OF THE
Memphis CoiiTeiitloii
ASSEMBLED OCT. 23, 1849.
5
1850,
PRINTED AT THE MEMPHIS ENQUIRER OFFJCEi
iWi
I&Ó0
M 5
MINUTES ANE PROCEEDINGS
of the
MEMPHIS CONVENTION,
AsseinMed. Octol^er 23, 1§19«
October 23d, 1849.
The Convention was called to order by Dr. Thomas Fearn,
of Alabama, who nominated Col. Absalom Fowler, of Arkansas,
as Chairman pro tt m.
On motion of Gen. Isaac N. Davis, of Mississippi, Messrs.
Alexander H. Arthur, of Vicksburg, E. J. Carrell and H. Van
Pelt, of Memphis, we^e appintecl ►Secretaries.
Prayer by the Right Reverend Bishop Otey, D. D., of Ten¬
nessee.
On motion of Col. Stuart, of Alabama, it was resolved that
th? several States be calleii in their ai|>iàabeiical order to file
with the Secretaries lists of the names of their respective deB
egates.
The following lists of delegates were presented by the sev¬
eral members of thg committee:
ALABAMA.
Nicholas Davis, Nicholas Davis, Jr., C. C. Clay. Dr. Thomas
Fearn, Samuel Ragland, Gen. IVI. B. Lowe,Tsham H. Fennel,
John W. Clay, A. E. Mills, A» M. Hopkins, G. T. Jones, J. B.
Jordan, S. D. Weakley, R. W. Walker, James Key, Isaac Love,
S. J. Ragland, Jr., P. J. Watk ins, A. A. Burleson, Alexander
Pattison, Jr.. Walker Reynolds, W. B. McClellan, J. A. Camp¬
bell, Charles LeBaron, F. L. Owen, G. N. Stewart, Thomas B.
Wil Ib'on, Robert Leachman, Thomas H. Herndon.
ARKANSAS.
John F Wheeler, Benj T Duval, Sol F Clark, Geo W Clark,
Thos M Collins, R T Redmond; W D Ferguson, Thos H Brad¬
ley, A J Bell, W H Gaines, John Brown, Thos S Dre^^, T B
Flournoy, Wm Byers, John Kirkwood, John Minnikin)^''Wm
Magulre, Robert McCreighi, Dr Smith.'f hos T Tunstall, James
Krunrin, Sam G Roane, i hos S James, Benj Harris, J P Murdis,
Jesse V Cross, James Stotts, Isaac Fulsom, Jas Davidson, Jas
Irwin, Joseph Evans, W F Aloore, E Burke. Wm C Myrtle, J
H Hicks, Q K Underwood, J W Pope,John S Horner, W R
2
Ni c
í I
Sebastian, Wm H. Ringo, T S M King, John Ferrig, David C.
Cross, D B Greer, A Pike, A Fowler, R Searcy, L J Reardon,
L R Lincoln, Wm E Ashley, W W Adams, Benj Danley, D J
Baldwin, G C Watkins» J S Hoane, F Smithson, G B Hayden,
George Waring, P L Anthony, C C Danley, D W Carroll, R
Fletcher, E H Fletcher, Thos B Craighead, Thos J Blakemore,
Dr Jordon, Thos H Pinsell, Abijah Allen, Edwin C Raskins,
Colbert Caldwell, G B Michey, J F Ayres, Decatur Hill, Solon
^Borland, Peter G Rives, Rhea Wallace, R P Talley, J W More-
land, J G Lpvejoy, Wm Williams, James M Grandy.
LOUISIANA.
Jno M Bell, Maunsel White, Jno C Laru, M M Cohen, S G
Reed, JÍfe, A Walker, W L BIcKnight, J D B DeBow, William
Walker, R J Ward, Prof. C J Forshey, James A Lusk.
MISSISSIPPI.
H W Walter, R S Lucas', W F Mason, John A Sims, T W
Oliver, E Greer, J C Holland, E P Govan, L Sims, tl E Wil¬
liamson, Henry Greei', Wm S Tay loi, John P Pry or, H Thorn¬
ton, N W Williams, I) Minor, J L) Martin, J W Chalmers,Thos
Trimble, J W Clapp, Wm B Hampden, H Harris, Gasper Jones,
B N Alexander, J H Alexander, C J Bowen, Geo W Gill, Wm
A Hancock, C W Bowtrn, B L Milam, Felix Labouve, J C
Thompson, Thos White, L L Marshall, Dr W W Tucker, A
W Jones, H S King, A K Miller, H Dill, R D Browning, Thos
M Jones, R B Brown, Dr W Westbrooks, W H Johnson, A G
Kerr, Dr W DEllis, W W Wain, Dr R D Taggert, R S King,
R Whitby, J D Fennel, Joseph G Hall, Shelton Oliver, Andrew
Matthews, John P Wallace, Samuel W Evans, W M Farley, Dr
Phillips, Geo R Hunt, John Robertson, J D RuiBn, Wm B
Dickins, R M Farley, R Cianton, S N Hawkins, E T McGehee,
D J White, F M White, Wm P Brooks, R W Brahan, John
Boy err R H Ri vers, J M Clark, John Thompson, J F Cushman,
J Ñ Davis, Will Webb, P B Barringer, H H Lee, Wm F Avant,
Jos Wileox, J S Yerger, W L Robards, R H Boone, Lewis
Lawshe, ThosCarbry, R H Stokes, J N Harper, W C Falkner,
G Davis, H Lightman, S R Speight, W J K Rucker, H P Max¬
well, A G Weir, Chas McLarin, Alexander H Arthur, Geo W
Duke, H B Dandridge, John Grant, W N Raines.
TENNESSEE.
Land?r(inle—Sam Oldham, John J Nelson, J T Jett, Isaac M
Steele, R H Oldham, Davíd Gilleland, J H Boram.
i Wtakley—P B Bell, Sam Irvine, R W Gardner, S D Beloate,
^ D Gard well.
Gibson—J A Taliaferro, W W Lea, A S Claiborne, L P Seay,
J MSharpe, J Richardson, J C Gillespie, L C Levy, F Parker.
FoyHk—W B Jones, Lewis P Williamson, F W Mayo, Hugh
Davis, H J Cannon, Ed Winston, Howell A Taylor, J R Mosby,
A F Tucker, J ^ PuUlarn,
i Mnmxí OF
4pril 19 iftsi
3
Davidson—k V Brown, Willo Williams, John M Bass, E H
Hickman, Randal McGavock, John Orerton, John Thompson.
Sh Iby-—H G Smith, R Topp, S Bond, F P Stanton, D Loo-
ney, 1>. M Leaîherman, L H Coe, James Penn, R C Brinkley,
W B Morris, J C Jones, EM Yerger, John Pope, Le Roy Pope,
W T Brown, A S Greer, P G Gaines, Joseph I Andrews, G L
Holmes, W Byrd Powell, WB Miller, John Trigg, S P Walker,
JM M Cornelius, Chas D McLean, B Wright, A F McKinley,
E W Kenny, Joseph Wright, E F Watkins, L Henderson, T S
Ayres, A B Warford, M Owen, J F Farriiigton, W V Taylor, G
W Smith, E Hickman, J Fowlkes, W Lundy, W Armour, Et
Banks, E J Carrell, Jno Delafield, L Shanks, W A Blythe, F
Titus, S S Rembert, J F Brown, J R Redford, J T Trezevant, E
H Porter, J G Bostick.
Hardeman—T J Neely, W Ferguson, D Wells, M W^Guy, J
S Malone, John C Green, John Hunt, C W Hunt.
Tipton—W Coward, D R Whitley, Jas J Alston.
Maury—ajames Walker.
Williamson—Dr Wm S Webb, J P Maury, W P Cannon, Jno
S Claybrook, C McEwing.
Madison—W B Butler, A Debery, J Merriweather, R Finner,
J W Campbell, R H Hart, W H Long.
Haywood—W B Macklin, N Adams, F A Edners.
Hawkins—S D Mitchell.
KENTUCKY.
Benj Edwards Gray, Will Campbell, W M Campbell, T F J
Trabue, Henry J Eastin, Edward J Bulloch, Hamilton Smith.
MISSOURI.
JasB Bowlin, J Loughborough, Adolph Paul, Chas C Whit-
telsy, Thomas Howell, J K McCabe, John Miller, J A Rodgers,
N A Speer, Ash ton Johnson, Abraham Fenley, Jr., J R Stroth¬
er, TÇ^ Risk.
TEXAS.
Ashbel Smith, A J Yates, James N Smith, R M Lindsay, E W
Upshaw, Chas C Mills, W A Boyd, Stephen H Ellis.
ILLINOIS.
Wm M Hall, James Williams.
PENNSYLVANIA.
Joseph H Thompson, F H French, John Nelson Smith, Geo
Darsie,Chas Naylor.
MASSACHUSETTS.
H W White, W F Pratt.
NEW YORK.
Lester L Robinson.
VIRGINIA.
Lt. M F Maury, of Washington City, J T Trezevant of Mem¬
phis, acting for Virginia by proxy, and 'J E Leigh, acting as
4
delegates from Virginia, by request and authority of the Town
Council of Petersburg.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
JPG Mittag, R P W Allston, D P Jamison, J A Wood¬
ward, Samuel Cordes, C A Price, CharlesG Wagner.
GEORGIA.
Dr D Jameison.
On motion of Mr. Eastin, ot Kentucky, a committee of one
member from each delegation was appointed by the respective
delegations, to select officers to preside over the Convention,
whereupon the following gentlemen were appointed:
Alabama, Hon. Nicholas Davis; xirkansas, Hon. W. K. Se¬
bastian; Georgia, Dr. David Jameson; Illinois, James Williams;
Kentucky, Edward J. Bullock; Louisiana, John M. Bell; Mis¬
souri, Hon. J. B. Bowlin; Mississippi, Gen. Isaac N. Davis; New
York, Lester L. Robinson; Pennsylvania, Frederick K. French;
South Carolina, Gen. D. P. Jamison; Texas. Col. C. C.Mills;
Tennessee, Hon. James C. Jones; Virginia, Junius E Leigh.
On motion, the Conv^tion adjourned till 4 o'clock, P.M.
The Convention met pursuant to adjournment.
Col. Nicholas Davis, of Alabama, chairman of the Committee
on Organization, reported the following officers:
FOR PRESIDENT,
Lieut. M. F. MAUiiY, of Washington City.
FOR VICE PRESIDENTS,
Gov, C. C. Clay, of Alabama;
W. F. MasoiY, of Mississippi;
WiLLOUGHBY WiLLîAMS, of Tenncssec;
Col. R. F. W. Ai ,sTON, of South Carolina;
Dr. D. J AMtisoN, of Georgia;
Col. Matjnsel White, of l.ouisiana;
Gov. Thomas S. Dhew, of Arkansas;
Ashbeix Smith, of Texas;
Ashton Johssox, of IMiïSouri;
W. M. Hale, of Illinois ;
Col. Benjamin E. Gray, of Kentucky;
Col. John T. Trezevakt, of Virginia:
Joseph H. Thompson, of Pennsylvania;
L. L. Robinson, of New York.
for secretaries,
Richard W. Walker, of Alabama;
Alexander H. Arthur, of Mississippi;
E. J. Carrell, of Tennessee;
C. A. Price, of South Carolina;
Alexander Walker, of Louisiana;
iambert J. Reardon, of Arkansas;
Edward W Upshaw, of Texas;
Abraham Fenley, Jr., of Missouri,
H. J. Eastin, of Kentucky.
The report of the committee was unanimously adopted.
On motion of Mr. Yates, of Texas, it was resolved, that each
delegation to this convention appoint one from its members to
constitute a committee who shall prepare and report to this
body the rules to govern it in the conduct of its business, and
prescribe the manner in which the vote shall be taken.
On motion of Mr. DeBow, the convention took a recess of
fifteen minutes, to enable the several delegations to select their
committee, when the following gentlemen were announced as
the committee:
Alabama, J. A. Campbell; Arkansas, G. C. Watkins; Georgia,
Dr. Jameson; Illinois, Wm. M. Hall; Kentucky, E. J. Bullock;
Louisiana, J. D. B. DeBow; Missouri, C. C. Whittelsey; Missis¬
sippi, J. W. Chalmers; New York, L.L.Robinson; Pennsylva¬
nia, George Darsie; South Carolina, J. F. G. Mittag; Texas, A.
J. Yates, Tennessee, F. P. Stanton; Virginia, Junius E. Leigh;
Which report was received and adopted.
On motion of Judge Chalmers, of Mississippi, it was resolved,
that the thanks of this Convention be tendered to Col. Absalom
Fowler, of Arkansas, for the efficient and impartial manner in
which he has discharged the duties devolving upon iiim as {Re¬
siding officer pro fem.
The Cofivention then adjourned until 9 o'clock Wednesday
morning.
Wednesdav, October 24th, 1849.
The Convention met pursuant to adjournment; opened by
prayer from the Rev. Mr, Weatherby, from Mississippi.
The committee to report Rules and Regulations for the gov¬
ernance of the Convention, begged the adoption of the follow¬
ing report, which was concurred in:
The committee appointed to prepare Rules for this Conven¬
tion and to prescribe the manner in which the vote should be
taken, beg leave respectfully to report the following resolution
which they recommend to the adoption of the Convention:
Resohrd, That this Convention shall be governed in the con¬
duct of its business by the rules of the House of Representatives
of the United States, as adopted during the last Congress, so far
as the same shall be applicable to the proceedings of this body,
with the following resolution, to wit:
When a division upon any question shall be demanded by the
6
delegation from any State, the vote shall be taken by States,
and each State shall be entitled to one vote.
E. J. Bullock, Kentucky,
J. D. B. DeBow, Louisiana,
C. C. Whittlesey, Missouri,
J, W. Chalmers, Mississippi,
L. L. Robinson, New York,
F, P. Stanton, Tennessee,
I. A. Campbell, Alabama,
E. C. VVatkins, Arkansas,
D.'Jamison, Georgia,
W..M. Hall, Illinois,
Commiltee*
Mr. H.G. Smith, of Memphis, offered the following resolution,
which was adopted:
Resolverff That a committee be appointed to consist of two
persons from each State and Territory represented in this Con¬
vention, said persons to be selected by the delegations, to con¬
sider and report upon the subject of establishing a Rail Road
which shall connect the valley of the Mississippi with the Pa¬
cific Ocean, and the proper mode by which such road can be
certainly and speedily accomplished '
Mr. Danby of Arkansas, moved that the Convention take a
recess to enalle the several delegations to elect their committee
men, and that each State delegation select one of its members to
represent said States in voting on questions presented to the
Convention; all of which was agreed to, and the Convention
took a recess of fifteen minutes.
The Convention re-assembled, when the following gentlemen
were reported by the delegations to act for the several States*
Committee on Resohitions—Tennessee, J. C. Jones and H. G.
Smith; Kentucky, Benj. E. Gray and M. J. Bullock; Missouri,
J. Loughborough and T. F. Risk; Illinois, W. M. Hall, and Jas.
Williams; Arkansas, W. K. Sebastian and Dr. J. Kirkwood;
Mississippi, Jï W^. Chalmers and J. Yerger; Louisiana, M. M.
Cohen and J. C. Larue; Texas, C. C. Mills and A. J. Yates;
Georgia, Dr. D. Jamison; South Carolina, D. F. Jamison and
J. F. G. Mittag; Virginia, J. E. Leigh and J. T. Trezevant;
Pennsylvania, Geo. Darsie and Charles Naylor; New York, L.
L. Robinson; Alabama, Thos. Fearn and J. A. Campbell.
And the folfowing was announced as the committee of one
from each State to cast the vote of the State:
Tennessee, John Pope; Kentucky, E. J. Bullock; Missouri,
J. B. Bowlin; Illinois, VV. M. Hall; Arkansas, Solon Bv)rland;
Mississippi, John D. Martin; Louisiana, Samuel C. Reid, Jr.;
Texas, R. Jj. Lindsy; Georgia, Dr. D. Jamison; Alabama, Col.
N. Davis; South Carolina, J. A. Woodward; Virginia, J. E.
Leigh; Pennsylvania, J. N. Smith; New York, L. L. Robinson.
On motion of Mr. Leigh, of Virginia, the President of this
Convention was added to the Committee on Resolutions.
On motion of Mr, Campbell, of Alabama, the committee from
the St. Louis Convention were invited to make their report and
present their delegation; whereupon Mr. Loughborough, of
7
Missouri, addressed the Convention, and reported the Resolu¬
tions and Address, as follows:
Mr. Presidejkt: The National Convention recently assembled
in St. Louis have deputed us to meet you here to-day, and to
say to you that, cordially concurring in the general object for
the accomplishment of which you are assembled, they greet you
as fiiends, brethren and co-laborers, and sincerely trust that
your counsels may be guided by wisdom and moderation, and
your resolutions characterized by dignity, discretion and pa¬
triotism.
At an early period during the past spring the people of the
City of St. Louis—deeply impressed with the magnitude and
importance of a railway from the valley of the Mississippi to the
shores of the Pacific—assembled themselves in mass meeting to
take into consideration the means of concentrating the public
opinion, and determining the public will of the people of the
United States, in favor of this grand design. In that meeting they
resolved that a national convention consisting of delegates from
all the States of the Union should be invited to assemble there
on the 15th of the ensuing October. At the same time they re¬
solved that the project of a Pacific railway was a work purely
national in character, and that in its construction the senti¬
ments and interests of every section of the Union ought to be
fairly considered.
»
Acting^^in accordance with the spirit of this masnanimous
resolution, the committee who were appointed to frame an ad¬
dress to the people of the United States, and to take the need¬
ful steps towards the assembling of said convention, did, in
that address, and by their correspendence, endeavor to elevate
this great project above the strifes of faction and party,-—the
jealousies of sectional and local interests, and beyond the con¬
trol of personal ambition . The general committee of St. Louis
also, through one of its sub-committees, laid before the conven¬
tion when it assembled, a plan for a Pacific railway which they
deemed freé from constitutional difficulty, and just and nation¬
al in character.
The convention which assembled in response to the invita¬
tion of the people of St. Louis, after ample discussion and ma¬
ture deliberation, unanimously concurred in the following re¬
solution:
Reso'ved, That this convention is in its spirit and object
strictly national, having no party, no sectional, no local inter¬
ests to serve, or promote, but having at heart the interest of
the whole country.
After the passage of this resolution, and on motion of Mr.
Thompson, of Indiana, who enforced his views by an able and
eloquent address, the convention unanimously agreed to the
following resolutions:
Resolvedt That in the opinion of this convention, it is the du-
8
ty of the General Government to provide at an early period for
the construction of a central national railroad from the valley
of the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean.
Resolvpcly That in the opinion of this convention, a grand
trunk railroad, with branches to St. Louis, Memphis and Chi¬
cago, would be such a central and national one.
Resolved^ That a committee bö appointed to communicate to
the convention to be held at Memphis the foregoing resolutions
and to request the concurrence, of said convention therein.
After the adoptian of these resolutions, some doubts having
been expressed as to the degree of constitutional authority in
the General Government recognised by them, the delegate Irom
the State of Indiana by whom they were introduced, gave the
following written explanation, which was entered of record as
contituting a part of the procer dings of the convention:
"Mr. Thompson, of Indiaua, in explanation of the second re¬
solution oflTered by him on yesterday, and adopted by the con¬
vention, said—that in preparing that resolution it was his es¬
pecial and earnest design so to frame it as to express no opin¬
ion on the question of the power of the General Government
over internal improvements within the States; neither to affirm
or disaffirm that power. His sole object by avoiding that
question was to present to the convention a proposition upon
which every member of the convention, of whatever political
party, might stand in perfect union and harmony. He intend¬
ed simply to assert that the General Government had power to
construct the main trunk of the road, and that the question as
to the manner of constructing the branches—whether by the
donation of lands or by the States themselves—should be left
open for the final determination bf Congress. He hoped this
explanation of his motives would satisfy every gentleman of the
convention, and that we should be enabled to adjourn in the
midst of the harmony and good feeling which now prevailed."
