THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, 2D SESSION.

responsibility. Will the gentleman ask any officer of the Navy of the United States whether he thinks that the promotions in our Navy are fair? That is a most unfortunate topic for the honorable gentleman just now that the Department has organized the board of promotions, on which its malice has excluded the officers of the south Atlantic squadron from the representation accorded every other squadron. Where is any responsibility? Who is responsible for anything that is done? For we have a head that does nothing, and the active power under him, irresponsible, that does everything.

Then the same honorable gentleman quoted a high English authority as saying that it would be an outrage to send men into action in wooden vessels. Why does he cast such an imputation upon the head of the Navy Department that sent Farragut to Mobile and Porter to Fort Fisher in wooden vessels, and is now building a whole fleet of them, with engines alone costing $400,000 and $600,000 each?

But a word on the question of iron-clads abroad. The "American idea," as it is called, embodied in the Monitor and the Dictator, has hitherto produced nothing that will cross the ocean. The New Ironsides that will cross it is not on that American idea, but a copy of the Warrior. And whatever opinions of magazines or officers the gentleman from Maine may quote, it is not true either that England or France has adopted the American idea or abandoned as failures the Warrior or La Gloire. Against those hasty suggestions I quote and prefer the opinion of an American naval constructor, that gentleman whom the gentleman from Maine so justly eulogized, the great naval constructor of the United States, Lenthall, to whom we are indebted for our great superiority in the structure of our wooden vessels. He does not think that the iron-clads of either England or France are a failure, but does think that we have now nothing to oppose them. Here are his words:

"For the protection of our coasts and harbors we are probably well prepared; but we have only three vessels that can pretend to cope with the sea-going Iron-clad vessels of European nations, and these have not yet been tried. It is a problem to be yet resolved, whether a large steam vessel with her deck a foot or two above water, and without sails, can be effective and use her guns as a cruising ship. Experience has shown that as ships increase in dimensions and weight there must be a certain relative portion above the water; that is, the height of the guns from the water should be increased; but this may, to some extent, be modified by making sacrifices in some other qualities.

"The accounts we have of the performances of the fronclad European vessels, if to be relied on, show that the elevated position of their armor-plating has not seriously affected the motion of the vessels, and some of them are represented as being easier than ordinary vessels. Their large dimensions have much influence in this; but our principal harbors do not permit us to have so great a draught of water as European vessels have, which is stated to be from twenty-six to twenty-seven feet."

Now, sir, with reference to the iron-clad navies of France and England, abandoned upon the mere rumor of the impossible Dictator, let me read again:

"Until such time as it becomes the policy of the Government to build iron-armored vessels for sea service-and, whenever commenced, it will require some years to have them in sufficient number to keep an enemy from our coast -we must have recourse to plating wood vessels, of which the first cost may appear less, though it is certain to be more expensive in the end.

Unless we have armored sea-going ships"--Not Monitors, not Dictators, not Dunderbergs, but armed sea-going ships

"we must give up the expectation of engaging our foes on the ocean, and must limit our operations to attacks on their commerce with fast and light-armored vessels."

That is the judgment of our great naval constructor upon the extent to which the American idea of monitors has affected the sea-going ironclads of Europe. He declares that we must go to work and build iron-clads of the same class, if we contemplate meeting them on the ocean in battle array.

I will not repeat what I quoted from Admiral Porter about the New Ironsides-the only vessel of that kind in the Navy-the best he ever saw

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1865.

for aggressive purposes, the counterpart of the Warrior; so that the Warrior class cannot be a failure if she is not. But I cannot refrain from invoking against the Department and the gentleman from Maine the judgment of Dahlgren, who went to Charleston to do impossibilities and staid there two years without accomplishing them; who went there to show that monitors could take forts, and has taken none. Though he was pledged by his appointment to a judgment in favor of the administration wherever it was possible, his scientific judgment could not be so deluded as to overlook the great power of this form of vessels. He ventures no opinion on the monitor form for seagoing cruisers, apologetically refuses a judgment on the general merits of iron-clads of that class, but gives the palm of superiority for aggression to the form which the gentleman from Maine supposes the monitors have exploded:

"The Ironsides is a fine, powerful ship. Her armor has stood heavy battering very well, and her broadside of seven eleven-inch guns and one eight-inch rifle, has always told with signal effect when opened on the enemy. Draught of water about fifteen and a half to sixteen feet. Speed six to seven knots, and crew about four hundred and forty men. "Just as they are, the Ironsides is capable of a more rapid and concentrated fire, which, under the circumstances, made her guns more effective than the fifteen-inch of the monitors."

He, pledged by his appointment to a judgment in favor of the administration of the Navy Department, as far as it is possible to bend his scientific judgment to meet the expectations of the Department, cannot be so used as to put out of sight the great power of this form of vessel, or to venture an opinion in favor of monitors beyond the special circumstances of the war. He says what corroborates in every particular the statement of Admiral Porter read by me, that that vessel, constructed on thatmodel, came more perfectly up to his idea of those intended for aggression than any other he had ever seen.

NEW SERIES.....No. 40.

of coal, under none of the conditions of a vessel going to sea, subjected to no collision with the waves, as if I accepted that as a test of the power of the same vessel at sea.

Mr. RICE, of Massachusetts. Does the gentleman want to hear the report of Admiral Porter in reference to the sea-going of that vessel?

