sand inhabitants in that country, and that they are distributed in compact settlements, although distant from each other, has obviated my objections to the immediate establishment of a territorial government over them.

I think, however, the remarks of my honorable friend from South Carolina, in regard to having yielded so large a portion of the territory originally belonging to that section of the country, from which five States were to be made, and five only, for the purpose of forming a new and additional State, is an evidence of the liberality of that section of the country in which I live. I am not disposed to oppose the formation of any such States, if of reasonable dimensions, although their formation might be supposed to operate in some degree against what is supposed to be the particular interests of my section of the country. I wish the same feeling actuated other quarters of this Union, in regard to the establishment of territorial governments over sections of the country, where there are at this time ten times as many inhabitants as Minnesota now contains. But such is not the case, and I deeply regret it. Mr. DODGE, of Iowa. Mr. President, I wish to say a few words in reply to my friend from Alabama. We know the Senator from Alabama. We know him well, as one of our best friends. We know him as an enlightened and liberal statesman, who soars above all the petty and sectional prejudices which have wellnigh plunged our country into a civil war. As regards the feelings to which the Senator has referred, entertained in some sections of this Union in relation to the organization of territorial governments over certain Territories, belonging to this country, I can say, for one, that I shall be found voting on all occasions in favor of the organization of governments in our new Territories, being willing to risk the small popularity which I now enjoy in the promotion of what I may consider the general good of this whole country. As to this matter of boundary, I will state that Wisconsin would have gladly retained all that portion of the territory embaced in the ordinance of 1787, which was at first assigned to her. That portion of her territory was not set off because it was the choice of her people, but because the Congress of the United States dismembered her territory, and curtailed her limits. I am sorry that the views of the Senator from Alabama with regard to Iowa and Wisconsin did not prevail at that time. If we have obtained too much elbow room it is not our fault, and if injustice has been done to Wisconsin by curtailing her limits, I hope the same injustice will not be done to Minnesota by cutting off that portion of her territory which was originally embraced in the ordinance of 1787, and thus curtail her just limits and restrict her boundaries.

Mr. BADGER. Mr. President, I would inquire of the honorable Senator who reported this bill, what its provisions are? I would like to know if it is similar to other territorial bills

[30TH CONG.

that have been extended to the inhabitants of other sections of our country. I think this is clearly a case calling for a territorial government, but I would like to know how many officers it is proposed to give to these ten thousand people.

Mr. DOUGLAS. It strikes me that the provi sions of this bill are the same as those of the bill by which a territorial government was extended to Wisconsin when she had not so many inhabitants as Minnesota now has. It provides for precisely the same form of government as was extended to Iowa when she had not so many inhabitants as Minnesota, and precisely the same government as was extended to Oregon when she had about the same number of inhabitants that Minnesota now has, to wit: & territorial government with a small legislative body, a governor, a district attorney and judges, a marshal, and other necessary officers. The bill provides for the simplest form of a territorial government, and does not contain a single peculiar provision.

The bill was ordered to its engrossment, read a third time, by unanimous consent, and passed.

WEDNESDAY, January 24.

Admission of California.

Mr. DOUGLAS moved to postpone the previous orders, and to take up the bill for the admission of California into the Union as a State.

Mr. NILES. If we take up this bill, we must necessarily postpone the bill that was up the other day relating to the reduction of postage, and which was made the special order prior to this bill. And we all know that if we take up this bill, and enter upon the debate, it will probably consume the whole of the session, and will preclude the opportunity of acting upon the bill to which I have referred. I feel it my duty, therefore, to take the sense of the Senate upon the motion to take up the bill.

Mr. DOUGLAS. I trust that the honorable Senator will allow the bill to be taken up at this time. It has been before the Senate since the first week of the session, and has been postponed from time to time, with the general understanding that it should be acted upon at an early day. I do not think that it is going to occupy so much tine as the Senator imagines, I do not think it is going to take up a great deal of time. I hope at least that the Senator will allow it to be taken up, that we may ascertian whether it is likely that much time will be required for its discussion, and if that be the case, it can from time to time give place to other business, and among the rest to the bill which the Senator has named. I hope that my mo tion to take up the bill will prevail.

The question being put, a division was called for; and no quorum voting

Mr. NILES demanded the yeas and nays.
They were not ordered.

