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Mr. FOOT. If the Senate will indulge me in a word of explanation, this joint resolution passed the House of Representatives near the close of the last session, was sent to the Senate for concurrence, and referred to the appropriate committee. Through inadvertence on my part it was not then brought to the attention of the committee. During the last days and hours of the session, in the crowd of business, it was overlooked, and consequently failed of action in this body. The committee now direct me to report it and ask the unanimous consent of the Senate for its present consideration. I will state that it involves no appropriation, but merely authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to expend so much out of the contingent fund as may be necessary to erect a wing by way of enlargement of the Navy Department building. That addition is in process of construction, and now nearly completed. I understand its entire cost will be about fifty thousand dollars, which is about equivalent to the sum paid for two years' rent of buildings necessary for the accommodation of the clerical force and employés of that Department.

The joint resolution was reported to the Senate without amendment, ordered to a third reading, read the third time, and passed.

BILLS INTRODUCED.

Mr. DAVIS, in pursuance of previous notice, asked and obtained leave to introduce a joint resolution (S. No. 81) for the restoration of peace and the Union, the vindication of the Constitution, and the construction of additional and adequate guarantees of the rights and liberties of the people of the United States; which was read a first time by its title and passed to a second reading, and ordered to be printed.

Mr. RAMSEY asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill (S. No. 354) extending the time for the completion of certain land-grant railroads in the State of Minnesota and regulating the disposal of lands heretofore granted said State to aid in the construction of such roads; which was read twice by its title and referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

Mr. FARWELL asked, and by unanimous consent obtained, leave to introduce a bill (S. No. 355) to amend "an act to regulate the admeasurement of tonnage of ships and vessels of the United States," passed May 6, 1864; which was read twice by its title, and referred to the Committee on Commerce.

REFERENCE OF PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. On motion of Mr. SUMNER, it was Ordered, That so much of the President's annual message as concerns our foreign relations be referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

INCREASE OF THE REVENUE.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I offer the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Committee on Finance be instructed to inquire into the propriety of the immediate passage of an act to increase the revenue, first, by an additional tax of one per cent. upon all sales of real and personal property, including also all bargains for the sale of merchandise, produce, gold or silver coin, or stocks of any description; second, by an additional tax of twenty-five per cent. upon the gross receipts, to be added to the present rates, of all railroad fares, including street railroads, steamboats, and ferries, to be collected by the companies or persons running the same, for the use of the Government. And that said committee be further instructed to inquire into the propriety of the passage of a law to prevent the further expansion of the currency by the organization of any new banking associations except when they may take the place of some existing State bank. And that said committee be further instructed to inquire into the propriety of redeeming all the outstanding interest-bearing legal-tender notes by issuing in their stead other notes, in denomination not less than fifty dollars each, bearing a uniform interest, from the 1st day of January in each year, of three and sixty-five onehundredths per cent. per annum, with coupons attached, to be paid out, and to be made a legal tender for their face, with interest added.

As this is a simple resolution of inquiry, instructing the Committee on Finance to inquire into the subject, I ask for its present consideration. Mr. CHANDLER. Let it lie over. The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection being made, the resolution will lie over.

COASTING TRADE.

Mr. FARWELL submitted the following resolution; which was considered by unanimous consent, and agreed to:

Resolved, That the Committee on Commerce be intructed to inquire into the propriety of consolidating the

three great districts, and for providing that licensed vessels may trade to ports on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts without clearance and entry at the custom-house.

AMERICAN SAILOR BOYS.

Mr. FARWELL submitted the following resolution; which was considered by unanimous consent, and agreed to:

Resolved, That the Committee on Commerce be instructed to inquire into the propriety of providing by law that vessels engaged in foreign trade shall employ or take on board American boys, at least one for every five hundred tons measurement.

EXECUTIVE SESSION.

Mr. SHERMAN. If there is no further legislative business, I move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive business.

The motion was agreed to; and after some time spent in executive session, the doors were reopened.

CONDUCT OF GENERAL PAINE AT PADUCAH.

On motion of Mr. POWELL, the Senate resumed the consideration of the following resolution submitted by him on the 7th instant:

Resolved, That the Secretary of War be directed, if not incompatible with the public interest, to transmit to the Senate the report and evidence taken by a military commission, of which Brigadier General Speed S. Fry was president, appointed to investigate the conduct of Brigadier General Paine, of the United States Army, in and about Paduera, Kentucky.

NAYS-Messrs. Buckalew, Davis, Hendricks, Johnson, Nesmith, Powell, Riddle, and Wright-8.

NOT VOTING-Messrs, Carlile, Cowan, Hale, Harding, Hicks, Howard, Lane, of Indiana. McDougall, Richardson, Saulsbury, and Wilkinson-11.

So the motion was agreed to, and the resolution was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia.

EXECUTIVE SESSION.

Several executive messages in writing were received from the President of the United States, by Mr. NICOLAY, his Secretary.

Mr. HENDRICKS. A few moments since, my colleague stated to the Senate that he expected a communication from the President in relation to an important office in Indiana, upon which it is desirable to have immediate action. In order to ascertain whether such a communication has been received, I move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive business.

The motion was agreed to; and after some time spent in executive session the doors were reopened and the Senate adjourned.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
MONDAY, December 12, 1864.

The House met at twelve o'clock, m. Prayer
by the Chaplain, Rev. W. H. CHANNING.
The Journal of Thursday last was read and
approved.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The pending question is on the motion of the Senator from Illinois [Mr. TRUMBULL] to refer the resolution to the Committee on Military Affairs and the Mi-lowing communication, which was read: litia; and upon that question the yeas and nays have been ordered.

RESIGNATION OF A MEMBER.

The SPEAKER laid before the House the fol

Mr. POWELL. It is not my purpose, sir, to discuss the question further, but simply to make a statement in answer to some interrogatories which were put to me when the resolution was up before. I was then asked by some Senator, I think the Senator from Maryland, [Mr. JoHNSON,] whether or not this General Paine was now in the service. I have written a note to the Adjutant General on the subject, and I am informed by that functionary that General Paine has tendered his resignation, but it has not been accepted, and he is still in the service. I had seen it stated in the newspapers that his resignation was accepted, but that seems to have been a mistake.

