New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-09-17
wall steamers 90 Africa and 'ho medif-

When the Report frat appeared OF the
Naval Committee of the House OF h9pTe-
sentatives in favor Of Government aid to she
establishment Of line Of gigantic Mail
steamers 10 Africa, the project vas met by
= wholesale lenuncision from the E0snin9
Post and The Tribune was singled out and
REQUIRED to explain aud justify the Commit
tees project. We responded by publishing
the Committees Report and making SUCH
corrections Of the Posts assertions az that
Report enabled Us to do. We have since
published two or three articles explaining
and commencing the Committees views, aod
we this morning make room for an able,
elaborate. and ve think triumphant viudi.
cation Of the Mail Steamer project, BY THo5'
j. DURANr, Esq. Of Neg.orleans, which we
commend to the attention of Commercial
men especially, To US it seems clear thai
a regular monthly Steam Mail from tbs
chief seaport8 of this country excessively
to the West Coast Of Africa and the Sfrala
Of Gibraltar, there to connect with such
lines as France 8nd England will have es'
tablished on the Mediterranean, cannot fail
to prove highly advantageous to the Com
merce and Industry Of our whole Country,
by opening new markets for many Of our
Products and ensuripg a lucrative return
trade 10 articles which do not compete With
and depregs our own labor. But the adj
vantages Of the enterprise are SO fully SET
forth by dr. Durant that we leave the argu-
ment in lis hands.
We are ii favor Of the .iudoious and we'll
ordered extension Of our Steam Mailsergioe,
but osl7 or condition tha5it shall measura-
bIQ suporge5a ana fill the place OF our old
fashioned Navy. Building ships Of war to
make a parade,yoyage occasionally aad then
rot is wretehed economy and no stateaman-
shin at al But lines Of Mail Steamers Of
the very frsscIass, constantly useful and
paying good share Of their cost By the
CONVEYANCE Of Mails and Merchandise, these
we regard as the only Naval defenses adapt
ed to tie stirring age wherein we live Had
awar suddenly broken out witb Great Bri-
tain any time from 1880 TO l849, our valu-
able Pacific whale feet, our vastly AMI rich
" freighted ships in the China trade, &c.
might have been swept from the ocean,
while wholly unconscious of danger. Even
in our late War, had Mexico possessed
particle Of Military spirit and Naval power,
she might have destroyed half our whale ships
before news Of the war reached them. Mail
Steamships now form the Telegraphic lines
Of the Ocean, and the Nation which has
most of them cannot fail of enjoying i'm
mense Commercial advantages Oae first
class Mail Steamship, at the command of
the Government, and ready to be folly arm
ed at short notice, must be worth several
mcn.ofwar, and ought not to cost more per
annum than one Of them. We hope to see
the day when our whole Naval aristOcracy,
instead Of drawing pay for waiting orders
will be employed in Mail Steamers, and
thus made acquainted with all the coasts
ard harbors of the habjtable globe, while our
old,fashioned sailing vessels, few small
ones excepted, shall have ceased to trouble
the ocean or deplete the Treasury. a Naval
force thus constituted and employed might
be rendered twice as eHfectual as our old
one, at less cost to the Treasury. How
long must we wait forit
By tho way A friend writes that we
were wrong in suggesting that Congress
might properly give the contract for the
African line of Steamships TO some other
than The original proposers, if their terms
and proposals, as modified, should be
deemed acceptable. On this point we only
meant that Congress might very properly
reject unfit or unworthy men, or oxorbisant
terms, should such be profered. But the
main question is not who should do it, but
whether the Government should embark in
the enterprise at all, and to that point our
remarks were mainly directed.
unYF.-IVtA Dtxh4ct-Tbo Boston atlas has
returns from 50 towns which foot up Reed $500
Andrews, {opp 6,a7s- The B ath Tribune cf Satur
day, printed in the District saya Lincoln County
giyes Roed $50 plurality aud that towns in Oxford
II n