St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1858-06-24
ddtst@ara tbs Course Of empire takss its dolap."

Mr.. I. says, in stating this fact il
my letter to you of the 26th Of March
| made "a gratuitous charge and ou
.of whole CLOTH suppose he woult
be understood to say that, with m,
the idea was original, sheer fabrica
ton. Now, it is but very recently, a,
is well known, that | became connec
ted with the McGregor Railroad Com
pany--not yet a year--and still j
does appear that Mr.. 7. had heart
something of this " charge" before m,
letter was written, and even before
had heard of the man, for he says, /"
have learned IN many instances of hos
tility to me, in this Northern Lo,ca Raj
Road Matter, that it arose not SO mucl
from love of Northern Iowa inter
ests as from disposition to cover ur
tracks, or with hope that some thing
might turn up for certain other gentle
mems benefit"
| leave the full Interpretation of this
passage to others, as l am not and ne
yer expect to be citizen of Iowa, and
am not in the situation of Mr.. T., a
modern Micawber, waiting for some
thing to turn up 1t seems, howcvc,
that "many instances of hostility" tc
Mr.. T. have been the bitter fruit ante
rior to my gratuitous charge"
! learn that Mr.. r. was quite aware
of great dissatisfaction in the North,
soon after the passage Of the bill
and | am told by honorable members
of that and the present Congress that
the fact somewhat disturbed his nerves
and this may account for the effort
which he subsequently made to do some
least to make a show" Of
fidelity by reporting bill to aid the
McGregor Railroad---or to tack it on
the Pacific Railroad Bill even after
h" knew that the claims Of Iowa were
all exhausted, aud that the commit.
tee would acrer tear Of Il MN road be,
ing included in the bill"
Now let us inquire for a moment
whether the interests of the McGrcgoI
Road and of your portion of the State
We're boseiy sacrificed, and if so, 10y
whom ?
In going into Congress, Mr.. Thor
ington assumed his share Of obeyine
the behcsts of the General Assembly
of Iowa, and Of guarding alike the
interests of the entire State, and cspc
cially of his entire district. The Gen,
cral Assembly had petitioncd for, and
requested him to use his "bcst cXcr,
tionS to procure grant OF land from
the General Government, TO aid in the
construction of y four certain railroads
The Eastern tcrmini of these were def,
nit,ly fixed, to wit: McGregor, Du
buquc, Davenport and Burlington.
Bills for these roads were introdu,
ced and referred to the Committee on
Public Lands, consisting Of MesSrs
Bennett of New York, Harlan Of Ohio
Cobb of Alabama, Lindley of Missou
ri, Cullen Of Delaware, Walbridgc OF
Michigan, Brenton of Indiana, Max
well of Florida, and Thorington OF
Iowa
At that time several States had bills
pending before the same Committee
for Land Grants. No other member
of the Committee than Mr.. L. seems
to have had any interest, from his 10
cation, in Iowa Roads. 1t is usual to
allow each member of committee to
direct the details for his own locali.
ty Soon after | came to Washing
ton, learned from not less than fou,
who were members of that Commit
tee, that this courtesy was extended
to Mr.. 7. in shaping the Iowa bill.
"Only keep the quantity of land
within proper limits and satisfy youl
State" was all the direction the other
members of the Committee were viii
ling to assume. The bill was report
ed to the House by that Committee
with the McGregor road left out, ant
the Lyons road, nat asked fer By the Gen
sral assembly Of Iora, inserted in its
stead
This fact Mr. L. quite lsadrcrteat'y
doubtless, omits to tell you, when b,
says it is well known that but fou
roads were ever admitted into tht
bill.' He says, too, "the four road.
included in that grant could not have
been kept ont without defeating tn,
bill )" but he does not say that no on
or more of them might not have beer
left out, and the McGregor road re
tained, and still the bill pass-anC
were he to volunteer that statement
where is the proof? Did he try it
We shall soon see. What is his Owl
statement on this point?
He says never paused, hesita
ted, or debated, whether this Or tia
road should be stricken out his or tia
one inserted and yet he does say tn
Lyons road had friends, and that "car
italists" had some influence-aye, an,
that "they had the balance of power
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