Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1845-10-13
RICHMOND AND NORFOLK.

RICHMOND AND NOKtOLk.
The commanding position Of these cities, the
first for communicating by the shortest route with
the West and tapping either the Ohio or the Mis-.
sissippi or both-the latter for becoming the mar
thine entrepot Of the vast trade thus to be broush
into the lap Of Virginia. trade which, could
once be drawn hither would construct such city
a. Alexander the Great founded in the sands o.
Eypt-the commanding position of Richmond
and Norfolk we say, begins to be recognized an'
admitted north of the Potomac. 1t is addressed Al
serious argument against the application of the
Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Company to Penn
sylvania, to be allowed to make Pittsburg their
terminus, that the work ifeIecuted, would be nu.
gatory in the event of a connection between Rich
mond and the Ohio River, either at Guyandotte OF
at Petersburg: Ii is thus admitted, what indeed
the Map shows decisively, that Richmond is in
closer juxtaposition with the great Valley of the
Mississippi, and can reach it by Canal or Rail
Road, in a shorter geographical distance. at less
cost and rifh less expense, than any other Allan.
tic city.
The conuuests Of Alexander the Great have
long since faded, only in indstinct tradition
on the Banks of the Indus, from the memory of
mankind That he ever lived at all, is known to
the modern world only from History-and it is
singular, and ought to teach noble lesson to
Statesmen and the Governors Of men, that after
the lapse of 240O years. he is best and most avora-
bly, and eternally remembered, by his comprehen.
sive utilharian views! The foundation of the
City Of Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile, and
the drawing thither by way of the Red Sea, the
Commerce of India, is relied upon by modern and
moro enlightened Philosophy, as the strongest evi.
dence Of his profound sagacity and superiority TO
the age in which he lived His battles, his con.
quests, his Homeric vaor, his overthrow of Darius
and Ports, and tears when lac found there were
more worlds to conquer, have all persisted in
the memory Of the world al large Could he lift
his head above his tomb at Babylon, what would
be his establishment to find that the Sack eff Thebes,
that the Battle of the Granicus, and that Arbela,
were all forgotten, and the wry necked son of
Philip remembered only from his Commercial Sa-
gdciy' That is, not because he slaughtered heca
tomhA in baltic, but because he established City
which connected the intercourse Of the Eastern
and Western World, the Orient and the Occident,
by shorter, safer and cheaper routes, than were
known before, and thus contributed, (without cut
ting throatsD to the wealth, prosperity and happ
ness Of mankind
There is not in all history more glorious
lesson to the ambitious. True fame, imperish
able glory, it teaches, is indissoluby united with
the useful and the good Not he who does, by
war and bloodshed the greatest harm to his spe-
ces though for the time his fame fills the Earth,
will be longest remembered and admired, but he
who contributes most towards sparing mankind a
portion Of the inevitable evils of their destiny
generation has not elapsed, and yet probably
Napoleon is most favorably remembered from the
Languedoc Canal, and the road over the Simplon.
The fame Of benevolence is eternal while that
resulting from conquest and violence, perlshes
with the generation who witnessed and endured,
OF, If il does not perish, mouders in the lapse OF
ages to nothing.
To restore Old Virginia 10 her forfeited posi-
ton-to recover the superiority lost by 30 years
Of the blindest party bigotry, and the most repre-
hensble desertion of every public interest in order
that few might obtain Office and spoils, and la,
their egregious and senseless vanity fattered wit
the idea that they were President makers, and
controllers Of the National destiny-hiS is an end
snorthy of he nobles ambition. TAemistocles,
being reproached with not understanding how to
play the flute, replied gloriousy, shat he did
not know how TO play on the flute, but knew how
TO make great State cut of small one"
VIRGINIA still has the opportunity of becom.
ing again she was before, in the period of the
Revolution, and for generation after, the first
State in the Union. We call upon her sons to
sustain her, and by their energetic devotion, nc.
complish the destines placed within their reach
by the author Of all: Upon them must rest the
sbame-,he gnominy-of their old and reyered
mother becoming seconday-s Corinth or
Thebes, instead of an Athens or a Sparla-and Of
being trampled into insgnfcance, by the compe.
titors for power ahd prosperity who surround her.
PATRIOTISM and UNION, and the day is
still our own