Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1815-12-30

fathers of the land are gone. where another
outlet TO the ocean turns their thoughts
from the place of their nativity, and their
affections from the haunts of their youth.
Beyond the Allcgany, an unexnected Rev
olution threatens the Atlantic states in ge-
neral, the accomplishment of which will
create new interests and views in that hou-
rishng and important section of America,
| and bar, forever, the hope of rc-uniting it
nv commercial ties to the markets of the
| East
fit be true, as your committee confident
| ~ believe, that in a connection between the
| Roanoke, the James, or the Potomac river.
with the waters of the Kanawha or Ohio.
. this commonwealth possesses the best
means of arresting the progress OF this re-
volution, it is duty which She owes not
only to herself, but to the Atlantic States,
and to the Union at large, 20 cal! those
means into action.
Independent of the minuter circumstan-
4 ces, in the natural course and volume of
l her rivers, and he breadth and elevation
4 Of the intervening mountains, which point
out Virginia as the proper channel of this
connection, the superior midness OF her
Il climate to that of her northern sisters
her position on the Atlantic coast of the
4 L. States ; and the capacious bay which
D.
assure to her very high claims to the en-
porium of this commerce.
The u. States of America, restricted by
h the territory OF England to the North, and
h of Spain to the South, describe an arch on
the intervening ocean. of which Virginia is
the centre, and should be the keystone,
sustaining the Western States upon it's
b broad and lofty summit, and bending the
n Eastern and Southern in solid, just and fair
E proportion. First in asserting the hide
pendence of America, this Commonwealth
will not be the last in giving to that indie
pendence stability, by confirming the uni
on, upon which it rests.
Your Committee are far from intimating
n that the General Assembly of Virginia has
been totally unmindfu' Of those natural adj
vantages, or wholly regardless of their i'm
/. provement.
The Commonwealth required time to re-
cover from the pecuniary losses she sus-
u tanned during the war of the Revolution -
1t found her citizens laboring under very
heavy priv ate debts, and left her govern
4 ment encumbered with debt Of a much
greater magnitude.
Yet, under circumstances so inauspicious,
the statesmen of that day, and especially
the illustrious man to whom, under hea-
ven, this nation was indebted for the esta-
blishment of its freedom, did not disdain to
Il enquire into the humblest means of giving
to that freedom, value. From his Jealous
exertions, sprung the Potomac and James
River Canal Companies. To the first of
these, the Commonw ealth is indebted for
water communication of three hundred
and thirty eight miles /; and upon it, and
the contemplated works on the Shenando-
ali, she relies for the farther Improvement
\ of a navigation of three hundred and nine
ty miles. She has shared with a sister
state, the benefits OF the labor .elre ady per-
formed On this river in that (which re-
mains to be accomplished a the South
Branch of the Potomac, the CaCapehou and
the Shenandoah, she has an exclusive in
terest.
The James River Company, have open
p ed navigation of three hundred miles.
The Appamattox and the Dismal
Swamp Canals naturally followed into ex-
isrence, those which were indebted for their
origin, to the patriotism of Gen. Washing
ton. The former opened navigation o!
one hundred miles. The latter was de-
signed merely to connect waters already
& navgable but, in its present use, and re-
mote consequences, is not inferior in inn
portance, to any public work within the
Commonwealth.
The exDence of the first Of the preceding
works, does not exceed fifteen hundred
dollars per mile upon the navigation alrea-
dy opened that of the second, is about
twelve hundred an average expence
which will be annually diminished in the
81 progress of future improvements on the
branches of those rivers, as the principal
distractions to their navigation, were re-
moved before their waters could be bro't
& into partial use.
81 The actual cost Of those public works
q does not exceed one third of the expence
usually attendant upon the structure o.
turnpike roads which, in the absence o
Il navigation, are the only substitute for them
II IS due to the latter, however, TO remark
that the addition recently made to them o
\ parallel iron rails, immoveably set in the
earth, at proper intervals, for the wheel:
OF Wagons, hes more than equalized the
Il Advantages of such roads, with the bes
ascending navigation which the rivers o
Virginia afford above their principal falls
and that the additional cost, which this
Improvement occasions to the structure o,
The Turnpike, though great in itself, i
mconsiderabc, when compared with its eff
Iect in reducing the expence of land carri
age.
The Turnpike roads ofthe Common
& wealth, except few short passes Of parti
cular mountains, and road recently be
gun from fredericksburg, towards tn,
Blue Ridge, arc confined principally to th,
County Of Loudoun, the adjacent countie
+ OF Fairfax, FauqueT and Frederick, ant