Mr. DAVIS, of Maryland. I do not know that that is in question. I spoke of the validity of your answer to a challenge of the speed of the Navy vessels. The question being as to the speed of the screw vessel, the Department ostentatiously put forward a river steamer, a paddlewheel boat, upon smooth water, without the load necessary to be carried at sea, to answer the problem of the speed of screw sloops on the ocean; and gentlemen can form their own judgment whether that solved the problem submitted for solution, or served any other purpose than to mislead the public mind from the real question.

But, since the gentleman has referred to the double-enders in that behalf, I will do what I did not do the other day. I said then only this: whatever may be their speed, the faster it carries them into action the faster it will carry them to the bottom; that, since all their machinery and boilers are above water they are doomed to inevitable destruction in any general naval action where equal forces come into collision. I said for those reasons those vessels were not to be counted a part of our naval force for a war with a naval Power.

Mr. RICE, of Massachusetts. How can you build a ship to draw only six or seven feet with its machinery below the water-line?

Mr. DAVIS, of Maryland. I thank the honorable gentleman for that question. A board of engineers, summoned by the Department to criticise the machinery placed in these and other vessels, said that because of its peculiar form the boiler projected above the water-line, but that with a proper model it could be placed below.

Mr. RICE, of Massachusetts. State what model they recommended, or does the gentleman know of any?

Mr. DAVIS, of Maryland. The honorable gentleman has their report, and can read it for himself. My impression is neither he nor the Department read it after summoning the board. The report will show what I state to be correct; but no form of machinery of a paddle-wheel steamer can be protected, and therefore none of these vessels are war vessels.

Now, sir, I agree with the honorable gentlemen of the committee that we cannot adjust these conflicting authorities. But here stands the great fact that while the general clamor across the water exaggerates the effect produced by the attack of the Monitor upon the Merrimac, it has not changed the course of European structure; it has not produced a single monitor in the ports of France or England; and the judgment of our naval officers is in conflict with the opinions quoted from abroad, responsible or irresponsible, by the gentleman from Maine, but conforms to the official judgments of France and England, that vessels of this class are neither a failure nor inferior to the American idea embodied in the monitors. I prefer the judgment of American naval officers to the judgment of English naval officers, and still more to the clamor of English mag-investigation took place before the coroner, and azines; and in any legislation for the benefit of the Navy I should consult their judgment and not a criticism of the English Board of Admiralty not analogous to the one I propose. Arguing from one to another is merely for the purpose of misleading the judgment of the House, or be-gineers summoned by the Navy Department, were cause gentlemen did not understand the bill they are criticising.

Now, Mr. Chairman, I do not contemplate following either of the gentlemen through their arguments, in which they evaded everything that was to be answered and controverted many things which were not asserted. But I desire to say, when my honorable friend on my right [Mr. RICE, of Massachusetts] spoke of the swiftness of the Eutaw-as if that in the least degree controverted my statements, which were in reference to war vessels of the Navy, and not to those river boats, as I termed them-he was introducing a topic I had not touched. I did not mean to say one word in respect to the speed of those vessels, because I considered them set out of the account as naval vessels. But the honorable gentleman must not suppose that I can allow to pass his statement of the performance of this vessel in smooth river water, without her provisions, without her ammunition-I do not know whether she had her armament-certainly without her full load

But, sir, what I meant to refer to now, though not covered by my former remarks, is this: that it will appear that after the explosion on the Chenango in New York harbor, killing and wounding nobody can tell how many of our sailors, an

the coroner, after a full investigation upon the evidence, stated the result of the evidence to the boilers placed in this vessel, and others of her jury; and it went to show conclusively that the class, which were condemned by the board of en

so liable, by their peculiar structure, to exhaust the water in the boiler, that it was dangerous to run the vessel with open ports or full power. And that was proved by the officers of the vessel them

selves.

I now send to the Clerk to be read an extract from that investigation.

The Clerk read, as follows:

"It is apparent that the engineer corps of the Navy, as well as the persons whose plans are involved, have a deep interest in assigning some other cause than low water; since if it were low it must have been so either from carelessness of engineers or from inherent defects in the organization which baffled the ordinary skill of such persons as had the machine in charge; yet no attempt has been made to explain away the melted lead or to reconcile its presence with the fact that there was enough water in the boiler, And as this is the ordinary cause of explosion it would seem consequently the true one here, particularly since no evidence of any sort has been produced to substitute any other cause; and we are left to the mere suggestion, without proof, that possibly the braces might have been taken out by Mr. Cahill and not replaced, or possibly the cold-" water test, which experience has shown to be infallible, has in this case proved a snare. Unfortunately, there are other facts, which point out very clearly the existence of

an organic disease in these vessels, requiring the utmost vigilance to guard against, the presence of which is abundantly proved. A number of these vessels are just now coming out, and it so happened that on Saturday, the 16th, the day after this explosion, the Pawtuxet, having been run for ninety-six hours at the dock, was taken out on a trial trip from Providence. In the course of the run it became necessary to shut off the steam from the engine, from some cause, and thus the fact appeared that the water, which had seemed to be abundant in the gauges, was low. Mr. Baker, an experienced engineer, who set up and ran the engine on her ninety-six hours' trial, at once had the fires drawn from the furnaces, as a measure of safety, the necessity of which, under the circumstances, Mr. Sewell admitted to you when on the stand; and it was found that the steam pump required twenty-two minutes to resupply the boiler with the water found wanting, although the gauges had given no warning of its absence. But for Mr. Baker this accident would have probably had its counterpart; and so convinced of the danger of the machine was Mr. Baker that he refused to come to New York in the vessel unless he had the control given him; and he has told us these facts, and sworn to the danger.

