Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1846-02-23
The Editors of the Emq,iyer !:

Gentlemen w hen leit virginia. 10 speno
The winter in The valley Of The Mississippi, pro-
posed 10 myself sending you, from lime TO time,
such rambling information as might afford the
reader food for thought, without entailns The ne
cessily Of il upon The writer. This mighty re-
gon is no unimpoltant leaf in the book OF nature,
(human and social, as well as inanimate,) and
wanderer may BE- allowed 10 scribblea little on
The margin, without presuming TO explain the
text, OF 10 translate the deep lore which young ma
tons utter 10 old ones. My countIymen seemed
al last 10 have been set thinking, and nothing
struck me as wanting 10 bring good on, OF such
an uncommon circumstance, but The providing
the raw material, or facts. Many have east in Of
their abundance but give all have, poor
mite though il be.
But shell is paved with good intentions" and
tear mine will aid at leas; that kind of internal
improvement. The mails connecting this part OF
the country with ours have been OF late so irregu-
lar in their goings 10 and ro, as TO cheat one into
procraslination. One cannot well avoid The men,
iion OF weighly proceedings al Richmond, which
the next post may tell him are changed, reversed
or forgotten. In the multitude Of counsels there
is wisdom, and if our Legislators OF this session
have not at last gotten wisdom, II is not because
they have nottried sufficient variety OF coun-
sells. My chagrin at the causeless rejection OF
the Southwestern Road bill was, however, more
than balanced by its equally unaccountable re-
consideration and passage; and that example en-
courases me 10 hope that another correction in
this Comedy of Errors will be The quashing
Of the Wall Street project of the Richmond
and Guyandotte Railway. II must have been
a most touching display Of self-forgetting love
tor Virginia, and solctude for her interests on the
part Of the Gothamites, which won from our
wise men such handsome acknowledgment;
and the rebuke should bring blush TO The face Of
the allgrasping James River Company, were not
that body below The blushine point The New
Workers are as wide in their charity as Mr.
Pecksniff, who was ready 10 shed his (physicaD
blood for Tom Pinch, and they are actually pre-
pared 10 bleed al the pockel for US!
Badinage apar,-as lew will dream that those
capitalists who have so long tried and failed to
build their own shorter road to Albany and Lake
Erie, can or will now give us twelve millions, Tor
a purpose which will go 10 defea, their invest
men,s Of the same kind al home, it seems al
lowabls to suspect some secret end. II may be,
that they see in this scheme the surest, though
indirect means of preventing indefinitely, or at
least until the Erie Road shall be finished, and
rivet the Western trade TO ITSELF the compile
lion of connection between the Lower Chesa-
peake and lbe Ohio. They feared (would
could say JUSTIFY that the James River and
Kanawha line would at this session be adopt
ed as State work; and adroilly shaping 10
their ends some ultra railroad opinions pro-
claimed among US last fall by nany-among
others, ]. M. Botts-pushed forward this Guyan-
dotte plan which, even did il not succeed, would
produce fatal waveriog in any majority the State
work could command. During the 10 or 10 years
covered by the charter, even though they should
do no more than break the sod, the present i'm.
provement would have to stand still. As for the
mining and manufacturing powers &c, they are
a mere commodity OF brown paper and ginger
sugar with The physic, or worse The idea OF
retrieving the fortunes Of Commonwealth by
an omnipotent joint stock company, is too insane
River and Kanawha line, or any junction within
the Stale, not because il would take trade from
her own works-for it would be too far South for
,hat-bu because the making Virginia the
factor Of Western wealth, and the building
up within her borders Of an independent COM
mercial city and numbeIless manufacturing vii
lagos would be serious blow II her own mer-
camille supremacy. She would then be threat
ened both from the North and The South. She
has hitherto counteracied or diverted 10 her own
benefit, all efforts of the kind made BY her
commercial rivals. Thus the great lines oflrans-
port 10 whieh Philadelphia and Baltimore fond
~ looked for their own deliverance, she has
made her own by short inland canals-ihe Rari-
tan and Chesapeake and Delaware The late
bold move of Boston, indeed, in The Western
Railroad, promises TO have the success il de-
serves; and at the moment when New York
sees such an opponent arising in that quarter,
is il 10 be believed that she would coollv with
draw her only means of resistance, for the pur-
pose of raising new one on the other side =
Her promises are like the mirage whoever, ex-
hausled, has,ens 10 them for relief, finds but the
desert, deception and ruin.
What New York is upon the sea board Gin
cinnat is rapidly becoming with respect to the
trade OF The Western waters; and The sea
port which shall connect with The latter as It's
en,repot, will gain powerful prestige. Louis
vile was once the centre of trade for the upper
Mississippi and its tributaries, bul since the con-
sirucion of the Portland canal has stopped
lrans-shipment, and The improvement OF the
Kentucky river has given her rival an increas-
ing share OF The interior commerce Of the State,
her trade and population have remained nearly
stationary and she may now be dubbed, NOT only
the "city Of The Falls" but the "falling city"
The railroad from Lexington was superseded by
the last named work, after advancing 10 Frank
fort; and thus Louisville and Richmond have
suffered from similar balks in enterprise Gin
cinnati Is 10 Kentucky and its mart, what Bal
limore or New York is TO Virginia and Rich
mond, and the blighling effect Of commercial
vassalage the mother has long felt, and the dangh-
ter true chip of the old block, is beginning
10 feel.
Such small essays, however, as Kentucky has
made towards the improvement OF inland COM
munication have been most encouraging in their
results. The urnpikes yield from TO ] or per
cent, and the Kentucky slackwaler, IS miles
long, and costing $40, 600, has returned to the
Treasury Of The Board Of Public Works the fol-
lowing sums: In 1913. 1882; 1914, Sl9.o44;
lS45, about $4,000. The following is an extract
from Gov. Owsley's late message:
at is however, TO be regretted, that The finances
OF the State are not in condition, at present, 10
admit of further Improvements on the roads and
rivers, whou, increasing The public debt or pro.
ducing additional taxation. The beneficial ef'
fects Of the Improvements already made must be
evident to all from the rapid and growing in