l means as they may readily command, in eight
or ten days, to find themselves with their whole households
transported and set down in the midst of the gold regions of the
West, at full liberty to possess and enjoy whatever of the rich
harvest spread out before them their industry and energy shall
entitle them to. It will be theirs by as good a title as any can
boast who have had the means to precede them. We hear much said of
late of the justice and policy of providing a homestead, a quarter
section of the public land, to every poor and landless family in the
country. Make this road, and you enable every poor man in the
country to buy a much better homestead, and retain all the pride and
spirit of independence. Gentlemen here may say that the region of
California, so inviting, and abundant in gold now, will soon be
exhausted, and all these bright prospects for the enterprising poor
pass away. No, sir; centuries will pass--ages and ages must roll
away before those gold-bearing mountains shall all have been
excavated--those auriferous sands and alluvial deposits shall give
out all their wealth; and even after all these shall have failed,
the beds of the rivers will yield a generous return to the toil of
the laborer. ...

Mr. President, I alluded to the importance of having a communication
by railway between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean, in
the event of war with any great maritime Power. I confess that the
debates upon the subject of our foreign relations within the last
few weeks, if all that was said had commanded my full assent, would
have dissipated very much the force of any argument which I thought
might be fairly urged in favor of this road as a necessary work for
the protection and security of our possessions on the Pacific coast.
We now hear it stated, and reiterated by grave and respectable and
intelligent Senators, that there is no reason that any one should
apprehend a war with either Great Britain or France. Not now, nor
at any time in the future; at all events, unless there shall be a
total change in the condition, social, political, and economical, of
those Powers, and especially as regards Great Britain. All who have
spoken agree that there is no prospect of war. None at all. I
agree that I can see nothing in the signs of the times which is
indicative of immediate and certain war. Several gentlemen have
thrown out the idea that we hold the bond of Great Britain to keep
the peace