"On the Chenango, the experienced engineers who ran the engine at the dock have told us that they considered their lives in danger from the liability to low water; and so convinced were they of it that they refused to open wide the throttle-valve, though the United States engineers who were present insisted that the contract required the engine to be run wide open. Mr. Smith, theengineer who erected and ran the engine of the Metacomet, another of the same class, has proved here that the water could only be kept in her boilers by so setting the valves that they would not fully open when the engine worked; and that when those valves were ordered by Mr. Sewell to be set so as to open wider, and the vessel was run from the shop to the navy-yard, the water worked so that the valves had to be put back to their original position, which was done by himself at the navyyard, under orders from the chief engineer of the ship. The drawings of these engines have been produced before us, and the measurements made of the cubic feet of vacant space which existed in these cylinders between the valves when they are closed and the piston when at the extreme end of the cylinder nearest the closed valves, and it appears that these spaces are great enough to hold more than sixteen hundred pounds of water at a revolution before they will be filled so as to arrest the motion of the piston as it approaches the end of the cylinder, and compel the opening of the relief valves, which are placed in each end of the cylinder to prevent the destruction of the engine by the confinement of the solid water in the cylinder; yet it appears here that even more than this quantity of water would at times come over from the boiler at a revolution, and that these self-acting relief-valves had to be opened constantly by hand, to perinit the escape of this enormous quantity of water more freely than it could be voided by the self-acting valves. When it is considered that only about nine pounds of water in the shape of steam are needed to make the ordinary revolution of these engines, and that at times they draw even more than three quarters of a ton of water at a revolution, it is very easy to see how the boilers might be robbed of their water in a very few minutes, and the attention of an ordinary man be cluded.

"The coal burned by the Chenango on her trial has been proved, and the amount of steam which that coal produced has been measured on the indicator diagrams which were taken on the trials, by which it is proved that in the form of steam these boilers only evaporate from three to four pounds of water to the pound of coal, whereas if they did not use up the heat by carrying it off from the boiler in hot water they would evaporate seven or eight pounds of water into steam; and it is testified to here, and the calculations show upon the indicator diagrams themselves, that these engines must have been working out of the boilers, in water, on an average during the ninety-six hours of the trial, about six times as much hot water as steam. Of the accuracy of such calculation, based upon comparing the weight of coal burned with the cubic feet of steam used by the engine, you are perhaps better judges than I am; but it is to be remarked that these calculations have been on the table for several days challenging contradiction, and that they are not disputed. It is further proved here that a considerable number of these vessels, exactly like the Chenango, have been recently built and tried, and that they are now awaiting orders for sea; yet no witness has appeared before us to say that any of the other of these vessels have operated differently from those whose performance has been proved; although there is no want of proof that when these boilers are arranged with a high steam space above the ends of the tubes, and a steam chimney, they do not work out their water. It would have been much more instructive to us if the engineers who have run so many of these low-roofed bollers had been produced, instead of those whose only experience has been with boilers not liable to that difficulty. "It is not very surprising, perhaps, that among the great number of vessels used by the United States and placed la the hands of young men who have had but little experience, and who are employed when there is a scarcity of engineers, on account of the great demand for the services of such men suddenly made by the Navy, that an explosion should occur at some time; and if the machinery were of the ordinary kind the accident would excite no unusual interest. But when it occurs on machinery peculiar in its construction, and which had been condemned as inferior by an official board of the most eminent engineers in the country, and when it appears that those peculiarities have so exhibited their dangerous qualities as to aların practical and scientific men, and to induce them to foretell an accident of this kind; and when we find these peculiarities existing on a greater number of other vessels just now coming into use, upon which the lives of our fellow-citizens are to be intrusted, then it is of serious consequence, and demands of us to raise a voice of warning in time to prevent any more such horrors as we have witnessed. Our brave men, who are willing to expose their bosoms to the enemy's slot, ought not to be subjected to the chances of a horrible death at the hands of their own friends, and in their own floating homes."

Mr. DAVIS, of Maryland. So much for the boilers of the double-enders.

Two gentlemen of the Committee on Naval Affairs have made great complaint that I imposed upon them last year a burden too heavy to be borne in the resolution of inquiry I introduced relative to steam machinery. Mr. Chairman, when I referred that resolution to the Naval Committee I thought I was paying them the highest compliment I could bestow, for I supposed I was sending a resolution to a committee which, from its connection with the Department, would have the best means possible of information; and from their attendance to the interests of the Navy would prosecute their inquiry with energy and thoroughness, and give us the full benefit of their judgment. It related to the same matter investigated in part by the board of engineers organized by the Department in 1863, and disregarded by the Department. It was intended to save the ruin of the machinery of the Navy, to bring it to the test of science and knowledge; and the topics which were to be inquired into could have been inquired into effectually as well in the course of two weeks as in the time which has elapsed from the day that resolution was brought in down to the day the committee brought in their report about a week ago. There were a few topics, and only a few, requiring investigation, which the examination of half a dozen engineers would have settled almost immediately, and the Department and this House would have had the results of the investigation upon that subject in time to act upon it.

