I am sorry that I have said a word. I did not intend to say a word this morning, and I only rose now because I was afraid my good friend from Maryland did not entirely understand the case. Maryland was the first State in this Union that began a system of railroads. She has prospered by it beyond all other States. The city of Baltimore grew eighty years ago with greater rapidity than any other city in the United States at that time, and that was because she was nearest to the valley of the Mississippi. No man then dreamed of railroads, for at that time all the iron which went West, all the salt which went West, and all the whisky that came East, (for that was about all they brought East then,) came on pack horses, and that made Baltimore prosperous. Now, since her railroad system began about forty years. ago, she has grown, with the exception of Chicago and Philadelphia, with a rapidity that there is nothing in the country to equal.

What I objected to was that generally the gentlemen in the Legislature of Maryland thought only of Baltimore and that part of Maryland west of Baltimore. The district of Maryland below us was neglected, though rich in soil, for it is the richest soil, except the valley where my friend [Mr. HAMILTON] resides, in the whole State of Maryland. It is full of marl and oyster shells, and abounds in oysters and fish, being the richest portion of this country except the little peninsula between Maryland and Delaware. That was ruled out entirely; it had no communication; but twenty years ago it got a boon from the Legislature of Maryland, a charter to make a railroad, if it could, from Baltimore to Aquia creek, and beyond as far as it could go. That charter lay there for more than a dozen years. Not a dollar was subscribed by the State of Maryland; not a dollar by any citizen of Maryland to make that road. After awhile some gentlemen finding that the troops of the United States could not be brought across the exist ing railroad from Baltimore looked to another route to this city, and they induced those con. trolling it to let them have the charter to make the road to Aquia creek. They have either made it or are making it to Aquia creek, and this morning it surprised me that so intelligent a man as the Senator from Vermont said it was a boon given to them to allow them to have steamboat navigation to connect with it. That steamboat provision was only to enable them to get across the Potomac at Aquia creek, where it is so wide that you cannot make a bridge.

Now, this railroad company is here, having spent millions of dollars, and asking only from us this little boon of being allowed to come in here within three or four hundred feet of Pennsylvania avenue, and to occupy this ground. We are told that in allowing this we are desecrating this park. What an idea! Why, sir, by the bill they are compelled to give up a piece of land which you gave them a year ago by an act which the Senator from Maryland voted for, and I voted for, on condi tion that you allow them to come up here and make their depot here. Then they have bought a piece of land south of the canal for a freight depot.

I think if I could sit down for a day or two to prepare an oration about parks I could, with the aid of some of my friends, get one up; but I am utilitarian. I believe it is better for a man to have a house and a little garden in front of it than to have a grand park in his neighborhood. I think the first thing in this world is to live within our means, and the next is to get bread enough to live upon, and after that to branch out.

Now, after this railroad shall have been established here, I am sure everybody will see what I see now, that the greatest boon which can be conferred upon this District was to enable this railroad to come in here and bring the blessings which it brings to all. I have no more to say.

Mr. DAVIS, of West Virginia. I beg pardon of my friend from Maryland. I should not rise now, but that my friend from Pennsylvania referred to the intelligence of some of us; I think he said the Senator from West Virginia; and he coupled with that a statement that all the roads coming to Washington belonged or would belong to two companies. That was news to me. I am not educated up to that point yet, that all the railroads coming in here belong to two companies. We voted the other day to allow a subscription of $600,000 to the Piedmont and Potomac Railroad Company. I did not know that the Baltimore and Ohio or the Pennsylvania Railroad Com. pany had anything to do with that road. That 18 news to me. There is a road contemplated to Point Lookout. I did not know that either of these companies had anything to do with that. There is a road coming in called the National, leading up toward Frederick, a road expected to be built; the charter for it is now lying on our table. I did not know that the Pennsylvania Railroad Company had anything to do with it. I think my friend from Pennsylvania, if he will count up, will find more railroads looking here now that neither of the two great companies referred to have anything to do with than of those that they control.

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. I yielded the floor at the request of the honorable Senator from Pennsylvania, whose remarks were more extended than I supposed they would be. However, I was not disposed to interrupt him, and I yield the floor with pleasure to him at any time when he desires to express his views.

Mr. CAMERON. For which I am much obliged to the Senator.

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. Mr. President, my honorable friend, the Senator from Pennsylvania is willing to vote for all or any railroads that may be required by the city, and that may want to pass through this park. The difference between the honorable Senator and myself is this: I am opposed to any road going there. I am opposed to the Baltimore and Ohio, the Baltimore and Potomac, the Metropolitan, the Point Lookout, the Piedmont, the Harrisburg and Washington-I am opposed to any of them having their depots within this park or crossing it at all. I would resist with as much earnestness the Baltimore and Ohio railroad undertaking to do it as I now resist the Baltimore and Potomac railroad in doing it. I know it may be said I am naturally, from location, friendly to the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, it being a Maryland work. Sir, I would stand here and resist to the bitter end of time the effort of that railroad to make a depot in this public park, or any other rail. road company. But I have said that if you allow this railroad company to go there, and thus to that extent impair the park, I shall consider myself released from all obligations to resist the establishment of any other depot in it. On the contrary, if the Senate deliberately determine to yield up this reservation to these objects, I shall feel obliged to take that as binding upon me to do equal justice to other railroad companies and allow them the same privileges.

