Washington Township (part 5 of 12)

Noah L. Wilson, Esq., of Chillicotbe, the laborious and intelligent President of the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad, llien presented to Governor Chase the Hon. Thomas Swann, Mayor of tlie city of Baltimore, as the distinguished person tlirougli wliose enliglitened energy and great financial ability the giant labor of cutting through tlie mountain divisions of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had been accomplished.

He commenced by saying, that the allusion which had been made to his humble name, by the Governor, was quite unexpected to him. He thanked that distinguished gentleman - he thanked the representative of tlie Government (General Cass) who had just spoken - he thanked the gentleman from the neighlioring State of Virginia (Mr. McMullen) for the high encomiums which had been passed upon the public works of the State of Maryland. He was here surrounded by the corporate authorities of the city of Baltimore, to participate in this great jubilee. They had traversed a distance of nearly four hundred miles, to be present on an occasion of interest not only to'the State of Ohio, but the whole West. Mr. Swann said that he could never despair of the Union when he witnessed the results of the great combination of roads which they were here this day to celebrate - a combination which could never be severed without doing violence to all our most cherished prospects. They had passed over the soil of two States, and they were now within the limits of a third. Such facilities of intercourse could not be otherwise than beneficial. They promoted social and commercial interchange, and brought men together, to feel and estimate the value of our glorious institutions.

Ten years ago he had connected himself with the public works of the State of Maryland. ' The policy upon which these works had been conducted, was not unknown to (he people of Ohio. He had looked with a steady eye to that beautiful Queen City of which the Governor had spoken - he had looked to what he believed to be the commercial centre of the great West. It is known, that when the Baltimore and Ohio railroad was located, the people of Maryland were compelled to take what they could get - not what they wanted. An air-line, drawn from St. Louis and Cincinnati to the nearest point on the seaboard, shows that the location of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, at Wheeling, was not its legitimate and proper location. This led to the origin and completion of the North-western Virginia railroad, which would become, he doubted not, an important link in the Grand Tnink line between the East and the West, The city of Baltimore had never relaxed her efforts to place herself in her true position. Mr. Swann said, that in the midst of iill the difficulties and obstacles by which her pathway had been obstructed, the city of Baltimore had kept an unfaltering eye upon Cincinnati, St. Louis, and the distant shores of the Pacific. Baltimore was the Eastern terminus of this great American highway. Cincinnati and St. Louis were both shining landmarks upon its westward extension. This was the fixed policy upon which he had been acting. He was not surprised that it had insured him and the city authorities so cordial a recaption here in the State of Ohio.

It was with some pride that he spoke of the position of the little State of Maryland in connection with these great railroad movements. The gentleman from his own State, (Mr. Cox,) who had just spoken, and to whom he was indebted for his kind allusion, had done her no more than justice. The distinguished Secretary of State (General Cass) had represented the Baltimore and Ohio railroad as an enterprise, rivalling the achievements of the Koman empire in its palmiest days. It was a stupendous work. It had been undertaken and completed under every disadvantage. During his connection with the two works which formed part of the grand combination which had suggested this meeting, he had disbursed more than ,$13,000,000 of capital. It was a great effort for one of the smallest States in this Union, but it showed the enterprise of her people, and a steady perseverance in the discharge of that part of the duty which devolved upon lier.

He told the people of Cincinnati years ago, before the North-western Virginia Railroad was commenced, that her first dependence was upon the Great Southern line, which was now about to be opened. He had seen no reason to change this view. Her interest was identical with that of the city of Baltimore. Nature had indicated the connection, and those whom God had joined together, could not be intcrlered with by artificial impediments. He was perfectly willing to leave to the future the tiiitli of his predictions.

Mr. Swann thaid<ed the Governor again for his cordial reception. He assured him that the city of Baltimore would feel it her pride, at all times, to cultivate the most friendly relations, both social and commercial, with the people of Ohio. He believed that this was only an earnest of a still grander celebration that awaited them in the future - he believed that the important combination of roaJs over wliich they b;iJ passed, would stretch onward and onward, until they rea^.-hed the waters ot' the Pacific, and he hoped, at no distant day, to unite with the Governor in signalizing an effort which no people but our own could have conceived and looked forward to, without distrust, in the probability of ultimate success.

Mr. Swann's speech was -warmly received, and listened to with evident interest, but owing to llie great pressure of tlie crowd upon' the banks of the river where the reporter stood, it is impossible to do more than give an imperfect outline of his remarks, Avliich are now, for the first time, even approximately published.

The general reception-ceremonies were now ended, and taking advantage of a spare half hour, many of tlie guests proceeded to view the celebrated Indian inound in the near vicinity, which rises from the midst of the cemetery, a distance of forty feet, and is surrounded by a Avide ditch or moat fifty feet from its base. Here were civilization and barbarism poetically illustrated in the monuments to tlie dead of dilFereut eras and races. The mound marking the final resting-place of extinct aboriginal tribes, surrounded by the marbled tombs of modern civilization! How significant tlie symbols Avhich thus unite the Present with the Past !

At two o'clock we started for oui- train again, or rather for the steam ferry, by which the Muskingum is crossed at present to Harmar, on its right bank, the piers of a magnificent bridge, over which the track is designed to be laid, not liaving been quite completed yet. The bridge is to be 694 feet long, with a " draw " for steamers, and resting on piers of massive masonry. The spans are each ] 84 feet ; height of truss, 23 feet; height of the bridge above low water, 50 feet ; extreme width, 54 feet; to be roofed with tin. Total cost, one hundred tliousand dollars; built under the plan and superintendence of Col. Moore, by Wiiarton Lyman.

Arrived at the cars, which, until tlie bridge is completed, start from Harmar, on the right bank of the Muskingum, - we found that our company had added still further to its numbers during the brief halt. Among the new comers who joined us iiere were Governor Chase and suite, a delegation of gentlemen from Chillicothe, where it Avas arranged that we should spend the night, and the following representatives of the press, viz. :

We left the station at lialf-past 2 o'clock, p. 51. A run of four miles brought us to Scott's landing, on tlie Ohio, the point at wliich the connection between tlie" railroads on either side the river (the Northwest Virginia arm of the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Marietta and Cincinnati) will be made until the track can be completed to make a proper connection at Belpre, opposite Farkersburg. When this is accomplislied, wliich it should be by an early day, the connection will be direct by ferryboat, occupying a few minutes only in the transit, instead of from one to two hours, as now.

A few miles further west we reached the point at which our road is compelled to pass the hills of the river border in order to strike more into the interior. The passage is designed to be made by a tunnel, not yet completed. At the time of our excursion the cars passed over the hill top by use of what are technically known as " Y's." This arrangement consists of short tracks, elevated on trestle work and shelves cut in the hill-side, running a zigzag course on steep grades. Imagine an immense letter '' W " described on the hill-side, each limb to the point of junction with its neighbor limb, an hundred yards long, its angles running out to considerable length, and terminating very acutely, each succeeding' limb rising higher and higher than the one nest below it, and the reader lias something of an idea of this simple and ingenious method of overcoming great elevations witiiin a short space. Beginning at the lower limb of tlie great liieroglyphic, the train runs along it on a grade of one Imndred and sixty feet to the mile, until it reaches the point of the first angle. The engine being now reversed, the train runs backward and is switched oft' on the second limb, to be again switched off on the third and fourth, each time rising higlier and higher until at last the summit is reached. This extraordinary mode of passing great elevations by railroads, was first instituted, we believe, by Mr. Latrobe, in the crossing of the Board Tree Tunnel-hill on the Baltimore and Oliio Koad, in 1853.

In order to accomiilish this ascent more readily, our train was divided into five parts, each drawn by an independent locomotive, but all running near together. The scene as we passed over the " Y's " was exceedingly picturesque, all five of tlie detachments occupying different sections of the erratic path at the same time, and each liaviug the

Trip From Mauietta To Chillicothe

Others all in full view, either above or below. The cars were gaily decorated with flags and streamers, handkerchiefs floated in snowy clouds from the windows, and cheer upon cheer of salutation went up from the more enthusiastic of the company as we thus passed each other in grand review. In a few minutes the trains formed in continuous line again, and we bowled along the level Avoodway once more until, a few miles further west, we struck the ascent over Pilcher's tunnel, with a grade of about two hundred feet to the mile.

Eighteen miles from Marietta we came upon the Little Hocking Valley, crossing the river bed on a gigantic trestle work, one hundred and Jive feet hi height and eighteen hundred and ten feet long. It was impossible to pass so remarkable a work without examining it, which the company alighted to do, after the train had crossed. Timid travellers will be glad to learn, that solid, massive and safe as the trestling is, it is to be immediately replaced by permanent bridges and embankments. The same improvement is to be made with all the trestle work upon the line as rapidly as it can be accomplished. After we passed the Little Hocking, the country began to assume a less rugged aspect, and the road, escaping from the region of hills, tunnels and trestles, passed over gently undulating slopes, and tlirough valleys remarkable for their fertility and quiet loveliness. Near Athens, however, there was one more viaduct, 1,100 feet long, and seventy-six high.