Mr. President, the committee, of which I have the honor to
be the chairman, have been deputed to lay before you the facts
and proceedings as they transpired in the national convention
recently assembled at St. Louis, and to request your concur¬
rence in the resolutions there adopted.
Profoundly impressed with the importance of preserving en¬
tire harmony and concert of action in the whole of the Missis¬
sippi valley in reference to this great subject, it is our duty, as
well as our desire, to refrain from the introduction or discussion
of details, about which, in the present state of our knowledge,
we are sensible there must be great diversity of opinion. What¬
ever we of the west do, we should do calmly, deliberately and
harmoniously; because our brethren of the east look to us alone
for the means of forming their opinions. If our proceedings
shall be marked by wisdom and prudence, there is but little
danger that what we shall resolve will be unsettled by similar
9
conventions in the east, or pass unheeded by the Congress of
the Union.
We have had sad experience at St. Louis of the folly and
danger of awakening discussions which, in their nature, must be
productive of strifes and divisions, and cannot conduce to any
good or practical result. We shall, therefore, scrupulously re¬
frain from awakening them here. The resolutions which we
have now the honor to lay before you, we honestly believe, if
faithfully carried out by the Congress of the Union, will event¬
uate in the construction of a railway to the Pacific, which will
•f '
confer fair and equal benefits upon every section of the Union;
and so believing, we entreat you by the ties of a common in¬
terest, and a common feeling of brotherhood, to concur in them,
and present to the balance of the Union an undivided front.
In the unfeigned and fervent hope that such will be the re¬
sult of your deliberations, the National Convention at St. Louis
unanimously passed the following resolution;
Resolved^ That when this convention adjourns it will adjourn
to re-assemble in the City of Philadelphia on the first Monday
of April next—that we hereby invite our brethren who will
assemble at the City of Memphis on Tuesday next to adopt a
similar resolution,—and that the committee upon an address to
the people of the United States, be hereby instructed to appeal
to every State, county, city and town of the whole confederacy
to send up a delegation, to give expression to the will of the
whole American people.
In conclusion, Mr. President, permit me through you to lay
before the convention a communication from the Hon. R. W.
Thompson, of Indiana, the author of the resolutions which we
are commissioned to communicate. Private engagements of a
pressing character have compelled him to forego the pleasure
of meeting you here.
^*St. Louis, 19th October, 1849.
''Gentlemen: I had indulged the hope that circumstances
would have permitted me to accept the invitation with which
you have honored me, to be present at the National Railroad
Convention, to be held in your city on the 23d inst. It would
be especially agreeable to me now to do so, in view of the fact,
that the convention just adjourned in this city has placed me
on a committee, charged with thé duty of presenting to the
Memphis Convention, for its concurrence, resolutions of an im¬
portant character. Indispensable busine^ís engagements, how¬
ever, require my immediate return home, and place it out of
my power to be present.
"I trust, gentlemen, that the deliberations of your convention
will be equally harmonious with those of the St. Louis Conven^
tioD, and that you may find in the resolutions adopted here, a
just and fair ground of compromise between conflicting local
interests, upon which all of us can unite. If so, I shal} not suf-
2
10
fer myself to doubt the ultimate success of the great enterprise
which it Is our common interest to adv^ance;—an enterprise
worthy of the age and of the genius of the American people.
In such an union of interests as is proposed by the resolutions
ol the St. Louis Convention, we shall alone find strength enough
to elevate this question above the partisan controversies of the
day, and secure its certain triumph. Without this union, all
our efforts will result in fruitless and unavailing controversy.
"Including that supposed to have been recently discovered
by Col. Fremont, across the Rocky Mountains, about the sour¬
ces of the Rio Grande, there are now/oitr routes proposed for a
railroad to the Pacific. Standing alone, either of these routes
will likely meet with objection, for the want oï nationality. But
if it shall be agreed to construct one 'Great Central Railroad
Highway,' it is by no means likely, that there will be success¬
ful or even formidable opposition to it from any quarter. It
does not matter so much where the main trunk of this highway
shall run or terminate, if it shall be found practicable so to
build it, that it may be accessible to every section of the Union.
Whether it shall cross the Rocky Mountains at the 'South
Pass,'—at the 'Pass' mentioned in Col. Fremont's late letter to
Col. Benton, or shall pursue the line surveyed by Lieut. Cook,
south of the Gila River, is a matter of inferior moment, com¬
pared with the great object to be accomplished. We want, as
yea have properly said, a ^Great Central Railroar] Highway.^ If
this is not found to be practicable upon one of the proposed
lines, it will doubtless be so upon another, or upon some route
hereafter to be discovered. If a proper spirit of moderation
shall characterize the proceedings of those who advocate these
lines, and we shall be willing to yield somewhat of our local
preferences for the common good, there wi!l be no difficulty in
constructing such a road as is contemplated by the St. Louis
resolutions,—a road having the eastern terminus of its main
trunk at some central point upon our frontier. From this ter¬
minus, every portion of the United States may be reached by
roads already projected and in progress of construction by State
authorities and individual enterprise. When this is done, we
shall have a great system, which will enable us to command the
richest commerce of the world,-r*not poured into the lap of a
single city, but shared alike by the whole people of the United
States."
"The St. Louis Convention, was chiefly composed of those
who were supposed to represent the northern and central
routes. They have expressed no prefeience for either,—but
have left that question to be settled by more accuiate surveys
and explorations. They are willing to abide the result, what¬
ever it may be,—and when that result is known, to unite their
energies for success.
"Every friend of this great improvement will now look with
deep interest to the result of the Memphis Convention. If thât
11
result ihall be respoftsîve to the condliUtorjr spMt of the St
Louis resolutions, there will be nothing left for Congress to do,
but to provide the plan of operations and to execute the pubUc
wilL The greatest obstacle to success will be removed.
"Accept, gentlemen, assurances of my high consideration.
"Very respectfully, your ob't. servant,
"R. W. THOMPSON.
*'Messrs. Jas. C. Jones and others, Committee,"
St. J^ouis, Mo , October 18, 1849.
Extract from the Proceedings of a Convention assembled in St.
Louis on the 15th instant, composed of delegates from vari¬
ous States, to consider the propriety of connecting the Mis¬
sissippi and Pacific by Railroad and Telegraph:
The following resolutions offered by the Hon. R. W. Thomp¬
son, of Indiana, were adopted;
• ResolvpfJ, That in the opinion of this convention it is the duty
of the General Government-to provide, at an early period, for
the construction of a Central National Railroad from the valley
of the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean.
Resolved^ That in the opinion of this Convention, a grand
trunk Railroad, with branches to St. Louis, Memphis and Chi¬
cago, would be such a central and national one.
Resolved, That a committee be appointed to communicate to
the Convention to be held at Memphis the foregoing resolution«,
and to request the concurrence of said Convention therein.
The following resolution was introdnced by Mr. John Lough"
borough, of Missouri, and passed unanimously:
Resolved, Thdii when this Convention adjourns it will adjourn
to re-assemble in the Citv of Philadelphia, on the first Monday
of April next; that we we hereby invite our brethren who will
assemble at the city of Memphis on Monday next, to adopt a
similar resolution; and that the committee upon an address to
the people of the United States, be hereby instructed to appeal
to every State, County, city and town of the whole glorious
confederacy to send up a delegation to give expression to the
will of the American people.
The President of the Convention announced the following
gentlemen as constituting the committee provided for in Ihe
third resolution:
Indiana.—R. W. Thompson, Oliver H. Smith, A. S. White.
Missouri—Thomas Allen, Hon. T. L. Price, Hon. James H.
Birch, T. P. Risk, J Loughborough, Ashton Johnson, D. Finch,
J. B. Bowlin, C. C. Whittlesey, A. Paul, Thomas Horrill, Jno.
Miller, H. A. Garland, James H. Lucas, T. T. Gantt, Trusten
Polk, L. Riggs, W. Wright, John D. Pierce, R. S. Blennerhas-
sett, J. C. McCabe, Geo. R. Taylor, Richard Phillips, I. H. Stur¬
geon, H. A. Prout, J. C. Meyer, J. A. Rawlings, J. R. Strother.
New York—Amherst K . Williams.
12
Ii^tmoïs—J. S. Roberts, J. R. Livingston, W. M. Hal!.
Iowa—T. R. Curtis, Jno. A. Graham, Dr. Murray.
Michigan—John Biddle.
Wisconsin—Edward Vaughn, J. R. Murray.
Pennsylvania—Charles Naylor, George Darsie, — Robinson.
Virginia—Lieut. M. F. Maury, T. J. Shriser. •
Kentucky—H. J. Eastin, Tal. P. Shaffner.
Maryland—J. Elder; Mississippi—Mr. Walter.
Louisiana—C. C. Lathrop.
I hereby certify that the above is a correct extract from the
minutes of the proceedings of the convention.
Oct. 20th, 1849. A. B. CHAMBERS, Sec'ry.
Mr. Stanton, of Tennessee, moved to refer the report of the
St. Louis delegation to the committee on resolutions, and to
prepare for business.
Mr. Campbell, of Alabama, moved to lay said report on the
table; whereupon a debate originated as to the effect of said
resolution and its respectful or disrespectful character in refer¬
ence to the delegation from the St. Louis Convention. Mr.
Campbell disclaimed any wish to manifest any but the highest
respect for that delegation, and amended his motion so as to
lay the report upon the speaker's table. Adopted.
On motion of Mr. Cohen, of Louisiana, Mr. A. Whitney was
invited to take a seat upon the floor of the convention as its
guest.
On motion of the sáme, the ladies from any distance within a
thousand miles from Memphis were invited to take seats upon
the floor of the convention.
The following resolutions were severally offered by members:
No. 1. By Col. Robertson, of Tennessee:
Resolved^ Thdii in the opinion of this convention, it is the
duty of the General Government to provide, at an early period^
for the construction of a 'National Railroad from the valley of
the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean.
Resolved, That it is the duty of the General Government, in
the opinion of this convention, without delay, to employ sev¬
eral able, disinterested and scientific corps of Engineers, charg¬
ed with the service of making thorough and complete surveys
of all the various routes which have been designated by public
opinion, from the valley of the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean.
Resolved, That after thorough and scientific surveys shall have
been made, it is the duty of the General Government, in the
opinion of this convention, to adopt such route from the valley
of the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean as shall have been as-
certâîoed to be best—convenient of construction—-cheapest—
and as nearly as mav be central to the United States.
Resolved, In the opinion of this convention, that it is the duty •
of the General Government, that after having adopted the
route for the main National Raiivray trunk from the Mississippi
13
River to the Pacific Oecan, to aid by means of the national do¬
main, and otherwise, in the construction of such branches as
will best connect with the Northern Lakes, and with the Mis¬
sissippi River at other pointá as will best connect with the great
thoroughfares leading to the East, and from the Mississippi
River at such other point as will best connect with the great
line of improvements made and making from the Mississippi
River to the Southern Atlantic cities; and also a branch from
the main trunk to some suitable point on the Gulf of Mexico,
East and West of the Mississippi River.
No. 3. By Dr. Ashbel Smith, of Texas:
Resolved^ That a committee be appointed, to consist of one
from each State and Territory represented in this convention,
who shall present a memorial to Congress, setting forth the
importance, and indeed necessity, of opening a Military Road,
which shall commence on the Red River, at some point be¬
tween the 32d and 33d degrees of North latitude, thence to
El Paso, and thence along or near our Mexican Frontier, to
some point on the Pacific Ocean; and also of establishing Block¬
houses along this route through the Indian country, at such in¬
tervals as may be deemed »ecessary to protect travellers and
traders on this road.
No. 3. M. Campbell, of Alabama, after some remarks in
regard to the St. Louis Convention and the difficulties in that
convention on the constitutional question involved in the dis¬
puted power of the government to build railroads, offered the
following resolutions:
Resolved, That it is the ©pinion of this Convention, that to
relieve Congress from all embarrassments arising from the con¬
flicting state of opinion on the subject of its powers, that pre¬
paratory to the commencement of the work of constructing a
line of communication between the Pacific Ocean and the At¬
lantic, the Gulf of Mexico and the Northern Lakes, tor the pur¬
poses of commerce and national defence, that an amendment
should be obtained to the constitution of the United States,
conferring ample authority for that purpose.
Resolved, That in the opinion of this convention, the public
lands of the United States contributes a legitimate and proper
fund for this object.
Resolved, That in the event of the appropriaticm by Congress
of a considerable portion of the public lands or of the proceeds
of the sales thereof, to the construction of a railroad fi^om the
Mississippi valley to the Pacific Ocean, that at the same time
liberal appropriations of the public iands lying within the limits
of the respective States, should bè made to aid them in the
construction of their works of Internal Improvement.
No. 4. By Col. C. C. Mills, of Texas:
Viesolved, That in the opinion of this convention, the construc¬
tion of a Railroad from San Diego to the Pacific Ocean, along
Ï4
the Gila River, or near it, in a direction to tha El Paso on the
Rio Grande, and thence across tire State of Texas to its North¬
ern boundary, between 32 and 33 of North latitude, termina-
ting on the Mississippi River by one or more branches, between
the mouth of the Ohio and Red Rivers, is recommended, by
considerations of great importance, as well commercial as na¬
tional, and that the connection of the Western, Middle and
Atlantic States with the Pacific by this route, is worthy of the
attention of the American people.
Resolved y That the Government of the United States be re*
quested to comprehend this route in the survey and explorations
that may be ordered for the purpose of facilitating these com¬
munications»
Resohcdy That in the event of connecting the waters of the
Atlantic with the Pacific, it should be found important to run a
National Railroad through any part of the Mexican dominions,
that the Government of the United States be requested to se?
cure the right of way by cession or purchase; and that nego¬
tiations be opened with the Government of Mexico forthat
purpose.
No. 5. By Mr. Loughborough, of Missouri:
Resolved y That in the opinion of this convention, whatever
route may be selected through the mountains to the Pacific, it
is the duty of the government so to terminate the great trunk
on the Western bordeï of the States, as to give every State and
section of the Union a fair and equal participation, by means
of branches, in the commerce of the Pacific and the East.
No. 6. By Mr. A. J. Yates, of Texas:
Resolvedf That the committee appointed to report on tha
practicability of a Railroad from the Pacific to the valley of the
Mississippi, have also referred to them the consideration of a like
communication from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico*
No. 7. By Mr. De Bow, of Louisiana.
'ResolvedJ That a special committee of seven be appointed by
the President of the Convention to collect and publish infor¬
mation, to prepare a memorial to the Congress and people of
the United Slates, upon the subject of increasing the facil\ties
of intercourse between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
No. 8. By Mr. John C.Larue, on behalf of the Louisiana
delegation.
"Resolved, That this Convention recommends to the Govern¬
ment of the United States, the propriety of employing its corps
of Topographical Engineers in making a full survey of the
territories between the Mississippi river and the Pacific ocean,
as well to ascertain the mineral and agricultural capabilities of
the country, as the most speedy, practicable route of commu¬
nication, either by railroad or otherwise, between the Atlantic
and Pacific coast« of the United States*
15
Rcsohedy That in the oplmoû of this Convention, the imme¬
diate construction of a Military road from the Mississippi river
to the Pacific is required to enable the Government to fulfill
the stipulations of the recent treaty with Mexico, to protect
our Southern frontier, and to facilitate the passage of emigrants
to California and Oregon.
R^sohefly That present commercial communication of the
Atlantic cities and the valley of the Mississippi with the west¬
ern coast of the continent of America and the eastern Asia, is
of vast importance to every portion of the country; that such
present commmiicalion can be obtained by railroad or canal
across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Nicaragua and Panama,
which railroads or canals may be constructed by private enter-
prize; and this convention, in order to encourage such con¬
structions, recommends the passage of a law by the Congress of
the United States, directing the Postmaster General and Sec¬
retary of War to make annual contracts for the transportation
of the mails, troops and military stores of the government be¬
tween the Atlantic and Pacific ports of the country, by the
shortest, speediest and cheapest route.
On motion of Mr. Campbell, of Alabama, all the foregoing
resolutions on the President's table, numbered from one to se¬
ven inclusive, were referred to the general Committee on Re¬
solutions.
• Mr. Watkins, of Arkansas, offered the following:
Resolvedf As the-sense of this convention, that the construc¬
tion of a Railroad from the valley of the Mississippi to the Pa¬
cific Ocean, for purposes of national defence and military com¬
munication and tran-portation, and to increase the value of the
public domain and bring it into market, are strictly within the
constitutional powers of the General Government, and it can
be no objection to the exercise of this power, that it will facili¬
tate emigration and commerce.
2. That the South and 'her institutions have more to dread
than to hope for in any future changes or amendments of the
Federal Constitution, and we are opposed to any amendment
conferring on Congress any further powers than it now pos¬
sesses over the subject of internal improvements.
•
Mr. Watkins, after addressing the convention, moved the
adoption of the foregoing resolutions.
Col. Isaac N. JÛavis, of Mississippi, moved to lay the resolu¬
tions on the table.
A division of the question was called for.
The delegation from Arkansas demanded a vote by Statesr
on the question of laying on the table, and the Convention took
a recess until four o'clock P. M., to enable the delegations to
consult. .
At 4 o'clock the Convention re-assembled, when Col. Davis,
u
of Mississippi, insisted upon his motion to lay the resolution of
Mr. Watkins on the table.
The following was the vote on the first resolution:
Ayes* • • • Alabama, Nays* • • - Arkansas,
Kentucky,
Missouri,
Tennessee
Georgia,
Illinois,
Louisiana,
Mississippi,
New York,
Pennsylvania,
South Carolina,
Texas,
Yirglnia* 10
And the resolution was laid on the table. The following
'was the vote on the second resolution:
Ayes- • • - Alabama, Nays'
Illinois,
Louisiana,
Mississippi,
Kentucky,
New York,
Pennsylvania,
Texas,
Virginia- 9
And the second resolution was laid on the table. #
Mr. Walker, of Louisiana, presented certain letters written
in answer to invitations to attend this Convention, and moved
their reference to the committee on business and resolutions.
Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, moved to lay them on the table—
whereupon, by consent, they were withdrawn; and on motion,
the Convention^adjourned till to-morrow morning, 9 o'clock.
• • Arkansas,
Missouri,
South Carolina,
Tennessee. • - • <
* «
Thursday, October 25,184^.
The Convention met pursuant to adjournment. Opened by
prayer from the Rev. Mr¿ Webber. The Hon. C. C. Clay pre¬
siding as Vice President.
On motion of Mr. Stanton, of Tennessee;
Resolved^ That this Convention will adjourn at 2 o'clock, P#
M,. till to-morrow morning, at 9 o'clock, to give the ladies the
use of the hail this evening.
Mr. Borland, of Arkansas, offered the following resqlutions:
B,esolved, That the committee to be raised by this Convention
for memorializing Congress be instructed io recommend the
adoption, by Congre?s. of the following joint Resolutions:
1. Rfsofoei/, by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of
War be required to make use of the Corps of Engineers of the
17
United States Army, to explore and survey the country belong¬
ing to the United States entirely across the contiitent, to ascer¬
tain the shortest and best route for a national highway from
the Mississippi river to the Pacific Ocean, to be traversed by
«team power and otherwise.