I am not the special friend of any railroad; I am the friend of all; but all require to be watched. They are continually encroaching upon the people and the rights of the people. They will take when they can, and they will keep what they get. Therefore, while I am friendly to all and am willing to give to all what they should properly enjoy, I am for guarding the people and the public property against their designs and assaults upon either.

But, sir, allow me one word of explanation right here. The Senate will bear me witness that I have not been all this while engaged in debating this subject. I have been very much interrupted since I took the floor this evening, and I do not wish Senators who have come into the Chamber since the recess to suppose

that I have occupied all the time since half past seven o'clock in debating this subject, for I am not quite through with it yet.

I was speaking about the indispensable use of these grounds, for if you give them to this railroad company, you must give them freely and fairly, to be used by them. When you once give them the power to use these grounds, they must have the incidents of that power, and you are not hereafter in any wise to control them in the fair and reasonable use of that power. If you allow them a depot there, you must allow them the use that such an enjoyment is entitled to-the right to go there with cars, the right to remain there and change cars, and in fact to have all the privileges that must necessarily relate to the enjoyment of such a right.

If this bill should go over until to-morrow, if Senators desire to know what will occur in this park, I ask them to take a walk down to the Baltimore and Ohio railroad depot, and see what they will behold there, and see what sort of an establishment you will have right here in the center of the public grounds. You will have cars standing there. They must necessarily stand there. They must wait for passengers. They must supply defective trains. They must have the right to supply deficient trains, to accommodate the public, some few, some more, as the travel happens to be greater or less, upon each recurring day. I ask Senators to look at the condition of things at that depot, and then come back and consider the use of the public grounds in the same way, the number of cars that will be used there in the course of twenty, thirty, or forty years.

My honorable friend, the Senator from Pennsylvania, says he is a utilitarian. He is evidently utilitarian, for if he understands the character of this great reservation, and if he will just look down the tide of time for twenty years, and see what improvements can be made upon these grounds, devoted to the purposes for which they were originally designed, he can see the danger that must necessarily daily and hourly occur by having trains moving over them. If this is to be a public park, if it is to be used as such, if right in the center of the city here is to be a park to which the people are to go for pleasure, amusement, and recreation; if they are to send here their children from the dusty streets of Washington, a place open to every one, you will see at once what alarm must necessarily rest in the minds of the people who so send their families there. You go there for enjoyment with your team; you go there to walk; you go there with your wife and children, or they may desire to drive themselves, and when you know the fact that there are hourly moving trains over those grounds, you must necessarily feel uncertain about their condition during their absence. It is an unfit place for them to be, and so far as the appropriation of these grounds for a park is concerned, with such a building in it and devoted to such purposes, I assert again they are entirely ruined.

Sir, how much worse will it be if you have four railroads in it? But one is enough. One destroys and disturbs the whole system, and the whole idea tumbles down. One is enough to accomplish the destruction of the park.

Now, sir, while thus commenting upon the injury done to these grounds as a matter of fact, allow me to call your attention to the character of the proposition itself. What is the proposition? It is to confirm the action of certain members of the city council of Washington who, in the expiring moments of that council, gave to this company eight hundred and fifty feet by one hundred and fifty feet of the public lands and the public grounds of the United States. Is not this extraordinary? When you consider that a railroad company is making the demand, and that a dying council yields to that demand, is there not modesty in this demand? I know the gentlemen who are pressing this measure. You may say they

are high-toned, honorable, just, intelligent gentlemen; but, sir, it is somewhat astonishing that gentlemen holding their position in society, having their means and their power, their personal and other influence, should come into this decrepit city, governed in the worst possible manner, and undertake to take advantage of the people of this city, and take from them and from the Government of the United States this piece of land. I am amazed at it; and I think if those gentlemen would allow their better judgments and their better impulses to prevail now, they would recant the grave errors they are committing in pressing upon the Senate a ratification of this unseemly proceeding.

But, sir, is there anything modest connected with this corporation? Their cry is "Give!" "Give!" like the daughter of the horse-leech; they are never satisfied with the common appliances and the common occurrences of every day life. Talk about compensation from railroad companies to the Government! They do sometimes give compensation to individuals, but it is because the law of the land makes them do so; but when they come to deal with body. politics and with communities, instead of giving compensation they expect to receive donations. The history of this demand for a portion of this park is but a repetition of the history of railroad corporations in this land and their continued demands upon the public, and is in keeping with the legislation of Congress for the last fifteen years.

The honorable Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. SUMNER] referred to Rome to-day, and my honorable friend from New Jersey [Mr. STOCKTON] took up the idea, and he referred to Rome. I will not refer to Rome, except to recall what an eminent citizen of Rome once said. My honorable friend from New Jersey, in his familiarity with Roman history, has heard of Cato. He was not only a distin guished character, but he was a singular and eccentric character. It is said that he was distinguished for his stern honesty, his incorruptibility, and his iron purposes. There is only one thing about Cato that I never did admire much, and that was his daily demand for the destruction of the great city of Carthage. But, sir, he once uttered a sentiment in the senate of Rome the application of which this night's proceedings here justifies. He said: He who steals from a burgess ends his days in chains and fetters; but he who steals from the community ends them in gold and purple." And so we see it here. This night is the application of that sentiment made perfect. He who can steal from the commun ity ends his days in gold and purple. Old Cato was right. My honorable friend from New Jersey read an extract from an author on modern Rome, and he said in the course of the discussion that he stood in imperial Rome upon the topmost heights of St. Peter's and there beheld a steam-engine winding its way along the Tiber

Mr. STOCKTON. If the Senator will permit me, when I was on the top of those heights I was not half so high as he is now. [Laughter.]

