The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1849-02-02
THIRTlETH CONGRyNsS.
SECOND SESSION.
WASHINGTON, January 80, 1s4o.
In Senate.

In Senate.
WASHING ION, January 80, 1870.
REPORTS SENATE DEBATES.
While the morning business was beiag disposed Of,
resolution taken up heretofore offered by Mr. Bsdg
err instructipg the CoTmittee on Printing to inquire
reporting and publishing the debates Of the Senate,
In the Union and hteiligencer, at 81 90 per column
TO in
ssntatiOns Of his own remarks With view to the at
tsinme mt possible, of more correct SYSTEM there
FORE he had offered this resolution
Mr.. CAMERON was opposed to the system in
mere advertising sheets Of long speeches. the ex
penes Of the speeches upon every little
thing before the Senate. He moved that the resolu
tion be referred to the Committee on Contingent Ex
penses. 49,
Mr. BRIGHT was opposed to the abolition Of the
listing system; for the publ of debates even upon
private bills Of great value to the Of
the people As to the occasional mistakes OF the
porters he might also complain, for In recent speech
upon private bill on which he had referred to Ger
tam officer on board one OF our naval ships
as having gone fossil hunting he had been reported
hay Now, If he had said coon hunting his constitu
ents would have appreciated the remark.
Mr. DICKINSON suggested that the force OF the official
reporters be- increased; and with regard to misepre
sensations he found the most serious and sometimes
the most ridiculous bunders In the reports to the
late debate the post office bill, he had advocated
free passage to newspapers for 80 miles from the
odice where printed, ami had said that II he could
not get that, he should to reduce the pro-
posed half cent to Q quarter Of q cent, in order
have tho postage at the lowest possible point Now he
had b reported telegraph moving to supersede
the free ~ Ias
Of his motion and his views The country press had
taken up, and thus had he been msrepresented to
his constituents AID these mistakes were every
days practice, and II there were any way in which
these could be corrected he hoped it
would be adopted by the parties concerned.
Mr. WEsrcorr thought q great advantage had been
gained by this contract in neutralzng the party
Of the Leading Of sns o The
tract, had been compelled to be impartial, and had
vastly improved. SO had the Union. The impartial.
ties Generally they correct, and the occasional
errors made could be avoided by the supervision
Mr. Nile said that NO system could be expected to
be correct unless 1t subject to the revision Of the
Senators Of their remarks before going 20 AS
to the party character Of the telgencsr being i'm
proved he thought just the same that 1t had been
for the forty years. the great organ Of the whg
change ana q change for the worse for, from having
been the organ Of party 1t has become tho organ OF
q mere section Of sIparty.of mere combination in
divide the party, II not to distract and divide the
Unien He thought the system in force subject to Inn
porant improvements, and he hoped the inquiry would
Pending further debate by Messrs flanagan, Butler
Borelsnd, Berrien, Foote, Bradbury, Cameron and
Mr BurLER observed that the greatest objection,
perhaps the present system was that 1t operated
q
Iengthenipg the debates in the Senate upon almost
every questions but still there was countervai!ing
the country, to all parties, and In all sections.
The resolution instructng an inquiry into the expe-
dsncy Of abolishing or modifying the present system
ings the Senate referred to the Committee on
Contingent Expenses.
TIE PANAMA RAfLRoAD.
On motion Of Mr.. BENTON, the Senate took up the
bill providing compensation for transportation by rail-
road for the United States mails public stores mum.
tons across the lsthnus Of Panama, In contract
With essrs Aspn WALL Stephe Chaunoey and others
of New York, for the construction Of said railroad
Ths substitute in lieu Of the original bill offered by
Mr. Douglass yesterday, and accepted by Mr. Benton,
gave at length in yesterdays report 1t gives dis
creon to the to discontinue it at the end
year fer government transportation, and fixes the
rates at progressive periods Of the In gradual
reductions Of charges upon American passengers and
MT BENTON had nothing now to say. The bill was
amply explained yesterday, by the from Illinois
MIR. FoOTE moved to re.commit the bill to the Com
mtos Military Affairs with instructions to inquire
into the comparative advantages OF railroad the
Of Tehuantepec and to report upon 1t with all posi-
BILE despatch.
Mr.. Brsros said that . re- commitment Of the bill
would be equivalent to its rejection The necessary
inquiries geographical political and Typographical
could not be made. There opportunity Of
sending Mexico for this required nvt nation. The
report from the COMMITTEES woa come back Is 1t was
referred, without any sdditiona Afcrmatlon on the
subject. We are nov ready 70 90 on With the bill
better if modified to nd nent the bill, chang.
ing the locality Of the route. Mr. Benton appealed that
sideraton of the bill for 1t was necessa
~ that something should be done.
Mr. FoorE had made this motion after due deibsra-
tion 1t not from opposition to the bill, from
opposition to the public spirited gentlemen at the head
Of this enterprise. But he did not think there was
sufficient information in possession OF the Senate to
enable it to proceed at to the action asked upon
the bill He knew, too that there disting uished
gentleman in this city from Mexico who has in his
mas n information
the sthmus Of Tehuantepec, maps, books charts sur
veys, &C. headed by the observations OF Humboldt He
thought that this gentlemen had the information
qursd to decision upon the respective merits between
these two routes Of INSTRUMENTATION between the
two oceans.
Mr. BENTON raid there was political question here
which superseded every other All Of know that this
right of way acroes the !sthmus OF Tehuantepec Was
asked for the negotiation of the late treaty with
Mexico. And We know something more. We know that
Mexico peremptoriy refusedit Weknow that Mr. Trist
repeatedly asked It, and and that Mexico Pc
remptoriy refused to grant inch of the Of
New Granada negotiated with US for the right of way
che tIsstsd WITH A.; u.s. and signed the treaty and the
mously confirmed by the Senate We have the right
Of way granted at Panama; 1t has been refused at
is better or worse, what ia that to as! l have read
nearly al the books in reference to this Tehuantepec
Nontexums on the subject Cortez in that CO inference
asked Montexuma II there were not feasible route
tnlo4sn nis oominions between the two oceans, the
great object being with Cortez, 1t had been with
Columbus and his followers, passage by the west to
the East Indies The gee rapher Of Montezuma came
forward and indicated the isthmus Of Tehusntepec,
and exhibited Cortez the river and the bay each
side, and the land between, have them FROM
best authorities 1t this sthmus that Cortez
transported his ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific
taking them pieces and putting them together again
the ships with which he explored the Calf OF Cortez
skow called the Gulf of California. And It was over
this pass that the old Spanards brought from the
Philippine Islands the cannon with which they armed
the castle of San Juan Ulua. But it Ia not for
say whether this route better or worse Next
co refused to grant the right Of way in
appeal and by every branch of her she has
refused it, she refused to grant nch she refused to
negotiate for inch Of the right of way. The want
of this political power is greater barrier to any
scheme this shmus than the barrier Of the Andes
themselves This railroad the isthmus Of Pana
ma il inte nded but temporary measure for tempo
rary uses as something for till We get rail-
road through territories Thirty years ago Mr.
Benton said he bad taken this question of commun
cation with the Pacific into consideration from the
me that Mr. Jefferson sent out Lewis and Clarke
with the view of ascer aiming continental route aud