The Portland daily press., 1867-07-09

The Commercial Bulletia gives someooay 2"
severe lashing because the National S'eanshp
enterprise has not been carried into execution.
IT saws the failure OF that enterprise would be
hard To hear. if it was due to any indifference
or cowardice on the part of the mass of bust.
ness men in Boston. Tie young merchants oi
that city have done their whole duty in the
premises, and the blame attaches to retired
capitalists and real estate owners who general
ly stood aloof, and, "as il ashamed of theii
Jack of public spirit, framed thousand frivo
lou5 excuses for not taking theilead in an en-
terprise which copfessedly met great public
want" Such is the language of this journal
1t thinks "the responsibility does not res
where the outside public, who have not beer
favored with a look behind the scenes, are ma
turally inclined to place it, But tina. is none
of our business.
Who those "few influential capitalists" are
who had other "aXes to grind" or whose money
is invested in localities and projects supposed
to be inconsistent with the commercial growth
of Boston we have no means of knowing. Bul
the great trouble the Bulletin is laboring un
der is the fact that this promising enterprise il
brought to an untimely end, and in conse
quence Of that calamity 'the Northern ant
Western railroad lines are now pushing for al
outlet at Portland, via the White Mountains.
Heie is the source OF this journals tears. Il
is true that the citizens of Portland, of New
Hampshire, Vermont, Northern New York and
of the great West are pushing on" for this
railroad to the Atlantic coast and for the best
reasons in the world. Portland has the best
harbor on the coast, is nearer to Europe thar
Boston or New York, has the greatest facili'
ties for the transhipment of goods and mer-
chandise of all kinds is nearer Northern Yer.
mont, northern New York and the West, and
affords better terminus for such railway
than any other place on the Atlantic coast
Nature has made this terminus and the people
of the West know it. And the sea-eaptains
over the water also know how easily goods can
be transhipped at this port, but we do not wish
to elaborate these points now. l
The Bulletin says:
Another Atlantic city has seized upon the
chance thrown away by those who assumed to
represent, but in reality betrayed, the mercan-
tile interests of Massachusetts,, and in all prob
ability this chance is lost to US forever. Our
only hope at present, seems to be in building
and fitting out steamships of our own But
this Is slow and expensive process at the
present time, and the experiments already
made in that direction, have not been attended
with results which warrant an immediate eff
fort to renew them. The opportunity which
has slipped through our grasp, to enter at snce
upon an extended sphere OF commerce, may
not probably occur again for many years; but
it is hardly charitable for those outsiders who
do not know its secret history, to put the worst
possible construction upon the matter.
We have no disposition "to put the worst
possible construction upon the matter" if we
are included in the catalogue of "outsiders."-
True another Atlantic city has seized upon
the chance" and we intend to carry the enter
prise through. The contemplated railroad
must and will be built. Tho people have will
ed, and the way is found, and good way it is
none better on the continent. The more it is
examined the better it looks. 9.l -- afr.