Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

32D CONG....2d Sess.

Railroad to the Pacific-Mr. Dodge, of Iowa.

haps, with the legislation necessary to protect the rights and interests of the Government, the traveling and commercial community, as well as those of the companies having charge of the work, has devoted his time and talents most patiently and assiduously to framing this bill, and may appropriately be termed the "Mentor of the committee," every member of which will bear evidence to the many sage and valuable suggestions which we received from him.

The distinguished Senator from Tennessee [Mr. BELL] has thrown his whole soul into this noble enterprise, and both in the Senate and the committee, has brought his research and talents zealously to the work of its accomplishment.

Of the zeal and ability of the Senator from California, [Mr. GWIN,] and of the time, attention, and devotion which he has shown to this work, it is unnecessary I should speak, as they are familiar to the Senate and the whole country.

[ocr errors]

My purpose in making this allusion to the committee to whom all the various projects for a Pacific railroad were referred, is to say, that excluding myself, I humbly conceive that the Senate, and especially those who are friendly to the enterprise, should receive the labors of the Select Committee with something akin to a "generous confidence." The North, the South, the East, and the West, were fairly represented, and I am proud to say, that I never saw the least exhibition of sectional or selfish feeling manifested by any member of the committee in the preparation of the bill. I allude with pleasure to this fact, because it is well known that there are four or five rival routes, all of which have their friends and champions; and because the bill of the Special Committee has been attacked-boldly and bitterly attacked-for that feature in which consists its chief excellence, in my humble judgment-I mean the provision which confides to the incoming President of the United States, after the most thorough geographical and topographical reconnoissance, the designation of the termini and general route of the road. I have said that this is one of the best provisions of the bill, and I reiterate it, because, with the lights which that high officer will have before him when he comes to determine this momentous matter, he will be much more likely to make the proper designation than would Congress. Besides, sir, as a fast friend to this measure, one who is neither to be coaxed nor driven from its support, it is my solemn conviction, that upon the retention of this provision depends the life or death of the bill. You cannot fix the termini or route of this road in any bill, and then get votes enough to pass it. No, sir; not with all the surveys and estimates of cost, general and particular, that ever have been made or that ever can be made-and the reasons are these:

notwithstanding its hyperborean locality, the most feasible and advantageous.

Now, sir, these lines of route all have their supporters and advocates; and it is not my province to assail or to disparage any one of them. But I have to say that which I do know: Fix any one of them arbitrarily and by name in any bill, either before or after any number of surveys and estimates, and the friends of all the others fly from the support of the bill. They will give for excuse that the route designated is too far north, or too far south, to answer the great purposes of transit and commerce. It will be alleged that the Corps of Topographical Engineers, high as that corps deservedly stands in public estimation, by whom the surveys will have been made, were governed by sectional or other improper considerations and motives, and to this there will be added many other excuses for opposition. But few, if any, of the opponents will avow the true objection, which would be, that the road is not so located as to subserve the immediate local interests of the objecting member's State and constituency. Mark you! the contention to which I now allude would be among the friends of the bill-those friends whose votes and harmonious action are demanded for the success of the measure. Now, all who want a road can and do pull together, being at heart for the measure, and willing to run the risk of their favorite line of route being selected by the President, as, in his opinion, the best one. Hence, I regard the amendment of the Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. BRODHEAD] as directed at the existence of the bill. I trust that it will be so viewed by all the sincere friends of this great highway, and that it may receive at their hands that condemnation it so richly merits. I am perfectly satisfied that there are several practicable routes; and with this conviction I am for progressing with the road. I believe it to be the greatest question which now concerns our nation, and I wish to commit the Government to its construction-ay, and beyond the possibility of backing out-let the cost be double, triple, or quadruple the amount which the bill proposes to appropriate.

For the reasons given, and for others, I repeat I am glad that there is no critical survey and estimate of the cost of this road, nor any location of it now before us. I want a vote upon the great paramount question of the road itself, unembarrassed by collateral questions, such as those of route, survey, or cost, which, although important, are of minor consequence. If we are determined to have the road, these matters of detail are quite as well to follow, and in this instance, for the reasons stated, I think had better follow than precede the bill: a bill that determines the fate of the first and greatest measure of the day-the thoroughfarewhich is a question, as I religiously believe, involving the brightest hopes of our nation and peo

There are, I believe, at least five contending lines or routes, over which it is proposed to run a railway from the valley of the Mississippi to the Pa-ple, if not the perpetuity of the Union itself. For

cific ocean.

These are, beginning at the North:

First. From Green Bay, in Wisconsin, to Puget's Sound, in Oregon, with a branch to California.

Second. From some point in Iowa, on the Mississippi river, via Council Bluffs, Fort Laramie, the South Pass, in latitude 420 30′ north, Salt Lake City, and then by the emigrant trail through a pass in the Sierra Nevada, in latitude about 420 north, to San Francisco.

Third. From St. Louis to Albuquerque, latitude 350 north, on the Rio Grande; thence to Walker's Pass, near the same parallel, in the Sierra Nevada; thence through the valley of the San Joaquin, to San Francisco.

Fourth. Either from St. Louis, Memphis, Vicksburg, southwest corner of Arkansas, or Matagorda, in Texas, to El Paso, on the Rio Grande; and thence by the Gila, at its junction with the Rio Colorado; and thence, via the Tohone pass, about latitude 330 north, through the valley of the San Joaquin, to San Francisco.

This last line, by way of El Paso and the Gila, is believed by many to be the most practicable route; but it passes, a large part of the way, through the Mexican States of Chihuahua and Sonora. Many able men, and I believe Mr. Whitney among the number, think the first-named route,

66

HO. OF REPS.

In

often passes laws for the admission of new States, and provides that when certain things are done by territorial officers-as this does for certain things to be done by engineers, and certified to the President-that thereupon he shall issue his proclamation, and the State be admitted without further proceeding on the part of Congress. high party times, I remember, when such a power was conferred upon the President, with the view of facilitating the admission of a State, the then opposition gravely asserted that it was giving to the Executive the power of admitting a new State: that it was a bold increase of Executive power and patronage, &c. Time has shown how unfounded these apprehensions were; and if this bill should pass, I feel that I hazard but little in saying that the same great arbiter will in like manner falsify the lugubrious predictions of its opponents.

Mr. President, after the able expositions given by the Senators from Massachusetts, [Mr. DAVIS,] Tennessee, [Mr. BELL,] and Texas, [Mr. RUSK,] of all the provisions of the bill, and the masterly defense, both of its constitutionality and expediency, by the Senator from Illinois, [Mr. DougLAS,] there remains little for one so humble as myself to add, in the way of its support. But having been a member of the Select Committee whose chairman reported this bill, and feeling as I do the deepest interest in the construction of this great national highway, the Senate will, I am sure, pardon me for further trespassing upon its time. No other Government than one which, like ours, waits for the people to do or prompt everything, would hesitate or delay for a single day, a work so absolutely necessary to "bind in everlasting peace State after State, a mighty throng," as this is to bind together our Confederacy.

