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2D SESS.]

Territory of Minnesota.

[JANUARY, 1849.

to myself what number of citizens of the United | House of Representatives at the last session of States are contained within the limits of the Congress. Ever since the adoption of a State country now proposed to be organized into a constitution by Wisconsin, this Territory has Territory. Perhaps the Senator from Illinois been without laws. Whole counties that were can inform me in relation to this matter. once a portion of Wisconsin are now without any law whatever. The public mind has looked anxiously to this session of Congress with the expectation of the establishment of a territorial government. I trust that no opposition will be made to a measure that has been so long pending in both Houses of Congress.

Mr. DOUGLAS. In answer to that question, I would state that my impression is, that there are now somewhere between eight and ten thousand people scattered in various parts of the Territory, though aggregated into compact settlements. There are more than the usual number of inhabitants necessary for the establishment of a territorial government.

Mr. KING. I am not willing, sir, to throw any obstacle in the way of establishing the laws of the United States over all our people, wherever they may be, provided they are so contiguous to each other that the laws can easily operate upon them. But if a few individuals are located here and there, and scattered over an immense tract of country, the Senator will perceive at once-as the Senator from Illinois himself must be aware-that it will be almost an impossibility to establish and carry into execution a territorial government.

Mr. WESTCOTT. I would state to the Senator from Alabama that, a day or two since, I had a very interesting conversation with the delegate from Minnesota in relation to this very subject. Contiguous to the falls of St. Anthony, I understand there are about six thousand people located within about one hundred square miles of the territory. This settlement polls some twelve hundred votes, and this delegate with whom I had the conversation was elected as such by that settlement. There are two or three other settlements, as the Senator from Illinois has just stated, compact in their nature. This delegate has impressed upon my mind the great necessity of having a territorial government for Minnesota by a variety of reasons. Emigrants are crowding rapidly into the Territory, and the inhabitants are building mills of a very important character. They are absolutely making improvements on the rivers, and preparing to make a dam along the side of one of the larger streams. There is no law to affect the action of individuals in this respect; and in fact ever since Wisconsin was admitted into the Union, there have been no laws of any description to regulate the affairs of the inhabitants. I am told there are some forty lawyers practising there, which is a favorable sign as to the resources and extent of the settlement. I am fully satisfied of the necessity for an immediate organization of a government over them.

Mr. DODGE, of Iowa. The establishment of this territorial government in Minnesota is a matter of deep interest not only to the inhabitants of that Territory, but to those of my State. There is no existing government or laws now in that Territory. Their establishment has been put off from time to time, without reason or justice, for a long time past. A bill similar to the one presented by the Senator from Illinois almost unanimously passed the

Mr. BUTLER. Mr. President, as I understand this matter, part of the territory now called Minnesota formed or constituted a part of the Territory of Wisconsin. The eastern boundary of the territory of Minnesota, separating it from Wisconsin, runs down from the western point of Lake Superior to the St. Croix River. That river, therefore, forms a very valuable and important medium of communication between the settlers in this territory and the more easterly portions of this country, and in that part of the territory I understand there are many inhabitants. They have hitherto been under the protection of the laws of the Territory of Wisconsin, but since the admission of that Territory into the Union as a State, these settlers have been left without any such protection.

All that part of the territory called Minnesota lying beyond the line which I have indicated, and extending to the Mississippi, falls under the ordinance of 1787. It is impossible for Congress now to retrocede it, or to compel Wisconsin to take it back. The inhabitants of this territory are now without the protection of law, and they call for such protection perhaps as much as any other portion of the Union similarly situated. About fourteen hundred of the inhabitants are settled upon that portion of the territory formerly embraced within the limits of Wisconsin. Beyond the Mississippi, I believe, there is another settlement upon very good land.

Mr. DOUGLAS, (in his seat.) There are two settlements beyond the Mississippi.

Mr. BUTLER. Very well; there are two settlements, then. I understand the population is increasing very rapidly, and their judicial matters are becoming more and more complicated every day, and require a political jurisdiction of some kind to be established at once. If there are ten thousand inhabitants in that territory, they certainly demand at least an ordinary territorial government.

Mr. KING. I wish the honorable Senator from Iowa to understand that my object was not to oppose the establishment of a territorial government over this country, provided there are a sufficient number of inhabitants in that country to render the establishment of such a form of government over them proper and expedient. I have thought, however, that the movement made to establish such a government there was rather premature; but the statement of my honorable friend from Illinois (Mr. DOUGLAS) that there are some ten thou

JANUARY, 1849.]

