REMARKS

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, IN RELATION TO STEAM-BOATS, DECEMBER 19, 1833.

In the Senate, on Thursday, December 19th, 1833, the following resolution relating to steam-boats, and other vessels propelled by steam, offered by Mr. WEBSTER, was taken up for consideration :

"Resolved, That the Committee on Naval Affairs be instructed to inquire into the expediency of passing a law for preventing, as far as may be, accidents to vessels employed on the foreign or coastwise commerce of the United States, from explosion by steam.'

MR. WEBSTER addressed the Senate. It was, he believed, the general expectation of the country, that Congress would take up the subject to which this resolution referred. The history of the last two or three years (said he) exhibits a vast amount of property, and a startling list of human lives, lost by the explosion of the boilers and flues of steam-boats. These frequent occurrences have occasioned the existence of so much fear and terror, as to be a serious diminution of the convenience and comfort of that mode of conveyance. At present, the whole subject is without any regulation whatever, by public authority; and no authority but that of Congress seems competent to establish proper regulations. Of the power of Congress there can be no doubt. Steam-boats are, generally, licensed vessels, and they engage extensively in the coastwise commerce of the country. They may be registered vessels also, and may engage in its foreign commerce. On the same ground that laws of Congress regulate the number of passengers in merchant vessels, and make it necessary that such vessels should have medicinechests, for the preservation of the lives and health of persons on board, with divers other provisions, for the same or similar objects, it is plainly in the power of Congress to adopt any regulations for the government of steam-vessels, which security to life and property may appear to require. It is with Congress to make these regulations, or they cannot be effectually made at all.

It is the general opinion, I believe, not only of practical engineers, but of the public also, that nearly all these accidents have arisen from negligence; and some of them from a very highly

criminal degree of negligence. Indeed, it may be well doubted whether a still more positive criminal offence has not, in some instances, occasioned the disaster. Steam-boat racing, for example

-a practice by which the lives of hundreds of persons are put into imminent danger, without the slightest knowledge, on their part, of the existence of any such cause of danger-is such a wanton, intentional, and reckless exposure of human life, as that it may well be regarded as a higher offence than even extreme negligence. But negligence itself is criminal, highly criminal, where such effects to life and property follow from it. Those who carry passengers for hire, by means of such a mighty agent as steam-an agent so useful and powerful, when kept under proper management, and so destructive when it is allowed to overcome its just restraintsare bound in duty, and should be bound by law, to apply to their business the strictest attention and the utmost degree of diligence.

I am not prepared to say, definitely, what legal provisions it may be proper to adopt. It will be the business of the committee to consider and arrange such provisions. They will have the benefit of the legislation of other countries on the same subject, and may readily command the assistance of whatever skill and experience our own country affords, in aid of their labors.

Some general ideas upon the proper remedy, however, have occurred to me, which I will suggest for consideration.

The law, as it seems to me, might be of a two-fold character. It might prescribe certain regulations, the violation of which, whether accidents happened in consequence or not, should incur a penalty; and it might further provide, that, in case of accident, although all prescribed regulations should have been previously complied with, yet, if the accident happened from culpable negli gence at the moment, that negligence should be severely punished. As to previous and prescribed regulations, the first and most important, doubtless, should be, that every boiler, intended for a steam-boat, should be tried and proved by some public authority, and restrained, in its future use, to one third, or, at most, one half, the degree of pressure or tension which it should have been proved to be capable of bearing. A safety-valve, out of the reach of the firemen, a proper apparatus to show at all times the level of the water, and also the intensity or height of the steam, and this apparatus so arranged as that its indications may be seen from without, are among the preventive remedies to which the attention of the committee will probably be called.

But I look with more confidence of beneficial results from certain other provisions, which I trust will receive the consideration of the committee. Fully believing that these accidents generally result from negligence, at the time, by those who have the charge of the engine, penalties, I think, ought to be enacted against such

negligence, and legal means provided, by which, when lives are lost by such occurrences, an immediate inquisition, investigation, and trial, should be secured, and the culpable negligence, if there be such, adequately punished. And, in the first place, I think the boat itself should be made subject to forfeiture, whenever lives are lost through the negligence of those conducting it. There is nothing unreasonable in this; analogous provisions exist in other cases. The master of a merchant ship, for instance, may forfeit the ship by a violation of law, however innocent the owners may be; even though that law be only a common regulation of trade and customs. There is, at least, quite as much reason for saying that whoever builds or buys a steam-boat, and proposes to carry passengers therein for hire, shall be answerable to the amount of the value of the boat, for the sobriety, diligence, and attention, of those whom he appoints his agents to navigate it, as there is, in revenue cases, to impose such liability for smuggling, or illegal landing of goods. To enforce this liability, I should propose, that whenever an explosion takes place, causing the loss of the lives of passengers, the boat should be immediately seized by the collector of the district, and the persons navigating her detained for examination; a trial should be had, and, unless it should appear, on such trial, that all legal requirements had been previously complied with, and were observed, at the time, and, further, that the accident was one which no degree of attention could have foreseen or prevented, the boat should be forfeited, and the persons having charge at the time should be punished. It is no unreasonable hardship, in such cases, to throw the burden of proof on those who are intrusted with the navigation and management of the boat. They should be able to make out a clear case of actual attention, skill, and vigilance, or else forfeiture ought to follow. It is a very high trust to have charge of that which is so potent to destroy life, and which, when negligently treated, is so likely to destroy it. Of course, all unnecessary delay, expense, or trouble, should be avoided. The property seized might be restored, on bonds, as in other cases of seizure, pending preparation and trial; and every indulgence allowed, in the forms and modes of proceeding, compatible with the great end of an immediate investigation and a prompt decision.

