33D CONG....2D SESS. sissippi to the Pacific ocean. Branches striking out, like ribs from the spine, would reach every settlement-northern Missouri and Iowa, from a point on the Upper Kansas-New Mexico from a point on the Upper Arkansas-the Great Salt Lake from a point on the upper valley of the Colorado; and thence on to the mouth of the Columbia-and Los Angeles and southern California from a point on the Little Salt Lake and Santa Clara settlements. All these places would be conveniently reached by branch roads, while the great trunk would follow its direct course, best for itself and for them, from Missouri to Callifornia, debouching at each end into the midst of business populations, and connecting with steamboat navigation, and all the State improvements. And its settlement would be magic. The line once indicated, and the enterprizing emigrants of our America would flock upon it, as pigeons to their roosts-tear open the bosom of the virgin soil-and spring into existence the long line of farms and houses-of towns and villagesof orchards, fields, and gardens-of churches and school-houses-of noisy shops, clattering mills, and thundering forges, and all that civilization affords to enliven the wild domain from the Mississippi to the Pacific-to give protection and employment to the road-and to balance the populous communities in the eastern half of the Union by equal populations on its western half. In this description of the country I have relied chiefly on Frémont, whose exploration, directed by no authority, connected with no company, swayed by no interest-wholly guided by himself, and solely directed to the public good, would be entitled to credit upon his own report, unsupported by subsidiary evidence; but he has not left the credit of his report to his word alone. He has done, besides, what no other explorer had done: he has made the country report itself! Besides determining elevations barometrically, and fixing positions astronomically, and measuring objects with a practiced eye-besides all that, he has applied the daguerreotype art to the face of the wild domain, and made it speak for itself. Three hundred of these views illustrate the path of his exploration, and compel every object to stand forth, and show itself as it is, or was: mountain, gap, plain, rock, forest, grass, snow, (where there is any,) and naked ground where there is notall exhibit themselves as they are. For daguerre has no power to conceal what is visible, or to exhibit what is unseen. If the "wart" is there he needs no admonition to show it, and could not suppress it. He uses no pencil to substitute fiction for fact, or fancy for memory. He is a machine that works to a pattern, and that patern the object before him; and in this way has Frémont reproduced the country from the Mississippi to the Pacific, and made it become the reflex of its own features, and the exhibiter of its own face, present and viewable to every beholder; and that nothing may be wanting to complete the information on a subject of such magnitude, he has now gone back to give the finishing look at the west end of the line, which thirty thousand miles of wilderness explorations in the last twelve years, (all at his own solicitation, and the last half at his own cost,) authorize him to believe is the true and good route for the road which is to unite the Atlantic and the Pacific, and to give a new channel to the commerce of Asia. All the other requisites for the construction and maintenance of a road, and to give it employment when done, have been shown in the view of the country. Wood, water, stone, coal, iron; rich soil to build up settlements and cities, to give local business and travel all along its course, as well as at the great terminating points-and to protect it without Government troops. Add to this, picturesque scenery, and an entire region of unsurpassed salubrity. This quality of the route -salubrity-requires a special notice. Fremont says of it: "It is a healthy route. No diseases of any kind upon it; and the valetudinarian might travel it in his own vehicle, or on horse, or even on foot, for the mere recovery of spirits and restoration of health." This is what Frémont says; and he ought to know, traversing the region as he has done for twelve years, and never having a physician with him, nor losing a man by sickness. And all his mountain comrades-sojourners of twenty, thirty, forty years in this wild domain- || Pacific Railroad-Mr. Benton. report the same thing. Salubrity, then, is one of HO. OF REPS. towns, cities, villages, and farms. And rich will be the man that may own some quarter section on its track, or some squares in the cities which are to grow upon it. But the road beyond the Mississippi is only the half of the whole; the other half is on this side, and either in progress or completed. Behold your own extended iron ways, departing from this city to go west towards the lakes and the great rivers, to join the great western trunk, now almost finished through Cincinnati, Vincennes, St. Louisthere to find the Pacific road in progress to the western limit of Missouri. Behold the lateral roads from Pennsylvania, New England, New York, all pointing to the west, and converging to the same central track. And behold the diagonal central road of Virginia, to traverse the State from its southeast to its northwest corner, already finished beyond the Blue Ridge, and its advanced pioneers, descending the Alleghany mountain, to People now travel it, and praise it; buffaloes arrive at the mouth of Big Sandy, in the very latitravel it, and repeat their travel-which is their tude of St. Louis, San Francisco, and Baltimore, praise. The Federal Government only seems to and there to join the same great central western eschew it, and lean to outside routes-one by trunk. And the Blue Ridge road of South Carolina, Canada, which the Canadian provincial parliament bound upon the same destination; and the roads appears to be now adopting for its own; and one of Georgia, pointing and advancing to the norththrough old Mexico, which Santa Anna might west. What is the destiny of all these Atlantic adopt, if he had any commerce: and upon neither roads, thus pointing to the west, and converging of which is seen a buffalo track, or a voluntary upon the central track, the whole course of which white man's track going to California:-where lies through the center of our Union, and through no white man goes to get to California, except the center of its population, wealth and powerunder the orders, and at the expense of Govern- and one end of which points to Canton and Jeddo ment; and where no buffalo could be made to go, -the other to London and Paris; what will those even by the power of the Government. That lateral roads become, in addition to their original sensible old animal would die before he would be destination? They will become parts of a system, made such a fool of as to be conducted to the bringing our Atlantic cities nearer to the Pacific Sacramento, or San Joaquin, or San Francisco, coast than they were to the Blue Ridge and the via the hyperborean region of Upper Canada and Ohio in the time of canals and turnpikes. And New Caledonia;-or, via the burning deserts of what then? The great idea of Columbus will be Sonora and Chihuahua. The central route is the realized, though in a different, and a more benefifree choice of men and buffaloes; and is good for cent form. Eastern Asia is reached, by going all sorts of roads, and in all seasons. Its straight-west, and by a road of which we hold the key! ness of course will enable the car to more than