The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1852-04-28

one case, there was an exercise Of the right of
sovereignty; in the other, simply that Of own
ersp."
Upon the same occasion the senator from
Michigan, then aud now a member of this body,
General Cass said:
"Ihis bill does not touch the question of in
ternal improvement ut all. 1t asserts no right
on the parto this government to lay out a road,
or TO regulate the construction Of n road. The
federal government is great landholder: il
possesses an extensive pubic domain and we
have the power, under The constitution, to dis.
pose of that domain and very llimited pow
er 1t is. The simple question is, what DISPOSE
ton we may make Of the public lands. No one
will contend for the doctrine that we cannot give
them away to State. As the senator from
Kentucky has said, every President has signed
bills asserting the principle that these lands
may be disposed of by the general government,
without restriction as to the purpose of such
disposition. We may besow on them for school
purposes. or we may besiow portion for the
purpose of improving the value Of the rest
" nat ri2ht have you to sit still and see your
lands growing in value, through the instrument
tai tv OF individuals, without rendering any aid
IN tnr'herancc of that object? II is the set
tlement OF the lands that makes them valu
able
MIR President, upon the point Of constitutions
al power it appears to me that the most rigid
constructionist should be satisfied with the ar.
gumen's Of Mrssrs, Calhoun and Cass but to
these names | could add those of the lamented
Wright, Polk, McDnffie, and many others.
who have supported bills Ike the one now before
us
Leaving that branch Of the question, beo to
call the attention Of the Senate 10 some special
fact and arguments in support Of the claims Of
Iowa tor grants Of land to and in the CONSTITUTE
ton of her proposed railroads. Mr. President,
! do this because | have been frequently told
that we ask too much that great deal has
been done for Us; that we have been bill Of
cost to "Uncle Sam" These objections would
seem to arise in the minds of senator's from the
fact that only few years ago our territorial
expenses were paid by tn" general government
think we have strong claims on you to again
pass this bill, which has been often and urgently
askt by our people and legislature. We claim
il because you have granted 10 our sisters and
adjoining Siates-llinols and Indiana mill.
ion or more acres for similar objects that this
bill grants to Iowa If our roads, or their
proposed courses and distances are assailed, we
ask you to refer TO the map and observe the
track of the roads for which you granted lands
on the opposite side Of the river II it be
objected that one of our ,ads is to commence
at point on the great river of the West, and
termination at another on the same river, we
point you to the fact that to the Illinois roads
doub e the l"ngth of ours-the same objection
would apply, and to greater extent; for they
are to run from Cairo to Mobile, IN Alabama,
notwithstanding the uninterrupted navi ration
of the Mississippi between those points But
no one, believe, either in committee or the
Senate has made this an objection to our roads,
save the senator from Georgia, mr. Dawson
and his reason for referring to them is to defeat,
not improve the bill.
Mr.. President, this is a time in which
great deal Of ciphering has been done, touch
ing the public lands. l propose to show you in
facts and figures how the account stands be-
tween Iowa and the general government For
this purpose | read to the Senate the table
which hold in my hand the items composing
which have obtained from different offices
having charge of the respective branches of the
public service. This tabular statement exhibits
the cash account, up to the Both Of September
last. 1t also shows all our territorial expences
those which were much dwelt upon by the
senator from Kentucky MIR. Underwood 1t
is entirely fair to embrace in 1t the it, relating
to land warrants, because they were issued by
this government for its own purposes, for the
prosecution of its wars, with which we had
nothing to do: