The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 2: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session Page: 56

66
APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE.
Jan. 1844.
&8th Cong 1st Sess.
Improvement of the Western waters—Mr. Wentworth.
H. of "Reps.
The President's message has represented our
country at peace" with all the world. Our flag
proudly floats upon eyery sea, and is respected by
every nation upon the habitable globe. On this
■very floor, our navy has been called "a peace estab-
lishment," and no man has presumed to contradict
it." Now, is all the money demanded for the use of
our navy in the estimate of the necessary appropria-
tions. of the present fiscal year, ($9,000,000,) re-
quisite to our peace? All through the last war,
when the" gallant achievements of our navy glad-
dened every American heart, and won herself un-
fading laurels, the expenditures never were as high
as the estimate for our present period of universal
peace. The highest, in 1815, was only $8,660,000,
and the year before, only #7,311,000. After the war,
our naval expenditures went down to $3,000,000,
and in 1822, to #2,221 ,000. During Mr. Adaias's
administration, the average was three to four mil-
lions. Under General Jackson's administration,
they were kept below $4,000,000, in accordance with
an oft-repeated recommendation of Secretary Woodr
bury. In 1836, with a plethoric treasury, they be-
gan to increase, and have, been increasing ever
since, until they reach #9,COO,000 by the present
estimate. Now, if #4,000,000 was enough under
General Jackson, $5,500,000 is enough to keep
pace with the population increased 40 per cent.;
and this is the highest sum for which the friends of
the improvements of our lakes and rivers ought to
vote. Gentlemen have drawn a glowing picture of
our splendid navy, and they would give still addi-
tional lustre to it. But it is not in a splendid gov-
ernment- thai the people find the most happiness,
nor in splendid armies and navies that they find the
most safety. All this can be best secured by legis-
lating for fee necessities of the people, and so erect-
ing government upon their most holy affections, by
distributing its blessings equally to every section. I
repel any insinuation that I am opposed to a navy
commensurate with the necessities of our govern-
ment; but I plead guilty to the charge of being un-
willing to appropriate any money for mere outward
splendor. Nor would I detract from the honor justly
attendant upon those memorable achievements upon
the high seas, which have forever embalmed her in
American history. All I have to complain of is,
that she has too long been the pet child of the na-
tion; and, like most pet children, she is now inclined
to run away with all the patrimony. But I should
do injustice to the gallant dead, and to many now
alive, (though cruelly almost forgotten in our mu-
nificence to those who hazarded their lives in other
quarters to defend their country,) and who compose
a portion of our western constituents, did I here neglect
to state that our upper lakes have furnished theatres
(though notquite as many of them) of as much true
valor, patriotic devotion, and hard fighting, as the
Atlantic waters. Conspicuous in the annals of
American patriots stand the noble Perry and Mc-
Donough. Would to God that the renowned Perry
stood in my place to expatiate on the importance of
harbors nn the lakes in a military point of view, and
to give bis own experience from the want of them!
Think you, sir, that in case of another rupture be-
tween this government and Great Britain, it is our
Atlantic frontier that is be alone exposed to attack—
alone liable to be pillaged and burnt' I come to a
far different conclusion.
Gentlemen, to excite a spirit of emulation, have
descanted at length on what Great Britain is do-
ing for her navy. They could have aroused a
more praiseworthy emulation had they depleted
what England is doing on our Canadian frontier;
had they enlarged upon the danger to be apprehend-
ed from the erection of British forts within cannon-
shot of severed of our important cities; had they
warned us to look out for our trade, which she is
now endeavoring to secure by the vast sums she is
expending in building light-houses and harbors, and
in improving the St. Lawrence river, and in en-
larging the Welland canal; had they exhibited the
cross of St.- George supplanting the American
stripes and stars: they might have gone farther, and
pictured those bloody battles of which our north-
western lakes will assuredly be the scene, if we ever
again war with our mother country, jealous of our
prosperity, and more especially of the effects of our
example m the extension of popular liberty. With
England in possession of this great thoroughfare,
whence are we" to obtain the flour, the pork, and the
beef to sustain, our army and navy? During the
last war, the fort at Macmac, which coiBHjanos the
outlet of Lake Michigan, was taken ere the occu-
pants heard that war \vm declared; awlit^as.hek}
until peace was restored. Let war again come,
and the British will strive to retake this fort, and to
get command of Detroit river; and perhaps Detroit
and Buffalo would fall ere we could raise or organ-
ize a force sufficient to defend them. In such an
event, sir, there is no describing the extent of the
damage she, from her superior preparations, might
do us. Strange—strange, indeed, that those who
would be so prodigal in voting navy appropriations
should be so parsimonious towards our most ex-
posed and vulnerable point.
