The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-18 00:00:00

out anew in Rhode Island, as-the following card
published in the papers will show :

" TO THE HON. WILLIAM SPRAGUE, UNITED STATES SENATOR

FROM RHODE ISLAND.

"Availing yourself of your position in the United States
Senate, and abusing its privileges in a base and cowardly
spirit, you have in your speech of the Bth inst. charged
DLO with having deserted my post in the hour of danger,
while a member of the Ist Rhode Island Regiment. Gene-
ral Burnside having, over his own signature, denied the
truth of your assertions, it remains for me to pronounce
you before the world, and with a full apprehension of the
words I use, a liar, a ealuminator, and a poltroon.—l am,
"FRANCIS W. GODDARD,
"Late Captain Carbineers, Ist Rhode Island Regiment.
"Providence, April 24, 1869."
Meanwhile the National Intelligencer in which it is
said Mr. Sprague has purchased a large interest,
came out with an article headed, " What is Needed,"
and answering "The spirit of a Hampden; courage,
and bold championship to reoist the evil influences
of the party in power," showing Sprague to be the
man in the Senate. This is taken to indicate that the
Senator has swung round and now stands on the
Democratic platform, and we confess we are not
sorry to see it, as the overwhelming Republican
strength in the Senate is demoralizing. That Cham-
ber wants a stronger opposition, and the Senator
has cause enough to denounce corruption. He

denies, however, having purchased any interest in
the National Intelligencer.

THE PACIFIC RAILWAY

(From the Anglo-American Times.)
Simultaneously with the announcement that the
ast rail had been laid on the line connecting New
York and Sacramento, the Peninsular and Oriental
Company advertise an acceleration in their com-
munication with Japan. Notwithstanding the pains
taken by the Economist, followed by the Portnightly
Review, to re-assure the proprietors of that great
Company's Stock, it is evident that the Directors
feel the quickening spur to save their China trade.
Their steamers now run direct between Hong Kong
and Yokohama, thus dropping Shanghae, by which
five days will be saved homeward and two out-
ward. Unfortunately for the European traffic over
the Union Pacific Line the directors of that Cor-
poration, having become involved in the endless
litigation, recrimination, bickering, andsquabbling,
the fate of everything with which the Erie comes in
contact, have not been able to forward its interests
in Europe, and were it not for the Anglo-American
Times Europeans might be left to guess that there
was a shorter, healthier, and more agreeable Western
route than the Eastern, now so long in operation to
China. The great railway, however, being finished,
through tickets must be arranged to Japan and
China, and we may expect that in conjunction with
the Pacific Steamship Company measures will be
taken to let the public on this side know the advan-
tages the route offers, and the cost at which the
traveller will be carried. We have alluded to an
article in the Fortnightly Review, which is of much
interest, written by Dr. WILLIAM A. BELL, who was
one of a party employed on the survey of the Kansas
Pacific Line through Arizona, New Mexico, and
California, of which the particulars are already in
the Press, and, judging from this extract the nar-
rative cannot fail to be of interest. •
"So extensive a surveying expedition was probably
never before organised. The total length of the routes, accu-
rately chained, levelled, and surveyed by instruments, was
no less than 4,464 miles, and a considerable distance more
was examined, and the various elevations barometrically
obtained. And these explanations were conducted mostly
through a country inhabited by hostile Indiana. Every
party had to be guarded whilst at work by a body of
cavalry, and every suntreyor carried his fire-arms by his
ide, and his surveying instruments in his hands. Nor
were these precautions unnecessary, for although the sur-
veyors escaped to a man, they had to fight more than once
for their lives, and many of the escort were killed on
the way."
The first scheme to lay a railway across the conti-
nent followed the gold discoveries in California,
which itself followed the cession of the territory by
Mexica after the war. In 1850 surveys were com-
menced, but it was not till March, 1853, that the War
Department was directed byAct of Congress to cause
surveys to be made from the Mississippi River to
the Pacific Ocean, to report on, and recommend to the
Legislature, the best route. Under the authority of
Mr. JEFFERSON DAVIS, then Secretary of War,
eleven bulky volumes were published with the re-
sults, tracing five paths, of which that-gentleman
favoured the last, the most Southern, as might have
been expected. Dr. BELL thinks Mr. DAVIS had,
however, many excellent grounds for preferring the
road from Preston on the Red River, in Eastern
Kansas, o San Francisco, which would emphati-
cally have made the Pacific Railway a Southern
the line. The political troubles which culminated in
rebellion radically changed this with many other ques-
tions, for the idea got into the Northern mind that
it was necessary to bind California to the Eastern
States by iron ways if the Pacific slope was to be
preserved to the Union. Had the line Mr. JEFFER-
SON DAVIS favoured been constructed before the war,
California in all probability would have been added
to the seceded States ; and the North not only saw
the necessity for a railway, but that it should pass
through the heart of the loyal States. While the
war was at its height, and the Union armies in a
train of disaster, a bill was introduced which char-
tered three companies, after a fierce contention be-
tween striving interests whereon money was lavishly
expended ; the Union Pacific working west from
Omaha, the Central Pacific east from Sacramento
to meet it, and the Union Pacific (Eastern Division),
now called the Kansas Pacific, to connect with the first
before entering the Rocky Mountains. The last road
was commenced in 1863 ; the Union Pacific broke
ground in July, 1865, but at first got on so slowly that
only 40 miles were constructed up to February, 1866;
while the Central Pacific began work in June, 1864,
their operations being characterised by extraordi-
nary vigour, stimulated by a lavish generosity, both
on the part of private individuals and of the State.
The line now opened is the junction of the Union
Pacific and the Central ; and it illustrates the
superior energy of the Northerner,
was Chicago and the north-west, backed The
by
ytruNggewle
backed by Philadelphia ; and it is the
York, against St. Louis and the mifdedrlmeerStates,
com-
bination that has achieved a rapidsuccess,n
Kansas Pacific, though first coml.en e ,
ed ll a s hung
e tfire.h e
This,instead of resulting from natural ad vantages, was
for the Omaha Road
accomplished in spite of them,
passed through a series of irreclaimable deserts over
an elevation more than 7,000 feet above the sea

