Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-11-14

fetal illustrations Of recupeIative
power that we asean TO speak. Rhe
spirit of enterprise and national adj
vancement has gone much farther,
and the South, especially the South
west, is casting its eyes and stretching
out its arms, feeble as yet, but to be
strengthened by-aBd-by, towards a
great occidental connection with the
Pacific. Our local interests may be
supposed TO be connected closely with
what IL now the only complete route,
bat we cannot be insensible TO the
claims of a generous rivalry, especially
when IL can be shown, for in such
matters seifishness will crop out),
that whatever may be the antag0nism
Of the remote Eastern cities, there
should really be none with Philadel-
phia; for a Pacific connection which,
while il promises, as does the South
ern line, to put Savannah nine hun
dred miles nearer the Western ocean
than New York, also gives assurance
of an easy intercourse with Memphis,
and Louisville, and Southern Indiana,
and Ohio, all OF which may easily be
made, if not already Oursl Looking
ut this impaTtially, we cannot fail 10
be impressed by the zeal and earnest
ness evineed at the recent Commercial
Convention at Louisville, the report
Of which comes to u c~oincidently
with hat Of tile commissioners Of the
Northern route, Messrs. WaIbridge,
Felton, and others. Aud we may here
be permitted to say, Incidentally, that
the connection OF these two names is
rather grotesque-one being an adj
venturOus and somewhat specula-
tive New York lawyer, who knows
about as much of railway con
struetion as we do of Sanscrif, but is
an hsbituaI cOnvention-mOnger, and
the other an eminently practical, sa-
gaci0ts man, q professional engineer,
whose Judgment on such and kindred
subjects will be received everywhere
with adding faith. This, however,
by the way. The two reports come
CONFIDENTLY. One is of "a thing ac-
cOmplished; the other of a thing to be
done. And yet, in respect-and
it il more impressive as long nights
and the dark winter are closing upon
us-the promise is more cheerful than
the reality. The South describes a
short route in "A temperate region
over the smooth plains of Texas and
Arizona, the genial land of the cereals
and OF grazing fiOcks, "where Snow"
SAYS the report, rarely falls; fruit
trees bloom in February, and grasses
are green at all seasons" The North
ern report has a dismal paragraph on
''snOw-sheds," which makes Us shud-
der; snOW-drifts fifty feet high, and
snOWE1ls1laciers they would be
called Notwithstanding down two
hundred feet from the sleeps of the
Sierra Nevada; and a wood roof for
many a mile the travellers sole pro-
lection. Who that has ever crossed
the Alps, ever in their miIdest form,
on the frontier Of what vas once Sa-
vOy, viii, when he reads of "snOw-
sheds,N fail to think OF the heavy TIM
Der fences on the side of the gOrges of
Mount Gems and the "CdSas di RI
eOUero," u sort of Humane Society
apparatus, at Intervals, the first to
save, and the second to resuscitate the
crushed traveller from ''Snow-drifts."
We freely confess, if it lceTe made be-
tween November and A pril, we should
much prefer the temperate Southern
transit.
''These, however, are, we admit, con
sideratiOns of Ii not very high nature,
and we have mentioned them simply
as expressive Of a fair sympathy with
the Southern route. Material cOnSid-
cratiOns, we are aware, determine all
such questions, and of this the Con-
vention OF Louisville was fully con-
scious. We have not, and we never
had, in ancient happy days, before the
silver cord IA broken, any fear Of the
rivalry Of Southern seapOrts. Balti-
more Is the extreme verge to which
successful competition can come; and
Baltimore. we are free and glad TO
admit, Is making a gallant effort to
maintain her new position. She has
a line OF steamers to Europe, rbich Ee
hQUs nor. More duties from foreign
merchandise are collected in Gay
street thau in Chestnut. But south Of
Baltimore, there is not, has not been,
and never will be, commercial com
petition with the Northern cities.
The curse of climate rests on Norfolk,
and Charleston, and Savannah, on the
the Atlantic seaboard. New Orleans,
at the mouth Oh the great funnel of the
Mississippi, is exceptional. AL this
was perfectly manifest to those who
directed the Counsels of the Conven-
ton, and hence il IS that, with some
saving causes in favor Of their own
ports, they frankly admit that the
trade OF the Southern Pacific Railway,
diVerging when it approaches the
Mississippi, viii fiud lis natural outlet
and market in the Eastern cities.
Baltimore aud Philadelphia, nearest
/ Of them all. Louisville, says the re-
I port, viii invite a large portion Of the
trade, and Cincinnati will feel the
current, FOR a great portion OF the
through trade and travel must necps-
sarily pass through Memphis, Louis
vile and Cincinnati to the Eastern
eiIies.''