New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-11-28
Perpetual U.ion on the Basis Of COm-
mon Interests.

of South Carolina, who published at the in.
stitution of learning founded by Thomas
Jefferson a eulogy upon the class aris.
tocracy which Jefferson had exterminated,
and against the Union which Jefferson had
done 80 much to found. There is another
Confederate General Preston, understood to
be blood relation of the first Of Kentucky,
who has recently, at the railroad conver.
ton in st. Louis, avowed proud attach.
ment to the Union, and claims that through
the agencies Of this Union the South. which
did 30 much to acquire the territory of
California and New Mexico by force of
arms, will now render far more valuable
service to the Union in furnishing the best
route of railway across to the heart of
Mexico, end thus providing q commercial
expansion which will do more for the farms,
ships and workshops of the Union than
even the acquisitions of conquest. We do
not pretend to apportion the merits of the
Mexican war between the sections which
together waged the conflict. Each sent
brave and able soldiers II the one sent
more men, the other may have furnished
more money. food and munitions, which are
indispensable to military success.
Pleased with the sentiment of our Gen
eral Preston, We reproduce such extracts as
will illustrate the ground of a restored fra.
ternity between our own sections, as we'll
as between the two great republics of the
continent:
came from my home after long retire
ment, induced so to do by the magnitude of
the object which convokes you all, to meet
many faces that l have greeted with pleas
ure, because they are marked by moment
GUS events in my life. l feel happy to say
that you are here combined for n00le pur-
pose, to bring all that energy and power
that l know to belong to many of the gen
tlemen OF the North who inaugurated and
fostered this enterprise, with that sincerity,
candor and honesty that have marked my
associates of the South. 1t is only by that
combination that we can succeed. We may
indulge in platitudes on the subject of the
necessity of progress, but we must know
that the great routes that now go happily
and fortunately connect the waters Of the
Atlantic with the Pacific ocean, measurably
leave the South untouched. 1t ia in that
spirit that discerning and enterprising men
have seen that all that territory has to be
not even by the jurisdiction lines of the
United States, but stretches beyond our
frontier, in order that the full tide of
wealth and commerce may pour northward
through this valley of the Mississippi
When we turn to the map we see that
even there, by some of those singular and
mysterious laws, such as the chemiet wit
nesses in the angles of capitalization,
which, proceeding with a regularity that is
inscrutable to human wisdom, yet propa.
gates itself in certain lines-tbat the South
ern statesmen and soldiers have never
failed as they pass toward Mexico, but have
swept down all barriers, and have enlarged
this empire by their energy and enterprise
until we touched the frontiers Of Mexico.
[Applause
In the viclssitudes of my life l have
passed, from day to day, on foot from
Shreveport over that line westward to our
frontier on the Rio Grande, and walked
from day to day through the valleys of Mex
leo to the central city Of that empire. l
have stood at San Luis Potosi in the soil
tude of my march, which only lent, think,
more character to my meditation. thought,
as came near the great mines of the Rea
del Monte of San Luis PotOsi-the object
of General Taylor when he pushed his
armies southwark toward Buena Vista
when l SAW the mineral wealth that laid
there untouched and under the clumsy
management of Mexican machinery,
and Mexican direction, and thought
of the power behind me, of the American
mind, OF the American direction, of the
American patience and the American talent
for organization, did believe as faithful ly
as ever Benton believed, when he pointed
westward for the East, that through this
very point would spring direction to
Mexico that would bring us the trade of
$50, 100000 year and 100000 of people.
Il hat - no ,-,.. A.. ~
holds in this convention. 1t is the heritage
of God. And that we come to offer, with
all our aid, at the feet of this convention,
to swell the fertilizing stream of your com,
merce and civilization, which is the true
token OF the country, not only of st. Louis,
but Memphis, New Orleans, Vicksburg, and
even remote Kentucky and Virginia, assem-
bled here to day-to let that fertilizing
stream of wealth and commerce with that
augmented volume flow northwardly in it's
righttul direction, like that description
given by Commodore Maury of the Gulf
stream, which, breaking by some mysterious
law through the isthmus of America, yet
sweeps with its warm waters, giving life
and comfort to the commerce of the world,
clothing with verdure the mighty ports and
navies of England, and to her giving the
wealth of the civilized world.
Lei us, then, make the iron rail and the
iron river more certain in its delivery than
the treacherOus waves of ocean. 1t escapes
all marine insurance. There is none of the
wealth OF man that passes to the bottom of
the deep, but the salvage is almost certain.
1t has none of the accidents that belong to
maritime commerce. 1t is an element con.
trOlleG and regulated by man, and per,
fectly under the command of commerce as
the steed that knows his rider. We can by
our energy make that road; and here, rep.
resenting and ass0ciating with a set of men
whose names are historical, those whose
lives have shown that they have been true
10 their promises that they have ever made;
men from those States most Immediately
affected by this vast enterprise, we come
forward in response to the call Of the gen.
tlemen of the most enterprising minds of the
North, merely in responsive situation-tO
say, Count on US; our heart wants peace;
we know no qualification; we change no
opinions; we are simple and poor; we paw
our portion of the taxes with a crop that
constitutes nine-tenths of all of your ex-
pOrt-nine times more than all the pro,
tected manufacturers of the North. The
cotton fields of the South, disturbed, and
yet plentifully productive of the most gold
buying product of America"
We are now trying to pay your taxes-to
bear the burden of the debt, and stand by
the government with the fidelity that has
always marked the Southern character and
it's promises; and l here, in the face of these
gentlemen assembled, men who have al
tlemen more familiar with Northern organ
izations and Northern enterprises, that we
come with simple and sincere hearts to aid
in the great work of conducting this mag
nificent enterprise. We aid it in honor
without fear,