The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-02-18
THE AIRLINE RAILROAD FROM
WASHINGTON TO THE CITY or
NEW YORK, AND THE PACIFIC TEL

NEW YORK, AND The FAULTY Ell
EGRAPH..
Mr.. Dofy tofNew York; has introduced into
the House OF Representatives bill to provide
for the construction of an airline railroad from
the city Of Washington to the city OF I've"
York. II makes il the duty OF the Pos'mas'"
General to have the road surveyed, and au'"o'
rises him, for that purpose. TO employ 'he w
biographical engineer of the Army, VINO aie "
&C, under his direction. After II sha'' nav
been COMPLETED, the Postmaster Oensfai Is
emnowered 10 lease il for nEmber oil years
not specified IA blank being Ieit IN the ol'iI 10
such person as shall agree to STOCK IL win
such a number Of engines and cars as he shall
,eo,irs. and to carry all mails, troops and mu-
,;,;o,s If war of The United States thereon, at
such time, speed, rates, ETC., as the said Post
master General may determine on. The les
see is also required to keep the road in order,
and on bis failure TO do SO, the Postmaster
General may resume possession Of il and let
il to some other person. Five hundred thou
sand dollars are to be paid out OF the Treasury
O the United States 10 the Postmaster Genera,
and to be applied by him to defraying the ex-
peases to be incurred in carrying the law into
execution. The road is TO pass by Baltimore
add Philadelphia.
Contempcraneously with the introduction OF
this bill, Senator Weller offered rep ut from
the committee on Territories, in favor OF the
petition OF Messrs. Alden and Eddy, who ask
grant of certain amount of public land for
the purpose OF constructing Geographic com"
nlunications with San Francisco. The cost OF
the proposed line is estimated by The memoir
a lists at $500 per mile, or about Sl,1Oo,OOo Tor
the whole distance. 1t must be many years
before the contemp! ated railroad connection
with the Pacific can be established. In the
meantime there is no portion of the immense
domnions of the republic in that quarter,
which can be heard from in less than month,
and some of them cannot be heard from in
double that time. 1t is of the utmost impor-
lance, in the meanwhile, that communication
with them should be as rapid and as frequent
as possible. The only difficulty that lies in
the way, it appears to US, is the uncertainty OF
retaining the communication after it shall have
been established over such an immense space
the entire breadth of the North American
continent. ST. Louis is the proposed point, it
is true, hut from ST. Louis 10 Washington the
telegraph IS already in operation. San Fran
cisco is the main Western terminus, but the
memorialists ask for liberty to construct
branches to Texas, to Utah, TO Nes Mexico,
and to Oregon. There is reserved to the Co
vernment the right 10 transmit and receive, free
OF cost, all official communications between
itself and its officers, provided the same do not
exceed seven thousand words per month, and
the Government is entitled in all cases, to prior
use, even after that number of words shall
have been exceeded, provided it pay the same
fees that others pay. The charges are, in no
case, to exceed ten dollars for the first ten
words, and seventyfve cents for each added
word thereafter.
This certainly is most wonderful age, and
the land in which its wonders are chiefly de-
veloped, seems to be this in which we live
We remember very well when it took forty
eight hours to bring the mail here from Wash.
ington. Now, if man were delayed one-third
OF that time in getting here from Washington
himself he would storm as though the fate of
the world were dependent upon his speed
When Shakespeare made Ariel talk about put
ting girde round the earth, lin we do not re-
member how many seconds,l he thought, no
doubt, he was speaking of thing which was
possible to nothing but spirit. This hard.
anromantic, matter-offact age has realised
some OF the highest conceptions of poetry and
romance. The electric fluid can circumnayi-
gate the globe almost as quick as thought. 1t
would have given Ariel The start by 1870 de.
gTees, and then have outstripped him. If the
Atlantic Telegraph should ever turn GU to be
anything more Than mere project, we shall
have, shortly after its completion, no doubt,
felesraphlc communication with Asia via the
Pacific. There was talk, short time since.
cfa telegraph from London to Paris, from Paris
to Vienna and Berlin, from Vienna and Berlin
TO Warsaw, from Warsaw to Moscow and ST.
Petersburg, and from these points, or one Of
ifen, through Siberia to Kamsch atka.-
Thence, it was said, il would be easy to con-
s'ruct telegraph across Behring's Straits to
the American shore, and so on down to Ore
gon, and thence to the Mississippi.
What is to be the effect of thus bringing all
nations into the immediate neighborhood of
each other ? Is it to be for good Itmay be,
butin this world good never comes without its
alloy of evil, any more than we find gold un.
mixed with baser metals. We have frequently
noticed that persons who dislike without
knowing much of each other, generally, upon
better acquaintance, resign large share of
their prsjudices. So il may be with the ma.
lions. The English, from their nsular situa.
ton. and the little intercourse which took
place between them and their neighbors. for
long ages, were the most conceited, the mos,
prejudiced and the most dsagreeable of ns.
lions. Use has worn away great deal of this
but iquere y has il not worn away. too som.
of their sterling qualities along with I'M Thew
were distinguished in old times for co.,, -
bull.heaced honesty, and for believing ,bs, al
the rest of the world were dishones, ex,sn,
themselves. They have now learned ,b., ~
are honest men in all countries, bu, have H.
learnt none OF the tricks tha, their ,n...,o-,
knew nothing of Has the;r E,.s,