osition as one, the mere money
feature of which is of minor consequence, when brought into
comparison with other more important considerations. The question
is no longer whether certain individuals shall be saved from loss
or enabled to make fortunes, but whether the _American_ shall
succumb to the British lines, and Great Britain be again permitted
to monopolize ocean mail steam transportation, not only between
Europe and America, but throughout the world. We are aspiring to
the first place among the nations of the earth, in a commercial
point of view--a place which belongs to us as a matter of
right--and are we to suffer ourselves to be overcome by British
commercial capitalists under the auspices of the British crown?
Shall it be said that, at the very moment when our steamships are
admitted to excel those of any other people on the face of the
globe, our enterprising citizens have been forced to relinquish
the proud position they have attained, for the want of a few
thousands of dollars, when the national treasury is full to
overflowing? Let this end be attained and our great commercial
rival will have postages and freights all her own way, while we
shall be compelled to contribute, as heretofore, to her undisputed
supremacy.

"With a view to a full and fair understanding of this important
subject, your Committee have communicated, through their Chairman,
with the Executive Departments of the Government and the
presidents of the various companies engaged in carrying the ocean
mail by steam, and will now proceed to lay before the Senate the
results of their careful inquiries. It may not be improper here
again to note, by way of illustration, the benefits to be derived
from ocean steam mail transportation, when in successful
operation, as manifested in the case of the British Cunard line,
under the auspices of the British Government. During the first six
years of its existence, the line above named received from the
Government no less than $2,550,000, while the Government received
from the Company, in the form of postages, the enormous sum of
$7,836,800, or $5,826,800 net revenue.

"The Government has paid to the line, (the Collins,) for mail
service, in the two years, $770,000, and has received from the
line $513,546.80. If the receipts be deducted from the outlay, the