document which had yet been placed before the House. Mr. C. recapitulated the general statements of these items. No. 4 being for expenses incurred in England, for presents, contingent expenses, &c. $5,539; No. 6, for expenses incurred in a mission to Spain, &c. $10,598; and No. 7, for extra expenses of that mission, not included in the above, $1,461. The letter of the Secretary of State directs, in the name of the President, that these several charges should be admitted to the credit of Mr. Monroe, except the eighth, which was to remain suspended for consideration: The object of the resolve was to get these accounts in detail. They might be such as he should be very well satisfied with; but he could not, as long as he was unacquainted with them, say whether he should or not. Mr. BRENT said he did not feel satisfied, from the statement of the gentleman from Tennessee, that this resolution ought to prevail. The honorable gentleman wished, if he now understood him, to call for the details of an account, which had been settled at the Treasury fifteen years ago. Before this information was called for, Mr. B. wished to know, from the honorable gentleman, how he meant to apply it when received; undoubtedly, if he had no object in view, and wished to make no use of it, the House would not act on his resolution. [H. of R. man who met your enemy, and shed his blood at Trenton, and, when weltering his gore, was carried from the field by one of my own constients; a man who has been your Ambassador to Foreign States, who has twice been chosen Governor of his own State; and whose name will live in history, when these columns have crumbled into dust. This is the man, Mr. Speaker, to whom it is now asked, to deny the common rights of a citizen. Sir, I hope that the opposition to this claim has not had its orgin in disappointed pride. If such have been the feelings towards him of hungry expectants out of doors, whose wishes were denied under his administration, I hope, sir, that, at least, they will not be found in activity on this floor. Mr. ALSTON observed, that his voting for the one consideraresolution would depend entirely on If it was expected that any items, in the action. counts of the late President, which have already been passed upon by the Department, are now again to be brought forward, it would certainly be proper that this resolution should pass. But if it was intended merely with a view of exposing items which have been already decided and settled, and which are not now to be the subject of any judgment by this House, it would be altogether improper and unnecessary. He thought that, fifteen years ago, it was improper that it should now be examined again. The gentleman from Tennessee must know what use he intends to make of these items when obtained, and would no doubt state it to the House. Mr. COCKE said, if he was not mistaken, the gentle-after an account had been examined and acted upon, man was one of the committee appointed at the last session on Mr. Monroe's request, to re-examine those accounts, for the details of a part of which this resolution proposed to call. In his message at the last session, Mr. Monroe had told that he wanted a revision and re-examination of those accounts. On that subject a committee had been appointed at this session; and it was desirable that when the House came to act on the subject, it should have information respecting all the items of the accounts. It was the request of Mr. Monroe himself, that all the items of the accounts should be re-examined. If this subject was to be no further stirred, Mr. C. said his application would be useless, no doubt. But, if it is to be looked into, said he, let us take it fairly into examination. I suppose, sir, the gentleman now understands the object I have in view. If a balance shall be due to Mr. Monroe, on a fair investigation of his accounts, I say he ought to have it. But, when we come to investigate his accounts, if we find that he has received pay for items which he ought not to have received pay for, whilst others have been suspended which he ought to have received, it would be fair to balance the one against the other. Mr. INGHAM observed, that the relation in which he stood to the committee to whom this subject had been referred, would, he hoped, excuse him for inaking a few remarks before the question was taken. In answer to the inquiry suggested by the honorable gentleman from North Carolina, (Mr. ALSTON,) he could state that the accounts of which the detailed items were proposed to be inquired into, had not, as he understood them, any rela tion whatever to the items claimed by Mr. Monroe; but were entirely distinct from them, and could give no aid in Mr. 1. said, forming an opinion of any part of the claim. that, seeing so many efforts were making by members to obtain the aid of the House in procuring information on this subject, he owed it to the cominittee to state, that, notwithstanding the seeming imputation of negli gence which these resolutions might imply, they had engaged in the duty assigned them immediately after the Mr. PEARCE observed, that he could perceive papers were put into their hands; and being aware that reso- the House had adopted a resolution, calling for infor no reason why the person concerned in this lution should, on account of the distinguished of- mation, the committee had determined to wait for the answer. In the mean time, he had addressed a letter to fices he had held in the State, have a different course pursued in respect to him, from that which was adopted the Secretary of the Treasury, inquiring whether that in regard to the meanest and humblest citizen