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. I thank the honorable Senator for that. I know he was not. Sir, if he stood upon the topmost heights of the cathedral of Rome to-night he would not be yielding to the power that is now carrying this monstrous measure through the Senate Chamber.

Mr. STOCKTON. Do you mean the Baltimore and Ohio road? You said that was an institution of Maryland a moment ago.

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. The Baltimore and Ohio road has committed, no doubt, wrongs and errors, and it is but a corporation like others, and without a soul to be saved. Mr. STOCKTON. Are you pitching into that?

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. I am not pitching into that, nor into any other railroad

company; but I am for watching all, and standing at the door as Cato stood when he said that those who stole from the community were clothed in purple and in gold.

But, sir, my honorable friend has withdrawn me from the line of my remarks.

Mr. STOCKTON. If the Senator will address himself to the Chair I shall not withdraw him from the line of his remarks; but when be turns around in his place and makes his speech to me, I feel obliged to reply to him. [Laughter.]

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. My honorable friend will understand that I do not object to it.

The PRESIDING OFFICER, (Mr. SCOTT in the chair.) Both Senators will observe the rule and address the Chair.

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. I was addressing myself to you, Mr. President; but in commenting upon the remarks of my honorable friend from New Jersey, I am obliged to look a little around. I want to see my honorable friend. [Laughter.]

Mr. STOCKTON. You are not the only one who likes to see me. [Laughter.]

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. I know that, because it gives pleasure to us all to see his bright and genial face and happy manner, and I am sure my friend will not object any more to my looking at him in the course of my remarks. [Laughter.]

He read this afternoon from Hillard to show the condition of Rome. Hillard is a happy author, and he writes well and truly about the present condition of that great city which once ruled the world, and is the wonder of it even now. But, sir, if the steam-engine does not do more for Washington than it has done for Rome it would be out of place here as it has been there. [Laughter.]

But, sir, there was a day when the Campus Martius and the Campus Flaminius did manifest the power of old Rome, when those two great camps were there for the people, when the Campus Martius was dedicated by that people to the enjoyment of the people. So this park was intended to be dedicated in the day when the little creek here-I do not know its name then-was given the name of Tiber. Our ancestors knew there was a Tiber at Rome.

Mr. CONKLING. Goose creek. [Laughter.]

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. "I remember Goose creek once, but Tiber now." [Laughter.] George Washington had heard of Rome and of the Tiber, and George Washington, in laying out the capital, laid out this great reservation here right at the foot of the Capitoline hill. I call it the Capitoline hill because it is the hill crowned by the Capitol. So the Campus Martius is in Rome fringed by the Tiber, formed by the Quirinal Capitoline and the Pincian hills. There you have it in the low lands right along the Tiber; and that is an answer to my friend, the Senator from Nevada. Sir, the senate of imperial Rome received the foreign embassadors in the Campus Martius, for they were not permitted to go further into the city. There were to be found all that was provided for the amusement and enjoyment of the people. Originally there were trained the armies that marched to the four ends of the earth. In the course of time, and as the requirements of the people demanded, these great camps were dedicated to the more civilized purposes.

You will see, Mr. President, that they had not the steam engine then, when Rome marched her legions to the conquest of the world, and when she built her statuary and her theaters and her camps, devoted to the amusement and comfort of the people. But the steam-engine is there now, and Rome does not send forth her conquering legions. On the contrary, almost any scalawag can now conquer Rome. [Laughter.] It is now, true, within the sovereign power of Victor Emanuel, and he may

hold it and make something of it if he understands the use of the means that are within his hands.

But, sir, I was going to refer to a history to show what the condition of ancient Rome was, and what parallel can be drawn between its condition then and its condition now. When Rome was great, and proud, and imperial, her citizens were honest, and they cared for her public treasures, and especially for her public domain. But look at Rome in her decline and the ruin of her great power, and let us see the similarity that prevails now and is made manifest to-night upon this bill. Let us see how we stand, and compare our condition wth that of Rome. I do not intend to make a personal reflection upon those gentlemen who vote for this bill giving up the public domain. I propose to read from Mommsen's History of Rome, volume two, page 230. I think proper to refer to this work because it is an orthodox and reliable work, one of the best of the day. Mr. NYE. A "Liberal" work? [Laughter.]

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. A liberal work. "Liberalism" is becoming a very sig nificant term. It is becoming a dangerous word. It was a dangerous word to the old Democratic party in 1840, in 1848, and in 1860.

Mr. CONKLING. And it is yet. [Laughter.]

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. That may be possible; but I know that it troubles our friends on the other side of the Chamber more than it does the Democratic party. It gives to them many a sleepless night and anxious pillow just about this time. [Laughter.] Well, sir, talking about liberalism, a significant term, I desire to ask my honorable friends on the other side of the Chamber who are Liberals one question. I happened to be reading the Cincinnati platform a short time ago, and I saw a plank in that platform which covers this very case. It declares that they are unalterably opposed to giving away any more public lands to railroads. Here is a political

issue at once raised.

Mr. CAMERON. If the Senator will allow me one moment, if I did not misunderstand him, he applied his last remark about railroads

to me.