Look at what the ever-vigilant Government of Great Britain is doing even upon this continent, and in close proximity to us, in that great commercial race which the two countries are running for the trade of Eastern Asia. I see it stated in the London Daily News, of January 13th, of the present year, that the project of connecting the Atlantic and Pacific, by a ship canal across the Isthmus of Darien, is seriously entertained, and that considerable progress has already been made in the requisite arrangements. A full preliminary concession has been obtained from the Republic of New Granada. A preliminary survey of the proposed route has been made by civil engineers, whose report is highly favorable. The documents and plans, with an interesting pamphlet on the subject, has been, it is said in the News, privately circulated amongst the most influential merchants of Great Britain.

The proposed route is between Port Ecosses and San Miguel, and is only thirty-nine miles long. Three modes of intercommunication are presented; the most expensive and most efficient one, is by a canal of thirty feet depth at low water, one hundred and forty feet broad at bottom, and who that will contemplate the present long and one hundred and sixty feet at low water surface. circuitous route, through foreign governments and No lockage would be required. The material to countries-the Rocky and Sierra Nevada mount- be cut through being described as chiefly rock-a ain barriers-the scarcely less formidable desert stratified shale, with thin beds, which are said to prairies, some of which are even denominated form an excellent side lining to the canal-the journada del muerto," the journey of death-cost of its maintenance would be merely nomcan doubt that such a ligament is necessary to inal. The estimated cost is £12,000,000, (nearly bind in contentment and peace the mighty States $60,000,000.) By this canal, the transit of the which are to grow up upon our Pacific borders, largest vessels from sea to sea, could be effected and having those local and sectional attachments in five hours. and prejudices which ever surround the spot called "home?" Sir, without this rapid overland railroad connection, we must, in the lapse of time, see the god Terminus driven back from his present Ocean boundary, and seated upon those Stony mountains beyond which it was once thought he ought not to have been removed, though I was never of the number of those who so thought.

I am as much averse as any Senator in this body, to increasing the power or patronage of the Federal Executive; but the objections made to this bill upon the grounds that it does either, are not, in my poor judgment, well founded. He is to use officers of the regular corps of engineers, just as they are now, every day and year, employed; and when he gets, through them, the information necessary to enable him to do so, he decides where the contemplated road shall run, and where terminate. It does not give him the appointment of a single new officer. Congress

Such a canal in the hands of Great Britain, unless we make some movement to checkmate it, would give her the control of the commerce of the world, at least of that portion of it which has for centuries been the object of merchants and monarchs, conferring prosperity and power upon its recipients.

For more than fifty years the United States have been engaged in a commercial contest with England, and rapidly gaining on that avaricious and ambitious Power. The second war of independence was fought for "free trade and sailor's rights." The appeal to arms taught our ancient foe and present rival that we were neither to be jockeyed nor trampled on. Since the war of 1812, we have been gaining on her with constantly-increasing speed, and at last the race has become so close that England is hardly a neck ahead of us. Construct this road, mount Brother Jonathan on the iron

horse, and he will thus be enabled to turn the

32D CONG.....2D SESS.

Railroad to the Pacific-Mr. Dodge, of lowa.

corner, and not only to beat John Bull but to distance him.

I call the especial attention of the Senate to a letter which I have received from Lieutenant Maury:

}

NATIONAL OBSERVATORY, WASHINGTON, February 16, 1853. DEAR SIR: I have this morning before me your note of yesterday, asking for an approximate estimate in answer to the question, "With the railroad finished to San Francisco, how many days will we beat the English in reaching the marts of trade in Eastern Asia?" We shall be able to beat the English by about two thirds the time that it takes to come from England here, with the addition of the gain by running nearly three thousand miles on a railroad instead of performing the same distance in a steamer at sea. The distance from England, via the Straits of Gibraltar, Isthmus of Suez, and Red Sea, to Shanghai, in China, the center of the tea district, is very nearly equal to the distance from England, via Halifax, California railroad, and steamer thence to Shanghai. The distance by the former route is some six or eight hundred miles less than by the latter. On the former route there is no railroad transportation to speak of, the only land travel being across the Isthmus of Suez. Of course you will observe that I put the route by European railways to the Mediterranean out of the question; as a commercial route, that would require too much loading and unloading. Supposing, then, that each route be in operation, with steamers connecting, equal in speed to the Collins steamers, the difference in our favor by California railroad would be from fifteen to twenty days; perhaps more, because our steamers would only have to stop once to coal, and would have no way ports to touch at; whereas, from the head of the Red Sea, by the shortest steaming route possible, is not less than eight thousand miles. If your question applies to the English routes as they are, and to the California route as it probably will be, with a railroad hence to California, and a line of steamers thence to Shanghai, the difference then in our favor would not fall short of twenty-five or thirty days. Respectfully,

Hon. A. C. DODGE, Senate Chamber.

M. F. MAURY.

Instead, then, of meeting us in India, China, and even on our own Pacific coast, as the English now do, with the advantage of some ten days' sail, or more, the scales will be turned, and we shall have the advantage over them of twenty-five or thirty days, which, in commercial and business transactions, is conclusive and overwhelming. This Pacific railroad across our country will be the grave of British commercial supremacy. The epoch of its completion will be the zenith of her sun over the sea-from that day the splendor of her maritime power will begin to grow dim.

I come now to speak briefly of some of the vast and inappreciable benefits which I think will inure to mankind here and the world over from the construction of this road, and the consequent dense settlement of our distant Pacific possessions. In doing this, I will not dwell upon the mineral wealth of California and Oregon, nor upon the boundless fertility of their soil, nor the salubrity of their climates. Great and important as these are admitted to be, I think there are other benefits connected with and dependent upon the construction of this road, which transcend and cast them into the shade. They are, the command of the commerce of Eastern Asia, and the effect of the settlement of the American race on the western coast of our ocean-bound Republic opposite the coast of Asia; a country containing two thirds of the population of the world,

The trade of the East has ever been regarded as the richest jewel in the diadem of commerce; and every on that has participated in it has thereby acquired prosperity and power. It is a historical fact, known to all, that this commerce, through what channels soever it may have flowed, has built up cities and kingdoms amidst the desolation of rocks and sands. It was for centuries the object of merchant and monarch to find a shorter route than that pursued by the navies of Tarshish or the feets of Carthage. Phonecia, Persia, and Egypt were among the ancient routes of this commerce. Constantinople and Alexandria were among its more modern channels; and Bruges and Antwerp in the north, and Genoa and Venice in the south, the means of spreading it through Europe. The discovery of the continent of America is said scarcely to have consoled Columbus for the disappointment of finding his expected passage to Asia obstructed; and from that day to the present, skill and power have exerted themselves to get round, through, or over this formidable obstacle. The wonderful progress of the arts, and especially the omnipotence of steam, now place it in the power of the men of this day and generation to accomplish the work.

