Mr. NYE. You have drawn me off, and I should like to proceed with my remarks.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada is entitled to the floor.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. The gentleman speaks of my misrepresenting the State of Wisconsin. Mr. NYE. No. You read the resolutions the other day that requested you to vote one way, and yet you voted the other way.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Senators must address the Chair.

Mr. DOOLITTLE. I will not interrupt the Senator if he does not desire an interruption; but on that point I desire to state to him that the convention of Wisconsin last fall unanimously declared in favor of the doctrines to which I have adverted on this occasion.

Mr. NYE. Sir, the world has moved mightily since last fall, though the gentleman may stand still. We have been moving, and so has his State. But I was not saying anything about Congress imposing negro suffrage on the States. I was simply saying that the logic of events, which is stronger and more powerful than the laws of Congress, is sweeping on to that goal by its own resistless power. If they had not found a legislative enactment in Wisconsin that allowed black men to vote, I should think, the gentleman being a fair exponent of that State, that they would have negro suffrage in Kentucky before they had it in Wisconsin.

But, sir, to return to Colorado, she lies right in the pathway, and is the first stopping-place from the Missouri river westward to the Pacific. Her plains are extensive, beyond the conception of the dwellers in northern cities; her mountains are so high that they literally reach the clouds. In her productive valleys and on her mountain sides is heard the reverberation of the pick, the shovel, the mill, and labor in all its phases as it pertains to mining. The surplus capital of New York and the eastern States finds a field for its use, and its operations are expanding and increasing beyond all precedent.

The distinguished Senator from Massachusetts talks about her productiveness being only two and a half millions last year. Sir, before we got counting money by thousands of millions, it would have made Boston's ears stand erect to hear of a discovery in the West that was producing two and a half millions of gold in a year, and everybody that was out of their library and out of business would have gone to Colorado to see the rich mountains out of which it was dug; many of Boston's citizens are there now; and they behold with wonder the rich products that they gaze upon. The dazzling brilliancy bewilders the minds of those who are unaccustomed to such scenes and they fail to comprehend its vastness; and hence we cannot be surprised, however much we may regret, that financial statements are presented that create such misconceptions in others. Why, sir, the young State from which I come produces $20,000,000 of silver a year. Colorado spared four thousand of her sons to serve the country in the tented field, and the Senator berates her for her diminished productiveness.

The sound of the hammer was not heard upon the anvil, the plow stood still in the furrow, men left their civil avocations, they quit digging for the rich treasures of gold to hie to the field where richer treasures were to be preserved than gold could purchase; and my friend from Massachusetts really discovers that Colorado is dwindling! No, Mr. President, Colorado never showed as many evidences why she should be admitted as a State as is presented by the very fact that regiment after regiment was sent from her territory to guard and protect the travel across the plains from the savage and to contend upon the field of strife with the rebels themselves. Sir, I am loath to turn my back upon any population that has shown such devotion to the Federal Government as Colorado has done. I assert that she comes here to-day clothed in the attractive habiliments of loyalty, the proudest vestment with which man was ever clothed; out of her misfortunes and from the smoke and din of

arms she comes here and presents herself with the spotless robes of undying loyalty. See it exemplified: here come two men clothed with the garments that you so much admire. Why do you not let them in? The answer is that my distinguished friend has heard it whispered

I never listen to whispers-that we want two more votes. Sir, I want twenty and two more, but I want them loyal, and I care not how many votes we have if they are of the right kind; and I do not intend that we shall have any other here, by my vote; do you?

Mr. SUMNER. No.

Mr. NYE. Very well; then you are safe and so am I.

My friend says she grows poorer and poorer; the vote of last year is less than ever before, and he says that that is at war with all the philosophy of the settlement of these Territories. That my distinguished friend thinks so, I have no doubt; but that the fact is exactly opposite I know. I have seen the time when the State of Nevada had ten thousand more population than it has got now. You see the same thing in every mining country. They roam and prospect and develop until there are no more mountains to find, and then they come back. That is the history in a word of mining popu lations. Let the hue and cry go up that there is a richer placer somewhere else, and down go the pick and spade, away they go, and they go to remain until they ascertain that they cannot fill their stomachs on east winds, and back they come to their first love, and there they

stay.

My friend was so unkind in his strictures upon poor Colorado as to afflict them with grasshoppers. [Laughter.] If my friend is spending his time in reading the surveyor general's reports to keep up with the progress of grasshoppers, he is attending to small business. [Laughter.] I supposed he was engaged in higher, nobler purposes than looking after the march of grasshoppers. [Laughter.] Why, sir, I have seen grasshoppers in Massachusetts as thick as locusts in Egypt. Grasshoppers go wherever grass grows; and my friend, when he establishes the fact that there is a good crop of grasshoppers there, establishes the fact that there are pastoral lands there; for they never go but where there is something to eat.

