PACIFIC RAILROAD PLAN University of California Berkeley 1850. Pacific Railroad. 539 P3 PACIFIC RAILROAD. THE SENATE COMMITTEE'S REPORT IN FAVOR OF WHITNEY'S PLAN". THE clear and judicious Report of the Senate's Committee, in favor of the plan of Mr. Asa Whitney, for the construction of a railroad, without cost to the Government, from the upper shore of Lake Michigan to the Pacific, will doubtless have the effect to convince all parties (except those who have projects of their own to offer) that the plan of Mr. Whitney is not only the best offered, as regards feasibility, but that it is the freest from constitutional objections. Indeed it has been found impossible to raise any, the least objection on that score, and it is con- 1 sequently impossible to make it a party measure. It would be fortunate for the nation, could every national undertaking be placed upon as sound and safe a basis as the one offered by the Committee, namely, upon the basis of individual responsibility. Although we are entirely convinced that the General Government has a right to ap- propriate the public moneys to purposes of internal improvement, when it is understood that private enterprise is insufficient to ac- complish the ends in view, we are yet satis- fied that it is unwise and impolitic to extend the aid of Government toward enterprises which can be accomplished without such aid. Every railroad and steamboat, every public conveyance, every means of intercom- munication, is intended for the use of the entire nation ; but it is impolitic and mis- chievous for the General Government to in- terfere in the affairs of steamboat and rail- road proprietors ; for the simple reason, that they are better managed by individuals. The magnitude of the plan advocated by the Senate's Committee does not affect the argument in the case before us. It is be- lieved by the Committee that the Pacific Railroad can be built, without risking a dol- lar of the public money. If the Committee are right in that belief, it is a point of con- stitutional necessity that this work should be undertaken, if at all, upon their plan. If an hundred millions is to be expended on public works, it can be rightfully appropri- ated to such only as cannot be constructed either by single States or by individuals. The rivers and harbors of the North and West require to be opened and made safe for Western commerce : the General Gov- ernment alone has power to improve them. Expenditure upon these works will be sanc- tioned by the people only because private companies cannot and will not undertake them. Their necessity is their sole excuse. The great majority of those who have ex- amined Mr. Whitney's plan have pronounced in favor of it, not only because of its freedom from constitutional objections, but because it will require less time in the execution, and cost less than any other. The bill, which will be laid before Congress at the coming session, is so framed as to close up every avenue to fraud and peculation. Its pro- visions are simple and stringent. A strip of land, sixty miles in width, reaching from Lake Michigan to the Pacific, is to be set aside by the Government, and the command of its resources, its timber, its water power, and its iron mines given to the person who is to build the road : mortgaged, however, and in the event of failure to re- turn into the hands of Government ; except- ing only such portions as may have been already sold and occupied by settlers. This strip will be divided into sections of ten miles. On the completion of the first ten miles of road, the purchaser will be al- lowed to sell one half of the lands, or a strip five miles in width, the other half being held in reserve by the Government. The entire cost of the road will have to be defrayed out of the proceeds of the sales of this half, and a second section of ten 540 Whitney's Plan for a Pacific Railroad. Nov. miles will be immediately undertaken, and its cost defrayed by the sales of one half of another ten mile strip, aided by any surplus of funds accruing over and above expenses, by the former sales. The whole work can be carried forward, after the opening of the first ten mile sec- tion, with great rapidity. The progress of the road will insure rapid sales, and a rapid rise may be expected in the value of the lands of the entire route. If, however, contrary to all expectation, after passing through the good lands, and : after completing a ten mile section of road, the builder of the road shall show that the sale of one half the land (the alternate five mile sections) did not yield a sufficiency of funds for the construction of a good road, as much of the remaining five mile sections reserved by Government as may be necessary to cover the deficit, shall be offered for sale, | &c., &c. In several articles, during the past two | years, we have advocated the plan for a Pa- 1 cific Railroad, lately adopted by the Senate's Committee, and we are happy to perceive that the public mind is very generally im- pressed in its favor. The opposition to it has been slight and ineffectual. A few poli- ticians on both sides have endeavored, more industriously than wisely, to give the pro- ject a party character. Others have opposed it because it seemed to confer too much power upon a single