be the facilities of transportation of the western products, with a population of 50,000,000, when all the lines of transportation are inadequate to carry off the surplus produce of 10,000,000 people to-day.

Think of it for a moment, and reflect upon the astounding fact, that but a few years ago this great Northwest was but one vast wilderness! Washington, the Father of his Country, when Illinois was inhabited by the wild savage, when the entire Northwest was marked on the map. to a great extent as a region unknown, had a deep appreciation of the future grandeur and glory of our country. Speaking of the western country, eighty years and more ago, he used this language:

"For my own part, I wish sincerely that every door to that country may be thrown wide open and commercial intercourse with it rendered as free and easy as possible. This is in my opinion the best if not the only cement that can bind these people to us for any length of time, and we shall be deficient in foresight and wisdom if we neglect the means of effecting it. Our interest is so much in unison with this measure that nothing short of that misjudged parsimony and contracted way of thinking which intermingles so much in our public councils can counteract it."

It is said to be unconstitutional for the Government to construct a work of this character. I have no time to enter into an elaborate constitutional argument on this question, but I must say a few words. The Constitution declares that Congress shall have power, first, to establish post offices and post roads; second, to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the States and with the Indian tribes; third, to raise and support armies and provide for the common defense; and fourth, to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper to carry into execution the foregoing powers.

If the power of Congress could be questioned under the first and second powers above quoted, how could it be questioned under the third, which declares that Congress shall have power to raise and support armies and provide for the common defense? Congress can provide for the common defense without either an army or navy, and consequently may neither raise an army nor build a navy, and yet it may provide for the common defense by other means. If it is necessary to provide for the common defense of the country to build a fort, then it is constitutional to build a fort. is necessary to provide for the common defense that we should have cannon and cannonballs, then it would be constitutional for Congress to establish a cannon foundery wherein to cast guns; so we might establish a dozen or a hundered founderies, and so we might work the iron-ore bed to get the material wherewith to cast the cannon. It is a question, in the first place, of necessity, and in the second place a question of means.

If it

The extent of the necessity is not measured in the Constitution, and the character of the means is not specified. Under this power in the Constitution we have established arsenals, dockyards, navy-yards, military academies, naval academies, and done many other things to provide for the common defense of the country. Under this power we educate men in military schools and pay for their education out of the public treasury. Congress is to judge of what 18 necessary to provide for the common defense, and Congress is also to select the means whereby the country is to be defended. If a ship is necessary we build it; if a fort is necessary we build it; if an arsenal is necessary we build it; and if Congress determined that a ship-canal is necessary to the common defense, it ought to be built, and unless Congress provided for the building of that canal it would be derelict in its duty to the country.

The Secretary of War, in 1824, made use of the following language in his report:

"Many of the roads and canals which have been suggested are, no doubt, of the first importance to the commerce, the agriculture, and the manufactures and the political prosperity of the country, but are not for that reason less useful or necessary for military purposes. It is, in fact, one of the great advantages of our country, enjoying so many others, that whether we regard its internal improvement in relation to military, civil, or political purposes, very nearly the

same system, in all its parts, is required. The road or canal can scarcely be designated which is not highly useful for military operations, and which is not equally required for the industry or political prosperity of the country."

It gives no weight to the argument against the constitutionality of this bill to declare that the chief feature of the work is in its commercial value to the country. No matter how beneficial it may be in a commercial point of view if it is also in a military point of view a necessary means of defense to the country, then it is constitutional for Congress to make the appropriation for the construction of such work. I will simply add in this connection, that the Constitution, in section eight of article one, in addition to the powers already referred to, provides that Congress shall have power to provide for the general welfare of the United States. This is a very broad and comprehensive power, and might, if needed, be quoted as a justification of the constitutional power of Congress to pass this bill, for if there be any one enterprise which is calculated to promote the general welfare of the United States, it is an enterprise which involves an increase of the facilities of transportation from the great West to the great East.

But we are not driven to this stress to defend this bill under the Constitution. We have a complete vindication, so far as the constitutional power of Congress is concerned, in that clause of the Constitution which declares that Congress shall have power to provide for the common defense. I should have little regard should contend that a ship-canal around the for the talent or the honesty of a man who falls of Niagara, connecting Lake Erie with Lake Ontario, not necessary for the common defense of the country.