of the answer would contain all the information the DepartRepublic. His claims are before a Committee of this ment could furnish on the subject of the claims of Mr. House; that Committee has not made any report upon Monroe; to which the Secretary had replied, that it would them; and, while it is yet in their hands, a resolution is contain all the information in the Department. Notintroduced which takes from the hands of the Commit-withstanding all this, when the answer was received, the tee a detached part of the account with a view, as it committee had directed their Chairman to make a furwould seem, to work upon the prejudices and feelings ther inquiry from the State Department, for which they When the Committee are now waiting. From these facts, it would be seen of the People, to his injury. make their report to this House, all the items will be pre- that the committee could not be charged with any nesented, and the House will then judge of them. Sir, Iglect of duty, or disposition to give this subject a suwould not perficial investigation. If, however, the House thought would extend to this claimant no favor that as readily extend to others; but he is entitled to the proper to interpose, and obtain further information, he If was not disposed to complain; nor would he, said Mr. I. same measure of justice with any other individual. this resolution is adopted, the next motion, I suppose, will wish to be understood as opposing the adoption of the be, to publish these items, and to spread them before resolution before the House; but he wished to call the The detailed items the People, before the House has acted on the sub- attention of members distinctly to one consideration inject. And who is the man, to whom the common pri- volved in the proposed inquiry. vileges of citizens, before this House, are to be denied? alluded to in the resolution, are accounts which have been A man who has for eight years been President of these long since settled by the proper officer, in relation to United States; a man who has fought your battles; a which there is no controversy now; and if it was intended H. of R.] Congress of Panna.-Appropriations for Fortifications. that the committee should re-examine all the details of the various settled accounts Mr. Monroe with the Government, in order to ascertain whether there may not have been some allowance made to him so liberal or improper to constitute a proper offset against his unsorded claims, he would only say, (said Mr. I.) that such a procedure had never been adopted in relation to any other claim ever presented to this Government; and there was no reason why this inquiry should not extend to every other settled account of Mr. Monroe, as well as to the items named in the resolution. [JAN. 30, 1826. Colombia, and Central America, to join in the deliberations of a Republican Congress, to be held at Panama. Long and patiently have I waited, said Mr. M. on the gentleman from South Carolina, in the hope that he would move to take up and consider the resolution which had been offered by him several weeks ago, on the same subject. But, as it has not been his pleasure to have it taken up, I am anxious to obtain, for myself, my constituents, and the public, as well as for this House, all the information which can be had in relation to this interesting subject. Shall it be said, Mr. Speaker, said Mr. M. that the Republic of the United States, which is hereafter to be honored with the title of the great Mother of Republics, once received an invitation to send Ministers to deliberate, no He could not suppose, said Mr. I. that the House did so intend for it was well known to every member who had ever settled an account at the Public Offices of this Government, that they were settled with a rigor, bor-doubt on subjects very deeply and alike interesting to dering, as we sometimes thought, on injustice; at all events all the parties, and perhaps, among other things, to hold with an extremly rigid and severe hand. But should the a consultation upon the great principles of Republican House determine to apply this rule to this case, as an ex- Government, a knowledge of which is rapidly extending ception to all others, the committee would not complain; itself, not only in this, but in other and distant hemisthey would endeavor to perform whatever duty the House pheres; and which is hereafter to add so largely to the might think proper to assign them. In order, how-grand total of human happiness and enjoyment; and that ever, to give members a little more time to reflect | days, weeks, and months elapsed, before the kind inupon the subject, and determine how far it would be vitation was even responded to by one of the conproper to adopt this course, he had risen for the pur-stituted authorities—and that which is composed of the pose of moving to lay the resolution on the table. He immediate Representatives of the People? Shall we sit would beg leave to state, before he made the motion, here in cold and heartless indifference, shivering as it (as the gentleman from Louisiana was precluded by the were with a sleet of ice around us, and talking about a rule from replying,) that that gentleman was not, as thousand other things of so much less importance, while had been said by the gentleman from Tennessee, a mem- our constitutents are hailing with rapture and delight ber of the Select Committee, either at the last session, these newly born Republics? or the present. He would now move to lay the resolution on the table. Mr. M. had proceeded this far, when Mr. M'DUFFIE rose to the question of order, deeming it contrary to order to debate a proposition before