We observe all over the older portions of our

SENATE.

want. From the history of the past, we learn that it was by such trade and commerce that Tyre, Carthage, Constantinople, Venice, Genoa, Amsterdam, London and Liverpool achieved their growth and prosperity; rising from the condition of poor villages to that of extensive and affluent commercial cities, exhibiting the astonishing spectacle of powerful cities springing suddenly from unwholesome swamps and marshes.

This road will, to a great extent, supersede the present long and dangerous commercial voyages round the Capes of Horn and Good Hope. It is needed and will be used in conducting the commercial and business intercourse between

1st. The western States of the valley of the Mississippi, with California, Oregon, and Eastern Asia.

2d. The Atlantic coast of North America, and a large portion of the Pacific coast of South America.

3d. The north of Europe, and the Pacific coast of North and South America.

I will not tire the Senate with a detailed statement of the statistics of the value of the trade of the States and countries referred to, but may give such statement in a report of my remarks hereafter. The simple announcement of the names of the several countries interested in the road will demonstrate the necessity of its construction.

country, that cities and states are pushing forward their rival schemes of internal improvements, and setting up opposition to bring travel and commerce by and through them-considering themselves remunerated when they secure the business between places containing a few thousand people engaged in traffic. This Pacific railroad will bring us the travel and precious commodities from countries containing much the larger portion of the inhabitants of the world, and convey them through the length and breadth of the land, scattering local, sectional, and national benefits all the way. Nations, like states, cities, and even the smallest towns have ever sought to avail themselves of the advantages which business and travel dispense on the wayside of great thoroughfares. This improvement offers them to us on a scale proportioned to the mountain ranges, lakes, and rivers of our country, and sublime in proportion to its free institutions. The main trunk completed only, if you please, across the territory of the United States, and the adjacent States will join their lines to itit is a law of progress that one improvement rapidly begets another. But for that great pioneer work, the Erie Canal, and the impetus it gave to commerce and business, few, if any, of the railroads now in existence in New York would have been made. In like manner the Pacific railroad will give an impetus to commerce and travel with Asia and our own country, causing innumerable Mr. President, the most important event in the thoroughfares to be made to connect with it, and modern history of the world's progress was, I by showing the amount of business to be done, think, the exodus of that vanguard of Americans, will demonstrate the necessity for its construction. principally from my own and adjoining western It will cause old channels of trade to be abandoned, States, in 1843, who planted themselves on the and new ones opened. As a general rule-and I Pacific coast. Insignificant as this little band of think a wise one, because it supplies the deficien- pioneers appeared to be, consequences of vast cies of nature--our railroads and rivers run at magnitude have been produced by their westward right angles in their courses. In the New England movement, and greater are destined to flow from States, where the usual course of the rivers is it. It was their possession and occupancy of the south, the railroads run east and west; in the mid-valley of the Columbia that forced the settlement dle and southern States, where the water courses run eastwardly, the railroads tend to a northwardly direction. Rivers run from the mountains to the sea; railroads, generally across, or rather through the ridges, hills, and mountains. Influenced in their course and direction by the desire of facilitating the interchange of the productions of different climates, commercial railroads are observed to lead from valley to valley, for the purpose of raeeting navigable streams-in this case it in oceanstaking from them a portion of the commodities which they are conveying, and drawing it off to other markets. There are certain countries which, from the eligibility of their geographical positions, are destined to enjoy a highly prosperous future; wealth, power, every national advantage, flows into them, provided that where nature has done her part, man does not neglect to avail himself of her beneficent assistance. Nations, states, cities, and towns which are situated on the high roads of commerce, and which offer to it the safest ports and harbors, are in the most favorable condition. Those thus situated, find in the intercourse of foreign trade, immense resources, and are thereby enabled to take advantage of the fertility of their own soil the enterprise and industry of their own people-thus bringing into existence a home trade commensurate with the increase of foreign traffic.

The United States have Europe to the east, Asia to the west, and being midway between these two portions of the Old World, they occupy a geographical eminence in commerce and navigation, which places, as it were, all parts of the earth at their feet, and from which they may send their surplus to the people of every country and clime which are to be found on sea or land. If the productions of the earth were the same everywhere, and for a like amount of labor, there would be no commerce. Commerce consists in the carrying of articles from one place where they are not wanted to another in which they are needed. With commercial countries it is always a paramount object to open trade and intercourse between the inhabitants of different climates. The planter who raises more sugar than he can consume, does not, of course, desire to exchange this surplus for the sugar of his neighbor. He wishes to buy with it corn or wheat, beef or pork, everything I may say, save sugar. He, therefore, through the merchant and dealer, ships it off to a climate which does not produce sugar, and exchanges it for merchandise or something else of which he may be in

of the long-standing controversy with Great Britain, and an admission that we had some rights upon the Pacific. A foothold obtained in Oregon, and the possession of California became only a question of time: Mexican violation, for twenty-five years, of the rights of our citizens, and her shedding of American blood upon American soil, precipitated that golden acquisition to our territorial limits many years perhaps in advance of the time at which it would have become ours by the same process that Texas did-by a progressive course, perfectly honorable and proper, and founded upon the moral and intellectual superiority of our race. Already a bill has passed the House of Representatives dividing Oregon and creating a new Territory out of the northern portion of it, to be, and most appropriately, I think, called Washington. I hope and doubt not it will receive the sanction of this body. In a few years an immense population will grow up on the Pacific slope of our continent, between which and China, and other parts of Asia, lines of ocean steamers will be established, and our citizens, possessing all the lights of the present age, cannot fail to make a deep and most beneficial impression upon that country and people, the advantages of which will be felt by commerce, agriculture, and every department of human industry.

Our Pacific possessions now, to a considerable extent, occupy towards us the same relative position that the western country did towards the Atlantic States years before and after the acquisition of Louisiana, and the opening of avenues of communication and trade with the West. Listen to the words of him who was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen," when he spoke upon the subject of the then distant and transontane possessions of the United States, and let us learn wisdom from them. In 1784, one year after the close of the revolutionary war, and five years before the present Government went into operation, General Washington, who was an explorer and surveyor of new countries as well as a general and a statesman, made a tour on horseback from Mount Vernon to the Monongahela, crossing the mountains by the usual route of Braddock's road. He designed going to the mouth of the Great Kanawha, but was prevented by Indian hostility. On his return to Mount Vernon, he addressed a letter to Benjamin Harrison, the then Governor of Virginia, in which, among other things, he says:

32D CONG.....2D SESS.

Railroad to the Pacific-Mr. Dodge, of Iowa.

