The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1857-07-04
(Fron the Phil. Southern Moastor.)
THE SOUTH WAKING UP.
| most innortant document has Just

pondence between NJ. LacOuture, on tne part
Of" Franco American Transatlantic navi
CATION company" organized at Lyons, with a
capital of 1000 900, frances, and Governor
Wise, in relation to line ofsteamers to run
between France and Virginia. The indomi.
table Governor, in dilating on the present and
future of the "Old Dominion" reveals some
facts of startling Specification to the American
and European capitalists, who have invested
thousand of millions in the various roads and
canals between the Atlantic ocean, the lakes,
and our Western frontier. It would seem
that men and money, up to this time; IN the
North, have been merely engaged in con-
test with nature whose advantages, in the
competition for the trade of the great West,
were most partially lavished on the sea.board
States lying below the fortieth parallel Of
latitude. Having overcome difficulties and
distractions at the expense of infinite labor
and almost incompatible millions, the North
now beholds the South waking from her pro-
longed lethargy, reused to competition, and
led on by master spirit, whose genius readl-
ly suggests whatever is within the range Of
possibility, and whose great designs have
been hitherto invariably consummatcd. He
says to NJ Lacouture "Our progress thus
far has been slow, gradual, aye, on hard
ascending grade; but aoe haze reached Il
summit lcvez" And in what direction have
they been progressing? Why, they are com:
pleting, their leading State line to the Ohio
from Covington to the mouths of the Kanawha
and Sandy rivers and connecting their COM
munication with the network of roads and
canals in the northwest. They are carrying
their James river and Kanawha canal across
the Alleghanies, and joining the waters of
the Chesapeake to those of the Ohio. They
are finishing the last limk-only fifty miles
long-of their southwest line to Memphis,
TO connect with the works of Kentucky and
Tennessee. They are connecting their Gen.
tral road with the great southwestern road.
The Baltimore and Ohio road is to be turned
at the immense iron and coal fields on the
Potomac, and the valley is to pour its produce
through the Mannassa Gap, connecting with
Fredericksburg, into the Rappahanok. The
York river road is to be completed from
Richmond to West Point (not on the Hud-
son,) and Richmond is to be linked with the
North Carolina works by the Danville road
and line of railroad is to 60 directly down
from Richmond and Petersburg to thirty
feet Of salt water at Hampton Roads Then,
the Governor says: ave will have radiated
back to every point of the interior; con-
huenee of the trade of the continent will have
taken place, throug n its centre, ON the short
est lines, in the best temperature of climate,
and a conveyance of transportation, and con-
centration Of wealth and population will be
found at point where there is harbor
spacious and deep enough lor all the mer-
chant and naval marine of the world, and
afording a site for city rivalling in the
course Of time, New York or London. And
the accomplishment of this confluence and
conveyance and concentration will find Vir.
ginia an empire in herself, an the anomalous
condition Of an old State, aoith all the
undeveloped resources Of q nes0 State udth
all the omeLioratioass Of an old State"
Here We have scheme Of gigantic dimen-
sions and it is matter ofvery grave impor-
tance. Gov. Wise so far from dealing in
hyperbole or exaggeration, is one of the few
men whose performances never fall behind
their promises. He has sometimes been ac-
cused Of proposing to accomplish impossibili-
ties; nevertheless, we believe he has never
failed to accomplish them. And if any one
will study the map Of the United States. they
may conceive an inkling Of his idea. We
will take Mound City, five miles above the
mouth of the Ohio as the great central point
of fthe West and it is apparent that the shor-
test, and quickest, and cheapest route from
the Atlantic Ocean to that common centre
is directly westward from Norfolk And we
all know what is the natural law of trade and
travel-Mr. Thayer included The passen-
ger even from Massachusetts,, from New York
and especially from Philadelphia, s0iN mItt-
msatezy go by the Virginia route to the
West and South-acest. In that latitude
the trains will never be lost in the snowdrifts.
The Governor says, and truly, :" A track
sinDlv Mediterranean, on her temperate
lime of latitude of37 Q due soest from the
Chesapeake to the Ohio and from The Ohio
to the Mississippi soould, to eaumserote
nothing else, add tsoo months Of tabor TO
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iosea
Wisconsin, Missouri and the sckote north.
uest. agetqsst The obstruction Of frost sn
aointer, on the northern lines gtthe Atlass-
tic, and against the ioa0 stages Of s0ater in
the aoesteyn yauers in summer and scouzd
SAGE millions scorth per annuns Of s6estegn
flour from souring and Of acestera pork
from spelling, By being sent through oar
lines instead Of South, dosoas The 7ire, By
Neao Orleans, and through the Gulf Of
IMezico.'' Nor is this all. The Covert or
continues " And that track don't stop at
Mississippi, but goes on to the gold mines
Of California, and takes the China trade al
San Francisco, and brings with it back the
continental trade of North America, in 9
belt expanding from the Messilla valley in
the southwest to Minnesota in the northwest
and converging through Texas, Arkansas
and Tennessee on the southern, and through
Iowa, Wisconsin, nlinoise, Idiana, and Ohis
on the northern limb, TO THE FOCUS OF TIL
TRADE WITH EUROPE AT THE MOUTH OF TIL
CHEsApEAKE, thelast and only point ft 70
large shipping between Philadelphia and New
Orleans, all the rest Of the coast being Hate
rss bound. TIE race track of lightning afte
light around the globe is directly over an
across North America from the Chesapeak
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