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pose. It cannot mortgage the lands, or make or create any lien upon them except by and with the consent of congress. It is true that it may sell them, but undoubtedly the proceeds of such sale must be applied to the purposes for which the lands were granted. It cannot cultivate the lands, because it is not authorized to engage in agricultural pursuits, but only to construct and operate a railroad and telegraph line. It is expressly declared to be a post route and military road, subject to the use of the United States; and it cannot be questioned that, if the necessities of the case require it, the United States could use the railroad to the exclusion of every other person and fix the price to be paid appellant for such exclusive use. Whether the railroad is used exclusively by the United States or jointly with others, the fact remains that the lands of appellant are held by it in order to aid in the operation of the railroad, and secure to its patrons adequate service, and reasonable charges therefor. The entire people of the United States are interested in seeing that the appellant complies strictly with the provisions of its charter. The construction of the railroad was a national undertaking, subsidized by an immense grant of national property; and the people of the United States have a direct interest in seeing to it that the appellant fulfills to the letter the obligations and duties it owes to the government. By § 10 of appellant’s charter it is expressly provided that “all people of the United: States shall have the right to subscribe to the stock of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company.” Every citizen of the United States, whether rich or poor, had the right to invest his earnings in this great undertaking, and to reap the profits of such investment. And as, by the whole tenor and spirit of the charter, the appellant’s railroad was made a national institution, so it is that it is now, and always has been, a railroad corporation owing peculiar and extraordinary duties to, and under most supreme obligations to the people of the United States, both in respect of the operation of its railroad and the ultimate disposition of its land grant. It is therefore without any doubt or hesitation that we say that the appellant, in respect of its land grant, does not occupy the same or a similar position as other land owners, and isa legitimate object upon which the territorial legislature