I was also asked by whom this commission was appointed, and I was unable to answer the question. I am now advised by the Adjutant General that it was appointed by Brevet Major General Burbridge, commanding the Department of Kentucky.

I will further remark that a little mistake appeared in the report in the Globe, and the Senator from Illinois seemed to catch my remark as the reporter did. I am made to say in the Globe that the report of this commission had been published in the newspapers. That was a mistake. The statement I made or intended to make, was that accounts of the report had been published in the newspapers.

Mr. TRUMBULL. I think it was the Senator's colleague who stated that.

Mr. POWELL. I am reported in the Globe as saying that the report had been published, and I understood the Senator from Illinois to comment on my remark as if I had said so. The idea I intended to convey was that I had seen accounts of this report, newspaper articles purporting to give some of the points in the report. I have never seen the report; it has not been published in the newspapers, to my knowledge. The mistake was a very trifling one, to be sure.

I think this document is of such a kind and character that we ought to have it. I hope the Senate will vote down the motion of the Senator

from Illinois. I can see no reason for referring the resolution to a committee. I hope it will be adopted at once. The document is a public record in which the people of the country are very deeply interested, especially the people in the region where these transactions occurred.

The question being taken by yeas and nays, resulted-yeas 30, nays 8; as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Anthony, Brown, Chandler, Clark, Collamer, Conness, Dixon, Doolittle, Farwell, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Harlan, Harris, Henderson, Howe, Lane, of Kansas, Morgan, Motrill, Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Van Winkie, Wade, Willey, and Wilson-30.

WASHINGTON, D. C., December 10, 1864. SIR: I have resigned my seat in Congress, to take effect on the 20th instant. I will leave for Albany on Monday next, and as it is not probable that I shall return in the mean time, I now tender my resignation as a member of the Committee of Ways and Means, and also on the committee on the rebellious States. Very respectfully, Hon. SCHUYLER COLFAX,

R. E. FENTON, Thirty-First District New York.

Speaker House of Representatives.

VACANCIES ON COMMITTEES.

The SPEAKER announced the following appointments to fill vacancies upon sundry committees of the House:

On the Committee of Ways and Means, in place of Mr. Stebbins, Mr. J. V. L. PRUYN.

On the Committee of Ways and Means, in place of Mr. FENTON, Mr. D. C. LITTLEJOHN.

On the Committee on a Uniform System of Coinage, &c., in place of Mr. Stebbins, Mr. DWIGHT TOWNSEND.

On the select committee on the rebellious States, in place of Mr. FENTON, Mr. T. T. DAVIS.

The SPEAKER then proceeded to call the committees for reports to go on the Calendar, and not to be brought back into the House by a motion to reconsider.

The SPEAKER. This being the alternate Monday, and the morning business not having exhausted the morning hour, in accordance with the rule of the House the morning hour expires with the conclusion of the business appropriated to it. The Chair will therefore call up the special order for to-day, being the bill reported by the Committee of Ways and Means in relation to the duty on cigars.

DUTY ON CIGARS.

The House then proceeded to the consideration of the House joint resolution (No. 124) explanatory of the act entitled "An act to provide internal revenue to support the Government, to pay interest on the public debt, and for other purposes,' approved June 30, 1864.

Mr. STEVENS. Several gentlemen feel a difficulty about this question of the tax upon cigars, for, as they say, there is so much involved in it. After some conversation with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue I feel some apprehension that either he has misunderstood us or we have misunderstood him in reference to this subject. In order, therefore, to give further opportunity for examination, I move to postpone this resolution until Thursday next.

Mr. BROOKS. If the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. STEVENS] will permit me, I will read a note which I have received from a large national tobacconists'association recently held in New York, and of which I have no doubt the members of this House have read notices in the

public prints. I read this in order to call the attention of the House to what they desire:

NEW YORK, December 9, 1864.

SIR: I am directed by the Tobacconists' National Association to request that you move for a suspension of the consideration of the tax as relating to cigars and tobacco for about two weeks, when the association will be able to present a plan which was adopted in convention of all the interests in this city on the 7th and 8th instant, and which it is believed will be found satisfactory to the Government. Very truly yours, EDWARD BURKE, Corresponding Secretary.

Hon. JAMES BROOKS, M. C.

Mr. STEVENS. Those gentlemen desire a postponement for two weeks. I fear we shall not be in session then. But I will say to the gentleman from New York [Mr. BROOKS] that when it comes up on Thursday next, if there is any further difficulty about it I shall not object to its going over. I hope, therefore, this joint resolution will be postponed until Thursday next.

The question was taken upon the motion to postpone the further consideration of the joint resolution till Thursday next, and it was agreed to.

MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE.

A message was received from the Senate, through Mr. HICKEY, its Chief Clerk, notifying the House that the Senate had passed, without amendment, joint resolution (H. R. No. 114) authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to expend a portion of the contingent fund for enlarging the Navy Department building.

ENROLLED BILLS.

Mr. COBB, from the Committee on Enrolled Bills, reported that they had examined and found truly enrolled a bill and joint resolutions of the following titles:

Joint resolution (H. R. No. 106) authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to dispose of certain moneys therein mentioned;

Joint resolution (H. R. No. 114) authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to expend a portion of the contingent fund for enlarging the Navy Department building; and

An act (H. R. No. 563) in addition to the act respecting quarantine and health laws, approved February 25, 1799, and for the better execution of the third section thereof.

NAVAL DEPOT FOR IRON-CLADS.

The House then proceeded to the consideration of the bill (H. R. No. 536) authorizing a survey at and near New London, Connecticut, and the establishment of a navy-yard for ironclad vessels thereat, postponed from the last session till this day by order of the House. The bill was read at length.

fifteen acres. It is the only station in the country lying upon pure fresh water, and in the vicinity of abundant supplies of coal and iron, and for the service of which the Government can at any time, upon an hour's or a few hours' notice, command an adequate supply of mechanical skill, experience, and power to execute any work required at such an establishment as the necessities of the Navy may require.

