E168 .D78 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DD0D3bnmA L E T T E R S Connecticut Courant, Pennsylvania Independent Republican, Washington Chronicle, North Carolina Union Banner, Nemaha Courier, Pittsburg Commercial, and Topeka Record, D. F. DEINKWATER, Secretarj L© Walt©€ 1^1©^^ ^s§j@©latl@a- I'UULISHKD iiV THE UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION, WASHINGTON. 1867. <=^ Its ■Jl78 1<^1103T (Established at Hartford, Conn., October, 1764.) A TRIP TO THE WEST. The Camden & Amboy, Pennsylvania Central, Pittsburg, Columbus & Cincinnati Railways— Cincinnati— Ohio & Mississippi Railway— St. Louis— Missouri Pacific Rail- way—Kansas and its resources— Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division, and its rapid course of construction —Information for Emigrants, &,c., &c. Special correspondence of Thk Haktkorh (Jouuan v. (Jedar Point, Chase County, Kansas, October 25, 1865. 1 am now on the south-western frontier ot" Kansas — 150 miles from the Missouri river, and 120 miles from Lawrence. My last letter was dated the 5th inst., at Cincinnati, Ohio, where I arrived on tlie 4th from Kew York, via Camden & Amboy, Pennsylvania Central, and the Pitts- burg-, Columbus & Cincinnati Railways— a route that I can recommend as surpassed by none, if equalled by any. From Cincinnati to St. l^ouis the ride over the Ohio and Mississippi railroad was really enjoyable ; the road itself is an excellent one, a wide gauge ami very smooth. It is well stocked, having all the late improvements in the way of ventilators, sleeping oars, &c. The distance from Cincinnati to St. Louis is ;)45 miles hy this road, which runs almost on an air line directlv west. CONNECTICUT COURANT. The prairie scenery through the great and fertile State of Illinois is somewhat varied and quite interest- ing. It consists, however^ of broad jirairies for the most part, alternated with quite extensive groves of timber. Villages and towns occur every few miles, and some of them assume the prujiortion and im])ortance of cities. These Illinois prairies are rather level. The soil is of good quality and produces large crops of the cereals, as well as vegetables and grass. As in other Western States, the sorghum is now raised abundantly, and with large profits to the cultivator. It has been but a very few years since this production was first introduced into the United States, and now millions of gallons of mo- lasses and a good deal of sugar are manufactured annu- ally in the Western States. The crop is heavy this year through Illinois, and indeed throughout the west. The corn and potato crops are also unusually good this sea- son. It is an interesting sight to a New Englander who has always been accustomed to the rugged rocks and everlasting hills of the eastern States, to pass over the prairies of Illinois by the Ohio and Mississippi railroad. The boundless prairies, almost level, and the successive miles of coni/iclds , keep one on the constant alert. At East St. Louis we crossed the mighty Mississippi and found ourselves in St. Louis, the metropolis of the west. The stream is crossed by ferry-boats. The rail- road company, by an admirable arrangement, transfer passengers across the river in omnibuses to any part of the city free. The past season has been an extraordi- nary one ibr business at St. Louis ; its tonnage has been one-third greater than in 1859, an unusual year for business. The reopening of trade with the late in- surrectionary States has lent an impetus to commerce on the Mississippi ; besides this, immigration to Mis- CONNECTICUT COURANT. soiiri and Kansas, and to the gold regions of the western territory has been greater the past season than ever before. These canses have contributed greatly to the unexampled prosperity of St. Louis. The Missouri PacificRailway is now in excellent order; trains are running regularly through from St. Louis to Wyandotte, making close connection with the Union Pacific, Eastern Division. This is of great importance to the traveling public, and especially to emigrants to that part of Missouri ; also to Kansas, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, the other territories, and California. KANSAS. My impressions of this ocean of prairies are not new. Your readers will please bear in mind that I, your hum- ble correspondent, have lived in this State for a half score of years, having immigrated to the then territory in April, 1855. So I have personally experienced a goodly measure of its ups and downs. Under these con- siderations I propose, at the risk of worrying your patience and crowding your space, to give a brief synop- sis of the possible good and evil of settling in Kansas. Kansas, (extending 375 or 400 miles westward from the Missouri river) is a fine rolling prairie country. It is traversed by many streams, many of the smaller of which are dry during the summer months. Im- mediately on the margin of these creeks are belts of timber, consisting mostly of oak, black-walnut, and hackberry. The bottoms, (usually on only one side of the stream) varies in width from a third of a mile to 4 or 5 miles. These bottom lands are exceedingly rich, and bring large crops of corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, sugar cane and vegetables, as well as hemp and cotton. The successful raising of the latter is no longer an ex- periment here. Rye and sugar cane are called sure crops in Kansas — they have never tailed here except in CONNECTICUT COURANT. the season of the great drought in 1860. The cultiva- tion of sugar cane and manufacturing molasses and sugar is getting to be quite extensively carried on here. The State already produces nearly enough of these "sweets" for home consumption. But Kansas seems to have been made with special reference to STOCK RAISING. To this purpose it is perfectly adapted. The climate is mild, and the rich wild grasses that grow all over these prairie billoAvs are natural food for quadrupeds of the bovine species, as well as for horses and sheep. To satisfy one's mind of this fact, let him consider what vast herds of fat buffaloes and wild horses these prairies once sustained. There were literally millions of them. Tlie westward march of civilization has scared them away, and domestic animals are taking their place. The cost of cutting, hauling and stocking hay, has been, since the increase of wages and everything else^ from ,$2 to $3 a ton. It is cut with machines, and dur- ing the past two seasons horse pitchforks have been introduced. They are a good thing when skilfully used, and save a good deal of hard work. The yield of prairie hay ranges from one-half to four tons per acre. The market for cows and working oxen is good, and promises to be for many years to come. The prairies are beautiful and fertile ; timber and building stone are abundant ; there are veins of coal (not much worked yet,) and beds of salt ; the climate is mild and salubrious ; we have " Italian skies," &c.^ &c. ; yet there is some disagreeableness, which I must not fail to mention, lest some of your readers might come here to settle and find that they had not heard or thought of the dark side. The worst peculiarity about Kansas, CONNECTICUT COURANT. tliat I know of, is the high winds ; they prevail the hardest during March, April, and sometimes part of May ; and, I tell you, it blows in earnest. It generally blows for about three days iVom one quarter, then changes and comes i'rom the opposite direction, after a day's lull, equally furious. About the first or middle of May it settles into a delightful breeze, which is cool, and continues all summer, rendering the heated term much less oppressive than it is in other prairie countries. Taking it all in all, I candidly consider Kansas a fine country, and destined to be a very important part of the Union, She has great resources yet undeveloped. The Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division — the great national railway, destined to connect the teeming At- lantic States with the golden shores of the Pacific, runs through the centre of the State. Branch roads are under contract and being built as rapidly as possible, PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT. The first few years of tlie settling of Kansas was marked by strife and bloodshed. Here, indeed, on this consecrated soil began the bloody conflict between slavery and freedom, which has so lately rocked our government from centre to circumference, and filled three hundred thousand patriot graves. The "first gun" was not fired at Fort Sumter, but it was fired in this State over six years before. The Free State men were few