, 1858-07-23

reduced the intermediate unsettled distance one
half reducing it from two thousand to one thou.
sand miles.
How is ii with our communications Congress
has as yet done nothing in regard to the special
measure of Pacific railroad; but, under the
auspices Of Congress, it has been working out
its own success for years.
There is now but about thousand miles Of
country not occupied by settlements. The from
tier is moving hundred miles year; and even
without this great stimulus Of railroad operations
experience shows that in ten years to come pop
ulation will spread over the whole of this dis
tance. Let certain Indian treaties which are
ar now before the Senate DO confirmed, and this
year and next the population Of Oregon and
Washington viii spread over the interior plains
Of those Territories, and the frontier will be ex-
tended two or three hundred miles further east.
ward from the shores Of the Pacific. We have
arrived at that point where there is reflex
movement from the Pacific. The wave Of popu-
latiOn has reached the Pacific, and is now rol-
ling back towards the Rocky Mountains. The
tide Of population is moving westward and east.
ward from the two frontiers, and under the I'M
pulse Of railroad it will soon fiji up the entire
;n,cr;or
The northern route is, however, pre-eminently
national one, for the question there is, shall the
road which must pass from the great basin Of the
St Lawrence, from the great chain Of lakes, to
the shores Of Puget Sound and the Georgian bay,
pass through American or through British terri
torys That is the question.
Sir, great injustice has been done to the coun-
try between 40 . and 81 40. Il joicing in the
acquisition Of Arizona, only wished that her
southern line had gone still further south so as to
give US good port in thu Gulf Of California.
trust we will haveityet Butt has been our mis-
fortune that We have lost that rich and inviting
country between 40 and "a 40'-a country
rich In mineral wealth, in mines OF gold, and lead,
and platinum, and copper and suphur-cxtending
from the shores OF the ocean to the Rocky Noun.
tains. Atthis moment, miners are going TO that
country from California, and to the northern pOr.
ton Of Washington, wh'rs there are equally ex.
tensive and rich gold fields, by thousands; and
the information which have is entirely reliable
as to the large returns which labor has got there
this spring
The distance from Puget Sound, Or Vancouver,
on the Columbia, TO St Paul. or the western end Of
Lake Superior, is eighteen hundred miles; from
Benica to Rock Island, in the Mississippi, by the
route Of the South Pass, twenty three hundred
miles; from San Francisco to Memphis, by the
route Of tho thirty.lfh parallel, twenty three
hundred milts; from San Francisco 10 Gaines, by
the route of the thirty second parallel, twenty.
two hundred miles. And the distance from Beni-
cia, via the valleys Of the Sacramento and VIII
lainctte, Vancouver, and the northern route to St
Papl, is twenty five hundred miles
commercial demo, on Che Pacific. San Francisco
the northern route gives her tho shortest and hes,
connection with the nortbNcst and Tho country
living upoD the srcp, lakes and that ,bis cornoc.
10, ia .bso,u,slv shor,cr ,h.n b.r .onroc,;oD
with Tho M;vsssinni Nv N. rou,os oe ,,,s ,h;r,,-
3ah and ,hir,v .secoud rsra,i.ls IooL;no hon.
ever, TO rurct Sound and taking The eoustic die.
tnces Won find that tbe eou,,ic Js,.,cc from, ,hs
Sound TO the Upper Mississippi and the great
lakes Is two thousand two hu,dred; whereas.
from San Francisco to the Mississippi il is two
thousand eight hundred and fifty, three thousand
three hundred, and three thousand miles, by the
routes respectively Of the South Pass, the thirty.
Hfth, and the thirty second parallels.
But besides the other advantages Of the route,
Puget Sound is nearest to Asia The mouth Of
the straits leading to Puget Sound is on the line
Of sailing vessels from San Francisco to tho ports