produced by the separation of vast States | land have been bound up together, and with a different commerce acting in con- Italy again resumes her place among the junction with forced theories of the origin nations. And we find the great Germanic and laws of our government. In saying this I will cast no imputation upon the loyalty of those States. They are now as loyal as any, and were during the war. But we can imagine that what has been may be again. And we can understand what may be the danger of this doctrine, if it should still maintain its hold in the minds of the American people, when conflicting interests arise, and conflicting notions arise as to what may be the interests of the people; as in 1812 a war was brought about which was regarded as being fatal to the interests of the New England States, they took their position upon it. We have had a law which was regarded in South Carolina as being fatal to her interests, and she took her position upon it. This doctrine was again seized by slavery in 1861, and the rebellion was brought on. And what may happen in the far future upon the eastern and western coasts, upon the northern and southern extremities of our nation, we cannot tell.

family has been sighing for a nationality. That race, whose overmastering civilization is acknowledged by all the world, has hitherto been divided into petty Principalities and States, such as Virginia and South Carolina aspire to be, but now are coming together and asserting their unity, their national existence, and are now able to dominate all the nations of Europe. We should then cherish this idea, that while the States have their rights sacred and unapproachable, which we should guard with untiring vigilance, never permitting an encroachment, and remembering that such encroachment is as much a violation of the Constitution of the United States as to encroach upon the rights of the general Government, still bearing in mind that the States are but subordinate parts of one great nation, and that the nation is over, all even as God is over the universe. Without entering into any of the consequences that flow from this doctrine, allow me for tonight to refer to that great national attriThe idea that we are a nation, that we bute, that great national duty-the duty and are one people, undivided and indivisible, the power to protect the citizen in the enshould be a plank in the platform of every joyment of life, liberty, and property. If party. It should be printed on the banner the Government of the United States has of every party. It should be taught in not the power to protect the citizens of the every school, academy, and college. It United States in the enjoyment of life, libshould be the political North Star by which erty, and property in cases where the States every political manager should steer his fail, or refuse, or are unable to grant probark. It should be the central idea of tection, then that Government should be American politics, and every child, so to amended, or should give place to a better. speak, should be vaccinated with this idea, Great Britain sent forth a costly and powso that he may be protected against this erful expedition to Abyssinia to rescue four political distemper that has brought such British subjects who had been captured and calamity upon our country. Were the imprisoned by the government of that counmind of the nation, so to speak, fully satu-try. She has recently threatened Greece rated with this sentiment of nationality, with war, if she did not use all her power that we are but one people, undivided and to bring to justice two brigands who had indivisible, there would be no danger lately murdered two British subjects. These though our boundaries came to embrace these things are greatly to the honor of the entire continent. It is therefore of the Great Britain. And our Government utmost importance that it should be taught threatened Austria with war if she did not and inculcated upon all occasions. What release Martin Kosta, who had declared his the sun is in the heavens, diffusing light, intention to become a citizen of the United and life, and warmth, and by its subtle in- States, and was therefore protected by the fluence holding the planets in their orbits Government of the United States. More and preserving the harmony of the uni- recently we have made war upon Corea, a verse-such is the sentiment of nationality province in Asia, and slaughtered her peoin a nation, diffusing light and protection ple, and battered down her forts, because in every part, holding the faces of Amer-Americans shipwrecked upon her coast icans always toward their home, protect- were murdered and the government had ing the States in the exercise of their just refused to give satisfaction for it. And if powers, and preserving the harmony and a mob in London should murder half a prosperity of all. dozen American citizens, we would call upon that government to use all its power to bring the murderers to punishment, and if Great Britain did not do so, it would be regarded as a cause of war. And yet some people entertain the idea that our Government has the power to protect its citizens everywhere except upon its own soil. The

We must have a nation. It is a necessity of our political existence, and we find the countries of the Old World now aspiring for nationality. Italy, after a long absence, has returned. Rome has again become the centre and the capital of a great nation. The bleeding fragments of the beautiful

idea that I would advocate, the doctrine | Yet I have never been thoroughly satisfied that I would urge as being the only true either of the necessity or expediency of and national one, flowing inevitably from projects promising such meagre results to national sovereignty, is that our Govern- the great body of our people. But with ment has the right to protect her citizens regard to the transcendent merits of the in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and prop-gigantic enterprise contemplated in this erty wherever the flag floats, whether at bill, I have never entertained the shadow home or abroad. of a doubt.

