Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1846-02-20
JAMES RIVER & KANAwHA CANAL.
ALpsxAnLs. Feb. IL. Is4s.

ipg their improvement 10 ID ich.nan, BY q recent vote Of the
House OF Delegates, has filed the minds OF many Of the
ei'1ens OF the upper country with dismay and discon,ent.
The fixed prejudice which seems 90 extensively to pre-
vail sgsinst that work, aud tho apparent unwillingnes. on
the part OF the Legislature. 90 repestedly manifested, to az.
ford any aid for its prosecution beyond its presen, ,erminu,
atLynehburg. seem to be truly unaecounable upon any
principle OF reason. common prudence, or State policy.
The alleged csuse or csuses for this opposition to the
further prosecution Of the work appear to be chic Nv these:
1. That the company. who have had charge OF the work.
through their ssens. iha President s. Board Of Directors.
have. m many respects, injudieiously and unskilIulIy con-
srueied the same.
=. That there has been an eIusvsgunt and wsstefal eI.
pendiure OF money in the administration Of the affair, of
the Company.
,. That consequently the work has entirely failed to full.
hi the promise OF Its sdvoeate.. or TO answer the lust e.
pectations of the community.
As to the frat and second OF those allegations. the writer
will remark, that every man OF experience and reflection
knows that nothing is more easy than for tho meet super.
hcisl observers to lind fault with any system Of human in.
Nention, or construction, however comparatively perfect
such system may be. and especially 80 after tho system or
work has been accompaniment; and that tho most clamotous
DIRECTORS, or fault. finders, are generally thuse, who, IL thev
had been called upon beforehand to aid m the planning or
execution Of the work, could not have suggested a single
valuable thought or idea for that purpose and, doubtless.
many such are to be found among the directors to the
James River & Ksnawha Csnal-who, If they had m o 9
wisdom. common sense, and becoming modesty, aud less
vanity or cgOtism. would be much less clamorous and
noisy than they are. Bat whether the two first ment,opsJ
allegations are true or ialse,-or in what degree they may
be partly the one aud partly the other,-the writer will. moi
undertake to say, not having had the opportunity, frem
his own personal observation, OF arriving at any correct
conclusion On the subject; and he does not pretend 10 b,
capable OF doing 50, it he had had such opportunity. This,
however, he knows. that various committees have been
from time TO time appointed, from the body Of the Legs
isturc, charged with the duty Of investigating these MAJ
tiers, and they have never reported any facts whatever
going Ia sustain the truth Of these allegations; but. on the
contrary, have uniformly reported tavoraby-and this he
should presume ought to be regarded as af1rding ptesump.
tive proof, at least, that such aleg auons are not true or
rs Prima facis evidence to that effect, until the contrary 10
proven.
Upon the third allegation, to wit: "Thst. consequently.
tmeaning in consequence OF the two 6rsil the work has
entirely failed To fulfil the promises Of its advocates, or TO
answer the Just expectations Of the community, the
writer begs leave TO Join issue, by a denial OF its truth in
point OF fact. What individual among the advocates of
the work ever held out any promise of f,uering results
ptedicated upon the termin alton Of tho work at Lynchburgl
Not one. Or what stakeholder subscribed for Il single
share OF stock upon the belief or idea entertained, that
Lynchburg was TO be the final terminus o. the enIerprizei
Not one. Or who believes that its worthy protector and
founder would ever have conceived and projected the enter
P1Ie. # he had believed it was TO be arrested at Lynch
burg, and proceed no tauherl No one can believe it
Then, lay not this ung-sciOus charge ut the door of the ad-
vocates Of the enterptize-wait until II is prosecuted AZ far
beyond Lynchburs, at least, as to command and accommo.
dats tho trade of the rich agricultural and mining districts
OF the Valley TO which also add the rich products of the
South Western region OF the State, which 1t would doubts
less soon command and II the hopes and promises Of the
advocates Of this ents Tprize be not then realized, to a rea-
sonsble extent NJ least-Ihen, and not til then, Il il SD
please. renew the charge OF plIghted faith broken and
promises unrsdeemed.
1t is very difficult, it is true, to form even a conjectural
satisfactory estimate OF the amount OF tonnage. or trade,
likely to proceed from any given section of country, before
suitable facilities for transportation TO market arc afforded
to IT., and before an experiment is actually made but who.
ever Is At all acquainted with the topography of The section
OF country in question, must know that the surplus of agn
cultural products which il will yield, cannot fail 10 DO very
large-and altho' much Of the lanos are mountainous and
inarabis, yet these mountains cOnEin inexhaustble stores
OF minerals, the working of which would soon be brought
into active operation TO aid in swelling the marketable and
tanspoTtable productions 10 an immense amount, and so as
vastly to increase the Tonnage on the whole line Of the Ca.
nal, probably To double is present amount, II not even
much more. and that with a gradual but continual increase.