But everything conspires to give Colorado a forbidding aspect in my friend's vision. With all the noble qualities that I so much admire in my distinguished friend, there is one thing he will pardon me for saying that he has yet to learn that is a bold assertion for me-he has got to learn to take defeat gracefully; or in other words, he must learn that to procure success he is only entitled to use such means and such arguments as are legitimate to the subject and to the question to which they are applied.

Mr. President, if you take one step west of Colorado, what do you find there? You find there one of the strongest arguments and reasons why there should be the strong government of a State in Colorado. You find Utah, with all of her calamity, and with all of the dangers incident to it, nestled right in there with a large population. Step beyond Utah and you find the State of Nevada. To say much of her would not become me; but I assert this of her: Nevada is a State that has furnished as many troops in proportion to her population as any State in this Union; she has done much substantial work; her people are a law-abiding people, and they love the Union. Beyond Nevada we come to that mighty barrier, the Sierra Nevada; leap over that, and you come to the flourishing State of my distinguished friend from California, [Mr. CONNESS,] all glittering with gold; and yet, sir, California is no richer than Colorado, in my judgment; no richer than Utah, no richer than Nevada, Montana, or Idaho.

What next do we see? We see the mighty power this nation puts forth, to do what? To link these two great oceans together with hooks of iron and steel, and already is seen and heard from either ocean the steam whistle on the

Atlantic starting for the West, and in July they will be challenged above the clouds of the Sierra Nevada mountains bidding and beckon. ing them onward to the western coast. Right in this pathway lies Colorado, the first great stopping-place. Colorado, in two years from this time, will have a population that will pay more into the Treasury of this Government than many States whose locks are whitened with years. I know the abounding elasticity of these youthful States. I know with what vigor and strength they increase and go forward, and you cannot keep them from populating rapidly. Strike the music of the chord that echoes to go," and population will flow into them, even from Massachusetts.

66

Show me where these rich treasures are found, and where, after all, we have got to look for the very material to light from off the shoulders of this nation its now crushing burden, and I will show you a population in point of intelligence, vigor, and numbers that will be satisfactory entirely to my distinguished friend from Massachusetts, and it will drive out the phantom that seems to haunt him, and it will give certain demonstration by its productions of its ability to be a State. "Poor Colorado' will settle with my friend one of these days; it will show him that he little knows, and has paid but little attention in his researches, to the treasures of her mighty mountains. Sir, there is a people there who have gone deep down under the mountains, and by their science and their skill, and above all, by their indomitable will and perseverance, have demonstrated to the world that there in Colorado lies wealth untold.

Sir, my friend has one habit that I thought I should never fall into, but I have got to do so now; and that is reading letters. [Laughter.] I have got nobody to telegraph me for the occasion, [laughter,] but I have a letter here by accident. [Laughter.] It is a letter written by the mayor of Denver City, and directed to me; he is now in New York. I will read it: NEW YORK CITY, March 22, 1866. DEAR SIR: I have just finished reading the report of the discussion in the Senate on the admission of Colorado, and must say that I was very much surprised at some of the statements made. As a citizen of Colorado, I can but regret that such statements place our young Territory and people in a very false position before the people of the United States as regards our population, mineral wealth, and agricultural resources. I have been a resident of Colorado for the past six years, and from the positions I have occupied, think that I am well posted in regard to all of these matters.

Our population I honestly believe to-day is of permanent inhabitants thirty-five thousand, if not more. I do not think, in so large a Territory, that the vote at any election is a fair index of population. Our people are scattered over the mountains and valleys, and in a number of localities no elections are held. I know it was the case at the last (State) election. Men who are receiving five dollars per day will not leave their work and travel eight or ten miles to cast a vote.

Our young Territory sent three regiments to the war and at the close of the rebellion they were mustered out in the States, but most of them after a short visit to their friends are now on the way back to their homes and property in Colorado. There were also hundreds of men who went from Colorado to their homes in the States and enlisted, who are now making their preparations to return to Colorado this spring. All of these men claim to belong in Colorado, as they hold property and pay taxes in that Territory to-day.

