1st Session. No. 37. IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. FEBRUARY 4, 1850. Mr. HAMLIN made the following REPORT: [To accompany bill S. No. 96.] The Committee on Commerce, to whom was referred the petition of John A. McGaw, of New York, for relief, report: It appears from the memorial of the petitioner, and the evidence in the case, that he chartered the ship Charlotte, at Boston, on the 13th day of October, A. D. 1847, to the United States, to take a cargo of pressed hay from Boston to Vera Cruz, Mexico. The charter-party was in the form used by the merchants in Boston and New York, and specified the sum which said McGaw should have for the voyage-that there should be eight lay-days, in which the vessel should be discharged after her arrival at Vera Cruz, and that for every day which the vessel should be detained after the said eight days, the said McGaw should receive at the rate of one hundred dollars per day for demurrage, provided such detention shall happen by the default of the United States or their agent. The vessel arrived safely with her cargo at Vera Cruz, on the 17th day of November, and was not unloaded until the 8th day of December. She was detained fourteen days beyond the time specified in the charter-party, within which it was stipulated she should be unloaded, and after which demurrage was to be paid at the rate of one hundred dollars per day. For that sum, $1,400, the petitioner asks an appropriation. There is some evidence in the case tending to show that, from the bad state of the weather, or northers, so called, the vessel could not be unloaded within the number of lay-days specified in the charter-party; and other evidence on the part of the petitioner, tending to prove that the vessel could have been unloaded within that time, had sufficient facilities been furnished by the United States. There is some conflict of evidence on this point, but the weight of the evidence tends to show that the vessel might have been unloaded within the lay-days named. But, as your committee believe the petitioner entitled to relief on other grounds, it does not become necessary to determine it on this point. It appears from the affidavits and certificates of a large number of the most respectable and intelligent merchants of Boston and New York, that where a certain number of lay-days is named in a charter-party for unla ding a vessel, the charterer is entitled to demurrage for detention after that time, when such detention is in consequence of bad weather. Th lay-days in a charter-party usually, as they did in this case, exceed the number necessary to unload. Where it is understood that the lay-days are designed to be good weather, there is usually a provision that the days named should be specified as "working days." In the merchant service, then, the petitioner would be entitled to demurrage, if the delay was occa sioned by bad weather. And as the same rule should apply here which would between merchants, your committee believe the petitioner entitled to relief; and report a bill, herewith submitted. 1st Session. No. 38. IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. FEBRUARY 4, 1850. Mr. FELCH made the following REPORT: [To accompany bill S. No. 97.] The Committee on Public Lands, to whom were referred the petition of Orville B. Dibble and George C. Bates, asking for the right of way, together with a grant of land, to aid in the construction of a canal around the Falls of St. Mary's, and also the joint resolution of the legislature of Michigan on the same subject, respectfully report: That the petition and papers in this case were referred to the Committee on Public Lands at the first session of the last Congress, who carefully examined the application. This committee fully concurring in the report then made, append the same hereto, and present herewith the bill which then accompanied the report. JUNE 15, 1848. The Committee on Public Lands, to whom were referred the petition of Orville B. Dibble and George C. Bates, asking for the right of way, together with a grant of land to aid in the construction of a canal around the Falls of St. Mary's, and also the joint resolutions of the legislature of Michigan on the same snbject, respectfully report : The canal contemplated by the petitioners is designed to connect the waters of Lake Superior with those of Lake Huron, and to enable vessels to pass without interruption from the latter to the former. The obstruction caused by the Falls of St. Mary's, now completely barring all communication by navigation with the largest sheet of fresh water on the earth, may be surmounted by a canal only about three-fourths of a mile in length. The land here, on the American shore, is owned by the United States, and is held as a military reservation. Over this space the petitioners ask the right of way for a canal. They also solicit a grant of land to aid in the construction of the work. The attention of Congress was at an early period called to the national importance of this work, and the citizens of several of the States border ing on the great lakes joined in petitioning for the aid of government in its construction. In 1837, the legislature of Michigan, anticipating much. delay in the action of Congress on the subject, undertook the construction of the canal, and caused a survey and an estimate of the expenses to be made, and in 1839 actually commenced the excavation. The agents and laborers in the employment of the State were, however, driven from the ground by the military power of the United States. The subsequent embarrassment of the treasury prevented any further prosecution of the enter prise by State authority, and the work has never been resumed. In 1844 the subject underwent an investigation by the Committee on Roads and Canals, who made a report recommending the construction of the canal by the government of the United States. "The indispensable importance of the proposed canal," the committee remark in their report, "in a military and naval point of view, seems so evident to the committee, that they cannot deem