Mississippi Democrat. (Carrollton, Miss.) 1844-18??, 1846-07-22

e u requires no argument under such circum
slances, 10 maintain the position tina, The in
n tered Of our State will he most advanced
. by freeing commerce from all unnecessary
r burdens, and Ivy measuring the value d
r our purchases by the standard used in ouf
! sales-the currency Of the world.
h By the active exer,ion Of our Senator
Speight, bill was passed through the Sen.
, ate, granting to the State of Mississippi
alternate sections Of land to aid ia the con.
stru,lion Of the proposed Mississippi and
Alabama railroad. II is scarcely to be
hoped that the House will act upon this
measure at the present session, but placed
upon the calender Of unfinished business.
think it will become law at the next
session of this Congress have also no
ped that al the same session a law would
be passed to enable the Postmaster Gene.
raj To make contracts for "a long term of
ears with railroads under construction,
by which the government would be secured
from the eyorbinnt charges monopoIies
have it in their power to impose, and such
certainty conferred upon the value of rail
road stock as would greatly aid in the
! completion Of an entire chain Of railways
from the Mississippi at Vicksburg 10 the
! Atlantic, and 10 the metropolis Of our
| Union--a chain like a system Of nerves to
couple our remote members Of the body
polite to the centre Of the Union, and ra-
pdIy to transmit sensation from one 10 the
other; or like great sinews uniting into
concentrated action the power q the right
hand aud the leit-the valley of the Mis-
| sissippi and the coast Of the Atlantic
whenever the necessities of one or the
other shall require the action Of both.
Much has been done during the past
winter to adjust suspended and conflicting
claims to land purchased from the United
States, and it is to be hoped that the &C
ton of this Congress will relieve our peo
pie from the uncertainty and harassing de.
lays under which so many OF them have
labored for years past.
The bill to graduate and reduce the
price of the public lands, viii no doubt be.
come Il law; and we may expect from il an
important increase TO our population and
State wealth; such as has been the result
in the northern portion of our State, where |
under the Chickasaw treaty, graduation
system has been in operation, it is to be
supposed, will be the result of a similar
gtaduatiCn in those districts where the
| public land has remained long unsOd. The
coast Of survey, now IN progress along the
| Gulf Of Mexico, cannot fail To have an
| important influence upon that portion OF
our State which borders on the Gulf by
giving correct charts Of The channels and
points of entrance safe for coastIng YES
sells. Beyond this, | anticipate that The !
survey will establish as fact that the best
point west OF Cape Florida for a navy yard
10 repair or construct vessels Of the largest |
class, is the llarbor of Snip Island; and |
| further, that il will lead 10 the speedy as. !
| adjustment of the necessary lights along
the coast and upon its ad accent islands -
The difficulty of obtaining appropriations
for these has heretofore been greatly in
creased by the want of official inlorma.
lion. The Legislature of our State me.
mnrazed Congress upon the propriety OF
re-opening the Pass Mauchac. was full
ly impressed with the proprety oil The
claim. Under more favorable ciFcum
stances an appropriation Tor the purpose
might have been obtained end yet hope
that we shall get survey and report upon
the contemplated work, in time for action
at the next session of this Congress.
Since took a seat as your Representa-
tive in Congress, the country has been dis.
mrbed; its political clemens agilated and
thrown into confusion its peace with Eng.
land seriously endangered by question of
boundary in what is known as the Oregon
Territory. We have now satisfactory rea-
sons to believe that this question is amica-
bly, adjusted The exact terms of the
agreement have not TRANSFERRED but in
general language il may be stated as set
tied on the basis OF the 49th parallel of
north latitude, with temporary permits.
sion TO the lludson's Bay Company to ma.
vigale the Columbia River. That there
should have been desire among our PEG.
pie generally to hold the whole Territory
was bu, natural, and this hot merely from
wish to extend our territory, but also
from a more credible desire TO reserve as
far as we might the North American Con
tinent for republican institutions As few
will contend that this desire would have
justified our Government in waging u war
for territorial acquisition, the question was
narrowed down to this: how far are our
rights clearly defined, ana how shall we
best secure what is clearly our own, and
upon what terms shall we compromise for
what is disputable2 There were some
who claimed for the parallel OF $40 40
N. l.. a talismanic merit--that il was the
line to which patriotism required US to 20,
and short Of which il was reasonable TO
stop. This opinion could only rest on the
supposition that by purchase from Spain
ma = ,pnirod , ,NorC,rt ,,tla ~ ,L; - |