So much for our population, which I claim is on the increase daily instead of decrcase. As regards our mineral wealth, I would say that I do not think there need be any question in regard to that. I will give a few facts which have come under my personal knowledge. I was connected with the private mint of Messrs. Clark, Gruber & Co., in the years 1861, 1862, and 1863, and during that time they struck off of their own coin $750,000, and during the same period bought gold dust and shipped cast over $3,000,000 of gold bars, run from dust bought in Colorado. This is the business of one house. There were at the same time four other houses engaged in the same business, namely, banking. From the owners of five hundred feet on the Gregory mine there was bought in that time $1,000,000 of gold. Distinguished professors state in published works that Colorado has the largest extent of rich quartz veins of any mining country on the globe. I will say here that our ores are what is termed refractory, and it requires a vast amount of machinery and skilled labor to work them. There have been formed in the eastern cities over seventy-five mining companies, involving a working capital of over ten million dollars. When these companies get in full and successful operation, I think Colorado will demonstrate to the world that she is a rich gold and silver producing country. Besides gold and silver, we have

rich veins of iron, copper, lead, coal, salt springs, and oil producing territory.

As regards business, I will state that the merchants in the city of Denver sold $12,000,000 worth of merchandise in the year 1865. The aggregate amount of business done by banks in the Territory is $15,000,000 per

annum.

As regards our agricultural resources, I will simply say that the amount of land under cultivation is set forth in the report of the surveyor general. Our soil is rich and productive, and the yield per aere satisfies the most sanguine of farmers. Irrigation is required except on the streams.

From the county of Boulder, one of the smallest counties in the Territory, there were raised and sold in the city of Denver twenty-five thousand bushels of grain. This was exclusive of what they retained for seed and home consumption. One farmer in the county of Arrapahoe soid his crop in Denver for the snur sum of $60.000. The counties of Jefferson, Weed. El Paso, Huerfano, Conejos, Costilla, Pueblo, and Frémont are agricultural counties.

This is a simple statement of facts, and I send it to you for the purpose of placing Colorado right before the honorable body of which you are a member. I am, sir, very respectfully,

GEORGE T. CLARK, Mayor of Denver, and Cashier of the First National Bank.

Hon. JAMES W. NYE,

Senator from Nevada, Washington, D. C. Now, Mr. President, I present the authority of Mr. Clark, the mayor of Denver, and the cashier of the first national bank there, against the supposed authority of my friend from Massachusetts.

Sir, I claim that it is the sound and wise policy of this nation to have the strong power of State governments across this continent. There is something in State ties. I never believed in this late quasi dissolution of States; but there is nothing that binds us so closely together in mutual interest as State ties. I believe that as a principle it is true; and the time so much longed for by the distinguished Senator from Kentucky who last addressed you will soon rome when reason takes the place of frenzy in the rebellions States, when their judgments shall surmout their prejudices, when they shall have ceased to do evil and learned to do well, when it will be an acknowledged fact that State ties are stronger and more pow erful than national pressure from outside. I want to see a row of States across this continent that will vibrate with one thrill from the quiet waters of the Pacific to the restless waters of the Atlantic. I want a State bond of sympathy from ocean to ocean that will hold the East and the West in bonds which the world cannot sever. I want the people inhabiting this vast expanse to be protected by State gov ernments because they will make that which is now a wilderness "bloom and blossom as the rose."

They will bring to the earth's surface a wealth that will astonish the world.

Give these people the fostering care of State governments, and they will convince foreign creditors that whatever obligations may rest upon the shoulders of the Government, they are always on a specie basis. Sir, higher than that, they stand on bullion. Give them State gov ernments that will protect the miners in their distant mountain homes, let them feel that they are not in danger from the wrath of the wild savage nor from the neglect of their Govern ment, and the population will be so thick as to drive away the last phantom that haunts my friend's mind-the grasshoppers-from Colorado. Sir, give Colorado a State government, let her have a voice in the national councils with which she will be in unison of sentiment, and her growth will be more magical than anything produced by the lamp of Aladdin. My friend has always turned, I suppose, eastward for light. Go West; go out there, and what will he see? The tales upon which he has feasted, that he has read as fables, are excelled by the realities. You find in Colorado a people that beat the mountains fine. You find in these new border Territories and States a population that level the mountains and fill up the valleys. They stop at nothing. Give them protection, and I repeat that the growth of Colorado will astonish the world. I have seen the difference between a State and Territory; and although the mantle of a State government has rested a little more than twelve months upon my State, there is a

39TH CONG. 1ST SESS.-No. 135.

feeling of security and advancement that never could have existed under a territorial government.

My friend is alarmed for the dignity and honor of the older States. Well, they will take care of themselves. I have heard much said against New England, and I love her so well that I am not going to repeat it; but she only occupies a small portion of this continent and she has had twelve most estimable (and it is happy for the country she has had them) Senators here that have stood like a breakwater between the lashings and fury of rebellion and the stability of the Government. Sir, would you have hesitated during the rebellion to have two from Colorado? Would you have quibbled upon the little point of the honor of the older States? Sir, a great State never is so noble and never appears so grand as when it reaches out its hand to a young, tender State and says, "I will uphold and sustain you; I bid you God speed on this journey."

