New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-05-16
The Mobile and Pontohartrain Road.

express my appreciation of your defense of the
Mobile and Pontehartrain Railway enterprise
| You have heretofore given an enlightened sup
| port to the two great schemes to connect this
| city with Opelousas, and with Central and
| Northern Mississippi and at crisis, too, when
one of them, at least was violently assailed, and
| the waiting cry was heard &c Come help me
| Cassius, or I sink And now, with commends.
| Bile impartially, you lend your aid to kindred
enterprise, having equal claims to public sup
| port, and Of equal, If not paramount Importance.
| Your patriotic and upright course will be duly
| appreciated.
The unexpected opposition to the Mobile and
| Pontchartrain road has much astonished the
| people Of Mississippi, and especially those re-
siding in its south eastern counties, who regard
this road with unbounded favor The State of
Mississippi granted to the New Orleans, jackson
and Great Northern Railroad the unrestricted
right of way, although that State had already
a line of railroad passing centrally from west
| to east, and one from south to north along its
eastern border. But overlooking all considera.
tions of rivalry, and of sections, she conceded to
New Orleans all that was asked. Nor was this
all. AT the late session Of the Legislature the
New Orleans, jackson anu Great Northern
Railroad Company, then in condition of par
tial paralysis, applied for assistance, and the
call was promptly and properly responded to
In despite of the cavils and claims, the opposi-
ton and intrigues of rival companies in Missis-
sppi, the Legislature PLACED at the disposal OF
the New Orleans. Jacksonand Great Northern
Company fund that may be estimated sub
stantially, at million Of dollars The influence
of the Vicksburg and Alabama railway, of the
Mobile and Ohio railway, and of other roads,
and of the counties lying along the Mississippi
river, from Louisiana to Tennessee-all these
were united against the application from New
G,a nd WI fhn p1iaati aA
And how did it succeed' Not by the votes
even of some of the counties through which YOU
New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Road
Is to pass; but by the votes of members repre-
senting the SOUTH eastern countless lying east oi
Pearl River, and which cannot possibly be bene
fitted by the road The aid lcas granted bg those
that hare a direct interest IN the .afobite ana
Pontchartrain Raiipay, Every Senator and
every Representative of counties lying along
the route of this latter road, and for fifty miles
back, voted for this grant of a million, for the
benefit of the New Orleans Company ; and but
for them, the grant could not have been Oh
tained.a- Isolated from the road, they neverthe
less supported its application from considera-
tions of public duty, far removed from that
miserable sactionalism which dwarfs patriot
ism into selfshness, and has no perception be.
You'd its own threshold The honest and pat.
riotic men who represented those counties made
Orleans application. They believed it to be
right to give every practicable aid to the enter
prise of this great city of the South, without
pausing to calculate whether they or their con-
stituents had any personal concern in the pre-
misses, or to stipulate for reciprocal justice and
liberality on the part of New Orleans But
had the friends of the Mobile and Pontchartran
Railroad anticipated that New Orleans and its
capitalists would array themselves against it
and thus crush the only road in which South
eastern Mississippi has any Interest," road
vital to US in every respectable action Of the
Legislature of Mississippi would have been very
different, The controlling power was held by
the friends of the Mobile and Pontchartrain
Road, and they generously came to the rescue
of the New Orleans and Northern Company.
1t is not too much TO say that they expected in
return similar spirit on the part of that com.
pany; especially as the projected road along
the sea- coast of Mississippi is one in which New
Orleans has as great an interest as Mississippi
can possibly have in the Great Northern enter
prise, which has been so literally aided.
The practicability of the Mobile connection
its popularity and its profits, are beyond dis
pute. In three years it can be put in opera
ton, and from the very outset will pay. In q
national point of view it is of primary import
ance. But these considerations seem to furnish
no Recommendations, and selfish interest and sus-
picions of bad faith freely imputed to account
for the violent opposition now manifested to it,
impute nothing care not to pry into peoples
motives; but the gentlemen who conduct this
opposition must be aware that their attitude
exposes them to these suspicious. They profess
to be the friends of the road, and yet are doing
every thing to defeat and destroy it; they per-
eeiye thousand objections to the charter :;
they point out innumerable difficulties; they
scatter doubts and discomfort; they get up sus-
picions of swindling and stock jobbing; aud yet
are the best friends of the enterprise They
pull down, but do not build up. In the inds-
criminate onslaught made upon the charter,
not one of the assailants and professed friends
has proposed any practicable plan to accomplish
the road. And the inference has become gen
eral that the object is its defeat altogether,
This is not good faith it is making bad i'm
pressions it is not sowing good seed, and those
who SOW may "reap the Whirlwind'' The
great roads to connect this city with distant
sections have not yet been completed. Power
full as they are, the time mas come when they
may require aid, and when even the despised
and feeble interest now trampled upon may
have a voice.
New Orleans has no better friend than Missis-
sippi; no better ally and contributor Your
merchant princes, your grocers and retailers,
your artists and mechanics derive large por-
tion of their revenues from her custom and pro-
ducts. Her citizens come here for counsel; her
sick for relief; her opulent for pleasure; aud
your ideas, your intelligence, your public senti-
ment, enforced through the able Press Of this
city, prevail there as thoroughly as in Louisi-
ana. She has stood by you on the field of bat
tie, when your j" beauty aid booty was the
prize, and when the heroism of her troops was
:. the pride of one army and the admiration Of
the other" She is identified with your destiny;
whittier you go she will go. And yet the first
appeal she has ever made to you--the first APP
peal, after having granted whatever you asked
an appeal, too, not for herself exclusively, but
for your combined interest-you reject!
Why did you not reject this appeal when the
subject was before the Legislature Of Louisiana :
Why not make public all these objections b. fore
the friends of the Mobile and Pontchartrlin
Road in the Mississippi Legislature cast their
votes for the magnificent grant to the New Or
leans and Great Northern Railway?
Let me hope that the controlling influences Ct
New Orleans will manifest more reciprocacy-
more magnanimity-and that when sister State
asks for bread they will not cast her stone
A TAXPAYER OF New ORLEANS
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NTH TG n n n EI mn W