The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1858-02-27
Internal Improvements and the
Navigation interest.

dlarles AMI instruments OF that great
fierce, called Commerce, which has been,
in all ages, the pioneer Of solid, endu-
ring and beneliccut civilization: tie
min lister Of the ever widening demands
Ola continually advancing condition Of
society, and which, at the present day,
in its accumulatlye importance as the al
moncr Of wealth and material empire. is
the true Warwick in the aggrandiZament
ofstates and nations. Commerce is, at
last, if not king, the king-makcr; and
merely political movements Is mutations,
once Of so commanding dignity and 30
full Of eager interest, have begun to sink
into confessed frivolity before the absolute
dictatorship Of this ruling agency in the
worlds afairs-this always vigilant, for
ward-moving, and tircless force in the
progress OF the race.
10 this dominant power, Agriculture,
the Arts and Trades, Manufactures, Nj
ming, in their whole variety and extent,
with all the gifts they bring, are tributa
ry. Commerce makes her evies upon
| them all, and in a truer and more literal
sense than did that Roman Cesar, taxes
the world.
Navigation, we say, is one of the III
struments Of Commerce, and only one
Men must $50 down to the sea in ships"
but there must be men at the FORCES, in
the fields, and mines, and quarries, at the
looms and in the workshops, or your
busting marts would soon DC idle, and
the grass would sprout in your streets
and Oh your wharyes. Without the
husbandman, the miner, the artizan ard
even the common laborar-the "bearer If
burdens the saier would find his "oc-
capatiou gone" a community, to secure
and retain to itself any Of the wealth
which passes through its fingers, to gain
in any fitting measure from the carrying
Of commodities in its bottoms, must not
only possess in and upon its soil some
thing that is convertible into value, but it
must develope that something by invo-
king to its aid the facilities and induce
ments to domestic enterprise and home
production which come, not from extraor-
binary imports and high tariffs, but from
well devised and faithfully executed
system of internal Improvements. 10
this end, Canals and Railroads become
necessary, and they should be countenan-
ced and forwarded, when shown clearly to
be demanded by the public interest, by
State patronage as we'll as by private eff
fort Navigation, however imposing she
may be made by grand lines of steam
ships, even to the inclusion of that huge
Levisthan, which at length floats clumsi-
ly in the muddy Thames-Navigation
with all she has done for us, and with
the most liberal Interpretation of her
promises, is not enough. We need lines
of interior communication, a net work of
railways sswhose iron nerves, traversing
the whole giant body of our state, may
Summon with their electric touch its
mighty muscles into vigorous and force
full action. We need, first and above all,
the opening of our vast and prolific back
country, through the supply of facilities
for forwarding the products, present and
prospective, ofevery section and corner of
the commonwealth, to our great central
seaport. We need a convenient and
sufficient channel Of communication with
the teeming vallies of the West-one
that shall command, by the stronger
than imperial edict Of superior cheapness,
safety and dispatch, the immense and
yearly augmcnting trade Of that region,
and bring its garncred wealth upon the
wharves Of Norfolk. Then, when this
which is paramount-to which mere ship
carriage is later and subs idiary-shall
have been attained, we shall find no
trouble in the establishment of steam
ship lines, and in securing permanently
the prosperity of Navigation.