The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1849-10-31

manifest the deepest interest, as their
1 concentration on Memphis would be the
stimulating consideration for their cx.
tension further west, through and by
that commercial empori,tm and naudl
stGtion.
! Rail roads are the perfection of high-
j ways. In security, a'apiditY and cea.
tainty Of performance they have never
been equallcd. In speed there has yet
boon found no limit; sixty and seventy
miles per hour have been accomplished,
and one hundred miles is equally as at
tainablo; bringing Memphis scithin seq.
en- hours Of Marlesaon. Among all
the inventions OF human ingenuity,
\ however, so slow has been the progress
i Of rail ways, and $50 divided the merit
of engineers to whom we owe them, that
i no individual has been bod enough to
lclaim it for himscf,' while all unite in
! the tribute that it came, as it were, like
an inspiration from the head of NIcdusa,
which may, in the progress Of similar
Inspirations, be perfected, but can never
be superseded.
/ Truly and eloquently says an able re-
viewer of the railroad system, ssl'hc
! poetry of mechanism is ono of the most
interesting departments of the poetry of
science, and that of railways cannot fail
to be regarded as the Hiaa of its pro.
dnctions; embracing the accounts Of
works. the most expensive and gigantic,
the description of engines tic most in.
genious and complex, and the history ef
social amelorations which are now al.
tcring the vcry condition ct man, vir.
tually extending the very term Of lis
existence, and opening new and exten.
sivc fields for the exercise of holicss and
noblcst affections.
/ The projected road from the valley
of the Mississippi to the Pacific will be
the Uiad IF tie american rotlway sys-
tenn; and the responsibility for the pre-.
sent of postponing or of consummating
the noble enterprise rests with the two
! Convention to be held at ST. Louis and
at Memphis. II local interests, unim
.agincd rival routes, or sectional jealou-
sizes are not permitted to mar tho pro-
jcct; if harmony Of action, on common
/ design, is bad among the wiser heads
who will confer on those occasions; if
| the projected rail roads from Lake Mi
chigan to Oregon, from St. Louis, to
Memphis, or Natchcz to San Franciso
or San Diego, (whatever just divisions
of opinion may exist rs to the relative
mciitS of each routc,) are permitted to
be absorbed in the more harmonious az.
proval of rail way from the valley Of
the Mississippi to the Pacific; you may
approach the assembled wisdom at
Washington with memorial strongly
influencing their action OH the initiatory
stc!s which may lead to consum,nation.
The project is too grand, it's designs too
| important to the varied interests Of the
whole Union, to be frittcred away in
sectional and local conflicts on routes,
each party more cmulous of the i'm.
! provement of their State or city, than in
accomplishing the greater Object of ex-
tending the social, commercial, and 20.
litical relations Of the Atlantic with the
! Pacific States of the Union.
The only action, it seems to nc,
therefore, fruitful of favorable results,
which can be had at vonr respective
Conventions, would be joint memorial
to Congress for through scientic cx-
plorat!on of all the practical routes
/ of rail roads from Mississippi to the Pa
! clIic. Scientific reconnaissance, the
theodolite, the level, and the chain, can
alone she'd light OH the comparative va
lnc and prodnctiveness of the country
through which the road is to pass, of
the inequalities of the ground, and the
mountain elevations which intcrposc OBJ.
( staclcs to cheap construction, and, of
the distance which will have to be over
come Impartial comparison, after care
IN! examination and survey, can alone
/ decide tic merits Of each route. And,
whether that decision be the most tavo-
rablc to the lake, the middle or The south.
crn, so let science and knowledge be
the arbitcrs to conciliate conflicting in.
tcrcsts in united action on the direction
OF raj! way which will most certainly
accomplish all the objects of a union be-
tween the ocean frontiers Of the Allan
tic and Pacific.
Respectfully,
JAMES GAL SDEN.
To j. II. TREzvAST, Esq.
And Committee Of the MemyhiS