32D CONG....2D SESS. take some effective measure to promote a better understanding with this populous and semi-barbarous empire; to make the effort not only to obtain from them the observance of the rights of humanity to such of our people as may be driven by necessity upon their coasts, but also to promote the higher and more valuable end of persuading them to abandon their unprofitable policy of seclusion, and gradually to take a place in that general association of commerce in which their resources and industry would equally enable them to confer benefits upon others and the fruits of a higher civilization upon themselves. The extension of the domain of the United States to the shores of the Pacific, the rapid settlement of California and Oregon, the opening of the highway across the Isthmus of Central America, the great addition to our navigation employed in trade with Asiatic nations, and the increased activity of our whaling ships in the vicinity of the northern coasts of Japan, are now pressing upon the consideration of this Government the absolute necessity of reviewing our relations to those Eastern communities which lie contiguous to the path of our trade. The enforcement of a more liberal system of intercourse upon China has met the approval of the civilized world, and its benefits are seen and felt, not less remarkably in the progress of that ancient empire itself, than in the activity which it has already imparted to the pursuit of Eastern commerce. China is awaking from the lethargy of a thousand years to the perception of the spirit of the present era, and is even now furnishing her quota to the adventure which distinguishes and stimulates the settlement of our West ern coast. These events have forced upon the people of America and Europe the consideration of the question, how far it is consistent with the rights of the civilized world to defer to those inconvenient and unsocial customs by which a nation capable of contributing to the relief of the wants of humanity shall be permitted to renounce that duty; whether any nation may claim to be exempt from the admitted Christian obligation of hospitality to those strangers whom the vocations of commerce or the lawful pursuits of industry may have incidentally brought in need of its assistance; and the still stronger case, whether the enlightened world will tolerate the infliction of punishment or contumelious treatment upon the unfortunate voyager whom the casualties of the sea may have compelled to an unwilling infraction of a barbarous law. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. by long and various services in his profession. Looking to the magnitude of the undertaking, and the great expectations which have been raised both in this country and in Europe in reference to its results, the casualties to which it may be exposed, and the necessity to guard it, by every precaution within the power of the Government, against the || possibility of a failure, I have thought it proper, with your approbation, to increase the force destined to this employment, and to put at the disposal of Commodore Perry a squadron of unusual strength and capability. I have, therefore, recently added to the number of vessels appropriated to the command, the line-of-battle-ship Vermont, the corvette Macedonian, and the steamer Alleghany. These ships, together with the sloop-of-war Vandalia, originally intended to be assigned to the squadron, and with the ships now on that station, the steamer Susquehanna, and the sloops-of-war Saratoga and Plymouth-a portion of which are now near to the term of their cruise-will constitute a command adapted, we may suppose, to any emergency which the delicate nature of the trust committed to the Commodore may present. It is probable that the exhibition of the whole force which will be under the command of Commodore Perry during the first year will produce such an impression upon a government and people who are accustomed to measure their respect by the array of power which accompanies the demand of it, as may enable him to dispense with the vessels whose term of service is drawing near to a close, and that they may be returned to the United States without any material prolongation of their cruise. SENATE & Ho. oF REPS. certain to end in the failure to accomplish such results as Congress had contemplated. Looking to the amount which it would have been necessary to reserve in order to provide for the special contingencies of such an expedition, it would have been impracticable to procure, by the application of the remaining portion of the appropriation, more than one steamer, of an inferior class, and perhaps two small brigs, to constitute the force to be used in the undertaking. It is doubtful if even this equipment could have been obtained by such an appropriation of the fund. The absolute necessity of altering, strengthening, and arranging any vessel which might be purchased, so as to adapt it to the character of the service required, and give reasonable assurance of safety and success, would have drawn so largely upon the appropriation as to reduce the outfit do a limit quite incompatible with the object expected to be attained. This cruise of exploration and survey, destined to equal employment in the tropics and the arctic regions, and required to traverse the broad expanse of the Pacific amongst dangerous and unknown shoals, and in search of islands and rocks misplaced upon our charts, and therefore the more perilous to the navigator, will find enough, and more than enough, of labor to occupy it during the next three years. Its toilsome duties, exacting ceaseless vigilance and all the skill of seamanship, will be inevitably enhanced by the disease incident to varying climates and exposure to the peculiar casualties of boat navigation and contests with the savage islanders of the seas it is destined to explore. I have therefore deemed it indispensable that at least one large vessel should be always at hand to afford a change of quarters to those who may be disabled, and to supply reliefs of fresh men to take the place of those who may be broken down by sickness or accident. It is impossible to maintain the health of the crews of the small vessels in so long a service without the comforts which such a change may afford. These surveys also require an extra supply of men beyond the usual complement destined to our cruising ships, there being constant occasion for detachments in boats to conduct the operation of measof the shoals and islands which it is the purpose of the enterprise to ascertain. A liberal allowance has been made to the squadron for all the contingencies which the peculiar nature of the enterprise may create. The commanding officer is furnished with ample means of defense and protection on land as well as sea; with the means, also, of procuring dispatch vessels, when necessary, transports for provision and fuel, and for such other employment as may be required. Special depôts of coal have been established at various points, and abundant supplies provided. He has, in addition to the instructions usually given to the squadron on this station, been direct-uring and determining the position and bearings ed to avail himself of such opportunities as may fall in his way to make as accurate surveys as his means may allow of the coasts and seas he may visit, and to preserve the results for future publication for the benefit of commerce. Somewhat allied in character and importance to these projected operations of the Japan squadron, is the expedition now prepared for the exploration and survey of the China Seas, the Northern Pacific, and Behring's Straits. The naval appropriation bill of the last session of Congress put at the disposal of this Department one hundred and twentyfive thousand dollars, "for the building or pur'chase of