Mr. MORRILL. Certainly it on ht to be accessible to the Senate. This bill, see, was reported on the 7th of June, We have had very little 0)portunity to constder the matter; this is the rst time it has come to my attention at all. Now, let us look at the scope of the bill for a moment. In the 1st place, this corporation, which is not the creature of this Government, which is the creation of the State of NewYork, is endowed with certain powers and privileges, 1stto put up telegraphic wires in any direction, to any extent, “t rough and over any portion of the public domain. Itake it for granted that means outside of the States. That is a pretty extensive swee when you consider that the Government at. this moment is paying a subsidy of about 50,000 dollars a year, I think, to one line, and this company may build another one right alongside of that. But that is not the important part of this measure. The important part. of it is in these words, “ over and along any of the military or 0st roads of the U.S. which have)een or may hereafter be declared such by act of Congress.” What does that mean? Any of the roads over which we carry the mail, over persons may associate any of your railroads or any of the ordinary public highways or turnpikes throughout the whole extent of the country. A corporation in the city of NewYork is invested with the high privilege of setting u telegraphiqwires in any direction and in all irections throughout the whole extent of this country, over your rail ways. over your turnpikes, over your ordinary highways, anywhere and everywhere where the Government of the U.S. has declared that it has a pest road. I think that is a little broader and a little more comprehensive, perhaps, than any bill in so few words ever before proposed to invest any corporation in this country with. Whether this Government has the power to carry the mail through the telegraph is a question, perhaps, that we are not to consider here, but it isa grave question and one that requires some little consideration'before the Government enters upon it. In the 1st place, whether it is practicable to carry the mail by tele aphic communication has not been settled by any means. At the present rates, no one would pretend that it could be done. It is a very grave question whether the Government should enter upon the consideration of the project of carrying its mails over and by means of tele gra liic lines. 0w, sir, if we were entering upon that question, I think the honorable Senfrom Ohio would agree with me that it presented a matter of the gravest consequences, and which should not be passed upon by the Senate in a moment, nor without fulihind serious consideration. It would involve, of course, the entire revision of the whole subject of postal arrangements. I infer from the remarks of the honorable senator that this bill is presented in contemplation of some such thing in the future. at that is not the question of authority to which I now call the attention of the Senate. That is not the precise question involved here. The question which is involved here, and which to my mind is very doubtful, is the one hinted at b my colleague: has the Government of the U.S. the authority to invest a private corporation in the city of NewYork ( or that is what it is) with the power to make lines of telegraphic communication in any direction and in all directions over the whole length and breadth of this country, not for postal, not for military, but for its own purposes? That is exactly what it is. This 5 vest a private cerporation of the State of NewYork with power to set up telegraphic communication all over this country. Have we any. authority for that? The honorable senator says that the corporation exists. True, but it has not this power.