vailable for the purposes of transportation at all times of the year. "This route is better than one further to the North would be, because it would enable the Government at less cost of money and with less risk of life to preserve the nation's faith solemnly pledged before the world, by treaty, to protect Mexico from Indian incursions, "With or without this road, military posts must be established along that frontier to carry out this article of the treaty. Having the road, a smaller force will be required for this service, and the same posts can execute the treaty, protect the road, and assist to keep it in repairs also. Therefore, as a matter of efficiency, as a work of national defense, and as a measure of economy to the nation, this route should be preferred, always supposing it to be practicable as it regards topography.

"Another consideration in favor of the southern route is to be found in the impulse which the road by that route would give to the working of the silver mines of Mexico and to the commerce with that country for which it would serve as a channel, and to which allusion has already been made.

"This work is to be built by the States out of a general fund, and for the common good. It should, therefore, commence at some central point on the Mississippi river, and which should be that point which is the most convenient to all the States for access. Nature and the internal improvements of the States indicate clearly enough where the point is.

"It is that point which is on the Mississippi river and is midway the valley between the head of the Gulf and the foot of the Lakes. "It is that point between which and the Gulf the navigation of the river is at all times open.

"It is that point which the people of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri, may reach with the advantages of down stream navigation.

It is that point which is accessible to Illinois, Michigan and the Lake country through the Illinois canal, and which is also of convenient access to Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, with parts of Kentucky and Virginia, by the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

"It is that point toward which Alabama, Florida, Georgia, the two Carolinas, and Virginia, are projecting and extending their railways. "It is that point the route from which should be accessible to Texas and Arkansas as well as all the States. And that point is the city of Memphis, in the State of Tennessee. Memphis is 860 miles from the Gulf and 840 from Lake Michigan.

"It would be more convenient for Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin to meet the terminus of the road at St. Louis. But it would not add as much to their convenience as it would take from the convenience of Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, and other States.

"Pennsylvania extends from the sea to the Lakes, and the people of all the States to the east of her who wish to travel by railroad must cross her borders to get to the terminus of the Pacific road, and whatever terminus and route be most convenient to her citizens will De most convenient also to the citizens of the States to the east of her. The routes of travel and channels of communication between Pennsylvania and the Mississippi river are various, and they are increasing in number, and, as a matter of convenience to her people and those of

New England, it will be about the same whether they have to come to Memphis or go to St. Louis to get upon this National road.

"If they come by the Lakes, they will find St. Louis most convenient; if they come by the way of Pittsburg, they will find Memphis quite as convenient as St. Louis.

"But if they come by sea to New Orleans or Charleston, or via Baltimore and Washington, over the Virginia and Tennessee railroad, the people of New England and New York will, in every one of these cases, find Memphis the most convenient point of departure for California.

"But as the road is to be built by the common property, or funds of all the States, and as they expect that the value of the public lands in the States through which this road is to run will be increased thereby, they may probably object to the Memphis route on account of Texas, and apparently not without some show or reason, for one of the collateral inducements for them to build the road is to be found in the expectation that it will greatly enhance the price and the sales of the public lands in the States and territories through which it may

pass.

"If Memphis be adopted as the terminus, the road will probably pass through Texas, in which the General Government owns no

lands.

"They belong to Texas, the roads will vastly increase their value, and the older States may object that their common property shall be so applied as to benefit one member of the confederacy to such an extent as a road built at their expense through Texas would benefit Texas.

"It is, therefore, submitted to the justice and patriotism of the people of Texas, whether it would not be wise on their part to imitate, to some extent, the example of Virginia in the noble disposition which she made of her Northwest Territory. That gallant old State had the right of eminent domain over Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, but she generously ceded it all to the nation, and it was accepted without condition, save and except that slavery and involuntary servitude should never exist there forever. The extent of the imitation suggested in behalf of Texas is, that that State should concede at once and forthwith so much of her lands, lands belonging to the State, as may necessary to carry the road through that State.

be

"Such an act of generosity would not be without its reward. There is in Texas, and the contiguous territory, an immense region which is a natural vineyard.