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Navy be required to
make use of the naval and scientific means at the disposal of
his Department, to make a hydrographical survey of the United
States Pacific Coast, to ascertain the proper point, on that
cöast, for the chief naval station.
Resolved, That the Postmaster General be required, in co¬
operation with the Secretary of War, to establish a monthly
mail from some point on the Mississippi, across the continent,
to the Pacific Ocean.
Resolved, That the duties required by the toregoing resolu¬
tions be performed, and reports upon them, respectively, be
made to the Congiess of the United States at the earliest prac¬
ticable day.
Mr. Borland desired the sense of the Convention on his
resolutions.
Mr. Stanton, of Tennessee, objected, and suggested their
reference to the committee on resolutions; whereupon
Mr. Morris, of Tennessee, moved the reference of the reso¬
lutions of Mr. Borland to the committee on resolutions, which
was adopted, and the resolutions handed to the committee,
then in' session.
Mr. Woodward, of South Carolina, offered the following
resolutions:
Resolved^ That it is highly expedient, in a military and com¬
mercial point of view, that a communication, by railway,
should exist between the waters of the Mississippi river and the
Pacific Ocean; and that evefy means and facility that may lie
within the constitutional powers of the Federal Government, if
any do, should be applied to such object.
Resolved, That a route, to terminate westwardly at St. Diego,
on the Pacific, and eastwardly, at Memphis, on the Mississippi
river, is strongly indicated by climate, temperature, geograph¬
ical and commercial relations, directness of course, centrality,
and an equal regard to the interest of every part of the Union.
Mr. Eastin, of Ky., offered the following amendment to the
resolutions of Mr. Woodward:
1st. Resolved, That the public lands are now held, and
ought to fee héld, for the benefit of all the States.
2d.' ResolvM, all the States of the Union have an
equal right with the citizens of the new states, in the public
lands, or in the proceeds of the sales thereof, not otherwise
appropriated.
3d. Resolved, That the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans ought
to be connected by a railroad communication at the. earliest
3
18
practicable period, and that the public lands are a national fund,
properly applicable to this great national object.
4th. 'Resolved, That this convention have the utmost confi¬
dence in the Topographical Bureau, and that Congress should
direct a full reconnoisance by said corps of all the routes now in
contemplation, or a complete topographical survey of all the
lines between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans within the Uni¬
ted States; and that a separate survey be made of the Isthmus
of Tehuantepec, for a railroad ©r canal; and that each survey
should be accompanied by estimates of cost, practicability, &c.
Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, offered the following as a «Substi¬
tute:
Resolved, That the committee on business, already created,
be instructed to do nothing more of a general character than to
report a memorial to Congress, asking for a survey of the
various routes proposed for the greát railway from the valley
of the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean.
Judge Sebastian, one of the general committee, being un¬
well, the delegation from Arkansas desired Gen. George W.
Clarke to be substituted in place of Mr. Sebastian on that com -
mittee.
Col. M. White having left the convention for his home, the
delegation from Louisiana desired the name of John M. Bell,
Esq., of that State, to be substituted in his placé as one of the
Vice Presidents, which was agreed to. ,
Mr. A. Boyd and Stephen H. Ellis, of Texas, appeared as
delegates from Texas, and took their seats.
Mr. Smith, of Texas, moved to refer the resolutions of Mr.
Woodward, and the amendments of Mr. Eastin and Mr. Davis,
to the committee on resolutions. >
Mr. Trezevant, from the committee on resolutions, made a
special report, recommending the adoption of Mr. De Bow's
resolution for a committee of seven to memorialize Congress en
the subjects before the convention.
[See resolution No. 7, page 14, of this Journal.]
Mr. Hall, of Illinois, having the floor, read a series of resolu¬
tions and addressed the convention, but gave way on a motion
to adjourn, and the convention adjourned till to-morrow morn¬
ing at 9 o'clock.
Friday, October 26th, 1849.
The convention met pursuant to adjournment. Prayer by
the Rev. Mr. Morris.
Hon. C. C. Clay, of Alabama, Vice President, in the chair.
Mr. Hall, of Illinois, having the floor, addressed the con¬
vention.
On motion of Mr. Stanton, of Tennessee, Mr. Asa Whitney;
19
of New York, was respectfully invited to address this conven¬
tion, at 4 o'clock P. M., on the subject of his^projected railroad.
Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, withdrew his substitute offered on
yesterday; and the motion of Mr* Smith, of Texas, to refer thé
resolutions of Mr. Woodward and Mr. Eastin to the committee
on resolutions, was adopted, and the resolutions handed to the
committee.
Lt. M. F. Maury, chairman of the general committee, report¬
ed the following resolutions:
'Resolved^ That it is the opinion of this convention that it is
the duty of the General Government to provide at an early
period, for the construction of a National Railroad from the
Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean.
Resolved^ That to facilitate the accomplishment of this object,
in the opinion of this convention, it is the duty of the General
Government to constitute an efficient and competent corps of
Engineers to make complete explorations and surveys of all the
routes that have been designated by public opinion as proper
for the line of this road.
Resolved^ That after the proper surveys shall have been
completed, that in the opinion of this convention, it is the duty
of the General Government to locate the line of the road; and,
in making the location, that route should be selected which is
easiest of access, best calculated to subserve the purposes of
national defence, most convenient to the people of and as far
as practicable, central to the United States, and upon which a
railroad can be constructed on the cheapest and best terms.
Resolved^ That to carry into effect .the object of the first
resolution, in the opinion of this convention, the public lands
of the United States constitute a legitijfnate and prpper fund.
Resolved y That after the construction of the National Rail¬
way trunk from the Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean, in
the opinion of this convention, it is the duty of Congress to aid
by the appropriation of the national domain, in the construction
of such branch railroads as will best connect it with the North¬
ern Lakes and the great thoroughfares leading to the Atlantic
ocean: and with such other points on the Mississippi river as
will connect it with the lines of improvement completed or in
the course of construction—and also to aid in the construction
of branches from the main trunk to suitable points on the Gulf
of Mexico, either east or west of the Mississippi river.
Resolved^ That, in the opinion of this convention, it is the
duty of the General Government to provide, under liberal con¬
ditions, for a connection between the main trank of this
National Railroad and all railroads now made or which may
hereafter be constructed by the authority of the several States
and territories of the Union.
Mr. Campbell, of Alabama, moved that the foregoing gener-
20
al report and resolutions be taken' up and adopted, which was
carried and all the resolutions adopted.
The committee also, through the chairman, reported the fol¬
lowing special reports and resolutions in relation to military
posts, and other matters referred to them, which, on motion of
Mr. Campbell, of Alabama, were adöpted:
'Resolved, That ais an important means, a necessary prelimi¬
nary to the construction of a railroad, it is the first duty of
Congress to take the necessary measures for the establishment
of military posts from the western confines of our western
States, along thp southern boundaries of our Republic and our
Indian frontier to the Pacific ocean—that these posts should be
established in all proper places, not far distant from each other,
and that civilized and productive settlements should be en¬
couraged around them by sales and the grant of pre-emption
rights of the public lands to actual settlers, and by such other
encouragement as may be deemed heceesary, so, that by these
means, ample opportunities may be afforded to our engineers
for the immediate survey and reconnoisance of our possessions
lying between our western and southern States and the Pacific
ocean, and so, also, that by these means safe, practicable roads,
one or more, with facilities of travel, may be immediately
formed for our citizens and for the transportation of troops and
munitions of war, 6z:Ci, across our own territories, from the
Atlantic to the Pacific shores, and in order that our Govern¬
ment may fulfill its recent treaty stipulations with Mexico.
Your committee would further report, that in their opinion
it would be highly advantageous to the commerce of this
country, and add greatly to its political power and influence, if
an immédiat^ connection by railroad Or canal, could be obtain¬
ed between thé Gulf oí Mexico and the Pacific ocean. Many
projects of greater or less promise, for the purpose of con¬
structing the necessary works to complete such a communica¬
tion, have been of late agitated, and without, in the present
state of our knowledge of the subject, pretending to decide upon
their relative merits, they beg leave to recommend the adoption
of the following resolution:
That while the contemplated railroad across the
continent is being constructed, a present communication be¬
tween the States of this Union and the American and Asiatic
coasts of the Pacific ocean, is of vast importance to every por^
tion of this countrv; that such communication can be obtained
by ship-canal or railroad across the Iithmus of Tehuantepee,
Nicaragua or Panama, or across tHem all, which railroads or
canals may be constructed by private enterprise, and this con¬
vention, in order to encourage the undertaking 'and completion
of such works, recommend the passage of a law by the Congress
of the United States, directing the Postmaster General, Secre-
21
tary of War, and Secretary of the Nary, to make annual
contracts for the transportation of the mails, troops, and
military and naval stores of the government, from the Atlantic
to the Pacific posts of the country, by the shortest, speediest
and cheapest route.
The committee on resolutions, to Which was referred the
resolution that declares "that in the event of the appropriation
by Congress of a considerable portion of the proceeds of the
public lands to the construction of a railroad from the Missis¬
sippi river to the Pacific ocean, tfiat at the same time liberal
appropriations of the public lands lying within the limits of the
States should he made to aid them respectively in their works
of Internal Irnprovement,". have had the same under considera¬
tion, and have instructed me to report: that the claim of the
States is equitable, because the lands of the United States,
within the State, bear no charges for local improvements, nor
for the expenditure of the State government, and receive benefit
from both sources of expenditure. They therefore recommend
the adoption of the resolution:
Resolved, That in the event of the appropriation by Congress
of á considerable portion of the public lands, or of the pro¬
ceeds of the sales thereof, to the construction of a railroad from
the Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean, that liberal appropri¬
ations of the public lands lying within the limits of the respec¬
tive States, should be made to aid them in the construction of
their works of internal improvement.
The committee also reported thè following separate and spe¬
cial resolution:
♦
Resolved, That in the present state of our knowledge, we feel
warranted in recommending to the particular attention of the
General Government, for examination, as possessing especial
advantages, the.route commencing at San,Diego on the Pacific
ocean, crossing the Colorado of the West, running along the
Gila river, or near it, in a direction to the Paso Del Norte,
and thence across the State of Texas to its Northeastern
boundary, between the 32d and 33d degrees of north latitude,
terminating at some point on the Mississippi between the
mouth of the Ohio river and the mouth of the Red river.
Mr. Campbell moved the adoption ot the resolution.
Mr. Kirkwood, of Arkansas, moved to lay the resolution on
the table.
Mr. Bowlin, of Missouri, called for, on the part of the dele¬
gation from Missouri, a vote by States on the motiom a
recess of fifteen minutes was taken to enable delegations to
consult.
The Convention resumed its session, when Mr. Kirkwood
withdrew his motion to lay on the table, and ofiered the follow¬
ing as a substitute for the resolution:
Resoked, That a route to terminate westwardly at San Diego
22
on the Pacific ocean, and eastwardly atr Memphis on the Mis¬
sissippi river, is strongly indicated by climate, temperature, ge¬
ographical and commercial relations; directness of course, cen-
trality, and ah equal regard to the interests of every part of the
Union.
Mr, Whittlesy, of Missouri, moved to lay. the resolution
and substitute on the table, and ,Mr. Bowlin, of Missouri, on
the part of that delegation, called for the yeas and nays by
States.
The following is the vote:.
Àyès—Illinois, Missotiri and Pennsylvania—3.
Nays—Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missis¬
sippi, New York, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee and Vir¬
ginia—10.
And the Convention refused to lay on the table.
The following committee to prepare a memorial to Congress
and the people, under a resolution of the Convention, was ap¬
pointed by the President añd hanäed to thé Secretary:
J. D. B. De Bow, of Louisiana; Absolum Fowler, of Ar¬
kansas; James C. Jones, of Tennessee; J. R. Strother, of Mis¬
souri; J. F. G. Mittag, of South Carolina; Chas. C. Mills, of
Texas; J. S. Yerger, of Mississippi.
On rhotibn of Mr. Cohen, of Louisiana, the President of this
Convention, Lt. Mi^ F. Mauiy, was added to the committee to
prepare memorial to Congress.
- Dr. Lea, of Tennessee, offered the following amendment to
the substitute of Mr. Kirkwood: '
' » . .. . • ■ ,
Resolved, That in the opinion of this Convention, this Na¬
tional Railroad should leave the Mississippi river below the
moùth of the Ohio, and below where its navigation is liable to
be obstructed by ice and low water.
The resolution of Dr. Lea was rejected by an almost unani¬
mous vote. ^
The vote was then taken on the substitute ofTered by Dr.
Kirkwood, of Arkansas—the delegation from Arkansas de¬
manding a vote by States, which resulted as follows:
Ayes—Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, Ten¬
nessee and Virginia—6.
Nays—Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, New York,
Pennsylvania, Georgia and Texas—8.
So the amendm en t or substitute was lost.
The question then came up on the adoption of the original
resolution—the Arkansas delegation demanding a vote by
States—which resulted as follows:
Ayes—Alabama, Georgia, Ketucky, Louisiana, Mississippi,
New York, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia and S. Carolina—10.
Nays—Arkansas, Missouri Pennsylvania and Illinois—4.
So that the resolution of the committee was adopted—the
23
words "as possessing special advantages" having been stiicken
out on the suggestion of Mr. Darsie, of Pennsylvania, and the
resolution as adopted reads as follows;
Resolved^ That in the present state of our knowledge, we
feel warranted in recommending to the particular attention of
the General Government for examination, the route commen¬
cing at San Diego, on the Pacific ocean, crossing the Colorado
of the West, running along the Gila river, or near it, in a di¬
rection to the Paso Del Norte, and thence across the State of
Texas to its northeastern boundary between 32 and 33 degrees
of north latitude, terminating at some point on the Mississippi
between the mouth of the Ohio river and the mouth of Red
river.
Mr. Naylor, of Pennsylvania, oiTered the following resolu¬
tion which was lost:
Resolved, Th-dX when this Convention adjourns it will adjourn
to unite with the late National Convention held at St. Loy is, in
the city of Philadelphia, on the first Monday in April next; and
that the committee appointed to address the people of the Uni¬
ted States, be instructed to appeal to every State, county and
town of the confederacy to send up a delegation, there to give
expression to the will of the whole American people.
On motion of Mr. Walker, of Louisiana, the thanks of this
Convention were tendered to the citizens of Memphis for their
kindness and hospitality to the members of this body during
their stav in the citv.
Mr. Stanton, of Tennessee, offered the following:
Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting be presented to
the President of this Convention for the dignified, impartial and
satisfactory manner in which he has discharged the duties of
presiding over this body.
Mr. Smith, of Tennessee, offered an amendment which was
accepted by Mr. Stanton, including the Hon. C. C. Clay, first
Vice President, who had presided and conducted most of the
deliberations, and the resolution was adopted.
On motion, the Convention then adjourned until half past
7 o'clock, to enable Mr. Whitney to prepare his maps, &c.
preparatory to the address which he had been invited to de¬
liver.
The Convention met pursuant to adjournment.
The presiding officers not being present, on motion of Major
Morris, of Tennessee, Colonel Nicholas Davis of Alabama,
was called to the chair.
Mr. Whitney then proceeded to address the Convention at
length, in explanation of his project for a railroad to the Pacfic.
Mr. Morris, of Tennessee, offered the following resolution:
Resolved, That a committee of three, (citizens of Memphis,)
be appointed to superintend the publication of the proceedings
of this Convention, to embrace the memorial to Congress, and
24
such letters addressed to the General Committee as the Com¬
mittee of Publication think advisable; and that each member of
this Convention be requested to contribute fifty cents to defray
the expense of publication, and leave their address with the
committee; and that said committee be instructed to forward a
copy of the same to the President of the United States, and
one to the head of each department of the General Govern¬
ment, and to each member of Congress.
The chair appointed on said committee, Maj. W. B. Morris,
Hon. P. P. Stanton and Maj. M. B. Winchester*
Mr. Campbell, of Alabama, offered the following resolution,
which was adopted:
Resolved^ That the President of this Convention appoint
three committees to be composed of five members each, to pre¬
pare the proper memorials to Congress upon the matters of the
special reports of the General Committee of resolutions.
The Convention adjourned.
(Signed.) M. F. MAURY, Va., President.
C. C. CLAY, Ala., Vice President.
W. F. MASON, Miss., do
WILLO WILLIAMS, Ten., do
R. F. W. ALSTON, S. C., do
D. JAMESON, Ga., do
JOHN M. BELL, La., do
THOS. S. DREW, Ark., do
ASHBEL SMITH, Texas, do
ASHTON JOHNSTOi>J,Mo., do
W. M. HALL, 111., do
B. E. GRAY. Ky., do
JNO. T. TREZEVANT, Va., do
J. H. THOMPSON, Pa., do
L. L. ROBINSON, N. Y., do
Alexander H. Arthur, Miss.,""
E. J. Carrell, Tenn.,
Alex. WalKbr, La.,
C. A. Price, S. C.,
L. J. Reardon, Ark.,
E. W. Upshaw, Texas,
Jno. H. Walker, Ala.,
H. J. Eastin, Ky.,
Ab'm Fenley, Jr., Mo.,
^ Sectetaries,
APPENDIX
^ •*
MEMORIAL OF THE MEMPHIS CONVENTION.
To the Senate and Hause of, Representatives of the United States
in Co7igress assembled.
The memorial of the undersigned, members of a Committee
appointed by the delegates from fifteen States of the Union,
assembled in Convention at Memphis, in the State of Tennes¬
see, on the 33d day of October last, respectly shows:
, That your memorialists were instructed by said Convention,
to transmit its proceedings, with the resolutions adopted by al¬
most unanimous vote, to the Congress of the United States,
and to prepare an address to the people, setting forth in detail,
the objects of the Convention.
The resolutions your memorialists were instructed to present,
and which are hereunto annexed, are ten in number, and in
substance to wit;
The first resolution declares it to be the duty of Congress to
provide, at an early period, for the construction of a railroad
from tne valley of the Mississippi to the Pacific ocean. This
resolution is induced by the imperative wants of the extreme
western settlements of the Union, now almost entirely cut oii^
from communication with the other divisions; by the importance
politically, commercially, and in a military point of view, of
opening easy intercourse with these settlements; by the pros¬
pective extension of emigration to the new teritories, and^ by
considerations relating to an enlarged overland trade with Asia
and the Indian Seas.
The second resolution recommends that an efficient corps of
engineers be constituted to survey all the routes which public
opinion may have indicated as proper for the line of such a
railroad. The work being an extensive one, it is believed that
the present engineer force of the United States, fully employed,
will be entirely inadeqi:^te, and that great delays would be the
result of their unaided action. The importance of early, full
and complete surveys of the whole regions of New Mexico,
California and Oregon, cannot be too urgently pressed. They
are as necessary to a proper geographical, geological, and
mineral knowledge of the country, prerequisite for emigration,
as in the construction of a railroad.
The third resolution calls upon Congress^
26
tion of all the surveys, and after full knowledge of the advan¬
tages and disadvantages of every route, then, and not before,
to locate the road upon that route which is easiest of access,
best calculated to subserve the purposes ©f national defence,
most convenient to the people, and, as far as possible, central
to the Uniteli States, and upon which a railroad can be con¬
structed on the cheapest and best terms. The right of Con¬
gress to locate the route, is a condition to be insisted upon in
granting facilities, &c., to individuals or to companies underta¬
king the construction.