suitable vessels, and for prosecuting a survey and reconnoissance, for naval and com'mercial purposes, of such parts of Behring's Straits, of the North Pacific ocean, and the China Seas, as are frequented by American whaleships and by trading vessels in their routes between the United States and China." These are questions which are every day becoming more significant. That oriental sentiment which, hardened by the usage and habit of centuries, has dictated the inveterate policy of national isolation in Japan, it is very apparent, will not long continue to claim the sanctity of a national right to the detriment of the cause of universal commerce and civilization, at this time so signally active in enlarging the boundaries of human knowledge and the diffusion of comfort over the earth. The day has come when Europe and America have found an urgent inducement to demand of Asia and Africa the rights of hospitality, of aid and comfort, shelter and succor, to the men who pursue the great highroads of trade and explora- Very earnestly concurring with Congress in the tion over the globe. Christendom is constrained, importance of this exploration and survey, I have by the pressure of an increasing necessity, to pub- lost no time in the arrangement and preparation lish its wants and declare its rights to the heathen, of what I hope will prove itself to be a most effectand in making its power felt will bring innumer-ive and useful expedition. As the act of Conable blessings to every race which shall acknowl-gress has confided to the discretion of this Departedge its mastery. The Government of the United States has happily placed itself in the front of this movement, and it may be regarded as one of the most encouraging guarantees of its success, that the expedition which has just left our shores takes with it the earnest good wishes, not only of our own country, but of the most enlightened communities of Europe. The opening of Japan has become a necessity which is recognized in the commercial adventure of all Christian nations, and is deeply felt by every owner of an American whaleship and every voyager between California and China. This important duty has been consigned to the commanding officer of the East India squadron, a gentleman in every respect worthy of the trust reposed in him, and who contributes to its administration the highest energy and ability, improved ་ ment the selection of the vessels which may be found necessary for the prosecution of this enterprise, the equipment and distribution of the force it may require, and the organization of every matter of detail connected with it, limited only by the amount of the appropriation, I have thought I should best accomplish the object proposed, and gratify the expectation of the country, by giving to the expedition the benefit of such naval resources as the Department could command, rather than confine it to such limited supply as would have resulted from either building or purchasing vessels, and providing for the other details of this service out of the fund intrusted to the Department. With this fund so applied the Department would have been constrained to organize the expedition upon a scale which I conceive to be altogether inadequate to the nature of the labor re[quired, and which, indeed, would have been almost || In consideration of all these conditions, and many others of a kindred nature, I have determined to give to this little squadron every facility which the resources at my command have enabled me to supply. I have accordingly put the Vincennes, one of our stanchest and best sloops-ofwar, in the lead of the expedition. I have added to this the propeller John Hancock, which, being found to have an engine of the strongest construction, needed only some alterations in her size and frame, and the addition of new boilers, to make her in every respect a most efficient contribution to the force required. She has, with this view, been placed in the hands of the naval constructor, who is now assiduously at work, and I am happy to report with all desirable success, in fitting her out with every accommodation which her future operations may demand. Besides these two vessels, the brig Porpoise has been detailed for the expedition, and put in condition for all the exigencies of her employment. A small pilot-boat, adapted to speedy navigation and shallow waters, will be added to the squadron. These vessels, fully manned and equipped, and furnished with all the necessaries appropriate to the hazardous nature of their cruise, constitute the material elements of the expedition. To promote the scientific objects contemplated by the reconnoissance, I have supplied the squadron with an astronomer and hydrographer of known ability and accomplishment, and also with a naturalist and botanist, who are charged with the duty of collecting and preserving specimens of such natural productions as may be interesting to science and commerce. The squadron is placed under the command of an officer already distinguished by his participation in a former exploring expedition, and well known for the valuable contributions he has made to the hydrographical survey of our western coasts -Commander Ringgold-whose professional accomplishment and devotion to the service eminently qualify him for the duty committed to him. 32D CONG.....2D SESS. He will be able, I hope, to take his departure in a few weeks, and will sail directly to the Pacific, doubling Cape Horn and proceeding by the Sandwich Islands to Behring's Straits, where he may be expected to arrive at the opening of the season for operations in that quarter. It is designed to employ the expedition during each year in the reconnoissance of these high latitudes from June until October, this being the only season in which the surveys may be prosecuted in those regions. The remaining portions of each year will be devoted to the prosecution of survey and exploration in the lower latitudes, along the coast of Japan, the China seas, and the routes of navigation between our ports on the Pacific and the East Indies. Particular attention will be given to the survey of the seas and coasts through and along which our whaling ships pursue their perilous trade, looking carefully to the coast of Japan, the Kurile Islands, the sea of Okhotsk, and the unexplored shores of Northern Asia. The commander of the expedition is made fully aware of the necessity and value of an accurate survey of the various lines of navigation between California and China, and will bestow upon this undertaking an attention commensurate with its importance. He is directed to make frequent reports of his work, in order that no time may be lost in communicating to the country the results, together with descriptive charts, of his survey, for the benefit of commerce and navigation. These will be duly published as often as they are received by the Department. Being persuaded that this Department cannot better contribute to the fulfillment of the high expectations which the country has ever entertained as to the value of the Navy, nor perform a more acceptable duty to the Navy itself, than by imparting to this arm of the national power the highest spirit of enterprise, as well as the greatest efficiency of action, I have sought every opportunity to put in requisition for useful service the various talent, skill, and ambition of honorable adventure, which equally distinguish and embellish the professional character of the officers under the control of the Department. Constant employment of ships and men in the promotion of valuable public interests, whether in the defense of the honor of our flag, or in the exploration of the field of discovery and the opening of new channels of trade, or in the enlarging of the boundaries of science, I am convinced will be recognized both by the Government and the