Massachusetts was once young. True, that was a great many years ago; but she was young; she is old now, and should not forget that time. My friend and I have both been younger than we are; but there is nothing I recur to in my past life with half the pleasure I do when I recollect an instance when I have stretched out my hand to a young man to aid him over the thorny pathway of professional life. Sir, the States were not born at once; but the Constitution clothes them with the garments of age; from the moment they are born they are the equals of the older States. It is well it is so. Why should they not be the equals of the old States? They are bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, offspring, shoots ingrafted upon the main stock of the parental Government. Sir, I do not think New York would be scared, frightened out of her propriety, if Colorado should have a couple of votes here. New York stands upon her own base as firm as the everlasting hills, and so will Colorado. Sir, I care not how many votes there are here; I anticipate the time, and that not far distant, when State line after State line will join, and there will not be an inch of the mountains and plains from the now dreary glaciers of Montana or Nevada to the easternmost boundary of the States beyond the Mississippi that will not boast of a State government standing as an equal with New York and Massachusetts upon this floor, and neither of them will be degraded by the association.

Sir, this business of making States is a large business; it has frightened the men down South. While they were engaged in hurling States out, some of us were engaged in bringing States in. This Government in its form and plan will never be perfect till there is not a territorial dependency in it, till State line touches State line over our broad and expansive continent. And furthermore, if I may be pardoned, I see symptoms of States from another quarter. When this Fenian speck shall have blown away, the Canadians like wise men may seek shelter under the protecting ægis of the tree of liberty that was planted here by our fathers. Sir, the St. Lawrence is not wide enough to divide the continent between monarchical and republican institutions. New Brunswick and the other British Provinces are certain to come in and to tend toward an eastern preponderance by and by, as time rolls itself around.

I hope, Mr. President, that this vote will be reconsidered. Colorado deserves better than to be rejected now. My friend says the enabling act is dead. Well, suppose it is dead, does Colorado die with it? Because a statute

has lapsed, are you to kill everybody that went where the statute existed? I pay but little attention in the discussion of this ques

tion to the mere fact of the existence of that

enabling act. States have been brought into this family of States without any enabling act and with less population than Colorado has got. The State of Arkansas, when it was admitted, had but eleven thousand white population in it; and why do we stand here now, at this late day, debating such a point, when

it is not the number of inhabitants that make a State, but the quality and character of the inhabitants? Why do we stand here quibbling about numbers, when our fathers did not stop to cavil? Sir, it is time to drop this iron standard of having so many or no State. When a body of men come here with the power to uphold and maintain a State govern ment clothed with the garments of loyalty, let them come in. In that way you put, if I may use the expression, braces into this great temple of freedom. You bring these elements of strength from State organizations, and my friend from Kentucky will pardon me when I say that the citizens of Colorado know their resources, know the expenses of a State government, know its burdens, and knowing them are willing to take them upon themselves; and who shall be the judge for them but themselves?

Mr. President, I have detained the Senate longer than I intended. I hope this vote will be reconsidered. Upon every principle of right, the enabling act was at least an invitation for them to come. My friend from Massachusetts says it would have been all well if they had come a year sooner. Does he not remember the parable? The laborer who came at the eleventh hour got the penny, too. I know the embarrassment of the question of time. Our election was fixed on the same day with the Colorado election under the enabling act; and nothing but using the telegraph and unusual exertion enabled us to distribute intelligence to our distant mining posts; and some of them did not know it. What then? The convention met. We supposed that we must be admitted before the election in the fall, or our work would be void; and I telegraphed my self sixteen thousand eight hundred words, the constitution of the State of Nevada; and Nevada was born by telegraph. [Laughter.] I received across the trembling wires, from the pen of the immortal Lincoln, that Nevada was born; and a shout went up that_made the mountain-tops and valleys ring. Do you not suppose he knew what he was about? Clearly. Why did he not kick us out because the word "white" was in our constitution? It will not do. If Colorado had had as many telegraphs as we happened to have, and had used them as much, she would have been born in time. But, sir, this question of time, I take it, is a matter of small consideration. Here was an invitation to this feast of States; and she has come up to the feast as soon as time would allow. She has come up as soon as she could attire herself in State garments for the feast. My friend meets her by talking of "grasshoppers." [Laughter.] When she asks for bread, the bread of national life, he gives her a stone. Sir, that will not do. I insist upon it, that my friend from Massachusetts must be beaten now; and I trust that the lesson will teach him to take it gracefully, and I assure him in the utmost kindness that this word "white" will not hurt anybody.

Mr. President, I trust that this vote will be reconsidered and reconsidered now, and that Colorado which so justly deserves to stand within the circle of States will not be kept out any longer.