Speech of Hon. J. Proctor Knott, of

Kentucky,

Delivered in the House of Representatives on the St. Croix
and Superior Land Grant, January 21, 1871.
The house having under consideration
the joint resolution (S. R. No. 11) extend-
ing the time to construct a railroad from
St. Croix river or lake to the west end of
Lake Superior and to Bayfield-

Years ago, when I first heard that there was somewhere in the vast terra incognita, somewhere in the bleak regions of the great northwest, a stream of water known to the nomadic inhabitants of the neighborhood as the river St. Croix, I became satisfied that the construction of a railroad from that raging torrent to some point in the civilized world was essential to the happiness and prosperity of the American people if not absolutely indispensable to the perMr. Knott said: Mr. Speaker-If I could petuity of republican institutions on this be actuated by any conceivable inducement continent. I felt instinctively that the to betray the sacred trust in me by those boundless resources of that prolific region to whose generous confidence I am in- of sand and pine shrubbery would never debted for the honor of a seat on this floor; be fully developed without a railroad conif I could be influenced by any possible structed and equipped at the expense of consideration to become instrumental in the government, and perhaps not then. I giving away, in violation of their known had an abiding presentiment that, some wishes any portion of their interest in the day or other, the people of this whole public domain for the mere promotion of country, irrespective of party affiliations, any railroad enterprise whatever, I should regardless of sectional prejudices, and certainly feel a strong inclination to give "without distinction of race, color, or prethis measure my most earnest and hearty vious condition of servitude," would rise support; for I am assured that its success in their majesty and demand an outlet for would materially enhance the pecuniary the enormous agricultural productions of prosperity of some of the most valued friends I have on earth; friends for whose accommodation I would be willing to make almost any sacrifice not involving my personal honor or my fidelity as the trustee of an express trust. And that act of itself would be sufficient to countervail almost any objection I might entertain to the passage of this bill not inspired by any imperative and inexorable sense of public duty.

those vast and fertile pine barrens, drained in the rainy season by the surging waters of the turbid St. Croix.

These impressions, derived simply and solely from the "eternal fitness of things," were not only strengthened by the interesting and eloquent debate on this bill, to which I listened with so much pleasure the other day, but intensified, if possible, as I read over this morning, the lively colloquy which took place on that occasion, But, independent of the seductive in- as I find it reported in last Friday's Globe. fluences of private friendship, to which II will ask the indulgence of the house admit I am, perhaps, as susceptible as any of the gentlemen I see around me, the intrinsic merits of the measure itself are of such an extraordinary character as to commend it most strongly to the favorable consideration of every member of this house, myself not excepted, notwithstanding my constituents, in whose behalf alone I am acting here, would not be benefited by its passage one particle more than they would be by a project to cultivate an orange grove on the bleakest summit of Greenland's icy mountains.

Now, sir, as to those great trunk lines of railways, spanning the continent from ocean to ocean, I confess my mind has never been fully made up. It is true they may afford some trifling advantages to local traffic, and they may even in time become the channels of a more extended commerce.

while I read a few short passages, which are sufficient, in my judgment, to place the merits of the great enterprise, contemplated in the measure now under discussion, beyond all possible controversy.

The honorable gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Wilson), who, I believe, is managing this bill, in speaking of the character of the country through which this railroad is to pass, says this:

"We want to have the timber brought to us as cheaply as possible. Now, if you tie up the lands, in this way, so that no title can be obtained to them-for no settler will go on these lands, for he cannot make a living-you deprive us of the benefit of that timber."