but brave. The struggle continued with great bitterness four or five years. This state of things re- tarded settlement considerably. It seemed so uncertain as to what would be the final result, that many people who would otherwise have come to settle stayed back, and left the unfortunate territory to develop herself. In 1860 a terrible drought prevailed, so that nothing was raised; the people were poor, and had it not been for aid from the people of the more fortunate States, CONNECTICUT COURANT. much suffering would have been the consequence. This drought was beyond all precedent. No rain of any con- sequence fell for eleven months. The baked, nnwater- ed earth brought forth no fruit, for vegetation dried up and died ; in some instances forest trees were killed. This again scared immigration to a great extent. In 1861 Kansas was admitted into the Union as a State. Since then, up to last spring, the war for the Union raged furiously. Four fifths of the early settlers of the State joined the arni}^ to lielp save the government. Seventeen regiments (out of a population of only 107,000 in 1860) went forth to battle for free government ; and braver men never draw the sword. Meanwhile agricul- tuTe was neglected, and many farms went to wreck for want of help. The past season, however, has witnessed a heavy im- migration here, and there is good prospect of much greater next spring. There are certainly numerous inducements for many of your New Englanders to leave their contracted fields and come and make new homes on the lovely prairies of Kansas. Land is still cheap. On the outskirts of the settlements good government land can yet be had under the Pre-emption or the Homestead Act. I shall return to Washington soon. D. F. Drinkwater. CONNECTICUT COURANT. FLYING CORRESPONDENCE. Retrospective— Pittsburg— Coal, Iron and Smoke— Situa- tions wanted— Westward bound— Our industrial inter- ests, their requirements, &e. Special Correspondence of" The Hartford Comkant. St. Charles Hotel,, Pittsburg, Pa., August 12, 1866. After spending a week in Quebec we sailed by the provincial steamship "Lady Head" to Shediac, N. B., (about 800 miles.) We arrived there Saturday, July 7th. The trip was very cool and healthful, and to us, exceedingly interesting and pleasurable. At the high- est point we were at 50° north latitude. The coasts- of Canada and New Brunswick present a rather dreary appearance. An almost continuous string of fisher- men's cottages stretch from Quebec to Pictou, N. S. They are scarcely ever over one and a half stories high, made of boards and painted white. The soil is not dis- tinguished for its fertility, though oats, potatoes, and some wheat is grown. They cannot raise corn to any extent. Ship building and fishing are the chief occupations of the inhabitants. Tlie people complain of dull times. Few ships, comparatively, are being built, and the fisheries do not yield so largely as formerly. We passed the Sabbath, (July 8th,) at a farm house near Summer Side, Prince Edward's Island. We didn't take much of a fancy to Prince Edward's Island. We had been told that it was a "perfect garden," but found that to be an exaggeration^ or a fabrication rath- er ; for so far from that it lacks both the richness of soil and the high state of cultivation to entitle it to be called "garden." There is, furthermore, probably not over two-thirds of the land tillable, a large per cent. being swampy. The peojile do not possess the go- 10 CONNECTICUT COURANT. ahead-spirit of enterprise that Americans do. If the citizens of Summer Side are a fair specimen — and I was told they were — I pronounce the people of P. E. Island considerable behind the as-e in the attributes of enliirht- enment. They are mostly English and Scotch, and seem much attached to the mother country ; and in their prayers, never forget to remember " Her Most Gracious Majesty, the Queen," and "all the Nobility." But perhaps it is little out of place at present to be telling you about our visit in the Province; suffice it to say that our tour will ever be rememberedwith pleasure. We returned from P. E. I. via St. John, N. B., arid Boston. The distances are : Summer Side to Shediac, (steamer,) 35 miles; Shediac to St. John, N. B., (Eu- ropean and North American railroad,) 108 miles ; St. John to Boston, (steamship — and splendid steamers they are.) 4T0 miles ; Boston to Albany, 200 miles ; Albany to New York, 150 miles. We spent three weeks among the hills of northern Pennsylvania, and are now with our faces towards the setting sun. Should good luck attend our journey you will soon hear from us in Kansas. PITTSBURG. Pittsburg is very appropriately called the "smoky city." Everything is black here, externally. The buildings look dingy in the extreme. Cinders sift down everywhere like a storm of black snow flakes. The cit- izens, to some extent, look "smutty" too. The cause of all this, you are aware, is the innumerable amount of coal burned in the blast furnaces, rolling mills, and other iron manufacturing establishments. In the way of iron-works the city of Pittsburg is far ahead of all others in the United States. Here is the head of the Ohio river, and we already begin to feel westward. Business is dull. That is the crv here and elsewhere. CONNECTICUT COURANT. 11 There ar& plenty of young men here with nothing to do, as is witnessed hy the following, which I clip from an evening paper : "In response to the advertisement for a book-keeper, whicli jqipeared in our columns two days since, some one hundred and forty applications were received within twcnty-fonr hours, and douhle that number have come in up to date." The low tax imposed on the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of foreign goods, the products of foreign lahor, foreign food, and foreign capital imported into this country to displace the products of American lahor and American capital, and the high tax imposed on our own industrial interests explains the reason of this enforced idleness. When will our Congressmen learn wisdom. I did not, however, intend to discuss questions of political economy in this, hut rather, matters about town. As to hotels, the Monongahela House stands here yet, and is running yet, as it has for thirty years, but it shows its age, and is much the worse for wear. The St. Charles was reopened ten days ago. It had been closed for several months for repairs. It has been made neiu inside, and newly furnished in splendid style. Mr. Sirls, the popular landlord for the past fifteen years, is still on hand, and keeps one of the best houses in the Union. It is the hotel of Pittsburg. To-night we resume our journey to Prairie Land. Yours truly, D. F. Drinkwater. 12 CONNECTICUT COURANT. FLYING CORRESPONDENCE. Rusticating— The Progress of Kansas— The Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division ; its Rapid Construction and Importance in a National Point ofView— A Remarkable Shower, &c. (The following letter got mislaid, or else it would have appeared in our colums before :) Special correspondence of The Hartford Coukant. ToPEKA, Kansas, Sept. 4, 1866. Since my arrival in Kansas some three weeks ago, I have been rusticating in the Southwestern "portion of the State, one hundred miles from this, the capital city. Kansas, in town and country, has made a rapid pro- gress since I was here last fall. Immigration has been far heavier the past year than ever before. It is esti- mated that since last January the accessions to the population of the State cannot be less than a hundred thousand. Should the census be taken to-day there would probably be a showing of at least 240,000 as the population of the State. In 18G0 there were 107,000. /^ THE union pacific RAILWAY, EASTERN DIVISION. The rapid construction of the Union Pacific Kail- way, Eastern Division, imparts an impetus to every- thing. The road is being pushed rapidly westward. Congress, in July last, passed a law to change the location of the road so that it should run up the Smoky Hill instead of the Republican, as provided by the original act. This loill insure the road becoming the great trunk line east of the mountains. An important step consequent upon this favorable legislation was recently taken by the directors, in ordering two hundred and fifty miles more of the road to be put immediately under contract, and finished by December, 1867. CONNECTICUT COURANT. 