The question was again put, and, upon a division, it was decided in the affirmative: ayes 25, noes 11.

The bill was accordingly taken up for consideration as in Committee of the Whole.

Mr. DOUGLAS. I laid upon the Secretary's table the other day a substitute which I proposed to offer for the original bill. I now ask that the substitute be read, and that the vote be taken upon making the substitution of the one for the other, with the understanding that the substitute will be open for amendment as an original bill.

The bill proposed to be substituted was read by the Secretary.

The question being taken, the substitute was agreed to.

Mr. BUTLER. The only difficulty that I have upon the subject is this: I am willing to take up the bill as an original bill, but it seems to me that it would be highly proper that it should go to a committee, to be reported upon in the same manner as all original bills. If there was a reason for sending the original bill to a committee, I think the same reason exists why this should be referred either to the Committee on Territories or to the Judiciary Committee.

The VICE PRESIDENT. To which committee does the Senator propose that the bill shall be referred?

Mr. BUTLER. It seems to me it ought to go to the Judiciary Committee, the bill being for

the admission of a new State into the Union. Mr. DOUGLAS moved to refer the bill and proposed amendments to a select committee.

The VICE PRESIDENT. The first motion properly before the Senate is the one made by the Senator from South Carolina, (Mr. BUTLER,) to refer the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. BUTLER. I am opposed to the reference of this bill to a select committee; however, if gentlemen insist upon putting that motion, I will withdraw mine and give place to it.

The VICE PRESIDENT. The question before the Senate is upon the reference of this bill and proposed amendments to a select committee. The motion was then put and carried.

(JANUARY, 1849.

MONDAY, January 29.

Admission of California as a State.

Mr. DOUGLAS, from the Select Committee to which was referred the bill for the admission of California into the Union as a State, reported the following amendment thereto, viz:

Strike out all after the enacting clause, and insert the following:

That Congress doth consent that the portion of the territory of the United States which is included within the following limits, to wit: beginning in the Pacific Ocean on the parallel of forty-two degrees of north latitude; thence east on said parallel to the dividing ridge which separates the waters flowing into the Colorado River from those which flow into the Great Basin; thence along said dividing ridge to the point where it was crossed by Lieutenant Colonel John C. Frémont, in eighteen hundred and forty-four, as shown on the map of his explorasaid exploration, as shown on the map of said Frétion; thence south-westwardly along the line of mont's surveys, published by order of the Senate in eighteen hundred and forty-eight, to its intersection with the one hundred and seventeenth meridian of west longitude; thence in a direct line to the intersection of the Sierra Nevada Mountains with those of the west range; thence due west to the Pacific Ocean; thence along the coast, including the adjacent islands, to the place of beginning, shall be set apart as the territory of one State, and, upon the fulfilment of the conditions hereinafter contained, the same is hereby declared to be one of the States of this Union, by the name and style of the State of California, upon an equal footing with the unconditional reservation to the United States the original States in all respects whatsoever, with of all right of property in the public domain, and other property ceded to the United States by the treaty of peace concluded with the Republic of Mexico, February second, eighteen hundred and forty-eight, free from taxes, or assessments of any kind by said State, and also the power of disposing of the same, including the right of adjusting all claims and titles to lands derived from foreign Governments, in such manner as Congress shall pre

scribe.

Leave was granted accordingly. The VICE PRESIDENT appointed the following gentlemen as the special committee: Messrs. DOUGLAS, JOHNSON of Mayland, JONES of Iowa, CLAYTON of Delaware, DAVIS of Mississippi, BADGER of North Carolina, and NILES of Connecticut.

gates to a convention, for the purpose of forming a State constitution, and shall designate the time and place of holding the election in each district; appoint the officers to conduct the same, and prescribe the mode of making the returns thereof; and shall apportion the delegates, fifty in all, among to the number of legal voters in each; and he shall the several districts, as near as may be, according also designate the time and place for the assembling of said convention. Every white male citizen of the United States, including those who shall have become such under the provisions of the said treaty with Mexico, being actual residents of the proposed State, and having attained the age of

JANUARY, 1849.]

