The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1855-02-17

. any railroad corporation, constituted or organ
lied. As this Northwestern Railroad Comp;
ny had been constituted by law. but not organ
lied, it came within the direct purview of til
, act OF this House, and was intentionally e1
| ciuded from any benefit from the grant of thes
lands. After this bill had passed, it is with
the recollection of the House that an unauthor
. ized alteration of it was made by effacing tn
word "oT," and inserting the word land,
SO tnat the act was made to read-that no por
tion OF the lands thus granted should inure t.
the benefit of any railr ,ad company, constitut
ed and organized. But as this railroad com
pany was only constituted. and not organized
it was thus made TO escape from the provision
OF the act thus spolated; and it became enti
tied, ny that alteration. in connection with tn,
act which we propose to annul. to these land
thus perverting the act by the alteration, t.
the exact contrary Of what the House had ir
tended.
! This bill went to the Senate. and from there
to the Executive. Having been approved, i,
was returned to this House. 1t was approved
by the Executive on the 29th of June, and or
the 3Oth June, or the LIST of July. as quick a.
news could reach the city of New York. a meet
ing was held by certain individuals at the As
tor House. who there, in point OF form. Crgan
lied this Northwestern Railroad Company. and
claimed the title. in fee simple, to these eight
| hundred and ffty-two thousand acres of land
and insisted that they had acquired thereby a
| vested and perfect title thereto.
1t having been suspected that some unauthor.
lzed and fraudulent alteration had been made
IN the act. committee of investigation was
raised. The result was two reports and bill
being introduced by portion Of the committee
OF investigation. declaring the construction OF
the act as it passed this House. on motion of an
honorable gentleman from North Carolina. (Mr.
spnSr SrpnN I.,Ax
stricken out, and a section repeating the act
granting these lands to Minnesota, was substi-
tuted and carried. After this repeal had been
thus consummated by the House, the Senate.
Tor want of time to concur in the House bill.
amended a private bill by adding section re-
pealing the Minnesota land bill. and in this
torn returned it to this House. which concur.
red: and it was approved by the President
Notwithstanding this repeal this railroad
company insisted that il was hey ond the power
Of this House. beyond the power of Congress.
to repeal a statute which had vested right. or
interest in lands in the Territory of Minnesota I;
and that, therefore, their title to these lands,
claiming under the Territory of Minnesota. had
not been. and could not be. impaired by any
| act OF Congress. Shortly afterwards and a.
early as the 23d day of October-I desire the
House to notice dates--the district attorney OF
the United States fer the Territory of MinnesO-
ia. without any instructions from any depart
ment. without the knowledge of any depart
ment, and in violation Of his official duty. COM
menced an action. in the name of the United
States, against this Northwestern Railroad
Company, the object and purpose of which was
| to enable the title Of this company to these
lands to be adjudicated. 1t was an action OF
| trespass for entering upon these lands and cut
| ting down timber and carrying it away. II
was commenced on the 23d of October. The
proceedings are exceedingly vOluminous bu
within the remarkably short space of twelve
days. the summons were served. declaration
| filed. plea put in, replication to the plea filed
and demurrer to the plea; issue was thus join
| ed, the cease set down for argument, argued
| and decided against the United States. and al
| in twelve days! So that on the suit, which was
commenced on the 23d of October, there was
Judgment entered on the 4th of November, alb
solutely against the United States, without any
power to amend the pleadings. or without any
| further action there. This judgment was con.
summated on the 9th of November. From the
judgment q writ of error was brought to the
Supreme Court of the United States, and the
cause was docketed here on the 2lst of Janua-
ry. And the first knowledge or notice, official
| or unofficial. that any of the departments al
Washington had of the existence of this action
was the docket of the cause in this city on the
last mentioned day.
| Now, Mr.. Speaker. the Committee on the Ju-
dietary. without entering into the disputed
ground as to the right of the people of a Terri
tory to legislate upon matters involving the
great fundamental principles pertaining to
their general regulations. are of opinion it can
not be denied. and, apprehend. it will not be
denied. that Congress has the power to protect
the public lands against territorial aggression.
and against territorial legislation, in Opposi-
tion to the landed rights of the United States
The act enables Congress. at all events. to dis.
approve of acts of selfprotection, which affect
the rights of property in the United States.
| Again. Mr.. Speaker, there is another ground
and ground which. | think. appeals very
strongly to every member of this House. who
desires to see the public duties of our officials
conducted with decOrum. and with proper re-
gard for the preservation of the proprieties o.
official life. 1t is this, when the Committee on
the Judiciary came to look at the names of the
persons mentioned in the territorial act pro
posed to be repealed. who were to receive this
grant of eight hundred and fifty thousand and
odd acres of the public lands the committee
found that one of the immediate grantees of tht
Government was the Governor of that Terrific
ry. who signed the bill, and another was thu
Secretary of the Territory, who certified tht
bill.
When, therefore. we find territorial &C
passed for the benefit of Governors and Secre
taries. and public officers Of the Government
concerned officially in the passage of the act
having for one of its objects the acquisition o
the public lands, take it for granted that the
matter being brought to the attention of til,
House. they will promptly disapprove Of ant
disafirm such an act. submit that there car
be no question of the power or the propriety o
the action of Congress. when they find tha
there has been territorial legislation for th'
benefit of the private interests Of Government
officials in opposition to their public duties t.
pass an act disapproving of and disaffirming tn
transaction.
i In answer to the question now put by th
condemnation Ohio. Mr.. Campbell) whethe
!, this territorial act was known to the House a
the time of the passage of the act of Congress
T granting the land, I cannot answer. becaus
the answer would involve knowledge of wha
, others know, and of which, of course, I kno,
} nothing.
, Mr.. CAMPBELL. In relation to that pointif th
gentleman will allow me. will say. that a
one of the friends Of the bill making the gram
feel authorized to say, that many of those VIII
voted for the bill originally, were entirely is
= norant of any such territorial act as that chaI
tering the Minnesota and Northwestern Raj
{ road Company. 1t was developed. in fact. j
e the course Of the investigation. which too
place near the close ofthe last session and ths
J. committee had no doubt that something We
= wrong, from the very moment that they ha
: the charter before them. The investigation
: however, was prosecuted so near the close
the session, that we had no time to do an thin
e more than to partially correct the sanction b
/. Congress of this enormous fraud, which the,
r parties have since resorted to the judiciary
the country to establish, and to defeat the a