Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1846-02-19
THREE FACTS ADDRESSED TO Arr
IwTEILTGENT PEOPLE.


|. The Citizens of considerable portion of
the North Western part Of Virginia-embrac-
ing some eight or ten counties--presented
memorial to the General Assembly, humby
praying the States authority to enable them
10 construct for themselves Rail Road,
through their own territory from the Potomac
TO the Ohio River. No money in aid of the
enterprise was asked from the State; no extra
ordinary privileges of any kind applied for.
but simple corporate power TO authorize the
construction Of the work from their own funds
or from such as they could obtain from those
who were willing to assist them. They rep
resented and with great truth, that their vast
and unexplored mineral wealth was, in its pres
ent condition, vaueless to them and to the
State that their agricultural labor was wholly
unproductive from the costs Of its transporta
ton to market; that for these causes emIgra-
ton was yearly draining the Commonwealth
of thousands Of its best citizens, and thatn the
absence of such an improvement as they pro
posed to construct, the North West would CON
tinne for centuries a vastand almostunnhahita-
bic wilderness Nay more, they obligated them
selves under the penalty Of a forfeiture Of their
charter (if this poor boon was allowed tilem) to
guarantee to the State for a term of ten years
six per cent. per annum upon all the Public
Improvements heretofore constructed by the
State in the North West, and which Improve
ments now do not yield dollar into the Trea-
sury
This Just and reasonable applcation-this
right to use their own soil and their own mo-
ncy for the purpose of promoting their own
happiness and prosperity-''a right SO sacred
and imalienable" that the fundamental charter
of our Liberties declares "that man cannot By
any compact deprive and divest himself Of
twas rejected rejected by a
vote of rs to 10.
This is the FIRST FACT.
2 The Citizens of portion of the South
Hest, section ofthe State with means ofhep-
ing themselves far beyond the country Just re-
ferred TO, applied to the State to construct for
them road from the Tennessee line to Buch-
annon, a distance Of about $50 miles. They
proposed 10 contribute not one dollar; to adj
vance towards its construction not one farth-
ing, but asked that the road should be made
exclusively at the cost and expense Of The Com
monwealth, from the PUBLIC TREASURY
This petition was granted and law in accor- !
dance with it. passed both branches of the
General Assembly appropriating $4,000 an
nually 'front.' The Treasury to construct the road.
This is the srcoNn FACT
8. A needy and specializing adventurer ar
rives in the City of Richmond from the North |
and applies for Charter TO construct Rail |
Road from the City Of Richmond to Guyan- !
dotte, a distance of near 400 miles through the |
centre of the State, and which, if executed |
must supersede and render valueless improve
ments already made by the State which have I
costs millions Of dollars and upon which she !
has liens for debts due her to a large amount.
Instantly all the decencies of legislation are
disregarded; many of the salutary restrictions
which experience had caused to be embodi- |
cd in the General Rail Road Law are set aside
and charter for this purpose hurried through |
the Legislature with most extravagant corpo-
rate powers-with extensive mining and man |
ufacturing privileges; with the capacity TO
purchase and hold millions of acres Of land,
and with no provision to indemnify the State
for any loss to those public works in which |
She is already interested and which may be |
utterly ruined by this new project.
This is the THIRD FACT.
II will be asked with astonishment, are these |
three facts the result of the action Of the same
General Assembly, Aye the frs, aud third,
the work of the same day--and all within
few days ofeach other
What is the explanation2
The North Hoste'n Charter, was rejected,
because Nature has unhappily decreed, that
the City Of Baltimore is the natural market for |
the products oftheir labor and because the con
suuction of their road might perchance divert
some little of the trade and travel Of the West
that would otherwise find its way to the City
Of Richmond and thus is that interesting re- |
gion ofthe State doomed to perpetual poverty
and sterility because the development of their
wealthcannot be made auxiliary TO the growth
and splendor of the Metropolis Of the State.
The charter for the road from Richmond
to Guyandotte was carried through with
such indecent haste for tie simple reason that
its Eastern terminus was to be the City q Rich
mond
The South Western Bill was passed under
the double consideration
LIST That il constitutes a feeder to the James
River and Kanawha improvement, which ter
inmates at Richmond
And IDLY Because ii was supposed that
this golden pill would operate as an anodyne
TO aflay the Convention fescr in that section
Of the State. and wen did the Learned Rich
mond faculty understand the character of