Daily national Democrat., 1860-07-03

Sad. and calm, and free from fear,
Alone, beside that post Of duty,
Faithful sull, though death was near.
Though strong men there had fercely strivet
But TO find IA watcry grave,
YET, still The signal must be given,
There were many left to save.
And while the death-cry echoed near him.
Undlsmayed that dauntless one,
| Without a single voice To cheer him,
Stood aud III the sigual-gun.
And when with sou like mufled thunder,
Dark waves parted round the wreck,
His lighted match was seen with wonder
Cleaning sadly ON the deck.
But few returned to tell his story,
He who did matchess deed
Without one hope OF gain or glory.
Which should be the hero's need.
The aIns OF war, the martial bugle
on have made "a dastard brave
But there was naughtto cheer the struggle
Vi his death-walch on the wave.
No Roman chief, no sacred martyr
Can you find more brave than he,
Nor yet the iron men Of Sparta,
Fighting ut Thermopyla.
When conquering hosts around them crowded
Though uumoved, while Persis's King
The morning sun, with arrows shrOuded,
They did not so brave thing.
Go, then, and carve his wondrous story
On monument Of stone,
Ye shall see youthful heads grow hoary,
Ere nobler deed be done.
Mid all the heroes fame has cherished
Carve his name Drawer one
Has never lived, than his who perished
Standing by that signal-gun!"
Where is the Pacific, with her 240 lives
The City of . Glasgow, with 424? "HeT
Majesty" with 80? The Rhode Island, with
60? The Tempest, with her 1902 No voice
replies to us from the dark and desolate wa
ters. We know not where they sunk-wheth-
er they pershed by fire or by storm or what
was the manner Of their fate
We know the fate of the Central America
with her three hundred eighty-seven lives
and her millions of treasure, that went dowr
to the bottom of the sea, her brave Captain
refusing to leave her. although he could esily
have done so, and bearing his head in calm
and solemn prayer to the God of Heaven, a
! he sank in the mad roar of the waters
Standing upon the wheel house of the vessel
he was the last living Object seen upon TIL
ship, ere she was whelmed beneath tn
waves.
The ship San Francisco. with her loo sou
on board where is she T.? The monsters
the deep can tell The Union, the Chess
peake the General Warren, the North Amer
lea, the Pioneer, the Independence, ,-wher
are they? Dashed upon the rock-bounC
coast and long since q prey to the beating
waves Where is the Washington, the South
erner, the Tennessee The stormy geniu
of the misnamed coast of the Pacific can an
swer.
The list is even longer than this. Not les
than 5000 lives have been lost upon Atlarti
and Pacific within the last four or five years
From founderings, wrecks, fires and coils
ions, the mortality has been fearful-h
greater than any upon land, within the sam
space of time.
According to the statistics compiled in tn
speech of Hon Charles L. Scott on tn
Steamboat Passenger Bill in 1883, it appear
that on the lakes, in the years 1854, '55 an
sc, there were lost 644 lives, and over hv
millions of property On the Western riv
ers, the loss for one year only, was four hur
dred lives
This record is an awful one to contemplate
especially the loss of life upon the ocea
transit between this State and the easter
border.
1t is an argument sufficient for the imme
diHte construction of the Pacific Railroad
aside from the considerations of defense to II
unprotected coast like that of California
aside from the urgency of having d direC
commercial line, from the east to the ives
instead of the long, tedious and circuitol
routes that exist at present, and aside froi
the special urgency of protecting a region
inviting, on account of its enormous wealt
and unbounded natural resources, to fol eig
aggression aud acquisition.
But, argument. Of whatever eharacte
seems to be, at this time, of but little avai
Sectional feeling is too strong Yet, if W
can put the right kind of President int
the Executive seat, one who will make IL
building of the Pacific Railroad the measul
of his Administration, we may hope fc
a speedy action and a safe result.