The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1852-06-23
HoJ. THOMPSON Campbell ) SPEECH.

b.itny 10 fulfil tint pledge lie makes tour '
dis iact i iais III hi, speech. They are as fol-
lows.
IL III. first place, h"Id that The General ;
Government should not AID IN the construction 2
If any public work which i "t Il purely l"rai {
character Secondly, tia, il is nnt the policy {
at Tin. Government 10 lnd its aid by ds'aai"hs
,f land ar otherwise, towards 'i'r CONSTRUCTION
+ a railroad which il attended To run pafai'i
,.i,i ,,r.,t u1yiaablr stream, and particularly i
ana, :, stream a the ..i-sSsippl river Ihird,
ih,f i : no, the policy nt The General Govern
m,.,st t. aid N tie instruction III pubic works,
IN rect I'll Ct % Which VIII be TO sacrhc"
.thrr Great Interests upon which III" w al,h,
!, scr ". ard i ps .! vast communities are
u,ud 10 Depend Fourth, The motive which
i.nuialcs the Government 10 part with por
u ~ III dbmain, being the same that would
Influence prudential lsndholdcr u part with
portion Of hi> estate for pubic purposes il order
that the residue IN ght be enhanced IN vnin",
the Improvement tor which aid is sought should
BIZ, necessary To enable the Government TO DIS
y 81 OF It's otherwise unsuitable lands
Mr. e. argues from his fist point, that be-
cause the Iowa Land Bill proposed to make one
of lis lines Of railroad commence at Dubuque
and terminate at kcokuk, that therefore 1t IS
strictly a local improvement and the Govern /
men, has no right TO make the grant. II VIC
understand the subject If land grants, as con
cev.d and understood by those who have as
5 r,ed and defended the principle ably and
f.aflessly in the halls Of legislation, il is To cs-
tabiish two grand national railroad thorough
fares, one t,ayersihg the con incnt from East TO
West and The other from North to Sou'h. IN"
Iowa Land Bill was for carryin. out this design
Because i. proposed to extend 10 the Missouri
river. at, or near Council Bluffs, branch OF the
Illinois Central road extending to Rock Island,
aud directly c,nnecting with The East while
il pr p ,scd to give the immense and Ter lie
country west of The Mississippi, a direct con
ncction with the Nartl, and S nth. The Du-
bru,ie and keokuk line, contemplated speedy
connection with the Red RIVER Of the North,
lllr,luh The fundamentally of Senator Doug
las BILL and connection w,'h Missouri, Ar
kansas. .ausiana, Texas and the vas: Territory
Of New Mexico. Can any man OF rcfection'
d,ubt that this was the design ri the trainers
and supporters Of that bill That it was The
design If Senator Douglas, and the entire
Illinois dell gltion in Congress; Mr. Campbell
excep.ed? That it was the design of the
Wisconsin,, Missouri, Arkansas, LOUISIANA and
L, xas delegations who gave it their support =
And that this iocai mares nest winch has slartfed
and alarmed Mr.. Campbell, nearly out OF his
wits, is the merest pop gun i'gie, that was
ever attempted to be saddlcd upon an inteiii-
gent leg,slat,v .ds As well might nc con
Tend. thatjhe Dubuque and Rock Island branches
ofthe Central railroad, were LEGAL improvement
because they commence and terminate IN the
same state q. even, that the ma!u trunk Of
the Illinois road commencing at the extreme
Npr'h Eastern, and Terminating at the extreme
southern portion of the State, was J cll
improvement As well ght he atfirn,, that
the grant for improving the Des MONIES river.
which traverses hundreds of miles of Territory
North aud West OF us, and contributes daily 10
swell the commerce Of the great father OF
waters. was purely heal Improvement. As
well m rIt he contend, that hundred other
improvements which it is unnecessary 10
s,ecify, were strictly local improyem hts, b.
cause of their local habita'inn, although the
agricultural and mercantile burdens under
Union and Every part Of the habltable CLIQUE.
Bat. let us take an other view Of this subject.
Suppose for the purposes of this argument, that
the Improvement called for, is really ! cal i'm,
provement VIII any man contend, that there
is not sufficient inducements on part OF the
Government, considering the immense amount
or public land il OWES, seeking a market and
denendlng upon Western emit rPrisc t'r that
market, to make II object for the government
as land holder and i'll the light strictly OF a
specuator, 10 make these grants The W. 81
is a new country sparsely popnlatfd-r'ch IN
all the natural resources of the continent bh'
destitute of the AIT fetal means, Tor conveying
It's productions 10 market and competing with
older settled and more highly improved coun-
trcs To induce rapid settlement and CORES
bonding ncrea G in It's productions, 1t must nave
the aid of the federal government, and II Is but
simple act of Justice, that it shocld demand
and receive hat aid Is there any reason, why
The government should own three quarters OF
the land in Iowa, and la2,ooG persons, owning
the other quarter and having toiied, exposed
and deprived themselves Of every comfort to OBJ
tain and retain it, should be yearly contributing
to It's value and grooming under taxes to sustain
stat. government, which reaps no benefit from
it. Ii is no argument to urge, that the old
States by such system OF public improvements
would be wrongcd. The old states have no
public lands 10 take care Of, for the government
Settled in their admin s'ratve policy, rolling III
Il.
and burdened with moderate taxes, yet deeply
interested in The settlement of the West, and
indebted to the productive and commercial
prosperity Of the West for their very existence,
i, is absurd to pretend, that they are entitled
with the West to an equal protection from the
government It's the interest OF the Govern
mcnt, as it is the interest of the people, who
compose the Government, TO have the was e
lands of the country settled upon aud mpl owed
aud any frugal system OF legislation, which
tends TO pr mote this result and does not nper
ate to the injury of any prominent interest Of
the county, is IN our opinion national OBJ
iect aud deserves national aid.
MIR. Cau,pb.ll's sc cond proposition is, that
,h. Dubuque and Kenkuk road, is improve
n,ent parallel with The Mississippi and there
fore entitled 10 no aid from the Government
The assertion, that the line of railroad con
tempa'd ami partially surveyed, from Duba
que 10 k-okuk, is parallel improvement with
The NJ ississippi, is assertion, which, when
m ,de by man fam liar with the route, would
cutle him 10 the cell OF lunatic Asylun.--
THIS read runs nearly due West from this place
seventy FIVE miles into the interior, and then
ravcrses the country south, through the most
populous and productive interior counties IN the
state Between Dubuque and keoknk the
Mississippi gradually DIVORCES to The Las', 50
that al is extreme point Of divergence, it is
tn r'y miles East OF direct line, betweel
She Two points, making the distance OF the road
still greater from TIC commerce OF the M'ssls-
slppi. And yet we are tald aud abused for mo-
b-i!eyirr that this is a parall, lmpr We i;.cnt