Mr. O’NEILL. I am sorry my friendfrom Connecticut [Ma Bassnaoss] confesses that he does not know where to locate a navy yard. I am sorry to learn that after all his pertinacity and toil and investigation he does not yet understand this subject, and that he is just as igno rant of it today as he was 3 years ago, when he was 1st appointed on the ComNavAffrs. Now, sir, aotwithstandin all theingenuity of the gentleman, notwithstaning all his efforts to lea the House to believe that he is governed entirely by patriotic motives, and is acting entirely without prejudice my word for it, if the location of a navy yard for iron clads was left to him, in less than no time he would locate it at NewLondon, in his own congressional district. in the State of Connec ticut. He would not look beyond the limits of his small town, but would in his prom it and instant decision proclaim to the world that the most eligible position for a naval station for building iron ships, repairing them, making their armature, and laying them up, wasin that rock bound harbor, with its salt water and its 2 hours' distance frotu the open ocean. Now, he tells you that the question of the safety of a fleet from the attacks of an enemy is not a question to be considered by this House. nnil talksabout the mud hole at League Island and all that. But I can say from personal inspection of this great NewLondon harbor, having passed through it a number of times and havmg consulted with his near neigh bors. that the entrance is through a channel with a rocky bottom; that while you may perhaps get a sailing or other vessel safely up it by means of a steam tug, it is utterly impossible to accomplish such a feat in any other way, especially to the point where it is said this navy yard should be located. And when you do get one up there by any means, you cannot protect it against the attack of an enemy. Talk to me about NewLondon harbor! Why the gentleman’s substitute for the bill reported from the committee and his whole argument means NewLondon, and nothing else. Sir, in the very entrance of the harbor there is a rock, which one of my fellow travelers, andl presume from his knowledge of the locality one of my friend’s constituents, pointed out to me and told me was so bad that it would take all the powder in the country to blow it to pieces, and that it had always been considered an obstacle to the commerce of the place. This. of course, must be removed, and many others, perhaps, if you would locate a na yard there. These projecting rocks and the hidden ones are indeed dangerous to navigation, and I find in a newspaper published only 3 or 4 weeks ago an account of an accident which happened to a vessel, either in coming in or going out, by runnin on to this rock, and a steam vessel at that. twas one of the NewLondon line of Sound steamers, the State of Maine. If one of your large and powerful steamers cannot avoid such an accident in a harbor to which it makes frequent tris, how can you expect naval vessels occasional y coming into NewLondon to escape such dangers? I have been led aside somewhat from my original plan of speaking upon this subject on account of the remarks 0ft e Gentfrom Connecticut, [Mr. Basswood] growing out of some misunderstanding between him and my colleage, [Mr. Ksu.sY;] which, however, now seems to be settled entirely by a statement of the fact that this bill, Printer’s No. 102, is the one which was authorized to be reported by the committee. And it is upon this bill that I will continue my arguments, hoping to convince the House of the propriety of its passage, and most respectfuly asking after its due consideration that it may e passed. But let me 1st refer to somethings which have been said by my friendfrom Connecticut, [Mr. Bassnsosrj And although I know my collea so [Mr. KELLEY] will ver well defend himse f against the attacks made upon him. yet the manner of the gentleman appeared to e so vehement and impassioned that I deem it necessary here to ask attention to what has fallen from him. The members of this House who were members of the 30 8th Congress will erhaps recollect the discussion that then tool: place upon this subject. The Gentfrom connectient now but repeats the same tenor of argument which he adduced then. He made the same attacks upon the commission which was appointed by the SecyNavy; hemade the same attacks even upon some members of the committee of this House, which was appointed with a view to consider this as well as all other matters relating to naval affairs. He attempted to hold up to scorn and suspicion the motives of the commission of naval officers who examined the subject and reported upon it, and questioned as he does now the reliability of their acts because they happened to have been born in certain portions of the country. Now, are these the arguments by which to convince this House? I will read you the names of this commission, and show you how near to Philadel hia or League Island they were born and how