In justification of these extravagant largesses to
the navy, the richest adulations nave been poured
forth upon our Atlantic sailors; and all very de-
servedly, so far I know. But in chivalric enterprise,
faithful perseverance, lofty sense of honor and duty,
collected spirits amid impending danger and
death, our upper-lake seamen have no supe-
riors on this mundane sphere. Mostly bom
within the roar of these ever-turbulent waters,
their first lessons are in braving the storms and tem-
pests, and setting the angry elements at defiance.
They sail thousands of miles along an unprotected
coast, without light-houses, breakwaters, or harbors,
with "every cloud foreboding a wreck. Unlike your
Atlantic sailors, they do not rejoice at the sight of
land, since it is ever before them. Their rejoicings
are on the opposite extreme. They pray to be be-
yond the reach of rocks, reefs, and bars, which they
seldom are. I could recount some of their daring
exploits that would freeze your very heart's blood,
could you but see a shadow of their awful reality.
Take, for example, the story of the pilot of the
burning boat, who stood at the wheel, directing Ker
towards the land, not only until the last passenger
had deserted her, but until he himself was enveloped
in flames, and died a victim to his own high sense
of duty. "When found, the flesh had burnt from
his hands, and the wood from the handle of the
wheel; but there were the crisped sinews and the
brittle bones grasping the iron burnt almost to a cin-
der. A noble example of the sailor's valor ! In
the fall of the year, many, very many, of our ves-
sels are driven ashore for the want of light-houses
and harbors. But what care our intrepid mariners
for this? As soon as the vessel strikes the beach,
though thick darkness veils the night; though the
gale shatters masts and rigging; though the moun-
tain waves sweep the deck; though the icicles dan-
gle from their clothing—the stout-hearted tar falters
not; but, tossing what of the cargo he can into the
small boat, he jumps aboard, and then, sir, freezes as
he tugs at. the oar. The tongue of eloquence cannot
give reality to such scenes of human suffering; can-
not paint the hardihood, the endurance, the intredi-
ty and devotion of our neglected seamen. I have
witnessed many wrecks myself—wrecks not only
of vessels and of cargoes, but of human life. And,
on the day of my election, when I saw so many of
of these gallant spirits—monuments of God's spar-
ing mercy—mere fragments, wrecks of men,
(though with a sailor's noble heart still beating high
within them,) with their canes and crutches, their
cork legs ana wooden arms, come up to deposite
their vote for me, what else could I do but swear to
devote all my energies to an amelioration of their
grievances, and to make a just and too long neglect-
ed representation of their full deserts on this floor?
And when I hear the Atlantic sailor so stoutly
praised, who sails about buoys, beacons, breakwa-
ters, well-constructed harbors and light-houses in
the skies, or off in the high seas beyond the reach of
rocks, reefs, or beaches, and that, too, under the
protection of some of our various government squad-
rons, I cannot but rise, and, without detracting from
the high deserts of the one, call your attention to
the long neglected merits of the other.
Astonishing as it may appear to this House, these
poor fellows, numbering, m the course of a year,
quite five thousand different persons, have not even
a hospital provided for them, after having had their
hospital money regularly deducted from their pay.
In their sickness, distress, and want, they are the
objects of common charity, though they regularly
contribute their quota to the hospital fund. This,
sir, is the very extreme of cruelty. I have already
introduced a resolution inquiring in what manner
this money is expended; and, before the close of the
session, I hope to present a plan for the erection of
such a much-needed institution, from the sales of
government property in the "West, now going to
waste. As I look upon it, we have not only treated
this class of our citizens with neglect, but with great
cruelty and downright extortion. We have robbed
them to get treasures for our aavy to filch from u .
