Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1830-02-02

how would these people be deceived! They
would lose all chance Of realizing the adj
vance on their property, and their real es-
tate, now on the ascendant, will be lower
than ever. So on the other route. Are not
speculations already going on among those
in the vicinity of its location? But II the
commissioners finally adopt the route through
Springfield, what becomes of their hopes
Will not the walls of wrath be empted on
the heads of the authors of this dlsappont-
.nent. Let the route be defined at once.
Let the commissioners know where the road
is to 90, and then all parts of the Common
wealth will be at rest.
AIR. Brooks said he would not vote for
this or any other bill for a railway, unless
the course Of it were distinctly pointed out.
He was altogether in favour of the northern
route. The gentleman from Westminster
had given many substantial reasons IN IA
vour of that course. He wished to proceed
fiir!y AMI to know what he was voting for.
lie Should not willingly give his support to
a railroad that did not proceed towards the
soatherly line of Vermont or the northerly
beandaiy of Mas sachusetts
Mr.. Mason of Boston said that this want
OF detiniteness, Of which gentlemen COM
.plained, was very important feature in the
bill, and the very best of all reasons could
be assigned for it. 1t was intended that no
man sho,,h know the route Of the road till
the bill should have been passed. No man
'ouoht to have this information. No man
should be ao!e to select his mill-sites and
his building-lots with reference to its loca-
ton. 1t was to avoid all this sort of specu-
.lation, to which the gentleman from Lanes
boro' had alluded, that no route was, pre-
scribed in the bill. If the bill should pass
in its present shape, as he hoped 1t would,
no one being able to say where the road
shiii run, he appealed to the House wheth-
er there would be any chance for such spec
ulation as gentlemen seemed to fear. For
nv particular self, (said Mr.. NJ solemnly
declare, | care not one single cent in which
direction it shall run. may be deceived
in INV conilen expectations-the calcula-
tions Of advantage ami usefulness made by
the commissioners may be all chlmerlcal
but will cheerfiilly join in any measure to
get the road located Somewhere.
Mr.. G. Blake read clause from the bill to
show that the directors of the corporation,
who wers to locate the road and determine
its direction, were to be chosen by the legis-
lature. He presumed that the directors
thus chosen would be men of intelligence
and good discretion. He could not con-
ceive any possible motive they could have
to induce them to 90 contrary to the interest
of the Commonwealth. He had heard
enough from the gentleman in Cambridge to
convince him of the advantage the State at
large would derive from such an improve
ment, and such were his views of its gen.
eral utility that he would defy any set of
gentlemen to lay out the road in any direc-
ton that would not promote the interest of
the Commonwealth. 1t was we'll known,
that in all parts of the State, immense guam
titles of small commodities, such as were
sometimes called notions, were collected
for theBoston market, and for the accommo-
dation of this branch of trade alone the ex-
pertinent was worth making, even admitting
that the commerce between Albany and
Boston were nothing. But he saw no dan
ger in confding the location of the road to
the intelligence of such men as the legisla-
ture would appoint for commissioners. His
impressions hitherto had been altogether he
confessed, in favour of the route to SPRING
field; but he was also willing to confess
that the argument of the gentleman from
Westminster Mr.. Hudson) had considerably
weakened his faith in the southern route.
Mr.. Mann, of Dedham, rose to oppose the
amendment, and to correct mistake made
by the gentleman last speaking, He read
from another section of the bill to show that
the directors were not to be chosen by the
Legislature but by the stockholders. Every
man who subscribed hundred dollars to
the capital stock of the corporation, was en-
titled to vote. He undertook to show from
the only possible construction that could be
put on the language of the bill, the amend
ment was useless. The bill gave the cor
poration power to take lands, makinga suit
able compensation therefore, power which
the legislature could not grant to be exercis-
ed in Connecticut or Vermont. The argu-
ment of the gentleman, who moved the
amendment, was absurd on the face of it:
and he commended that the road could not
be carried in any direction that should not
terminate, as far as this State was concern
ed, somewhere on the westerly line of the
county Of Berkshire.
Mr.. d. l.. Chill !, of Boston, regretted that
the amendment should have been offered,
because IL only tended to embarrass the
question and retard the progress of the bill.
lie had viewed with great satisfaction, the
increasing favour which had been shown to
the project, and the harmony with which the
great principles involved in the bill had
been discussed. He did not think the gen.
tleman who proposed the amendment origin
ally, or the gentleman who suggested the
modification, intended it to operate as an
embarrassment, or an apple of discord he
had too high an opinion Of their patriotism
TO i'npute to them such a motive but they
must see that such was the effect. Both
those gentlemen knew very well that large
ship might be wrecked on a small rock. He
hoped the point, unimportant as it was in
the present stage of the bill, would be CIV
Ell up. He wond ask if ever the route of a
R,road or canal was prescribed by leg
islature No. The Legislature only fixed
the termini-the route was left to be agreed
upon by agents. Hundreds of projects for
internal improvements, since the days of the
ancient rennhiicks had failed and he honed