Admission of California.

sand inhabitants in that country, and that they are distributed in compact settlements, although distant from each other, has obviated my objections to the immediate establishment of a territorial government over them.

I think, however, the remarks of my honorable friend from South Carolina, in regard to having yielded so large a portion of the terri- | tory originally belonging to that section of the country, from which five States were to be made, and five only, for the purpose of forming a new and additional State, is an evidence of the liberality of that section of the country in which I live. I am not disposed to oppose the formation of any such States, if of reasonable dimensions, although their formation might be supposed to operate in some degree against what is supposed to be the particular interests of my section of the country. I wish the same feeling actuated other quarters of this Union, in regard to the establishment of territorial governments over sections of the country, where there are at this time ten times as many inhabitants as Minnesota now contains. But such is not the case, and I deeply regret it.

Mr. DODGE, of Iowa. Mr. President, I wish to say a few words in reply to my friend from Alabama. We know the Senator from Alabama. We know him well, as one of our best friends. We know him as an enlightened and liberal statesman, who soars above all the petty and sectional prejudices which have wellnigh plunged our country into a civil war. As regards the feelings to which the Senator has referred, entertained in some sections of this Union in relation to the organization of territorial governments over certain Territories, belonging to this country, I can say, for one, that I shall be found voting on all occasions in favor of the organization of governments in our new Territories, being willing to risk the small popularity which I now enjoy in the promotion of what I may consider the general good of this whole country. As to this matter of boundary, I will state that Wisconsin would have gladly retained all that portion of the territory embaced in the ordinance of 1787, which was at first assigned to her. That portion of her territory was not set off because it was the choice of her people, but because the Congress of the United States dismembered her territory, and curtailed her limits. I am sorry that the views of the Senator from Alabama with regard to Iowa and Wisconsin did not prevail at that time. If we have obtained too much elbow room it is not our fault, and if injustice has been done to Wisconsin by curtailing her limits, I hope the same injustice will not be done to Minnesota by cutting off that portion of her territory which was originally embraced in the ordinance of 1787, and thus curtail her just limits and restrict her boundaries.

Mr. BADGER. Mr. President, I would inquire of the honorable Senator who reported this bill, what its provisions are? I would like to know if it is similar to other territorial bills

[30TH CONG. | that have been extended to the inhabitants of other sections of our country. I think this is clearly a case calling for a territorial government, but I would like to know how many officers it is proposed to give to these ten thousand people."

Mr. DOUGLAS. It strikes me that the provisions of this bill are the same as those of the bill by which a territorial government was extended to Wisconsin when she had not so many inhabitants as Minnesota now has. It provides for precisely the same form of government as was extended to Iowa when she had not so many inhabitants as Minnesota, and precisely the same government as was extended to Oregon when she had about the same number of inhabitants that Minnesota now has, to wit: a territorial government with a small legislative body, a governor, a district attorney and judges, a marshal, and other necessary officers. The bill provides for the simplest form of a territorial government, and does not contain a single peculiar provision.

The bill was ordered to its engrossment, read a third time, by unanimous consent, and passed.

WEDNESDAY, January 24.

Admission of California.

Mr. DOUGLAS moved to postpone the previous orders, and to take up the bill for the admission of California into the Union as a State.

Mr. NILES. If we take up this bill, we must necessarily postpone the bill that was up the other day relating to the reduction of postage, and which was made the special order prior to this bill. And we all know that if we take up this bill, and enter upon the debate, it will probably consume the whole of the session, and will preclude the opportunity of acting upon the bill to which I have referred. I feel it my duty, therefore, to take the sense of the Senate upon the motion to take up the bill.

Mr. DOUGLAS. I trust that the honorable Senator will allow the bill to be taken up at this time. It has been before the Senate since the first week of the session, and has been postponed from time to time, with the general understanding that it should be acted upon at an early day. I do not think that it is going to occupy so much tine as the Senator imagines. I do not think it is going to take up a great deal of time. I hope at least that the Senator will allow it to be taken up, that we may ascertian whether it is likely that much time will be required for its discussion, and if that be the case, it can from time to time give place to other business, and among the rest to the bill which the Senator has named. I hope that my motion to take up the bill will prevail.

The question being put, a division was called for; and no quorum voting

Mr. NILES demanded the yeas and nays.
They were not ordered.