13 The country may well rejoice at the rapid progress of this great National enterprise. Kailroads are pro- jected north and south, designed as feeders to this grand cosmopolitan highway. God speed them all, for the locomotive, as it ploughs its course through the wilderness, carries with it civi- lization and high enlightenment, and diffuses along its pathway hlessings almost indispensahle in this age of intelligence. It is no very easy thing to enter a new territory and make homes in the wilderness far from navigable rivers and railroads. For their patient en- durance and love of freedom, the early settles of Kansas Avill yet live to realize the fruition of their most san- guine hopes. The material prosperity of her people was never so great as at present. TOPEKA, the capital of Kansas, is an enter})rising city of 3700 inhabitants, and is rapidly going ahead. They have here two lirst-class colleges and other schools of less importance. There are a number of churches. The morality of the place is of a tolerable high order. The town is beautifully situated on the south bank of the Kansas River. Fine lolling prairies, like ocean billows, are on the south and west. To the eastward, the rich Kansas bottom stretches away down the river. On the north sitle of the town is tlu^ chief river, margined by a wide belt of timber. POLITICS. The Republican convention, to nominate a Congress- man and State oflficers, meets here to-morrow. The present Governor, S. J. Crawford, and our tried and true Congressman, Hon. Sidney Clarke, will probably be I'enominated. The latter gentleman made his mark during the last session. He is the most ])0])ular man in the State. The legislature next winter will have two Senators to elect, one to fill the place of the late General Lane, and the other to succeed Mr. Pomeroy, whose term expires next March. The policy of the President finds little favor among this freedom-loving people. A REMARKABLE THUISlDER-STORxM. There was the most terrific thunder shower last night that I ever witnessed. From 11 p. m. till 1 a. m. the water came down in torrents. An incessant roar of thunder and constant Hashes of the vivid lightning rendered the night awfully sublime. It is said that more than twelve inches of water fell I Yours truly, D. V. D. PROM WASHINGTON. Correspondence oI'Thk Hartfohd CouitANT. Washington, Aug. U, 1865. The apprehensions of trouble with rebel aspirants to seats in our Congress, expressed by your AVashington correspondent in his letter of July 25th,* were severely ridiculed here at the time, especially by J. W. Forney, editor of the Chronicle, who has, however, on more mature reflection and extended observation, entirely changed his mind, and now comes around to the opin- ions expressed in said letter, which was i»ublished in the Courant of July 29th. Better late than never. The Chronicle of the Gth inst. contains the following from the pen of Mr. Forney: '•The present fdvoiiie copperhead expedient is to demand the admission into Congress of representatives from the late rebel States, elected by such bitter rebels as lately threw their ballots in Richmond, Va. It is the great mission of the democratic leaders. They are prompted to it by various motives. The rebel Congressmen will be ihe nucleus of a new democracy, fashioned after the Breckinridge and Buchanan organizations, which plunged the nation into civil war. They will help the men who broke the old party to resume control in the several Southern States. These reunited brejbren can then proceed lo repeal the war measures of Congress, especially the confiscation laws. But, above all, when the doors are thrown open, and the rebel Congressmen are brought into the Capitol in triumph, the assault upon the public credit and upon the national financial securities will begin in terrible earnest. To the rebels, the national debt of the United States is a most odious sight. They know it was incurred to crush them and to abolish slavery. — They know that their confiscated lands will be made to contribute to its liquidation. They know that, while not one dime of their own debt will ever be recognized, they will be compelled to help to raise the needed revenue for the payment of the interest and ultimately of the principal. They long, therefore, to get into the next Congress to unite with their democratic brethren, to vote against all revenue or ajipro- priatiou bills, and boldly to raise and fight under the flag of repudiation. The conspiracy has been duly organized, and involves more elements than the pco])le would at present readily believe. I regard it as the great peril of the republic. Thus it is the duty of all patriots, apart from their own interests, to be ready to meet it. Under the most plausible and deceptive theories, this infamous demand will be made. It has already contrived to secure the sanction of what are supposed to be great names. It contem- plates the complete disgrace and the most astounding repudiation in civil history. I do not fear that it will succeed : because it is only necessary to expose such a, plot to bring it to shame."' To be forewarned is to be tbrearined. The loyal people are terribly in earnest in the determination that rebels shall not control tliis Government and wring from us the adv^antages gained to free Government in consequence of the long, bloody slaveholder's rebellion, which has cost our country three hundred and fifty thousand lives, antl three thousand millions of money. And to tliis end we must have faithful men in office ; men true to the principles of freedom, free labor, and free Government. No rebel or rebel sympathizers in the departments, and the fewer the better in Congress. This city presents remarkable opportunities for study- ing the spirit of the rebellion and the slave aristocracy. The hotels are full (»f rebel officers and rebel leaders, constantly, and they almost universally exhibit the old austere, arrogant, slave-driving spirit; they are for reconstruction with tbemselves as the rulers. Notbing else will suit them. I have conversed witb scores ; and this is the spirit of tlieir expressed desires. Yours, S:c. 1). F. D. •■'Note. — 'The following is the letter referred to in the above 16 CONNECTICUT COURANT. THE PLOT AGAINST CONGRESS. Correspondence Hartfokd Couramt. Washington, D. C, July 25, 1865. Mr. Wendell Phillips recently warned the country that the rebels and copperheads secretly contemplate taking possession of the House of Representatives, to organize and control Congress next December by a sudden coup d'etat. For this patriotic and timely warning, Mr. Pliillips received ridicule, abuse, or ap- proval, according to the intelligence, honesty, or pa- triotism of the commentator. Now, it is within my personal knowledge, that intelligent ex-rebels, (there being no rebels now, you know,) do expect to both organize and control Congress next December, the law of Congress, of July, 1862, or any other law, to the contrary notwithstanding. Emi- nent conservatives may poh-poh at this assertion as they did the assertion that the rebels contemplated the inva- sion of the loyal States, the intentional systematic starvation of our jjrisoners, and the assassination of our President. But Grettysburg, Antietam, the tield of Morgan's raid, the horrible stockade at Andersonville and Belle Isle, Ford's theatre and the President's tomb at Springfield — all attest the danger of disregard- ing patriotic and timely warning. The mode of procedure, names of the managers of the contemplated effort to retrieve rebel losses by combined force and fraud, remain a secret. The result aimed at is, the withdrawal of National troops from the rebel States, the virtual restoration of slavery, even if in a modified form; the " incorporation of the Confederate and Federal debt," the prostration of free labor, espe- cially the manufacturing interests of the country, and the substitution of the manufacture of England and CONNECTICUT COURANT. 