Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1833-12-19
@onermor's Meseage.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.

ava A0nsf o. DeteS0bes.
At hardly any former period hav,
you assembled, under circumstance
calculated to create deeper interest il
your deliberations, and at no periot
have greater or more important sub
jects presented themselves for your con
sideration, than at the present moment
Besides the great objects Of Internal
Improvements, the Militia and other
interests of the Commonwealth, her
position in the confederacy, will re.
quire much deliberation and attention.
! The prosperity of the Union is daily
increasing with the population and i'm.
provement of the age, and can only be
;, checked, by the misrule Of the govern.
ment Of the United States, which con.
trolls all our commercial relations, and
regulates our intercourse with foreign
powers; or, by the neglect Of ourselves
to improve the many and prominent
advantages which nature has given US,
in the most happy geographical posi-
ton, and Of soil and climate, equally
exempt from the extremes Of heat and
cold; resting upon the ocean on one
side, and on the other, contiguous to
the most extensive region of fertile soil,
perhapsthe sun evershone upon. Their
products only await our efforts to en-
able us to reap all the commercial va
lue, which can be given to the labor
of that vast country, which so amply
rewards the tolls of the husbandman.
Roads and canals, or railroads,
which now seem to be valuable SUBJ
stitute for rivers, carry the products Of
distant countries to market, with We.
locity which annihilates space, and
brings distant countries almost toge-
Their, are only wanting to enable Us to
reach the highest state Of improve.
ment and prosperity, which any people
ought to desire.
Not many years ago the inhabitants
of these Western States were deprived,
by their distance from market, Of the
benefits oftheir fertile soil, the surplus
commodities sufficient to subsist the
entire population Of any nation of Eu-
rope in addition to their own, with the
largest and finest rivers, were render
ed comparatively valueless, until the
discovery Of the application of steam TO
boats. This enables them to arrive at
| a seaport in less time than the wagon
now brings the articles of trade from
the great Valley to this place. Since
which time cities have grown up, equal.
ling and even doubling the population
of Richmond itself; and for thousands
Of miles, giving us at every turn Of
those winding streams, the highest evi
dence of prosperity and happiness.
! Nothing, now, which the labour ofman
can produce from that rich soil, but
enters the commercial world in few
days, affording the inhabitants, by
/ their exchange, oil the Injuries of life
, in great abundance.
Such would be the prosperity of our
own State, were the improvements car
ried on to their final completion. The
rich soil Of our western counties is
now of little value, and many ofthem
add nothing to our exports, being
scarcely more profitable than as many
acres of unappropriated lands. Those
counties embrace very large proper
ton of our entire territory, and from
the singular salubrity of that region
. and the delightful temperature of their
climate, almost wholly exempt from
maladies Of any kind, would offer in
ducements no where to be met with,
and the tax which would then be paid
upon products, annually sent to mark
{, ct, would amply remunerate the Com
monwealth for all disbursements, and
more than double her exports. For
the want of proper conveyance to
market, thousands of acres of forest,
and the richest soil in the Common
wealth, are left wholly untouched by
the axe, or the plough. These pro-
, duce nothing for expectation, and but a
scanty contribution to the public trea-
sury, which by we'll regulated sys-
. tenn Of INSTRUMENTATION, would
. greatly swell the revenues of the State,
and put stop to the distressing emf
grafton, which annually takes place, Of
our best and most useful citizens, who
, leave their homes and the government
of their choice; sacrificing all the en-
dearing recollections of their childhood,
! to improve the condition Of their chill.
.. dren, by placing them on those high
. WAYS TO market, which enables them
to enjoy from the profits of their la
bour, those benefits denied to them II
their native land, by their distances
y from market, and in despair of achiev
:, ing them by the policy of their gov
l. eminent. For the want of these i'm