Ocean Steam Navigation and the Ocean Post Part 13

"A similar result has, to a certain extent, attended the establishment of the American, or Collins line, between New-York and Liverpool. Previously to the commencement of this line, the transportation of the United States mail matter, as well as the finer and more destructible descriptions of merchandise, requiring rapidity of transmission to and from Europe, had been monopolized by the British Cunard line; and the British Government had, within the short s.p.a.ce of six years, from the postage on this route alone, derived a _clear income_ of no less than five million two hundred and eighty thousand eight hundred dollars, after deducting the amount paid to the concern under the contract to carry the mails.

"Since the establishment of the Collins line, notwithstanding the combined efforts of the British Government and commercial interests to confine their freights and postages to the Cunard line, the revenue to the Post Office Department of the United States has amounted to several hundreds of thousands of dollars per annum, whilst a large proportion of the money for freights has been received by American citizens. The effects of this measure have, it is true, thus far been but partial, because the trips of this line have been but twice a month, while those of its rival have, for a considerable portion of the time been weekly. During the intervals between the trips of the American line, the postages and freights must, of necessity, enure to the advantage of the British, and, consequently, the evil referred to has been but partially remedied."

Speaking of the large steamers built, the Report says:

"It is not to be supposed that engines of such vast dimensions could have been constructed in a country where there were, as yet, no workshops adapted to the purpose and where labor is very high, as cheaply as in a country where every appliance of the kind already existed and where the prices of labor are proverbially low. Nor can it be reasonably imagined that vessels of this description could have been navigated on as good terms, by men taken from this country, where there was little or no compet.i.tion in this peculiar branch of maritime service, as by those who were easily to be found in a country in which the density of population and consequent compet.i.tion for employment, caused the wages to be small.

"An attempt seems to have been made, in certain quarters, to create an impression that the aid heretofore extended by the Government to the individuals engaged under contracts to carry the ocean mail, has been induced by feelings of personal friendship, on the part of members of Congress. Such is not the case. The friends of the system of ocean mail steam navigation, have, so far as your Committee are advised, considered this important subject as a matter of great national concern and independently of the very secondary motive of individual interest. The question presented to their minds has not been whether A, B, or C should have a privilege extended to him, but whether the commerce, manufactures, and agriculture of the country would be benefited by the performance of a public service through the instrumentality of individual enterprise, under proper conditions and restrictions.

As matters stood at the period when the system was adopted, Great Britain was exerting herself, successfully, to make the United States, in common with the rest of the world, tributary to her maritime supremacy. She possessed the monopoly of steam connection between the United States and Europe, the West-Indies and South-America. There was not a letter sent by ocean steam conveyance, in these quarters, which did not pay its tribute to the British crown, and not a pa.s.senger nor parcel of merchandise transported, by the agency of steam, upon the ocean, which did not furnish profit to the British capitalist. Great Britain a.s.serted her right to be the 'queen of the ocean,' and, as such, she levied her imposts upon the industry and intelligence of all of the nations that frequented that highway of the world.

"In this condition of affairs, the law inst.i.tuting the system of American ocean mail steam transportation in its present form was enacted, as the best, if not the only means of correcting a great evil, and, at the same time, building up a naval force which should be available for national defense in the event of a war.

The system so inst.i.tuted was deemed to be not only calculated to draw forth and reward the enterprise of American citizens, but it avoided the difficulty of keeping upon hand, in time of peace, a large and, for the moment at least, useless military marine, which could only be preserved in a condition for effective service by a vast annual outlay of the public money.

"_It was right and proper, then, in the opinion of your Committee, that these ocean steam facilities should exist, through the intervention of the Government, more especially as they were, in all probability, beyond the reach of private means._

"The transportation of the ocean mails, with the greatest possible advantage to the important interests of the country at large, is an object of paramount importance; but which, however desirable, can only be effected at great expense. It is a matter of comparatively small moment at what precise time this expense is to be paid, provided that the end in view can be attained with certainty. The temporary loan of a part of the means required, under proper securities for reimburs.e.m.e.nt, appears to be the readiest mode by which the purpose can be effected. How is this security to be acquired? Simply, by taking due care that the funds advanced shall be faithfully and honestly applied to the object for which they are intended, and then holding a lien upon the ships, for the construction of which they are appropriated, in such a manner as to insure the reimburs.e.m.e.nt of the sums advanced in the form of mail service or money; or, should circ.u.mstances require, of ships suitable for national purposes, as war steamers.