And the city of Philadelphia, finding its commercial growth impeded by the location of this yard, has tendered to the Government, not in exchange for the old and limited site, but as a free gift, an island, containing in all about six hundred acres, nearly one half of which is primitive land, and the remainder accretions made in the long course of centuries. It is known as League Island, and lies at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill, the two rivers which connect that great emporium of coal and iron with the regions from which they come. It needs but about fifteen hundred yards of additional road to connect it by rail with every mine, and forge, and furnace that has been open twelve months within the broad limits of the State of Pennsylvania, and can, by two days' labor of an adequate gang of workmen, be connected with every street railroad that leads to the homes of the working masses of Philadelphia.

It is offered, I say, as a free gift to the Government; and while the people of Philadelphia will gratify their patriotic pride in making such a donation, they will find compensation for their munificence in the taxable value of the fifteen acres now occupied as a station, but which, it is hoped, the Government will, soon after accepting League Island, put into the market, to supply a fund wherewith to make the necessary improvements upon the new and extended site.

The substitute for the bill of the committee which I submitted does not, therefore, propose the creation of a new establishment. It does but propose the enlargement of the Philadelphia navyyard, and the transfer of its site to a point about five miles lower down the river Delaware, though within the city limits. Objections have been made to the acceptance of this site. It is suggested that New London furnishes a more advantageous position, and such is the opinion of the majority of the Naval Committee. In general answer to this suggestion, I refer the House to the minority report made at the close of the last session of Congress.

In view of the opinions of the majority of my colleagues on the committee I make the broad assertion, and challenge sustained and advised contradiction to it, that New London offers no one of the great essential qualities for such a site, name

Section one authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to appoint a competent engineer to desig-ly, adequate breadth of pure fresh water, perfect nate and survey a site on the river Thames, at or above Winthrop's Point, near New London, Connecticut, for the establishment of a navy-yard and naval depot for the construction, docking, and repair of iron, iron-clad, and other naval vessels.

Section two authorizes the Secretary of the Navy, upon the completion of the survey, and a tender of a good title to the land designated, to accept the same, and establish thereat a naval depot.

The pending question was upon the following substitute proposed by Mr. KELLEY:

Strike out all after the enacting clause, and insert: That the Secretary of the Navy be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to accept from the city of Philadelphia a title to League Island on behalf of the Government, if said title be perfect, and to establish thereat a navy yard and depot for the construction, docking, and repair of iron, iron-clad, and other vessels.

defensibility, cheap coal and iron, and an unvarying supply of skilled laborers in the metals, while they are all to be found in a greater degree and more striking combination at the point indicated by the substitute than at any other, not only in our broad country, but in the civilized world.

riety; so that her people, in this the agony of our country, have been able to establish and carry to magnificent results, in less than three years, factories for steel which already rival those of Sweden. When the war began we could not manufacture a first-class gun-barrel from American iron; while to-day we can make of Pennsylvania iron and export better barrel iron than we can import. There is no branch of industry, from the digging of the coal, the limestone, and the iron, to the manufacture of gun-barrel iron, steel, and the best imitation that has yet been produced of Russia sheet-iron, that does not abound within the city or at points near to it and connected with it by railroad.

These rich gifts of nature are one element of Philadelphia's increasing wealth, comfort, and importance. The enterprise, the energy, the skill of New England, traveling through New London to Philadelphia, have done much to give these elements development, and largely constitute the other condition alluded to. Who were the first great machinists of Philadelphia? They were New England men, who had scanned the advantages of New London before they left their native New England to come there-the Merricks. Whitney is a New England name. Bement is another. So you may go through scores of our leading workshops, and find that the enterprising sons of New England, seeking for a position in which to employ their skill and ability in iron and steel works with greatest advantage, have passed through the non coal-producing State of Connecticut to locate where we ask the Government to put its iron workshops. I find in this constantlyrecurring fact proof of the correctness of my views. The shrewd, forecasting, enterprising, and skilled sons of New England, in their earnest purpose to succeed in life by availing themselves of nature's advantages, find no attraction at New London, but come in swarms to Philadelphia, and realize their golden dreams. Shall we, in defiance of the vindicated judgment of so many successful sons of New England, locate a fresh-water establishment in salt water? Shall we locate our iron-works in the city of a State in which there is no coal, while a fresh-water city so abounds in that essential article? Shall we locate our great machine shop in a city which produces no steam engines, and has no mechanician skilled in the branches of industry to be employed in such an establishment? Shall we locate it in a State which produces but about twenty-five per cent. of the amount of such products as are produced within the limits of the city of Philadelphia alone?

Shall we, if I may be permitted to repeat the pregnant question, fly in the face of the experience of the emigrating sons of New England connected with iron-works and machinery, and carry these great works to a point which has offered no temptation to him among them all who was most patriotically and affectionately devoted to his native New England?

Mr. Speaker, all the argument derived from abstract theory, and all the argument resulting from experience, proclaim New London a site that no practical business man would accept, and proclaim League Island to be a site to which they have come from every point of the compass to find their enterprise successful and their labor well rewarded.

And, sir, we may derive a lesson on this sub

Mr. Speaker, permit me to bring a practical test to the judgment of the proposition I have just uttered. It is said that the men of New England are fond of making money; that they are given to enterprise, and are very astute in the discovery of judicious fields for enterprise. What the Government needs is a large workshop for iron and steel work; and it is proposed to locate it at Newject from the war now pending. Wherever our London, in the State of Connecticut. I turn to my native city, of which League Island is a part, and find in her, next to my country, the object of my pride and love. I look at Philadelphia and observe her steady and rapid growth, her intelligence, her productive power, the comfort with which her laboring people are housed, the affluence with which education is provided for their children, the number of churches of all the Chris-it numbered at the breaking out of this wartian denominations which they have erected for themselves; and I find enough to command the pride and affection of any son of hers, native or

Mr. KELLEY. Presuming, Mr. Speaker, that most of the members of the House have read the recent very able report of the Secretary of the Navy, I will spend no time in pressing upon their consideration the importance of the establishment of a yard or station for the construction, cleansing, and repair of iron and iron-clad vessels. I may, however, remark that it is not and has not at any time been the policy of the Navy Depart-adopted. And I ascribe the grand results which ment, or of the Administration, to increase the number of navy-yards or stations. They have simply asked that Congress, recognizing the exigencies of a new age, an age of iron vessels and steam propulsion, should allow them to so enlarge and furnish an existing station as to enable them to meet those exigencies. There is, at Philadelphia, a station containing something more than

