rse the State, the laws of a
district, which by examination and study he may have mastered, may
be swept away, and no longer stand as the laws which govern the
interest he may have acquired; and the change has been one which
by no reasonable diligence could he be expected to have knowledge
of." Of course these facts thus officially stated in the interest
of the miners of Nevada, were applicable to California, and all
the mining States and Territories, and they fitly and very forcibly
rebuked the attempt to enact the Senate bill.

When this bill reached the House it was properly referred to the
Committee on Public Lands, which then had under consideration the
bill I had reported providing for the survey and sale of mineral
lands through the regular machinery of the Land Department. The
House Committee subsequently reported it favorably, and could not
be persuaded by the delegations from California and Nevada to adopt
the Senate bill as a substitute. Senators Stewart and Conness,
finding their project thus baffled, and becoming impatient of delay
as the session neared its close, called up a House bill entitled
"An Act granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners over
the Public Lands in the States of California, Oregon and Nevada,"
and succeeded, by sharp practice, in carrying a motion to strike
out the whole of the bill except the enacting clause, and insert
the bill which the Senate had already enacted and was then before
the House Committee. This maneuver succeeded, and the bill, thus
enacted by the Senate a second time, and now under a false title,
was sent to the House, where it found its place on the Speaker's
table, and was lying in wait for the sudden and unlooked-for movement
which was to follow. The title was misleading, and thus enabled
Mr. Ashley of Nevada, to obtain the floor when it was reached, and
under the gag, which of course would cut off all amendment and
debate, he attempted to force through a measure revolutionizing
the whole land policy of the Government so far as relates to the
Western side of the continent, and surrendering the national
authority over its vast magazines of mineral wealth to the legalized
jargon and bewilderment I have depicted. I succeeded in preventing
a vote by carrying an adjournment, but the question came up the
next day, and the Senators referred to, with their allies in the
House, had used such marvelous industry in organizing and drilling
their forces, and th