Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1851-08-28


suffrage to every man above 81 years old
and of the white basis. My opinion is
that those who have ruled the State seven.
ty ,odd years, have been weighed in the
balances and found wanting; and that the
time has arrived when now pilot should
guide the ship of State, TO sa, e her from an
entire wreck. Upon the subject of popu.
lar education, have already touched, hav-
ing announced myself its uncompromising
advocate; and it only remains for me to
discuss the subject of Internal Improve
ment. l shall do it as briefly as its impor-
tance will justify. Upon that subject Mr.
Calhoun used the following language:
ITO what can we direc, our resources
and attention more important than Inter-
nal Improvements? What can add more
to the wealth-the strength and the politi-
cal prosperity of the countryl The man
ner in which facility and cheapness of In
tercourse add to the wealth of country,
has been so often and so ably discussed,
that presume the House to be perfectly
acquainted with the subject. 1t is suffi-
cient to observe, that every branch of in
dustry, agricultural, manufacturing, COM
mercial, is greatly stimulated and rendered
by it more productive. The money can
not be appropriated to more exalted use.
Every portion of the community-the far
mer, the mechanic and Merchant-will feel
its good effects; and what is of the greatest
importance, the strength of the community
will be augmented and its political pros
perity render ed more secure"
Such is the testimony borne by one Of
the greatest, purest and the most patriotic
of the American Statesmen, to the incalcu-
liable advantages to be derived from an ex-
tensive system Of Internal Improvement
Look at New York and see what high
and enviable position she now occupies
She is deservedly called the "Empire State
of the Union" She has far outstripped
every other State in population and wealth;
and SO great is her power and moral inhu-
ence in the Unionthat it is now trite say
ing, GAS goes New York so goes the I'm
ion." Her citizens are generally rich pros
porous and happy; and. as have already
shown in this address, four hundred thou.
sand of them are annually educated at the
public expense. Many years ago, she
commenced a gradual, but energetic. sys-
TEN ofInternal improvements; and the re-
suit is, she has now 1869 miles of railroad,
and some 1000 miles of plank road, all
yielding a handsomep per cent; aud SO prof.
table have her stocks in her improvements
become, that the revenue arising therefrom,
defrays nearly the whole expense OF the
State Government. All the northern states
are alive upon the subject. Massachusetts
has LAP miles of railroad; Pennsy lvania,
1,l69; Ohio, 600; and the little State of
Connecticut, 553 miles; while the great
Commonwealth of Virginia has but 4S3
miles; and they are rapidly extending their
improvements in every quarter of their
country and increasing to an astonishing
degree in population and wealth. Geor-
gia for the last year or two has had the
scales removed from her eyes, she also com
menced developing her resources and so
successful and profitable have been her In
ternal Improvement enterprises that she
is now called the Empire State" of the
South.
What is it, fellow-citizens, that builds
up and improves country so rapidly as
good roads! How are you to get your pro-
duce to market, when you have an almost
impossible road to travel. When you start
to market with the proceeds of your year S
hard labour and have rough country to
traverse, hills to climb and difficulties of
many kinds TO surmount, you will find
when you come to cast up accounts and
ascertain your loss and gain, that the ex-
penses of the trip have absorbed more than
halfthe profits. You cannot afford to con-
vey your produce to market IN the present
situation Of the country, because the mar
ket is some considerable distance off, and
the means of access, so extremely difficult
as almost TO render the obstacles insur-
monniable 1t is we'll known that very
many articles ofgeneral consumption, such
ds salt, sugar. coffee and molasses, iron and
other heavy articles, are higher in this than
III any other section in the State, and why
so! Because the costs and carriage are
so heavy upon the merchant-he having to
pay sometimes as high as 81 25 and 81 so
per hundred; he is compelled to sell at
high prices TO indemnify himself for losses
and to prevent actual pecuniary ruin. The
single article of salt, while it can be pur-
chased at the works at 20 cents, is sold here
from 81 25 to 81 so per bushel, simply
from the fact that it being very heavy ar
ticle, and of course difficult to transport,
the expense of transportation enhances its
price some four hundred per cent. The
enquiry has frequently been made, why
the farmers in this section of the country,
do not reclaim their waste and worn out
lands, and why there are so many fields
grown up in broomsage and briars, and
covered with red gals and gulliesl The
reason, llow-citizcns, is obvious enough.
We are literally locked up in our noun
tains, we are labouring under the inconve-
niences of a difficult and distant transporta-
ton, and the procurement of such articles
as lime, plaster, guano, &c, those great re-
novators of worn out soil is denied us, from
the fact that the mere carriage is so enor-
nous. We have been suffering under these
Inconvenience too long already, and now
that the General Assembly has passed a
bill for the construction of turnpike road
from Danville to some eligible point on the
Fancy Gap or Floyd Courthouse and
Hillsville road, upon the three-ffth princi-
pie, with capital stock of thirty thousand
dollars, with the privilege of increasing it
to fifty thousand should it be deemed ne
cessary to plank it; let us be up and ado
ing that we may reap the benefits to be de-
rived from so great an improvement. The
people of Wythe, Grayson. Carroll, Pat
rick, Henry and Pittsylvania, are required
to raise $4,000 in order 10 secure the
States subscription of $4,000. The bill
provides "that when three hundred and
sixty shares, which at twenty-five dollars
share makes $4,000, shall have been SUBJ
scribed, the charter is secured, and when
three fourths of two-ffths of the whole