The weekly Placer herald., 1854-06-03
Senator Gvvin's Speech,
On the Pacific Railroad Bill, Delivered
IN the United States Senate, Aprd 10th,

We ask in the name of our trade, do
nestle and foreign, that direct means of
communication be given through our own
territory. The geographical center of the
Republic is almost unoccupied and un-
cultivated for want Of the road we now
seek. Intersect it as speedily as you
please by an indefinite number of high
ways when the public interest and bust
ness of the country require them, but give
US now one railroad as practical mea-
sure to begin with, and the settlement of
the country will speedily be accomplished,
the foundation laid for the building of
many roads connecting this with all parts
of the Union. For all postal, military,
and commercial purposes, the intervening
territory between the Mississippi and Pa
cific now presents an impossible barrier,
forcing all our intercourse through foreign
territory, and placing California at a dis
tance of seven thousand miles from New
York k-the time occupied in making the
transit being more than double that re-
quired for European communication
whilst Egypt and Turkey may be reached
sooner than our Pacific possessions.-
There, too, we can 60 by an uninterrupt-
ed voyage under our own national flag.
But in going to, or returning from the
Pacific, we are indebted to the courtesy
of foreign Powers for the privilege of
passage, unless we undertake the voyage
by Cape Horn, which we might be fortu-
nate enough to accomplish in between two
and three months, by steam, or from four
to six months in the ordinary sail navlga-
ton.
That such state of things can long
continue, either in peace or war, is impos-
sible
California now points you the way to
the commerce of Asia, and to secure it she
asks continental railroad, not only for
her own use, but for the benefit of all,
yet appealing to you in virtue Of the high
claims she has upon you. Already she
has more than doubled your metallic capi
tai, IN pouring her golden treasures into
the lap of the Union. Hold back for as
single quarter of year, her returns TO
the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, and
another commercial panic will involve
you in speedy bankruptcy. Your stocks
will fall, property will decline in value,
banks perish; industry, agriculture, navi
CATION, and manufactures will be prostrat-
ed Go where you will, and your money,
coined from her gold, will be found in
every dwelling, the lowly cabin as well as
the lordly mansion, in all the States and
Territories. Everywhere it has stimu-
lated your industry, and given to labor
increased employment and more ample
reward. What has it done for the com
merce of the country and your National
Treasury? 1t has doubled your exports,
and nearly tripled your rece pts
Look at results. Twenty three mil
lions of revenue from duties in lS46-near-
ly seventy millions from the same source
in 1854 Who doubts that, with the en-
larged commerce growing out of more
liberal policy, this incredible increase Of
revenue is mainly attributable to the year
ly supply of California gold? No mer-
chant, manufacturer, banker, or states
man of any party, will controvert this.
Your receipts from customs and the sale
of your public lands are increased from
this swell of the volume of currency
Forty millions in the aggregate increase
of your annual revenue from lands and
customs are the consequence. Yet you
hesitate about reasonable appropriation
the effect of which will be to multiply
hundred fold your revenues and sources
of wealth. Is this wise, just or expedi-
ent' California furnishes the element of
national prosperity in peace, and the
sinews of war. Yet for the want of this
road you keep her in distant and danger
Gus isolation.
The people from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, from the Lakes and the ST Law
renee to the Gulf of Mexico, demand this
measure. They look to Congress during
this session to lay the foundation for ITS
commencement. If we accomplish the
object, 1t will be in vain for Great Britain,
in her efforts to maintain commercial
supremacy, to carry out her scheme of
great continental railway from Halifax
through British territory to the Pacific,
now so warmly advocated by many of her
statesmen and engineers, or to undertake
her Asiatic Railway from the Meditera
mean, by the Persian Gulf and India, to
the ports of China.
But if local jealousies or sectional pre-
judces should defeat our present action,
she will arise with renewed vigor to the
prosecution Of these great works, and
new avenues of trade will secure to her
the undisputed command of the commerce
of the world. 1t is question between
London ad New York, between Calcutta
and San Francisco, between England and
America, by land and sea for supremacy,
and we surrender it, without an effort, to
our great rival, if we now fail in the per