Litchfield enquirer., 1858-12-30
Whole No. 1752.
CONGRESSIONAL.
IN SENATE. Dec. 2l.
The Pacific Railroad bill came up.

scendants of the Dutch coollists of New.
 York keep forever bright their memories of
 tier fatherIand. When, however, he travelled
 Ill Holland. he could hardly fad there one lill- 1 se' ng tradition of the settlement of New
 N tinriands. It is always so. The affection o the e'nierSnt for h.s native country i, ever stronger tn the sympathies of that country
 for its exles. The S'nators from California
 aS yet the on'y rept seatatives here of s,ciety '" 'he larihc coast, are committed to this great measure, and earnest in it's supmlt. So
 he hoped that if his arguments in res,u,,so to
 them seemed addressed to the Sc ators from
 the Atlantic States, they would do him the justice to reflect that it is only on this side of the Rocky Mountains that the SHOW and ice ot indifference and prejudice resist conviction.
 Mr. Seward would not say much concerning the details If he bill. If we were allowed to prescribe the route and the policy of construc. tug Pac hc Railroad now, he would choose path which would be continuation of the road that our great northwestern emigration
 has hitherto followed. He would discard all employment of companies, and all grants of public lands, and would build the road as a
 military, postal, national highway, with tho motley and credit of the Federal Government. ana surrender the lands along it's route to ac. tua settlers, free of cost. He would increase the revenues by an increase of imports and create a sinking fund to absorb gradually the public debt. But he had concurred in pre. Sentlng this bill because it was the onIv alter.
 i've. He admitted there were many ob- Jrctions to winch the bill was obnoxious But | he time for dellb2ration has come to an end. and that tor acion is to begin So, being earnest m his dcSir" for Pacific Railroad. he would accept this bill.
 MT. Seward then answered successively the general olj ctons against the construction of thr road. Commerce is ohly al, incidental in. ttrest lh connection with the road, which is wan,ed, first and chiefly for postal and militia. ry-that is t" Say, for political purposes. It IS grand TT r to rely on commerce for suc, hl5 Q s in Err tories, where society has to oc called Into existence, or to thiuk that they cal' be dispensed with till society is created.--- 1 The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo extended the national jurisdiction across the Rocky ! Aionatal.is to stlls, Pacific, aud from that mo. i nigH"d?S aefoss .ss.s :x-. l t ons in Utah. Central America, and Mexico. and with France and England, are legitimate Consequence of d reliance on the routes through foie9n countries instead of through our own. He did not pretend to know how long we ill- tend to founder on in this erroneous policy, but Was sure that the interior region will not | be settled till the Railroad is built, and that 1 probably the Pacific States will not forever | ienlain united to the Atlantic if they are not l so united. The fates are always busy in weaving fatal web for indolent and mprOyi- dent nations and it depends on the action of Congress now, whether Washington shall re- main the capital of the whole United States. or only of the United States of the Atlantic, 1 while the City of Mexico becomes the capital | of the United States and of the Pacific.
 He would not debate the constitutional pow. | CT Of Congress to authorize the construction of ] the road. Even the strictest constructionists | admit the power of Congress, in case of realne- | cessty, to construct postroads within the uii- 1 organized territories of the United States, aud ill case of possible danger, to construct military roads. Let us impress the fact that the Ameri. can people number now thirty millions, and in- crease at the rate of million annually of free, ambitious men. Such people cannot remain stationary. Activity is a law written in the socal constitution of all Stites. Under it's in- 1 fluehce, France has disturbed the two hemis.
 ,hcres for two hundred years, Great Britain
 has extended her dominion around the earth,
 S ain has discovered and coloniz d half the
 Globe aud Portugal has reclaimed large por-
 ton of it. which before had been lost. The abolition of Feudalisn and Slavery in modern
 Europe, and the conversion of the Western Ma
 tions to Christianity, are results of the same national activity. In obedience to the same
 law, we have rescued the country we ihhabit from the dominion of Spain, France and Great
 Britain, and all our renewed diplomatic coI,- fcts are so many manifestations of the energy
 and ambition of the Americans proper.
 It is obvious that this activity must take ei- | ther a martial or civil direction and that if it
 do not receive the latter from the hands of the
 Government it will force the Government to guide it into the former. How can we other
 wise explain from what the constant agitation
 of the tillibuster movement, Ostend Manifesto and Monroe Doctrine proceeds. To him, it seemed clear that this peaceful acting, far mole than military activity, is, for every nation, safe, cheap, frugal, aud increasing continually the numbers and wealth of nation. War is haE-
 ardous and desolating---its greatest benefit bee ing obtained at fearful cost. History teach
 es that the constant practice of war is lncoln-
 patlbe with the permaneHce Of system o' self-government Ii he were asked why tn, British race in this continent is republ Can, b ? I would say because the national activity ts-
 sulnes peaceful character, as nlonarchlal cOuiI- tries assume military one It the nationel ac- :, tiyity is to have peaceful direction, it must b. confined in it's energies chiefly within uu'
 own territory our domain is already brca enough, and the opportunity for our activit
 con tnellslAate with it. Tie necessities ol oiL,Y. safety and union require us to consolidate Guc energies within it, The Pacific Railroad, E IA