"I shall take the liberty now, my dear sir, to suggest a matter which would, if I am not too short-sighted a politician, mark your administration as an important era in the annals of this country, if it should be recommended by you, and adopted by the Assembly. It has long been my decided opinion that the shortest, easiest, and least expensive communication with the invaluable and extensive country back of us would be by one or both of the rivers of this State which have their sources in the Alleghany mountains." *** "Maryland stands upon similar grounds with Virginia. Pennsylvania, although the Susquehanna is an unfriendly water, much impeded, it is said, with rocks and rapids, and nowhere communicating with those which lead to her capital, (Philadelphia,) has it in contemplation to open a communication between Toby's creek, which empties into the Alleghany river, ninety-five miles above Fort Pitt, and the west branch of the Susquehanna, and to cut a canal between the waters of the latter and the Schuylkill, the expense of which is easier to be conceived than estimated or described by me.” ****"That New York will do the same, as soon as the British garrisons are removed, which are at present insurmountable obstacles in their way, no person who knows the temper, genius, and policy of those people as well as I do can harbor the smallest doubt."

"I need not remark to you, sir, that the flank and rear of the United States are possessed by other Powers, and formidable ones, too; nor how necessary it is to apply the cement of interest to bind all parts of the Union together by indissoluble bonds, especially that part of it which lies immediately west of us, with the Middle States. For what ties, let me ask, should we have upon those people? How entirely unconnected with them shall we be, and what troubles may we not apprehend, if the Spaniards on their right, and Great Britain on their left, instead of throwing stumbling blocks in their way, as they now do, should hold out lures for their trade and alliance? The western States -I speak now from my own observation-stand as upon a pivot. The touch of a feather would turn them any way. They have looked down the Mississippi until the Spaniards, very impolitically, I think, for themselves, throw difficulties in their way."

Such, in brief, were General Washington's views of the means necessary in 1784 to preserve the western States; and looking from the present point of time, wild and utopian as they may then have appeared, we behold their realization by the States which he named, and much more, because of the discovery of steam and its application as a propelling power on roads, rivers, and to almost everything else. The rival routes and antagonistic State interests are alluded to by him, and had the same effect to delay the great work of that day as they now have to retard the one of the present day.

Mr. Jefferson-that statesman of rare endowments, whose fertile mind was always teeming with enterprises beneficial to his country-in his confidential message to Congress of the 18th January, 1803, asked authority to order an exploring expedition to the source of the Missouri river, which "nught explore the whole line even to the western ocean," remarking that "while other civilized nations have encountered great expense to 'enlarge the boundaries of knowledge by under'taking voyages of discovery, and for other lite'rary purposes in various parts and directions, our nation seems to owe to the same object, as 'well as to its own interests, to explore this, the only line of easy communication across the con'tinent, and so directly traversing our own part of it. The interests of commerce place the prin'cipal object within the constitutional powers and || 'care of Congress; and that it should incidentally 'advance the geographical knowledge of our own 'continent, cannot but be an additional gratifica'tion."

After the return of the exploring party, Mr. Jefferson remarked in his message to Congress of the 2d December, 1806, that "the expedition of 'Messrs. Lewis and Clark, for exploring the river 'Missouri, and the best communication from that to 'the Pacific ocean, has had all the success that could have been expected. They have traced the Mis'souri nearly to its source; descended the Colum'bia to the Pacific ocean; ascertained with accuracy the geography of that interesting communication across our continent, and learned the 'character of the country, of its commerce, and 'inhabitants."

Nearly fifty years ago, Mr. Jefferson took the initiative in this matter, and more recent reconnoissances by officers highly competent for the duty, have confirmed the general correctness of the results anticipated from those early proceedings. The more careful and more enlarged means of examining the whole face of the country by talented, learned, and experienced officers, have resulted in the indication of a route which, while it follows the general line of the one named by Mr. Jeffers

son, through the whole distance, coincides with it exactly for a part of the way, indicating a route which many consider the only feasible one for the site of a road across the continent.

SENATE.

now to give up their expensive canals and railroads, with their deep cuts, tunneling and inclined planes, and resolve his State and people back again into the condition in which they were before these improvements were made: Do they not very much prefer these works, premature and unwise though some of them may be, than a return to the pack-horse, the bell-team, and the stage coach? Although the construction of those great works may have saddled Pennsylvania with an onerous public debt, I cannot doubt that the benefits and advantages arising from them more than counterbalance the evils of that debt.

I beg not to be understood as saying that this bill is perfect. I know that it is not; and there are some amendments which, if proposed, will meet my hearty sanction. I will cheerfully vote to strike out the incorporation clause, and for an express prohibition against the exercise, by the company who are to construct it, of anything in the shape of banking powers; none such are given, but I would like to see the possibility of their exercise guarded against. The means and Mr. President, besides the intrinsic merit of this the powers necessary to carry forward the enter- measure, and the deep interest felt in its success prise are all with which I wish to see the com- by those whom I in part represent, it is commendpany clothed; indeed, if it were not for the suc- ed to my support from the fact that it is so fiercecess, economy, and speed with which private ly and bitterly opposed by those Senators who companies have carried forward these railroad en- have never failed to show their opposition to every terprises in our old States, I would decidedly pre-western measure. Prominent among these is my for that the whole road should be made by the General Government, and be exclusively under its management and control. But the slow progress and ill success of the Cumberland road would seem to admonish us against the latter plan. I admit that the construction of this road, like every internal-improvement measure, whether of a general or local character, is fraught with difficulties and liable to abuses, such as we know from the past history of these works, constantly imperil their fate. But this is only an argument for increased vigilance on the part of the legislator, and honesty and fidelity on the part of the public officers having charge of these works, in distant and remote parts of the country.

The arguments against this bill apply with much greater force against river and harbor appropriations. With these, besides their liability to abuse, is the very great difficulty of determining whether they are national or local. For one, I have always maintained, that when of the former character, they are objects worthy of appropriations from the National Treasury. Now, I ask if it is at all probable in the course of human events there will ever come before Congress a measure which is more certainly and surely of national importance than that now before us? I think not. None to compare with it in nationality or in any other point of view. Its whole line will be within our own territory-the United States owning nearly every foot of the soil over which it will run. All the money expended in the construction of the road will be for the benefit of our own citizens; and all those great incidental benefits everywhere imparted to the value of the soil by thoroughfares of this sort, the building up of cities and towns, encouragements to emigration from both extremes of the world, will inure to the advantage of our own country and our own citizens. I do not believe that this Government has the right to grant a charter for such a purpose within the limits of a State, and hence the bill has provided that it shall have no effect within the borders of any State, unless such State shall by formal act assent thereto.

