Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1843-04-04

be(or. ~: II was briefly his The James River and
Eanswl,a Company had, by some means, managed 10
nvolve ,,ssi 10 IN extent greatly beyond It's ncahs
and had applied 10 .;c Legislature Tor and ne o'ae
had aecvrd,nrlY 1u:hofAed the Company 70 poff""
sl 5o0 OeD u55n hes cred,t-the State guaranteeing
W., 1900, .,nc;. Of the interest, and the ultimate
,v,na,, of me principal In addition 10 tins, the lie
oisl,ture had len, 10 the Company S2oO oou 30 iha'
The Total amour, Of liabilities Tor winch the state was
bound latter deductins 100000, which the Company
had Gid to use, on behalf OF the Company, was
II Gan 0o0 The Company had utterly failed 10 pro.
vide Tor either the or principal oil this deol ann
conseo,en,lv the Safe had been compelled to pay the
ANIMAL interest falling due on the lsl January
last. amounting to somewhat more than Slo,0Oo; aho
yon,1 have - proy;de for that which would fall due
an ,I -, Jnly next; amounting to abou! $4,000. 1t
onld es from this brief statement that this was, 10
all in,sn,sand PURPOSES Sae de5t; for The payment
# yhici, the ate he Whole Sate-was Do'h ieg2!l;
and morally bound. , =,
Bu Tho ronosi,ion before the House was, tn lax tae
nsonle nony the line Of the canal, by means OF n"
,nc,a,so of tolls ~ order 10 pay tins STATE debt -
Gentlemen nci,i attempt 10 disguise and cove! up The
desrn rs they would; yet ih's was the naked, unvaf
nished nronos,,on The people of A6emarle, OF Buck
,pnlam n rlnyanna, OF Nelson, Of Amherst, and OF
All ,ha counties along the line of this Improvement
were TO be fared, yes, Sir, FAMED, IN order to pay
deb; thai the whole State had contracted, and for the
pavmeut Of which the whole State was bound was
his fair Was II lust: Was il equal? In the name
nf -
protest against, the preparation OF this gross outrage
upon their rights and interests.
r. said Mr. l., the tolls upon the james Rivc'
Canal were not sufficiently high already, he would
cheer(uly acquiesce IN moderate increase liul "ha
wes the fact The tolls now very nearly
three hundred per cent higher upon thus improve
ment Than upon any other similar one IN the United
States Upon all agricultural products, the Company
now charge and collect two cents and hall per Ton
per milc-whrle, upon The New York, Pennsylvania,
and ONO Canals the tolls nine miftS per ton per
m;ls-but little one third OF the tolls that we
nav Now, without undertaking TO show, that the
charge was now too high, he thought that he might
safely contend that il certainly sufficiently so. He,
(Mr l. } presumed, that the Companies of other States
knew well what pertaned TO their own interest," 10
charge too little. He, therefore, took it for granted,
;ba; they charged enough II, then, aaibS were
enough for them surely two cents aud half hre"ty
fyc mills, ought 10 satisfy the james River and IA
nlmhn Company, for al equal anlount OF service BAT
the Company was RU, satisfied, and were now mere
asking be authorized 10 increase their tolls 10 f"h
cents per per mile, and, at the same tine, 10 ie-
,luce the ton from 22i0 TO 2,00a. THIS was eqniva
len, 30 an Increase OF neariy hundred per rent,
which would make the tolls Than four hundred per
cent. higher, than they were upon any other canal IN
the United States
Now, Mr. Speaker, when it is remembered, that all
the agricultural products oil my constituents lind their
way market though th's canal, IL will be seen, at
dance that the Will levy contribution upon
them, much more onerous than that levied by the Tax
Bill recently passed, OF which gentlemen had com
planed so lUudly. And what, SAID Mr. l. was the
excuse for thus making single section OF the State
bear the whole OF burden, which the State had vo-
unfairly laid upon her shoulders and which ought, IN
;ustce TO be borne equally by the whole Stale Why,
iorsooh the gentleman from SPot,>ylvnna had gaVey
told US that unless the tolls were raised sufficiently
hirh 10 meet the interest upon the guaranteed debt,
the State Treasury would have 10 pay 1t forever;
aud that inasmuch the people along the line OF the
Improvement were interested IN IL Than any other,
then ought bear the whole OF tins debt, by means OF
tolls Here direct appeal TO the cupiditv u. oil
other parts OF the Stae-a direct attempt 10 rally all
other sections against the devoted one, through which
this canal happened to pass There might have been
some Justice and force the argument, II there
no other improvements IN the State, 10 which the Lee
risqiure had made ARRANGEMENTS, and tor which The
State vas paving interest. Bn this WINS not the
the State had :.ade loans 20 nearly all the Internal
measurements, within her limits, over, and above the
stock held them hy the State He would cite few,
by way o: example The Portsmouth Railroad Com.
prny were indebted 10 the State the SUN OF Sl50,
600 Hh,ch had been lent to them, upon which amount
the State paying interest, without cents re-
enumeration So of the Petersburg Railroads.&c. of
The Winchester and Ea!per's Ferry llroad-and SO
Of nearly every road in the State All these Com.
pauies indebted Ia the State IN very large ar
gregate srm, upon which the State was annually
naving interest, without any, IT any, but
prospect of remuneration Now why should not the
people, along the lines Of these various improvements,
be compelled 10 pay the interest upon their respective
debts well as the people along the line Of the
canal The argument was good, when applied to
ihen, az when applied The only difference WAS,
that the State had guaranteed The principal part Of The
debt due from the james River and kanawha Com.
rany, while she had lent her money, nor which pur.
pose she had been compelled 10 borrow directly the
other Companies. The principle identical, in
both cases. and he, (alr } conended that the
me asures ought 10 be meed out 10 both.
But 50 far from this, it cenlcnded, that the
people whom he (Mr. l. represented, and those who
stood in the circumstances with them, ought to
be singled out, aud made 10 bear immense add
,ional burden by means of tolls while the people of
all other sections TO he permitted 10 90 ascot;
free :" Nay, It was worse stlll-it proposed 10 com
pei the people living along the line of the canal, to
pay the whole debt which the State had bound her
self for for the benefit of said canal. while they WERE
a, the time, 10 be forced TO pay, by means Of
taxation, their racabe proportion of the debts due
from the other Companies. Was this right, Was it
equd' Was II not, rather, grossly unequal, paraby
unjust, and he, (NIr l.,} concluded by again pro-
testing against it