The

means of defence to the most important outlets of its commerce. Atlantic coast is, indeed, most liberally provided with every facility for the construction, equipment, and repair of vessels. And, but for the isolated character of the Gulf of Mexico, and the necessity of relying upon its own resources for the defence of its commerce in time of war, the Atlantic yards might afford abundant means of maintaining our supremacy in that sea. The considerations bearing upon this point are so fully and strongly stated in the Senate report already quoted, that the committee forbear to repeat them here, or to attempt any additional argument. They deem it altogether sufficient to suggest that the necessity of a navy yard at some point on the Mississippi river is rendered imperative by the well known condition of things at Pensacola. That establishment has been in progress for thirty years, and yet no ship has ever been built there, nor has that expensive work ever yet rendered any very important service to the navy. The reason assigned for the want of activity at that yard, is the difficulty of getting mechanics even at high wages, and the greater expense of doing work in such a climate. It was, therefore, a wise determination that, while Pensacola would undoubtedly be a valuable station for rendezvous and repair to our navy in the gulf, the building and manufacturing yard should be located in a more salubrious clime, in the midst of all the materials of construction, where mechanics are abundant, where private enterprise has already shown the practicability of advantageous building, and where no enemy can ever reach the accumulated stores requisite to maintain a powerful navy. The developments of the great war now waging in Europe, present an example well calculated to teach us wisdom in the present investigation. The fleets and armies of the allied powers have blockaded and besieged the important naval station of the Russian Emperor in the Black sea. Sebastopol may fall, and the vast and costly docks of that establishment be destroyed. But Sebastopol is not the building yard for the Black sea; it is only the place of rendezvous and repair. The building station is in the interior, at Nicolaev, on the river Bogg. Nicolaev is to Sebastopol what Memphis ought to be to Pensacola. And it cannot be doubted, that if the Emperor Nicholas had the resources of the Mississippi valley at his command, instead of the limited means to be found in the valleys of the Bogg and the Dneiper, he would be able this spring to send out a force which would at once give him command of the Black sea.

It is highly probable, that in the event of war with any great naval power, one of the first attempts would be to place Pensacola in the present position of Sebastopol. Resistance would be impossible; the Gulf of Mexico would be in possession of the enemy; the commerce of the Mississippi would be dammed up; and there would be no safeguard against such a disaster, except in the existence of an extensive naval establishment somewhere in the great valley, beyond the reach of the enemy, and capable of activity under all circumstances. Our policy has been, and in all probability will continue to be, rather that of providing ample means to build, than that of always maintaining a large and powerful navy. In future wars, as in our former experience, we shall depend upon our ability speedily to put afloat a

sufficient force to meet the emergency when it shall arise. This being admitted, it becomes a matter of absolute and indispensable necessity to prepare the means of building and equipping vessels in the Mississippi valley. Viewing the isolated condition of the gulf, with the commanding positions of Cuba and Jamaica in the hands of foreign powers, enabling them to control the channels of entrance and exit, and with the certainty that in time of war our whole force would be required to defend the Atlantic cities and their commerce, even if the gulf were accessible, it would seem to be insane and even suicidal to neglect the preparations necessary for bringing to bear the resources of the vast region tributary to this important arm of the sea.

But the example of belligerent nations, engaged in the gigantic operations now going on in another hemisphere, serves also to establish another important position, having material bearing upon the subject in question. This is nothing less than the comparative inefficiency of those huge vessels, with immense armaments, which have characterized the naval experiments of England and France in modern times. Finding these large ships unavailable for many purposes in the Baltic and the Black sea, the allied powers are now constructing a vast fleet of gun-boats, or, more properly, sloops-of-war, destined to carry heavy guns, and capable of taking positions inaccessible to the present force. This practical example, arising out of the exigencies of actual war, gives evidence of the wisdom and foresight of those young American officers who for years past have been predicting this change, and urging upon our government the policy of building smaller ships with heavier guns. This policy was to some extent enforced in a report of the naval committee made some years ago to the House of Representatives. (See Rep. No. 35, 2d sess. 31st Congress.) For the building and equipment of this class of vessels, no better place can be found on the continent than the city of Memphis. The Secretary of the Navy has already felt the necessity of recommending the construction of a number of smaller vessels, admitting that not one of the six steamers ordered at the last session of Congress will be able to enter the harbors of Charleston, Savannah, or New Orleans. In view of these striking facts, the committee cannot see the propriety of abandoning the costly work already done at Memphis, when the establishment could be finished at a comparatively small additional cost, and would be so manifestly useful in case the Gulf of Mexico should become the theatre of a naval war.

But if, in face of the fact that ships are often built at Cincinnati and Pittsburg, and sent down with full freights for foreign countries, it should he supposed that ships cannot be built at Memphis, it is perfectly certain that for the collection of materials, and the manufacturing of machinery, cordage, guns, shot, shells, chains, and anchors, no more eligible site can be selected. The committee do not believe that disbursements ought to be made in different sections without regard to usefulness, and for the mere purpose of equalizing local expenditures. But it is insisted, with the most earnest conviction of truth, that, when the federal expenditures can be advantageously distributed to the several sections of the Union, they ought not to be

confined to one section alone. The expenditures for the navy will not hereafter be less, on an average, than ten millions of dollars per annum. The committee see no good ground for excluding the great West from all participation in the local disbursement of this fund. She has food, hemp, coal, timber, iron, lead, and copper, in inexhaustible quantity, to be cheaply delivered or skilfully manufactured on the great highway of her wondrous valley. It has been only a few years ago that one of the most gallant officers of the navy was permitted to expend half a million of dollars at Pittsburg in constructing an experimental iron ship of some eleven or twelve hundred tons burden. This vessel (the Alleghany) found no difficulty in reaching the sea from a point twelve hundred miles above Memphis. While this achievement stands on record-so long as it shall be remembered that this child of the mountains, starting full-grown from the very head of the Ohio river, has crossed the Atlantic and made the sound of her guns peal in the ports of the Mediterranean-it must be considered the merest delusion to suppose that ships of much larger tonnage could not be built and equipped in any number at Memphis, and sent to any quarter of the globe. It is even doubted whether the obstacles interposed by the state of the river during the dry months would be greater than those caused by ice and cold weather at our more northern yards, and by disease, exhausting heat, and high wages, at the more southern.

