Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1815-11-11


More than - $50
bnd o" all vessels coming T. Rock fsnding, of
more than feet water, nj the rate o.; 80 cents
per foot.
No vessel. that could draw feet or less,
was to pay any toll whatever, to Rock
etts.-Ihe tolls were to be demandab,e,
both )ing up and down.
The law also stipulated, that no tolls
we're to be received, unless the channel Of
the river at high tide was at least IA test
deep and $50 wide from Warwick to
Rockets and feet deep and so wide to
Rock Landing.
But not content with these restrictions,
they introduced clause, the like of which
Is not to be found iii any other charter on our
statute book viz. that " nothing in this or
the before recitcd act contained, shall be so
construed as to abridge the right of the le-
gislature to alter or amend this, or the be-
fore recited act, gvhc,lepsr ii she'll be
deemed erhedient. Let the Legislature
BE- as cautious rs they please in granting
charters, (they cannot be too much soft
fraud be practised upon them, let it be
purgcd away Cn this hasty sketch, we do
not preteud TO say whether it shall be
done by the Legislature or the Judiciary,)
but in the name Of Heaven let not our
charters be continually shifted about by the
Weli-the company i'll their turn took
fire. They were not aware that there had
been anu fraud in the case but at all e.
vents, they were not concerned in it as
the law had passed before they were in ex-
istence. They came, therefore. before the
next legislature with pretty strong Memo
raj, protesting against the right of the Le-
g,siature to alter the charter, without the
application or concurrence OF the Company,
sc &c.
he subject was again taken up, and
rev law passed, January the 9th, 1901
which requires, rs the one that went be
fore it, that up to Rockets the river should
be made ID feet deep; but limits the zvid.h
to 10 teet, except III that part, commonly
called the Rocks, and also that place call
ed Granny Judy's bar, where the channel
was TO be widened 90 feet-The tolls to
Rockets were fixed as follows:
All vessels Of 40 tons and upwards. pilot boats
excepted, mot loaded with cargo) topav
at the rate of4 1-2 cents per ton, where
they do not draw more than feet;
cents per ton, where they do no, draw more
than 1-2 feet,
lie from l-2 to II
where th.v draw 10
than ~
Tolls tobe paid, up and down but none 70
be exacted, on vessels drawing less than
feet.-The nett profit not to exceed Is per
cent-the surplus to so into the public trea-
sury.-1he Company were also to be au-
thcrized TO improve the navigation from
Rockets to Rock Landing, and when they
had sunk it to feet deep, to draw toll Of
cents per ton on all vessels of less than
40 tons, and of II cents on all of greater
burthen. No limit was set to their nett
profits on this part OF the enterprise. The
very obnoxious Clause, which reserved to
the Legislature the right of altering the
Charter at every breath of eI1scdiency, was
struck out.
This sketch is already long enough it
is, therefore, sufficient to state, that the
majority of the Company, on the 24th of Ju-
ly, 1906, determined on its dissolution, up
on this ground, that " the Legislature of
Virginia had, without the consent Of the
Company, proceeded to alter the Act, in
cooperating the same in many essential
parts, by which it is deemed unsafe.to pro-
coed further in the improvement contem-
plated at the original formation Of the
Company and that it is also improper to
| incur any additional expense" &C. &c. In
| consequence of which, the scoop machine
was sold for 205 dollars we understand it
was bought for gentleman Of Petersburg,
to improve the AppomattoX /; but, we fear,
it yet sleeps on the bosom Of cur sister
| stream.
And are we too to sleep over our useful
| project Are we to suffer the impediments
| OF sand and rock to obstruct our navieati-
| on ! Are we never to behold vessels Of
considerable burthen ascending this beauti-
| full stream ?-Sjnce the late war, our mer-
| chants, have been frequently in the habit
| OF ordering their large vessels up to War
| wicks, where they were wont TO come in
! the oiacH tine--Let Us but make one step
more, and we see them five mics nearer to
! us, moored at our own wEarves.
1t requires no speculative reasoning 20
point out the benefits of this improvement.
1t is clear as the beams of noon-day sun,
| that whatever facilitates the transportation
OF commodities lessons the price of what
we buy, and enhances the value OF what we
have to sell that there is not piece OF
goods imported nor a pound of produce
shipped, which will not participate in the
benefit OF the reduced price Of tonnage
We have seen dollar given for a hogs
head of tobacco that is scowed from Rock
| cts to Warwick--thus for 200 hogsheads,
we have paid 200 dollars-if the river
was opened, the whole would not cost a
| sixth or seventh OF the sum. But every cent
that is saved on the hogshead, is so much
gained to the shipper-and will be nearly
! as much saved to the planter. Here is an
! Improvement, then, in which not only the
merchants of this city, but the farmers in
the surrounding country are alike inter
ested. And this saving is not confined 10
the produce which they sell but alike ex-
tends to the foreignl articles which they