Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-09-15
PcKENs COURT HOUSE, s. c. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER IS 1860


the States should first execute n mortoaoe f" of
the whole estate, property and funds which
they then possessed, or might afterwards ac
qnire," to secure the payment of these Bonds
1t cannot be credited chat the State would
have made such demand, or that the Com
panies in the other States would have listen
cd to it, if the money to be obtained on those
bonds was to be applied exclusively to the
construction of the road in South Carolina.
1t was also provided that the mortgages
which have been mentioned "may also Sc
cure without any priority or preference, other
Bonds of the Blue Ridge Railroad Company
IN South Carolina, to an amount not exceeding
81, 100000. Provided, that nothing herein
contained shall be construed to prevent any of
the said Companies from applying any of the
proceeds of the loan SO made by them and the
installmcnts which may be paid in on the stock
OF the SAID companies for the purpose of con
structng, cquippng and working their respec-
tive roads, and for no other purpose whatever"
except to pay the interest and principal on
the Bonds. Any of the said Companies "
can only mean those in Georgia, and North
Carolina, and Tennessee, for when the I.ecis-
Iature gave aid to the Blue Ridge Railroad
Company in South Carolina, to complete the
road from Andersen to Knoxville, they could
not have intended to Illustrate the express pur-
pose of the aid by forbid1ing that it should
be expended out of the limits of South Car
. olina.
Lave thus shown that before the aid was
gga'ei by the Act of 1854, which set the
enterprise OH lrm ground the memorial of the
Company IN 1893, had fully and completely
informed the Legislature OF the design and
| pNtpose OF the Company to build the Blue
hidgc lWllroad from Anderson to Knoxville
with such means us could be obtained in South
CaroIina and The other States The memori.
al sets out the surveys by the Engineers of
the Company the cost Qf the road in South
| Carolina, and the entire cost of the road to
| Knoxville, the amount of subscrption i'm the
several States, the contract of the Blue Ridge
Railroad in South Carolina with Anson
! Bangs Co. for the construction of the en-
tire road, it also exhibited the sufhcicncy of
means to finish the road in South Carolina
but a deficiency OF $4,000, 900 for the CON
structlon of the entire road, and asks aid to
the amount of that deficiency. The Commit
! tee OF the Senate made an inuusiton into the
facts stated i'll the memorial, ana reported the
result to that body; the Committee of Ways
and Means in the House recommended that
the prayer of the memorial should be granted
and reported the Bill to " authorize aid to the
Blue Ridge Railroad Company in South Car
olna" and strongly urged upon the consider
alton of the House the importance of the
connection between Charleston and Knoxville
to complete which aid was prayed by the me
mortal
After this summary how utterly groundcss
must your charges against the officers OF the
| Company appear to be to every reader
And your own letter to Mr.. Gary mami.
TESTS how grouudlcss your charges are to your
own consciousness.
| In recommending the Statesvillc connection
| you contrast it with the Blue Ridge Road and
urge the adoption of the former route, as
passing through IA much richer, and penctra-
ting to the very region of country where the
Blue Ridge is attempted to be built at an
enormous cost to the State" BY the very
region of country" you do not mean "the
Georgia Line" you mean that region of
country which is to be reached by the compile
tion of the Blue Ridge Road 10 Knoxville. e.
| on have forgotten to "notc the words. to
the Georgia linc;" aud when you have, in
your argument passed by the charge of vio-
latlon of the charter in spending money be-
| yond tho Georgia line, light is admitted to
show that the Western terminus of the Blue
Ridge Road is at Knoxville This road is
"attempted to be built ut an enormous cost to
the State" BY whom is it attempted to be
built at an enormous cost to the State but by
the Blue Ridge Railroad Company in South
Carolina? You have forgotten the charge
thatthe charter of that Company is restricted
to the Georgia line, and that the officers of
the Company grossly violated their charter,
and acted in bad faith in applying any part of
their funds to the construction of the road be.
yond the Georgia line If the charter is re-
strlcted to the Georgia line, and no money
can be expended beyond that line, how came
you to argue in favor of the Statesville con.
nection, against the Blue Ridge Road, that
the former "pcnctrates the very region of
country where the Blue Ridge Road is Mt.
tempted to be built at an enormous cost to the
State z"
have before noticed your short memory in
Your statement of the excess of cost above the
estinlotes and of your short reading, in not
seeing in the Act of 1854 the repeal of the
l4th section" of the Act of 1852, when
the latter furnished an argument in support of
| yotr charges And havenow noted another
instance of this freak of memory. Indeed
there seems to bowith you an opaque section
in that faculty of the mind which revolves with
your argument, and obscures at one time facts
in relation to the Blue Ridge Road, which
would oppose your conclusions, and at another
time admits them, when they favor your pur-
pose. 1t would be better if that OPAQUE sec.
tion were stationary Then it would not be.
tray you into Inconsistencies. ~
Having thus, [ think, refuted your charges,
i will refuto also the mischief which xou