people from taxation for the support of the current expenses of their Government. Why has not Congress since entered upon that scheme? Because it has been condemned by the experience which the country has had of it.

But, sir, a claim is put up for Georgia. I put up none for Mississippi. I supposed it was some great indignation which prompted the Senator from Georgia when he commenced in such a vehement manner-such indignation as one might feel when he found that the Treasury was about to be robbed, fraud to be perpetrated, deception practiced on the public, and that the general interests of the country were about to suffer. But no such thing. He merely attacks the principle we advance lest it be an obstruction to the application for his own State. I make none for Mississippi: I ask no grant of land in this bill; it has been proposed by others, and is connected with the interests of other States as well as those of Mississippi. Sir, Mississippi has never yet asked a favor from this Government for her own exclusive benefit.

The road that is to pass through Mississippi was located by other interests than her own. It was projected at the North and the South, and it passes through Mississippi only because that is the best route. This road is to pass through a region of country in our State, a portion of which is unsaleable, and a great deal of which will remain so; it also passes through a portion of country which is so fertile that not an acre of it belongs to the Government. Our interest in this project is quite small. This road received its direction from Illinois on one side and from Alabama on the other. It comes through Mississippi only as it comes through Tennessee and Kentucky. It bends into our State for some distance, but it does not reach into a portion of it where the land is now vacant and is soon likely to be peopled. When it reaches that fertile country to which I have referred, in the whole of which there is not an acre of land that belongs to the Government, it goes first to the navigable waters of the Tombigbee, and then approaches the navigable waters of the Mississippi. It will, no doubt, be of some advantage to the country through which it passes, but I do not think it will be of any great vital importance to the State of Mississippi. As I have said before, there are some parts of the route so desirable that not an acre belongs to the Government, while, on the other hand, there are other places that for thirty miles on either side are so poor and unapproachable that nobody would buy it, and, consequently, it has to remain on the hands of the Government until greater facilities

of transportation, or a lower price, or both, may induce purchasers to take it.

I am sorry, sir, that, notwithstanding the explanation which I made to the honorable Senator from Georgia, he persisted in saying that my proposition was to extend and not to restrict the amount of land to be given for this purpose. I wish the Senator had done me the justice of giving my views as I had stated them, and not according to the interpretation which he chose to put upon them.

Mr. DAWSON. I did not charge the honorable Senator with injustice. I know that his object was to restrict this road. But the ground which I assumed was this: that if you would extend this to fifteen miles, on the same principle you could extend it to fifty miles.

Mr. DAVIS, of Mississippi. Yes, and by a parity of reasoning the Senator might go on to say that you might extend it to five hundred miles on the same principle. I think fifteen miles about the extreme distance, as it is the distance which a loaded team can habitually travel in a day. Some Senators wish to extend the limit further, and some will be in favor of reducing the distance. But I believe I have reduced it as low as a majority of this body will consent to; I believe I have reduced it within the rule originally prescribed to myself. And if this amendment is not adopted I shall vote against the bill, and if it prove that, as I believe a majority of the Senate will be found in favor of the bill without this amendment, I leave to others the responsibility of defeating the restriction, of violating the principle which has been heretofore observed, and of leaving us without guard or check in future grants of this character.

Remarks of Jefferson Davis in the Senate May 1, 1850, on the joint resolution providing aid to search for Sir John Franklin.

Mr. DAVIS, of Mississippi. Mr. President, before the vote is taken, I wish briefly to state the views which decide my course. While I agree with all that has been said in admiration of the enterprise and genius of the lost captain of the British navy, and sympathize with all the feeling which has found expression as connected with this matter, there is a consideration with me that is beyond all this. So far as merchant vessels may enter into this search, they have already sufficient inducement,