Now, sir, I would not have it by any means inferred from this that the gentleman from Minnesota would insinuate that

the people out in this section desire this | I am accustomed are generally very good. timber merely for the purpose of fencing What I want to know is, what is the differup their farms so that their stock may not ence between our pine lands and your pine wander off and die of starvation among the lands? bleak hills of St. Croix. I read it for no such purpose, sir, and make no comment on it myself. In corroboration of this statement of the gentleman from Minnesota, I find this testimony given by the honorable gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Washburn). Speaking of these same lands, he

neglect of their government? How long Now, sir, I repeat, I have been satisfied would it be before they would take to for years that if there was any portion of studying the Declaration of Independence and hatching out the damnable heresy of secession? How long before the grim demon of civil discord would rear again his horrid head in our midst, "gnash loud his iron fangs and shake his crest of bristling bayonets?"

the inhabited globe absolutely in a suffering condition for want of a railroad it was these teeming pine barrens of the St. Croix. At what particular point on that noble stream such a road should be commenced I knew was immaterial, and it seems so to have been considered by the Then, sir, think of the long and painful draughtsman of this bill. It might be up process of reconstruction that must follow at the spring or down at the foot-log, or with its concomitant amendments to the the water-gate, or the fish-dam, or anyconstitution, the seventeenth, eighteenth where along the bank, no matter where. and nineteenth articles. The sixteenth, it But in what direction should it run, or is of course understood, is to be appropri- where it should terminate, were always to ated to those blushing damsels who are, my mind questions of the most painful day after day, beseeching us to let them perplexity. I could conceive of no place vote, hold office, drink cocktails, ride on "God's green earth" in such straitened a-straddle, and do everything else the men circumstances for railroad facilities as to be do. But above all, sir, let me implore you to likely to desire or willing to accept such a reflect for a single moment on the deplor- connection. I knew that neither Bayfield able condition of our country in case of a nor Superior city would have it, for they foreign war, with all our ports blockaded, both indignantly spurned the munificence all our cities in a state of siege, the gaunt of the government when coupled with such specter of famine brooding like a hungry ignominious conditions, and let this very vulture over our starving land; our com- same land grant die on their hands years missary stores all exhausted, and our fam- and years ago rather than submit to the ishing armies withering away in the field, degradation of a direct communication by a helpless prey to the insatiate demon of railroad with the piny woods of the St. hunger; our navy rotting in the docks for | Croix; and I knew that what the enterwant of provisions for our gallant seamen, and we without any railroad communication whatever with the prolific pine thickets of the St. Croix.

prising inhabitants of those giant young cities would refuse to take would have few charms for others, whatever their necessities or cupidity might be.

Ah, sir, I could very well understand Hence as I have said, sir, I was utterly why my amiable friends from Pennsyl- at a loss to determine where the terminus vania (Mr. Myers, Mr. Kelley and Mr. of this great and indispensable road should O'Neill) should be so earnest in their sup- be, until I accidentally overheard some port of this bill the other day; and if their gentleman the other day mention the honorable colleague, my friend, Mr. Ran-name of " Duluth."

dall, will pardon the remark, I will say I Duluth! The word fell upon my ear consider his criticism of their action on with a peculiar and indescribable charm, that occasion as not only unjust, but un-like the gentle murmur of a low fountain generous. I knew they were looking for- stealing forth in the midst of roses; or the ward with a far-reaching ken of enlight- soft, sweet accents of an angel's whisper in ened statesmanship to the pitiable condi- the bright, joyous dream of sleeping intion in which Philadelphia will be left nocence. unless speedily supplied with railroad con- "Duluth!" "Twas the name for which nection in some way or other with this my soul had panted for years, as the hart garden spot of the universe. And beside, panteth for the water-brooks. But where sir, this discussion has relieved my mind was Duluth? Never in all my limited of a mystery that has weighed upon it like reading, had my vision been gladdened by an incubus for years. I could never un- seeing the celestial word in print. And I derstand before why there was so much felt a profound humiliation in my ignorance excitement during the last Congress over that its dulcet syllables had never before the acquisition of Alta Vela. I could ravished my delighted ear. I was certain never understand why it was that some of the draughtsman in this bill had never our ablest statesmen and most disinterested heard of it or it would have been desigpatriots should entertain such dark fore-nated as one of the termini of this road. I bodings of the untold calamities that were to befall our beloved country unless we should take immediate possession of that desirable island. But I see now that they were laboring under the mistaken impression that the government would need the guano to manure the public lands on the St. Croix.

asked my friends about it, but they knew nothing of it. I rushed to the library, and examined all the maps I could find. I discovered in one of them a delicate hairlike line, diverging from the Mississippi near a place marked Prescott, which, I supposed, was intended to represent the river St. Croix, but, could nowhere find Duluth,