This has been done. In all cases the contractors for the transportation of the ocean mails, have been required to cause their ships to be built and equipped under the immediate superintendence of experienced naval officers and under the direction of naval constructors, appointed by the Government, in such manner as to be convertible, at the smallest possible expense, into war steamers of the first cla.s.s.

"Nor has experience caused any regret, on the part of the friends of the system, further than that in some cases, owing to the increase in the tonnage and power of the ships and other circ.u.mstances, the expenses incurred by the contractors have outrun the receipts, and they have incurred heavy losses, which might even prove ruinous, if they were forced to sell the property acquired in this form. It should always be borne in mind, however, that in these cases, the increase of expenditure thus incurred has been caused by a laudable ambition on the part of the proprietors of these lines to do even more than they were required to do under their contracts, with a view to secure the confidence of the Government and the public. It should also be remembered that in thus increasing the cost and consequent value of their ships, these companies have enlarged the security of the Government for the money loaned, and promoted the safety and comfort of pa.s.sengers. It has, in no instance, been charged that the companies referred to have, in any way, misapplied the aid extended to them, or given to it an improper direction. The products of their expenditures, even admitting them to have been greater than they might have been, show for themselves, in placing the American steam mail service, as far as it has gone, at the head of all others, in point of accommodation, elegance, strength, and swiftness. Nor is this all. The establishment of these lines is not to be regarded merely with reference to the immediate profits arising from the system, in connection with the transportation of the mails. Millions of money have been saved to American citizens, which, in the absence of these ocean steam lines, would have gone to fill foreign coffers. The Committee will refer to one fact in ill.u.s.tration of the truth of this proposition. Before the Collins line was established, the Cunard line was receiving 7 10_s_ sterling per ton for freights; at present (1852) the rate is about 4 sterling. By whom were these 7 10_s_ sterling paid? By the _American consumer_, in most instances, upon articles of _British manufacture brought to this country by a British line_. At present the American consumer pays but 4 sterling per ton; and, presuming that the American merchant makes his importations in the American line, this freight is paid to our own people and goes to swell the sum of our national wealth. Thus, it will be seen that, formerly, the American consumer paid _very nearly twice as much for the service_, and enriched the British capitalist; whereas, at present, he not only saves _one half of the former cost of freight to himself_ but, in paying the remaining half, benefits his fellow citizen, who in return aids in consuming perhaps the very merchandise which he has imported.

"Under these circ.u.mstances, can any reasonable man doubt the propriety, even in a pecuniary point of view, of sustaining the present system, which, at its very commencement, has given such ample proofs of its usefulness? Your Committee think not, and do not hesitate to give it as their opinion that, _merely as a matter of dollars and cents_, the service in question should be liberally sustained by Congress, and will in the end make ample returns.

"But your Committee regard this proposition as one, the mere money feature of which is of minor consequence, when brought into comparison with other more important considerations. The question is no longer whether certain individuals shall be saved from loss or enabled to make fortunes, but whether the _American_ shall succ.u.mb to the British lines, and Great Britain be again permitted to monopolize ocean mail steam transportation, not only between Europe and America, but throughout the world. We are aspiring to the first place among the nations of the earth, in a commercial point of view--a place which belongs to us as a matter of right--and are we to suffer ourselves to be overcome by British commercial capitalists under the auspices of the British crown?

Shall it be said that, at the very moment when our steamships are admitted to excel those of any other people on the face of the globe, our enterprising citizens have been forced to relinquish the proud position they have attained, for the want of a few thousands of dollars, when the national treasury is full to overflowing? Let this end be attained and our great commercial rival will have postages and freights all her own way, while we shall be compelled to contribute, as heretofore, to her undisputed supremacy.

"With a view to a full and fair understanding of this important subject, your Committee have communicated, through their Chairman, with the Executive Departments of the Government and the presidents of the various companies engaged in carrying the ocean mail by steam, and will now proceed to lay before the Senate the results of their careful inquiries. It may not be improper here again to note, by way of ill.u.s.tration, the benefits to be derived from ocean steam mail transportation, when in successful operation, as manifested in the case of the British Cunard line, under the auspices of the British Government. During the first six years of its existence, the line above named received from the Government no less than $2,550,000, while the Government received from the Company, in the form of postages, the enormous sum of $7,836,800, or $5,826,800 net revenue.