twenty-one years, shall be entitled to vote at said

election.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That so soon as said constitution and State Government shall

have been established, and the President of the United States officially notified thereof, he shall issue his proclamation declaring the said State of California to be one of the States of this Union, upon an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the laws of the United States, so far as they are not locally inapplicable, are hereby extended to and declared to be in force in said State, and until the next general census, the said State shall be entitled to one representative in the Congress of the United States. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That Congress doth consent that the portion of the territory of the United States which is bounded as follows, to wit: on the north by the forty-second parallel of north latitude, on the east by the summit of the Rocky Mountains and the State of Texas, on the south by the Republic of Mexico, and on the west by the proposed State of California and the Pacific Ocean, including the islands adjacent to the shore, shall become one of the States of this Union, by the name and style of the State of New Mexico, or such other name as the people thereof shall, in their constitution, adopt, upon an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatsoever, so soon as it shall contain the proper number of inhabitants, and they shall establish for themselves a constitution and republican form of State Government, the United States reserving to themselves all rights of property in the public domain, and other property ceded to the United States by the treaty concluded with the Republic of Mexico, on the second day of February, eighteen hundred and fortyeight, free from taxes and assessments of any kind by said State, and also the power of disposing of the same, including the right of adjudicating all claims and titles to lands derived from any foreign Government, in such manner as Congress shall pre

scribe.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the laws of the United States, so far as they are not locally inapplicable, are hereby extended to and declared to be in force in the country embraced within the limits of the said State of New Mexico.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this act.

WEDNESDAY, January 31.

Railroad across the Isthmus of Panama. The Senate resumed, as in Committee of the Whole, the consideration of the bill making compensation for the transportation of the naval and military stores across the Isthmus of Panama.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. Mr. President, in order to test the sense of the Senate upon the subject, I move to strike out the words "mails of the United States" in the ninth and tenth lines of the first section of the amendment; and I would state to the Senator from Illinois, that

[30TH CONG. retaining the words which I propose to strike out can have no good effect whatever, and may lead to mischief.

Mr. DOUGLAS. I will state to the Senate that my idea upon that point is this: If these words be stricken out, we shall have to pay for carrying the mails in addition to the sum now proposed; whereas, if they be left in, we shall not have to pay any thing in addition to the sum proposed in my amendment for carrying the mails. The only difference, therefore, is that, if this motion prevails, we shall have to pay more money than we would if the amendment proposed by the Senator from Kentucky should be rejected.

Mr. UNDERWOOD. The effect of my amend ment, if it prevails, will be this: According to the principle of the law which I have just read, this entire subject of the transportation of the mails of the United States is to be regulated by the Governments of the two countries, and not by the company. We must make an arrangement with the Government of New Granada in regard to this matter. If we do not do it, then, sir, the company which constructs the railroad will be compelled to do it; and if you retain the provision which I propose to strike out, you will impose upon them the obligation to make an arrangement for carrying our mails, when the Government of New Granada says it shall be regulated by treaties with foreign nations. By retaining this provision, you will throw the duty of making this arrangement upon the company, when the very face of the charter itself shows that the Government of New Granada have retained the right to make the arrangement with our Government. I think it best to leave this point, where the charter places it, to be settled by the two Governments, and, therefore, to test the sense of the Senate, I move to strike out that provision.

Mr. BENTON. Mr. President, I understand that the mails of the United States are to be carried across the isthmus over this road by a special agent, without the intervention of any post office whatsoever-taken across like any other freight. That is the manner in which the mails are now carried across, and it is expected that all freight will go exactly in the same way. It is for our own security that we have inserted the word "mails," to prevent the company from exacting any thing from us for carrying them in addition to the sum mentioned in the bill. We are perfectly satisfied if they go across in the same way in which the British mails go across the isthmus. The Government of New Granada is satisfied with the same, and it is therefore my opinion that there is no necessity for striking out the words which the Senator from Kentucky has read. And his conclusion is precisely the reverse of the conclusion at which I would arrive. He thinks that the striking out would do no harm, if it does no good; my conclusion is, that the staying in would do no harm. So that we have

come to directly contradictory conclusions. I think that our best course is to leave the words where they are. It will be time enough to settle this question with New Granada when it arises with that Government. But there is no expectation that the question will ever be raised. It is for our own security that we have inserted the word “mails,” as they do not come under the head of munitions of war or the other articles specified in the bill.

