The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1855-05-12
Tar CAUSE OF VIRGINIA.
NAY IA. lass,

We referred TWO uays cinoo w sno AeP~'
a., ,hsre was an anti internal improvem
;..na made in some quarters Of Virginia, and
nrged the friends of Improvement to exert
themselves to counteract the effects OF sucn
an agitation. The question is vital to fir-
einis. Werepeat that ifshe stops, she must
not only find herself involved in debt for
works which in their unfinished state will be
unavoidable, but she viii fall continually
further and further behind her sister States,
mill abe becomes to be one of the most fee
HE Of the confederacy.. Lether complete her
main lines, and she must rapidly advance in
the contest for power, and will soon be tread
ing on the heels. if not surprising those by
whom she has been left behind. =-
Virginia Is indeed the most favored by ma,
ture Of the States. She has every variety OF
soil-and greater variety of mineral wealth
than any other State. She exhibits the rare
example of districts rich in both mineral
and agricultural resources. Her latitude is
the very best for health as well as the vari.
Gus pursuits of hfe-in which are avoided
alike the rigors of the Northern winters and
the enervating and epidemical influences of
the more Southern summers. No State is
better supplied with water power, and none
better suited for manufacturing, whether we
consider the adsptability of climate or the
abundance of material for the manufacturer.
Give her but the channels ofinterceurse and
transportation, and all these advantages will
become available. e
Nweturn 10 her seaboard, we behold unsur-
passed commercial advantages in her extern
sive tide-water streams and the deep linden
tations Of her many bays. They display some
of the noblest sites for commercial cities
but very little more. Norfolk, which should
be great city, is but a very small one, and
is growing only at snails pace. The trade
supplied by Virginia passes on coastwise,
doing vast deal more n enrich the cities OF
Of the North than any within her own Dor
ders. t<
If we follow the rivers to the head of
tide aud look from thence westward, We
see with what ease communications may
be established with the most productive re
gions between tide-water and the mountains,
with the fertile vallies of middle and West
ern Virginia, and even with the waters Of the
Ohio and the great vallies that are drained
by it. We see that the very near approach
of the waters Of The Chesapeake and Ohio
which have already levelled the mountains
for us, tells US, as it has been telling US for
q hundred years, that we can establish a
acater line from the Chesapeake Bay to the
Ohio rivera water line which, from its mid
die position, will be the most popular and
most used of all the water routes between
the Mississippi and Ohio vsllies and the At
lantic ocean; water line that will be open
four months in the year longer than those of
the North. Thislgrand Improvement, which
every engineer who ever reported upon it
has pronounced feasible, and which Virginia
has begun and prosecuted for considerable
distance, was suggested by Washington, now
nearly q hundred years since, to the House
of Burgesses of Virginia. It is scheme
worthy ofitsgrest author.
With these advantages, what is the posi-
ton of Virginia She has projected very
wisely some very grand enterprises, the
grandest of them all being the canal from the
Chesapeake to the Ohio. She has gone far
enough to zee that they are feasible, and to
give the most satisfactory proofs of the great
public advantages which must flow from their
completion-viz the increase of population,
the rise in the value of taxable property, and
the increase of the public. revenues-the in
crease of her comnefee and her manufactu.
ring power-and ADORE all, the increase of
her power in the confederacy.
These works are now but local, subscribing
local purposes. The James River Canal
projected on scale greater than that of the
Erie before its enlargement is especially but
n local outlet; and as long as it remains thus
must fail to confer any very general benefits,
and fail to return any part of the large sum
expended in its construction. Unlike Rail-
road, increase of business does not increase
Its wear and tear and its expenses. Il can as
readily accommodate thousand as hun
dred boats but the thousand boats will NOT
be wanted until it become the medium oftbe
vast commerce of the Great Western Vallies
which it should be this very day. Comple
ted, its receipts may be infinitely multiplied
while it will pour untold wealth into tbe
State.
The question is, shall they be finished? |
VIII Virginia make use of her advantages bv
. opening from her Eastern to her Western |
borders, the channels of communication she
has projected Will she thus make availa
BILE the greatest advantages possessed by any
Of the States, and become, probably, the
greatest Of States in commercial and political
powerl Or will she fold her arms and 90 To
sleep in profound slumber, which will pro-
baby continue until she is startled by her
very loneliness-slihe her compeers having left
her out ofsieht, snd she realizes the terrible
conviction that her fortunes and her power
are irretrievably lost!
There never was time when the friends
Of Internal Improvements had more serious
c5dse to give their whole exertions to the
State. There are enemies at home and abroad
10 struggle against. There are schemes orr
ginafiug In other States to thread orr Yves.