"The Government has paid to the line, (the Collins,) for mail service, in the two years, $770,000, and has received from the line $513,546.80. If the receipts be deducted from the outlay, the balance against the Government is $256,453.20 for the whole time, or $128,226.60 per annum.

"Thus it appears, that from a fair statement of the account current between the line and the Government, the latter is out of pocket, at the end of the two first years of the undertaking and under circ.u.mstances the most disadvantageous to the line, $256,453.20, or in other words, has paid $128,226.60 per annum, for carrying the ocean mail by steam over about six thousand miles of the greatest commercial thoroughfare in the world, for which, as yet, it has received nothing in return. But your Committee would ask, what has _the country_ received in return for this $256,453.20? They will furnish the answer. The country has received through the proprietors of this line, in the form of freights and pa.s.sage money, a no less amount than $1,979,760.85, in cash; and, if the reduction in the prices of freight formerly paid to the British line be taken into account, nearly as much more, by saving the difference in freights and pa.s.sage money, to say nothing of the general advantages derived by all of our producing interests from the existence of this American line, which, as your Committee believe, are incalculable. The money account will then stand as follows: Government debtor to $256,453.80; Country creditor to $1,979,760.85 _in cash_; and if the former be deducted from the latter, the balance in favor of the country will stand $1,723,307.05, _in cash alone_, leaving out of view the duties on increased importations caused by the establishment of the American line."

Speaking of the Pacific Mail Steam Company, the Report says:

"It will be seen from the above, that the total cost of the six vessels which have been accepted by the officers whose duty it was to supervise them and decide whether they had been built in accordance with the requisitions of the law and terms of the contract, and whose decision is presumed, by your Committee, to be conclusive in the premises, has been $1,555,069, and that their aggregate tonnage is 7,365 tons, instead of 5,200 tons, the amount agreed for. In addition to these ships, as your Committee are informed, the company has in the Pacific seven steamers, with an aggregate tonnage of five thousand tons, not yet accepted by the Government. The additional steamers are, and have been, always kept ready to replace the mail steamers in the event of detention.

The cost of these additional steamers has been, it is stated, about two thirds of that of the accepted steamers of the same cla.s.s, say about $1,036,712, making in all an outlay for steamships alone, of $2,518,337.

"It appears that the whole number of pa.s.sengers, of all cla.s.ses, transported by the Pacific Mail Ship Company, the line in question, previously to December 31, 1851, from Panama northward, has been 17,016, and from Oregon southward, 13,332. The prices of pa.s.sage have constantly fluctuated, but, on the date above named, the 31st of December, 1851, the average rates were, for the first cabin, two hundred and twenty-two dollars; second cabin, one hundred and sixty dollars, and steerage, one hundred and seven dollars, between Panama and San Francisco. In the early stages of emigration the prices were increased in consequence of the enormous prices of labor and supplies on that comparatively unsettled coast, but were subsequently reduced. At the commencement of the undertaking, the Company incurred, of necessity, vast expenses in the selection of proper harbors for taking in provisions, water, coal, etc., and in the construction of _depots_; and even at present, coal and supplies of every description are sent to the Pacific _via_ Cape Horn, a distance of from thirteen thousand to fifteen thousand miles.

"The freights from Panama northward, have been small in amount, and confined to the lighter descriptions of articles sent by express, while the mails have been very large, amounting in some instances to one hundred and fifty bags, each, and, together with coal, water, etc., occupying all of the s.p.a.ce not required for pa.s.sengers. From California, the freights southward, have consisted of treasure, amounting, it is supposed, to the value of seventy millions of dollars, but it is extremely difficult to compute the worth accurately, as a large portion of the gold, etc., sent has been in the possession of pa.s.sengers, and the value does not appear in the manifests."

In noticing the Panama Railroad and the California lines, the Report says:

"Nearly two millions of dollars have already, as your Committee are informed, been expended on this important work, by a company possessed of ample means, and the completion of it can not fail to open the way for a vast commerce, between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and at the same time cause our fellow-citizens in California and Oregon no longer to be regarded as exiles. This road being once opened, the pa.s.sage of the Isthmus, now so much dreaded, will be effected with perfect ease and comfort in a couple of hours, instead of two or three days, as at present, and families, instead of individuals, will be enabled to seek homes in the fertile valleys of our possessions on the Pacific coast. The value of the lines of ocean steamers, of which your Committee have been speaking, to the commercial and other great interests of our country and the world at large, can not well be estimated until this road shall have been finished and put into full operation.

