536 NAVY, UNITED STATES. 



NEBRASKA. 



command of Captain E. "W. Shufeldt, and the 

 Mayflower was placed at its disposal, with a 

 competent corps of engineers. The Kansas 

 accompanied the expedition, to aid in the sur- 

 veys, and the Cyane cooperated on the Pacific 

 side. The old line surveyed for a railroad by 

 Sefior Moro in 1848 was first examined, and it 

 was found impossible to obtain the necessary 

 supply of water at the summit. An examina- 

 tion was then made of the Rio Corte and Up- 

 per Coatzacoalcos, and it was found that, by 

 means of a feeder, two thousand cubic feet of 

 water per second could be supplied at the sum- 

 mit. The line was not traced throughout be- 

 fore the operations were interrupted for the 

 season, but it is believed that a canal might 

 start from the head-waters of ship-navigation 

 on the Coatzacoalcos River, and run thence 

 along its right bank and up the valley of a 

 tributary to the dividing ridge at Tarifa, and 

 thence descend across the plains to the Pacific. 

 The total length of the route, including river 

 navigation, would be 172 miles, and locks 

 would be required to overcome a height of 732 

 feet. No estimates of the cost of the canal 

 have been made, as the survey has not been 

 sufficiently minute. 



An act of Congress, approved July 12, 1870, 

 authorized the President to send out one or 

 more expeditions "toward the North Pole," 

 the scientific operations to be directed accord- 

 ing to the advice of the National Academy of 

 Sciences. An expedition of this kind was or- 

 ganized this year, and placed under the com- 

 mand of Captain Charles F Hall. The Peri- 

 winkle, a small steamer of 387 tons, was se- 

 lected for this service. Its name was changed 

 to Polaris, and it was specially prepared for 

 the enterprise at the "Washington Navy-yard, 

 under Captain Hall's personal supervision. 

 After completing its crew and outfit at New 

 York, the Polaris set out on its adventurous 

 voyage on the 29th of June. She arrived at 

 Godhaven, Greenland, on the 4th of August, 

 where she received additional supplies, sent 

 forward by the Congress, and on the 17th of 

 August set forth into the unknown seas of the 

 North. 



In February three vessels, the "Worcester, 

 the Supply, and the Relief, were detailed to 

 take contributions from the people of this 

 country to the sufferers by the war between 

 Germany and France. They sailed respectively 

 from Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, 

 and, having accomplished their beneficent ob- 

 ject, returned to the ports from which they 

 sailed. 



The Tennessee sailed from New York, on 

 the 17th of January, taking commissioners, 

 appointed by the President, to the Island of 

 Santo Domingo, to examine into its condition 

 and resources, in view of a proposition for its 

 annexation to the domain of the United States. 

 It returned in safety, after an absence of about 

 three months. 



The only action participated in by any part 



of the naval force, which possessed any thing 

 of a warlike character, was an attack upon 

 some fortifications on the Peninsula of Corea, 

 in June. (See COREA,) 



NEBRASKA. The two important political 

 events of the year in Nebraska were the im- 

 peachment and removal from office of the 

 Governor, David P. Butler, and the framing of 

 a new constitution, which was rejected by the 

 people. 



Previous to the election of 1870, while Gov- 

 ernor Butler was running as a candidate for 

 reelection, charges of corruption in office were 

 made against him by some of the journals of 

 the opposition. He was accused especially of 

 appropriating to his own use about $17,000 

 of the school-fund, without in any way se- 

 curing its repayment to the State. This and 

 other charges of the same kind, proceeding 

 from the party press of his opponents, were 

 treated by his Republican supporters as un- 

 founded scandal, intended to defeat his elec- 

 tion. "When the Legislature met in January, 

 1871, however, they were brought up again, 

 and new accusations were made and reiter- 

 ated until the Assembly, though strongly Re- 

 publican, determined on an investigation, and 

 a committee was appointed for' the purpose. 

 On the 28th of February the committee re- 

 ported to the two Houses, sitting in a joint 

 convention, that, from sworn testimony taken 

 before them, it appeared that the Governor, 

 ex-Secretary of State, Treasurer, and Auditor, 

 had been guilty of corrupt and criminal prac- 

 tices in office. The Governor protested against 

 the manner in which the investigation had 

 been conducted, and asked for a new commit- 

 tee, but the report was accepted, and a resolu- 

 tion adopted that the Governor be impeached 

 and tried before the Senate sitting as a court 

 of impeachment. A committee was appointed 

 to manage the trial, and articles of impeach- 

 ment were drawn up, eleven in number, each 

 including several specifications. The main 

 charge was, that he had collected $16,881.26 

 of school-money and converted it to his own 

 use, instead of paying it over to the State 

 Treasury. This was contained in the first 

 article. It was also charged that he had em- 

 ployed his office corruptly and unlawfully for 

 the purpose of his personal gain and profit ; 

 that he had made a demand on the contractor 

 who built the State University building for the 

 payment to himself of $10,000 as a condition 

 precedent to settling his claims-; that he agreed 

 to secure the appointment of a certain person 

 as treasurer of the Board of Regents of the 

 University, for a consideration of $750; that 

 he had attempted to obtain $5,000 for a lease 

 of the salt-lands of the State ; that he had 

 been corruptly and improperly influenced in the 

 location of the Insane Asylum; that he had 

 drawn $2,000 for the payment of an officer 

 whose salary was only $1,000 ; that he cor- 

 ruptly bargained with an irresponsible per- 

 son for the erection of the Insane Asylum; 



