The New York herald., 1872-12-16


apt to be carried away by grand military ideas
into enterprises which if suggested to ordi-
nary minds would be dismissed by them as
visionary or impraoticable. Thus the First
Napoleon, for example, in the lucid intervals
Of his stormy reign, developed system of in
ternal improvements for France never dreamed
of before, but which, in material progress.
advanced her half a century beyond her neigh
bors; and thus, in adopting the Napoleonic
ideas of his uncle, the nephew has left behind
him such enduring monuments of substantial
prosperity to his people that. perhaps. ma
jority of them at this day believe that the de-
parted internal peace and progress and glory
of France can be restored only with the
restoration of the Empire. We see. too, that
General Grant, relieved of the duties Of war,
in which he directed the movements of q mil
lion of armed men, in coming into the duties
of the Cabinet though he stands before the
country and the world as the embodiment of
peace, cannot confne himself within the mar
row limitations Of sleepy routine peace estab-
lishment. His mind, drawn from the combina-
tions of numerous armies dispersed over half
continent, and their concentration upon this
or that effective point against the enemy. still
naturally turns, even in the slapnels Of peace.
to enterprises of o corresponding magnitude
Hence his st. Domingo annexation scheme:
his surveying expeditions to the isthmus
passages of Central America for an inter-
oceanic ship canal route his broad and COM
prehensive Indian policy; his fifteenth
amendment; his High Joint Commission and
his Geneva Tribunal of Arbitration. Hence,
too, the stupendous programme of internal
improvements outlined in his late annual
Message, embracing land-locked line Of ship
navigation along the Atlantic coast from
Maine to Florida, ship canal around the
Falls Of Niagara on our side, and three or
four smaller canals across the Alleghanies,
between Maryland and Georgia. These grand
enterprises of peace, we say, are but natural
to mind developed and matured in working
out the tremendous problems involved in the
! effective handling of a million of soldiers,
divided and sub-divided into hundreds of
armies, detachments, raids and posts of OBJ
servation along the Southern seaboard,
and from Maryland to Missouri and thence
to Texas.
Nor can the dullest comprehension fail to
perceive that the benefits which the country.
peace or war, would realize from these sug-
gested improvements would be immense and
enduring. But still the question recurs,
Should the general government enter into
these magnificent undertakings as copartner
or as bounty giver or money lender, what will
be the costs and the consequences? Before
the advent Of the iron horse our undeveloped
great West lay just beyond the Allegheny
Mountains. To open the public lands in
Ohio, Indiana, &C., but first of all to provide
an inviting passage over the Alleghanies to
| the Ohio River from the East the great
! national road, a broad macadamized highway,
was built by the government from Cumber-
land, Nd, oyer the mountains to Wheeling,
and next through the heart Of Ohio into the
heart of Indiana Near Wheeling there is
still standing on this road a pretty monument
to that great patriot and public benefactor,
Henry Clay, as its protector. This road over
the mountains, broad, solid and smooth, with
its easy grades, its iron mileposts, its hand
some and substantial bridges its tidy toll
gates, its splendid post coaches and comfort
able taverns, was as much the theme of public
wonder and admiration in that epoch as was,
forty years later, our pioneer Pacific Railroad
upon its completion. But while they were
pushing this national road in Indiana still
westward the iron horse came whistling in,
and this work Of government matchmaking
was stopped.
Then came the government policy Of land
grants to railroads, first broadly developed in
the bill Of Senator Douglas granting millions
Of acres to the Illinois Central, and culminat-
ing in the imperial grants Of lands and bonds
to our Pacific railroads. That these roads, as
far as constructed, ore abundantly repaying
the government and the country for the ex-
penses incurred is manifest in the settlement
and development of our Rocky Mountain and
Pacific slope States and Territories. But how
many millions Of money devoted to these
great enterprises have been appropriated by
corrupt combinations of managers and lobby
jobbers will probably never be known, even
to the Credit Mobilier committee now en-
gagged in the investigation of this interesting
subject. How far the lobby is calculating
upon its profits from these magnificent canal
projects will never, perhaps, be suspected.
short Of the loss of many millions to the gov
ernment after plunging into these inviting
schemes. But while there was no other alter
native to the government than the building of
railroads in order to bring its lands west Of
the great Plains into market, there is no such
4
jobs. These trans-Alleghany canal schemes
belong to the several States concerned, and
this proposed line of land-locked navigation
along the seaboard is only another device for
constructing chain Of local canals from the
funds of the National Treasury.
/ The same objection applies TO The attractive