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. No, sir. Mr. CAMERON. I will say that I have always been in favor of giving public lands to railroads if thereby I could benefit the country and the Government by increasing the value of the remaining lands, and at the same time aiding in the construction of the roads. Sir, what would the State of Illinois be to-day but for the land grants that we made to her, and what would all the other western States be but for land grants? I am in favor of a liberal policy toward railroads. If the Senator from Maryland has taken a new departure," let him do so, but do not let him depart from the prosperity of the country.

68

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. I hope my honorable friend from Pennsylvania will not misunderstand me. I was not alluding to him at all. I was alluding to those gentlemen who stand upon the Cincinnati platform.

Mr. CAMERON. Then I beg the Senator's pardon.

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. If my honorable friend supposed for a moment I alluded to him, so be it. [Laughter.] But, sir, allow me to read this extract from this History of Rome:

"How the State fared generally as regarded the forming of its revenues and the contracts for supplies and buildings, may be inferred from the eircumstance that the senate resolved in 587 to desist from the working of the Macedonian wines that had fallen to Rome, because the lessees of the minerals would either plunder the subjects or cheat the exchequer, a truly naive confession of impotence. in which the controlling board pronounced its own censure. Not only was the land-tax of the occupied domain-land allowed tacitly to fall into abeyance, as has been already mentioned, but private buildings in the capital and elsewhere were suffered to

encroach on the public property, and the water from the public aqueducts was diverted to private purposes."

Is

Private buildings were suffered to encroach upon the public property, and you have a similar proposition here to-night. You propose to allow this corporation to come into this city with its road, and not to encroach upon a common, out of the way piece of land, but to come right in the midst of your great public park, dedicated by your ancestors to the public use forever, and encroach upon it and take possession of a portion of it, eight hundred feet by one hundred and fifty in extent. there not a parallel here? This history was written to show what the declining days of Rome brought forth; and here to night in this great Republic, supposed to be vigorous and powerful and young and honest and just, we see its public servants cheating the exchequer, and we see private persons encroaching upon the public domain. Is not that true? Mr. President, I will not disparage the gen tlemen who propose this measure; but I ask you did you ever see one like it in impudence, and I ask it in all earnestness. Look at it in its length and in its breadth. I agree with the honorable Senator from Ohio that if we had no other place for a depot, then we might pos sibly be willing that this ground should be given it. If, according to the utilitarian idea of my honorable friend from Pennsylvania, there were no other place for this building, you might take the very grounds of the Capitol. I might think a long time before I would agree to it but you might do so. What do you get? Do you get anything? No. If I understand the position of these gentlemen, they say they are entitled to this great donation because Washington city had promised or entered into some kind of obligation to give this company $500,000, and this is an equivalent for that. What right had Washington city to vote away $500,000 of the people's money to a corporation that is acknowledged to be rolling in wealth and possesses power not surpassed by any State government in the Union?

Mr. THURMAN. It did not propose to give them that much money, but to take that much stock.

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. Think of it, Mr. President. Think of these railroads and railroad presidents. Why, sir, upon what meat have these our modern Cæsars fed that they have grown so great as to come into this great and august body and demand from you a ratification of their edicts passed by a dying city council, and you are to do it? They possess power to make you pass this bill.

Mr. President, I speak earnestly upon this question, because I feel deeply upon it. I do not wish to give these corporations anything. I would not allow them to pass through a public street in this town. I would not give them a foot of public land. I would make them do as other people do; I would make them buy what they get.

Mr. CAMERON. I am sorry to interrupt the Senator from Maryland so often; but what he said last about not allowing a railroad to go through the streets calls to my remembrance something that occurred in the town where he received his education. I remember that about forty years ago, when everybody wanted a railroad to go from Baltimore to the Ohio river, the parties interested approached the city of Frederick, in which I think the Senator lives.

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. Twentysix miles beyond it, in Hagerstown.

Mr. CAMERON. The Senator lives somewhere in the neighborhood.

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. In your valley, the valley of the Cumberland.

Mr. CAMERON. And it is the most beautiful valley in the world, and I live in the most beautiful part of that valley. But the wise men of that beautiful valley, living around the city of Frederick, thought a railroad would

destroy their town, that the horses would get frightened, the cows would give bloody milk, [laughter,] and everything would be destroyed if they should allow a railroad to come there, and so the council of Frederick, with all the wise men of Frederick, decided that the railroad should not come within two miles of the town, and so they went out five miles; but after a while all those wise men acquired more knowledge, and agreed to pay to make a railroad to the town itself. So it will be here.

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. I understood the general current of the remarks of the honorable Senator from Pennsylvania. I did not hear all that he said, but they were all in good humor, of course. Whether they were right or wrong I am not prepared now to say, for I did not hear them, and therefore I cannot combat them. He spoke about the beautiful valley of the Cumberland, in which we both live, and I agree it is a most beautiful valley indeed. As to our people petitioning against railroads, or that they should not approach the town, I know nothing about that. Our people are, to some extent, intelligent. They are like my honorable friend from Pennsylvania and myself. I do not ascribe to myself much intelligence, but I am just about as the people of that valley are, and so is the honorable Senator from Pennsylvania.

But, sir, I am speaking about railroads and their power to come in here and take this land. I could go on to show what these railroad gentlemen have done, and show that if, in addition to the Cincinnati platform, the platform the other contained the

same plank, it would not hurt either of them much.

