The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-01-28

a futufe prosperity uhuef tue
Il influences Of improvements which
afford to our people the opportunity
Increase their trade and their manutac-
Turing industry.
We have had misfortunes-many Of the
dignity Of calamity we have had the ter
rors Of reconstruction and Of RECONSTRUCT
ton reconstructed !; we have had un'avora-
BILE seasons and poor crops. Such mlslor-
tunes and such painful agitation OF the
public mind have rarely fallen upon COM
mupities, Yet they have not only been
endured, but our people have passed
through them with fortitude and con-
stancy, bearing both public and private
RESPONSIBILITIES with herosm higher than
that of the battlefield. So persistent and
tenacious has been our adversely that the
last year wound up, as it were, with Ca
lamity Of fearful character. And yet our
people arc still collected, and confident IN
the future. What may not q community
achieve-a community thus Injured TO ms
fortune, and who have maintained their
high loyalty to society, to the country, ana
to God?
"Fortune fayors the brave" and the con-
slant. Assuredly the tide OF misfortune
must have It's ebb; and that must be at
hand. In the nature of things, seasons ana
casualties cannot combine against lis Tor
any long term of years. Morally, by resig-
nation to the overruling Providence, our
people have some reason to hope for relief
from adversely a; and naturally it Is improba'
bic that unfavorable seasons can continue
without interruption. So we may hope nj
least that we have entered upon the year Of
better things.
With the prospect Of the early compile
ton of the road that opens for us commu'
nication with people Of great enterprise,
uuburtbened with the social anomaly
which bears US down-with the prospect OF
intercourse with the great producing section
of this Union-we may look to large IN
crease Of the enterprise and wealth OF this
CITY. We see the movements Of railroads
which indicate the interest felt in Virginia,
and the foreshadowed activity and enter
prise that will be displayed within her bor-
ders, and should derive from them stimulus
TO our own energies and hopes. Only eleh-
teen months lie between us and the con-
summation of the important line of inter-
course which has been the absorbing theme
with the greatest men Of Virginia for near
" century, and we should be filed with
Il sense of gratitude that the present gen.
Grafton is to be blessed with the great ad-
yantages Of work so long under consider
alfonso long the object of the labor ana
the expenditure Of the State. TO meet the
necessity that such q work, combined with
our western and southwestern connections.
will demand of us. we arc IN good Time
deepenins the channel of our river to
depth entirely commensurate with the
wants Of trade.
These things in the near future-the nat
ural adaptation Of this locality to health and
to the purposes Of manufactures and COM
merce-the prospect Of early intercourse
with the North in the most rapid and cX-
peditious manner Of these times-all remind
lis that there is to be 4 degree Of activity
and rapid growth here that has hardly been
anticipated by the most sanSillnc. Ii Is
not 100 early to begin to prepare for this
bright day.
We may hope that peace will be soon re-
established in Europe--that commerce will
be relieved from the cmbarrasSmcnts OF
war-that our staples will rise in value
that money will be free from the agitation
and disturbing influences Of hostilities-
that even the seasons will be propitious
ut last-and with this trust in the future,
this reliance upon the agencies ut work for
our advantage, we may this year enjoy &
peace and commercial activity we have not
known since the civil war.