The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-03-04

this department. or Of the administration of the
coast survey.
II the public service really requires the use Of
these officers, IT is certainly no Justification fol
their being withheld that they are to serve unde,
another department. The revenue officers were
placed under naval control during the war witt
mexico. Numbers of army officers serve en-.
tlre'y detached from the War Department, under
1he department Of the Interior, and that in cases
where there is no call by law for combined ser.
wee, as IN this case. The chief of the corps OF
Typographical Engineers, while urging that the
oihcers engaged In the boundary survey should
serve under his control, and not under that Of
the Department of the Interior, admits us a spc.
cial and necessary exception to this mode of ser.
wee, the duty on the coast survey
Whatever objection exists for the service OF
navy officers under the Treasury Department
applies with the same force to the service of ar
my officers, which has never been deemed i'm
proper; and service Of army officers under the
navy Department, and rice versa, is generally
admitted to be impracticable. The law so pro-
vidcs, and, until it is altered, submit that the
execution of it should not be made such as to
defeat its essential objects.
An intimation from the Navy Department, that
it was desired to withdraw from participation in
the coast survey, would seem to be preferable
to embarrassing the survey in its execution un-
der the law. Fit does not, then the acquisitions
OF this department should be complied with, as
ii mandatory.
3. In my report at the commencement of The
session, sketched the progress Of the coast
survey MS follows
"I'he trgonometrical portion of this survey
now extends unbroken from Portland, in Maine,
to within fifty miles of the capes of the Chesa-
poake, and, with an interval Of about one hun
bred miles, which is rapidly filling up to point
beyond Cape Hatteras.
1T has been commenced in South Carolina,
Georgia, and Florida; is complete in Alabama,
and nearly SO in Mississippi and has been COM
menced in Louisiana and Texas. The other
operations follow closely in their order, and the
publication of the maps and charts keeps pace
with the ficld-work Nearly one-half of the
coast Of the Atlantic and of the Gulf Of Mex
leo has been surveyed. Since our recent ac-
QUESTIONS of territory the Pacific, partie at
tached to the survey have been actively en-
ployed on the coast, and have contributed i'm
portant information to this department in regard
to the proper sites for lighthouses and other
aids to navigation"
Since that time, the detailed report of the SUI
perintendent has been submitted to Congress,
and has been ordered to be printed.
Nearly one-half of the coast of the Atlantic
and Gulf of Mexico has now been surveyed, in
n time which, if compared with foreign surveys,
will show favorably in regard to rapidty of ex-
ecuton The ordnance survey OF Great Britain
was commenced in the last century, (179l,) and
it is not yet completed The detached nautical
surveys of its coast are also unfinished In the
photographic publications Of Great Britain for
lS49, numbering sixty-three, there were but
eleven of its own coast. Great Britain has
made an admirable contribution to the civiliza
ton of the world in her foreign photography,
but one which has not yet been initiated by us
even on small scale. One years cost of her
photography Q845-46) was $S93,9l0; in
l845-'46 and '46-47, it was equal to the whole
coast survey appropriation to lS49; and in ten
years amounted to five millions of dollars
This comparison might, if necessary, be greatly
extended, and with the same results.
The practice of foreign countries is decidedly
adverse to the employment of a permanent
corps receiving regular pay and emoluments,
J independent of the appropriation for awork, for
the execution of a temporary work. And the
reason for this must be obvious on the least re-
Q Election.
: That a,corps having other and permanent du
: Ties will complete such work rapidly or efii
4 GENTLY, is contrary to all experience.
sf A. When, in l848-A9, bill was offered in
5 the Senate providing for the transfer of the
$ coast survey in the Navy Department, the chief
commercial and scientific bodies throughout the
! country presented circumstances against the
transfer The American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, the American Philosophical Society,
and the Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania,
made elaborate reports highly approving of the
methods and progress of the survey; the In
surance Companies of Boston,, the Marine So
ciety of Boston, the Chamber of Commerce Of
the city of New York, the Board of Trade of
Philadelphia, the Insurance Companies of Bal
timore, the Faculty of st. Johns College of
Maryland, the Professors of the University of
Virginia, the Chamber of Commerce of Charles
ton, and the citizens of Mobile, united in adj
dressing Congress in favor of the work as Or
ganized.
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences
says:
SIN conclusion, it is the deliberate opinion of
the committee that the present superintendent
of the United States const survey has, by his
able and judicious, his energetic and economical
administration Of this great national work, raised
it to the highest state of successful activity and
deserved popularity, and that he has thereby
fulfilled the high expectations which were raised
at his appointment"
The American Philosophical Socity states
THAT the survey of the coast is work
which, from its Importance to our citizens, re-
commends itself in the strongest manner to the
protection of the government. That the bene-
fits of scientific and practical character which
have already been derived and are constantly
resulting from it, are such as to repay abund-
antly the labor and expense which has been and
may be hereafter devoted to it. That it has
heretofore been conducted accurately, efficiently,
and economically, and that there is every reason
to believe that it will best thrive by being left
with its present organization. And that, as
well from the magnitude of the undertaking as
from the skill and energy with which it has been
conducted, it will prove honorable to those who
first conceived it, and TO those who have been
engaged in its prosecution"
This society also recommends the publication
of the observations upon which the maps and
charts resulting from the surrey are founded as
well as the formulas for the computation and
discussion of the observations, subject which
| has been broupht In the attention of this do