much their local inclinations and feelings could be likely to affect their judgment. I find by the Navy Register that Commodore Stringham, now rear admiral, was born in the State of NewYork; Commodore Gardner was born in Maryland; I think Commodore Van Brunt was born in the State of NewYork, but I have not had time to find his name in the Register; my friendfrom NewYork [Mr. BERGEN] informs me he was born in NewJer say. I am pleased to be corrected. It is not important to this argument where they were born, but it is one of the petty means used here to create a prejudice against the minority of the commission. These are the gentlemen who signed the ma'ority report, much to the delight of my frien from Cbnnecticut. Not one of them, however, was a Pennsylvanian. Engineer Sanger was also with the majority. of her sons. Iwill not sto to discuss him, my colleague [Mr. KELLEY? having already done that. And I assert boldly that if I had time to look over that report Icould prove from it to the satisfaction of members of the House that in i ever requisite for a naval station for the builing of iron clad vessels, for their repair, for their armature, and in all other necessary respects the majority of that commission have iven a report in favor of League Island. I do not mean to deny that the bottom of the Delaware river is muddy as they have said, but I mean to say that in all the requisites for a naval station, and especially for a navy of iron clads propelled by steam, League Island on the Delaware river is the best and safest point upon our coast. Sir, find appended to the report of the minority of the commissionand I am sorry to go over this ground again becausel believe these reports were fully discussed in the last Congress the name of Commodore John Mar swii, a most worthy officer of the Navy; an officer to whom the gravest responsibilities have been intrusted at various times; who has commanded ships and commanded fleets; who, it has been charged b the Gentfrom connecticut, is from hiladel his, but who was born in Massachusetts. nly one of those 6 gentlemen, members of that commission'Professor Bachchwas a native of the city of Philadelphia. But, sir,supposethat they had all been born in the city of hiladelphia; suppose that they had all been born within 2 miles of League Island: is it to be imagined that they, sworn officers of the Nov, would not perform their duty nright to the government? Sir, if there are any men connected with the service to whom I would intrust a question as to what is right or wrong, what is suitable or unsuitable With reference to‘the general good of the country, I would not hesitate to place confidence in the oliicers of our Navy and of our Army. It seems to be the stud of their lives to be governed by the best an the noblest motives, and re judice seldom enters into their decision when any matter is officially submitted to them. [he gentleman speaks of this question having been before tchouse some 4 years. Why, air, of course it has been here 4 years. The natural consequence of the breaking out Massachusetts clniins him as one of the rebellion was to bring it up as a demon stration of the wants of the Government in reference to a suitable naval station. And he is surprised that the members cannot see that the harbor of New' London is the place for erecting a navard in which to build iron clad vessels. by, sir, the question of NewLondon has been here as long as League Island. I well recollect reading the discussion in the 37th Congress. If 1 remem, ber rightly it came before the House toward the close of the session by the report of the ComNavAffrs, and then the relative merits of Lea ue Island and NewLondon were considered. '1 lie superiority of NewLon [ don as a location for a naval station was then 5 insisted upon, as it has always been insisted i upon, by the Gentfrom Connecticut and others representing the interests of that State., During the last Congress he and others, mem l bers and citizens, urged its claims in every way. Sir, I am not surprised at this. I never believed that the citizens of this country had no right to impress their views upon their representatives, or that those Representatives, if convinced, had no right to urge those views upon Congress. I think the gentleman and, his coadjutors performed no more than their duty by presenting the views of their constitiquents on a question in which they were interested. But, sir, the claims of League Island are not to be prejudiced by any such argument as that they have been heard and presented for) ears. y Mr. Speaker, thereis another nttem tin my estimation to make difficulty in this house or to create prejudice. The gentleman speaks of; the formation of the Committee on Ngival Afifairs. He speaks of it in this Congress, and i he refers to it in the last Congress. No memi her from Pennsylvania has complained of the formation of the ComNavAffrs in this Congress, the last Congress, or the i 37th Congress. Now, the committee of