The daily republic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1853-1853, 1853-08-01

WASHINGTON:
MONDAY MORNING, AUGUST l, 1863.
Norfolk and Louisville Uniteo--Rail.
road RATIFICATION Of the Compensate.

MONDAY MORNING, AUGUST l, 1853.
norfolk and Louisville Unitea--Rail.
road Ratification Of the Compromise.
Our readers will, we hope. pardon theory
which may, like all others, occasionally impel
US to extremes. 1t is: that the permanence Of
the Union depends upon the facilities Of inter
course, and the intermixture of interests
amongst the people Of the United States. In
this point we regard every avenue of inter
communication, every dollar of investment
which tends to render the social intercourse Of
sections more intimate, or to duplicate their
interests. in the mutual preservation Of order
and the rights Of property, as of more import
ance than any possible organization of parties,
any possible pledges from politicians, or any
possible influence Of argument or eloquenee
which might be employed upon the same mo-
mentous object. 1t is in this point of conside-
ration that we have taken up "the report OF G..
F. M. GARNErr, esq, Chief Engineer of the
Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, upon the
proposed connexion between the railway sys-
tenn of Kentucky and Virginia" The report
is perfectly conclusive that the work is per
fectly and easily practicable. 1t establishes a
direct and continuous road from Louisville to
Norfolk of seven hundred and nineteen miles,
sixty feet to the mile. 1t crosses the sum-
mits of the Blue Ridge, Allegheny, and Cum
berland without tunnel, and, with the excep-
ton Of that portion of the line within the State
of Kentucky, the whole route is under construc-
ton. We may mention, as curiosity in the
location, the adoption by the engineer of a ma
tural tunnel in Scott county, Virginia. This
tunnel is ''formed by the passage of creek for
for five hundred feet through the base of a
mountain. 1t varies very little from straight
line" ''For much Of its length it is fully for
ty feet wide by thirty feet high" it has ga
perpendicular face of about four hundred and
fifty feet above the mouth of the tunnel I" sand
it will require very little work to fit it for the
passage Of a railroad" The whole work be-
ing perfectly practicable, the descriptions and
statistical exhibits prove that the interior Of
both the States are fertile, and that an amount
of population and of products already exists
along the line sufficient to render the stock
valuable to those who may make the invest
ment
But it connects the falls Of the Ohio with
the port of Norfolk by line of seven hundred
and twenty miles, and time of thirty hours.
constructed, will not average $4,000 per mile.
The whole extent Of the line lies through a
country contributing at every point to its main
tenance. Such line can be constructed,
worked, and maintained, in competition with
any rival route, and in competition with a
water-borne commerce down the Mississippi,
across the Gulf, around the capes of Florida,
and along the Atlantic coast. In comparison
with the latter route it saves time and insur-
ance, avoids climatic injury operishabe cargoes.
1t will be another of those commercial crevasses
in the commerce Of the Mississippi destined to
affect the prosperity of New Orleans and
the Gulf cities, against which they can
only protect themselves by the development
of their trade area below Memphis, the
whole country on the shores of the Gulf,
the trade of the West Indies, Genital and
South America, both on the Atlantic and Pa
cific shores. Thus, although these CONNER
cial crevasses will pour the productions of the
West destined for the northern ports of the
United States and Europe directly across the
peninsula which separates the Mississippi from
the Atlantic coast, there will be in the concur
rent development ample material for all the
cities that desire to participate in it.
But returning from DEPRESSION not material
to the argument of this article, we ask is there
no political result in this connection to be estab-
lished between interior States and Atlantic sea
ports? 1t is obvious that a producing section
stands to an exporting city in the general rela-
ton of merchant and customer. The State of
Kentucky has heretofore conducted her trade
and travel intercourse through other States and
cities. She has now more advantageous route
opened through the Commonwealth from which
she sprung. Kentucky, the first-born of Vir-
gina, has been so long separated from her parent,
that the relationship between them was almost
traditionary. travel-stained and sun tanned
stranger energies from the forest; he is follow
ed by a retlnue bearing magical instruments Of
glass and ivory. He publishes the strange facts
that we have recited. He is received s'not
merely with favor, but with enthusiasm
"The friends of improvement, the business
men, the editors of various journals than
whom a more talented corps is rarely to be
: found-all express the deepest interest" in
the fact that the mother and daughter may be
again united.
Is there no political significance in the fol-
lowing declaration
"There are few Kentuckans in whose veins the
blood of Virginia does not flow; and many of the
virtues of the Virginia character to have re-
cevcd new impulse and vigor from the soil in
Which they have been transplanted The dauoh-