I happened to lay my hands on a document just issued by the Secretary of the Interior showing the amount of public lands that such corporations have got from the Government. They can go anywhere and everywhere where they know the lands belong to the Government and demand, almost as a matter of right, their share of them, and more than their share. They may go into the State of my honorable friend from California and seize an island; they may go out into the wilderness as they have done, into the western country as they have done, as is shown by this report, and take possession of all the public lands there. They have by the various grants of Congress already made secured one hundred and seventy-nine million acres of land. The Pacific railroads alone have one hundred and thirty-three million acres in grants. They have become so much accustomed to this in the western States that the fever has now extended to the East. We have not so many lands to grant, it is true, but still they have the same specious arguments for the attainment of those that we have, as the argument of the honorable Senator from Pennsylvania has well shown. In order to obtain this little patch here to the destruction of our park they have specious arguments.

Why, Mr. President, they have gotten into this habit of grasping lands and seeking lands that there is hardly any safety for any lands anywhere, public or private, and you can hardly draw a railroad charter strong enough to prevent them from doing injustice to the citizen in traversing the country. I am not speaking now against railroads that are poor and in a bad condition, and who, like people that have no money, will now and then turn a sharp corner; but I am talking about rich and powerful corporations able to pay for what they get, and therefore when either the Baltimore and Ohio or the Baltimore and Potomac come here for lands I would say condemn your lands like other people; I would not give to them a public street; I would make them break through the lots, particularly on the Island; I would make them condemn lands on the Island for their depot as they do in the country; I would make them build their depots according to our ideas of right and in a style commensurate with the character of the

Federal capital. They have got the money to do it, and I would make them do it. Why, Mr. President, while I am on this point, to show that this spirit of accumulation in these companies is beyond all exaggeration, I not only refer you to the grant of one hundred and seventy million acres of the public domain for railroads, but to your indebtedness on account of those corporations. I hol in my hand a statement from the Treasury Department just received in regard to the Pacific railroads, to which I desire to call the attention of the Senate and the country. This is a local matter, and it may be that gentlemen may say that this ought not properly to be a subject for argument; but still the principle is the same. You have taken from the poor, you have taken almost the last acre of available land in the West, and now you are coming into this poor, miserable, shiftless city, governed by gentlemen whom I do not care to speak about, but whose government in my judgment is not such a one as is to be found elsewhere upon the face of the civilized earth. This great and giant corporation comes into this poor, miserable, shiftless city, and would seize a part of its fairest domain.

Mr. CAMERON. It is now nine o'clock; and, if he will allow me, I wish to ask the Senator from Maryland a question. The honorable Senator has spoken a couple of hours, or an hour and a half certainly. I rise to ask him a question by which I mean no disrespect to him, but to enable me to govern myself, and I trust other Senators to govern themselves. I ask him whether he is now speaking against time, or whether he is only speaking for the purpose of making an impression legitimately upon the views of the Senate? If he is occupying the time to the detriment of the pas sage of the bill and the injury of the country's service, then I should like him to say so, because I will go out and take a nap, and I will come back after awhile, after four or five hours, refreshed and ready to talk. [Laughter.]

Mr. HAMILTON. of Maryland. The honorable Senator from Pennsylvania will pardon me. I do not know whether I am addressing myself to the judgment of the Senate, or whether the Senate has any judgment upon this question at all. [Laughter. But I am sure my honorable friend will admit that a large portion of my time has been taken up by the honorable Senator himself, and by my honorable friend from West Virginia, and that I have not occupied more than about half the time ascribed to me by the honorable Senator from Pennsylvania. I am sure of one thing, that nothing in the world would be more agreeable to me than that my honorable friend from Pennsylvania should, at this moment of time, leave the Senate and not return until eleven o'clock to-morrow. [Laughter.] I say to the honorable Senator, in no unkind feeling, that his absence now is infinitely preferable to his presence, [laughter,] and has been for some time, though he should lose by reason of it some remarks in my speech that might be of great moral and political benefit to him. [Laughter.]

Mr. President, I was speaking about railroad companies not only gorging themselves with land and taking a beggar's pittance here; but how do they stand upon the dollar and cent account? Piethoric with lands, sixty-four millions of money they have got.

Mr. CAMERON. Where?

The Pa

Mr. HAMILTON, of Maryland. cific railroads, not this one, have had $64,000,000 of Government money in bonds. This one does not want so much because it has not so much to take care of it. It wants its share and more than its share. When the Baltimore and Ohio railroad comes in for its snare, and the Potomac road comes for its share, and the Metropolitan for its share, and the Harrisburg line for its share, what is left for the poor people of this District?

My honorable friend from Pennsylvania talks

of these wide, spacious avenues as being great arteries or lungs through which the people could breathe. I should like to see him march down Pennsylvania avenue on a dusty day now and breathe through his lungs, [laughter,] when but a few steps would bring him, this population, its children, its man servants, and its maid-servants, into one of the most beautiful parks in the world, out of the dust and secure from all the noise and travel of the avenue. But I differ with my honorable friend.

I say $64,000,000 was granted to the Pacific railroads by the Government, and this was loaned to them on interest. How do you think the interest account stands of these corporations that are sending out their free passes inviting gentlemen to pass over and see how they are conducted, and what a great business they are doing? How do you suppose the interest account stands between them and the people of the United States? The United States has paid the interest upon those bonds to the amount of $14,900,000, and the railroad companies have given the people of the United States credit for three millions in the shape of transportation. The balance, eleven millions of interest, is owing by these companies. That is the account in money; the land account you know.