"The vines are cropped by the buffalo and the wild beasts. Thus dressed they produce the finest of grapes, which are pronounced by the German emigrants, who are preparing to cultivate them, to be capable of producing wines superior to the German wines. The roads would open that trade to Texas.

"Moreover, the embryo State of Deseret is mostly an inland basin, which has no sea drainage, and which, therefore, can never have any communication with the ocean except by railroad. Texas is the nearest to that basin, and, having less distance to send her produce, will, therefore, have the monopoly of supplying that State with many of the articles of commerce. Such an act on the part of Texas in giving

the lands would only be " casting bread upon the waters,' " for she would gather it all again when the road shalll be, as no doubt it will be, ceded to the States in which it may lie."

Having first based his argument in favor of the railway, upon the ground of National defense, he now brings it to bear upon the Southern or Gila route, provided this route should be found equally practicable. But he does not rely upon this alone: he brings up others to its support: it is to be the means of opening the silver mines of Mexico, by which the "calamity" apprehended from a change in the relative value of gold and silver is to be averted; it is to give us the commerce of three millions of Mexicans, whose bullion is to enrich the manufacturers of New England. Now, upon an examination of the map, it will be perceived that the provinces of Sonora and Chihuahua extend from the Rio del Norte to the Gulf of California; also, that they are about 400 miles long from north to south; and, according to McGregor, these provinces contain only 271,600 inhabitants. Cohahuila contains, according to the same authority, 75,340 inhabitants; and if we suppose that one-half of these reside in the northern half of the province, we shall only find a Mexican population of 309,270 within about 400 miles of the railway. And if we include Cinaloa, Durango, and all Cohahuila, we should then find a population of only 656,558 within the distance of 600 miles of the road; and the greater portion of these reside much nearer the Gulf of California, the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, than to the road. Now, we think, it can scarcely be expected that New England manufactures will be transported over railroads from Boston to the Gila, and, then packed on mules a distance of more than 500 miles, when they could be carried by sea to points more convenient for distribution, and at cheaper rates. Another argument in favor of this route is, that it will enable the people of Texas to send their produce to Deseret! Now, should the road be located in the valley of the Gila, it would not pass nearer than about 500 miles of the Mormon settlement. nearest point would be about midmay between the Rio del Norte and the Pacific; and from this point we know of no road through the mountains leading into the valley of the Salt Lake, over which commerce could be carried, without returning east, and going through the South Pass. Truly, this Southern route is made to perform most astonishing offices! But admitting that it should be found serviceable as an agent in defending the Mexicans against the Indians, yet, our territory is infested with savage tribes for more than one thousand miles north of this line; and, do we not owe protection to our own citizens as well as to the people of Mexico? And were it true that this route would secure the commerce of 3,000,000 of the Mexican population, yet, would it not be better that we should, by locating the road through the centre of our own territory, encourage a continuous chain of settlements from Misssouri to San Francisco, and thereby furnish our own citizens with commercial facilities for 500 miles on each side, than to give one-half of its advantages to another nation? Indeed, to our mind, the proximity of the southern route to the Mexican line, is the strongest objection that can be urged against

The

But again, every one must admit that the gold of California constitutes the principal attraction of that country; and it would cost the emigrant to the gold region, about as much to travel from any point on the southern line to the Placers, as it would to go there from Missouri, were the central road in operation. The central route would pass through both Deseret and the gold region of California; and it would seem to be a reasonable policy, on the part of our Government and people, to aim at the development of our own mineral wealth, rather than construct a railway with a view to the encouragement of mining in Mexico.

