Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-04-28


or two, concerning the views of Secretary Da.
Wis upon the question of the construction Of
the Pacific Railroad with means furnished by
the General Government. These INQUIRE.
grow out of the briaf note appended to oul
recent publication of Mr.. Buchanan's Pacific
railroad speech, wherein we stated, that in
presenting that gentleman in the attitude Of
an advocate for that policy, Mr.. B. had fallen
into an error ..-
"a answer to those inquiries, we take occa-
sion to republish so much of the speech Of
General Davis, delivered at the Metropolitan
Hotel dinner Tin the course of the Presidents
Northern tour,) as treated of the Pacific rail-
road question, and tomorrow will also pub
lish so much of his next succeeding annual
report to Congress as TRAITS of the question of
the power Of the General Government to con-
struct the work by the application of its own
means alone, or in connection with the aid of
others, and of the necessity for the eventual
construction of such work. Thus We ex-
tract from the speech as follows:
ave have yet great problems, physical and
political to solve. We have, in that contro-
versy to which 1 referred-that contest be.
tween mind and matter-yet to apply all
which science can bring to remove obstacles
from our path. refer now to those politico-
physical difficulties which separate the At
lantic slope and the valley of the Mississippi
from our Pacific possessions. They are sepa-
rated by a ridge Of mountains, a large portion
of which is covered with perennial snow
The population Of one portion now reaches
the other by passing through foreign coun-
try. Will this continue? No, no To re.
main united, we must provide the means to
bring them more closely together-both as re-
CARDS time and facility Of transportation. The
Pacific slope cannot remain permanently in
this Union unless such obstacles are removed,
any more than these colonies could remain
connected with the mother country, with the
broad Atlantic to divide, and the slow ships
OF that day to connect them. Not that blood
is to flow or revolution ensue; wise men will
seek what it is necessary to do to facilitate
the intercourse between the different portions
of the nation, and thus to avert the future
necessity for political separation. We shall
be untrue to the great principles which our
fathers bequeathed as q legacy to US if we
should attempt to bind our Union together by
other than the bonds Of fraternity and com.
mon interest, or forget that government rests
on the consent of the governed. To fulfil our
appropriate to it, it is necessary to provide
the means of intercourse. How is it to be
done? The old States are separated from the
newborn States on the Pacific by a wide ter
ritory-a mountainous district now possessed
by roaming bands of Indians
but still greater difficulties exist in the
sterile plains, which can never be crossed un-
til science shall produce the means which shall
render them not only passable but fertile. The
,uh haan
means Of crossing the mountains they skip
ped the desert; and yet, venture to assert,
there is not mountain region Of this CONT.
nent that cannot be more easily crossed by
roads than the sterile plains which lie near to
the mountains. Still, they may be made pas
sable. We may find the dip and the elevation
of stone, and may pierce it and bring water to
the surface. We shall find new modes of
crossing the mountains. Science, with the
energy Of cur people, will find a way across
the desert and over the mountains, and We
shall solve the problem which history has
heretofore taught US to believe must remain
unsolved. Applause That problem is to
give to the people on opposite sides of snow
covered mountains a common interest, q com
mon feeling, and with their own consent to
unite under one government countries which
the hand of Nature had divided by barriers to
ruder men commercially impossible. If this
hope-may 1 not say expectation-should be
realized, that progress Of civilization and Of
art which you have assembled to commemorate
and promote will have achieved triumph in
the science of government Of which you, the
great contributors to physical science In its ap-
plicatlon to art, may be justly proud at the
addition of q new element in the peaceful
connexion and extended brotherhood Of man. -
The Correspondence reader will find
On our first page to-day the reply of Senator
Douglas to the letter of Col James Ii. Lane,
addressed to the Hon. Mr.. Watson, of Ohio,
the bearer Of Col. L. . communication to him
Mr.. Douglas. 1t will be read by every one,
as EN- bracing an important and the very last
chapter Of the Kansas embrogio, SO far spread
before the public A noteworthy point involv.
ed in it, is its complete refutation of the ISLANDERS
upon Mr.. Douglas spread broadcast through
the press, concerningth affair of which 1t is the
conclusion, by writer's who, as Senator D. in
directly shows, concocted their stories only to
make capital for Col. Lane out of the diff
Guilty. If ever persons who went wool gath
ering came back completely shorn, they are
those who have been ''shrieking for freedom
In the newspapers, in connection with this
Kansas bogus Legislature petition and the
Lane and Douglas affair.
The Canvass for the Democratic Presidsn
tlal Nomination.-We hear that the Wash
ington Sentinel, containing that journals cur.
rent articles against President Pierce, which
are more remarkable for violent abuse and
Wholesale detraction than any thing that was
ever before published by party journal in
this country against public man of its own
party, ia being freely circulated in portions of
Virginia. We refer especially to the Piedmont
congressional district, where they have found
their way under the frank of Senator Slidell,
who is generally regarded here as the chief
manager of the canvass for the nomination on
behalf Of Mr.. Buchanan. We state this fact
that our readers may know that in protesting
against the mischievous and suicidal system Of