The true Democrat., 1854-11-22


 obtained; $1OO,OOO in Marshall county alone has been subscribed; and board of directors has been elected for the construction of the Helena and Holly Springs connection. That the friends of the road intended to commence operations on the setting in of moderate wea- ther, repeat on the authority of Gov. Mat. thews of Mississippi; buta to the carrying out of that intention yet or of defering it as was recom- mended previously by those distinguished Mis- sisslppians, Messrs. Barton and Clapp, in public speeches at Helena, until the location of the Mississippi Branch of the Cairo and Fulton rail- road at Helena shaU have given them c guarantee of connection a0ih Fort Smith, must, in the ab- sence of exact Knowledge, leave to your some- what hazardous conjectures.
 In reference to your comment on my state- ment that Capt. Church makes the bar at Pre- sident'S Island the subject of special soundings,
 take leave to call your notice to the fact that you have not denied that statement An ennue,,do on the subject requires no remark from me- You can satisfy yourself as to the general fact of the danger and difficulty of the navigation between Helena and Memphis, by reference to the list of disasters published annually in the Missouri Republican. This list makes mention no less than three times of the bar at Presidents Island; but as have not got it with me- cannot at this moment, give you the particulars <
 You say that Arkansas will do remarkably we'll in her present condition if she can get even one railroad costing two-and a-half mil lions of dollars, constructed within her borders; and pray permission to add that while accom- plishing the only rational object of the road you refer to with much more advantage to the people, she reduces the risk of failure (which you seem to apprehend) one hundred per cent, by concentrating on road costing only one-and-a- quarter millions. As to Assistance" from Ken lucky, Tennessee etc., etc., really have no time to waste on the expose of such an inge- nious supposition.
 As to the applicability of my arguments to) the Napoleon road, it may save some further pains on the part of the friends of the Memphis road, to remark that between the Napoleon road and the Midland road it is impossible to produce confact. The friends of these roads stand firmly on the grounds of unalterable alle- glance to the land they live in. You say: {" in this respect Napoleon has advantages over Hele- ma greaterthan Helena can have over Memphis" Be it so: will you then come out in favor of the Napoleon road? An! Mir. Editor, I apprehend not.
 1 In reference to your facetious alusion to the bar opposite Helena as thigh and dry land" re- gret to observe that you draw on the newspa- pers of Memphis for some facts in your own State. \ There is a bar opposite the court house of Helena; and all boats going to Memphis are obliged to cross it; but if you will allow me to correct your information on the subject, the landings of all the steamboat business of Hele. ma have never been made since my residence in that town, farther than one quarter of mile from the corporation. You are not aware, at least the Memphis papers have not told you. that the landings of steamboats from Memphis are, as 1 am told, made fue miles above the pro- posed terminus of the Little Rock Railroad l But you say "a road to Memphis will not only 1 connect with New Orleans but with the whole world by means of connections which will be completed to that place in very short time" l In order to define arthmeticallv the meaning 1 of what you call very short time, 1 will call your attention to the following extract from the ! Helena Shield:
 1 "WHAT MEMPHIS DoEs.-In April, 1850 the l Directors of the Memphis and Charleston Rail- road organized; and in the regular course of things went to work; the western division be- ing thrown altogether on the subscribers in Mis- slsslppl and Tennessee. At this time Memphis had subscribed no railroad bonds to any other company; the people of Memphis individually were unencumbered with any other enterprises: and yet since the organization of the company -four and half years ago--we find the Charleston Railroad (including branch built chiefly by the people of Fayette countv) com peted on the western division for only sixty three miles! The State of Tennessee has aided ill this to the amount of S24O,OOO; and vet the great city of Memphis has been able with the cooperation of the country along the line. and a six months loan from Mr. ROBE, of S187, GOO to build when all her energies were bent on that one work only fourteen naizes yevr.n'
 | Newspaper 1ourishes are doubtless very good in their way; but the only instance in which Memphis hos had her assertions ruled do1n to facts, fixes her ability to the practical measure of 14 miles year. By dividing IA into the ag- gregate length in miles of her connections with the whole world, as you somewhat waggish}v term those roads which will be made in "a very . short time,' the quotient will give you the ex- act meaning of this short time in years The prospect of the so-callcd Memphis and Louis | vile road IS like those artistic contrivances of the juggler, mere "dissolving view" the Louis vile and Nashville road, one link in the chain, I has suspended operations; the Memphis, Clarks- vile and Louisville road, another link, has set tied down into branch from Clarksvlle to the Mobile and Ohio road, at Jackson, in the west ern ulStrlCt, ana eltner the nOlSe or work made on the subject at Memphis, is made under the charter of Memphis and NashuNe Railroad. The Memphis and Louisville Railroad is there fore, so far as these facts apply, de tacto dead. But if alive: IA divided into 36O would sug- gest that for "a very short time, in your issue of the 17th, your subscribers must read '26 years'' An! my good sir, the loose assertion of the po- lititon is sadly out of place in matters of fact
 You alledge that the whole claim of Helena is ''based upon the hypothesis that shippers can reach New Orleans with their freights cheaper than they can from Memphis" Unwilling to- employ the harsh word you use in reference to my remark as to the intention of the friends of the Helena and Holly Springs road, must take leave to observe that the foregoing assertion is unjust. The difference in river-shipment is one of the smallest items on which the superi- ority of Helena rests: the difference in the length of raih'oad-shipment is the main item on which we claim this superiority; and this differ ence amounting, as has been set forth in arti- cles which you have seen to hundreds of thou sands of dollars year, makes the choice be- tween Memphis and Helena so far AS the great