The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1854-09-06
DISCUSSION ON THE MlNNESOr.
LAND BiIJ.

; Minnesota Land Bill, we publish the followin
remarks from Messrs Stephens, Campbell an
, Stanton, made in the House Au ust 3rd
; The editor of the "Galsua Advertiser" ina
be instructed by perusal oft.
Mr. STEPHENS, of Georgia. Mr.. Speake
have no objection to the passage of the bi
which has been reported from the committe,
That bill provides that +" or be reinstated fc
'sand, but do not think that the alteration re
ferred to is one of q very material character
The gentleman from Ohio, GMr CAMPBELL,
to whose report and remarks have listened al
tentively, speaks Of very great fraud havin
been committed. | cannot perceive it. TIL
words in the bill, as 1t was read " hen it passe
this House, were 6 nor shall they inure to tn
benefit any company heretofore constitute
or organized" The word " and" has bee
substituted tor the word sol" so that it nov
reads shall not inure to the benefit of an,
company hereafter constituted and org an'zed.
And in this way it read when 1t passed tn
Senate. Gentlemen seem to consider tn
word "constitu,ed" as equivalent to the wor
l"incorporated" or chartered. This, in IN,
Judgment, is a radical error When a charte
is granted, corporators named, the company i
not constitutes until the corporators meet, &c
cep, the charter, and form themselves into
|
company can be said to be constituted.
| Mr.. CAMPBELL. Whatever may be tn,
legal effect of the word, It s very evident, from
the proof, that that company was not organized
until the 1st day Of Jul. and, not being organ
ized. the insertion of the word "and' woult
make the land inure to its benefit.
| Mr.. STEPHENS. know nothing abou
these outside matters. know nothing of The
organization Of any company which may claim
the benefits of thia act look at the language
of the law as it passed the House, and how fal
the interest of any company or anybody car
possibly be effected by the alteration which ha.
been made. The gentleman from Ohio speaks
ofa company that was not organized until Isl
July well, it could not have been constituted
either for constituted and organized IN this
| connection must mean the same thing and il
does seem to me to be very immaterial whe-
ther we say "constituted and organized" OF
" constituted or organized" This say in
reply to SO much of the remarks OF the gentle
man from Ohio Mr.. CAMpBELL]as as represen-
ed a great fraud as having been committed by
the officers of the House, somebody. 1t
seems to me that the alteration, under the cir
cumstances stated in the report, might have
been deemed immaterial, and made without
subiecting the persons concerned in the least
degree to any lmputation OF wrong. The COM
mt,ee has exonera,ed all parties.
Mr.. CAMPBELL. If the parties themsel.
yes regarded it as immaierial, why did they go
10 the extent of procuring an erasure and
change in an enrolment bill of this House ?
The question is this : IF the parties to this
transaction regarded this thing in the light in
which you do, as lmma,erial, why did they GO
TO the extent Of having the word "or" erased
from an enrolled bill of this House, and inser-
tinu in nlaca the word and ~
Mr. STEPHENS. de not know that f" the
parties did it. know nothing of the parties,
or any parties
Mr. CAMPBELL. somebody did it Sons
body procured it.
Mr.. STEPHENS From the evidence
which has been read here, understand that a
member upon this floor, who had the bill in
charge, moved this amedment or verbal alter
alton, in committee, which was carried, and he
suppose that it was so read in the House. He
may have regarded It as very immaterial
matter.
Mr.. CAMPBELL. I have no doubt that the
gentleman who procured the alteration to be
made after the bill left the House, may have
regarded it as imma,erial; but, on the other
hand, have no doubt tnat the outside influence
that sought to make the erasure did regard it as
mate rial.
Mr.. STEPHENS. am not speaking of
outside Influences, for | know nothing about
them. The gentleman speaks Of "parties,
but do not thi * that we should consider the
position of any " parties who may claim bene
fits under the act look to the record before
US. On and from that speak when | say that
the alteration seems to me to be verbal and
immaterial. II iware to 60 beyond this rec
ord, and speak Of what hear outside, am
inclined to think that the whole of this affair
has been got up by some parties outside of this
House, and whose object is to break down this
bill and get the land hereafter themselves.
Mr.. CAMPBELL. A committee was ap-
pointed 10 investigate all the facts and circum-
stances connected with this matter and they
have done it loboriously and to the best of tieir
ability, in the short time they have had.
Mr.. STEPHENS. What does the report
state about any outside influence
Mr.. CAMPBELL. ltis expressly stated in
one Of the reports that Mr.. Billings, one Of the
corporators under the charter granted by the
Minnesota Territory, was here before the bill
went to the Committee on Public Lands, seek
ing to get it couched in such manner to
carry the grant TO that particular company, and
in such terms as to give no power over the
grant to future Legislatures.
MR.. STEPHENS. Well, sir, there is no
evidence that have heard that he succeeded in
his wishes know nothing about him, how.
ever, or any other members of that or any other
company which wishes an interest in the grant
But my object in raising was to call the atten
ton OF the House to the character of the altera
ton which the gentleman from Ohio Mr.. CAM
PBELL calls a" great fraud
The gentleman argued as if ssconslitd'ed"
was the same thing as sincorporated." And,
mas much as perticular company had been in
corporated, but not" organized at the time the
bill passed, he argued that the alteration was
made for their benefit. lfe0nStituted be equiv
alent to incO, p0rated in this connection, then
: or organized. in the original draft of the bill,
was nothing but sheer nonsense. The words
are "any company heretofore constituted or or
gsnzed." The use of the words ror organized
"here must have been resorted TO for the purpose
OF being more explicit in the meaning of soon
stitutcd, and not for the purpose of designating
another class ; for suppose it had read "any
company heretofore incorporated or organized
who does not see that with reading cor organ
lied is perfect nonsense No company could
have been organized before il had been inco,
porated. And if ''c0nstituted'' means in this
bill T" chartered" OF "incorporated, cor organ
lied makes like nonsense But read as sup
pose the draughtsman meant it should be, il
makes good sense
make these observations, Mr.. Speaker, to
show the perfect im;neateriaty OF the alteration
as it seems to me the reports of the committee
remove all blame or fraudulent intent from any
person connected with it, This is nv under
standing OF their reports The only other cues
ton is, where any body has been injured by lls
think not; for, in my opinlon' it is perfectly
imma,erial whether the words in the bill were
''consituted and organized" whether they
were $ constituted or organized They mean
the same thing, SO far can understand
MR.. CAMPBELL. may state to the
gentleman from Georgia, in regard t, other in
fuences, that it is proved that after the bill was
printed in the Senate, and after the word cor
was discovered TO exist il, it instead of The word
"ard, MIR. Billings, one of the corporators OF
this company, did 90 to a Senator and appeal to
him to have this alteration made; and that is the
origin of the suggestion, SO far the committee
have il III evidence. 1t came from one of the
corporators OF this company to s. .nator, whn,
doubtless not snpposing that ,bers, was anything
improper in it, applied TO the Clerk of the Sen
ate to know whether the alteration could be- H.ad,,
and then they cane round to the Clerk Of the
House, and the alteration procured. The
desire To have The alteration is traced ty the
evidence to Mr.. Billings, one of the curpora ators
named in the charter He must have purpose