But on the contrary what do we find? The stupendous diligence of the gentlemen of that committee had absorbed all their leisure time from the day of the reference of the resolution down to the day, I think, before the motion made by me to append this amendment to the naval bill. An immense mass of testimony-twenty-two hundred pages-was introduced, which nobody can possibly read, which nobody can possibly consider. Their report came here and has not yet been printed. It is worth now substantially, no matter how wise or correct the resolution to which the committee came, just as much as the paper upon which it will be printed, because during the time that the investigation was being carried on the Department had been building the very machinery that it was intended to test and correct and examine. Just as the Department has kept an investigation going on to verify the results of the report of the engineers appointed in February, 1863, still diligently at work in November, 1864, and all the time, the Department, since February, 1863, has been building the machinery; so that, without its being intended to have that effect by the gentlemen making the investigation, exactly the same result has been accomplished, that is to say, the Government does not get the advantage of the investigation at all, but while the investigation has been lumbering on, every machine shop in the country has been ringing with the construction of the very machinery which is in question. In a word, both investigations have been a mere screen to the Department, giving impunity to its gross abuse of the public confidence.

Mr. GANSON. I would ask the gentleman if it would not be a more direct and reliable mode of obtaining information to have the head of the Naval Department upon this floor?

Mr. DAVIS, of Maryland. I answer that question with very great pleasure. If the information were in the head of the Department, I would say yes. (Laughter.]

them before the country, and they are dangerous arguments to go into a political contest thereon. I ask a vote upon the measure I propose, not upon my disgust at the Department; I ask the vote upon the public considerations which must determine the judgment of the country that the measure is right or wrong. I ask gentlemen to say whether they think the Navy Department has been managed so during this war that no advice can improve it. I ask them whether they are content that the American commerce shall have been swept from the ocean by five rebel privateers, with six hundred cruisers in our Navy to catch and destroy them. I ask them if they think that American commerce can live if this is what we call an energetic and wise management of the Navy Department. If we give the Navy a chance to live, and a voice in its own preservation, we may rescue our commerce from destruction, and when we are called upon to meet a great naval Power on the ocean, we shall not be driven to imitate the plundering warfare of the rebels, and, shunning our armed enemies, go mousing over the ocean for their defenseless commerce, but, like a great Power, meet our foes in arms and dictate terms of peace on the water as well as on the land. When gentlemen shall take steps to do that America will be a Power; but as long as Congress will not assert its supremacy over the Departments and prescribe such organization of them as will give this nation the benefit of its resources, so long as Congress stops to inquire what the Departments wish, instead of imposing on them what the interest of the nation requires, we will be powerless before the nations of the world.

Mr. Chairman, I wish to say that I am here today pleading the cause of the American Navy against the Navy Department. I am saying what four out of five of the officers of the Navy would say had they a voice in this House. I say what the ablest and leading men of the Navy would say to-day through the newspapers, were it not that the fear of exposure makes the Department despotic. Gentlemen quote here the opinions of officers of the British navy against the administration of their navy; but who in our Navy dare say anything against the management of our Navy Department? Have we not seen one of the most distinguished officers of our Navy, Commodore Wilkes, for controverting statements in the report of the Department seriously affecting his honor as an officer, dragged before a court? Was that court organized on principles of justice, or was it organized "to convict," in the language of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy? He was dragged before a court for vindicating himself and his own administration of the squadron under his command, and subjected to three years' suspension from service-a cruel and disgraceful persecution such as never before has tarnished the administration of the American Navy. Sir, this system of tyranny in the Department deprives the country of the benefit of the opinion and advice and judgment of the officers of the Navy upon the structure and organization of the American Navy. They are always ready to risk their lives and shed their blood on anything that will float, but they shrink from advising the country for the benefit of the Navy at the expense of a trial by a court organized to convict. Let them have a voice in the making of the vessels they are to navigate; let them have a voice in the selection of the artillery they are to use; let them have a voice in advising where they shall be sent. Had this been done the Alabama's career would have been shorter and less disastrous. The coal depots and other necessities of navigation, the lines of com

I take leave of this digression.

Sir, I submit that this measure must be determined on its merits. Gentlemen cannot escape responsibility before the country by saying that I proposed it out of ill-temper; nor that a vote for it might disturb their relations with the Department; nor that their appointments might be interfered with; nor that it might diminish their capacity to serve their constituents with the head of the Department, whom the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. BLOW] eulogized so strenuously, I take it, in order to procure weight for his navy-yard at Carondelet. These arguments cannot support

the line where rebel cruisers must go from any given point; and any competent board could have devised a plan to meet and destroy them. Under the spasmodic guesswork by which the Alabama was pursued by this administration for four years, our commerce was swept from the ocean, sent to the bottom, or driven under foreign flags. Rebel cruisers burnt our ships not merely on distant seas but almost within sight of the American coast; and then the Department telegraphed to the navy-yards, and all the newspapers were filled with eulogies of the marvelous diligence of the Department in setting vessels afloat to catch the rebel cruisers. Those seas swarmed with vessels sent to the spot where the burning took place, and came back to report that the rebel cruisers'

were not there, and that nothing was found but the ashes of the conflagration.

