Mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado Co., Cal.) 1854-1860, 1859-04-02
The Pacific Railroad

We have received a copy Of the speech O
the Hon. Jefferson Davis ION his substitute
and regret that its length prevents eur givin,
in full his bill and remarks thereon.
Mr. DAVIS Dow ask the Senate to cor
sid, the proposition which was some tim
kince submitted by me. 1t is to strike out n
alter the eIIacting clause Of the bill, and iIlser
n substitute.
The first Section is as follows:
That the Pr, sidcnt Of the United Statcs be
and is hereby, authorized and directed to al
vertisc for proposals 10 establish railway com
mnnicnti0n across the territory Of the tnitc,
States, and thus 10 connect the States 0f th
Atlantic and the Pacific, and to contract 70
the transportation, upon said raj road, Of tn
Cnited States mails. troops, seaman, muniti0n
Of war, supplies for the Army aid Navy, an'
all other Government service.
The other sections provide for the mann"
in which the Road shall be constructed, gran 4
sections Of Iaud and an allowance III money.
Mr.. SEWARD VIII the honorable Senate
from Mississippi be good enough to state th
general cff, ct Of his amendment?
Mr.. DAvIS.-Thc gcneralr I'll; ct ofthe amend
ment will be To appropriate $40, 900. 900 an,
ten sections per mile Of land, t. construct
ralroad across the territory lying between til,
States Of the Atlantic and the Pacific, leavih;
PARTIES who propose 10 construct the road I,
name whatever location they please, and sub
nit their proposals 10 the President Tht
other conditions, aS to transportation, are likt
those Of the Till. In relation u the receipt!
Of the road, however, there is this difference
that instead of requiring the proceeds Of tht
road to be paid into the Tr, ,aSurv 70 remuneI
ate the Government for IFS advances, this re-
qnirts only the MT proceeds to bc paid in, s,
aS to prevent the hazard Of the failure Of IT,,
company for the want of iDeans In carry or
the road; and, above eli things, to secure til,
Government from having the road f0rictu
and thrown UPON its hands. The $1,000,
tpIJ in t.,is cas-, aS tn unnamed sum IN tht
| bill rs am, nd, d, is to bc refunded t. the Gov
crImcit IN the form 0G net proceeds t0 be phi,
into the IT, arurv, and in the form Of atvan
tascS secured for the transportation Of III,
Government.
These are the main differences between In,
two rrOpo>iiunS; the substitute crtcr| rot til,
limits Of Il State. 1t docs not asun, to Civ
authority {" any company, or o. create any
company, for the construction Of a road witlr
the limit, 0f State. II has no tcrlrini indi
Gated leaving it TO free inquiry H. to whcr,
road, with given sum Ot money, can hC
built. that given sum having been dete, ,ninpt
10y the belief enter tain that it would build
road at ore Toint across the territory; and
leave others to determine whether it vii
build ii elsewhere.
| Having satisfied myself that there was one
line On hich road could bc built with thi.
grant, then say it is not proper that iht
atcd States Shond give one dollar more -
We are here a>.agcEtS; agents oi the people
to whom this money belongs. Is III rc "A Sen
ator who would add to the amount for which
he could have service performed, in order
that he might induce some one to perform n
work elsewhere than a particular place witch
WAS found to bc most practicable and tc0nOln.
ical: 1t is to bc remembered that we have nC
right to be liberal; we have no right t. ap
pIOpratc money for the bcncfit either Of indi
viduals or Of sections. We arc restricted t.
the appropriation Of money to answer the ends
Of the Govcrnmcnt; and IL given sum will
attain the service which the government re
quiz lcS, We arc III honesty bound not to appro-
pirate more am quite aware that when
this proposition was ii st submitted, my friend
from Vermont, MIR. Foot with whom had
served on the committee, and to whom | nj.
ways listen with the greatest res 'ect, pr0poS.
cd to oil, r another proposition in the form al
an amcndm,nt, that, il this southern Innd was
u!t, there should also be northern road IN
>Iini!aI conditions. As have said nothing
about u southern road, one "t two commissions
was ineviaL aLle-CithcI tha' Ia. supposed lmu>t
thi"k Of the southern road, or that he knew
| il given amount Of money only was appro.
priate'l, and contractors we've 'cft to go a> they
| il a>cd, they must locate it on the southc,
route.
The first question, it strikes me, viii Ii
meets us in the consideration Of tni> que, liun,
is the necessity for railroad across the CON
tlient. II there bc no necessity for The rail.
ROAD for GovcrnIn. Mt purposes; il il bc mere
ly to facilitate migration across the continent,
70 encourage settlement along the line Of the
road, without contributing In any degree to
the ends for which the G"vcrnlncnt was in>ti.
tutcd, without enabling it To pcrfm nj the duty
which was imposed upon il; without, | III, ,
being necessary to the full execution Of its
duty, then hold there is no constitutional
power to build it. Therefore, in the front
ground with me. the question is, is tho roatl
necessary! hold 1t to bc rec SSary in time
ofpcace; necessary for TINT intercourse which
alone can hold the different PARTS Of our wide.
expanded Republic together, Separated as
we nre by an intermediate desert. fronting as
We do upon different oceans. looking out to
the tcr'ning population of Asia on one side
ami the active people Of Europe upon the other,
it must cnSuc, whenever our Pacific posses
>ionS are pcopled. that they will have different
interests; they will have an opposite com.
mcrcr; aud il they are required to come to n
lOr ign country, TO look over nm impaSSablr
m"untnin, to learn here by what laws thcy
shall bc governed; and IL our commerce is to
continue ms separate, Ms opposite, as it will b.
unless these two parts are more nearly linked
together the finger Of destiny points incvita.
bly, to separation Of the two parts of the
United States, fronting on these two great
oceans.
IN the history "f man, and history is said to
be philosophy teaching by example, we find
no instance where n country has mai, tainpd
the integrity Ot it's territory il that territory
was rivrn by chain Of mountains. We find
the warlike and semi barbhlOIS horlrs of Asia
running over the south of Europe ut ore
time single military hero covering all the
vast plains which lay bcn.a,h him; but soon
We find these conquering regions separating
from the people from whom they cmanate,i,
aud in hut short time thereafter the States
they had conquered again divided into the
geographical limits they had before the nva-
sion. And 80, at more modern period, NJ
poleOn carried his conQuering armies over the
Alps and over the PyrcnneeS; but those bar.
ricrs which the hand Of nature had plnced
again demanded the separation Of the country
into its Originnl parts and soon after the con.
quest We find France again reduced tn the
baSt. line lptwpen thoSe MAINTAIN ri,lOus nn,l