That great man Albert Gallatin, as long ago as 1808, in his celebrated report said:

"The opening of an inland navigation from tidewater to the great lakes would immediately give to the great body of lands bordering on those lakes as great value as though they were situated at a distance of one hundred miles by land from the seacoast.

He appreciated the importance of this work, and urged with great earnestness and ability a plan upon Congress for its construction.

The most enlightened and comprehensive statesmen of our country have from the earliest period of our Government been in favor of extending aid by the General Government in the construction of this great work, and they never were at a loss to defend the constitutionality of their views in the comprehensive language of the Constitution itself.

Congress is the only power under the Constitution authorized to judge and determine as to the necessity of the measure in providing for the defense of the country, and it is also the only power which has the constitutional right to determine what means shall be made use of to secure that protection except in time of war. [Here the hammer fell.]

The SPEAKER. The gentleman has spoken fifteen minutes, the time which was allotted to him.

Mr. INGERSOLL. I yield ten minutes to my colleague, [Mr. Cooк.]

Mr. COOK. Mr. Speaker, this question was so fully discussed in the House during the last Congress that I do not expect that anything that I can say will shed any new light upon it; and yet, as it is a question of so much interest to the people of my own State, in common with those of other western agricultural States, I have been, forced to consider it with care, and I wish to submit a very few suggestions upon it to the House.

The proposed work is shown to be practicable. The report of Captain William G. Williams, of the United States Engineer corps, House Document 214, Twenty-Fourth Congress, first session, made by an officer of high professional attainments, demonstrates the practicability of the enterprise.

The cost is small. The report of the engineer fixes it at from three and a half to five millions, according to the route chosen. The increase in the price of labor and material since

the report was mades make it necessary to increase this estimate somewhat, and accordingly the sum is now fixed at $6,000,000.

Can the loan of the credit of the Government be constitutionally and properly given to this work as a work of military necessity? We have been called upon at this session to appropriate very large sums of money for the erection and repair of fortifications along our Atlantic seaboard, and to some extent upon the lakes. I do not question the propriety of such appropri ations, and I think that it can be demonstrated that the principle which would justify them would justify the passage of this bill. To illustrate this: we very properly appropriate a sum of money to repair and garrison a fort at Oswego, for instance. Now this is wholly for the defense of that city and harbor, and is wholly unnecessary except in case of hostilities with Great Britain-no other enemy could ever reach that point-and the appropriation is made. But in the event of hostilities with Great Britain or her American dependencies this ship-canal would be a thousand-fold more available for the defense of the country than Fort Ontario. We have nearly or quite three thousand miles of lake coast. The whole line of this coast is studded with flourishing cities, the marts of business and the avenues of commerce. We have upon the lakes some four thousand vessels. An enemy in command of the lakes could do us more injury than would result from the reduction of any one place in. the country. The whole trade and commerce carried on in the four thousand vessels of the lakes would be at the mercy of an enemy who could place a superior force upon their waters. The damage that would result to the business interests of all parts of the country in such an event can scarcely be calculated.

By treaty with England we are prohibited from maintaining upon the lakes more than a single vessel-of-war, to be armed with a single gun; and we have no war vessels upon Lake Ontario or the St. Lawrence. It is true that the British Government is also limited to a single war vessel, but it has facilities within its own territory for the concentration of fleets and material of war upon the lakes. The Canadian canals are so constructed as to be available for this purpose. The British Government is prepared, in the event of war, to assert an entire supremacy upon the lakes, for she can send the necessary naval force from the St. Lawrence to do so; while we have not a naval station on the lakes where a single ves sel could be promptly fitted out, nor a fortification that could withstand a modern iron-clad vessel. What vast public and private interests are thus left defenseless. Surely the constitutional right to erect a fortification anywhere is not plainer than is the right to construct upon our side a canal through which vessels-of-war can be transported from the upper to the lower lakes or from the Mississippi to Lake Ontario. But the point to which I respectfully and earnestly ask the attention of the House is this: the work is essential to us of the West to enable us to bear the burdens which have been laid upon us in the shape of taxation, direct and indirect. We are an agricultural people. In the State of Illinois we have but one commercial city, properly so called. The great leading interest of the State is the agricultural interest. We produce an immense surplus of food, which must find its way to the eastern markets. It is the only commodity which we have to exchange for the manufactures of New England; for the coal, iron, and oil of Pennsylvania. The facilities of transportation are wholly inadequate. We have a magnificent water communication between Chicago and Buffalo, sufficient for the transportation of any amount of the products of the West, but at Buffalo our troubles begin. There is a barrier which we cannot pass. The amount of freight offering for shipment from Buffalo eastward is so great during the season of navigation that the owners of boats can and do demand and receive almost any amount of freight they choose to ask.