The fourth resolution designates the public lands of the Uni¬
ted States as a legitimate and proper fund for the construction
of such a railroad. The Convention having embraced, in
equal force, members of the great political parties, and enter¬
taining the extreme views of either, cannot be considered as
pronouncing upon the constitutional powders of Congress over
internal improvements. The resolution may refer to the whole
income of the public land sales, or, in a qualified sense, to do¬
nations of alternate sections, &c., or to such portions of them
through or near which the road should pass. The advocates
of either construction will claim, under the usages of govern¬
ment many distinguished precedents. If the whole income be
claimed, it will be remembered that on the admission of sever¬
al of the northwestern States into the Union, portions of their
public lands, or the proceeds of the sales of the same, were set
aside and reserved for purposes of education, internal improve¬
ments, &c., and that under one of these contracts with Ohio,
îiie National or Cumberland road was built. There can be no
sound difference, it is alleged, between donating portions of the
public lands to the States for purposes of education and inter¬
nal improvements, and donating portions of the proceeds of
such lands.. The former donations have, in amount, already
reached twenty-eight millions five hundred and fifty-five thou¬
sand three hundred and eighty-four acres, exclusive of swamp
lands, &c., of the value of thirty-five millions six hundred and
ninety-four thousand two hundred and thirty dolla,rs and were
to the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mis¬
sissippi, Louisiana, Michigan, iVrkansas, Florida, Wisconsin,
Iowa, &c., in sixteen sections, salines, (^c., for colleges and
academies, internal improvements, seats of government, &c.
If donations of alternate sections or tracts on the route of the
road be claimed, the case will be still clearer and less objection¬
able. The government, as a land proprietor, is bound to con¬
tribute to such improvements as shall increase the valua of its
domain upon eveVy fair and equitable principle. How far the
public lands may be adequate to the construction of a great
Pacific railroad will be inferred from the records of the Land
Office. Between the years 1833 and 1810 inclusive, the aver¬
age sales reached nearly nine millions of dollars annually, the
iiic'liest Ihnirc h:úim tAventv-íive millions one hundred and six-
O tw o V -
27
ty-seven thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight dollars in
1836, and the lowest, two nfiillions two hundred and fifty-two
thousand two hundred and two dollars in 1840. The average
sales from 1841 to 1848 inclusive, do not exceed two millions
ome hundred and ninety-five thousand dollars annually, the
highest figure being three millions two hundred and ninety-six
thousand, four hundred and four dollars and eight cents in 1848.
In the event of a railroad being undertaken, it is likely they
would swell to a higher amount, reaching in the aggregate per¬
haps four or five millions of dollars annually.
The fifth resolution urges a similar application of the national
domain in aid of such branch roads as may be undertaken, con¬
necting the main pacific trunk with the waters of the northern
lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, or the Atlantic. The arguments
applicable to the previous resolution apply with equal foi ce to
this. These branch roads making a part of the one great en¬
terprise, and necessary to its completion, seem to stand upon
an equal footing for public favor.
The sixth resolution sets out the fifth in more general terms.
The seventh resolution relates to the necessity of establish-
•r
ing military posts from our western confines, along the Indian
frontier and Mexican boundary to the Pacific ocean: and of
encouraging settlements about these posts, by grants of pre¬
emption rights in the public lands, etc. The establishment of
such posts and settlements will give greater facilities to the en¬
gineers engaged upon surveys, secure the existence from one to
the other, and along the whole line of safe^ practical roads for
travel and transportation of troops and munitions of war, and
enable the government to fulfill its treaty stipulations with
Mexico, in regard to the defences of our frontier. It is be¬
lieved that the Convention, in this, asks nothing that is not ne¬
cessary and proper, and within the power of Congress; and
that any delay in the execution must be fraught w^ith danger
to the interests, not only of the country enibraced, but of the
whole Union. The innumerable roads that have been opened
by the government, in every period of its history, through the
territories, and more especially the military roads from the
"west bank of the Mississippi, through Arkansas and the Indian
lands, evidence the requisitions of every new country. What¬
ever other roads may be opened to the Pacific—and they will
be indispensable in promoting emigration and travel during the
very long period, that must in any case elapse, before the com¬
pletion of a railroad—this, by the valley of the Gila, is entitled
to the highest consideration, and will bring us into immediate
commercial intercourse with the northern provinces of Mexico,
among the most thriving in that republic.
It is suggested that the road set out from Shreveport, or the
head of navigation on Soda lake, shortening the distance thus
fifty miles, pursue a northwesterly direction on the divide be¬
tween the Cypress and Sabine river to the intersection of the
28
contemplated railroad route—thence on to El Paso and alon^
the Gila river to the head of the bay of California, opening, at
that point, upon the fertile plains of California. The road Wipuld
be in length but five hundred and fifty miles from the head
of Soda lake to El Paso, and, in the whole distance, one of the
best in America, through a country abounding in water and the
richest grazing facilities. From El Paso to California Bay, the
distance is four hundred miles; making a total of nine hundred
and fifty miles, about one half the distance from St. Louis ma
the South Pass, and in a climate suitable for emigrants at all
seasons of the year.
The eighth resolution looks to the various projected commu¬
nications by ship canal or railroad across the Isthmus of Tehu-
antepec, Panama, or Nicaragua, regarding them as wholly mat¬
ters for private enterprise, though of immediate practical util¬
ity to the nation. Congress is respectfully asked to accord to
each of them the favor which its merits may deserve, and in
making contracts for the transportation of the mail, military
and naval stores, etc., to the Pacific, select such one only as
shall be the shortest, speediest and cheapest, giving in every
respect the freest scope to competition. The resolution fur¬
ther declares the importance to the whole people that these
Isthmus communications, one or all, be opened without delay,
to substitute the present difficult, inconvenient, and expensive
route across Panama.
The ninth resolution asks, in the event of an appropriation
of the whole, or of a considerable portion of the public lands
for the construction of, a railroad to' the Pacific, that Congress
will at the Same time make liberal appropriations of such Jands
as lie within the States to the States themselves, in aid of their
, \ ^
o#n internal improvement enterprises. This is but a matter of
justice towards these States, who are continually adding an ad-
ditibiiál value to the public property, which they are not al¬
lowed to tax, and which the government will not and cannot
improve. The resolution has been defended by its author in
an argument which, though ipecial in its application, may bé
réádiíy extended.
"The convention, in adopting the idea of appropriating thé
public lands to this one great national work, did not lose sight
of the equities of the new States to be relieved from the bur-^
den of the mortmain. which the federal government holds in
the" new States of the Union. The State of Georgia, in ce¬
ding its western territory to the federal government, required
from the government as a consideration the payment erf
1,200,000 dollars in money, and the extinguishment of the In¬
dian title to the lands in its limits. Byihese stipulations, that
State was placed in the possession of all its public domain; ánd
of a large sum of money. " The new States formed irom the
western territory of Georgia, have been burdened with the ex-
tinsruishment of the national title to the lands within their lim-
oq
»
its. The State of Georgia distributed its lands by lottery at
low prices. It is filled with a tax-paying, free-holding popula¬
tion. The States of Alabama and Mississippi have paid al¬
ready near thirty millions of dollars into the public treasury
for lands, and the public title still remains unextinguised to
nearly one-half of those States. From these lands those States
derive no tax, nor is any improvement to be expected upon
them. The lands are brought into market by State legislation
and State improvements, and in the expenses of the legislation
and improvements, the federal government, which receives the
benefit, pays nothing. The constant supply of better lands,
found in the western territories, at the same prices, have impe¬
ded the sales of lands in Alabama and Mississippi, and the in¬
terests of those States call loudly for a remedy.
"There can be no constitutional objection to the appropriation
by Congress ot lands to aid in the construction of works of im¬
provement within the limits of the States in which they lie.
"Every proprietor finds it necessary to improve his estate
by uniting in the completion of public improvements. It is a
part of every man's social duty to employ a portion of his rev¬
enues for this purpose. For the United States to hold on to its
lands until the last cent is extorted for them, would be to adopt
a policy very injurious to the States and country.
"The States of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Ken¬
tucky, have sanctióned the completion of a railroad from the
Gulf of Mexico to the Ohio river. The load w^ll pass through
vast bodies of public lands, which will be brought at once into
a favorable market in consequence of this work. The road it¬
self is national in its character. It binds the Northwest with
the Gulf by a bond almost as strong as that formed by the Mis¬
sissippi river. Is it unreasonable for the States through which
this road passes to receive from the federal government assis¬
tance in its completionî"
The tenth resolution recommends to the special attention of
Congress, as posaessitíg peculiar advantages in climate, temper¬
ature, geographical and commercial relations, directness of
couise, centrality, and an equal regard to the interest of every
part of the Union, a route for a railroad from the waters of the •
Mississippi to the Pacific ocean, and urges upon that body its
immediate survey by a competent corps of engineers. This
xoute commences at San Diego, on the Pacific, crossing the
Colorado of the West, running along the Gila river, or near it,
in a direction to the Paso del Norte, and thence across tfie
State of Texas, to its northern boundary, between the 32d and
33d^ deg. of north latitude, terminating at some ppint on the
Mississippi, between the mouth of the Ohio and the mouth of
the Red river. Your memorialists believe, that if surveys es¬
tablish the practicability of this route, as they conceive, flom
♦The author of the resolution states that the 33d degree was a mistake mád0 by
him and by the Committee, the 34th having been intended.
30
information in their possession, will be the case, it will be re¬
garded, in every respect, the shortest, most central, and best
that could be selected, to meet all the requisitions of a national
highway.
Your memorialists have, in an address to the people of the
United States, and in their resolutions, documents, maps, &c.,
hereunto annexed and prayed to be made a part of this memo¬
rial, set forth in considerable detail and elaboration, the various
grounds and positions taken by the Convention, and the reasons
for the same, and they believe that an attentive consideration
of the whole will satisfy your honorable body of the Reason¬
ableness and propriety of their claims.
J. D. B. DE BOW, of La., Ch'n.
And in behalf of the committee,
ABSOLOM FOWLER, of Ark.,
JAS. C. JONES, of Tenn.,
J. R. STROTHER, of Missouri,
.T. F. G. MITTAG, of S. C.,
C. C. MILLS, of Texas,
G. S YERGER, of Mississippi,
M. F. MAURY, of Virginia.
ADDRESS OF THE MEMPHIS CONVENTION TO THE
PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.
Fellow-Citizens :—The undersigned have been appointed a
committee by the National Convention, which assembled at
Memphis, Tenn., on the 23d of October last, to prepare an ad¬
dress to the people of the United States in regard to the in¬
crease of facilities of intercourse between the Atlantic and Pa¬
cific oceans.
The settlement of the Oregon question and the treaty of
peace with the Republic of Mexico, fix and quiet lis in the pos¬
session of territories between the lines of our western settle¬
ments and the Pacific ocean, extending through 17 degrees of
latitude and 14 degrees of longitude, and embracing an area of
very nearly nine hundred thousand square miles, scarcely less
than one-half the whole previous domain of the republic.
This immense empire between the western tributaries of the
Mississippi, the Missouri and the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific
ocean, although sparsely populated in parts, is yet an unre¬
claimed wilderness, unexplored in its greater extent, and unde-
seribed, except úpon particular lines and by hurried reconnoi-
sances. The trail of the Indian, the narrow path of the hun¬
ter and the trapper, the emigrant's way, over wtiich his wagons
have toiled, evidence the only interruptions of these vast nnd
unbrokeii'solitudes.
31
Embracing, as our limited knowledge teaches us that it does,
a wide range of climates and a great diversity of physical char¬
acteristic^, this westei'n empire is destined eventually, it may
well be argued, to give habitation to millions of freemen and to
exhibit all the highest evidences of civilization and progress in
arts and in industry.
If nature in her sternest and most forbidding aspects is pre¬
sented in much of its extent, frightful mountain ranges and
deep gorges, hopeless deserts, parched and sterile plains, there
are not wanting tracts equalling in extent large States of our
confederation, fruitful in agricultural capacities and offering re¬
turns to labor and enterprise as high as in any other quarter of
the world.
Within this region have beendiscoved the most valuable mines
of the precious metals, rivalling in extent and in richness those of
a fabulous antiquity, and seemingly, from every indication, in¬
exhaustible for ages to come.
Its western limits for one thousand two hundred miles are
washed by the waters of the Pacific, and indented with bays
and harbors, capacious and safe, and adequate for every com¬
mercial want. This » beautiful ocean, which floats the com¬
merce of oriental climes, calm as a lake, sustains to its shores
almost the relation of the Mississippi to our inland States, con¬
ducting with equal facility their coasting trade, iir vessels that
could not for an hour endure the Atlantic gales.
The ports and harbors of Western America are from thir¬
teen to seventeen thousand miles in sailing distance nearer to
the great marts of Asiatic or Eastern commerce, than those of
the Atlantic cities of the United States or of Europe.
What can be wanting to a region so endowed and circum¬
stanced to command the highest influences and position, but thé
presence of an active and enterprising population, who shall
hasten to render available every advantage of nature. Siich
a population it is believed has began its rapid advances.
A State Government is -even now in process of organization
upon the Pacific shores, another in the almost unexplored re¬
gions of the Utah Lake, whilpt a third and a fourth, in hurried
succession, may be expected out ot the territories of New
Mexico and Oregon. To these there shall be added, ere long,
others to demand admission in the great confederation.
Admitting the possible capacity in Oregon, California and
New Mexico, to support a population to the square mile as great
as the average now embraced in our States and territories,
there would be an aggregate there of ten millions of inhabi¬
tants. The calculation will not be 'regarded vjild when it is
reflected how sparsely populated and almost unreclaimed are
many' of these States and territories. Not one half of Ver¬
mont, New Jersey, Virginia, Carolina, Géorgia, or Ohio, being
in cultivation; not one-fourth of Maine, Maryland, Illinois^ not
32
one-fifth of Texas, Wisconsin, lowii, &c. If but one-half the
country were adequate to habitation and industry, and the pre¬
sent density of Pensylvania were attained, the whole amount
would then swell to twenty millions, or to very nearly the ex¬
isting strength of the nation. The density of Pennsylvania is
but 3^7 to the square mile, whilst that of some of the New Eng¬
land States is several times as great, and of many European
nations immensely larger.
Within what period either of these figures can be attained
or proportionably high ones, will depend upon a variety of
circumstances, impossible to be taken into the calculation. In
the most favorable view it will aid us to consider that the Uni¬
ted States have gained in sixty years almost the entire amount
claimed upon the highest, and the Mississippi valley in half
that time upon the lowest basis, and that within the period of al¬
most a single year upwards of eighty thousand emigrants have
settled in California.
Whatever physical or other advantages possessed by a coun¬
try, the inducements to emigration and settlement must be
greatly counteracted or controlled by the expense and diiScul-
ties of access and of intercommunication afterwards. In,
the case before us, the emigrant's wagon must rattle over
crags and mountains and through inhospitable wildernesses for
wearisome months and with innumerable hardships, after the
frontiers of the States are passed. Or if the routes by the
Isthmus or of Cape Horn be selected, then a dangerous and
protracted navigation of the ocean for five thousand to eigh¬
teen thousand miles must be compassed, equivalent to several
voyages to Europe. Nothing but the highest and most alluring
stimulants could surmount obstacles such as these. Exile—
hopeless exile and the sundering of every sacred tie are in^
volved. Fairy dreams of treasures as precious and as inex¬
haustible as the lamp of Aladdin ever revealed in Eastern fic¬
tion, awaiting the hand that shall garner them without an effort
may be such a stimulant, but are not these dreams necessarily
unreal, and doomed as all experience demonstrates, to be event¬
ually dissipated. An event like this would consign the country
however otherwise favored, to ages almost of wlderness ex¬
istence.
History evinces every where in the clearest and strongest
light the extent to which emigration and settlement are influ¬
enced by natural and arüficial facilities of intercourse. The
great Mississippi valley may emphatically be said to be the
creation of the steam engine, for without its magic power, of
how limited avail were ttfese iiñmense water courses that mark
the country, and what centuries mûst have elapsed before the
progress of arts and of enterprise could have swept away the
traces of savage life.\
Not atphe must there be furnished to the emigrant a passage
33
for himself, expeditious and cheap, but equally indispensable is
it that the produce of his labor and his enterprise command a
market by similar facilities.
Restricted to the Cumberland road across the mountains, or to
the flat and keelboat navigation of the rivers, with their attend¬
ant uncertainties and monthly delays, could western produce
have ever sought in any quantity eastern markets, or would
there have been western producers? Since the dominion of
steam has been established upon the Mississippi, the great west
has increased from a population of two millions two hundred
and seventeen thousand four hundred and sixty-threeln 1820,
to three millions six hundred and seventy-two thousand five
hundred and sixty-nine in 1830; five millions three hundred
and two thousand nine hundred and eighteen in 1840 and ten
millions very nearly in 1850.
If all of this were not too evident to need illustration, it
might readily be shown from the home trade of a country as
compared with the foreign, the influences of near and easily
accessable markets over those that are more remote. Our
whole foreign trade, with the seven hundred millions of Europe
and Asia, rqaches in amount but three hundred millions of dol¬
lars; whilst among the twenty-two millions at home is conduc¬
ted an annual commerce in purchases and sales of at least one
billion five hundred millions dollars. Trade which seeks exclu¬
sively its own advantage, acknowledges no distinctions or pre¬
judices between the native and the foreigner. TarifFs and pre¬
scriptions may account for many of its phenomena, but vicin-
nage and transportation furnish the more constant and reliable
solution.
Confine the west to its original modes of communication,
and give to her the present population she supports, the extent
of her intercourse with the eastern States, it may be confident¬
ly afiirmed would not be greater than our present intercourse
with France or Germany, the facilities in either case being
about the same.
Nor are the existence of means of easy, cheap and expedi¬
tious intercourse between the difierent sections of a country im¬
portant only in advancing the interests of its trade and popu¬
lation, They have an influence still higher and more marked
upon its political institutions. In the federative element of our
republican system they constitute an important basis. A dense
population, widely diffused over an immense area, and separa¬
ted by physical barriers, will, from the absence of all inter¬
course, engender local and provincial interests, fixed prejudices
and even hostilities. The absorbing and controlling influences
of great cities begin then to be paramount, and, as in Europe,
to give laws to the State or the Empire. A government equal
in its benefits and its burdens upon all the parts becomes im¬
possible. The remote representative = will occupy almost the
entire year in passing from the capital lo his constiluents and
Si
back again, and revolution after revolution may change the
whole face of government before these constituents can be ad¬
vised of the danger and prepare to counteract it. Strong or
central governments become indispensable, and large standing
armies, which are at war with the whole theory of federation
and republicanism itself.
The authors of our present government seem to have been
apprehensive of this danger, but it was not permitted to them
to see the great remedy which the progress of arts, sciences
and civilization has revealed. They saw how problematical
was the political connection of the west and east, separated by
great mountain chains and barriers occupying months in the
passage. Hence the scope of Spanish intrigues, the machina¬
tions of ambitious demagogues, half-fledged treason itself.—
Hence the anxious movements of Executive power and of Con¬
gress. What was but incipient, can any question, had there
been a dense and crowded population, would have been actual
and triumphant revolution, and the republic of the Mississippi
before this an established fact.
How much stronger then are the apprehensions for regions,
as remote as those of the Pacific, more distant from the capital
at Washington than Great Britain, and to be reached by com¬
munications more hazardous, protracted and expensive* Is it
not infatuation to suppose that States so remote could be-con¬
tent to receive their laws for any time from this capital, or
would they not infinitely prefer to it a separate and distinct or¬
ganization? The soundest and best republicans would take this
view. Not otherwise could the high destinies of that country
be achieved.