I find her embodying to two conditions, mainly: first, that she lies in close proximity to the mus cles of modern civilization, coal and iron, which have been given to her people in greater abundance than to those of any other of the American States. I find coal in greater variety than is found in the same space anywhere else in the wide world, and iron in equal abundance and rich va

armies have had commanders that would permit them to fight they have driven the enemy before them; and at least one of the admirals of our Navy has written his name high above that of Nelson or of Collingwood. Farragut stands today in naval history without a peer. Our Navy is the grandest the world has yet seen. We have added to it more vessels during the last year than

more by nearly twenty-five per cent.-and yet the blockade runner makes her way into the rebellious ports. We took New Orleans and opened the Mississippi river. We added to the glory of our country and our naval history the achieve. ments before Mobile and Charleston, but how few insurgent cities have we taken? Is it not true that Sherman has just concluded or is about concluding the most marvelous march ever made by an army, a march from the banks of the Mississippi to the coast, in order that he might do what our Navy cannot-open an Atlantic port? And why

cannot so gallant and well supplied a Navy do it? Because the southern ports are not exposed as New London, but, like League Island, lie at the head of rivers that may be obstructed. There is the whole secret of it. Our Navy can do whatever a naval force with skillful and dauntless of ficers can do, but they cannot open obstructed rivers, or perform other impossibilities; hence it is that Charleston has baffled them for years, and Mobile still baffles Farragut, the lion of the

sea.

And history, acknowledging these truths, will not disparage the Navy when she records the fact that the army of the West marched from the Mississippi to the Atlantic to open a port and give a base of supplies in one of the harbors of Georgia.

Yet, in view of these glaring facts, the majority of the committee have reported in favor of putting the great iron-work shop of the country at one of the four most exposed points offered by our whole extended coast! There are along our thousands of miles of coast but four ports which La Gloire, the Warrior, and the other monstrous iron ships of Europe can enter; and New London is one of them. New London, lying about five miles from the open sea; New London, lying within two miles of the mouth of a tidal stream whose waters are driven back by the salt water of the Atlantic ocean; New London, lying within less than six miles of the broad surface of the Atlantic ocean, and about two miles from Long Island sound, into which those iron monsters could enter through two channels, one two miles and a half and the other two and a quarter miles wide, in either of which no single point can be found with less than thirty feet of water at low tide.

Who will obstruct two miles and a quarter of almost bottomless channel where the great ocean flows into our great American Mediterranean, Long Island sound? and who will simultaneously obstruct the other two miles and a half of deep water flowing under such a pressure? It is a result with which the imagination of man will not grapple, and none will say that it can be accomplished. This point is urged as an advantage, and we are told that New London will thus protect New York. Why, sir, New York finds her protection against approach by the sound at Hellgate.

The traveler of the sound will see that no large vessel can now approach New York from that point, and that it is there, and there alone, that the Government can give abundant protection to New York

New London cannot protect itself, the Government of the United States cannot protect it, and hence with its magnificent harbor, commerce has never located a mart there; mechanical industry has never found it a fitting abiding place. It is a beautiful city of ten thousand inhabitants, and if by my word I could increase the value of its outlying lots I would do it. It will grow in time by its sea-side attractions, and I will rejoice at its prosperity, but I cannot consent to promote it by making it necessary for all time to come to keep an iron-clad fleet, able to cope with the fleets of the world, to protect the workshops and storehouses in which we shall gather implements and materials in time of peace to enable us to engage in naval warfare, if it shall be put upon us by the nations or by Providence.

It is said the Delaware river is not wide, and is tortuous. It is true it is not as wide as the Mississippi; it is true that upon a narrow bar running between shores not divided by five hundred yards there is, at low water, but twenty feet and five inches of water; at high water, some twenty-five feet or more. I think, Mr. Speaker, that the minority report demonstrates the fact that for warfare on the American coast no vessel is available which draws over twenty-three feet of water; and such I find to be the judgment of every experienced officer of the Navy with whom I have conversed.

It would be well enough in the discussions which are to take place upon this subject--for I hope, as the question is an important one, it will be freely examined-to bear in mind the fact that salt water not only impairs the character of the iron on vessels, but that it so clogs it as to diminish essentially the speed of the vessel. So much as ten tons of barnacles have been taken from the bottom of a single vessel. Among the earlier monitors, two were sent home almost simultaneously, for cleaning; one went to the yard at Charlestown, and the other came to the yard at Washington. It was found almost impossible to clean the bottom of that which went to Boston. Indeed it was impossible to clean it without in- || juring the iron. The incumbrances were those which salt water naturally inflicts upon exposed iron surfaces. The other, as I have said, came to Washington, and after lying one week in the fresh water of the Potomac, a common spade was the only instrument used, and the surface was perfectly cleansed. The attachments are the disease inflicted upon iron by salt water, for which nature has provided one remedy only-fresh

water.

If gentlemen will examine the minority report they will find that the British and French Governments have been engaged for years, with the aid of various scientific associations, in endeavoring to discover some means by which they may protect the bottoms of iron vessels against such parasites, and how they may free them from them; and uniformly the same result has been arrived at, namely, that salt water, coat them as or with what you may, affects iron surfaces, and that mechanism and science have not been able to suggest any means of relieving iron vessels of such matter without damaging the iron plate. Now, if we adopt the project of establishing a new naval station, and of placing it east of the Hudson river, where there are already three; if we are determined that we will, against the protest of the Administration, and especially of the Navy Department, increase the number of naval stations upon the Atlantic coast, and crowd one more into New England, let us do it with our eyes open, knowing that when craft constructed there are ready to go to sea, if we wish them to use their fuel with economy, and make such speed as other vessels make, we must send them to the Delaware or some other fresh-water stream to clean them, and then let them go upon their march over the mountain wave. There, on the other hand, while vessels are being painted or refitted, nature would apply her own medicament, and the vessel would leave the wharf as she left the stocks upon which she had been built. If you wish to waste some months of every year of the life of your vessels by sending them into fresh water solely to be cleaned, put your station in salt water or at the mouth of a tidal stream, and lay your vessels up dismantled or in ordinary in the waters of the sound or the Atlantic.