person, an argument against every enterprise of the kind, wheth- er undertaken by an agent of the Govern- ment or by an individual. It has also been objected, that the projector of the plan may possibly accumulate a fortune by its success ; which is as much as saying that it ought not to succeed if undertaken. That a vast num- ber of jobbers and speculators would be en- riched by the work, were it undertaken by the Government, is quite certain. It seems therefore that we are bound to secure this immense benefit to the nation and to the entire world, by agents who are to receive no return for the risk they incur, or the ex- penditure of years of time and labor in its accomplishment ! Should the projector realize a considerable fortune, by the success of the work, at the end of twenty years, the benefit to the nation will by that time have exceeded hundreds of millions ; not only by the commercial movement which would take place across the continent, after the comple- tion of the road, but by the settlement of several millions of acres of land, and a vast increase of our Western population. In the very able and lucid Report of Mr. Bright, the Chairman of the Committee, we find expressed the most unqualified approba- tion of the plan of Mr. Whitney. Among all the plans submitted to them, they are obliged to pronounce in its favor, without qualification, and they conclude that it " ought to be adopted" " Your Committee have been aided in the examination of this subject by the very fa- vorable and full reports of different Com- mittees of both Houses of each Congress for the last five years, and of the Legislatures of some eighteen States, decidedly and ex- pressly recommending the adoption of this plan over all others ; and the unanimity with which said resolutions were adopted in both branches of the different Legislatures is, as your Committee believe, without a parallel. Public meetings throughout the country, in our populous cities, have been equally decided and unanimous in express- ing the same favor for this plan ; and even since the two Conventions held last fall the one at St. Louis and the other at Mem- phis public meetings, numerously and most respectably attended, have been held at Cincinnati, at Louisville, at Indianapolis, at Dayton, at Columbus, and at Zanesville, at all of which resolutions were almost unan- imously adopted in favor of this plan, and declaring it the only one capable of being carried out ; and your Committee believe, from the frequent expressions of the public press, and from other sources, that the opinion of the country is almost universally concentrated on this plan" " The bill proposes that a belt of territory sixty miles wide, that is, thirty miles on each side of the road, with its eastern base on Lake Michigan and its western on the Pacific, comprehending about 78,000,000 of acres, shall be sold and appropriated to this object, to be accounted for by Mr Whitney at the national treasury, at ten cents per acre, good, bad, and indifferent, amounting to nearly $8,000,000. "When it is considered that tens and scores of millions of acres of the public do- main are now being, and about to be given away, for various objects, and that some of our leading statesmen are proposing to give 1850. Whitney's Plan for a Pacific Railroad. 541 all the public lands away, with some pros - pect of success ; and when, moreover, it is considered that only a little more than one third of the belt proposed to be set apart for this road is good and saleable land, it must be seen there is little chance or probability that the Government will ever get as much for this territory as by selling it for this road at ten cents per acre. Consequently the road, built on this plan, will itself be a cap- ital of immense and incalculable value, and so much positive gain to the nation, which, as your Committee will endeavor to show, could in no other way be realized." The capital to be employed for the con- struction of the work is to be realized solely by the rise in value of the lands, following upon the sales and settlements of the first portions, as the work advances. " The capital to build the road with is to be created by the increased value which the building of the road will impart to the lands thus set apart, and through which the road is to pass ; and, when created and thus in- vested, the bill provides that the use of the road shall be a positive and perpetual gra- tuity to trade and commerce, with no other tax for transport of passengers and merchan- dise than such tolls as may be necessary to keep the road and its apparatus in working order which tolls are to be determined on and regulated by Congress. " Here, as your Committee think will be seen, are two great and peculiar principles of this plan, which, as the Committee be- lieve, are not only fundamental, but vital to the great object in view : " 1. The capital is created a positive creation not borrowed. If it were bor- rowed, or drawn from other sources, as all other plans contemplate, it would be neces- sary to impose tolls for dividends to satisfy the interest ; and then the great end in view would be sacrificed. The end pro- posed is to draw trade and commerce on this line, by means of cheap transport be- tween the great East and the great