double its speed; and consequently earn its money in half the time. The smoothness of its course is I but little interrupted by its ascents or descents; for they are gradual, and distributed over long distances: and the whole country, between the Rocky mountains and the Sierra Nevada, is at the general level of five thousand feet-the greatest descent being from the Sierra Nevada to the level of the sea; and that may distribute itself, for the road, over some hundred miles. And now I hold it to be in order of human events in the regular progression of human affairs-that the road will be built, and that soon; not by public, but private means-by a company of solid men, asking nothing of Congress but the right of way through the public lands; and fair pay for good service in carrying mails, troops, Government officials, and munitions of war. Such an enterprise is worthy of enlightened capitalists, who know how to combine private advantage with public good; and who feel a laudable desire to connect their names with a monumental enterprise, more useful than the pursuits of political ambition, more glorious than the conquest of nations, more durable than the pyramids; and which, being finished, is to change the face of the commercial world-and all to the advantage of our America. The road will be made, and soon, and by individual enterprise. The age is progressive and utilitarian. It abounds with talent, seeking employment, and with capital, seeking investment. The temptation is irresistible. To reach the golden California, to put the populations of the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Mississippi valley, into direct communication-to connect Europe and Asia through our America-and to own a road of our own to the East Indies: such is the grandeur of the enterprise, and the time has arrived to begin it. The country is open to settlement, and inviting it, and receiving it. The world is in motion, following the track of the sun to its dip in the western ocean. Westward the torrents of emigration direct their course, and soon the country between Missouri and California is to show the most rapid expansion of the human race that the ages of man have ever beheld. It will all be settled up, and that with magical rapidity; settlements will promote the road; the road will aggrandize the settlements. Soon it will be a line of and the channel of Asiatic commerce, which has been shifting its bed from the time of Solomon, and raising up cities and kingdoms wherever it went-(to perish when it left them)-changing its channel for the last time-to become fixed upon its shortest, safest, best, and quickest route, through the heart of our America and to revive along its course the Tyres and Sidons, the Balbecs, Palmyras, and Alexandrias, once the seat of commerce and empire; and the ruins of which still attest their former magnificence, and excite the wonder of the oriental traveler. This great central trunk road from Baltimore to the mouth of the Kansas, along the parallel of 390, is already almost finished, and for all the purposes of its continuation from Missouri to California, may be assumed to be now finished; for, it will be completely so before any part of the other is ready to join it. It is now complete to the Ohio river-complete to Cincinnati-complete through the State of Ohio-complete half way through Indiana, and the other half in progress-complete half way through Illinois, and the other half in progress-complete (nearly) one third of the way through Missouri, and all the rest under contract, and under the daily energies of two thousand laborers, led by a most energetic contractor. We may assume, then, the great western trunk road to be finished from Atlantic tide-water to the western limit of Missouri-that is to say, half way to the Pacific! and to the commencement of that vast inclined prairie plain which spreads from the Missouri frontier more than half the distance of the remaining half, and which is nearly prepared by the hand of nature for the immediate reception of the iron rails, and their solid foundations. What a temptation for a company to begin the great work when so much is done to their hand, and so much of the remainder is so easy to be done! and then, how advanced all the Atlantic and Mississippi valley connections with this great western trunk! On the Atlantic side, from Maine to Georgiafrom Bangor, on the Penobscot, in the State of Maine, to the State of Georgia-a man may now go by car to that central trunk in Ohio and Indiana: from the southern shores of the northern lakes, he can do the same: from the borders of the southern gulf, he can partly do it. Soon all will be complete; and every part of the Atlantic States and of the Mississippi valley be ready to go into 33D CONG....2D SESS. communication with the Pacific ocean as soon as the trunk is completed from Missouri to California. Telegraphic lines are ready at both ends. In California they extend over the State, into the valleys of San Joaquin and Sacramento, and would be ready to meet the road at the State line. On this end, the wires now extend to the western limit of Missouri-to the mouth of Kansas-from which point intelligence can now be flashed to every part of the Union; so that, on this central route, there is only a gap to be filled up to complete these magic communications between the shores of the two great oceans. This is the object! that road? compared to which, those "Appian and Flaminian ways which have given immortality to their authors, are but as dots to lengthened lines-as sands to mountains-as grains of mustard to the full grown tree. Besides the advantages to our Union in opening direct communication with that golden California which completes our extended dominion towards the setting sun, and a road to which would be the realization of the Roman idea of annexation, that no conquest was annexed until reached and pervaded by a road; besides the obvious advantages, social, political, commercial, of this communication, another transcendental object presents itself! That oriental commerce which nations have sought for, and fought for, from the time of the Phenicians to the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope-which was carried on over lines so extended-by conveyances so slow and limited-amidst populations so various and barbarous, and which considered the merchant their lawful prey-and up and down rapid rivers, and across strange seas, and through wide and frightfal deserts:-and which, under all these perils, burdens, discouragements, converted Asiatic and African cities into seats of wealth and empirecentres of the arts and sciences-while western Europe was yet barbarian: and some branches of which afterwards lit up Venice, and Genoa, and Florence, and made commercial cities the match for empires, and the wives and daughters of their citizens, (in their luxurious, oriental attire,) the admiration and the envy of queens and princesses. All this commerce, and in a deeper and broader stream than the "merchant princes" ever saw, is now within our reach! attainable by a road all the way on our own soil, and under our own laws: to be flown over by a vehicle as much superior in speed and capacity to the steamboat as the boat is to the ship, and the ship to the camel. Thanks to the progress of the mechanic arts! which are going on continually, converting into facilities what stood as obstacles in the way of national communications. To the savage, the sea was an obstacle: mechanical genius, in the invention of the ship, made it a facility. The firm land was what the barbarian wanted: