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south-west made by the old Los Angeles trail, avoided the desert which it crossed, and left far to the south those excitable sand fields, in which no number of horses can leave a track-in which what is a hillock today is a hole in the ground to-morrow-where, under a gentle breeze, the sands creep like an army of insects where the traveller who lies down to sleep during the night in a light wind must rise and shake himself often to avoid being buried in the sand; and where, during a high wind, the air is filled with a driving tempest of silicious particles, very cutting to the skin and eyes, very suffocating to the throat, very dangerous to men who are not tall and swift where men and animals fly for their lives when they feel the wind rising, and where this administration would carry the road. Fremont's new discovery avoided all that, but without conciliating our administration. Frontier and foreign routes monopolize their affection and engross their cares, involving, in my opinion, at least in one instance, a misapplication of the appropriation for the survey of routes. I allude to the Puget Sound route, skirting the British line all the way, going where nobody travels, where nobody lives, and where nobody can now want a road except the British fur company, and a certain chartered company, of which Mr. Robert J. Walker and Mr. James Duane Doty are the heads, and which route the debates in Congress show was not within the contemplation of the law when the appropriation was made. I nominated it a British road from the time the survey was ordered, but did not expect to have any other evidence of it than what the case itself afforded; but I now have other evidence, and produce it. Here it is! (holding up a document,) and I proceed to read from it; and, first, of the title, which runs thus:

"CANADA. 1st session, 5th Parliament, 18th Victoria, 1854. Petition of the Hon. Augustus N. Morin, and others, praying for a charter by the name of the Northern Pacific Railway Company,' &c., &c. Ordered by the Legislative Assembly to be printed, November 30, 1854. Presented by the Hon. Mr. Young, Quebec: Printed by Lovell & Lamoreux, Mountain Street. Reprinted by Ira Berry, Portland, Maine.",

I give the whole title, but only a part of the contents, beginning at page 4, thus:

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"From information furnished by the report of his excellency Governor Stevens, we entertain no doubt, not only that a practicable route exists in this direction, from the head of Lake Superior to Puget's Sound, and the mouth of the Columbia River, but that this is by far the best, if not the only possible, route for a railway to the Pacific, north of El Paso, near the thirty-second parallel of north latitude. It is also believed that, after crossing the Rocky Mountain summit, a favorable and direct route may be found to San Francisco. Assuming the correctness of the foregoing propositions, it will be perceived at a glance that at some point or place in the valley of the Missouri River, not far from the great bend of that river, there will be found a focal point to which all the railways of the continent, east of the Rocky Mountains, reaching westward towards the Pacific, will naturally converge, as to a common point of junction and intersection."

Thus it was Governor Stevens's survey which put this Canadian company on the scent of a North Pacific Railway, by the head of Lake Superior, to Puget's Sound; and, as the administration sent this governor on that survey, ergo the administration put this company on that scent. All that is clear enough. We see where the impulsion comes from. But not quite so visible the source of the next proposition, which outlaws all the country for a road north of El Paso, in latitude 32°, clear out to the Puget Sound route, in (ncar) latitude 49°. They do not tell where

they get that information, which nullifies 17 degrees of latitude for a road, including the only latitudes on which people travel voluntarily, and over which some 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 people travel every year, with flocks and herds, and all sorts of vehicles, from a road wagon to a wheelbarrow. The source of this information is invisible; but it corresponds with official notions here, and also with the bill under consideration, as it stood when first reported, providing for one road south of 37 and one north of 47°, leaving the 10 intermediate degrees, and which cover all the voluntary travelling, to remain destitute of a federal road. There is, however, consolation in the declaration that it is "believed" that there is favorable ground for a direct road to San Francisco after crossing the mountains on the Puget Sound line; and also in the prospect of finding a focal point at the north bend of the Missouri, in north latitude near 49°, and west longitude 105° from London, where all the railroads of the continent east of the Rocky Mountains can have their conjunction and intersection.

We proceed to another reading at page 5, thus:

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"From this point eastward, along the southern shore of Lake Superior, to the Sault St. Mary, crossing the river at that point, and continuing along the northern shore of Lake Huron, till the valley of the Ottaway is reached, it is believed that an uninterrupted, practicable, and favorable route for a railway may be found; from the bend of the Missouri to Montreal; which is already connected by railway with the Atlantic Ocean at Portland."

Montreal! That is to be the eastern terminus of this AmericanBritish road, which is to run half way on one side of 49°, and half way on the other, and which is to have a branch to the Atlantic Ocean at Portland, in Maine. Now, leaving out all other considerations, I would wish to know who is to have the use of this road in the case of war with Great Britain-whether it is to be used in common, to carry on hostilities against each other, or whether each nation is to be confined to its own half, and neither be so naughty as to interrupt the other. That is a question for West Point to answer! Let us read on, same page :·

"We deem it quite unnecessary in this connection to enter into any argument showing the value or the necessity of such an undertaking as a railway to the Pacific. It is enough to justify us in a movement in this direction to know that similar efforts are now making at several points in other parts of the United States, for which charters have been granted, and considerable progress made to carry them into effect."