Mr. McDOUGALL. Mr. President, "I am not an orator as Brutus is." In the matter of rhetoric, of euphony, and elocution, the gentleman who last addressed the Senate is my master infinitely. Of all these things I say nothing; but of myself I must say something because I did on a previous occasion vote for the pending measure. I did it spontaneously, without careful consideration. After careful consideration, I think it is not just or right, not consistent with our system. The reason on which I before acted spontaneously was that I desired to build up a western interest, which is the interest that my country belongs to. After careful consideration, I do not think that the Territory of Colorado is so populated and has such a number of permanent inhabitants as to justify her representation by two Senators in this Senate Hall. Its population does not come within the

rule that has been regarded as the true rule by all careful, considerate statesmen for many years. The spontaneous vote I before gave I am bound to change, for I think that then I was wrong, and now I will try to be right. I shall therefore vote against the reconsideration.

Mr. HENDERSON. I move that the Senate do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; and the Senate adjourned.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
TUESDAY, April 24, 1866,

The House met at twelve o'clock m. Prayer by Rev. HENRY W. BELLOWS.

The Journal of yesterday was read and approved.

JACOB P. LEESE.

Mr. BIDWELL asked unanimous consent to offer the following joint resolution:

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and directed to pay to Jacob P. Leese, out of the appropriation made for the payment of judgments to be rendered by the Court of Claims," under the act approved June 25, 1861, the amount of his claim, as fixed by a decision of the Court of Claims, rendered December 24, 1860.

Mr. WASHBURNE, of Illinois. I object.

TELEGRAPII TO THE WEST INDIES.

Mr. ELIOT. I ask unanimous consent to report from the Committee on Commerce Senate bill No. 26, concerning telegraphic communication between the United States and the island of Cuba, and other West India islands, and the Bahamas. Amendments have been made to obviate all the objections which were raised when the bill was before the House.

Mr. SPALDING. I object, and call for the regular order.

NIAGARA FALLS SHIP-CANAL.

The House accordingly proceeded to the consideration of the special order of business, being the call of committees for reports, the pending question being the bill reported by the Committee on Roads and Canals, providing for a ship-canal around the falls of Niagara, upon which Mr. VAN HORN, of New York, was entitled to the floor.

Mr. HULBURD. By an agreement between the gentleman who reported this bill [Mr. VAN HORN, of New York,] and myself, I will occupy the remainder of his time.

I desire to call the attention of the House to the importance of a ship-canal around the falls of Niagara on the American side, not only as a military measure, but as a commercial necessity.

In the latter view, it is needed and demanded by some fifteen States of this Union. There are directly interested in its construction some ten million people.

I propose to occupy the brief time allotted me in first asking the consideration of the military aspect of the question.

It is well known that by the treaty between this country and Great Britain neither nation is allowed to have more than one armed vessel on Lake Ontario and two on the upper lakes. But by means of its natural rivers and the construction of different canals Canada or the British Government can at any time build and accumulate gunboats or other war vessels and precipitate them upon the lakes; and all this preparation it can make in its own waters and of course without infringing the international treaty. It was stated a year ago, whether correctly or not I cannot say, that Great Britain then had a hundred gunboats ready, if need be, to throw them upon Lake Ontario. It must not be forgotten that Lake Ontario is the key position of the lakes if we are at war with Great Britain, or, what is the same thing, with Canada.

We had upon that lake a single vessel only to meet that force; and we by the terms of the treaty could have no more, and we had no rivers or large canals upon which we could build and store more, and have them in read

iness. Now, one object of the construction of the Niagara ship-canal is to enable the United States in case of war, if need be, to make use of our large upper lake fleet of vessels, which could be speedily fitted for such use. On Ontario our merchant marine is outnumbered. On the upper lakes we greatly outnumber the Canadian or British marine.

It may be said that there is no speck of war on the northern frontier at the present time; that therefore this is but a contingent danger to be provided against; that we can guard against that, if need be, by volunteers or militia that may be called into service. I answer that the experience of the war out of which we have come, shows that even with a half million or million armed men we could not, or did not, guard effectually the Baltimore and Ohio railroad or the Baltimore and Cumberland canal, so as to prevent forays or raids. Such an experience shows that the great and long canal of the State of New York, so necessary and so important to the West and East, is liable to be pierced and broken at any time by a hostile invasion.

There is another feature in this case. Between Chicago and Ogdensburg, there are some fourteen hundred miles of natural navigation, with the single interruption of the falls of Niag ara. Canada on its side has constructed the Welland canal, forty-two miles in length, with a second opening on the lake, shortening it to thirty-two miles, with twenty-eight locks of the dimensions of one hundred and eighty by twentysix and a half feet. This bill proposes to construct a canal around the falls of Niagara, making the distance but eight miles, with much larger capacity in prism and in size of locks. Thus, in case of difficulty with Canada, instead of having one hundred and fifty miles to guard to prevent interruption of commerce between the East and West, we should have only eight miles to protect.