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The question was again put, and, upon a division, it was decided in the affirmative: ayes 25, noes 11.

The bill was accordingly taken up for consideration as in Committee of the Whole.

Mr. DOUGLAS. I laid upon the Secretary's table the other day a substitute which I proposed to offer for the original bill. I now ask that the substitute be read, and that the vote be taken upon making the substitution of the one for the other, with the understanding that the substitute will be open for amendment as an original bill.

The bill proposed to be substituted was read by the Secretary.

The question being taken, the substitute was agreed to.

Mr. BUTLER. The only difficulty that I have upon the subject is this: I am willing to take up the bill as an original bill, but it seems to me that it would be highly proper that it should go to a committee, to be reported upon in the same manner as all original bills. If there was a reason for sending the original bill to a committee, I think the same reason exists why this should be referred either to the Committee on Territories or to the Judiciary Committee.

The VICE PRESIDENT. To which committee does the Senator propose that the bill shall be referred?

Mr. BUTLER. It seems to me it ought to go to the Judiciary Committee, the bill being for the admission of a new State into the Union. Mr. DOUGLAS moved to refer the bill and proposed amendments to a select committee.

The VICE PRESIDENT. The first motion properly before the Senate is the one made by the Senator from South Carolina, (Mr. BUTLER,) to refer the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. BUTLER. I am opposed to the reference of this bill to a select committee; however, if gentlemen insist upon putting that motion, I will withdraw mine and give place to it.

The VICE PRESIDENT. The question before the Senate is upon the reference of this bill and proposed amendments to a select committee.

The motion was then put and carried. Mr. FOOTE. I wish simply to ask the unanimous consent of the Senate, if it is not entirely out of order, to be allowed to refer an amendment to this California bill, which I shall prepare, to the select committee to whose charge the bill and proposed amendments have been given.

Leave was granted accordingly.

The VICE PRESIDENT appointed the following gentlemen as the special committee: Messrs. DOUGLAS, JOHNSON of Mayland, JONES of Iowa, CLAYTON of Delaware, DAVIS of Mississippi, BADGER of North Carolina, and NILES of Connecticut.

[JANUARY, 1849.

MONDAY, January 29.

Admission of California as a State.

Mr. DOUGLAS, from the Select Committee to which was referred the bill for the admission of California into the Union as a State, reported the following amendment thereto, viz:

the following: Strike out all after the enacting clause, and insert

That Congress doth consent that the portion of the territory of the United States which is included within the following limits, to wit: beginning in the Pacific Ocean on the parallel of forty-two degrees of north latitude; thence east on said parallel to the dividing ridge which separates the waters flowing into the Colorado River from those which flow into the Great Basin; thence along said dividing ridge to the point where it was crossed by Lieutenant Colonel John C. Frémont, in eighteen hundred and forty-four, as shown on the map of his exploration; thence south-westwardly along the line of mont's surveys, published by order of the Senate said exploration, as shown on the map of said Fréin eighteen hundred and forty-eight, to its intersection with the one hundred and seventeenth meridian of west longitude; thence in a direct line to the intersection of the Sierra Nevada Mountains with those of the west range; thence due west to the Pacific Ocean; thence along the coast, including the adjacent islands, to the place of beginning, shall be set apart as the territory of one State, and, upon the fulfilment of the conditions hereinafter contained, the same is hereby declared to be one of the States of this Union, by the name and style of the State of California, upon an equal footing with the unconditional reservation to the United States the original States in all respects whatsoever, with of all right of property in the public domain, and other property ceded to the United States by the treaty of peace concluded with the Republic of Mexico, February second, eighteen hundred and forty-eight, free from taxes, or assessments of any kind by said State, and also the power of disposing of the same, including the right of adjusting all claims and titles to lands derived from foreign Governments, in such manner as Congress shall pre

scribe.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the act ing governor of the Territory of California, so soon as he shall have been furnished with a copy of this act, to the end that the people may have an opportunity of establishing for themselves a constitution and republican form of Government for said State, shall immediately proceed to lay off the country embraced within the limits of the proposed State, into convenient districts for the election of delegates to a convention, for the purpose of forming a State constitution, and shall designate the time and place of holding the election in each district; appoint the officers to conduct the same, and prescribe the mode of making the returns thereof; and shall apportion the delegates, fifty in all, among the several districts, as near as may be, according also designate the time and place for the assemto the number of legal voters in each; and he shall bling of said convention. Every white male citizen of the United States, including those who shall have become such under the provisions of the said treaty with Mexico, being actual residents of the proposed State, and having attained the age of

JANUARY, 1849.]