it was in possession of the House. He did this, he said, with great reluctance in this case, but from a sense of duty. Mr. METCALFE, being asked to submit his proposition, presented the following: Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to communicate to this House such information, documents, or correspondence, touching the invitation to be represented at the Congress of Panama, which has been received by this Government, from the Governments of Mexico, Central America, and Colombia, as may be communicated without detriment to the public This resolution, by the Rules of the House, lies over one day for consideration. Mr. COCKE, desired the gentleman from Pennsylvania to withdraw his motion for a moment, which request having been complied with, and Mr. C. having obtained leave to speak a third time, he observed, in explanation and reply, that those items which had been suspended, the accounting officer had not considered himself authori zed to pass, and it was in consequence of this, that other and extraordinary means had been resorted to, in order to have them allowed. It was far from his intention to impose upon the Committee any burdens of unnecessary labor. But it was Mr. Monroe himself who asked that these items might be re-examined. He had applied for compensation for services rendered anterior to the settle-interest. ment of his accounts. The items in question which the resolve referred to, were general charges, stating no particulars. There were but few of them, and it would not be much labor to ascertain whether the details were to be found in the Department. The resolution contemplated The House then resumed the consideration of the bill no more. One word to the gentlemen from Rhode Island-making appropriations for fortifications-the question Here Mr. INGHAM interposed. He consented to withdraw his motion, that the gentleman from Tennessee, might have an opportunity to explain, but, if he proceeded to general debate, he must again renew it. FORTIFICATION SYSTEM. being on the motion of Mr. FORSYTH, to postpone the bill. Mr. McLANE, of Delaware, in rising again to address the House on this subject, said, he could assure the House, that he did it with the greatest reluctance; and he should Mr. COOK said, that the resolution appeared to him not do it-because he never rose to address this House entirely unnecessary. The mover spoke as if it was without experiencing more or less pain-but under an imwished only to obtain the items of a suspended account: perious sense of public duty. He had been particularly whereas the express words of the resolution refer to ac-appealed to by the gentleman from Pennsylvania, and incounts which had been settled. Mr. C. moved to lay it on the table. The question being then taken on laying the resolution of Mr. COCKE on the table, it was decided in the affirmative, ayes 69, noes 47. CONGRESS OF PANAMA. Mr. METCALFE, upon rising to offer the following resolution, said, that it was his intention, before he resumed his seat, to submit a resolution which was intended for the consideration of the House, on to-morrow, or shortly thereafter, calling on the President for information respecting the invitation, which had been received by this Government, from the Governments of Mexico, vited, in a spirit of accommodation, to suffer the bill to lie on the table. In declining to accede to this request, Mr. McL. said, he was influenced by no illiberal feeling; and if he could do it consistently with his public duty, nothing would give him more pleasure than to comply with the wishes of the gentleman from Pennsylvania, or of any other member who might make the same request. He would now inform that gentleman, that, since he had made that request, he had reflected on the objects of the gentleman from Georgia, now absent from the House, in his call on the Department for information, whose objects, he be lieved, considering him to be a devoted champion of the system of defence, were very different from what had been supposed: and, feeling it to be his duty, to ascertain, whether, consistently with the public interest, the consideration of this bill could be deferred to a future and uncertain period of the session, he had taken proper steps to obtain information on the subject; from which he was convinced, that the public interest required that this bill should pass through this House as speedily as was consistent with the right of every member to examine and decide upon its merits for himself. If he thought the proposition of the gentleman from Georgia, had no other object than to gain a little time for examination, he might, probably, assent to it: but, he asked of the House, in candor, to say, whether this could be the only object of the proposed postponement, or the only effect of its success? He did not impute to the gentleman from Georgia, any motive different from that which he had avowed, but he inferred from the whole of what had been said in debate, what the object of the postponement was. One gentleman, for exa.nple, who had engaged in the debate, discovered in this bill gorgons and chimeras dire-combustibles that were to shake the Union to its centre-so that one would really imagine these fortifications were to be erected against our citizens, instead of being for their protection. One found fault with one thing, and one with another: : one proposed to reduce the appropriation, and another to postpone the bill, &c. ;-from all which he apprehended, that the system of fortification itself was to be assailed, and that the battle was to be fought here, between its friends and its opponents, at one time or other if not