270 COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS. 



est encroachment upon the interests of the service. It should be 

 attended, also, by naval officers and citizens well qualified in the 

 appropriate departments of science, to bring back the most accu- 

 rate results of the examinations which may be made. 



But the committee do not think it necessary or expedient to pre- 

 scribe, in the law which may be passed, either the dimensions or 

 the character of the vessels, or the number and qualifications of the 

 persons who shall be employed j nor can they exhibit, by precise 

 estimates, the exact sum which shall be expended. These are 

 matters which must, to some extent, be left to the discretion of the 

 Executive, who will carry the will of Congress into execution. 

 If the amount which shall not be exceeded be fixed by the law, 

 no possible evil can result. Every imaginable motive which can 

 influence the preparation for, and prosecution of, the proposed en- 

 terprise, will be on the side of economy and efficiency. 



The Committee report a bill to authorize an expedition 