When such shall be the case, the trade between California and Oregon, as well as that of China and the islands of the Pacific and Indian oceans and the Atlantic States and Europe, which now pa.s.ses around Cape Horn, a distance of some fifteen thousand miles, will be enabled to take a direct course across the Isthmus of Panama, the pa.s.sage of which will require but two or three hours. The United States mail, from San Francisco to New York, has already been transported within the s.p.a.ce of twenty-five days and eighteen hours, a day less than the time claimed to have been taken by any other route, at a period, too, when there were but seven or eight miles of the road in operation. On a late occasion, five hundred government troops were sent to California by this route, and were placed at the point of their destination in a little more than thirty-five days, without any serious desertion or accident of any kind. A similar operation by the way of Cape Horn would have occupied six months at least. The store-ship Lexington, which sailed from New-York for San Francisco, during the last year, arrived at the latter place on the last day of February, 1852, after a pa.s.sage of _seven months and one day_. In a country the military establishment of which is so small as that of the United States, facilities of concentrating troops at points distant from each other, in a short time, are of incalculable value, and may be said to add manifold to the efficiency of the military force.

"From what has been already said, it will be seen that the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, independently of the a.s.sociate line on this side of the Isthmus, and without taking into view the cost of the railroad, has expended in the construction of mail steamers alone $2,518,337; and if to this be added $2,606,440.45, the expense incurred for a similar purpose by the Company on the Atlantic side of the Isthmus, the entire cost of steamships, to the two companies engaged in the transportation of the California and Oregon mails, has been $5,124,777.

"It is no more than sheer justice that your Committee should state that the California lines, east as well as west of the Isthmus of Panama, have proved themselves worthy in all respects of the confidence of the country. In no single instance has an accident occurred involving loss of life or serious injury in any way to the travelling public. Such is the strength of the vessels employed, that on two several occasion when, owing to dense fogs and under-currents, cooperating with the defectiveness of the charts of the Pacific coast, one of the ships of the Aspinwall line struck, at one time, upon a soft bottom, and, at another, upon a hard sandy bar, she was steamed off, after thumping, without the slightest injury whatever. Facts such as these are the more important, inasmuch as several steamers have lately been lost on the same coast with a great sacrifice of human life, evidently owing to a want of the strength necessary to resist, effectually, the force of the winds and waves. In the opinion of your Committee, the security afforded to travellers by the strong fastenings and heavy timbers of the ocean mail steamers, built as they are, under the supervision of naval officers, who are selected on account of their thorough acquaintance with and experience in such matters, and made capable of sustaining heavy armaments, is a matter of the greatest moment. Experience has shown that, in the race after gain, our countrymen are, perhaps, more regardless of risk to human life than the people of any other country in the world. Scarcely a day pa.s.ses without fresh evidences of the truth of this proposition. The river, as well as the sea-going steamers, are generally built with reference to speed and lightness, coupled with smallness of draft of water, and hence, in case of touching the ground, or of violent storms, it is found that if one portion of the frame gives way, the breaking up of the entire structure follows with a rapidity that is but too well calculated to show the slight manner in which these vessels are constructed. Your Committee think that the additional expenditure of a few hundreds of thousands of dollars is a matter not worthy of consideration, when brought into comparison with the loss of life, and would rather see even millions devoted to the construction of _strong steamers_, than witness the sudden and heart-rending ruptures of the dearest ties of our nature, caused by the accidents that so frequently occur. Such is their feeling of stern disapprobation of the reckless indifference respecting the safety of pa.s.sengers, daily manifested by some of the proprietors and officers of steam lines, that they are resolved, so far at least as they are concerned, not in any way to countenance, directly or indirectly, such a course of proceeding.

In the extension of the system of ocean mail transportation which they propose to recommend, care will be taken, that the steamers which carry the Government mails shall be regarded as national ships, to a certain extent, and as such, under the charge of the law-making power, and be so built as to secure safety to travellers; and that, in all contracts, this consideration shall be regarded as one of paramount importance."