17 France. In short, to break down the free labor policy of the Government hardly yet inaugurated, and to build up the slave labor policy which as yet is not broken down. The character of the contemplated rebel representation in our Congress may be judged by the fact tliat the notorious guerilla, Mosby, is a candidate for Congress from the seventh Virginia district, and his prospects of election may be seen in the fact that Mr. Montgomery Slaughter has just been re-elected Mayor of Fredericks- burg, Va. In order tliat your readers may see exactly the character of Virginia's chosen ones, I will give a history of one day in Mayor Slaughter's life. On Sunday, May 8th, 1864, some hundreds of our slightly wounded from the Wilderness attempted to pass through Fredericksburg, on their way to Wash- ington. There had been miserable management on the field, or those men would not have been wandering helplessly around the country. Fredericksburg, on the 8th of May, was not in the possession of rebel troops, having been evacuted the night before by the cavalry of Lee. Yet^ when these wounded and unarmed men began moving in small squads through the city, peacea- bly and quietly, this man Slaughter gathered the citizens together and set upon them, taking them prisoners and marching them to Hamilton's Crossings, and put them on board trains for Richmond. Several of these prisoners died in consequence of the rough usage and exposure they experienced, and all of them, wounded as they were, were consigned to the pitiless rigors of rebel prisons. This man Slaughter has been re-elected Mayor of Fredericksburg. Let it be remembered that this Mayor Slaughter is a fair sample of the officials chosen by our " Southern brethren,'' and that they utterly scout the idea of the enforcement of the law of Congress of July 2, 1862, 18 CONNECTICUT COUKyVNT. which provides that no person shall hold office under this Government who has ever held office under the rebel Confederate Government. The rebel journals boldly assert that representatives from rebel districts Avill have precisely the same rights and privileges on the floor of Congress next December, as the regularly chosen members from the loyal States. See the enclosed article from the Richmond Commercial Bulletin of July 19, 18(35 : THE KADICAL KEVOLUTIO.N . Wendell I'hillijjs demands that the clerk of the House of Kepieseiilatives, whose duty it is to call the roll of States and receive the credentials of members at the opening of Congress, shall refuse to call the ^Southern States, and admit only those members who appear from States tliat have not been in rebellion; and he calls upon the Radicals of the North to organize and bring such an influence upon the clerk as shall force him to take this course. This crazy, fanatical, and revohuionary suggestion is in excellent keeping with the generality of ideas and theories concocted in the political school of which Mr. Wendell Phillips is so conspicuous an exponent. Among the many wild, random, and not-to-be-accounted-for absurdities broached by the Red-bonnets, we can recall nothing more insanely revolutionary than this proposition It is the product of run-mad Radicalism, that finds its exercise in the violence that raises a lawless hand against authority, and is but another evidence of that demoniac spirit of resistance to the counsels of peace that makes the Red-bonnets at once the marplots and fermenters of discord of the country. This sought-for laying of unholy hands upon the machinery of law, is something in advance of anythtug that the Radicals have yet ventured upon. In its highest and broadest sense, it is " treason," and the movers and approvers of the i)roposition are "traitors" to their country. In a time like the piesent, when the authority of " the Union" is being cemented by the influence of the strong hand in one section, why not correct in the other the rash teachings of that fanatical class, who, hopelessly in the minority, and witnessing day by day the decline of their short-lived power, are incit- ing to deeds of the most revolutionary character. Political trimmers and weather-cocks in this city, many of them, believe in the approaching change in national affairs, and are trimming themselves accord- ingly. So sanguine are copperheads of the success of the conspiracy, that rebel sympathizers in office here who have heretofore been obliged to profess Union senti- ments, now come out and express their secesh senti- ments openly, and triumphantly predict a speedy end CONNECTICUT COURANT. 19 of what they are pleased to term ''Black Republican rule." It may not be generally known that the largest por- tion of intermediate official jjositions in the departments here, chief clerks, heads of bureaus, etc., are filled by men appointed by President Buchanan, and who have held over by the practice of a species of cliicanery at which they are adepts. These intermediate cop[)erhead officials largely influence those above, and wholly con- trol those belov/ them. It is plain, from the conversation of tiic rebel leaders I meet here daily, that they do not dream or think of giving u}) i)0\ver or place. True, they have not arras or war-like organizations with which they lately defied this Governmeutaud carried gloom throughout the land; but their hearts are bent on mischief. I hold, therefore, that whatever is done towards reorganization between this time and next December is merely })reparatory, subject to the approval or disapproval of the next Con- gress; and that the rebel States cannot be brought into their proper practical relations in the Union except by future combined legislative and executive sanction. I understand all loyal men are a unit upon this subject. li^KOlVl TH3E Tox3oka RecordL, FROM WASHINGTOlSr. Special correspondence of The State Kecorh. Washington, December 7, 1866. The breach between the President and the people's Kepresentatives is, if possible, wider than ever, and no one will deny that the Executive and Legislative branches of the Government are in direct antagonism. At the last session Congress was reasonably conciliatory to Mr. Johnson, and hesitated to adopt any measures looking towards aggravating the unhappy differences. I say reasonably conciliatory: perhaps ^treasonably is the right word. Since the adjournment last July, events have transpired which remove all possible doubts about the stubborness of the recreant Chief Magistrate, his sympathy luith treason and traitors and his j^ersistent and unchangeable efforts to do all in his j^oioer against the loyal and/or the disloyal. Congress understands tlie situation and if speeches mean anything will act accordingly. ""Acts'' are wanted however, speeches are of little practical good, unless their utterances are carried out. The House did a good thing on the first day of the session, by passing, under a suspension of the rules, a bill to deprive the President of the amnesty power, but the Senate the next day referred it to the Judiciary Committee, but, T believe it is the intention of the ma- TOPEKA RECORD. 21 jority to make a law of" it. It is a wonder that such a bill was not passed last session. A bill is pending in the House providing that Con- gress shall meet twice a year, or remain in session the year round. The 40th Congress will probably convene immediately on the expiration of this by limit of exist- ing laws, (March 4tli,) and there is talk of remaining as long as necessary. The fact is they ought to arrange it so as not to leave the country exposed to the villainy of the Executive again. If they do not see fit to expel him, the presence of the law-making power is deemed neces- sary to hold him in check. He has too plainly indi- cated his propensity to destroy this country if necessary to preserve rebels, and needs to be closely watched. One of the most flagrant outrages on the American people is the paying of slaveholders for certain slaves who enlisted in the army and helj)ed to put down the Rebellion — tlie Slaveholder s Rebellion. Commissioners have been appointed some time since for Kansas, Mary- land, Tennessee and Missouri, to assess and award the values of slaves so enlisted. The enactments provide that only loyal owners shall be compensated ; but how long does it take for a rebel to become loyal, especially before sympathising Copperhead Commissioners ! A friend of mine, who lately returned from Kansas, says ihe loyal rebels \x\ the vicinity of St. Joseph, Missouri, are in luck on the subject. It would take sixty million dollars to pay all their claims. Multitudes of abuses — outrages — of this character will be looked to by this Congress ; but please don't be too expectant, it will be time to raise your hat after a good thing is done. You know how Congress failed in many promised things last session, let us hope lor greater earnestness this time. Yours truly, D. F. DrTNK WATER. A TRIP TO CANADA. Correspondence of The Chkoxici.k. Quebec, C. E., June 30, 1866. Ten days ago I left the National Capital for the sake of coolness and recreation. I thought I would go to Canada — it looked so inviting on the map. And I came, though not in a hurry, for, like an erratic school hoy, I tarried by the way. A ride often hours by rail conveyed us to New York, whicli is much less inviting with the mercury among the nineties than Washington. Very much less. Washington has very wide streets and ample "open- ings," affording unparalleled ventilation, and the pop- ulation is not crowded. New York, crowded with human beings, and with many "Washington-canal" nuisances, (which Washington canal is a synonym of nastiness,) is about as undesirable to be in during "the heated term" as any spot on the continent, perhaps. We had no desire to remain there. Leaving the city on the morning of the 22d, we came up the beautiful Hudson to Albany, on the Daniel Drew, of the Day line. The boats of this line are elegant and every way comfortable. Competition has reduced the fare to $1 to Albany. No person taking a pleasure trip North should fail to take a ride up the WASHINGTON CHRONICLE. 