Daily national Democrat., 1858-11-24
THAT RAILROAD.


Pacific Railroad. We would not be at all
surprised if it did. 1t has set out very fairly
for the realization Of such aresult, whether it
end accordingly or not All that Mr.. Blu
chanan has ever done, in favor of the road,
can be summed up in a few words. In the
first place, he wrote, Just on the eve of the
election for the Presidency, letter which
would reach this State in time for publica-
tion before its vote would be cast, and yet
not in time to get back to the Atlantic states
before the election was over in which he
avowed himself in general terms in favor Of a
railroad to the Pacific. He next made a sort
| of general recommendation in favor of the
construction of the road, in his first annual
message to Congress- rather limiting, it is
true, that the Southern Route, (Which Cali
fornians did not particularly want, preferring
a more central one,) would be the best. This
! is about all that he ever did in favor Of the
road. lie did not follow up his recommen.
dation, as he should have done, by making it
an Administration measure, and spending
the main force of his Executive power upon
it, as the most important object of legislation
that could possibly be presented o the atten.
tion Of Congress. Oh no, he preferred rails
ing a howl about Kansas, and giving the
character of an Administration measure to a
deliberate attempt at crushing out the Demo
cratic principle of popular sovereignty In
stead of taking his stand upon what the
country naturally expected would be tie
great measure of his Administration, and
about which, in the state of general good
feeling with which he was inaugurated into
power, men of all shades of opinion would
have been easily induced to rally, he planted
himself upon barren rock in the very midst
of the most tempestuous seas of sectionalism,
and in the rage and fury around him, dis
covered that he could do nothing but impo-
tently stop up his ears against the clamor
that well nigh deafened earth and heaven
Somebody undertook to say something about
the Pacific Railroad, but what time had he to
think about a Railroad or anything else but
his own immediate position when every in
slant the storm gathered darker around him,
and the conflicting waves threatened to lift |
him from his footing? Somebody tried to get
the attention of Congress to tie Railroad
measure that had been palaUered oUer so long
by Gwin, but it was no time to bother about
that, when the President himself had forsa-
ken it, and carried majority of an obsequi-
Gus Senate along with him in favor of some
thing else-to wit: Lecompton-which must
be disposed of first, at all hazards. Stephen
A. Douglas eloquently endeavored to stave
off the Kansas issue until the Pacific Railroad
Bill should have been disposed of but he
might as well have talked to hurricane
The country was up and in arms The Pre-,
sident was on tiptoe, with the water up to
his chin, and wondering, in an agony of sus
pense, if the food neyer pould abate The
Pacific Railroad might go to Tophet, for him
He couldn't attend to it, even if he would
for barrier after barrier against the devour-
ing waves had been washed down around |
him, and he was anxiously straining his eyes
for the approach of some friendly vessel that
would take him from his rocky isolation and
save him from total submersion. 1t came
at last, in the shape of the English Bill, but
it was too late to take up the Pacific Railroad
measure and so it went by the board, for
that session at least.
The probability is, that we shall have no
Railroad during Mr.. Buchanans Administra-
ton. We do not know that he will say any
thing about it in his next message, but, even
if he should most strongly urge it upon the
country, it will be of no avail, for he has
awakened such mutual animosities on all sides
of him that he cannot hope to rally any sort
of strength around him sufficient to carry
such a measure through We give up, there.
fore, all hope of the Railroad, until the in
auguration of a President who shall SO CON
duct the Administration of public affairs as
to secure the confidence Of all parties in his
political integrity and his moral and mental
ability to do Justice to all sections.