It is the part of a wise man, when he finds him-
self unable to meet his liabilities, and bankruptcy
impending, to cast his eye about for expenses which
he can curtail, and for that property which he can
keep to the best advantage, and render the most pro-
ductive of a sinking fund with which to liquidate
his debts. "We certainly should curtail the estimates
for our navy. I believe #5,500,000 would answer
every emergency for this branch of our government.
And then, sir, the most extravagant demands of the
western rivers, including the Cumberland road and
the northern frontier waters, would be satisfied
with $1,000,000—a sum superior to what all
these interests have had within the past
five years, whilst #30,000,000 have been consumed
by our navy. The great Mississippi alone washes
the borders of seven States and two Territories. A
population of 6,000,000 are directly interested in its
trade—a trade which has amounted to $250,000,000
the past season. Over #100,000,000 (a sum but lit-
tle less than the annual amount of all our foreign
exports )"of agricultural products alone have been ex-
ported over her bosom, interrupted with bars, snags,
rocks, and long rapids, and various other obstruc-
tions, within that time. And yet there has been but
#200,000 appropriated to her improvement, and that
of her tributaries, embracing a navigation of more
than 12,000 miles, in the past five years—$150,000
last year, and #50,000 the year before. The average
annual losses on this stream must reach $1,000,000;
and in one year, no less than 65 boats were lost
from the various impediments to its navigation.
The first appropriation was in 1824; and less than
#2,000,000 in all have been appropriated to this date.
The upper Mississippi—by which I mean that part
above the mouth of the Missouri'—has been almost,
if not quite, entirely neglected. This is navigable as
far up as the mouth of the St. Peters for boats of 150
to 200 tons burden—a distance of 650 nnles above the
junction of the Mississippi. And on its bed are to
float, on their way to the great southern commercial
emporium, not only the vast agricultural products of
this fertile region, but the boundless wealth of the
great copper and lead mines of the north. The prin-
cipal obstructions to its safe navigation are sandy
shoals, sunken logs, impending trees, sawyers, snags,
and—what ought especially to be dwelt upon, and
what will be the most difficult to overcome—about
26 miles of rapids. The first are the Des Moines rap-
ids,180 miles above the Missouri, extending through a
distance of a little over ten miles. The second are the
Rock Island rapids, 330 miles above the Missouri,
extending 14J miles. These rapids are the most im-
portant obstructions to the safe navigation of the Mis-
sissippi; and thither ought the attention of this Con-
gress to be primordially directed. But with a trifling
outlay, compared with the mass of mineral and ag-
ricultural products which must pass over them every
year, all difficulty and danger from them may be en-
tirely obviated. And such improvements would not
be local merely, but general; common to nearly half
our country, in which I can imagine but few States
where there is no probability of liaving an interest,
immediate or remote.
I know it is said that the States along their banks
should improve the Mississippi and its tributaries.
But, have the States the power, under the ordinance
of 1787, which makes them public highways: What
one State or person might consider an improvement,
another State or person might consider an obstruc-
tion to the navigation of these streams, which is to
be free. It certainly will not be contended that the
Slates have a right to erect toil-bridges over the Mis-
sissippi and its tributaries that bound different
States. Yet, once concede the rijrht in the States to
improve them, and it will be dn|[cult to define the
extent of the operations which will be undertaken
in the name of improvements. At best, the right of
the States to improve (which, in some eyes, may be
to obstruct) is very doubtful. If this right exists
anywhere, it certainly does in the general govern-
ment; and to that" government 1 now present its
claims, which arc just and paramount, demanded by
the imperative necessities of nearly half of this
great confederacy.
But, it is asked where the money is to come from.
This is an important question, I admit. I have told
the House previously that, when one sees bank-
ruptcy impending, after curtailing all extravagances,
the next best thing is to improve all productive
property—of which the United States has a great
abundance in its public lands, which are now being
very slowly sold, and yield but very little revenue.
Yes, sir, tne once great land fund is fast dwindling
into «w%nifioanc?; «>ut millions upon millions of