Washington telegraph., 1856-11-12
Value Of Internal improvements.

Hall, "salth truly that there are thre
things which make a nation great ant
prosperous: fertile soil, busy work
shops, and easy conveyance for men an,
commodities from one place to another
to which let me add, knowledge and free
dom"
What country in the world has eve
IN de so near an approach To the condition
herein depicted, as that we are so happy
and proud to call our own? knowledge
has its schools, its colleges, Its churches
all over our widespread land, and every
year is adding to their number, their ex
ceIIence and their influence. Freedom ha.
here her institutions, the product of po
litical system, based upon the principle oi
.-ine greatest good vi the greatest NUMBER
and working, in the main, :avorabiy to TIE
end Our suil, spread over every variety
Of climate, and adapted to the culture oi
aInosi every product that the earth gives
fortn, is .eriiie 10 abundance Our work
shops are necessarily ringing with the
echoes of labor, well and proi;tabiy employ
ed, and whatever these may accomplish, TO
wards making a n::tiJn great and prosper
No are we destitute OF zeal in adding to
these the other requisite mentioned by the
learned philosopher We have quoted; though
We mi g.lt wish that uur progress in this di-
rection might be somewhat more rapid, In
some sections of our cuuntry. Every con-
veyance Tor Inen and commodities from
one place to another" is, doubtless, cie.r
national greatness and prosperity. 1t is to
= country what the power t. w..ik is to the
man. 1t re.ievcs him, as it were, of his
Icading-strings. sets him upon his own feet,
and gives him independence, sclf-reliance
and self-cOutrol-
We have, in this country, all the means
and appliances to secure ior ourselves this
source of prosperity; ard, upon the whole,
most credibly during the last half century
hive We avaiied ourselves of them Our
r.ads. our canals, our palatial steamers.
cur r.i.ways, which connect the North w-th
the South, and the East with the West.
considering the short space of time we
have had to work In, and the immense L.
blr Of clearing the way for such improve
enterprise, cur energy, and eur iud gment
From the eventsul day, in the sprin. oi
the year, 1907, When Robert Fulton
isun:hcd the Ciermont, from the East Ri
yer shipyard, down to ti.as when, at point
not far from that shi1yard, Collins noble.
idriat;c was foaied off the stocks, there
his been constant succession of improve
4.
in our country, and the end OF them Is not
VET The great Erie Canal was a stupen-
deus conception of great mind, and its
completion, by connecting the waters If
the Northern Lakes with the Atlantic, in
creased the greatness and prosperity, not
only of the State through which it was
constructed, but of the country, many
fc!d-
With the demonstration of the practical
iiIitv of prUpelling vessels with steam came
in the navigation of the great rivers of our
migiity West, under circumstances that
added thousand fold to their availability
= avenues of commerce and of wealth.
Almost entirely unuavigablc before, except
/: the direction of the currents, it was not
Lu. after Fulton's success that they were
assembled with less labor and In shorter
space Of time than were previously reJuir-
cd for their descent. The result has been
sCch, in the increase of the growth and
prosperity of this great s..ction of the coun
try, and its relative Importance 10 the 9TH
eT parts OF the Union, as strikin"ly to IL
lustrate the truth of the remark OF Lord
Bacon which we have taken as the text q:
this article The railroad enterprise h.s
Mt been SO equal in Its advancement, ha-
wing been mostly progressive in those parts
ol c Union that are mast dense.v settled
and lying nearest to the sea5oard. Bu;
tie ane spirit whic.i covered the bosom
"i the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the great
LaSes. with steamers, and SO, as i; were IL
a Instant, changed the whole commercial
ch hsTicter OF the West and the South west.
Is sill alive and instinct with a force that
vii yet mike it felt in the certain and
sPee y completion u: the great work that
a'e L: projection to Connect with iron links
Cur section with these that b,rder the
Shores % either ocean. And when this
shall be accomplished we shall have fully
Re HE'D how rIci source of national great
ness and prosperity is san easy conveyance
n.an and commodities, from one place
to another ~ o. Ptcayane.