the last Congress reported against League Island. They conidered it and must have; acted on their best judgment. Theyconsidered I it with the light which was then thrown on the question. e have now other information, and I refer to one strong point, the letter of Captain Fox, Asst SecyNavy, in regard to the back channel. The Naval Committee of this session had this point in vestigated, and it may have induced t were ort of this bill and the recommendation of its passage. My colleagues have never comlained of the action of any ComNavAffrs. They never complained of the action of the commission instituted in 1868, a majority of which it has been urged preferred NewLondon. That majority performed its duty according to what then seemed. I presume, to be its honest convictions. Notwithstandin the report, the House would have adopte League Island as the location but for one reason. The cost, sir, prevented its favorable action and I then most clearl understood the views of members not at afl because of the unfitness of the place. I need scarcely say that it was believed that all the meney which the Government could command would be needed to bring the war to a successful conclusion. On the question of locality and its eligibility in every wa for a naval station I think the House itse f was satisfied that League Island was the best. I am sorry to prolong the discussion on these points, but it seems to me to be necessary that the gentleman’s charges should be refuted, because they are calculated to excite prejudice. I think he referred to the Navy Dept molding the ComNavAffrs to suit its own views. He alleges that every effort was made to keep him off the committee. Now, he may be the most able member from his State, but he must not forget that there were other members from Connecticut on that committee before he came here. I know nothing about the wrangle and squabble of members for places on committees. As I have said before, I have been drawn from the line of remark I intended to follow in discussing this subject. I intended to give a brief sketch of the creation of the Navy. I designed to take the House back to revolutionary times, to the Algerine war, to the war of 1812, and to the Mexican war. I could have show nthat for some time after the commencement of the revolutionary war not a vessel belonged to us. I could have shown the struggles in the Continental Congress to create a navy. I could have shown thatin the beginning of the war of 1812 we had a navy of but, very few effective ships, which had to be repaired at a very great expense. I could have shown that at the commencement of the rebellion we had not enough national vessels to contend ngainst the rebels and their s m athizers. It brings me to this point: in 00 'ing over the history of the Navy I find that it was not an unusual thing for localities to make gifts for the purpose of establishing navy nrds. I think navy yards were not establisheduntil about the commencement of this century. It was provided that certain places should have the building of certain vessels of war. Hence we see the presentation of land by States to the Government for the purpose of navy yards is not by any means a new t ling. The Gentfrom NewLondon has certainly in god with great earnestness its claims as the best place for this naval station. But he has told you nothing in reference to the in defensibility of NewLondon. He endeavors to stigmatize Lea ue Island as a mud hole, but says nothing of its perfect defensibilit. He endeavors to show that the distance of Jeanne Island from the sea is 100 miles. Ii‘or the sake of his argument he makes it 20 miles more than it really is. He perhaps has never traveled along the Delaware river. He knows nothing about its distance from the ocean. I really believe he prefers to remain in ignorance of everything connected with it. I can in no other way account for his well worded abuse and depreciation of its countless merits and advantages. But, sir, let all that go. The gentleman does not tell you of the great defect of NewLondon. I speak on this question as if the gentleman’s substitute provided only for the establishment of a navy yard at NewLondon. I look at it in that way and in no other. One great defect of his favorite place is the want of facilities in procuring labor. The site suggested is 3 or 4 miles from a city with a poulation which Iwill not say is insufficient to fill) up a blacksmith shop with skilled work men, but where you certainly cannot at a supply of the mechanical labor require. It is a city which, from natural causes, cannot hold a population exceedin 12,000. You cannot possibly exten its limits so as to provide for an increased population, it being so surrounded by high hills of hard rock that its growth must forever be impeded. It is not, therefore, a fitting place for the great naval station for such a navy as the U.S. will require. ut, sir, one great advantage of League Island is that an enemy’s fleet could not reach it.