Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1845-12-25
81 MIR. B0TTS' SPEECH
ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT

o. :.
Al a meeting of the citizens OF Richmond
held at the Exchange Hotel on the 18Th O
November, report from the delegation to the
Fincasile Convention having been called for
MIR. Bolts rose and said:
eUMr. CHAIRMAN Under ordinary circum
stances, itwould naturally be expected tina
those TO whom had been coniided the interests
OF this city in the late Internal Improvement
Convention held in the town of Fincas,le
would avail themselves Of the first suitable
opportunity to report the proceedings of thai
body, and particularly their own action or
those proceedings this has become es.
Pecially necessary, in consequence of the great
inlsapprehension of those proceedings, and
the gross misrepresentation that has necessa-
rily grown out of it.
We, sir, have been charged by leading
paper in this city-ungenerously and gratuit-
ously charged-wilh having msrepresented
the interests. and with having disregarded the
instructions of the city on the important cues
tons coniided to our care. propose, in the
hrst place, to acqui! my colleagues and N.Y.
self from all such infputation, come from
what quarter il may.
TO do this, need not recite i'm detail the
proceedings OF the Convention, for thew are
already before you in all the papers of this
city; but let us see what was the nature of
the resolutions adopted by the meeting of the
cltizens OF Richmond, and compare the votes
oitheir representatives in convention with those
resolutions, and ascertain iii what il was they
Hisooeyed instructIons-and here permit me
10 say, for one, that did not regard myself
as instructed for ! could not recognize a
nT inn oft tl,
weight or authority of Instructions with il.
Still, let us see how far our action conformed
to those resolutions.
The first resolution of the meeting is in the
following words:
"lst. Resoired, That in the opinion of This
meeting, the proper plan Of Improvement for
connecting the East and West in Virginia, is
BY Railroad commencing at Lynchburg or
Buchanan, or some intermediate point, and
extending along the Valley of Virginia to the
New River, in the neighborhood of the Horse
shoe, and thence down the New River to
steamboat navigation on the Great Kanawha.' y
Here The discretion was unquestionaby ex-
tended to the delegation to select either LyncIt-
burg or Buchanan as the point at which the
new line OF improvement was TO commence,
and, OF course, to which the old line, or canal.
should be carrled.-Now let us see what The
Convention did, and how the Richmond vote
was given, ar
The 6rst resolution Of the Convention
reads:
"Resolred, as Tie opinion of This Conpen-
ton, The James River Canal should be ex-
tended from Lynchburg 10 Buchanan, forth
with.o
And for this resolution the Richmond dele
CATION voted Will il be pretended that i'm do
ing so, they violated either the letter or the
spirit of the resolution adopted by the Rich
mond meeting? The latter part of your FIRST
resolution was secuted by q believe nigh.
probably say) every member of the Conven-
ton, so far as it proposed TO make defiec-
ton from Buchanan 10 the Horse Shoe, on
New River. But the delegation gave pre-
terence for railroads over canals-and. for
myself, supported i: with what little ability
] possessed, and voted for Mr.. Erskine's
amendment TO the third resolution, DECLARING
SIT was more erpediem to continue the line
OF improvement from Buchanan on westward
by railroad than canaz' This amendment
was rejected; and when the third resolution
came up, | voted against it, as believe NV
colleagues did.-lf they or either of them vo-
tea Tor II, 1t was not known to me--ceriainly
one OF them, Mr.. Fry, did not. 1t is as fol-
l
Southwestern road.
SGD. ReSotUed, That it is expedient TO ex-
tehd the James River and Kanawla Improve
ment, by canal or railroad, by the way of
Coyington, to the Ohio river; and the high
est interest, as well as the plighted faith of the
commonwealth, requires that said improve
ment be executed at an early dayo
While voted for Mr.. Erskine's amendment,
that 1t was more expedient to continue the
line of Improvement by railroad than by ca
nal, (if continued at ally yet voted against
this resolution, not only because it contem-
plated the extension Of the canal by Covinp-
ton, TO the Ohio, as probable or possible
contingency, but because i. looked TO the ex-
tension OF that work beyond Buchanan, to
which was opposed, for reasons that | will
presently proceed to assign.
can only add, that in regard TO the Horse
Shoe route, as indicated by the meeting in
Richmond, the delegation believed, thai all
that was intended by the few thirty- eight in
number) that adopted it, was To- EXPRESS nre.
ference, in the abstract, for railroads over "a
nails, as means Of communication between
two distinct points and, without MEANING
to say II Extensively, incline to think thai
mere were, perhaps, not more than half a do
zen oil those who voted for the resolution
that had The least idea where the Horse Shoe
was think IT by no means violent pre-
sumption, Tor freely confess that at that time
did not know where it was and moreover.
IL ! had looked Tor it on the map, without the
aid OF others to whom it had been pointed ont.
L never should have found it-not only he
cause it IS not designated on the map, III be-
ing, | believe. nothing moro Tho, a ,,i,aLI.