AVe reached Athens at six o'clock p. m. This is a fine old town, advantageously located on a high hill, overlooking a long stretch of beautifully rolling country and many a charming valley. Here is located one of the most flourishing universities in the State. The townspeojjle turned out in great numbers to salute us as we passed.

Leaving this place we soon found ourselves in the midst of a rich mineral region, only just beginning to be developed. Passing through and over immense deposits of coal and'iron, we reached Zaleski, fiftyeight miles from Marietta. A few years since a practical geologist was struck by the fact that the iron rails fureliased in England for this road were laid on enibanhnents of iron ore! The result of investigation into the facts Is, that a company of English capitalists, intelligently rejjresented here by Mr. Kobson, has purchased seven thousand acres of these coal and iron lands in Vinton county, and are laying the foundations of a great manufacturing city in the centre of a mining and agricultural region. Here they are erecting furnaces, foundries and iocomotive manufactories on a scale and on the basis of economics not seen hitherto in this country. Here, too, are to be located, the very extensive machine and repair shops of the railway company, making a front of one thousand feet upon the road.

About thirty miles from Chillicotbe is the "Cincinnati Furnace," and "Ely's Mines." From that point the iron development is going on rapidly. Twelve miles beyond Athens is the " Big Lead " Furnace. South of Hamilton are several which connect with this road by the Scioto and Hocking Valley road. On the Ohio side of the river, and within tlie reach of the Marietta line, are not less than forty furnaces and forges. During the past season six new furnaces have gone into blast, most of which are within reach of this road. We should not omit to state, that between the Scioto and the Muskingum, also, there are exhaustless supplies of the most useful mineral productions. Coal, iron, salt, tire clay, cannel coal - all abound. Of course it is a most admirable locality for manufactures.

Rattling on through a number of settlements, over the finest farms, cultivated appareutl}' in the most skilful manner, and crossing the Scioto by a permanent bridge twelve hundred feet long, we arrived at Cliillicothe, the ancient capital of the State, and still one of its most important cities, where it Avas arranged that we should pass the night. AVhen we arrived the city was already full of excursionists - guests from along the line of the road, from Cincinnati and elsewhere, as well as many lookers-on - to greet the guests from tie East or share in the Chillicothe Celebration - who had arrived by preceding trains. The hotel accommodations were limited, and not less than a thousand persons, probably, were already quartered at private dwellings.

Nevertheless, scarcely had our trains come to a stand-still in the depot, than the cars were invaded by numbers of the wealthy citizens of the place, who gathered us up in parties from six to twenty, placed us in carriages and carried us to their private mansions, where we were treated to such exhibitions of generous hospitality as are rarely equalled, but cannot be surpassed. In this way, in less time than we occupy in narrating the fact, every guest was provided foi-, and each speedily found himself " at home." We came as strangers, but met as friends. An amiable strife was evident among our entertainers, to see who could secure the greatest number at his board, and excel the others in provision for their comfort and enjoyment. Hardly less than two thousand persons were cared for by i)rivate hospitality on the niglit in question, yet so universally did the Chillicothians contribute to and i)articipate in the liospitable demonstration, that no one was crowded and everybody seemed delighted with his experience. Certainly, v/e never expect to witness a more hearty and whole-souled specimen of genuine hospitality. Among the families whose comfortable dwellings were thrown open on this occasion, Ave have obtained the names of the following, which we believe to be nearly complete : -

General Cass, M. Sartiges and suite, Mayor Swann, of Baltimore, John It. Thompson, of Virginia, and several other gentlemen, were liandsomely entertained at the private mansion of Noah L. Wilson, Esq., President of the Company.

Nowhere upon its line is the Cincinnati and Marietta Railroad more thoroughly appreciated than in ChiUicothe, where reside several gentlemen whose capital and energy Jiave contributed not a little towards its successful prosecution. W^e found the streets alive on our arrival, and noisy with the sliouts of a niultitude. Flags were displayed from the public houses, bonfires glowed upon the surrounding hills and lighted up the city itself, and bauds of music paraded the streets. Our own " Blues Band " formed at the head of a procession on arrival, and marched through the principal streets to Masonic IIall,where a bountiful supper was set for all Avho chose to unite in its discussion.

In order to exhibit the scale upon which tliis spirited community entered upon their share of the general celebration, we present the full progi'amuie of their excellent arrangements for the occasion.

Marietta And Cincinnati Railroad Celebration The Mayor And City Council

The German Wasliington Ouards, the respective Fire Companies of the City, invited Guests of the City and couutry, the Citizens and the Members of the various Committees are respectfully requested to meet at the Masonic Hall and proceed from the Masonic Hall to the corner of Second and Paint Street, from thence in a direct line to the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad Company depot, where tliey will meet the guests from the East and West, who are expected to arrive at the depot at 6.15 p. m.

On the amval of the trains the mayor of the city will receive the guests, after which a procession will be re-formed in the same manner as above directed, and proceed in a direct line to the Masonic Hall, where the guests will be provided with their places of sojourn.

At 8 o'clock p. jr., a second procession of all parties named above will be formed in same order at ]\Iasonic Hall and march directly to the depot to receive the guests Irom tlie eastward of the Ohio River, who are expected to arrive between 8 and i) o clock p. m.

The approach of the train with the eastern guests will be announced to the citizens by the firing of a red Bengal light from the top of BeUevue Hill, at the head of Main Street.

In order to prevent confusion, citizens are requested not to invite guests from abroad to their houses, e.-jcept through the committee of their ward.

It IS proposed to form a prtieession at seven o'clock on Wednesday morninw under the direction of tlie marsli: Is, in front of the Court House, to proceed from thence in a direct line to the top of Bellevue Hill, to show our guests the beautiful panoramic views surrounding our city.

Great Ohio Axd Mississippi Railroad Opening

Will distribute the guests in houses on l Paint, between Second and Fifth Streets ; |-also Fifth, between Walnut and Paint I Streets ; also Main and Fourth, between f Will distribute the guests in houses on J Second, between Paint and High Streets ; ] also on Walnut, between Fifth Street l^and the Ohio canal.

A train which arrived at Chlllicothe, from Cincinnati, tliree hours before us, brought in several hundred guests from the " Queen Citj," had come to escort us westward. Among them were the City Council of Cincinnati, several Members of the Legislature, and further deputations from the Cincinnati Press. They were formally received on behalf of Chillicothe by Mayor Adams in the following speech :

To you all from the banks of the beautiful Ohio, at the pioneer city of our beloved State, or by her waters, in the young metropolis of the West, or along the path of this new commercial highway, I offer the cordial salutation of the citizens of Chillicothe.

We are not insensible to the value of the social, pohtical, and commercial results of the splendid achievement signalized by this celebration, and we join in this midway meeting with warm and full sympathy. To express this appreciation, and to manifest our respect for you, gentlemen, we make you our "welcome guests on this occasion.

comfortable and happy, will be met with alacrity and pleasure ; and I know that if your short stay in Chillieothe shall brino; the same gratification to yourselves us to us, your visit will be most agreeable.

Citizens of CniLLicoTiiE: - "You have long been known for your liberalitj' and hospitality, and we feel that your welcome is not from your lips alone. We are all residents in the great and growing West ; have an interest in her prosperity, and are proud of her rapid progress. We hold it meet that of the Queen City of the West, should, on this occasion, exchange congratulations with the citizens of the ancient metropolis. Here it was that the earliest seeds of Ohio's greatness were planted : here it was that the Constitution was formed, whose excellence, no doubt, has so much contributed to our State'.s success. We look upon Chillieothe with the eye of kindness, reverence, and love : we feel, when here, that we are upon sacred ground, where the early pioneers of ci\'ilization sleep, but are not forgotten. Over their graves grateful memory will ever watch, and the torches of patriotism be kept burning as at hallowed shrines.

Chillieothe would alfl-ays be an attractive object, not only to every Ohioan, but to every "Western man, even if nature had not so nobly adorned her, making her lovely to the natural eye, apart from all association.

When wo look upon yoijr verdant and luxurious hills, and see the beautiful Scioto winding its silvery course through your fertile valleys, when we view your broad and regiilar streets, your elegant mansions, the abodes of generosity, refinement, and taste ; when our eye falls upon your beautiful daughters, the worthy offspring of noble mothers, and your gallant sons, descended from patriotic sires, and hear your welcome pronounced from a thousand lips, and your acclamations echoing back from your glorious hills, we have no words to express our gratitude. We feel we have all a Western heart, and that our glory and progress cause in us all a pride to which our fathers and ourselves have purchased the right, by earnestness, patriotism, labor, and exhaustless enterprise.

Our horde of eastern guests entering the town at so late an liour, and the excitement raging very high, a formal reception-ceremony was, by common consent, dispensed with, and an indiscriminate but whole-souled welcome fitly substituted. By midnight silence reigned in Cliillicothe, and all the tired sojourners slumbered.