23 Hudson by daylight. The scenery along its classic banks is world-renowned for beauty and picturesqueness. The day we came up was fine, and the voyage seemed like a day-dream more than reality, so lovely are the landscapes, so sweet the romantic hills, habilitated in their summer vesture. The distance from New York to Albany by the river is 150 miles ; by railroad it is only 144. We took the cars from Albany to Fort Edward, fifty miles, and from there drove by carriage to Lake George, fourteen miles. Though we did not go through the Lake, our visit to that beautiful spot, clustered round as it is with many historical associations, will long remain pleasingly on the disc of memory. The lake is thirty-six miles long, with a varying width of from one to six or seven miles, and, as you know, the clearest and purest lake on the continent. The scenery is ro- mantic in the highest degree. The Fort William Henry Hotel, a very large first-class house, with a capacity for 800 guests, stands at the head of and overlooking the lake. Near by, on the bank, is the site of the old fort of that name^ where the brave Col. William Henry was killed. The "old camp well" is preserved by a strong fence, and is an object of historical curiosity. There are many other places in that region important to every American because of the thrilling events which transpired thereabout during the Revolu- tionary war. We had the pleasure of a ride through Lake Cham- plain on the steamer Canada, a number one swift- running steamer of moderate size, and expensively fitted up for passengers. There are, I believe, three or four steamers of this line, owned and run by the Champlain Transportation Company. The boats contain all the accommodations that pleasure-seekers could ask. Lake Champlain divides New York from the Green Mountain 24 WASHINGTON CHRONICLE. State. It is 124 miles long, and from one to ten miles wide. The scenery is interesting — magnijique. On the west side are extensions of the Adirondacks ; on the east are fertile fields, broad meadows, green pastures, grassy slopes, luxurious forests, and in the distance the Grreen Mountains lift their heads heavenward. The place where the late Senator Foot was born and received the rudiments of his education was pointed out to me by a Vermont farmer on the boat. It is in Addison County, six miles from the lake. We stayed one day in Montreal, the commercial metropolis of British North America, and a night's ride on the large steamer Quebec brought us to this, the most interesting city of the continent. Now, dear Chronicle, I must say that ray two days' sojourn here has been exceedingly pleasant and inter- esting. Quebec — -the name is familiar to every one who has ever opened a volume of history. No American or Englishman can help feeling a great interest in this ancient, odd, quaint,' and curious city of Canada. It is so old, and old fashioned, (tho' much modernized;) the people are so "queer," the churches^ and above all the frowning Citadel, all reminding one of the great events the region has witnessed. The site of Quebec was first visited three hundred and thirty years ago by Jacques Cartier, the celebrated navigator of St. Malo, in France, who being in search of a northwest passage to China, entered the St. Law- rence and made his way to Stadacona, a mere collection of Indian huts upon the Charles river, below and to the northward of the promontory upon which Quebec now stands. The City was founded in 1608, by Cham- plain, the agent of a company of merchants who had determined upon making settlements in Canada. There are churches and other buildings here, staunch and firm as ever, two hundred and fifty years old. WASHINGTON CHRONICLE, 25 The greatest .object of interest ti) the tourist is the Citadel. We went through it day before yesterday. It is known as one of the most solid, ingenious and im- pregnable of modern fortifications in the world. Indeed, the whole town is now most strongly fortified and heavily armed. The Fenian excitement caused Johnny Bull to put everything in order in a military point hereabouts, you know. Yesterday afternoon we drove down to Montmorenci Falls, seven miles distant, and were well paid for the trouble and expense. The fall is two hundred and fifty feet. The Montmorenci river is not large, but narrow — fifty feet at the falls. It enters the St. Lawrence one- fourth of a mile below. On the way we passed through the old French village of Beauport, and near the very house in which Montcalm lived. It is^ like many others here, a one-story stone building, with steep roof and high chimneys. Travel to the north has not set in in full tide yet. "Yankees" seem to be rather rare here. The season is very late. In a week or so the hotels of Quebec will doubtless be crowded with the poor city-worn citizens of New York, Philadelphia, Washington, &c., and a better route than this or one more interesting in histori- cal memories there is not. As to hotels, Quebec does not boast of a great many. The St. Louis, kept by Russell & Son, takes the lead by far. It is in all respects a first-class house. Trade is rather dull ; money is tight. The war in Europe is sincerely deprecated in the provinces. D. F. Drink WATER. r-ROM: Tiii: INTemalia Coii^rier. FROM WASHINGTON". Mr. Wells' Tariff Report— A Free Trader hardly dis- guised—A Swindle on the Wool-growers. Special correspondence of The Nemaha Courteb. Washington, January 9, ISOT. Great dissatisfaction is felt among wool-growers and friends of agriculture generally, with the recent report and hill of special Commissioner Wells. Manufactur- ers have hought very good South American and South African avooIs, of merino crosses, at 15 to 20 cents per pound ; brought them to their mills with as little cost of transportation as irom Iowa, and paid an average of 4| cents duty on them, i. e. 3 cents if costing 12 or less per pound, and 6 if costing between 12 and 24 cents. But last summer the law was changed to make the per- centage upon the American cost instead of the invoice rate at the port of shipment. Now, Mr. Wells coolly tells the farmers that six cents for all wools costing less than 24 cents would he about right. In other words, he thinks that good half-blood merino fleeces should be sold for 40 cents per pound or less. He would tax the land, increase the cost of labor by taxation^ and take five per cent, of the income of wool-growing, making a burden of taxes which 15 cents per pound would not NEMAHA COURIER. 27 cover, and then let in South American wool on a tax of six cents only. The rebels -who went there from the South are thus to receive the comparative favors of the government, while loyal wool-growers of the West are to be discriminated against. Before a scheme so un- righteous shall be consummated, let wool-growers thun- der at the doors of (Congress their opinions of tlie iniquity. I invite your readers to scrutinize one of the reasons given why this wool tariff, (among other things,) should not be increased: Because, forsooth_, the Treasury has need of gold, and such increase might prove prohibitory, or, at least, restrictive ! I had supposed that the present ruinous excess of importation should be checked ; that our only safety lay in that direction ; that $600,000,000 of our national and State evidences of debt had already gone across the water, in the purchase of needless lux- uries and products which we should obtain from our own soil. And so, Mr. Wells, for the sake of placing an extra $6,000,000 of gold in the Treasury would pay $100,000,000 of gold for goods. Like the frog, he would leap two feet daily up the well, and fall back tlwee. How long would it take him to get out? D. F. D. mo^i: THE Pennsylvania Independent Republican. LETTER FROM KANSAS. The State prosperous— Heavy Immigration— Crops— The Great Railroad. Special Correspondence of The Independent Kepublican. Auburn, Kansas, Sept. 5th, 1866. H. H. Frazier, Esq., Editor of the Eepuhlican : I arrived in the State a few days ago, and have spent the time since in rusticating down on the Southwestern frontier. I find Kansas enjoying a period of prosperity unpar- alleled in history. Immigration has been unprecedented the past season ; it is believed that one hundred thou- sand would not be a high estimate of the number of permanent settlers who have come in since January last. The wheat and oat crop was the heaviest ever pro- duced in the State. The average yield, the state over, is fully thirty bushels per acre. On the Cottonwood river, in Chase County, Mr. Ice threshed out 46^ bush- els to the acre off of 16 acres. I hear of other fields producing almost equally well. With such a yield, while it brings $1.50 to $2.00 a bushel, even wheat growing is not very unprofitable in Kansas. The corn crop has been cut short by want of rain, but there will be probably half a crop, say 20 bushels per acre. The impression has gone out to the world that Kan- sas is a very dry country, and always subject to great droughts. This, to a considerable extent, may be true, but to say that it can't rain here occasionally would be a perversion of facts and slander on the climate. Last I'ENNSYLVANIA INDEPENDENT REPUBLICAN. 