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buryport, Gloucester, Salem, Marblehead, Plymouth and Provincetown. Very little, however, has been done to guard the settlements along the Cape and on the neighboring islands, and also the important commerce of the adjoining waters, and I respectfully suggest the defenceless condition of that neighborhood for your consideration. An appropriation has been made by Congress for beginning a masonry fort at Provincetown, surveys for which purpose have been had; and earthworks have been built and armed there; but for the present, adequate protection of the waters on our southern shore from incursion and ravage such as was once during the year committed in the Vineyard Sound, can be rendered only by the constant presence of a naval force which it is desirable. that the Federal Government should afford.

The Act of March 30th, beside making an appropriation in behalf of the State, provided for appropriations by municipal governments, with the expectation of reimbursement from the State Treasury. These have been made by some towns and cities to secure the necessary number of laborers at the current rates.

of

wages, upon the earthworks constructing at their ports, the Federal officers having the works in charge declining to offer a rate of pay to laborers, higher than a dollar and a quarter per day. The propriety

of refunding the sums thus advanced will meet your

consideration.

At every stage of the investigation which now for nearly three years I have been pursuing into the subject of our defences against naval attack, the deficiency in our means of obtaining a sufficient supply of heavy ordnance has caused my chief anxiety. Massachusetts contains ample beds of iron ore of a superior quality for gun metal. No other Commonwealth possesses in higher degree all the elements of scientific and mechanical ingenuity necessary to the manufacture. There is no deficiency of private capital seeking investment. But thus far, the Federal Government, while absorbing the entire product of all existing Massachusetts gun-foundries, has failed to induce the investment of private capital in additional foundries. Nor is this surprising, for the amount of capital required to construct mechanical establishments complete enough to cast and finish the heavy cannon which we need, is rarely within the measure of the means of individuals, and the continuance in employment of such establishments once constructed, would depend upon the regularity of appropriations by the National Congress. Indeed, the Federal Government would be the only domestic customer of such foundries, with no competitors

except foreign governments. The building of the foundries would involve also the investment of more capital in furnaces in the mining districts, to supply the iron. A trade so grand, in which nations appear as the sole customers, and which concerns so closely the honor of our flag and the security of our borders and our marine, is worthy of the most serious attention if by any legislative action it can be encouraged. I have long been satisfied that the objects we desire can best be effected by building a great National foundry. I respectfully commend the subject to your investigation, and if the project shall commend itself also to your judgment, I believe that a formal expression of opinion by the Government of Massachusetts in favor of such a work, might encourage the National Congress to authorize it.

Standing for a long time during the past year on the apparent brink of war with powerful naval States of Europe, the rebels even at this moment being restrained, almost against expectation, from launching out of foreign ports their mailed war steamers built. expressly to carry destruction to the commerce and the seaports of the North; with all the dangers hourly besetting us, which spring from the unsettled condition of Europe, the French invasion of Mexico, and the sympathy of powerful persons and rulers abroad

with the rebellion at home-I am firmly convinced that ordinary prudence demands of Massachusetts never to rest until her harbors shall be adequately defended.

Arms and Equipments for the Militia.

The 29th chapter of the Resolves of 1863, authorized the Executive Department to contract on behalf of the Commonwealth for the purchase or manufacture of fifteen thousand stand of arms, of such pattern as should be found best adapted for the service; also of arms and equipments for one regiment of cavalry; guns and equipments for five batteries of light artillery; and such other arms and equipments as should from time to time be found necessary for arming the militia in active service. The resolve appropriates $450,000 for those purposes.

The sources of supply, whether by purchase or manufacture, have been made the subject of careful examination and report. The kinds of arms best adapted to the various branches of the service, were, in the light of recent experience, considered and reported on, by competent military men. Wherever different arms of the same general description were offered in competition, they were submitted to the test of critical comparison by a Commission of experts.

All the arms and artillery required were accordingly contracted for, and are in process of construction and delivery. The amount disbursed already in payments is about fifty thousand dollars. The contracts entered into will nearly, or quite, absorb the whole appropria tion. Certain articles of equipment have not been passed upon, because improvements in their construction are under consideration by the appropriate officers of the U. S. Army, whose decision it was thought advisable to await, especially as the articles can be procured on short orders when necessary. To complete the duty assigned to the Executive by the Legislature, will require a further appropriation of about $50,000.

In order that no injurious delay shall happen, I have requested the Master of Ordnance, in advance of his regular Annual Report which will be communicated through the Adjutant-General, to report to me in detail, all the particulars necessary to a competent understanding of this portion of the transactions passing through his bureau; and this preliminary report is now ready for the use of any committee of the General Court to which the subject may be intrusted.

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