Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1845-12-11
from, first mage, J


property which be-
ss.umlr is without funds be-
ales,fy liabilities, without pro-
'onvert into funds, without
sorrow them upon, with a
s'dfolty six miles only COM
3fhesf four hundred and eighty
lied'to its charge, and with but
fea manning Gifts chartered
x.f n RIA have residue; thus sit
W complete t isass,;se doubted that
I'd, it can hardly ~, it to prose
~ further reliance upon zee mere ilu-
8 cute and finish its worksas I'm disap-
sion, which could end only hole de-
,,o;ntment and delay. The wlssS am
nnendence of This Company for sr
lime before il stopped its operations
was. il some form or other. upon the
aid Of the State; It's whole dependence
now. for the continuance Of these oper-
atoms, is upor the same aid. ~ IS
granted, the Company becomes Meth
er more nor less than the the agent q
the State for the management dsr;no
money, and 70 . IT. seFporation Of cor
that ssa,,s: ss'liose several functions have
poshing IN common with railroads and
canals, and that its responsibilities are
only TO itself, il is, perhaps, as little
suited for the application Of the pub
lie funds, as any agent to which the
Legislature could ever think Of COM
hitting them AS every dollar, there
fore, Of the money upon which this
work is TO be prosecuted, must come,
If at all, from the State, it is the clear
duty of the Legislature TO reserve to
itself the direct and entire control Of
all it may grant, and secure its due APP
plication under the most public and
searching responsibility it can estab-
fish.
Without advertipg to- the admins
tratlon ofthis Company for any purpose
of criticism upon lis expenditures or
failures but regarding it only in its ac-
tual condition, and seeing that it has
accomplished, all that it is able TO ac-
complish, that it is powerless to do any
thing more, and that is radically unfit,
by reason of its peculiar structure, to
. act as agent of the State In what re-
mains to be done-seeing this, / can
not recommend too strongly the imme-
diate adoption of such measures as
shall be necessary to reposses the State,
with the consent of the Company, Ell
ther Of the whole line of its work, or of
the unfinished part of it, and that 10
the end that it may execute it on its
own recount, with all the sigor and
despatch at its command. Should
this be declined by the Legislature, it
is nearly certain, from any thing that
can be now seen, that an indefinite, if
not permanent stop must be put to an
extension of the work, and the large
commercial interest depending upon il
be thereby abandoned. Under the pres
sure Of this overriding necessity,i it may
well be expected, that all minor obiec-
tons to the plan of State execution
will be given up, and that the State
will promptly interpose TO protect and
save herself. The work in all its
necessity, magnitude and value is en-
phatically her own work land her utmost
exertions should be freely given to car
ry it through.
BY What mode of Improvement,
however, whether by railroad, canal, or
some other, this subject can be best
accomplished, is question of some
difficulty, and one upon which few
remarks may with propriety be offer
Having examined this question with
good deal Of care, ! am satihed that
} railway, all things considered, is to-
be prefened;ihat it will cost the least
pay the most in retnrn-accommodate
the best--have the most gain by the
progress Of mechanical invention, and,
when completed, will best promote the
general purposes of moral as well as
physical Improvement. These gene
! raj points, embracing substantially all
that is wanted in any plan Of improve
lnent, submit 70 your judgment, in
much confidence, that the more they
are examined The more they win be
verified. Without illustrating that Of
cost upon comparative data, i is evi-
dent, 10 the FIRST place, that, as rail-
rad can accommodate itself to that
country over which it is 10 be taken,