Besides, considering the Pacific railway as a national work to be constructed at the national expense, it would, in our opinion, be unjust to locate it so far south as the Texas and Gila route, provided a practicable route can be found farther north. For, should a canal be opened across the Isthmus, that portion of our population which is located in the Atlantic and Gulf States would, for most purposes, have a cheaper route to the Pacific, and, consequently, but little use for the road; while the inhabitants north of the route possess no such advantages. We have no apprehension, however, that if a railway should ever be constructed to the Pacific that it will be located on the Southern route. But, aware of the influence of the author's opinions upon the public mind, and believing that he has not given sufficient consideration to the arguments in favor of the northern region of the western States and territories, we have esteemed it our duty to show wherein our views differ from his; and, moreover, we were unwilling that his arguments should remain unanswered, lest the friends of the southern route should conclude that they were impregnable.

ART. II.-LEWIS AND CLARKE'S EXPEDITION TO AND FROM THE PACIFIC.

EVEN previous to the purchase of the colony of Louisiana, the expansive and far reaching mind of Mr. Jefferson-that man of genius and judgment, of science and common sense-had anticipated the day when the energy and enterprise of American citizens would span the continent,-republican institutions diffuse themselves to the shores of the Pacific, and the chain which binds the great confederacy of free States would encircle in its adamantine links the sovereignties of the eastern and the western shores, and he was then preparing and maturing a plan for the examination of this broad territory by competent American agents. On the 18th day of January, 1803, more than three months prior to the treaty of cession, by a special confidential message he recommended to the Congress of the Union that steps should be taken without delay for the accomplishment of this interesting object. The Congress having concurred in the view of the President and conferred upon him the requisite authority, he forth

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with commissioned Captains Merriwether Lewis and William Clarke, to explore the river Missouri and its principal tributaries to their sources in the Rocky mountains,-surmount their rugged and precipitous heights, and snow crowned ridges, and trace to the Pacific some stream whether the Columbia, the Oregon, the Colorado, or any other which might offer the most direct and practicable water communication across the continent for the purposes of commerce." The letter of instruction drawn up by Mr. Jefferson himself further directs them to fix the latitude and longitude of all the remarkable points along the courses of these rivers to observe with attention the soil and face of the country, the animal, vegetable and mineral productions, the geological structure, and the climate with its successive changes in time and elevation; and to collect all the facts relative to the past history and traditions of the Indian tribes, their locations, characteristics, manners, habits, wars, laws and usages.

Merriwether Lewis was born on the eighteenth day of August, 1774, near Charlettesville in the county of Albermarle, Virginia, of a distinguished family. Fielding Lewis, an uncle of his father, married a sister of General Washington, his father William Lewis was the youngest of five sons of Col. Robert Lewis. Two of his father's brothers became officers in the Revolutionary army, and rendered substantial service to the cause which their whole family had espoused with unanimity and ardor. One of these, Nicholas, at the close of the war, commanded a successful expedition against the Cherokees, who, seduced by the agents of the British Government, had committed great havoc upon the frontier, by the murder and scalping of many helpless females and innocent children. He subsequently became the guardian of the subject of this memoir. The mother of our hero was of the respectable family of the Merriwethers, and to her tenderness, intelligence, and care, he owed those estimable traits which marked his subsequent career. After receiving a substantial education, and evincing a sound knowledge of practical affairs he entered as a volunteer in the body of militia called out to suppress the contemplated Pennsylvania insurrection and soon rose to the rank of Paymaster.

Whilst in Paris the mind of Mr. Jefferson was turned to the subject of western discovery by the well known attempt of John Ledyard, (whose views he warmly seconded) to traverse Siberia and Kamschatka, and from thence cross to our continent and explore its interior. The failure of this attempt occasioned by the jealousy of the Russian Empress only served to impress the design more deeply upon the mind of Mr. Jefferson, and in 1792 he proposed to the American Philosophical Society to employ by subscription some competent person, to explore the western regions by land. Capt. Lewis warmly solicited this position. Mr. Jefferson told him that it was contemplated that the person engaged should be attended by a single companion only to avoid exciting the Indians, but he still persisted in his solicitation. M. Andre Micheau, the illustrious author of the Flora Borealis Americana, offering his services they were accepted, and after receiving his instructions and proceeding as far as Kentucky, he was compelled to relinquish the undertaking by a peremptory order of the Minister of France.

In 1803, the act for establishing Trading Houses among the Indian