Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1824-01-30

cula.ions they exhibited, experience has proved
them To have been destitute of the qualifications
of able Eugincers--t they were uncandid in re-
porting the result of their labors, the survivor
on them has received his Just deserts, in his sub
sequent exclusion from the honorable and re-
sponsible situation of Civil Engineer. What
additions ought to be made to their estimates, TO
complete the James River Canal to the mouth
Of Duna'.'s Creek, the progress of experience
has not yet sufficiently deyeloped.-Thc most
Judlc,ous and moderate men, extend il to the
formidable amount of seven millions of dollars.
The bare mcntion of such a s,im is sufficient to
convince every man, that the hope of raising IT
Is absurd, and that if it were practicable, the
good sense and prudence of Virginia would never
consent to burden the State with an annual in
tcrcst OF : 100000, and posterity with Il load Of
debt, which for ages to come must operate mju-
riously and oppressively upon the financial abili-
ty of Virginia.
The great example of New-Yor1, and the
emulous disposition with which Virginia has
viewed her rapid and gigantic strides in Internal
Improvement, has had the amiable but unfortu-
nate effect of driving the latter hcadong into
schemes which, indeed, reflect credit uron her
spirit and magnanimity, but which in their pro-
greSs, have exposed to her neiyhborS and herself,
the imprudent zeal with which she embraced,
and her inability to accomplish them. The ex-
| pected benefits of the James River Canal, have
been magNifed beyond the limits Irrational pro-
liability. The rich and varied products of the
Ohio, and the fur trade of the Missouri and upper
Mississippi, were all to concentrate in Richmond,
and the new and hidden riches of the vallies of
the Alleghaney, were to flow to the same point.
These were the great benefits that the Canal
was expected to confer, and these were the ar
glmcnts which obtained the consent of the Lee
gis'ature TO commence the work. Now that the
public mind has had time to cool, and experience
has reelected its light upon the costs and difficult
ties of the enterprise, all but a few who fondly
| think that the character and honor of Virginia
are concerned to complete what she undertook,
arc convinced not only of the impractical lity of
the undertaking to her limited and decaying
means, but that if completed, the utmost benefit
pf the Canal would be to unlock some of the val
lies which are shut out from an Intercourse by
water with the East, and to facilitate navigation
| to the population on the banks of James River
1T is impossible that these objects can be deemed
sufficiently important, to incur SO great an eX-
penditurc, that without he prospect of intro
ducing new and extensive commerce, Virginia
should he willing to lay out seven millions of
money. The Ncw-YorE Canal to which this, in
| it, glory magnitude and consequent es has been
so often compared, by its friends, is as essential
lv distinct in its object, rs are the wealth. popu-
lation and ability of that State, superior TO our
own. Connecting remote sections of country,
between which nature had provided no means
of navigablc intercourse, that Canal has opened
into the heart of New-York, the commerce of a
region of almost unlimited extent and of ncalcu-
liable resources. The James River Canal, on
tho contrary, runs parallel in its whole extent
with large navigable river, & without serving
to introduce any original commerce of its own,
but facilitates the intercourse that we already
estimates of '"Adicu," which are apparently
founded on a close observation, accurate know
ledge Of his subject, we cannot but say that we
think he has begun at the wrong end and that
the further prosecution of the Canal beyond the
point the excavation has already reached, would
be prepostcrous, poor as Virginia is, and arrayed
against ii as is Public opinion.