Railroad across the Isthmus of Panama.

[30TH CONG.

twenty-one years, shall be entitled to vote at said | retaining the words which I propose to strike election. out can have no good effect whatever, and may lead to mischief.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That so soon as said constitution and State Government shall

have been established, and the President of the United States officially notified thereof, he shall issue his proclamation declating the said State of California to be one of the States of this Union, upon an équal footing with the original States in all respects whatever.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the laws of the United States, so far as they are not locally inapplicable, are hereby extended to and declared to be in force in said State, and until the next general census, the said State shall be entitled to one representative in the Congress of the United States. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That Congress doth consent that the portion of the territory of the United States which is bounded as follows, to wit: on the north by the forty-second parallel of north latitude, on the east by the summit of the Rocky Mountains and the State of Texas, on the south by the Republic of Mexico, and on the west by the proposed State of California and the Pacific Ocean, including the islands adjacent to the shore, shall become one of the States of this Union, by the name and style of the State of New Mexico, or such other name as the people thereof shall, in their constitution, adopt, upon an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatsoever, so soon as it shall contain the proper number of inhabitants, and they shall establish for themselves a constitution and republican form of State Government, the United States reserving to themselves all rights of property in the public domain, and other property ceded to the United States by the treaty concluded with the Republic of Mexico, on the second day of February, eighteen hundred and forty: eight, free from taxes and assessments of any kind by said State, and also the power of disposing of the same, including the right of adjudicating all claims and titles to lauds derived from any foreign Government, in such manner as Congress shall pre

scribe.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the laws of the United States, so far as they are not locally inapplicable, are hereby extended to and declared to be in force in the country embraced within the limits of the said State of New Mexico.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this act.

WEDNESDAY, January 31.

Railroad across the Isthmus of Panama. The Senate resumed, as in Committee of the Whole, the consideration of the bill making compensation for the transportation of the naval and military stores across the Isthmus of Panama.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Mr. President, in order to test the sense of the Senate upon the subject, I move to strike out the words "mails of the United States" in the ninth and tenth lines of the first section of the amendment; and I would state to the Senator from Illinois, that

Mr. DOUGLAS. I will state to the Senate that my idea upon that point is this: If these words be stricken out, we shall have to pay for carrying the mails in addition to the sum now proposed; whereas, if they be left in, we shall not have to pay any thing in addition to the sum proposed in my amendment for carrying the mails. The only difference, therefore, is that, if this motion prevails, we shall have to pay more money than we would if the amendment proposed by the Senator from Kentucky should be rejected.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. The effect of my amendment, if it prevails, will be this: According to the principle of the law which I have just read, this entire subject of the transportation of the mails of the United States is to be regulated by the Governments of the two countries, and not by the company. We must make an arrangement with the Government of New Granada in regard to this matter. If we do not do it, then, sir, the company which constructs the railroad will be compelled to do it; and if you retain the provision which I propose to strike out, you will impose upon them the obligation to make an arrangement for carrying our mails, when the Government of New Granada says it shall be regulated by treaties with foreign nations. By retaining this provision, you will throw the duty of making this arrangement upon the company, when the very face of the New Granada have retained the right to make charter itself shows that the Government of the arrangement with our Government. think it best to leave this point, where the charter places it, to be settled by the two Governments, and, therefore, to test the sense of the Senate, I move to strike out that provision.

I

Mr. BENTON. Mr. President, I understand that the mails of the United States are to be carried across the isthmus over this road by a special agent, without the intervention of any other freight. That is the manner in which post office whatsoever-taken across like any the mails are now carried across, and it is expected that all freight will go exactly in the same way. It is for our own security that we have inserted the word "mails," to prevent the company from exacting any thing from us for carrying them in addition to the sum mentioned in the bill. We are perfectly satisfied if they go across in the same way in which the British mails go across the isthmus. The Government of New Granada is satisfied with the same, and it is therefore my opinion that there is no necessity for striking out the words which the Senator from Kentucky has read. And his conclusion is precisely the reverse of the conclusion at which I would arrive. He thinks that the striking out would do no harm, if it does no good; my conclusion is, that the staying in would do no harm. So that we have

2D SESS.]

Railroad across the Isthmus of Panama.

come to directly contradictory conclusions. I think that our best course is to leave the words where they are. It will be time enough to settle this question with New Granada when it arises with that Government. But there is no expectation that the question will ever be raised. It is for our own security that we have inserted the word “mails,” as they do not come under the head of munitions of war or the other articles specified in the bill.

