The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1849-07-18

present indications. Some. of Mr..
Benton's friends seem to hope that he
will be able to gull tho people of Mis-
souri, into the support Of his senatorial
pretensions, by his project of grand
national highway from the Mississippi
to the Pacific. But, SC, practical
population as the people of Missouri are
rcputcd to be, can never, in NY judg.
mcnt, be so taken in. In tho first
place, they must perceive, that if this
scheme of Mr.. Benton bo a judicious
one, he is BY no means the person to
carrysit through, inasmuch as he is de-
cidedly odious at present both to the
Senate and country. Itis a well attes-
ted fact, that he failed in every under
taking i'll which he engaged last winter,
commencing with the Panama road pro-
icct; embracing his silly and ridiculous
demonstration against the coast survey
policy, and ending with the Protocol.
Butthc scheme in itself is purely ridi-
culous and absurd! n road a mile wide
allthc way from St. Louis to the Paci-
tic! A road, the cost of which, upon
Mr.. Benton's plan, as will be in due
season proved most amply, will be some
two hundred and fifty Of three hundred
millions of dollars! A road, the annual
expense of which, after it shall have
been established, will be some five or
six millions of dollars! And to the
building Of this road "scventy-iye per
ccntum Of tho proceeds of the public
lands in the United Statcs," are to be
'sct apart and pledged" So that all
reduction in the price of all the public
lands in the United States is to be dis
pcnscd with, as thing altogether i'm
possible to be effected, in the face Of
this solemn plcdging and setting apart
ofthe proceeds Of the land sales! The
graduation principle is no longer to be
heard of! And this road is to run over
high mountains, covered with eternal
snow, which is oftentimes from twenty
to forty feet deep! Besides these OBJ
jcctions to Mr.. Bcaton's project, his
speech in support Of it shows it to be the
most enormous project of the kind ever
heard of in other respects; for, in this
road alone, but he avows himself in fav-
or Of other such roads all over the coun-
try. In fact, he has been all his life
contcnding for general system Of in
tcrnal improvements, and this bill seems
to be consistent Herewith, and, in truth,
to make part Of such system. do not
at all misstatc his scheme, l am not con.
fident; for, in the course of his speech.
now referred to, he most formally intro
duced a paragraph from Gibbon, de-
scriptive of the Roman highways under
the Empire, GOOD save the mark!D i'll
which that writer, cnumerating the
-four thousand cities belonging to the
Roman empire, in Europe, and Asia,
and Africa" goes on to say: Gail these
cities were connected with each other
and with the capital by the public high.
ways, which, issuing from the forum of
Rome, travcrscd Italy, pcrvaded the
provinces, and were terminated only by
the frontiers of the empire" &c; and
Mr.. Benton, referring to this Roman
imperial road system: ''Such was
the extent and sslidity of the Roman
roads; single line Of road, above four
thousand Roman and equal to three
thousand seven hundred and forty Eng
lish miles, and the four thousand cities
of the Empire and connected with roads
of equal solidity bcsidcs;" and present
ly, saying of all these wonderful Ro
man roads: 81 mention them for their
magnifccncc, their grandeur, and as
presenting an example worthy Of oul
imitation" Surely, surely, our patrio
Otto and judicious friends in Missouri
cannot desire us to enlist in this cnor
nous at the present moment. A rail
road from st Louis to Santa Fe, devi
scd by practical men, and brought for
ward under proper auspices; even some
of the strict construction Democrats il
Congress, | doubt not, for hi Oh nationa
reasons, could vote for chccriully. A
railroad from Memphis or Vicksburg
in the direction Of the Gila river, over
a surface comparatively favorable, anc
running all the way through a mild anC
healthtul climate, | know that man,
members Of Congress suppose to be
practicable and polite; and they would
in all probability, allow to st. Louis q
branch railroad pursuing the genera
course of the Mississippi. and becoming
connected with the grand southwestern
road at some eligible point thus making
the city of ST. Louis double terminus
and securing her all the commercial
advantages which she desires. But
repeat, MIR. Bcnton's scheme will never
pass Congress, and it is only destined
TO make its author Immortality ridicul
ni,p