Virginia advocate. [volume] (Charlottesville, Va.) 1827-1860, 1830-06-11
COMMUNICATIONS.
~ Editors of the VIRGINIA Advocate

| dcrs on the ST bicct of the contemplated i'm q.
| provcmcnts in the navigation of the river. They
| learn with surprizc that this publication has
| made an uniavorablc impression on the public in
| regard to the proceedings of the Board. They
did not suppose tina, even that publication
charged as it is with all the bias which peculiar
| private in,crcs, in the writer's could give to their
one-sided and disingcnious representations could
have produced such impression The directors
regret that the gentlemen OF the Union Mills
should have chosen this theatre, public news.
paper, on which to display their gladia,orial
skill i'll the tactics of paper war. The Direc-
tors enter their protest To this proceeding bu,
having no alternative left in matter in which
| the other party has chosen To commence his opo
Iations by the discharge of whole voley at once,
they cannot in honor decline the contest.
The people of Albemarle are certainly much
| indebted to these gentlemen for their gracious
| condosccnsion in taking them under their pecu-
| liar care &tuition. These gentlemen do not seem
to consider II necessary To say any thing these
subjects TO their fellow citizens of Fluvanna.
many OF whom are interested in the improve
ments OF the navigation equally with the people
OF Albemarlc. 1t is, however, presumed that
any appeal to them was considered quite unne-
ccssary, as the gentlemen had kept them al all
times and in all places fully enlightened as TO
these matters. The board of directors regret
| that they should feel themselves constrained to
give publicity to many things which, passing
ly between item and the older member OF tie
firm at the Union, might seem more entitled to
be the subject of private communication than
OF being blazencd forth in the columns of a
wide y-circulating newspaper
They may regret too that their statements
will appear to give fiat contradiction to some
OF those now before the public.-This they can
| not avoid Candor& justice require that correct
| statement should be exhibited before tn C public
The present Board of Directors were put into Of
flee in December last-wcrc chosen unanimously
and without any wish on their part to undertake
this troublesome business, They received theirnp-
pointmont in the beginning of the second year
| OF the existence ofthe company on the expiration
OF the powers of another Board of Directors.
They found, that their predecessors had accepted
and ratified the proposals for improvements at
two points at Nleriwethers bridge and at the
shaldwel mills The former Directors had also
accepted under the law creating this Com
pany, surrender of the chatter of the old
Rivana Company with condition annexed that
within two years the new Company should CON
struct locks at shadwell for the accommodation
of the upper navigation failure to execute
this condition would have necessarily devoved
on the old Company their former rights. The
present Board, thus precluded from pos;-pon-
ing these improvements by legitimate act of
their predecessors, resolved, forthwith to conf
meDce at these two points and as soon as pos
sble to proceed upon the great work of improv-
ing the whole River, and to make arrangements
for beginning at Columbia and extending up
wards as for practicable the system of com
plete improvement. In fufmcnt of this latter
determination, the River has been eaplord by a
majority of the directors, and undertakers are
invited to present proposals for executing the
work as far up the river the Union Mills so
that while small portion of the funds of the Com
pany will be appropriated to fulfill the constructs
thrown upon the present Board of Directors,
by the act of their predecessors, the great aggre-
gate OF the funds will be allotted to the execu-
ton of the object of the Company, the improve
| ment OF the navigation OF the River in its re-
gular and natural order from its mouth to the
| upper point of practicable navigation. This
course of proceeding has been fully detailed to
the elder member of the firm at the Union
| and earnest enGeavours hove been made by the
| Board of Directors to obtain his concurrence i'm
this plan Of proceeding bat they regret that
all their efforts to obtain this desirable result
have proved abortve And Notwithstanding
| the anxious desire of the gentlemen of the I'm
ion TO promote the improvement of the navira-
ton, the Board have never been so fortunate
as to devise any plan which could ensure
their cooperation or overcome their opposi-
| ton.
The gentlemen of the Union, in their publ
cation, seem to have been hurried in some I'M
| accountable manner beyond the limits of their
well known prudence ; and with degree of
| precipitation very uncommon in them, to have
dragged to the bar Of public opinion the Board of
Directors of the Rivanna Navigation COMPANY.
The right of these gentlemen to vindica,e
themselves against rumor and false reports is
not questioned But their right to implicate
the Directors IN this indirect and insidious way
and by lnnuendos and insinuations-to couple
the rumors and false reports said to be i'm cir
culation with them is utterly denied A charre
of this kind, when made, should be uttered in
direct terms
The Board of Directors are unconscious off
giving currency to any representation of cir
cumstances which is not fully sustained bv
facts. BY the surrender of the rights of the
Rvanna Company, they considered themselves
authorized to proceed at the Shadwell Mills in
The reconstruction of the Locks at the site oc
cuped by the former Company. They believed
that the Rivanna Company, under their Char
ter, which continued until the year 1910, had
right to renew their Locks at Shadwell, at anv
time during the period of this charter. The
I ocLe b,I Ioo,, orir;paIl,