Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1851-03-18
VIRGINIA At SEA"


The New York Tribune says in relation to
the proposition now before the Virginia Leg
islatarc, to establish line Of steamships be-
tween Norfolk and Antwerpt, that "in this
steamship scheme it strikes us that our Vir-
ginia friends put the cart before the horse,
and that in quite melancholy and discoarag-
ing fashion.
Foreign commerce is a good thing in its
way, but it is not the only thing, nor the
first thing. Among the illusions cherished
by blnnderers in political economy none is
more balcfu than that Which magniGcs the
foreign trade and oyerlooks the far greater
Importance Of domestic industry and co n
merce The South is TO a great extent a
victim of this illusion. Cursed with a fatal
facility in the growth Of Cotton, to which cir
cumstances have given fictitious and tenn
porary consequence by making it leading
element in our exchanges with Europe cur
sed, too, with Slavery, it has failed to culti-
vate that diversity Of productions and that
spirit of industry, invention and enterprise
which give activity to the internal relations
aud commerce of communities, and form the
only basis for profitable and Independent for
eign trade. Let Virginia build workshops
and factories beside her streams and water
falls let her reclaim her exhausted lands
and induce free, industrious farmers to come
and populate her wild districts; let her a.
bandon negro breeding as a profession, pro-
vide for the extinction of Slavery, make her
institutions democratic, and dot her territory
with Free Schools; let her bring forth "a
bounding treasures Of her mines, and open
canals and railroads for her own traffic and
that of the States beyond her; let her be
come great, prosperous and powerful at home,
and then she may talk of setting up steam-
ships on the ocean,"
Now We apprehend that should the Legis-
ture cooperate with the protector of this
scheme, it will prove that our friends at The
North are laboring under most fatal delu-
sion, that they are the victims. Virginia, and
the South, are prepared to throw off the
lethargy that has so long bound them, and
are determined to help themselves, in spite of
all the fancicd difficulties in the way The
industry, perseverance and energy of Virgin
ia, will manifest themselves; she viii escape
from the stagnation aud decay which has
seized upon her; she will enjoy, as she is now
doing a solid prosperity, and sure progress
in the march of Improvement this pros
perity will have its foundation, not upon
sand, but in equality, justice, and freedom in
civil institutions, from the universal diflu-
sion of science, and intelligence, from homes
ty, industry and independence among the
masses, and from the utmost possible variety
in the pursuits Of labor"
No State in the Union possesses moro of
Che clements of prosperity and greatness,
than Virginia, and no State is more rapidly
developing her incxhaustable resources, her
varied climate, her fertile soil, her immense
mineral resources, her great Rivers, her Rail
Roads, and Canals, her safe and commodious
Harbors, all point to day, not far distant
when Virginia will stand where she once
stood-and ought to stand-at the head of
our glorious Confederacy.