If, on the other hand, as I have suggested, you wish the time required for refitment or repair to cleanse and purify and fit the vessel for a new cruise, you must put a station with ample anchorage and wharf room and repair shops upon fresh water. Again, if you would avoid another expense to which I have incidentally alluded, that of maintaining an iron-clad fleet equal to the ironclad fleets of the world, do not put your repair and construction station at an exposed place. Do not put it where La Gloire, the Warrior, and other vessels of that class may move up to within two or three miles of your station and bombard it. Bear in mind that twelve hundred yards give impunity to an iron-clad against any ordnance yet tested by any Government, and that nothing short of a superior fleet, lying at all times to guard the wide entrance into the sound, can protect the proposed site at New London from bombardiment by the fleet of any nation.

But again, do you want your great naval station to be held at the mercy of a few land monopolists and a few laborers? New London cannot furnish

by what process one hundred and fifty miles is reduced to less than ninety-nine miles. That report, in the face of all the facts-of nature's great fact the distance, of railroad tables, of railroad charges, of the scale of time for mailsthe majority of those impartial scientific men in their report have boldly announced that one hundred miles is a greater length than one hundred and fifty miles, and put New York and her skilled workmen nearer to New London than to Philadelphia.

Now, Mr. Speaker, permit me to call the attention of the House to a few parallels or comparisons between the two sites, with reference to skilled laborers, and to connect therewith the idea of the necessary force for the defense of the naval station if assailed by an army.

"The city of New London, as appears by the census of 1860, has a population of 10,115. The city of Philadelphia has over 11,000 skilled workers in iron and brass, and over 5,000 skilled machinists; while very few, if any, of the 10,000 people of New London are workers in iron and brass On a scale commensurate with establishments unrecognized as among the shops and founderies of Philadelphia. The navy-yard at Philadelphia is the smallest of our naval stations. It employs at this time about 2,500 workmen, almost every one of whom is the head of a family, and allowing them an average of five members to each family, it will be seen that, small as that station is, its workmen and their families constitute a population that could not be housed, in the Philadelphia fashion of a separate house for each family, in New London, were the entire population of that beautiful city to surrender their homes to them."

Where will you get the skilled workmen to construct the yard and build the shops at New London? You must import them, and build the homes in which they may dwell. And in these facts you find the key to the pertinacity with which New London is pressed on the attention of the Government. Forlagain affirm that it has no single one of the essential elements necessary for

such a station. It has found the sanction of no single son of New England for establishing there a business such as the Government proposes to establish at the naval station in question.

"Philadelphia has more skilled machinists alone than New London has male population of all trades, callings, and ages; she has more workers in brass and iron than New London has population, male and female; and her adult workers in the metals and coal outnumber the entire population of New London, male and female, by more than one hundred per cent."

Sir, another very striking fact to be borne in mind in this discussion is that the annual growth of Philadelphia, for a long series of years, has been more than the entire population of New London, as ascertained by the census of 1860. Gentlemen will find this fact established by official tables set forth in the minority report.

What is the annual produce of Pennsylvania in coal and iron? In the year previous to the census of 1860, as shown by that census, she produced, of bituminous coal, 2,679,772 tons; of anthracite coal, 9,397,332 tons. While she produced nine millions and nearly one half of anthracite coal, all the other States in the Union yielded one thousand tons! While she produced 2,679,772 tons of bituminous coal, all the other States together produced but 3,162,000 tons. Connecticut, the State in which, and on a very exposed point of which, permit me to say, it is proposed to locate this establishment, be it remembered, produces, as I have said, not one ton of coal, and has not the promise that she ever can or will produce one. It is not even hinted that coal is hidden within her womb. In the matter of iron, Pennsylvania,during the year preceding the taking of the census of 1860, produced 1,706,476 tons of iron ore; and with that Connecticut compares 20,700 tons. Of pig iron, Pennsylvania produced 553,560 tons; Connecticut produced 11,000. Of bar iron, Pennsylvania gave 259,709 tons; Connecticut gave 2,060 tons.

Mr. Speaker, without examining such material facts more minutely, I ask what is there to induce this Government at this time to establish a new naval station? Are there not enough naval stations east of the Hudson, settle the question by which standard we may? If they be regarded as points of protection, are there not in the three lying east of the Hudson, enough, at least relatively with the number located or likely to be located along our coast, to give that protection? scientific commission shows that New London Has the water of New London special qualificacan call upon New York to supply these deficien- tions? You will be told that it is not salt; that the cies. Permit me, in passing, to make this criti-proposed site lies near the mouth of a tidal stream. cism upon that report-that it has failed to show I tell you, sir, that science has demonstrated that

The shallow bar and obstructions in question are among the great commendations of the point, for there, and just below them, we could sink. those obstructions which we have found alike dangerous and impregnable in approaching south-homes for the skilled workmen needed by such ern cities. Of this advantage we could avail ourselves if necessary, though the river offers ample depth for every vessel constructed, constructing, or likely to be constructed, to be used in the service of any navy on the American coast, and ample verge and scope enough for free entrance and departure for any we shall ever build.

an establishment, and she is without population from which to draw laborers. But somebody may say, in reply, that the report of the so-called

!

THE OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS, PUBLISHED BY F. & J. RIVES, WASHINGTON, D. C.
THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, 2D SESSION.

such a position is even worse than one of which the waters are salt to the very surface.

In the report made to the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1863, on page 27 I find the following:

"The more sanguine advocates of iron ship-building have, in their anxiety to prove their durability to be such as to render protection needless, appealed to the existence of iron canal-boats of forty years of age or more, and to some of the earliest built iron vessels which have been occasionally in salt water. Most of the vessels alluded to, however, have been principally in fresh water, and on referring to Table XV it will be obvious how vast a differeuce there is in the durability of a ship of any given sort of iron exposed. to the action of sea and of fresh water."

This statement is followed by tabular statements of the results of experiments decisive of the questions involved.