That system, sir, is one which could not have existed had there been competent professional advisers around the Secretary. His own patriotism, his feeling for his country's cause, the vain clamor of New York merchants, their cry to him to spare their commerce, would have compelled him to listen, if the law had only clothed a board of officers with the right to speak, free from the danger of courts-martial organized to convict. It is that great deficiency that I am now trying to remedy. I am not influenced by any estimate of the personal value of the present Secretary, or of any other Secretary of the Navy. Be he as respectable as he may, be he as able and upright as he may, be he as honest and efficient as he may, I would not waste five minutes of the precious time of this House in eulogizing or in condemning him. I look beyond men to measures. I look beyond the head of the Department to the great country which that Department represents. I look beyond the brief and flitting moments of his official life, now rapidly drawing to a close-if the prayer of every naval officer can be heard-to the day when the American nation will have to vindicate its power before the nations of the world now insidiously seeking our ruin, not by stealthy depredations on unarmed traders, but with a Navy bearing proudly the banner of the Republic over the seas, worthy to meet in arms the armed foes of the thirty millions of united Americans whose freedom and empire it guards, and able to prove on some great historic day that the Republic can neither be torn asunder by internal dissensions nor browbeaten by the coalesced monarchies of Europe. [Applause on the floor.]

The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the adoption of the amendment.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. What has become of my appeal from the decision of the Chair on the point of order?

The CHAIRMAN. The first question is, "Shall the decision of the Chair stand as the judgment of the committee?"

Mr. PIKE. I have but one word to say on the subject.

The CHAIRMAN. Debate is not in order. Mr. PIKE. I propose to offer an amendment, and to speak to it.

The CHAIRMAN. That will be in order after the question of the appeal is disposed of.

The question was taken; and the decision of the Chair was sustained, ruling the amendment of the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. DAVIS] to be in order.

Mr. PIKE. I now propose to offer an amend, ment, if it be in order.

The CHAIRMAN. It is in order to offer an amendment to the amendment, but not to debate it except for five minutes.

Mr. PIKE. I move to amend the amendment by striking out the last line.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman will confine himself to the reasons for striking out that last line. [Laughter.]

Mr. PIKE. I made no point, Mr. Chairman, as to the ill temper of the gentleman from Maryland, which has called out this most intemperate reply. He has made profert voluntarily of his own temper, and I think with him that the House would be unwise to pivot upon it its action upon an important measure. But that gentleman did say about the Committee on Naval Affairs that it was simply recording the opinions of the naval Department. I asked what evidence he had for making that charge, and for attempting to belittle the committee, and in the remarks which he has just made to the House he has withdrawn the insinuation. I stated in reply to that charge that I, for one, so far from being influenced by the opinion of the naval Department, did not know what that opinion was, and had not taken means to inform myself of it, that I had had no conversation either with the Secretary or Assistant Secretary on this important measure, but that judging from the measure itself-which I stated in my remarks 1 understood to be an advisory board, more after the fashion of the French board, and not a controlling board after the manner of the British admiralty, that it was a conglomerate of the two systems, with the bad qualities of both; and I adduced naval opinion against the plan to show that it would simply introduce confusion into the coun

cils of the Navy, that the board would be simply a debating society, that it would entail needless discussion, and that it would deprive the Navy of that single responsible head, which, in the opinion of Sir Charles Napier and other naval writers, is essential to its efficiency.

Now, one word more, and only one word, upon this question of armed vessels, upon which the gentleman cited the opinion of the distinguished head of the Bureau of Construction. Sir, that gentleman reported to the head of the Navy Department, and the head of the Navy Department sent his report in here approvingly, asking of this Congress, at the last session, that they would make appropriations for the purpose of building large armed vessels, vessels which European opinion has decided cannot be efficient unless with the enormous tonnage of six, seven, and eight thousand tons. But Congress decided, and properly, in my opinion, that the condition of the public Treasury was not such as to justify, at that time, an appropriation to carry out the recommendation of the Navy Department on this subject; and now the gentleman from Maryland complains of the head of the Navy Department for not building that class of vessels.

[Here the hammer fell.]

The question being taken on the amendment of Mr. DAVIS, of Maryland, there were, on a division-ayes 48, noes 44.

Mr. PIKE demanded tellers.

Tellers were ordered; and Mr. DAVIS, of Maryland, and Mr. RICE, of Massachusetts, were appointed.

The committee divided; and the tellers reported. -ayes 60, noes 57.

So the amendment was agreed to.

Mr. STEVENS. I move that the committee rise.

The motion was agreed to.

So the committee rose; and the Speaker having resumed the chair, Mr. SCHENCK reported that the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, having had under consideration the special order, the bill (H. R. No. 676) making appropriations for the naval service for the year ending 30th June, 1866, had directed him to report the same with sundry amendments.

Mr. STEVENS. I now call the previous question upon the bill and amendments.

The previous question was seconded, and the main question ordered.

Mr. STEVENS. Most of the amendments were adopted against the opinion of the Committee of Ways and Means; but l'am willing that the vote shall be taken upon them in the lump, except the last, which strikes out all after line three hundred to the end of the bill. That amendment, if adopted by the House, will leave the ordnance department and several other departments without appropriations which are absolutely necessary.

The fifth amendment reported from the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union was read, as follows:

Strike out, commencing at line two hundred and seventyseven, the following words:

"And there is hereby authorized to be appointed in said office one additional aid, at an annual salary of $1,333 33, and said amount is hereby appropriated therefor."

The amendment was agreed to.

The sixth amendment reported from the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union was read, as follows:

Strike out all after line three hundred to the end of the printed bill, as follows:

For pay of clerks in the ordnance departments at the several navy-yards, in lieu of the present per diem pay, namely: For salary of one clerk at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, navy-yard, $1,200.

For salary of one clerk at $1,200, and one at $1,000 per annum, at Boston navy-yard, $2,200.