But the right of the United States to aid chartered companies of States for such purposes, has at least the sanction of precedent in their subscription to the Louisville and Portland, the Delaware and Chesapeake, the Potomac and Ohio, and the Dismal Swamp canals; and in the exercise of this right, our subscription in the present instance is made on prescribed conditions, such as the dimensions and strength of the road, and the privilege to transport the mails and munitions of war free of charge. I am aware that Pennsylvania, like other States of this Union, was at an early day precipitated into a ruinous and expensive system of internal improvements. I appreciate the vigilance which would induce my friends from that State [Messrs. BRODHEAD and COOPER] to guard against such abuses on the part of the Government of the United States. But, sir, was not this rather the result of that log-rolling system which undertook to provide every place in the State with a railroad or a canal, than in carrying on, if you please, her double improvements-canal and railroad through and over the Alleghany mountains, from Philadelphia to Pittsburg? If my information be correct, such was the case. Would that Senator, [Mr. BRODHEAD,] or his colleague, [Mr. COOPER,] who so ably addressed the Senate a few minutes since in opposition to this measure, be willing

worthy friend from Georgia, [Mr. DAWSON,] whose smiling countenance and sonorous voice are always seen and heard upon this floor in opposition to every measure of internal improvement in the West. Our differences in this regard do not in the slightest degree lessen my respect and kind feelings for him, nor for my worthy friend from Maine, [Mr. BRADBURY,] who usually takes the same side, and between whom and myself, owing to a misapprehension on my part of his views and position on this question, the first day this bill was discussed, there was an unpleasant altercation, which, however, passed off with the occasion, leaving us the same good friends we have ever been.

At the last session the Senator from Georgia pounced, most unmercifully, not only upon our alternate section bills, but upon the bill of the Senator from Illinois, [Mr. DOUGLAS,] providing forts and some protection to our western emigrants on their perilous journey to California and Oregon. That bill was then slain, because, as was alleged, it made a large increase to our standing army. This one is to be defeated for the want of preliminary surveys. The speech which the Senator from Georgia made against the Pacific railroad, reminded me of his happy effort against the Illinois Central railroad bill. That road was six hundred miles in length, and there were no estimates or surveys before us of any kind, when, notwithstanding that Senator's opposition, the bill became a law; and what is likely to be the result? Triumphant in favor of the principle and expediency upon which the grant was made! Uncle Sam parting with his alternate sections for six miles in width on each side of the road, raising the others to $2 50 per acre! and the gratifying result is manifest that the great thoroughfare through Illinois will, in all probability, be made in a short time, and the old gentleman, who deals out his acres and his dollars so parsimoniously, has not lost a cent, but has actually made money upon the operation, having realized some seven cents the acre more than the $2.50.

The Senator from Pennsylvania, [Mr. COOPER,] who preceded me in this debate, toward the conclusion of his remarks, contended that this road might be so located as to run from some point in California, say San Francisco or San Diego, to Matagorda, or some other point in Texas, and if unfortunately it should fall there, it would run through but two States, and be objectionable on that ground. He disposed of the Texas road summarily, and while avowing friendship for the measure, admitting its magnificence and great utility, he proceeded north and pronounced an adverse judgment, as I understood him, upon all the proposed northern routes, not because of the mountain obstructions, but owing to the depth of snow in the mountain gorges. Neither southern nor northern lines will answer the purposes of the opponents of this bill. Now, sir, being in favor of the route up the valley of the Platte, through the South Pass, &c., though willing to take my chance of getting it upon its merits-I wish to meet the latter objection of the Senator by that which I have learned from practical men, not from books. It is, that dry snow is no impediment to a car, no matter how deep. It is wet snow that impedes. This may now be seen, without going to Russia, at Ogdensburg, in New York, in latitude about 440 40', where, I am told, the cars have been seen to plow through fifteen feet of snow without

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

32D CONG.....2D SESS.

[ocr errors]

Railroad to the Pacific-Mr. Dodge, of Iowa.

difficulty, while a few inches of wet snow-that is, snow in a soft climate, is oftentimes a great impediment. The hardihood and enterprise of the people who will immediately flock along the northern line, if it be selected, will overcome all difficulties, such as snow may interpose to the progress of the cars in any given locality upon that route. Repeating my preference for the route through my own State, and up either side of the Platte river, through the South Pass, &c., I avow myself willing to vote for the road whether my favorite line be designated or not. Upon that point, Mr. President, I am willing to take my chance, and only wish briefly to call attention to what the accomplished and scientific Frémont has said respecting the practicability of the route to which I allude, and especially to that portion of it which all must certainly admit to be the most difficult. He says that the route he "followed in 1842 was up the valley of the Great Platte to the South Pass." "The road, which is not generally followed through this region, is a very good one, without any difficult ascents to overcome. "It passes 'through an open prairie region, and may be much improved so as to avoid the greater part of the ' inequalities it now presents." In describing his arrival at the Great South Pass, he remarks that "the ascent had been so gradual that with all the intimate knowledge possessed by Carson, 'who had made this country his home for seventeen years, we were obliged to watch very I closely to find the place at which we had reached the culminating point. This was between two 'low hills, rising on either hand fifty or sixty 'feet." "We crossed very near the Table Mountain, at the southern extremity of the South Pass, which is near twenty miles in width, and already traversed by several different roads. 'Selecting as well as I could, in the scarcely-dis'tinguishable ascent, what might be considered the dividing ridge in this remarkable depression in the mountains, I took a barometrical observation, which gave seven thousand four hundred 'and ninety feet for the elevation above the Gulf ' of Mexico." Its importance, as the great gate through which commerce and traveling may hereafter pass between the valley of the Mississippi and the north Pacific, justifies a precise notice of its locality and distance from the leading points, in addition to this statement of its elevation. As stated in the report of 1842, its latitude at the point where we crossed is 42° 24′ 32", its longitude 1090 26'. This route having been explored, I may say surveyed, its altitudes ascertained and compared with others deviating from it, fixes the conclusion in my mind that its eastern terminus, as a United States road, should be at the mouth of the Platte, in the Territory of Nebraska. States, companies, and individuals, with the aid of the usual alternate section grants, or upon their own means and resources, must do what remains to furnish a continuous eastern line, and they will rapidly do this, causing it to branch in more than a dozen directions from that point, or other points further west.

[ocr errors]

||

ments, printed by the House of Commons, show that the whole emigration from Great Britain and her dependencies, to this country from 1812 to 1821, did not exceed 68,988, and from the rest of Europe, it was quite small; yet our population in that period increased two millions, or thirty-three and a third per cent. The increase of our white population, from births alone, independent of immigration, has averaged thirty per cent. every ten years during the present century. Without any foreign immigration, our Republic would have doubled once in twenty-seven years; but including that element, it has doubled once in twenty-three years. The Spaniards commenced the great work of colonizing this continent at the same time the English did, and for two hundred years they occupied a larger portion of it. Now, in all America, including, of course, Mexico and the South American States, it is estimated that there are not more than five millions of actual Spanish descent, while there are at least fifteen millions of Anglo-Saxon. Of this race, three hundred years ago there were less than three millions. It is now believed to be, with the exception of the Sclavonic race, the most numerous in the world. It is not only among the largest, but the most energetic and influential. It is gradually taking possession of all the ports and coasts of the world, and its language superseding almost every other. Expansion, if not aggression, is everywhere a characteristic of our race, which should, I think, be called American rather than Anglo-Saxon. The Frenchman feels them in Canada; the Russian in the Northern Archipelago; the Italian in Malta; the Greek in the Ionian Islands; the Spaniard in Cuba and on the frontiers of Mexico; the Dutch at the Cape and at Natal; the Indian in the Rocky Mountains and at the Isthmus; the Negro at Liberia and Sierra Leone; the Arab at Suez and on the Nile; the Australian at Sidney and Adelaide; the Malay at Bombay and in Burmah; the Chinese at Hong Kong; and the repellant Japanese will soon have to learn something of them at Jeddo. Perry and his fleet are going to form their acquaintance soon.

