mented by the women of the territory, appears from their contributions to the St. Louis Sanitary Fair of 1864, to the amount of $10,000, and to the Chicago Fair of 1865, to the amount of $25,000, where Mrs. Alvin Saunders and Mrs. O. F. Davis were active participants. The sentiments of loyalty and patriotism proclaimed by the Governor were amply supplemented by the utterance of the Legislature of 1861-2:

RESOLVED, That, disavowing, as we do, the right of any state or states to nullify the federal law or secede from the federal Union, we regard such secession or nullification as treason against the United States, and believe it to be the first and holiest duty of the Government to uphold its laws and repress treason.

To a resolution of a republican member of the Legislature"Resolved, that whenever an American Citizen unsheathes his sword and shoulders his musket, at his country's call, he should leave the spoilsman, the partisan and the politician in a nameless grave behind him," there came a democratic response: "That we hold rebels against our government to be outside the pale of its protection."

His messages furnish the land-marks of the Union Pacific railroad. In the first one, of December, 1861, we have the following:

A mere glance at the map of the country will convince every intelligent mind that the Platte Valley which passes through the heart, and runs nearly the entire length of Nebraska, is to furnish the route for the Great Central Railroad which is to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific States and Territories. Through Nebraska must pass, in a few years, not only the travel and trade between the Eastern and Western portion of our country, but also much of the trade and travel between the Old and New World.

In his message in January, 1864, he thus congratulated the Legislature:

Congress passed a bill, at the first regular session after the inauguration of the present administration, providing for the construction of the Great Pacific Railway, commencing on the 100th meridian, within the Territory of Nebraska,

thence westwardly to the Pacific coast, with three branches
from the place of beginning eastward to the Missouri River.
With these magnificent works successfully prosecuted, con-
necting directly with the great cities of the Atlantic and
Pacific, with the benefits of the homestead act, of a virgin
and fertile soil, of exhaustless salt springs, with a climate as
salubrious as exists in the world-none can hesitate to pre-
dict for Nebraska gigantic strides in the attainment of
wealth and power.

In January 1865, his declaration was:

It will be gratifying to you, and the people of the Territory to know that the work on the great Union Pacific Railroad, which is to pass through the entire length of Nebraska, is progressing at a very considerable rate. The work of grading, bridging, and preparing the ties, is progressing much more rapidly than had been anticipated by our most sanguine people. I feel fully authorized to say, that unless some unforeseen misfortune attends this great enterprise, more than fifty miles westward from Omaha will be in readiness for the cars before your next annual meeting.

In January, 1866, he reported fifty-five miles of track completed, and grading and bridging for niety-five miles, and predicted that 150 miles of the road would be ready for the cars within twelve months. But all speculations were to be exceeded during the year of 1866, since on the 11th of January, 1867, cars were running a distance of 293 miles from the initial point, and 262 miles of track were laid, in that year.

On the 2nd day of December, 1863, as one of the national Commissioners to locate the initial point of the road, with spade in hand to "break ground," the governor delivered the following address:

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:

We have assembled here to-day for the purpose of inaugurating the greatest work of internal improvement ever projected by man, an improvement which is to unite with iron bands the shores of the Atlantic and Pacific, and to connect not only the great cities of the Atlantic with those of the Pacific Ocean, but to open the gateway of commerce for the nations of the earth. This gigantic enterprise,

which spans a continent, is destined to become the great
thoroughfare not only for manufactured articles of our own
New England, the agricultural staples of the valley of the
Mississippi, and the gold and silver of the Rocky Mountains
and the Sierra Nevadas, but also the silk of the Indies,
the manufactures of England and France, and the teas of
China. It may indeed be appropriately termed the "Nation's
Great Highway."

This, my fellow citizens, is no mere work of fancy, or fic-
tion, but a substantial reality. The people, the great masses,
have taken hold of it, and the work this day so auspiciously
inaugurated, is destined to go steadily forward to com-
pletion. Whether viewed in the light of a prudential war
measure or regarded in the light of a commercial enterprise,
the Nation is so deeply interested in its speedy completion
that it cannot fail.

