To the amounts stated under some of these heads, Mr. B. said the Secretary at War dissented, and supposed that a sum much less would be sufficient. The dissent particularly applied to the number of small arms and accoutrements, and to the quantity of ordnance and ammunition for forts. Admitting that there may be some diminution on each of these heads, Mr. B. said the balance would still be sufficient for all the purposes of the argument he was now making; the remainder would still be sufficient to show that there would be no money to be spared for distribution, and that the public defences require every surplus dollar that we have got. To a specific question addressed to Colonel Bomford, the head of the ordnance department, he answers in writing, that for the several objects of armories, arsenals, field artillery, ordnance and ammunition for fortifications, small arms and accoutrements, ammunition for field service, and a national foundry, the sum of two millions of dollars, over and above the usual appropriation of about one million, can be annually and beneficially expended until the object is accomplished. This would make three millions annually for the ordnance department, and would require ten years to expend thirty millions; now, the distribution bill has but five years to run, and no diminution in the ordnance estimates can bring them down to fifteen millions, or even near it. The ordnance will, then, require three millions a year for a greater number of years than the distribution bill is to continue; so that, during that whole time, the ordnance department must be stinted of money and languish for want of employment, if this distribution bill takes effect. The engineer department is explicit in the statement that it can beneficially expend six millions of dollars, at least, annually, upon the construction of fortifications; and the navy board is equally explicit that it can beneficially employ many millions annually in the completion of the naval defences. Here, then, is an extraordinary demand of twelve or fourteen millions per annum for the defences of the country; and it is certain that this demand would continue for a longer period than the five years which the distribution bill is proposed to run.

Mr. B. would then look into the objects of expenditure belonging to the ordnance department, and see how far it was proper to postpone and set aside these objects, for the purpose of seizing upon the contents of the treasury, and making a general distribution of them among the States.

The first object was that of national armories. At present there were two of these establishments: one at Harper's Ferry, in Virginia, the other at Springfield, Massachusetts. Both were in the Atlantic States, and both would fall to the north of a middle point between Florida and Maine. The expense of transporting arms and ordnance from these two armories to all other parts of the Union was a serious item in their expense; and besides that item, the harmony of the Union and the spirit of our Government, which required a distribution of benefits as well as of burdens, would enforce the policy of distributing the expenditures of the Government whenever it can be done without injury to the public service. The West has long petitioned for an armory; the South would be benefited by one also; and the colonel of ordnance has recommended both. He has also recommended an arsenal in each State in which there is not now one; and he has recommended depots for arms and munitions of war, in addition to the arsenals, in some of the exposed or peculiarly situated States.

The second branch of the military defence which Mr. B. took up was that from the engineer department, embracing the fortifications. He showed that the sum of $31,560,000 was estimated by the engineer department for completing the system of fortifications planned and reported by the military and naval board, in their reports of 1821 and 1826. This was the sum, he said, which would yet be required for completing the system then planned; but the present Secretary at War, Governor Cass, in the report just made, dissents from that plan in some particulars, and recommends the organiza│tion of a board of officers further to examine into the subject of fortifications; and President Jackson, in his message covering the Secretary's report, expressly concurs with him in the particulars in which the Secretary dissents from the system heretofore recommended by the board and the engineer department.

The points of dissent, Mr. B. said, were principally to the magnitude of some of the large fortifications, and to the erection of forts at roadsteads and anchorages, which did not cover towns or inlets.

As an exemplification of his ideas, the Secretary mentions Fortress Monroe, at Old Point Comfort, which covers sixty-three acres of ground, and would require an armament of 412 pieces of cannon, and which is already built. At page twelve of his report, the Secretary gave his reasons fully and distinctly for objecting to the magnitude of this work, and which he (Mr. B.) would recommend every Senator and every citizen to read. The Secretary also objects to the magnitude of a fort projected at Newport, Rhode Island, and which might cover twenty acres, and gives his reasons at page fourteen.