people as the true and proper vocation of the Navy, and as the means best calculated to nurse and strengthen that prompt and gallant devotion to duty which is so essential to the character of accomplished officers, and so indispensable to the effectiveness of the naval organization. Acting in conformity with this opinion, I have availed myself of events that favored the object to set on foot two other expeditions, which may be classed with those which I have just presented to your notice, and from which I have every reason to hope much good is to be derived hereafter. My attention has been invited by the Colonization Society of Pennsylvania to the necessity of prosecuting some researches into the character of the Continent of Africa, and especially that portion of it lying eastward of the settlements of Liberia. It is supposed that an exploration of this region would lead to the discovery of a broad tract of fertile and healthy country, well adapted to the extension of that system of colonization which for some years past has greatly interested the public attention, and more recently attracted the favorable consideration of Congress. The proposition submitted to my view by the society, and referred to your approval, I regard as one which may be rendered productive of great public advantage, and in regard to which you might confidently bespeak and anticipate the approbation of the country. I have, therefore, not hesitated, with your concurrence, to give it the aid which it was in the power of the Department to bestow. As I could not, however, without some special appropriation to the object, organize a full and effective expedition for the prosecution of this enterprise, I have thought that, by the employment of such means as have been provided for the ordinary exigencies of the service, I might profit ably prepare the way for such an expedition as Report of the Secretary of the Navy. Congress might hereafter think fit to authorize. SENATE & HO. OF REPS. have waited with anxiety for the occasion to add this new resource to the industry of our people; and I am sure it will gratify the commercial pride and please the emulous ambition of the nation, not less than it will secure great and permanent advantages to its trade, to have the American flag and a national vessel the first to receive the greetings of the population who, at the foot of the Andes, and along the navigable waters of inland Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay, are ready to welcome the first messenger of commerce and throw their treasures into his hand. Anticipating the near approach of this opportunity, with your approval I admonished Lieutenant Page, before it arrived, to hold himself in readiness for an exploration of these rivers, and directed the steamer Water Witch to be put in condition for the service. She is now nearly equipped, and Lieutenant Page will be ready to take his departure at the first moment that the steamer may be fit to receive him. He is provided with an able crew, well adapted to the nature of his expedition, and seconded by officers chosen for their efficiency both in the sphere of seamanship and scientific labor. A few boats are provided, adapted to the navigation of the upper streams above their falls; and the equipment, though of simple and unexpensive kind, will be, in all respects, such as may enable. Lieutenant Page to accomplish the duty assigned to him. In Commander Lynch, to whom the country is already indebted for important service in another field, I have found a prompt and ardent volunteer for this employment. He is now on his way to the African coast. He will land at Liberia, Cape Palmas, and other points, and will pursue his inquiries as far as the river Gaboon, with a view to the ascertainment of such localities on the margin of the African continent as may present the greatest facilities, whether by the river courses or by inland routes, for penetrating, with least hazard, to the interior. He will collect information touching the geographical character of the country, its means of affording the necessary supplies of men and provisions, the temper of the inhabitants, whether hostile or friendly, the proper precautions to be observed to secure the health of the party employed, and all other items of knowledge upon which it may be proper hereafter to prepare and combine the forces essential to the success of a complete and useful exploration of the interior. In the performance of this duty, under the most favorable circumstances, he will encounter the perils of a climate famed for its unwholesome influence upon the white man, and may hardly hope to escape the exhibition of hostility from the natives. The spirit which has prompted him to court this perilous adventure, so honorable to his courage and philanthropy, I trust will enable him to brave every hazard with success, to overcome every obstacle in his progress, and to reserve himself for the accomplishment of the great object to which these preparations are directed. In the mean time, I most earnestly commend the subject of the exploration to the early and favorable attention of Congress, with the expression of my own conviction that there is no enterprise of the present day that deserves a higher degree of favor, or that will more honorably signalize the enlightened pol-lection of the most judicious routes of travel, with icy of this Government in the estimation of the present or of future generations. It will require a liberal appropriation of money, and an enlarged discretion to be confided to the Navy Department for the organization and arrangement of a plan of operations which must embrace the employment of a number of men, the supply of boats, armaments and tools, and the enlistment of such scientific aid as a long and laborious inland exploration, beset with many dangers and difficulties, will suggest. These four expeditions, each of them of a highly interesting character, and likely to be productive of results which will be beneficially felt and acknowledged long after the men who may procure them shall have passed away, constitute, in great part, the chief and most important topics which have engrossed the care of the Navy Department during the past year. It gives me pleasure to report, in connection with these, the return of Lieutenant Herndon, to whom was consigned, in conjunction with Passed Midshipman (now Lieutenant) Gibbon, an exploration of the valley of the river Amazon and its tributaries. These officers were directed to cross the Cordilleras in Peru and Bolivia, and by a se a small company of men, for the employment of whom means were furnished by this Department, to explore the valley of the Amazon, and to descend that river to the sea. More than a year has been spent in the active prosecution of this duty. Lieutenant Herndon reached the United States in July last, bringing with him a large amount of interesting and useful facts, industriously collected by him in the course of his long and hazardous journey, embracing many valuable statistics of the country, and adding most important contributions to the hitherto unknown geographical character of the country. He is now engaged in preparing a full report of the incidents and discoveries of his travel, which will be communicated to you as soon as it is placed in possession of this Department. I beg to commend Lieutenant Herndon to your special approbation and thanks for the intelligence and ability, and yet more for the high professional zeal he has exhibited in the performance of his difficult and honorable duty. With a view to the preparatory operations of Commander Lynch, and also in consideration of the need which the African squadron has at all times for such an auxiliary, I have directed the small steamer Vixen to be prepared without delay and sent to that coast, to constitute