Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1808-01-05
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Mr.. TEomas said, ,hss the gentleman on
his righ,. his colleague Mr.. Gardinier)
had told the house that he should vote TO
build the whole Number Of gun boats. not
because he thought them 90 edieiens de.
fence, but because he considered them fe-
bic mschioes. This reasonipg might be
courhisive 10 The mind ofiha, gensIsman,
and Re lid 90, care whas influenced him
since il sppeafed they shor!dihave his vets
for the bill.
However, Mr. r said, he nacfsly rose
TO reply 20 one rematk of thar gsutleman.
He knew tha. i, had been tung through
the country, by slec,iouserins gentry, for
these number ofyesrs, that rhe Formidable
navy, 90 carefully raised by ,hs sformer-ad-
minisraliou, had beeo sold OF by the pre-.
scot one. and the nation left without de-
fence and tia, gen,lrmap, Mr.. G bad
repeated The same story that the for mida.
bye rasy which had been raised with so
m uch care had been sold of, 10 the etcrnsl
disgrace of the nation. Hearing this as
sertion, Mr.. 7. thought il his duty, on
tha: floor TO declare thar not single natl.
onal ship had been ordered to be sold since
the prlsenr ADMINISTRATION came into pow.
a That DOT single ves.eihad been sold
except from ofdess issued previous TO the
characterization Of this government was
takes out of,he hands of those coinciding
with thar gentleman 10 political sen,i.
meuts.
4Nr. Masters OBSERVES The impasience Of
the committee for the question should not
have risen at lhis late hour, was il not he
pesceisee that the opponents 90 the build.
isg Of friSate, mis,ook The ground taken
byshe advoca,esofthe amendment. They
suppuss, (said Mr.. a. tha, we are for a
nary 20 such 40 extent as migat,be coupe
tens 10 meet thc British fleets ST sea noue
ofns have advocated sach a doctrine. -
MIR. NJ. said the question was whether
they wccld reduce the number OF gun.
) boats from les TO i2A, and add four fri.
gates. We coItend lsaid he) that gum
boats are of DO use insbois,erous weather /;
the advocates ofgun boats have conceded
that point. We have slso conceded that
gun boafs are useful 10 calm and shoal va
ter. The frigases were therefore neces.
sary defence IN those harbors which had
deep water. more especially 10 wildly sea.
sons, at which time gpn boats we're NOT c.
venan auxiliary TO forts and batteries tri-
gates would also serve as partial. protec.
tion 70 commerce. May arguments had
been used TO a.sempteso show thar quo
| boats were preferable &c frigases. He un-
dsYssood the gentleman fromVeTmout sir
Fisk TO say that gun boats were the cheap.
est mode ofdefence.
He shoald have 90 ohieuion TO take Is
sue.cn that poiuf, and 60 toto calculation,
and should be able TO prove by the docu.
ments OF the secretary of the nasy, that
the building andkeepiog 10 service for one
year 80 gun boats, carrying ooe gun each,
would cos, seventy thousand dolsss more
than two frigstes OF 81 guns each, kept 10
service for the same term of time. Some
gentlemen said gun boats onght to have
the preference, because they excited emu,
la,ion among the sailors. IL was the first
time he ever heard there was more rival
ship and pride among sailors for the gun
boat system than for ships of war. yCea
tlemen advocated The utility of gun boa's
in preference 70 figases, because the
Turks once gasDeda victory over the rRus.
sisp'shiPs of war but they did oot preserd
to give the particulars of .hc engagement.
They undertook 90 shew <the superior. use
OF gun boats - Algesirss and Tripoh: as
10 the gun boats at Aigesirss, Mr.. Nj.
said} they never have gained victory or
ssken single ship of war at GIBRALTAR
These bad 40 one or TWO insiancss, in cal n
weather, aruoyed their enemy by a few
shots. and skulked back into port. He was
Aold by m sheer. who was entitled &c Gre.
dis, and who wss in the ergsgemkos as