Mr. B. considered his own opinion of very little moment, but thought his position might make it proper to declare it; he was therefore free to say that he concurred with the Secretary in his objections to forts of this magnitude. The plan for the works at New York were in part questioned by the Secretary, and a re-examination by a board of officers was recommended. The plan of defence from the engineer department recommends three classes of works for the security of that great emporium; first, an exterior class for the protection of the harbor; second, an interior harbor to shut up Raritan bay; third, another to prevent a hostile fleet from approaching the city through the sound. Of the first class, the Secretary says: "Its importance cannot be doubted," (p. 13 of the report,) and recommends a reexamination of the other two classes, and looks to steam batteries in aid of forts for important effects. His words are:

"The situation of New York affords a fine theatre for the operation of floating batteries; and whether a sufficient number of them would secure it from the designs of an enemy better than the full completion of the extensive system of permanent fortifications recommended, is a question deserving investigation. Such an investigation I recommend; and after all the necessary facts and considerations are presented, the Government should proceed to place this commercial metropolis of the country in a state of security."

As an illustration of his ideas on the policy of fortifying roadsteads or anchorages, to prevent an enemy from Occupying them, the Secretary mentions Mount Desert island, in the State of Maine, and thus expresses himself:

"It will be perceived, also, that it is proposed to fortify Mount Desert island, on the coast of Maine, and

that the expense is estimated at five hundred thousand dollars, and the number of the garrison, competent to maintain it, at one thousand men. This proposition is founded, not on the value of this harbor to us, for it possesses little, and is, in effect, unoccupied, but on account of its importance to an enemy. Were there no other secure position they could occupy in that quarter, and which could not be defended, I should think the views submitted upon this branch of the subject entitled to great weight. But there are many indentations upon this coast, affording safe anchorage, and which are either not capable of being defended, or, from their great number, would involve an enormous expense, which no sound views of the subject could justify. An enemy, therefore, cannot be deprived of the means of stationing himself upon this coast. And before this ex

penditure at Mount Desert island is encountered, it ought to be clearly ascertained that the difference, in its practical advantages to an enemy, between the occupa tion of Mount Desert island, and that of some of the other roadsteads in this quarter, incapable of defence, would be sufficiently great to warrant this measure. My present impression is, that it would not.

"And on the subject of roadsteads, generally, with a few exceptions, depending on their local positions, I am inclined to the opinion that any attempt to fortify them would be injudicious. I do not speak of harbors and inlets which are occupied by cities and towns, but of mere anchorage grounds, deriving their value from the shelter they afford. If all could be defended, and an enemy excluded from them, the advantages would justify any reasonable expenditure. But this is imprac ticable; and I doubt whether the circumstances in which most of them differ give such marked superiority to those we can defend over those we cannot, as to lead to any attempt to fortify them in the first instance, and to maintain garrisons in them during a war.

"I have adverted to these particular cases, in order to present my views more distinctly than I could do by mere general observations. Certainly, not from the remotest design of criticising the reports and the labors of the able professional men to whom the subject has been referred, nor of pursuing the investigation into any further detail.

"I consider the duty of the Government to afford adequate protection to the seacoast a subject of paramount obligation; and I believe we are called upon by every consideration of policy to push the necessary arrangements as rapidly as the circumstances of the coun. try and the proper execution of the work will allow. I think every town, large enough to tempt the cupidity of an enemy, should be defended by works, fixed or float ing, suited to its local position, and sufficiently extensive to resist such attempts as would probably be made against it. There will, of course, after laying down such a general rule, be much latitude of discretion in its application. Upon this branch of the subject, I would give to the opinion of the engineer officers great and almost controlling weight, after the proper limitations are established. These relate principally to the magnitude of the works; and, if I am correct in the views I have taken of this branch of the subject, a change in the system proposed is necessary."

Having shown the points at which he dissented from the plan of fortifications heretofore projected, the Secretary is equally explicit in showing wherein he approves of it. At page 21 he says:

"I think all the defensive works now in the process of construction should be finished, agreeably to the plans upon which they have been projected.

"All the harbors and inlets upon the coast, where there are cities or towns whose situation and importance create just apprehension of attack, and particularly

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where we have public naval establishments, should be defended by works proportioned to any exigency that may probably arise."

