Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1844-12-12

rated from the scenes of their childhood
and the graves of their fathers-whilst
there are such, throng after throng will
leave us, and will take to other States
that living, thinking, and acting pow
er, which, of all others, is the most en-
riching toreceive and the most ruinous
to spare.
] It is under the profoundest convic-
ton that this result is inevitable, in
some greater Or less degree, unless it is
prevented by the wise and energetic
action of the Legislature, that | deem
| tiny duty to call upon you earnestly to
begin that action now. Whether it
will be thought wisest at first to attempt
little or much, let something, at least,
be begun. Let some actual and useful
step be taken, and taken as an earnest
of what is to follow. Let the people of
our unimproved and distant sections
be made to understand and to feel, that
they are not to be abandoned; that the
policy Of internal improvement, which
is so vital to them, is to be the perma-
nent policy of the State, and that ii
will be prosecuted with such vigor as to
( furnish guarantee, upon the one hand,
that something efectual will be done,
and at the same time with such pru-
dence as to protect the State, on the
other hand, against all the dangers of
excessive involvement.
Should other counsels prevail, and
the policy of postponement be resolved
upon, as the true and wise policy for
the case, there is reason to fear that a
permanent dacline will have set in up
on US; that, year after year, we shall
be called upon to mourn o!er popu-
lation and a properly still shrinking
over sectional jealousy still growing
stronger and deeper; over beloved
and venerated Commonwealth droop-
ing more and more under the hands OF
I her improvident sons, and descending
in destiny still lowering from point
to point of feebleness and decay. In
the last and worst extremity, however,
to which such policy may lead, we
may hope, it is true, for some partial
recovery, through the population of our
other places pouring in upon US to take
the lands and the homes that have
been rendered cheap by the discour-
agement and desertion of their owners.
Welcome, and especially then, as
such an accession would be, there
are yet no people upon earth whose
.abors or whose presence Virginia
should ever have occasion to want in
exchange for her own. There are to
her, at least, no sons like her own sons,
and long, long may the soil which feeds
them, and the sovereignty which de-
tends it, continue in their hands and
in the hands of their children.
Without undertaking, in this con.
nexion, to enumerate the many works
Of decided importance, to which the
public aid might be extended, I sug-
| gest, respectfully, that that aid seems
| to be most urgently demanded for the
) completion Of the turnpike between
/ Staunton and Parkersburg; for the i'm
provement of that between Stanton
and Scottville; for the construction of q
, railroad or a Macadamised road from
a suitable point on James river to the
t Tennessee line, and for the continual
ton, in some form or other, of the
, James River and Kanawha Improve.
ment.
| The condition, and the claims foras-
; sistance from the State, of the Scots
: vile and Staunton, and Stanton and
Parkersburgh 'Turnpikes Having been
set forth with much care and minute
| ness by the Board Of Public Works, ii
their annual report, beg leave to refer
the Legislature to it for all necessary
information about them, and to recon-
mend that the recommendations be
carried into effect.
The construction of road from the
James River to The Tennessee, passing
through the South western counties.
t and connecting their intercourse and
! trade, together with the intercourse
and trade, as far as possible, Of the
neighboring States, with the routes Of
the James river and the Valley, has
been brought before the Legislature SO
repeatedly, and urged upon it with
such imposing weight ofstatistcal and
other arguments,by former Executives
by Conventions of the people interes-
i ted, by committees of your own body,
and by engineers in your service, that
scarcely word is necessary TO be
now said in order to point out either
its necessity or its value. Let the
grounds of its value (and that value
constitutes in part its necessity also -