The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-10-06
Southern Commercial Eossveafion-
Address OF Hoza. George 7Es Pendfe.

S0uth1rM EDfsfnserctnl GOnyeeffcn-
Address OF Hoa. George III Pendfe.
fesa.
CrscISNArr, October 1.-The Southern
Commercial Convention assembled this
1 siiornfng ut 40 O'Clock In Pixies Hali, one
hundred and fifty delegates being present.
The convention was called to order byS
NJ. Bishop, Yiee-president for Ohio OF the
| Louisville Convention.
| Hon. George III. Pendlcton was intro
| duced, and made q reception address. He
said:
Friends,-Every Industrial interest. aud
advocates o. cEery growing enterprise from
the Alleghanies to the Rocky mountains,
attest the dignity of this convention and
the magnitude OF the questions committed
to it's consideration. Ionr predecessors,
who met at Norfolk in 1865, were few in
numbers, and the chief subject Of their con-
sidcration was the ocean trade of the Atlan-
tic cities with Europe. Your numbers
already reach many hundreds, and your
debates will touch every project Of material
development, every phase Of Intelligent in.
dustry. every facility Of commercial inter.
course, every plsn of finance and taxation,
ever! encouragement Of Immigration, every
question OF governmental economy.
luis convention meets to consider and
aoVance the interests of the great Missis-
sn,pla Valley. Are, centre, and source. of
&c well-being OF other portions of the
country, its development is their growth,
its prosperity their wealth and when the
hand Of Industry touches into life any dor.
mant clement of power which nature has
hidden in It's fields, mines, lakes, or rivers,
they grow by its activity, and move under
its impulsion. The Mississippi Valley The
very name calls up q vision of tr~anscendent
,s,.ny lam. ln1,ln fnf>,t>srr - ,,,stI nz&k~. 49,
sugar, corn, barley. It stretches from Gen.
trail Pennsylvania to the western boundary
of Kansas: from the Lake of the Woods to
the Gulf OF Mexico. Its soils are fertile, it's
| mines productive, its forests cXhaustlcss,
| its climate hcaltb!ul.
Ere long q hundred millions of people
| will inhabit it. They will till its fertile soil,
| they will work its fruitful mines, they will
manufacture its raw materials, they will be
an active, c~nterprising, self-reliant, and in
| dustrious people. They will not submit to
isolation. They will require and they will
have free, uninterrupted, and easy c0mmu-
, ~nication with the Gulf of Mexico by the
| Mississippi river, with the Chesapeake bay
by caral. i'll Virginia, with Sandy Hook by
| canal in New York, with the North Attain
tic by the Lakes and the st. Lawrence.
| They will reach the Pacific by the Northern
and Central and Southern railroads.
They will dig through the mountains of
Virginia and import by way Of Norfolk.
| They will thread the valleys OF Kentucky
| and Tennessee and load ships at Charleston
and Savannah. They will build levceS Oh
the southern rivers and reclaim to cultiya-
lion their rich alluvion. They will sweep
away every embarrassment caused by the
protective system, and they will demand
every Improvement in the burthen of taxa
/ tion and in the benefits OF currency which
| the most enlightened and sagacious civil
| cation can suggest This.is the Southern
Commercial Convention. Ohio was the first
fruit Of the muniticcnce of magnanimous
| Virginia, eldest born Of the Northwest,
~faircSt Of her sisters. Conscious of her w
maturcd and matronly beauty, she looks
| with loving pride upontheir Youthful bloom
and yigor. IN her name | bid you welcome.
w. A. Walker, r. d. Lillev, and e.
| Roller, of Virginia, are on committees.