1st Session. No. 65. RESOLUTIONS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF CALIFORNIA, IN FAVOR OF The "bill to organize the Territory of Nebraska." JUNE 13, 1854.-Ordered to lie on the table and be printed. Senate joint resolutions, in relation to the "Nebraska bill," introduced into the Senate of the United States on the twenty-third day of January, eighteen hundred and fifty-four. Whereas, a bill to organize the Territory of Nebraska has been introduced into the Senate of the United States, which bill recognizes the following doctrine: That all suits involving questions of personal freedom and title to slaves shall be decided by the local tribunals of the States or Territories, with right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States; that the provisions of the Constitution of the United States in relation to fugitives from service shall be faithfully executed in organized Territories of the United States, as well as in the States, and that they ought to be rigidly enforced alike in both; that the people residing in Territories, and the States to be formed out of them, shall decide all questions pertaining to slavery therein, through their representatives to be elected for that purpose; that the compromise of 1850 is inconsistent with, and supersedes, the compromise of 1820, known as the Missouri compromise. And whereas, the above principles but reiterate, in language and substance, the compromise measures of 1850 in relation to slavery, which measures ought to be faithfully observed in all the States and organized Territories; therefore be it Resolved, by the Senate and Assembly of the State of California, that we approve of the provisions, as set forth, of the bill for "an act to organize the Territory of Nebraska," introduced into the Senate of the United States on the 23d of January, 1854. Resolved, that our senators in Congress be instructed, and our representatives requested, to vote for, and to use their best exertions to procure the passage of, said bill. Resolved, that his excellency the governor be requested to forward a copy of the foregoing preamble and resolutions to each of our senators and representatives in Congress. Signed, May 9, 1854 : Signed, May 10, 1854: CHARLES S. FAIRFAX, Speaker of the Assembly. President of the Senate. SAMUEL PURDY, JUNE 13, 1854.-Referred to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, and ordered to be printed. Concurrent resolution in relation to cheap ocean postage. Resolved, by the Senate of California, the Assembly concurring, that we cordially endorse the doctrine embraced in the following resolve passed by the legislature of Massachusetts, viz.: That it is the true policy of every national government to procure for its citizens the advantages of a regular and cheap correspondence with foreign countries; and that the establishment by all maritime nations of a uniform rate of ocean postage, reduced to the lowest sum practicable, would tend to promote and extend the blessings of commerce and civilization, and to secure the peace of the world. Resolved, that his excellency the governor be requested to transmit a copy of the above resolution to the governor of Massachusetts, and a copy to each of our senators and representatives in Congress. Signed, May 11, 1854: Signed, May 11, 1854: CHARLES S. FAIRFAX, SAMUEL PURDY, President of the Senate. Some general results of a recent winter expedition across the Rocky mountains, for the survey of a route for a roilroad to the Pacific. JUNE 15, 1854.-Referred to the select committee on the Pacific Railroad and ordered to be printed. COL. FREMONT'S EXPLORATION OF THE CENTRAL RAILROAD ROUTE TO THE PACIFIC. To the Editors of the National Intelligencer: GENTLEMEN: While the proceedings in Congress are occupying public attention more particularly with the subject of a Pacific railway I desire to offer to your paper, for publication, some general results of a recent winter expedition across the Rocky mountains, confining myself to mere results, in anticipation of a fuller report, with maps and illustrations, which will necessarily require some months to prepare. The country examined was for about three-fourths of the distancefrom the Missouri frontier, at the mouth of the Kansas river, to the Valley of Parowan, at the foot of the Wahsatch mountains, within the rim of the Great Basin, at its southeastern bend-along and between the 38th and 39th parallels of latitude; and the whole line divides itself naturally into three sections, which may be conveniently followed in description. The first or eastern section consists of the great prairie slope spreading from the base of the Sierra Blanca to the Missouri frontier, about seven hundred miles; the second or middle section comprehends the various Rocky mountain ranges and inter-lying valleys, between the termination of the great plains at the foot of the Sierra Blanca and the Great Basin at the Parowan valley and Wahsatch mountains, where the first Mormon settlement is found, about four hundred and fifty miles; the third or western section comprehends the mountainous plateau lying between the Wahsatch mountains and the Sierra Nevada, a distance of about four hundred miles. The country examined was upon a very direct line, the travelled |