35TH CONG....1ST SESS.

the mouth of the river to the Utah Pass at one of its head springs, and at the immediate foot of the pass, the route traced was one hundred and twenty-four miles,and the average grade thirty-six feet to the mile. From the mouth of the river, the point of the White Oak Mountains, the distance along the river valley is seventy-eight miles, and the average tall of the river twenty-two feet to the mile. Above this point the river lies in an amphitheater of mountains, but still preserves its broad bottoms and open valleys, the face of the country well grassed, with open smooth ridges and flats among wooded summits and wooded ravines. This character of country continued near to the very summits of the mountains, the grassy slopes reaching directly up to the rock which makes the immediate crest of the range. Here the river receives many small tributaries, and there are many sheltered nooks and coves of the mountains beautifully adapted for settlements; the soil fertile with sunny exposures, sheltered by the mountains from the prevailing winds. Timber, in quality and size suitable for railroad constructions and farming purposes, is abundant, many of the trees squaring fully a foot; and coal is found in the neighboring mountains. This character of country extends to over eight thousand feet in altitude; above it, nearly to ten thousand feet, grasses are abundant and nutritious. The nutritious grasses and good and abundant waters and mild climate would make that region peculiarly adapted for dairy farms.

The mountain climate is altogether more agreeable and milder than in the open plains two hundred miles to the eastward. The mountain ranges protect the country lying along their base. On the open plains the snow falls deeper and lies longer and the winter climate is usually much more severe. On the 10th of December and near the mountain summits, the weather was mild and pleasant, and, except in the deep mountain ravines, the country was entirely free from snow.

"On both sides of the valley, bordering ridges afford every facility for easy development into the pass, which, at its summit on the narrow backbone of the ridge, is nine thou sand four hundred feet above the sea. On the western side the descent is very abrupt to the Del Norte waters, at an elevation of eight hundred feet. At this place and about this elevation, a tunnel through the ridge would be about a thousand yards in length. The development of the line would probably increase the distance from the Arkansas perhaps ten miles, and the resulting railway distance from the mouth of the Huerfano to this point would be about one hundred and thirty-five miles, upon an average grade of thirty-four feet to the mile.

"From the Utah Pass to that of the Cochetope, the distance is a little over one hundred miles, Following the mountain foot around to the head of the San Luis valley, the line entered, at an elevation of seven thousand six hundred feet, the valley of the Sabwatch river, which makes the approach to the Cochetope Pass in the main Rocky Mountain range.

"From the San Louis valley to the immediate foot of the pass, at an elevation of nine thousand eight hundred and twenty feet, the distance is about forty miles, and the average grade fifty-five feet to the mile. From this point, a tunnel of two thousand yards would carry the line to a corresponding elevation on the western side of the mountain, three hundred and fifty feet below the summit, and near to which our camp was pitched on the 14th December. Upon this day the snow in the pass, newly fallen, was four inches deep, and winter began regularly in the mountain region. A few days since, there was nothing to remind the traveler that he was approaching the summit line of a great mountain chain which divides the waters of a continent. The grassy and wooded slopes and rounded summits, the mild and open weather, the uncovered grasses, green in the prolonged sunshine of the Indian summer, were all unexpected in the heart of a mountain region.

From knowledge obtained upon the spot and from report, there are doubtless other passes better adapted to railway purposes; but our condition did not permit us to make any examination outside the line of travel.

"Briefly, the results worked out in the journey to this place, supported by a previous journey at the same season of the year, go to show that the mountain regions exhibit no extraordinary rigor of climate. The autumns are prolonged and open. Up to the middle of December, there had been no snow either to impede travel, or to drive cattle from their open range, or to render shelter for them necessary.

"With the exception of about one hundred and fifty miles upon the high plains, or the Arkansas river, the route is continuously wooded; but along the whole distance, pasturage is excellent and abundant.

"In capacity to support population, in salubrity of climate and fertility of soil, the Rocky Mountain ranges which the line passed, are singular and exceptional. Singular in the great number of open, fertile valleys, and perhaps exceptional in the general availability and open character of the country, and in the remarkably small proportion of rugged and impracticable ground, when compared with European and especially Asiatic mountains.

"The line is direct, and the inclinations easy; the heavier grades together and continuous, and none heavy enough to make snow an impediment upon the rails. Upon the whole line, there are but two great obstructions, easily overcome by moderate tunneling and lesser grades than are now in use upon railways in England over which is passing incessantly the largest traffic of the world."

