The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1855-02-08

those interested IN the COWpaIIyS SuCccsS
The whole programme was laid down, and
Mr. Cuisines part in it duly assigned him.
At the first, the pretence was, of course,
beyond belief But when the play opened
and the players acted their parts here, in
Minnesota, in strict ful6lment of the pre-
diction, we took it for granted that the en-
tire prophecy was a true one, and that the
government attorneys had been subsidized
outside the Territory as we'll as in it. For,
it did not enter our conception, that Mr..
JOHN E. WARREN Qeaving outside Of the
calculation the question of his integrity
possessed sufficient nerve and audacity to
institute suit Of so great magnitude, in
such a manner, without instructions from
some high authority connected with the gen.
eral government. In this we were mistak-
en- Mr. WARREN exhibited bold reckless
ness in this transaction, which we supposed
to be beyond the capacities of his nature !;
and our premises in regard to the Attorney
General being wrong, our conclusions were
wrong also. The documents which we
publish today, aside from his own asserva-
tions, show US to have been utterly in error.
And we therefore make the retraction Of
our former statements, as honorably due
Mr.. CUSHING.
The publication in Washington of the
Report of the Attorney General and the
pleadings in the suit Of the Minnesota and
Northwestern Railroad Co., cannot fail to
have an important and salutary influence at
this time when the charter of that Compa-
ny is before Congress for its judgment. We
look, with certainty almost absolute, to
see the charter disapproved, and the Com
pany itself resolved into its original ele-
ments of individual and separate scoundrel-
ism, instead Of remaining, as at present, a
mass of chartered, concentrated corruption.
ted States,
Transmitting Documents communicating Information in REF
erence instituted against the Minnesota and North
aestern Railroad Company
January 10, 1s55.Rfered to tie Committee o" the Judci
airy, and ordered printed.
To the House of Representatives II the United
States
l transmit herewith report of the Attor-
ney General, with the accompanying documents,
communicating the information required by
the following resolution of the House of Rep
rescntatives of the 18th ultimo:
Resolved, That the President Of the Uni
ted States be requested to communicate to this
House any information possessed by him re-
garding q suit instituted in the Territory of
Minnesota, by or in the name of the United
States, against the Minnesota and Northwes-
tern Railroad Company"
FRANKLIN PIERCE.
Washington, Jan. 10, 1855.
ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE, !
0- ishA ono January ], 1856. !
SIR II have the honor, in compliance with
your direction of the 3Oth ult.. requesting you
to communicate to the House any information
possessed by you regarding suit instituted in
the Territory of Minnesota, by or in the name
Of the United States, against the Minnesota
and Northwestern Railroad Company"
Annexed is q copy of the record in that case,
by which it appears that it is an action of tres
pass, instituted in the Territory of Minnesota
by the attorney of the United States for that
Territory, decided there in favor of the defend
ants, and thereupon appealed by him to the
Supreme Court Of the United States.
This copy has been obtained from the files Of
the Supreme Court, in which the ca was
docketed on the 2lst ult., by the attorney of
the appellees
No knowledge, official or unofficial, of the
existence of this action, was possessed by the
Solicitor of the Treasury or myself, or by the
Secretary of the Interior, until the abOve-men-
toned entry of record in the Supreme Court,
at or about which time statements concerning
1t came to hand in public journals Of the Ter
ritOry of Minnesota.
Letters Of the Secretary Of the Interior and
of the Solicitor, on the subject, are annexed.
During the two or three days in which
copy Of the record has been in my possession,
for me to become prepared to
enter into detailed exposition as to all the
points of voluminous transcript thus unex-
pectedly and abruptly thrown upon me- In
addition to which, there are particular embar-
affecting this case, in consequence
Of the magnitude of the interests, public and
private, involved. sr .ssI -..
The question at issue on the pleadings in it,
is the validity of the act of Congress of Au-
gust A, 1854, which purported to repeal the
act of june 29, 1854, making agrant OF pub.
lie land to the Territory of Minnesota in aid
Of the construction of a railroad traversing
that Territory. which grant the defendants in
the suit pretend has edectually vested in them,
the aforementioned act Of re- l
neal or "a they claim has nv force of the |