The parties who participated here today in this initial step, represent the diversity of interests which are combined to push it forward to a complete consummation. You behold here the engineer, the mechanic, the laborer, the physician, the lawyer, the capitalist, the editor, the telegraph operator, all taking part in the exercises of this hour-and for such, throughout the whole country, is composed of backers of this great enterprise. I cannot close these brief remarks without expressing the gratitude which I feel to the President and the Congress of the United States for the good judgment which they have displayed in giving life to this magic work, and congratulating the people of the whole Union on its commencement and the cheering prospects of its early completion.

In advance of Congress, the Governor said in his message of 1861: "You should, in my opinion, urge Congress to enact a Homestead law at its next session." And in that of 1864, we have the following:

Among the many beneficent acts of legislation, passed by the Congress of the United States, since your last session, may be mentioned the "Homestead Bill." In fact, its success, so just to the settler, and so wise as a measure of national policy, seemed hopeless, while the reins of government were held by such men as controlled the administration preceding that of our present chief magistrate. The honor of the prompt passage of this great measure, is due to President Lincoln and his political friends in Congress.

This question received special attention in all his messages, and after various efforts, congressional action was secured, and the transition made from the territory to a state, during the term of his incumbency. Without any exaggeration, his term of office included the most eventful period of our history, and no state or territory had a more faithful officer or devoted war governor than Nebraska. In the message of 1861, we read:

We are surrounded by tribes of Indians who are more or less tampered with by wicked men, and traitors of the Union; we are in the immediate vicinity of the battle fields of the rebellious states; the regular troops, who have been recently garrisoning our forts, are being rapidly withdrawn; large numbers of our best and bravest young men have been summoned from their homes to aid in fighting the battles of the Union; we have a long range of frontier settlements exposed to the tomahawks and scalping knives of savages. You should, therefore, urge upon Congress, in the strongest terms, the necessity of furnishing our people with the means of defending their homes and families.

The subject received attention in his official communication January 8, 1864:

True, Nebraska has no particular calls made for the services of her militia lately; nothing, however, but the liberality of the general government in supplying our wants with government troops has prevented it.

In 1865 his reference to the theme was as follows:

In the late call for troops to assist in protecting our frontier settlers from the savages, I found myself obliged to rely entirely upon the patriotism and liberality of the people in order to raise and equip a sufficient force to give proper relief to the suffering people.

It was recorded in the message of January 9, 1866, that:

The Indian War upon our Western border to which I adverted in my last annual message, still continues. It was hoped that with the close of the rebellion these troubles would cease; but this hope has proved groundless. Emboldened by success, the savage tribes who have committed these outrages upon the lives and property of emigrants, and upon the Overland Stage line, and Pacific Telegraph,

have become exceedingly reckless and daring in their
murderous forages; and outrages the most atrocious and
wanton in their character are of frequent occurrence. Noth-
ing will, in my judgment, give us peace upon the plains, but
the employment of the most vigorous measures to hunt out
and severely punish the authors of these outrages.

71

After Gov. Butler (of the State) had convened a Legislature on the 4th of July, 1866, for the election of United States Senator, Congress ordered the Territorial Governor (Alvin Saunders) to convene the Legislature for the purpose of adopting a "condition precedent" to the State's admission into the Union. Accordingly he issued his proclamation February 14th, 1867, and his message to the Legislature February 20th, 1867. Against the state legislature amending the provisions of the constitution, which as voted upon by the people recognized only white voters, the democrats entered their protest in a series of state resolutions in 1868; while at the same time there was not a unity of opinion among republicans on the questions of the right of the State to act, and the policy of extending the elective franchise to the people of color. Indeed, Governor Saunders, the very embodiment of national republicanism, said in his proclamation, to the Legislature:

It no doubt would have been more satisfactory to you, as I frankly confess it would have been to me, if Congress had given the settlement of this question directly to the people of the Territory, instead of requiring of you, who were not particularly instructed on the subject, to take upon yourselves the whole responsibility of deciding this subject for them.

On the other question he affirmed:

The day, in my opinion, is not far distant when property qualifications, educational qualifications, and color qualifications, as precedent to the privilege of voting, will be known no more by the American people; but that intelligence and manhood will be the only qualifications necessary to entitle an American citizen to the privileges of an elector.

At this time the amendment to the United States Constitution had not passed, establishing impartial suffrage, but in 1870, two