The question on the amendment proposed by Mr. UNDERWOOD was then taken, and the amendment was rejected.

[JANUARY, 1849.

tant, should be disposed of by indefinite postponement. I had hoped that the measure might be allowed to proceed until its details were arranged, so that they might be satisfactory to the Senate, and I rise merely to express my opinion in favor of the measure, generally, concurring in it, especially for the reasons assigned by the honorable Senator from Missouri. I think the circumstances of the country call for the adoption of this particular measure. I do not mean to say, sir, that there may not be several modes of establishing a communication with the Pacific coast that are equally desirMr. ALLEN. It is very obvious, sir, that if able. I am willing to say, on the other hand, it be the will of the Senate to pass this bill, that I have regarded the subject of a communiembracing, as it does, an object of such mag- cation across from the Atlantic to the Pacific, nitude, and promising to bring with it so many by way of Tehuantepec, as preferable, on acconsequences, the Senate ought to go into a count of its being nearer to our ports on the critical examination, not only of the general Gulf; and I will add, that if the proposition principle upon which it stands, but of the for a railroad were now before us, connecting measure itself, in all of its details. This, sir, the two oceans by that route, and the propowill be a matter of some labor, and will con- sition had advanced so far that we could prosume much of the time of the Senate, because nounce it to be practicable, I should give it my many questions, relating to the details of this most hearty support. I do not think the view thing, must be made in the various propositions which has been adopted by the Senator from to amend. We are now, sir, past the middle Connecticut is entirely correct, that the present of this short session, and, although I am not exigency for a channel of communication will aware that we have any very extraordinary be a very short one. I do not apprehend that business demanding, for any extraordinary rea- there will cease to be an occasion for a great sons, our prompt attention, still I think it would deal of intercourse between the Atlantic and be a useless waste of time to enter into the dis- Pacific, and between our own Territories on cussion of all the questions arising upon the de- either side of the continent. I think the protails of this measure, until we know something gress of things is onward; and, let the speculaabout the temper of the Senate towards the tions and operations in the gold mines go formeasure itself. Undoubtedly the proposition ward more or less rapidly, I think an intersubmitted by the Senator from Mississippi is course is now to be opened for general purfounded in solid reason. If I comprehend the poses of trade and commerce between the Atproposition, it is this: that the Government of lantic and Pacific. I have not devoted my atthe United States shall pay no more for the tention to the particular provisions or details transportation of its men and property across of this measure. I am not in possession of the isthmus than other people pay for the trans- such estimates as enable me to say whether the portation of their bodies and their property. limitations so called in the bill now on your The defect in the proposition is, that it antici- table, or the limitation which will be in the pates the use of this road, and engages the Gov- same bill if the motion of the Senator from ernment to employ the road to transport its Connecticut prevail, is the best limitation. men and arms and munitions of war, when it The bill proposes to authorize the Secretary of would be quite time to do so after the road is the Navy to contract for the transportation of completed. But, sir, I go not now into this these goods and merchandise, munitions of war, matter-I will not enter into the details of this and troops across the isthmus, and to pay for discussion. I will not, for instance, go into a this transportation an annual sum. The bill discussion of that part of the bill in which the limits that sum at two hundred and fifty thourate of transportation is fixed at eight dollars sand dollars. The Senator from Connecticut per ton over a road to be some thirty-odd miles moves to substitute one hundred and fifty thoulong, whilst at the same time vessels are freight- sand. Without more information than I have ed at Boston for Canton, to run over a line of upon this point, I cannot say which would be eighteen thousand miles for fifteen dollars a the proper sum. I understand that the parties ton. I do not choose to go into these details; who have undertaken the construction of the but, in order to try the temper of the Senate road, estimate the cost of its construction at in regard to this measure, and to let us see four or five millions of dollars; and they have whether it is worth our while to spend day in founded their opinion upon the cost commonly and day out in debating its details, I move, sir, attending the construction of roads in the that the bill be indefinitely postponed, and I United States, economically conducted, makask for the yeas and nays on that motion. ing, of course, proper allowance for the necesThe yeas and nays were ordered. sarily augmented cost of a work to be done so Mr. WEBSTER. I should regret, sir, that a far from the resources which are to supply the measure which I regard as exceedingly impor-means. It is known, too, sir, that a very great

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