Now, Mr. Speaker, it may be said that this is now a minor consideration. I admit that it has not the importance which it once had. But when it is considered by this House that on those inland lakes there floats a commercial interest twice greater than the entire foreign commerce of the United States, it is manifest at once that there is on these lakes an interest that should be cared for. While we are making appropriations year by year to build and fit up and strengthen fortifications to protect our Atlantic coast, is there not a reason why, in a military point of view, we should have respect to the great interests of the North and of the West to be seriously affected and impaired in case of war by a direct interruption of commercial communication?

An order in council now shuts at any time the Welland canal against American bottoms, and since the termination of the reciprocity treaty this may be done without a moment's previous notice, as there are no treaty stipulations to prevent it. Besides, the Canadian authorities discriminate already against American commerce by refunding to Canadian vessels ninety per cent. of the duties, and exacting one hundred per cent. of the duties paid by American vessels, unless these American vessels discharge their cargoes at Montreal or some other Canadian port, or go out to sea by the way of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. These are reasons, in a military point of view, which to my mind have a direct bearing on the propriety of the construction of this canal by the Federal Gov

ernment.

In a commercial point of view it is stated, and with truth, that the commerce of the lakes has vastly, rapidly increased. In 1840 the first vessel left Chicago with three thousand bushels of wheat for the East. Five years afterward the shipping trade of the lakes with the East was so large that Congress was called upon and passed a special act extending the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the Federal district courts to the lakes and navigable waters connecting the same.

Six years later, in 1851, the constitutionality of that act was raised, and after solemn argu

ment was settled in the Supreme Court against the technical objection that as there was no ebb and flow of tide those inland lakes could not be covered by the ægis of admiralty.

In delivering the opinion of the court, the Chief Justice took the broad ground that, tide or no tide, these lakes were, in truth, great inland seas, bordered by different States on one side and having on the other a long foreign frontier line of three thousand miles; that on them already existed a great and growing commerce between numerous States and a foreign nation; that on these lakes hostile fleets had encountered each other; and admiralty jurisdiction had already necessarily been, indirectly at least, extended and recognized.

To such importance and magnitude had commercial interests and rights thus early grown (1851) that he held, substantially, it would be contrary to the first principles on which the Union was formed to confine admiralty rights and privileges to States bordering on the At lantic, and to tide-water navigation therewith connected, and to deny such rights to the citi zens who border on the lakes. Certainly the Chief Justice intimated such was not the intention of the framers of the Constitution, one object of which, with them, was a perfect equality in the rights and the privileges of the citizens of the different States, not only in the laws of the General Government, but in the mode of administering them. That equality does not exist if the commerce on the lakes is denied the benefits and the protection which the Constitution secures to the States bordering on the Atlantic. Of course I refer to Chief Justice Taney's opinion in the well-known case in Howard's Reports, known as the Genesee Chief case.

Now, sir, if it is found that the present avenues of commerce and trade are inadequate, and it has been found by observation and by instrumental examination that only within the State of New York is there that natural dip or depression of land lying north of the mountain ranges and south of the frontier line, then we must look at existing outlets or easements of trade and commerce in operation or projected within the boundaries of that State.

Now, within that State is the New York and Erie railroad, which does what it can; the New York Central railroad, which also does what it can; and there is the New York and Erie canal, three hundred and fifty miles in length; adding ten per cent. for the six hundred and fourteen feet rise and fall of elevation, makes a working length of four hundred and fourteen miles; a canal of narrow prism, of numerous locks, and which is simply able to receive and carry boats of two hundred and twenty-four tons burden. It has been stated by the official authorities of that State that for three years the capacity of that canal has been tested to its utmost to provide transportation for the products of the States of the great West connected with or bordering the upper lakes.

When the State of Illinois has but one eighth of her land under cultivation; when the other States of the West have but one tenth of their land under cultivation, with present facilitiesand there is no immediate prospect of their increase what is to become of the products of these States ten or twenty years hence, when they shall have, perhaps, the half of their tillable acres under cultivation? Where will they find an outlet? Shall we be told that they can go down the Mississippi? That may answer for certain portions of the cereals of the West, wheat, &c., but it is very well known that there is a serious objection to that route by reason of the heat of the climate for the transportation of corn to and its export from the port of New Orleans. If I recollect aright, never in any single year has the export of corn from the port of New Orleans exceeded two hundred and fifty thousand bushels, while the Erie and Oswego canals of the State of New York alone have transported a million and a million and a half bushels a year.

