The southern press., 1851-07-09


Lines of railroads, in m. . $500
Lines oftelegraph. do. ..... $4,000
Number of post Offices. 209 9l55I
Number Of miles OF post
!. route. .............. 5,642 l7s,762
Amount of revenue from
pOst-Officts. =. ....... l04,747 S5,592 97l
Amount Of expenditures
of Post Office Depart. 7a.o4o 5.sI2.953
Numter Of miles mail
franspOrtauOn..... ........ 46,54I ,423
Number of colleges. ~. 10 l2l
Public Libraries. ..... IS 694
Volumes in do. ....... $4,000 2,20l ,632
School libraries .... ........ 10000
Volumes in do. ........ ........ 100000
In respect to the growth of Western trade
and commerce, extract few sentences from a
very valuable address before the historical
Society of Ohio, by William d. Gallagher, esq,
1850:
"a few facts will exhibit MS well us a volume
the wonderful growth of Western trade and
commerce. Previous to the year 1900, some
eight or ten keeboats, of twenty or twenty-five
tons each performed all the carrying trade be-
tween Cincinnati and Pttsburg. In 1902 the
first government vessel appeared on Lake Erie
In 1911 the first steamboat (the Orleans) was
launcht d at Pittsburg In 1926 the waters of
Michigan were first ploughed by the keel of a
steamboat, pleasure trip to Green Bay being
planned and executed in the summer of this year.
In 1882 a steamboat first appeared at Chicago
At the present time the entire number of steam
boats running on the Mississippi and Ohio, and
their tributaries, is more probably over than
under six hundred; the aggregate tonnage Of
which is not short of one hundred and forty
thousands Jaeger number of steamboats, than
England can claim, and greater steam CONNER
cial marine than that employed by Great Britain
and her dependencies"
And now, felow-ctizens, having stated to
you this infallbe proof Of the growth and pro-
sperity of the nation, ask you, and would ask
every man, whether the government which has
been over US has proved itself fand af1iction or
curse to the country, or any part of it
Ye men of the South, Of all the original
Southern States, " hat say you to all this Are
you, or any Of you, ashamed of this great work
of your fathers? Your fathers were not they
who stoned the prophets and killed them. They
were among the prophets; they were of the
prophets they were themselves the prophets.
Ye men of Virginia, what do you say to all
this Yc men of the Potomac, dwelling clong
the shores of that river where Washington
lived, and where he died, and where his remains
now rest! Ye, so many of whom may see the
domes Of the Capitol from your own homes
what do you say?
Ye men of James river and the Bay, places
consecrated by the early settlement ofyour com.
monwealth, what do you say! Do you desire,
from the soil of your State, or as you travel TO
the North, to see these halls vacated their beauty
and ornaments destroyed, and their national
usefulness clean gone forever!
Ye men beyond the Blue Ridge many thou
sands of whom are nearer TO this Capitol than to
the seat of government Of your own State, what
do you think Of breaking this great association
into fragments of States and CT people? know
some Of you, and ] believe you all, would be al
most as much shocked at the announcement of
such catastrophe as if you were to be informed
that the Blue Ridge itself would soon totter
from its base. And We men of western Virgil
mia, who occupy the great slope from the top of
the Allegheny to the Ohio and Kentucky, what
course do you propose to yourselves by dis
union If you secede," what do you secede"
FROM and what do you accede' to? Do you
look for the current Of the Ohio to change, and
to bring you and your commerce to the tide
waters of Eastern rivers? What man in his
senses can suppose that you will remain part
and parcel of Virginia month after Virginia
should have ceased to be part and parcel of the
United States!
The secession of Virginia the secession of
Virginia, whether alone or in company, is most
improbable, the greatest of all improbabilitics.
Virginia, to her everlasting honor, acted great
part in framing and establishing the present
Constitution. She hath had her reward and
her distinction. Seven Of her noble sons have
each filled the presidency, and enjoyed the high
est honors of the country. Dolorous complaints
come up to us from the South that Virginia
will not head the procession of secession, and
lead the other Southern States out of the
Union. This would be something Of marvel,
certainly, considering how much pains Virginia
took to lead these same States into the Union,
and considering, too, that she has partaken as
largely of its benefits and It's government as any
other State.
And ye men of the other Southern States,
members of the old thirteen; that touches my
regard and my syippathies North Carolina
Georgia, South Carolina! What page in your
history, or in the history of any one of you, is
brighter than those which have been recorded
since the Union was formed? Or through what
effect has your prosperity been greater, or your
peace and happiness better secured? What
names even has South Carolina, now so much
dissatisfied, what names has sh6 of which her in.
telligont sons are more proud than those which
have been connected with the government OF
in the earliest days of this Constitution, there
was no State more honorcd, or more deserving
to be honored. Where is she now? And
"phat fall was there, my countrymen !" But
leave her to her own reflections, commeudipg
to her, with all my heart, the due consideration
OF her own example in times now gone by.
Fellow-cltzens, there are some diseascs OF
the mind "a well as of the body, diseases OF
communities, as well as diseases of individuals
that must be left to their own cure at least il
is wise TO leave them so, until the last critical
moment shall arrive
] hope it is not irreverent, and certainly is not
intended as reproach, when say, that know nc
stronger expression in our language tlnn that
which describes the restoration Of n wnyward
SON." he came to himself" He had broken
away from all the ties Of love, family, and friend.
ship lie had forsaken every thing which he hao
once regarded in his fathers house. He had
quilted his natural sympathies, affections, md
habits and taken his journey into far country.
He had gone away from himself, and ont of him