The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-18 00:00:00

TEXAS AND ITS FUTURE'.

There is no state in the New World likely to
occupy a greater or prouder position than that of
Texas. The beauty of its climate, vast richness of
its soil, and the great streams by which it is hater-
sected, as a cotton growing settlement will one day
leave it without a rival. But the feature which is
likely to create the greatest moral, social, and
political revolution in this infant state is the}
Galveston, Houston, and Henderson Railway,
both on account of the traffic resources of the line,
gberaranitis, of
thela n d
Government w which,
s well in
spirit
irito as the immensefwisdomaudli
ty,
a
of Texas have bestowed upon the company.
This grant is at the rate of 10,249 acres of land
for every mile of railway completed—the land to
be selected by the company. The obligations are
issued in a form which has rendered them accept-
able on the principal Continental markets, and a
portion are now offered for subscription in Eng-
land. Each obligation is of the value of 20(., "To
' bearer." Interest at the rate of 8 per cent. per
annum is payable half-yearly, on Ist January and.
Ist July, on presentation of the coupons at the
company's bankers iu London, Paris, Frankfort, or
Hamburg. The obligations will be paid off with •
premium of 21. each, by annual drawings ;spread
over a period of nine years. The first drawing is
to take place on Ist March, 1860. Subscribers to
the obligations receive one free share of the nominal
value of 81. with each obligation. The ultimate
real value of these shares will depend on the
amount realised by the sales of surplus land after
full repayment of the obligations.
The rapid advance which the state of Texas is
making in wealth and prosperity is well known ;
but the prospects of the Galveston Railroad will be
best understood from a perusual of the able report
presented by Mr. Vasbenter to his employers, the
Earopean Committee of Management. It appease
from Mr. Vasbettter's statement that the that
section of twenty-five miles is opened, and that the
company have entered into possession of 256,000
acres of land on the banks of the Red River, in
the best watered and most fertile part of Texas.
A further section of 15 miles will be opened for
traffic in the month of May next. This will form
junction with the Buffalo and Colerado Railroad,
and bring the line into the vicinity of the town of
Houston and of the Houston and Central Texas
Railroad. Nearly 100 miles of existing railway
traffic will at once be brought upon the Galveston
line, which is ti.e outlet to the port of Galveston of
the whole traffic of the interior. The communica-
tion between Galveston and Houston is kept up by
th 3 river San Jacinto, which is not navigable at all
times, and yet the steampacket companies between
these two towns realise profits of from 4U to 60 per
cent. per annum. The distance by river is 85
miles, by the railroad it will be 50 miles. In 1856
Galveston exported 90,000 bales of cotton; and,
according to the Customs registers, the total amount
of exports rose to $4,949,222, the imports amount
to about $15,000,000.
The principal production of cotton occurs in the
country to be traversed by the Galveston Railroad.
Towns are built at every ten miles, some of which
contain several thousand inhabitants, coal, iron,
and timber being abundant. The great Pacific
Railway, which is,intended to unite New York
with San Francisco, will intersect the Galverstoa
line. Within the last ten years the population of
Texas, according to the report of the Comptroller-
General, has increased 400 per cent. ; according to
the same authority, the annual average increase of
the value of land is 21 per cent. The soil of Texas
is the most fertile, and its climate the most salu-
brious of all the States of the Union. The cotton
of Texas is the most esteemed, and the land yields
from one and a half to two bales of cotton per acre.
With a tillage of six inches deep, one acre yields
from fifty to sixty bushels of wheat, of an average
weight of seventy pounds per bushel. 60,000 head
of csttle leave the interior for the market of Nett/Orleans every year, and the proximity of the port
of Galveston to the markets of the West Incites
ensures a high price for all the produce of Texas.
Thus, whilst the capitalist, upon the above data, .
has to deal with property which that great econo
00L
mist, Mr. Vasbenter, calculates at 6,000 ,0 a
the philanthropist who wishes to deal a It WU
en
moral blow against slavery has an ample field open
to him. We know of no design which exhibits
many tempting characteristics as the Galveston.
Houston, and Henderson Railway.

KING GEORGE'S SOUND.—Letters from King George's
Sound, received by the last Australian mail, state tbatss
gold field is understood to have been found at that set-
tlement. The discovery was made by a convict and
another man, by whom several specimens had been
brought in, and a party had been formed to proceed
to the spot.