The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-06-15
4itllmond Qispatth.
FRIDAY. 10, 1000
From the London Cosmopolitan
a Grand Cosmopolitan Enterprise.

I America. the attention of far-sccing cap'-
49, ~ 18th sides of the Atlantic has
been directed to the improvements "a VIC
/ ;,,nnvcy;Sbed States of the south, ana es-
m"a;a,Iy 10 the development, in far greater
/ accrcc than has ever yet beeh accom-
nlished. of their immense materal re-
snnrccx II cannot be doubted that the
rutnre prosperity of the south, however II
NAV be retarded by the action OF unwlse
and unprinciplcd politicians, will be great
, bcvond the most sanguine dreams OF south
crn statesmen themselves. In this VIDE
region, on which Heaven smiles, there is
no State which may look forward with
larger confidence to glorious destiny than
Virginia, or, as ii has always been proudly
known, the "Old Dominion" This Com.
monwealth has been severed for political
purposes, and is now two States-f flrginla
and West Virginia but from the Chesa-
peake to the Ohio its interests, feelings,
sentiments, are One-and political part-
ton cannot affect the essential community
of views that characterizes its people.
Virginia, notwithstanding the stirring
events of the last four years which d.
rccted towards it as the theatre of war the
gaze of all the world, is but little known
10 Europeans. To say that 1t has sixty
| four thousand square miles; that 1t enjoys
a mild and hcalthful climate that 1t is
traversed bv noble rivers navigable for
/ more than one hundred and fifty miles
| from the seaboard that one Of the finest
harbors of the American continent is to be
found where il borders on the Atlantic
that the soil responds with generous har-
vests TO the labors of the huSbandman ;
that il abounds in thermal and medicinal
springs, in mineral wealth, in water power
for manufactures all this makes little
impression on the foreigner, and all TINS
falls short of conveying any adequate idea
of Virginia's capacities. Her strongest as
surauce of future preemincncc among the
! States of America is to be sought in the
fact Of her central position, whereby the
most direct road from the ocean to the
| boundlesS valley OF the Mississippi lies
| through her borders. The boundary line
of West Virginia is the Ohio river, the
| natural highway of western trade seeking
| the ocean transit and all that is required
to pour into her lap the wealth of the con-
tinent, exceeding that " of Ormuz and of
Ind, ~ is that some great line of internal
improvement shall be constructed to con-
meet the Ohio with the waters Of the ChcS-
apeakc.
So distinctly was this forescen by the
gentlemen of Virginia, of generations gone
by, that George Washington, three-quar-
tcrS of century ago, conceived the idea
of uniting the Ohio river and the CheSa-
pcake by canal and there can he no
question that, had the canal been made,
Virginia would have realized that vast ma
tcrial advantage which was secured to New
York by the genius and energy OF Dc Witt
Clinton, and which has placed New York
foremost in wealth and physical impor-
tance among the States of the American
Union. But no determined effort was
made to construct a canal until many
wears after the great Erie water line had
been steadily pouring the products of the
West into the Hudson river ut Albany,
and this effort was attended with so many
difficulties that at the breaking out of the
recent war between north and south the
James river and kanawha canal was still
far from completion.
Within few months past French conf
pany, which had been conducting nego-
tiatonS before the war for the purchase OF
the unfinished canal, under obligations to
carry it through to the Ohio river, has for
mally closed the bargain, and the transfer
! of the whole line has been made to them,
with the sanction of the Legislatures OF
both Virginia and West Virginia. The
consent of the Legislature of West Nirgi-
MIA was obtained through the intelligent
and untiring President of the former James
River and Kanawha Canal Company, Colo.
mel Thomas III. Ellis, of Richmond; and
the agents of the French company, which
is known as NM. Ernest Bcllot dcs Mi.
nieres, Freres ct Gle, are actively engaged
in raising the capital that will be required
| for the performance of their engagements,
The moment, it must be admitted, is not
favorable to important financial operations,
With the Continent of Europe trembling
in the doubtful balance of peace, and the
PARALYSIS of terrible monetary crisis
| putting a stop, for a time, to all business
| on the London Stock Exchange, 1t Is diff
! cult TO see how the new owners OF the great
| Virginia canal will be able to conduct their
affairs successfully. But that the money
of the world has not been annihilatcd by the
depreciation of stocks and the absolute de-
struction of certain values is quite plain,
and it will surely find its reinveStment
! when the storm is over, in those works and
enterprises which look beyond the petty
| schemes of day to a future of cver-in-
creasing magnitude and Importance. Such
work is the Virginia canal. Should the
day come within forty or fifty years, whlcf
Colonel Jevons predicts, when the coal
beds of England shall be exhausted, AND
the roar of her countless iron foundrle'
shall, by consequence, be silenced, Viz
| gina will then control the manufacturing
Interests of the world, for in Virginia alone
and along the line of this canal, are to bt
found mines of coal and veins of iron ore
in close neighborhood, surprising the store
of England before these had ever been dis
turbed. In view of such fact, the capi
talist, appalled, by the crash Of falling cor
porations i'm the commercial earthquake
which is now shaking the Exchanges of th'
Old World, may well scekto place his none.
where it must secure for him, at no distant
day, large and safe return. The practl
cal energy and unfailing foresight ofFrench
men have found the opportunity for then
capital in the plan of NM. Bcllot des Mi
nicres, but there are also far-seeing Eng
lishmen who recognise both the grandeu
of the undertaking, and the desirability
admitting into its conduct an English ele
ment. Could the great west OF Americ'
be united to Europe through water linz
of communication to the Atlantic, con
/ strncted by French and English capitalists