, 1869-05-20

AL. AOu1aALaA mAd In NEW fQAk
Everybody who knows George Wilkes, of
the New York Spirit Of tie Times, luows
that he is the most modest man living.
Bsnve Phil kearuey would never hava
Lecn heard Of but for Wilkes; Fighting
Joe Hooker would never have bean Fight
ing Joe had not George put him mp to it;
G1ant would never have fought it out on
that line all summer had not Wilkes in
sisted TINT it must be done, and Mr. Lincoln
would have made dreadful mess of it sew
eral times had not the Spirit told him
exactly how the war should be
conducted, which advice that amiable
man followed to the letter.
Though everybody knows that Wilkes thus
saved the Union over and over again
brought the war to a successful issue in
spite Of the iulbecility nnd short-sighted-
ness Of President and Secretary Of War !;
always had the right Generals to bring to
the fore at e1actly the right moment, yet
that remarkable man has never smd word
Of his own merits, nor claimed the gratitude
Of the country which is only ungrateful
because it is ignorant. But modesty has its
limits, and there is point at which. Ike
patience, it ceases to he d virtue. And Il
ia reached with George Wilkes, He lifts
the bushel at last and let's his Light be seen
ct men.
Like al other great things when accom-
plizhed, the Pacific Railroad has had q
great many ori8inators, probably enough,
had they al taken hold at once, to have
graded md rallied it without any govern
ment subsidy. But all these men, from
Benton down, are chaslatans, and tho only
"original Jacobs" is George Wilkes. He
sets this forth in the last number Of bis
paper, with his Characteristic bashfulness,
land rests his claim On book he published
IN 1915, wherein is s'project Of d
national . railroad from the Atlantic to
the Pacific Ocean" But it is curious
how mental hnbit, long adhered
10, will dominate man. Alr. Wilkes
say1 that while his book Eas in preparation
"a Mr. Asa Whitney, Of Connecticut, prob
ally getting ,cind Of our ric,cs, anticipated
their appearance in the volume by prtcipi-
fafing petition before Congress in the
session Of 1876, asking the government
to grant him tract Of land sl1ty miles wide,
from Chicago to the Pacific Ocean, in order
to enable him to build a railroad" As Mr..
Wilkes book Was not published till the
spring Of Is, and Whitneys petition was
ptecipitated" some months before, il is as
clcat as possible that il Was Whitney who
got wind Of Wilkes views, and not Wilkes
who had ever heard Of Whisneys. Nor waa
Whitney the only man who thus endeavored
to forestall the brilliant Wilkes idea
for presently, after the Whitney petition,
came "a Mr.. Hartweu Carver, Of Western
New York, asking for eight million Of pub.
Lie acres, for the satnc purpose, on the
ground that he had been the protector ot
the great idea" And what makes it all the
more aggravating ia that this Mr.. Carver,
Us Mr.. Wilkes states, "really had somt
gears before, when railways were about
being introduced into tho United States,
said, somewhere in print, az hktnise did
Mr. John Plumb, of Missouri, that rail
way to the Pacific Ocean, stretching in 0
straight line from New York towards the
Indies, wonld be most desirable thing fol
the count1yto have J" Mr.. Wilkes is candid
and modest enough to say that "no one
Twill dispute this, which, Of course, estops
any one from bringing mp such facts ngainst
his claim. But, then, these facts are no. o.
the least consequence, aa he proceeds to
show, foz 81 the first serious propo,"r was
his own suggestion, put forth in the spring
Of IL. The 'tprecipitation" Of Mr.. Whit
ney's petition WAS only joke, Of course
he wa4 girding at Congress when he asked
for that trifle Of tract Of sixty miles wids
from here to the Pacific; aud Mr.. Carve;
was Ike light-minded when he askcd fo'
eight millions Of acres; and both he ant
Mr.. Plumb, Of Missouri, had only beez
chuckling over the same pleasantE,
for years. But at last oauao the man whose
great mind could Zee through things, AMI
who, at length, put forward as seriou
proposition what these trihing fellows, VIII
had "got wind" years before Of what bt
was thinking about, had only supposed /
very laughable matter, only fit to poke fu,
at Congress with! Thus is Wilkes alik
great in peace as in war, and thus doe
nodesty, like virtue, meet at length with it
reward.