59-61.8. From Hampton Roads to Sewell's Point, 25-27.8.
South of Sewell's Point (one mile and a half), 21-23.8; up to Norfolk,
23-25.8. From Hampton Roads to James River, entering to the northward of
Newport News, middle ground, 22-24.8. From Hampton Roads to James River,
entering to the southward of Newport News, middle ground, 27-29.8. From
abreast the tail of York Spit, up to Yorktown, 33-35.8. Elizabeth River,
between Norfolk and navy yard, 25.5-28.3.

When we leave the tide-water rivers for the interior navigable streams,
Virginia has a vast advantage. New York has no such rivers above tide,
but Virginia has the Ohio for hundreds of miles, with its tributaries,
the Kanawha, Guyandotte, and Big Sandy. It is true, New York has several
of the great lakes, and the vast advantage of connection with them
through her great canal. But, in the absence of slavery, the canal
projected by Washington (preceding that of New York) would have
connected, through Virginia, the Chesapeake Bay with the Ohio River. The
James River, flowing into the Chesapeake, cuts the Blue Mountains, and
the Kanawha, a confluent of the Ohio, cuts the Alleghany; thus opening
an easy and practicable route for a great canal from the eastern to the
western waters. The valley of the lakes, with which New York is
connected by her canal, has an area of 335,515 square miles. The valley
of the Mississippi, with which the Chesapeake would long since, in the
absence of slavery, have been connected by the Virginia canal, has an
area of 1,226,600 square miles. The shore line of the Mississippi and
its tributaries, above tide water, is 35,644 miles. (Page 35, Compend.
Census of 1850.) Our shore line of the lakes is 3,620 miles, including
bays, sounds, and islands; and that of the British, 2,629. (Ib. 35.) The
connection of the lakes with the Ohio and Mississippi would be the same
for both States, the one being from the lakes to these rivers, and the
other from the rivers to the lakes. The location of Virginia is more
central than that of New York, and Virginia runs farther west by several
hundred miles. We are so accustomed to look at the connection of New
York with the West by her canal, and Virginia with no such union, that
it is difficult to realize the great change if Virginia had been
connected by her progressing work with the Ohio and Mississippi, and
thence, by the present canals, with the lakes.

It is apparent, then, that, as regards easy access to the Wes