blocked, as is now certain, for winter weeks together
by snow drifts. Nor that only. So rapidly did the
Central Pacific push its work, that it dashed over
the Sierra Nevada regardless of grades, protecting
the line from snow by sheds extending twenty miles,
leaving the surveyors to discover a pass, showing
this labour to have been worse than ill directed. It
is asserted that so expensive is the task of convey-

ing goods up steep inclines that it will eventually be
necessary for the company to carry their line through
this pass, abandoning the expensive work already
completed. Dr. BELL considers the road the sur-
veyors have traced for the Kansas Pacific by way of
New Mexico and Arizona to be in every respect supe-
rior. He says it will be shorter than that via Salt
Lake, without a tunnel, or obstructions from snow
in the winter ; the highest range can be crossed at

an elevation of 4,008 feet above the sea, and
the steepest grades are but half those of the
Central Pacific; the country instead of desert, being
fertile and rich in all that gives wealth to settlers.
But it is the Northern Pacific that offers the greatest
advantages. The report to Congress describes the
territory west of Minnesota as the finest land on
the American continent, alike superior in climate
and soil, and possessing advantages over even such
rich 'States as Illinois. That a line so far north
should pass through so genial a climate may surprise,
butfor some unexplained reason its climate along the
48th parallel has not the winter severity of t he Eastern
States much further south. It would be possible to
proceed from New York 2,480 miles by steamboat
towards Portland on the Pacific, leaving but 825 miles
to go by rail. Near the border of the British pos-
sessions the line will run for 1,500 miles to Puget's
Sound, opening Territories surpassing in natural ad-
vantages the rich. Prairie lands. Dr. BELL accepts
the statement made by the Economist of the time to
Hongkong by the Eastern route via Bombay when
the railway system of India is completed; and he
believes that though some passengers may prefer to

proceed to China via New York and San Francisco,
the opening of the Suez Canal would not only pre-
vent any chance of the transport of goods that way,
but were it not for the enormous duties levied in
New York would still keep for the Eastern road the
carriage to America of silks and teas. What is
meant by the completion of the railway system
across India we know not, but some confusion
appears to exist in the mind of the original writer
about a road from Bombay across Hindoostan as
a link to China. We cannot see how this would
materially economize time, but were a few hours
saved, it would be at such a cost of health, com-
fort, and money, as to mike it a dear bargain. Dr.
BELL says New Zealand will be brought within 37
days of London; San Francisco being 700 miles nearer
to Wellington than is Panama. He adds that the
line running from New Zealand to Panama has
been discontinued, and a new one opened with
San Francisco. We were not aware of any such
arrangement, for, although the line between Pa-
nama and Wellington has failed, no new one that
we know of between San Francisco and Wellington
has as yet been opened, and in this respect Dr. BELL
is, we believe, premature in his statement. But
our proposition made long ago has been discussed
in Sr Francisco, and will probably be carried out, of
connecting both Auckland and Sydney with the
Feejee Islands, and the Feejees with the Sandwich
Islands, to which a regular line has long been ply-
jng from San Francisco. This is the true road to the
Southern Pacific, and must quickly be brought into
operation. The effect of the opening of the Pacific
Railway will soon be shown, and there is little use
under the circumstances in speculating thereon,
but we believe the directors of the Peninsular and
Oriental Company have good reason for advertising
extensively the reduction in time to Japan, and
working to make people believe that the Eastern
route is still superior to the Western, notwithstand-
ing the opening of the Pacific Railway. A weekly
emigrant train will, in the first instance, be estab-
lished across the Continent at low rates, to be in-
creased with the demand. These charges are given—
from New York to Chicago, 960 miles, £3 15s. ;
Chicago to Omaha, 496 miles, £3 10s. ; Omaha to
Salt Lake, 1,070 miles, £8; Salt Lake to San Fran-
cisco, 775 miles, £l5 10s. ; total, 3,299 miles,
£3O 15s. ; from Oaklands to San Francisco being
6 miles, the total distance is 3,305. It is, more-
over, said, that on the Ist July the cost of the
through ticket will be reduced to £23. The Panama
route from New York to California is cheaper and
easier travelling ; but, although the charge must be
considerably more, those who can afford the splen-
did accommodation provided by the cars the rail-
way company are now procuring, will not find the
jourrey so fatiguing as an English journal predicts,
and already passengers are announced to have tra-
velled from Washington to Sacramento in eight
and a half days.

