Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1868-11-17
NEWS OFIHE DAY.
''7o shoe the rery age and body ofMe Times

sented the fortleth annual report of the Presl-
ldent and Directors. Messrs Johns Hopkins,
Samuel w. Smith, Francis Burns, John Spear
Nicholas, John Gregg, c. Oliver O'Donnell,
James Harvey, Galloway Cheston, William w:
Taylor, Samuel Kirby, Allen A. Chapman. and
Albert Schumacher were elected Directors Tor
the ensuing year. They are the same az Tor
the past year, except A. Schumacher, Esq,
who was chosen to fill the vacancy occasioned
by the death of William Head, Esq.
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue has
issued further instructions relative to the mark
ing and branding OF distilled spirits He says
that Guagers will be held to the strictest re-
sponsibility In the performance of their duties,
and desire to do the greatest amount OF work
in the shortest space Of time will not be accept
ed as an excuse for failure to do the work well.
Gen. Grant returned to New York on Sun
day night from his visit to West Point. Before
returning to Washington he will pay visit to
Boston and other of the Atlantic cities. lie
proposes between now and the time he is re-
quired to assume the duties OF. the Presidency
to enjoy little relaxation.
The difficulty between the Governor and
Lieutenant Governor of Florida remains unset
tied. The Governor claims that his subordi-
nate is Ineligible not having been citizen OF
| the State three years, and has Instituted pro-
ceedings to have him ousted.
The COMPTROLLER of the Currency, in his an.
nual report to the Secretary of the Treasury,
recommends the redemption of National bank
notes in New York, and prohibiting the pay
ment of interest of bank balances by banks in
that city.
The Diario, Of Havana, says that the revolu-
tionsts in Cuba are bent upon throwing off all
allegiance to the Spanish Government, and
states that it has now become the duty OF the
Government to annihilate them.
Mr.. Schumacher, member Of Congress elect
from Kings county, New York, was robbed Of
valuable diamond pin in New York Broad
way omnibus on Friday night. The pin was
valued at 81 900.
A dispatch to the Boston Journal says
Congress will be asked to appropriate $4,000,
600 for the commencement of the navy. yard
establishment on League lsla nd, below Phlla-
deiphia.
John I. Hoffman, Governor elect of New
York, yesterday resigned the office Of Mayor
of New York, in order that the vacancy may
be filed at the regular charter election IN De-
cember.
Mr. Reverdy johnson has written a letter to
the agents of a Texas Land and Emigration
Company in London, giving Texas recommen-
dation as a good place for emigrants to 60 to
work.
Elizabeth city, New Jersey, was visited by an
earthquake on Sunday night. -Four distinct
shocks were felt about ten o'clock But little
damage resulted.
At Charleston, yesterday, the contested mu-
nicipal election case progressed quietly, al
though excited crowds surrounded the City
Hall.
Bishop Stevens, of Pennsylvania, broke his
left arm by fall upon the sidewalk at Bethe-
hem, Pa, on Saturday.
The Legislature of North Carolina assembled
yesterday. Gov. Holden will send in his mes
sage to, day.
ORIGIN OF THE CENTRAL PACIFIC RAIL
RoAD.-We have just read the Grafton deliver
ed in May last by Gen. Blair, on the occasion
of unwilling the statue of the late Thomas ii.
Benton, in st. Louis, and we find that the
orator. in the course of his remarks, ascribed
to Mr.. Benton the sagacity that conceived the
project of building the Central Pacific Rail
road now so rapidly approaching its compile
ton. To support his statement respecting the
origin of this enterprise, Gen. Blair repro
duced an extract from speech delivered by
Mr. Benton before the Commercial Convention
at St. Louis in lS49, when he depicted the
resources and destiny of the West, and, having
foreshadowed the ultimate construction OF
railroad to the Pacific, said:
"Let us rise to the grandeur of the occasion.
Let us complete the grand design of Columbus,
by putting Europe and Asia into communica-
ton, and that to our advantage through the
heart of our own country. Let US give to
ships, converted into cars, continued course,
unknown to all former times. Let us make
the iron road, and make it from sea to sea
States and individuals making it east OF tie
Mississippi, the nation making it west. Let
us now, in this Convention, rise above every
thing sectional personal, local. Let us be-
seech the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS to bald the great
road upon the great national line which suits
Europe and Asia-the line which will find on
our continent the Bay of San Francisco at one
end, st. Louis in the middle, the national me-
tropolis and the great commercial emporium
at the other; and which shall be adorned with
its browning honor-the colossal statue of the
great Columbus-whose design II acaomplishes,
hewn from granite mass OF peak OF the
Rocky Mountains-the mountain itself the
pedestal and the statue part of the mountain
pointing with outstretched arms to the west
ern horizon, and saying to the flying passenger,
"rhere is the East-there is India. - -
But if this speech, in lS49, was the first
evidence of Mr.. Benton's having conceived the
Continental railway to the Pacific, we appre-
bend that its origin cannot be justly ascribed
to him. 1t is probable that there are persons
now living in Louisville who can recall the
efforts made in various parts of the country,
about twenty-four years ago, by a man named
Whitney, of Medina county, Ohio, who went en-
public mind to the practicability and necessity
of constructing, at the expense of the Govern
ment, railroad from Lake Michigan to the
Pacific. Whitney was universally regarded,
at the time, as cracked Drained enthusiast,
and people heard him simply to laugh at what
they deemed his vain imaginings. The idea
of Whitney was, that, as the navigation from