Regarding a few sailing-ship owners in New-York and Boston, who had memorialized Congress against the Collins and other lines, the Report says:

"The memorialists are loud in their complaints respecting the alleged improper interference of the Government with matters that should be left, as they say, entirely to individual enterprise, which in their opinion becomes paralyzed under the effects of Government patronage bestowed upon some to the exclusion of others. If the authors of this memorial will take a fair and dispa.s.sionate view of the matter, they will, as your Committee think, be convinced that they are wrong in their supposition, and that the Government has not gratuitously meddled in concerns with which it should have nothing to do. The merchants and ship-owners referred to seem to forget, in the first place, that the system of ocean steam mail navigation is intended to secure adequate protection for our commerce from foreign aggression in the event of war; and in the second, that it was inst.i.tuted at a moment when the fine packet ships, to which the memorialists refer with such becoming pride, had in fact been driven from the ocean to a certain extent by the overwhelming power of a British mail steam line, sustained by the British Government, which had monopolized ocean mail and pa.s.senger steam transportation, as well as the freights of lighter and more perishable descriptions of merchandise. If, as these gentlemen have stated, the sailing ships have been made to succ.u.mb, it has been under the force of an agency more certain and not less powerful than the one named by them--wielded by foreign capitalists and directed by a foreign government claiming for itself the supremacy of the ocean. The Cunard line of ocean steamers had been in possession of a monopoly of freights, letter postage, and pa.s.sage money for years, in despite of the attempts of the memorialists to resist, successfully, before the Government of the United States, seeing that American interests were made tributary to foreign capital, aided by a foreign government, adopted the wise course of correcting the evil by kindred means, and placing, at least, to a certain extent, American interests under the auspices of American intelligence and enterprise. What would have been the condition of the New-York lines and other ships had not the Government of the United States thought proper to extend its aid to the establishment of the Collins line? Would it have been any better than at present? or rather would it not have been infinitely worse? Had the Cunard line continued to prosper, as it must have done in the natural course of things, would it not in all probability have increased its number of ships until it would have monopolized every description of ocean transportation? Would not the trade with the United States have been entirely carried on in British steamers, navigated at small expense, and therefore able to do the carrying trade at low prices? Again, what would have been the condition of the Southern coasting business, so far as mails, pa.s.sengers, and light freights, at least, are concerned, had the fourteen British steamers then employed been permitted to operate, unchecked by the American line of mail steamers, between New-York and Chagres? Would it not have been entirely at the mercy of the commissioned agents of the British crown, who so well know how to avail themselves of opportunities to promote their own interests by advancing those of their government? To carry the inquiry further, what would have been the condition of our possessions on the Pacific coast, visited as they would have been by British steamers--for where is the spot on the inhabited or inhabitable globe to which they do not bear the union jack of old England--had not the Aspinwall line been established? Such is the universal pervasion of the money power in British hands, that at present, as is well known, the Cunard line has extended a branch to Havre, to transport goods to England almost free of cost, with a view to appropriate to itself the freights from that quarter, and thus not only crush the American line of steamers to Havre, but be enabled to underbid the Collins line, and, if possible, again monopolize the trade with the United States over that route.

Would all this have raised the prices of freights in American sailing vessels, and given an advantage to the memorialists in question, who had at one time monopolized to themselves the freights, postage, and pa.s.sage money in sailing ships? or would not, on the contrary, such a state of things have operated so to give a British tendency to trade everywhere, and to furnish freights to British ships, at prices at which the American ship owners could not afford to navigate their vessels?

"What, the Committee would ask, has the Government of the United States done in the premises? Having under its charge the control and direction of the United States mails upon land and sea, it has thought proper to say that it would pay for the transportation of the mails in _American steamers_, which can, if necessary, be converted, at a small expense, into war steamers, and adopted, if need be, into the navy proper, at an appraised value, and thereby become efficient protectors of American commerce in the event of a war. This is the head and front of the Government's offending, and has, forsooth, aroused the ire of the commercial monopolists of New-York, Boston, and elsewhere, because they can not any longer enjoy the gains which, for more than a quarter of a century, they had wrested from the ma.s.s of consumers throughout the land, north, south, east, and west. Your Committee must say that, in their opinion, such complaints come with a bad grace from such quarters, and it is to be feared that victorious steam will ere long, without the aid of the Federal Government, supersede the sailing ships of the memorialists, through the instrumentality of the discoveries daily in progress, whereby the navigation of vessels propelled by that power will be made a matter of comparatively small cost."

