Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/522

 482 The consciousness, that the union of the states is permanent, and will not be broken up by rivalries, or conflicts of policy, that caprice, or resentment, will not divert any state from its proper duties, as a member of the Union, will give a solid character to all improvements. Independent of the exercise of any authority by the general government for this purpose, it was justly foreseen, that roads would be every where shortened and kept in better order; accommodations for travellers would be multiplied and meliorated; an interior navigation on our eastern side would be opened throughout the whole extent of our coast; and, by canals and improvements in river navigation, a boundless field opened to enterprise and emigration, to commerce and products, through the interior states, to the farthest limits of our western territories.

§ 502. Passing from these general considerations to those of a direct practical nature, let us see, how far certain measures, confessedly promotive of the general welfare, have been, or would be, affected by a disunion of the states. Take, for example, the post-office establishment, the benefits of which can scarcely be too strongly stated in respect to the public interests, or to private convenience. With what a wonderful facility it now communicates intelligence, and transmits orders and directions, and money and negotiable paper to every extremity of the Union. The government is enabled to give the most prompt notice of approaching dangers, of its commands, its wishes, its duties, its interests, its laws, and its policy, to the most distant functionaries with incredible speed. Compare this with the old course of private posts, and special expresses. Look