On the morning of the next day, Wednesday, June 3d, the strangers were up betimes, thronging the streets for a brief glance at a place destined to be so pleasantly treasured in their memories. Numerous Tehicles were placed at their disposal, in which to visit points of intereit, of which there are several. Nothing interested us more than a view from what is known as the Mountain House, on the Belleview estate, some distance back of the main portion of the toAvn, wliich stands on an elevation full three hundred feet high. From here we obtained a bird's-eye view of the neat and beautiful city beloAv, and a charming one of the level and fertile Scioto valley for a distance of twenty or thirty miles, dotted with farm-houses, and presenting a perfect picture of agricultural prosperity and wealth. To the right and left this view was bounded by a range of hills with some mountains of respectable elevation in the background. Mound Mountain, which first attracts attention, derives its name from a remarkable Indian mound erected upon its summit; a marvellous relic of some race which lives no more, even in tradition. Logan's Mountain, fifteen miles distant, also is visible, presenting a beautiful and graceful outline drawn out against the deep blue sky of the early morn. It was here that Lord Dinwiddle, guarded by a hardy band of ante-revolution colonists, held the celebrated council Avith Logan, made memorable by the extraordinary eloquence and pathos of the speech which Jefferson lias put into the mouth of the chief, in denanciation of the Avrongs suffered by liimself and his race at the hands of the white man.

Cincinnati Celebration

At 9 o'clock, A. M., on Wednesday, June 3d, we set off again for Cincinnati, bidding a regretful adieu to our new found friends, who accompanied us in great numbers to the station, and waved us on onr way with many kind wislies for our welfare. The excursion party liad increased by this time to some twenty-five hundred persons, filling several successive trains. Leaving the valley of the Scioto, we traversed a level and fertile country, abounding especially in superb grazing lands, We also passed through a considerable extent of forest, in which the graceful elm ^nd tlie useful sugar-maple abound. The trip from Chillicothe to tiie Ohio river developed nothing of special interest, if we except the curiosity manifested at every stoppingplace to see General Cass, and the enthusiasm with which the crowd rushed to greet him whenever his precise locality was discovered.

The road from Chillicothe to the Little Miami Line, at Morrow, Iiaving had time to settle, was in excellent condition. Certainly it appeared to have been constructed in the most substantial manner, and tlie cars ran 'over it with great smoothness and perfect ease. The eastern division of the road was entirely new yet, and not thoroughly ballasted ; but we saw no reason why it should not be made as perfect, in due time, as any other, with the necessary expenditure contemplated by the Company. Judging by the fertility of the soil through which the entire line passes; the diversity, quantity, and quality of the mineral resources of the route, and the enterprising energy of the people upon whom their future development depends, - there can be no doubt that the local business of this road, independent of it 9 through travel and traffic, will be immense. Already we found all along the eastern end of the line, (juantities of produce piled up for transportation, almost forced upon the Company, although we believe they had not yet announced their readiness to receive any freight.

The first of the excursion trains reached the Little Miami Eailroad Station on Front street, Cincinnati, at fifteen minutes after 1 o'clock, P. M. The other trains were close at hand, and arrived at their destination a few minutes later. At the depot we found the Mayor and city authorities ready to receive us, and the Guthrie Greys and the Fulton Continentals, two fine military corps, in waiting to escort the company to the Burnet House. General Cass, Gov, Chase, M. Sartiges. Mayor Swann, and other dignitaries and guests, were formally received upon the platform by Mayor Thomas, who briefly expressed the pleasure it gave him to tender the hospitalities of the city.

President Warren, of the City Council, on behalf of that body, also cordially welcomed tlie strangers, and Mr. Charles Gould, on behalf of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company, likewise briefly but frankly welcomed tiiem to the West, and to the hospitalities of his Company.

Gexti.emkn : - In behalf of the .nuthorities of the City of Baltimore, the Baltimore and Ohio Kailrcad Company, and the distinguished strangers by wliom I am surrounded, and for whom I am authorized to speak, I am deputed to thank you for the kind invitation extended to us, to participate in the rejoicings of this celebration, and the privilege we enjoy in meeting you today. The scene here presented is one of no common attraction. There is no event, gentlemen, connected with the progress of internal improvements in this country, which has been fraught with more interest to tlie whole Union than the connection, now for the first time practically announced, between the Atlantic seabord and the remote West. We are here to congratulate 3'ou on the prospect which it discloses. Cincinnati has just reason to be proud of the position wbich she occupies. It would be difficult to find within the range of public enterprises in this or any other country, a more convincing illustration of tbe genius and public spirit of a great people. A few years ago Cincinnati was tbe centre of an unexplored wilderness. Now she is a powerful and growing city, stretching ber arms to tbe far-off waters of the Chesapeake on tbe one hand, and the Mississippi on tbe otber.

Gentlemen, it would be out of place to detain you in the midst of such a scene as this. It is no time for speculation. In the name of the large concourse of strangers here present, in the name of the public authorities whom I represent, I tender to you most cordially our best wisbes for your success in the development of this great career on whicli you have so auspiciously entered, and a speedy realization of your most sanguine hopes. I assure you of the pride with which, as members of a com non country, we sympathize in the glory of this miglity achievement. I congratulate you on what has been accomplished, and upon those still more glorious results which are certain to be proclaimed when, at no distant day, the voice of the steam whistle, sounding along the line of this gi'eat national highway, shall be lost amidst the distant roar of the Pacific. [Great applause.]

Mr. Swann then introduced Gen. Cass and M. Sartiges to tlie authorities and citizens, who, after vociferously cheering tliem, opened a "vvay for tlie guests to the carriages in waiting to convey them to their quarters. The crowd of Cincinnatians, in and about tlie station, was immense, but under the regulations of a strong police force, provided by ST. W. Thomas, Esq., the merchant Mayor of the city, excellent order was maintained, and tlie guests readily passed through the tlu'ong.

Upon arrival at the Burnet House, the Tliird street front of the hotel was found quite blockaded by a dense mass of people, Avho called loudly for a speech from Gen. Cass. He soon appeared upon the balcony in charge of Gov. Chase, who introduced him to the citizens in a most complimentary manner as one of the old pioneers identified with the State of Ohio and the great West, who had served liis country in the field and abroad with dignity and patriotism, and Avho was now filling with ability and the confidence of his countrymen, tlie distinguished office of Secretary of St:ite.

General Cass said, that the heat and dust and confusion of a railroad car were bad preparations for a speech, aud he felt himself unequal to a formal address. But he could not avoid expressing his gratification in revisitinounder imposing circumstances, scenes once well known to him in the infancy of the settlement of the country, and when he, who should have looked forward to the ease and speed of a railroad car, would have been considered the victim of a morbid imagination. Formerly - General Cass proceeded to say - when I visited this place, I knew every body ; now, on revisiting it, I know nobody. Faces once so familiar to me are gone, and among the throno-inothousands that crowd the streets, there is hardly one I recognize. A chano-e has taken place, which finds no prototype in actual life elsewhere, scarcely, indeed, in the tales of Eastern imagination.

I have traversed this Western region when it was a wilderness - an almost unbroken forest to the Pacific Ocean - a forest inhabited only by the Indian, and by the animals, his co-tenants, which God gave to him for his support. Where I then followed the war-path, I now pass on the railroad. The silence of nature has been disturbed by the busy hum of human iudustry, and by the Church-going bell, where formerly it was broken only by the war-song and the drum. I have visited the highly civilized portions of the Old World, and I have returned a better citizen and a wiser man. There is not on this earth, from the rising to the setting sun, a more prosperous country, a better or freer Government, a happier people. You, my fellow-citizens of the West, hold the destinies of this magnificent Republic in your hands. Say to the North or South - say to any quarter, whence you hear the threat of disunion - Peace, be still. We have the power to preserve this precious work of our fathers, and we will preserve it. The Hebrews of old had their pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night, to guide them through the desert to the promised laud. And since the memorable day of our exodus from the land of bondage, since the fourth of July, 1776, we have had our guiding by day and by night, which has led us through many trials and dangers, till there is now no one to injure us but ourselves, and nothing to fear but the just judgments of God. Pronounce then with one voice - AA'ithered be the hand that is stretched out to touch the Ark of the Union. This mighty West wiU defend it now and for ever.

The General, immediately after tlie address, was called upon by a large number of liis personal friends, and others who desired to pay liim the re^-pect due to so eminent a citizen. xVmong tliose present we noticed, in addition to Governor Chase, Ex-Gov. Reynolds, of Illinois, Governor Willard, of Indiana, and many distinguished citizens of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.

At a general meeting of tlie citizens of St. Louis, convened at the New Court House, by call of the Hon. Jolin M. "Wimer, the Mayor, a large and influential General Committee of Arrangements for the celebration was selected. This body appointed Messrs. George R. Taylor, (President of the Board of Aldermen,) Charles W. Anderson and John C. Vogel, a Special Committee to proceed to Cincinnati, and tender in the name, and on behalf of the peo|)leof St. Louis, a cordial invitation to the Corporate Authorities, Committees of Arrangement, the press and others of their sister city, to visit them, and become their guests on the fifth and sixth of June, as particii)ants in their proposed celebration. Tlie following is a copy of the formal circular issued by the St. Louis Authorities to the individuals invited from Cincinnati.