The problem of our federative system becomes impossible of
solution, where the number of States and extent of Territories
have augmented so vastly, unless some cohesive influences can
be brought to operate. It has been for steam and magnetisna
to supply this cohesion, annihilating the eflects of timö áiidt
space, and presenting the greatest security for the political
generation of man and the eyentual triumph of our free institu¬
tions^
The highest interest of the United States demand that her
vast territorial possessions be peopled in the shortest period of
time, and that every legitimate and constitutional encourage¬
ment be given, come in what shape it may, for the augmenta¬
tion of the resources, power and unity of the nation.
The Convention which assembled at Memphis bad for its ob¬
ject an increase of the facilities of intercourse between the At¬
lantic shores and the population which has located, or may lo¬
cate itself upon the Pacific, or in the country intermediate, even
as an earlier convention at the same city looked to the connect
tion of the Atlantic with the Mississippi Valley. Del^ations
were in attendance in greater or less strength from the State»
of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Geor-
35
gîa, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennes¬
see, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois and Ohio. The results of their
deliberations, which were conducted harmoniously, have been
given to the world.
Three methods of increasing the facilities of intercourse be¬
tween the oceans are recommended to the nation by this con¬
vention.
1. A railroad across the continent and through the States
and Territories of the Union.
2. A connection by ship canal, or railway, through some one
or more of the points that have been indicated, far to the south¬
ward of our territories and within the jurisdiction of Mexico
and Central America.
3. A military road along the Mexican frontier.
I. A Railroad across the Continent.—The Convention took the
broad ground of recommending to Congress explorations and
surveys of all the routes designated by public opinion, and a
selection of that route which is easiest of access, best calcula¬
ted to subserve the purposes of national defence, most conven¬
ient, most central, and 'which can be constructed upon the
cheapest terms. In the present limited information which ob¬
tains it was impossible to go further and commit the conven¬
tion to any one of these routes as an indispensable condition.
A marked preference, however, was expressed by the conven¬
tion, as we shall hereafter see.
Th© action and force of the body was concentrated upon the
road itself, as necessary and proper and within reach of the
means and enterprise of the American people. Upon these
points there was little if any diversity of opinion.
No plan of construction is recommended, except that the
public lands of the United States constitute a legitimate and
proper fund for the purpose.
Sufficient, it is believed, has been said of the necessity and
propriety of greatly increased facilities of intercourse with the
Pacific shores of the Union, and the question of a railroad must
stand or fail upon its own merits of practicability and conso¬
nance with the enterprise and resources of the nation.
In estimating the practicability of railroads, the considera¬
tions of length, natural obstacles to be surmounted, character
of intermediate country, population and productions to be com¬
manded, termini, are of controlling importance.
A road to the Pacific ocean concentrates in the highest pos¬
sible degree upon itself almost every objection that can be
raised from these considerations. It is four times the length, on
the shortest route, of any road as yet constructed in this or any
other country. Its path is interrupted by obstacles of the most
stupendous character, mountains, gorges, rivers, deserts. Im¬
mense tracts for hundreds of miles of the country through
which it must pass are hopeless and sterile wastes. In scarcely
any portion of its giant length have advanced the traces of civ-
3G
îlizatîon or even population. Fatal in the general commercial
view must be the weight of these objections, unless there be
found relief in the character of the termini, or in the political
and military considerations that are involved.
Combining the political questions with that of the termini,
which cannot otherwise be considered than on the one side the
twenty millions of enterprising and active producers of the
United States, and on the other the seven hundred millions of
inhabitants of Asia and the Indian Seas, do these relieve the
matter from its otherwise most unpromising attitude?
Political considerations have nothing at all to do with the ac¬
tion of individuals or companies pursuing their own ends and
devices, and in the conflict of opinion which exists with regard
to the extent of government power in constructing internal im¬
provements, it is impossible to say how far they may be àd-
mitted by it to influence the construction of the road. Could
such considerations indue© a direct appropriation from the na¬
tional coffers or a pledge of the national faith? The right and
power of donating the public lands in such a cause seems to
have been no where denied; but would such donations be ade¬
quate to the construction and operation of the road, irrespec¬
tive of its commercial complexion?
Taking the most favorable case that can be presented—that
population will follow the line of the road in a broad belt of
from fifty to two hundred miles, and settlements keep pace
with construction—that no portion of the road can be through
a wilderness, since it can be said of scarcely any part of the
country to be traversed, it is incapable of supporting population
and industry in any one of its emplpyments and forms—that
hundreds of thousands of emigrants would be attracted from
Europe annually as operatives, who would all become perma¬
nent settlers on the route—that a great road is but a series of
lesser ones, and that each of these last being necessary to the
trade and travel of its own neighborhood, and capable of being
supported by it, the whole must, for an obvious reason, be ca¬
pable of a similar support—that the most which can be said
against the practicability of such a road is, it is beyond and not
opposed to our experience—that indications of great and valu¬
able mineral resources upon the lines to be pursued promise vast
contributions to the enterprise—that on the most favorable
routes projected the obstacles are only in limited sections, whilst
the major extent may be constructed with less difficulty and
expense than upon the average of American roads—that all
experience shows the railroad creates the trade that supports it,
and augments indefinitely the intercourse of points commanded
—that in the progress of improvement the cost of construc¬
tion and the rates of freight have progressively and regularly
declined, and that the tendency in the same direction continues
imdiminished, &c., &c.
Giving their full weight to considerations of this kind, and to
37
many of them we shall recur again, it may be doubted upon the
whole, whether they leave the matter so unembarrassed, that
the practicability of a Pacific railroad within two or three gen¬
erations can be demonstrated, unless the possible trade with the
Pacific ocean and the East give a new turn to the discussion.
From the earliest periods of the world's history the trade of
the oriental seas has enriched the nations who have been so
fortunate as to control it. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the
power and the glory and the maritime splendors of Tyre, and
Alexandria, and Yenice, and finally of Britain, who has now
usurped the sceptre of them all. It is a trade that has endured
and triumphed over every character of obstacle, and from its pre¬
cious value perrehnially flourished. Neither trackless deserts,
nor savage man, nor fierce storms and rude navigation of the
deep for tedious months have disturbed its course. Nations
have wared for the empire in its gift, and diplomacy exhausted
upon it her highest resources.
Can this sceptre be wrested into our hands through the instru¬
mentality of the States upon the Pacific shores of the Union,
so immediately proximate to the very gates of the East, and
will a railroad connection between these States and the valley
of the Mississippi connecting with the lines that already strike
the Atlantic coast effect the transfer?
The value of Eastern commerce with all the world was in
1841 according to a report made in the Senate of the United
States about two hundred and fifty millions of dollars, or to be
more specific, in imports one hundred and fifty-eight millions
eight hundred and sixty-six thousand nine hundred and eighty
dollars, and in exports eighty-six millions four hundred and fitty-
three thousand two hundred and thirty-eight dollars, the bal¬
ance being greatly in favor of India. The number of ships
employed was one thousand five hundred and eighty-four, of
an aggregate tonnage of six hundred and eight thousand five
hundred and fifteen. The value of this trade has been greatly in¬
creased, and may be estimated at the present time nearer three
hundred and fifty millions of dollars, requiring about two thou¬
sand ships of the gross value say sixty millions of dollars.—
The commodities included in it are in the main of the most
valuable character, being silks, teas, spices, the finer manufac¬
tures of cotton and wool, indigo, opium, drugs, fancy ware,
precious metals, and these are such as are capable of enduring
the most expensive transportations. These articles might be
indefinitely multiplied to suit the w;ants and even the caprices
of the respective parties could there be any considerable re¬
duction in the transit expenses. A reduction of two-thirds or
even one half the distance, and a similar reduction in time
would lead to an almost unlimited extension. Many new pro¬
ducts would then endure transportation which are now too
perishable or bulky. The travel would also be immensely in¬
creased. New markets would be opened for millions and hun-
38
dreds of millions of Eastern consumers. The Sandwich Isl¬
ands are but now in the infancy of their growth. There are
one million five hundred thousand Polynesians. Celebes con¬
tains three millions, and Java five or six millions, who export
thirty millions of dollars annually to Holland. Sumatra, with
a population of two millions, exports thirty millions pounds
spices. Borneo with three or four millions, exports gold, tin,
antimony and diamonds. The Phillipines have three millions
five hundred thousand producers of sugar, coffee, indigo and
hemp. Singapore is the great centre of Indian trade. India
contains one hundred and eighty-four millions, including Cabul
and Affghanistan, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Ceylon, &c., with
a commerce of one hundred and fifty millions of dollars annu¬
ally. Australia is an infant but most promising colony. Rus¬
sian America is not destitute of hope, nor the Manchoo Tarta-
ry. The fifty millions of Japan with their rich produce are
still suffered to remain almost closed entirely to commerce.—•
The Empire of China with three hundred and fifty millions in¬
habitants, we scarcely see more of than the walls. The great
rivers Sanghalin and Yang-tsee Eaang, the Mississippi and Mis¬
souri of the Eastern continent, each about four thousand miles
in length, connect the coasts witli the vast and densely popu¬
lous interior.
Can it be imagined, then, that these immense regions, so
thronged with human beings, most of them in high advance¬
ment, have already reached the acme of their foreign trade, ©r
is it not plausible that when better systems of intercourse are
opened, jealousies removed and civilization extended, the
amount of trade conducted with them will be augmented sev¬
eral fold, reaching perhaps in the annual aggregate to nearer
five hundred or eight hundred millions of dollars, or even even¬
tually one billion of dollars? Instead of two thousand travel¬
lers annually visiting the East, would not the number in such a
contingency swell to thirty thousand or even fifty thousand?
Will this great trade prefer to its present routes a rival one
across the Pacific of four or five thousand miles, for example to
San Francisco, there to be taken two thousand miles upon a
railroad to the valley of the Mississippi, thence seven hundred
to one thousand miles by steamboat or continuous railroad to
the Atlantic or Gulf ports, thence for three or four thousand
miles to Europe, being a total distance of ten or twelve thou¬
sand miles, against eighteen to twenty thousand at present, re¬
quiring in the one instancy from twenty-five to thirty-seven
days, and in the other one hundred and ten to one hundred and
sixty days?
Many and strong doubts may be entertained even by the
most sanguine, and it is not to our purpose to hazard the meas¬
ure by the expression of any degree of confidence which the
facts will not conclusivelv warrant.
Upon the one sMe may be alleged the high rates of railroad
39
transportation in comparison with shipping, the greatly in¬
creased cost and detriment of so many transhipments, &c., &c.;
whilst upon the other, the saving in interest and insurance and
distance will be pressed with equal force. These savings would
amount upon a reasonable estimate to the following: Interest
upon the value of half the shipping discharged, viz: upon thirty
millions of dollars, one million five hundred thousand dollars;
three months' interest in time gained, upon three hundred mil¬
lions of dollars products, three millions five hundred thousand
dollars; total five millions of dollars.
A bonus upon this showing of five millions of dollars per an¬
num is offered to the railroad, which amount may be reasona¬
bly charged upon the present shipping receipts of Eastern com¬
merce.
In addition to this consideration, there are many others which
should be kept steadily in view. Railroad enterprises are still
in ;ihelr infancy, and the tariff of freights they have adopted
have already been reduced to an extent which does not appear
to have been within the contemplation of their most enthusias¬
tic advocates. They are now employed in transporting, for
hundreds of miles, coal, iron aad granite, the heaviest and least
valuable in proportion to bulk of all known commodities^ A
single locomotive of American construction will haul from one
thousand to one thousand two hundred tons at the rate of ten
miles an hour, when twenty tons in the same time was originally
considered the ultimatum. They compete with canals and run
parallel with the banks of Gonsiderable water courses. Their
cost of construction has been undergoing continual reduction,
and is now from one-third to one-half less than at earlier peri¬
ods. This reduction is the result of improvements in the man¬
ufacture of bar iron, which sold in Liverpool at fourteen pounck
per ton in 1825, and is worth in 1849 five pounds five shillings,
promising even greater reductions in our own country when the
process of Mr» Salter, of New Jersey, lately patented, is sei
into successful action; of depreciation in the value of labor and
the interest of money; of mora econonfical and experience
management and rapidly progressing improvements in the
power, character and cheapness of raachinèry, admitting of
vastly increased work in the same time; of greatly lower ro*
qmrements in the extent, of grading operations and amount
of levelling necessary; immensely carried out by Mr. Prenchy^
of Virginia, who by supplying adhesion to the wheels and re¬
ducing the weight of iJie engine enables it to ascend and descend
elevations without inclined planes. With the reduction of all
of these elements of railroad economy must follow greater and
greater reductions of freight.
The average rates upon railroads in the United Slates may
, be fairly stated at three cts. per ton per mile, against fully six cts.
at a period twenty years ago. This average, for the reason^
above hintcij, in the next fifteen or twenty years, or by the
40
time a Pacific railioad could be in operation, it may be presumed
will fall in an equal proportion, or to one and a half cent per
ton per mile, being forty-five dollars from ocean to ocean. One
cent per ton is the lowest rate at which freight has yet been
transported upon railroads in our country, and if we make the
reduction referred to, there would be for similar freight a charge
of one-half cent per ton per mile, or fifteen dollars the ton from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, three thousand miles. Upon the
lowest or highest of these rates a barrel of flour, beef or pork
could be placed upon the Pacific from the Mississippi Valley at
from one dollar and a half to three dollars, and a bushel of corn
or wheat from twenty-five to fifty cents, a hogshead of sugar
from seven to fifteen dollars.
The lower rates for the bulky and less valuable products, and
the higher for those of more precious character, would be a fairer
estimate. It is known to be the custom now of most of our
roads to make discriminations of the kind, producing their div¬
idends from passengers and the more valuable articles, and tax¬
ing the heavier with nothing but the wear and tear of the road,
and the actual cost and labor of transportation.
These facts and suggestions are presented for what they are
worth. If freight and merchandise can be transported over
the route at any thing like the cost indicated by us, then the
problem of the Eastern trade is far less difficult of solution
than might have been iniagined. These costs can be demon¬
strated, all things considered, about the same as are at present
incurred, including, of course, the freight from either terminus
to Asia or to Europe.
If, on the contrary, the present average of freights must al¬
ways be maintained, then the case against the railroad, so far
as Europe is concerned, is too streng perhaps to be resisted.
In regard to passengers, a different ground may be taken.—
The saving in time for them will be from twenty to thirty days.
These passengers now pay from six to nine hundred dollars. This
route would not exceed two hundred and fifty dollars. The
inducements to such travel would, of necessity, be vastly aug¬
mented, and Europeans might all prefer to take it.
The American trade with the East, too, will stand upon a
foundation altogether more favorable. This trade, including
the fisheries, now rëaches twenty-five to thirty thousand dollars
annually. In the progress of our population and industry it is
rapidly increasing, and must reach fifty or seventy-five millions
of dollars. A road will give to it an immense stimulus. We are
becoming a leading manufacturing as well as agricultural peo¬
ple, and the Great West, from the Alleghany to the Pacific,
can have no better avenue of trade with India than this, if
any so good. It is believed that the Atlantic States would
find an equal advantage.
A railroad is, therefore, presented to the people with a bonus
as {previously explained of five millions of dollars per annum in
41
Us favor J with such carriage of freight and passengers as it is
bound to monopolize, through an immense and growing region,
with the whole trade of our Pacific coasts and the Atlantic at
its command, with the considerable profits of mail carriage and
government stores, with a large part of our rapidly growing
trade to India, and as much of that of Europe as it can by com¬
petition induce, and superadded to all'with incalculable political
and military services to be conferred, and the question is asked
can such a road be regarded expedient and proper?
A final question remains to be decided: Is it within the reach
of our enterprise?
The highest amount which has ever yet been assumed for the
road is one hundred millions of dollars. The interest upon this
amount at five per cent, is five millions of dollars per annum.
Wear and tear of the road suppose five per cent., or an entire
destruction in twenty years, five millions of dollars. The
working expenses of a road upon the gross earnings is estimi-
mated at fifty per cent. Therefore there must be an aggregate
earning to support the road, upon this basis, of twenty millions
of dollars per annum. The aggregate earnings upon all Amer¬
ican railroads is now about twenty millions of dollars, and upon
those in Great Britain fifty millions of dollars, paying in the
last instance an average dividend of 4-21 per cent. To earn
twenty millions of dollars would require one hundred thousand
passengers, or fifty thousand either way, at one hundred dollars,
ten millions of dollars; mail and military service two millions
of dollars; freights eight millions of dollars.
But this is putting the case in its worst possible light, since
upon no calculation is it proposed that the road shall pay interest
upon its cost, that cost coming entirely out of the donation of
government lands to the contractors. There would then be
but the cost of repairs and working expenses to provide for.
The sum of one hundred millions of dollars, too, is based upon
the estimate of two thousand miles, and an average cost of fifty
thousand dollars per mile; whereas upon the shortest projected
route the distance may not exceed one thousand five hundred
miles, reducing the sum to seventy-five millions of dollars.—
Fifty thousand dollars the mile is double the average of roads
already built, and five times the minimum. The average would
give upon the shortest line less than forty millions of dollars.—
This is the most favorable possible view.
But admitting the gross figure of one hundred millions of
dollars, and the high estimate of two thousand miles, is there
any thing in the idea to stagger the American mind? We shall
familiarise ourselves with it by some reflections to see how soon
it loses its imposing and formidable character.
In about twenty years there have been constructed nearly
seven thousand miles of railroad in the United States, and those
in progress will probably swell thfe amount to ten thousand
6
42
miles. The amount expended already reaches two hundred
millions of dollars. Of these roads one thousand miles centre
at the city of Boston, and required an outlay of forty-nine mill¬
ions two hundred and twenty-one thousand four hundred dol¬
lars. Our whole public works constructed, including every de¬
scription in the same time, would perhaps reach five hundred mil¬
lions of dollars. Great Britain meanwhile has built five thousand
miles at a cost of five hundred and fifty millions of dollars, and
projects four thousand additional miles, swelling the aggregate
to one billion. Her great Northwestern road, four hundred
and twenty-eight miles in length, exhausted one hundred and
four millions of dollars in its construction, sufiicient to build
our way from ocean to ocean. France has expended o-ne hun¬
dred and thirty-seven millions of dollars, Germany one hundred
and sixty-eght millions of dollars, Holland thirty-nine millions,
and even Russia, despotic Russia, is on her way with three stu¬
pendous routes, from St. Petersburg to Warsaw and Cracow,
to Moscow, to Odessa, to connect the Volga and the jDuna!—
The passengers increased on British roads from twenty-
three millions four hundred and sixty-six thousand eight hun¬
dred and ninety-six in .1843, to fifty-seven millions nine hun¬
dred and sixty-five thousand and seventy in 184S, or more than
double, and the receipts from them in the last period was five
millions seven hundred and twenty thousand three hundred and
eighty-two pounds, or about thirty millions of dollars. The to¬
tal receipts from passengers and goods had augmented in six
years from four millions five hundred and thirty-five thousand
one hundred and eighty-nine pounds to nine millions nine hun¬
dred and thirty-three thousand five hundred and fifty-one
pounds, or from twenty to fifty millions of dollars. The aver¬
age cost, per mile, of British ralways is fifty-six thousand nine
hundred and fifteen pounds, or two hundred and seyenty-five
thousand dollars, the Blackw^ell road having cost nearly one
million five hundred thousand dollars per mile! Her locomo¬
tives have reached sixty-seven, and in one instance seventy
miles the hour, the average loss of life being, in 1847, one out of
two millions eight hundred and eighty-seven thousand and fifty-
three passengers carried, and in 1848, one in six millions four
hundred and twenty-eight thousand; the German roads giving
only one in twenty-five millions.
When railroads were first suggested in our country, their
originators were regarded as the most desperate and chimerical
of men, and the most ruinous failure predicted to every scheme.
