The Portland daily press., 1864-02-11

hast, when our relations with foreign powers
were not supposed to be AS amicable as they
now thought to be, and do they not include eesti-
mates for steamers to the amount of S22, SOC, 900
which were estimated for at the special instance
OF the people who are peculiarly interested in
commerce, and residing in the section of the
country in which the Senator himself resides 20
| He would have been compelled to answer that
question in the affirmative and thus the amount
| would be reduced to S72,000, 900 in place of
| S142, 900, 900.
| Then would have asked him, if, daring the
debates OF the last Congress, he did not several
times assert in his place in the Senate that VIC
were paying our naval officers and our seamen
much greater compensation than was paid in
| any naval service in the world; and he would
! have answered again in the affirmative. Then
would have followed the inquiry, SIS not the
| pay OF all officers now in the naval service of
the United States fixed by law of Congress ?''
and should again have received an affirmative
| answer.
| lwould have asked him still further, ''Do you
| not in making your charges against the Depart
ment, accuse them''-for it virtually amounts
to an accusation-"of making exorbitant OF inn
proper estimates when they make estimates for
| salaries amounting to SIS, 900 900 of the S72,
100000 based wholly upon the laws of Congress
which fix the compensation for the officers and
| men ~ He would have been constrained to
answer in the affirmative. Why, sir, if you had
| that witness before you under such crcum-
st'ilcts. you NOuiu nave fuftncr ueNeOpe1
| fact that, in the navy yards in France and Eng
| land, and all over Europe, from which the Sem
ator's figures are drawn, the skilled artisans to
| whom we pay from two and a half to three and
half dollars per day can be secured at from
seventy five cents to ninety cents and one
| dollar.
The Senator then goes on and says
Ttmly be said with truth. that these arc expcnd-
lures in time OF peace. have been at some pains
TO look the xpenditurcs OF la gland and France
sl.. nnT&
declared the 9th of March, 1854 and
the Crimea was evacuated by the allies July H.
months. The total naval expenditures of Great
Britain during the war were $262 032 ,2l0, and of
France ss7. .sT,5is making total of s3is 90s,1ss
for the whole naval expenses OF France and England
during the Crimean war which was less than $780,
0o0oeo ayear so that we are called upon fhsye to
appropriate for our Navy $40 900 0oo more than was
land in any one year during the Crimean war.
Now, Mr.. President, if a witness had made
that statement upon the stand and there had
been any one present authorized to interrogate
him in regard to the facts, it could be made to
appear that the expenses Of England during the
Crimean war ranged from ninety-fvc to one
hundred million dollars per annum in specie. II
would also have been discovered that England
had a navy already built, and that she was not
compelled as the Government of the United
States has been compelled during this war, To
build their navy as well as to maintain it and
enlarge it, navy-yards. 1t would have been
proven by the witness, If he were informed in
regard to it, that about the only vessels built by
the British Government during the time of the
Crmean war were those celebrated gunboats
with which we were threatened by writer in the
London Times during the Trent affair and which
SO frightened some of my friends in the North
west that they Immediately conceived the great
canal project, all of which gunboats have since
been abandoned by the British Government. and
not one of which could have ever got through the
canals into Lake Ontario.
/ submit, MIR. President, that il would have
been fair to have stated that the British navy
was already built, and that there were no ex-
penses, or comparatively no expenses, incurred
during the Crimean war in constructing q navy
with which to carry it on. Then another fact
would have been elected that examination,
and n very important one. IL | had been au-
thorized TO interrogate the Senator as a witness
on the stand, | should have asked him what
was the character of the ships which tho British
and French then had. We're they sailing vessels
or were they steamers, and what is the difference
in cost between supporting steamer in keeping
up blockade and supporting sailing vessel 2
Why, Mr.. President. the facts were that nearly
all the vessels employed by the French and En-
glish during the Crimean war were sailing vos-
sells Russia had but very little coast to blockade
and the old sailing hulks were taken into the
Black and Baltic seas, and set down before their
principal ports. There they remained during
the whole wsr, and il cost very little more TO
support them there than it did to support them
in their own dock-yards and in ordinary at
home. While England and France thus blocka-
dei Russian ports in what may almost be called
inland waters with sailing ships, we have kept
UP the most complete blockade ever known in
naval warfare with steam vessels, and along
nearly four thousand miles Of coast, besides
keeping up an armament of nearly one hundred
steam vessels on the western waters.
Mr.. President, do not know that shall have
better opportunityto to say two or three things
in connection with naval matters not imme-
diately connected with the subject in hand than
the present; and if the Senate will pardon me
will proceed te do So | wish the Senate to tln-
derstand that am not "a thick and thin de-
fender of the Navy Department claim no in
fallibility for that Department, for any other
have condemned some of its acts, as | have
condemned some of the acts of every depart
ment of this Government. They know that |
often differ from them. | have frankly told
them when condemned them. ! have always
gone before them and told them what my opin-
ions were in regard to any particular measure
that disapproyed. Sometimes j have convinced
them that they were wrong; sometimes they
have convinced me that was wrong; and some
times we have both remained of the same opinion
as before. / differed from the Navy Department
in regard TO their treatment of Admiral Du-
Pont | told them SO frankly But have not
allowed my private grief in that connection, or
on any other subject, 10 control my action as n
Senator. | believe that that gallant admiral
would be one of the first to rebuke and condemn
ine if he supposed that allowed my feelings in
his behalf to influence me in the slightest degree
in my conduct here. lie loves the country, and
he loves the service of which he is SO distin-
| guishel an ornament too much for that disa-
| greed with them in regard to the restoration of
certain officers who had resigned several years
ago, and had recently come back to the service
| thought that action was unjust to the younger
officers who had stood by our flag and carried it
in honor and in triumph over every sea and in
every cline. The Navy Department thought
differently and the Senate of the United States
finally confirmed its action, and there was the
end of it, | did not bring my grek down here
and ventilate them in the face of the nation. |
do not pretend that the right man is always Sc
lccted for the right place. What man or what
| department does not commit mistakcss The
| true question is, what is the grand total of
results accomplished by the department?
| Mr.. President when this war began, as every
citizen of the country knows, we had but eight
vessels that could be of any real value to the
government for the purpose of prosecuting the
war. We have to-day between five and six hun
ared. ! stated the other day in answer to the
| clamors which had been raised and which had
found an echo IN the Senate that was satisfied,
from pretty thorough examination that it
would be discovered that instead of having the
slowest vessels in any existing navy, we really
had the FASTEST naval ships in any service in the
world. am still convinced that such will be
the verdict that will be rendered by the commit
tee in the House of Representatives who have
that special subject of inquiry on hand. Jmmc-
| dately after giving utterance to that opinion
! was deluged with letters from engineers. shin.
builders and various amateurs in the na val ,,,.'