their
utmost expectations. It was universally agreed that we now possessed a
new auxiliary against every maratime invader. The City of New York,
exposed as it is, was considered as having the means of rendering itself
invulnerable. The Delaware, Chesapeake, Long Island Sound, and every
other bay and harbor in the nation, may be protected by the same
tremendous power.

Among the inconveniences observable during the experiment, was the heat
endured by the men who attended the fires. To enable a correct judgment
to be formed on this point, one of the Commissioners (Dr. Mitchel)
descended and examined, by a thermometer, the temperature of the hold,
between the two boilers. The quicksilver, exposed to the radiant heat of
the burning fuel, rose to one hundred and sixteen degrees of
Fahrenheit's scale. Though exposed thus to its intensity, he experienced
no indisposition afterwards. The analogy of potteries, forges,
glass-houses, kitchens, and other places, where laborers are habitually
exposed to high heats, is familiar to persons of business and of
reflection. In all such occupations, the men, by proper relays, perform
their services perfectly well.

The Government, however, will understand that the hold of the present
vessel could be rendered cooler by other apertures for the admission of
air, and that on building another steam frigate, the comfort of the
firemen might be provided for, as in the ordinary steamboats.

The Commissioners congratulate the Government and the nation on the
event of this noble project. Honorable alike, to its author and its
patrons, it constitutes an era in warfare and the arts. The arrival of
peace, indeed, has disappointed the expectations of conducting her to
battle. That last and conclusive act of showing her superiority in
combat, has not been in the power of the Commissioners to make.

If a continuance of tranquillity should be our lot, and this steam
vessel of war be not required for the public defense, the nation may
rejoice that the fact we have ascertained is of incalculably greater
value than the expenditure--and that if the present structure should
perish, we have the information never to perish, how, on a future
emergency, others may be built. The requisite variations will be
dictated by circumstances.

Owing to the cessation of hostilities, it has been deemed inexpedient to
finish and equip her as for immediate and active employ. In a few weeks
every thing that is incomplete co