The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1851-11-19
SPEECH OF JUDGE BOWLIN.

Hon J. B. Bowlin, of st Louis, took the stand
and said that it would, perhaps be we'll for
him to state the positions he had taken and
maintained, during the eight years he had
presented the First Congressional Dis trict of
Missouri at Washington. He had never finch
ed from them, having acted uniformly with the
view of obtaining the passage of bills aiming at
Internal Improvements. Those positions were,
first, to use the public lands of the West, by
grants, for the purpose of internal improve
ments; and, secondly, that the General Govern
ment had full and complete jurisdiction over
The Mississippi and her tributaries, and was thus
the only power authorized to make improve
ments in its navigation. The records would
show that he had neither turned nor flinched
from those positions, and had never lost vote
on matters involving in the issue either of these
grand propositions, nor had he ever lost an op-
portunty to vindicate the rights of the Great
West in these measures He did not deem it
necessary to argue to a Convention met with
just such views at the BASIS of its &C ton, tn
necessity Of such improvements in the West,
nor the correctness of tn positions which he
had assumed. There had been ardent supper
tiers Of those propositions, but there had not
been that unity Of action among the Represen-
talives Of the West which was essential to entire
success in carrying out these measures. There
was, he regretted to say, Il propensity with
those OF the Western States in close proximity
To the East, to become. as they grew Older,
Eastern, as it was said in Congressional par
lance, but W hen. when spoken in palmer terms,
meant turning bGt to the great iterests of
their constituents. Fit were possible f; the
West to unitr an these meg Tres, they cnnld be |
carried trlumPhautly. It had been said by !
Distinguished female English writer who visited |
Washington, 'h1i we Of the West were tie men
to govern the county But they did no. unite (
There was '.dodring'' the question and shrink .
ing from the ssun There counterfeit
ing inilucnce-onc which proceeded from those
in whose opinion the agitation of the question
of internal improvements was not popular, and
that Influence affected Western men and made
them Eastern .... '
The money received from public lands in the
est, nearly three millions annually, was con
linuallv drawn upon Where did it go? OF
ffiy millions Of dollars, the revenue the present
year, how much was there expended in the
West, He would undertake to say that, if it
we're not for extraordinary energies Of the
West its characteristic industry, it could never
stand under the constant drain upoa It's resour- $
,es, with no means of getting an equivalent,
kept by emigration and the richness OF her
oil.
We were charged with the lands which
rere by us regularly cultivated. And when
re ask tor grants OF ALTERNATE e'elioIs, ior the
urpose of making roads through the public
,nds. the benefits of which the government 7
yere the recipients of, equally with all, they
ave made nonc-they have refused, except "
/ solitary instance, and that dishonest one
lie alluded to the ease of the Illinois Central
abroad, where, by the influence of holders of }
linois State Bonds, Northern men had voted n
r the grant, and in nine minutes after tele-
'aph communicated to New York the passage
the bill, Illinois Bonds rose in value nine pr
" cent ); and this while the citizens Of Missou- .