The allusion of the Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. COOPER] to the fact that the road may run through Southern California and Texas, will not deter me from voting for the bill, nor sustaining the act of the President, if he should designate the most southern route spoken of, as, in his judgment, the best for the nation. I iterate and reiterate, that, for myself, I will vote for the road, although the line selected may not meet my individual preferences. What Senator is so lost to a knowledge of the strong feelings of sectional and local attachment which exists in every legislative body, as not to know that when you attempt to name the termini in your law, that you have either to name all the points which are aspirants, or none, or deposit the power of selection with some disinterested tribunal?

Now, sir, we can construct one great thoroughfare which will cost much money, land, and time; but we cannot build two, much less five, to accommodate aspiring cities and selfish localities. We must run the risk of choice or never have a road. I have reflected long upon this subject, and am well aware of the pent-up local feeling which lies at the bottom of it. The only hope of success, in my poor judgment, is to deposit the power of designation in the hands of the President of the United States. And I would just as soon, if the bill could be passed to-day, intrust that power of selection to Millard Fillmore as to Franklin Pierce. Chief Justice Taney, or any one of his distinguished associates on the Supreme Bench, if we could impose the duty upon him or them, would answer my purpose quite as well. The officer who performs the duty, so that he be a man of intelligence, character, and responsible position, is a matter of the most unimaginable consequence I want the law for the road put upon the statute-book. I want the dollars and the land voted. I want the President of the United States, through his engineers, to obtain all the information he may desire to enable him to decide the question of termini and general route, and to put the road under contract as soon as his convenience will allow.

But Senators are frightened at the magnitude of this measure. I beg them, before condemning it, to contemplate the past, present, and probable future growth of our country-to look to the interests, not only of those now living, but to those who are to come after us. I am one who regards, with great satisfaction, the arrival upon our shores, from revolutionary and despotic Europe, of the large number of foreigners who now annually migrate to the United States, believing them, in the main, to make excellent citizens, and knowing that there is nothing we so much want as people. This large and various population scattered over our western plains and valleys will greatly accele rate their settlement, and produce a harvest of good fruits not possible without them. But our unparalleled increase is not to be mainly ascribed to the foreigners; nor should we be told that we are legislating alone for them. The census shows that of our whole population of 23,347,884, but 2,210,028 were born in foreign countries. Thus it is seen, from the most reliable data, that our increase is to be attributed mainly to the productive and expansive energies of the Anglo-Saxon stock of this continent the same causes which impelled us forward so rapidly in our early history when emigration was comparatively unknown. Official docu-to

||

to me.

Sir, when we institute a comparison between this work and others, or reflect upon the objects which the national treasure and resources will

SENATE.

be applied, how completely insignificant, compared with this road, all of them appear. For one, I would be willing to reduce the expenses of the Government at all hazards, to one half of what they now are, if necessary, to enable us to go forward with this work. To my own State-to the West-to the nation, I believe it is worth all the other measures which have come before Congress in modern times, or which are at all likely to present themselves for legislative favor.

Pass this bill, and grant alternate sections of the public lands upon the usual conditions to those States which are pushing forward their roads to and over your public domain in line with this great thoroughfare, and we may truly say that we have bound our Union together by bands of iron; and what is more potent than these, by ties and interests which will render it indissoluble. It is not a party measure, but one on which men of every hue and creed may cordially unite. New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, are all building their roads to and through the State of Ohio, in different directions, to the Mississippi river. Many of these roads are in line from our great eastern cities with the proposed Pacific road, and will constitute a portion of it. When the State of South Carolina shall have finished her road to Memphis, or through Nashville to the Ohio, the web will then be completed, and our whole nation will be brought together at its grand center in the short space of four days-affording us an opportunity not only to carry passengers, but every description of merchandise and produce, from the center to New Orleans, Richmond, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, and to the Pacific in the same time-four days; and from California to any of those cities in less than eight days; and to China in twenty days-thus bringing our vast country together in four days, and the extremes of the globe in thirty days. Teas from China may then be transported to any of our Atlantic cities in thirty days, and to London or Liverpool in less than forty-five days. These things accomplished, and we may, in the glowing language of the British bard

"Bid harbors open, publie ways extend,
Bid temples worthier of the God ascend;
Bid the broad arch the dangerous flood contain,
The mole, projecting, break the roaring main ;
Back to his bounds their subject sea command,
And roll obedient rivers through the land."

NATIONAL OBSERVATORY, WASHINGTON, March 9, 1853. DEAR SIR: It gives me great pleasure to comply with your request. Indeed, I am always glad to avail myself of any and every opportunity to contribute anything in any way towards the establishment of a railway hence to California.

You ask me for a table of distances, by which you may compare time from New York and England, via overland route, on one hand, and California railway, on the other, to Asia.

By the overland route, I wish you to understand that I have taken the shortest distance by sea from England to the Isthmus of Suez, and thence down the Red Sea to the places named.

You will also, I hope, bear in mind, that the distance quoted as per railway, is by an air line, and the distance by sea is measured in arcs of the great circle.

Were the California railway finished, and were there a line of steamers to the East from California, it would be as near for the Liverpool merchant, setting out on a trip for Canton, to come this way and take steamer at California, as it would be to go the overland route via India. The distance in miles would be about equal, but the time would be in favor of the California route, because of the railway travel.

By the overland route, the whole distance except a few miles by land across the Isthmus of Suez, is supposed to be accomplished by water as below stated:

Το

To Το Το ShangBombay Calcutta Canton. hai.

66 40

From England via Suez 20 days 27 days 37 days 40 days From do. via California 50 66 43 33 66 30 " From New York. 33 66 << 23 21 " The importance of a railway to California is becoming greater and greater every day, and the necessity of it more and more urgent. Not only is this work required as a work of national defense, but it is required to hold this Union together, and to make it compact, by subserving the purposes of travel, trade, and commerce,

Steam and the telegraph, by sea and land, are making wonderful changes in the business of the world, as well as in the modes of conducting it.

their business from them? Why is it that railroads are shutting up canals, and taking For the same reason precisely that they are superseding the old-fashioned "slow coaches."

32D CONG....2D SESS.

It is because the producer and consumer must come closer together.