the land became an obstacle to the civilized man, and remained so until the steam car was invented. Now the land becomes the facility again-the preferred element of passage-and admitting a velocity in its steam car which rivals the flight of the carrier pigeon, and a panctuality of arrival which may serve for the adjustment of clocks and watches. To say nothing of its accompaniment the magnetic telegraph, which flashes intelligence across a continent, and exchanges messages between kingdoms in the twinkling of an eye;-and, compared to which, the flying car degenerates into a lazy, lagging, creeping John Trot of a traveler, arriving with his news after it had become stale with age. All this commerce, in a stream so much larger, with a domestic road for its track, your own laws to protect it, with conveyances so rapid, and security so complete, lies at your acceptance. That which Jew and Gentile fought for before the age of Christianity, and for which Christians have fought both Jew and Gentile, and fought each other, and with the Saracen for an ally: all this is now at your acceptance, and by the beneficent process of making a road, which, when made, will be a private fortune, as well as a public benefaction-a facility for individuals, as well as for the Government. Any other nation, upon half a pretext, would go to war for such a road, and tax unborn generations for its completion. We may have it without war, without tax, without treaty with any nation; and when we make it, all nations NEW SERIES.-No. 6. Pacific Railroad-Mr. Benton. must travel it-with our permission-and behave well to receive permission, or fall behind and lose the trade by following the old track; giving us a bond in the use of our road for their peaceable behavior. Twenty-five centuries have fought for the commercial road to India; we have it as a peaceable possession. Shall we use it? or wear out our lives in strife and bitterness, wrangling over a miserable topic of domestic contention, while a glorious prize lies neglected before us? Vasco de Gama-in the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, and the opening of a new route to India, independent of Mussulman power-eclipsed, in his day, the glory of Columbus, balked in the discovery of his well-divined route by the intervention of a new world. Let us vindicate the glory of Columbus by realizing his divine idea of arriving in the east by going to the west. The enterprise would be a trifle to the wealth and resources of our business population-only some thirteen hundred miles of road over ground the most favorable, and under skies the most auspicious, and with material the most abundant and convenient; and the prices of labor and of iron returning to reasonable rates. More than half the distance is smooth prairie, to cost no more than railways in the prairies of Illinois: the remainder is nearly level-only slight undulations-with an almost total exemption from the high-cuttings, deep fillings-up, long bridgings and tunnelings, which constitute the gravity of the expense of railroad making. Say a fourth more than the cost of Illinois prairie road, (the wide gauge being understood,) and you have but $20,000 to the mile-$26,000,000 for the whole. What is that to the resources of our business populations? There are many, twenty-six men, in our extended Union who could build the road themselves-and own it, as their private and princely estate-themselves and their posterity after them. HO. OF REPS. way for a good road, and a good country to sustain people to protect and support it-and law and government to guard it-and settlements nearly all the way already began; and to multiply with magic rapidity. Then let us begin-take the first step, which is always the most difficult. My plan is, to get this substitute bill passed, which Congress may pass without constitutional scruple, confined as it is to territorial domain, giving to the citizens whose names it contains, their successors, associates and assigns, a right of way in one mile wide through the public lands in Kansas and Utah, on each side of the road, and a year's delay to obtain that practical information which business men must always have, before they undertake any great enterprise-building the road at their own expense, and without other aid from the Federal Government than that of its custom, paying for its accommodation by an ar|| rangement not yet matured. I repeat, I am willing to vote the same privilege to any other company, but have no idea of squandering the public lands upon speculators, either to make a bubble stock upon the exchange of New York and London, or to build a private road for themselves at the national expense, and then tax the nation for traveling upon it. || I do not expatiate upon the home advantages of a railway to the Pacific; it has become a necessity, the urgency of which is universally admitted. I enforce another advantage, not so immediate, but obvious to the thinking mind, and important to America, Europe, and Asia; and which, in changing a channel of rich commerce, may have its effect upon the wealth and power of nations, and operate a change in the maritime branch of national wars: I allude to the East India trade, (already incidentally touched upon,) and the change of its channel from the water to the land; and the effect of that change in nullifying the maritime supremacy of naval powers by making Continents, instead of oceans, the great theatres of international commerce. No events in the history of nations have had a greater effect on the relative wealth and power of nations, than the changes which have been going on for near three thousand years in the channels of Asiatic commerce. During that time nations have risen and fallen, as they possessed or lost that commerce. Events announce Safety as well as profit-security as well as policy-protection against calamity, as well as prospective good-require the construction of this road. What sustains and stimulates the national industry at this time? California gold! that gold, the weekly arrival of which is the life's blood of our daily industry! and one month's default of which would be the paralysis of our financial, commercial, and industrial world. And how do we receive that gold now? Over foreign seas, and across foreign territory, and after a circuit of six thousand milesliable to be cut off at any moment by the cruisers and privateers (to say nothing of fleets) of any Power with which we might be at war; and several specks of that portentous cloud now appear above the line of our political horizon. And this is the place for these political considerations. Such considerations address themselves to the political power; and that political power is here. Congress is charged with the protection of the national interests, and ships, and troops, and missions, are put in requisition for that purpose. A readier, a cheaper, a more effectual mode of protection to that commerce which belongs to the Pacific-East centered there before the captivity of the Jews which comes from California-would be to make this road through our own territory-placing it beyond the reach of foreign depredation; and, at the same time, making it a means of keeping the Indians themselves in order. Pliny the elder, accounting for the commercial prosperity of some ancient cities, attributed it to their form of government-republican;-and because that form admitted the greatest freedom of enterprise. The moderns have seen the truth of this profound remark in later times-seen it in Italy, in Holland, and in various parts of our America. We are a republic, and