But even if the Mississippi river was deep enough, and its channel rendered navigable for

boats all the year round, still there would be an objection to it on account of the climate, because the corn would heat and become dam aged, and of course depreciate in value.

The products of the West must, therefore, find an outlet by northern and eastern routes, or it must be burned for fuel or distilled into spirits or fed to stock or rot upon the ground, as it has sometimes done of late.

Now, by the construction of the Niagara ship-canal, eight miles in extent, the expense of transportation is greatly lessened; and there will be several outlets from Lake Ontario to the sea-board and the great depot of this continent, namely, New York city. Therefore, there will be no danger of accumulation there. But, as my time is limited, I will pass to another point. The State of New York, standing midway between the West and the East in that respect, by or through her canal officers, strangely assumes the position that this canal will injure the revenues of the Erie canal, and therefore it should not be constructed. But in another breath they admit and insist that the canal interests of the State of New York have been quite remunerative and productive, costing in round numbers, interest, loans, damages, enlargement, "pauper laterals," &c., all told, $100,000,000; and that between eighty-three and eighty-four of these millions have been returned to the treasury of that State, leaving only some fifteen or sixteen millions of disbursement expense and unreturned. The Erie canal proper has paid for itself and $9,000.000 more. What right, then, has the State of New York to claim that that canal, with its narrow prism and its yet more restricted locks, should require, as it does, that the commerce of the West, however great, shall be forced through it to market. whether they desire it or not; at all events, such portions of it as cannot go down the Mississippi, and such portions of it as are too bulky and weighty to be transported upon the railroads? The very statement shows that no wrong is done to the treasury of that State if the national Government makes this a national work.

Mr. DAWES. I am very desirous of voting for this bill, but I am not able to find just the precise condition of the bill before the House. I desire to ask my friend how efficient its provisions are to give the United States control over this canal so as to make it a

national work. I am led to make this inquiry because the general drift of this bill is to make a donation to such corporation as may be formed by any State to carry on this work, and I observe that the State of New York has incorporated a company for this purpose, the act of incorporation containing this provision:

"The said corporation may accept upon any terms and conditions not inconsistent with this charter or the laws of this State, from the Government of the United States, or of any State, any grants of land, bonds, moneys, or credit which may be made to it, for the purpose of constructing the canal and works connected therewith, and may hold and dispose of such lands for that purpose. When completed, the State of New York shall have the right to purchase the said canal and the works connected therewith, by paying to the said corporation the cost of constructing the same, with interest computed to date of the purchase, with the further addition of ten per cent, thereon."

I desire to know whether in this bill you have sufficiently guarded against any such contingency as is provided for in that section of the law of New York, and that by no possibility this shall be anything but a national work.

Mr. HULBURD. If one of my colleagues had been here he would have offered an amendment that would remove that difficulty, taking it away from any State and giving its construction and its control exclusively to the General Government.

I wish to answer one other objection, and that is, that if this commerce finds its way in large vessels into Lake Ontario, it will go away from New York on down and out to sea through

the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Sir, those who are acquainted with the obsta cles in that pathway to the ocean-obstacles that no time or oxpenditure of money or inducements of drawbacks can, in my judgment, ever surmount-would laugh to scorn the utter

absurdity of a serious apprehension from that quarter. Canada has expended millions in constructing the seven canals around the rapids in the St. Lawrence river between Ogdens burg and Montreal. In thus canalling and locking thirty-two and a half miles only one hundred and sixty of the two hundred and thirty-six feet of the elevation of Lake Ontario above Montreal has been overcome, leaving a tidal and channel current of seventy feet fall to be surmounted by the steam and sail of inland or upward-going vessels. She has expended millions upon magnificent docks and wharves to accommodate trade and commerce at Montreal; but thus far they have attracted there no forest of shipping. At a vast expense she has dredged the channel of that river to a depth of twenty feet and to a width of three hundred feet, miles and miles below that city, yet does "that way out" remain difficult and danger ous, and comparatively unfrequented, and forever will, in consequence of bad shores, sunken reefs, and perpetual fogs. The perils of this untoward thoroughfare most strikingly appear in one item of the recent past. In the last few years the Montreal Atlantic Steamship Com pany have lost seven, if not eight, of their fine, new, and well-appointed steam-packets in the intricacies of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

What

fact more patent and potent of the perils

of this dreaded rival route? There remains one other significant business item, illustrating the disfavor with which this route is viewed by shippers and insurance men. For ten years,

between 1845-55, the charge for freight from Montreal to Liverpool averaged twice the charge from New York to the same port.