On the subject of steam batteries in aid of fortifications, the Secretary concurs with the board of 1821 and 1826, and with the engineer department, and recommends (page 23) that

"Provision should be made for the necessary experi ments to test the superiority of the various plans that may be offered for the construction and use of steam batteries; I mean batteries to be employed as accessories in the defence of the harbors and inlets, and in aid of the permanent fortifications."

The Secretary urgently recommends the reorganization of a board of officers to examine the subject of the proposed fortifications generally, and the vigorous prosecution of the works resolved on, with an appropriation at once for the whole amount of the fort, to be drawn out annually as needed, and in sums fixed by law. Here are his recommendations:

"I think that when the plan of a work has been approved by Congress, and its construction authorized, the whole appropriation should be made at once, to be drawn from the treasury in annual instalments, to be fixed by the law. This mode of appropriation would remedy much of the inconvenience which has been felt for years in this branch of the public service. The uncertainty respecting the appropriations annually deranges the business; and the delay which biennially takes place in the passage of the necessary law reduces the alternate season of operations to a comparatively short period. An exact inquiry into the effect which the present system of making the appropriations has had upon the expense of the works, would probably exhibit an amount far greater than is generally anticipated."

The increase of the corps of engineers, for which the Senate has twice passed a bill, is also strongly recommended by him. He says:

"The corps of engineers should be increased. The reasons for this measure have been heretofore submitted, and the proposition has been recommended by you to Congress. I will merely add, upon the present occasion, that the officers of this corps are not sufficiently numerous for the performance of the duties committed to them; and that if an augmentation does not take place, the public interest will suffer in a degree far beyond the value of any pecuniary consideration connected with this increase."

With respect to the two bills now depending for fortifications, he is explicit in recommending the speedy passage of the one which contains appropriations for completing works now in progress, and for passing the other, with the exception of seven forts, which he names, and proposes to be deferred until a further examination can be made of their sites and plans. These are his words:

"There are two bills for fortifications now pending before Congress. One before the House, amounting to $2,180,000, and intended to prosecute works already actually commenced. The estimates for this bill may therefore be considered necessary in themselves, under any view of the general subject, and not unreasonable in amount for the present year, because they include the operations of two years. The incidental expenses, however, may be safely reduced one half, as it will not be necessary to make such extensive repairs as were considered requisite when the estimates were prepared.

"The bill pending before the Senate contains appro priations for nineteen new works, and for the sum of $600,000, to be expended for steam batteries. The es timates on which this bill was founded were prepared at a time when prudence required that arrangements should be made for a different state of things from that

the Alabama, of western Florida, and some part of Georgia, passes through a single outlet, and reaches the ocean by passing between Key West and Cuba. Here, then, is an immense commerce collected into one channel, compressed into one line, and passing, as it were, through one gate. This gives to Key West and the Dry Tortugas an importance hardly possessed by any point on the globe; for, besides commanding the commerce of the entire West, it will also command that of Mexico, of the West Indies, of the Caribbean sea, and of South America down to the middle of that continent at its most eastern projection, Cape Roque. To understand the cause of all this, (Mr. B. said,) it was necessary to look to the trade winds which, blowing across the Atlantic between the tropics, strike the South American continent at Cape Roque, follow the retreating coast of that continent up to the Caribbean sea, and to the Gulf of Mexico, creating the gulf stream as they go, and by the combined effect of a current in the air and in the water, sweeping all vessels from this side Cape Roque into its stream, carrying them round west of Cuba and bringing them out between Key West and the Havana. These two positions, then, constitute the gate through which every thing must pass that comes from the valley of the Mississippi, from Mexico, and from South America as low down as Cape Roque. As the masters of the Mississippi we should be able to predominate in the Gulf of Mexico, and, to do so, we must have great establishments at Key West and Pensacola. Such establishments are now proposed; and every citizen of the West should look upon them as the guardians of his own immediate interests, the indispensable safeguard to his own commerce, and to him the highest, most sacred, and most bencficial object to which surplus revenue could be applied. The Gulf of Mexico should be considered as the estuary of the Mississippi. A naval and military supremacy should be established in that gulf, cost what it might; for without that supremacy the commerce of the entire West would lie at the mercy of the fleets and privateers of inimical Powers.

