Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/530

 measure. I say it was a nullity from the commencement, because it was unconstitutional, and because the law, even such as it was, has not been properly executed.

I ask the Senate to restore these men to the places which they formerly occupied. Let this be done, and our country will feel and know that there is a conservative principle in the legislation of this Union which can arrest all the cabals, all the machinations, and all the packed conspiracies that may be concocted against the well-being of the country or against any particular arm of its service, which are prompted by sinister motives, and designed to strike down worthy men for hatred, envy, or ambition. It will show the people that there is an influence which can put down those who seek, by grasping at power, to promote themselves at the nation's expense, and do injustice to worthy and honorable men.

Now, Mr. President, I have no more to say on this occasion; but before taking my seat I beg leave to return my thanks to the honorable Senator from Tennessee for the courtesy which he has shown me by allowing me to proceed to-day.

The Senate having under consideration the Pacific Railroad bill—Mr. said:

Mr. President, it was not originally my intention to address to the Senate any remarks on this subject, but it seems to me that the proposition now submitted to us is one of great importance. If I have correctly apprehended the design of the Pacific railroad, it is for the national advantage, for the general benefit, and it ought not to be confined to any particular section or interest in the United States. If so, I can not perceive the propriety of restricting the engineers in their reconnoissances to any particular locality, but we should leave the wide field open for the selection of that line which will best promote our great national purposes. This amendment, however, proposes to limit the selection to a point north of the thirty-seventh parallel. It seems to me that if nature has designed a communication between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean, the least expensive, the most direct, the most facile means of communication, is to be found in a route commencing at the mouth of the Red River. By commencing there, all the streams which would be encountered, if you commence at Memphis, or any point further north, will be avoided, and there is but one stream of importance between that and the Rio Grande. It is a natural trough, if you will permit the expression, extending from that point, with but very little interruption, to El Paso. That country has been described by Captain Marcy, and others, who have taken reconnoissances of it, and it is manifest that a road can be constructed there with less expense than on any other route which has been designated or thought of.

We have heard of sandy deserts there interposing insuperable obstacles. Is there any route suggested that interposes no obstacles to the