For salary of one clerk at $1,200 per annum, and one clerk at $1,000 per annum, at the New York navy-yard, $2,200.

For salary of one clerk at the Philadelphia navy-yard, $1,200.

For salary of one clerk at $1,400, one clerk at $1,000, one draughtsman at $1,600, one analytical chemist at $2,500 per annum, one assistant pyrotechnist at $1,400, and one keeper of magazine at $480 per annum, at the Washington navy-yard, $8,380.

On agreeing to the amendment,

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois, demanded the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

The question was taken; and it was decided in the negative-yeas 52, nays 75, not voting 55; as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Ancona, Arnold, Augustus C. Baldwin, John D. Baldwin, Beaman, Boutwell, Brandegee, William G. Brown, Ambrose W. Clark, Cobb, Dawes, Dawson, Eckley, Eliot, Finck, Grinnell, Harrington, Benjamin G. Harris, Holman, Hotchkiss, John H. Hubbard, Orlando Kellogg, Knapp, McClurg, McIndoe, Middleton, Samuel F. Miller, Noble, Orth, Perham, Pike, Pomeroy, Price, John H. Rice, Edward H. Rollins, Schenck, Scofield, Sloan, Spalding, Stiles, Tracy, Upson, Van Valkenburgh, Elihu B. Washburne, William B. Washburn, Wheeler, Wilson, Windom, and Winfield-52.

NAYS-Messrs. James C. Allen, Ashley, Bailey, Baxter, Blow, Boyd, Broomall, Chanler, Cox, Cravens, Henry Winter Davis, Thomas T. Davis, Deming, Driggs, Eden, Edgerton, Eldridge, English, Farnsworth, Frank, Garfield, Grider, Griswold, Hale, Hail, Charles M. Harris, Herrick, Higby, Hooper, Hulburd, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Philip Johnson, Kelley, Francis W. Kellogg, Knox, Law, Le Blond, Loan, Long, Longyear, Marvin, McBride, McKinney, Morrill, Daniel Morris, James R. Morris, Amos Myers, Norton, Odell, Charles O'Neill, John O'Neill, Patterson, Pendleton, Perry, Pruyn, William H. Randall, Alexander H. Rice, Rogers, James S. Rollins, Ross, Shannon, Smithers, Stevens, Strouse, Sweat, Townsend, Wadsworth, Ward, Whaley, Joseph W. White, Wilder, Fernando Wood, Woodbridge, and Yeaman-75.

NOT VOTING-Messrs. William J. Allen, Anderson, Blaine, Blair, Bliss, Brooks, James S. Brown, Freeman Clarke, Clay, Coffroth, Cole, Creswell, Denison, Dixon, Donnelly, Dumont, Ganson, Gooch, Harding, Asabel W. Hubbard, Hutchins, William Johnson, Julian, Kalbfleisch, Kasson, Kernan, King, Lazear, Littlejohn, Mallory, Marcy, McAllister, McDowell, William H. Miller, Moorhead, Morrison, Leonard Myers, Nelson, Radford, Samuel J. Randall, Robinson, Scott, Smith, Starr, John B. Steele, William G. Steele, Stuart, Thayer, Thomas, Voorhees, Webster, Chilton A. White, Williams, Benjamin Wood, and Wor

lars.

'The amendment was agreed to.

The third amendment reported from the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union was read, as follows:

After line seventeen insert: "For bounties to seamen, $1,000,000."

The amendment was agreed to.

The fourth amendment reported from the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union was read, as follows:

After line one hundred and forty-nine insert: "For completion of joiners' building, $25,000,"

The amendment was agreed to.

So the amendment was non-concurred in.
During the roll-call,

Mr. O'NEILL, of Pennsylvania, stated that his colleague, Mr. L. MYERS, was detained at his room by indisposition.

The vote was then announced as above recorded. Mr. STEVENS moved to reconsider the vote by which the amendment was non-concurred in; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

The seventh amendment was read, as follows: Add to the bill the following:

One midshipman, in addition to those now allowed by law, shall be appointed for each congressional district and Territory, to be appointed on the nomination of the present members of Congress and delegates from said districts and Territories respectively; but no midshipman shall be appointed for any district not represented in Congress.

Mr. SPALDING asked unanimous consent to insert a provision for the District of Columbia. Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois, objected. Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois, asked unanimous consent to insert the word "hereafter." Mr. SPALDING objected.

The amendment was concurred in.

The eighth and last amendment reported from the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union was then read, as follows:

Add to the bill the following:

Provided, That no money appropriated for the naval ser

vice shall be expended otherwise than in accordance with the following provision, so far as it is applicable; that is to say, that the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint a Board of Admiralty, which shall consist of the vice admiral and one rear admiral, one commodore, one captain, one commander, and one lieutenant commander, over which the Secretary of the Navy or the officer highest in rank present shall preside; and when the subject under consideration shall appertain to the duties of any bureau in the Navy Department, the chief of such bureau shall be a member of the board, and entitled to sit and vote on the consideration of the subject.