Nevertheless, I was confident it existed somewhere, and that its discovery would constitute the crowning glory of the present century, if not of all modern times. I knew it was bound to exist in the very nature of things; that the symmetry and perfection of our planetary system would be incomplete without it. That the elements of maternal nature would since have resolved themselves back into original chaos if there had been such a hiatus in creation as would have resulted from leaving out Duluth! In fact, sir, I was overwhelmed with the conviction that Duluth not only existed somewhere, but that wherever it was, it was a great and glorious place. I was convinced that the greatest calamity that ever befell the benighted nations of the ancient world was in their having passed away without a knowledge of the actual existence of Duluth; that their fabled Atlantis, never seen save by the hallowed vision of the inspired poesy, was, in fact, but another name for Duluth; that the golden orchard of the Hesperides, was but a poetical synonym for the beer-gardens in the vicinity of Duluth. I was certain that Herodotus had died a miserable death, because in all his travels and with all his geographical research he had never heard of Duluth. I knew that if the immortal spirit of Homer could look down from another heaven than that created by his own celestial genius upon the long lines of pilgrims from every nation of the earth to the gushing fountain of poesy opened by the touch of his magic wand, if he could be permitted to behold the vast assemblage of grand and glorious productions of the lyric art called into being by his own inspired strains, he would weep tears of bitter anguish that, instead of lavishing all the stores of his mighty genius upon the fall of Illion, it had not been his more blessed lot to crystalize in deathless song the rising glories of Duluth. Yes, sir, had it not been for this map, kindly furnished me by the legislature of Minnesota, I might have gone down to my obscure and humble grave in an agony of despair, because I could nowhere find Duluth. Had such been my melancholy fate, I have no doubt that with the last feeble pulsation of my breaking heart, with the last faint exhalation of my fleeting breath, I should have whispered, "Where is Duluth?"

the opening gates of Paradise. There, there, for the first time, my enchanted eye rested upon the ravishing word, “Duluth!" This map, sir, is intended, as it appears from its title, to illustrate the position of Duluth in the United States; but if gentlemen will examine it, I think they will concur with me in the opinion, that it is far too modest in its pretensions. It not only illustrates the position of Duluth in the United States, but exhibits its relations with all created things. It even goes further than this. It hits the shadowy vale of futurity, and affords us a view of the golden prospects of Duluth far along the dim vista of ages yet to come.

If gentlemen will examine it, they will find Duluth not only in the center of the map, but represented in the center of a series of concentric circles one hundred miles apart, and some of them as much as four thousand miles in diameter, embracing alike, in their tremendous sweep the fragrant savannas of the sunlit South and the eternal solitudes of snow that mantle the ice-bound North. How these circles were produced is perhaps one of those primordial mysteries that the most skilled paleologist will never be able to explain. But the fact is, sir, Duluth is pre-eminently a central point, for I am told by gentlemen who have been so reckless of their own personal safety as to venture away into those awful regions where Duluth is supposed to be, that it is so exactly in the center of the visible universe that the sky comes down at precisely the same distance all around it.

I find, by reference to this map, that Duluth is situated somewhere near the western end of Lake Superior, but as there is no dot or other mark indicating its exact location, I am unable to say whether it is actually confined to any particular spot, or whether "it is just lying around there loose." I really cannot tell whether it is one of those ethereal creations of intellectual frostwork, more intangible than the rose-tinted clouds of a summer sunset; one of those airy exhalations of the speculator's brain which, I am told, are very flitting in the form of towns and cities along those lines of railroad, built with government subsidies, luring the unwary settler as the mirage of the desert lures the famishing traveler on, and ever on, until it fades away in the darkening horizon; or whether it is a real, bona fide, substantial city, all But, thanks to the beneficence of that "staked off," with the lots marked with band of ministering angels who have their their owners' names, like that proud combright abodes in the far-off capital of Min-mercial metropolis recently discovered nesota, just as the agony of my anxiety on the desirable shores of San Domingo. was about to culminate in the frenzy of despair, this blessed map was placed in my hands; and as I unfolded it a resplendent scene of ineffable glory opened before me, such as I imagined burst upon the enraptured vision of the wandering peri through

But, however that may be, I am satisfied Duluth is there, or thereabouts, for I see it stated here on the map that it is exactly thirty-nine hundred and ninety miles from Liverpool, though I have no doubt, for the sake of convenience, it will be