to-day, to-morrow-if not to-morrow, at some later day. Under these circumstances, Mr. McL. said, the friends of the bill had a right to treat the motion for postponement, as a measure to get rid of the bill; and, as the battle was to be fought, it might as well be fought now. When this bill was before the Committee of the Whole, Mr. McL. said, he had no intention to take up the time of the House in examining the details of the system, having no idea that it could be necessary to do so. The duty had been devolved upon him, however, by the course of the debate, and he should not shrink from it. : [H. of R. no other means so effectual in securing to it the affection and support of the nation. None need ever apprehend it to be a dangerous course for the Government to extend its power in the protection of its citizens. The foundations of the Government were laid for this very end, and the gentleman is under that moral obligation which binds every statesman to maintain and cherish the system of the national defences. The gentleman from Pennsylvania had said, that the system of fortifications was bad, because the system of fortifications on the continent of Europe was bad. But, Mr. McL. said, he could tell the honorable gentleman from Pennsylvania, it would not do for him to look to Europe for their system of inland or land fortification, and draw any argument thence to apply to the system of fortification for a maritime nation. There might be, he admitted, so ne difference of opinion amongst the best informed men as to the expediency of a system of defence by fortification, on an extended land frontier, but it was impossible to establish a maritime defence without a system of fortifi cation. It is the only species of defence that is available against a naval force. France had found it so for fifty years; and England, with her immense Naval resources, had never neglected it. The gentleman had said, we must rely on the Navy for defence by sea. That gentleman, Mr. McL. said, was not a more devoted friend to the Navy than he was. He would go with him to any extent to cherish the Navy. But a Navy, itself, requires protection. It requires stations, harbors, rendezvous, and a vast number of facilities that cannot be afforded without fortifications; and thus this system would render this Navy more efficient, if it was not indispensable to the maintenance of a Navy. Before the late war-and he should be permitted to recur to that, because it was a most important era in the history of this country; it was important in all its consequences, and in none more than in the fact, that it directed the energies, the science, and the talents of this country to repair previous defects, and to guard against their future recarProceeding to animadvert on the remarks of a new mem-rence-previous to the last war, we were undefended : ber of the House from Pennsylvania, (Mr. STEVENSON) Mr. McL. said, he did not allude to that gentleman, particularly, as being a new member, or to other gentlemen in the same situation, invidiously on the contrary, he was happy to observe, that the House had obtained a great accession of talent in its new members. He was sure, the gentleman from Pennsylvania was as capable of understanding this subject as he was. The reputation of that gentleman had preceded him, and it must be gratifying to his friends that he had, on this occasion, redeemed the pledge which that reputation gave. But he must say to that gentleman, that, whether a new member, or not a new member, he did not enter this House perfectly free, and, (to use his own expression) untrammelled. A Representative does not come here, at liberty to set every thing in the nation afloat; or, as the gentleman from New York, (Mr. Woon) had well expressed it, to root up the foundations of the Government. That gentleman is bound, we are all bound, more or less, by the acts of our predecessors. We do not come here, sir, to overturn things which are fixed and settled. We are sent here, not to pull down, but to build up. We come to support and establish, not to overturn and destroy. We come to aid the proceedings of the Government, and the affairs of the country; not to maim and to cripple them. As well might the gentleman say, he comes here at perfect liberty to destroy the Government; to refuse to pay the President's salary, &c. The system of national defence is as much an institution of the country, as the Constitution itself. For what is it, sir, that endears this Government to the People? What is that attribute of this Government which reconciles them to its burthens, and gives it the parental character? It is its protecting arm. There are undefended on any large scale, he meant. We had, in some of the ports, small forts, but they were erected without ary view to a general system. They were selected with a view to single positions: each of them defended the single position on which it stood, the town in the rear of it, or the points to which it was adjacent. But there was no system, no kind of connexion between these forts; they extended the defence no where else than in their immediate vicinity. Much had been said about the imperfections of that system; but it should be recollected that, such as it was, it repelled the enemy from almost every point to which it extended. A fleet blockading the Chesapeake and Delaware, kept the whole country in a state of alarm. It obliged us to call out detachments of our army, and place them in different positions: it obliged us to draw the militia from their occupations, and every man became a soldier; they were obliged to be every where, because they did not know where the enemy would