West of the United States, between the United States and Asia, and between Europe and Asia. But if tolls should be required to meet the interest on the cost of the road, this end could not be accomplished, and the enter- prise would be a stupendous failure. But on the plan proposed, with tolls sufficient only for expenses of operation and necessary repairs, it is believed that a passenger may be taken over the whole line of the road, 2,030 miles, for $20 ; a bushel of corn for 25 cents ; a barrel of flour for $1 ; a ton weight of merchandise for $10 ; and one ton meas- urement of teas (a half ton weight) for $5. At these rates, can it be doubted that the corn of the Mississippi Valley may be put down in China for 40 cents transit per bushel, worth there, as your Committee are informed, from 75 cents to $1.25 for 60 pounds weight, leaving an average of from 30 to 35 cents a bushel to the pro- ducer, and, as the Committee are also in- formed, with an unlimited demand ? And so of agricultural products, and of every other species of merchandise, going to and fro between the Atlantic and Pacific ports of the United States, between the Missis- sippi Valley and Asia, between our eastern coast and Asia, and between Europe and Asia, in a word, between a population of 250,000,000 in Europe, across our bosom, and 500,000,000 in Asia ; as also between ourselves and all Asia. " But double these rates of transport, as would inevitably be the case were the road built on any other plan of means, always requiring tolls sufficient, in addition to the expenses of operation and repairs, to meet the interest on the cost of the work, and the whole of this immense and vastly extended commerce would be for ever pre- vented from springing into being ; and the I comparatively small amount now carried on between us and Asia, and between Europe and Asia, would be found to follow its old routes. Your Committee are therefore of opinion that this road can never be built and sustained except by capital created by itself, as by the plan proposed, and that it would be doomed to failure, even if it should be attempted, on the credit of the Govern- ment, as the people would never submit to perpetual taxation for the interest on its cost. " Your Committee are of opinion that the cheap transport to be obtained by the plan proposed involves the only principle on which this road can be made a successful enter- prise ; and it is all the more satisfactory, as it will not cost the Government and people of the United States a single dollar." If this road were to be built by Govern- ment it would cost, by Col. Abert's estimate, one hundred and twenty-seven millions and a half. By Mr. Whitney's plan, say the 642 Whitney's Plan for a Pacific Railroad. Nov. Senate Committee, its cost will be only sixty millions. Government is to receive eight millions for the land, to be paid out of the sales as the work advances, making the entire cost $68,000,000, which will be covered by an average of 87 J cents per acre for the entire tract. " The chief reliance must be on the first eight hundred miles, which constitute, with little exception, the good and saleable lands. From what is known of the effect of railroads and canals on the value of lands and other property bordering upon them, the Commit- tee think it safe to conclude that such a road will add great value to the land through which it passes ; and whether it will be suffi- cient for the purpose, is the risk of the party undertaking it. " Your Committee believe that the build- ing of the road will undoubtedly create facili- ties for settlement on its line for at least the eight hundred miles of good lands, and cause a demand for them to an available amount of means equal to any possible judicious appli- cation of means to the construction of the work ; and the reserved half of lands, as hereinafter provided for, daily increasing in value, would certainly be a sure source of capital for an equal or greater distance be- yond the good and through the poor lands, a part of which latter would no doubt be made available for settlement by means of the road. " Your Committee think it would be veiy difficult, and enormously expensive, if not impossible, to construct such a road through a now entire wilderness, on any plan of means, unless settlement can keep pace with the work ; and that this plan, as it connects the sale and settlement of the lands with the work itself, is not only the only sure plan of means, but by it the work will advance as rapidly, or more so, than on any other plan. Besides, these lands, with this great highway through their centre, could not, in the opinion of the Committee, fail to com- mand any amount of money required for the progress of the work, as their daily increas- ing value would render them the most safe and most profitable investment for money.'" It is impossible to give the details of the plan in a more condensed and lucid shape than is exhibited in this able Report : " The security of the interests and rights of the public is to be considered. The bill provides that the first eight hundred miles of good land shall be divided into sections of five miles each that is, five miles by sixty ; and that, after Mr. Whitney shall have built his first ten miles of road, and after it