate the bounty to Collins by giving six months' notice, as we had reserved the right to do. At the same time a resolution passed this body directing the Postmaster General, Attorney General, and the head of some other Department to investigate and determine whether we might in good faith terminate the mail arrangements which we had made with other lines, thus indicating that the policy of the Government was to put a stop to the system. Both, however, fell at the close of the last session in the Senate, because the Senator from New York [Mr. SEWARD] took the floor at the last hour, and exhibited a purpose to speak until the expiration of the session. When the same proposition is now offered which we voted on at the last session, a rally is made not only for the purpose of retaining the extra pay to the Collins line, but also to enable him to build another ship. What is the cause of it? Why are we to turn our backs upon our action of the last session? Are we to go into this system again? Are we to build up a commercial navy under the pretense that it will be useful in time of war? The gentleman from Ohio, [Mr. OLDS,] in his speech yesterday, said it was the policy of this country to have these lines engaged in commerce during time of peace, and drawing their subsidies from the Government, that we might have them ready as war steamers in case of a conflict with other Powers.

I stop here a moment to state, and try to show that the war clause is an unmitigated humbug. It will be remembered that the British Government had, also, commercial lines with a war clause in the. contracts. She had lines of side-wheel steamers, with sharp bows and sterns, constructed like ours, chiefly for passengers, freight, and speed, and which could not carry a heavy battery. When she came to test those steamers, under a parliamentary examination, she found they were not at all adapted for war steamers, and she is now constructing screw steamers expressly for the Navy. While we adopt her errors let us adopt some of her wise precautions.

Commodore Perry's name has been brought in here to strengthen this case. But I have the testimony of Commodore Perry that these vessels can only be used for temporary purposes, and that they would not be in any respect equal to steamers built expressly for war purposes. I do not know where gentlemen get their evidence of Commodore Perry from, but I have before me an extract from his official report made in 1852...

Mr. OLDS. I will say to the gentleman that what I read of Commodore Perry's opinion was

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from his report made by him to the Secretary of the Navy.

Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. But here is another report, and if I cannot get advantage of the witness, I can at least neutralize him. He says:

"The mail steamers of the contracts of Howland & Aspinwall, of George Law, and of E. K. Collins, can be easily converted into war steamers for temporary service, in cases of particular emergency; but the cost of converting them to war purposes would be large, and in no respect would they be so economical, or in any way equal to vessels built expressly for Government service; nor should they, in my opinion, interfere in the least with the organization and gradual increase of an efficient and permanent steam Navy,"

Chief Engineer Haswell, in a report made in April, 1850, stated that

"With a large majority of these commercial ocean steamers, the proportions, capacities, and construction of their hulls, and the design and arrangement of their engines and boilers, are such as to render them incapable of efficient and economical war service, without incurring an expenditure, in alterations and loss of time, that would not, except in cases of national emergency, be at all repaid by the ultimate durability of the buils of the vessels, in their ready transfer to, or their economical performance of, actual service."

Commodore Skinner also says:

"They cannot be converted into war steamers without great expense, and then they would be inferior to those designed solely for that purpose."

There is much other official testimony of the former Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Preston, (to same character. I have also the testimony of a whom Commodore Perry made his report,) in which he says:

"After a careful consideration of this subject, I cannot withhold the expression of an opinion adverse to embarking any further in the proposed union of public and private means in this system of ocean steamers as calculated to promote the interest of the Navy."

Mr. Preston proceeds to enforce these views at length, and with great power; and, in a subsequent report, made in June, 1850, to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads of the Senate, the same officer remarks:

"The opinions heretofore expressed have been confirmed by the experience of the last year; to which I have but to add, that, so far as the contracts contemplated a union with the naval force of the country, and an improvement in the efficiency of our naval power, they have not and will not prove beneficial,"

The material is abundant, but my time is insufficient to give the proofs.

Can the gentleman produce one report favorable to his view from Mr. Preston, Secretary of the Navy under Mr. Fillmore; can he bring a recommendation from the present able Secretary of the Navy; can he bring recommendations from any officers of credit and standing in the Navy of the United States, favorable to the much vaunted war clause in these contracts? No, sir; the testimony is patched-up, and outside testimony picked up from chance quarters, and wanting in every element to make it the basis of legislation. It remains to be seen whether the influence of a private company can overcome these proofs.

Sir, shall Congress, in the face of the facts that the British Government has, to a great extent, abandoned this theory of a commercial steam navy-that our official testimony is, that these steamers cannot be converted into war steamersthat we originally paid this line more than the British Government paid their line, and that now the British competition is nearly nominal, shall we, in view of all these facts upon the humbug of the war clause, continue to pay an enormous gratuity to Collins & Co., above the terms of their contract-a gratuity of itself almost equal to the largest sum England ever paid for mail service to the Cunard steamers? I put it to the common sense of the House.

Sir, there are two dangers to be feared here. You have a number of these steamers, with war clauses in their contracts, already running from one port to another in our own country, and to ports of foreign countries. One danger is, that the owners of these steamship lines will make application to Congress to take the vessels off their hands and terminate the contracts. I see symptons of that already. That would put an end to the system, but you would do it by requiring the Government to take, at a heavy cost, under the name of war steamers, vessels which were not originally adapted to war purposes, and which have been shaken and shattered by the winds and waves of the ocean.

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