great States between the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean,
Illinois, Indiana Ohio a part of Virginia, Kentucky, and
Pennsylvania,--they are all traversed or touched by that great central
line.

We own the country, from sea to sea, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and
upon a breadth equal to the length of the Mississippi, and embracing the
whole temperate zone. Three thousand milks across, and half that breadth,
is the magnificent parallelogram of our domain. We can run a national
central road through and through, the whole distance, under our flag and
under our laws. Military reasons require us to make it; for troops and
munitions must go there. Political reasons require us to make it; it will
be a chain of union between the Atlantic and Pacific States. Commercial
reasons demand it from us; and here I touch a boundless field, dazzling and
bewildering the imagination from its vastness and importance. The trade of
the Pacific Ocean, of this western coast of North America, and of eastern
Asia, will all take its track; and not only for ourselves, but for
posterity.

Sir, in no instance has the great Asiatic trade failed to carry the nation
or the people which possessed it to the highest pinnacle of wealth and
power, and with it, to the highest attainments of letters, art, and
science. And so will it continue to be. An American road to India, through
the heart of our country will revive upon its line all the wonders of which
we have read, and eclipse them. The western wilderness, from the Pacific to
the Mississippi, will spring into life under its touch. A long line of
cities will grow up. Existing cities will take a new start. The state of
the world calls for a new road to India, and it is our destiny to give
it--the last and greatest. Let us act up to the greatness of the occasion,
and show ourselves worthy of the extraordinary circumstances in which we