Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-08-06
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP.
The PRESIDENT is expected to return te
Washington on the 18th instant.

The DEATH OF Ex-SEcRErARY DoTrBIN-
CLOSING OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPARrNENrs.-
We authorized to announce that the several
Executive Departments of the Government will
be closed tomorrow, as a testimony of aspect
to the memory of Hon. James C. Dobbin, late
Secretary of the Navy.
The HERALD ON THE DUDLEY MANN Con-
vESrIoN.-The New York Herald is /" down
on" the recent convention of visitors at Old
Point Comfort, gotten up under the auspices of
Col A. Dudley Mann, to push on that gentle
mans project for an inter-oceapic asteam fsrry''
communication between the Chesapeake and
Europe. While the tone Of many of the
speeches made there was open to precisely such
criticism as the Herald bestows upon it-being
ridiculously grandiloquent and unsuited to the
occasion, and the amount subscribed ridiculous
ly small when those speeches were taken into
consideratiOn-we perceive little soundness in
the HeT0Id's conclusion that direct communi-
cation by steam between the South and Europe
rs n hopeless dream. We have never been a
believer In the idea of the possibility of the
successful establishment of a line Of steamers
to run regularly between the Chesapeake and
questionable whether such vessels could run
proGtably between Europe and New York, yet
1t seems to Us that the day is rapidly approach
ing when the general substitution Of steam for
sails will open the way for the establishment of
permanent lines of steam packets between the
Chesapeake and Europe. We rely much, too,
for this sO-desirable contamination upon the
gradual construction of the railroads south and
west; which are to debOuche upon the tide waters
OF our noble bay. The opening of the North
western Virginia Railroad has already diverted
much produce shipped from Cincinnati, to Bal
tilnOre, instead of going down the Ohio and Mis-
sisSippi as heretofore. The newspapers bring
glad tdings of steamers arriving from Cincin-
natl at Parkersburg, unloading, reloading and
departing, creating there such times in bust
ness matters as were never known before
Almost all this is positively new trade for
Baltimore, there having been previously no
economical way of getting heavy and bulky
produce to the western terminus of the Balti-
more and Ohio railroad from so far down the
Ohio river as Cincinnati. The Virginia Rail-
road, rs far rs Covington, and Memphis too,
will soon be completed, affording more econom-
ical and speedy means of transporting directly
to the Chesapeake an almost incalculable
amount OF produce which now necessarily seeks
other outlets to Europe or other markets. That
is, more economical and spe dy means than
will then exist for getting the same produce to
the sea by any other channel. These roads
traverse regions of country capable of anything
conceivable in the way of production-agricul.
tural, mineral and manufacturing-which, up
IN 10 Yiuo hove hoor
can industry, on account of the lack of econom.
ical means Of transportation in great part The
country at large knows far less of them-of
their capabilities-at this moment, than of the
regions around the great lakes, though the for
mer have been occupied by the white man for q
century. Nature has furnished the means of
convenient intercourse with the regions of the
great lakes, if not Of profitable transportation
from them.
The completion of the Virginia railroads to
which we refer, with that Of tho connecting
roads in other southern, western, and south
western States, will, in FIVE years from this
time, cause such rush of settlers into western
Virginia, eastern Tennessee, northern Georgia
and Alabama, as the unob5ervant little dream
of. They VII, in turn, very soon make them
blossom and fl uctify SO as to increase their ex-
portable products a hundred if not a thousand
fold, the most of which must first reach the At
lantic upon the tide-waters Of the Chesapeake
Such are our anticipations Of the almost imme-
date future Of the commerce of the Chesa-
peake-say in ten years, these things will COM
mence to be realized; and decade is but day
in the progress of a country. When the quaL-
tity and value Of the exportable products com.
ing this way shall thus be increased, and ship.
owners and merchants arc able at any moment
to load ship from the Chesapeake, without
awaiting cargoes, as they then VIII be, it will
be sent abroad direct, because that will then
be the most economical mode Of getting it to its
final destination. Thess are facts which will
strike oil as being legitimate deductions.
We believe in Southern conventions only so
far as they tend to bring to the knowledge of
| the people Of the South the immense undeyel-
oped resources Of their country, and to awaken
to, and concentrate Southern public opinion
upon, the importance Of earnest efforts for their
development, and also of the creation of a do
mestic sentiment in favor Of relying, as far as
possible, upon their Own-Southern-comme
cial resources. And we rejoice in the belief
that they are rapidly coming to consummate
those desirable ends.
DEATH OF Ex-SECRErARY DoBBIN The tel
egraph tells of the death of the late Hon. ]. C.
Dobbin at Fayetteville, n e., his home, on the
4th inst.
His death has been expected for months past,
from the bronchial affection under which he suf
fered during the greater part of his service rs
the Secretary Of the Navy. His age was moi
more than forty-four. Without being bril-.
liant man, he was one Of the clearest-headed
statesmen OF the day, as we'll as gentleman
OF extensive attainments in public affairs, and
h'gh-toned character. Few men enjoyed more
personal reputation than Mr. D. where he was
known, and none have more fairly earned the
esteem and confidence Of the public; for he was
scrupulously correct in all his acts, public and
private Thus, the weight of his character as