The question on the amendment proposed by Mr. UNDERWOOD was then taken, and the amendment was rejected.

Mr. ALLEN. It is very obvious, sir, that if it be the will of the Senate to pass this bill, embracing, as it does, an object of such magnitude, and promising to bring with it so many consequences, the Senate ought to go into a critical examination, not only of the general principle upon which it stands, but of the measure itself, in all of its details. This, sir, will be a matter of some labor, and will consume much of the time of the Senate, because many questions, relating to the details of this thing, must be made in the various propositions to amend. We are now, sir, past the middle of this short session, and, although I am not aware that we have any very extraordinary business demanding, for any extraordinary reasons, our prompt attention, still I think it would be a useless waste of time to enter into the discussion of all the questions arising upon the details of this measure, until we know something about the temper of the Senate towards the measure itself. Undoubtedly the proposition submitted by the Senator from Mississippi is founded in solid reason. If I comprehend the proposition, it is this: that the Government of the United States shall pay no more for the transportation of its men and property across the isthmus than other people pay for the transportation of their bodies and their property. The defect in the proposition is, that it anticipates the use of this road, and engages the Government to employ the road to transport its men and arms and munitions of war, when it would be quite time to do so after the road is completed. But, sir, I go not now into this matter-I will not enter into the details of this discussion. I will not, for instance, go into a discussion of that part of the bill in which the rate of transportation is fixed at eight dollars per ton over a road to be some thirty-odd miles long, whilst at the same time vessels are freighted at Boston for Canton, to run over a line of eighteen thousand miles for fifteen dollars a ton. I do not choose to go into these details; but, in order to try the temper of the Senate in regard to this measure, and to let us see whether it is worth our while to spend day in and day out in debating its details, I move, sir, that the bill be indefinitely postponed, and I ask for the yeas and nays on that motion.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

Mr. WEBSTER. I should regret, sir, that a measure which I regard as exceedingly impor

[JANUARY, 1849.

tant, should be disposed of by indefinite postponement. I had hoped that the measure might be allowed to proceed until its details were arranged, so that they might be satisfactory to the Senate, and I rise merely to express my opinion in favor of the measure, generally, concurring in it, especially for the reasons assigned by the honorable Senator from Missouri. I think the circumstances of the country call for the adoption of this particular measure. I do not mean to say, sir, that there may not be several modes of establishing a communication with the Pacific coast that are equally desirable. I am willing to say, on the other hand, that I have regarded the subject of a communication across from the Atlantic to the Pacific, by way of Tehuantepec, as preferable, on account of its being nearer to our ports on the Gulf; and I will add, that if the proposition for a railroad were now before us, connecting the two oceans by that route, and the proposition had advanced so far that we could pronounce it to be practicable, I should give it my most hearty support. I do not think the view which has been adopted by the Senator from Connecticut is entirely correct, that the present exigency for a channel of communication will be a very short one. I do not apprehend that there will cease to be an occasion for a great deal of intercourse between the Atlantic and Pacific, and between our own Territories on either side of the continent. I think the progress of things is onward; and, let the speculations and operations in the gold mines go forward more or less rapidly, I think an intercourse is now to be opened for general purposes of trade and commerce between the Atlantic and Pacific. I have not devoted my attention to the particular provisions or details of this measure. I am not in possession of such estimates as enable me to say whether the limitations so called in the bill now on your table, or the limitation which will be in the same bill if the motion of the Senator from Connecticut prevail, is the best limitation. The bill proposes to authorize the Secretary of the Navy to contract for the transportation of these goods and merchandise, munitions of war, and troops across the isthmus, and to pay for this transportation an annual sum. The bill limits that sum at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The Senator from Connecticut moves to substitute one hundred and fifty thousand. Without more information than I have upon this point, I cannot say which would be the proper sum. I understand that the parties who have undertaken the construction of the road, estimate the cost of its construction at four or five millions of dollars; and they have founded their opinion upon the cost commonly attending the construction of roads in the United States, economically conducted, making, of course, proper allowance for the necessarily augmented cost of a work to be done so far from the resources which are to supply the means. It is known, too, sir, that a very great

JANUARY, 1849.]

reduction for wear and tear is made from the receipts of all railroads, so that the general estimates of income, by reference to any ordinary rule of computation, not allowing for the wear of the road, would be very inadequate to represent the actual state of things that will arise when the road has been completed.

