ON THE TWO PER CENT. FUND IN MISSOURI.

IN SENATE, FEBRUARY 6 & 14, 1851.

[MR. BENTON had asked leave of the Senate to bring in a bill to pay the State of Missouri what he claimed was due to her out of the net proceeds of the public lands; but Mr. Clay maintained that nothing was due to Missouri on that account, and that the indebtedness was on the other side, from Missouri to the United States. We shall present Mr. Clay's argument on this question in one speech, although made on two separate days, by adjournment of the Senate and the claims of other business. On the 6th of February, 1851, he spoke on this subject as follows:]

MR. PRESIDENT:

When this bill was called up some days ago, I said to the Senate that instead of Missouri being the creditor of the general government on account of the two per cent. fund referred to in this bill, it would be seen upon an examination of the whole subject that she was largely the debtor of the general government. In rising now, my purpose is, as far as I can, to make good that statement; and I think upon the exposition which I shall present, it will be seen that every cent of the two per cent. fund reserved in the compact between Missouri and the general government has been expended, and a great deal more; that it was expended with the silent acquiescence at least of the State of Missouri, and with the positive votes of her senators and representatives during the passage of the various bills to which I shall have occasion to refer; that it was expended in the construction and continuation of the Cumberland road from Cumberland, in Maryland, to Vandalia, in Illinois; that it stopped in consequence of a collision which arose between the States of Missouri and Illinois, or rather, I believe, between the towns of St. Louis and Alton, as to what should be the terminus of the road.

It will be seen in this exposition that between seven and eight hundred miles of the Cumberland road have been actually constructed, at a cost of nearly six millions of dollars, and constructed upon a pledge of reimbursement to the government of the United States of the amount expended from the two per cent. fund, derivable first from Ohio, then from Indiana, then

from Illinois, and then from Missouri. It will be seen that the general government is out of pocket to the amount of $4,500,000, and instead of being reimbursed the $5,800,000, she has only been reimbursed to the extent of about $1,230,000, or $1,300,000. This will be shown in the progress of what I have to say, and will be seen from the laws to which I shall call the attention of the Senate.

Mr. President, I beg leave to say, by way of apology-for, as you perceive, I have but rarely interfered in public business, and wish to do so as little as possible, except when impelled by a profound sense of duty—that I have had something to do with this road in former years. I contributed in some degree, as far as my humble capacity would allow, to the passage of laws which, session after session, for a period of years, were greatly contested in the other branch of the national Legislature, to make appropriations to construct and continue this road; and in those laws, as I shall presently have occasion to show, pledges were made of reimbursement to the general government of the amount to be expended out of the two per cent. fund, a portion of which is now demanded of right by Missouri, as if no part of it had been expended for her use or in conformity with the compact made with her. Having contributed in this way to the passage of those appropriations, and having proposed the pledge to which I have referred, I feel myself called upon by a sense of honor, for the part I have taken on this subject when it was before the other branch of the national Legislature many years ago, to show that the government of the United States is under no obligations to any one of the four States I have mentioned-Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, or Missouri-to pay one single cent of the two per cent. fund. It will be of some consequence to call the attention of the Senate, in the first place, to the compact between the State of Missouri and the general government, out of which this claim originates. It will be found. in the third volume of the laws, page 547. The third condition of that compact, which I will read from the sixth section of the act to authorize the people of Missouri Territory to form a Constitution and State government, is as follows:

"That five per cent. of the net proceeds of the sale of lands lying within the said Territory or State, and which shall be sold by Congress, from and after the 1st day of January next, after deducting all expenses incident to the same, shall be reserved for making public roads and canals, of which three fifths shall be applied to those objects within the State, under the direction of the Legislature thereof, and the other two fifths in defraying, under the direction of Congress, the expenses to be incurred in making of a road or roads, canal or canals, leading to the said State."

By this condition it will be observed a reservation was made of five per cent. of the net proceeds of the sales of public lands in Missouri; three per cent. to be expended within the State, and two per cent. to be expended without it. With respect to the three per cent, to be expended within

the State, it has been paid from time to time to Missouri, and no claim is attempted to be set up on that account. The claim is altogether for the two per cent. fund, which was to be expended under the direction of Congress in making of roads or canals leading to Missouri. The Senate will also observe that no specific kind of road is provided for. It is not provided that it shall be a railroad, a macadamized road, or any other particular kind of road; it was to be a road. The money was to be expended under the direction of Congress, and Congress was to be the judge of the species of road and the expenditure of money for it.

It will be observed, moreover, that it was not Missouri alone that was interested in this expenditure. The two per cent. fund was also to be expended exterior to her limits. She would derive benefit undoubtedly, but the expenditure was to be made outside of her limits in other States, and other States directly, as well as the Union at large indirectly, were to be benefited by the construction of the roads.

I have stated that the whole amount of this fund had been expended specifically upon the Cumberland road. That road beginning at Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, was intended to be run to the Mississippi on its eastern bank. The road has been macadamized only in part. It has been macadamized only from Cumberland to Wheeling, and from Wheeling through the State of Ohio entirely, partly in Indiana, but inconsiderably, and partly in Illinois, less considerably than in Indiana. But it has been graded, and bridged, and cleared, and opened the entire extent of between seven hundred and eight hundred miles from Cumberland, in Maryland, to Vandalia in Illinois. It would have gone on and been graded and opened to the Mississippi but for the conflict which arose with respect to its terminus on the Mississippi; Illinois being desirous that it should terminate at Alton, while Missouri was desirous that it should terminate at a point opposite St. Louis. The Cumberland road originated in March, 1806. It was to be constructed from the two per cent. fund reserved in the compact between Ohio and the general government. When it was originally projected it was contemplated only to extend to the Ohio river, but when it reached the Ohio river, owing to the very great exertions made in the other branch of the national Legislature, it was carried across that river through the State of Ohio to the point I have mentioned in the State of Illinois.

