"We question if any other community, certainly no other in the United States of America, have made greater exertions to resuscitate the trade of Norfolk than the mercantile portion of the inhabitants; in proof of which nineteen-twentieths of those engaged in foreign commerce have terminated in their insolvency, the principal cause of which has been in the unrelenting hostility, to this day, from the commencement of the present century, of the Virginia Legislature, with the co-operation of at least the commercial portions of the citizens of Richmond, Petersburg and Portsmouth." How it is, in this enlightened age, that men of ordinary intelligence can be so far led into error as to suppose that commerce, or any other noble enterprise, can be established and successfully prosecuted under the dominion of slavery, is, to us, one of the most inexplicable of mysteries. "Commercial" Conventions, composed of the self-titled lordlings of slavery--Generals, Colonels, Majors, Captains, etcaetera--may act out their annual programmes of farcical nonsense from now until doomsday; but they will never add one iota to the material, moral, or mental interests of the South,--never can, until their ebony idol shall have been utterly demolished. BALTIMORE--PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. We are indebted to the Baltimore _Patriot_ for the following interesting sketch of the Monumental City as it was, and as it is, and as it may be:-- "The population of Baltimore in 1790 was 13,503; in 1800, 15,514; in 1810, 35,583; in 1820, 62,738; in 1830, 80,625; in 1840, 110,313; in 1850, 169,054. The increase of inhabitants within two particular decades, will be found, by reference to the above table, to be remarkable. Between 1800 and 1810, the population nearly doubled itself; between 1840 and 1850, the increase was two-thirds; and for the past five years, the numerical extension of our population has been even more rapid than during the previous decade. We may safely assume that Baltimore contains at the present time not less than 250,000 inhabitants. But the increase in the manufactured products of the State, as shown by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, is a matter of even greater astonishment. The statistical tables of 1840 estimate the aggregate value of the manufactures of Maryland at $13,509,636--_thirteen million five hundred and nine thousand six hundred and thirty-six dollars_. In 1850, the value of the articles manufactured within the limits of the State amounted to $32,593,635--_thirty-two million five hundred and ninety-three thousand six hundred and thirty-five dollars_! A signal proof that the wealth of the State has increased with even far greater rapidity than its population. A quarter of a century ago, the sum of our manufactures did not much exceed five millions of dollars per annum.