The Clerk read as follows: From the State line at Kittery to Head, West. Quoddy in a coastline of 300 miles, there are over 100 good harbors at which ships are built and manned, with an aetual shore line of more than 3 the d miles, following the line of tide water into naweable bays, inlets, and deep river estuaries. Not one harbor is fended, properly deand in only 3 have attempts at defense been made. edTlhye highest military authorities would undoubt concur in the opinion that Portland, should be madethe great naval depot of the U.S. on the Atlantic ocean. Its geographical position commandsCanada on the north, and the lower Proyinces on the east, if properly fortified, as lines of railway, completed or in processof construction, radiatefrom it to Quebecand Montreal, and to StJohn and Hal ifax. The harbor is one of the fineston the Atlantic ocean or in the world, and can easilybe so fortifica as to be as impregnable as Gibraltar, ando: than Quebec, Sebastopol, or Halifax harbor, the great British naval depot on the American continent, now occupiedby the combined fleets of England and France, closesthe outlet of the great gulf lying between Cape Cod and Cape Sable, and unless, Portland is defended the whole, peninsula Lake Champlain is easilysubjected to foreign control. If GreatBritain held the harbor of Portland and the line of railway to Montreal and Quebec she would drive American commercefrom the oceanand the greatlakes. The strategetic importance of Port land is shown by reference to any generalmap of the whole country, and its capabilities for defenseare exhibited by the charts of survey of 1859. the U.S. coast Portland harbor is an arm of the sea, formed by 5 ofislands that shut out the swell of the ocean. The main or great ship channel is only 170 rods in width, carrying from 8 to ten fathoms at low water, inside Bangs Island. This island is the natural fortress that defendstheo to line, extending, the harbor; its outsideshore over one mile in a nearly. line, rises about 80 feet above the level of the sea. The distance from this outer shore wall of the island is lessthan 3 miles from the denselypop ulated portion of the peninsula on which the city is built. Behind this natural fortressships of war may lie in deep water and shell the city, cntirely protectedfrom the guns of Fort Preble; Fort Scammel, or Fort Gorges. In point of fact, the Present forts are of very little, if any, value in defendingthe city from guns of long rangeused in modernwarfare. Bangs Island contains 200, and 20 acres. By fortifying this island all possibleapproag to Portland by water with large ships is cut off. In that event no holding i or place of anchorage can be found where gunboats can reach the city without coming within range of the gunsof its fort or those of Fort Gorges. By making Bangs Island a fortress, Fort Gorges may be advantageously changed into a tery, with only one tier of guns, and the ewxapteenr sbeaotf the proposed casemate batterysaved, and thereby Portland would become impregnable by water. The town itself is situated on a high peninsula, once an island 2 and a half miles in length and averaging, 3/4ths of a mile in width, around which still sweepthe tide waters of Cascobay, ap within a few rodsfrom oppositesides. itch of a few rods length will changethis peninsula into an island, and secure a flow of pletely, the tide comround the city. The land rises more or abruptly less on all sides from the water, reaching an clevation of 176 feetat the westernend, and 161 feet at the eastern end of the peninsula, so that a redoubt at each end of the city, overlooking this moat or ditch, and commandingthe approaches by land, or across Back bay, will prevent, all approach to city. the No land rises, so high as that of the peninsula of Portland within ten miles. One10th of pense the ex: of fortifying Sebastopol or Cherbourg would Portland one of the strongestfortressesof the World. As a harbor of refuge that of Portland is unri yaled, and the approach of a storm is by foreshadowed a movementof vessels in that direction. Between 5 and 600 sail have beenknown to enter Portland harbor for shelter in a single night, and 600 sail can be often counted on a clear morn infistanding out to sea after an eastery storm., The 1st intimation of trouble with any leading foreign Power, would be the entrance of a hostile fleet into Portland harbor., The embarkation of the prince of Waleson the20th 9f October, 1860, illustrated the facility, with which 5 men of war, some of them, ships of the largest size, may enter or depart from this secure anchorage; The whole British Fox eanlie as easily in Portland harbor as in a dock at Woolwich. An enemy in possession of Portland would find it to be the terminus of the longest line of railroad in the world. The Grand Trunk railway of Canada embraces a line of 31 miles, 1,000 of which 1,096 are in actual operation. It extends from the Atlantic ocean at Portland, to Lake Huron, a distance of 796 miles, with a branch to Detroit of 59 miles, a branch to Quebec of 96 miles, and to the RiverduLou of 118 miles; making, with all its branches, 1,096 miles, This line has the capacity to move ten troops betweenPortland and Quebec or Toronto an Detroit in a single day. [Here the hammer fell]