The true Democrat., 1857-05-26
w. R. MILLER, 4J..

|
 Yours, respectfully,
 w. R. MILLER, 1 Auditor Qf AlhunSas From Illinois.
 Chacago, Illinois z
 18th May, 1857.
 EDITOR TRUE DEMoCRAT-Steam has push ed us on this far. We left your quiet city on the neat little steamer Arkansas, which glided over the sandbar and cottonwood snags at such rate that we arrived at Napoleon the next morning, and just in time to take the New Orleans and St. Louis packet Falls City. She was very much crowded and with the addition received at the mouth of the Arkansas, had about four hundred passengers aboard The l business season of New Orleans being near a close, all the up river boats are filled to overflow ing with those who are seeking watering places or are desrous of getting out of the region of the epidemic. After passing Memphis we were more comfortable, as many left Us at that | point though We regretted losing among the number our friend J. L. WitherSpoon, esq. of ArkadeI phia.
 TraveIng up the Mississippi above the mouth of the Ohio is very pleasant, as the scenery at some points is interesting The ri. yer runs along bold precipitous shore on one side or the other for much of the distance, and at one point few hundred yards above the Grand Tower, the river passes through nar- ] rou oh nl ,I.Do l. ..-l above the waters edge on each side. This is certainly the most eligible point for a bridge across the Mississippi anywhere between the mouth of the Missouri and the Gulf of Mexi- 60, though floating ice at the commencement of spring lodges at this gorge, and is sometimes seen piled up to the height of forty or fifty feet. The Grand Tower is a remarkable u- stance of the abrasion of stone by water and ice. It is N circular pile of horizontally strait fled rocks about sixty feet high, and stands in the river near the Missouri shore
 The colored bud on board the steamer gave us their best music for evening entertainments, but small work, by L. Cohen. esq, of New York, seemed 10 be all the rage The merits of its pages were warmly discussed around the board, at which the God of Luck presided from the time the morning star appeared until II rose again. So time passed on, and the wheels Kept moving until quarantine station was reached. At this place paddles were stop ped and all official appeared who asked Us if there were any sick aboard, and who, upon re- ceiving an answer in the negative, told us to griud on" but we never grounded, for in a few minutes the Falls City was one of sixty steamers lying at the wharf of s. Louis This oid French post is now thriving Dutch city. After remaining here one day, during which did gool deal of "bobbiug round. ? we left this Lager Beeropolis on the St. Louis, Alton and Chicago railroad, arriving at Chicago on the evening of the same day, having pas sed through Springfield, Bloomington, and Jo- liet, only observing the general character of the country
 Illinois is large and gently undulating prai re, divided into pastures and small fields bv post and rail fences running north and south and east and west. It is so divided because the whole country was originally laid out by the Mansfield system of surveying. It is dot ted by villages that are sprnging up all over it's face. The farmers are now busy preparing their ground for the seed which in virgin prairie land seems to be no easy task, as four horses may often be seen working abreast at one blow. The first crop is called "sod corn" and is not cultivated from planting to gath erlng time, though the yield Is from twenty to forty bushels to the acre. However, did not intend to give you a paper upon Illinois, its ireeso'l commerce, staple products, etc, but will simply remark that if you should ever travel this way and judge of the produce of the country, from what is seen about the relay houses you will imagine that pop corn is grown Tn abundance.
 This Chicago is rapid place, and stands among her sister cities like young America in group of old logies. But few years ago It was snipe marsh, while now hundred thousand ' reedom-shriekers '' have their houses where the wild rice grew.
 Col. Thos H. Benton delivered lecture here last night before the Young Mems Asso. cIatlon on the dangers of disunion. He said he was opposed to the north medlmg with the slave States, aud that he was equally opposed to the introduction of slavery into the common territory of the United States. He would have the Missouri Compromise restored- and In the course of his remarks he said. " When l shall come to be laid in the narrow house to which l am now fast approaching. if my memory shall be deemed worthy of stone, let some kind friend cut this sentiment deep in the rock, He was opposed to the ab rogation of the compromise.'" He referred to his association with the great statesmen who are with us no more in a truly Bentonian style. am the last connecting link" said he, e be- tween the men of the revolution and the pre- sent generation, having entered public life just as they were dropping into their graves. Clay, Webster and Calhoun are gone, and their man. ties appear to have fallen upon no man." He thought 1t probable that he would make a tour through the southern States upon the same mlsslon--that of setting forth the evils which would result from disunion.
 We leave tomorrow for New York, passing through central Michigan, south-we Canada over the suspension bridge at Niagara Falls. and through Rochester to the Hudson river at Albany. will write to you again.