The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-05-11
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EDITORIAL OPINIONS OF THE LEADING JOURNALS
UPON CURRENT PROFESSIONALISM EVERY
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ACROSS rHB CONTINENT.

ACROSS THE CONTINENT.
tTom the NJ y. Tribune.
''Man has really. sncoeeded in turning the
energies OF nature bending them to his own
WILL turning them aside from their own course
and compelling them to subserve the general
purposes OF human life. ALI around us are
the traces OF this glorious and successful
struggle. Indeed IL seems as II there were
nothing man feared TO attempt. The invasions
OF the sea are repelled and whole provinces
rescued from its grasp, mountains are cut
through and turned into level roads. The
course OF trade, the extent of commerce, and
many similar circumstances, determined of
old by the existence of rivers, or the facility
OF navigation, now find their determining
cause not SO much in these physical peculiari-
ties as in the skill and energy of man. For
merly the richest countries were those in
which nature was most bountiful; now the
richest countries are those in which man is
most active. For in our age of the world,
If nature Is parsim0nious, we know how to
compensate her deficiencies. II q country Is
difficult to traverse, our engineers can remedy
the evil; and so marked is this tendency to
impair the authority of the natural phenome-
ma, that 1t is seen even in the distribution Of
the people. 1t may be said, without the
slightest exaggeration, that every new rail
road which is laid down and every fresh
steamer which crosses the Channel are addi-
honal guarantees for the preservation Of that
long and unbroken peace which, during more
than forty years, has knit together the for
tunes and the interests of two Of the most
civilized nations on the earth" These are
the words of one Of the most profound of
modern historical scholars-we mean Henry
Thomas Buokle-snd they are intended to
apply specially to European civilization, and
to the bonds 1t has wrought between two
ancient rivals. But the event Of to-day gives
them new significance and wider meaning
than their thoughtful author imagined.
N At 3'O5 P. M. yesterday the last rail was laid
on the great national railway that unites the At
lantic and Pacific Oceans, and marks the
browning triumph over the continent that the
Puritan and the cavalier entered three centu-
ties ago. Its progress has been marred by
many misfortunes and many results of human
imperfecti0ns. We have done, we trust, our
full share towards deploring the one and fix
ing the stigma Of public reprobation upon the
other. But to o.day we have only room for
words OF praise. In the glory of the final
triumph we gladly put behind us for the
moment the memories Of the blunders
and crimes by the way. The day that marks
the completion Of railroad line in working
order across the continent, and gives us the
power Of passing in but trit1e over week
from New York to San Francisco, is day that
should suggest only honor to the companies
that have wrought this marvellous achieve
ment. ........... ...m.
We remember how long and how vainly we
looked for men to undertake this work. We
remem Der how science demonstrated its psrils,
experience maintained its impracticability,
capital shrank from It's gigantic cost and un-
certain returns. At last the gentlemen who
subsequently became the corporators of the
< Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads
stepped forward. When Congress hesitated,
they begged, argued, lobbied, till they secured
charters. When Wall street sneered and pre-
ferred copper mines and corners in Erie, they
furnished the capital. When the great money
centres of the world, and the great govern
ments of the world, believed that this nation
was drifting helplessly into disruption aud
anarchy, their sublime faith in its future
enabled them to prosecute, in the midst of
war, an undertaking mightier than any other
country, In its peaceful prime, had ever es-
sayed. Through embarrassment and
distrust at home as to the national future,
through natural obstacles that had hitherto
been regarded almost insuperable, through
frontier hostilities and the barrenness of the
great plains and the desolation of the noun
tains, they have steadily held their way. Yes
terday witnessed their final triumph achieved
years before the limit granted by their char
ters. We would not take one leafet from
their manfully won laurels. What we have
said in the past of their conduct we have
said. To-day we recall only their services,
their bravery in the midst OF danger, their
confidence in the midst of discouragement,
the wonderful energy they displayed, the
risks they took, and the great triumph they
have won. ...a.
For this triumph seems to us an epoch, not
below, in its national significance, the Declara-
tion Of Independence, the emacipation OF the
slaves, or the acquisition Of California. 1t
marks the crowning success won in reducing
the continent on whose wilderness our fore
fathers entered to the uses of civilized man.
It constitutes the definite bond and material
guarantee for the perpetuity Of an ocean
bound Union. 1t is the symbol of that now
certain future in which the English-spesking
race inhabiting this ''Nsw WOrld' shall be-
come the most gigantic and powerful nation
known in the worlds history. 1t gives direc-
tion to the great currents of population, shapes
the course of trade for large part of both
hemispheres, promotes peace and the spread OF
the civilizing arts, and becomes thus an event
not merely in the annals OF our growth to
national greatness, but in the history of pro-
gress in human civilization.
.rf CUBA AND THE FILIBUSTERS.
From the NJ Y. Herald.
Several weeks have elapsed since our sps
oial correspondents in Cuba announced that II
was slack tide with the revolutionists; and