In another report, made by Mr. Mallet to the same Association, to be found in the Transactions for 1840, page 227, it is said:

"I would here remark a cause of increased corrosive action affecting castings, such as cast-iron piing, &c., at the mouths of tidal rivers, which has not to my knowledge struck previous observers: it is well known that the sea water, during the flowing of the tide, from its greater density, forces itself beneath the river water like a wedge, and slowly and imperfectly mixes with it; hence two strata, one of fresh or brackish water, the other of salt water below it. Thrus, while engaged in a diving beil survey of part of the bed of the river Bann, in the north of Ireland, last year, I found, during the flow of tide, the water strongly saline at the bottom of the river, and yet fresh enough to drink within three feet of the surface; the total depth of water being about twenty-five feet; and in the proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (April, 1817,) will be found a paper by Mr. Stevenson, C. E., in which he describes an analogous phenomena as occurring at the mouth of the river Dee, at Aberdeen, in the rivers Forth and Tay, and at Loch Eil, where the Caledonian canal joins the western sea." On taking up water at various depths at Fort William he found the specific gravity:

At the surface......

At nine fathoms.............................. At thirty fathoms.

1008.2 .......1025.5 .1027.2

or completely fresh at the top, and salt as the sea itself beneath.

"Now, Becquerel has proved that a homogeneous metallic surface, (a rod or line for instance,) exposed to the action of a fluid menstrum, will assume a state of electrical tension, provided that the fluid in which it is immersed be of different density in two strata, i. e., of different corrosive power.

"In fact, the metal and the two layers of fluid constitute a voltaic pile of one solid aud two fluid elements; hence, as one end of the metallic rod will be in a positive state with respect to the other, it will be corroded faster than the other.

"Now, this is precisely the condition of any casting reach ing through a considerable depth of water at the mouth of a tidal river. The water being salter below than above, the part of the casting immersed therein (the lower end of a cast-iron pile, for instance,) will therefore be in an opposite electric condition to that of the portion above, and the amount of corrosion of the positive element due to the kind of iron and the state of the water will be further increased or exalted' by the negative condition of the opposite end, which will be itself in the same proportion preserved.

"This principle extends to very many practical cases as to fron plates, &c., partly immersed in a solvent fluid, and , partly exposed to moist air, &c.; and it suggests the importance of giving increased scantling to all castings intended to be so situated, to allow for this increased local destrucuon of material."

If gentlemen will have the kindness to refer to page 26 of the minority report, which I have caused to be laid on their desks, they will find evidence from the highest scientific authorities that such locations are even more destructive from the electric or magnetic effects they produce than those which bathe vessels so far as they are submerged in salt water.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I propose briefly to recapitulate the reasons why, in my judgment, the substitute, rather than the bill, should be adopted.

It is not proposed by the substitute, as it is by the bill, to increase the number of naval stations and add to the expenses of the Government the maintenance of the entire staff of a new station. It proposes to meet the exigencies of the case and avoid that increase of expenditure. It is not proposed to purchase a site, or to accept one on other conditions than those which propose by the sale of that now in use to create a fund adequate to make large improvements, at least to put the new site | in a condition as useful as-nay, by reason of its length of wharfage and the broad and safe anchorage it affords at all seasons of the year, far more useful than the present Philadelphia sta

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1864.

tion. It must be apparent to every person familiar with the market value of such property that the price which could be obtained for the Philadelphia yard would make, on the broad surface of League Island, a station infinitely more efficient than the present one. Therefore, while it offers

an extension of facilities, it offers also the means of adding to their improvement. It is needed for iron-works. It is upon fresh water, and would be for that reason an infirmary or hospital, (if I may so say,) in which nature would be the physician, for iron or plated vessels which had contracted disease while lying off the mouth of the sound protecting the city of New London, or elsewhere in salt water.

We cannot keep an iron vessel in Long Island sound three months and not damage her speed by the barnacles that will accumulate upon her bottom. Every day she is there will, if we mean to keep up her speed, increase her demand for fuel; for every hour will increase the number, exposed surface, and weight of the insects which her corroding iron surface will attract, and create a necessity for heavier motive power to give her ordinary speed. This may go on for a little while -a few months at most-until the mass of accumulation shall have become so great that, put all the fuel you can, put all the steam you can upon her, you cannot move through the water the jagged mass of obstructions clinging to her at the speed which a clean vessel, just from a week's bath in fresh water, could make.

We would economize money and time by sending our vessels merely to lie in fresh water for the week that would cleanse them, and to go abroad again. No man upon this floor will assert that an iron vessel can be cleaned in any salt-water harbor except by taking her out of the water by heavy and expensive machinery, and then using expensive mechanical and scientific implements and processes. No man will advisedly assert that after such application has been made the bottom can be cleaned without detriment to the iron.

Next, League Island is a safe position; safe at all seasons; safe if combined Europe should thunder from its fleets upon our coast; safe as Charleston has been made by obstructions, as Mobile is, as Wilmington is, and yet so accessible that the commerce which reaches it every year equals the entire commerce of Long Island sound, embracing New London and every point between that and New York. It was Mr. Webster's proud but poetic boast that fifty thousand sails shadowed the waters of that sound. Year by year, month by month, and day by day, throughout each and every year the commerce of the Delaware maintains itself at a point numbering about fifty thousand arrivals and departures per annum. So that the river, to which the objection is made that it is narrow, that it is crooked, that it is shallow, sustains a commerce vastly greater in dollars and cents, and quite equal in the number of sails, to the entire commerce of the "American Mediterranean."

And, in my judgment, it is a proof of its fitness for the objects under consideration that the majority of the committee in support of their adverse conclusion have sought from every source of information, reliable and unreliable, evidence that occasionally, among the more than thirtysix thousand vessels arriving at and departing from Philadelphia annually, an occasional wreck occurs. That they have been able to find so few is, in my judgment, evidence of the fitness of the place.

The author of that report is so far forgetful of American law as not to remember that twentyone years of continued residence may change the legal domicil of a citizen of the United States. On page 4 of that report it is alleged that Professor A. D. Bache is a citizen of Philadelphia. Now, that distinguished gentleman assures me that for twenty-one years he has been a resident voter of the District of Columbia. And I will inform the majority of the committee that Professor Bache, of Philadelphia, never was on any commission appointed by the Government. Happily those who know the distinguished head of

NEW SERIES.....No. 2.

the coast survey will repel any insinuation against his integrity or patriotism.

But I must hasten to a close. League Island is on fresh water. It is in a safe position. It is where supplies of all kinds are abundant. It is where the commandant, at any and all times, upon a day's or an hour's notice, may summon the mechanic or artisan he needs for any of the branches of industry it is proposed to conduct at such a station as the Secretary of the Navy requests us to establish. The situation is a central one; New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland would furnish supplies, workmen, and protection to it as well as Pennsylvania, and with her would feel its protecting power.