There is no part of the Mississippi river, from its mouth to the Falls of St. Anthony, that, by an air line, is more than one thousand eight hundred geographical miles from San Francisco. Midway between these two points on the river, the distance is only one thousand five hundred miles. Two days by railway ought therefore to put the traveler from the Mississippi valley into San Francisco. Thence by steamer to Shanghai, the distance is five thousand four hundred miles, which is equal to eighteen days steaming, at the average rate of three hundred miles per day. Twenty days from China to the heart of this country! Why no one can foretell the revolution in the commercial affairs of the world, which such a compression of time and distance is to make!

I have said and written much upon the subject of this communication across the country. I do not know why I should have it so much at heart, unless it be in consequence of a sort of affection for it, acquired by inheritance.

We have heard a good deal said as to whom belongs the credit of originating the idea as to this communication across the country. I thought it was an affair of our own day and generation; but in looking over some old family records I find that the idea was a familiar one to my father's father, and that one hundred years ago that most excellent man and worthy divine was writing earnestly and enthusiastically upon the subject.

It is well to cast back and see how this question has grown in importance since Anno Domini 1756, when my grandfather, from his glebe home under the mountains of Albemarle, in Virginia, was indíting his letter about a commercial thoroughfare from " Hudson's river, or the Potomac, across this country to the East Indies.""

Tobacco, at that day, constituted the currency of the country, and with the bad roads of the time, you may well imagine the difficulty planters had in hauling their crops seventy five or one hundred miles to market. One wagon load was the work of weeks. Under this state of things, one of the neighbors of my grandfather had just conceived and executed the plan of putting a hogshead or two across a canoe, and of so paddling his crop down the James river at its floods to market.

In telling of the importance and value of this discovery, the old gentleman, who taught in his school both Madison and Jefferson, asks his correspondent in England to conceive, if he can, the importance which this canoe discovery is to prove to the Ohio and Mississippi country.

The letter of his to which I refer is a remarkable one. venture to make a few extracts from it. It is dated "Louisa county, Fredericksville parish, January 10, 1756.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

"Since the publication of that map, another has made its appearance in the world, much more extensive, as it com'prehends all that part of the British American Empire that lies between Boston and the southern boundary of Virginia; the territory of the six confederate northern Indian nations; the river St. Lawrence, almost from Quebec to its source; the various communications between that river and the lakes and Ohio; also, Ohio, with its dependencies 'lower than the falls." * "With it the author has published an instructive, curious, and useful pamphlet, explanatory not only of the map, but of many particulars, too, relative to the face and products and natural advantages of the tract of territory which is the subject of it. "The map is but small, not above half as large as Fry and 'Jefferson's-consequently crowded. Though both it and 'the pamphlet be liable to several exceptions, and I believe just ones, yet both are very useful in the main, and together give an attentive peruser a clear idea of the value of the now contested lands and waters to either of the two competitor Princes, together with a proof amounting to more than probability, that he of the two who shall remain master of Ohio and the lakes, at the end of the dispute, 'must, in the course of a few years, without an interposal of 'Providence to prevent it, become sole and absolute Lord of North America; to which I will further add, as my own private opinion, that the same will one day or other render either HUDSON'S RIVER AT NEW YORK, or Potomac river, in Virginia, the GRAND EMPORIUM of all East Indian commodities. Marvel not at this, however surprising it may 'seem; perhaps, before I have done with you, you will believe it to be not entirely chimerical.

[ocr errors]

"When it is considered how far the eastern branches of 'that immense river, Mississippi, extend eastward, and how 'near they come to the navigable, or rather canoeable parts of the rivers which empty themselves into the sea that ' washes our shores on the east, it seems highly probable that 'its western branches reach as far the other way, and make 'as near approaches to rivers emptying themselves into the ocean to the west of us--the Pacific ocean-across which 'a short and easy communication-short in comparison with the present thither-opens itself to the navigation from that shore of the continent into the Eastern Indies."

[ocr errors]

"There are more than probable reasons for believing that 'the western branches of this river are no less extensive 'than its eastern branches. This is a common property of 'most rivers, and that it is of the Mississippi, I have the authority of one Mr. Cox, an English gentleman who, either some time before, or during the reign of King Wil liam III.—in virtue of a charter granted by Charles I., if "I remember right, for I speak without books—to his attor'ney general, Sir Robert Heath, constituting him the lordproprietor of the lands and waters of the Mississippi, and afterwards transferred through several hands, till it fell into 'those of this gentleman-sailed up to its great falls, near one thousand five hundred miles from its mouth; both took its soundings that whole distance; traced some of its con'siderable branches on either side, and almost up to their 'sources; made a settlement and planted a colony upon it 'near widway that distance-if my memory fails me notand published a map of it from his own and the company's journals, as far as those falls, and above them, from what 'information he could collect from the savages. One of its 'western branches, he tells you, he followed through its

Debt of Texan Republic-Mr. Seward.

' various meanders for several hundred miles, (which, I believe, is called Missouri by the natives, or Red river, from 'the color of its waters;) and then received intelligence 'from the natives that its head springs interlocked in a 'neighboring mountain with the head springs of another river, to the westward of these same mountains, dis'charging itself into a large lake called Thoyayo, which pours its waters through a large, navigable river, into a 'boundless sea, where, they told him, they had seen prodigious large canoes, with three masts, and men almost as 'fair as himself, if I mistake not; for, as I have read a history of the travels of an Indian towards those regions, as well as those of Mr. Cox, the reports of the natives to both of them as to the large canoes are so similar, that I, perhaps, may confound one with the other. Mr. Cox's book, I imagine, is very scarce. I know of but one copy in this colony, of which I had an accidental, and therefore a cursory view, about four years ago. It is a small octavo volume, entitled Cox's Carolana,' that country being thus 'called, from the donor.

[ocr errors]

"Now, sir, though this narrative hath in it something of the romantic air of a voyager, yet the author's accounts of 'such branches of that river and such parts of that country, 'even as high up as the latitude of Huron's Lake, and also his description of the extent, situation, shape, soundings, and other properties of the lakes now confessedly navigated by him, together with his character of the circumjacent lands, are said to have been found just by late discoveries, as far as discoveries have been made. And if so, it is but 'reasonable to give credit to what he tells us concerning others of its waters and countries into which, perhaps, no "British subject has ever since penetrated.

"I presume the credit which Colonel Fry gave to Mr. 'Cox, and his recommending these matters to the consider'ation of the Governor and Council, gave birth to a grand 'scheme formed here about three years ago.

"The scheme might have been formed in Great Britain, and was this: Some persons were to be sent in search of 'that river Missouri, if that be the right name of it, in order 'to discover whether IT HAD ANY SUCH COMMUNICATION 'WITH THE PACIFIC OCEAN; they were to follow that river, "if they found it, and make exact reports of the country they 'passed through, the distance they traveled, what sort of 'navigation those rivers and lakes afforded, &c., &c.

