The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-12-23

Of the territories of the United States it seeks
to develop, eleven great States will be added
to the Union containing some of the richest
mineral districts on the continent. Montana,
Idaho and Dakota are as yet but bare pro
mise of the future. While politically the
British possessions are the property OF another
power, commercially they are ours, if we
choose to make them so, and this fact is
one of stupendous Importance, whether we
consider their extent, their natural capa-
bilities, or the trade they are destined to
maintain. From the British line to the
sources of the Mackenzie, stretches a magni-
hcent wheat country thousand miles in
breadth; much Of it upon prairie, and ready
for the plough.
Lake Superior projects into the far North
west several hundred miles further than any
other navigable water, and at its head there
will be seen a city rivaling any of those which
in the ages gone by had enjoyed the commerce
Of the East before it. West and northwest of
il, the mighty area we have described, mex
haustible in its minerals and its agricultural
productiveness, will pour its unimagined
wealth of exchanges into and through it,
With fifty bushels of wheat to the acre, as we
find it on the Saskatchewan, what may not be
predicted of the point which, by geographical
necessity, is to handle the products of a region
80 vast Z Here will be the largest grain ele-
vators ever seen, and that trade which has
built so many lourishing cities will build an
other where nature has made depot
for the most extensive grain-growing
country on the globe. In the Bay
of Superior, at the mouth of the st. Louis,
we have the largest harbor on the
lake. land-locked and perfectly sheltered. 1t
now admits lake-boats of the heaviest tonnage,
and to what extent it may be artifcally inn
proved we do not know; but an appropriation
for this purpose was made by the last Con-
gress. city, on the point of land formed by
the st. Louis and the Nemadji, has an eleva-
tion of thirty-four feet, and will possess nearly
forty miles Of water-frontage, where vessels
may discharge their freights on all the four
sides of square. The distance to st. Paul,
the centre of Northwestern railways, is only
a hundred and thirty-fve miles, while from
Chicago it is over three hundred and fifty; and
when you are at Chicago you are no nearer
to Europe or the Atlantic ports than when at
Superior. Various railroads are projected, or
in course of construction, to connect the
Upper Mississippi with the head of the lakes,
and the work on the St. Paul end of the st.
Paul and Superior road is rapidly progressing.
In view of the facts that we are an essen
| TALLY pioneer people, that we plant and build
| wherever nature permits, and especially where
| she invites, and that we are annually rein
| forced by an increasing proportion of immi-
| grants from the northern latitudes of Europe
| peculiarly fitted for the settlement of the
Northwest, it is fair to presume that this gene
ration will see completed what we have only
family sketched-the commerce of Asia and
Europe passing over a grand highway con-
Meeting the Atlantic and Pacific, Lake Superior
and Puget's Sound, the head-waters of the
Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Columbia,
with cities at either terminus, whose import
ance can only be measured by that of the
trade they will control.
Progress of Southern Negro RecOnstruo-
From the N. Y Herald
The passage of the new Reconstruction bill
by the House of Representatives to facilitate
the work and hurry up into Congress the ten
outside Rebel States on the basis of negro
balance of power, naturally attracts our atten
ton to the progress of this business in the
| five Southern Military Districts.
The Alabama Reconstruction Convention
has framed a constitution on the basis of negro
equality, and adjourned. The results of the
recent elections for convention in each of tht
States of Florida, South Carolina Mississippi
and Arkansas have not yet been fully reported
although we presume they will turn out Il
comprehend majority in each case voting o
all the registered voters, very large majority
of the votes cast for a convention, and larg'
majority of radicals, whites and blacks, a
delegates, as in Virginia, Georgia, Alabama
and Louisiana.
The Virginia Reconstruction Convention
getting under way, and Senator Wilson, VIII,
has lately been down to Richmond, has doubt
less given the managers some wholesom
advice against such fanatical fellows as Hun
nicutt. AT all events the Convention seem
disposed to proceed cautiously and CAREFUL
to business. Meantime, the Virginia whit
conserva atives have just closed in Richmond a.
opposition Convention, at which the Rebe
General Imboden stated that on the question
of his right to the ballot box he had secured
writ of mandamus from the United States Cir
cult Court, which he had served upon Gen
eral Schofeld, who had asked a month il
which to form his opinion on the subject
General Imboden, however, had no idea tina
in pushing this question of suffrage in hi
I case to the Supreme Court of the Unite
States a decision would be secured declarin
the law of Congress unconstitutional. Thi
Conservative Convention has organized sys
tenn of action on the basis of the abolition
slavery and white mans government, an
as the whites have a registered majority {
voters in Virginia, the main object in view
! doubtless a general turnout when the tim
comes to vote down the constitution expeete
from General Schofeld's radical Reconstructio
Convention.
Among the latest proceedings of this bod
was a resolution from Mr.. Hughes (blac
delegate) for the appointment of a committe
r to inquire into and report what should be don
with disloyal landholders who refused to en-
plOy radical negroes and who attempted to il
timidate them in voting, which was discusse
and referred. Absurd as this resolution ma
| apnear in regard to the question of employ