shall have been accepted by the Government commissioner appointed for the purpose, as being in all things a fulfilment of Mr. Whitney's engagements, and not till then, he shall be entitled to sell the first section of five miles by sixty, as well as he can, to reimburse himself for his expendi- tures on the first ten miles of road already completed and accepted ; and so on, in the same manner and on the same conditions, for every successive ten miles of the first eight hundred, leaving every alternate sec- tion of five miles by sixty untouched, with all its increased value created by the road, as public security for carrying on the work to the Pacific. Thus, when the road shall have been completed through this eight hundred miles of good land, the Govern- ment will hold, as security for the extension and final completion of the work, the road itself, all its machinery, four hundred miles by sixty of these good lands untouched and raised to a high value by this public work, together with the entire remainder of the belt to the Pacific. " The bill also provides that the titles of the lands sold by Mr. Whitney shall be given to the actual purchasers by the Government, and not by him, and that all remainders unsold shall be disposed of at public auction at the end of ten years after the road shall have been completed on each ten-mile sec- tion that is, the unsold parts of Mr. Whit- ney's sections of five miles by sixty ; and this, to prevent the reservation of lands for speculation. From the end of this first eight hundred miles to the Pacific, where the lands are poor and unavailable, the bill provides that Mr. Whitney shall proceed as follows, to wit : that, at the end of every ten miles of road completed and accepted as before, he shall be entitled to sell the whole section of ten miles by sixty, to reim- burse himself, as far as the sales will go, for his expenditures on that ten miles of road ; and for any deficit, he shall be entitled to go back and sell at public auction to the high- est bidder, in lots of forty to one hundred and sixty acres, as much of the reserved untouched lands on the first eight hundred miles as this deficit may require ; and so on,' and in the same manner, for every succeed- 1850. Whitney's Plan for a Pacific Railroad. 543 ing ten miles to the Pacific, selling the lands of each ten-mile section after the road shall have been completed and accepted, and go- ing back to sell the reserved lands only when and so far as there may be a deficit, as before; and all this, under the super- vision and authority of the Government com- missioner, whose duty it shall be to see to the fulfilment of the terms of the bill. " If, at any stage of this work, Mr. Whit- ney shall fail on his part, the bill provides that all his rights shall be forfeited to the Government, and that the road, so far as completed, with all its machinery, shall be- long to the Government ; and Congress may sell or dispose of it as may be deemed meet, for the benefit of the nation ; and all the unsold and reserved lands would revert and belong to the nation, the same as if this act had never been made a law. And if Mr. Whitney should die, his successors would be under the same obligations, and liable to the same penalties, on the same conditions. The bill also provides that, when the road is completed to the Pacific, with its machinery in operation, to the satisfaction of Congress, so that the Government can in no way be made liable for the expenses of its opera- tion and repairs, then whatever, if any, surplus lands may remain unsold, shall be sold for the account and benefit of Mr. Whitney ; and whatever surplus money may remain, after paying all charges against said road, shall be his, as a reward or compen- sation for this work, and the road and its machinery shall be considered as belonging to the nation. Although the bill provides that the title thereto shall vest in Mr. Whit- ney, still Congress retains the power to fix and regulate the tolls for both passengers and merchandise, so that no more shall be earned than barely sufficient for the expen- ses of operation and repairs, and the United States mails are to be transported free. Congress will hold the power to give the management of the road to any other party at any time when Mr. Whitney may fail to operate it as the wants of the people re- quire. Thus it is clear to your Committee that Mr. Whitney's only chance of gain from the enterprise is in the hope of making the lands, by building the road through them, produce him a sum exceeding what will have been his actual outlay for the con- struction of the road, its machinery, and the $8,000,000, or the ten cents per acre, which he is to pay into the treasury of the United States for the entire belt of lands." " Your Committee believe, as informed by Mr. Whitney, that available lauds, with tim- ber, other material, and with facilities for the work, do not exist, and cannot be had on any other route, so as to justify the com- mencement of the work with any possible hope of success, and that he would not attempt it on any other route. There is no plan before your Committee in competition or conflicting with Mr. Whitney's that does not depend, either directly or indirectly, on the public treasury, or on government