a great one; and our fathers have given proof of the truth of Pliny's axiom in the success and extent of their commercial undertakings. Their sons have not degenerated. The maxim of Pliny is not disparaged. The numerous Mercantile Library Associations which cover our country-their ample list of members and well filled libraries, and laudable spirit of improvement-give earnest of future eminence, and of useful and honorable careers, rivaling their fathers, and justifying the axiom of Pliny. They will not let the road flag; they will not lose the East India trade. All they want is information about the road, and I have endeavored to give it. I have brought the facts, | carefully assured, to show that there is a good || the forthcoming of a new change. The land becoming a facility and the ocean an obstacle to foreign trade, must have an effect upon Europe, coterminous upon Asia, and upon America separated from it by a western sea over which no European power can dominate. I confine myself to the American branch of the question, and glance at the past to get an insight into the future. I look to former channels of this Asiatic commercetheir changes the effects of the changes; and infer from what has been, what may be-from what is, to what will be. I. The Phenician route.-Tyre, queen of cities, was its first emporium. The commerce of the in Babylon, upwards of six hundred years before the coming of Christ. Nebuchadnezar, king of Babylon, conquered Tyre and razed it to its foundations; but he was no statesman-merely a destroyer-and did not found a rival city; and the continuance of the India trade quickly restored the queen of cities to all her former degrees of preeminence and power. Alexander the Great conquered her again. He was a statesman, and knew how to build up, as well as how to pull down, and looked to commerce for exalting and enriching that magnificent empire which his war genius was conquering. He founded a rival city on the coast of Egypt, better adapted to the trade; and the prophecy of Ezekiel became fulfilled on Tyre! She became a place for fishermen to dry their nets. II. The Jewish route.-In the time of Solomon and David, the Jews succeeded to the East India trade, made it a leading subject of their policy, and became rich and powerful upon it. Jerusa lem rivalled Nineveh and Babylon; and Palmyra, a mere thoroughfare in their trade, in the midst of a desert, became the seat of power and opulence, of oriental magnificence, and the centre of the arts and sciences. The Jews lost that trade, and Jerusalem became as a widow in the wilderness, and Palmyra a den for foxes and Arabs. III. The Alexandrian route.-This was opened by Alexander the Great-its course along the carry commerce, without protection, to every part IV. The Constantinopolitan route.-This became fully established in the time of the Greek Empire, and during the two hundred years of the crusade irruptions; and to which the enlightened part of the crusaders greatly contributed. For, while a religious frenzy operated upon the masses, the extension of their trade with India was the systematic, persevering and successful policy of all liberal and enlightened minds, availing themselves of that frenzy to promote and establish the commerce upon the possession of which the supremacy of nations depended. It was fully established; and the long and tedious transit across the Black Sea to the mouth of the Phases, up that river to a portage of five days to the Cyrus, down that river to the Caspian Sea, across it to the mouth of the Oxus, up it nine hundred miles to Samarcand (once Alexandria) the limit of Alexander's march to the northeast; and after this long travel, an overland journey of ninety days, on the Bactrian camel, to the confines of China commenced. Such was this extended route. Yet it was upon this route, so extended and perilous, that Europe was supplied with East India goods for several centuries-the profits of the trade being so great that after its arrival at Constantinople, it could still come on to Italy, and even round to Bruges (Brussells) and to Antwerp. It was upon this route that the Genoese established their great commerce, gaining permanent establishments, with great privileges, at Constantinople, (its suburb Pera,) and in that Crimea, then resplendent with wealth, since impoverished, now the scene of bloody strife; and of which the issue would be fortunate, if it restored the Crimea to what it was when Caffa was as celebrated as Sebastopol is now, and celebrated for streams of commerce instead of streams of blood. But, to this route of Constantinople the Cape of Good Hope passage became as fatal as it was to that of Alexandria. V. The Ocean route.-It has been the line of the East India trade since the close of the fifteenth century, and must have continued to be so forever, if a marvel had not been wrought, and the land become the facility-the ocean the obstacle-to commerce. All the Powers that have land for distant communications must now betake themselves to the steam car. Why contend with ships for the dominion of the sea, when both the ships and the sea are to be superceded? Take the case of Russia. She has been one hundred and fifty years building up a navy-to become useless the first day it was wanted! Not only useless, but an incumbrance and a burthen-requiring impregnable forts, and vast armies, and murderous battles to protect and to save it save it from going to swell the enemy's fleet, and be turned against its builders. Why build any more ships when there is the land to our route, and dispensing us from the maintenance Pass the substitute which I propose, and you AMERICANISM. Ho. OF REPS. and Whig parties. True, the Democratic party claimed to be national in their views upon the subject of slavery, and styled itself the natural ally" of the South. But what have we witnessed? The great question of the repeal of the "Missouri compromise," (a compromise by which the South believed it was wronged, and by the repeal of which the North believed that it was wronged,) was everywhere demonstrated by the recent elections, that neither the Democratic party nor Whig party can claim to be national upon this great and momentuous question. And the irresistible conclusion to which my mind was led (although not endowed with extraordinary political sagacity) was, that we were fast hastening to a contest, the very mention of which, in the earlier and better days of the republic, would have filled the heart of every patriot with horror and amazement; I mean a purely sectional contest, a contest, which although avowedly for political power, might have ended in a dissolution of the Union, accompanied with all the horrors of civil war-aye, sir, of a "bellum plusquam civile." We witnessed in this House, not long since, a specimen of the spirit of sectionalism, which influenced some of its most distinguished members. The gentleman from Georgia [Mr. STEPHENS,] (and I question not his right to do so,) thought proper, upon the proposition of Mr. MACE, of Indiana, to enter into an examination and comparison of the relative progress made between the southern and northern States in moral, social, and physical development; and the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. CAMPBELL] SPEECH OF HON. A. R. SOLLERS, took up the gage thus thrown down by the gen OF MARYLAND, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The House being in the Committee of the Whole Mr. SOLLERS said: Mr. CHAIRMAN: I promised, some time since, to express, at some convenient period, my opinions in reference to the principles of what