Whereas the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, at their present session, adopted a joint resolution requesting their Senators and Representatives in Congress to use their influence to procure the passage of a law of Congress, granting to the said State of Indiana a portion of the vacant lands lying on the route of the Mount Carmel and New Albany railroad, in that State, in aid of the construction of the said railroad; and whereas this joint resolution of the Legislature of Indiana has been laid before the Senate of the United States, and ordered to be printed, and the proposition contained in it has met with the favorable consideration of that body;2 and whereas the Committee on Public Lands, in the Senate, have reported a bill for an act to grant to the said State the alternate sections of vacant land lying within six miles on each side of the route of said road, amounting to about two hundred and twenty thousand acres; and whereas this manifestation, on the part of Congress, favorably to entertain this request on the part of Indiana, is calculated to encourage the Legislature of Illinois to make a similar reasonable request of Congress in aid of the great system of internal improvements in this State, in the prosecution of which large quantities of the refuse lands of the General Government will be increased in value and brought into early market: Therefore,

Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, That our Senators and Representatives in Congress be requested to use the influence of their stations to procure the passage of a law of Congress granting to the State of Illinois a portion of the vacant lands along the routes of the several railroads of this State, in aid of their construction.

Resolved, That the Governor be, and he is hereby, requested to transmit a copy of this preamble and joint resolution to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress.3