which the United States and the civilized world have such deep interest in securing. Then the question resolves itself into thisthe question raised by the honorable Senator from Alabama [Mr. KING],—whether, in seeking so beneficent an object, it is consistent with the dignity of the nation to combine individual action with national enterprise. I do not think, Mr. President, that that honorable Senator will find himself obliged to insist upon this objection after he shall have carefully examined the bill before us. He will find that it converts the undertaking into a national enterprise. The vessels are to be accepted not as individual property, but as national vessels. They will absolutely cease to be under the direction, management, or control of the owners, and will become at once national ships, and for the time, at least, and for all the purposes of the expedition, a part of the national marine.

Now, sir, have we not postal arrangements with various foreign countries carried into effect in the same way, and is the dignity of the nation compromised by them? During the war with Mexico, the government continually hired ships and steamboats from citizens for military operations. Is the glory of that war tarnished by the use of those means? The government in this case, as in those cases, is in no sense a partner. It assumes the whole control of the vessels, and the enterprise becomes a national one. The only circumstance remaining to be considered is, whether the government can accept the loan of the service of the vessels without making compensation. Now, sir, I should not have had the least objection, and indeed it would have been more agreeable to me, if the government could have made an arrangement to have paid a compensation. But I hold it to be quite unnecessary in the present case, because the character of the person who tenders these vessels, and the circumstances and manner of the whole transaction, show that it is not a speculation. No compensation is wanted. It would only be a ceremony on the part of the government to offer it, and a ceremony on the part of the merchant to decline it. I am, therefore, willing to march directly to the object, and to assume that these ceremonies have been duly performed; that the government has offered to pay, and the noble-spirited merchant declined to receive.

Now, sir, is there anything derogatory from the dignity and independence of this nation in employing the vessels ? Certainly not, since that employment is indispensable. If it were not indis

pensable, I do not think that the dignity of the republic would be impaired; I think, on the contrary, that it would be enhanced and elevated. It is a transaction worthy of the nation, a spectacle deserving the contemplation and respect of mankind, to see that not only does the nation prosecute, but that it has citizens able and willing to contribute, voluntarily and without compulsion, to an enterprise so interesting to the cause of science and of humanity. It is, indeed, a new and distinct cause for national pride that an individual citizen, not a merchant prince, as he would be called in some other countries, but a republican merchant, comes forward in this way, and moves the government and co-operates with it. It illustrates the magnanimity of the nation and of the citizen. Sir, there is nothing objectionable in this feature of the transaction. It results from the character of the government, which is essentially popular, that there are perpetual debates on the question how far measures and enterprises, for purposes of humanity and science, are consistent with the constitutional organization of the government, although they are admitted to be eminently compatible with the dignity, character, and intelligence of the nation. All our enterprises, more or less, are carried into execution, if they are carried into execution at all, not by the direct action of the government, but by the lending of its favor, countenance, and aid to individuals, to corporations, and to states. Thus it is that we construct railroads and canals, and found colleges and universities.

Nor is this mode of prosecuting enterprises of great pith and moment peculiar to this government. There was a navigator who went forth from a port in Spain, some three or four hundred years ago, on an enterprise quite as doubtful, and quite as perilous as this. After trying unsuccessfully several states, he was forced to be content with the sanction, and little more than the sanction and patronage, of the Court of Madrid. The scanty treasures devoted to that undertaking were the private contributions of a queen and her subjects, and the vessels were fitted out and manned at the expense of merchants and citizens which gave a new world to the Kingdom of Castile and Leon.

Entertaining these views now, whatever my opinion might have been under other circumstances, I shall vote against a recommittal, and in favor of the bill, as the surest way of preventing its defeat, and of attaining the sublime and beneficent object which it contemplates.

VOL. 1-20.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE NEW STATES.

APRIL 29, 1850.