is called the "Know-Nothing" party, but which is, in truth, the National or Native American Association; and I avail myself of this occasion to do so, because, while I shall be able, I hope, in the hour allotted to me, to spread before this committee and the country, what I believe to be its principles and its objects; I trust I shall be also able to defend it against the fiery assaults of the honorable gentleman from South Carolina, [Mr. KEITT,] and the deliberate and elaborate charges of the gentleman from Mississippi, [Mr. BARRY.] Sir, I listened attentively to these two distinguished gentlemen in their terrible onslaught on this obscure, despised, abject association, an association of their own countrymen, "bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh," and I confess I have heard nothing from either, which, in the slightest degree, has shaken my confidence, either in the correctness of its principles, or the great and glorious objects which it is destined to achieve for the country. I will not take up arms against my own countrymen; and when the question is presented to me, in a contest between the native-born citizens of my country and foreigners, and that contest involves the political supremacy of the one over the other, I answer, I side with my own countrymen. tleman from Georgia, and in defence of the nonslaveholding States, (by instituting a comparison between the State of Ohio, the giant of the west, and the State of Georgia) endeavored to show that the section from which he came, had made more progress in all the arts of civilization; and, that in its moral, social, and physical condition, it was far ahead of and superior to the State of Georgia. Of one thing, at least, I was convinced, by this contest between the two gentlemen-that Georgia was a great State, and that Ohio was a great State also. But shall I not rejoice in the prosperity of both? Are they not both members of a common family? If the State of Ohio has, with unexampled rapidity, attained so lofty a position in the Confederacy; if, by the industry of her hardy sons, she has become the granary, the Egypt, of the Union, be it so. It is no matter of regret, but of rejoicing with me; and if the State of Georgia (contrary to the theory of Abolitionists, that a State cannot be great and prosperous if slavery is tolerated by its laws) presents the highest type of civilization, be it so. Sincerely do I rejoice that it is so. But, for myself, I deprecate these unnecessary and odious comparisons. Although representing the largest slaveholding interest in Maryland, I have never deemed it my duty to enter into a comparison of my own State with any other, or to defend the institution of slavery, here or elsewhere. It is where the framers of the Constitution placed it. I will not defend it, by endeavoring to show that it is of Divine origin, and a patriarchal institution." If you ask me by what right I hold my slaves, I point you to the Constitution. If you ask me by what arguments I will defend my right to them, I will answer, as the Scotch earl did his terrified monarch, by showing him his naked sword. If, in disregard of the plainest injunctions of the Constitution, you are determined to invade the ་་ I know well, sir, how difficult it is to break up old political ties and associations. It often involves the rupture of personal ties, and parties originally formed from similarity in political views, are main-rights of your southern brethren, if you are willtained by considerations purely personal, and not unfrequently by motives of personal interest and advancement. Look at the two old parties. Nearly every question that originally divided them has been swept away. The question of the establishment of a Bank of the United States has been long since settled, never, I believe, to be revived. The question of the tariff has been adjusted, or at least its principles so well settled that no one ever dreams of making it a party question. The question of how the public lands shall be disposed of, has ceased to be a party question; for, although not yet adjusted, the conflicting views entertained by individuals attached to both the old parties, has taken it from the arena of party conflict; and so of every other question that formerly divided the Democratic ing to hazard the existence of the Union in such a contest, then I say to my northern friends, that we will meet you at Mason's and Dixon's line, and not as formerly, as friends and brothers. "But we'll come with banner, brand, and bow, As chieftain mects his mortal foe."" But I anticipate no such contest as this, no such overwhelming calamity for my country at this time at least. A party has sprung into existence, if not like Minerva from the head of Jove full armed, at least in its infancy, it possesses the strength of Hercules, to crush all parties and factions hostile to the integrity of this Union. It knows no North, it knows no South, no East, no West. If it is said to be exclusive because it prefers its own countrymen to foreigners, I thank Heaven it is national 33r CONG....2D SESS. enough to cover all parts of this wide spread Confederacy. The gentleman from South Carolina tells us that the main objection to it, is, that it has the "tendency to destroy State's rights and bring about a unity of the States." I deny that it seeks to destroy the rights of the States. If the gentleman has any better authority than I hold in my hand, to support his charge, let him produce it. I read from the American Organ: "We shall maintain and defend the Constitution as it stands, the Union as it exists, and the rights of the States, without diminution, as guaranteed thereby opposing at all times, and to the extent of our ability and influence, all who may assail them, or either of them.". No, sir, it does not seek to destroy or impair the rights of the States; but to uphold and defend them. But, I thank the gentleman for the word "it nerves my arm, it steels my sword." It does seek to bring about a unity of these States. It does, with one hand, uphold the rights of the States, and with the other, the integrity of the Union. It believes there are fanatics at the South as well as at the North; and, if I know anything of its principles, it would place them side by side, and hang them all as high as Haman. And, since the gentleman has been pleased to tell us what the Native American party intended to do, I will tell him what they do not intend to do. It does not intend to permit, in its creed, the detestable doctrine of nullification, or that a State has the right to set aside a law passed by Congress, and after it has been determined by a judicial tribunal that it is constitutional; a tribunal to the establishment of which, they themselves assented, and to which they agreed to submit questions of constitutional law. They do not intend to admit into their creed the ridiculous doctrine that, upon the question of internal improvement by Government, a law passed by Congress would be unconstitutional, if the river, to which the law applied, passed through one State, but would be constitutional, if it. passed through three. In a word, it does not intend to quibble about the letter of the Constitution with the affectation of a prude, and violate its provisions with the effrontery of a prostitute. Mr. KEITT. Does the gentleman from Maryland mean that his words shall have a personal application? Mr. SOLLERS.. No, sir. I disclaim it altogether. I am speaking of South Carolina politics, and I will denounce them when and where I choose. Sir, it may, perhaps, be owing to the peculiar geographical