-

SEC. And be it further enacted, That the board shall deliberate in common and advise the Secretary on any matters submitted by him relating to naval organization, naval legislation, the construction, equipment, and armament of vessels, navy-yards, and other naval establishments, and the direction, employment, and disposition of the naval forces in time of war. All such opinions shall be recorded. SEC. And be it further enacted, That no vessel-of-war shall be built or materially altered, nor any guns of new construction ordered or adopted, nor any engine for any vessel-of-war adopted or ordered, nor any permanent structure for naval service executed, until the plans, estimates, proposals, and contracts for the same shall have been submitted to the board, and its opinion and advice thereon communicated in writing to the Secretary; nor shall any patented invention be bought or adopted for the naval service without first the opinion of the board thereon having been taken; and all experiments decided to test inventions and naval plans and structures shall be conducted under the inspection of the board, or members thereof named by the Secretary, and submitted to the board for its opinion thereon.

SEC.. And be it further enacted, That all invitations for plans or proposals for any of the works above mentioned shall be prepared by the board, subject to the approval of the Secretary; and all bids or offers or proposals for the same shall be opened in the presence of the board, and the award made by it subject to the approval of the Secretary. SEC.. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary may add to the board from time to time other officers of the Navy eligible to the position of chief of bureau, not exceeding three at any time, for consultation on any of the above subjects. The board may take the opinion of eminent practical engineers, mechanics, machinists, and architects, in their respective branches of art or industry, when in their opinion the public service will be promoted by it, and pay them such reasonable compensation as the Secretary may approve.

Mr. SPALDING demanded the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.

The question was taken, and it was decided in the negative-yeas 60, nays 70, not voting 52; as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. James C. Allen, Ancona, Baily, Augustus C. Baldwin, Beaman, Blaine, Boyd,Cox,Cravens, Henry Winter Davis, Thomas T. Davis, Dawson, Driggs, Eden, Finck, Ganson. Garfield, Hall, Harrington, Higby, Holman, Asahel W. Hubbard, Hulburd, Philip Johnson, Julian, OrJando Kellogg, Knapp, Knox, Le Blond, Long, Longyear, McClurg, Meindoe, McKinney, Middleton, Samuel F. Miller, Morrill, Daniel Morris, James R. Morris, Noble, John O'Neill, Orth, Pendleton, Price, Pruyn, Ross, Schenck, Shannon, Smithers, Stevens, Stiles, Strouse, Townsend, Upson, Wadsworth, Elibu B. Washburne, Joseph W. White, Williams, and Wilder-60.

NAYS-Messrs. Alley, Allison, Ames, Arnold, Ashley, John D. Baldwin, Baxter, Blow, Boutwell, Brandegee, Broomall, William G. Brown, Chanler, Ambrose W. Clark, Cobb, Dawes, Deming, Dumont, Eckley, Edgerton, Eldridge, Eliot, English, Farnsworth, Frank, Grider. Grinnell, Griswold, Hale, Benjamin G. Harris, Charles M. Harris, Herrick, Hooper, John H. Hubbard, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Kelley, Francis W. Kellogg, Law, Loan, Marvin, Amos Myers, Norton, Odell, Charles O'Neill, Patterson, Perham, Perry, Pike, Pomeroy, William H. Randall, Alexander H. Rice, John H. Rice, Rogers, Edward H. Rollins, James S. Rollins, Spalding, John B. Steele, Sweat, Van Valkenburgh, Ward, William B. Washburn, Whaley, Wheeler, Wilson, Windom, Winfield, Fernando Wood, Woodbridge, and Yeaman-70.

NOT VOTING-Messrs. William J. Allen, Anderson, Blair, Bliss, Brooks, James S. Brown, Freeman Clarke, Clay, Coffroth, Cole, Creswel!, Denison, Dixon, Donnelly, Gooch, Harding, Hotehkiss, Hutchins, William Johnson, Kalbfleisch, Kasson, Kernan, King, Lazear, Littlejolin, Mallory, Marcy, McAllister, McBride, McDowell, William H. Miller, Moorhead, Morrison, Leonard Myers, Nelson, Radford, Samuel J. Randall, Robinson, Scofield, Scott, Sloan, Smith, Starr, William G. Steele, Stuart, Thayer, Thomas, Tracy, Voorlees, Webster, Chilton A. White, Benjamin Wood, and Worthington-52.

So the amendment was non-concurred in.
During the roll-call,

Mr. DAWES stated that his colleague, Mr. GoоCH, had been compelled to leave the House by illnesss.

The vote was then announced as above recorded.

The bill, as amended, was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time; and being engrossed, it was accordingly read the third time, and passed.

Mr. STEVENS moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table. The latter motion was agreed to.

EVENING SESSIONS.

Mr. MORRILL. I ask unanimous consent of the House to submit the following resolution: Resolved, That on and after Wednesday next, except

Saturdays, unless otherwise ordered, the House will take a recess daily at thirty minutes after four o'clock, p. m., to meet again at seven o'clock, p. m., for the transaction of business.

Mr. ANCONA. I object.

Mr. MORRILL moved to suspend the rules. The question was taken, and two thirds voting in favor thereof, the rules were suspended. The resolution was then adopted.

Mr. MORRILL moved to reconsider the vote by which the resolution was adopted; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

COUNTING THE ELECTORAL VOTES. Mr. STEVENS. I I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table and put upon its passage a concurrent resolution sent to us from the Senate to-day in reference to counting the electoral votes.

