The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-11-18
FRIDAY. NOVEMBER IS. isGl
NATIONAL ENrERPRIsE.

"Westward the course Of empire takes its
way is a sentiment 200 flatJering TO our
national vanity 10 be allowed to sink into
oblivion. The records of the past all declare
that civilization always follows the course Of
the sun. Starting amid the plains Of India,
1T gradually extended its benign influence
over Syria and Egypt Ages rolled by, and
Greece receive the warmth Of its light;
still later, Europe became illumned and in
The fifteenth century 1t followed the orb Of DAY
across the broad Atlantic, and continues it5
vivifSing journey over western world. New
England, the birthplace Of all "heresies and
schisms," has also ushered into existence all
the great ideas for moral and mental improve
ment Her love of progress has caused her TO
commit many errors put the blessings she
has given to our common country far out
number the evils she has inflicted. To tho
inventive genius of one Of her sons the South
owes the cotton Jenny, the mainstay Of slavery
The incentives to eXertion which she has
rsdiated over the North, have caused flourish
ing villages and iron roads to spring up in all
our "desert places" Over the whole land
dasbes the iron horse, bearing from point to
point, from farm to market, the fruits of the
teeming industry of our people. The great
cause ofinternal Improvements ows parent
worthy Of its magnitude. The Great Com
moner with his living eloquence, his irresist bic
logic, and his indomitable perseverance, ia
thered, fostered, and raised into successful ope-
ration the glorious system of natural internal
improvement. Canals, railways, and highroads
owe to him their existence. No sooner was
The system suggested than Northern enterprise
took it in hand and fostered il until il
achieved perfection
The grand crowning efforts of the system
are now shortly to be completed. After years
Of defeat, through the non-advancing principle
Of the Southern autoCrats, the Grand Pacific
Railroad is fairly under way, and will shortly
be completed The new road will bound a
continent, and steam will bear the products Of
the Atlantic coast across a world, for shipment
in the sister ocean of the West. The grand
triumph of enterprise will be accomplished
and the two great oceans Of the globe be CON
nected The boasted triumph Of laying the
electric telegraph across the Atlantic sinks
into insignilcance when compared with this
great victory over all the obstacles of nature
Mountains, rivers, plains, and deserts are
spanned, and the bulwarks of creation sub
dued by the enterprise of man.
The command of XERXEs to remove n
mountain in Greece received the indignant
scoflings Of all the historians Of antiquity.
What would have been their comments could
we have ioreseen the determination of great
people TO lay road Of iron across a continent,
leapIng over rivers, crossing mountains, and
scaling the battlements erected by Natures
Godl
The conception Of the work was sublime,
the execution is the greatest monument to the
skill of man. And first among the seven won
ders of the world of the nineteenth century
will rank, in futurity, the Pacific Railroad.