position of Maryland, but there are no fanatics to be found within her borders. Remembering the toils and sacrifices she made to establish this Union-remembering the blood spilt by her glorious old "line" on every battle-field of the Revolution-she, in good or evil report, will stand by the Union as it is, and the Constitution as it is. [Applause.] And this, sir, is what the American party means to do. It intends to let slavery remain where the Constitution placed it, recognizing neither the doctrine of pro-slavery on the one hand, nor abolition on the other. Mr. GIDDINGS, of Ohio. I desire permission of the gentleman from Maryland to ask him a question. I wish to know whether, upon the principles of the Constitution, the Know-Nothings would restore freedom to Kansas? Mr. SOLLERS. I will never take the construction of the gentleman from Ohio on any point of constitutional law. Mr. GIDDINGS. Then the gentleman backs out. Mr. SOLLERS. I do not back out, but I do most cheerfully retire from such a contest. would just as soon think of entering into a contest with a pregnant woman. [Laughter.] Having stated, according to my information, derived from sources as good, at least, as those of its opponents, that one of the principles of the Native American party is, to stand by and maintain the Union of these States, I proceed to a consideration of another one of its principles equally as important to the maintaining of the Union; nay, sir, the very existence of the Government itself. You anticipate me, no doubt, sir. I mean its intense nationality, which is its very life blood. Whatever may be said of that sublime doctrine of universal philanthropy, which includes all nations Americanism-Mr. Sollers. and all people-however beautiful it may seemI venture to assert that, with the exception of a few cracked-brained philosophers, it never had an existence. The gentleman from Mississippi tells us that, as nations progress in civilization, national lines are obliterated; the difference between nations in social habits and in political opinions are lost; and just in proportion as their habits and opinions are amalgamated, and become homogeneous, is the progress of civilization. I pretend not to quote his words. That is the idea. Now, is this proposition correct? Can it be sustained by les sons taught in ancient or modern history? Take the most ancient people, the Jews-a people blessed with the peculiar favor of the Almighty; set aside from other nations as a peculiar people; the especial recipients of His favors and His goodnessthey were not only given a country, but its very lines and boundaries were fixed by Him. They were taught separate manners, and separate and distinct laws were made for their government. They must have presented at the time the very highest type of civilization, and because of their disobedience and rebellion against His laws, the heaviest malediction that could fall upon a nation was pronounced against them, and they are wanderers upon the face of the earth without a country or a home. They have no country; they have no nationality. The city of Rome, founded by Romulus, and peopled originally by adventurers from surrounding nations, grew into a mighty republic, and just in proportion to its progress and civilization, was its nationality developed, and they, the descendants of thieves and adventurers, assumed the proud name of Roman-a name feared and respected throughout the world. But let us examine this doctrine by the light of reason, as well as by the lights of history. We know that nations-Governments-are formed by slow and gradual processes. The nucleus of a nation is the family-the home,Nomadic tribes have no home. From the family circle the community is formed-formed for mutual defense and for the protection of the weak against the strong; laws are made for their government; a government is formed, its jurisdiction is established, its boundaries marked out, and you have a nation, and a national sentiment is created. Now, invert all this-first break down one barrier and then another; the nation, the government, the home, the family circle, and you have either barbarism or fourierism. Now, sir, if, as I think I have shown, that the sentiment of nationality is one which increases or becomes intensified as civilization progresses, that it is, in fact, the very offspring of civilization, that it is honorable among all people; why should not we, the native-born citizens, be permitted to entertain it in its fullest measure towards and for this beautiful country of ours, and its unrivalled form of Government? The land of the lakes and of the cataracts, of the lofty mountains and majestic rivers, of the gay savannah and the blooming prairie; the land of stupendous forests and boundless plains; the land of gold and silver, compared to which the sands of the fabled Pactolus are as nothing; a land so broad that it takes the sun a whole day in his diurnal circuit to light up "The land of the free, and the home of the brave." Why, I ask, shall we, born here, reared here, not be permitted to call it "Our own, our native land." Now, springing out of this sentiment of nationality, as a necessary consequence, is a disposition not to permit others to share with us equally all the privileges which, as natives of such a country, we enjoy. We do not say to foreigners, you shall not come here, under certain restrictions. We do not say that, if, feeling the oppressions and tyrannies of despotic forms of Government, in the Old World, you desire to come here, (where you can be protected in the rights of person and property,) you shall not come; but this we say, that, when you come, you must not expect to be permitted to form our laws, or to exercise any power in the administration of our Government. We tell you in advance, that we are determined that" Americans shall govern America." I know, sir, it has frequently been asked why, up to this period, we have permitted foreigners to come to this country, and sanctioned the exercise Ho. OF REPS. by them of political privileges which you now deny them? My answer is, that immigration has so increased in the last ten years, that there is the most serious apprehension that they will become the ruling power in the United States; and, if we do not check them now, they will usurp the whole power and authority of the Government. I have not time to read you all the statistical facts upon this subject, but the following table will be found to be correct: From 1790 to 1810......?. 