The most implicit reliance is due to the statements which Colonel Frémont has here given to the public, and on which he has here staked his character. In all the surveys with which he has covered the western half of our continent, and which have given him a renown throughout the civilized world, and which have been scrutinized by many men entirely competent to detect and expose an error, none have yet been able to detect a flaw. He has since been indorsed by half the

Pacific Railroad-Mr. Blair.

nation, and it is not to be supposed that he would
put forth a statement of which he did not feel per-
fectly secure, and hazard that high reputation
which he has so gloriously won and worn with a
modesty so admirable.

A desire now to contrast his work with that of
Captain Gunnison, who reported this line as im-
practicable, and it must be evident that the latter
has committed an error, unpardonable, under the
circumstances, unless it can be accounted for
upon the supposition of his inexperience in rail-
road engineering. It is clear to me that his error
has arisen from this fact, and that in running his
line up the Huerfano, he has followed the water
level from the mouth of that river, (and the other
streams which he followed,) until he came up to
the mountains themselves and found the grades
too precipitous to be practicable for a railroad, in-
stead of developing a route by working up grad-
ually on the high lands at the mouth of the river,
and thus averaging his grades through the whole
distance, from the mouth of the river to the high-
est crest of the pass by which the mountain range
was to be crossed. A man might as well attempt
to follow the water line of Niagara river, from
Lewistown to the great falls, with a railroad, and
mount the falls perpendicularly, instead of begin-
ning to develop the route by a gradual and easy
ascent from Lewistown, by which means a rail-
road has been actually constructed between the
points named, upon grades which were perfectly
practicable.

Captain Gunnison has either fallen into this error, or he has failed to find the pass in the mountains which Frémont traversed, and therefore this negative testimony of an officer, without experience in railroad engineering, of his inability to find a pass, biased, too, as we may well conceive him to have been, by the wishes of those who sent him, should not be allowed to weigh against the direct and affirmative testimony of a man of experience as a railroad engineer, whose reputation stands as high as that of any man upon this continent. I assume, therefore, that the results which I have read to the House, and which show that the great dividing line of the continent can be passed by a railroad upon a grade of fifty-five feet to the mile, and which is less by about one half than the grade to be overcome upon any other route, is established by the most incontestable proof. Beyond the Cochetope Pass, the country is difficult, but entirely practicable, as is shown by the report of Colonel Frémont, published upon his return from his last expedition. From this report I make the following extract:

"Our progress in this mountainous region was necessarily slow; and during ten days which it occupied us to pass through about one hundred miles of the mountainous country bordering the eastern side of the Upper Colorado valley, the greatest depth of the snow was among the pines and aspens on the ridges, about two and a half feet, and in the valleys about six inches. The atmosphere is too cold and dry for much snow, and the valleys, protected by the mountains, are comparatively free from it, and warm. We here found villages of Utah Indians in their wintering ground, in little valleys along the foot of the higher mountains, and bordering the more open country of the Colorado valley. Snow was here (Deceinber 25) only a few inches deep-the grass generally appearing above it, and there being none under trees and on southern hill sides.

"The horses of the Utahs were living on the range, and, notwithstanding that they were used in hunting, were in excellent condition. One which we had occasion to kill for food had on it about two inches of fat, being in as good order as any buffalo we had killed in November on the eastern plains. Over this valley country-about one hundred and fifty miles across-the Indians informed us that snow falls only a few inches in depth; such as we saw it at the time. "The immediate valley of the Upper Colorado for about one hundred miles in breadth, and from the 7th to the 22d January, was entirely bare of snow, and the weather resembled that of autumn in this country. The line here entered the body of mountains known as the Wah satch and An ter ria ranges, which are practicable at several places in this part of their course; but the falling snow and destitute condition of my party again interfered to impede examinations. They lie between the Colorado valley and the Great Basin, and at their western base are established the Mormon settlements of Parowan and Cedar City. They are what are called fertile mountains, abundant in water, wood, and grass, and fertile valleys, offering inducements to settlement and facilities for making a road. These mountains are a great storehouse of materials-timber, iron, coal- which would be of indispensable use in the construction and maintenance of the road, and are solid foundations to build up the future prosperity of the rapidly-increasing Utah State. "Salt is abundant on the eastern border, mountains-as the Sierra de Sal-being named from it. In the ranges lying behind the Mormon settlements, among the mountains through which the line passes, are accumulated a great wealth of iron and coal, and extensive forests of heavy tim

Ho. OF REPS.

ber. These forests are the largest I am acquainted with in the Rocky Mountains, being in some places twenty miles in depth, of continuous forest; the general growth lofty and large, frequently over three feet in diameter, and sometimes reaching five feet-the red spruce and yellow pine predominating. At the actual southern extremity of the Mormon settlements, consisting of the two inclosed towns of Parowan and Cedar City, near to which our line passed, a coal mine has been opened for about eighty yards, and iron works already established. Iron here occurs in extraordinary masses, in some parts accumulated into mountains, which comb out, in crests of solid iron, thirty feet thick and a hundred yards long.

