Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1866-03-02
Registry Of Vessels.

On Thursday last. Feb. ], the National
House Of Representatives passed, by II
vote Of % to - the bill to regulate the
Registering OF Vessels. This bill is Of
considerable Importance to Maine. Ii
provides that no ship or vessel which had
been recorded or registered rs an Amcri
can vessel pursuant to law, aud which
shall have been licensed or otherwise au
thorzcd to SAIL under 70 cigu flag or the
protection of a foreign Go ernmcnt during
the existence of the 10 ,cllion, shall be
deemed or registered as an American ves-
sci or shall have the rights and privileges
OF American vessels, except under an act
of Congress authorizing such registry
Three Of our Maine representatives took
part in the debate on this question, and we
extract their remarks from the Congress
iona Globe, which, though out of their
connection show that they all favored the
passage Of the bill The yeas and nays
also show that the entire Maine delegation
voted for the bill-Kennebec Journal.
Mr. Lynch had previously made a long
speech o.: the bill. On Thursday he said,
explaining previous remarks which Mr..
Garfield Of Ohio, misintcrprcted:
What l did say was this: that it
would be very impolitic tor any Govern
mcnt to encourage the dcsertion of its
citizens with their property during aperiOd
of war, those citzons identifying their in
terests for the time being with the inter-
csts of the enemy. My remarks had no
reference whatever to "skippcrs.' did
say, and | now repeat, that every man
who duriau the war put his vessel under a
(. a.. Il ,,,ta |,
those of the foreigners who were assisting
in the destruction Of our commerce; and
if We encourage such dcsert,on. and pay a
premium upon it, some of our citizens will
always desert us with their property in
time of war Ihold that we should not
give encouragement to conduct of this
sort.
Mr. Blaine. | think it important that
the House should came back to distinct
understanding of the question involved in
this bill, aud will state it as briefly as
possible.
At the beginning of the war. as l can
show from reliable statistics in my hand.
we had twenty-five hundred thousand tons
of shipping engaged in the foreign trade.
As the war grew hot and the dangers null
tiplied on the ocean, eight hundred thou
sand tons of this shipping took refuge un-
der a foreign flag. The flag of our nation
was hauled down. aud protection was
sought under the flag Of our neutral enc.
nv. Great Britain. do not question the
right of the owners of this shipping to act
in this way, and many who did so are
honorable and patriotic men All ! con-
tend is that. having made their election.
they shall abide by it, They escaped all
thehazards to which our flag was subjected;
they gained all the profits of alien connec
tion and for one am not willing to put
them on the same ground with those ship
owners who took all the risks of standing
by the American flag in good report and
in evil report, in our dark days as well as
in our bright days. The ship owners who
took British registers escaped the hpayy
war risks to which American registers were
subjected, and now to place them on the
same footing with those who hazardel
everything rather than sail under foreign
flag would be Aagrantly unjust. To con
tend for such policy is az illogical and
absurd as the position OF those who claim
ed for the southern rebels all the advaD.
tages and immunities Of belligerents out
side of the Union and citizens inside of it
at the same time. The ship-owners who
changed their registers sought the pro-
lection of Great Britain when there was
danger at holne : and now they wish,when
the danger is over, to return to our flag
and share the profits that can be derived
from American registry. | think, sir. it
would be cruelty unjust for the American
Congress to permit this policy, and thus
turn thor backs on those ship-owners who,
under all the seductions Of profit apd
against all the perils of war, refused to
take refuge for IA single hour under any
other flag than that WHICH was floating