No objection being made, the resolution was taken up, considered, and agreed to; as follows:

Resolved by the Senate, (the House of Representatives concurring therein,) That the following be added to the joint rules of the two Houses, namely:

The two Houses shall assemble in the Hall of the House of Representatives at the hour of one o'clock p. m., on the second Wednesday in February next succeeding the meeting of the electors of President and Vice President of the United States, and the President of the Senate shall be their Presiding Officer. One teller shall be appointed on the part of the Senate, and two on the part of the House of Representatives, to whom shall be handed, as they are opened by the President of the Senate, the certificates of the electoral votes; and said tellers having read the same in the presence and hearing of the two Houses thus assembled, shail make a list of the votes as they shall appear from the said certificates; and the votes having been counted, the result of the same shall be delivered to the President of the Senate, who shall thereupon announce the state of the vote and the names of the persous, if any, elected, which announcement shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected President and Vice President of the United States, and, together with a list of the votes, be entered on the Journals of the two Houses,

If, upon the reading of any such certificate by the tellers, any question shall arise in regard to counting the votes therein certified, the same having been stated by the Presiding Officer, the Senate shall thereupon withdraw, and said question shall be submitted to that body for its decision; and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall in like manner submit said question to the House of Representatives for its decision; and no question shall be decided affirmatively, and no vote objected to shall be counted, except by the concurrent votes of the two Houses, which being obtained, the two Houses shall immediately reassemble, and the Presiding Officer shall then announce the decision of the question submitted; and upon any such question there shall be no debate in either House. And any other question pertinent to the object for which the two Houses are assembled may be submitted and determined in like manner.

At such joint meeting of the two Houses seats shall be provided as follows: for the President of the Senate, the Speaker's chair; for the Speaker, a chair immediately upon his left; for the Senators, in the body of the Hall upon the right of the Presiding Officer; for the Representatives, in the body of the Hall not occupied by the Senators; for the tellers, Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House of Representatives, at the Clerk's desk; for the other offcers of the two Houses, in front of the Clerk's desk and upon either side of the Speaker's platform.

Such joint meeting shall not be dissolved until the electoral votes are all counted and the result declared, and no recess shall be taken unless a question shall have arisen in regard to the counting of any of such vote, in which case it shall be competent for either House, acting separately, in the manner hereinbefore provided, to direct a recess not beyond the next day at the hour of one o'clock, p. m.

Mr. STEVENS moved that the vote by which the resolution was agreed to be reconsidered; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

QUOTAS OF THE SEVERAL DISTRICTS. Mr. CHANLER. I ask unanimous consent to introduce the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Secretary of War be, and is hereby, directed to communicate to this House at an early day the basis upon which the quotas of the different districts of the States have been established and adjusted under each of the several calls for troops by the President of the United States, together with a detailed statement of the number of troops and seamen furnished by each State and district since the outbreak of the rebellion, with their respective terms of service.

Mr. KELLEY. I object to the introduction of the resolution.

CHANGE OF REFERENCE.

On motion of Mr. STEVENS the Committee of Ways and Means were discharged from the further consideration of a memorial of the citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio, praying for increased hospital accommodations at that place; and the same was referred to the Committee on Commerce.

RECONSTRUCTION.

Mr. SCHENCK. There is a special order for to-day which now properly comes before the House.

The SPEAKER. The special order now before the House, if the House proceeds to its consideration, is the bill in reference to reconstruction.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I move to postpone that matter for two weeks.

Mr. STEVENS. I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to.

And thereupon (at four o'clock and forty minutes, p.m.) the House adjourned.

IN SENATE.

TUESDAY, February 7, 1865. Prayer by Rev. B. H. NADAL, D. D., of Washington, District of Columbia.

On motion of Mr. SHERMAN, and by unanimous consent, the reading of the Journal was dispensed with.

MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE.

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. MCPHERSON, its Clerk, announced that the House of Representatives had agreed to the concurrent resolution of the Senate proposing an additional joint rule of the two Houses, providing that the two Houses shall assemble on the second Wednesday in February next after the meeting of the electors of President and Vice President of the United States, in the Hall of the House of Representatives, for the purpose of opening and counting the votes for President and Vice President; and prescribing the rules for the proceedings of the two Houses in such joint meeting.

The message further announced that the House of Representatives had passed a bill (H. R. No. 676) making appropriations for the naval service for the year ending the 30th of June, 1866.

TRADE WITH REBEL STATES.

The message further announced that the House of Representatives had passed a concurrent resolution to authorize the Committee on Commerce on the part of the Senate to join the Committee. on Commerce on the part of the House, for the purpose of making certain investigations in regard to trade with the States in rebellion, and making said committees a joint committee for the purpose of completing said investigations; in which the concurrence of the Senate was requested.

Mr. CHANDLER. I move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the concurrent resolution just communicated from the House of Representatives in relation to the investigation of the subject of trade with the States in rebellion.

The motion was agreed to; and the Senate proceeded to consider the following resolution:

Resolved, (the Senate concurring.) That the Committee on Commerce on the part of the Senate be joined with the committee on the part of the House in the investigations which said Committee on Commerce are now engaged in, under resolutions of the House of January 20, 1865, and January 25, 1865, in regard to trade with the States in rebellion, to constitute a joint committee for the purpose of completing said investigations; and that the said joint committee have the same powers as the Committee on Commerce of the House now have on the subjeet of said investigation.

Mr. CHANDLER. I move that the Senate concur in the resolution.

The motion was agreed to.

TELLER TO COUNT PRESIDENTIAL VOTES. Mr. TRUMBULL. The joint rule which has been adopted by the two Houses in regard to counting the votes for President and Vice President to-morrow makes it the duty of the Senate to appoint one teller on its part and the House to appoint two. I move that the President of the Senate appoint the teller on the part of the Senate.'