Now, it is evident, sir, that this proposed road will shorten the distance between the ports of the United States on the Atlantic, and the ports of the United States on the Pacific. It is a nearer route by not less than ten thousand miles of sailing-I believe certainly not less than nine thousand. It will shorten the communication in point of time more than onehalf, and whatever shortens the time diminishes the cost. If troops are to be conveyed, they are under pay while at sea; if munitions of war or merchandise are to be transported, they ought to reach their distination within as short a time as possible; and in every point of view in which we can make an estimate of this matter, we must all, I think, see that a great, a very great, I am not prepared to say how great, saving will inure to the United States by adopting the shortest route.

Mr. CLAYTON. I have long had this object of establishing a passage, either by railroad or canal, across the isthmus, in view. In 1835, I had the honor to offer to the Senate of the United States a resolution for instituting a mission to the Governments of Central America and New Granada, for the purpose of paving the way for cutting a canal across the isthmus. The resolution was adopted, after considerable discussion, by the Senate, I believe without a dissenting vote, at least so it would appear from the Journal. The resolution was to this effect:

"Resolved, That the President of the United States be respectfully requested to consider the expediency of opening negotiations with the Governments of other nations, and particularly the Governments of Central America and New Granada, for the purpose of effectually protecting, by suitable treaty stipulations with them, such individuals or companies as may undertake to open a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by the construction of a ship canal across the Isthmus which connects North and South America, and of securing forever, by such stipulations, the free and equal right of navigating such canal to all such nations, on the payment of such reasonable tolls as may be established, to compensate the capitalists who may engage in such undertaking, and complete

the work."

In pursuance of the suggestion herein contained, the President of the United States sent a chargé d'affaires to the Republics of Central America and New Granada, but the enterprise fell through, as I think, on account of the incompetency of the minister sent, and nothing was done in furtherance of my proposition, or for the accomplishment of the different projects which were suggested at the time for making either canal or railroad across the isthmus.

[30TH CONG.

We are now in the middle of the nineteenth century, and I think, with deference to those gentlemen who have expressed their views in regard to this subject, that it is a disgrace to the age in which we live, and to the country in which we live, that as yet no passage, by either railroad or canal, has been obtained from ocean to ocean, either by Tehuantepec or Panama. Here is a proposition now before us, for expending some two or three millions of dollars. to save us nine thousand miles of ship naviga tion, and the most dangerous navigation in the world. The question is, whether these two or three millions of dollars shall be expended for such a purpose? And on this occasion, as well as on former occasions on which this subject has been presented, we have been met with the objection that there are other and better routes; one of which is by railroad from the Mississippi to the Pacific, the other at Tehuantepec. On this subject I think and feel disposed to act very much like the Senator from Massachusetts. If I could obtain a railroad or canal across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, I would prefer it, and for reasons which I think will readily suggest themselves to any one who will look at the map. It is a vastly better route for our own country; but I cannot disguise from myself the fact that either of these routes is calculated to throw the control of the commerce that is conducted through these channels into the lap of the United States, for I hold that no other country can compete with the United States successfully upon either of these routes.

This is to be an American road. It will have that character abroad, do what you may. American citizens are intrusted with the construction of it. Well, if this work is to be, and should be a road worthy of the American name; be called an American work, I desire that it and in my opinion the American Government should, within its constitutional sphere, aid as far as it can individual enterprise in making a road worthy of the American character. I do not want a road attempted there by individuals, and carried on by piecemeal, commencing with a railroad of a few miles, and perhaps ending for some years to come with a plank or a mule road. I desire that the improvement should go on continuously, and in the shortest practicable time. And now allow me one general remark in regard to the sum to be expended. I would aid, as far as the constitutional power of the Government will enable us to do it, in making a road from the Mississippi River to the Pacific, or a road across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, as I design to aid in the construction of the road proposed by this bill, and whatever the cost of a passage by canal or railroad across to the Pacific on either isthmus may be, whether two millions, two and a half millions, six millions, twenty millions, or even fifty millions. I say, sir, that the wit of man cannot find any other mode of expending the same amount of money as much for the benefit of this country