Daily national Democrat., 1860-09-21
Douglas ON the Pacific Railroad.

uous advocate of the Pacific Railroad In
1858, when there was an opportunity to pass
n Lill for It's construction he urged the meas
ure with his utmost energy, desiring that it
should take precedence Of every other meas
ure before the country He was opposed hy
men who pretended to be in favor Of the same
thing but were decciying their constituents
In the session of 1858, Mr. Douglas expressed
/ his extreme regret that the indications seem
ed to be that the Till would not pass. All
parties had pretended, before the Presiden-
tial election to be in favor of the Pacific
Railroad. hut, when the question came up,
/ the lith ,rto strenuous advocates of the en-
terprise were willing to let it give way to
the consideration of matters of far less i'm
| portonce to the country.
There W ere some difference of opinion re-
gnrdns the precise method Of carrying for
ward the work under the auspices of the
Governu ent, but Mr. Douglas said, "if the
hill which had been devised by the Com
mittee was not the best that could be framed.
let it be amended and modified until its ob.
jectionable features should be removed"
Thus Mr.. Douglas urged the passage Of bill
which would secure the construction of that
great continental highway. Several times
before the Till under consideration was pre-
sented, Mr.. Douglas had reported a Pacific
Railroad Bill, and urged its adoption and
in no instance, we believe had he not been
a memte er of the Committee reporting rail
road bills He was in favor of Pacific
Railroad and wherever there was a prospect
. of passing the measure on any practicable
vote whatever, he had been in favor of it and
urged it forward A Senator from Georgia
Mr. I,erson, opposed Mr.. Douglas. He
wanted the road to lie fixed on an extreme
Southern route and ljrcted to any discre
tion whatever on the part of the contractors
in locating the eastern terminus. Mr.. Doug
las on the contrary, said he was willing to
leave the selection OF the route between the
termini to those who were to put their for
tunes and connect their character with the
road, and to be responsible, in the most ten
der of all points, if they made a mistake in
the selection"
Mr. Douglas urged, with mastery clo
quence, that the building of Pacific Rail
road was a great national measure, the great
est practical measure now pending before the
country; that the great substantial interests
of the Nation required it; that the interests
: of commerce, and of travel and communica-
: tion, and those still greater interests which
4 bind the Union together, demanded the i8ime
, didte construction of the road
: lie was unwilling to postpone the business.
? Gwin and other Leeompton Senators might
! be willing. but he was not. 1t was urged
that the road would cost % 900, 900 of dol
lars, but Mr.. Douglas rdcued the idea Of
calling that an eXtravagant sum- in compari
son with the irnumerahle benefits to the
country which would arise from the con
struction of the road. He predicted that
the Mormon expedition alone would cost
twenty millions of dollars, if not double
that sum. Any general Indian frontier war
would cost nt least that sum, and a difficulty
with European power would cost much
more In view Of any such trouble, the road
ought to be built in order to save the expense
of the transportation of troops by land or
ment in either case when the utmost energy
and expedition would be required.
Inorder to avoid any conflict with State
rights the biIl provided that the contractor
should make his own railroad through the
States and be rewarded with the transporta
tion of the mails at living price.
Thus has Senator Douglas always urged
the building of the Pacific Railroad, and is |
in favor Of it now, and he will make it
leading measure of his administration, i'll
elected. Can Breekinridge say as much
Not 10y any means. lie has voted against
the measure, as we have proven heretofore
His party in the South is pretty generally op-
posed to the Pacific Railroad, in aay shape or
form The Breckinridge State Convention
in Virginia passed resolutions OPT osed to it,
and numerous Breckenridge supporters in
other portions Of the South are opposed to
| it.
! We think that the decided stand which
Dough- has taken in favor of the Pacific
Railroad and its immediate construction
ought to secure him the hearty and enthusi-
astic support of California, at least To op-
pose man who has done SO much for this |
State as Senator Douglas would lie a piece Of
iugratitude deserving universal condemua-
finn