Mr. B. returned to the immediate object of his remarks-to the object of showing that the defences of the country would absorb every surplus dollar that would ever be found in the treasury. He recapitulated the aggregates of those heads of expenditure; for the navy, about forty millions of dollars, embracing the increase of the navy, navy yards, ordnance, and repairs of vessels for a series of years; for fortifications, about thirty millions, reported by the engineer department, and which sum, after reducing the size of some of the largest class of forts, not yet commenced, would still be large enough, with the sum reported by the ordnance department, amounting to near thirty millions, to make a totality not much less than one hundred millions, and far more than sufficient to swallow up all the surpluses which will ever be found to exist in the treasury. Even after deducting much from these estimates, the remain. der will still go beyond any surplus that will actually be found. Every person knows that the present year is no criterion for estimating the revenue; excess of paper issues has inflated all business and led to excess in all branches of the revenue; next year it will be down, and soon fall as much below the usual level as it now is above More than that; what is now called a surplus in the treasury is no surplus, but a mere accumulation for want of passing the appropriation bills. The whole of it is pledged to the bills which are piled upon our tables, and which we cannot get passed; for the opposition is strong enough to arrest the appropriations, to dam up the mo ney in the treasury, and then call that a surplus which would now be in a course of expenditure, if the necessary appropriation bills could be passed.

it.

The public defences will require near one hundred

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millions of dollars; the annual amount required for these defences alone amount to thirteen or fourteen millions. The engineer department answers explicitly that it can beneficially expend six millions of dollars annually; the ordnance that it can beneficially expend three millions; the navy that it can beneficially expend several millions; and all this for a series of years. This distribution bill has five years to run, and in that time, if the money is applied to defence instead of distribution, the great work of national defence will be so far completed as to place the United States in a condition to cause her rights and her interests, her flag and her soil, to be honored and respected by the whole world.

Mr. B. would not pursue the financial view of this subject any further. He left it to gentlemen of the Finance Committee to render that service to their country. For himself, he had only examined the effect of the bill upon the public defences, and had shown them to be completely antagonistical and wholly incompatible with each other. The public defences must be given up if the distribution scheme takes effect; there will not be money for five years to come for both objects; all this was now established upon authentic data drawn from the reports of the Navy and War Departments. This was sufficient for his argument, but not sufficient to show the whole mischief of the operation of the distribution bill. It was a tariff bill in disguise! It was a high tariff measure, and supported by all the friends of the high tariff. It was to continue in force till 1841, when the amount of revenue receivable from imports would fall far below the expenses of the Government, and when an increase of duties, and the re-establishment of the high tariff, would be the only resort for supplying the deficiency occasioned by the fatal policy of distribution; a policy which, once begun, can never be relinquished. When Mr. BENTON had concluded,

Mr. EWING, of Ohio, said a few words, on which he stated that the impression in his mind, from a perusal of the message of the President, was, that the President and the heads of the War and Navy Departments are not in favor of such extended appropriations as were now recommended.

Mr. BENTON made a brief explanation; when the bill was, for the present, laid on the table.

On motion of Mr. CRITTENDEN, it was ordered, that when the Senate adjourns, it adjourn to meet on Monday. The Senate adjourned.

MONDAY, APRIL 18.

PROFESSOR LIEBER.

Mr. CALHOUN presented a memorial of Professor Lieber, on the subject of a statistical work on the United States, in preparation by him, and praying for the aid of Congress. Mr. CALHOUN spoke of the work in terms of high approbation, and moved the printing.

Mr. WEBSTER said he had the honor of an acquaintance with Professor Lieber, and believed him to be a gentleman of much experience, and an accurate and judicious writer. He had read, too, the memorial which the member from South Carolina had presented, and he thought it a very able and comprehensive plan or outline for a useful and important work on the statistics of the United States. How far Congress might be inclined to patronise such a work, he could not say, but he thought it would be useful to give publicity to this plan; and he hoped the member from South Carolina would ask for the printing of twice the usual number, so that some few copies might be distributed.

Mr. CALHOUN modified his motion so as to make it for printing double the usual number, and in this form it was agreed to.