Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1859-09-07
8lue Aiagt q. 8oab.
SPEECH OF HON. B. F. PERRY,
Delivered at Tunnel HUI, Pickens District,
on Eidau. AuQust 18Th, 1859.

Deltrered at Tunnel HUI, PacSenS OtStT7ct
on Friday, august 18th, 1859.
FELLow-CIrlzEss:-You have assembled
to give encouragement to the prosecution o
8 great enterprise, in danger of being aban
doned and lost to the present generation
How different would be your feelings ant
mine if you had met this day to commemo
rate, in joyous festivity, the passage Of tht
steam engine over your lofty mountains intt
the great valley Of the West How differen
it would be with all of us if this vast assem-
blage of persons had been summoned here t
inausurate the commencement of an enter
prise which was to connect, with the iroI
bands Of = railway, the Atlantic and the Mis-
sissippi! But, my friends, there is more
honor in retrieving lost battle than in win
ming victory. 1t requires more prudence
and wisdom, more perseverance and indomi.
table courage, and perhaps harder fighting
We will not despair Of success while there i:
hope left. The prize is too great to be easily
abandoned. Once more we will appeal t.
the Legislature. They are honorable men
wise and pat:iotic-Carolinian feeling pro
per interest in the welfare and prosperity o.
their old mother State. They will not, they
cannot, let fail an enterprise which is to throw
so much Of commerce, wealth and power into
South Carolina.
Twenty-seven years ago the people of South
Carolina, under the noble lead of their Cal
houn, Haync and Blanding, saw the impor.
tance, in commercial, social and political
point Of view, Of connection by rail roads
with the great western States. The people
Of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Caro-
lima and Virginia united with them in projecting
rail road from Charleston to Louisville and
Cincinnati. Everywhere it met the hearty
approval of legislatures, conventions and pri-
mary assemblies OF the people, South and
West. Six States were enlisted in the enter
prise Charters for railway and bank
were obtained from all Of them. Millions of
dollars were subscribed. The route was sur
veyed and the work commenced. The whole
State OF South Carolina was alive to the pro-
,ject Every man who could raise five dollars
took stock. The Legislature subscribed one
million. and gave the States endorsement for
two millions more. But terrible financial
crisis came and swept over the country with
bankruptcy and ruin. The road reached Co.
lumbia, and there stopped. The enterprise
away. The State seemed to sink into a pro-
found lethargy, and lost sight altogether Of
her true and important interests. Not so with
the Northern and middle States. They, too,
had seen the importance Of this western con-
nection with the Atlantic. They determined
at once to win the prize. Rail Roads were
constructed from Boston, New York, Phila-
delphia and Baltimore into the valley Of the
Mississippi, at an expense of ten, twenty and
thirty millions of dollars. What were the
consequences Look at those cties-see
their great ealth-their wonderful commerce
their unparalleled growth and prosperity
aud you know the consequences. Pass over
these lines Of rail roads, and view the coun-
try on either side, adorned with the most
highly cultivated farms, enriched with the
most prosperous anufactureS-Seautifu vii
lagos and magnificent towns and cities spring
ing up to view all around you, and YOU will
be lost in wonderful admiration at the encr-
gy, enterprise, industry and wisdom of man.
Whilst all this improvement was going Oh
in the States of Massachusetts,, New York,
Pennsylvania and Maryland, and all this
wealth and prosperity were flowing into their
towns, rillages and cities, from their Western
rail road connections, South Carolina was in
teresting herself with grand quarrel which
she had instituted with the Federal Govern
ment about some abstruse constitutional qnoS-
ton, in which she rallied all of her chiyalry.
exhausted her strength, neglected her inter-
ests, and seemed oblirious to all Stale enter
prise or improvement. The energetic and
Industrious portion of her population was
rapidly removing to the Southwest, her fields
were becoming barren wastes, and her towns
and villages declining and sinking into decay
and ruin AT length she was aroused from
her lethargy by the stern hand of poverty
and desolation! A system of branch rail
roads, extending into almost every District
of the State, was commenced by the people
under the liberal aid and auspices Of her
Legislature. A new leaf seemed to be turned
over in our history. Industry and enterprise
were stimulated, the tide of emigration tc
the Southwest was stopped, and once more
our good old State began to flourish and pros,
per. Thanks to these branch rail roads
Wherever they connected with other. rail
roads leading into other States, they have
done we'll for themselves and tue country
But where they terminate at some little vii
lage after running a few miles, they have
failed of that entire success and the accom-
plishment Of that great general good which
were anticipated. The truth is, that railways
should have no termini in the United States
but the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans 1t is a
mistake to think of constructing. them to
every farmers and planters house. They
should be built for the commerce and trave
of the world to pass over. What we now
want in South Carolina is a great railway
trunk, extending from our seaport town and
great emporium through other States into
the fertile and boundless valley Of the West
This main trunk will feed our branches and
make them profitable. twill diffuse through,
out the State, by means of these branches
the rich commerce of the West, whilst the
Atlantic Ocean brings to US that of the Old
World.
This idea, which have recently seen well
expressed in reference to our branch rail roads
in South Carolina, and the necessity of hav,
ing main trunk extending over the noun,
talns lo the great Father OF Waters, BY the
sayacious and intelligent Superintendent o.
the Georgia Rail Road, in private letter tc
n friend at Greenville, seems to have been
duly appreciated and adopted by the Lesi>la,
ture of South Carolina, few years since. In
order to carry it out, the Blue Ridge Ral
Road was chartered. The Legislature au-
thoriz,d subscription on the part Of the
State to the amount OF one million Of dollars
and the endorsement of the bonds of the
company for one million more. The city oI
Charleston subscribed one million, and the
State of Tennessee gave liberal aid The
citizens Of South Carolina, Georgia, North
Carolina and Tennessee, subscribed for some.
thing over half million. Bangs II Compa,
nv agreed to take the contract, and receive
for their work one-foMrth in stock, and the
bonds OF the company fpr another fourth
-. .ho.a circumstances the work was