Mr. Speaker, we are acting for the United States and for posterity. We are not to legislate in any mean, narrow, or sectional spirit; not to punish one locality or reward another; not to canvass the patriotism of one people or signalize our detestation of the want of patriotism of another people. And did I believe that there was a superior site to League Island within the rebellious lines, which we might soon make available, I would say for our country and for posterity, let us go on for awhile as well as we can until we can secure to them those superior advantages. I believe, as I said in the beginning of my remarks, that not only our own country but the world does not present the same combination of cheap, abundant, and various supplies of material and labor for such a workshop as the Navy needs on fresh water. And so believing, and because I so believe, I shall urge as best I may the adoption of the substitute, and the acceptance of Philadelphia's munificent offer of League Island to the Government for a naval station and workshop.

Mr. BRANDEGEE. Mr. Speaker, on the 17th of last January the Committee on Naval Affairs were charged by the House with the duty of inquiring into and reporting to this House upon the expediency of the establishment of a new yard especially adapted to iron-clad vessels, and with the further duty of reporting to this House a proper site for the location of such a yard. The matter naturally divided itself into two branches of inquiry, and the resolution itself made that provision, in directing the committee to inquire, first, as to the necessity of such a yard, and secondly, the proper point of its location. With reference to those two branches of inquiry, the result of the investigation of the committee is now before the House in the bill and the report with which the bill is accompanied.

With reference to the first branch of inquiry, the committee, with very great unanimity, came to the conclusion that the establishment of a new navy-yard, such as is recommended by the naval authorities, adapted to the wants of what may be called an iron navy, had become a national necessity. It is not my purpose to enter into details now with reference to the considerations that controlled the committee in their con clusions in reference to the necessity of such a yard.

But it may be proper that I should state a few striking facts to the House from which each member may run out the argument himself as to the necessity of such a yard, which is the first branch of the inquiry. In the first place, it is a very striking fact that at the commencement of hostilities the American Navy consisted of but seventysix vessels of all classes, principally wooden sailing ships. Of these only three were at the disposal of the Department at the firing upon Fort Suiter. We have now in the American Navy six hundred and seventy-one vessels, of which five hundred and fifty-nine are steamers, and seventy-one iron-clads. At the commencement of hostilities the American Navy consisted of less than six thousand seamen, of whom less than two hundred were at the disposal of the Navy Department for the purpose of managing the ships then under its control. The Navy now consists of more than six thousand officers and forty-five thousand seamen. And while this marvelous increase has been going on two of our naval estab

lishments have been lost to the country and rendered useless. Now, these considerations are very strong with reference to the necessity for new naval facilities. But a much more striking argument, it seems to me, arises from the consideration of the change that has been effected in the whole system of naval architecture and naval warfare. The American Navy is now essentially a steam and iron Navy. Steam has become an indispensable element to all fighting ships. The days of those old wooden ships of war, those wooden walls rising tier above tier with their frowning batteries, those wonders of our childhood, those glories of our early naval history, and, it may be added, the terror of our foes, have passed away, and have passed forever, and their old hulks are now lying rotting at our navy-yards as practice ships for midshipmen or schools for naval apprentices. Steam and iron have revolutionized naval architecture and naval warfare the world over, and especially that of this country. And, as I heretofore observed, our Navy consists of five hundred and fifty-nine of these steamers, and seventy-one of these iron-clads.

And yet while this is true, we have not to-day, in the striking language of the Secretary of the Navy, a yard where a shaft can be made for a steamer, or a plate for an iron-clad. So far, to be sure, we have succeeded tolerably well in this warfare against a belligerent who is entirely destitute, or almost entirely destitute, of ships, men, and naval resources, and where the exigencies of| the day call merely for the enforcement of a stringent blockade; but if the day should ever comefar distant may it be, sir-when, in a war with a first-class naval Power, it should become our duty, ship for ship, and fleet for fleet, upon the ocean to contend for the scepter and sovereignty of the seas, we should never sufficiently regret that we had not in time of peace prepared an ample yard for the repair of vessels disabled in ocean conflict, and for maintaining our position as a firstclass Power upon the ocean.

I can only add to these considerations that, as a measure of economy alone, we have it from the most prudent naval authorities that the establishment of such a yard would be a saving of money year by year to the Government. We are now in the hands of private contractors entirely, both as to prices and as to the time for the completion of contracts; and the saving in demurrage, delay, and excess of prices since the commencement of the war, in the estimation of those whose opportunities are best for information, would have been equal nearly, if not quite, to the cost of such a yard as recommended by the committee. As an instance, it has happened that one of the most efficient steamers in the Navy, the Niagara, lay for fourteen months entirely useless because repairs could not be effected in less time at private yards, and in another instance the gunboat R. R. Cuyler for ten months awaiting repairs which might have been completed in sixty days, and at an expense equaling the entire first cost of her machinery. The Secretary of the Navy, in his last report, tells us that two of our iron-clads, the Miantonomah and Tonawanda, are now two years behind the time promised for their completion by one of the most responsible of contractors, when their presence in the James river or the waters of the Carolina sounds might give a finishing blow to the tottering fortunes of the rebellion; and to obviate the pressing necessity, he has already established ten temporary stations along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, namely, at Key West, Norfolk, Beaufort, New Orleans, Pensacola, Memphis, Baltimore, Hilton Head, and other places, whose aggregate cost would more than compensate for the current expenses of such a station as is contemplated.

Viewing, therefore, these considerations, which we have merely suggested rather than elaborated, governed by the fact that the Secretary of the Navy has in all his reports for the last three years urged it specially upon the consideration of Congress, and the further fact that the President of the United States has considered it of such prime importance as to give it special prominence in his last two annual messages, your committee could not avoid the conclusion that the time had come for the establishment of a great navy-yard and station to meet the enlarged wants of the service and the revolution in naval architecture. With regard to the second branch of the in

quiry, as to the proper site for the location of such yard, I think I have the judgment of the House with me when I say that a question of that sort, the location of a great naval station, involving an examination of the most complicated problems of engineering and naval science, involving an investigation of a great variety of facts, and important as it is in its consequences whether the decision be right or wrong-such a question is one upon the consideration of which a committee of this House, however able, might well hesitate to

enter.