"In passing through this bed of mountains, about fourteen days had been occupied, from January 24 to February 7, the deepest snow we here encountered being about up to the saddle skirts, or four feet; this occurring only in occasional drifts in the passes on northern exposures, and in the small mountain flats hemmed in by woods and hills. In the valley it was sometimes a few inches deep, and as often none at all. On our arrival at the Mormon settlements, February 8th, we found it a few inches deep, and were there informed that the winter had been unusually longcontinued and severe, the thermometer having been as low as 17° below zero, and more snow having fallen than in all the previous winters together, since the establishment of this colony.

"At this season their farmers had usually been occupied with their plows, preparing the land for grain."

In a letter recently received from Colonel Frémont, he expresses the belief that there are passes through the main dividing ridge still better than the Cochetope, and especially in reference to the country beyond. He says:

"In this view a better line can be found, and quite as direct, around the head of the San Luis valley, passing directly from the Arkansas waters to those of Grand river, or from the San Luis valley more in the neighborhood of the Cochetope, north or south of it."

And he inclined, in his own mind, to a line southward, around the waters of the Eagle Tail, a stream laid down in his map of 1848 as Eagle river: this river being a large stream, and cutting down into cañons, while the higher country is fertile, wooded, and grassy, with small streams, unobstructed, and running through open ground. Among other reasons inclining him to this course, he says:

"I had heard from Mr. Walker, and other mountain men, who had been with trapping parties in the region of the Lower Colorado, that the river was navigable for a very considerable distance up from the mouth of the Gila. Walker said that he knew it to be navigable for at least one hundred and fifty miles above the mouth of the Gila. As the two main forks drain a mountain region of great extent, and carry down a large volume of water, I have thought it probable that the main river is navigable to our present means of navigation, from their junction, which is a little north of the thirty-eighth parallel."

sin.

He remarks further, that

"In crossing the country, the central route passes, in the San Luis valley, a point which would become a center of population, from which a railroad could be thrown down through New Mexico, and where an interior city would grow up. In passing the southern Mormon settlements-another station for way travel-there would be another such point. If, now, the Colorado be navigable at the junction, you see at once what a reason and support it would give to the central line. It would be like Pittsburg at the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany-the Pittsburg of the Pacific. The head of navigation to a region of such great extent, crossed by a railroad uniting the two occans, would certainly become a grand commercial point. If you will go to the trouble to look at the map to which I have referred you, and bear in mind that the true junction is above the thirty-eighth parallel, you will see that the idea has force. Beyond the Colorado, I judged from my examination that there is no serious impediment to carrying a railway line into the baAs to where the line should cross the basin, whether by the Humboldt river, or by the line of the Rio Virgin, or by an intervening line, must of course depend upon the point at which it shall be decided to cross the Sierra Nevada." For that division of the route which lies between San Francisco, crossing the Sierra Nevada, and connecting with the line of Colonel Frémont, in the Great Basin, I submit the following letter from William J. Lewis, a railroad engineer of great eminence, who was recently the chief engineer of the proposed railroad from San Francisco to San José; in 1837, he was one of the first officers in the survey of the proposed railroad from Charleston to Cincinnati, under General McNeill and Captain W. G. Williams. He had charge of one of the mountain divisions, and Frémont was in one of the divisions near him, making his first experience in engineering; it was here that Frémont made Lewis's acquaintance, in whose ability and experience he has the greatest confidence.

SAN FRANCISCo, September 29, 1857. DEAR SIR: You may recollect that in conversation with you on the steamer John L. Stebbins I expressed an opinion that a practicable route could be obtained for the Pacific railroad crossing the Sierra Nevada at Johnson's Pass, near the head of the south fork of the American river. In 1855, Mr. Sherman Day made the location of a wagon road from the vicinity of Placerville to Carey's mill, in Carson, valley

which it gives us is the accidental result of the first survey
which the necessities of population required to be made.
Can we not with certainty expect much better, when the
Sierra Nevada comes to be surveyed with the direct pur-
pose of building a railroad across it?"