29 night I witnessed the severest storm of rain I ever knew of. I was at Topeka. I retired just as it commenced raining, 10^ P. M. At 11 o'clock it began pouring, and for three hours tiie water fell in torrents, and the incessant flashes of the lightnino; and constant roar of Jove's artillery rendered the night awfully sublime, beyond anything within my experience. Twelve inches of Avater fell. Let no one say it cannot rain in Kansas. THE UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY^ EASTERN DIVISION. The construction of this great national work is being pushed forward with great energy — certain to be fin- ished to Filley, six hundred and seventy-five miles West of ►St. Louis, by December, 18G7, when the locomotive shrill screech will startle the wild buftalo lii'O miles eas^ of Denver, Colorado. The road will go up the Smoky Hill, Congress having passed, just before adjournment, the bill authorizing the company to so construct it, in- stead of making a detour northward, as required by the original Act. The country may well rejoice at such a prospect of the early com[)letion of this great cosmopolitan enter- prise. The favorable legislation of Congress in chang- ing the route up the Smoky Hill saves 150 miles of road to construct and operate, and insures this road as the main travel line, over which at no very distant day will ride the commerce of the world. The rapid progress of the road, and the moral cer- tainty of its being put through, lends a great impetus to Kansas. The branches from Leavenworth to Law- rence, and from Wyandotte to Leavenworth are finished and the cars running regularly. Trains run from St. Louis to Leavenworth and Topeka without change. The Missouri Pacific railroad from St. Louis to Wyandotte is one of the best roads in the country, and this new Union Pacific, E. D., is as good a new road as is in use, if not better. Let me say parenthetically that when you come to Kansas of course you had better take the route by St. Louis and Wyandotte over the Missouri Pacific. Politics in my next letter. Yours truly, D. F. DrINFv WATER. imo^x THE UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY, EASTERN DIVISION. At work eight hundred and seventy-live miles west of St. Louis— Locomotive on the Great Plains -The Great Central Route to Denver, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, San Diego, Guaymas, San Francisco, Sandwich Islands and China— The trade with Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Neva- da, New Mexico, Arizona, Northern Mexico, Sonora, Northern and Southern California, &e., &c. Special Corrospoiideiioe of the Pn'TSBURu Commercial. Washington, Out. 16, 1866. The Department of the Interior reports the comple- tion of another twenty-mile section of the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division, and cars running regularly, making close connections with all railroads running from our Eastern cities to the great West. At a meeting of the stockholders, held in your city on the 8th ult., as you will remember, contracts were made for the construction of two hundred and fifty miles more; bringing the road to Pond Creek, within one hundred and eighty miles of Denver, Colorado, or six hundred and seventy-five miles west of 8t. Louis, and twelve hundred and twenty-seven miles west from Pittsburg. Contracts were also made for six thousand tons more of the Cambria Iron Works' rails, making something over thirty thousand tons of American railroad iron ])ur- chased by this company during the past sixteen months. Of the difterent Pacific railroad projects starting west- PITTSBUllG COMMERCIAL. 31 ward from various points between the headwaters and the mouth of the Mississippi river, the Union Pacific, Eastern Division, seems to be the favorite, not only with the statesmen of our time, but in the great business centres of the Union — partly on account of the great wealth and reliability of its managers, and partly on account of the geographical location of the route — the very one projected by Hon. Thomas II. Benton, and advo- cated with so much persistence and ability. I deem it, therefore, a 8ul)ject of s])ecial interest to the readers of the CoMJiERCiAL ; particularly if presented by one who has made the examination of trans Mississippi railroad enterprise a speciality for ten years past. West of the Mississippi river tliere is projected at least ten thousand miles of raili'oad ; the construction of which will increase the market for goods manufactured in Pittsburg and other Eastern cities to an extent that is utterly beyond calculation. The overland trade with New Mexico, alone, twenty years ago, was over four million dollars annually, though transported over nine hundred miles by ox teams. The export trade of San Francisco was over forty- four mil- lion dollars last yeai\ These figures give a faint idea of what the trade of Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, 8onora, Chihualiua, Southern California, Arizonia, Utah, Nevada, and Cali- fornia will be when this great National Railway is completed as projected. As I have before remarked, this trade will be utterly beyond calculation, particularly if our Congress will be so kind as to adjust our internal and external revenue laws, so that American tax paying manufacturers and farmers shall, at least, have an equal chance in our home market with our British rivals. I hope I am not altogether unmindful of the golden rule ; but must constantly protest against the construe- 32 PITTSBURG COMMERCIAL. tion of it, which treats our foreign natural enemies better than we treat ourselves. Dropping the golden rule, as applied to political economy, and returning to the Union Pacific railroad. Eastern Division, which starts from two points on the west bank Missouri river — Leavenworth and Wyandotte — the two branches uniting at Lawrence, Kansas, pro- ceed from that point directly west, on as near an air line as possible to Fort Wallace, Kansas, Avhere it deflects slightly southward and continues on through Colorado, New Mexico, (via Fort Union,) Arizona, and Central California, and, turning the southern extremity of the great Sierra Nevada range, it passes through the State to San Francisco; projecting a branch, by the way, from Fort Wallace to Denver and Cheyenne, one to the head of the Gulf of California, and another to San Diego on the Pacific coast, some three hundred miles south from San Francisco. The first four hundred miles of this road, west from the Missouri river, is less than forty miles longer than an air line. Further west, in order to avoid the everlast- ing snows of the Rocky Mountains, greater deflections from an air line must of course be made ; but the ad- vantages of some 4000 feet lighter grade, better climate, a richer mineral region, good water, plenty of wood and coal, and having three feeders from as many Pacific Ports, it is believed, will more than counterbal- ance any disadvantages arising from such deflections. Indeed these great advantages over all competitors have secured to this road a most advantageous connection with the entire railroad system of the Eastern States. Glance at a map of the United States and you will observe that by this road, and its present connection via St. Louis, there is but one unbridged river between Pittsburg and San Francisco ; or by its connection via the Hannibal and St. Jose[)h railroad, two — the Mis- PlTTSBURCi COMMERCIAL. souri and Mississippi — both of which are destined to be bridged or tunneled within a short period. With a tunnel under the Mississippi, and the railroad completed, you