With such prospects as these, based upon data winch are
undeniably true TO a great extent Ht least, II is cert .inly
greatly TO be dtplored that this noble enterprise should be
suffered 20 laneush IN It's present hall way completed con-
dinon, either from an undue prejudice against II, the bias
OF mere sectional interest or feeling, or desrth of public
spirit among our public men. or from any other cause when
the means 81 prevention are knownt ~ be SO ample, It de-.
p 'nSed by the proper authority. That ~PreJudiccs will arise
in the minds o! a large portion OF any community against
any and every scheme Of the magnitude OF Ihis, ca,linu
for 4 large expenditure Of nancy tn be drawn from the pub.
lie Golfers TO aid IN it's accomplishment, is To be expected
for It is well known that Ia every community theirs is a
large portion Of lie members who appear to be cunstitu.
tsnaly imbucd with such cOntrnctedness Of mind OF intel.
lect, that they can never extend their views beyond the mar.
row confines OF their own limited domain nor appreciate
any measure OF public interest, or State policy, unless they
can perceive its immediate connection with, and direct
lendency 70 promote their own peculiar personal interests.
This portion oi the oommunity.u under a popular government,
constituted as this IL, cannot fail To be a stumbling block in
the way OF any and every effort that can be made by the
~ luAtuikcuh w DtI iuIlItu pDIlOu " III C0ul-
muni'y to advance the general good by any wise and Judi.
eious system of Internal improvement. For, under the
generally received idea, or recognized principle, that the
representative is not only bound TO represent the Interests
and wishes, but 10 reflect even the ~prejudices Of The cons,.
tueni, such p~rejudces, of course, are sure to fad their
wsy into the Hall and Chambers of Legislation, where
they act as a dead weight in tiwaring every measure pro.
posed to advance and promote the pab &c veal, which dues
not chime m with such p%tIndices, however wise and lu-
1 cious such measures m,y be And this, no doubt. i, the
case in relation to the Improvement IN question, for the
writer has too much confidence IN the intelligence Of the
members Of the Legislature generally. to believe that tho
course which they have adopted in relation to It's the result
Of their own deliberate convictions.
The writer will, therefore. not attempt TO eoncesl that
these thoughts have been parIy suggested 10 his mind, by
the course of the Legislature for sIme time past, m rels>
lion to tho yeIed question Of the James River & Kanaw-
ha improvements; aEd that they have lately been renewed
and enforced by recent occurrences in that body, IN rcls-
ton TO that subject. lie aludes not only to the votes CIV
en- in the House Of Delegates, on the bill introduced for
the purpose OF a~tI1rding TO the Company the means Of fur.
ther prosecuting the work, by which the said bill was so
'ignnlly rejected, but 10 tho state Of things which produced
the necessity Of the withdrawal from office Of the worthy
President 81 the Compsny-ftom a station which he had
filed from the time OF the fret organization of the Comps.
ny, embracing a period Of shout thirteen yoarp, and In,
duties q which he had uniformly discharged with such
unWesried, perseyenng and unidentified industry, Gnsomueh
thst his friends were often seriously npprehenslye that hi,
health or his life would fail a victim 10 ms intense tab,,r
and aPPlicauon) whose whole soul was absorbed, and
every faculty and energy interested in the contamination
VI this enterprise. aud with an integrity and honesty of pur
pose acknowledged on all hands, elected and re elected
either unanimously, or by an overwhelming msJonty fthe
'iockholdor', by those more deeply end practically in
ietesiod ina faithful discharge u The duties Of tho Of
fee, than any other portion Of the community. and
men too generally regarded as men OF no small share
OF practical intelligence, and finally re- eleetid but a
few days before his resign, ton, by sn almost una III
nous vote Of the same storkholde's. And yet, m the
malignant, distorted VISION Of ~pTsiudiee, he Is a pisfon.
iH,-a . Eonist,-snd II a DisioAist now, IL is to be won.
dcrcd. what these fault finders would have him 20 have b,,n
az the time OF bis lrst election. lie certsinly must have
SECURED some degree Of practical knowledge from an CT.
psrience snd practice Of thirteen years in the arduou,
and difficult duties Of his station and IL uisionisf still,
what could he then have beeni A ne~ cognomen must
be invented for him. or he was perhaps then = nondeserfpt
And Whist y to be said Of The different Boards Of Dirrc-
tors whO were m doubt selected by the stockholders from
time to time, 90 men Of sound practical knowledge7 They
too, Ot course, were all pisioHists, as well Ne the stock
holders who selected them. Yos, all oision'sis, save snd
except these seiLsamo ovorwiso fault finders, whose laeuL
tics, perhaps, afo to1 obtuso - enable them to aspire 10 tho
rank Of UiIoniss.
In conclusion, the writer will ssy, that, Notwithstanding
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