Speaking of steam communication with Para and Rio de Janeiro, the Report further says:

"When the almost unbounded capacity for trade of the basins of the La Plata and Amazon is taken into view, embracing as it does a great variety of useful products which may be advantageously exchanged for the manufactures and agricultural productions of our own country, the mind is at a loss what limit to a.s.sign to the trade to which civilization and the extension of commercial facilities must eventually give rise. Nor are the advantages of this great prospective commerce to be confined to the immediate intercourse between this country and the regions to which we refer. While the prevalence of certain winds, and the form of the coast of South-America, are favorable to a direct trade with the continent of North-America, they are such as to compel the commerce with Europe to pa.s.s along our sh.o.r.es, and thus const.i.tute our Atlantic seaports so many stopping places at which the ships of the old world may touch in their voyages to and fro. Heretofore the policy of the governments which occupy the regions watered by the La Plata and the Amazon, and their respective tributaries, has been so exclusive in its character as to trammel, if not entirely prevent, their intercourse with distant nations. The different sovereignties which have sprung into existence since South-America became independent of European control, have been so jealous of each other that they have appeared to try which should be most succesful in expelling foreign commerce, lest it might bring to some one of them benefits which others did not and could not possess. A wiser policy, however, appears to be about to prevail since the fall of Rosas, and there is good reason to believe that, hereafter, the commerce of those communities with the rest of the world, will be placed upon a more liberal foundation. Should such be the case, Rio de Janeiro can not fail to become the great centre of a largely increased trade in the southern hemisphere."

"Should it be preferred to limit the extent of the American line to Para, at the mouth of the Amazon, the largest river in the world, there is at present a Brazilian line between that point and Rio de Janeiro, which, with the lines between Rio and the mouth of the La Plata, will render the connection complete.

"Of the Amazon, it is proper to state that it is navigable by the largest vessels, and presents a line of sh.o.r.e of not less than six thousand miles, abounding in every description of product, with climates of all temperatures and soils adapted to all sorts of vegetable growth. As the regions through which this vast river pa.s.ses are peopled by communities to which manufacturing is unknown, it will at once be seen what an immense market will be opened to American industry in the various departments of the useful arts. The proposed connection would, together with the intercourse by steam, which will inevitably be established on the Amazon, draw to that river the trade of the interior, which at present pa.s.ses over the Andes on the backs of sheep and mules to the Pacific ocean, and const.i.tutes a large portion of the commodities that are transported around Cape Horn. With a view to this river navigation, Brazil has already entered into a boundary treaty with Peru, by which she has engaged to establish steamboat navigation on the Peruvian tributaries of the Amazon, and is preparing to put seven steamers upon the river, where none have heretofore been.

"The experience of the world has shown that nations do not become commercial or manufacturing, so long as the products of the soil are sufficiently abundant to yield them wealth; and, hence, it may be reasonably inferred that the carrying trade to and from South-America will, if proper measures be taken, fall into the hands of American ship-owners. By way of ascertaining what the extent of this trade will be, if reference be had to the interior or back country as the standard of the commercial resources furnished by rivers, it will be found that the total area drained by the rivers of the world is as follows:

_Sq. Miles._ Europe, emptying into the Atlantic, 532,940 Africa, emptying into the Mediterranean, 198,630 ---------- Total Old World, 1,731,570 ========== Asia, emptying into the Pacific, 1,767,280 Asia, emptying into the Indian ocean, 1,661,760 ---------- Total Asiatic, 3,429,040 ========== North-America, including St. Lawrence and Mississippi emptying into the Atlantic, 1,476,800 ========== South-America, emptying into the Atlantic-- Amazon and its confluents, 2,048,480 La Plata and all others, 1,329,490 ---------- Total South-American 3,377,970 ========== Total American to the Atlantic, 4,854,770 ==========

"From the above statement it will be seen that the proposed line of steam communication will bring within thirty days of each other, the commercial outlets of navigable streams which drain a back country greater in extent than that which is drained by all of the navigable streams which empty themselves into the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian oceans, from those portions of Europe, Asia, and Africa, which are accessible to American commerce.

Settlement and cultivation will, in the course of time, make these American river basins as rich in products as those of the old world.

"The question next arises, who are to be the carriers of the trade which is hereafter to spring out of these American river basins, the English or the Americans? If Great Britain be suffered to monopolize commerce as she has heretofore done by her steam navigation, her people will enjoy this great boon; but if, on the contrary, the United States take advantage of circ.u.mstances as they should, the prize will be won by Americans."

"Your Committee would remark, in concluding this Report, that, regarding as they do the existence and rapid extension of the system of ocean mail steam navigation, as absolutely essential to the dignity and permanent prosperity of the country, and as the only means, consistent with the genius and policy of our free inst.i.tutions, of acquiring a maritime strength, which, by keeping pace with the improvements of the age, shall place us upon an equal footing with other civilized countries of the world, without the necessity of an overgrown and expensive naval establishment proper, in time of peace, they would feel themselves derelict in the performance of their duties, did they not recommend the measure, with the earnestness which its importance demands.