We have lately had the privilege of inspecting a chart made by
one of these madmen, which fell still-born and was soon for¬
gotten, but which sketches, twenty years ago, when there were
not two hundred miles of successful railroads in the country,
several thousand miles of routes, in various directions, and even
across the mountains to the Mississippi valley, nearly everyone
43
<of which has already been built, and is in successful operation
or in course of construction. A road of two thousand miles is
no greater project than those of four hundred miles made by
this mad author on his chart twenty years ago, if half so great.
Obstacles to be overcome are nothing in the progress of mod¬
ern enterprise, and the rule of faith seems to have been adopted,
"this is impossible—it ts therefore true!"
Is there any thing that shall unfit a nation like ours for vast
and stupendous enterprise? Our territorial extent has in¬
creased in twenty years from one million seven hundred thou¬
sand to three millions of square miles, our population, in fifty
years, from four millions to twenty-three millions, is doubling
itself in every generation, and after the close of the century
must reach seventy or eighty millions, equal almost to the pres¬
ent strength of Great Britain, France and Germany combined.
From the island of Brazos, on the Gulf of Mexico, to the
straits of Fuca, on the Northern Pacific, from the A roostook
valley to. the Bay of San Diego, the Union extends its levia¬
than proportions. The inhabitants of these extreme points,
more distant apart than the shores of the Old and New World
on the usual routes of travel, are brothers and fellow-citizens,
under common laws and with a common destiny. It is as
though the Shetland Islands and the Bosphorus, Siberia and
the Gates of Hercules were made the outposts of an empire,
which embraced the whole of Europe. For such an empire
Alexander and Cassardied in vain, and Napoleon deluged Eu¬
rope i^^ blood.
The statistics of the Union, collected by our public officers,
show an annual income realized from all branches of industry,
amounting in 1848 to two billions three hundred and twenty-
three millions five hundred and sixty-four thousand seven hun¬
dred and fifty-six dollars. If we were build the road in ten
years, not perhaps an impossibility, and the income of the na¬
tion were not augmented, an utter impossibility, the amount
annuálly expended upon the road would be about one-third of
one per cent, upon the annual income of the country. Our
very grass crop, in a single year, would stretch the iron tracks
from ocean to ocean. We sunk in the Mexican war, which
seems not in any appreciable degree to have disturbed our gen¬
eral wealth and prosperty, an amount altogether adequate.
The expense of this road will not in any cáse, however, be
a tax upon the resources of the hation; since very nearly the
whole amount required, and eventually much more must be re¬
alized from the sales of public lands upon its route, not other¬
wise capable of being brought into market for generations to
come. It will be so much invited into the country or contrib¬
uted to its wealth by the foreign emigrants seeking our soil.
The fiat of the nation appears to have gone forth, in any
view of the matter, for the road, and for the road at once.—
44
The public mind has been aroused, and with high thoughts, ap¬
proaches a subject but a few years ago universally regarded
chimerical and impossible. Every day the number of skeptics,
still large, continues to decrease. Committees in both the Sen¬
ate and House of Representatives of the Union have reported
elaborately in favor of the road. The legislatures of nineteen
or twenty States have pronounced a similar judgment. Cham¬
bers of Commerce and public meetings in all our leading cities
have united in the movement. Leading Statesmen endorse it
by speeches and correspondence. To crown the whole, two
Conventions at St. Louis and Memphis, the largest ever held in
the Mississippi Valley, embracing delegations from nearly every
State in the Union, unite almost unanimously in the commen¬
dation.
Under the main point of agreement, there are to be sure
some diversities of sentiment regarding the route to be pur¬
sued, and the mode of construction to be adopted. It will be for
the General Government to say how far, under the provision
of the constitution, it can go in "providing" for such a road,
whether by donations of public lands and contracts for mail
and military service, or by any other legitimate and proper aid.
Does the power of the General Government regarding the con¬
struction of railroads through the territories stand upon other
grounds than in the States? Is there power to build such a
road through the territories by direct appropriations, and if so,
is not all experience clear against the policy of exercising it?
Can Government contract for and execute great public works,
upon terms in any degree as favorable as individuals or compa¬
nies? Are there not frauds in its agents, speculations, official
patronage, and party proscriptions and inconstancies to be provi¬
ded against, and whicn are capable of protracting and indefi¬
nitely postponing the execution of the work, and augmenting
without limit its expense? Or if the power and its exercise be
left to individuals or companies, can there be any guarantee
that the country shall not suffer by such stupendous rights and
monopolies in their hands, and that the road will eventually
arid certainly be built? These matters must be left to the wis¬
dom of Congress.
With regard to routes, the most prominent before the
country are—
1. That projected by Mr. Whitney from Lake Michigan
through the South pass to the mouth of the Columbia, with a
branch to San Francisco.
2. Mr. Benton's project from St. Louis to San Francisco,
through some pass to be discovered in the mountains south of
the South Pass, and near the sources of the Arkansas river.
3. The route of the St. Louis Convention as announced in
their official publications, and extending from that city through
the South Pass, (fee.
45
4. The Texas route from some of her seaports to the Paso
del Norte, and thence along the Mexican boundary.
5. The route indicated and specially recommended for sur¬
vey by the Memphis Convention, under the following resolution:
Resolved, That in the present state of our knowledge, we
feel warranted in recommending to the particular attention of
the General Government for examination, as possessing special
advantages, the route commencing at San Diego, on the Pacific
ocean, crossing the Colorado on the west, running along the
Gila river, or near it, in a direction to the Paso del Norte, and
thence across the State of Texas to its northeastern boundary, be¬
tween the 32d and 33d* degree of north latitude, terminating
at some point on the Mississippi, between the mouth of the
Ohio river and the mouth of Red River.
This route intercepts in its course the fertile regions upon Red
River, the whole of Northern Texas, Chihuahua, Cohahulia, (fee.,
now almost entirely without a market. It leaves the Missis¬
sippi at a point always navigable by large vessels from the
ocean, and is very nearly central to the whole Union, Mem¬
phis being about that central point. It is south of the Ohio
river, and its tributaries, from Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ken¬
tucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Tennessee, and on that ac¬
count within easy control of the immense flatboat commerce
of these regions. The great Mobile railroad, the Georgia, Car¬
olina and Virginia railroads all strike for the Mississippi Valley
near these points. It is in a medium climate throughout, not like¬
ly to be disturbed by the frosts and snows of northern regions.
It is several hundred miles shorter than any other route; and
can be built for greatly less expense. It has less physical ob¬
structions, and for the most of the way to the Paso is through
a level country, supplied with every variety and abundance of
timber, fertile in soil, but without access to market, peopled in
half its extent, and capable of dense population for three-
fourths of the whole distance. It is through a healthy region
after leaving Red river, and connects Texas with the heart of
the Union.
Should the road in any part of its course necessarily cross
the Gila river, the casé is provided for in our treaty of purchase
from Mexico.
The western terminus of the road is at San Diego, described
by Capt. Wilkes as an arm of the sea ten miles in length, four
mîîes in vvidth, perfectly secure from all winds, with an entrance
narrow and easily defended, and with a sufficient depth of wa¬
ter—-twenty feet at lowest tides—for large vessels. Maj. Em¬
ory is of the same opinion: "San Diego is, all things considered,
perhaps one of the best harbors on the coast," &c. "The har¬
bor of San Francisco has more water, but San Diego a more
♦The author of the resolution states the 33d degree was a mistake made by him
jmd by the committee, 34th degree having been intended.
46
uniform climate, better ancboxage, and perfect security from
winds in every direction," &c.
It is worthy of remark that this route has been advocated
with great power and ability by the present chief of the Topo¬
graphical Engineers, Col. Abert, and that Col. Hughes, of the
army, in his late able and elaborate letter to the Secretary of
State, Mr. Clayton, written at his particular request, acknowl¬
edges a similar preference. He says:
"It is to commence at San Diego on the Pacific, and to strike
thence to the Colorado, following up its affluent, the Gila, to
near its source; then passing into the valley of the Rio Grande
del Norte, keeping within the jurisdiction of the United States.
From this point the line would pass through Texas to Nacog¬
doches, where Col. Abert proposes a bifurcation of the road—
the one branch nearly direct to the Mississippi, above the mouth
of Red River. A slight deflection from Nacogdoches would
carry it to Vicksbjurg, or to Memphis, as might be deemed most
expedient. "The northern branch will probably find its better
course to cross the Red River at the great bend or its vicinity;
then crossing the Arkansas at Little Rock, pursue its course to
St. Louis; then, crossing the river, to pursue the most direct
favorable course which can be obtained south of the great lakes
to Pittsburg.", These two lines, when actually traced and the
work finished, would probably expeed two thousand miles.—•
This route, with its bifurcations and adaptability to further late¬
ral improvements and extensions, is, I think, much superior to
all others, and is certainly less open to some of the objections
which I have urged against them."
It is clear that a branch of this road would very soon con¬
nect with New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico.
If this route be practicable, and it is to determine the point
we call upon Government to make the necessary surveys, it is
in every respect the American one. The North must be mo^'e
benefitted by a route extending southward than by one through
her own latitudes, and by her own peculiar productions. Her
cities might prefer the latter, but the great interests of the peo¬
ple will be promoted by the former. What does the North, it
has well been asked, want with a road to the north? "No one
can suppose that the people of Iowa would exchange flour and
pork with the people of Oregon, or swap horses or cattle with
them. But let them look to the South and how different the
prospect. Along the Mississippi river, at every remove, they
would find the condition of barter existing all the way to New
Orleans, and throughout the West Indies and eastern slope of
3outh America. Or if they preferred to take the railroad at
Memphis, they would daily and hourly find a market through
southern climes; and when they had reached San Diego, if any
thing remained to be sold or purchased, there would be China,
at last, quite as convenient as if they were at Francisco or
47
Astoria. More convenient would be Australia, and Polynesia
with its thousand isles; and still more convenient, and in a cli¬
mate still more different from their own than any yet mention¬
ed, the western coasts of Central and South America,"
From the earliest periods the problem of reaching the East
by shorter means of communication has engaged the attention
of statesmen and of nations. In the search our continent was
discovered. The northern coasts of Europe, the western coasts
of America, have been explored times without number, with
the same end. Every nook and corner of the continent has
been examined. The Spaniards were among the most active of
these explorers, and Cortes even went so far as to write to the
Home Government: "If we should so hit upon this strait (in
the vicinity of the Isthmus) the distance to the Indies would be
two-thirds less than the present navigation." Soon after was
invented the fiction of the Straits of Anian or of Fuca, on the
northwest of America. McKenzie and Carver traversed the
British dominions from Canada to the river of Oregon and the
Arctic sea. LaSalle proposed to the French a possible com¬
munication from the sources of the Mississippi to those of the '
Oregon, and Mr. Jefferson despatched Lewis and Clark to these
regions in search of a "route of commercial communication
with the Pacific."
2. In regard to the Isthmus Routes of communication the
following resolution was unanimously adopted by the conven¬
tion:
That while the contemplated railroad across the
continent is being constructed, a present communication be¬
tween the States of this Union and the American and Asiatic
coasts of the Pacific ocean is of vast importance to every por¬
tion of this community can be obtained by ship canal or rail¬
road across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Nicaragua, or across
them all—which railroads or canals may be constructed by pri¬
vate enterprise; and this convention, in order to encourage the
undertaking and completion of such works, recommends the
passage of a law by the Congress of the United States directing
thu Postmaster General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of
the Navy to make annual contracts for the transportation of
the mails, troops, and military stores of the Government, from
the Atlantic to the Pacific posts, of the country, by the shortest,
speediest, and cheapest routes."
It will be perceived that these routes are considered as wholly
matters eîprivate enterprise, and in their character temporary^ or
at least inadequate to meet all the requisition« of the country.
It will not be necessary for us to go into detail upon any of
these matters since they have been sufficiently long before the
country to be very generally iinderstood. Different preferen¬
ces were expressed by members of the convention, but the body
itself Ventured no opinion upon the merits of either one of the
48
routes. Several of the delegations, and more especiallyr those
of Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississip¬
pi, Viere prepared, it is true, with cogent reasonings, in favor of
Tehuantepec, which they represented as more immediately
"within the control of our navy, with harbors upon either side,
of sufficient depth and capacity or capable of being made so
without great expense, and in distance less than the Panama
route from New York or New Orleans to San Francisco by
twelve hundred to seventeen hundred miles. As this matter is
now in the hands of a company prepared for immediate action,,
and as a committee under instructions from a mass meeting of
the citizens of New Orleans are prosecuting surveys and col¬
lecting information for an elaborate report, further remarks at
this time would be premature. Nothing is asked but that the
various routes shall have an equal hearing and consideration^
and stand upon their respective merits. In the result they may
a// be proved practicable and adopted, since it has been found
in the experience of the Eastern and Western States that innu¬
merable communications can be opened to advantage where
population and wealth are upon the rapid increase.
3. A Military Road along the Mexican Frontier*-—is set
forth in the following resolution:
Resolved^ That, as an important means, a necessary prelimi¬
nary to the construction of a railroad, it i» the first duty of Con¬
gress to take measures for the establishment of military posts
from the western confines of our States along the southern
boundaries of our republic, and our Indian frontier to the Pa¬
cific ocean. That these posts should be established in all proper
places^, not far distant from each other, and that civilized and
productive settlements should be encouraged around them by
sales and grants of pre-emption rights of the public lands to
actual settlers, and by such encouragement as may be deemed
necessary, so that by these means ample opportunities may be
afTorded to our engineers for the immediate survey and recon-
noisance of our possessions, lying between our Western and
Southwestern States and the Pacific ocean, and so also that by
these means safe, practical roads, one or more, with facilities of
travel, may be immediately formed for our citizens, and for the
transportation of troops and munitions of war, &c., across our
own territories, from the Atlantic to the Pacific shores, and in
order that our government may fulfill its recent treaty stipula¬
tions with Mexico."
Our government is bound by the treaty with Mexico to de¬
fend the frontier by military posts. These would extend from
Paso del Norte to San Diego, and should be continued through^
Northern Texas for the protection of emigrants from the Ca-
manche Indians, a distance of two or three hundred miles.-—
Justice and expediency seem to demand such a road and such
outposts in the speediest possible time, and it is not reasonable
to suppose that their claims will be postponed.
49
Fellow-citizens, the age in which we live ii one of great
achievements in arts and sciences and in human progress. The
nations of the world are engaged in the great race for position
and for empire. It becomes our country to aim as high and to
realize as soon as may be that bright and glorious destiny for
which God and nature seem to have reserved her.
J. D. B. DeBOW, of Louisiana,
ABSOLEM FOWLER, of Arkansas,
JAMES C. JONES, of Tennessee,
J. R. STROTHER, of Missouri,
J. F. G. MITTAG, of South Carolina,
C. C. MILLS, of Texas,
G. S. YERGER, of Mississippi,
M. F. MAURY, of Virginia.*
'^Ii ia but right to Stat« that Liout. Maury expressed some differences of opinion
from the chairman of the committee, but upon points, however, of mere detail.
He has published since his views most elaborately, but they cannot be considered
in the most important respects in any wise the views of the Convention. His position
as President renders this remark necessary. His speech in taking the chair expressed
sentiments upon many positions in which scarcely one concurred. The ability ot'
Lieut Maury and his high services in the cause of Western improvement are, at th®
same time, admitted and gratefully acknowledged.
ADDRESS TO THB MEMBERS OF THE MEMPHIS
CONVENTION.
Gentlemen:—The undersigned Committee, appointed by a
convention of the people of Western Texas, would, in accord¬
ance with their instructions, beg leave to submit to your consid¬
eration a few suggestion on the subject of the best route for a
railroad communication, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans. Our constituents are emboldened to address vou
through their committee, by the consideration that they are a
border people, a larger portion of whom have traversed re-
repeatedly the southern portion of that great region dividing
the Mississippi valley and the Pacific slope, and who have thus
acquired a larger share of practical knowledge of the country,
its suitableness as regards evenness of surface for the path of a
railroad, and the facilities for its construction, than perhaps any
other people. They might still have been deterred from an
undertaking which might otherwise seem presumptuous, were
it not for the conviction strongly impressed upon their minds,
that they can point out the very best route the nature of the
country will admit of, whether we regard evenness of surface,
shortness of distance, the abundance of wood, water, stone^
the main elements of cheap construction, the advantages deri¬
vable from traversing a country capable of a dense population,
í)i)
easiness of access to all parts of the Union, at all periods of the
year, or the ultimate profits of the capital invested.
The undersigned, in the discharge of the duty assigned them
by the Gonzales convention, have availed themselves of all the
means of information within their reach, with regard to the
route indicated in their instructions. Although the information
which they have been able to acquire has not been so ample
with regard to some portions of the route as could be desired,
yet every new fact which they have gathered has served to
strengthen their convictions as to the eligibility of the route
here submitted to the consideration of the convention.
SAN SABA ROUTE.
We proceed at once to indicate the route which in our opin¬
ion embraces more advantages than any route north of it.—
This route by way of distinction may be called i'The San Saba
Route."
That a definite idea maybe had of the route, we submit the
following table of points and distances:
Sec. 1.—From Memphis, via Little Rock to Red River 280 miles.
Sec. 2.—From Red River to the Brazos, 240 do
Sec. 3.—From the Brazos to the Colorado, at the
mouth of San Saba, 100 do
Sec. 4.—From the Colorado to Paso del Norte, 470 do
Sec. 5.—From Paso del Norte, via the Gila to
San Diego, 750 do
1,840 miles.
Section First: As it regards the first section of this route it is
unnecessary to speak, as many members of the convention are
better acquainted with it than ourselves. Suffiqe it to say,
though not so good as could be desired, it is entirely practicable.
Section Second: This section comprises some difficulties in
grossing Red River, independent of this, it passes through a
g^tly undulating and exceedingly fertile country, alid abound-
iiî^in timber and water. It is already populated.
Section Third: This section embraces a country more'hilly
than section two, but like it possessing the advantages of timber,
water and stone, and is entirely practicable.
Section Fourth: This section, until recently, has been regar¬
ded as presenting more difficulties in the way of a railroad than
any other, yet nothing can be more unfounded than the public
impression heretofore existing upon this subject. A route
through the mountains has been found along the San Saba val¬
ley to the Pecos two hundred and forty miles, up the Pecos one
hundred and twenty-five miles, thence to Paso del Norte one
hundred and ten miles, which is not only practicable, but abso¬
lutely good. One upon which no serious obstacle of any kind
exists. Indeed fewer .difficulties are presented than upon any
other section of the road. Near fopj hundred miles of the
51
route may be termed level, most of it fertile and plentifully wa¬
tered—a portion of it populated, and alml^st the whole distance
capable of population. Upon one mountain alone pine abouiidvS
in sufficient quantities, in the opinion of Major Neighbors and
Doctor Ford, to make the road from Colorado to Paso del
Norte. Stone is also abundant. This route was first explored
by Major Neighbors, our former indefatigable Indian Agent, ac¬
companied by Di\ J. S. Ford, of Austin, Texas, who has pre¬
pared and furnished a report from the joint notes of himself
and Maj. Neighbors, and which is here referred to for a more
minute description of the route and its advantages. This route
has been since, and is now being constantly travelled by gov¬
ernment troops, companies emigrating to Calafornia, and mer¬
chants enga<2:ed in the Chihuahua trade. The uniform testimo-
cP O %
ny borne by all is, that it is an excellent route both for wagons
and for a railroad.