Again, speaking of the two passes in the two
great chains and the country between, he says:

crossing the Sierra at Johnson's Pass. No part of his road
had an ascent over five degrees, and the estimated cost of
construction was only about one hundred thousand dollars.
I send you a copy of the map made by him of the country
in the vicinity of the road, and a profile of his located line.
Assuming Sacramento as a point of beginning for the pro-
posed railroad, the road would strike the western base of
the foot hills of the Sierra Nevada, south of the junction of
Weber creek with the south fork of the American river,
and follow it to Slippery Ford. The distance from Slippery
Ford to Lake Valley does not exceed four miles, and a tun-
nel at this point is the only serious difficulty in the con-
struction of the road. The outlet of Lake Bigler is at the
northern end, and its waters flow to the desert west of the
Sierra through Truckee river. Whether the railroad should
follow the shores of the lake and the valley of the Truckee
river until it reaches the general level of the Great Basin, or
should cross the ridge between the lake and Mormon sta-
tion at some low point, and pursue a more direct route to-
wards Salt Lake City, can only be determined by future
surveys. The descent from the lake to the western plainsning for its whole length between the thirty-eighth
is so entirely within the limits of railroad gradients, that I
entertain no doubt that a practicable route can be found on
one of the two lines indicated.

Let us now see what will be the grades on the proposed line. Beginning at the Sacramento, (sixty feet above tide,) and allowing the road to rise in the first twenty miles at fif teen feet to the mile, we arrive at the western base of the foot hills, at an elevation of three hundred and sixty feet, The distance of this point from Slippery Ford by the present road is seventy miles; but by the winding line of a railroad will be at least ninety miles.

On a grade of sixty feet to the mile, the road would rise in these ninety miles five thousand four hundred feet, and attain an altitude of five thousand seven hundred and sixty feet or four hundred and two feet above the wagon road at Slippery Ford. The height of the wagon road (which is fifty feet above the river) at Lake Valley is five thousand nine hundred and sixty one, so that to bring us to the same level, there would be a rise of two hundred feet in the length of the tunnel-say four miles. Having now traced the route from the Sacramento to the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, and the waters flowing into the Great Basin, let us make an estimate of the extreme cost from Sacramento to this point:

From Sacramento to western foot of Fool Hills, twenty
miles, at $30,000 a mile.
$600,000
9,000,000

From western base of Fool Hills to Slippery Ford, ninety miles, at $100,000 a mile... From Slippery Ford to Lake Valley tunnel, four miles, or twenty-one thousand one hundred and twenty feet, at $200 a foot...

Total from Sacramento......
And from Sacramento to Benicia.

Total cost from Benicia...

4,224,000 $13,824,000 3,000,000 $16,824,000

Let us compare this with the cost of the road on the Noble's Pass route, west of the Sierra, as estimated by Captain Humphreys and Lieutenant Warren in their report on the explorations for railroad routess, page 66: Portions of the pass of the western ridge of the Sierra Nevada, 17 miles, at $100,000 per mile..... $1,700,000 From the head of the first cañon on Sacramento river to the termination of the mountain passage of the river, seventeen miles above Fort Reading, 135.5 miles, at $150,000 per mile.... 20,325,000 Thence to Fort Reading, on the Sacramento river, 17 miles, and thence to Benicia, 180 miles, being about 200 miles, at $50,000 per mile......

10,000,000

I have now given you my speculations on this matter; but I would much prefer that you should have an interview with Mr. Day and Mr. Goddart, both of whom are familiar with the topography of the country in the vicinity of the proposed line, and would be glad to aid you in your inquiries. Yours, very respectfully, WM. J. LEWIS. Colonel JOHN C. FREMONT.

Upon this letter of Lewis and the map of Sherman Day which accompanies it, and which I hold in my hand, Colonel Frémont, in a letter dated New York, February 28, 1858, says it shows

"That at the first place in the Sierra Nevada where the necessities of the settlement require communications, a good wagon road was easily found, and that this wagon road survey shows also that a railroad is entirely practicable in the same place; that this is in the line of the proposed central road, between the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth parallels, that any line coming across the Great Basin would reach San Francisco bay by a very considerable saving in distance and expense, compared with any other and less direct line running more to the northward. For instance, the surveyed line with which Lewis institutes his comparison, and which line in coming from the eastward very nearly joins Lewis's, (both I believe being then upon the Salmon Trout or Truckee river as it is generally called.) Take notice that the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada are great mountain chains, and that there are two passes through them, (Sherman Day's road pass and the Cochetope) and almost exactly in the same latitude, both being between the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth parallels. Remember, too, in regard to this line of Sherman Day's, that the information

"My judgment is unhesitatingly, that the country between these points is entirely practicable for a railroad. And does it not appear upon its face absurd to say, when the two great chains of the continent are practicable, the intervening country is not so? When droves of cattle of all kinds by thousands, wagons and caravans are passing constantly over it in its natural state, that the railroad science of this day cannot get across? A man's ignorance must be audacious when he can undertake to publish it in maintaining such an assertion."