"Circ.u.mstances indicate, with a clearness not to be misunderstood, that in any future struggle for superiority on the ocean, the contest will be decided by the power of steam. With a view to this result, England has applied herself with even more than her wonted energy to the construction of a regular steam navy which shall be superior to all others. The number of ships which Great Britain has of this kind, is at present two hundred and seventy-one, and there are no less than nine royal war steamers in progress of construction, to say nothing of the mail and other steamers which are being built. The course thus pursued by the great commercial rival of the United States, renders a corresponding energy and activity on our part absolutely necessary, in a national point of view; a steam navy must be provided for future emergencies in the way proposed by the Committee, or war steamers must be built at an enormous outlay of public money and kept ready in the navy yards, or in commission, at an expense which is appalling to every lover of judicious economy, or the stripes and stars of our country, which have heretofore floated so triumphantly on every sea, must grow dim, not only before the 'meteor flag of England,' but the standards of the secondary powers of Europe. If members of Congress are prepared to adopt either of these latter two alternatives, let them say so, and let a system which promises, under an honest and faithful discharge of duty on the part of the executive branch of the Government, to realize the most sanguine expectations of its friends, be at once abandoned. Let Great Britain be again the guardian of our commercial interests and the beneficiary of American trade. Let the Liverpool, Bremen, Havre, California, and other lines, which have furnished twenty-four as n.o.ble sea steamers as ever floated, be abandoned to their fate, and let the Cunard line and other British steam mail lines and royal steamers supply their places on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and our Southern seas.

"Your Committee would again repeat that the question to be considered is not one of mere dollars and cents, or whether certain individuals are to be sustained, or not, but one of infinitely greater consequence--whether this proud republic shall now and hereafter exist as a power competent to maintain her rights upon the ocean. The present condition of political affairs in Europe is such as, in the opinion of many, to threaten a general war among the nations of that quarter of the globe, and the United States should stand ready, and able too, to protect the rights of her citizens upon the ocean, in such an event. Were such a crisis to take place to-morrow, or the next year, or within the next five years, is the country prepared for it? The steam navy proper amounts to sixteen steamers of all cla.s.ses, which, together with the twenty-four ocean mail steamers in the employ of the Post Office Department, would give us a steam naval force not exceeding forty in all. Is this the position we should occupy, while Great Britain has at command upwards of three hundred war and mail steamers? France has, it is believed, upwards of a hundred, and the secondary powers of Europe have naval steam armaments in proportion, most of them exceeding our own. This question will be decided by the continuation or rejection of the system under consideration, which, with all the difficulties attendant upon new enterprises and under the most embarra.s.sing circ.u.mstances, has gone very far to sustain itself, and promises, at no distant period, to become a source of large revenue to the Government, and incalculable commercial advantages, pecuniarily and otherwise, to the country."

The following is copied from the Report made by Mr. Rusk in 1850, and published in Special Report of the Secretary of the Navy, 1852.

Speaking of the services of the mail steamers in our system of defenses, the Report says:

"The truth is, that, in the opinion of your Committee, the temper of the times requires that we shall keep pace with the rapid improvements of other nations in their commercial and military marine, and that the only choice is, whether it is to be done by constructing vessels for the packet service, at a boundless expense to the Government, or by aiding private enterprise, and thus not only eventually avoiding expense, but adding largely to the revenues of the country. It will be seen from the above extract from Mr. King's speech, that, in the course of five years, the balance in favor of the Government from the Cunard line alone was $5,286,000. The New-York and Liverpool and Bremen lines will come in for a large, if not by far the greater, share of the postage and freightage heretofore enjoyed by the Cunard line; and the line to Chagres, for the advantages that have, up to the time of its partial commencement, been in the exclusive possession of the British packet establishment in that direction. Nor are the freightage and postage moneys the only sources of profit. In proportion to the increase of these facilities will be the extension of trade, and consequently the Government will receive the duties payable upon all foreign merchandise brought into the country. Besides, persons _in transitu_ will leave much money in our cities and along their routes, to say nothing of the porterage and costs of transportation of goods. To benefit our people is to benefit our Government; as the more we enrich the former, the more able are they to contribute to the support of the latter.

