signing of the contract. The fifth vessel to be built as early as
possibly practicable, and when not employed in the mail service to be
subject to the orders of the Government for carrying dispatches, for
which service a fair compensation is to be paid. Contract to be for
the term of ten years. It is also proposed to secure to the United
States the privilege of purchasing said steamships whenever they
may be required for public purposes, at a fair valuation, to be
ascertained by appraisers appointed by the United States and by the
owners.

EDWARD K. COLLINS.

The act of March 3, 1847, provides--

That from and immediately after the passage of this act it shall
be the duty of the Secretary of the Navy to accept, on the part of
the Government of the United States, the proposals of E.K. Collins
and his associates, of the city of New York, submitted to the
Postmaster-General, and dated at Washington, March 6, 1846, for
the transportation of the United States mail between New York and
Liverpool, and to contract with the said E.K. Collins and his
associates for the faithful fulfillment of the stipulations therein
contained, and in accordance with the provisions of this act.

And under this proposition and enactment the original contract was
made.

According to the terms of that contract the parties were to receive from
the United States for twenty round trips each year the sum of $19,250
the trip, or $385,000 per annum; and they were to construct and provide
five ships of a stipulated size and quality for the performance of this
or other service for the Government.

Of the ships contracted for, only four have been furnished--the
_Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic_, and _Baltic_--and the present bill proposes
to dispense entirely with the original condition of a fifth ship, by
only requiring the construction of one, which would but supply the
place of the _Arctic_, recently lost by peril of the sea. Certain minor
conditions involving expense to the contractors, among which was one
for the accommodation and subsistence of a certain number of passed
midshipmen on each vessel, had previously been dispensed with on the
part of the United States.

By act of Congress of July 21, 1852, the amount of compensation to
the contractors was increased from $19,250 to $33,000 a trip and the
number of trips from twenty to twenty-six each year, making the whole
compensation $858,000 per annum. During