it wise in Congress any longer to delay its construction. Frontier security, even in time of peace, imperatively demands it. That the country lying south of Lake Superior is destined to a course of rapid settlement, there can no longer be a doubt. Its northern shores swarm with numerous hordes of savages in the interest of, because subsidized by, the British government. Our own settlements will be more contiguous to such an Indian border than during any period of our history. A necessity will at once arise for advancing our military posts as far as the head of the lake, and eventually beyond it, to cover and protect them, as well as to insure safety in our intercourse with vari ous remote tribes to whom we are bound by existing treaty stipulations. A war with England, however much to be deprecated, and avoided, too, so far as the preservation of our national rights and honor may enable us to avoid it, is yet an event which, owing to our frontier position with ref erence to her American possessions, we should be prepared to meet, by the adoption of every precautionary measure calculated to insure an exemption from the desolating and murderous ravages to which our northwestern border was exposed during the late contest. In such an event, the shores of Lake Superior, without this improvement, will be what those of Erie, Huron, and Michigan were-the scene of foreign conquest, of merciless Indian massacres, perhaps of national dishonor and shame. It was the glorious achievement of Perry which, by sweeping the flag of England from those inland seas, led to the expulsion of a foreign invader from the soil of Michigan, and the scourging of his red allies back forever to their foreign fastnesses. Without a naval force on Lake Superior, the defence of that country would be impracticable. The building and equipping of a separate fleet for that purpose would therefore become unavoidable, and at a cost far beyond what would be required to open this pro posed communication. The Hudson Bay Company are supposed to have at least two thousand employees and engagees in its service, in the northwest, possessing an unbounded influence over all the Indian tribes with whom they are associated, who cherish a deep and irreconcilable hate towards the people of the United States. In the event of hostilities, it may be safely estimated that thirty thousand warriors might, and doubtless would, if necessary, be concentrated on that portion of our frontier. How indispensable is it, then, that this influence and this spirit should be kept down and overawed, even in time of peace, by such an array of the means of protection as the opening of this canal would enable us at once to throw into that vast lake. "There has recently been built on Lake Erie an iron steam frigate, to the dimensions of which this canal is proposed to be adapted. Its usefulness, except for the purposes of experiment and nautical discipline, will be almost wholly nominal in time of peace, unless it can have access to Lake Superior, for the object above indicated; and the settlement of the country will soon demonstrate the necessity of a protection against smuggling, which can only be had by giving the United States revenue cutter the same facility." The group of fresh water lakes, of which those above mentioned form a part, present one of the grandest features of physical geography. With a line of coast embracing about 5,000 miles, they are surrounded by a region of the richest soil, with a climate generally temperate and healthy. It is, however, only recently that the increased facilities of ingress and egress, and the advantages of communication with foreign markets, have invited an industrious population to their borders, and increased to an astonishing amount the exports of the country. The opening of the Erie canal through the State of New York was the first important measure for the prosperity of the region of which we speak. This secured at once to the whole country bordering upon all of these inland seas, with the exception of Lake Superior, the advantages of water communication with eastern markets, and with the ocean. The commerce of these lakes has consequently exhibited an increase almost without a parallel. In 1846, as appears by a report from the War Department, made to the Senate in December last, the total value of imports and exports on the great lakes amounted to $61,914,910. The tonnage of American vessels engaged in this commerce is reported at 106,838, employing 6,972 mariners. The Cost of these vessels was about $6,000,000, and the annual expense of manning them is estimated at $1,750,000. Add to this the tonnage of the British shipping on the several lakes, ascertained to be 46,575 tons, and the passenger trade, amounting to at least $1,250,000, received for not less than 250,000 passengers in the year, and we have an imperfect view of the immense business of the great American lakes, and the resources of the region bordering upon them. The average rate of increase, which has been for the last five years over 17 per cent., will enable us to approxmate its future amount. Every channel of communication which has heretofore been opened between the east and the unsettled portion of the west has had the effect to introduce purchasers of public lands, to change the wilderness to cultivated fields, and to add to the wealth of the country, by increasing the fruits of productive labor. Lake Superior is the only one of the great lakes which is excluded from the benefits of a connexion by navigable waters with all the others. The Falls of St. Mary's interpose the only obstruction, yet they as effectually close its entrance to all intercourse by navigation as if no stream divided its hills. Until recently, the country bordering on the upper lake, continuing in s wilderness state, afforded few productions demanding an outlet for vesis. It was not until 1837 that the true importance of the Lake Superior Country became the subject of public attention. In that year the legisature of Michigan passed an act authorizing a geological survey of the |