Mayor's Office, Saint I^uis. May 30th, 18.57. The City Council of the City of St. Loui.s and the Committee of AiTanc-ements have, l>y resolution, instructed me to invite you to become the guests' of the city upon "the occasion of th.c opening of the Oliio and Mississippi Railroad, on the fifth day of June next.

Upon tlie arrival in Cincinnati of the St. Lonis Special Committee on tlie 2(1 ofJnne, - in advance of the Cincinnati Celebration, - they were met at the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Station, by a Committee of the Cincinnati Councils, and conducted to their choice quarters at the Burnet House. On the morning of the 3d, the Committee met the officers of the Cincinnati Councils and Citizens' Committees of Arrangement at the Hall of the Chamber of Commerce, and through their excellent Ciiairman, George 1\. Taylor, formally presented the invitation with which they were charged. Mr. Taylor's brief, but cordial and becoming remarks were well received, and as handsomely and frankly responded to by Judge "Warren on behalf of the Cincinnatians. The St. Louis Committee afterward extended special invitations to the Editors and other public "Representative men" of the Queen city.

WJiilc the distinguished guests from the East by the Baltimore and Ohio route were being welcomed at the Little Miami Road Station, on the eastern borders of Cincinnati, the Ohio and Mississippi trains arrived at their terminus on the western border of the place, filled with a numerous delegation from St. Louis, Vincennes, &c., who had been invited by the city, or by the officers of the new road, to share in the Cincinnati Celebration, and to escort to St. Louis the guests from Cincinnati and the East. The Western visitors were escorted to the head-quarters at the Burnet House, which they reached while General Cass was speaking to the multitude already assembled there.

At the conclusion of General Cass's speech, - ah-eady reported, - Thomas H. AYesner, of the City Council of Cincinnati, formally addressed the St. Louis guests, and, in spirited and appropriate remarks, tendered iheni a cordial welcome to the Queen City, offering them the amplest hospitalities that the acknowledged liberality and public spirit of its people could afford.

To this frank and thorough greeting, George R. Taylor, Chairman of the St. Louis Coiiunittee, first responded, acknowledging and accepting the proffered civilities on behalf of the numerous delegation from liis home. The address of Mr. Taylor was worthy of him, and as he had been in Cincinnati in advance of the St. Louis Council, and had partaken of the kindness and hospitality of many of the people there, he evidently felt in the humor for " a good talk."

Mr. Taylor made an earnest and cordial invitation to those around him to come to St. Louis. He pleasantly alluded to a pungent paragraph in one of the leading Morning papers of that day, reflecting upon St. Louis and the entertainments to be given there on the .5lii : - He said that he regretted the publication, but believed from what many of the people of Cincinnati had old him, that it met with no response on their part - indeed he had just learned that the amende honorable was designed in the next publication, und tliis he was sure was satisfactory to the delegation then present, and whose spokesman he Avas. Mr. T. said, that he believed he knew the people of St. Louis - that in extending the invitation to the corporate autboi-ities and citizens of Cincinnati, and which he had the honor of delivering, they were sincere and cordial, and hoped that the acceptance would be in a like spirit. He said, that he would promise nothing for St. Louis, but he bid them come, and be the guests - and partake of the hospitalities of the "Mound City" - whose base was rock-bound and washed by the waters of the Father of floods, and then he for himself and her citizens would leave them to say, if, when she was weighed in the balance, she was found wanting. Mr. T. alluded to the great iron artery connecting now, ibr the first time, the beautiful city of Cincinnati with his home, and felt that mutual benefit would result from its completion. After speaking of the many evidences of taste, luxury and enterprise, as well as the generous hospitality of Cincinnati already shown to the delegation he represented, he concluded with a renewed and earnest appeal to her citizens to come and partake of the hospitalities of St. Louis, and join in the final celebration of the opening of the great national highway, connecting the two cities.

Louis B. PiU-sons, Directof and the Financial Ootninissioiier of the Ohio and Mississippi Road, tlieu addressed the guests from the West, in substance as follows :

Gentlemex : Our friends from St. Louis, and the West : it is with no common emotions of pride and pleasure that, on behalf of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company, I greet you on this occasion. Associated as my feelings are with the great and glorious West, I am proud, after so many years of unyielding effort and toil, in which St. Louis and Cincinnati have shoulder to shoulder sustained each other, and pressed forward their great enterprise, that to-day we are able to proclaim to the East and the world, the completion of our important work.

I rejoice on this occasion to see so many here, who have come from the land toward the setting sun to join hands of friendly regard with thousands of our countrymen from the shores of the Atlantic, and mingle in pleasant intercourse with our friends from all parts of this great Confederacy. On this occasion, thank God, we know no State lines - no sectional divisions - North, South, East, and West are all here to-day rejoicing together, and binding stronger the bonds of this glorious Union.

As a St. Louisian myself, and proud of our city, her present greatness and her glorious future, and laelieving that, centrally situated as she is, geographically, from her heart no blood shall flow that is not true to our common country. I am thrice glad to see your familiar faces and welcome you among us. As a resident for the past year of this (^neen City of the AVest, having enjoyed its generous hospitalities and tested the kind feelings and warm hearts of its citizens, I am sure you will find a cordial welcome to their beautiful city and vineclad hills, and trust when the festivities of the occasion shall have closed, you will feel, as I do, that the interests and the hearts of Cincinnati and St. Louis are bound together by stronger ties than iron bands. 15ut, gentlemen, I will not detain you, knowing as I do there is so much before you to see and enjoy in £0 brief a time. Again I welcome you.

lookers-on, liad invaded it. Those who had not been wise enough to pre-engajje tlieir rooms were not long in finding that liotel accommodation was scarce as money during a Ban]< panic. A sub-committee, under General Paul Anderson, from the Citizens' General Committee of Arrangements, liaving tlieir quarters in Vine street, opposite the Burnet House, liowever, at once took the strangers in cliarge, and in an inconceivably short space of time liad them all comfortably billeted upon the citizens, who, as in Chillicothe, had thrown open their doors by multitudes for the reception and entertainment of the city's guests. Those who came to Cincinnati merel}' as lookers-on, found the greatest difhculty in getting accommodated, but we believe that eterrj invited guest was fully ])rovided for. It is unnecessary to saj' more than that every thing which could possibly add to the general comfort was generously furnished, if we may believe the universal testimony of those wlio accepted the elegant hospitality so freely offered. Conspicuous among the private entertainments provided, were those at the dwellings of the following gentlemen, all of whom - with, perhaps, others whose names we have been unable to procure - most creditably re-- ceived numerous detachments of the visitors:

But we have said nothing of the appearance of the city. The day of our arrival, Wednesday, 3d of June, was a universal holiday, on which business of all kinds was suspended, and every body gave himself up to sight-seeing and jollification. In the morning, before we arrived, the Steam Fire Department had a grand parade. The city was gayly decked with flags, banners, mottoes, and other decorations,

met tlie eye at every beiul, Ptretclied across the principal streets. Festoons of evergreens, wreaths of flowers, and quaint devices, wrought profusely in the gorgeous colors of the Ohio flora, all contributed to the silent evidences of a " Queen's" rejoicing at the completion of a work which gives new importance and increased wealth to her empire. Among the mottoes displayed was one on Main street, just below Fourth street, by Tyler, Davidson & Co., the extensive hardware house :

The tall and magnificent structure of Moore, "Wilstach, Keys, and Overend was elaborately decorated. From that to the building opposite, was stretched a banner bearing upon it :

The store of Sharpless and Bosley, on the same block, was trimmed richly, as was also that of D. "W. Fairchild, adjoining. On this last building was the following:

The Times building, on Third street, was elaborately decorated. A fine cluster of flags and garlands adorned the top of the building, and beneath this was an " Illustration" particularly appropriate to the occasion. A huge locomotive was represented whizzing over a track in the western Avilds, in hot pursuit of an Indian mounted on liis pony, looking as though he tliought the Evil Spirit had made his apitearance sure enough. A herd of buflaloes Avere also endeavoring to escape from the iron monster, but one of them having been struck by the

Below this was a graceful canopy formed of national flags. Beneath the folds was disclosed a bust portrait of Washington, with appropriate surroundings, and beneath, the motto,

Below this still was a painting 34 feet long and 12 feet high. One half represented the AVest in 1807. It was a pioneer scene, with a log cabin and a clearing in the front ground, on the banlvs of a river, winding far away in the distance. A pioneer was represented felling a tree near the cabin, and a hunter just returning from pursuit of game, being welcomed b}' his family. The other half represented the West in 1857. There was a view of a large city, not unlike Cincinnati, in the distance, and a railroad train approaching it by a suspension bridge across tlie Ohio. The lower stories of tlie building were set olf with tri-colored drapery, and a banner containing the following, the names of the cities being within united links, and all Avorked in evergreen :

A neat device was exhibited by Jolni Ilise, in front of his trunk manufactory, on Lower Broadway. A locomotive had been manufactured out of a large leather trunk, upon which were a smoke stack and bell, the latter being constantly rung. Following this unique locomotive was a train of cars, all manufactured out of leather trunks and properly labelled. Beneath the whole was the following inscription :

The numerous steamboats tliat lined the levee on Front street, were also gayly decked ofi' with all their colors, and added to the life and imposing effects of the daj'.