It will thus be seen that the central route, run

and thirty-ninth parallels of latitude, is firmly and
conclusively established. Upon this line stands
the capital of the nation, on the Atlantic slope of
our continent; fixed here because it was central
to the North and South. It is the line of the Ohio
river in almost its whole length; the line upon
which stands St. Louis, the great central city of
the Mississippi valley; the line of the Missouri
river for three hundred miles beyond, to where it
deflects abruptly to the north; the line of the Kan-
sas river, which is navigable for near one hun-
dred miles due west, thence stretching up the Ark-
ansas river, and the Huerfano, and crossing the
mountains, and striking the Colorado river upon
the same parallel, at its true junction with Grand
river, and to which it was supposed by Colonel
Frémont to be navigable from the sea. The sup-
position has since proven to be true, by the sur-
vey of Lieutenant Ives; and thence through the
Great Basin by Parowan and Cedar City, and the
great iron mountains, to Carson's valley; and
thence in the same parallel, by the route indicated
by Mr. Lewis, to San Francisco on the thirty-
eighth parallel. A route cultivable and inhabitable
throughout its whole extent, with water, grass,
wood, coal, and iron, and capable of supporting
a population for the construction and maintenance
of the road, when built. This route follows the
lines of commerce, the center of population, and
of our territories upon both oceans. In all these
respects it fulfills the conditions of a national work
and should be constructed by the nation.

I have spoken of the persistent efforts of the
pseudo Democracy to undervalue the central route,
and force the construction of a railroad upon a
remote southern route; but there are also efforts
from other quarters equally hostile, and somewhat
more insidious. I shall, I hope, be pardoned for
a brief notice of one of these, since those who
have made themselves prominent in the affair
have sought to cover themselves by taking the
name of the central route for a southern one.

One of my colleagues [Mr. PHELPS] has favored
me with a pamphlet copy of a letter which bears
his name, and is addressed to certain citizens of
the State of Arkansas. Upon reading the letter,
I have been struck with the propriety which dic-

tated its address to the citizens of that State, and
I am constrained to say that it would have been
in all respects appropriate if it had emanated from
an Arkansas member. I will read some of the
passages which seem to me the most striking.
He is arguing that the route is best, even for the
few lowland Gulf countries of Georgia, Alabama,
and Mississippi, and says:

"My answer is, that the road from Vicksburg should go
directly to Shreveport, and to Preston on the Red river, and
thence northwest up the False Washita river, and intersect
the Charleston, Memphis, and Albuquerque road in the beau-
tiful valley of the Canadian river, at or near the one bun-
dredth degree of longitude, some five hundred and fifty miles
from Vicksburg. That, in my humble opinion, is the true
Vicksburg route, and for two reasons: it is the best and
shortest route, and it would develop a fertile and unsettled
country of vast importance to the trade and strength of the
South."

It is "the trade and strength of the South" to which this road is of such vast importance. He goes on in the same strain:

"The route from Vicksburg up the Red and False Washita rivers is, therefore, (as is easily observable from a map,) the shortest and the best. Not only so, but second, this righthand route along the Red and False Washita rivers would develop a fertile and unsettled country of vast importance to the trade and strength of the South. It is a country filled with rivers and streams-the Arkansas, the Red, the False Washita, the Verdigris, the Canadian, the Red Fork, the Salt Fork, the Neosho, and many others of great value. It is admirably suited for the cultivation of cotton, and the

HO. OF REPS.

higher portions of it for hemp, tobacco, and grains. Settied and cultivated, it would enrich the South and strengthen it. Texas is developed and is secure. This country should be. Delay will not prevent its settlement, nor benefit the South."

"Delay will not prevent its settlement, nor benefit the South." There is something peculiar and significant in this iteration of the same idea. He adds:

"It is deeply to the interest, therefore, of South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Arkansas, if they would protect and increase the trade of the principal commercial cities, that the Charleston and Memphis railroad shall be ex tended directly west to Albuquerque, and then to San Francisco."

