The Arkansas banner., 1845-06-25
THE RIVER MAIL AGAIN.

I Fare taking active and decided steps in behalf
 l lof their project of changing the mail route kfrom this city to the Mississippi river. The| Following petition, which we publish by re- Eouest, has, we understand, been very exten- HsiveIy circulated, and generally signed. of Ethe matter of the petition, we have only tol
 say that as, in our opinion already expressed, ,
 the whole question turns upon Me practica- Ecabilhy of navigating the Arkansas riuer Eat all times wiM certainty, we think much 8nearer approach to the attainment of the end
 in view, might have been made by devoting the petition to demonstration of that prdc- Hficdbilty. If the matter depended upon the Efeelngs or fancy of the Postmaster Gener- Eal, then fowery Reclamation, or pathetic ap-
 lpeal, might have been in place; but as it all sdepends upon a fact, which may be shown, Rif it exist, and, particularly, as Mir. JOHNSON lis, pre-eminently, "matter of fact man," we Evcnture to suggest, even now, that demon- Estration would be greatly, more useful. In Ethis connexion, it may be well, also, to bear in mind that the new post office law, which Egoes into effect on the lst day of July, re- Rauires the Postmaster General to disregard
 the mode, and look only to the cost, of con Eveying the mail. At present, we shall not Renter upon discussion of the merits of this Flaw; although we have already indicated our Eopnion, and may take occasion to do so Eagain, more at length.
 E PETITION.
 ETo the Hon. CAVE JOHNSON,
 B Postmaster General of Me Umtcd States:
 E The undersigned, citizens of the counties Esof Desha, Arkansas, Jefferson and Pulaski, Fin the State of Arkansas, would respectfully Erepresent, that they belive the legitimate ob Eject of all government or rule to be, that Ewhich will eflectuate the greatest good to Ethe greatest number. With thes" cws, they
 Respectfully ask change of t..C Arkansas keentral mail route from the Miss.ss ri river
 Eto Little Rock; and that, instea oi being
 Ecarried as now, by team-boat and pest coach Ees from Montgomery's Point fmo. oi White Eriver) ria the embryo town of Rock-roe, in Ethe Grand Prairie, that the point of com smencement be Napoleon, the county seat of
 HDesha county, at the mouth of the Arkan- Rsas river, and that the same be carried tri- Eweekly by steam-boats, touching at Mont Egomery's Point, Wellington, BelleviIle, Ar Ekansas Post, Nicottoo, Rchland, New Gas Eeony, Pine Bluffs, Red Bluffs, and Barraque's ELanding, to Little Rock, passing eight post Eofices, and the seats of justice of Desha, EArkansas and Jefferson counties. By this Eproposed change, the horseback weekly Eroute from Napoleon to Arkansas Post, from EArkausas Post to Pine Bluffs, and the same Eweekly route from Pine Bluffs to Little Rock, Ecan be dispensed with--a cost to the depart
 Rment of near two thousand dollars annually
 kThey can perceive neither justice nor pro-
 Hptiety in running tri-weekly line through sa barren waste, affording facilities to some
 yffteen or twenty people only, without town
 For village, and scarce twenty dwellings on Ethe entire route, unless in the immediate vi- #cinily of the termini, passing one county Epost office, with but slight revenue, whilst Ethe inhabitants of four of the most rich and Erapidly improving counties in the State are' Edependent on horse back weekly route, ir- wregular on account of impossible bayous in Hhigh water, unsafe, tedious, and never to bel Hrelied on in important business. They con- Evidently assert that the mail can be carried Hupon the Arkansas river with regularity and Hcerainty, at all stages of water, by boats off draught, built expressly for that pur- Npose, aud beg leave to refer to the annexed; Statement of persons who have been engaged, Fin the navigation of the Arkansas river-some. sof them, from the earliest period of steam ! boat navigation.< They further state that there are neither way-passengers no freight; on the present route-that they export but { little, if any thing, and import as little: con-E Ssequently, the great burthen of the expense; of transporting the mail devolves upon the, Spost office department. The proposed route < runs through the heart of four wealty and; ! Rpopulous cotton-growiug counties, and it isl believed by many that the wav-passengers i land freight from and between the ends of the line, upon regular packets, would be suff- Ecient to defray all expenses, if not exceed, ! them. There are, at this time, some ten or ktwelve steam-boats (some of them exceed Hing three hundred tons burthen) plying up-' Sthe Arkansas river, with sufliciency of busi- Sness. Taking into view the natural povertyi land sterlllty of the country through which|
 the land part of the route passes, as at pres Eent established-its sparse population; and Rthe additional fact, that the land, (with the, Exception of three or four bluffs on the vest
 lon both sides of White river, from its mouth
 to Rock-roe, is subject to deep overflow an- Enually, and wholly irreclaimable by levies ;; after leaving the immediate neighbour
 hood of the mouth it IS about eighty miles to the first house on the river, and but four For five in the whole extent of one hundred
 and forty miles, the undersigned cannot but Eexpress their great surprise that such an un- natural channel of communication with Lit
 tie Rock and the interior shonld ever have been selected, and can account for it only by &supposing that erroneous representations in, kregard to the Arkansas river were made tol the Post Office Department-ignoranty, per 2haps, but detrimental to the rights, interests. kand accommodation of the great body of the EneODle