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struction of the work. And that, in order to obtain the most accurate information on the subject, the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to employ such military officers and troops as he may deem necessary, and also civil engineers, not exceeding ten in number: Provided, nevertheless, That before the said road shall be located or constructed through any state, the consent of the legislature thereof to the provisions contained in this act shall be first had and obtained; and in selecting the site of the said road, the President shall have due regard to the expense and grades thereof, and the intercourse, commerce, military defence, and protection of the whole country.

SEC. 2. Gives right of way of 300 feet and materials for construction.

SEC. 3. That, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of the said rail-road and line of telegraph, there shall be, and are hereby, appropriated and set apart alternate sections of the public lands, designated by odd numbers, for six miles on each side of the said road where the same shall be constructed through any state or states, and for twelve miles on each side of the said road where the same shall be constructed through the territories of the United States; and in cases where the public domain adjacent to the said road may not be suflicient to enable the government to carry into effect the above provisions, then, and in that event, any deficiency that may exist shall be supplied from the public domain nearest to the point at which such deficiency shall exist, and be selected in alternate sections, as aforesaid; and a snm not to exceed twenty millions of dollars, in bonds of the United States, bearing an interest of five per cent. per annum, and redeemable in fifty years; the said lands and bonds to be made available in the manner hereinafter provided. SEC. 4. Provides for the faithful execution of the work.

such advertisements, in the presence of the heads of departments and such other persons as may desire to attend; and said road shall be let to the lowest and best bidders, due regard being had to the evidences of their ability to comply with the terms of their contracts, and their trustworthiness in all respects, together with the security they may offer for the faithful performance of their engagements.

SEC. 6. That whenever fifty miles of said road shall have been completed, in a manner satisfactory to the President of the United States, he shall cause a pro rata payment to be made, according to the terms of the contract for the work so completed, in the bonds of the government, issued under the provisions of this act, and by a grant of four-fifths of the public lands to which the completion of the said fifty miles may entitle said contractors, and so on for each successive fifty miles, until the road shall have been completed, and the terms of their contracts complied with, when they shall be entitled to receive the remaining fifth of said public lands; and, in the event of a failure on the part of the contractors to comply with the terms of their contracts and the provisions of this act, the road, together with the appurtenances, including the running machinery and means of transportation, shall be forfeited, and become the property of the United States; and, for the purpose of enabling the President of the United States, at all times, to know whether the provisions of this act and the terms of the contracts are being complied with, he is authorized, from time to time, to appoint a suitable number of engineers, as supervisors of the work, who shall, under his direction, make thorough and minute examinations of the work as it advances, and report to him, as often as required, upon all matters and things submitted to their charge.

SEC. 7 provides for sufficient security and forfeitures for non-execution.

SEC. 5. That, so soon as the general route for the said road shall have been SEC. 8. That, in consideration of the selected and determined upon, it shall be grant of the lands aforesaid, and the paythe duty of the President of the United ment of the bonds before mentioned, the States to cause advertisements to be pub- said company shall at all times, and as lished in at least two of the newspapers often as required, transport on said road, in each of the states, specifying the va- and every part of the same, as soon as any rious descriptions of work to be done, and part or the whole may be finished, the inviting sealed proposals to execute the mails, troops, seamen, officers of the same, which proposals shall be opened army and navy, and officers or agents of and examined at a time fixed, not ex- the government, and of the post-office ceeding six months after the date of department, while on duty, arms, am

Rusk's Pacific Rail-road Bill-Texas Roads.

munition, munitions of war, army and navy stores, funds, or property belonging to the government of the United States, free from all charges to the government, giving the United States at all times the preference; and shall also transmit all official messages from the government to any of its officers, or from such officers to the government, over said telegraphic line, free of charge. But should a case of emergency arise, in consequence of a war with any foreign nation, in which the government may require an extraordinary amount of transportation, jeoparding the fair dividends and profits of the contractors, in that event the President is hereby authorized to make an equitable and just allowance for such additional service; and should the President and the company be unable to agree upon the same, then the matter shall be referred to, and be determined by, Congress.

