The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, Seventeenth Congress, Second Session Page: 413

                                
413
HISTORY OF CONGRESS.
414
December, 1822.
Columbia River.
H. or R.
best means of exploring the character of 'the peo-
ple, the soil, and climate of that region, now little
known to us, and thus learning what may be of
great importance to us. Tn 1795, Great Britain
prohibited the importation of cotton from the Uni-
ted States—now so important to her. Sir, such
has been the enterprise of this Republic since its
establishment, and such its success, especially in
canals, and such the spirit of improvement elicited
by our example, that I am surprised that the union
of the Atlantic with the Pacific, at the Isthmus of
Daricn, has not yet been undertaken. But, sir,
its vast importance to the world cannot long per-
mit it to be neglected. The stock in that canal
would be of great value, and suggests the pleasing
anticipations of its completion. The preposterous
claim of Russia to the vicinage of the river Co-
lumbia, speaks loudly the value of the trade in
that region, which, united with the evidence in
possession of this House, 1 hope will induce them
to pass this bill, and thereby protect and govern
our people there by law,and not leave them to the
government of savages, in violation of that com-
pact that made them American citizens.
Mr. Baylies, of Massachusetts, said that, as
one of the committee who had reported the bill,
he felt himself impelled, by a sense of duty, to pre-
sent to the House some views which he had taken
of this subject. All the objections to the provisions
of the bill which he had heard, he had heard out of
the House; and he had indulged himself in the hope
(as no serious opposition had been manifested in
the Committee of the Whole) that the luminous
view which had been taken of this subject by the
chairman of the committee (Mr. Floyd) would
have induced its adoption without further dis-
cussion.
Of the objections which he had heard, he would,
however, say that some were weighty, and all
were plausible. The objects which the bill con-
templated were of much importance to a portion
of the country which iie represented, and its vicin-
ity, from which there is the most extensive whale
fishery in the world, and that he was induced to
believe that the state of that, fishery was now such
as to require a port on the shores of the Pacific
ocean, or on the waters connected with that
ocean.
The. expense of the territorial establishment
contemplated by the bill had been urged as an
argument against it. He admitted that the mea-
sure would be attended with some expense, and
that, for some years, the prospect of revenue, from
a settlement so remote, would be but small; but
the utility of tnis undertaking ought not to be
measured by its expense. Measures, creating
more expense, have frequently been adopted by
this nation, whose utility was far more question-
able than this. If there is one branch of the mer-
cantile industry of the country which deserves
encouragement more than another, it is the whale
fishery. It is an employment of a peculiar char-
acter; it creates its own capital. It does not come
upon the country for specie, to purchase the cot-
ton and woollen manufactured goods, the wines,
the brandies, and the silks, of Europe. Its capi-
tal is created by labor; it is dragged up from the
bottom of the ocean; it has now become a busi-
ness of national importance. With a view to
elicit some information on this subject, he had
addressed some inquiries to Mr. Hawes, the Col-
lector of the Customs at New Bedford, a gentle-
man of great respectability, whose knowledge was
practical, who had visited the seas where whales
are taken, and whose peculiar information would
entitle his statements to much consideration.
Here Mr. B. read the communications, which
were in substance as follows :—The first letter
which Mr. Hawes had addressed to him was
dated January 5, 1822. In this letter he stated
that sixty-five vessels were employed in the whale
fishery, from the port of New Bedford, tonnaging
16,222, navigated by 1,350 men and boys; that
thirty-six of the largest of these vessels were em-
ployed in fishing for spcrmaceti whales in the
Pacific ocean, tonnaging 9,942, and navigated by
about 800 men ; that, since the late war, the
greater number of the whaling ships of New Bed-
ford had been employed on the coast of Patagonia
and the adjacent waters, in fishing for right
whales; but oil of that description having fallen
in price within the last two years, many vessels
| had been taken from that fishery, and had been
j despatched to the Pacific, to fish for spcrmaceti
[ whales, as the. oil made from them had. fully sus-
tained its priccs. From the Pacific it was sper-
[ maceti oil which had been obtained principally,
; and not more than seven or eight hundred of the
black oil. The black whale oil was taken on the
coast of Chili, in the bays and harbors. He esti-
mated all the oil and bone brought from the Pa-
cific to the port of New Bedford, since the late
war, at 81,713,600—to January ], 1822. The
number of the ships in the fishery to the west of
Cape Horn had increased, and would increase ;
that the sperm oil was now manufactured before
it was carried to market; and the manufacturing
of it was considered very profitable. Mr. Hawes
estimated the annual value of the whale fishery
to New Bedford, in the Pacific alone, at §500,000,
exclusive of the profits arising from the manufac-
turing of spermaceti candles. The capital he esti-
mated at $850,000. The bills of some of the
ships employed in the Pacific ocean were as high
as .$32,000 or §33,000. Spermaceti oil was gen-
erally from 80 to 100 cents; sea elephant, from 45
to 50, and right whale or black oil, from 30 to 33
cents per gallon. The price of the sperm oil he
had estimated as it was when in its crude state;
after pressing, it would average one dollar per
gallon. The ships employed in the whale fishery
from Nantucket, since the last war, according to
the. estimate of Mr. Hawes, considerably exceeded
those of New Bedford; and all the. Nantucket
ships, cxcept one, were in the Pacific ocean. He
estimated the annual value of the fisheries in the
Pacific ocean, to Nantucket and New Bedford
alone, at §1,500,000, and the oil and bone which
had been brought to both places, since the last
war, exceeded $6,000,000; and that the number
of seamen employed was 2,500. He also stated
that there were three fine ships from Martha's