58 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 1 



ill-managed also? Such a claim would have been 

 as impolitic in argument, as it would have been 

 manifestly false in point of fact. Tlie editor of the 

 Herald does not even dissent, in the slightest de- 

 gree, from our assertion that the accidents on the 

 Portsmouth road, so fatal in their effects on pas- 

 sengers, were caused by gross mismanagement, 

 and were nol such as are "necessarily and una- 

 voidably attendant on railway travelling." By 

 maintaining that the causes of these disasters were 

 not permanent and continuino-, but temporary, 

 avoidable, and that in fact, theyAad already ceas- 

 ed to operate on that road, and that tlie proper ami 

 safe course of management had been there adopt- 

 ed, surely we were sustaining instead of detract- 

 ing from the present and future value of the Ports- 

 mouth and Roanoke rail way. 



But the odious part of this branch of our re- 

 marks was presenting the case of the Petersburg 

 railway, as proving incontestibly, by long expe- 

 rience, the entire safety of travelling on railways, 

 under proper regulation. This road was not se- 

 lected (or illustration because it is (or is consider- 

 ed as) a rival work to that of Portsmouth, but be- 

 cause we happened to know the facts. Any other 

 road, presenting as strong, or stronger, and as well 

 established facts, would have been as readily no- 

 ticed. And shouKl any highly improper ami d;m- 

 gerous measure be hereafter be adopted on this 

 road, we shall be as ready to denounce it, in ad- 

 vance of the occurrence of its expected ill efiects, 

 as to commend what has been heretofore, and is, 

 worthy of commendation. If such reprehension 

 should be necessary, and be ever so sharply given, 

 we shall deem it as friendly, instead of hostile, to 

 the interest of rail-roads in general, and even of the 

 very road whose conduct is then condemned. 



Our little note is not only censured for its sins 

 of commission, but also of omission, in not speak- 

 ing of a recent accident on the Richmond and 

 Fredericksburg railway. It was not seen then, 

 nor is it now, what bearing that accident, or any 

 other circumstances of that road, had on our de- 

 signed defence of the safety of railway travellintj 

 in general. We know nothing of that road, ex- 

 cept from the newspapers, and are not prepared to 

 say whether it furnishes most examples of good. 

 or of bad management. But since we are thus 

 twitted with the omission of instances of the lat- 

 ter, we will add, thai if its conduct had been ten 

 times worse than any charaed, and the accidents 

 to the trains ten times more numerous than they 

 have actually been, it would only serve toslrenffth- 

 en our previous argument afjainst placing the bur- 

 den cars 6e/ii/7d instead of before the passengers. 

 For we understand, that by simply avoiding^that 

 very faulty arrangement, that all the accidents on 

 that road have been entirely harmless to the lives 

 and limbs of the numerous passengers. 



The only remaining charge against our note, is 

 its admitting "well-managed ri"wer steam vessels" 

 to be possibly safer than even well-managed rail- 

 way passenger cars; and the denyina: that Greater 

 degree of salely to Atlantic or Chesapeake steam 

 navigation. The former part of the admission, 

 whether correct or not, certainly is not obnoxiou3 

 to the suspicion of local or private interest. We 

 had especially in view the James River steamers, 

 in which Norfolk is very deeply interested, and 

 Petersburg, scarcely at all. But without claiming 

 the benefit of the limitation to James River, we 

 think that truth demands the admission, and all 

 experience proves, that ^Hvell-managed''^ river 

 steamboats are as safe a mode of conveyance as 

 any in this country; and that the numerous and fa- 

 tal disasters of the badly -managed, on the western 

 rivers and elsewhere, afford no ground of contra- 

 diction. As to the denial of equal safety to sea 

 steamers, it is enoucrh to veiVv to the horrible fate 

 of the steamer Home. For the Chesapeake steam- 

 ers, we readily admit that no loss of life lias yet 

 occurred, and have no ground to deny that they 

 are as well constructed, and as well navigated, as 

 any could be. But every bay as well as sea ves- 

 sel is liable (however small the chance, and re- 

 mole the danger,) to destructien by water or fire, 

 and steamers particularly to the latter most aivliil 

 calamity; and if the vessel were about to sink, at 

 only ten miles from shore, having on board, as is 

 usual, twice or thrice, and ir might be five times 

 as many passengers as could be crowded into the 

 lew boats, the almost certain result would be the 

 swamping of the boats, and the death of almost 

 every passenger. Such a disaster may not occur 

 in a century; perhaps never; but the possibility of 

 its occurring, and the almost certainly fatal results 

 of such an occurrence, must always put Chesa- 

 peake, as well as Atlantic steamers, on a very dif- 

 ferent footing of security from that of the James 

 River steamers. 



In concluding, we beg leave to assure the editor 

 of the Herald, that we are not only free from eve- 

 ry wish and feeling inimical to Norfolk and Ports- 

 mouth, and their interests, but that we should re- 

 joice to see their noble seaport rapidly rising to 

 the elevated station in commerce, population and 

 wealth, for which, by its highly favorable location, 

 and great natural advantages, it seems to have 

 been desin;ned. — Ed. Far. Ri3G. 



THE PEKSIMMON TREE AND THE BEER 

 DANCE. 



(Continued from page 5SC, vol. 5.) 



To Uie Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



When I found my "Persimmon Tree,'' group- 

 ed with the "Persimmon Tree" of James i\l. 

 Garnett, Esq. in }'our January No. of the Far- 