credit, for means. " Moreover, your Committee believeit will be found, by actual measurement, that the route proposed by Mr. Whitney is the most direct and shortest for commerce from all our Atlantic cities to the Pacific, by the South Pass, (probably the only feasible route,) and around the globe which is the ?reat end in view. It is shorter, for exam- ple, from Baltimore to the great South Pass, by more than 300 miles, than by way of St. Louis ; and the eastern terminus, or the crossing of the Mississippi river, reckoning on other connecting lines of railroad exist- ing and projected, is nearer to Mobile by 300 miles than to New- York, and 500 miles nearer to Mobile than to Boston ; and, as appears to your Committee, it would be more fair and more equal for all our Atlantic ports than a more southern route ; arid, amongst the several routes proposed, this appears to be the only one by which a line of railroad can be extended from our Atlan- tic ports to the Pacific without being broken by rivers or waters which cannot be bridged a most imperative necessity for such a high- wa of commerce across this continent, as a well-known fact that transhipments and commissions often amount to as much or more than the transport. " This plan, as your Committee believe, would rescue the whole subject from sec- tional and party strifes, and from all liabili- ties of being employed as a corrupt and corrupting engine of party or of executive patronage, or as a stockjobbing machine : there being no stock and no dividends, it could never go into Wall street or into the money markets of Europe ; and as to party or executive patronage, the only agent of the Government which the proposed law requires or authorizes is the commissioner it is 544 Whitnetfs Plan far a Pacific Railroad. Nov. to be appointed to see that the different en- actments of the bill are carried out. " Assuming, as is already shown, and as your Committee think will be found to be the fact, that no other plan is feasible, your Committee consider that the most forcible of all reasons for adopting Mr. Whitney's plan is, that its execution will effect a com- plete revolution in the routes of commerce ; that it will bring the great bulk of the trade of the world on this line, and make our country the great focus of the commercial transactions of all nations making the heart of our country the centre of the world, its banking-house, and its great exchange. " Distance, time, and cost of transport, are the controlling laws of trade. By measur- ing a globe, it will be seen that on the par- allel proposed for this road is the shortest line between our Atlantic ports and Asia, and the shortest line between Europe and Asia across our continent ; and it is worthy of remark, that this belt around embraces, and that this route would accommodate, nearly the entire population of the globe that is, the enterprising and industrious part." It is computed by engineers that a road with 1,000,000 tons of business may earn fair dividends, at a cost of $50,000 the mile, on a charge for transportation of one cent a ton. Accepting these estimates, the Committee declare that the cost of transpor- tation between Europe and Asia, would be less by this road than by ships, going about Cape Horn, or the Cape of Good Hope. It is also ascertained that the construction of a ship canal crossing the Isthmus of Pan- ama would not interfere with the business that might pass over this road. From New- York to China by Panama is 13,000 miles, with every allowance for winds and currents. By the Cape of Good Hope it is 14,255 miles, say the Committee. From New- York to the mouth of Columbia river by steamers and the Isthmus is 6,000 miles, and requires thirty-five days of travel. By the railroad it will be less than half the distance, (2,961 miles,) and require five to eight days' travel ! an immense saving of labor, time, and cost, which would insure the preference of the railroad above all other routes. The annual aggregate of imports and ex- ports between Europe and Asia is said to be in value about $250,000,000. The whole of this immense commerce would be drawn from its present route, and sent across the North American continent ; a result of which the political and commercial consequences exceed imagination. This vast commerce is now earned on by foreign shipping, chiefly British ; if it passed over the North Ameri- can continent, our own merchants would become the carriers of it. Our own com- mercial and naval power would increase in proportion as that of Great Britain dimin- ished. From the terminus of the railroad on the Pacific coast, a short and easy commu- nication would be opened, a result of infinite importance to the gold countries and to the great State of Oregon that is to be, and that could not fail to give those countries a commercial importance surpassing that of any other part of this continent. The Committee do not hesitate to urge the adoption of Mr. Whitney's plan : "Will we sell these lands, as proposed by the bill, for a sum exceeding, as your Com- mittee believe, that which the Government can expect to receive for the same tract in any other manner, and with such other re- strictions and conditions as shall guarantee to the nation the execution and accom- plishment of this