Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-04-03
FROM CHARLESTON TO LIyERpOOl,
Called Meeting OF the Board of Trade
YESTERDAY.

Called Meeting OF the Board OF Trade
Yesterday.
The special meeting of the Board ar
Trade yesterday, called for the purpose If
| considering the project Of establishing a d.
rect line of transportation between Charles
ton, 5. c., and Liverpool, was well at
tended:
Mr.. ]. a. Smyth, of Charleston. beino
introduced, addressed the meeting. He
said:
have the honor Of appearing before vos,
as the representative of the Chamber of
| Commerce of the city Of Charleston. s q
aud would respectfully ask your attention
as endeayor to lay before you the object
o fmy mission.
Allow me TO say before entering upon The
subject, that l have no personal interests 10
forward IN the scheme am about to spread
before you, other than my earnest wish To
do all IN my power to advance the best in
terests of the dear old city of my nativity.
and whose welfare lies very near my heart.
The purpose OF my mission is two-fold:
/. To lay before you the facilities that
now exist for your obtaining your supplies
Offoreign goods, thrOughthe port of Charles
ton and the additional facilities we are now
prepared to offer you in connection with a
regular line of steamships to Liverpool and
other European ports.
?. To ascertain what impediments exist
TO your immediate use Of these present IA
%cilities; how such impediments may be re-
moved, what c~JstOmhOuSe, railroad. or 9TH
er arrangements are practicable for extend
ing and increasing these present facilities.
and chiefly whether such a movement of
foreign goods through the port of Charles
ton may be relied upon as will support a
prompt and permanent line of ocean steam
ships.
There is no need for me to detain YOU
by calling your attention TO the geographic
cal advantages of the city of Charleston.
her nearness to the broad Atlantic, her
magnificent harbOr, her %propinquity to all
the Northern ports of our own country, T.
Europe and the West Indies. One glance
at the map will furnish better arguments.
and more convincing ones than any words
of mine.
The only obstacle to the growth of
Charleston into a maritime port of the first
importance, has beenthe well known s.Bar''
at the entrance Of the harbor, about five
miles in an air line from the city, which
prevents the entrance of vessels Of the
heaviest draught. But recent operations
by the government in our harbor have
proved that this can be deepened, and we
have the assurance Of practical and ex-
perienced engineers that a very moderate
additional expenditure will give us a depth
Of az least twenty feet Of water on the bar,
which will be ample for all commercial
purposes. If you take a straight line on
the map from st. Louis to Charleston YOU
will see that it is the shortest distance from
that great center to any point upon the At
| mite seaboaTd as far north and east as
Charleston is.
Using that line as the radius and de
scribing a circle with
ST. LOUIS AS THE CENTRE,
you will at once see how much nearer
Charleston Is TO st. Louis than either Nor
folk, Baltimore or any of the more north
ern pOTts-and when you take into consid-
Grafton the fact that Charleston is also very
much nearer the West Indies, whose pro-
ducts are 50 much needed by our interior
country, than any Of these other cities;
that Cape Hatteras, with its storms and
dangers, has no. 20 be overcome in order To
reach her open harbOr, and that freights
from the West Indies and South America
are always lower to Charleston, and
especially so in winter, than to any point
north of Hatter3s, YOU will see what ad-
Vanta-es she offers as the outlet of these
great interior cities, and the magnificent
new country THAI is opening up behind
and beyond them.
The relative distance from Liverpool and
other European ports, though somewhat
greater in miles, as compared with that Of
Baltimore or New York. is about the same
in the actual distance sailed over
by vessels, especially in winter. and
even this difference in miles is more
than cOunterbalanoed by the safe and
easy passage afforded BY this southern
route TO vessels, avoiding rs il does all the
dangers from ice-bergs aud the dense fO-s
that are so common on III northern coast,
and have been the fruitful source Of so
many of II recent ocean accidents.
Blu the greatest advantage we offer is not
so much a safer route by sea, but in a very
much greater degree, a safe, open and reli-
able route by land. We show the West
not only a shorter and more direct line TO
the Atlantic coast for the great highway of
their traffic with Europe, the West Indies
and South America, but one that, besides a
saving Of distance, affords certain and reg
ular transportation for their merchandise
and their Immigrants all the year round,
both Summer and winter. No heavy snow
storms block our railroads or render them
impossible, but we have all the advantages
Of our mild and genial winter that is never
50 severe is TO impede travel.
II NAV be that there are differences Of
opinion as 10 the best point on the South
Atlantic coast to be the terminus of this great
highway. and the relative advantages Of
Brunswick. Savannah, Port ROYAL and
Charleston NAV have their advocates and
partizans. But there can be but one opinion
as 10 the fact that the West generally, and
y. Louis particularly, requireSa new chan
mel for its imports and exports; one that is
moi only shorter and more direct, but one
that is free from all the Interruptions of
snow and ice. Now such a channel with
exactly these points Of advantage is offered
alone By the Atlantic coast of Georgia aud
South Carolina, and one of the four
points above mentioned is the natural
terminus of this route. We think we can
demonstrate that Charleston combines in
her geographical position, more advantages
than any Of the points, as whatever advan-
tage they may possess in one, point of
present depth of water, which we believe
to be at best only a transient n is more
than counterbalanced by the facr that
Charleston is so much further North and
Fast, that almost exactly the same number
of miles of railway will lay down the i'm
ports and exports at a point 50
NUCH NEARER THE FOREIGN COUNTRIES
from which they come andtO which theySO.
But whatever difference there mag be as
to the b sttermimls, | am here to contend
that the Atlantic coast of Georgia and South
Carolina is the natural outlet Of the great
West. the shortest. sureSt and most regular
route for the transportation Of her immi-
Grants and her goods; and once these West
ern cities are convinced that their best III
terests will be advanced by using these
natural advantages, and the great tide Of
their commerce and immigration begins to
this way. there will he CROUCH bust ]
ness to employ the energies Of both Charles
and Savannah. l need only present
YOU to the present feet of steamships run
ming regularly between Charleston and
Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Balti-
more, with an aggregate carrying capacity
of $4,000 bales of cotton a month, and /"
the activity that has prevailed in all our
shipping interests during the r,st favr
months, TO prove to YOU that w.e are alive
to the Importance of our geographical posi-
ton.
The number of vessels that have crowded
into our WEarVpS frDm tho small coaStiug