I ask attention to one fact which I will state and which will show the interest which our people have in this ship-canal. There are five routes by water and by rail from Chicago to the sea-board, and yet the demand for transportation last fall was so great, such vast quantities of agricultural products were waiting to go forward, more than all the lines could transport, that the price of transportation from Chicago to the sea-board was fixed by the dearest route of all, and flour or pork or beef could be as cheaply transported by Fort Wayne and Pittsburg and over the mountains of Pennsylvania, as by the great water route. The price of our agricultural staples is almost wholly consumed in getting to a market. I know that men answer this appeal by saying, establish manufactures among yourselves and consume your agricultural products at home. This is easy to say, and I trust may one day be accomplished, but it is not presently practicable. Our soil, the cheapest and most productive in the world, invites to agriculture. We have not the capital at command to establish manufactures on so large a scale. We appeal, therefore, to the men of New England to aid us in transporting to them the food which they require, and which we are anxious to exchange for the products of their manufactories, and thus confer a real and lasting benefit upon both sections.

We are

It is a fact that the employment of a farmer at the West is less remunerative than almost any other. There is now more real reason for complaint. I ask gentlemen to consider that, however carefully and skillfully and honestly you may arrange the various systems of direct and indirect taxation, tariffs, and internal revenue laws, the burden of the tax must to a great extent fall upon the consumer. consumers of the manufactures of the country. Our interests are not directly protected in your tariff laws, but we could bear all public burdens easily and cheerfully if it were not for the difficulty of reaching the markets of the world with the bulky products of our farms. If this canal is constructed, by opening a new route by water to the eastern markets and to the markets of the world, it will not only reduce the price of freight by affording new facilities for transportation, but will create a competition by which freights on established lines will be reduced to reasonable limits. When a vessel of one thousand or twelve hundred tons can be loaded in Chicago, and can reach the ocean without breaking bulk, the day of the prosperity of our great agricultural interest will have dawned. I believe that very rarely have we the opportunity offered us to accomplish so great a good at so small an expense as by the passage of this bill.

MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE.

A message from the Senate, by Mr. FORNEY, its Secretary, informed the House that the Senate had passed a joint resolution (S. R. No. 80) extending the time for the completion of the Union Pacific railway, eastern branch; and a bill (S. No. 203) to enable the New York and Montana Iron Mining and Manufacturing Company to purchase a certain amount of the public lands not now in market; in both of which he was directed to ask the concurrence of the House.

NIAGARA SHIP-CANAL-AGAIN.

Mr. VAN HORN, of New York. I propose to submit the question to the House whether they will order the main question to-night and close this discussion, or let the bill go over until to-morrow for another hour's discussion.

Mr. DAWES. Before the gentleman calls the previous question I desire to offer an amendment to his substitute.

Mr. VAN HORN, of New York. I yield for that purpose.

Mr. DAWES. I offer the following amendment to the substitute:

In section ten, line seventeen, after the word "Massachusetts," insert "the aforesaid subscription books shall be kept open at the places designated under aforesaid notice for at least three days." And insert after the word "and," in the nineteenth line, the

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That John C. Dore, of Illinois; Philo Chamberlin, of Ohio; Elbridge G. Merrick, of Michigan; David Dows, Abraham P. Grant, James D. Cooper, of New York; James Little, of Massachusetts; and Edward H. Brodhead, of Wisconsin, shall be commissioners to open books for subscription to the stock of said corporation, on which shall be paid at the time of subscription ten per cent. thereof, and they shall open such books on or before the 1st day of August next, at such places as they may appoint, having first given notice of the time and place of meeting for that purpose by publishing the same once at least in each week for four weeks successively in a public newspaper printed and published in the city of New York; Chicago, in the State of Illinois: Detroit, in the State of Michigan; Milwaukee, in the State of Wisconsin; Cleveland, in the State of Ohio; and Boston, in the State of Massachusetts. The aforesaid subscription books shall be kept open at the places designated for at least three days. A majority of said commissioners shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and they may adjourn from time to time, and after the aforesaid three days, to such places as they may think fit, until the requisite number of shares shall be subscribed for; and in case a surplus of shares shall be subscribed for they may apportion them among the subscribers in such manner as they shall think for the interest of the said corporation.