It is to protect and increase the trade of the principal commercial cities" of the South that this central route is advocated. And again he as

serts:

"But Virginia cannot reasonably be asked to go four hundred miles too far South, when a good pass and a better route can be had, three degrees of latitude to the north of it, and also when the more convenient and shorter route

will open up to settlement a country of an importance to the South which it is quite impossible to overestimate-a country large enough to make two States, each larger that Ohio, and of a climate and soil like that of northern Louisi ana and Arkansas."

Why may we not reasonably ask it of Virginia, if he can ask it of his native State, Connecticut, and his adopted State, Missouri? I can readily understand the importance to the South of making two slave States larger than Ohio. But is the whole nation to be asked to make this road for this purpose? But he says:

"More than TWENTY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE live on and north of the thirty-fifth parallel route, and they cannot-and ought not, to be asked to go across that line, when everybody knows that the line is almost two hundred miles further south than they ought to be asked to come."

"Everybody knows that the line (of the thirtyfifth parallel) is almost two hundred miles further south than the twenty million of people who live "And it north of it ought to be asked to come." is called the central route!! Finally, the people of Arkansas are informed:

"But the thirty-fifth parallel route through Albuquerque is three and a half degrees south of St. Louis. The southern portion of the slaveholding States have, if the Albuquerque route is adopted, by reason of their geographical position, a decided advantage in the matter of distance over the northern part of the slaveholding, and over all of the non-slaveholding States, whose railroads center at St. Louis.

"By using the Vicksburg branch, up the Red and False Washita rivers to Albuquerque; the Memphis branch to Albuquerque, and the St. Louis branch to Albuquerque, the slaveholding States can far more easily reach San Francisco than can any one of all the large Atlantic cities of the Atlantic non-slaveholding States."

There is much more to the same purpose, but this is sufficient to show what sort of a central route this is that my colleague advocates. It should be called the " False Washita route," which, I presume, derived its name from the fact that somebody mistook it for the "true Washita," as my colleague has mistaken this line, which is "two hundred miles farther south than the people of this country ought to be asked to come," for a central route. Although my colleague has given his name to bolster this route, it is but fair to him and others to say that its pa ternity belongs to a gentleman who formerly lived in St. Louis, and who still claims to live there, although he has lived here for many years, with the design, I presume, of having some pretext to speak for Missouri. The gentleman I refer to is Mr. Corbin, a man of talent, of energy, and industry, who has been a successful operator, and has made himself extremely useful to members of Congress. He originated the "false Washita " route, and the arguments used by my colleague remind me of him and of an incident in his history which occurred when he lived in

St. Louis.

There was a vacancy from the county of St. Louis, in the Missouri Legislature. Mr. Corbin and another gentleman were candidates before the Democratic convention, and both pledged themselves to abide the decision of the convention and not to run against its nominee. The other gentleman was nominated, and to the astonishment of all, and greatly to the chagrin of the Democratic party, Mr. Corbin still persisted in being a candidate. Being reminded of his pledge not to run against the nominee of the convention, he re plied that it was true he had given the pledge and intended to redeem it to the letter, but he did not consider that his pledge prevented him from running, it only bound him not to run against the nominee

Exposition of the Kansas Conference Act-Mr. Bennett.

IV. The first section of this act offers the people of Kansas two sections of the public lands in each township for schools, (equal to one eighteenth part of all the public lands;) seventy-two sections for a State university; ten sections for pub-free State. And this odious distinction-this preflic buildings; twelve salt springs with six sections of land adjoining to each, and five per cent. of the

35TH CONG... 1ST SESS.

Exposition of the Kansas Conference Act-Mr. Bennett.

"forever!" for a full consideration accorded to the slave power. And when that pledge was broken, in violation of all good faith, another was made to leave the people free to decide. They have decided for freedom, emphatically, almost unanimously. And then comes this act of Congress, saying to the people of Kansas: "no matter for your decision; you can come in as a slave State, or you shall not be admitted!" The time may come when these instructions in congressional non-intervention may return to plague the inventors; when the discrimination will be against slavery, and in favor of freedom.

