Letters on the Navy to Mr. Clay [pp. 724-729]

181. Le-~ XoSr.Cly
one hundred millions of dollars out of the public
treasury have been disbursed for the Navy, since
the war-never a cent in the West, and if we except a paltry sum at Pensacola, scarce a dollar in
the South. Proud of the Navy, and mindful of the
national dignity and honor, never a murmur from
the West, has been raised against this partial distribution of the public bounty.
But times have changed. By the revolution
which the powers of steam are effecting in the
means of maritime warfare, the Mississippi boatmen will be to the Navy in the next war, what
our Marblehead seamen were in the last. And,
are the yeomen of the West less brave and patriotic,
the Southrons less loyal and true, than their brethren at the North, that they should be excluded from
the Navy-shut out from its honors in war, and its
benefits in peace 1.
I beseech your attention to this subject; for I
hope to show that justice to the West, as well as
the common weal of all the States, require that
certain Naval establishments and means of defence,
should be connected with the waters of the Mississippi. If I succeed in doing this, I further hope
that you will take up the subject in your capacity
as an American statesman and legislator-not upon
party grounds or sectional interests, but upon the
broad grounds of the necessities, the honor and
welfare of the State.
First then, I beg leave to call your attention to
the' Scraps,' published, from time to time, in the
Southern Literary Messenger, from the "LuckyBag of Harry Bluff." That writer advises the
establishment on the Mississippi, of a National
Dock-Yard for steamers; and urges important considerations in favor of the measure.
Memphis, Tennessee, is the most suitable place
for such an establishment. The draft of water
thence to the Gulf, is at all times sufficient for the
passage of the boats to and fro. The river there
is never blocked with ice. The location is healthy.
It is high enough up to be secure from invasion, or
molestation by an enemy. It is at the corner of
three States, all of which are alike interested in,
and would be equally benefited, by such an establishment.
Instead of carrying the live-oak from Louisiana
to New-York or Boston, for building steamers, as
we now do, it could then be carried at half the
cost, and only one-sixth the distance, to Memphis.
A national Dock-Yard there, would open a market
for the hemp of Kentucky-the coal of Pennsylvania-the pork of Ohio-the beef of Illinoisthe flour of Michigan-the copper of Iowa-the
lead of Missouri,-and for the iron, the mechanical skill and agricultural products, of all these
States.
The United States Steamer Fulton of 720 tons,
and H. B. M. Steamer Cyclops of 1,195 tons, were
the first steam men-of-war built in this country and
in England. The American vessel, built of native
timber, cost $333,000, or upwards of $460 per
ton;-the English vessel, built of imported timber,
chargeable with a duty varying from 100 to 500
per cent., cost, completely armed and rigged for sea,
~.54,024,* or less than $240 a ton. The English
have their timber to buy and import; we have it
for the cutting down,-and with these advantages
it costs $460 a ton, to build war-steamers in the
Eastern States. Are Mississippi steamboats built
at this rate. You know they are not. A DockYard there for war-steamers, would beget a laudable spirit of emulation between the West and the
East. With such an establishment, properly conducted, we should find, that we can build in the
West-if we cannot in the East, at least as cheaply
as they can in England.
Greater than all these partial benefits, would be
the national advantages to be derived by introducing the Navy in the West. Her sons would
man our vessels sailing thence; popular prejudices
against the Navy and the sailor's calling, would be
removed; and by the force of habit and association, there would be rendered available to the country in war, the services of eight or ten thousand
Western watermen, who would man our armed
steamers far more efficiently than the seamen of
the East. It is important to gain over from these
men, predilections for the Navy; and this can only
be done by creating, as it were, a Navy in the
midst of them; enlisting their sons, brothers, friends
and neighbors, in the service; and by affording
them all, frequent opportunities of going on board,
and otherwise being in contact with, the public
vessels.
Tennessee is the fifth State in the Union. Considering the breakwaters and seawalls, the forts
and castles, the coast surveys, Navy-Yards, harbor defences, and the like, that abound in the
Eastern States,-that many millions of a common
fund have been disbursed even in the smallest of
those States,-that scarcely a dollar of this fund,
finds its way to Tennessee, Mississippi, et al.considering, I say, all these things, the preference
given to Tennessee will appear but just, even were
there in other States twenty other places, as there
is not one, as suitable as Memphis for the DockYard of the West. UNION JACK.
No. I.
COUNCIL BLUFF, July 15, 1841.
TO MR. CLAY.
SIR, Having consulted economy, and the interests of
the Navy, and therefore of the nation, by establishing a Dock-Yard for steamers amidst the resources of the West, and at a convenient point to
the Gulf of Mexico, which is to be the cockpit for
the pitched battles of Yankee tars in the next war;
~54,024; p. 67 Miles' Royal Naval Service.
1841.1
Letio-s to Xr. Clay.
725