Mr. President, power is a thief; it steals by night and by day. Its hunger is never satisfied; its conscience never disturbed; and we have it here. These corporations have seized your public domain; they have got your money. This one, strong, insatiate, comes here and will gratify its lust upon the poor fragments of property in this metropolitan city of the United States. Shame, I say, upon the men who would undertake to do it, shame upon the men who would press the proposition-I do not mean honorable Senators here, but gentlemen who look at them, who surround them, and who would have them do this thing.

Mr. President, possibly my honorable friend from Pennsylvania thinks I am speaking not to the point. I have been speaking on the subject generally, because it is a question on which I feel. I have one more point to make upon it, and I would appeal to honorable Senators whether they can justify themselves in ratifying this act of a council that has expired long since. Do honorable Senators know, about which there can be no dispute, that on the very last night of the session of the last council of the city of Washington the bill was passed making this grant, before the new District government came into existence, not much better, in my judgment, than the other; but still it is the existing govern. ment, and therefore, so far as it can, it may give evidence of the feeling of this people? They have some returning consciousness that this is all wrong. The Legislature met, and the council unanimously passed a resolution requesting Congress to halt; a similar resolution was introduced into the lower branch, and it failed of a passage there by a tie vote. This tends to show the view of the people of this District at this time.

Now, if this bill is to pass, I ask one thing at the hands of the Senate. Let it pass the ordeal at least of the present government in power in this District; give the people here a chance, give them an opportunity of vindicating in some way their right to this property dedicated to them and to their uses forever. Let this bill be amended so that before it shall go into effect it shall meet the approval of the present District government. It is nothing but fair and honest and just to require that where an old council expired that passed this grant through in one night, without a chance of knowing anything about it, the present government, whatever it may be, should have a chance to vindicate the rights of the city in this respect. When once this company puts its foot upon a piece of this land there they will stand, and they will resist you to the end

of time, or until you pay them better than they will be paid now by having their depot at this place.

Lincoln, who afterward was assassinated in this beautiful and happy city, could not on one occasion wend his way to the capital of this mighty nation safely through Baltimore! Baltimore! Baltimore! I have no prejudice against it; but the association is not a very happy one; the portrait is not a beautiful one to me, to say the least of it. Now, I think the friends of the city of Washington, those who have stood by her and still expect to do so, may well upon this occasion stand forth and claim to be her advocates.

Now, Mr. President, with the remarks I have made and they have been protracted with no desire to detain the Senate-I shall have nothing more to say generally upon the bill, though I may have occasion to speak on amendments, as they may from time to time be offered to the bill by others, and as I may offer them myself.

Mr. FLANAGAN. Mr. President, I desire to submit some few remarks on this subject. I am admonished, however, that it is after nine o'clock. I know that the Senators are fatigued, but they have been well entertained. I will submit a proposition at the outset, that I think no issue will be raised upon. We have heard a long speech; I will go further, and say we have heard a strong speech. I will not stop there; we have heard a powerful speech. Sir, this is a peculiar season of the year. The American people are admonished of the fact, occasionally to their regret, that large portions of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia are visited at this time with a serious drought. Whenever that is the case, the citizens become greatly interested, and when they hear the wind howl, and the lightnings flash, and the thunder roll, they all jump and run, leaving the breakfast or dinner table, to see what kind of a rain they are likely to have, from what point of the compass is the happy cloud coming to relieve them, and upon many occasions, particularly when these droughts are prevailing, lo, and behold, there is no rain.

We have heard the speech that I have alluded to, loud, eloquent, powerful. Has there been rain sufficient to lay the dust so that you cannot see where a carriage has made a print, much less to defeat this great enterprise of this mighty railroad with its powerful car? This is an enterprise that cannot be killed off by loud, long, powerful, and pointed speeches. No, sir; that day has passed. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." My distinguished friend from Maryland could not get through his argument-it was in his way from time to time, but constantly out it would come without bringing in the Cincinnati convention, and the old Democracy of days that are not only passed and gone, but that ought scarcely to be remembered at this enlightened day. Baltimore is likewise vivid in his mind, and he wants to call our attention to what is soon to transpire there. I regret that he does so, because in bringing to mind Baltimore unhappy associa tions are revived by it, and history repeats itself, we are admonished from time to time. He to-night is the strong advocate of the great, beautiful, and happy city of Washington, with the most splendid Capitol known to civilized man, with all the fond recollections and associations pertaining to the mighty patriot whose name it bears, the founder of this great and grand Republic. And yet, notwithstanding all these fond historical associations, we cannot forget that not many years since the martyred

||

Leaving that question and coming down to the facts, what are they? Forty years ago, if we were to go back, inviting the mind thus to do, a proposition of this kind being submitted, what would have been the result? I might well illustrate, and it would be demonstrated

telligence that I am now addressing will bear me witness that the statements are correct. I am more familiar with affairs in Louisiana and Texas, but I presume the same thing would hold good in the North and in the West. If a proposition was submitted to them to give them a depot, would there be any hesitation on the subject? If this had been asked forty years ago by this company or any company that was understood to be able to do that which they propose to do, would there have been objection? The answer would have been "Just go and take as many acres as you like." By our constitution the counties and towns in Texas are authorized to vote subsidies to invite railroads, and the counties there may vote bonds to a certain amount, and they are doing so frequently whenever they have an opportunity of thus doing.

