Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-02-07

rive al a point where any particular TACT Is need
ed. find il in document which has been be-
fore this House for six or seven years said
that the whole system Of defence contemplated
the employment Of a regular army and a welt
disciplined militia We have seen thar regu-
lar army Of less than 5000 men, Is sufficient TO
garrison this whole line of Notifications in time
of peace. Bat how are they 10 be defended IN
time of war? The plan proposes that, in addi'
ton 10 the garrison, draught should be made
on the neighboring militia. Instead OF waiting,
as some gentlemen have suggested, Tor stand
ing army. it is proposed to receive INTO the
forts, the requisite number Of militia. Protect
ed by the works, and supplied with every tang
thew need, militia will here be efficient, and
NAV with Safety be relied on, Here then, is
your system: an army-a Maya system Vi
internal communications, and line oil iortihca-
tons. earrisoned with regulars In Tune OF peace
with regulars and militia in time OF war
Could you have better system? And are gen.
,iemen prepared TO stop the progress OF ir-
Though have already, fear, exhausted the
patience of the House, must ask leave 10 read
one short extract from the Engineers Report,
i'm explanation OF the whole.
ga defensive system for the frontiers of the
United States is therefore yet to be created; its
bases are, first, navy; second, tortlhcatlons;
third, interior communication by land and wa
ter, and fourth, a regular army and well organ
ised militia; these means must all be combined
so as 10 form complete system.
"The navy must, in the first place, be proVid-
ed with proper establishments for construction
and repair, harbours and rendezvous, stations,
and ports of refuge 1t is only by taking into
view the general character, as Wells the de-
tails, of the whole frontier, that we can nix on
the most advantageous points Tor receiving
these naval depots, harbors OF rendezvous, sta
tons, and ports OF refuge
"On these considerations, BurwclPs Bay, In
James river, and Charlestown, near Boston,
have been especially recommended by the COM
mission, as the most proper sites for the great
naval arsenals Of the South and OF the North
Hampton roads and Boston roads as the chief
rendezvous, and Narraganset Boy as an indls-
pensable accessory to Boston roads. See re-
ports of l8 10 and 1920.
"It is also from an attentive consideration OF
the whole maritime frontier, of the interior, q
of the coast wise navigation, that Mobile Bay,
on the Gulf of Mexico, ST. Mary's in the Ches-
apeake, the Delaware, New York bay, Buzz
zard's bay. New London, Marblehead, Ports
mouth, Portland, the mouths OF The kennebec
and Penobscot, and Mount Desert bay, have
been fixed upon as stations and ports OF refuge;
as necessary and essential to our merchant yes
sells as TO our Navy
"Smithvie and Beaufort, North Carolina,
Annapolis and Baltimore, Maryland, New Ha-
ven, Connecticut; Salem, in Mass. and WIS
casset, in Maine, have likewise been examined
with attention, with view to secure them from
attack by sea or land. See reports OF 1919,
1920, and 1921
"St. Mary's river and Savannah, in Georgia,
Beaufort, Charleston, and Georgetown, IN
South Carolina, will be examined and survey
ed in the course Of this year
This embraces all the works contained in
this bill. This system was recommended to
Congress in 1890; so much Off as referred
to the system Of Notifications was referred 10
the Committee on Military Affairs; & SO much
of il as related to the expense OF the system was
referred to the Committee Of Ways and Means
Both committees reported in favor OF the plan.
The Military Committee gave their fullest
sanction to the details of defence, and the Com
mittee of Ways and Means reported bill ma
king the necessary appropriation to commence
the works The House adopted the report and
passed the bill; thus sanctioning the entire sys-
ten, as wise and proper. Congress sanctioned
il in the only mode in which they ould sanction
it To have passed law declaring that every
part of this system should ever after be adhered
t.. would have been mos, unwise, because sys-
tenn so extensive founded on reconnaissance,
no, We, perfectly completed. must necessarily
be subjected to change in some Of Its details
Congress, approved and adopted the System, as
great whole: they said they would appropri-
ate money to carry it into effect; and they did
appropriate; but they left the system under the
care of the Board of Engineers, that they might
carry on and complete their surveys and grad
uall, perfec, the plan. The system has long
been under review; has any thing been produ-
ced to show that it is unwise? Nothing that
have ever heard Of. If there has been any i'm
providence in the expenditure OF the money,
hunt it out, le, it be produced, and then punish
the offender But, in the mean while, say
thst il is not only not wise, but that it is not
delicate, to be insinuating NAL practice against
the gentlemen employed.
Gentlemen ought to rehec,, Mr.. NIL. said,
on the high and elevated station which they oo-
cupied as members of this House Persons
might talk, out Of the walls OF this House,
.and say there is corruption here, and there is
corruption there. Such language out OF this
House passes by as the idle winds unless some
fact is stated, no one listens to ii. But no
80 an chic Notr and cav that 80