fluence and their votes to preserve inviolate the integrity, and resist all encroachments upon the authority of the Supreme Court of the United States, and to insure the independence of the judiciary in every department.

In General Assembly, November 8, 1832. Read and passed.

ROBERT PIERPONT, Clerk.

In Council, November 8, 1832. Read and resolved to concur.

G. B. MANSER, Secretary.

The foregoing are true copies of the resolutions passed by the Legislature

of the State of Vermont.

TIMOTHY MERRILL,

Secretary of State.

t

I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the accompanying reports-one from the engineer selected, under the act of the 14th July last, to take charge of the survey of the bridge across the Potomac, which that act authorized the President to cause to be erected; and showing, after a careful survey, the propriety of applying a part of the sum appropriated to the repair of the old bridge-the other, showing the considerations which, n the opinion of the same engineer and that of General Gratiot, should deermine the choice between a superstructure of wood and of iron on the ame foundation of granite.

Concurring in the reasons stated by these officers for the preference of the uperstructure of wood, I have adopted it accordingly, and propose to take he measures necessary for the execution of the work. Previously, howver, to inviting contracts for this purpose, I deem it advisable to submit he subject to Congress, in order that the necessary appropriations may be upplied.

ANDREW JACKSON.

REPORT ON THE POTOMAC BRIDGE.

The Potomac river, on passing the boundary of the granite region, spreads itself suddenly over a very broad surface. Immediately below Georgetown, and in front of the city of Washington, its breadth is at no point much less than five thousand feet. The bed of the river, which was once very deep, has been nearly filled with alluvial deposites, and its main channel is now confined to a breadth of less than one thousand feet.

Across this sheet of water, and between the termination of the Maryland avenue and Alexander's island, "the act of Congress, of February 10th, 1808, authorized a bridge to be erected by a company which was incorporated for that purpose; and this being destroyed by time and the elements, the act of Congress of July 14, 1832, authorizes a good and sufficient bridge to be built there, by the United States, of such materials, and upon such plan of construction as the President of the United States shall approve and direct. The act of 1832 requires, that, at the Virginia channel, there shall e a draw of not less than "sixty-six feet, at the least, and also on each side of the draw, an arch of sufficient elevation to admit the passage of an ordinary steamboat, and a similar draw at the Maryland channel of not less than thirty-five, with similar arches; and that, in the selection of materials, and in the construction of the bridge, draws, and arches, all practicable attention shall be had to the preservation of the navigation of the river."

By documents received from the Potomac Bridge Company, (see the aecompanying document) the distance between the abutments of the old structure is stated at about 1766 yards.

Recent surveys make the breadth of the river more nearly 4984 feet, and upon it we have the following soundings, taken nearly at the time of ordinary low water, viz. proceeding from the face of the abutment at the Maryland avenue, towards Alexander's island.

Of all this breadth, there is not more than four hundred and fifty feet of firm bottom. In the Virginia channel alone, viz. in 16, 26, and 20 feet water, the gravel, sand, and rounded stones are uncovered; the remainder of the bottom of the river is of ooze or sand, or mud of variable consistency, and the depth to the firm ground cannot safely be averaged at less than twentysix feet.

There is a hollow, or bend, immediately at the head of Alexander's island, towards which the current flows, in its course from Mason's island; thence it is reflected obliquely to the general direction of the river, towards Geesberry, at the mouth of the Eastern Branch.

The water which flows through the middle and the city channel, separate from the main current somewhere near Mason's island, and again divided below the Glass-house wharf; they do not cross the line of the bridge as obliquely as that on the Virginia side. Although their beds indicate much less the action of the stream, the principal body of the river flows through them, with great rapidity, whenever the ice chokes, as it some times does, the main channel.

From the nature of the bed of the river, yielding as it does under the action of a very slight force, it must be apparent that the depth and course of the channels are not very constant, and accordingly, our own observations made upon it, united with tradition, confirm the opinion of their extreme variableness. It is near the middle channel that, in former days, the river had worn for itself the deepest passage. We have penetrated the alluvial deposite to a depth of forty feet at that place. The action of a more rapid current than that which usually flows near the city shore, and one, also, which struck it very obliquely, is evinced by the bluff shores south of the Tiber.