rly one thousand steam vessels, half of which,
at least, might be made available in case Government required
their services. Our mercantile steamers are some of the finest in
the world, and five hundred of them might be turned to account.
They should all be numbered and classed, so that Government would
merely have to ask for the number of vessels they wanted, when
they might go to Woolwich, or other places, and put the guns on
board, and then they would be ready for service.'

"Here is the opinion of a _captain in the British Navy_ with
reference to the availability of steam vessels for national
defense; and what a lesson does it teach to us in America, where
steam navigation is found penetrating every portion of the Union,
and spreading itself on our maritime and lake frontier in every
direction! Here is found no expression of apprehension lest the
mercantile steamers might interfere with the growth or efficiency
of the Navy to which the witness belonged. This opinion, moreover,
is expressed in a country where, according to the testimony before
the Committee already named, there were, in 1848, 174 _war
steamers, with an aggregate horse-power of_ 44,480 _horses_; and
where Mr. Alexander Gordon states, in a letter addressed to the
same Committee, the Steam Navy had then cost the country
L6,000,000 sterling, or $30,000,000, '_exclusive of all
reinstatements and expenses during commission_;' the same
gentleman also alleging that the annual repairs amounted
to L108,000
Annual cost for coals, 110,000
Depreciation at a moderate allowance, 600,000
---------
Making the total amount of annual cost, L818,000
Or $4,094,000
===========

"The regular employment of the best engineers on board of contract
vessels, and the great experience they would acquire from being
constantly on active duty, would furnish to the naval service, in
the event of a war, a corps that would be invaluable. In speaking
of the superiority of the engineers on board of contract vessels
in the employ of the British Government over those on board of the
Queen's ships, a witness before the sel