UIVI7ED STATES SECURI7IES.

sgs
The policy of the London Times, followed by
other papers, is to hit the credit of the United
States where most vulnerable. All weapons are
said to be fair iu war, and we do not deny that the
Republic, does much to provoke the British lion.
Yet we hold these to be mean, dastardly attacks,
calculated, even w hen most effective, to foster and
perpetuate that very feeling it is the interest of all
to eradicate. In some papers this is openly avowed ;
as for instance in the Morning Advertiser, where
the writer of the City Article, as well as of a letter,
perhaps from the same hand, advocates the inaugu-
ration of a financial war which will interdict Ame-
rican Securities of all sorts, bankers and money-
lenders being advised to make no advances on such
property. The writer truly asserts that the first
fruit of Mr. SUMNER'S speech was to throw down
American Securities five per cent., depreciating
their value £30,000,000 sterling. 'lbis, however,
would not have occurred had the Times not aided
the damaging effect by insinuating that the bonds
were passed to Europe to be ultimately repudiated ;
that having got rid of an amount of more than one
hundred and fifty millions sterling, another hundred
and fifty millions were ready on the same terms,
and that the money so obtained was used in unscru-
pulous speculation, which would end the moment it
ceased to be thus procurable in a national smash.
Here was the cue for the other journals, and the
notes of warning sounded over the land so as to
make the hair of the English bondholder rise in
terror. We know not how many were frightened
out of their property, but no sooner did the "hears"
see the drift than they rau to the Stock Exchange
to sell, and the drop with which last week closed
must have made many English investors, who be-
lieve in the faith of the United States, spend an
unhappy Sunday. On Monday there was a rally,
due to the Germans taking advantage of the low
rates in London, and to the news that Secretary
BOUTWELL had commenced the long-proposed plan
of purchasing the bonds as a sinking fund, at the
rate of $1,000,000 a week. The Times could not allow
even this to pass without that subtle manner of
insinuation by which it has done so much to
injure American credit, while writing plausible
leading articles seemingly in the interests of peace.
The Washington Treasury, it says, is enabled to
invest $1,000,000 weekly in bonds at the present
moment, owing to the unusual Customs Receipts on
the excessive importations of foreign goods. This
likens the Republic to a German town, ,making the
very excess of the importations which must ruin it
the means of a temporary prosperity through the
imposts collected at the gates. In the English at-
tempt to damage American credit may be recognised
precisely the same folly as in the American attempt
to damage English commerce through Protection.
Suppose the Times, and those journals which aid it,
succeeded in creating such a scare as to bring about
the commercial crash in New York they predict,
who would be the next greatest sufferers to the
Americans themselves?--.why, the English. Is that
shopkeeper a wise man who, by underhand rumours
affecting the stability of his best customer, attempts
to drive him into bankruptcy ? The first effect of
a panic in America would be to shut up numerous
founderies and other manufactories in England, to
throw hands by the thousand for support on the
ratepayers, to leave ships to rot in dock, and to tax
to the uttermost the homes provided for unemployed
sailors. Suppose, too, that the desire to lessen the
value of American Securities met with the most
complete success. According to the calculation of
these very people, one-third the loss would fall on
Europeans, and half that third perhaps on the Bri-
tish. The point of our argument is, always has
been, and always will be, that no nation can in-
jure another without the recoil hurting itself ;
and where the two nations are so intimately con-
nected as the United Kingdom and the United States,
the loss of the one must be severely felt by the
other. Admitting this, and it must be admitted,
for it is an undeniable economic fact, what can we
say to the wisdom of a race that is always cutting
off its nose to spite its face? The effect of Senator
SUMNKR'S speech will be felt by the United States
in a financial way for a long time. It has given a
tremendous shock here to the growing confidence of
investors. The belief in England is that United
States Bonds would not be worth more than French
assignats in the event of a war with England, and
that that event is in a high degree probable. In
Germany the confidence is so great that these
Securities are to some extent upheld, otherwise
there would have been a still more disastrous fall
following the speech. We regret this, as there
is nothing like investment for giving an interest
in any country, and if these Securities are
ever to rise buoyantly it must be by growing into
s___