The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-11 00:00:00

The Pacific Railway.

In a speech recently delivered before a public
audience, by Sir Morton Peto, he said he would like to see
the "Union of the States made solid and enduring by the
linking of the Pacific territory with that of the Atlantic by
means of the iron bands of the railroad. There should be
no more rounding or crossing by Panama, or attempts to
convey by steam on that route the vast trade and travel
which would ensue between the two sections of the coun-
try now that the war was ended. Then, as now, England
and the United States would, he was confident, go hand
and hand. in pushing on the civilisation of the Old and
New Worlds." Observations like these, coming from so
practical, sagacious, and influential a source, cannot but be
regarded as significant. English capital is ready to be in-
vested in this road. One important and substantial link of
the Eastern section—the Atlantic and Groat Western road
—is the work of English capital and enterprise, with Sir
Morton Peto, Mr. James McHenry, Mr. Kennard, and
others as its architects and constructors. These gentle-
men and their friends desire no Congressional subsidies to
aid them in their enterprises. What they undertake to
perform they undertake to accomplish by their own means,
and they have never yet failed of success. All they ask is
the favor of the American people ; and that this is abun-
dantly bestowed is illustrated by the numerous, cordial,
flattering, and liberal demonstrations that have greeted
them all through their tour.

This new steam line of communication with the Pacifi
is demanded for a number of reasons. It will bring Eu-
rope closer to Asia, and make America the centre of the
world's commerce, civilisation, and progress. It will make
this continent the centre of trade and travel between Lon-
don and Pekin. It will civilise our vast Western wilder-
nesses, spread the glittering riches of the Rocky Mountains
and Sierra Nevada before the world, and open a surer
and more expeditious route from our own Atlantic
shores to the Pacific than the roundabout ones by way of
the Horn or the Isthmus. This trade, as Sir Morton
suggests, now that the war is ended, will become enormous,
and will require a double or more tracks to carry it on.
The business of the new States and Territories of Sierra
Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New
Mexico, together with Oregon and Washington, is rapidly
augmenting, and is entirely beyond the capacity of the
present modes of conveyance, although new expresses
are started every few weeks over the plains. The pioneer
people of these regions appeal earnestly for this railroad,
and are willing to lend all the aid they possess to carry it
along. They know that by means of this road the de-
velopment of their country will, in ten years' time, well-
nigh repay the cost of the road, and their population be
counted by millions instead of hundreds of thousands.
The questions as to what route it will take or by whom
it will be built are with them no matter of importance.
All they say is, " Let the road be built, no matter by
whom, or whether by foreign or native capitalists." This
is the proper spirit.
The people on the Pacific side, with their usual energy,
commenced their end of the route some two years since,
and, notwithstanding the war and the high price of gold,
have ascended over half way from Sacramento city to the
summit of the Sierra Nevada mountains, and expect to have
the road built to the summit—one hundred and four miles
from the city of Sacramento—by the first of November,
1866. When it is considered that Sacramento is two
thousand seven hundred feet above tidewater, the magni-
tude of the work may be imagined. Four thousand men,
mostly Chinese, are at work on this end of the Pacific road
at this time. The State of California has donated, for the
prosecution of the work, two millions ono hundred
thousand dollars, in gold paying interest bonds. The
city of San Francisco gives four hundred thousand dollars,
Sacramento six hundred thousand, Placer county two
hundred and fifty thousand, the interest of all of which
is payable in gold. This shows the spirit of the people of
the comparatively young State of California in regard to
this grand project. The same enthusiasm in regard to it
prevails all through the mountainous silver regions.
To meet this momentum on the Pacific side we have
already lines established on the Atlantic side, reaching
directly from the city of New York to the city of St. Louis,
and stretching some two hundred miles from the latter
place in the interior. In the construction of a large portion
of this route, as we have already seen. European capital
has been largely invested without Government aid. All
that they have now to do is for the moneyed men of
Europe to aid in the completion of the road to the Pacific,
and if the American capitalists and sbckjobbars daily and
speculate with the project any longer have them laid out
in the cold by proclaiming their willingness to build the
road promptly, without any Government assistance what-
ever. In this they will have the sympathy and co-opera-
tion of the American people from the Atlantic to the
Pacific shore.—New York herald.

It is believed that the amount of $50,000,000 of
Five-twenty bonds, so recently advertised by the Secre-
tary of the United States' Treasury, has all been taken by
the conversion of compound interest notes and other in
terest bearing securities.