It Avas not expected that Cincinnati would make much formal public display on this occasion, for the want of time on the part of the guests, the chief and final ctremonies being left to the care of St. Louis and her citizens. The feature of the day was a grand exhibition of the Steam Fire Department, the pride and boast of the city. As is well known, all the fire engines in Cincinnati are worked by steam, and the few men necessaiy to manage them are specially employed and paid for the service. Tlie engines are ponderous, but verj' easily managed. When off duty they are taken to their houses, put in perfect order, and arranged for firing up at an instant's warning. PoAverful liorses are also kept in stalls alongside, with harness on, ready to be attached without delay, to drag the machine to where its services are required, although, as soon as the steam is u;), the horses are required to do very little or no work.

On this occasion it was arranged that at a given signal tlie different steam fire engines should repair to the Fifth street market space, with ladders, hose carriages, &c., as in case of actual fire, and there make an exhibition of their mode of operating. The signal fire-bell sounded precisely at i o'clock, P. M. The engines, each drawn by four powerful horses, speedily came, like flaming heralds, from every direction ; huge volumes of heavy black smoke pouring from their chimnej's. Ever and anon they gave a shrill shriek as if to challenge each other to the mighty contest. Fifth street market space was already filled with crowds of people, and house tops, fences, and carriages were loaded Avith additional spectators. In just two minutes, the ladders arrived, and in less than another minute were raised against the highest buildings in the neighborhood, (five stories high,) and the firemen were on the roofs. In less than three minutes after the signal tlie hose carriages came dashing through - unreeling their hose as they passed along, and in four minutes the first water was on, and the pipe from which it issued was on the roof of a five-story house. The hose and pipe are hoisted with the ladders, and the connection made after the hoisting. In less than six minutes from the first tap of the bell, steam was up, and six engines were throwing streams. The multitude shouted at the appearance of every new jet, but the firemen worked in perfect silence.

Marietta Kailroad, was driven up where a good view could be obtained, when an irreverent stream wandered into tiie party, and showered them plentifully. Gen. Cass took the accident kindly, rising to let the water drip off, and returning the shout of the crowd with a good-natured smile.

Tlie engines continued to play for some time over the tops of the houses; but at lialf-past four tiie pipes were all brought together near tlie centre of the street and fastened in a frame, so tliat the streams could be directed perpendicularly. The seven streams shot up side by side, generally keeping perfectly parallel and unbroken for more than a hundred feet, occasionally one diverging a little so as to strike its neighbor, sixty or eiglity feet from the ground, and most of the streams beginning to break and commingle at something above a hundred feet from tiie nozzles. Tiie streams were all good. Water was exalted in sky-sweeping jets. Rainbows played around. Over a large extent of the square the water fell as if a summer thunder and water-charged cloud were anchored above, and suddenly resolving itself into rain. One of tlie streams especially attracted attention. So steady and firm was it, that it seemed as though an active boy might liave climbed it. At a great height the column was ornamented with spray, and the few drops that tlew nearest the sky, took the form of a plume, so that the top of the stream in the bright sunlight against the clear sky was like a lofty plume, white and fantastic as frost. When all the streams were at once in the air, near together, the scene was truly magnificent.

Measurements, by a civil engineer, showed tliat the greatest altitude wliich the perpendicular streams obtained, was a hundred and sixty feet, and one of tlicm threw a stream liorizontally, as far as 250 feet liigh, througli a small nozzle. It was evident to every beholder, that no confiagration could long survive the deluge which raiglit be hurled against it by the united cttbrts of the seven machines on exhibition. It may not be out of place here to say, tliat since the establishment of the present paid system and the Steam Fire Department, the rates of insurance in Cincinnati have been voluntarily reduced one half, at the same time that property-owners are content to insure now against partial damage only, trusting confidently in the ability of the department to check every fire before it can make serious headway. The good example of Cincinnati in originating and establishing this great moral as well as material improvement, might be followed Avith equally good results by all the larger cities of the Union.

vaults of Cincinnati, her far-famed vinej'ards, tl)e Public Schools, Prof. Mitchell's Astronomical Observatory on Mount Adams, overlooking the city, the Mechanics' Institute, and other lions. Many strangers gladly availed themselves of the opportunity ; but it must be confessed that, to the majority, the wine-vaults were the magnet of attraction.

The annual product of the Ohio valley averages about half a million gallons of wine, worth, when new, about ninety cents per gallon. It is so remunerative that its culture is rapidly extending. To make a vineyard costs from two hundred to five hundred dollars per acre, and one man can attend to five acres, besides raising food for his family. An average crop is Avorth $200 per acre. Nicholas Longworth is the most extensive manufacturer of wine in Cincinnati. His cellars cover a large area, and extend under ground to the depth of forty feet. Escorted by a guide, and provided with candles, we wandered about these cellars, in which were stored three hundred thousand bottles of the purest wine, besides several hundred thousand gallons in casks. Some of these casks are of colossal size, holding between four and five thousand gallons.

The method of preparation is thus : In the spring following the pressing of grapes, the wine, - which had meanwhile undergone the various fermentations, by which ten or eleven per cent, of alcoliol is developed, - is mixed with a small quantity of sugar and put into strong bottles, with the corks well fastened, by twine and wire. The sugar accelerates a second fermentation, which always takes place about this time, and tlius a strong movement is produced inside the glass, which generates gas enough to burst the vessels briskly, adding thereby considerably to the cost. This is called the gaseous fermentation, and it renders the drink more exhilarating, more prickling on the tongue, and more fruity. This last ettect results from this, that the flavor of the fruit mostly passes ofl:" with the carbonic acid gas Avhich is largely generated in the first or vinous fermentation, and in a less degree in this second or gaseous fermentation. Tlie loss of fiavor from the first fermentation cannot be avoided ; but by means of strong bottles and well tied cords, it can be saved in the second. In the bottling room some half a dozen men were busily at work. One was engaged drawing the wine from a huge cask - the liquor having been previously sweetened. The bottles were then handed to another at the left, who with a machine forced in the corks, Avliich were previously softened with warm water. These two filled and corked with the regularity

At the end of about a year, the liciuid has become clear and a sediment has been deposited. To get rid of this sediment, the bottles are placed in racks made to fit their necks and shoulders, inclined, with corks downward, and well shaken daily for several weeks, which i)rocess works the sediment down against the cork. Tlie wires and twine are then cut, and the gas exploding, blows it otf. Then more sugar, for sweetness, is added, a new cork is driven in and fastened, and in a few weeks the article is ready for consumption.

The quantity bottled by Mr. Longworth in the season of 1856 was one luindred and fifty thousand bottles, and of 1857 a still heavier quantity. He has now in his cellar almost a half million bottles, mostly quarts, of which more than twenty thousand are of Isabella. The demand rapidly increases, the sales of Mr. Longworth having more than trebled since the year 1855.

It is suggested hy an expert in this wine culture - which is so rapidly becoming a great feature of Western business - that the line of the great Haltimore and Ohio Railroad runs through a country - from Cumberland to Wheeling especially - that is evidently adapted to the vine, for the double reason that it is hilly, and (excepting on " the glades ") of tiie right temperature. It is said that in France there are mountain lands like those in Western Virginia, worth but little except for wood and minerals, which are now valued, in choice locations, at a thousand dollars an acre, on account of their availability for the vine.

In the evening a large crowd of citizens and strangers gathered, by arrangement of the city authorities, in the streets in front, and on the third-story balconies of the Burnet, in the expectation of hearing speeches from some of the distinguished guests. Mentor's fine brass band, of Cincinnati, and the Baltimore Blues' band, alternately enlivened thera for some time with their musical performances. At eight o'clock, the cries for "Cass," "Chase," "Svvann," "Douglas," " Marshall," and others, could no longer be disregarded.

Fellow-Citizkns : A few hours since I had the pleasure of introducing to you the eminent citizen who presides over the State Department of the Federal Government, and was gratified by the cordial reception which you gave to him - a reception due to his age, to his position, and to his patriotism. I have now the gratification of invoking a like cordial reception fur a distinguit^hed gentleman, the cherished personal friend of my earlier years, who long presided over the Board of Directors of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, and to whose patient, persevei'ing and intelligent labors much of its remarkable success is due. He was among the first to see the vital importance of its connection with this, our own beautiful city ; and to the advancement of her interests in connection with those of the city of Baltimore, his constant endeavors have been zealously devoted.

Called subsequently to the office of Mayor of the city of Baltimore - an office which he now adorns - his most earnest wishes and eflforts are still engaged in the noble work of advancing further and further towards final consummation the great line of Central Railway, destined at length to i-each the border of the Pacific, when another celebration will be held, and, rising on the shores of the old Chesapeake Bay, the acclaim of gratulation shall swell and echo from that city until it reaches and lingers upon the Bay of San Francisco. I am glad that he will now have an opportunity of addressing this vast concourse of my fellow-citizens of Cincinnati and of Ohio, and of our welcome guests from all sections of the Republic, to participate in the rejoicings of this occasion. I introduce to you, gentlemen, the early, energetic and persistent friend of this great work - our own friend and the friend of our city - Thomas Swann, the Mayor of Baltimore.