The offer contained in this act has no precedent or parallel. The only thing at all resembling it occured more than eighteen hundred years ago. When Satan tempted our Savior, and offered Him all the lands they beheld from the top of "an exceeding high mountain," if He would fall down and worship him, he made very much such an offer as this act makes to the people of Kansas, if they will fall down and worship slavery. But to give the Devil his due, he had not the impudence to couple with it any promised revenge in case it was refused, such as this act provides! This proposition far outdoes that in its meanness and malignity. The penalty enacted for non-acceptance is more oppressive and tyrannical a hundred fold, than even the proffered bribe! Take it all in all, it is the most infamous proposition ever adopted by any legislative assembly! The most insulting one ever submitted to any people who claimed to be free!

V. Section second is a master-piece of ingenuity in devising ways and means to render certain the success of the Lecompton constitution and of slavery, at the election provided for; if not by the votes of the people, at least by the returns of the officers, who are to be put in charge, with full power to accomplish that purpose.

It provides that the Governor, Secretary, and District Attorney-all appointed by the President -and the Speaker of the House, and President of the Council, shall be a board of commissioners under the act; any three of whom shall constitute a board; and that this partisan pro-slavery board, appointed by the President, shall have power1. To establish new precincts for voting. 2. To cause polls to be opened at such places as it may deem proper, in the counties and election precincts.

3. To appoint three judges of election at each place of voting, any two of whom may act.

4. To appoint such persons as they may deem proper, in the place of the sheriffs and their deputies, to preserve peace and good order.

5. To appoint the day of holding said election. 6. To prescribe the time of said election. 7. To prescribe the manner of said election. 8. To prescribe the places of said election. 9. To direct the time within which returns must be made.

10. To declare the result of said election. Unlimited powers, without any appeal or review!

they had the majority,) and desiring no fraud, offered this to the other party as a pledge of fairness at the election. It was like the law of New York, which requires the Inspectors of election to be elected equally from the different partieseach holding a check upon the other. This the free-State party offered, t remove all suspicion of an unfair party board. This board is not made up in that manner. Three out of five are appointed by the President, and three are declared a board. The board is therefore appointed by the President, who represents the minority, or the pro-slavery party, in Kansas, and is their most willing and willful confederate! The two others have no power; they need not be consulted or notified! This act places, therefore, in the hands of three men, appointed by the President, the power of selecting every judge and officer of election in Kansas, the power of fixing its future destiny, by declaring it entitled to admission as a slave State! (But not as a free State, for fear of some unlucky accident!) Can any one doubt the result? Knowing what has been done in Kansas; knowing that fraud, forgery, perjury, and mu der, have all been committed there to establish slavery, is there any reason to doubt they will be again resorted to, if necessary, in this last effort? Is there any reason to doubt that enough forged and false returns will be made to secure its triumph at this election? In December nearly 3,000 fictitious votes were returned from four precincts, merely to keep in practice, and make up a show, when no votes were given by the other party. Now, with every means for cheating given by this act, and the strongest motives for fraud, will these same men become suddenly honest against all temptation?

Congress never before interfered with any State or Territory having election districts and voting precincts established by law; Judges, and Officers of election, and Sheriff's chosen and qualified according to law; to annul the laws, change the precincts, and remove the officers; allowing the President to appoint in their places three unscrupu lous partisan commissioners, removable and changeable at his will, with full and unlimited power, to appoint all the Judges, Officers of election, Sheriff's, &c.; establish precincts and places for voung; to aid their party in any way they please; to do in all things as they please, control the whole matter, make what rules they please, admit or reject what votes or returns they please, decide as they please, and declare the result; giving to them, as to this election, absolute, unlimited power; answerable to no one, accountable to no one; and without the slightest check or restraint imposed!

It is said unscrupulous partisans will not be appointed. No others can be, or will be, appointed under this Administration. It is morally impossible. In all this matter the most reckless leaders of a desperate faction have been the advisers of the President. Infatuated and obstinate, he will listen

only to them. "None are so blind as those that

will not see, or so deaf as those that will not hear."
The favored appointees of the President have all
been men like Calhoun and Lecompte, the worst
of pro-slavery partisans. When any man is found
to be honest, he is removed. Honesty is a dis-
qualification; for that Geary, Walker, and Stan-
ton were removed! If an office-holder tells the
truth when under oath as a witness, it is sufficient
cause for removal; for that Dennis was removed!

Will the people of Kansas maintain their rights
like freemen, or submit like slaves? If they will
surrender their principles, their independence,
their inherent and inalienable right of self-govern-

By the organic act, the people were to be left perfectly free to form their own constitution in their own way. There was to be no intervention by Congress or by the President. The President has no right to appoint any of the officers of election in any organized State or Territory, or any board to appoint them, and never should be allowed to do so. It is intervention, and most improper intervention. These are local officers, chosen and qualified according to law, and with whom the President has no right to interfere. Why are these officers all removed, and this powerment, promised to them by the organic act, and to appoint them taken out of the hands of the People and given to the President? Is it that he may fill their places with such men as Calhoun ? Can any other reason be rendered? The people have a right to appoint these officers. And no law giving this authority to the President was ever before devised or enacted.