But we are told that this is the city of Washington, and that we want parks here. Now, as has been said by my distinguished friend on my left, [Mr. CAMERON,] much more ably than I can, there is no city that has less need of parks. Look, sir, at these broad avenues. I am delighted whenever I walk out, leaving the Capitol, in any direction, to see the most magnificient view, ample room for forty railroads. See what has been done in fixing this broad, beautiful table on the east here, for building all manner of parks, and capable of being the largest city yet known to man, because I hold that our Government 18 now in its infancy. True, we boast that we have at our capital to-day nearly one hundred and fifty thousand souls. What is that? It is only a drop in the bucket. It is simply, compared with what will be, like the old Dilworth lesson, counting the horseshoe nails and doubling until you are lost in the magnitude of the amount. That is to be our happy destiny at some day, and I hope most earnestly that this Government will be perpetuated as long as time is known upon earth; and thus looking, what are we to expect? Are we to be circumscribed with the narrow views of my all powerful friend who preceded me? Not a bit of it. He seems to be seriously alarmed lest a blacksmith shop, or something of that kind, should be at some remote period erected somewhere down in the neighborhood of the depot now spoken of.

Let me tell you what my fond hopes are. They are vastly above and beyond the narrow views of my honorable friend, as I conceive them to be. I think that the day is not far distant when the city of Washington, if she takes hold of that which the God of nature has authorized her to do, which He has invited her through her enterprise to enjoy the advantages that He has blessed her with, will become a great manufacturing city. Look at the mighty falls here on the Potomac. I should like to see around the city of Washington half a dozen Sprague calico-mills making yards by the million. There will be millions of American citizens to consume them from time to time. Nature has done her part, and the enterprise of the country will be abundantly sufficient at an early day to reap these

great advantages that this city is destined to. This being the case, a mighty city will grow up here, reaching perhaps to millions, with a mighty manufacturing interest on the Potomac, upon both sides of the river, and there is no telling what the great destiny of this proud city may be if properly fostered. The case is almost beyond the comprehension of man.

Sir, much is said by the distinguished Senator from Maryland as to what will be the result if this bill should pass. "Why," said he, "if this bill pass I notify you Senators on this occasion that when other propositions are submitted I will go for them." Well, I am gratified to see that there is a possibility of convincing the gentleman of his error. If he will do so, perhaps he will do very well. So far as I am concerned, "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," and if those measures are presented while I am here I shall canvass them; and if I find the propositions meritorious, I will support them; otherwise I will not. I am under no pledge in advance, but upon broad principles I am almost invariably found on the side of railroads. I love to hear them spoken of, and at some not distant day, and I hope after this bill shall be passed to see railroads increase and multiply till they shall cover my own State like a net-work.

I am opposed to the amendments. I want to have the bill passed clean and neat as its movers desire; and right here on that branch of the subject I wish to say a word in regard to a remark of my distinguished friend, the Senator from Ohio, [Mr. THURMAN,] who is always clear, and I can understand him. He does not speak so loud that I cannot hear him, [laughter,] but I understand him.

He says upon this occasion that there is not a proposition to pay one dime for this property; that it is a gratuity bestowed upon the parties in interest. Iadmit it; I accede to the proposition of the Senator, because so far as dollars and cents are immediately concerned between the high contracting parties, he is literally correct; but what are the facts growing out of it? Let us look to them a little, and see whether really the Government of the United States is to be injured by this grand enterprise-by this clear and unequivocal gift, if you please. I maintain that she will not be. Why? In the first place, it cannot be supposed that the Government from her stand-point could afford to go into the market to sell out railroad depots, or anything of that kind; but in her might, in her power, and through the wisdom of her representatives, as I hold, she can act very differently; and under this bill, what is proposed?

The bill speaks for itself. It says this railroad depot and everything pertaining to it shall be subject to taxation just as all the property owned by the citizens of this great city. That being the case, I maintain plainly and unequivocally that there is not only a val uable consideration if there were an absence of all other considerations, but a very powerful one in a pecuniary point of view. Not for a year or two will it amount to any considerable sum; but I am not speaking for a few weeks or a few years; I am speaking for a thousand, I hope. Then look to the taxation that this depot will annually pay. And what is the money received to be appropriated to? One of the most wise appropriations that could be conceived of or made by man; that is to say, this money shall be a perpetual fund to school the children of this mighty city for all time to come. Could there be anything more substantial? There is nothing known to man, in my humble opinion, that could present a more sound consideration than the literal language the bill presents on this occasion. Who is it that can raise successfully an issue with that proposition? I meet the proposition and invite attention to it.

It has been said here that this property perhaps would be worth some two or three hundred thousand dollars.

Mr. THURMAN. Will the Senator allow me to interrupt him for a moment?

Mr. FLANAGAN. Certainly, sir. Mr. THURMAN. Will the Senator carry out his logic, and give away La Fayette square, and Judiciary square, and Scott square, and Franklin square, to any corporation or person that will pay taxes on them?

