The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1855-03-03
Cbc 3)aeifit HOLLYWOOD
SPEECH OF HON. LA, fhh

III Inc NioDe. lhcy contain mllcn lnlofHa-
ton on the subject
Mr.. President, mast express my astonish- =
ncnt at the earnesrness with which this
enormous measure appears to be pressed so
prccipitatcly upon the Senate. 1 confess l
thought, when the PROF sct was first introduc cd,
that it was rather as fccler to ascertain how
public sentiment would point towards pro-
ject Of such magnitude ana uncertainty.
did not suppose, when it was first brought t o
the notice Of the Senate, nor haveI since ex-
pectod, that we should be seriously asked
to connect tho Government of the Union
with individuals or corporations, in schemes
which, in extent and in difficulty, are so far
beyond everything that has ever hereto
fore been known in tho history Of artificial
communications. What do we know, sir, Of
tho feasibility of any Of these routes, of all
those conditions which are absolutely neces-
sary tomal,o railroad available, and without
| which such projects arc only the bottomIcss
pits Of capital, snares to individual spccula-
ton, and dclu3ions to national enterprise.
| What do we know Of tho elevations and OF tho
decliyities Of the country What do we f
know Of tho supplies OF wood and waterf +
| What engineers have ever ascertaned, not BY
hasty reconnaissance, but by careful surveys,
the great number Of difficulties which every
body admits to lie in the way OF the execution
Of this scheme ? And yet we arc asked,
without any Of this information which has not
been, because it could not be, furnished-to
onterupon this monstroUs system ofrailroaas,
| the like ofwliich no copLtry in the world ever
saw, and which, great as our resources ar
is infinitely beyond them. Why, sir, as lit
difficulty were not enough in the executi,
OF one railroad, from the waters ofthe Mssi.
Sippi to the Pacific, we are startled with 4
enormous proposition to make three, VIII
the energies Of the whole country would f
taxed TO tho utmost, even with the goyts HI
mental aid which this bill proTcrs to,exe M
and maintain ono. Ha
l have not examined the reports 49,
| have recently come from the War d ~
ment and whTch have been ordered ~
printed, giving some information inre
these routes. l inquired for oneEl c,i
day, and was Informed that it waSd w.,
that a certain number OF page ,'on
omitted in the impression, and M@ns
been sent back to tleprintcr to be iR0 :
l AIN, therefore, without that inror
but am very sure that if had iE@
only increase the opposition whichA = ~
| this measure. 80
| Here are three railroads which it ".
| posed we shall offer inducements to tn
| ital and enterprise Of the country ton
| upon, each Of which, I understand, Win
about two thousand miles in length-onsA.
perhaps, something under that length, andN
the others, probably, little exceeding it, bn /
averaging about two thousand miles Of rail I
road which We design to invite proposals for II
making, through country for the most part Re
utterly uninhabited, and, to a dorable II
extent, equally uninhabitable, without those
means which have been found absolute fy N
necessary to their execution in all settled II
countries through which railroads have e
| herctof been made, and in spite of the n
existence Of which means the cost Of many
| of them has exceeded all calculation, and will
| scarcely obtain credcnce when the statement
| is mado.
We propose to accomplish this by invitingE
persons to make contracts upon the promis,H
Off gift Of lands twelve miles in width ON
each side, in alternate sections, which q
equal to continuous grant twelve miles RI
in extent along the whole length of the rail-
roads. IF the railroads be each two thou&
sand miles long, that will involve q grant ~
seventy two thousand square miles of lad
larger than the State Of Virginia-abo9t L
large as the States of Virginia and Mat
united, and more than six times as nj I
as the entire State of Maryland. 1t wilIcos r.,
tain forty eight million eighty thousand Or
of land, to be given to one, two, or ~
companies-a territorial grant exceedine
lbcrality anything known in modern thu
and which, if the land were valuable; Vol
make the individuals or companies cono
the most powerful land barons in the - 4
This enormous grant, with the other
Government, it is supposed will email
parties to execute these works. Well n
| this grant Of lands wero made through b
fertile prairies OF Illinois, or through such
regions as the rich valleys Of Pennsylvania,
very probably, raonsrous as the cost of this
work will be, it might be sufficient to induce
the ardent and earnest efforts of individual
enterprise to attempt its accomplishment.
But who expects, under any state of things,
that these lands will sell at anything like the
minimum price at which we have heretofore
sold our public lanlsa Even If they were
vastly better than they are, considering the
legislation of Congress ESQ far as the Senate
cln give it chccD as TO the distribution Of
immense quantities of bounty lands, it could
not be expected to dispose of them at the
minimum price 81 IS per acre; but when
VIC consider that the greater portion Of the
country through which these railroads must
run is necessarily and forever sterilc-that
| it stretches across the central Wilderness ofa
great continent, and is mado up, in a large
degree, OF barren wastes and inhospitable
rocks, we must know tllst ir will DO utterly
impossible to dispose of these lands at any
price which will be at all adequate even to
the commencement Of such an enterprise,
Without sufficient wood and water, for the
most part destitute OF inhabitants save tho