But it was our good fortune, in entering upon this path of inquiry, to find that it had been trodden before by a board of experts raised by Congress for the consideration of this very question; and that every step of our pathway was illumined by the light shed by that board of officers.

And here, if can get the attention of the House, I should like to go back for one moment, in order to state to the House the history of the legislation upon this question of the location of a navyyard, as all-important for the proper decision of the subject. The Secretary of the Navy first recommended this subject to the attention of Congress and the country on the 25th day of March, 1862, by a letter to the Naval Committee of the Senate. Immediately, with that alacrity of patriotism which always characterizes the "City of Brotherly Love," that city at once, with an eye to the advantages obtainable to the Government and to itself, tendered League Island to the Government for the purpose; and with a haste that admitted no delay, and a zeal that tolerated no modification, a bill was attempted to be forced upon the Senate fixing upon the country League Island as a place for this naval station. And, as an ominous feature in that bill, significant of the value of the "munificent gift, an appropriation of $200,000 was put into it as the first installment for filling up League Island. It was only by the persistence of Senators in the other Chamber that, finally, the friends of that measure accepted a modification, and consented that a board of officers should be appointed by the Secretary of the Navy to examine all the sites that were named and that were prominent before the country, and to report to the Secretary by the "selection of which site the public interest would be best promoted." Congress directed the Secretary of the Navy to appoint that board, and the question being narrowed down, in the opinion of Congress, as shown by the debate in the Senate, and in the mind of the country, to the respective merits of League Island and New London, the Secretary of the Navy, in the recess of Congress, composed that board by appointing six men, officers and engineers, of whom three were from the city of Philadelphia.

I know the disclaimer of the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. KELLEY] upon the floor this morning, that Professor Bache was not from the city of Philadelphia. But I have taken pains to examine the Blue Book that is distributed by the Government authorities, and find that Professor Bache hails from Philadelphia both as to birth and as to designation; and that his children and grandchildren holding offices in the Navy all hail from the same place, and are so designated in the book.

state no fact that I do not hold myself responsible for, both in debate and out of debate, here and elsewhere. I trust that the gentleman will chasten his impetuosity by his prudence and endeavor to moderate his zeal by his courtesy, and will allow me to pursue the course of my argument, as I have allowed him to pursue the plan of his own, without interruption. Inasmuch, however, as the gentleman has challenged me to name those gentlemen, I will do so. I name Captain Marston; I name Commodore Gardiner; I name Professor A. D. Bache.

I now go on further. Having alluded once before to the gentleman's disclaimer while the gentleman was out, and that is, I think, his only excuse for his interruption of me, I go on to state this fact, which cannot be disputed, and proof of which I hold in my hand, and challenge contradiction, that before his appointment to this commission Professor A. D. Bache had written a letter, which was published in the Congressional Globe, volume forty-nine, part four, page 3247, and used in the debate in the Senate of the United States, a copy of which was furnished to the Navy Department, in which he urged the acceptance of League Island as a highly eligible place, and gave his reasons for it; and that after that letter was published, after it was used in debate in the Senate, and after it was on file in the Department, Professor Bache was placed upon this board, and consented to act with that record before the world. Now, sir, why do I allude to this? Simply as a ground for the argument, which I think is legitimate, that that board thus constituted had no bias in favor of New London, and no bias against League Island. That is all. I impugn not the motives of the Secretary of the Navy. Let him stand or fall by the judgment of his countrymen; he has friends enough to defend him. I will not be either his defender or his accuser. Nor do I enter into questions of delicacy or decency with Professor Bache. I have a right to say that I am satisfied with that board, its constitution and its action. It was composed of gentlemen of great eminence in their professions. It had, as its president, Admiral Stringham, one of the soundest minds and honestest hearts in the Navy-a man who had just won the first naval victory of this war, who had advanced your drooping standard off that storm-vexed Bermoothes, Cape Hatteras, and inspired the heart of the country by the first naval victory achieved during the conflict. That board embraced, as another of its members, the engineer of Yards and Docks in the Navy Department-the very man whose business it is to select the sites for navy-yards, and to construct and engineer them after selection, and who had selected and engineered the construction of many of the present yards of the country; a man in the front rank of his own profession.

The board, thus constituted, with no bias in favor of New London, with all those natural feelings, which, while we may deny them, we all know we have, and which would lead them to prefer their own neighborhood and their own friends; just the feeling that will actuate the twenty-four gentlemen from Pennsylvania in this House to strive for the floor the minute I have left it in order to defend League Island; just the feeling that will probably actuate the small delegation on this floor from Connecticut to advocate New London-that board, with that bias, having made a careful examination of the subject for over two months, decided, by a resolution which they laid before Congress and the Navy Department," that the public interests would not be promoted by the selection of League Island, but would be promoted by the selection of New London," which they recommended.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I allude to this fact, not for the purpose of impugning the character of the Secretary of the Navy. I am not to be drawn here to-day into a discussion of his motives, unless I am driven to do so in self-defense as the debate progresses. But I have a right to state facts, and I have a right to the benefit of the facts when stated. And I state that, the question being whether New London, Connecticut, or League Island, Philadelphia, was the proper place for a naval station, and that having by Congress been ordered to be decided by a board of officers, that board of officers was composed, by the Secretary, of three citizens of Philadelphia, one gentleman from New York, one from New Jersey, the engi-cial competency for this work? Is there anything neer of the Department, and not a human being from all New England in it.

Mr. KELLEY. Will the gentleman yield one moment for a correction?

Mr. BRANDEGEE. I will; but the gentleman will bear me witness that I did not interrupt him. Mr. KELLEY. I think that justice requires that the gentleman should name the three citizens of Philadelphia to whom he refers.

Mr. BRANDEGEE. Mr. Speaker, I shall

And now, right here, Mr. Speaker, I ask you, and through you the gentlemen of this House, do you think that you are more able here to-day to decide this question aright than that board of officers, selected by order of Congress for their spe

in the temper of this House, in the habit of attention evinced by its members, at which (without saying anything disrespectful to this House) I was astonished when I first came here, is there anything in the past study or present profession of members on this floor, is there anything in the subject-matter, complicated as it is, by which this House thinks that, upon a debate here to-day, it can more intelligently decide this question, without ever seeing the localities, than it was decided

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