120,000 114,000 203,979 762,369 1,521,850 Now, assuming this statement to be correct, I ask you if it does not present a most alarming state of things. Here is an aggregate for the last ten years of 5,051,000, and when we consider the causes now in operation in the Old World, the wars that are raging, and the scarcity of food that must be produced by the diverting of so much agricultural labor from the culture of the earth, and, when we consider, too, that millions are pouring in upon us from China and Japan, I ask you if it is not time that something should be done to arrest this overwhelming tide of immigration from every country under the sun? If you do not do it, sir, this tiny stream which, from 1790 to 1810, a space comprising two decades, or twenty years, was only twelve thousand, will swell into an ocean stream that will sweep away your Government, its laws, usages, and the very name of American will be no more known among the nations of the earth. Again, sir, another alarming fact connected with foreign immigration is the immense influx of convicts and paupers among us. In the early history of immigration, those who sought an asylum among us, were, for the most part, hardy and industrious mechanics, artisans, and laborers, who, groaning under the weight of exactions and oppressions of various kinds, came over to better their fortunes under the genial influence of our beneficent laws. But, now, the character of the immigrants is totally changed. Instead of men of high character for honesty and integrity, the refuse of jails and prisons annually pour their thousands upon our shores, in one fætid stream of corruption and villany. Nay, sir, it has become, with foreign Governments, a part of their domestic policy to send them to us, as at once the cheapest and most effectual means of getting rid of them. I read from an article taken from a respectable journal, containing an official circular of a commissary of a department in Belgium, to the proper authorities having in charge the subject of immigration to this country: [No. 1,898.] CIRCULAR. LIEGE, (Belgium,) March 14, 1854. Emigrants for the United States-Transportation. GENTLEMEN: The transports for emigrants for the United States will take their departure from Antwerp. A large number of vessels are prepared already to leave at various periods of this month. A certain number of liberated prisoners from Vilvorde, and from several poor-houses, (depot de mendicite,) are on the point of departing. The price of the passage, all expenses included, is 180 francs, which sum should be paid in advance at the bureau of the Governor of the Province. I beg you to let me know, as soon as possible, if your district has any passengers to be forwarded. Each individual should be sent to the jail (maison d'arret) of Antwerp, and have in his possession simply a certificate on the following model: "The Burgomaster of the district of, Province of Liege, (Belgium,) certifies that (give the age, place of birth, parentage,) is unmarried." Again, sir. Instead of the industrious and thrifty immigrants, who formerly came to this country, thousands of paupers are annually sent over by foreign Governments, in accordance with the same rule of policy. I find in a table, furnished by the Census Bureau, that there were in 1850, 134,000 paupers who received support, and of these 68,000 were foreigners, and but 66,000 natives; and further, to show the character of foreign immigrants: I find in the same table that there were in the same year, 1850, 27,000 convictions for criminal offences in our criminal courts, and of this number 14,000 were foreigners, and but 1,300 natives; and this you will observe in a native population, at that time, of 21,000,000, while the foreign population only amounted to something less than 3,000,000. "Can such things pass o'er us, like a summer's dream, without exciting our special wonder?" I beg gentlemen to look these facts in the face, and prepare a remedy while we have it in our power to do so; for, sir, it is the duty of statesmen to prepare for emergencies before they actually occur. I have, thus, sir, endeavored briefly to set forth some of the principles of the American party, and I hasten to consider some of the charges brought by its opponents against it. The principal charge brought against the American party, both by the gentleman from Mississippi and the gentleman from South Carolina was, that it was a secret organization; and, to judge from the manner this particular feature in the organization was treated by them, one was inclined to think that there was some awful unknown element of explosion within their "dark subterranean vaults," (I use the language of the honorable gentleman from South Corolina,) whose fuse, touched by an unknown hand, would blow up the whole Government, as Guy Fawkes intended to blow up the Parliament House, Commons, Lords and all. I began to think myself that, after all, I had misunderstood the whole matter, and that there was some dark conspiracy against the Government; but, happily, the honorable gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. BARRY] entirely relieved me by stating with a gravity that became so important a subject," that it was only an attempt to overthrow the Administration." Mr. Chairman, permit me to relieve the honorable gentleman from Mississippi. I assure him, with a sincerity which I trust he will not doubt, that the Native American party, in the objects it seeks to accomplish, has never considered the Administration as one of the obstacles in its way. No, sir, no; the American party will not strike a fallen foe, but rather desires to meet a foeman worthy of its steel." It is true, it might complain of the Administration, in appointing so many foreigners as diplomatic agents of this Government; but still it inclines rather to mercy than to vengeance. But let us examine this matter of secrecy. Are honorable gentlemen really alarmed at it; or do they speak of it only for the purpose of alarming others? Is it the first time they have heard of secret associations? Why, sir, they have existed from the foundation of the Government, and, I may say, from the commencement of the world. In despotic Governments, it is true, they do not exist, neither does freedom of the press or freedom of thought exist. But, do you tell me that, in this free Republic, the people have no right to meet in secret, and deliberate upon political questions. Where, I beg to know, can you find any article in the Constitution of the Government or of the States, or any law in either, that denies them the right to do so? And if they are thus permitted by the Constitutions and the laws of both General and State Governments, how dare you to endeavor to deprive them of it? Do not gentlemen see that, while they argue that secrecy in political associations is in violation of the spirit of theConstitution, they themselves are attempting to deprive the people of a clear and acknowledged constitutional privilege? Is this, sir, the first secret political association ever formed in this country? I think, if I do not greatly misapprehend the history of the transaction, the celebrated Boston tea party was a secret Americanism-Mr. Sollers. association. If I have not greatly misunderstood the character of that remarkable affair, it was not only secret in its organization, secret in its trans. actions, secret in its resolves, but secret in carrying out and effecting its purposes. For, disguised as Indians, its members boarded the British vessels; disguised as Indians, they threw the tea from their decks into the harbor of Boston; and disguised as Indians, they returned in safety and in triumph. from their heroic and patriotic enterprise. And is this the only secret political association that has existed in this country since that period? Why, sir, there has not existed a political party in "the country, that has not, in some degree, subjected itself to this charge of secrecy. In secret have all parties met to nominate their candidates for office. In secret have they met through their representatives to mature measures for their respective parties. In county caucuses, in State caucuses, in congressional caucuses, has the principle of secrecy entered. Why, sir, I hold in my hand at this moment the Union, the organ of the Democratic party, in which there is a call for a secret meeting, or caucus, in one of the rooms of this Capitol. Will they admit me or any one not of that party to its deliberations? No, sir, it is secret, and their deliberations never will be known. Is it said the principles of the Native American party are secret? I deny it. They have gone all over the country on all the wings of all the