The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1850-01-28
state Enwineer,s Report.

ASou ~ II bilo ROHdtOIs Will
only read the document we are satisfied that the
nomination Of the Reverend and Rhetorco-Profes
serial Engineer will be unanimously rejected.
Throughout the report there is an evident attempt
to depreciate the ability and discretion of the late
Col. Williams. All the faults and shortcomings of
the present administration of the Engineer Depart
ment of the State are placed at the door of Mr..
Woodridge's predecessor. Beginning with the
complaint that he found himself occupying the office
of an executor-executioner it should have BEEN as
the reputation of Col. Williams is attacked and as
Mr.. Woodbridge has clearly cut off the head of the
engineeL department and left it with only body and
lmbs--the report finds fault with almost every
work which was commenced under the late Engi-
neer. When il is recollected however, that Col
Williams was professional engineer and that his
successor is only amateur, it is easy to account
for the jealousy of the latter. The regulars and vol
unteers in all trades and professions have been at
daggers' drawn since the world began.
1t appears from the report that the present Engi-
has got ON very well with all the assistants of
the late incumbent, except Capt Kean, who had
charge Of the State-boat employed in the world-re-
nowned parish of st. Tammany. Those remarka-
BILE streams, the Tchefuncta and Bogue Fala,
CURED the assistance of special appointee of Mr..
Woodbridge, for no sooner had Capt. Barker, the
successor of Capt Kean, executed in satisfactory
manner the law requiring the improvement ofthe
Tchefuncta from its union with the Bogue Falia to
the bridge" than " Capt. Barker resigned his tenn
porary charge of the boat to Capt. Egbert Morgan,
who returned with her to the Amte, where she has
been engaged since that time"
! But, jealous as the State Engineer has been in
| IS al
liza, he has found time to make a survey of the pro-
posed routes for road from Monroe, the Qua
chita, to the Mississippi and, although we expect
ed to find many engineering novelties in the report,
yet we were totally unprepared for the announce
ment-page 10, line from top-of waterproof"
road between the aforementioned points. Mr..
Woodbridge does not describe this waterproof road
for the reason, we presume that he intends to apply
| for patent, and does not wish 10 be foresalled in
his application. From the connection, however,
which says that "the best plan would be to make
all that portion of it which passes over the deep
overflow, of plank" we infer that the invention
probably consists in coating plank road with gut
| ia percha or India rubber. We await detailed
description of the road with breathless anxiety
The introduction of railroads is, we are convinced,
triAing event in comparison with Mr.. Wood
ridges glorious and superb invention of water
proof road. ~
Although the State Engineer seems to possess a
mind so eminenty fertile and philosophical he does
not appear to understand very accurately the rela
tive duties of his own Office and of the Legislature
In part of the report he invokes the aid of the
Legislature, and calls them to decide whether or
not certain improvement shall be made; and af-
forwards he suggests the propriety of repeating
those laws requiring the improvement of particular
bayous and rivers and other more local works of
this class, and leaving the whole matter to the di-
rectOn Of the Engineer, and then holding him to
strict accountability for his management of the pub
lie force.n
In addition to the profound hydraulic knowledge
evinced in the report-a perfect acquaintance with
the regime "a physiological phrase automatically
applied of the Mississippi-we find numerous rhe-
torical beauties scattered through its pages. For
example, what can be more forcible than where af-
ter stating the routes for road from the Ouachita
| to the Mississippi, the learned and accomplished
| Engineer pithily remarks, Louisiana has no turn
pike road" and irresstibly asks Is it not rea-
sonable that she should have them as her sister
States?" Then how beautiful is the passage where
it is sad the bayou Courtableau "meanders through
perfect eortege of highly cultivated sugar planta-
tions from its to its mouth" With what a
power of illustration too the reverend exprolessol
brings his learning to bear in the following passage
"The ancient Egyptians had their Nileometer
| by which they carefully marked the rise and fall Of
their adored river and other arrangements by which
| they studiously noted its most minute pecuartes
| In this way they have set example worthy oil
imitation. The Mississippi river is destined to be-
come the great object of attention to the philoso
| pliers and statesmen who shall inhabit its fertile
alluvial delta"
We doubt whether the records of human sagacity
can furnish another instance of so much foresight
and deep penetration displayed in the last
sentence of the foregoing extract.
! But the master passage of the report is that in
which, after detailing his plans for the management
of the Mississippi the learned and scientific gem
tleman concludes:
at is reasonable that the mighty father of wa
tiers, as he trembles and reels under the burden
thrown him by his thousand children above,
should be allowed to lean his hands on those below
till he conveys in safety his mighty load its grand
receptacle and destination.
" When we reflect upon the number and magni-
tude of the streams which flow into the MISSISSIPPI
pi, it seems one of the most remarkable circumsan-
in nature that he does not annually overflow the
whole delta. But in our preservation we behold
| the simplicity and wisdom Of Nature While the
head-waters OF the great tributaries above are held
fast in their snowy embrace, the spring rise of those
| below, which come from mllder climes has time tC
pass away so that by the time those from above
reach.us they find their way prepared before them
and usually pass harmlessy along, bearing only
! peace and plenty on their waves"
What felicity of metaphor! What force of logic
| What depth ofscientifc wisdom Alas that facu
ties refined in their essence, and so exalted in
their influences, should be unfit for the practical de
tails of engineering. The State Engineer, like 9th
er great geniuses is before his age He anticipates
the time when the beauties of rhetoric and the truths
of science shall harmonic and be Identical
-S~e-
Gs- Allen A. Hall has been appointed Assistant
Secretary Of the Treasury, and Michael Nourse
succeeds Mr. Hall as Register of the Treasury.
nzs- Mr.. George F. Parkman, son of the late DIR
George Parkman, returned from Europe in the
steamship Canada at New York, and arrived il
Boston on the I7h. He was on a tour of the Con
tinent for the benefit of his health but was sent fo
when it was first supposed that his father was nj
longer living.
HARvARD,-The Board of Overseers of Harva re
University met at Boston, in the Senate Chamber
on the l7th, Gov. Briggs, presiding. Prayer wa
offered by the Rev. Dr. Lowell, after which Rev
DIR. Young, of Boston, was elected Secretary o
the Board. The report of the Visiting Commute,
for the past year was then read by James T. Austin