PACIFIC RAILROAD BILL
AT THE SECOND SESSION of the Thirty-seventh Congress, Collis Potter Huntington made the first of his innumerable appearances in Washington on behalf of his railroads. He had been deputized by his associates with full power of attorney to do anything he might think best for the interests of the company. They felt that his diplomatic skill, his engaging personality, and his mastery of detail made him the logical man for such a mission. The subject of the Pacific Railroad had been before Congress for ten or more years in various forms of legislation without success, and it was considered most important to have on hand their most persuasive and convincing member.1
The long-smoldering hostility between the North and South had burst into flame on April 12, 1861, and the country was engaged in a bitter civil war. On November 28, H.M.S. Trent had been stopped on the high seas by a United States warship, and two Confederate agents, Mason and Slidell, on the way to England, forcibly removed to the great resentment and protests of Great Britain. Soon thereafter, the Asiatic fleet of Great Britain consisting of sixteen ships of 291 guns occupied the harbor at Victoria, Vancouver; and a Russian fleet of seven vessels of 192 guns sailed into San Francisco
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Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: Collis Potter Huntington.
Volume: 1.
Contributors: Cerinda W. Evans - Author.
Publisher: Mariners' Museum.
Place of publication: Newport News, VA.
Publication year: 1954.
Page number: 79.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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