The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1849-06-14
RAILROAD no CALIFORNIA.

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next, done up in wrappers for the mails.
RAILROAD no CALIFORNIA.
Since the PRONUNCIATION Of Mr.. WnIT-
NEY's! wild scheme Iof a railroad from the
Western confines Of the Union to the far oil
territorial regions Of the United States, on
the shores ofthe Pacific, he has not been with
out rivals in that new department Of human
knowledge which may be not unapty term
ed, Raiheay Romancisg. The iron King
of English Railways made great head-way
in the pursuit Of this new species of human
knowledge, but he is and was pigmy
compared with Mr.. WHrrsEy, Mr.. JESSE
Dow, and Mr.. DEGRAND, Even Mr.. WHIr-
REy and Mr. JESSE Dow, blessed as
they both are with rich poetical memories,
are rush-lights in comparison with Mr.. De-
GRAND, whose scheme Of building an IRON
road across the continent, puts at defiance
even the improbabilities and impossibiIites
Of Aladdin's lamp.
The patient manner in which Mr. WHIT-
NEY was heard by so many Legislators in the
land, in exposition Of his plan Of uniting the
shores Of the Pacific with those Of the At
lantic, was taken by him to be a sign, that
his listeners seriously regarded his project to
be feasible; while the truth is, an Ameri-
can audience in search of the curious and
wonderful, and in hepractice Of ordinary po-
likeness, win go and sit for hours to hear a
discussion into the practicability Of rail-
, road to the moon, with as much calmncss
and patience as though the subject was the
building Of railway from Washington to
Baltimore And we have no doubt, Mr.
DEGRAND, will find just as many greedy
listeners to his wild scheme, and quite as
many believers in it, as Mr.. WHITNEY did,
but it all availeth nothing. The whole dis
cussion goes more to show, how easily car
ried away with new thing, our people arc.
They are very little different from the Athe-
mans in this respect, and there are always
men enough to be found to start the "ball Of
wonders" for the amusement of the multi
tade. It's their only road TO harmless no
toriety.
But, it cannot be that, either Mr., WHIT-
EEY, Mr.. JESSE Dow, or Mr.. DEcRAND,
can ever hope seriously for the accomplish
ment, or even the beginning Of his scheme.
We have ever regarded their movements,
in this matter, as new mode Of Cruising
the wind" of greasing the bottom Of the
peck that measures other peoples gold with
tallow. Mr.. DEGRAND and his friends must
suppose the Congress of the United States,
to be body Of simpletons, il they could
ever be brought TO entertain his project,
much less to give him and his associates an
unrepealable statute permitting him and
them to WELD the credit of the United States
for an hundred millions Of dollars, to do that
which the government itself could do bctter
He may well express a desire to have such
an act passed in his favor, in order to escape
the freaks Of Congressional Legislation.
The passage, itself, Of such an act would be
one Of the most extraordinary freaks Of le-
gislation since the foundation Of the world.
The grants Of royal power to individuals by
the kings Of the last age, indefinite and abb
solute as they were, are the very essence Of
restriction itself, compared with Mr.. De-
epAND's measure.
We would not impose upon the time Of
the reader, to call his attention to an exami-
nation Of the power Of Congress, to do wha,
Mr.. DEGRANp, Mr.. Dow, or Mr.. Wmr-
NEy proposes to be done. Even, if there
were no doubt Of the power Of Congress, to
make the grant Of its credit to individuals,
to build railroad across the continent, the
non-expedicncy Of its exercise 1850 palpable,
that none but dreamcrs would ever arrive al
a contrary conclusion. The thing itself j.
impracticable, unfeasible-just as much SC
as proposition to build an iron-way across
the desert Of Sahara II is not necessary
to 60 into detail of the reasons, why we
pronounce the scheme to be impracticablc.
They are self-evdent, and the only way, as
we have already said, that we can aceoun
for its being entertained at all by the public
or the press, is, that curiosity and love o
the wonderful call people together, to hear !
discussion upon novel subject, and their in
nate politencss prevents their rcbuking tn
absurdities Of the speaker, by leaving hin
10 preach to bare walls.
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