that amendment. I have no disposition to Mr. VAN HORN, of New York. I accept prolong this debate, and unless some gentlemen desire otherwise, I will now move the previous question.

Several MEMBERS. Close it now.

Mr. VAN HORN, of New York. For the purpose of testing the sense of the House, I demand the previous question.

Mr. WARD. I ask my colleague to allow me to offer an amendment.

Mr. VAN HORN, of New York. I will hear what the amendment is.

Mr. WARD. I desire to move to strike out the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first sections. They are the sections which appropriate the money of the Government to defray the expenses of this work.

Mr. VAN HORN, of New York. I cannot yield for that purpose.

Mr. WARD. If that is not done I cannot vote for the bill.

Mr. ELDRIDGE. Cannot a separate vote be required on the appropriation, under the rules, on the demand of one fifth of the members present?

The SPEAKER. That rule applies to cases where there are various appropriations in the bill, as was the case with the river and harbor bill passed yesterday.

Mr. ELDRIDGE. Does it not apply to "appropriations of money for works of internal improvement of any kind or description?"

The SPEAKER. The gentleman refers to rule 121, which is to be found on page 189 of Barclay's Digest. The Clerk will read it. The Clerk read as follows:

"121. Upon the engrossment of any bill making appropriations of money for works of internal improvement of any kind or description, it shall be in the power of any member to call for a division of the question, so as to take a separate vote of the House upon each item of improvement or appropriation contained in said bill, or upon such items separately, and others collectively, as the members making the call may specify; and if one fifth of the members present second said call, it shall be the duty of the Speaker to make such divisions of the question, and put them to vote accordingly."

The SPEAKER. That rule has always been held to refer to cases like the river and harbor bill which passed yesterday. Where there are various appropriations in a bill for a variety of improvements, there can be a separate vote on each appropriation on the demand of one fifth of the members present. But the Chair rules that this being an appropriation for a single object, a separate vote cannot be called for on the separate sections of the bill.

Mr. VAN HORN, of New York. I demand the previous question.

The previous question was seconded and the main question ordered.

Mr. VAN HORN, of New York. Mr. Speaker, I have not taken up much of the time of the House this session, but having reported this bill, and feeling great interest in it, I desire to occupy a portion of the time allotted to me by the rules, and then I will yield a

portion of my time to some other gentlemen who desire to be heard briefly upon the subject.

Mr. Speaker, in presenting this measure to the House and the country, I do it with the greatest confidence that the appeal in its behalf will meet with a warm and generous response. It is not a new measure, and perhaps every member of the House is familiar with its object, its plans, and details. For very many years it has attracted more or less attention from the Government and the people, and been received with more or less favor. Amid the general indisposition to do nothing for public improvements by the party in power for many years prior to the war, this great project shared the fate of others of like nature and importance, and was not undertaken. Both branches of our national Legislature, however, have acted upon it in various ways, by favorable reports, by ordering surveys, and in the last Congress by passing a bill providing for the construction of this work. Upon the files of Congress are petitions, memorials, and resolu tions from the people, Boards of Trade, and Legislatures urging the construction of the work this bill proposes to provide for, and instructing Senators and Representatives to endeavor to secure it if possible. Full reports upon the whole question, covering the surveys and estimates, and showing the great impor tance of the works are on file, one of which I had the honor to present in the Thirty-Seventh Congress, to all of which I direct the attention of the House.

This bill provides for the appointment of proper engineers by the President, who shall make the necessary surveys and reports, upon which the route of said canal shall be determined upon its merits, taking into the account the twofold purpose of military and commercial advantage. The President is directed to procure the right of way by negotiation if possible; if not, by application to the court for the appointment of commissioners to appraise damages, and determine all cases of difference that may arise.