Mr. Swaiin was warmly received, and - thongli somewhat stunned by the Governor's higlily flattering introduction - proceeded to address the multitude as follows :

Fellow-Citizens of Cin'cinsati : The complimentary' manner in which my humble name has been introduced here to-night by the Governor of your State, will, I fear, excite expectations which may not be met by any thing I can say in reference to the important subject which now engrosses so large a share of the attention of your whole city. This is no fault of mine. My distinguished friend has done me more than justice, and I feel that much of what he has said is due to that ancient friendship to which he has referred.

I am here, fellow-citizens, from a far-off city upon the seaboard - a city with which you have not been without your relations of friendly intercourse in times past. I have traversed a journey of six hundred miles, in company with the public autliorities by whom I am surrounded, to show you how much as a community the city of Baltimore participates in the rejoicings of this occa- .sion. I thank my friends here for the kind invitation which has been extended to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore to be present on an occasion of so much interest. I reciprocate to the fullest extent the generous feeling which has prompted this act of municipal courtesy.

This is a great day for Cinciiniati. The opening of the important combination of road.s, which we are here to inaugurate, is an epoch ever to be remembered in the history of your State. Nor is it without its interest to the whole Union, because it binds together by ties of commercial and social brotherhood, two of its most distant extremes. Fellow-citizens, there is no expenditure of capital - there is no employment of labor - there is no direction that can be given to the enterprise of your citizens which contributes or can contribute more to the value and prosperity of a country, than the construction of railroads through densely peopled neighborhoods, or in regions where nature has failed to provide facilities for an easy interchange between convenient market.-^.

Situated as you are here, in the midst of a country unsurpassed in all the elements of substantial wealth, you naturally look to the readiest market and tlie highest prices for the productions of your soil. Without these your resources are undeveloped, and your career must be more or less retarded by the contiujrencies to -which you ure exposed, in the absence of artificial aids. The completion of the road over which we have passed in our journey to this point, opens this improved prospect to your view. The extended market of the eastern seaboard is now before you. Baltimore and Philadelphia, and New York and Boston, are all within your reach. You have the choice of markets, and you have the satisfaction to know that all this has been brought about by the enterprise and public spirit of your own citizens.

Ten years ago the city of Baltimore was in the situation of Cincinnati and St. Louis before the completion of these important works. She had an industrious population - one of the best harbors in the world - mineral wealth at her own door, and unsurpassed mineral facilities; but she had no finished railroads, and as a consequence no back county to sustain her. She had drawn her scanty supplies from the great West before railroads were known. The path of the pack-horse is still to be traced in the valleys and upon the mountain tops of that stupendous belt which separates the great valley of the Ohio from the Atlantic seaboard.

It was at that period that some of our most prominent and publicspirited citizens, after a pause of many J'cars, revived the idea of completing a continuous chain of railroad communication with the luivigable waters of the great ^^'est - to which, for a quarter of a century, we had been directing our attention. The State of Virginia, in 1847, gave us a charter. It was not such a charter as we wanted, because it located the point of contact with the projected ^\'estern improvements too far North to make us comfortable, iu view of the rapidly advancing works of our Northern neighbors. We had no money, but in this respect we were pretty much iu the situation of all similar enterprises at that day. We had a road to build whose estimated cost was more than .§7,000,000, and how it was to be accomplished, in the absence of material aid, was not without its incidents of ridicule and merriment, among those who had predicted its failure.

I once asked a mechanic who was employed to build a house, upon what plan he designed to finish it. After a good deal of doubt and hesitation, he made a reply which I have often thought of in connection with the finances of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. " The tnith is," said he, " I have not troubled myself much about that. You need give yourself no uneasiness, for as we progress all will come naturaUi/." The mone}' did come, but I can't say that it came " naturally." A\ e had to resort to a good many expedients to accomplish what we wanted. But we got the money and we made the road - that great line which the illustrious Washington indicated as the probable channel of trade between the East and West, before railroads weie known or thought of. No sooner had we emerged from this great effort - worn out and exhausted as you may well imagine - than we saw, or thought we saw, unmistakable indications that our mission was not yet ended. The State of Virginia relaxed her restrictive policy, for we were wholly dependent upon her liberality - and allowed us to do what we had asked in the beginning, viz. : to form a junction with the Ohio river at the town of Parkersburg, 04 miles below Wheeling. This is the road over which we have passed, and which presents the shortest and straiglitest line from your city to the Atlantic coast. It is part and parcel of the great combination which we are here this day to celebrate. During my official connection with the.se two stupendous works, looking to a close union with your beautiful city, and the rich country that surrounds it, more than .sl3,000,000 was disbursed. It was a large sum for the little Stjite of Marj'land, who had already expended more than >-20,000,000in her other works of internal improvement. I say it with pride here, that in the development of her geographical position, the State of Maryland has done as much, in proportion to her population, as any State in this Union.

P'ellow-citizens : Take up the map of your Union - draw an air line through this central region of the West to the nearest harbor on the seaboard. You will find that St. Louis and Cincinnati will stand as glittering landmarks upon the route of this great highway, while the city of Baltimore must form its Eastern terminus. The people of my State and city have not been blind to the advantages of their geographical position. They know where they stand and what is required at their hands. For years past their efforts have been directed towards the very results which we are now celebrating. They have braved every obstacle - encountered every species of abuse - turued away from every temptation, in order to secure the advantages of the most direct communication with the AVest. With the discontented at home - in the Legislature of Virginia - among the towns and villages, and private interests - looking to resvilting benefits from the projected improvement, they have fought the battle of the American central line. They have looked without falterino' to the accomplishment of a point on the Ohio river as the limit of their labors, where, by a junction with your proposed improvements, they could secure to themselves the most direct passage to your Queen City, and beyond it to St. Louis and the distant Pacific.

When I was in Cincinnati seven years ago, iu furtherance of the policy upon which I was then acting, I addressed a letter to a gentleman representing your City Council, in reference to what I beUeved to be the true interests of Cincinnati in the direction she was then giving to her internal improvement system. I beg you to refer at your leisure to the views presented in that document. I pointed to the danger to which you were exposed by the network of railroads which was then in process of formation north of you. I saw an evident tendencv to head off the commercial attractions of your city. I saw combinations forming, which would eventually reach even to St. Louis, without the slightest regard to any claim of centrality which Cincinnati might be supposed to possess. There was enough to satisfy me that your safety was in the Southern line, and the connections south of you. That whatever you succeeded in drawing into this channel, whether from the East or the West, was exclusively your own, and could not be wrested from you by any Northern attraction. I am happy to find now that I was not mistaken iu this position. Experience iuis shown that there is too strong a Northern influence governing this whole region, and that the only way to counteract it, is by your prompt and undivided support of the American Central line - not in part, but as a whole - to make it a Cincinnati work both East and West - and to indicate such a policy as shall dedicate its whole energies to build up your own city, and the other cities that enter into the combination.

Your Governor has told you that I was the friend of Cincinnati. Baltimore and Cincinnati have occupied such a relative position ou the map, that I could not do otherwise than advocate a policy which nmst operate alike advantageously to both. I saw how they could confer mutual benefits ou each other. I saw how they could control beyond rivalry the patronao-e of this productive region. I saw how they could build up a system of commercial interchange, which, while it imparted strength to the Central American line, would dispense its benefits to all classes and interests within the sphere of its attraction.

Fellow-citizens, the great arginnent upon which I stand here to-nioht, in my earnest advocacy of the union between our two cities, is that of interest. Men may cultivate social relations, but commercial alliances will always stand or fall by the mutual benefits which they confer. The sympathy of one com- mxinity with another, in a great country like this, is not dependent upon a mere theoretic exposition of convenient hces and reduced distances. We must give vigor and animation to your trade. We must show that tliat reciprocal tralhc produces reciprocal benefits. The love of one people towards another is sooner promoted by results such as these than by all the impassioned appeals that it would be competent for me to make to j^our noble and generous impulses. When we ask you to miite with us commercially, it is out of place to talk about kindly feelings and social sympathies. We must present a business view, and you will answer it by a practical business appeal to your pockets. This is one of those fundamental principles of trade and commerce which cannot be modified or interfered with by conventional restrictions. Communities will trade where they make most money, and where, in their system of commercial interchange, they encounter less risk, and are subjected to fewer drawbacks. We come, therefore, to tell you that Baltimore is your natural market. We come to tell you, that in your combinations with the Northwestern, Virginia, and Baltimore and Ohio Railroads, you will put money in your pockets. AVe come to tell you that your interest, your true interest, is with the Central American line.