will have a through, all-rail route from New York, Philadelphia, Washington or Pittsburg to Denver, Albuquerque, Fort Union, Guaymas, San Diego or San Francisco, and way stations, without change ot cars or break of freight. In the language of the railroad advertisements ot the day, you will have "through tickets and baggage check- ed through without change of cars. Passengers desir- ing to stay over in New Mexico, or the Rocky Mountains can be supplied with stop-over tickets for the purpose, by applying to the conductor.'' The readers of the Commercial are of course aware that Congress has made provision for establishing a lirst-class line of steamers from San Francisco to the Sandwich Islands and China, which, in the hands of its projectors, cannot, with its liberal Government subsidy, lail to become a complete success. The completion of the Union Pacific Kailway, Eastern Division, and its connections, gives you then a through direct line from Pittsburg to San Francisco without change, and to the Sandwich Islands, Japan, or (Jhina, with but one change. All this within three years or so of the present writing. Yours, for progress, D. 1'. D. Note. — It will be seen by the following statements of other writers that too much importance has not been given to the road described in the above. Samuel Wilkinson, Esi[., special correspondent of the Nkw YoKK Trihu.nk, writes to his paper from Abilene Station, Union Pacilie Railway, Eastern Division, as follows: " The ' Southwest' has not been much in the mouths of Ameii- t-ans. The words ' Northwest' have in the hall of Congress, and PITTSBURG COMMERCIAL. on the hustings of half the nation, awakened a million echoes that were electric with the imperious power with which they were uttered. And the Northwest is great. But the Southioest is greater. It is unknown, however. The black pall of Slavery, and the gunpowder smoke of sectional violence, border ruffianism and social lawlessness have obscured it for over a quarter of a century. But this occultation is at an end, and now look at the Southwest on a map of the United States. It abounds in the sweetest natural grass and in running water, and has a climate in which the mowing machine is unnecessary to the stock-breeder, and in which cattle arc never sheltered or fed durino; what New Eng;- landers call winter. The blue grass stands back high in black wal- nut or oak openings, the soil beneath dark as ink, and the climate so semi-tropical that barns and sheds are unheard of, except as con- veniences to keep saddle and carriage horses at hand for imme- diate use. " The cattle here are grazing all over this magniticeut valley under the care of herder.;. The drovers usually herd after arrival from thirty to sixty days to recruit the animals before selling. And such pasturage I The steer that would not fat here visibly would have starved to death in the garden of Eden. But just look at them as they wade in the grass, and see their Fulton Market roundness and glossiness, ^\''ith difficulty I credit the statement that there are 25,000 head here now, waiting shipment. Yet here they are, and 10,000 more are known to be on the way here^ and full 50,000 will have arrived at the close of the season. Four times as many whould have been driven hero as have been, if the stock-men of the southwest had known that there was a safe and sure way out from the lock-up which the war first and toll-demand- ing ruffians afterward had established. So say the most intelligent of these Texan drovers, and they also say that 200,000 head of beeves will surely be here next year for sale and shipment. Now mark. These animals, 'beeves', can be bought by thou.sands in Texas at from ^8 to ^10 per head in gold, or ^12 to $14 in cur- renc}'. They can be driven to Abilene at au additional cost of not over 1^'2 a head, in from five to eight weeks' time. They can be shipped from here to St. Louis at |;100 a car-load, and to Chi- cago for $150 a car. Joseph McCoy tells me that they can be PITTSBURG COMMERCIAL. 35 afforded in Chicago at 4 cents gross, with satisfactory margins to drovers, shippers, and railroads. Surely the butchers of more than one city and State have got to come down, and surely there was grateful reason in the toast to the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division, as the cheapener of beef to the people of the United States." Charles G. Leland, Estj., writes to the Philadelphia Press the following : " 7< seems noiv to he a settled point that the Union Pacific, Eastern Division , loillhe carried through New Mexico and Arizona to its ultimate and original destination. It is probable that the railroad line will run a few miles east and south of Santa Fe to Albuquerque, via Fort Union on the Rio (Jrande, at the eastern base of the Baton Mountain, and thus avoid some mountain, and keep in a better country. The country all the way from Pond Creek to Albuquerque is probably the iiuest grazing region in the United States ; but it is a region utterly valueless until opened and made accessible by railroad comnmnication. But when it shall be so developed, it will become a source of immense national wealth and prosperity Throughout the greater part of that im- mense pastoral region, cattle require no stored food in the winter season, for the grass of the prairies whether green or dry, is always good and nutricious. This is the country of the hitherto uncon- querable Apaches. "The recent discovery of rich gold placers in New Mexico adds greatly to the importance of this road. In fact, it seems that from the point where the mountains are first reached, on the western border of the vast buflPalo grass plains to the shores of the Pacific, the line of this road will run through one continuous field of the precious metals, besides much timber and coal. ' ' Leaving Albuquerque, the line through the heart of Arizona — that richest of our territories in gold and silver, but the most difiicult to reach — presents no serious difficulties. Long valleys, running in the right direction, bear it onwards towards its border of California, whence, turning the southern extremity of the great Sierra Nevada range, it passes up through Southern California, midway between the mountains and the ocean, to San Francisco, 8G PITTSBURG COMMERCIAL. touching the fine port of San Diego by a short bran(;h, and the head of the Gulf of California, and the port of (ruayanias, if need he, by others. ' ' The route may be somewhat longer than that through Utah and Nevada^ but its gradients will be so much less that it will more than compensate for the lengthening of the line. For all purposes for which a railroad is desired to bo shortened, to wit : greater speed and economy of transportation, it is believed that this is really the shortest line. But whether it is longer in miles than the other is not yet known ; for the length of line necessary to wind through the labyrinthine mountains of Utah is yet an unknown quantity. Be that as it may, it is certain that its grades will be lighter, that it can never be ol>»»tructed by snow, and that the country it will open up and develop, whether agricuUurial or pastoral, or mineral, is ten-fold more valuable. "A party of gentlemen of scientific ability, about eighty in num- ber, headed by General W. W. Wright, chief engineer, and com- prising, among others. Dr. John Leconte, of the Smithsonian In- stitute^ as geologist, Dr. Perry, who was engaged in the survey of the line between the United States and Mexico, with eminent topographers, are now engaged in a careful examination surve}'^ and development of this route. This party is out under the aus- pices and employ of this company. Other surveying parties of equal ability are now engaged in locating the road between Pond Creek- and Denver." The PiriLADEi.PHTA North A>[ekioa\ a\p U. S. Gazktte, states that: " The amount of transportation done for the United States Gov- ernment by the Union Pacific Rrailway Company, Eastern Divi- sion, in the month of March, was $34,864.98, of which one-half, or $17,432.49, was returned to the United States Treasury in accordance with the Pacific Railroad act. " This is equivalent to eight and one half per cent, per annum on the whole amount of Government bonds issued in aid of this road. In other words, the railway company is paying all the interest for the Government, and refunding the principal of the loan at a rate which will extinguish the same at or before maturity." Since March the earnings of the company on Government ac- PITTSBURG COMMERCIAL. 