New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-07-23


practical and promising than the passage of res'lu
tions. This, although not much, We gladly chron-
icle. Mr.. A. Dudley Mann, the protector of line
| of steamers to run between Milford Haven and
| Chesapeake Bay, to be established by Southern
capital and sustained by Southern trade, has met
with unexpected il not quite conclusive encourage
ment. In his latest pronunciamiento he announces
that the officers of the Southern Convention at Sa
vanDah have written to him, each pedgng himself
| to take one share Of stock in the gigantic enter
prize. The shares are to be 800 each, and the
number of the officers is eight. Thus we have $500
pledged, and perhaps more, for we are given to un
derstand that other members signed the letter, al
though their names are not published. This, for
On enterprise which will involve an expenditure of
great many millions Of dollars, is not very mag
nfcent commencement; but Mr. Mann, who is ap-
parently Of hopeful and even enthusiastic nature
considers that /" here is proof sufficient to satisfy
I" the most skeptcal that the States Of the South
Gas concerns the steam ferry, are disposed to
"act upon the principle of one for all and all for
"one." This will be very satisfactory, always
provided all go into the work with will; but if all
ore to back out because one has backed out, the
great steam ferry will never exist, save in Mr.
Mann's proclamatiOns.
Indeed, the South is 80 tindery, and has such
strong natural penchant for boiling and null-
fyDg and Withdrawing and those who will
be the subscribers are so unaccustomed nicely
to weigh commercial questions, that we really
believe were tho steamers built and paid
for, it would be found next to impossible
to agree upon terminus upon this side of the At
antic. Virginia, which would contribute the least
would claim the lions share Of advantages. Mary
land, South Carolina, Georgia, and even Louisiana,
would all put in rival claims, and at least talk about
opposition lines il those claims not conceded.
At the North such controversies adjust themselves
10 obedience TO he laws Of nature and Of trade
The great commercial cities here are already estab
listed, and the termipi of Atlantic steam navigation
are indicated by the centers Of trade. One line
runs to Boston, and others to New-YOrk The ex.
pertinent of line to Philadelphia has failed. No
attempt was made to force it into rickety sort Of
prosperity, but the ships were withdrawn andsentt to
this port. But at the South, where city differ
eth from another only in greater or less degree of
decrepitude, there must be years of experiment
before the proper terminus is discovered. Now, We
need not tell any body who knows anything of the
subject that experiments in steam navigation albeit
exciting to stockholders, and not seldom divertng
to outsiders, are at the same time exceedingly ex
peniive, and are apt to end in collapse. Should
assessments upon stock be many, and the dividends
nothing at ALL the Southern States, in spite of Mr..
Nanns eloquence, would soon be heartily sick of the
project.
Still, Mr.. A. Dudley Mann is very hopeful. Tha.
circumstance which others would consider most
damaging to tho feasibility of the undertaking. only
inspires him with renewed faith. He finds no dit.
fculty in the want of Southern commercial center
Of trade. 1t il the country that is to BIO enriched
by bis Steamers" they are to serve the landed
propretaries, the rural districts of the husband
"man." Then comes the inevitable jbe at New
York "The South wants no New. Yorks, or over
"grown commercial emporiums-no redundant
"vicious population to demoralze the body polite
"and harass its repose." Considering the popu
aton of the South at present, not particularly re-
dundant certainly, but not particularly virtuous
and especially "harassing to the repose of the
body polite" this remark Of Nr. Mann strikes u.
We have no special defense to make Of great cities
nor Of tie vices of our own. But the city has also
its advantages 1t is not established by accident
1t is the resut of the natural tendency Of CONNER
cial operations to concentrate themselves at given
points. Their very existence is what has .de
ocean ,team navigation, with its frighdully enor.
msus expense, possible. If there had been no New
Vo,L there yyOuld not have been a single ocean
steamer built. The South wants steamships, but
does not want large city. We fear that the graf
fcation of both these tastes will be found imposs
bic. But discoveries in political economy are very
common at the South. Perhaps they have made
still another.
The honor of first coming down with the dust is
to be conceded to Virginia, partly, We suppose, be
cause she has the least to come down with. at
lis DUE" says Mr.. Mann, "tc Virginia, as the
"oldest and largest Of the States interested, that
"she should be first approached for the stock"
Now, in this part of the world, when We want
stock taken we do not go to the oldest man nor to
the largest man, but to the man with the most
money. Virginia is poor; there are other Slave
States that are comparatively rich, and why Mr.
Mann should make it q point of honor to begin in
the most unpromisns quarter, is more than We
can comprehend. Besides, Mr.. Mann has q rival
n the field in the penon Of NJ. Lacoutre, the agent
Of the French Company, who has received the
most fsttering assurances from Gov. Wise and the
newspapers. The Governor is committed to tho
French line. He stands pledged, whenever q