a part of the force under the command of Commodore Mayo, who is about to take charge of the squadron. He will be instructed to furnish Commander Lynch with every facility which his position may allow. A small sum of money has also been placed at the disposal of Commander Lynch for the contingen-route from that of Lieutenant Herndon, has not cies of his present service. Lieutenant Gibbon, having taken a different yet arrived, but may be expected in the course of the winter. When he returns to this city, the result of his work will be submitted to your notice. The second expedition to which I have referred has grown out of the recent decree of the Provisional Director of the Argentine Confederation, The brig Dolphin, which was employed during which has very lately reached this country, and the last year, under the command of Lieutenant which now throws open to navigation that long-Lee, in a survey of portions of the Atlantic, for sealed and excluded country lying upon the tributaries of the river La Plata. The Uraguay and the Parana are at last opened by this decree to the access of all nations who may choose to seek the new associations which they offer to the spirit of adventure. A vast territory of boundless resource, proverbial for its treasures of vegetable and mineral wealth, extending, like the Mississippi, from south to north, and reaching through twenty-four parallels of latitude, with every climate between the temperate and torrid zones, and with every variety of product which may be gathered from the alluvial plains of the ocean border to the heights of the Andes-this is the field into which the liberal decree of President Urguiza has invited the enterprise of our country, as well as of other nations, who will be equally prompt to pursue it. We the purpose of ascertaining the position of some dangerous rocks and shoals which were known to exist in the routes of navigation between the United States and Europe, has performed useful service, of which the results will be communicated to Congress. This work being yet incomplete, the Dolphin has again been dispatched on a second cruise of the same character, under the command of Lieutenant Berryman, and may be expected to accomplish a work which will tend, in no small degree, to lessen the hazards which have heretofore embarrassed the voyages of our merchant marine. Lady Franklin, whose devotion to the cause of her unfortunate husband has excited so large a sympathy in the United States, has been encouraged to make another effort to determine the fate of 326 CONG.....2D SESS. the gallant navigator of the Arctic sea, and is now intent upon the organization of a new expedition under the auspices of our countryman, Mr. Henry Grinnell, and Mr. George Peabody, of London. Their endeavor will be directed to an exploration of the upper coasts of Greenland, by land as well as sea, and will furnish occasion for valuable scientific observation tending to the ascertainment of the magnetic poles and the intensity and dip of the needle, and interesting also to geological questions connected with the supposed existence of an open polar sea, and other subjects of much importance in the natural history of our globe. Apart, therefore, from its main object, there is much in the projected expedition to excite a high degree of interest in its results, both in Europe and America. The distinguished lady whose sorrows have inspired this zeal of adventure, and whose energy has given it an intelligent and hopeful direction, has done no more than justice to a meritorious young officer of our Navy, Passed Assistant Surgeon Kane, in asking his coöperation in this hazardous exploit. Dr. Kane has already won a high praise from his countrymen by his intrepid perseverance in facing the extraordinary dangers of the last expedition on the same errand to the Arctic sea, and still more by the diligence which, guided by scientific accomplishment, has enabled him to contribute a valuable fund towards the illustration of a subject that now engrosses an unusual share of learned investigation. The request of Lady Franklin to enlist Dr. Kane in the new expedition has been communicated to me, and I have not delayed to give him the necessary permission, and to confer upon him all the benefit he may derive from his position in the Navy, by an order which puts him upon special service. If it should become requisite in the field of operations to which he is destined to provide him with means for the prosecution of scientific discovery, beyond those which may be afforded by the Department and the liberality of the distinguished gentlemen who have assumed the charge of this expedition, I would commend it to the enlightened regard of Congress, with the most confident hope that that body will respond to the suggestions of this necessity with a prompt appreciation and generous support of an undertaking so honorable to humanity and so useful to the enlargement of liberal science. THE NAVAL ACADEMY. The Naval Academy at Annapolis presents to the regard of Congress an institution worthy of the highest encouragement. Under a judicious and energetic administration, it has now reached a stage in its progress which may enable the Government to form a satisfactory estimate of its influence in promoting and sustaining the future efficiency of the Navy. The school has grown up to its present stage in the progressive expansion and improvement of a design which, in its origin, forbade the adoption of a comprehensive and permanent system of naval education. It was at first contrived to supply nothing more than the opportunity of prosecuting a few useful studies to a class of occasional students, who were subject to all the interruptions of details for service at sea, and who were therefore not in a condition to conform to the requirements necessary to a regular course of professional instruction. The obvious insufficiency of this mode of study soon suggested the necessity for a more methodical arrangement. A plan was accordingly devised in 1850, to take effect at the commencement of the next term of October, 1851, by which all the acting midshipmen of the date of that and subsequent years should be inducted into the school in its lowest class, and proceed in due order through a prescribed course of naval education, which is specifically adapted to a term of four years. The series of studies appropriate to each year was defined, the practice of gunnery and seamanship established, and the whole organization, as it now exists, completed. The classes were so contrived also as to receive, according to an appointed succession, the acting midshipmen of dates Prior to 1851, who by this provision will, in the space of the next three years, have had the opportunity of graduating in the school. The admissions of acting midshipmen to the Navy, and consequently to the Academy, have Report of the Secretary of the Navy. been regulated and limited by several laws, of which the combined import now is to give to each State and Territory its relative proportion of appointments, determined by the ratio of representation in Congress and its relation to the whole number of acting and passed midshipmen allowed to the Navy. To this determination of the quota of appointments appropriated to each State and Territory there has been added an allotment of a fractional share to each Congressional district, and the nomination for each district has been conferred upon the member representing it. The whole number of midshipmen, including passed midshipmen, allowed to the Navy is four hundred and sixty-four. The number of Representatives and Delegates, according to the last census, is two hundred and thirty-nine. Each Representative, therefore, is entitled by the existing law to the nomination of one candidate and a fraction equal to 225-239. No provision has been made