That is the inducement to this Northern Pacific Atlantic Railway other chartered companies, in other parts of the United States, making efforts in favor of similar roads, and considerable progress made in carrying them into effect. I know but one such chartered company, and that is twin sister to the British route, and as far to the south as the other is to the north, and of which Robert J. Walker, Samuel Jaudon, and Thomas Butler King are leading corporators. Nor do I know of any progress they have made, except in the 10,000,000 purchase of a tract for them by the United States. Nor do I know of any progress they can make, unless they get hold of Texas land or United States land. Still the notice is kind, and shows that the British road has a fellowfeeling and a sympathy for the Santa Anna road. One other reading, and we finish:

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"That magnificent domain of the United States, drained by the head waters of the

Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Red River of the north, lying north of the 44th paral lel of latitude, would find in this route its easiest and most direct outlet to the Atlantic sea shore. From Fort Mandan, or from the great bend of the Missouri, to the Atlantic Ocean at Portland, the distance would be less, by hundreds of miles, than by following the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers to their common mouth at New Orleans. If the waters of these mighty rivers could be turned into Lake Superior, and be at the same time navigable for steamboats, so that the magnificent chain of inland seas which now finds outlet through the St. Lawrence, extended, unbroken, westward to the bass of the Rocky Mountains, we might form some idea of the value and importance, to all who dwell within the St. Lawrence basin, of the plan herein proposed. The extension of such a line of railway across the continent, over the route proposed, would, as we be lieve, confer upon Canada and the Northern States of the Union a degree of commercial and political importance beyond our present power to describe, or even to conceive."

Certainly this looks like annexing a slip of our Union to Canada five degrees wide, for the political and commercial benefit of the aforesaid Canada and the Northern States. Not only make a British road, but turn our great rivers into Queen Victoria's dominions -a thing more practical than speculative, as may be seen by observing the equilibrium of the British and American waters above the Falls of St. Anthony, and at the turning point in the great bend of the Missouri. Certainly it would be a relief to the Missouri and Mississippi to be so turned, as they could rest one half the year in the torpidity of congelation; whereas, if they continue going to the Gulf of Mexico, they will have no such chance of rest, and must remain running all the time. But whence this conception, so new and so striking? It smells of science - West Point science; but the administration must stand father for it, as the diversion of the rivers is certainly a derivation from the road; and the road is a derivation from the administration; ergo the administration is father, or, at all events, grandfather, to this proposed alienation of our riverspride and glory of the Great West. This is too bad. It was bad enough to sell the snag-boats and render impossible.any speedy removal of the snags, even under an act confined to great rivers -to those which are kings of floods; but to give them to the British, that is too bad! and we of the west must insist on keeping them, snags and all, and trust to swimming and luck to save lives when a hole is knocked in the bottom of the boat, and the boat itself descends to the bottom of the river.

Then follow the signatures, 18 in number, and divided like a jury, de medietate lingue, to try a foreigner for his life, half and half- the Canadians on one side and the Americans on the other, thus:—

A. N. MACNAB, M. P. P.,
A. N. MORIN, M. P. P.,
JACOB DEWITT, M. P. P
A. T. GALT, M. P. P.,
HENRY SMITH, M. P. P.,
J. CHABOT, M. P. P.,
JOHN YOUNG, M. P. P.,
JOHN EGAN, M. P. P.,
IRA GOULD.

JOHN A. POOR,
ST. JOHN SMITH,
J. B. BROWN,
ELIPHALET GREELY,
CHARLES Q. CLAPP,
WILLIAM W. THOMAS,
J. M. WOOD,
A. W. H. CLAPP,
JOHN MUSSEY.

I dismiss this British route, with the remark that the execution of the survey was in keeping with the misapplication of the funds which made itas abortive and costly as the object itself was useless and antinational.

The Mexican route is the next great favorite of this administration; and this they have purchased from Santa Anna for 10,000,000 of federal

dollars, when Mr. Robert J. Walker publishes that he was purchasing the same from the same character for $6500 in money and half a million in Texas railroad stock. This route passes through Chihuahua and Sonora, and may well be called the Mexican road, and is intended to go to New San Diego, which is south of Old San Diego, in the south-west corner of California, and where a crew of official speculators have laid off a town, and built government houses, by what authority I know not, — and where, reaching the Pacific 500 miles short of San Francisco, it is intended there shall be a virtual, if not an actual termination of the road, and San Francisco superseded by New San Diego as the commercial emporium of the American Pacific coast. If things have not miscarried, this road was to fall into the hands of the company, the leading member of which (Mr. Robert J. Walker) is also in the charter for the British road, and whose brother-in-law (Mr. Emory, of the Topographical Corps) is at the head of the survey department of these routes, and is out at present on the Mexican line, fixing the boundary for the new route through Sonora and Chihuahua.