come. We were almost ruined by this war of threatenings, which drained the Treasury; destroyed the energies of the People; ruined their industry; paralyzed the efforts of the Government; and created dissatisfaction throughout the country. Could gentlemen say what would have been the consequences, had it not been for the bravery of those men who fought at New Orleans, and the skill of their accomplished leader? What would have been the fate of this country, had the British not been repelled there? It was probable the war would have had a very different termination. It was, Mr. McL. said, to guard against a recurrence of these dangers, and to place this country in an attitude of complete defence, that the moment the apprehension of war had passed away, the first interval of leisure the Go H. of R.] Appropriations for Fortifications. [JAN. 30, 1826. vernment had, was employed to discover the means of re- Was there any doubt, said Mr. McL. that ports of remedying these defects, and to establish a new system of fuge were needed; and where else could the navy find fortification on a larger scale. Having determined to es- refuge but in those ports here pointed out? These points tablish this system of national defence, they appointed were selected for the express purpose of protecting and Commissioners to reconnoitre the whole maritime frontier, defending the naval operations of the country; and he and ascertain where the fortifications could be best placed. hoped the gentleman from Pennsylvania would be satisAfter making this examination, these Commissioners made fied that, in this system of fortifications, they were looktheir report; and they reported a system, not of fortifica-ing to his own object, and giving to it efficiency and protions only, but a general system of national defence. They | tection. pointed out the means by which, in any future emergency, we could be defended at all points. What, asked Mr. McL. were the basis and objects of this system? He would state to the House what they were; and he had extracted the whole of his information from those reports, drawn up by men well acquainted with the subject: for, Mr. McL. said, he did not profess, himself, to have any military skill | or science. This system, which was to render the defence of this nation complete, was to consist of a Navy; fortifications; interior communication by land and water; a regular army; and a well organized militia. These were all parts of the great whole; they were all connected and to render them efficient, they should be all combined, and so combined, that each one should protect the other; by which each would be thereby rendered efficient. It would be impossible to take from the system any of its parts, without impairing the whole. : priating money, or as an exercise of power to stand in the way of the other great objects of the Government, he would use all his exertions, and vote against every appropriation for it. In giving his vote in favor of this system, he had always been governed by the consideration of its connection with other great national objects. Gentlemen would perceive, in this great plan of defence was comprised a system of internal communica tion. On this subject of Internal Improvement, he had been, and he took pride in saying it, an uniform and consistent advocate of the doctrine and of the constitutional power of this Government in regard to Internal Improvement. He stood in this House, eight years ago, if not a solitary advocate for the system, at least under circumstances when it was considered almost temerity for any gentleman to advocate the doctrine of Internal Improvement. He had seen this doctrine gradually gaining ground with the American People; he had some satisfaction in believing that it would be one of the great means by which the General Government would obtain the objects of its oragnization, and he looked forwards to the day when they would reap the fruits of this policy. He looked at this doctrine as a liberal one, and not a selfish one; Mr. M'L said, he spoke now of this great system, con- he considered it as essentially connected with the other cerning which they were so often called on for informa- great means of defence; but, he said, when it should tion. This was the system devised by the Board of En-array itself in this House, as an insulated means of approgineers, and adopted by Congress-a system of defence, consisting of a navy, fortifications, interior communications, an army, and a militia. Here, then, was the navy of the gentleman from Pennsylvania. It was a part of this system of fortifications which he had been recommending. It was with a view of supporting the navy, of keeping it up, of taking care it should not suffer from the want of other support, which it had not in itself, that these tor-nication was to be effected without the aid of fortifications tifications were to be erected. The navy, Mr. M'L. said, We make roads and canals, and why do we so? To facilirequires ports, and harbors, and stations, and dock yards; tate the intercourse with every portion of this empire. and it is necessary to guard them against maritime inva- We open the way to every part; we cut a canal to consion, and keep off the enemy. Misfortunes may happen nect the West with the East, or the North with the South; at sea, or the war may prove disastrous; the ships and where is the advantage to be derived from it? It may want repairs, and how are they to procure them? would be found in the termination of the canal at some By returning to our ports, and whilst they are repairing,large navigable stream, which would connect it with the they will be protected by our