It further provides that the Government shall loan $6,000,000 to this company, of twentyyear bonds, in consideration for which the United States is to have forever the practical ownership of the canal for all military and naval purposes whatever, and ten per cent. of all the tolls of said canal are to be paid into the Treasury of the United States on the 1st of January of each year, to be applied toward the payment of the money so loaned for the construction of the work.

It is further provided that the United States may at any time enter upon and purchase said canal by paying ten per cent. in addition to its actual cost. All the necessary provisions and safeguards for the protection of trade and commerce against exorbitant tolls and neg: lect in keeping it up and in perfect repair and order are inserted, and believed to be ample and just to all.

The grounds of the opposition made to this bill by my colleague [Mr. J. M. HUMPHREY] are not new by any means. While he argues that it is inexpedient and unjust to open up this communication, for the reason that it might interfere somewhat with the rights and interests of New York, he takes the old ground that the General Government has no right to take such care upon its hands and aid in the construction of such works.

Sir, this policy has vetoed all the great measures of improvement and internal devel opment that have been pressed and desired in the past, and put a check upon the enterprise and industry of our people. The country owes to the great national party of the present and the past few years a debt of gratitude it can never pay for arresting this narrow-minded and weak policy of opposition to public improvement and fostering of great national enterprises like this, and introducing our peo ple to a broader, more comprehensive, and eminently national system of aiding such enterprises, as a means of developing national life and national prosperity and wealth. As

to the power of Congress over these matters I am obliged to differ with my colleague, while I have great respect for his opinion, but as my time is limited I shall not be able to discuss at any length the constitutional question involved; besides, other gentlemen have said all that is necessary to be said upon this part of the subject.

This denial of right to Congress over these questions and the action of the Government in the same direction, defeated under the administration of Mr. Buchanan the Pacific railroad bill, which has since received the favor of the new Administration, and our whole country is destined to share in the great benefits that will flow from such a result.

A broad national policy of internal improve ment is what is to arouse the energy and industry of our people, develop the resources and locked-up wealth of our vast continent, and give a permanency and vitality to our pros perity that can in no other way be secured. Any narrow view of this great question of national development is not in accordance with the character and genius of our people. They are alive to the importance of such great works of improvement, and believe that the public domain, the national credit, and the fostering care of the Government, in every way that they can reasonably and properly, should be given to aid the work of bringing out the enterprise and industry of our whole people and lifting them up to the highest point of civilization and national prosperity.

The passage of this bill is still urged, as heretofore, upon the two considerations of military and commercial necessity and importance. My colleague declares that there can be no real military necessity or importance connected with this proposed work, and that that idea is only advanced to catch votes or deceive the unthinking. He argues that instead of resulting in benefit to the Government, or intending to work a benefit to the Government in this direction, under the plea of military necessity or advantage there is a design to draw from the Treasury of the people of the United States $6,000,000 and put it into the pockets of a selfish corporation. Now, sir, this remark will apply as well to every body of men who have, by the aid of Government in the various ways heretofore granted, added prosperity and wealth to the nation by their enterprise and sacrifices in the way of such public improvements. It is very easy to make such wholesale declarations, but the facts do not always justify them.

My colleague should remember that selfishness may control him a little in the opposition he makes to this measure. He may be moved to this opposition by considerations not altogether generous, to say the least. The main part of the opposition to this measure has always been in the city (Buffalo) so ably represented by my colleague, and in whose prosperity no one feels a deeper interest than myself, and I fear that he as well as the city he represents does not upon this question always present that broad, generous, and expansive feeling and action that would take in all our broad land, with its best and highest interests. Sir, those who are the advocates of this measure here and elsewhere are controlled by a great national purpose and desire, and while they hope to secure a safe investment for private capital, they seek to add to the national defense and prosperity. But let us consider its military necessity and importance.

I know it has been urged, is, and will be again, that as a work of military necessity, such a canal would have no importance, and be of no practical military benefit. It is said that in the event of a war with England or Canada, or both, our policy would be to rush upon Canada with such a force as to take immediate possession of their frontier and the Welland canal, and thus have a canal at our hand, already constructed, by which we could keep open the communication between the lakes and the West, and thus be able to afford protection when and where it might be needed without serious diffi

culty. All this is very well, and I should favor such a move in such an event, but we have found that there are uncertainties connected with war as with other matters, and that it will not do to rest all upon a single expedient, but be prepared for any emergency.

view cannot be overestimated. This conclusion was arrived at in a time of peace, when there was no prospect of war, but was the result of careful and intelligent understanding of the advantages of such a work in a time of war, and is worthy of our highest consideration.