Mr. FLANAGAN. The question is easily answered. I am gratified that my friend has asked it. I will give him an anecdote by way of illustrating. A number of years ago there was a millionaire, the first, I believe, that America could boast of, Stephen Girard. There was an agent of some religious denomination-I know not what one, I am a lover of them all-who presented his petition, begging Mr. Girard for a contribution to build a church. He examined it; wrote down "$1,000," and the party retired very thankful. In a very

66

short time there was another denomination wishing to do the like. The agent of that concern presented his petition; Mr. Girard took it, looked at it, and wrote "$500." But, said the agent, "Mr. Girard, I don't think you have treated me well, sir." "In what?" inquired Mr. Girard. " Why," said he, "you gave to such a gentleman the other day for a church for their denomination $1,000, and you only give us $500." "Ah. yes!" said Mr. Girard; "just give me your paper again, if you please, sir."" He handed it to him; with what belief? The idea forced itself upon him that he was going to get a thousand; but Girard simply erased the $500, and gave him the paper back blank, and he got nothing. Now you have the answer. I say sufficient it is when those propositions present themselves to act on them. I am giving none of these squares away now; this relates to one site, and that is all. Mr. THURMAN. Now will the Senator allow me a word?

Mr. FLANAGAN. If you please, let me go on. I shall be through directly. I beg my friend not to say anything more to me, because he talks so long and so kindly that I do not like to have anything to do with him. [Laughter.]

Mr. President, I have very briefly presented some of my views in a rough manner. All the time I am thinking about that clock; it admonishes me that I ought to have stopped even before this time. But there is one thing that I desire to call the attention of the Senate to.

This is no ordinary proposition. It is no ordinary consideration when you look to the contracting parties. The United States Government in its power, in its intellect, in every. thing that pertains to greatness, can well afford to do that which is asked of it upon this occasion. To the United States Government it is a pittance.

But I was about to say a few minutes ago, when my attention was called off by the Senator from Ohio, that I was willing to admit the proposition of him or some other Senator who had spoken of this matter, that the property was worth some two or three hundred thousand dollars. The only opposition I should present on that point was that it was not worth a million. Just extend it; I take the question broadly and do not deny it, and will admit even that it is worth a million dollars, as it no doubt will be at a very early period after going into the hands of this company; and then the taxes would be so much greater. That is what we are after. The taxes are what we want. Take it at a million, five millions if you like, and the city of Washington is made rich thereby directly. That is the point precisely.

Then there is another thing I want. It has occurred to me, having heard this argument, very pleasantly, too, that we speak proudly of the proud edifice that we are in.

Well may

we do so, and when citizens come from Europe and the various portions of this proud nation, what are your mighty curiosities at

the nation's capital? They are frequently invited to go to the navy-yard; they go down to Mount Vernon; they ride to the various places; they go to the Smithsonian; they go to the fine gardens. But there is nothing that satisfies the mind of one single Senator or enlightened citizen of the city of Washington. They have not reached that point yet that we can excel other nations except in the Capitol and a few surroundings connected with it. I want to see at this proud and happy day, this day of progress-not such a one as was alluded to, not such a one as we would soon see if Democracy, either hatched out at Cincinnati or brought into existence in Baltimore, in a short period was to come into power, because that would take retrogade steps-I want to see railroads and internal improvements of every description pushed forward. I wish to act now while we have it in our power, for accidental shots do occasionally come. I must admit it would be an entire accident if they were to succeed. I have no fear of it seriously yet, but I do not like a gun even loaded pointed at me, whether it has any cap on it or not. I want an idea carried out here, and I hope to live to see its realization at an early day.

I want to see here the grandest and most complete and magnificent railroad depot known to man, one which we can show with pride to visitors from all countries as a proud monument of the great city of the nation, the depot of the celebrated road that we are now speaking of. It will do no injury, but let it be built up side by side the great Capitol, and be the mighty curiosity and the pride of the nation. When it is done, what would I propose? It has occurred to me in hearing this great subject canvassed that it would be proper to have somewhere in that great building, proper niches where room could be found advantageously for presenting to the public view representations of the great benefactors of the human race who have achieved such renown for our country. There would be no difficulty in the talented gentle. man who is conducting this proud enterprise in finding a suitable spot. I would like to see the statue of the Father of his Country, Washington, have a position in that proud erection. I would not rest there. I would then have another one hard by, so that the mind of the citizen, from whatever foreign nation, might be presented to it, and the minds of those who are to grow up in hundreds of years to come should be pointed to it. Likewise that of Franklin. The next I would present would be that of Fulton. The next would be him whose name I loved politically, and as a friend in every other sense of the word, until the day of his death, and whose memory I love to-night, and it is in direct keeping with this great depot, to wit, the father of internal improvements, Henry Clay. I would stand his statue there, too. I would not stop there. I would have there a memorial of Morse, whose death a few days ago was mourned by the whole nation in concert, and whose dirge was sung in every land in unison by means of that great electric current which he first applied to the transmission of intelligence. I would want the statue of the illustrious hero of the Appomattox apple-tree, who fought the battles of his country, and kept sacred and secure for ages to come the city of Washington that is now so kindly proposed to be taken in charge by my friend from Maryland. I would not stop there. One more I would have at least. I would like to include several; but certainly I would like to include my friend who sits smiling before me, (Mr. Vice President COLFAX,) I would like to crown the whole and harmonize it throughout with the name of the proud champion of American internal improvements to wit, Thomas A. Scott of Pennsylvania. Let all those proud statues stand there, representative and illustrative of that proud depot that should excel anything known to man touching internal improvements, and