SEC. 8. The said rail-road and telegraph shall be completed in the shortest reasonable time,not exceeding ten years: that the bidders for the construction of the same shall specify in their proposals the time required to complete said road and line of telegraph, and the number of miles which they propose to complete annually, which shall also be inserted in the contract; and that Congress may at any time, after the expiration of thirty years from the time said road and line of telegraph may be completed, require the said company to surrender to the United States the said road and line of telegraph, with their equipments, appurtenances, and furniture, upon the payment to the said company of the cost of construction of the same, allowing ten per cent. profit upon their investments, deducting from the whole cost of said road the amount of the bonds paid to the said company and the proceeds of the lands granted to them. And Congress may at all times regulate the tolls to be charged upon passengers and freights, so as, with

an

economical management of said road, not to reduce the profits of said company below eight per cent. upon the investment, deducting there from the advances made by the government towards the construction of the same.

SEC. 10. Details of management. SEC. 11. Congress may authorize connections of this road with other roads.

SEC. 12. Company shall make full annual reports to the secretary of the treasury.

413

We furnished in vol. xiii., of the Review, p. 523, the resolutions of the Galveston Texas Convention, held last summer, on the subject of rail-roads. We now make the following extract from the address prepared by its committee to the people of Texas:

"This state has already assumed an important position in the eyes of the world. She has something of an interesting reputation abroad. Texas, as Texas, has a history. Texas is known to the world as an empire in extent. She has a public domain of more than 100,000,000 of acres. She has a population abounding more in actual wealth and natural resources, than any equal number of people on the globe. She is now receiving an accession to her substantial population faster than any other state in the Union. She holds out incentives to immigration, that, in their combination, are not equaled elsewhere. Her entire soil is a self-swarding, self-resuscitating soil, covered with nutricious grasses. Her numerous herds, unfed by the hand of man, indicate a wealth that runs wild. Her capacity for producing sugar, cotton, tobacco and other staples of the South, is equaled only by her capacity for grazing, and for the production of fruits, corn and the cereal grains. We can refer to no country that equals Texas in agricultural capacity; and no country in America, whose climate equals hers in health and blandness of atmosphere. But while we refer to the vast extent of the state, the abundance of her resources and the incentives to immigration, it must not escape us that these are to be made available to us through the wisdom of a just and beneficent policy-a policy that shall separate the enterprise of our people from rashness; that shall bind the people in harmony of sentiment and action; that shall be steady and undeviating in its operation, andcertain in its results. Texas has too few in numbers to give efficiency to divided territory and population. She has too much to accomplish to allow of divided effort. If sectional tenacity shall be suffered to confuse the plans of action, nothing essential will be accomplished for many years. If the state hold together, and the people harmonize in concerted action and steady effort, there is no financial achievement, consistent with the vastness of its resources, which the state cannot accomplish."

ART. XI.-DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY AND ENTERPRISE

ALEXANDER MOUTON, OF LOUISIANA, AGRICULTURIST.

With a Portrait.

No. 29.

SEVERAL months ago we selected for our biographical department, from the distinguished agriculturists of Louisiana, the name of A. B. Roman, and take pleasure now in presenting from the same class, Alexander Mouton, a gentleman alike well and favorably known in his own state and out of it.

several of these banks. It was during his term that the present system of penitentiary management was adopted which has converted that institution into a source of revenue instead of enormous expense. The buildings were enlarged, the convicts put to useful and profitable employment, and a system of discipline adopted, comparing favorably with that of any similar institution in the world. In these labors he was greatly indebted to the zeal and energy of the Hon. R. N. Ogden, then a member of the Legislature, who had taken much pains in examining all the institutions of the North.

Though retired for several years past to the shades of private life and to the congenial pursuits of agriculture, Governor Mouton has taken lively interest in the great improvement of his native state and of the Southwest-has been an active and zealous advocate of the New-Orleans and Opelousas Rail-road, and so highly were his position and services regarded that, on the assembling of the great Southwestern Railroad Convention in New-Orleans, in January, 1852, he was elected to preside over its deliberations, which he did with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the large and able delegations present.

Mr. Mouton is of Arcadian origin, and was born on the 19th November, 1804, in that part of the county of Attakapas which is now known as the parish of Lafayette. He has continued to reside in this parish, occupying place among its most wealthy and enterprising planters, and most influential and distinguished citizens. A lawyer by profession, having studied in the office of, and afterwards practiced in copartnership with, Judge Simon, he was early attracted into public life, and served for many years in the Legislature of Louisiana, for a part of the time as Speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1837, he was, by a flattering vote, elected to the Senate of the United States to fill the unexpired term of the distinguished and lamented Porter, and also for a full term of six years. In this exalted position he remained, faithfully discharging the duties incumbent upon him, until 1842, when, at the instance of the Democratic Convention of the state, he resigned his seat and entered successfully into the canvass for the gubernatorial chair. The administration of Governor Mouton for four years was mainly directed to the re-establishment of the financial credit and character of the state, then very much disturbed from the revulsions of 1837-8; the separation of the state from the incubus of its banking system, and the liquidation of enjoy them.