Again, it would be a very easy thing to so lay According to the treaty of 1817 we were waste such a structure before it fell into our restricted to one vessel not exceeding one hunhands, if, indeed, it should, rendering it of very dred tons, with a single gun, for Lake Ontalittle practical use when taken possession of rio, which is the key to all the great chain of Besides, actual difficulties between foreign lakes on our border; and also confined to two Powers do not spring up in a day, but are of like size and armament for all the upper often the result of long-continued aggravation lakes. Having no inland waters communibefore forbearance gives way and the strifecating with these great thoroughfares, we have begins; and in such event the most formidable demonstrations and preparations are made by way of defense and means of resistance. It is idle for us to talk of subduing all opposition so easily that no means of defense and shelter ought to be made as an alternative. I still insist that this canal, constructed in such a way and where it will afford protection to American commerce and war material in transit from lake to lake, will be a work of great military benefit in time of war, and I cannot see how any sensible man, with all respect to my colleague, can argue to the contrary.

Celerity of movement, rapidity of transfer from point to point, is essential in naval as in military affairs. Our Canadian neighbors have a canal connecting the lakes on their side of the Niagara river, sufficiently inland to be entirely protected, unless the country between it and their frontier be taken possession of, which, of course, would be held by them to the last moment as of the first importance. It will be seen, therefore, that they have the means for rapidly transferring their boats and vessels-ofwar from point to point on the lakes, which we have not. We have no means of communication but by land, so that the struggle in many instances might be confined on our part entirely to land operations, and we suffer seriously as a consequence. They could move from lake to lake as occasion demanded, transferring all their power from point to point at their will.

Were this work completed our whole field of operations would be changed, and we be prepared to at least equal them in facilities for preparing suitable defense to all our borders.

Again, such a canal would form a great base of supplies for naval and military operations || for a border war, with facilities to throw to any desired point with great dispatch the materials necessary for the support and maintenance of || a war upon our borders. It would impart strength and efficiency to our fleet upon the lakes, and afford a safe passage to our commerce even in a time of war, which would otherwise be obstructed and broken up.

At great expense the British and Canadian Governments have already constructed and in progress complete lines of communication between and to connect all their border waters, so as to secure every possible commercial benefit, and afford all their border the amplest protection in any emergency that may arise. During our civil war, when the London Times occupied any attitude but a friendly one, it was declared by way of boasting that they could throw with but little warning, upon any point upon our frontier, any amount of force, and such vessels-of-war as the emergency might demand.

And who does not know that such is the fact? Their enterprise, their foresight, and their wisdom in this regard have been far in advance of ours. We, too, should be prepared for all such emergencies, and take timely steps to secure the desired result. Captain Williams, one of the most celebrated engineers the Government ever had, who was directed to and make a survey for this work some time ago, and whose report is on file, after examining the whole ground and taking a careful survey of the whole question in all its attitudes, urges with great force the military necessity of this work, and insists that the Government ought to immediately enter upon its construction. He says that its importance in a military point of

not been able to have in readiness any vesselsof-war outside of these lakes which could be thrown upon them in case of necessity, and thus we have been left entirely without adequate protection. But the British Government, always selfish and seizing every opportunity for providing defenses, has steadily pursued a policy directly opposite ours, one looking directly to the command of the lakes by a sufficient naval force whenever she might choose to assert it. Since 1817 she has constructed the Rideau canal as a military work, so avowed, connecting Montreal with Kingston, on Lake Ontario, by an interior route, with locks one hundred and thirty-three feet long and thirtythree feet wide, well calculated to pass large gunboats in ballast; and the St. Lawrence canals, connecting the same points, with locks two hundred feet long and forty-five feet wide, to pass gunboats drawing nine feet. She has also constructed the Welland canal, as before stated, connecting Lake Ontario with the upper lakes, with locks one hundred and forty-five feet long and twenty-six feet wide, to pass gunboats drawing ten feet of water.