winds; and permit me to say further, sir, if those principles are not known, how happens it that honorable gentlemen get up here to attack them? Are they willing to put themselves in the ridiculous position of fighting shadows? All this outery against the secrecy of the organization, is made for effect, to alarm the people, or if they do speak sincerely, (and I am willing to allow that they do,) they are themselves the victims of a most unnecessary panic. Believe me, no dreadful plot is meditated, no treason is intended, no machinations formed, unless, indeed, it be treason to dethrone old fogies of both parties, and place the Government in the hands of men who will carry out their principles, and restore the Government to its original purity and vigor. But again, sir, it is charged against the American party, that what they propose to do is but reviving the alien and sedition laws, and that Mr. Jefferson was elected President of the United States upon the bitter opposition which these laws met with through this country, and that he showed his hostility to any attempt made to persecute foreigners, by proposing, in his first message to Congress, to repeal them, and to limit the time within which they could exercise the right of citizenship to five years, instead of nine. Sir, we all know that Mr. Jefferson, anterior to that time, had declared, in the strongest language, his bitter hostility to the influx of foreigners into this country. In his notes on Virginia, he says: "They (the foreigners) will bring with them the principles of the Governments they have imbibed in early youth; or, if able to throw them off, it will be in exchange for an unbounded licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to another. It would be a miracle were they to stop precisely at the point of temperate liberty. Their principles, with their language, they will transmit to their children. In proportion to their number, they will share with us in the legislation. They will infuse into it their spirit, warp and bias its direction, and render it a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass. I may appeal to experience, during the present contest, for a verification of those conjectures; but if they are not certain in event, are they not possible, are they not probable? Is it not safer to wait with patience for the attainment of population desired or expected? May not our Government be more homogeneous, more peaceable, more durable?" On another occasion he penned this memorable paragraph: "I hope we may find some means in future of shielding ourselves from foreign influence-political, commercial, or in whatever form it may be attempted. I wish there were an ocean of fire between this and the Old World." Does any man imagine that in so short a time Mr, Jefferson could have changed his views upon so important a subject? No, sir. Mr. Jefferson had been elected by a combination of nearly every foreigner in the country with the Democratic party, and out of gratitude to them he lessened the term of their probation. I appeal to my friend, [Mr. BENTON,] the last of "patres conscripti," (and who knows, I do verily believe, more of the history of the Government than all other men now living,) if I have not stated Ho. OF REPS. the case correctly. And, since I am speaking of the opinions of distinguished men, permit me, sir, to refer to the opinion of General Washington; and 1 ask those who now abuse the American party for its hostility to foreigners to listen. George Washington, in a letter addressed to Governeur Morris, dated White Plains, July 24, 1778, said: "Baron Steuben, I now find, is also wanting to quit his inspectorship for a command in the line. This will be productive of much discontent. In a word, though I think the Baron an excellent officer, I do most devoutly wish we had not a single foreigner among us, except the Marquis de Lafayette, who acts upon very different principles from those which govern the rest." In another letter, dated Philadelphia, November 17, 1794, and addressed to the elder Adams, the Pater Patrix said: "My opinion with respect to immigration is, except of useful mechanics, and some particular descriptions of men and professions, there is no need of encouragement." Again, a letter from the same hand, dated from his residence, January 20, 1790, in reply to a letter applying for office, has this passage:" "It does not accord with the policy of this Government to bestow offices, civil or military, upon foreigners, to the exclusion of our citizens." And Mr. Madison, animated with the same spirit, thus said: "Foreign influence is a Grecian horse to the Republicwe cannot be too careful to exclude its entrance." Constitution, beholding with the sagacity of a Mr. Webster, too, the great defender of the statesman, and almost with the vision of a seer, the great evils that were about to fall upon the country, declared in that clear and concise style for which he was remarkable: "That there is an imperative necessity for reforming the naturalization laws of the United States." And, sir, last, but not least, in many of the characteristics of a great man, (I pray you gentlemen Democrats, give ear,) I read you the opinion of General Andrew Jackson: "It is time that we should become a little more Americanized, and instead of feeding the paupers and laborers of England, feed our own; or else, in a short time, by our present policy, we should be paupers ourselves." Are these not sufficient? Will you have the hardihood to set your opinions against the opinions of men like these? You may, if you choose, but if the authorities are weighed, I incline to believe they will be found to be on the side of Native Americanism. But it is said, in further charge against the American party, that it wages war against the Roman Catholics. Sir, if I understand it, it wages no war against any religion. It does war against the union of Church and State, against the mingling of religion with politics. It does war against the principle that a man may exercise all the rights of an American citizen, and, at the same time, owe allegiance to a foreign prince or potentate. But it wars against no man for his religious opinions. That is my understanding of the principles of the American party upon this subject. If you know more about it than I do, it is my misfortune, not my fault. But, it is said, again, that this question partakes of the nature of the organization of labor. I fear that gentlemen are carried away by elastic imagination, or that they are uttering subtleties which my poor brain cannot comprehend. How organization of labor? If it means anything, it means this-that Americans do not wish foreign labor to come in competition with theirs. Well, upon my soul, I can see no great harm in this; it is at least a reasonable wish, and, for myself, I do not hesitate to avow, if such should be one of the objects sought to be attained by the American party, I should not be less devoted to it on that account. But the gentleman from Mississippi tells us, that the North having imported foreigners for the purpose of constructing their railroads and canals, are now willing to prevent further immigration, since they have constructed them. Sir, I know this is an argument very often used in favor of the foreign population, particularly of one portion, the Irish; and I acknowledge that they, for the most part constitute the laborers upon our public works. But I know that native citizens have also worked upon railroads and canals, for I have seen them there. But, is the whole credit of constructing those gigantic canals, upon |