The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-12-15
THE MERCHANTS MEETING ON
MONDAY NIGHT,

report in another column. Ii was attehoeu ny
rot more than IS or 80 merchants, 80 We learn.
We regard the bare meeting OF any respecta-
Bile body Of our merchants Tor such purpose,
as humiIiating in the last degree. 1t rs q con-
fession tia, the persons who compose il, SO far
az they are concerned, have no confidence
whatever in the power Of Virginia 10 esiab-
ish direct communication with Europe,
though che has a population OF nearly mil
ion and half, and, were her resources fully
developed, would be undoubtedly the richest
State in the whole Union. Such an admission
wss altogether uncalled for, nor do we see that
it is at all sustained by the facts Of the case.
Another admission, however, is implied in
the proceedings of this meeting, which We
hope will receive the serious attention Of the
Legislature. 1t is that direct trade with Eu-
rope, such as that which we are daily advoca-
ting with all the zeal Of which we are suscep-
tibe, is very desirable. This is an important
confession on the part of men who certainly
know their own wants, and, so far as they are
oncsrned, it disposes OF all the doubts which
have been thrown in the way OF the plan now
before the House of Delegates. But are the
representatives of this Commonwealth pre-
pared to say that Virginia is unable to start a
line of steamers herself?
The city Of Richmond sends delegates 10
Baltimore, TO a convention which is to meet
there on the 18th, for the purpose of consider
ing the best means to secure steam line 10
Europe. Baltimore is perfectly able to build
.bo oLo Oh ~
South should participate in it. In one word,
she wishes TO have the trade Of the whole
South, and she invites the South to deliver it
up to her without further debate. Her papers
are continually pressing her claims to be con-
sidered as the great Southern Emporium, and
that she can only be when Virginia shall have
come to lay everything at her feet. She is al
ready drawing our trade-,hat trade which be-
longs TO US, and which every man in the State
should have felt himself called on to die rather
than resign. She has her railroad through
the Northern part of Virginia, and has very
quietly appropriated, or is fast appropriating,
that whole country. She will have, when the
communication shall have been established
between Lynchburg and Gordonsville, as it
will be during the winter, an unbroken railroad
and steamboat connection to Memphis, and
thence to New Orleans without having spent
dollar, save in lobby msmbering. But she
does no. like this process. 1t is tedious, and
in the unwearying prosecution of her ambitious
projects, she has no time to spare. She, there
fore, invites the whole South to come forward
on the 18th day of December, and submit to
the conqueror. She does not even condescend
10 say what conquerors generally say, that
all who come in under the proclamation shall
receive her clemency. She has seen, in the
history of the past, that Virg mia flor it is meant
for Virginia and North Carolina, not for South
Carolina, which is building up Charleston as
fast as she can, nor for Georgia, which is
straining every nerve to make Savannah the
great Emporium of the Souih) has always
been in state of vassalage, and she thinks it
but small matter for vassal to change mas
;ers.
That Virginia, in the event of a union with
Baltimore for such purposes as those indica-
ted, must become little better than her colo
ny, there cannot be shadow of doubt
She is the Weather and the more powerful,
and the tendency OF trade towards her is
already much the greater. Our legislation
thus far, has had tendency TO drain our re-
sources into her lap, and we are now expected
10 pour them all in at single dash-to give
up all hope Of building up our Virgi mia cities
10 make her gracious present of all the
wealth, influence and responsibility which
those cities ought to enjoy. This is modest
proposition on the part Of the Baltimore PEG.
pie. We should like to know what she has
ever done that she should ask so nu CHI n re.
turn from her humble dependents.
The remarks of MIR. Ferguson with regard
TO the appointment of these delegates, appear
TO us perfectly just. If they are sent to Balti-
more to represent Virginia feeling and interest
on the subject, then we say that these would
nave been much better represented by treating
the insulting invitation with contemptuous ne
glect-passing it over in entire silence. If
they are sent, not TO participate, but to oh.
serve, then their position is not in the slightest
degree different from that of spies. In either
case 1t is an office which we are sorry tina, any
Richmond merchant has accepted. The con-
ventlon Is evidently designed to aggrandise
Baltimore at the expense Of the South, and
why should Baltimore stand at the head of The
South .? She has not half the advantage tina,
any one town IN Virginia has. She is at the
very head oil the Chesapeake Bay, two hundred
and fifty miles from the ocean. She has no
oaek'country except what Virginia and Penn
syiVana have given her. And here are we,
VINO own the coil, upon which are reared the
pfooucts that have built her up, taking steps
through our merchants to give her everything.
tive are to be vassals, let US be yassals, as
heretofore, TO New York. She is q great civ
the very centre OF the entire western world
an empire in herself-a prodigy of Ams,;o.n
SnteTprise-a mOnnnapt IF