It is also proposed to construct another, of ample dimensions for all purposes, military and commercial, connecting Montreal with Georgian bay, on Lake Huron. Thus it will be seen that she can pass her war vessels from Montreal to Kingston, on Lake Ontario, in twenty-four hours, and to Lake Erie in less than forty-eight hours, and hold all our lake border, and our vast cities and the commerce of the lakes, which is mostly American, entirely at her mercy. At all these inland points of concen tration she has constructed and holds large naval depots, thus keeping in constant preparation for efficient naval operations on all the great lakes, while our policy has been just the reverse of this, and we have no means of defense of such a nature, and have no com||munication between our great inland waters. As I have before hinted, England has boastingly told us that she was prepared for any emergency. In 1861, when the rebel leaders, Mason and Slidell, were seized on the British steamer Trent, and war was thought to be inevitable for a time, who does not remember that it was claimed extensively by the leading and most influential British press that their facilities were complete and ample and the means in readiness to pounce upon our unprotected lake frontier, destroy our commerce, and lay waste our whole border, and that, too, before we could accumulate any adequate means of resistance.

And who can deny the fact of such a statement? There is not a fortification on our frontier that an iron-clad could not pass with impunity, and perhaps batter down with ease. They are old and mostly dilapidated. A longcontinued peace has allowed them to be neglected, and no frontier of equal length and importance in our whole country, and I may say in any country, is so poorly protected and prepared to meet the attacks that modern warfare and skill bring to bear in a time of war. This frontier is in extent more than three thousand miles, and has none of the means of defense that are necessary to secure protection or resist attacks. Our mode of warfare nowadays differs very much from that of the olden time. Forts and fortifications are good for something, but cannot compare in. importance and real utility with the modern means of resistance and defense. The iron.

cover up.

As I have before stated, the coast from the St. Lawrence to the western shore of Lake Superior is over three thousand miles, and forms a navigable water boundary for eight of the most important producing and commercial States of the Union, with an aggregate population in 1860 of nine millions, while directly on this coast, in towns, cities, and villages, are a million of as enterprising, intelligent, and patriotic citizens as we have, surrounded by all the wealth that an agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial prosperty can bring.

From these cities and through these lakes and rivers we are told that more than one hundred million bushels of grain, including wheat made into flour, and other agricultural products in proportion, are distributed annually to New York, New England, and the Atlantic cities north of and including Baltimore, for the consumption of those States and for exportation to foreign countries. This vast production, yet only in its infancy, occupies more than two thousand steam and sail vessels, measuring full seven hundred thousand tons, which on their return westward are always freighted with foreign and domestic merchandise. The annual value of this trade already exceeds five hundred million dollars. The arrest of this commerce for a brief period would produce disaster both to the East and the West, to the producer and the consumer. As the British Government is constantly prepared for an aggressive war upon all the lakes, complete lines of communication being now open, and naval depots already constructed and furnished to a very great extent, what can prevent all this extensive coast, this vast and constantly increasing commerce, from suffering at the hands of our neighbors, should hostilities ever be opened between us?

of commerce, and can in no wise meet the demands of the great future.

A committee of the New York Legislature reported a little more than a year ago "that during a considerable portion of the last three years the enlarged canals had been taxed to their utmost capacity, not from deficiency in the main trunk, but from the impossibility of

lakes the commercial marine is almost exclusively American, while on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence it is largely Canadian. If naval depots were established at proper points on the lakes, our vessels of commerce, many of them propellers, could be easily and speedily converted into vessels-of-war, and with this canal constructed, they could pass from lake to lake and the St. Lawrence as the exigen-passing more boats through the locks." And cies of the case might require. These facilities are indispensable, especially from the fact that the English Government has as great and even greater within her borders. I may say without exaggeration that no part of our coast is so little protected, and in no instance are so vast interests, both public and private, allowed to remain so at the mercy of an unfriendly Power, jealous of our prosperity and national grandeur, and always ready on the slightest pretense to assume a threatening attitude and a hostile position.

But, Mr. Speaker, as necessary as this work is in a military point of view, it is as necessary to the commercial interests of the country, and to all interested in cheap transportation, which will result in benefit both to the producer and the consumer.