I assume this Mexican route to be the favorite of the administration, and that the surveys on the Central route, on the New Mexico route, and the Gila route, were only "tubs to the whale," to amuse the spouting fish, while they were preparing for the real game; and my reason for that assumption is this that they bought it pending these surveys ! which must stand for proof that they rejected the other routes, and meant to have this, cost what it might, and actually contracted for it at $20,000,000, which the Senate reduced to $10,000,000, thus balancing the British road in the north by a Mexican one in the south, forcing travel to go where no man goes voluntarily, and outlawing the whole intermediate country where alone all the travelling is.

Mr. Chairman, in a speech on this subject at the last session, I stated that it was said that this Mr. Emory was interested "in" the city of New San Diego. He contradicted the statement promptly, rudely, and truly. My informant immediately apprised me that I had committed a mistake in using the preposition "in;" that the gentleman's interest was not "in" the city, but outside of it; not in city lots, but in suburban land. And now, being thus corrected, I seize the first suitable occasion to make the amends, and to secure to this official all the difference that can be detected. between an interest inside and outside of this intended grand emporium of the Pacific trade.

Sir, I make no comparison of routes. I am willing to vote to a private company, which will make this Mexican road at its own expense, the same facilities which I ask for the company for which my substitute bill provides; but am not willing to make a national road outside of the nation; not willing to make a private road at public expense; not willing to give to any company the 30 miles wide alternate sections, the $600 a mile mail pay, and the every 20 mile military posts which this bill proposes; and that, while going a thousand miles round, and upon soil not yet naturalized, and through states as well as territories, and across deserts in which a wolf could not make his living; over arid plains in which a poisoned rat could not get a drink of water; and through ambulatory sands in which the army of Xerxes could not leave a track.

There are some things too light for reason, too grave for ridicule, too mischievous for the contempt of silence; and into that category I put all

these exterritorial roads which seek foreign soil, which go where nobody lives, which would require a legionary police to protect in time of peace, and armies to protect in time of war, and which would be of no use to our United States either in peace or war. Yet these outside highways seem to be the cherished objects of this administration, and of all the "scientific corps" also. It is not only the British road by Canada, and the Mexican road by Chihuahua and Sonora, which they cherish, but worse still; a foreign route by land and water- -the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, at the price of money and diplomacy; at the cost of quarrels and even war with Mexico for a Sloo or Garay; at the cost of a double ocean voyage, and a land transit under a foreign flag; at the cost of a conquering navy to protect it, and a circuit of 5000 miles round. The bare recital of such folly is the only chastisement it will endure; and even that much it would be ridiculous to give, if the authors of such insanity were not now in power, wielding the influences of legislation, diplomacy, patronage, and surveys, in promotion of their object. Surely the tendencies of this administration are most centrifugal.

ter.

I make no comparison of routes, but vindicate the one I prefer from erroneous imputations, and invite rigorous examination into its characThe belt of country, about 4 degrees wide, extending from Missouri to California, and of which the parallels 38 and 39 would be about the centre, this belt would be the region for the road; and of this region, its physical geography and adaptation to settlement, and to the construction of the road, it is my intention to speak, and to publish, as part of this speech, something of what I have spoken elsewhere, but do not now repeat, because unnecessary here, but essential to the full exposition of the subject in the prepared and published speech.

I have paid some attention to this geography, induced by a local position and some turn for geographical inquiry; and, in a period of more than 30 years, have collected whatever information was to be obtained from the reading of books, the reports of travellers, and the conversation of hunters and traders, and all with a view to a practical application. I have studied the country with a view to results, and feel authorized to believe, from all that I have learned, that this vast region is capable of sustaining populous communities, and exalting them to wealth and power; that the line of great states which now stretch half way across our continent in the same latitudes - Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missourimay be matched by an equal number of states, equally great, between Missouri and California; and that the country is perfectly adapted to the construction of a railroad, and all sorts of roads, traversable in all seasons. This is my opinion, and I proceed to verify it: and first, of the five states, their diagrams and relative positions; and then their capabilities.

The present Territory of Kanzas, extending 700 miles in length, upon 200 in breadth, and containing above 100,000 square miles, would form two states of above 50,000 square miles each. A section of the Rocky Mountains, embracing the Three Parks, and the head waters of the South Platte, the Arkansas, Del Norte, and the eastern branches of the Great Colorado of the West, would form another state larger-in the opinion of Fremont- than all the Swiss cantons put together, and pre senting every thing grand and beautiful that is to be found in Switzerland, without its drawback of avalanches and glaciers. The valley of

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