37 count have been e([ual to tlie annual interest, and the payment of the entire principle in fourteen years. Besides receiving the principal and interest of the loan to the company the Government will gain enormously. Tiie Nrw York TuTBrNK, of recent date, says : "Just as fast as the Pacific Kailvvay passes the great military posts upon its line, these become unnecessary, and are, in effect, abandoned. Fort Leavenworth, which was of such magnitude as to be a little city of itself, is reduced to a vast store-house of war materials, and a pleasant place of call, for army officers on their way to, or returning from, the plains. The road went by Fort Harker, and tlic station was changed in a day. Immediately the large military work at Harker ceased to be an outpost, and the troops (Quartered there went to the west. This very month "Fort Hayes will also cease to be an outpost and become an inpost. So \ will Fort Wallace by the middle of May next. The Kansas Paci- fic Railway pushes " the plains" further and further west, saves the Government the necessity and expense of permanent forts, and narrows the field of operations against the Indians. " Of all the propositions to reduce the public expenditures and lessen taxation, none is so practical as to devote to the Pacific Railway laborers the money now spent upon soldiers on the plains. It costs $2,000,000 a year to support a regiment of cavalry there. Every fifty miles of the route completed dispenses with the need of a regiment of troops. This saving is equal to the interest on over i|33,000,000 of Government bonds. If the extension of this road to the Pacific saved to the Treasury the cost of only three regiments of calvary, the economy would be |^G,000,000 per annum, the interest on |100,000,000 of public debt. There is no retrenchment so practical, and so immediately available, as to speedily complete this railroad, and save the cost of the soldiers kept on the plains, which exist as plains and Indian hunting- grounds simply for the want of the road. The reduction of the army and the diminution of the military expenses are attainable only through the extension and completion of the Pacific Railways. The sooner, therefore, the work is done the better.'' The special correspondent of the San Francisco Bulletin writes to that paper from the line of the Union Pacific Railway, Fi. D., through Arizona, as follows : 38 PITTSBURG COMJklERCIAL. "All that is rc<|uirocl is capital and protection against the savages. " Give Arizona a railway, and with the one-hundreth part of the capital expended upon the Comstock lode it will turn out more bullion than Nevada. Give it security, in person and property, from the raids of the Apaches, and it will become as great a grain- growing and stock-raising State as California. What are known as the "Painted Deserts" are associated with the gold fields and the large deposits of sesqui-oxide of iron, which make up three-fifths of the component parts of the great Painted Desert, through which courses the Colorado Chiquito and the main stem of the Colorado proper. " The striae of ochrous beds, in many parts, are ribbon-shaped and traceable for miles ; interspersed in these striae are found stones of rare value. Near Carizo Creek I found an amethyst of rare beauty. The beryls were of every shade, and the most of them of the finest water. " My collection of opals comprise one fine opal, one black, and a number of the pearl order ; the shape and size of them varied. My opinion in regard to this part of Arizona is, that from Diamond Creek to the Luncha and Chaca Mountains, and even as far east as the Canon de Chelles and Fort Defiance, gems are liberally distributed. I have not succeeded in finding the Octahed a dia- mond, but believe there does not exist a large district in which this gem is not found in quantites. The topaz, turquois, and other gems of less note are common. The region of country alluded to has never been explored properly, and certainly presents a large field for profitable investigation. l*rivate enterprise cannot do it unless aided by a large amount of money. A large portion of the territory is yet unexplored, and is a terra incognito to the white man. With the settlement of the country and the subsidence of Indian difficulties, the natural resources of the Territory will be steadly brought out, giving employment to hundreds of thousands." XJnion Banner (Salisbury, North Carolina.) FROM WASHHiTGTOlSr. Special correspondence of The Union Bannek. Washington, December ID, 1865. No question, exce})t that of reconstruction, will come before Congress, at its present session, of greater im- portance, with reference to its bearing upon the pros- perity of our country and ]ierpetuity of the Union than that of ])rotection to home industry. The organization last week in Philadelphia, of the American Home-trade League was a step in the right direction. The league puts forth the following declaration of ])rincii)les : "The suppression of the rebellion, and tlie close of civil wai', and the restoration of ])eace to our whole country, present a favorable opportunity ibr placing our agriculture, mining, manufactures, and commerce on such national foundations as will give to our internal and external trade and business all the sup])ort and ])rotection that experience has demonstrated to be essen- tial to our freedom and independence. "As the public revenue depend upon the development of our national resources, upt)n our surplus productions, in other words, upon labor, the iViends of American in- dustry have united together for the purpose of secur- ing and enlarging the public revenue, by the complete protection of American labor in all its branches, so as to diversify it to meet every rational or private Avant, to employ at tlie best rates of wages every one able and willing to work ; and to give, as far as maybe practicable, the possession of the home market to our own productions, and to the labor of our own people, undisturbed by the competition of foreign capital and foreign labor. "The American Home-trade League holds that every man supporting a government by the payment of taxes, or defending it in times of rebellion and war, is entitled 40 UNION BANNER. to the protection of that government hy such le^ijislatiun as will enable him, in his regular trade or calling, to meet the competition of Ibi'eign capital and labor at home, and with the proceeds of well remunerated in- dustry to procure all that he and his family need for comfort and happiness. "It protests against all interference with home labor by free-traders and free-trade leagues, as all these have but one object, and that is the subjugation of labor to capital, the slavery of the workingmen of America to the money kings of Europe. " It believes that protection to the producer is as bene- ficial to the consumer as the warming rays of the sun are to t!ie growth of the harvest, and that as in the United States nearly all are producers, so each in his proper sphere is enfitled to the j^aternal cai'e of the government. " It believes that governments are made to be felt, that they are ordained for the common weal of the governed, and that when they neglect or refuse to watch over and protect the labor of the governed, they fall in one of their most important and l)enelicent duties. "The American Home-trade League is loyally willing to submit to all taxation necessary for government rev- nue ; believes that duties on imports are important sources of revenue ; that such duties should be imposed so as directly, as well as incidentally, to protect our own workmen, and })rotests against tlie heresy and iniquity of free trade, because its success will impover- ish and bankru[)t the government and people, cause the repudiation of our national and state debts, destroy our independence and iVeedom, tend to the dissolution of the Union, and end in making us an easy |)roy to foreign despots." The adoption at the present time of the free trade policy, so strenuously urged by the copperhead party, would prove ruinous to our people and our government. The public debt is enormous ; to pay it, or even the in- terest upon it by internal taxation alone would be very oppressive. A portion of the burden must bo laid upon imports and exports. Such articles of imports as we can produce ourselves, and all foreign luxuries should be heavily taxed. D. F. Dkinkw'atek. thlZ 8 8 0' ^. vP '^ ^ov^ :^M^r^< '^^r^ oV'^^H^""-' «n.cJ^' -^m^^\ '^ L"^'* ^> ^0^ ^ '7. v-^^ '^•i- .\^, ,<^lP. \!^< ■^* ^(<» V \^ •^ ^-i^ ' ^: o V :r^. V» ^°-^. ,> ^^'\ °^|^-- /\ -.^y... ^- -^ .v|f^<- /■ ^^ > /. g^^ ODD □fcN 00 t^S ^^M 00 i^S o< 3ii z <=.i z — >- oc ^ LU x^mSs,^ o z |(ffl)* 00 ^^^ ■^ iV ^^. .c, <^vi ■^i:;:-^-;:'::Snai;SiailS-Bi\