In 1862 at least thirty-two million bushels of grain, including wheat manufactured into flour, besides other agricultural products of western States, passed from the upper lakes into Lake Ontario through the Welland canal, paying tribute to Canadian enterprise and adding to Canadian prosperity. More than three fourths of this grain found its way from Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence through American channels, to New York and New England; nearly twenty millions of it being shipped eastward from Oswego and Cape Vincent, and about five million bushels from Ogdensburg over the Northern railroad. The trade from the East to the West of course was correspondingly large, and all paid tribute as before to Canada as it passed through the Welland canal. It is said that the trade from the West to the East is increasing annually at the rate of about twenty per cent., as the great producing regions of the West are being developed and industry and enterprise are being stimulated. The trade through the Canada canal into Lake Ontario, and so on to tide-water, will increase in the same proportion, I conclude, if this canal is not constructed, for every facility that we can give with our present lines of communication by additions and completion will be furnished upon the other side as a matter of policy, in order to present every inducement to business and secure every possible benefit.

To this end arrangements will be speedily completed for the enlargement of the Welland canal to accommodate our largest-sized vessels, which it cannot now accommodate, and which trade upon the upper lakes; so that, without a canal upon the American side, the Welland canal will certainly continue to receive its present proportion of trade, or nearly so, even when the trade shall have reached a greatly increased amount, as it is destined to do. Trade will go where it has the greatest inducements held out to it. This will be conceded by all, for it is the experience of every man of business. How easy it is, in the absence of this competing route, for Canada to so discriminate in favor of vessels and cargoes going to Montreal, by such a regulation of

everybody knows that the railroads connecting the East and the West cannot take for quite a portion of the time all the freight that is offered in any reasonable time. So great is the neces sity for more and larger outlets to the Atlantic to meet the constantly increasing wants of the West, so rapidly developing itself, that the Illinois and Wisconsin Legislatures about two years ago appointed some of their most intelligent citizens to visit the Canadian authorities to urge upon them the necessity of enlarging the Welland canal, and the early construction of the proposed canal between the Georgian bay and Montreal. This completed, and Montreal would be nearer by water route to Chicago than Buffalo is by twenty miles, and nearer than New York is by nearly five hundred miles. With this work constructed we shall be obliged to enlarge all our present lines so as to carry largely and cheap; and open up every possible avenue of trade that will tend to reduce transportation from the West to the Atlantic cities, or we shall lose the ascendency we now hold and suffer in a corresponding degree.

It may be urged here that if the locks of the Erie canal were sufficiently enlarged there would be no necessity for the proposed shipcanal. I reply, in the first place, that with the ship-canal the Erie canal with its enlarged locks will have all it can do, and cannot meet the demands upon it when the immense increase of trade of the future seeks an outlet to the East; and in the second place, that if the ship-canal be not constructed the Erie cana will not get the trade the ship-canal would get if constructed, for the reason that it will go where it now goes, through the Welland canal, which will have been put in a condition tc induce trade to seek its channel.

And again, the further toward the point of destination you can send produce in large quantities in vessel without breaking bulk the cheaper will be the cost of transportation, and in this instance there would be a corresponding gain in point of time. All these advantages will be seized, and we should look at the question practically and act accordingly.

Captain Wiliams, a distinguished engineer to whom I have before referred, who surveyed the different proposed routes for this shipcanal by order of the Government, and made his report, which is on file, upon careful estimates, no doubt correctly made, says that produce from a given point West can be taken through to tide-water by way of the proposed ship-canal and, of course, by the Welland canal, when of sufficient size, for nearly thirty per cent. less than by Buffalo and the Erie canal, for the reason, among others which I have already mentioned, that but little if any more is charged per ton or bushel to Osweg by lake when once aboard than to Buffalo, while you have saved one hundred and twenty miles of artificial navigation and only increased the whole distance fifteen miles. This is a simple proposition but nevertheless true, and will bear investigation.

By having such a canal upon the American side we would get all the benfits of such a com munication and be better able to control the commerce and keep it within our own territory, and by offering it such inducements as our increased facilities would allow us to do we could direct it to tide-water through our own markets, and greatly to the benefit of our own people. This is our duty, and we should not let the occasion pass without embracing it. I want gentlemen from the West who produce, and gentlemen from the East who consume, to understand that there is no way in which you can get so near together and secure so cheap transportation as to open up this con