States in trust for One of the ways States is, to derive That is a legitimate

MR. PRESIDENT,-This public domain is the property of the United States. It is the property of the United the common and equal benefit of all the states. in which it can be made use of by the United revenue from it, as has been done heretofore. way to use it, but it is not the only way. If it be the only way, then the domain has ceased to be of any use to the United States. It has already happened that revenue has ceased to flow from the public domain. It has ceased, according to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, for sixteen years to come. According to the estimate of the honorable Senator from Michigan, [Mr. FELCH] who addressed us the other day, the fountain may flow again, within a period shorter than that. I should judge his estimate was in seven or eight years. However that may be, we all know that new appropriations will continually follow those already made, and those new appropriations will increase in magnitude. It is therefore apparent that the lands have ceased forever to contribute to the treasury of the United States; that that time has arrived which General Jackson thought it was desirable should come speedily, when the government of the United States should cease to look to this resource for revenue. I believe that time has come sooner than he anticipated. Now, I want to make the most out of the public lands for the common welfare of the United States, that can be made in some other way; and, in my judgment, the best way is to use the avails of them, or allow the states to use the avails of them, for the purpose of constructing railroads and canals, and establishing institutions of learning. I care not whether it be done by the United States, or by the states severally; I am willing that the states nearly concerned should

have all that this bill in its original shape proposes, and as much more as this amendment will give them; and I anticipate that at the expiration of this half century it will be seen that this very policy, so much opposed-of appropriating public lands to the construction of railroads-will be found to have been of more beneficial and benign operation upon the wealth and prosperity of the whole people, and upon the bond of union itself, than the system which has been pursued heretofore, beneficent as I admit that that system has been. I am sure, therefore, the honorable senators who are in favor of the passage of the original bill will find it aided by the amendment proposed; for there are many in Congress who agree in the sentiments I have expressed, and I think those sentiments are becoming common in some portions of the Union.

With regard to the merits of the improvement specified in the amendment to the bill, it will certainly be one of vast importance in connecting Louisville with St. Louis. It will be beneficent in its operation to all the southern states, and especially to the city of New Orleans.

In reply to my honorable friend from Wisconsin, [Mr. WALKER] who seems to intimate that the construction of railroads across the parallels of latitude through the western and the southern states will tend to revolutionize the commerce of the country, I may say that I feel as deep an interest in the stability of the present channels and courses of commerce as any one, nevertheless I am willing to incur all the hazard of constructing the roads now under consideration. I have found that the more roads and canals were made in any part of the United States, the more the whole country prospered. You may make railroads anywhere, they will practically terminate in one centre, and swell the wealth, the prosperity, and the advancement of the great commercial metropolis of the Union. Her position is assured. She knows no fear, and indulges no jealousy.

I have no difficulty about the constitutional power of the government of the United States to make works of national improvement to construct roads of any kind which shall serve for great national objects. I can conceive of no public improvements more obviously adapted to promote the welfare and prosperity of the country, or more indispensable to the security of the United States, than a railroad from Lake Michigan to the junction of the Ohio

and Mississippi rivers. I think also that the government of the United States has a discretion as to the manner in which it will accomplish, or aid in accomplishing, such an object, and as to the funds which shall be devoted to that purpose. Then the question before us, so far as the principle is concerned, resolves itself into this: whether, this being a work of such a national character, productive of national benefits, it is one which is entitled to special consideration on the part of government now. I think it is entitled to very special consideration, which will appear from examining the particular condition of the new states as contrasted with the old ones. The old states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, were all the owners of the public domain within their limits. When it was desirable for them to construct public works, they were always able to appropriate public lands or funds arising from the sold lands, or at least the taxes derived from the lands within their limits. The consequence has been that all the old states, having themselves very considerable resources, have constructed, directly or indirectly, very important public thoroughfares, useful and beneficial to commerce, and particularly to travel, and to the wealth, prosperity, and advancement of the whole country. But they have never been made by mere individual, unassisted enterprise, without having been attended by very great delay and embarrassment. A great and extensive country like this has need of roads and canals earlier than there is an accumulation of private capital within the states to construct them; and so an examination of the history of the old states would show that the government of the states has lent or given its aid, directly or indirectly, to assist individuals or corporations in the construction of these great public works which are now so productive, either to the state or to the individuals by whom, in associated companies, they are owned.

There are many curious facts connected with the history of the internal-improvement system in the older states. Whoever will look into the statute-book of the colony of New York, will be struck with the beginning of the great system of canals and roads, which are now partially constructed, and when completed will connect the port of New York with the Pacific ocean. He will find, that in the time of Queen Anne the assembly of the colony