Mr. PIKE. Mr. Speaker, I propose to say but a very few words on this subject. It has been perhaps fully enough discussed; but there is one oint I wish to make. The Gentfrom onnecticut [Mr. Busnnnoss wants a commission to examine the different sites for navy yards. The point I wish to make is this: that we already possess all the knowledge, statistical, geographical, or topographical, which can be obtained b an commission to be sent out, and today is house is as well prepared to act on a proposition for a navyyar as an HoRep will be in the who 0 tide of coming time. These sites have all been examined. League Island has been examined by a commission. NewLondon has been examined thoroughly. Full reports setting forth in detail every imagi nable advantage and disadvantage are before the House. I have no doubt members have possessed themselves fully of all the knowl edge concerning these important points which has been so amply spread before them. Doubt less members know the number of feet and inches of water avessel can carry into NewLondon or into Philadelphia. They know all about the Delaware river, the ebb and flow of the tide, the shoals, the shifting bars. the kind of river bottom, the number of days it is obstructed by the ice, in fine, all the difficulties and ntlvantagtes of that important position, and equally well nown is the line harbor of NewLondon and its accessibility. I have no doubt they know the whole thing. Certainly if they do not it is their own fault. They POSSESSas large means of knowledge as any subsequent Congress will ever have. Why then, I ask. when we possess this various information, will the House send out a new commission over the country to examine all the sea ports, going around begging people to oflhr a site or a naval station to this Government, and deluding them, I may add, with the expectation that the best one is to be adopted. I believe my own Stat c, among others, has been presented in this discussion. It is said that in Maine the Government can find a good site for a navy yard. Certainly it can. There is no better harbor on this continent than Portland, except, perhaps, some one near it. Along a coast line ofover 2500 miles we have harbors with abundant de th of water, land locked, secure, and surrounded with land well adapted to a navy yard. But suppose the commiSsion goes to Portland, suppose these 7 gentlemen, part of whom are engineers. come back to Congress and say that Portland is a capital place for a naval station, suppose they pass extravagant encomiums upon it, as they undoubtedly will, are we to be do luded with the idea we are to have another navy yard in Maine? Sir, I hope we are not so green as that. ' 'hy, Mr. Speaker, in the great buy of Maine, with Cape Cod for its southern headland, we have now 2 navy yards, one within my own State. It is perfect nonsense fora man to talk about another navy yard in Maine, nor do the people of Portland expect it. There is an admirable chance there to lay up iron clads. For a small sum of money Government can have the rare advantage of a dry dock larger than the largest of great docks at Clierbourg. 40 acres of dr' dock can be obtained for $400,000, it is said. Here the iron clads could be laid up perfectly free of water, and of course could be kept freer of rust than in any other way. And whether League Island be accc ted or rejected, this experiment should be trie. It is certainly for the interest of the Government to do so. But that is entirely aside from the matter under discussion. The truth is, all these navy yards were located intelligently. Along the shore of NewEngland, north of Cape God, we have a district which produces more sailors and ship wrights than any equally large section of this country. We have 2 navy yards capable of doing most excellent work. According to the statistics of the Navy Dept, work is done cheaper at the Maine navy yard than at another in the country. N ow. that was the 1st great section for the establishment of navy yards in this country. What was the 2nd? LongIsland and the bay of NewYork. That was the 2nd section of the country which called for such an establishment; and there is the great navy yard of the country, and there it always will be. The commercial metropolis of the country is' there. It is the center of our commerce. It has the immense tonnage which is the proper l foundation for a great navy. It is idle to talk about its having any rival in this country. Some gentlemen talk about a navy yard on the Hudson; we might as well demand another in Maine. They cannot have it, and we cannot have it. Where is the next point? Delaware bay and Delaware river. There is a navy yard there, ‘and there it is demanded by the interests of the Government in that locality. The next point is Chesapeake bay. The Norfolk yard represents that section, and it is of no use to talk about the Patapsco river or other place. These 4 sections of the country need just the supply of navy yards they now have. This is not in obedience to the “ shrieks of locality” or for the purpose of distributing the patronage of the Government. That'hasnothing to do with it. The great law ofsupply and demand settles this question as it does many others. During the war these yards employed 20,000 men, gathering them from the ship yards in their respective vicinitics. The great yard at BfOOkl n had 8,000. But the necessities oft e Government nre intermittent. They can give no steady employment. In time of peace they employ but 4 or 5,000, all told. Of course, then, you must loente these yards where the workmen in the nehghborhood can go and come, floating tout and in as the Government desires. The NewEngland yards accommodate the mechanics north of Cape Cod. NewYork takes the stretch to the capes of the Delaware” Philadelphia supplies its own yard, and Norfolk must take the Chesa peake bay, including the huge city of Balti more. I make no account of the Washington yard, because that is devoted to purposes pe culiar to it, and has nothing in common with the others. such being the case, I lay out of view all the intermediate places. NewLon don, the Hudson river, an the I’ntapsco river must go with the rest. When we have come to have 100million people and ten million tons of shipping we may begin to duplicate our navy yards, and commencing with Portland we will work down along the coast, giving each section the proper supply. But now the question before us, the only question, is, whether or not this little navy yurd at Philadelphia with only 20 acres of ground shall be transferred from its present locality a distance of 3 miles down the river to League Island. That, I say, is the only question. Indeed, if the gentlemen from Pennsylvania think that this House in deter mining this Cll 8l1goof location is governed by the idea that by establishing at League Island their Philadelphia yard it pledges itself for years to come to devote a considerable share of the surplus revenues of the Government to build up that as a rival to Portsmouth or Cherbonrg and the other Euro can navy yards, they are greatly mistaken. his Congress has no such idea and the next Congress will has control of this matter as we have during tiis Congress. They see no present need of this great navy yard for iron clads. If any man can cast the horoscope of the future, he will sec that for the next quarter of a century this (iovernment will keep that yard pretty much as it has done for years ast simply for the purposes of repair and or mine r uses. It will he. a convenience for the city of Philadelphia to transfer it. But for the next quarter of a cen tury the strong probabilities are that we shall need but little development of our Navy. Our resources for present uses are ample. We have 40 or 50 iron vessels capable of protecting us against all foreign assaults; and if anything can be more ludicrous than any other one thing in the future, it is the idea that England or France or Russia, singly or.combined, will ever make a naval attack ii on us. Why, sir, we have emonstrated during the late war that we can hold together, and that was the only question of the slightest doubt with regard to our political future. Having demonstrated that, we at the same time demonstrated that no nation on God’s earth would be fool enough to attack us. And if they do not attack us, shall we go and attack them? And if neither attack the other, how is war coming? They will soon see a specimen of our iron clads in European waters. No doubt they will examine the Mi antonomoh with the most intelligent curiosity. It will by no means increase their desire to 'commence the attack. Her preence in the English Channel will be worth more to us than all Admiral Goldsborough’s, and a large number of Mr. Seward’s dispatches thrown in. If I am right in these views, what, then, do on want of your great iron clad navy yard ‘I hat are you to have for it to do?