great highway for na- tions without the outlay of one dollar by the nation, without one penny of tax or burden upon the people, and no tolls except sufficient only for the expenses of repairs and operation, binding our Atlantic and Pacific possessions together, and making the commercial world tributary to us ? " Or will we decide against this great work, promising these vast and important results abandon them all let our Pacific posses- sions separate and form an independent nation, controlling, as they will, the immense fisheries and commerce of the vast Pacific, with the commerce of Japan, China, and all Asia ? Will we decide that the lands, which can now be applied to and effect the accom- plishment of this stupendous and truly na- tional work, shall be wasted away for party political capital and other puq^oses, whereby the nation can never receive any direct ben- efit when, too, the objects urged by those who wish to dispose of the lands to settlers without pay would be more immediately effected in the accomplishment of this work, because its construction would give employ- v ment to settlers, and create the means to pay for their lands, and place them a hun- dred fold better off than to have the lands 1850. Whitney's Plan for a Pacific Railroad. 545 free of cost without the road, which is the only means by which their products could reach the markets, so as to yield a return for their labor ? " Your Committee cannot hesitate in form- ing a decision upon this subject, not doubt- ing that those who examine it will be im- pressed with the same views, and form the same conclusions as your Committee have done. Therefore, your committee recom- mend the adoption by Congress of the bill proposed, and urge its immediate adoption. The various plans and bills now before Con- gress for disposing of very large amounts of the public domain, together with the con- stant demand for actual settlement, particu- larly at the first part or commencement of the proposed route, are rendering the exe- cution of this plan more and more difficult every day ; and your Committee believe the time must soon arrive when these lands on the first part of the route, so desirable for immediate available means, and possessing timber, materials, and facilities for commenc- ing and carrying on the work into the wilderness, will be so far disposed of for other purposes as to render the accomplish- ment of this work doubtful, or impossible. And to wait for further surveys and explora- tions, as has been proposed by some, would, in the opinion of your Committee, be the defeat and abandonment of this plan for j ever ; arid, besides, the authorization of sur- veys for a railroad to the Pacific would justly be considered by the people as sanctioning the commencement of a Government work, which your Committee cannot recommend, nor would it be sanctioned by the people, as your Committee believe : neither do your Committee think it at all necessary, nor does this plan require, to delay the adoption of this bill for further surveys. The rivers have been examined by Mr. Whitney him- self, to ascertain at what points they can be bridged. From the lake to his point on the Mississippi, it is well known that there are no difficulties on his route ; from the Missis- sippi to his point on the Missouri, his route is without obstacles ; and thence to the South Pass, it is well known that impedi- ments do not exist. While these three sec- tions are being constructed, the route thence to the Pacific can be explored, surveyed, and fixed upon. " The route from the lake to the South Pass, as your Committee arc informed, has no parallel for feasibility on the face of the globe ; and from the South Pass to the Pa- cific, the explorations of Colonel Fremont and others, as well as the immense emigra- tion to Oregon and California, abundantly certify that it is feasible. Besides, the streams, which wend their way all from the South Pass to the Columbia and the Pacific, indicate a favorable route, it being a well- known fact that there are no very great falls or rapids in the streams emptying into the Columbia ; and that river has cut its way and made a route through the mountains to the ocean." We cannot sufficiently commend to the attention of our readers that excellent fea- ture of the plan recommended by the Sen- ate's Committee, that there will be no new offices created by it, to be filled by the favor of the Executive. There can be no jobbing nor corruption. The American principle, that nothing that can be accomplished by private enterprise should be attempted by the General Government. The cost of such a road, undertaken upon a Government sur- vey, itself to consume many years and sev- eral millions in the preparation, would con- sume the amount of the entire reve- nues of the nation for several years, and compel the Government to contract an im- mense debt, and finally to institute a system of direct taxes. An army of applicants for office under the great Railroad adminis- tration which would constitute a separate Bureau, or Department would beset the j doors of the Cabinet. The work would drag on heavily, perhaps for ages, and its completion be postponed to the utmost limit by those who were receiving salaries for superintending its construction. Under the plan recommended by the Committee, on the contrary, eveiy induce- ment is held out to the contractor, Mr. Whit- ney, to finish it with the greatest expedi- tion, since the value of the lauds upon which it is commenced, in the region between the Lakes Superior and Michigan, will be in- creased as the road lengthens out over the wilderness, and creates new settlements upon its line. With every year that passes, the difficulty of constructing such a road is increased. The great timber region south of Lake Su- perior is the only tract of country that can now be depended on to furnish the lu.