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not merely in the trade which they may prosecute, but in the prospect of the reward which is offered. I have more hope from the enterprise of Yankee whalers than from a national expedition. But it is not of the probability of success that I would speak. This is a proposition that the Government of the United States shall enter into a search for the lost seamen of Great Britain. Now, while we have explorers upon land and sea of our own, whose fate is involved in uncertainty, and who, though not so well known to the world at large, have in their own circle eyes that watch and weep for them as sincerely and anxiously as do others for the more distinguished, and who, having the highest claims upon our Government, are lost-perhaps captives among the savage, and yet remain unsought for -I hope that the efforts of the Government, the means of the treasury, will first be expended for them. The sun of our Government should shine equally upon all its citizens, but constitutionally it shines only upon them-it has no rays to lend to those who owe no allegiance to our flag; surely none until it has lighted all within the proper sphere of its illumination. The British Government has done much-much has been done and is doing by private enterprise-to discover, if possible, the lost navigator. If, happily, he could be discovered by an American merchant vessel within the limit of the recommendation of the Executive, or if he could be discovered by our navy in the proper discharge of their duties, it would be gratifying to our national pride, deeply gratifying to our humane feeling. But an expedition fitted out for this purpose alone appears to me to be beyond the duties of the Government-not the proper service of our navy, and not a constitutional object for the appropriation of money. Having all sympathy of feeling with the widow, and admiration for the noble seaman, I must, nevertheless, consider such a course a very improper exercise of the functions of this Government. I think it is improper to appropriate money for such a purpose; and I can only be convinced of an error in this opinion by being shown that this Government is not a corporation formed by the State for specific objects and with limited powers, but is a great eleemosynary institution with a range as wide as the claims of humanity, unbounded by either sea or land. Until this great change in my creed occurs, I expect to hold that there is no power of this Government, no duty of this Government, that can be brought to bear upon the subject now before us, and therefore to withhold my support from all such propositions. I object not to the fact that these ships are owned by private individuals; though, if this ex

pedition is considered a proper duty of the navy, (and the remarks made by the chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs seem so to indicate,) then we should build vessels suited for this purpose. If it differs from the general objects of the country, the known national objects-if it is an extraordinary exercise of power, not drawn from the Constitution-then we should have nothing to do with it, in one case or the other.

These are my opinions, Mr. President; and these will control my vote. I will not enter into an extended view of the subject, or attempt to show the remote consequences of this wide departure from strict construction: the anxiety known to be felt to terminate the debate forbids it.

Remarks of Jefferson Davis in Senate May 8, 1850, on presenting the report of the Legislature of Mississippi on the

slavery question, and the Nashville Convention.

Mr. DAVIS, of Mississippi, presented a report of a Committee on Federal State relations, accompanied by resolutions adopted by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, on the subject of slavery, and the question in controversy between the northern and southern portions of the Confederacy growing out of that institution; which were read and ordered to lie on the table.

Mr. D. said: As instructed, I present the report and resolutions of the Legislature of Mississippi, on the subject which distracts and divides the people of the Union, and which threatens, unless checked in its onward course, to produce consequences fatal to the cause of human liberty, as secured and advanced by the Constitution of the United States consequences destructive to fraternal feeling between the different sections. of the Confederacy-and finally to terminate in the wreck of this Republic, the last best hope of free government, of human and social progress and happiness.

In presenting these resolutions to the Senate, I wish briefly to read from the proceedings of the popular meetings which preceded, and probably originated this legislation, both because they illustrate the meaning and intent of these resolutions, and because they have been either greatly misunderstood or grossly misrepresented. The people of Mississippi having seen, in public meetings, in conventions, and in legislative resolutions of northern States, what they deemed to be an assault upon their constitutional rights, looked for protection against these hostile proceedings to the Congress of the United States. When

a crisis approached, if it had not arrived, and they saw Congress adjourn, after full discussion of a question dangerous to their peace, their prosperity, and perhaps to their existence, without any action upon the subject, they, as became freemen and the sons of freemen, took the case into their own hands. A primary meeting, after full notice given through the press, assembled at the seat of government in Mississippi on the 7th of May. That meeting called upon the different counties to hold assemblages within their limits, and to elect delegates to a State convention, which should be authorized to take into consideration the means which should be adopted to avert the hazard which seemed to be impending over them. This primary meeting and that State convention have been assailed, either ignorantly or maliciously, and accused of having desired to disturb the fraternity of the nation, if not to dissolve the bonds which hold it together. A complete answer to all such charges is to be found in the proceedings themselves; and I propose now to read to the Senate brief extracts from the journal of the primary meeting, and from the report and address of the convention which assembled in obedience to its call. These extracts, and the remarks with which I propose to accompany them, shall be as limited as the case will allow.

When the meeting assembled, it was organized with all the due forms of a deliberative body, and a committee was appointed to prepare an address and to report it to the meeting. The address thus reported by them reads:

"The committee to whom was referred the subject of controversy between the northern and southern States of the Union have had the same under consideration, and beg leave to report the following as an address to the citizens of Mississippi, together with the accompanying resolutions.

"The subject was approached by them, as it should be by this meeting, in full view of its solemnity and importance; not as a common-place topic-not as a mere question of expediency on a matter of secondary consideration, but as one in which our dearest rights are involved-rights which we possessed as citizens of independent States, and which are reserved to us by the Constitution of the United States.

"We approached the subject, not in anger, but in sorrow. We venerate the Union-we venerate the memory of the illustrious men who cemented us as a family of nations-as one people; and we would hold out as an example to their sons the recollection of the spirit of forbearance-of moderation-of com