for the disposition of these fractions, and I have therefore thought myself bound, in the absence of any other regu lation, to consult the wishes of at least a majority of the Representatives entitled to the fractional part in receiving a nomination to supply the vacancy. As the school does not contain more than a fourth of the midshipmen belonging to the Navy, and as the vacancies in the number of students are dependent altogether upon the promotions to the grade of lieutenants and upon the resignations, dismissals, and deaths in each year in the corps of midshipmen, the annual nominations to the school must, when the entire complement of midshipmen is regularly filled, be comparatively but few in number. The present condition of the service supplies but a small ratio of promotions; and if it were not for the operation of the resignations, dismissals, and deaths, it is manifest that the yearly recruits to be added to the school would be so inconsiderable in numbers as to forbid any hope of extensive usefulness; whilst the fluctuating character of these causes which produce the vacancies tends to a result scarcely less injurious. It is, indeed, the most obvious defect in the present organization of the Academy that its supply of students is liable to these contingencies; for while the classes are advancing by regular steps, through the course of four years' study, to the term at which they must leave the school and enter into the field of active service, the vacancies which they create are dependent upon such a limited fund of supply as must ultimately reduce the number of pupils below the quota which is essential to the administration of the system. That this defect has not already been visible in the career of the Academy is to be ascribed only to the fact, that up to the present time the members of the institution have been recruited from the grade of midshipmen who have been employed at sea previous to the new arrangements, adopted and commenced with the class of 1851. The classes heretofore have been furnished out of this corps, in addition to the annual nominations. When this resource is exhausted and the school is dependent on the yearly nominations alone, the defect to which I have referred will be fully seen and felt. It will then be manifest that the whole number at the school cannot exceed, at any time, the number of promotions added to the occasional vacancies occurring in the corps of midshipmen and passed midshipmen in four years. It is to remedy this defect, and to give the school an inherent power necessary to its own perpetuation, and to make it what I am sure the country desires to see it, a vigorous and healthful institution, completely adapted to the useful ends for which it was ordained, that I propose, with your approbation, to submit to Congress the following change in its fundamental structure. The Academy should be composed exclusively of cadets, or young men who are received as candidates for admission to the Navy. Its design should be that of a preparatory school to qualify these candidates for appointments, and they should only be in condition to be selected for midshipmen when they had successfully passed through this probation. If this principle be adopted as the ground-work of the plan, then the whole number of cadets to be SENATE & HO. OF REPS. nominated for the school may be established by law. For the present, I suggest that this number may be fixed at two hundred and forty-eight. It may be altered as future experience may require. Of this number of two hundred and forty-eight who are to be furnished to the Academy every four years, one fourth, or sixty-two, should be nominated for admission at the commencement of each yearly term, to constitute the first or lowest class of the school. Of this whole number of two hundred and forty-eight, two hundred and twenty-eight might be allotted to the nomination of members of Congress, apportioning them to each State according to the ratio of representation and requiring the nomination to the vacancies to be made, not by the representatives singly, but by the united counsel and action of the whole representation of each State, including Senators and Representatives. The remaining twenty of the two hundred and forty-eight may be given with advantage to the President. By this arrangement Congress would be called on to nominate fifty-seven cadets every year, and the President five. The classes would thus commence their career with sixty-two members, and this number, or so many of them as are not dropped in the progress of the four years, would represent the annual number of graduates. Provision, of course, should be made for the gradual absorption of all those acting midshipmen who, under the present system, are not yet disposed of. In a few years they must disappear, after which the organization of the cadets would be undisturbed. In addition to this number of sixty-two nominations to be made in each year, Congress and the President would also have the appointment to such vacancies in the new class as might arise out of the failure of the first candidates to pass the preliminary examinations required at their admission. The vacancies occasioned by subsequent examinations, and by the other causes operating during the progress of the classes through the term of the four years, I propose should not be filled; but the classes, after their commencement, should advance to the end of the term of study, subject to all the incidents of their career which may reduce their numbers. The propriety of this provision will be recognized when it is observed that a vacancy occurring in any class after it has become advanced in its studies could not be supplied, at that advanced stage, by a new appointment to the school. The class would still go on in its reduced state, whilst the supply of a vacancy occurring in it could only operate to the undue increase of the lowest class of beginners, and would thus produce a periodical and inconvenient increase of graduates for whom no allotment could be made in the Navy. Assuming sixty-two as the number which shall always be supplied to the lowest class or beginners of the school, we have reason to believe, from the data afforded by the experience of West Point, that the annual number of graduates would not exceed some twenty-five or thirty, it being found, in the general operation of the system, that the graduates do not bear a greater average proportion to the admissions than forty per cent. Upon this basis it may be estimated that these twenty-five or thirty may be looked to as the ordinary yearly resource for the supply of young officers to the Navy. I propose, in the next place, that the law should establish the corps of midshipmen for the service at two hundred and fifty. These should be recognized as midshipmen only, and be subject to all the understood and appropriate duties of that class of officers. They should then be consigned to service on board of ships-of-war, and, after six months' employment at sea, should, upon examination and approval by a competent board, be entitled to the midshipman's warrant, bearing the date of the graduation of the school; and after three years' service at sea and another examination, they should be noted for promotion to a higher grade, which I propose should be created by law and denominated masters. The grade of passed midshipman should be abolished as soon as the gradual promotion of the corps may allow. It is an anomaly in the naval service, presenting a class of officers to whom no duty is specifically assigned, and constantly engendering discontent 32D CONG....2D SESS. when the duties of ordinary midshipmen are required of it. This class now perform the duty of masters, and I think it but proper that the duty and the rank should be associated by law. The change would require no increase