At the present period of depression in the industrial affairs of the country, the hum of busy workmen is heard at all the Atlantic yardsat Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Norfolk. Six first-class steamers, at those favored points, are now slowly lifting their huge frames from the keel, amidst the songs of cheerful mechanics, rendered happy by the golden millions which remunerate their sturdy labors. But turning from the pampered East to the great West, a striking contrast is presented. The only naval establishment of that section, though capable of great usefulness, is first suffered to languish and decline. Although the government was in possession of the most complete ropewalk in the world, necessary measures have not even been taken for spinning rope out of the American hemp which is so abundantly produced in the western States. Of the inexhaustible resources of the teeming valley of the Mississippi, no local advantage is to be derived, and none conferred from their use; but the only naval works of that region, reluctantly granted in the first instance, have at last been stricken down with an inconsiderate haste, which almost partakes of contempt.

The committee are of opinion that the error of the last session, so unjust and injurious in its consequences, ought to be corrected without delay; and they accordingly report a bill for the re-establishment of the navy yard at Memphis, and recommend its passage by the House.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, January 30, 1855.

SIR: In reply to your communication of the 23d instant, asking for information, as the chairman of the Select Committee of the House of Representatives, touching the Memphis navy yard, and the conditions under which the Gosport navy yard is now held, &c., I have the honor to submit, herewith enclosed, a copy of the report made thereon by the chief of the Bureau of Navy Yards and Docks, to whom your letter was referred.

From the examination I have been able to make, I have not ascertained any further facts calculated to shed light on the questions you have submitted.

With very great respect, I am, sir, your obedient servant,

Hon. F. P. STANTON,

Chairman Select Committee, Ho. of Reps.

J. C. DOBBIN.

BUREAU OF YARDS AND DOCKS, January 26, 1855.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the letter of the honorable F. P. Stanton, dated the 23d instant, having reference to the navy yards at Memphis and at Norfolk, which has been referred by you to this bureau for the information called for, and respectfully state that the aggregate amount of appropriations already expended at the Memphis yard, for improvements at that yard, is $952, 185 49. In addition to which, the amount which is deemed sufficient to complete the works as originally planned, or to place them in proper condition for constructing vessels, is $1,363,500 11.

With respect to the conditions upon which the Gosport navy yard is now held, I have respectfully to state that the act of the Virginia legislature, passed on the 25th January, 1800, authorizes the governor to ascertain and fix the value of the ground called Gosport, in Portsmouth, Virginia, and also to convey the same to the United States, "for the purpose of establishing a navy yard." By virtue of this authority I find that the governor of the State executed, on the 15th day of June, 1801, a deed for the said premises to the United States, together with jurisdiction over the same, for the consideration of twelve thousand dollars, the sum ascertained and fixed as its value, "for the purpose of establishing a navy yard.”

This grant was not to prevent the officers of the commonwealth from executing any process, &c., within the jurisdiction ceded; and in case the United States should at any time abandon the design of establishing a navy yard, or after its establishment should discontinue the same, then it should revert to the said commonwealth, &c., &c.

These are the conditions, so far as I have been able to ascertain them, upon which the original purchase of the Gosport navy yard is held. Since that date, however, additions have been made to the yard by the purchase of several lots, jurisdiction over which has also been ceded by Virginia upon similar conditions and restrictions.

I have not been able to discover, in the limited time I have had to

examine the laws, any specific action by Congress in regard to the purchase and tenure of the Gosport navy yard by the United States. The communication of Mr. Stanton is herewith returned.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant, JOS. SMITH

I am not sure about the Baltic. They build there at several places, Cronstadt among them. The Black sea affords the best parallel. The building yard for the Black sea is at Nikolaev, on the Bogg; Sevastopol being the place of rendezvous and repair for the Russian navy of that sea.

In haste, yours truly,

Hon. F. P. STANTON,

House of Representatives.

M. F. MAURY.

IN THE SENATE-May 6, 1852.

The Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was referred the memorial of the legislature of the State of Tennessee, asking for the completion of the navy yard at Memphis, according to its original design, having had the same under consideration, report:

That, by the act of 15th June, 1844, Congress authorized the selection and purchase of a site for a navy yard and depot at Memphis, the language of said act being as follows:

"That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to select and purchase a site for a navy yard and depot at the city of Memphis, and to erect such buildings and make such improvements thereon as may be necessary for the construction and repair, and for the accommodation and supply, of vessels of war of the United States; and that the President is authorized and empowered to purchase any water-rights which may be necessary to propel the machinery appertaining to said navy yard, or which may be useful in the operations of said navy yard; and that he be further empowered to receive any donations of lands, water-rights, or rights of way, which the authorities of the city of Memphis, or any other body corporate, or any person or persons, may deem proper to make or grant to the government of the United States, and that the sum of one hundred thousand dollars be appropriated," &c.