forts: and this was one Ocean. And would not these internal communications grand object of the system of fortifications. No nation afford the same facility of conveyance to the enemy as to that regarded its navy, disregarded this object; and it our own citizens; and must they not, therefore, be prowould be unwise in us to disregard all the lessons of ex-tected against that enemy? We may cut a canal from the perience which are staring us in the face. Chesapeake to the Delaware, but if there are no fortifications to exclude the enemy from the entrance to it, what is to prevent him from getting to the mouth of the canal, and availing himself of that very facility to transport his armies? What is to prevent him from obtaining posses sion of this canal, and carrying the war into the very heart of the country? The way is opened to him, and he is invited to come: but, erect fortifications to defend our waters, and he is excluded. This system of fortifications, therefore, was connected with the system of internal improvement, and is a most essential part of it. That he might not be misunderstood on this subject, Mr. M'L. begged leave to call the attention of the House, and the gentleman from Pennsylvania, to the report of 1821, which, he had stated on Friday, contained all, and more than all the information called for by the resolutions adopted by this House, on the motion of a gentleman from Georgia. In treating of the fact of the operation of this system of fortifications on the navy, the commissioners (of one of whom, General Bernard, he could say, there was not an abler man, in his profession, in this or any other country, proceed to state "that Burwell's Bay, in James River, and Charlestown near Boston, have been specially recommended as the most proper sites for the great naval arsenals of the North and South; Hampton Roads and Boston Roads as the chief rendezvous ; and Narraganset Bay as an indispensable accessary to Boston Roads." "It is also from an attentive consideration of the whole maritime frontier, of the interior and of the coastwise navigation," the Engineers go on to say, "that Mobile Bay on the Gulf of Mexico, St. Mary's in the Chesapeake, the Delaware, New York Bay, Buzzard's Bay, New London, Marblehead, Portsmouth, Portland, the mouths of the Kennebec and Penobscot, and Mount Desert Bay, have been fixed on as stations and ports of refuge," &c. Mr McL. inquired how this system of internal commu This system of fortification, Mr. McL. went on to say, could not be accomplished in a day, or in a year. It would require more money and more labor than could be employed on it. It must be done deliberately, according to the means of the Government, and in the manner best calculated to provide for the exigencies of the country. With this view, the projected fortifications were classified: some were to be commenced as soon as the means of the Government would allow of it: others, which were not so important, were deferred to a more remote period ; and the third class to a period still more remote. He was afraid he should tire the House by this detail, but it was his duty, as a member of the Committee of Ways and Means, to lay this information before them. Those JAN. 30, 1826.] Appropriations for Fortifications. [H. of R. fortifications were placed in the first class which were in- Pea Patch. Now, in this bill, no other works are inserted, tended to deprive the enemy of strong positions, where, except those reported as of the first class, and recomprotected by his maritime superiority, he might fix his mended as of immediate and indispensable importance, quarters in our own territory, where he might maintain with the single exception of the work in North Carolina. himself during the war, and keep the whole frontier in a And I need not, I presume, again state, because I fully exstate of alarm. These were the most material points to plained on Friday, how this work got into the bill. It be guarded. Supposing the enemy was to gain posses- was not at the instance of the Committee of Ways and sion of any part of the Chesapeake, with a fleet and army, Means, nor by the recommendation of the Board of Engiwhat would be the consequence? Our whole frontier neers-not at the application of the War Department. It would be in a state of alarm, and the whole intercourse was the act of this House. Congress chose to change the through those waters would be cut off. Recurring to the plan of the Board of Engineers, and required the comlate war, Mr. McL. said, it would be found, that when mencement of this work out of the order in which it had the British had possession of the Chesapeake and Dela- been placed in the original plan. The Department, thereware, the produce of the Southern country would be fore, was bound to carry the order of this House into locked up, and remain rotting in possession of its owners. effect; and, on this subject, said Mr. McL. I must be perSuppose the enemy were to get possession of New Or- mitted to make a statement which is due, in justice, to leans, and to erect a fortification on the Mississippi, above the Department. When, at the last session, they were the City, how was he to be driven off? He gets posses- urged to recommend this work for immediate commencesion of the whole country, and entrenches himself there, ment, instead of complying with the request, they addressand our energies would be paralyzed. The way to pre-ed a letter to the Committee of Ways and Means, apprizvent him from getting there, would be to place fortifica- ing them that its commencement, at this time, would be tions near N. Orleans, so as to exclude him from the river. inconvenient