6

"And this project was so near being reduced into practice that a worthy friend and neighbor of mine, who has 'been extremely useful to the colony in the many discoveries 'he has made to the westward, was appointed to be the 'chief conductor of the whole affair, and had, by order of 'their honors, drawn up a list of all the necessary imple'ments and apparatus for such an attempt, and an estimate of the expense, and was upon the point of making all 'proper preparations for setting out, when a sudden stop was put to the further prosecution of the scheme for the 'present by a commencement of hostilities between this 'colony and the French and their Indians, which rendered 'a passage through the interjacent nations, with whom they 'are ever tampering, too hazardous to be attempted. This, 'I must observe to you, still remains a secret; and to pre'vent its discovery to the enemy, in case the ship I write by 'should be taken, the person to whom I have recommended 'this packet has instructions to throw it overboard in time. However, you are at liberty to impart it to my uncle John, or to any other friend of whose retentive faculty you can be as confident as I can be of yours.

[ocr errors]

"But to return once more. As there is such short and 'easy communication by means of canoe navigation, and 'some short portages between stream and stream from the 'Potomac, from Hudson's river, in New York, and from the 'St. Lawrence to the Ohio, the two latter through the lakes, 'the former the best and shortest. As there also is good navigation, not only for canoes and batteaux, but large 'flats, schooners, and sloops down the Ohio into the Missis'sippi, should Cox's account be true of the communication of this last river with the South sea, with only one portage, "I leave you to judge of what vast importance such a dis covery would be to Great Britain, AS WELL AS TO HER 'PLANTATIONS, WHICH, IN THAT CASE, AS I OBSERVED 'ABOVE, MUST BECOME THE GENERAL MART OF THE EUROPEAN WORLD, at least for the rich and costly products of the East, and a mart at which chapmen might be furnished 'with all those commodities on much easier terms than the tedious and hazardous, and expensive navigation to those 'countries can at present afford. This would supersede the necessity of going any more in quest of the northeast passage, which, probably, if ever discovered, will also be productive of another discovery, that it lies in too inclem'ent a latitude ever to be useful.

6

"The discovery of a communication through this part of the continent with the South sea, would not only 'be a nursery for our seamen, but would be instrumental in 'saving the lives of great numbers of them, under Heaven, the protectors of you and of us, who, poor fellows, drop 'off like rotten sheep, by scorbutic disorders consequent upon such long voyages as that to the East Indies. "What an exhaustless fund of wealth would here be opened, superior to Potosi and all the other South Ameri 'can mines! What an extent of region! WHAT A 'But no more. These are visionary excursions into futuIrity, with which I sometimes used to feast my imagination, ever dweiling with pleasure on the consideration of whatever bids fair for contributing to extend the empire 'and augment the strength of our inother island; as that 'would be diffusing Liberty, both civil and religious, and her 'daughter Felicity, the wider, and at the same time be a 'means of aggrandizing and enriching this spot of the globe, to which every civil and social tie bind me, and for which I have the tenderest regard.

[ocr errors]

6

[blocks in formation]

SENATE.

Now, draw the contrast. One hundred years ago, the Missouri river was a myth; sailors, on the long voyage to India, died off with the scurvy and other diseases like rotten sheep. Indeed, so dangerous was the calling, that philosophers and political economists at that day confessed themselves at a loss whether to class the sailor at sea as among the living or the dead.

As much then as this old worthy felt that his country owed to sailors, so much, and more too, do I now feel that our country still owes to that gallant class.

What, then, has wrought these changes that have since come over the face of the sea, and the surface of this broad land? Bold mariners, steam, and the hand of improvement, guided by that "spirit of civil and religious Liberty, with her daughter Felicity," to which that worthy sage did homage in his lifetime: these are the instruments with which these great changes have been wrought.

He foresaw that New York was to be the great commercial emporium of this country. He showed theoretically why the Columbia river should exist. He predicted that the northwest passage, as a commercial question, would turn out, as you and I have seen it has, a chimera. He claimed for this country the importance of becoming the "general mart to the European world." He certainly saw far and well into the future.

As great and important as a "canoeable" navigation across this continent to the Pacific would have been in those days, the change which such a thoroughfare would have then made upon the business and commerce of the world would not be greater than that which this Pacific railway would now draw after it.

While the steamboat, the railway, and the telegraph, have, on one hand, compressed the earth into a smaller compass, by bringing the far corners closer together, science, with the discoveries and improvements which its lights have cast upon agriculture and the art of good husbandry, has, on the other hand, vastly enlarged its dimensions by causing two blades of grass to grow where but one stood before, and thus increasing the capacities of the earth to sustain population.

These changes have impressed their characteristics upon the affairs of life, and the whole business of the world. And in contemplating the ways of commerce now, and contrasting them with what they used to be, we are struck with the motto, which we feel rather than see, as we pass among the business marts of the world; it is the "open sesame" of the age, for "Speed's the word, and quick's the motion," is now the countersign with which we are greeted at every turn by every man of business.

Old Vasco de Gama was in a slow coach; and the voyage around Cape Horn is too tedious, too long. There is not time to go round the house, when both the front and back doors are open; we must go through it, and have access from one side of the country to the other by a passageway right in the middle of it. We cannot wait six months

to get our tea from China, when this railroad may give it to us fresh and good in three weeks.

The great end and aim of the vast commercial enterprises that are now on foot, that have wrought such changes and accomplished such magnificent achievements, is to bring the consumer and the producer closer together. How beautifully and magnificently would this California railway accomplish this end!

But there is another point in my ancestor's letter from which we may, I think, learn wisdom. You observe that many of the friends of the California railway say, let us have a survey first. Why this is exactly what the people were saying one hundred years ago. Survey, survey, was the word then. I am sick of surveys. Let us do by this railway precisely what we do by all other great enterprises, and what we daily see done by corporations and States. Authorize the work, then make the surveys and locate it. Pray pardon my earnestness upon this subject, and excuse me for troubling you with such long, but I hope not tedious, extracts from an old family letter. Very respectfully, M. F. MAURY, Lieutenant United States Navy. Hon. A. C. DODGE, U. S. Senate, Washington.

DEBT OF TEXAN REPUBLIC.

SPEECH OF HON. W. H. SEWARD, OF NEW YORK,

IN SENATE, March 1, 1853,

On an amendment proposed by Mr. PEARCE to the Civil and Diplomatic Appropriation Bill, providing for the payment of the Creditors of the late Republic of Texas.

Mr. SEWARD said:

Mr. PRESIDENT: At the epoch of annexation, 1845, the Republic of Texas possessed some property in public defenses, a large domain of unappropriated land, and revenues derived from customs. It owed a considerable debt which had been incurred in establishing independence and organizing civil government. That debt was divided into two classes: first, what has been called a domestic debt, not distinctly charged on the revenues from customs; second, what was secured to creditors by a pledge of those revenues.

Texas came into the Union as a State, under stipulations concerning her property and debts, namely: She ceded to the United States all public edifices, fortifications, and other property, pertaining to the public defense. She retained all her funds, and all of her public domain, but under

« PoprzedniaDalej »