It is evident, that, for many reasons, a judicial investigation will seldom be had, in these cases, unless it be instituted by public authority; and I do not think any provisions will be adequate, which do not secure such investigation, whenever the loss of life happens.

As to steam-boat racing, it is an enormity that demands no tolerance. Doubtless, the committee will see the propriety of providing that all such racing, on any wager, or for any stakes, whether

it be between boat and boat, both, or either, having passengers on board, or whether the wager be on any boat, with passengers on board, running against time, shall be punished with forfeiture of the boat, and severe personal penalties on those concerned; whether any accident happen from such racing or not.

This, Sir, is a rough sketch of those enactments, which, I think, may deserve the consideration of the committee. Others, and perhaps better than these, will doubtless occur to the members of the committee. I have the fullest confidence that it is in the power of Congress to put an end, in a very great degree, to these disastrous occurrences. I believe that a wise and efficient law, such as may be easily framed and put in practice, would prevent three fourths of them. At any rate, I trust we shall meet the public expectation, and try the experiment.

There are, Sir, one or two other subjects, belonging to the safe navigation of steam-boats, though not immediately connected with the explosion of steam, which the committee will probably think worthy of attention. The first is, the collision of these vessels. It has happened more than once, that steam-boats have run foul of each other, not by means of darkness, or fog, but simply because the one did not know on which side the other meant to pass. Something like a law of the road, by which each should know on which hand to keep her course, with the obligation of being well lighted at night, would probably prevent some of these occurrences. The other subject is the carrying gunpowder, in large quantities, in boats having passengers. As there are boats used exclusively for freight, there can hardly be a necessity of transporting gunpowder in passenger boats. This transportation in such boats augments the danger, and, when known, still more augments the terror of the passengers. And it is probably in consequence of this, and because some captains, on that account, are not willing to receive gunpowder on board, that the article is sometimes shipped in disguise, the boxes being marked as containing other goods. This highly objectionable and criminal practice ought to be severely punished.

SPEECH

DELIVERED AT A PUBLIC DINNER IN SALEM, MASS., AUGUST 7, 1834.

THE Whigs of Salem and its vicinity gave a public dinner, on Thursday, August 7th, to the Hon. DANIEL WEBSTER, and the Hon. NATHANIEL SILSBEE, the Senators in Congress from Massachusetts. The Hon. Judge WHITE presided. The table was graced with the presence of many of our most distinguished citizens. When the toast complimentary to the Senate of the United States, was announced, Mr. WEBSTER rose and spoke as follows:

RESPECTED FELLOW-CITIZENS: My honorable and worthy colleague has preceded me, as was his right and place, in expressing to you his sense and my own of the great honor conferred upon us by this assembly. It is not to be doubted, fellow-citizens, as he has properly and truly stated, that next to the consciousness of an honest endeavor to serve those whose servants we are, is the high satisfaction of receiving at their hands proof that they think our efforts have been well intended. Gentlemen, with a heart full of grateful acknowledgments for all the kindness which has been expressed towards us, permit me to say that I know you mean by this meeting-by this congregation of citizens-to express your approbation, not only of our endeavors, but also of those of the patriotic citizens composing the majority of the Senate, with whom we have acted. Those distinguished men, now gone to their homes in every State of New England-in most of the Middle, Southern, and Western States-will feel the same pleasure that we feel, when they, too, shall hear that their efforts to stay the tide of misgovernment have found support in the just, intelligent, and patriotic population of the county of Essex. But, Gentlemen, in all governments truly republican, men are nothing-principle is every thing; and I know that not men, but principle, not individuals, but the great cause of civil liberty, has brought you here today; I know that the country, and not the servants of the country, has drawn together the assembly by which I am surrounded. It is with the cause to be pleaded, and not with its impotent pleaders, that you have to do.

Fellow-citizens, you are assembled under a name that, for a century and a half, has designated the lovers of civil liberty; under a