Hannibal journal. (Hannibal, Mo.) 1852-1853, 1853-03-24
HANNIBAL, MO, THURSDAY MORNING, MARCH "a, 1853.

% the northern route, and the interests Of all
arties will be satisfied. AS before stated, con-
nectons between the two lines may be effected
hereafter. St. Louis can connect with the
southern line BY the South-E East branch Of the
Pacific. California and Oregon can build their
north ard south valley road if they see proper,
and in either case, if the wants of the country
demand these comparatively local roads, the
General Government will doubtless lend her
powerful aid. But let our energies be first APP
piled to such connection with the Pacific coast
as will satisfy both the North and South, such
as will develop ahd control, il necessity, the
interior territories now so remote and SO diff
cult Of access; such as will hold in awe the
savage tribes within our borders, and will sup
ply them with the food which in few years
our encroachments on their hunting grounds
will destroy.
One great question presents itself, and John
Bull would say it is truly an American one
viii these roads pay? The General Govern
ment will be abundantly remunerated in various
ways for the most liberal grant OF lands it can
bestow; too much so, indeed if the privileges
Gwin's bill gives it are adopted. BY the value
added to its lands, the increase Of duties, the
facilities of access 10 distant territories, and
from one portion OF the Union TO the other, its
means of rapid communication with distant off,
cials, and in thousand other ways it will be
most amply repaid. Uncle Sam has large
farm to manage nowadays, and to carry il on
to advantage he needs all modern improve
ments' None of his nephews, individually, can
derive half as much benefit froin investment in
these roads, be his purse as long as It may, as
will hes But these too will have fair prohts,-
10000 persons, Drawing all the difficulties and
dahgefS Of the long land route to California and
Oregon crossed the plains this season. How
many went by Cape Horn and the Isthmus? =
How many returned by other routesP-How
many remained at homep-How many found
other routes to the Sandwich Islands, Australia
Sc, all of whom would have travelled by rail-
road, had one existed? Shall we keep far with
in the mark, and say O,0o0? We will charge
them $40 each, and the amount is SO, 600 900; a
fair interest on $l00,o00,0oo. What figures
shall we set down for the transportation Of the
enormous amount of internal and foreign trade,
between the extreme points? What for the
trade and transportation which would spring up
along the whole line, when every fertile plain
and every secluded valley, now in solitary qui-
e.ude, should ring with the sounds of prosper
Gus industry Had we the data no distant fu-
ture will Afford the calculation would surpass
the bounds of the most exaggerated expectations.
Were both roads completed, they would pay,
and pay at once. Our country, in its natural
and artificial developments, would cast every
other into the shade. With one arm she would
gather in the wealth of the Atlantic, with the
other, the wealth of the Pacific, to enrich her
sons and her daughters. Across her broad sur.
face would be poured the overfowing streams
of richer commerce than the world has ever
seen, and her extreme and distant portions
would be SO interloeked and united by iron
bonds as to bid defiance to internal or external
foes. In the advantages Of her position, the
extent and development of her territory, her
wealth, her commerce.. her military and naval
power, the intelligence and means OF comfort Of
her children, she would as far surpass every
other people as she does in the equal and uni
vsrsal benefits conferred by her civil and social
institutions, and every aspiration for freedom
in every down-trodden kingdom of the earth
would ascend to heaven more hopefully while
her glory increased, and the fame Of her great
ness astonished the world.
/ But the magnifeence of my subject, and a dim
contemplation of its more magnificent results,
have Inadvertently betrayed me into unusual
grandiloquenoe. Pardon this want of taste, and
also the length Of my article, which l have ex'
tended far beyond my designed limits, withou
doing it full justice. will only suggest thu
propriety of connecting with the surveying de
parment competent geological ability 10 gathel
the materials and furHish a report of the miner
logical character Of tbs country through whol
it may pass. II. M.
From report made by Justice Boswell, Q
Williamsburgh, l.. l., we learn the fOliowin