of pay, and would, I have no doubt, be productive of good effects. The grade of masters might be established at one hundred, and might at once be filled by appointing to it that number of passed midshipmen. The ultimate result of this plan would give, when all the present passed midshipmen shall have been absorbed in the regular course of promotion, two hundred and fifty midshipmen and one hundred masters to occupy the space now filled by the corps of four hundred and sixty-four officers-a reduction of one hundred and fourteen. This reduction of course would increase the ratio of promotion to the corps of lieutenants, and would leave a sufficient complement for all the demands of the service, estimated by the present size of the Navy. A future increase of the Navy would suggest a proportionate increase of officers of every grade. The promotions incident to this organization of the corps-that is to say, of two hundred and fifty midshipmen and one hundred masters-would supply about twenty-five vacancies a year. The present number of higher officers furnish something near this yearly average, and there is no reason to suppose that it will be reduced in future; the more active service of the Navy, even on the present establishment, may rather increase it. The school, therefore, may be regarded as subject to an annual demand for this number of its graduates to be advanced into the regular line of service. Estimating the number of graduates at twenty-five, the whole of them would thus find position and employment; an increase to thirty would of course give a remainder of five, which may also be disposed of. graphical corps may require, shall be appropriated reduce it. It is proper for me to say, also, that, occasion. If the Department should be able to contribute any members to the corps from the present officers of the service, I think such appointments should not exceed twenty to each grade of masters and lieutenants and ten commanders, and, that no captain be appointed until after five years' service in the corps, there may be found the proper officers to occupy the vacancies in this grade. It should also be well understood that the Secretary of the Navy, in assigning present officers to the corps, should be governed alone in his selection by high qualification and accomplishment in the science required, and not by seniority in the service; and that no appointments should be made, unless there be found officers of approved reputation for their acquirements in reference to this service who may be willing to enter the corps. The yearly graduates of the Academy will, according to this system, be assigned to the two branches of service I have described; that is to say, to the regular naval service and to the hydroI propose, in further organization of this system, graphical corps. The graduates required for these to construct a scientific corps in the Navy, to be two branches should be selected from those who established as the hydrographical crops; this corps are adjudged by the board of examination to stand to be designed, in its first formation, upon a basis highest on the roll of the class; and if at any time which shall provide for thirty masters, thirty lieu- it should happen that the requisitions should not tenants, fifteen commanders, and five captains, embrace the whole number of graduates in each making eighty in all. It should be specially edu- year, then those whose services are not required, cated for that scientific professional service in being the lowest on the roll, should receive an which some portion of the Navy is constantly em- honorable discharge from the school. These would ployed. Its chief duties should be connected with return to the occupations of private life well eduhydrographical surveys, astronomical observa-cated by the bounty of the Government, and qualtions, construction of charts, preparation and im- ified for useful employment in the many important provement of ordnance, the supervision of naval Vocations connected with commerce and navigaarchitecture and machinery, and the direction of tion, and especially in the various service of steamcivil engineering in the construction of docks and ships which create so large a demand for expert other structures requiring scientific knowledge and and accomplished officers. In whatever situation skill. they may be placed, they will find abundant occasion to rejoice in the advantages they shall have obtained at the school, and, by the proper use of these advantages, indemnify the country for the care and expense it may have bestowed upon their culture. These conditions and incidents of an admission to the Academy being understood in advance, both by the cadet and his friends, it is presumed, will prepare them to regard the discharge gency of a most important good conferred, and not as a disappointment which should occasion regret. If, on the other hand, it should turn out that the annual number of graduates should not be adequate to the demands of these two branches of service, the basis of sixty-two in the class of beginners may be increased to the number at which experience may show that the desired result may be obtained. It will be easy, after the experiment of a few years, to ascertain this number with sufficient precision; and, as in the mean time the hydrographic corps is to be filled, the extra supply of the classes for the next three years, by the admission of the midshipmen of dates prior to 1851, will very opportunely enlarge the classes to a num c The corps should be entirely separate from and independent of the regular naval service. Its line of promotion should be confined to its own organization, and its government should be under its own proper officers. In addition to the duties assigned to it on shore and in hydrographical surveys, some portion of it might be appropriated to service at sea, and one or more officers of the corps might be introduced into the complements of squad-in its true point of view, as the necessary continrons on foreign or home service. An experienced officer of this corps would find useful and active duty upon every cruise. It should be left to the Navy Department to regulate the character and contingencies of this service, and to make all the necessary rules and orders for its application. This corps should be built up under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy from the material afforded by the Academy, with such additions to it, in its commencement, from the regular line of naval service, as in his judgment the qualifications of the present officers might enable him to make with advantage. With a view to the supply of this corps from the Academy, I propose that, upon the yearly examination of the graduates, the Board of Examin-ber which will satisfy that requisition. ation shall be directed to bestow a close attention upon the class submitted to them, in order to ascertain the particular adaptation of any of the graduates to this species of service, and that they shall report to the Department the names of such as they may find qualified by study, talent, and acquirement for admission to the corps; and if, upon this report, the students so designated shall consent to enter the corps, they, or so many of them as the established complement of the hydro In arranging the complement of officers to the hydrographic corps, I have proceeded upon a conjectural estimate of what I suppose may be found necessary to the service required of it. I submit this to the judgment of Congress for such alterations in the grades and numbers as their investigation of the subject may suggest. I have thought it safest to propose a number rather below what I think the service may ultimately demand, as it is easier to increase this complement than to These are the general views and considerations which have induced me to