more tributary to British ascendency on the ocean. "Under the circumstances above stated, it was impossible for Congress to hesitate for a moment which course to pursue, and it was determined to adopt a policy which, while it would be in strict accordance with the spirit of our free institutions, should place the country in its proper attitude, and render its commerce and postal arrangements independent of all foreign or rival agencies. "Of the correctness of this determination, experience has furnished the most ample evidences in the results which thus far have attended the prosecution of the system. The line between New-York and Chagres _via_ New-Orleans and its auxiliaries, have, by their superiority in point of swiftness and accommodation, already superseded the British steamers which had previously plied along our Southern maritime frontier, and the United States mails for Mexico, South-America, and our possessions on the Pacific are no longer in the hands of foreign carriers, but are transported in American steamers of the first class, convertible, at a very small expense, into war steamers, should occasion require, which have commanded the admiration of the world by their fleetness and the elegance of their accommodations for the travelling public. Our Southern ports are, consequently, no longer frequented by British steamers, commanded by officers of the British crown, whose legitimate business it is to collect intelligence respecting the approaches to and defenses of the harbors which they visit, to be made available for their own purposes, in the event of the existence of hostile relations. "A similar result has, to a certain extent, attended the establishment of the American, or Collins line, between New-York and Liverpool. Previously to the commencement of this line, the transportation of the United States mail matter, as well as the finer and more destructible descriptions of merchandise, requiring rapidity of transmission to and from Europe, had been monopolized by the British Cunard line; and the British Government had, within the short space of six years, from the postage on this route alone, derived a _clear income_ of no less than five million two hundred and eighty thousand eight hundred dollars, after deducting the amount paid to the concern under the contract to carry the mails.