Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1840-1842, 1842-07-19
a letter % the Editor.
MAipEs's ADVENTURE DAN, !
Saturday Mofning Iulv ich (

Saturday Morning, July i6.h. !
Dear Sn-l was quito mistaken yesterday in
saying that the water had begun to recedc at } o.
clock. So far rom il, il continued rising all night
and is rising yet This morning, MIR Warwick
wheat field at Beaverdam, which yesterday was con
s'dered out OF danger from its elevation, is two
thirds covered and the River up and down. presents
tho appearance Of an arm Of tho sea. Il is covered
with wheat stacks, and but for the melancholy de-
s'rneion of property, would be a magnificent and
imposing spectacle.
was also mistaken In the year OF the great May
i'e'h. Rwas IN i77i, aud not 7s-just n years
ago. ihe Hver then rose niasiecn feet higher than
u hod ever done before within tho memory Of man,
the back water IN Beaverdam creek extending seven
or eight miles IL was on that occasion that canoe
was padded through the porch Of the old Bell Ta-
vern in Richmond, which stood where the present
Bell Tavern stands.
Is it no, strange that, with these recorded facts
evidence of the tremendous floods to which it was
sibjee, before their eyes, or certainly within their
reach, the projectors Of the James River Improve
mcnt should have dreamed Of carrying canal along
the margin OF that rivcri The damage TO that
work must be immense, and ut present incalcuaLle.
There must be suspension OF navigation for some
time, and most people abou, here, think it oush, to
be matter of grave consideration Whistler the Ca
nal is worth repairing, another fresh may, n, any
day, reproduce the mischief.
Ii Is surprising how soon the memory OF calamity
Is enaced, and what little attention the world nav.
to the lessons OF experience. Within the las, 50
years, beyond question, and according 10 tradition
from the earliest settlement of the colony, James
River has never failed at least once ir years, very
often once in 5, net unirequonly once in J. 10 over
leap its bounds. There having been no fresh since
1885, this was the year beyond which, observing its
ancient habit, a fresh could no, be postponed. We,
all slep, in profound security. | alone, Of those of
my acquaintance, have confidently expected ono bu,
as IT did no, come in May, concluded that it would
be deferred until about the auiu.nnal Equinoxes-
IL has come at the wors. possible time, and with
vengeance.
Give Wings thanks 10 Mr. Lane OF Indiana for
his speech on the Veto-;he LAST Veto, | mean, 70
there are SO many Of them these days that unless
discriminate, might be understood to mean tie
veto OF the day before, or the day before that-es
pecialy for the inmi,able hi, about Balaam's ASS,
which was worthy of Shaltesbury, Courtnay OF
Sheridan. know the man, and there is not such ,
SINCE cat in Congress. In what does our Govern
'hSHN nv" uahSa HOH pEaStlCdl DCspOuSin One
mans will is the law, if mob nffifmatively, at least
negatively, and he even assumes to have the powell
Of collecting Revenue by his own Presidential
authority. What has become of the constitutional
provision vestins legislation in the two Houses o.
Congress, and of the Presidents oath to support III
All well Let the moon-s struck man fret out his liz,
tie hour on the stage, and he and CHS guide, Pho-
sopher and friend,' the ncomprehensible Wise, day
dream that they have the world in a sling. We
the People. will prove too hard for them a, las,
and our time comes next.
Yours, in haste, =.