submit this plan to your approval and to the consideration of Congress. It will afford the annual appointment of sixtytwo candidates for the Navy. It will give greater permanency and efficiency to the school. It will quicken promotion in the Navy, and give to the younger officers hope of useful command whilst they yet possess the vigor and ambition of youth. It will establish a valuable corps of scientific officers, who will bring to the service equal devotion to the prosperity of the Navy and the highest attainments to promote it. And it may occasionally give to the country men carefully educated in useful knowledge, and bound by the strongest obligation of gratitude and honor to requite this public bounty by laudable service in the employments of civil life. I think it proper, in presenting this new organization of the school and of the officers which it is intended to supply, to ask of Congress that the grade of master in the service shall be entitled to a commission and recognized in that character by law. The masters are ward-room officers, and should be placed amongst the commissioned officers of the Navy. No change of pay is necessary, and in that respect they may be left upon their present footing. It must be observed that some years will elapse if this organization be now authorized by law before it can be rendered complete; and the sooner, therefore, that it is adopted the better. The present class of passed midshipmen numbers two hundred and sixteen. These are to be disposed of. One hundred of them may be commissioned as masters, and the grade may be at once established at that number by law. The remaining hundred and sixteen would be gradually absorbed by the grade of masters in a few years, after which the system will work according to its permanent regulation. The present number of acting midshipmen is two hundred and six, of which the school contains, by the last report, eighty-one. Five appointments have been made for the next term, and there are yet thirty-seven vacancies. To the nominations already made for the new class of beginners to the next term of October, 1853, may be added at once, with the thirty-seven vacancies, as many as may be necessary to make sixty-two. The classes should then advance regularly to the end of their respective terms, without additions, and the law may provide for the annual supply henceforth of sixty-two, in the manner I have indicated. The grade of midshipmen might be at once declared to be limited to two hundred and fifty, and the filling of that complement should await the supply it may hereafter obtain from the graduates. If any of the present grade of passed midshipmen and masters should be found qualified for admission to the hydrographic corps, the vacancies which may be made by their appointment to it may be filled by promotion, and so hasten the period at which the new organization may be brought into full operation. The school has yet to receive some classes of midshipmen of the date previous to 1851. When admitted, they will constitute an extra portion beyond the quota allowed to the Academy, and I would suggest in regard to them that they should be permitted, as heretofore, to constitute a part of any class for which they may be qualified, and upon their graduation to be entitled to their advance 32D CONG.....2d Sess. APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE. ment to the proper grade; it being mainly important to provide at present that each yearly class of new admissions should be constituted of the appointed number of sixty-two, and in no event to exceed that number. The future organization of the school will necessarily follow upon the observance of this provision. In proper connection with this subject of the Academy, it is my duty to apprise you that I have recently adopted regulations for the government of apprentices to be admitted at the several navyyards and workshops under the control of this Department. The propriety of these regulations has been suggested by the Bureau of Yards and Docks, and I am indebted to the intelligent labors of three distinguished officers of the department, Commodores Morris, Shubrick, and Smith, to whom I referred the subject for a report, which I have received, and which will be found amongst the documents accompanying this communication. The report presents the regulations which I have approved. The number of apprentices as established, for the present, by this system, is eightythree. They are required to undergo an examination twice in each year, and, after the first year, those most distinguished in the previous trials are to be subjected to another of a still more extensive and rigorous character, upon which such as shall be reported as worthy of the highest approbation and reward, and as demonstrating talent adapted to eminence in the public service, are to be commended to the Secretary of the Navy for such further advantages of instruction as he may have it in his power to confer. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. it is due to Commander Stribling, who has charge by the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography, ORGANIZATION AND DISCIPLINE OF SEAMEN. throughout the country, and which is naturally suggested by those impulses that distinctively In obedience to a sentiment which is prevalent characterize the opinions and habits of our people, Congress has been recently led to the considerait had heretofore been supposed was necessary to tion of the ordinary mode of punishment, which I regard it as a most salutary power to be in- The result of this consideration has been the pasthe preservation of the discipline of the Navy. vested in the Secretary of the Navy, for the beneficial performance of the duty thus assigned to him, punishment on board of our ships, both public and sage of a law for the entire abolition of corporal that he should have authority to admit into the private. This punishment-which, for a long Naval Academy those apprentices whose good con- time, has been practised in the Navy and comduct and capabilities shall have earned this dis-mercial marine, not only without question as to tinction; and to provide that they should there be conducted through a course of study appropriate to their intended future vocations, and calculated to advance them in mathematical and mechanical science, under such regulations in regard to the term of their application, their duties and deportment, as the Navy Department might think it expedient to adopt. Having completed this course of study, they should be returned to the yards from which they may have been received, or allotted to suitable employments in the service. SENATE & HO. OF REPS. 13 dom indulged without leading to cruelties that lieving himself exempt from the speedy penalty of must disgrace those who practice them; and, what mind hostile to the Navy itself. The seaman, beis more to be feared, raise a sentiment in the public disobedience or neglect of duty, and looking with ing of a court-martial upon his delinquency, grows indifference to the remote and uncertain proceedhabitually contumacious to his superiors, and inin the very fact of the diffusion of this spirit of fuses the same sentiment into his comrades; and also come to be more lightly considered when he from punishment-naturally enough believing that insubordination finds ground to hope for immunity what has grown to be common and frequent will may excite some surprise in the statement of what is summoned to a trial at the end of his cruise. It I learn to be true, that the most frequent complaints against the abolition of corporal punishment are made, in great part, by the seamen themtion, and the absence of any substitute for it, now selves. The difficulties arising out of its abrogaready supply of our squadrons with seamen. This recruiting stations of the