Georgetown weekly news., 1855-05-03
Division of the State.

The proceedings of the Assembly on the
9th ult. on this deeply interesting subject
will be found below. The fact that the
motion to adopt the Report of the Commit
tee, was lost only by vote of 35 noes to
30 ayes is somewhat startling to those who
have supposed there was little or no proba-
bility of the State being divided. The re-
port it is understood recommends that the
State be divided into three States, the
northern to be called Shasta, the middle
California and the southern Colorado. The
report, however, we have not seen. We clip
the following from the Union:
ASSEMBLY.
House met at the usual hour, the Speak
er presiding.
DIVISION OF THE STATE.
The select committee to whom the bill
for dividing the State had been referred,
made their report
Mr.. DOUGLASS moved that 5000 copies of
said report be printed.
Mr.. AMYx thought the usual number of
copies sufficient. He also objected to the
report going out of the House as legisla-
tive document.
Mr.. BURKE said he was not in favor of
publishing the report of the committee, as
the opinion of this House. For one, he
could not concur in the opinions and argu-
ments advanced by the committee; but he
looked upon the report as tissue of errone-
Gus and illogical deductions, drawn from
false premises. In the first place it was
held that three new States can be made out
Of California, each one of which would have
the capacity and resOuces necessary for
carrying on State government. This he
denied, for the territory embraced in the
proposed State of Colorado did not contain
population of more than twenty-five thou
sand inhabitants. The people of California
at this day were reeing and groaning under
the burden OF debts contracted for carrying
on one State government would you now
increase those burdens, and crush them to
the earth, by heaping upon them taxation
for the support OF two additional State gov
ernments? Another most himsy argument
for the division of this State is this-that
the people were too remote from the capital
in some of the southern counties, to avail
themselves Of the Supreme Court. Now, as
a general thing, the less a people had to do
in any court the better they Jared in the end
but when a case occurs in any of the
courts in those remote counties, and appeal
is taken, the propriety would always sug-
gest itself to the parties concerned, to trans
nit the case through the mail to the Clerk
of the Supreme Court, and a letter covering
retaining fee, to some able and distinguish
Ell attorney, living at the capital, and thus
save the expense Of travelling to and from
the capital OF all attorney. 1t is urged in
favor of this measure that the territory en-
braced within the boundaries of California
was equal TO that of some eight or ten Of
the other States of the Union Now, that
might be so; but mere barren acres of land
did not constitute State. A State was
composed of men and women, and of chill
dren, too; OF houses and farms, of cities and
railroads, of manufactures and schools, of
moneyed capital and strong arms and viii
ling hearts to work-these constitute
State. In all of these things the southern
portion of this State was sadly deficient
There was sufficient territory, it was true
and much of it fertile and beautiful for a
State; but there were thousands of acres of
barren hills and sandy plains. where there
was no vegetation but the cactus, and
cayotes and horned toads were the only an
imals found. The report further urged this
measure on the ground that the Pacific
coast had not fair representation in the
Senate of the United States, and, conse-
quently, had not received the consideration
which she was entitled to at the hands of
Congress. Now, this was not true. Cali
tornia had received from the General Gov
ernment more and larger appropriations
than any other State in the Union of equal
population had ever received in the same
length oftime. The people of the Eastern