Section Fifth: This section, although not good, is the best by
large odds and by universal consent of any yet discovered.—
This is the route traveled by the expeditions of Gen. Kearney,
by Col. Cooke and others, and so minutely and ably described
by Lieut. Emory. In addition to what is said in Emory's book,
which is here referred to as containing much interesting infor¬
mation in regard to this section of the route, we shall content our¬
selves with quoting from the journal of Capt. Johnson, late Aid
to Gen. Kearney. He describes the country between Paso del
Norte as "abounding in water and fine pasturage, and many
lands which will furnish breadstuffs by cultivation. Wood is
abundant, particularly in the vicinity of the copper mines. Go¬
ing west the hills aré not lofty, so that ^ve passed the back-bone
of America without perceiving it—the dividing ridge between
the Atlantic and Pacific. Pine is found here—Live oak, three
kinds. Following a small stream we fell upon the Gila, a beau-
ful mountain stream, thirty feet wide, and a foot deep on jtjH
shallows."
We propose the western terminus at the bay of San JJiegó.
This bay, all things considered, is one of the best on the PaciiiC
within our territory.
Capt. Wilkes, Commandant of the Exploring Expedition, in
his report to the National Institute in 1849, describes it as "an
arm of the sea, in length ten miles, in width four miles; front
being land-locked is perfectly secure from all winds. The en¬
trance is narrow and easily defended, and has a sufficient depth
of water, twenty feet at lowest tides, for large vessels."
Capt. Wilkes further condenses its advantages into "uniform
climate^ good anchorage and secbrty froffi aU winds." Major
Emory also bears testimony to the advantages of San Diego.—•
"At present," says he, "San Diego is, all things considered, per¬
haps one of the best harbors on the coast from Callio to Puget's
sound, with a single exception, th^t of San Francisco. In the
53
opinion of some intelligent Navy officers, San Diego is prefer¬
able even to this. The harbor of San Francisco has moie wa¬
ter, but that of San Diego a more uniform climate, better an¬
chorage, and perfect security from winds in every direction.
However, the commercial metropolis must be at San Francisco,
owing to the greater extent and superiority of the country ad¬
jacent, watered by the rivers Sacramento and.San Joaquin, un¬
less, indeed, San Diego should be the terminus of a railroad
leading by the route of the Gila to the Rio del Norte, and thence
to the Mississippi, and the Atlantic."
This character of the bay of San Francisco is confirmed by
Freaner and others writing from California.
The advantages of the proposed route over any more north¬
ern route, are:
First: It passes for the most of the way to Paso del Norte
through a comparatively level country.
Second: Most of the country through,which it passes, this
side of Paso del Norte, is well supplied with timber, suitable for
the construction of a railroad, to wit: cedar, pine, musquit, live
oak, and various other kinds of oak.
Third: The country through which it passes, for at least four-
fifths of the way to the del Norte, is as fertile as any portion of
the American Union, and being far removed from navigation,
needs more than any other portion of the country facilities for
transportation.
Fourth: More than half the route to Paso del Norte is al¬
ready settled, three-fourths of it capable of dense settlement,
and the balance susceptible of sparse settlement.
Fifth: The extent of fertile country on each side of the road
will furnish travel, productions, and trade enough to pay a fair
per centage on the outlay in construction, independent of the
Pacific trade.
Sixth: It will connect Texas, now the most distant State,
and still further removed by reason of the lack of facilities for
transportation, with the heart of the Union.
Seventh: It is perfectly free from all obstructions of cold,
snow, or ice in winter.
Eighth: After leaving Red River it passes through the most
healthy portion of the Union.
Ninth: Cost of construction per mile will, for the reasons
above enumerated, be less than on any more northern route.
Tenth: The distance is less.
Eleventh: Facilities for reaching the eastern terminus at Mem¬
phis, from every portion of the Union, are as great as at any
point except the mouth of the Ohio.
The fiat of the nation has gone forth that the road must be
made. Our people have won a high and ever enduring renown
in arms—they are desirous of signalizing their age by an
achievement in the Arts of Peace which shall go down side by
£3
side with their deeds in war, and hallow them in the memory of
their children for a thousand generations, with a loftier and pu¬
rer fame. {Stupendous they know is the scheme of a railroad
communication connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.—
But stupendous, too, they feel, are the motives which impel to
the undertaking, whilst ample are the resources and boundless
the energies ready at hand to accomplish it.
Within half a century we will have a population of twenty-
five millions on the Pacific slope. That slope is now separated
from us by the almost impassable barriers of a mountain and a
desert. This mountain must be made smoothe—this desert
must be made to blossom as the rose. This people, blood of
our blood, and flesh of our flesh, must be brought to our doors.
Social reasons urge it—political reasons imperatively demand it.
The east, the gorgeous east, will be opened to our commerce
without a rival—without a competitor. The east, not more cel¬
ebrated in song for its perfume-bearing breezes and balmy clime
—for its sacred legends and mystic lore, than in more staid and
sober history, for the splendor of its empires—the gorgeous
magnificence of its palaces and its temples—the magnitude of its
rivers—the grandeur of its mountains, and the fertility of its
plains—the abundance of its gold and its silver, and its precious
stones—its gums, its teas, and its spices—the beauty and costli¬
ness of its manufactures—the untold variety of its productions,
and for the extent and richness of its commerce—a commerce
which has been sought by all nations who have risen to com¬
mercial greatness, as far back as history reaches into the past,
and which has always rewarded the search with countless
tvealth and unrivalled splendor. A commerce which in ancient
times caused the cities of Tyre and Sidon, and Balbec, and Pal¬
myra, and Alexandria, each in succession, to rise to such a
height of general prosperity, commercial greatness and refine¬
ment in the arts as to excite even to this day the wonder and
admiration of the world. A commerce which in more modern
times caused Constantinople, and Venice, and Genoa, and Lis¬
bon, and Amsterdam, each in their turn, to attain the very pin¬
nacle of conamercial greatness, and caused them, single as they
were, each to excel in the splendor of its achievments in arts
and arms, all the kingdoms and empires then upon the earth.—
A commerce which has caused Britain to "wrest the very tri¬
dent from Neptune himself," and enabled her to utter the proud
boast of "mistress of the seas." This commerce with all—all
its untold wealth, and its limitless future increase may be ours
—will be ours without the fear of a competor, if we will only
reach forth our hand and clutch it. The very heart of I ndia com¬
merce within twenty days sail over a smooth and safe sea.—
Western America possesses infinite advantage for monpolizing
the trade over any city or nation who has been in ancient or
m'odern times enriched by it. Indeed when we take into con-
ä4
sideration the modern improvements in ocean navigation we
may say almost with literal truth, that time and space have
been both annihilated, and Asia, by the art of man, has been
brought to our very door. Five months nearer, and the safest
sea known to navigators. America can wrest the "trident"
from England, and place her in a position only to gather the
crumbs which fall from the rich man's table.
What is the value of this commerce, present and future, of
which we can so easily enjoy the monopoly? According to n,
report made to Congress by Senator Breese, allowing for in¬
crease since his dates, and including value of ships engaged,
the annual commerce of India with all the wmrld, is estimated
at three hundred millions of dollars—two thousand ships are
required to conduct it.
Of this three hundred millions of dollars, the United States
has at present not exceeding twenty-five millions of dollars, or
one-twelfth of the whole, whilst England has one-half. On the
hypothesis that this trade would continue at its present value
without increase, the share of it which would at once fall into
the hands of our people would amply repay all the expenditures
in the construction of a railroad. Instead of an annual trade
of twenty-five millions of dollars, we would have a sure and
Continuing commerce of two hundred millions of dollars.
When we contemplate the modern improvements in ocean
navigation, the vast extent of the regions which would be
opened up to our commerce, their variety of climate, soil and
productions, and their exceeding populousness—the advantages
which the recent discoveries of the gold mines of California
will give us over a commerce mainly carried on in the precious
metals-—the influence which an enlightened commerce ever has
had, and ever will have, in spreading civilization, Christianity
and the arts, and above all, in bringing about an interchange
of commodities and commercial brotherhood between nations—
the increasing quantity and cheapness of our manufactured ar¬
ticles, and their adaptation to the wants of mankind in every
portion of the world—the immense necessary increase of our
manufacturing establishments brought about by the rapid in¬
crease of our population, which, ere another century shall have
rolled by, will amount to two hundred millions—twenty-five
millions of which will find a home on the great Pacific slope—
add to this the demand of six hundi ed millions of eastern con¬
sumers—when, we say, the mind is brought to contemplate all
these, it is lost in amazement at the wonderful extent of the fu¬
ture commerce of the Pacific, and when we reflect that our in¬
fant republic can and will enjoy the monopoly of this the rich¬
est, most profitable and most extensive commerce in the world,-
we should not be regarded as visionary, if we anticipate for
Western America a destiny more resplendent than was ever
vouchsafed to any Nation. Who can estimate the full extent
55
of her commerce? Who can foisee the grandeur of her ulti-
máte destiny?
JAMES W. ALLEN,
T. J. HARDEMAN,
M. ERSKINE,
T. CONNELLY,
WM. E. JONES,
E. BELLENGER,
On behalf of the Gonzales Convention,
October 10th, 1B49.
LIEUT. MAURY'S ADDRESS,
Delivered on*Tucsdayj October 23í?, 1849, before the Pacific Railroad
Convention*
Gentlemen: I am under obligations which I cannot express,
for the honor you have done me. I am sensible that I am more
indebted to your kindness than to any fitness on my own part
for the distinguished position to which »you have called me. I
must beg that you will let your charity be as broad as your kind¬
ness, and with it cover up all my short-comings.
For "what have we here assembled? It is because this coun¬
try in its upward and onward progress has arrived at that stage
from which increased facilities of communication between the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans are required for the great purposes
of State. Why am I, an officer of the navy, here present to
take part in your deliberations? It is because the people of this
great valley, without distinction of party, have assembled here
in the persons of their representatives, to deliberate on meas¬
ures of national defence. It is well known that the acquisition
of California was regarded with no favorable eye by that power,
^'the sound of whose nqorning drum encircles the earth, and upon
whose flag the sun never sets"—and that in case of war with that
power, should a war unfortunately ever occur, her first effort
would be against California. And the only means by which its
possessions can be rendered secure in such an emergency, is by
the construction of a railroad from some point in this valley to
those shores, over which troops and materials can be transport¬
ed with facility.
In consequence of the use of railroads and of other improve¬
ments and inventions of the age, the whole system of national
defence as hitherto pursued by this government, has been brought
to a stand still. The item in the annual navy appropriation bill
for the gradual increase of the navy, and on which many mill¬
ions of dollars have been expended, has ceased to find a place
in the navy estimates, because the inventions and improvements
i6
to which I have alluded have exploded the plan of increasing
the navy according to our former notions. For the same rea¬
sons the construction of railroads along the Atlantic seaboard
has, in a great measure, put an end to drafts upon the treasury
for lining the coast with forts and castles. In contemplating
the changes which the introduction of steam on the ocean and
of railroads on the land will make in the system of warfare, we,
as military men, are almost ready to exclaim with the Moor in
the play: '^Othello's occupation's gone." In the first war, in
which this country shall be required to put forth her energies,
it will be found that railroads are the strongest fortifications,
and the magnetic telegraph the most powerful battery that has
ever been brought to play in military operations. By treaty
with Mexico this nation is bound to prevent Indian depreda¬
tions upon that country, and this great national railway to the
Pacific would greatly facilitate the government of the United
States in preserving the public faith as pledged by treaty stipu¬
lation. We build fortifications, and they remain mere piles of
stone and mortar, of which the public can make no practical
use until we are overtaken by the emergencies of war. And
what, though this railroad to the Pacific, in time of peace, should
be of great advantage in promoting the welfare of the Union, in
subserving the interests of commerce, and in advancing the
prosperity of the people, should it on this account be regarded
the less as a fortification?
Gentlemen have assembled here to consider of this measure
with a single eye to the good of the country, of the whole coun¬
try, and nothing but the country; party spirit, sectional feeling
and local prejudice, I am assured from the character of the del¬
egates here present, are to have no part in the proceedings of
this convention. We are not in possession of information suf¬
ficient to justify us in saying at present where this railroad shall
begin, what route it shall take, or where it shall end. We want
it to take the best route that full and complete examinations and
surveys shall point out. We want it to begin and we want it
to end at those points which, shall be found most convenient for
the great national objects and ends for which it shall be con¬
structed. If after such examinations and explorations it shall
be found that' St. Louis is the best point for the eastern terminus
let it begin there—if Memphis, let it begin here—or if at any
other point north or south of both, in the name of the people
of the United States, and in consideration of their national des¬
tinies, there let it begin.
It has been urged as an objection to this railroad that it can¬
not support itself. Pray does the navy support itself? Do
our fortifications support themselves and make dividends?-—
Where is the work connected with the national defences of these
United States that supports itself or makes dividends? If those
who take this view expect diviéends of cent per cent, wrupg
from the passengers and merchandise to be transported over
this national work, I hope it never will make dividends. It will
bring forth fruits far more Valuable than it is possible /or the
largest dividends ever to be. It will be to the immense region
of the country between this and the Pacific ocean what the
Mississippi is to this valley. It will spread out its branches to
the north and south. It will enrich the people and increase the
capacities of the country to sustain population, and it will give
to this government the power to tax and to raise revenue from
that wealth, and from that increased population and its posterity
forever. These are some of the peaceful fruits—dividends if
you please—of this great national work of defence.
The articles besides troops and munitions of war which are
to be transported over this road, are that class known to rail¬
road tariffs as the light and bulky, or the more valuable articles
of merchandise. We may expect branch roads to be built by
priyate enterprise from it into Northern Mexico, and they will
extend down into the heart of the country until the expense of
transportation by the iron horse from the north, shall meet on
equal terms with the cargoes brought over the mountains on the
backs of mules and asses from the ports of Mexico. All the
Mexicans above this line will be supplied with foreign merchan¬
dise over the railway. They will amount to several millions of
dollars, and this country will have the monopoly of that com¬
merce. We may expect each Mexican to consume of the goods
of Lowell and other "Yankee notions," at the least, two or
three dollars per head; and we shall receive in return there¬
for the produce of the Mexican Mines. But there are other
articles of commerce—such as the great agricultural products
of this country which cannot afford to pay the expenses of
transportation from one end of this road to the other. I have
examined the tariff of freights on merchandise as per fifty odd
railroads in this country. Merchandise is divided generally by
them into three classes. The first class consists of those heavy
articles, such as coal and iron, which require the rudest open
cars for transportation, which do not require houses for storage,
and which are not liable to loss or injury by weather or the
road.
The second class consists of such articles as grain, provisions,
&c., and the third class consists of light and bulky articles,
which are charged by measurement and not by vreight, and
which consists of the more valuable articles of commerce, such
as cloths and manufactured goods. The average rate of freight
charged by these fifty odd roads on the first and cheapest class
of these articles is four and a half cents per ton per mile, and
the average rate on the third and dearest cla.$^ is eight cents per
ton per mile. Now suppose that we take but OBwa-third from
the cheapest class, and say that the railroad which has no div¬
idends to make, can aiford to car:rv all articles of merchandise
at the rate of three cents per ten per mile. The dislance of the
6
58
length of the road by an air line will be about one thousand five
hundred nautical miles, which increased by necessary detouvy
would give us the length of the road, say two thousand statute
miles, which at three cents per ton per mile, would require a
toll of sixty dollars per ton from one end of the road to the
other. I appeal then to the gentlemen present from Illinois,
Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and the southern States,
and ask if their hemp, their wheat or their flour, their pork and
beef, their tobacco 01 corn, their cotton, their sugar or their
lice, if any one of these articles can aflbrd to pay sixty dollars
per ton as a part of the expenses only of finding a market among
the six hundred millions of people who inhabit the countries
washed hy the Pacific? To find a market there for any one of
these articles, requires the construction of a commercial thor¬
oughfare across the isthmus which joins the two Americas. It
can be shown that all these articles can pay the expenses of a
sea voyage to the Isthmus of Panama, and a toll of ten cents
per ton per mile to a railroad there, and be delivered in the mar¬
kets of Peru in less than one-third the time, and at one-half
the cost that it now takes by the way of Cape Horn.
Let us for a moment consider the commercial advantages
which we derive from the course of our rivers and from the ge¬
ographical position of that wonderful ocean basin, which is com¬
posed of the Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean sea. They are
in trufh the Mediterranean of the NewV/orld. A river which
runs north or south crosses parallels of latitude, and consequent¬
ly passes through various climates; therefore a variety of pro¬
ductions is to be found along its banks, and assortments of pro¬
duce are delivered at its mouth, to be borne across the ocean by
the wings of commerce. The Mississippi river crosses more
parallels of latitude than any river in the world, and therefore
we find in its valley a greater variety of agricultural staples
than on the banks of any other river. We have wheat and
corn, hemp and tobacco, provisions, cotton, sugar and rice, with
a vast variety of articles of minor importance. A river which
runs east or west, crosses no parallels of latitude; the same cli¬
mate which exists at its mouth is found at its source, and there
is no variety of agricultural productions along its banks. In
this fixct, we see one of the great sources of commerce and
wealth afforded by the Mississippi river. A sea, comrnercially
speaking, is important in proportion to the extent and climate
of the back country which it drains. And in this point of view
there is no point of the wide ocean which is comparable with
this Mediterranean sea in our midst. It is midway between
North and South Aïnerica; rivers that run from the northern
and southern hemisphere empty into it; in their course they
cross seventy degrees of latitude, and embrace all the agricul¬
tural 'Climates of the world. The back country, drained by these
rivers, is greater • in extent than all the back country that is
drained Into the Mediterranean of the old world, added to all
tfoe country which is drained from Europe into the Atlantic, and
all that is drained from India into the Indian ocean. There,
their rivers are all in the same hemisphere, and they have but
one harvest during the year. Here our rivers rise in both hem¬
ispheres, and we may have a harvest every six months. There
they have to sail twenty thousand miles to exchange the pro¬
ducts of one river basin for those of another in a diíFerent cli¬
mate, Here we can do it within a distance of two thousand
miles. There, it is as much as a ship can do to make one voyage
in a year between their remote river basins. In the same time
here, one ship may make ten voyages between our remote river
basins.
What is it that has caused the nations of Europe to attach so
much value and importance to the commerce of the Indies? It
is because the river basins there, lie in latitudes which are not
found in Europe, and which therefore supply commerce with
staples that are not produced there. All the supplies that are
to be found in the river basins of Europe and of India, with the
exception of mere spices, abound in far greater profusion in
the magnificent system of the New World. As before stated,
this Mediterranean sea is midway between the two Americas;
only give us therefore, a commercial highway across the Isth-
mus, and we make it the commercial centre of the earth. It
will then stand midway between Europe and Asia.
As surely as a railway is constructed across this Isthmus, so
surely will it lead to the construction of a ship canal. For ex¬
perience will prove that all the railways that can be constructed
across the Isthmus of Panama and Tehuantepec will be incapa¬
ble of transporting the merchandise which will seek a transit
there. With a ship canal, a vessel may sail from Liverpool, or
New York, or Charleston, or New Orleans, and entering the
trades, may w^ith fair winds and flowing sheets sail the world
around and accomplish the voyage in much less time than it Is
now possible to do. Such a commercial thoroughfare will place
the Atlantic and the Gulf ports of the United States on the
way side of commerce, and in the great avenue of trade; and
on the return voyage from India, the ports of California will be
thé half way house.
Owing to the course which the winds make it necessary for
vessels to pursue. Great Britain is nearer than we are by ten
days s^il and upwards, to all the foreign markets of the world,
except tliose of the Gulf of Mexico and the Carribbean Sea^
nothwithstanding this advantage, we, by our superior energy as
ship builders and ship sailors, have been coming up wdth her hand
over fist, and the commercial race has now become neck and neck.