Sir, the benefits of that road have been incalculably great. I know it from personal experience. Why, before that road was run, I remember it took my family one entire day to pass from Uniontown to Freeman's tavern, on the summit of Laurel Hill, a distance of only about seven miles. I wish the senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Sturgeon) was present, as he would recollect the place. The distance from Uniontown to Cumberland is about sixty-four miles, and that distance is now passed in about ten or twelve hours. The whole western country has been benefited by that road, in all its parts-benefited in the emigration to the new States west, bene

fited in the traveling to and from those States to the seat of government and the cities of the seaboard. It has almost created a new country as respects intercourse between the western and eastern States. It has diminished in its importance recently in consequence of the opening of other channels of communication—the road in Pennsylvania from Pittsburg to Philadelphia, and the roads around the lakes through the State of Ohio and the State of New York. Still it is yet a road of incalculable benefit to all who are emigrating in that direction to the West, and to all who are traveling.

The extension of the road beyond Wheeling, the original terminus intended for it, took place about the year 1820, about the year when Missouri was admitted into the Union. It was carried through the States I have mentioned. But I should here pause, and say that when it reached Wheeling-or, in other words, when it reached the State of Ohio, for Wheeling is directly opposite to the State of Ohio, and is separated from it only by the Ohio river-every obligation toward the State of Ohio resulting from the expenditure of the two per cent. fund was completely fulfilled; we were not bound to expend another dollar for the State of Ohio. But then the States beyond Ohio-Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri-having the same two per cent. fund pledged in the respective articles of compact which were entered into between the government and those States, had a right to ask the continuance of the road through Ohio first, then through Indiana, then through Illinois. Now, I wish to call the attention of the Senate to the acts of appropriation which have been from time to time made to expend this fund. The first will be found in the fourth volume of the Statutes at Large, page 128. By that act, which was "an act for the continuation of the Cumberland road," it was provided:

"That the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, of moneys not otherwise appropriated, be and the same is hereby appropriated for the purpose of opening and making a road from the town of Canton, in the State of Ohio, on the right bank of the Ohio river, opposite the town of Wheeling, to the Muskingum river, at Zanesville, in said State; which said sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars shall be replaced out of the fund reserved for laying out and making roads, under the direction of Congress, by the several acts passed for the admission of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri into the Union on an equal footing with the original States."

I believe that was the first act in which the two per cent. fund reserved from Missouri was by express enactment pledged to the reimbursement of the general government in making that road. In pursuing its passage through the Senate, I find that a motion was made by Mr. Holmes of Maine, to strike out the words "Illinois and Missouri" in the extract which I have read, the effect of which would have been, not to pledge the two per cent. fund belonging to Missouri and Illinois, but to have left it unpledged. The retention of the words amounts to a retention of the pledge of reimburse

ment out of that fund. On this motion of Mr. Holmes, of Maine, the vote stood twelve for striking out the words Illinois and Missouri, and thirtythree against it; and among the thirty-three who voted against it, who voted for making the pledge proposed, I find both of the then senators from Missouri. They both voted in the negative, thus positively expressing their consent to the pledge of the two per cent. fund for the reimbursement of the general government. I do not mean to follow out all the various acts of appropriation. There will be found, however, in others of them to which I shall call the attention of the Senate, the same reservation of the right of reimbursement. An act was passed providing for the construction of the road west of Zanesville, in March, 1829, which provided:

"That the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, of any money not otherwise appropriated, be and the same is hereby appropriated, for the purpose of opening and making the Cumberland road, westwardly from Zanesville, in the State of Ohio; which said sum of one hundred thousand dollars shall be replaced out of the fund reserved for laying out and making roads, under the direction of Congress, by the several acts passed for the admission of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri into the Union on an equal footing with the original States."

an act

In the fifth volume of the Statutes at Large, page 71, we find for the continuation of the Cumberland road in the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois," by which it is provided:

"That the sum of two hundred thousand dollars be and the same is hereby appropriated, for the purpose of continuing the Cumberland road in the State of Ohio; that the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars be and the same is hereby appropriated, for continuing the Cumberland road to the State of Indiana, including materials for erecting a bridge across the Wabash river; and that the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars be and the same is hereby appropriated, for continuing the Cumberland road in the State of Illinois; which sums shall be paid out of any money not otherwise appropriated, and replaced out of the fund reserved for laying out and making roads, under the direction of Congress, by the several acts passed for the admission of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri into the Union on an equal footing with the original States."

Here, again, we find the fund specifically pledged. By another act, which I will not take up the time of the Senate by reading, four hundred and fifty thousand dollars, one hundred and fifty thousand in each of the three States, were appropriated to the same object, and the two per cent. fund was pledged to the reimbursement of this amount. The amount to be appropriated by this bill is, I presume, about $230,000. I think that an official document on our files will show that $200,000 was the amount of the two per cent. fund, arising out of the sales of the public lands in Missouri a short time ago. It has probably increased since that time to about $230,000. This bill proposes an immediate appropriation of the whole of