The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1845-06-20

Iphia, Washington, or Norfolk. The
iron would be conveyed by water
through the same channel, from Mis-
souri,, Tennessee, the banks of the
Ohio, and even Western Pennsylva-
MIA, if desirable. The hemp and
cordage fiom Kentucky, Missouri
and Illinois, and the coal from the
Illinois river, and even the very
banks of the canal itself. All the
materials and supplies can be col
lected in any desirable quantities
from the heart of the vast Mississip-
pi and concentrated at Chicago, at
cheap rates by water without risk
or molestation from the enemy even
in time of war. Besides all these
advantages, the site of Chicago
seems to have been formed and
adapted by nature to this particular
purpose situated at the head and
southern extremity of the Lake, in
the heart of a rich and fertile coun-
try and mild climate, where the
waters are free from ice during ma
ny months of the year when the 9TH
er Lakes and their harbors are clos
ed, and at the mouth and on both
sides of the Chicago river, which
forms a natural harbor, witkssuf:-
Gent depth of water for even the
largest ships of the line, extending
back five miles into the country.
Mr.. d. said he had been investi-
eating this subject for the last two
years, and should introduce bills
next session of Congress for carry
ing the project into effect. He had
not relied upon his own resources
and views alone, but had availed
himself of the opinions and informa-
ton of others-gentlemen of wisdom
and experience, whose professions
were connected with the national
defences. While on this occasion
he expressed his own views, he ut
tered them as modified and sanction
ed by theirs; and consequently en-
titled to more respect and reliance.
Let this ship canal be made-the
Navy yard at Chicago established
the straits of Mackinaw fortified
the proper defenccs placed on the
st. Clair river and Lake Erie, and
we are ready to settle the Oregon
question with Great Britain, and all
other matters of dispute, without
calling in any of the crowned heads
of Europe as an umpire. If war
should occur, and Great Britain
should leave her navy upon the Up
per Lakes during the winter and al
low it to be frozen up in the ice, our
land troops could march to it and
destroy it at a blow, without waiting
for the return of spring, and the
opening of Lake navigation, If she
should remove her ships, as she
doubtless would in the winter, to the
Gulf of st. Lawrence and the ocean,
where she could protect them until
the return of spring, they would !
never float on the bosom of the Up
per Lakes again. The fact, which
results from the decree of Provi-
dencc, that the ice disappears from
the Illinois river, the Chicago Har-
Dor, and the whole of Lake Michi-
gan more than six weeks earlier in
the spring, than it does from Lake
Eric and the Wclland canal, is dcci-
sive of that question. Our fleets
could lie in the Chicago Harbor or
any part of Lake Michigan during
the winter, as secure as if they were
in the Mississippi, or they could be
taken to the lower Mississippi or the
Gulf, and could return and be alloat
upon the Lake without hostile ship
to oppose their progress, six weeks
before the Wclland canal could be
opened. They would set out from
Chicago, proceed to Mackinaw, and
follow as fast as the ice disappears,
to Lakes Huron, st. Clair and Erie
as far as the source of the Wclland
canal, and blow up the locks or fill
up that ditch before it was clear of
ice. That canal filed up, or its
locks destroyed, or its navigation
INSTRUCTED, no matter by what pro-
cess, the American fleet would be
left from that day in exclusive pos
session of the whole chain of Upper
Lakes. Not only the joint occupan-
cy, but the right of joint occupancy
would forever cease, and Upper
Canada would form portion of this
Republic. This, said Mr.. ID. would