to the Department, as they had no officer Mr. McL. here read to the committee a short extract whom they could detach on that service. Congress, notfrom the report of the Board of Engineers, as follows: withstanding, put the work into the appropriation bill, "A rapid review of the works which have been pro-and they cannot now take it out, unless they will violate jected by the Commission, will exhibit with sufficient distinctness, the advantages which must result from their construction. the contracts entered into by the War Department, and thus increase the embarrassments to which that Department has been innocently subjected in this matter. As to the work at the Bay of Bienvenue, it is not a new work in fact. It is only a part of the fortifications at New Orleans. New Orleans was one of those points at which the system of fortification was to be commenced immediately, and ninety-five thousand dollars was proposed to be appropriated to begin and to finish the defence of that place. This is no more a new work, than if you were to order a new bastion to be added to any one of the forts already built. The fortifications of New Orleans were commenced at the Rigolets and Chef Menteur. The Fort at the Bay of Bienvenue was deferred, until these previous works should be in a state of forwardness. The Department now informs us that they are ready to commence it, and they ask an appropriation for that purpose. It is, therefore, essentially an old work, and not a new one. "In Louisiana, the forts projected at the Turn of Plaquemines; at the Bayou Bienvenue; at the Chef Menteur; at the Rigolets; form altogether a system of defence, not only covering New Orleans, but preventing an enemy from taking and holding his position at the Northern Point of the Delta of the Mississippi, where, presenting a small front, easily fortified in a few days, and impossible to turn, he might defy all the forces of the West. Supposing even that he were expelled from it, he might, in his retreat, pillage and burn all the habitations, and carry off the slaves from both sides of the river, for a length of one hundred and fifty miles. This whole projected system of works will cost a little more than one million of dollars: a sum small, indeed, to avert such calamities, and which bears no sort of proportion to the effects which it will produce. The fortifications projected at the mouth of Mobile Bay, But we are told that, if these works are completed, we prevent, as far as practicable, its blockade; secure the are to have a standing army, and there will be no end to communication of the Tombigbee and Alabama with the the expense. A gentleman from Ohio, (Mr. VANCE) has Ocean, as well as that which is proposed to connect these taken the trouble to make a calculation on this subject, rivers with the Tennessee: protect also the communica- and has ascertained that nineteen thousand men will be retion between Mobile Bay and Lake Pontchartrain, by the quired to man these forts in time of peace. That gentleinterior channel, lying between the Main and the chain of man is, in general, so accurate that, when he mentioned islands, bounded by Cat Island to the West, and Dau-this, I took it for granted he was correct, and supposed it phin Island to the East, and deprive an enemy of a station whence he might act either against New Orleans, or the establishments which the United States may form hereafter in Pensacola. At present, Fort Boyer, at Mobile Point, which could not hold out three days against a regular attack, and Fort St. Philip, which is much too small and weak to defend the Mississippi, are the only protection for Louisiana." must be so. But, on turning to the documents, and consulting the original report of the Board of Engineers, I found an official statement already made out, of the exact number of men which it will require to garrison these for. tifications. That number, in time of peace, is four thousand six hundred and ninety; and, in war, it is thirty-seven thousand nine hundred and sixty-two: that is, on the supposition that all these fortifications should be attacked by For the defence of Virginia, the report proposes a fort the enemy at the same time-a state of things almost imon Old Point Comfort, and on the Rip Raps. For the de- possible. It appears, therefore, that the gentleman from fence of New Jersey, a fort at the Pea Patch. And here, Ohio has labored under a great mistake; and that less than that I may shew the unreasonableness of this call for more our present army, small as it is, will be sufficient to garriinformation, I refer the House to the documents A and B, son the entire line of fortifications along our whole fronaccompanying the report; in which they will find these tier. Many of these forts will require but two hundred works distributed into their respective classes; the num-men each, even during war; and there is but one that will ber of men required to garrison each of them, in peace and in war; together with the expense of their construction. Here is also given the order of their relative importance from which it appears that the fortification first recommended, was at Chef Menteur: then, that at the Rigolets; next, that at the Bayou Bienvenue; then at Old Point Comfort; then at the Rip Raps; and then at the require six hundred. One word about the expense of this system. The cost of completing the entire three classes proposed in the original report, will not exceed, in all, seventeen millions of dollars. It has, however, been said, that all of them which have yet been erected, have exceeded the estimates, and that, therefore, there is no knowing what the total expense |