In politics he has ever been attached to the democratic party, and was on the electoral ticket in the campaigns of 1828, 1832 and 1836.

A gentleman of high tone and accomplishments, Governor Mouton has the confidence and esteem of a very large portion of the people of Louisiana, without distinction of party, and we trust will long live to

New-York Mercantile Library-New Works-Levees, &c. 415

ART. XII.-SOME EDITORIAL NOTES.

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We have received the Annual Report of the New-York Mercantile Library Society for 1852. For the past year, the amount of receipts was $10,127 25, which is an increase of $1,545 46 over those of the year previous. There is at present a balance of $1,592 67 in the treasury. The report of the President, Mr. George Peckham, represented the library to be in a prosperous condition, 4,346 volumes having been added to it during the year. This is an increase of 1,389 volumes on the previous year. Of these 190 were presented to the Society. The amount paid for new books was $664 73.

We learn that the Mercantile Library is about to be removed from its present location to new quarters, to be provided by the Clinton Hall Association. The Astor Place Opera House has been bought by Messrs. Wilson G. Hunt and Edm. Coffin, two old and tried friends of this institution, and it is their intention to let the Association have it at the price they have paid, which is considerably less than the sum mentioned.

We are indebted to Job. R. Tyson, LL.D., of Philadelphia, for a pamphlet copy of Letters addressed to him by Edward D. Mansfield, of Cincinnati, upon the rail-way connections of Philadelphia with the great West, and shall refer to it hereafter.

Edmund Ruffin, Esq., has delivered an address, of which he has favored us with a copy, to the State Agricultural Society of Virginia, on "the effects of domestic slavery on the manners, habits and welfare of the agricultural population of the Southern States, and the slavery of class to class in

the Northern States."

The publisher has sent us a copy of Monks' splendid new Map of North America, upon which all the great lines of public improvement, &c, are marked, and which is the latest and most complete map of the continent to be obtained.

Dr. Manly, President of the University of Alabama, has made a report to the trustees of that institution on the subject of college education and organization, embracing the results of his own experience, as well as of an examination into the merits of the lead

ing institutions of our country. We are happy to receive a copy, and have no doubt its general circulation among the friends of education at the South will do much good.

Prof. Page, J. J. Greenhough, and Chas. L. Fleishman, have commenced the publication in Washington city of a new, handsome and quite important periodical, entitled the "American Polytechnic Journal," devoted to science, mechanic arts and agriculture. It will contain records of discoveries, patent laws and decisions, agricultural implements and general treatises. $3 per annum.

We are indebted to the Hon. D. L. Seymour, of New-York, for a copy of his able report upon Reciprocal Trade with the British North American Colonies.

T. O. Donnell, 160 Camp-street, NewOrleans, favors us with a copy of the "Spawife; or, the Queen's Secret, a story of the reign of Elizabeth, by Paul Peppergrass, Esq., author of Shandy McGuire, with six illustrations. 2 vols. He also furnishes us from the same house of John Murphy & Co., Baltimore, a copy of the Life and Writings of the "Milford Bard," who left the reputation and the faults of genius closely linked together. Some of the fugitive pieces in the volume have much merit.

To all that is said in the extract which follows from a letter we have received from

a friend and correspondent, upon the subject of Levees, we can heartily respond, and trust that the suggestions will arouse our dormant citizens into action:

The first great want of the agricultural interest, in the river states is an enlightened and efficient levee system. The State of Louisiana especially is vitally interested in this important subject, and the men who can and who shall devise and carry through a system of protection to the immense capital, which of late years, in particular, has been which is so fearfully jeopardized every year accumulating upon its fertile alluvion, but by the periodical overflow of the Mississippi, will be hailed in all time to come as public benefactors. Enough theories have been spun by writers for the papers and by some for the review in relation to levees, their utility, inutility, &c. What we want is action, and we look to you and others like you, wielding a wide influence over the public mind to bring about that action. Your legislature is now in session-the Governor, I understand, (for I have not seen his message,) calls the attention of the legislature to the subject, and recommends its earnest conside

ration.

