The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1857-02-24
HARLOTTE, MECKLENBURG COUNTY
SPEECH OF MIR. w. R. MYERS,

| ~~~~t
| Of Mecklenburg. delirered in the Senate on
bill to charter the Danuilte and Green's
boro' Railroad, introduced by Mr. Boyd
Of Rockingham.
Mr.. Myers said: Mr. Speaker, the Sena-
tor from Orange (Mr Cameron.) set out
with the extravagant declaration that he
has almost persuaded himself, (from the
scenes that are being enacted, and the de-
clarations of Senators,) that his locus in
quo is not real; and that he IS really in the
capitol of the State of South Carolina or
Virginia, instead of the State of North Car
olina. 1 sir, like the Senator from Orange,
am unable to realize the fact that we are
really and truly in the Senate of one of the
sovereign States of republican America, but
| rather in the halls of some despot of mon
archial Europe; and sir, am 1 not fully sus-
tanned in this declaration from the extraor-
dinary course, unreasonable exactions, and
arbitrary demands indicated in this discus
sion? If fair reasoning and legitimate ar
guments characterized this discussion, there
might be some reasonable expectation, some
rational hope, on the part of the friends of
this BILL that passion and a blind prejudice
would fail in the unjust exercise of an un-
relenting power. But sir, it seems that no
such hope is to be vouchs lfed to us. Were
it a question of dollars and cents, instead
of question of merit, cold calculation
might be entered into with but little regard
to results; but question of such para
mount Importance, that strikes at the very
principles of free government-of rights of
minorities--are questions pregnant with
consequences, if carried Too far, the results
of which cannot easily be estimated. We
have been appealed to by Senators to build
up and promote the commercial marts in
our own State, and not be bled as a strong
man, at both arms, by Virginia on the one
hand. and South Carolina the other; that
patriotism and State pride demands that
fostering care should be extended to the
commerce of our own citizens and our own
State, and are called on to recur to the
wholesome precepts of the eminent and wise
men that have adorned the historic page of
this Commonwealth. No man sir, has
greater reverence for the teachings of the
wise men and eminent statesmen so hand
somely eulogised by the Senator from Or
ange than myself But, sir, it struck me
as little remarkable that the patriotism
and State pride so much commended, was
practically so deficient just about the spot
or which Sto nd Il pil1 ho
bered by Senators that that was most ex-
cellent opportunity to test the feryency of
that patriotism, and an exhibition of that
State pride, in the respective charters of
the Raleigh and Wilmington and the Raleigh
and CASTOR roads, both of which passed
about the same time, probably at the same
session. Patriotism kicked the beam; the
Wilmington connection was repudiated, and
the capital of the State of North Carolina
virtually sold, according to their own rea-
soning, to the State of Virginia.
l do not condemn the people of Raleigh
for the course they saw proper to take in
that matter, and only allude to it to illus
trate my position. They did what they
thought was their interest, which. insist,
is the natural right of every community,
and that any Intervention on the part of
the State is an exercise of an arbitrary
power-one that cannot be justified upon
any just principles of State policy. Would
not the Senator from Orange, at that time,
have considered it an exercise of an arbi-
trary power, on the part of the Legislature
of the State, to have refused the people of
this section of the State the poor privilege of
using their own money in the improvement
of their internal condition, and of transport
ing the fruits OF their labor where the best
prices could be obtained!
My friend from Warren (Mr Eaton) COM
pliments the gentlemanly and accomplished
merchants of Petersburg and Norfolk, and
informs US that the products of his constitu-
ents find a market in another State, and
plough the pillows of the beautiful Chesa-
peake. Yet he gets up here and gravely
condemns as impracticable, for the people
of the west to desire to do the very thing
that his people do every day of their lives
go to Virginia market-and argues that
the people of Mecklenburg should be pro-
hibited from taking their wheat to a first
rate market, with inexhaustible water pow
er, as he confesses the city of Richmond to
be, and handsomely alludes to Petersburg
as the cockade city, and likens Norfolk to
a bird sitting upon the waters. Is there
justice, is their equity in such unequal dis
crimination-in such partial legislation
whereby the citizens of the county enjoy
advantages by which they can realize more
for given amount of labor, and the pro-
ductions of their soil and dairy, than the
citizens of county in the western part of
the State! But, sir, this question is argu-
ed on the part of the opponents of this bill.
to the effect that is construction would Sc
riously impair, if not utterly ruin the roads
already existing in the State. Let US ex-
anime into the truth of this statement. We
deny, in the first place. that it can injure