The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1853-06-02
BALTIMORE CORRESPONDENCE.

25 do do do do .-.-..... 7S3
BALTIMORE CORRESPONDENCE.
The Memphis Conpenion-I The Baltimore Dele
gatss-Pisdges of Baltimore TO the West and
Southcest- CONTEXT for Commercial Supremacy
Ship Cdnoi-Lfunpool SfsamTs-Pdrksr ptin
Steamus-Ns,o York aud Balfimore-Inprore-
msnts, &c.
BALTIMORE, June |, 1853.
large delegation of our merchants and CAPT.
talists have taken their departure for Memphis, to
attend the great Southwestern and Western Con-
vention to assemble in that city on Monday next.
Indeed there is no city in the Union deeply in
terested in the proceedings of that body the city
of Baltimore, and her great artery of travel to the
West, and Board of Trade has prepared a
thorough programme of business, which, if it
should meet the approval and CO operation of the
factors of the South and Southwest there assem-
bled, cannot fail to give the City of Monuments a
fair opportunity for testing its capacity and
establishing its long contested claim the great
entrepot of the Western and Southwestern trade.
The delegates from Baltimore will present to
the convention a charter for the establishment of a
line of hrst-cass steamships, TO semi monthly
between Baltimore and Liverpool with a capital
of s 900 900. The company is being formed,
and the keels of two of these steamers will proba-
sentaiion of This charter will be accompanied with
proposition to the cotton factors to forward to
Baltimore next season eight ten goes Of cot
ton by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for the
e1 portation of which to Liverpool some of our
shipping merchants pledge themselves to have
abundance of good and fast sailing packet ships
in readiness. The object of this proposition is 10
test the capacity OF the port, and TO establish a
business for the line of steamers by the time the
first two are completed to give the assurance to
tockholders that the investment will be prof
table one to them, independent of its great advan
tage to the future commercial prosperity of the
! city, and to secure the trade Of the West and
Southwest at its first turn in this direction before
it is diverted to other channels
The Board of Trade have also organized corps
of experienced engineers and dredgers to remove
| the distractions from our harbor, which are now
| ascertained TO be mere marine incrustations, and
not rocks, as heretofore supposed. All the neces-
sary machinery is prepared, and the work will be
commenced and prosecuted to an early compile.
| ton. For the accomplishment of this object the
Legislature has appropriated to the aid of the
city the income from auction licenses, which is
| nearly sufficient for its accomplishment
The Baltimore delegates are also prepared 10
present to the Memphis Convention no. her charter
hich has been obtained by our merchants, in
nnexion with some Of the largest capitalists OF
co W York, for the construction of ship canal to
unite the waters of the Chesapeake and Delaware
! bays, under the corporate name of the "DeIaware
and Chesapeake Ship Canal Company" The cap.
ital of this company is two millions ofdollars with
the privilege OF increasing the amount if found in
sufficient The canal is to be at least one hundr ed
feet wide upon its surface, and sixty feet wide AT
the bottom, Ii will be- twenty two miles long and
capacious enough TO receive ocean steamers Of the
J hrst class The main purpose of the projectors Of
this canal is to spare the western commerce. thaI
| naturally discharges itself at baltimore, the cir
! cuitous voyage down the Chesapeake and around
! Cape Charles to New York Boston, and Liverpool
The canal will open direct line of transit from
Baltimore to the ocean, at point about on parable
with Cape May, by which the trip to New York i.
abridged some $50 miles.
Ii is contended that this Improvement will ma ke
Baltimore the great mporium of Sou hern Atlantic
commerce; and as the numerous Cumberland Goa
companies, in which many millions of New
York and Boston capital is invested, are deeply
interested in its consunmaton, there will doubt
less be but little difficulty in obtaining the capita
| required for its construction is also contendec
by its projectors thatt will place Baltimore $50
miles nearer to Liverpool than New Orleans ia
nearer than Charleston by 500 miles, and nearer
to New York than at present some $50 miles
Baltimore is already the principal eastern termi
Of the great chain of railway commune alton
with the southwest and with this direct highway
to the Atlantic, che will present strong claim fo
the title of the natural seaport of the West anc
Southwest 5t f
The shrewd and enterprising business men o
New York have discovered the position and natu
raj and artificial advantages of Baltimore even ir
advance OF our own citizens, and the Parker Weir
Coal Company have already established line O
steamers TO relieve US of the ra, i'd accumulation O
western produce, well as to transport tths !;
coal 10 New York. Six of these steamers of 5Ot
tons each, are already running, two more yer,
launched at Philadelphia yesterday, and fou
more Will be put ahoat next week. The compan
will have ten steamers on the line by the ist y
/ | v. fifteen al of Scr a0A
| mense is the transportation business offering a
their wharyes that they now propose to increas
t the number from thirty to fifty. The compa
, ny's wharves are at the Locust Point terminus O
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and the loaded
cars from the Ohio are brought directly alongsid
OF the vessels. They also constructing ware
houses to store the immense quantities Of mer
chandise Offering for shipment, far exceeding tn
present capacity OF the line, to immediately for
ward to its destination. These steamers were orr
ginaliy destined exclusively for the shipping o
their own coal to New York, with occasional
freights; but the reciprocal trade of Baiimor
and New York must monopolize their entire ca
pacty until much larger number are on the line
You will thus perceive that the CITY cs ,Jo,,
mepts ha. now fully entered ihsaren arena to coutes
Vim Hou''iahlahs 'ns. claim for New Orleans a
.ue na'ura1 'e-port of the Southern States; with
.-.amians and Mississppians, their claim for Nc
bile; with Georgiaus, their claim for Savannah
with Carolipians, their claim for Charleston; an
: With Virginians, their claim for Norfolk Ne,
! tWk' ~u'Cn ao'hi'teu 'o oe tue Empress oil tn
Seas, 10 already partially admitting the naturs
and artificial elaine of Baltimore and her citizen
arc investing their capital here to an unprece
dcnted extent; and when this ship canal is con
structed, line of Liverpool steamers established
the great southwestern railway connexions wit
Baltimore perfected, and the coal trade in fu
blast, city will At least be considerable plac c,
and ought, with corresponding energy among GU
: merchants, to be making rapid strides to a con-
. mercial Importance that must prove satisfact tor
to the most ambitious claimant for commerce..
!, supremacy. si4fH FaH lH
The removal Of diIapidated buildings in the br
siness portion Of the city, and the construct
warehouses OF immense capacity. ia progressin
rapidly, but the supply 10 still not equal to Il
demand. and in some sections where many priva
). residences had resisted the encroachments Of bus
ness. the last of these are disappearing, leavin
but few Of the old landmarks that carry the min
Of The old rssdent back 70 The scenes and inciden
:. OF his early days. h--sI sagl ns