Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-01-14

fortunes IN the past are to he attributed to tn
unhallowed domination Of pric>tcralt and I'll
church party. of which Gen. Roblc> is the expo
ncnt. however liberal in tone.
Hon. Sherarl Clemens has arrived in tow
looking wcll, and is stopping at Wizards.
Hon. Jno. Lctchcr. We regret IL learn. In
been very i'll. at his rooms in this city. durin
tie past two lays. requiring the frequent u,
]t.niance of hi> physician. VEHlrA>.
THIRTY.FIFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION.
WEDNESDAY. JANrAmy l.. 1851.
SENATE.
The Vice President laid before the Senate
communication from the President OF the tnitc'
States in answer to 4 resolution calling for al
abuses of the American flag in the slave trade
AMI especially in the case Of the barquc Wan
dcrcr. and transmitting all the correspondence
between the officers of the Government an,
the United States Attorney General.
The President states that the Wandcrcr ha,
violated the laws by landing number Of Airi
cans in Georgia. and that all efforts have beer
and are being made TO bring the offenders To
justice. but that it is not cXpedient 10 transmit
the instructions given to the United States au.
thoriticS in the premises.
On motion Of Mr.. %IIantcr. ordered to lie on
the table and BE- printed.
Mr.. Brown. from the Committee on the Dis.
trirt Of Columbia. reported adversely To ali the
petitions which have been presented in favor d
u passenger railroad on Pennsylvania avenue.
He stated that 1t the last session of Congress a
bill passed the House authorship the con>truc.
ton Of n railroad o. the avenue. in which Gil
bert Vandcrwcrkcn was one Of the parties To
whom the grant in the bill was made. This
bill had CONF TO the Senate. and had been re-
referred TO the Committee on the District OF
Columbia. and they had decided in favor of re-
porting the bill.
Mr. Hale, from the Committee on Naval .Af-
fairs. reported = joint resolution authorizing
the President Of the United States. br and
with the conscato Of the Senate. to appoint Cap
tain Charles Stewart to hc the senior flag officer
in the United States Navy on the active list
Laid over.
Mr.. Mason called mp the hill. reported Somc
tine since. from the Committee on Foreign Re-.
l%ation>. cqualizing the salaries between the Min
istcrs 10 England and France with reference to
back pay.
The bill was rejected yea .. nays IS.
L'Ir. Fitch. from the Committee on Printing.
reported adversely to the motion to print 5o."h0
copies Of the addrcS, delivered by the Vice Pre-
>iicnt and Senator CrittcnGcn on lcayin. the
old hall.
The Pacific RoiIroai bill came mp at hall past
ore O'Clock.
Mr.. Doolitt!c moved 10 rccomlnit the bill To
a new select committee, with instructions to re-
por; a bill for the construction Of i railroad Oh
the Northern. Central and Southern routes
Agreed to-ycas 81. nays II.
Mr.. Brown said he shonli vote for some mo-
ton to get this subject out OF the Senate. Even
if the committee reported q bill in accordance
with the instructions. he should vote against it.
Too much time had been consumed in consider
ing It already.
NJ. Green thought that the Senate had bet
ter vote now on the proposition, as the minds
Of the Senators were made up OH the different
routes. Every one WAS ready to vote on the
propositions before the Senate. and TOO much
time had been consumed i'll the subject to refer
i again To n select committee.
Mr.. G. addressed the Senate at length in "a
yor Of the eastern terminus OF a central route.
Mr. Biglrr hoped that the main question
which i. to rccominit the bill with the instrlc-
tons adopted in Mr.. Dooli;tic's motion-would
not prevail. 1t would be evidence TO the
country that the Senate did not intend To au-
thorizc the construction Of = Pacific railroad.
Mr.. y. explained an amendment which he in
tended to offer. if the hill should be RECON-
United.
Mr.. Brown spoke at length on the c~onstitu-
~tionality of tine question to build a road.
Mr.. Green replied. showing that Congress
had the powcr to build the road ~ Il means Of
common defence 10 the country. 1t was u mat
ter of economy to build this road is u means Of
national defence. The government did not
propose 10 build thc road itself, it only held
out Il little induccmcnt to private capitalists to
10 so. We must provide for contingencies by
assisting private capital. BY this road our
military forces could he concentrated, and a
portion Of the standing troops would he done
away with. ard a grcat saving result 10 the
Treasury.
Mr.. Brown briefly replied. lie was Of the
opinion that the country would not want this
road for half a century. 1t was the way with
those capitalists who were too >hrcwd to pu; all
their money in such 4 scheme, and they there
fore asked the aid Of the government.
Mr. pugh was opposed to the general provi-
S;onS Of the bill. He believed there never was a
scheme which donated 30 much of the public
domains. not to actual settlers. bu; To corpora
tons. some Of which had blasted the .airest
prospects Of some Of the States.
lie believed that the stock of tl!c Pacific
Rail Road. which was praised up ;" nigh.
would never ne worth anything. Was the
proposition to build three roads a log-rolling
one. in order to get the bill through: To
commit this bill. and have Il practical one re-
ported. WAS the best thing that could lie done.
Mr.. Doolittlc stated that there were three
distinct Pacific Rail Roads in course OF con.
s~truction at the present time. He entered into
an explanation Of several propositions TO the
bill. which he intended 10 make. His first
proposition was to allow the President to APP
point three c;vi! engineers to survey the three
different routes, and report the result to Con
grcSs. and permit the President to locate the
route on which the road shall nc built.
lie was opposed 70 donating the public lands
10 the contractors. but 10 vote to them portions
of the proceeds OF ;hc sale of ten alternate sec
tons. By this means there would &c money
in the treasury To aid the construction Of the
road. The alternate sections woulI then he
open to settlement under the provisions Of the
proposed homestead act.
Mr.. Foster said that rs there were but ~
DAYS Of the session remaining. he hoped that a
direct vote of some kind would be taken.
Unless the vote was taken, the bill would be
killed by its friends. He was = friend of the
bill, and wished the vote taken on the pending
amendments.
The main question being 10 recoln,uit the
bill, it was negatived-ycas %, nays Gas fol
lows:
YE,s-Ne-srs. Bayari. Benjamin. Brown. Chc.nu'. Clay,
Clincman, C:i,-nd-n. Fitzpatrick. lian'i'i. Hammond,
Houston. Hunter, Ivcr-on. Johnson 81 tennessee. Mallory.
Mason. rearce. lagh. Reid, Rice. S::drl!, stuart. T"of!h-,
Wari and Yu!ec-.i.
H--Me Bates. Bell. Bi:l.r. Frederick, CAMERON,
Chandler. Ct TX. CoIia;ncr. Davis. Dixon. Dooii;ile. Douglas,
DUrNc-. fe-.enleu. Fitch, Foot. Foster. Green. Gwin. Hale.
Harlan, Jonc., Kennedy, King. Polk, Sebastian. seward.
Shields, Simmons. Trufrhuil. Wade and Wii-on--"2
Mr.. Houston spoke in advocacy of the South
ern route. and repudiated the idea that the great
Lolr nf the Snlth wcrc In favor Of secession