Of the river and Canadian ports proper this may be said: less than one eighth of the lake freight went down to Montreal, notwithstanding drawbacks and reciprocity. During the first six years of the operation of the reciprocity treaty only twelve thousand tons, in forty vessels, found their way to the lower St. Lawrence, and none of these. it is said. stemmed the upward current by returning to the waters where they were built and loaded. In 1863 but a single vessel cleared and entered American ports, through this channel, from foreign countries. In the words of Secretary Chase, notwithstanding the careful and inviting legis lation of Canada in regard to tolls and tonnage duties," "the united efforts of the two Govern ments have proved of little effect in opening a channel preferable to that made up of the lakes, the canals, and railroads of the United States."

The idea that this can become a rival route, ice-locked as it is nearly seven months of the year, in addition to all its other disadvantages, in opposition to our open sea-board, is too preposterous to be seriously considered. But

[Here the hammer fell.]

Mr. ALLISON. I design to yield a portion of my time to the gentleman from New York, [Mr. J. M. HUMPHREY.]

Mr. VAN HORN, of New York. Will my colleague yield to me for a moment? Mr. J. M. HUMPHREY. I will.

Mr. VAN HORN, of New York. After further consideration and consultation with the friends of the general project of a ship-canal around the falls of Niagara, I am directed to present the bill I now send to the Clerk as a substitute for the bill I offered on Tuesday last, understanding that the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. PAINE] will withdraw the amendment which he offered, in the nature of a substitute to the bill first introduced by me.

The first seven sections of this bill are the same as the corresponding ones of the former bill, with two exceptions: first, the alternative is given to use inclined planes. if upon careful investigation it is found that they will be advisable, and work to the best interests of the Government and the company; and second, a clause is inserted in the seventh section vesting the title of the land taken by the United States in securing the right of way, when the damages adjusted as provided in the bill shall be paid. Then follow the main provisions which make

this differ from the original bill. This bill provides for the chartering of a company direct by the Government who shall or may accept the benefits offered and construct the canal, with all the restrictions and provisions that are customary in such cases. The bill first present d provided for the construction of the work through any company chartered by any State, which company should be governed by similar regulations and subject to the same restrictions as in the bill now presented.

The concluding sections of this bill are the same as in the original bill. differing only so far as necessary to make them conform to the charter granted, and to confer upon the company so chartered the necessary power for the government of the corporation and the manage ment of its affairs.

Mr. Speaker, as I propose to speak upon this measure hereafter, I will not occupy the time of the House any longer at present.

Mr. J. M. HUMPHREY here addressed the House; but before concluding, the morning hour expired. [His remarks will be found complete in the Appendix.]

MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE.

A message from the Senate, by Mr. FORNEY, its Secretary, announced that the Senate had passed, without amendment, a bill (II. R. No. 500) entitled "An act making appropriations to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for the public printing for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1866."

SPEAKER'S TABLE.

Mr. McRUER moved that the House proeced to the consideration of business on the Speaker's table.

The motion was agreed to.

CATHARINE MOCK.

The first business on the Speaker's table was Senate amendment to the bill (H. R. No. 219) entitled "An act for the relief of Catharine Mock;" which was referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions.

JUDICIAL ROCEEDINGS

The next business on the Speaker's table was Senate amendments to the bill (H. R. No. 238) entitled "An act to amend an act entitled An act relating to habeas corpus and regulating judicial proceedings in certain cases,' approved March 3, 1863."

Mr. WILSON, of Iowa. I move that the House non-concur in the amendments of the Senate and ask for a committee of conference.

Mr. ROSS. I call for the reading of the amendments.

The amendments were read, as follows: On page 1, line two, strike out the following words: "Or other trespasses or wrongs done or committed;' so that the clause will read:

Any search, seizure, arrest, or imprisonment made, or any acts done, &e.

In line nine, after the word "so" insert the words done or.'

""

In line ten, strike out the word "is," and insert in licu thereof the word "was.'

In the same line, after the word addressed," insertas for whom it was intended."

In line fourteen, after the word "act," insert the words, "of March 3, 1863.'

After line fifteen insert the following:

But no such order shall, by force of this act or the act to which this is an amendment, be a defense to any suit or action for any act done or omitted to be done after the passage of this act; nor for any act done with malice, cruelty, or unnecessary severity. Mr. WILSON, of Iowa, called for the previous question.

The previous question was seconded and the main question ordered; which was upon the motion of Mr. WILSON, of Iowa, that the House non-concur in the amendments of the Senate and ask for a committee of conference.

The motion was agreed to-ayes sixty-seven, noes not counted.

Mr. WILSON, of Iowa, moved to reconsider the vote just taken: and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

The SPEAKER subsequently announced the appointment of Messrs. WILSON, of Iowa, MCKEE, and BOYER, as the committee of conference on the part of the House.