"To construct ships and keep them in our navy-yards, subject to the injuries of time and casualties, does not consist with the notions of the American people, on the score of economy; nor is it in accordance with received opinions in regard to the propriety of placing excessive patronage in the hands of the General Government. At the same time, it is in perfect unison with the spirit of our free inst.i.tutions that the arts of peace shall be made tributary to the purposes of defense, and the same energies which extend the commerce and manufactures of our country shall, in the event of necessity, be capable of being made use of for our protection. While the crowned heads of the Old World keep in constant pay vast armies and navies sustained by the heart's blood of the oppressed people, for the protection and preservation of their unhallowed power, it is the proud boast of our country that our soldiers are our citizens, and the sailors, who, in time of peace, spread the canvas of our commercial marine throughout the world, are the men who, in time of war, have heretofore directed, and will continue to direct, our cannon against our foes."

"The simple fact that the ships employed in it [the mail service]

_may hereafter, if the Government thinks proper_, be purchased and commissioned as regular war steamers, to be officered and manned as ships of war, should not and can not prevent the construction of steam or sailing vessels for ordinary naval purposes. Your Committee are of opinion that, so far from being an impediment to the proper increase of the Navy, the prosperity of the ocean steam packet service must operate in favor of an enlargement of the naval force, the necessity for which is increased in proportion to the extension of our commercial relations with foreign countries.

The routes upon which lines of steam packets can be sustained and made profitable to the owners are comparatively few, when we take into view the infinitely diversified ramifications of trade. Great Britain, with her vast colonial and general commerce, had, in 1848, but fifteen lines in which national or contract vessels were employed, including the home stations, as they are called, or points of connection between the British islands. Nor has the ocean steam packet system hindered, in the slightest degree, her progress in the construction of steam or sailing vessels for the naval service. In speaking of steam vessels available for naval service, Captain W. H. Hall, of the British Navy, in the course of his examination before the special Committee of the House of Commons, hereinbefore referred to, says: 'I some time ago sent to the Admiralty a plan for making the whole of the merchant steamers available in case of need; and if there were an Act of Parliament that these ships should be strengthened forward and aft to carry guns, it might be then done with a very trifling expense; that would give this country more power than any other country in the world. We have nearly one thousand steam vessels, half of which, at least, might be made available in case Government required their services. Our mercantile steamers are some of the finest in the world, and five hundred of them might be turned to account.

They should all be numbered and cla.s.sed, so that Government would merely have to ask for the number of vessels they wanted, when they might go to Woolwich, or other places, and put the guns on board, and then they would be ready for service.'

"Here is the opinion of a _captain in the British Navy_ with reference to the availability of steam vessels for national defense; and what a lesson does it teach to us in America, where steam navigation is found penetrating every portion of the Union, and spreading itself on our maritime and lake frontier in every direction! Here is found no expression of apprehension lest the mercantile steamers might interfere with the growth or efficiency of the Navy to which the witness belonged. This opinion, moreover, is expressed in a country where, according to the testimony before the Committee already named, there were, in 1848, 174 _war steamers, with an aggregate horse-power of_ 44,480 _horses_; and where Mr. Alexander Gordon states, in a letter addressed to the same Committee, the Steam Navy had then cost the country 6,000,000 sterling, or $30,000,000, '_exclusive of all renstatements and expenses during commission_;' the same gentleman also alleging that the annual repairs amounted to 108,000 Annual cost for coals, 110,000 Depreciation at a moderate allowance, 600,000 --------- Making the total amount of annual cost, 818,000 Or $4,094,000 ===========

"The regular employment of the best engineers on board of contract vessels, and the great experience they would acquire from being constantly on active duty, would furnish to the naval service, in the event of a war, a corps that would be invaluable. In speaking of the superiority of the engineers on board of contract vessels in the employ of the British Government over those on board of the Queen's ships, a witness before the select Committee of the House of Commons says: 'Last year there was a universal complaint of the inferiority of the engineers and all persons connected with steam employed in her Majesty's service. It was explained, and very easily explained, by the superior advantages in the merchant service, and particularly the high wages paid. In all contract steam packets, they have men on board the vessels who are competent to superintend any alterations or repairs in the machinery which may be required.'"

Secretary Graham said on this subject to the Senate Committee, 20 March, 1853:

"While their discussions [mail steamers] justify the conclusion that vessels of this description can not be relied on to supersede those modelled and built only for purposes of war, it is respectfully suggested that a limited number of them, employed in time of peace in the transportation of the mails, would be found a most useful resource of the Government on the breaking out of war.