Fellow- citizens, when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was commenced, more than a quarter of a century ago, the city of Baltimore had an assessable basis of little more than .s2.5,()0(),()00 of property. At the period of its completion to Cumberland, this amount had greatly increased - and now, as the result of its connection with the Ohio river and the great West, it has reached a limit of more than $100,000,000. The extension of this road from Cumberland has added more than 51.50,000,000 to the assessable basis of the city of Baltimore. If we realize no farther return, the account is settled, and more than settled, and our city has reaped the full benefit of her investment.

The management of railroads in this country is a subject iipou which we have still much to learn. As necessary avenues of trade their results are shown in the development of inaccessible and unproductive lands, and the building up of cities : as objects of investment they will always be governed, more or less, by the administrative skiU and economy with which they are conducted, and the necessity [for their original construction. We are too apt to forget that, in addition to ordinary wear and tear requiring a certain amount of their gross earnings, a reasonable repair fund should be set aside from year to year. The life of a road will be regulated by the amount of trade which it accommodates, and provision should be made in its expense account for its entire renovation within a given period. A neglect of this important and indispensable requirement has led to eiTor and miscalculation heretofore in regard to the details of management, as well as the value of railroad securities in this country.

Another important point is the inadequacy of toll-sheets to produce a saving return upon the amoimt of capital invested in them. The multiplicity of railroads, intersecting almost every part of this country, has led to a most unwholesome and destructive rivalry. So far as the great through lines are concerned, this tendency should be promptly arrested. The disadvantages of location cannot be overcome by reduced rates of transportation without detriment to the productive power of the investment. We need entertain no appreliension of a want of patronage for all the roads now constructed with reference to the trade and travel of the West. If we give up competition - if we establish proper toll-sheets - if we manage judiciously and economically - I see no reason why a satisfactory return may not be made by all the roads whose arms have been stretched forth to invite you to the markets of the seaboard.

Fellow-citizens, it is almost incredible to look at the progress of tlie works of internal improvement that arc now traversing the length and breadth of this vast country. Every State has been aroused in this struggle for progress and development - and will point you to the monuments of their successful enterprise. Already a network of iron has been formed stretching to every accessible market - the mountain barriers which separated State from State, and section from section, have been removed - the shrill note of tlie steamwhistle is heard in the valley, and upon the hili-tops ; rivers have been spanned, forests penetrated, and the improved facilities of commercial interchange have consolidated and knit together, in one indissoluble bond of union, the productive energies of this great people. When I was a boy at college in the District of Columbia, I remember to have visited the House of Representatives, to hear the great speech of Henry Clay on the Cumberland road hill. That distinguished statesman was then in the vigor of his manhood - the pride of his own State and the glory of the whole Union. He spoke of the stupendousness of that enterprise, and threatened, in a tone which I shall never forget, that we would sooner or later teach the proud Alleghany to bow his head and yield submissive to the power of a progressive people.

How strange a picture would be presented at this day, if we could fancy to ourselves a caravan of wagons wending their lazy course over the unbroken summit of the Alleghany, on such a road as Mr. Clay described, laden with the millions of tons of freight, that are now being poured in upon the seaboard, from this productive and boundless region. Fellow-citizens, we were not content with any such mode of arriving at results. Mr. Clay had the idea, hut it was too soon even for his astute mind to foresee its ti-ue application. We did teach the proud Alleghany to bow his head, not by rendering his summit subservient to the will of man by the easy process to which he referred, hut by opening wide his i-ock-bound portals to the resistless power of the locomotive hanging upon his steep and rugged mountain sides, leaping his foaming torrents, and piercing his very bowels in its defiant march of wonder and of triumpli.

Look at the great enterprises that put forth their arms to welcome you to the seaboard - the New York and Erie, the Central Pennsylvania, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads. What country on the face of the earth can hoast of such eutei-prises as these constn;cted within the same limit of time and vmder the same disadvantages ? When I visited England in 1853, on the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, I was forcibly struck with the superior tact and energy of our own people, in the projection of their works of internal improvement. England has spent more money, but she has not accoraplihhed the same results, nor has she exhibited the same inventive resources. When I told those people of the expedients to which we had been sometimes compelled to resort - of our zig-zags over precipitous mountains - of our transporting the Government mail by locomotive steam power over a grade of five hundred feet to the mile, they could scarcely be brought to believe that I was not dealing in fiction. The truth is, they were, not without an excuse for their want of iaith. They had many a desperate assault upon their credulity. I discovered to my amusement that they manifested a singular curiosity upon the uses of an invention attached to our engines, to protect them against outside intruders, known as the cow-catcher. They had no idea of a road without sodded embankments, and a fence on either side, to make it secure beyond peradventurc. They had been told of a caricature of one of our Westei-n trains Hearing a market upon the seaboard,, after a long and successful run - perhaps from this very city - with this horrible appendage, the cow-catcher, in front, laden down with the mangled bodies of horses, and cows and wild tiirkeys, and last, though not least, with men, women, and children. It conveyed a lasting: imprecision of the genius of young America, and lier railroads.

And now, fellow-citizens, yoii have finished your Ohio and Mississippi road. You have brought the iron horse to your own doors from the far-off region which it traverses ; but do you think that all this is going to satisfy the restless spirit of your people? No, no. Just as sure as we stand here toiiiglit this great enterprise has stopped short of its destination. It is pointing onward to a still nobler destiny, even beyond the city of St. Louis, and its giant march will be averted only by the distant shores of the Pacific. And why not ? Is there any thing extravagant in the prediction ? Has the Government no interest in binding together the remote extremes of this glorious Union ? Is her treasury so weak that she may not undertake it ? Has she less enterprise than New York, and Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and Missouri, and the little State of Maryland ? What is to retard this great national enterprise - the chaining together of the great oceans that wash her eastern and western borders. We live in an age when men have ceased to speculate on probabilities. Every thing is practicable and every thing is going to be done which the genius of man can devise, and we must do in the twinkling of an eye, what it would have required ages to conceive and ages to execute in the days of our old I'ogy ancestors.

I fear, fellow-citizens, that I have occupied too much of yoiir time. My friends will make allowance for the tact that I have been an old raih-oad Captain. I have almost lost sight of the position in which I stand here to-night as the representative of the city of Baltimore - surrounded by her corporate authorities - traversing a weary expanse - to show her appreciation of your labors in this great field of enterprise, and to give assurance of her hearty cooperation in the effort to draw closer the ties which now bind ns together as one people, having common interests and a common destiny. In the midst of all the obstacles by which our past career has been obstructed - obstacles which threatened, on more than one occasion, discomfiture and ruin to our hopes - I was among the number of those who looked with a steady eye to a period when every cloud would be dispersed. I looked to Cincinnati and St. Louis, and the distant shores of the Pacific - I believed that in due season the remotest of these points would be bound to us by commercial ties These expectations have been in part met. These hopes have been so far realized as to give increased assurance of tile future.

When I look at the growth of this country in the last few years - when I look at the expansive power and energies of our people, I am lost in wonder and amazement. The first visit I paid to Oiiio was in 1830. You were then just entering upon that career of prosperity which has since placed you here in the first rank of cities. Your population was then, if I mistake not, little over 30,000 souls ; it has since reached five times that limit. The region beyond you was a wilderness. St. Louis occupied an obscure position, almost Avitbout the limits of commercial interchange, excepting by the uncertain higliway which nature liad provided, and which bound her to a distant and unprofitable market in the Gulf of Mexico. California had not opened her golden gates to the march of the invader. The waves of the Pacific beat upon a shore which even speculation had not approached in its inquisitive inarch. The great Northwest lay among the locked-up treasures of this vast continent. The rich and jwwerful cities that have since risen, like exhahitions from the bosom of the Northern lakes, whose margin they adorn, were then in their infancy. And what has brought about the change which we now behold? The march of civilization has been forced onward by the power of steam. Railroads have been the prominent and leading agents in this work

Fellow-citizens, we hear occasional speculations upon the probable duration of our glorious Union. But who can despair of the ti'iumphant mission of this great republic, when we behold what steam has accomplished and is still accomplishing, in binding together remote States of this great confederacy. Rome fell into decay from the extent of her territory - and the diversity of her possessions. Her people became alienated, in the absence of social and commercial interchange. But here we shall soon pass from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of ilexico - from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, almost in the time that it would have required, without the interposition of railroads or the power of steam, to march an anuy from this city to a point on the Eastern seaboard. Every State has its independent avenues of communication, and these are destined to render more and more perfect the power of concentration and the cherished ties of brotherhood, which must bind us together in all future time, as a united and happy people.

I tender to you again, fellow-citizens, most cordially the congratulations of the city of Baltimore, and I trust that your reward may not be unworthy the enterprise and public spirit of your citizens in achieving the great results which we have been called to witness this day.

Hon. Thos. F. Marshall, of Kentucky, whose popularity seems tough enough to stand any test, Avas next called out, and appeared upon the platform amid tumultuous applause. Several minutes elapsed, during which he stood swaying himself gracefully to and fro, ere he essayed to speak. He then delivered an utterly irreportable speech - a queer mixture of eloquence, humor, genius, sense, and nonsense, such as nobody else could well compound :

He began, by the remark that Col. Benton is going about, saying the Union is in danger, and the statement that when a fellow is a broken-down politician, he thinks the Union is gone. [Loud laughter.] '- If," said Mai'shall, " I had gone to Congress, the Union would have been all right now. I w^as defeated, and didn't go to Congress, but the Union is still safe. I think the people made a d 1 of a mistake, but the Union ain't in danger.