difficulty of enlisting the constitute the most prominent obstacles to the Department is familiar with complaints from the better class of seamen. Of that large number of men who have heretofore constituted the pride of our Navy, by their good seamanship and highly respectable personal deportment, comprising, I rejoice to say, the great body of the mariners who deepest concern of Congress, we are daily deprived, have sustained the honor and glory of our flag in reer-of these men, it is a fact which invites the its most perilous, as well as in its most useful caby their refusal to enter again into the service until, a better system of discipline may be restored. They reasonably complain, that whilst the worst as they ask, they shall have some assurance that its efficacy in maintaining the proper observance of duty on ship-board, but which, indeed, had portions of the crew are placed under arrest, and both officers and men, as an indispensable necesare exempt, in consequence, from the severe dubecome so incorporated in the sober conviction of the constantly-recurring exigencies which compel ties of the deck, they find their toil increased by sity of the service, that it had grown to be the perform the extra work which the reduction of the them, for weeks and months, during a cruise, to most unquestioned usage and generally received incident of naval discipline-many judicious per- oppressively is this evil felt, that I have reason to force of the ship inevitably throws upon them. So sons believed might be dispensed with, not only believe, if the best seamen, who have heretofore most acceptably to the feelings of the nation, but also without disadvantage to the service. been accustomed to man our ships, could find an adoption of this opinion by Congress, in the pas-majority of the whole number would be seen to occasion to express their wishes to Congress, a sage of the act of September, 1850, which forbade the accustomed penalty, without providing a substitute for it, has afforded the Navy the sincerely regret to say that the records of this Deopportunity to make the experiment. partment, as well as the almost entire concurrence of facts and opinions, brought to my notice from I very experienced observers, all tend to indicate a most authentic sources, and vouched by intelligent and unsatisfactory result. The omission of Congress to provide for the punishment of what may be called minor offenses against discipline and good order on ship-board may, perhaps, account in part I take great pleasure in presenting this subject to for the failure; but the fact of the most serious your approval and to the attention of Congress. detriment to the efficiency of our service is so unIn view of this reorganization of the Academy, the recent change, that it becomes the gravest of happily forced upon my attention, as the effect of I submit, also, as a question worthy of consideration, whether it would not be a salutary provision before Congress, and to ask its attention to the my duties at this time to lay the subject once more to require that the officers of the Marine Corps consideration of such a corrective to the present should be prepared for that service by an education at the school? My own opinion is, that it find to be indispensable to the proper government condition of the service as I am confident it must would be attended by manifest advantage, both as respects the necessary accomplishment for naval of the Navy. We have evidence furnished to this service in that corps, and the personal character Department, in the history of almost every cruise, and deportment of the officers belonging to it. It of acts of insubordination that not only impair is amongst the incidents of their employment that the usefulness of our ships, but which tend also they are sometimes required to perform important military duties on shore in which a necessity is controllable mutinies. The multiplication of courtsto the gradual development of habits amongst the seamen that threaten to lead to extensive and unfound for that species of knowledge only to be martial, and all the consequences of an increase of gained in the military or naval school; and in every service to which they are called it is quite apparent apparent and growing evils of the new system. that this knowledge, and the spirit to appreciate disorder and crime, are amongst the least of the the duties of command that is inseparable from it, The demoralization of both men and officers is a must increase the efficiency of the officer and elevate the character of the corps to which he is atyet more observable consequence. The absence tached. If these considerations should influence or prohibition of the usual punishments known to the opinion of Congress as they do my own, they which full scope has been given, and the strongest seamen has led to the invention of new penalties of the most revolting kind, in the application of will suggest the expediency of making the pro- provocations administered, to that exhibition of vision to which I have invited their attention. In concluding this notice of the Naval Academy,be to men of hasty and excitable natures, is seltemper and passion which, however natural it may It would be a useful provision in this scheme to give to the young men so educated a preference in the admissions to the corps of engineers for steamships, for which appointments their education would particularly qualify them; their admission into that corps, nevertheless, to be dependent upon successful examination and a favorable certificate to moral and intellectual character. In the operation of this scheme the Navy would derive the benefit of the best talents and acquirement for the supply of engineers, naval architects, and constructors and superintendents in the various departments of mechanical employment connected with the service. The prefer a restoration of that form of punishment which has been forbidden, rather than be subject to the severities imposed upon them by the present condition of disorder in the naval discipline. Looking at this state of things in the Navy, I think the occasion propitious to the adoption of a time to submit to your consideration the outline of new system for the organization and government of the whole material constituting the crews of our ships; and I take advantage of the present and receive the approbation of Congress. a plan, which I trust will engage your attention, The supply of our Navy with seamen has herehave derived, by old habit and national descent, tofore been obtained by a system of enlistment, adopted in Great Britain, from which nation we modeled, in its principal elements, upon the plan land, we have looked to our commercial navigathe general features of our marine. Like Engcruise, discharging and paying them off when it is tion for the reinforcement of the men of the Navy. We enlist the mercantile seamen for the national finished, and returning them to the merchant service. The Navy, in general, has been sufficiently attractive to the sailor to be able to secure his serbeing an easy and accessible resource, but little Ivice when needed; and this mode of enlistment consideration has heretofore been bestowed upon its effect either on the Navy itself or upon the seamen. To the Navy it has given a large and meritorious class of mariners, not unmixed, however, with many of a different character, and from that mixture itself requiring a prompt and effective system of punishment adapted to secure a ready of the system upon the men of the Navy has been discharge of duty in every emergency. The effect overlooked, or, if regarded at all, it has not attracted the attention of the public authorities. The sailor is, in general, upon shore a helpless being. Between himself and all around him there is a palpable incongruity. He has come off a long cruise |