Now is the time to produce action; and the subject, involving the weightiest interests as it does of the state-its mighty development-its future grandeur and glory in the sisterhood of states, is fit to engage the first minds in the South. Call them out, and let us have fewer speculations and more results. While we are discussing the question of whether levees will answer the end proposed, the States of Mississippi and Arkansas are going on rapidly with their levees above, and preparing to precipitate the floods of waters upon our section-the lower section-of the river. We will be forced to levee or give up our plantations, and transfer millions of capital to other states." The Church Journal.—A weekly religious paper, published by Pudney & Russell, New-York, and devoted to the interests of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States.

We have received the first and second Nos. of the above, and must candidly admit that, for editorial ability and mechanical execution, the paper far surpasses any of the kind that has ever come under our observation. We can highly recommend it to our Southern friends as containing sound doctrines, and a vast amount of information, both foreign and domestic.

We are indebted to Mr. Morris, bookseller, of Richmond, for a copy of a work, in two handsome volumes, entitled History of Virginia, from its discovery and settlement by Europeans to the present time, by Robert R. Howison. Vol. I. contains the history of the colony to the peace of Paris, in 1763. Vol. II. the history of the colony and of the state from 1763 to 1847, with a review of the present condition of Virginia.

46

Matthew F. Ward, Esq., has placed us under renewed obligations, by the presentation of a copy of a work lately issued by him from the press of Appleton & Co., with the title of English Items, or Microscopic Views of England and Englishmen." In this volume, Mr. Ward carries the war into Africa, and pays off somewhat in their own coin the English, who have so consistently and perseveringly reviled us through their newspaper press, their literature, and their tourists. Though we think he often carries his warfare into extremes, we can hardly find it necessary to censure when considering how abused or perchance patronized our people constantly are by the upstart pretenders to all the gentility and refinement in the world, who come among us as precious specimens of the people we are to imitate and admire. There is greatness and glory in England, and there are high-toned and noble men, but rarely have we seen any among the English who visit our shores. Mr. Ward's work contains twelve chapters,

on the English Church, custom-house, scenery, writers on America, manners, gentility, heraldry, etc., upon all of which heads he introduces evidence to prove there is not much we should desire to imitate. In the chapter upon English writers, he incorporates elaborate extracts proving their ignorance, bigotry, ingratitude and falsehood of their account of our country. We could have wished Mr. Ward had tempered his book a little; but really, having failed in every other method of dealing with the English, we do not know but that this war offensive will have salutary effects. When stones are to be thrown, it will be found that glass houses are plentiful enough on the other side of the ocean.

It will be recollected by our readers that the Southwestern Commercial Convention will meet on 6th JUNE next at Memphis, and we trust that large delegations will be in attendance from all the South and West.

We trust that our friends who intend ordering the INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES will do so without delay, as the edition is small, and we desire to close it. As an evidence of how little the South has sustained us in this most expensive and laborious publication, it is only necessary to state that the sales up to this time, north of the Potomac, have been sixfold larger than at the South. Indeed, the subscription list to the Review is almost as large in New-York as in NewOrleans. The Industrial Resources embrace every article of value contained in the 13 volumes of the Review, besides an immense amount of other matter, brought down to the first of January, 1853.

* CRESCENT SEEDLING PERPETUAL.

THIS is a new American seedling, raised by Mr. Henry Lawrence, of New-Orleans, by crossing the "British Queen" and "Keen's" seedling. It is the first perpetual strawberry of large size and firstrate quality ever raised. For six months this remarkable fruit continues bearing. "I neither cut off the blossoms," says Mr. L., nor any part of them, to increase its bearing-it is one continued crop from the first, and if you want to know how it bears after four months fruiting, a friend has just (May 9th) counted from thirty-two to forty-two berries on four successive plants, the largest measuring five and a half inches, and the average being three inches in circumference."

strawberry season in the North, making it an im

No doubt this variety will greatly extend the

mense acquisition to strawberry growers, and in hybridizing. The almost utter impossibility of getkind scarce for some time. It has been ordered from ting plants alive from New-Orleans will make this all quarters, but very few plants have been received

alive.

Dr. Bayne, the famous strawberry-grower at Alexsaving but one plant, which," he remarks, $25 andria, D. C., ordered $25 worth, but succeeded in would not buy." Mr. Pardee of Palmyra, New-York, after repeated efforts succeeded in saving a few plants, and is disposing of them in pots at $2 each.. Lawrence, at $8 per hundred. A supply of these can be had from Mr. Henry

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