-it.-ri- als of the road. The timber on this tract 546 Miscellany. Nov. is being cut away annually in vast quantities, by companies who appropriate it without leave from Government. A grant of the lands for this great national enterprise will convert the property of the nation to its right use, and put an end to these depreda- tions. It has been suggested that Government ought to undertake a regular survey of the various routes from the Atlantic to the Pa- cific, before proceeding to the grant of lands. This would only cause a delay of the work for five or six years longer, by the end of which time the timber would have been in great part cut away from the region between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi, upon which it will be necessary to construct the road. The survey would be, for other rea- sons, wholly unnecessary. The route has been thoroughly examined already, wherever examination was necessary. A survey of the prairies for such a purpose would be of about as much service as a survey of the ocean between New- York and Liverpool. Five years of delay, an idle expenditure of several millions, and the final defeat of the entire undertaking, would be the almost certain consequences of such a survey. It will be proposed by the enemies of the project, as a political manoeuvre to stop pro- ceedings. A vast number of unemployed engineers and others would find it a good job for several years, and the stigma of Gov- ernment patronage will have been irretriev- ably fixed upon the work. The enemies of the plan will of course vote for the survey. MISCELLANY. WE the give following account from the London Times of the chief events in the life of Louis Philippe : Louis Philippe was born in Paris, on the 6th of October, 1773, and was the eldest son of Philippe Joseph, Duke of Orleans, (known to the world by the soubriquet of " Philippe Egalite,") and of Marie, the daughter of the Duke de Penthievre. Trained by careful and benevolent parents, the youth of the future King was marked by many acts of benevo- lence, bespeaking high character, sufficient to call forth the high commendation of the celebrated Madame de Genhs, whose wise and judicious train- ing was well calculated to develop any latent good qualities in the minds of those under her charge. The diary of the Duke de Chartres shows that he was not altogether exempt from revolutionary doctrines, and these ideas were far from being dis- couraged by his connection with the Jacobin Club. In 1791 the young Duke, who had previously re- ceived the appointment of Colonel in the 14th Regiment of Dragoons, assumed the command of that corps, and almost the first act of his authority was the saving of two clergymen from the fury of the mob, consequent upon their refusal, in common with many others, to take the oath required by the Constitution. Much personal courage was on this occasion displayed by the Duke de Chartres, and equal tact in guiding the feelings of an enraged mob. A similar amount of courage was shown by him in saving from drowning a M. de Siret, of * < n.e, Sub- Engineer in the Office of Roads and Bridges, and a civic crown was presented to him by the municipal body of that town. In August, 1791, the Duke de Chartres quitted Vendome with his regiment, bound for Valenci- ennes. In April, 1792, war being declared against Austria, the Duke made his first campaign. He fought at Valmy at the head of the troops confided to him by Kellermann, on the 20th of September, 1792, and afterwards on the 6th of November, under Dumouriez, at Jemappes. During the period in which the Duke de Chartres was engaged in the military operations the revolution was hastening to its crisis. The decree of banishment against the Bourbon Capet race, so soon afterward repealed, seems to have alarmed the mind of the Duke, who earnestly besought his father to seek an asy- lum on a foreign shore, urging the unhappiness of his having to sit as a judge of Louis XVI. The Duke of Orleans paid no attention to these remon- strances, and finding that his persuasions were to no avail, the Duke de Chartres returned to his post in the army. The execution of the Duke of Orleans soon afterward verified the melancholy anticipa- tions of his son. He was put to death on the 21st of January, 1793. Exactly seven months after the death of his father the Duke de Chartres and General Dumouriez were summoned before the Committee of Public Safety, and, knowing the sanguinary nature of that tribunal, both instantly fled toward the frontiers. In spite of the eager pursuit which was commenced, they both escaped into the Belgian Netherlands, then in the posses- sion of Austria. The Austrian authorities invited