It is true, the Crittenden amendment provided for a board of commissioners, composed of the Governor, Secretary, President of the Council, and Speaker-two of them appointed by the President, and two elected by the people. But the reason for that was because the free-State party, having all the officers of election, (rightfully, for

guarantied to all by the Constitution, they are of-
fered a large reward, and immediate admission?
If they will not submit to this degrading dicta-
tion; if they dare to maintain their own opinions,
and to prefer freedom to slavery, pains and pen-
alties are provided, and a severe punishment in-
flicted. They are left perfectly free to do-as the
slave power commands! Free to decide for them-
seives between liberty and slavery! But slavery
established in the Territory by Congress, shall
be established as a State institution! Free to form
their own constitution-but they must adopt the
one framed at Lecompton, or none! Free to accept
slavery, but not to reject it! They may be ad-

HO. OF REPS.

mitted as a slave State, but not as a free State! Even the bogus convention allowed a choice between two pro-slavery constitutions! This act allows no choice! It insults the people of Kansas by demanding submission to that very constitution upon which they have placed the seal of their condemnation!

The people of Kansas will not be seduced by the promised reward, or intimidated by the threat of punishment; they will scorn the one and defy the other. But the people of Kansas cannot control the tools the pro-slavery party will prompt the President to use, or the judges and officers of election that will be appointed! And it is by fraud that this proposition" will be declared ac cepted, and Kansas admitted as a slave State; and that is the design! And mark the prediction: Calhoun will now declare the pro-slavery State officers, and perhaps Legislature, elected, contrary to the truth, as certified by Governor Denver. Ít will all aid in the intended purpose of this Administration and of the slave Democracy-that of forcing slavery upon the people of Kansas!

Let us examine in detail the powers of this proslavery board, imposed by this act upon a free people, to appoint their local officers without their consent, after removing those legally appointed by them.

1. To establish new precincts and places of voting! This they may do at any time, or in any manner, and without any notice. On the morning of elec tion every precinct may be changed, and the polls opened in any remote corner, or cabin. And not a free-State voter need he informed where he can vote, or towards what point of the compass he must direct his steps to find the polls! What a splendid chance for Delaware Crossing returns! And all according to law!

2. To cause polls to be opened at such places as they may deem proper! Under this act, polls may be opened in any back room of this extended and thinly-settled Territory, and votes returned to any amount. What a coaxing invitation to a few border ruffians, with a Directory, is here extended, and perfect protection given by law!

3. To appoint three judges of election, any two of whom may act! By this, the legal judges and officers of election are displaced, and these commissioners may appoint others-they will appoint partisans, of course-to do any part of this work they may hestitate to do themselves. This is the intention. It will be strange if they cannot find, among the border-ruffians of Kansas, at least two men in each precinct willing to do anything ne cessary for the triumph of slavery. Judges of election must be men of some character to hold the place. But these temporary judges, who hold office only for a single day and for a specific pur pose, will be those who are the most reckless and who will do the most to accomplish the result desired by the appointing power!

4. To displace the sheriffs and their deputies, and appoint others to preserve the peace! This is rather strong. It probably will admit of a military force, to act as a posse comitatus, to vote and to keep away free-State voters. The border-ruffians of Kansas have an instinctive fear of sheriff's and their deputies! This act respects their prejudices!

5, 6, 7, and 8. To fix the day for election, and to prescribe the time, manner, and places of election! This power is unlimited in every respect. No notice of the day of election need be given; or if given, they judge what is sufficient notice. Nothing is fixed by law; everything is left to their discretion, that they may act as circumstances may require. So as to each of the other provisions as to the time, manner, and places of election. The power of establishing new places of voting is deemed so essential that it is twice enumerated! 9. To fix the time for the return of the votes! This is also left to their discretion. It may be fixed so short as to exclude the returns from all the inte rior and western counties, where the free-State vote is nearly unanimous. Half the returns may be excluded under this act, just as half the counties were disfranchised under the registry law.

10. To announce the result! Again, at their dis cretion, after rejecting such returns as they hold are not properly made, or not in time, and such votes as they call illegal for any reason, or without any reason, they can do as Calhoun did, de