"As for you, Ohio people, I have no right to speak, as I came from Kentucky, wliere they keep niggers. Now Ohio is a great State. On one side is the lake and on the other the river, and you fellows are so industrious that you are uniting them by streams through the country'. You have, too, a gi-eat many railroad*, and if these were put together, they would reach to the Pacific. I have in the last five weeks travelled extensively in Ohio, and am free to confess I consider it a great State, great in physical and intellectual progress. You fellows are getting along in both. You have great railroads, and plenty of schools. Out of two millions of your people, five hundred thousand go to school; and lately I visited one of your colleges, the finest I ever saw, where 300 men are taught ever)' branch of knowledge by the best professors, and really Cincinnati is a great place. I can remember, (and I am not an old man,) when it was a village, and in the records of modern history, not a century ago, it was a wilderness. Our orators talk about the A\'est ! Lord, what a place that is to talk about ! I am Ibnd of geographical discussions, and this triangle, bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio River, and the Lake, I think Virginia ceded to Congress. Congress passed the ordinance of 1 789, and see the result. I have sometimes tliought God Almighty tried his best when making the Mississippi valley, and when Virginia ceded it, it was a wilderness. Now look at tlie - the - the Ordinance of 17S0, (a voice) ' Tom, you're tight.' JMarshall. 'If you were as tight as I am (hie) now, nobody would recognize you. Now listen and see if I am tight. Tliat gorgeous Jlississippi, whose picturesque meanderings are bordered by flower's and undulating rank grass, and unrecognized save by the zephj-rs of love, was never to be stained by the foot of a slave.' " [Applause.]

After glancing at the Hue and prosperous States that had grown out of the Northwestern Territor}"-, Mr. Marshall developed in a rather incoherent manner, but with occasional happy flashes, the fact that varied prodvictions beget exchange, and fasten commercial relations and vinions. He held that democracy was most successful when it had ample expansion, and ridiculing nullification and deprecating fanatical disunion abolitiouists. He recalled some very vague ideas; wished about a knife, and cutting a rope, so that both South Carolina and Massachusetts might drown when they cavorted. He said some people supposed that the spread of Democracy would play the devil, but it didn't ; but if confined, it would burst any thing on God Almighty's earth.

He then dilated on the different shapes of this Continent from others. Looking, said he, from the North, where J>r. Kane died trying to find a road, that I don't see would have been of any use if he had fotuid it, and besides, there ain't no way since the Almighty made it right fast and hitched it on to the north pole. Look on down at the corn-bearing region. I hear you can grow 100 bushels of corn to the acre in the JNIiarai Valley, and the only difficulty is, you distil too much of it into whiskey that ruins a great many talented men ; then away down South to the sugar plantations, see how varied the productions. How gorgeous Ibis Continent, how numberless its productions. This variety makes trade and binds the Union.

He then went on to elucidate the idea that the trade of Europe and Asia must centre here - that here their products must be exchanged. He then showed the folly of the notion that the Union could be dissolved, and pictured the condition of Kentucky in such an event, obliged to pay import duties to seaboard States, and serve as the outpost of Slavery, yet certain to find her negroes poor stock. He then traced the moral and philosophical uses of mountains, rains and rivers generally, and referred to the Mississippi Valley reclining with her liead in the lakes - her feet in the Gulf of Mexico, and her arms grasping the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains. [A voice - "Louder."] Marshall - " I am saj'ing some beautiful things, and you have not sense enough to imderstand them.'' [Again the voice - ''Louder."]

Mr. Marshall, evidently disconcerted - " At the day of judgment, when the Ruler of the Universe is trying all things, I expect some d d fool will bellow at him." [Loud laughter.] He went on and made some very fine remark.s on the topics he had broached, and then concluded by an eloquent allusion to the providential discovery of America at the proper time, the glory of religious toleration, and the .sublimity of being free from priestly and aristocratic tyranny.

Arrangements had been made for speeches by several favorite orators from Maryland and Virginia, including Hon. J. Morrison Harris, Hon. Philip Francis Thomas, Hon. J. Dixon Roman, and others ; but the lateness of tlie hour at whicli Mr. Marshall closed, prevented their being heard.

On the evening preceding the arrival of the general excursionists, whose journeyings we have been noting, a dinner was given at the Burnet House, by Mr. Ciuirles Gould, the Treasurer of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad - to a party mainly of his personal friends, consisting of seventy or eighty ladies and gentlemen. The entertainment is described by those present as a perfect one in all respects. On the removal of the cloth, fac-simile models of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad depots at Cincinnati and St. Louis, wrought in confectionary, were placed at either end of the table, at which the host of the evening presided. Presently a whistle sounded, a bell rang, and oif went a miniature train of cars like a flash down the table, amid the delighted plaudits of the party, for whose benefit the trip was repeated several times. The locomotive "Charles Gould," the tender, cars, depot - every thing except the track was of ingenious confectionary.

No formal speeches were made or designed ; but Mr. Gould, Avith infinite tact, drew from each note-worthy guest Avhatever oflf-liand contribution to the general enjoyment he might happen to have at instant command. Thus he told a good story for Governor "Tom" Corwin, who returned the compliment, by telling another, in his own inimitable style, for liimself. The Venerable Gov. Reynolds, of Illinois, was skilfully drawn out, and gave an agreeable flavor to the Union- saving remarks of most of the speakers, by well-timed allusions to the ladies. Judge Lee, of Baltimore, and Judge Storer, of Cincinnati, followed. Mr. Charles Anderson, of Cincinnati, also made a c.ipital after-dinner speech, full of humor and hearty enthusiasm - as thoroughly western as the prairies over which the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad lies.

Hon, George Bancroft, the distinguished diplomatist and historian of the United States, being called out on behalf of New York, presented the following beautiful, eloquent and truthful word-painting of the enterprise, whose completion the human tide was then pouring westward to celebrate :

Ladies and Gentlejikn : "We have most of us been employing the day in surveying the environs of Cincinnati, wliere the beautiful undulations of the countiy, as it rises above the rivers, quicken and encourage the genuine love of nature, and the unvarying richness of the soil generously rewards the care which it receives. We have found that the buckeye leaf is the fit emblem of its people, for it is the semblance of the open hand, ready to give to those who need - to grasp the hand of a friend - to welcome the stranger to hospitality. The great West itself, uncontrolled by precedents in the daring of its enterprise, and unequalled in the greatness of its achievements, is yet the child of the past. Freedom of industry and freedom of mind were the great ideas of the eighteenth century ; here you behold their fruits.

Our course to this city has been by the way of the thrice admirable Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The scenery through which it makes its way has a character of grandeur of its own, and in the wonderful varieties of forest and lawn, of river and mountain, of nature in her savage wildness and nature in her loveliest forms, presents a series of pictures which no well educated American should willingly leave unvisited. We cross the Atlantic in quest of at-, tractive scenes; and lo ! we have at home, alongside of the great central iron pathway, views that excel any thing that can be seen among the mountains of Scotland, or ia the passes of the Apennines.

Then the enterprise which achieved this great result is so admirable, as to excite our wonder that what seemed impossible has been finished. This great work is emphatically the work of the City of Baltimore, and it may almost be said of Baltimore alone, for it was carried on without much favor from its own State, and sometimes in conflict with the rivalry of its neighbors. Nor is this all the mar\'el. The work in its completeness has cost more than §31,000,000, and was entered upon with a brave heart, and at a time when the entire valuation of the real and personal property of Baltimore was less than §27,000,000. But Baltimore was always brave. In the gloomiest hour of the American Revolution her voice of patriotism was loud and clear - her conduct an example to sister cities ; and when has she ever been wanting to the cause of civil and religious freedom ?

Once more we return to her railroad, and say it is unequalled in the difiicnlties which it has surmounted. When we came to the foot of the Alleghanies on the east, we all saw the steepness of the dividing ridge that seemed impassable. But a railroad is a work of art. Michael Angelo used to say that all the forms of beauty lie hidden beneath the surface of the marble quarry, waiting only for the hands of the sculptor to call them into being. The eye of Latrobe saw at a glance the capacity of the mountain, and, scoffing at the threatening ravine, and precipices and lofty summit, gave himself no rest till commerce had carried its safe and easy pathway in triumph over the mountain top, and proved to the world that there are no difficulties which tnie enterprise cannot surmount - that nature herself is in league with genius.

And all this has been achieved by the City of Baltimore, while she is still in the freslmess and intrepid vigor of youth, ^^'ll:it must be her future, when such is her beginning ! She is called the Monumental City. Her column rises as a memorial of the Father of his Country ; but this is her own monument. It spans the Alleghanies ; it reaches from the waters of the Atlantic to the bosom of the Ohio ; it commands the admiration of the world.