Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-01-07

increased rates of speed at which their trains
have Of late been running. Five years ago
20 miles per hour was the maximum every
where for Passenger trains. Now, on many
roads, not only in the North but in all Sec
tions Of the Union, 40 miles per hour Is fair
average for running their express-msii and
passenger trains. In the judgment OF profess
sional men-epgincers-eve to double
the speed after reaching twenty miles per
hour, is to increase the cost Of running the
train Fifty per centum. Is it not prob able
that on most of the roads formerly profitable
which now fail to pay satisfactory dividends,
to get rid of this extra fifty per centum of the
cost of running their most important trains
would make satisfactory change In the fig.
ures OF their annual budgets? Fares have
decreased We know, and the prices of almost
every necessary of running trains have gone
up. But on almost every road in the United
States the number of passengers and the
amount of freight transported have increased
so that with prudent management of their
business and resources, that increase will more
than compensate for the lower fares and higher
wages, &c. We trust that the directors of all
the railroads in the country will soon come to
some common understanding on this subject
by means Of q convention or something Of the
sort, if but for the additional safety for trav.
elers by rail, to grow out of an abandonment
of the present break.neck speed at which ill.
regulated competition has caused so many
roads to hurry their trains.
Gone to New England.-The newspapers
tell us that Col. Benton has set out on another
New England lecturing tour. A wag at our
elbow accounts for the Colonel's present pen.
chant for such journeys in that direction, on
the hypothesis that he goes thither to eat ccd-
fish, as an atonement for his old charge that
John Q. Adams traded off Texas in old times,
for codfsh-for the benefit of the New England
fisheries interest. tits of no very greatimport-
ance indeed, what takes the erudits and philo.
logical Colonel to that quarter; provided he
will improve the opportunity for paying the
world-renowned Mrs Darlington another such
neighbOrly and social visit as that which must
have been the key to his &C st. Xmas disser-
tatiOn; which could have been inspired by
nothing conceivable, except delightful dish
of the excellent matrOn's bOhea, enjoyed amid
the charms of her erudite conversation. For
our part, We shall expect the telegraph in less
than a week to announce that the Colonel has
actually popped the question " to tho ma
tons trsasure-Mrs. Partington-and been
duly accepted. That he isravishingly enam-
ored of her style, is apparent in every point
made in the now never-to- forgotten &C st.
Xmas" dissertation. All the world know that
that is next to being enamored with the good
lady herself. Under such circumstances, who
will be surprised to learn shortly by telegraph,
as the very latest and most authentic about
the Colonel at the North, that he has been
duly accepted by that literary light of
these latter times of ours?
The Great Danger to the South. Tho
Richmond Enquirer, in the course of recent
and able article upon the condition and future
Of the South, after showing that agriculture
being the well-nigh exclusive occupation of
The most Of her people, and her institutions |
being eminently conservative, the probability |
is that her prosperity and status will Outlive |
that of the North as history proves that com.
mercial and manufacturing States are much |
more apt to suffer changes and destinations |
from their positive and relative power-adds:
The only danger which the South has |
reason to apprehend, is, that in consequence |
Of an accidental com bination of circumstances,
i may lose its equality of political power in
the confederacy, be reduced to q sort Of de- |
pendence upon the North, and, by an iniquitous
policy of legislation, be despoiled of its advan.
tsges and restricted in its development. 1t is,
then. Of the last consequence to the welfare of |
the South, that it maintain its equality Of |
power In the Union, 80 as to protect its rights,
and prevent any unjust discrimination against |
its interests in the action Of the Federal Gov
eminent. But this result can be ACCOMPLISHED |
In only one way and that is by insisting or
ire legitimate expansion Of the institutions |
fthe South. We must keep self protecting
power in our own hands, and TO that end must |
demand equality Of representation in the Sen.
ate. Let the people Of the South as the last |
oxpedient for the preservation of the Union,
rally upon the principle of an extension Of the |
yrandizement Of the power Of the anti-slavery
States 1t is our light under the constitution, |
and our right outside of the constitution in |
virtue Of the necessities of self-protection. |
from the illegal restrictions and I'm.
just operation of the Federal Government, and |
left free in the development of its splendid re-
sources and the expansion of its vigorous insti-
buttons, the South would march forward in the |
career Of glory with q frmer and faster step |
than was ever witnessed among nations. OPP |
pressed by the burdens Of unequal taxation, |
in the cultivation of its CONNER. |
,ial and manufacturing interests and dwarfed |
in its territorial expansion, the South will soon |
become the helpless dependency Of the anti
slavery power.
This is the alternative before us-a gran |
ieur without parallel in history, or an igno- |
miny which one shudders to contemplate in |
the bare conception. Will the South choose |
the career to which interest, honor, and every |
manly motive beckOns it, or be con tent with |
the lot of the craven and the slave? The |
timid fool may whisper that the expansion of |
our institutions is an impracticable achieve
ment; but nothing is impossible with the |
people Of the South. If the North resists, |