New-York tribune., 1869-05-10
ACROSS THE CONTINENT.

" crgies of Nature, bending them to his own
"wil, turning them aside from their own
"course and compelling them to subserve the
" general purposes of human life. All around
:" is are the traces of this glorious and success
" full struggle. Indeed it seems as if there were
"nothing man feared to attempt The inva-
" sions of the sea are repelIed and whole prov
inces 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-
1" ties as in the skill and energy Of man. For
"merly tho 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
off nature is parsimonious, we know how to
compensate her deficiencies. If O country is
difficult to traverse, our engineers can remedy
the evil; and so marked is this tendency TO
"impair the authority of the natural phenOm-
"ena, that it is seen even IN the dlstrlDu-
" ton of the people. IL may be said,
without the slightest exaggeration, that
every new railroad which is laid down
"and every fresh steamer which crosses the
"Channel are additional guarantees for the
preservation of that long and unbroken peace
(which, during more than forty years, has knit
together the fortunes and the interests of two
"of the most civilized nations on the EARTH"
These are the words Of one of the most pro-
found of modern historical scholars-we mean
Henry Thomas Buckle-and they are intended
to apply specially to European civilization, and
to the bonds it has wrought between two an
cient rivals. But the event of to-day gives
them new significance and wider meaning
than their thoughtful author imagined.
At noon to-day the last rail is to be laid on
the great National railway that unites the
| Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and marks the
crowning triumph over the Continent that the
Puritan and the Cavalier entered three centu-
ries ago. It's progress has been maTed by
many misfortunes and many results of human
imperfections. We have done, we trust, our
full share toward deploring the one and fixing
the stigma Of public reprobation upon tho other,
But to-day we have room for only words OF
praise. In the glory of tho final tri-
umph we gladly put behind us for the
moment tho 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 triiic over week
from New-York to San Francisco, is day that
should suggest only honor to the Companies
that have wrought this marvellous achieve
mcnt.
We remember how long and how vainly we
looked for men to undertake this work. We
remember how Science demonstrated its perils,
Experience maintained its impracticability
Capital shrank from its gigantic cost and uncer-
tain returns. At last the gentlemen who subse-
quenty became the corporators of tho Union
Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads stepped
forward. When Congress hesitated, they
begged, argued, lobbied, till they &C.
cured charters. When Wallst sneered
and preferred Copper Mines and cor
ners in Erie, they furnished the capital
When the great money eenters Of the world,
and the great governments of the world, be-
leved that this nation was drifting helpessly
into disruption and anarchy, their sublime
faith in its future enabled them to
prosecute, in the midst of war, IN under
taking migltier than any other Country, in its
peaceful prime, had ever essayed. Through
embarrassment and distrust at home rs to the
National future, through natural obstacles that
had hitherto been regarded almost or quite
insuperable, through frontier hostilites and the
baTenness of the great plains and the desola-
tion of the mountains, they have steadily held
their way. To-day witnesses their final
triumph achieved years before the limit granted
by their charters We would not take one
leahet from their manfully won laures. 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 dscOuragement the
wonderful energy they displayed, the risks
they took, and the great triumph they have
won.
For this triumph seems TO us an epoch, not
below, in its National significance, the Decara-
tion Of Independence the emancipation of the
slaves or the acquisition of California ! 1t marks
the crowning success won in reducing tho Con-
tneDt on whose wilderness our fOrefathers en-
tered to the uses of civilized man. 1t 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-speaking race inhabitng
this New World" shall become the most gi-
gantic o"A """""''' ""ton hii1T7n s., -.
worlds history, 1t gives direction to
the great currents of population, shapes
the course of trade Ifor large |
part of both hemispheres. promotes peace and
tho spread of the civilizinG arts. and becomes |