She is a throat-latch head. Only give us the highway across
the Isthmus, and we turn the corner, and at a single, bound come
out a clear, full length ahead. England will be distanced, and
will then remain forever under the Yankee stern. A demand
for goods takes place in the markets of China-™advices are
Go
brouüht over in tlilrtv (la vs by the line of steaoK^rs that assume
to run between California and that Empire—the magnetic tele¬
graph takes up the intelligence and instantly delivers it in the
Atlantic ports- and on board the steamer bound for Europe.—
"While the steamer is on the way? the American merchant ships
the goods, sends the invoice with the intelligence across the
railroad to California; there it is delivered to the mail steamer
bound for China, and in a few days reaches his eastern agent.
In the meantime his ship is running down the trade at the
rates of eight miles the hour, passes through the Isthmus canal,
and reaches her destination in thirty, forty or fifty days before
the Englishman can arrive there. Thus he can have the con-
\
trol of the market lor a month before any other nation can send
its ships to compete with us. Do you want any greater advan¬
tage?. Great Britain is aware of this. She well understands
the advantages over us which she now enjoys in the voyage
around either of the Capes. In proof of this I have but to call
Your attention to the fact that although Great Britain has been
making attempt after attempt to discover a N. W. passage, and
in her efiforts has expended life and money without stint, yet
she has never entertained the idea of opening a commercial
highway across the Isthmus. She ha« striven against hope to
Çnd a N. W. passage, for should a practicable one be discovered
there, it would then give her. the advantages which a route
across the Isthmus would give us. To illustrate the feeling of
the English people on this subject, I may be excused for men¬
tioning a circumstance which has come indirectly to my knowl¬
edge, and which is this: You, gentlemen, will recollect that the
right of way across the Isthmus, which has been granted by
New Grenada, was first given to a company of Frenchmen.—r
They sent an agent to London to solicit subscriptions to their
stock. . The rçply of the English Capitalists was, "No!" "Why?"
^'Èecause a commercial thoroughfare across that Isthmus will
put the Americans on the wayside of the great channels of
trade, and will give them advantages over us under which there
will be no longer competition between us and them." It was
then proposed to incorporate a feature in their charter by which
double tolls should be exacted on all American merchandise.—
With that drawback ihev were afraid to enter the lists there
wdth us. I regard the route across the Isthmus of Panama as
the link which is required to make complete the great railway
chain from this valley to the Pacific ocean. It is near the great
circle route from the western coast of South America to China.
It will bring all the travel between those shores and California
and China through this valley and across that railway. It will
bring New Orleans as near the markets of six millions of peo¬
ple in Peru and other Spanish American States, as New York
now is to those of the Mediterranean.
In contemplating the commercial advantages of this Medi¬
terranean Sea of ours, and in attempting to draw a picture of
Gl.
the elements of power and greatness which are centered there,
the brain becomes bewildered and the mind dazzled with the im¬
mensity of the prospect.
AN ABSTRACT
Of the remarks made by different members of the Convention,
as far as could be made up from the minutes:
Hon. II. A. Woodward, of South Carolina, addressed the
Convention. Gentlemen were quick to claim nationality for
their special projects. But he did not love to proceed on meta¬
phors. The St. Louis Convention was not national, the resolu¬
tions from the gentleman from Arkansas, and the gentleman
from Louisiana were not national. St. Louis thought, New Or¬
leans thought, "the line of nationality was by them. Should we
not inquire if the line wuis not here? Conventions were held
to bring to legislative notice local questions, which otherwise
might, indeed certainly woqld escape. He could not go as
far as our extraordinarily patriotic St. Louis friends—we want¬
ed the route here. He had come here to see if this place was
not on the right line for the railroad; and if the government
would apply the mathematical instrument, it might be found so.
We were called upon to decide constitutional questions—the
smallest of which would occupy grave judges for three days,
and require a whole wagon load of books. ^ We should be more
modest; wm should confine ourselves to the expediency, the
practicability of constructing the road and the best line for it.
His resolutions only indicated that a line from Memphis to San
Diego might be the route—there was only a ''might be" affirmed
—was not that modest? Mr. Woodward concluded by moving
his resolutions.
Resolved^ That it is highly expedient, in a military and com¬
mercial point of view, that a communication, by railway, should
exist between the waters of the Mississippi river and the Pacific
ocean; and that every means and facility that may lie within
the constitutional powers of the government, if any do, should
be applied to such object.
Resolved, That a route to terminate westwardly at San Diego,
on the Pacific ocean, and eastwardly at Memphis, on the Mis¬
sissippi mver, is strongly indicated by climate, temperature, geo¬
graphical and commercial relations, directness of course, cen-
traiity, and an equal regard to the interests of every part of the
Union.
Mr. Woodward, of South Carolina, remarked that his reso¬
lutions had not been carelessly drawn. The issues which he bad
made had not been met. Hq proceeded to explain that his res¬
olutions agreed with all the projects for lines of railroad; they
merely asserted that fficts indicated superior advantages on the
02
î'me from Mempliis to San Dies^o, i:idicated onlv as thev might
f O ' ^ CD
well indicate other routes. Did notcentralîty indicate the route
spoken of in his resolution? He did not mean to speak of Ja¬
cob's stafl'—he did not speak of astronomy, but of the earth.—
The road would cross important rivers—the Arkansas—the Rio
Grande—flowing by an empire as large, yes larger than the em¬
pire of France. There were strong commercial and geograph¬
ical facts indicating this point. The road might run, at one ter¬
minus, near Mexican territory, but then (according to the re¬
mark of the gentleman of Missouri,) he could put down his Ja¬
cob's staft> and then that would be the centre of the earth.—^
The route would secure us the immense trade of Western North
America and South America. He did not wish to speak of po¬
litical matters; but there were important political matters, daily
spoken of, which would have to be considered—different inter¬
ests, opposing interests, should have the same facilities of access
to the Pacific. The St. Louis resolutions were not so strong as
he had thought—they had really taken Memphis and Chicago
under the wing of St. Louis—her delegation had even brought
an olive branch with them, but it looked to him wondrously like
a railroad branch. Was the north to be absolved from all obli¬
gation to adopt our route, if a better route? Should the north,
could the north, refuse to adopt that route? No. We had a
right to make an imposing demonstration—why should we not?
This might be, this was, a National Convention, but if we could
not represent the special claims of this section, we were tied
down, and this was a northern convention. The two conven¬
tions, at St. Louis and at Memphis, indicated a difference of
opinion. If gentlemen thought differently they certainly ought
to have gone only to one convention. He wished harmony—
his resolution'sought it—-he wished whig in the extreme, and
democrat in the extreme, might vote for them. His resolutions
let every gentleman go upon the point of expediency and save
his conscience. Would it not be queer, if the Judiciary should
be distressingly compelled to say: Messrs. Congressmen look
out, the Memphis Convention has expressed some shrewd doubts
upon the constitutional powers of Congress. But to be serious.
Congress has the power to make all needful rules and regula¬
tions for the territories and other property of the United States.
Over such Congress (he thought) had a property control; noth¬
ing further. He begged pardon for this slight expression of po¬
litical sentiment; gentlemen had forced it.
Dr. A. Smith, of Texa^, moved to lay the amendments on
the table and to refer the resolutions of Mr. Woodward to the
usual committee.
Mr. Woodward, of South Carolina, rose. He did not expect
to make, he did not feel called upon to make, an elaborate ar¬
gument. The gentleman from Louisiana had not met a single
point in his argument; if he had, he (Mr. W.) would be glad to
hear it indicated; he liked patriotism, but jockeying, intrigue
63
were to guide Congressional action in deciding upon a route.—
He disliked to say these things, but they were so, and the mem¬
ber who talked to Congress of patriotism, &c., unless he "spoke
for Buncomb," would be set down as a fool. Congress would
decide upon a route in advance of a survey—a majority never
gave up to engineers and mathematical instruments the decision
of a question which they might decide in favor of a minority.
The majority would run the road upon its route," even if they
lan it bluffly against the mountain barriers. Unless this route
was sent up to Congress by this Convention it would nevei even
be heard of in a Congressional committee. Our silence would
be assumed to be an admission of great doubt in reference to the
merits of our route. The St. Louis Convention had endorsed
the St. Louis project—why should we not do the same for the
Memphis route? Other routes would come up with recommen¬
dations to Congress—and, even to the disregard of the exten¬
sive patriotism of the gentleman from Louisiana, we would have
to look out for our own interests, because nobody else would.—
He rather doubted the probability of the Memphis'route having
a fair hearing in Congress—the Memphis route would be ground
to dust and nothingness between the upper and nether millstones.
We would have to wait until the attempt to construct a railroad
on another route had been made, and failed—that would be the
only demonstration in favor of the Memphis route. His resolu¬
tions were more national than the resolutions of the gentleman
from Louisiana; his resolutions most singularly and unfortu¬
nately Indicated a region of country just embracing the slave
States. That was bad and might originate scandal and unjust
imputations against the convention. t
Mr. Campbell, of Alabama, took the floor. The resolutions
of the committee had scarcely been treated fairly; members did
not seem to understand them. We are told that we must proph¬
ecy smooth things and not ¡»peak right things to the people of the
United States. His State was not on the line of any of the pro¬
posed routes—he had not personal or State Interests in any of
the projects before the people—but he and his State had im¬
provements which would lead them probably to favor the Mem¬
phis route. Mr. Whitney's project, it was plain, would make
the section in which it was located controlling in this country—
make it immensely powerful^—and therefore his project was ob¬
jectionable. We should not hesitate to indicate a particular
route—-St. Louis ought to have done so—we ought to do so.—
St. Louis was a noble city, and she should have indicated her
route to Congress for its favorable consideration. But she had
covertly done so; and that was not right. And when she
talked of bringing a irunk merely to the limits of the State, this
started disturbing constitutional questions, which ought to be
avoided or the constitution amended. We ought not to he dis¬
cussing such matters, hut organize public senliment and act upon
it, so as to secure the accomplishment of this great project.
61
Mr. Stanton made an explanation in reference to tiie remarks
made by Mr. Woodward, of S. C., in reference to the manner
in which votes were made among members of Congress.
Mr. Woodward remarked that he meant to say that arrange¬
ments were made among members of Congress which made
votes. He regretted that he had made remarks which made ex¬
planations necessary; but we must talk plainly to aspirants.-—
He should cheerfully give up in favor of the best route—but we
could only get the survey of the Memphis route by indicating
it—it was not true that he had ever endorsed Mr. Whitney's
route.
CORRESPONDENCE.
Charleston, S. C., May 18, 1849.
Gentlemen: I am in the receipt of your very acceptable
pamphlet, and communication, and if possible will endeavor to
unite with./ou in convention on the 4th of July next. His
Excellency Governor Seabroke will probably appoint a large
number of delegates, so that this State you may expect to be
represented at Memphis on that day.
You are aware that a railroad from the valley of the Missis¬
sippi to the Pacific was brought to the notice of the Memphis
Convention held many years since, as a part of the system then
in progress, in the eastern sections of the Union; and all with
the design, and tending towards the valley of the Mississippi,
but which could find no terminus short of the Pacific. In pre¬
senting these views to the enlightened body there assembled,
while many considered them premature, if not extravagant, few
believed that the period was so near at hand, w^hen the neces¬
sity of the enterprise would be imposed on us. The Mexican
war has drawn within our boundaries a large domain on the
Western Ocean; and it has now become, in the judgment of the
mosts sagacious statesmen, more important to devise the means
.of certain and speedy communication with that Pacific frontier,
than to perfect those which seemed to need impx'ovement be¬
tween the Atlantic and the valley of the Mississippi. This caû
only be accomplished and effectually by a railway through our
domain. The projects by the Ishmus of Panama, and through
Mexico by the St. Juan and Lake Nicaragua, are but tempora¬
ry expedients, and the more objectionable as beyond our terri¬
torial limits and subject to the control of foreign powers, and
not acceptable to all of our own people. 1 trust therefore that
the initiatory step will be taken at the Convention about to as¬
semble at Memphis, which will give impulse and the proper direc
Hon to this great enterprise. We must look to the shortest and
the iiiost practicable route; to the one which at least expendi¬
ture will most effectually accomplish the object to be attained.
Let us once establish a crreat railroad trunk on the route which
65
will be so recommended, and all minor or local interests can be
accommodated by branch roads, or other communications, such
as the Mississippi must afford, to the great railroad highway to
the Pacific.
Respectfully Your Ob't Serv't,
JAMES GADSDEN.
To John T. Trezevant, Esq., and Associate Commissioners.
Indianapolis, la., October I, 1849.
Gentlemen: Your very polite invitation to your contemplated
Railroad Convention to be held at Memphis on the 23d of Oc¬
tober next, has been received, and until within a few days I
supposed it in be practicable for me to go directly from the St.
Louis Convention to yours. I need scarcely say that for some
years I have taken a deep interest in these improvements, and
especially to that of a railway connection between the Atlantic
and the Pacific. Such a work is worthy of the age, and of this
energetic and powerful nation; and I will not suffer myself to
doubt for a moment that it will be accomplished sooner or later.
The national interest demands it, the people of the southeast,
the centre, and the west wiW demand it, and Congress must yield
to such a call, and grant, in the shape of public lands, or other¬
wise, such aid as the magnitude of the work and its cost of con¬
struction shall require. The grounds upon which I place these
views cannot be submitted in this brief letter.
I have read with some attention your Circular Address, as
well as that of the friends of the St. Louis Convention, and in
some respects I differ from both. I refer to the idea that seems
to pervade each, that the point of the commencement of such
a work should be confined to one or other of the two points,
Memphis or St. Louis. It seems to me that a single glance at
the map of the United States, with a knowledge of the position
of the commercial cities on the Atlantic, and of the States,
through which such a work would run, will satisfy any mind,
not prejudiced by local considerations, that such a work never
can be confined to a single route on this side of the Rocky
Mountains. It has seemed to me that Memphis might well be
the point on the Mississippi in the southern route to the Atlantic,
and St. Louis in the central or middle route, the first terminating
at Charleston, South Carolina, and branching to Mobile, and
the other terminating at the cities of Boston, New York, Phila¬
delphia, and Baltimore, by a single line from St. Louis east to
the Ohio State line, and from thence branching to the last named
cities. Assuming, therefore, that Memphis shall be the point on
the Mississippi river of the southern route, and St. Louis of the
middle or central route, it seems to follow that these two routes
or branches, of the great line to the Pacific, shall unite at some
point this side of the Rocky Mountains,, and from thence to the
Pacific. But a single work should be thought of, and upon it
0
m
íihould be concentrated the whole energies of the friends of the
Atlantic and Pacific railroad of the Union. With such a con¬
centration the work, the greatest the world ever saw, may be
made, while it is too obvious to need comment, that a contro¬
versy as to routes must end in the defeat of both routes, and of
the project altogether, a result deeply to be deplored by all who
wish to see this great work constructed, among whom I most
sincerely subscribe myself.
Yours Truly,
O. H. SMITH.
Messrs. John T. Trezevant and others, committee.
Lafayette, la., Sept. 19, 1849.^
Gentlemen: I have received your letter of the 1st inst., invi¬
ting me to be presentat the National Convention of delegates
proposed to be held at Memphis on the 23d proximo, "for the
purpose of aiding the project of connecting the Mississippi river
with the Pacific ocean, by means of a Great Central Railroad
Highway.''
It would afford me great gratification to attend, if able to do
so, both the convention at your place and the one summoned at
St. Louis, and to unite my voice with that of the thousands of
my countrymen who believe that it is competent for our gov¬
ernment to wield something more than a barren sceptre in the
exercise of its powers, as connected with commerce and its ad¬
juncts. This "Northwest passage," or "Royal road to India,"
is now plainly discovered to lie right before our faces, and not
through Arctic regions of "thick-ribbed ice;" and is worthy of
the impress of our free and spirited Federal Government.—
What more noble use could be made of our bountiful public do¬
main?
No sectional views or divided opinions ought to mar the work.
Let these questions be submitted to the umpirage of patriotism
and the decisions of professional science. Under such auspices,
only, can we hope to moor our fleets in the sealed ports of Ja¬
pan, and to freight our adventurous stéamers with the products
of China and of India. While observing this distant and golden
commerce from Memphis, St. Louis or Chicago, those places
seem to have no parallax, and all to make but one point for cal¬
culation. Let the mighty voice of the nation be united in a
work that is worthy of the"ambition of more than a single age.
Very Respectfully Your Ob't Serv't,
'ALBERT S. WHITE.
Messrs. John T. Trezevant, James C. Jones, M. B. Winches¬
ter, and others.
Baltimore, May 31, 1849.
Gentlemen: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of
your letter of the llth inst., inviting me, in kind and flattering
67
terms, to attend the Convention which is to meet at Memphis
on the 4th of July next, in regard to **the project of construct¬
ing a railroad from the valley of the Mississippi to the Pacific
ocean."
No invitation could be more tempting than that thus extend¬
ed to me. The subject is one which has long interested me.—
The time is ripe for action in reference to it; the future is full of
> promise in regard to it; and those who participate in the action
of the convention, will, I doubt not, have the satisfaction here¬
after of reflecting that their agency v/as influential in promo¬
ting it. Most truly would I rejoice to be one of them. But
other engagements which are paramount, place this wholly out
of my power, and all that I can give in return for your invita¬
tion are my warmest wishes for your success.
We live in a stirring time. Great events follow each other
with a rapidity that is absolutely startling: an ordinary life time
now embraces, in the fruitfulness of its occurrences, as much as
many generations of old existence. Nothing proves all this
more conclusively than the facts connected with the very pro¬
ject w^hich you have now^ in han^.
A few years since, a railroad from the upper Lakes to Oregon
was spoken of, and the subject brought before Congress, and it
was admitted by the projector, that if San Francisco were the
property of the United States, its harbor might be a desirable
terminus—one, indeed, of too great termini, the other being at
thë mouth of the Columbia. Suddenly, unexpectedly, a matter
not then dreamed of, we have a war with Mexico, the brillian¬
cy of whose victories for a brief season, absorbs exclusively the
attention of the public. The war ends and finds San Francisco
the property of the United States. Both termini are now with¬
in our borders, and the plan of a railroad on many routes again
becomes prominent. But it is advocated for great international
ends. Its results are so magnificent, its effect on the world so
important, as to make it almost an abstraction; and people^are
inclined to look upon it as one of those great goods, too great
ever to come to pass; as vain to struggle for as to grasp at a star.
Suddenly, all this difficulty disappears. The gold placers are
discovered—a mighty emigration sets forth—every man, wo¬
man and child of which is instituting, on the entire journey,
a comparison between the ox-wagon across the prairies, the
ship around Cape Horn, or a tramp across the Isthmus, and a
railw^ay w^ith its well adapted machinery. Nor do the emigrantes
make this comparison alone. The merchant, impatient for his
returns—the remaing friends, anxious for news—those contem¬
plating a removal to the Pacific—all make it. So that á rail¬
road has become a desideratum which all believe to be within rea¬
sonable reach—all the more readih% because all have a direct
interest in the realization of their w^ishes. Without the gold of
California, the peopling of the Pacific coast would have been
the work of long years, and the conviction of the possibility of
t)8
il railroad would have grown as slowly. But the gold builds up
a nation there at once, and at once every one is convinced.
,1 look, iherefore, upon the construction of the railroad, and
tità|t too, forthwith, as a necessary consequence of what has al¬
ready occurred. I hail your convention as a most important
improvement at exactly the right time, and my only regret is
that I cannot join in its deliberations.
I am gentlemen, with very great respect,
Your most obedient servant,
JOHN H. B. LATROBE.
John T. Trezevant, and others, committee, Memphis, Tensi;
3 5556 042
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