National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-03-12


began as early as 1926 when iron harrows were
dragged over the bars, and continued at irregular
intervals until 1874, when board of army officers
presented report in favor of building the Fort St.
Phillip Canal at an estimated cost of at least
| S13O00,O00. At the same time Mr.. Eads, who had
examined the Mississippi delta some time previous,
| made formal proposition to Congress to open and
maintain channel of twenty eight feet deep, be-
tween the Southwest Pass and the Gulf of Mexico
for the of SO 900 Co., the payments to be made
upon certain conditions dependent upon the pro-
gress and pemanence ofthework. This proposition
led TO personal and professional controversy with
the corps of United States engineers and met with
sectional opposition the part of the Southwest,
in the course of which Mr.. Eads fully exposed and
| discussed his plans and those of his opponents.
Highly interesting though they be, we need not
| follow the arguments on both sides nor will we
stop to inquire into the methods used to defeat Mr..
| Eads plans. The final result was that Congress
passed bill appointing commission to decide
| upon 1.-THE propermethod OfOpening the mouth Ofthe
Mississippi.
| Mr. Eads again appeared before Congress and
urged the adoption of the Southwest Pass, and a
bill accepting his proposition was passed by the
House of Representatives. In the Senate commit
| tee Mr. Eads plan met with determined opposi-
ton, as far as the choice of the Southwest Pass
| was concerned 1t was amended so as to refer to
| the construction of Jetties at the mouth of
| the South Pass the price to be paid being agreed
upon at S., 1000, and guarantee of maintaining
depth of thirty feet for twenty years for the sum
OF S30O 600 per annum an estimate much lower than
| that of the commission. In its amended shape the
bill was duly passed on the Sd of March, 1870.
We have drawn this incomplete sketch of the
contents of Mr. Corthells work with view to af
ford those interested in this great subject glimpse
OF its nature and scope feeling confident that the
matter itself, and the way in which it is presented
Will induce many to devote some attention to an
enterprise which reflects great credit upon those
who originated it and brought it to final and
| successful ISSUE In conclusion, we may add that
the work is profusely and well illustrated, and
carefully edited.
THE Welded LINK AND OTHER POEMS
By JUDGE J. F. SIMMONS late Chancellor of the
Mississippi State Judiciary. Philadelphia j.
B. Lippincott & Co. Washington; q, A Whitta-
ker.
The initial poem from which the vol
ume takes its title is of considerable length and is
of descriptive character sketching the early his
tory of the country the war and its results from
Southern standpoint; and then the fearful desola-
ton made by the ravages of the yellow fever dur
ing which the North came nobly to the relief of
its stricken Southern section sending of lis abund-
ance i'll money, food and Taiment. This accord
ing to Judge Simmons, touched the Southern
heart, and the bitter resentment felt at their de-
feat, which stood barrier to sectional unity
and peace, was blotted out by the generosity and
tenderness fthe plenteous North toward the i'm
poverished and fever blasted South. The story is
told in rhythmical verse; and the final lines express
perhaps the sentiments the better portion of the
Southern people.
The white flag wavesl Our hearts are conquered
now,
nh n.
Our gratitude, unclaimed, is freely given,
Our VOWS ofloye are registered i'll Heav'n.
And may the brotherhood oppression born
In dear COlumbiaS uncertain morn,
And now reborn in her maturer life.
oblivion fling DER bitterness and strife
Cemented be in one unbroken chain
To stronger grow and necr abrade again;
And may we ever be in deathlesS love
One brotherhood on earth and one above.
Many of the other poems are of superior merit
and all breathe purity of sentiment and an eleva-
tIn of thought that cannot fail to exercise most
healthful influence upon the reader.
STUDIES IN SONG. By ALGERyox CHARLES
SwISBURSE. New York K. Worthington.
Mr.. Swinburne has long held the high
est rank in the literary world poet of the rich
est and most abundant imagination, and with a
facility and wealth of expression which, COM
bined with his correct and symmetrical versifica-
ton, have made his poems eagerly sought for and
most pleasurably read. IN the present volume the
first study is the song written by the centenary
of Walter Savage Landor, poem of fifty stanzas,
in which the life and genius of that weird poet are
most eloquently portrayed. His closing tribute is
glorious apostrophe from one genius to the
sacred memory of another It is as follows:
Poet whose large-eyed loyalty of love
Was pure toward all high poets, all their kind
And all bright words and all sweet works thereof;
Strong like the sun, and like the sunlight kind
Heart that has no fear but every grief might move
Wherewith mems hearts were bound of powers
that bind:
The purest soul that ever proof could prove
From faint of tortuous or of enyious mind;
Whose eyes elate and clear
Nor shame nor ever fear,
But only pity or glorious wrath could blind;
Name set for love apart,
Held lifelong in my heart
Face like fathers toward my face inclined;
No gifts like thine are mine to give,
Who by thine own words only bid thee hail and
live.
"0ff Shore" and "By the North Sea" are two
superior productions, which are fully equal in
metrieal harmony and ideality to anything Mr..
Swinburne has heretofore written.
REREF. OR TWO TJTTT f WOODEN HOES R,-