1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



101 



when the western road shall reacli Fayelteville, 

 you are still on the descending line, and from 

 thence may be carried to Beaufort. Such, it, is be- 

 lieved, will be the quantity ofproducefl-onitlic upper 

 country as will hereafter Ibrce itself to the best 

 rr.arket. In this way, what the liiends of Beaufort 

 cannot do for themselves, will be done by othe''s. 



The loan of three millions to be contracted hy 

 the state. Il has been already shown, in estimat- 

 infj the funds of the slate, she has upwards of two 

 millions invested in a way, whilst they will prove 

 productive, are not likely to be embarrassed or 

 squandered. By the system proposed, this fund 

 is not to be touched, but to be held as a guarantee 

 to sustain the credit of the state in the negotiation 

 of a loan, and a surety to her own citizens against 

 any contingency vvhich may arise. The maxi- 

 mum of the loan is three millions; and the money, 

 when borrowed, wilf be mostly expended amongst 

 ourselves; and for it the slate will hold certificates 

 of stocks which will be productive, and will in 

 themselves constitute an additional surety atrainst 

 any future calls upon her own citizens. These 

 stocks can at any time be brought into market, 

 and thus relieve the state against any pressing 

 embarrassment. The debt will be postponed to a 

 future period; the works will progress; the bur- 

 then will be divided betweeen posterity and our- 

 selves; and in this way the estate which our chil- 

 dren are to inherit will be improved, our own con- 

 dition relieved, and means provided for them to 

 meet the claim which has been entailed in order 

 to its improvement. This accords with the most 

 rigid principles of justice, prudence, foresight, and 

 economy. The estate is fast going to decay; our 

 people are not in a condition to make the necessa- 

 ry repairs and to improve it. without a resort to 

 loans. This state of things has not been brought 

 about from any want of frugality in our expendi- 

 tures; of forbearance in contracting debts, or fi-om 

 any extravagance or want of system in the pro- 

 per and judicious management of our domestic 

 concerns. At no former period in the pecuniary 

 affairs of the state, has there been less extrava- 

 gance, and yet at no period has it been found 

 more difficult to keep free from embarrassment. 

 The evil is to be found not in any passing events, 

 but in the want of a proper encouragement to the 

 products of our soil, and in the fact that our most 

 wealthy and enterprising citizens are driven to 

 more genial climes. 



If we look to our sister states, most of them will 

 he found in the march of improvement, and their 

 citizens contented and happy. Yet, they have 

 resorted to loans ; and experience proves, so far 

 from ending in injury to the people, they have the 

 more rapidly advanced to wealth and prosperity. 

 And this too, without any resort to taxes; the 

 profits from the works havintr-been quite sulilcient 

 to meet the interest and proriile a fimd for the 

 payment of the principal. South Carolina has 

 but recently subscribed one million to her great 

 rail-road, guarantied the loan of two millions more, 

 and by way of relief to her favorite city from a 

 heavy calamity, added two millions more to her 

 debt. But we forbear to press this matter fur- 

 ther, as it is idle to talk of embarrassing the state 

 by contracting a debt of three millions of dollars. 



If our foreifiithers, with not half of our means, 

 limited as they are, when dissension, faction, and 

 treason lurked in every neighborhood ; when the 



property of the citizen was liable to seizure by the 

 enemy, and to wanton destruction by the traitor, 

 when the assassin beleaguered his path by day, and 

 threatened his repose by night ; ii; at such a time, 

 and under such circumstances, that band of patri- 

 ots could bear up for a period of seven years, un- 

 der a debt of seventy-five millions, let us not talk 

 of embarrassment by the sum proposed, having, 

 as the state has, the ability to raise it without a 

 resort to taxation. The only question that can 

 admit of discussion is, not the ability of the state 

 to raise such a sum without prejudice to her citi- 

 zens, but whether she, in her sovereign capacity, 

 shall engage in a system of this kind at all. And 

 can we, at such a period as this, with all the light 

 of experience before us, be seriously called upon 

 to discuss such a question? Will you leave these 

 matters to individual enterprise, when every state 

 in the union has undertaken the system with so 

 much success? At the close of the memorable 

 struggle to which we have just referred, North 

 Carolina had her territory and her population. 

 Her territory still remains ; Mecklenburg, Moor's 

 creek. King's mountain, and Guilford, are land- 

 marks which time cannot raze from the page of 

 history. But where is her population? Where 

 the monuments of her improvement? Her popu- 

 lation is fast leaving her. and her monuments, we 

 fear, are only to be found in the record of things past. 

 Is this state of things to continue? Or are we 

 ever to be roused to action? It is much to be fear- 

 ed, if you shall separate without doing any thing, 

 the cause of internal improvement will have sus- 

 tained a shock from which it will be difficult to re- 

 cover. The patriotic feeling which now warms 

 and animates the citizen will become chilled by 

 your apathy. It is our part, in the name of a re- 

 spectable portion of the people, to advise ; it is for 

 you to act. By rejecting the plan proposed, and 

 doing nothing, you may seal the fate of internal 

 improvements. By acting, you incur no risk that 

 can, in any reasonable probability, embarrass the 

 state. But you stay the tide of emigration, now 

 draining the life-blood of the commonwealth ; you 

 stimulate the farmer to new exertion and improve- 

 inent ; you invite the capitalist to open the rich 

 bowels of the earth and to bring forth its hidden 

 treasures of iron, copper and coal; you every where 

 encourage the mechanic and the man of enter- 

 prise ; you open new streams of wealth, running 

 in different directions, in different dimensions, and 

 at different heiiihts; but watering, adorning, and 

 fertilizing the fields and meadows through which 

 their courses are led. Again, we ask, can you 

 hesitate? We tell you the spirit for improvement 

 is abroad in the land ; that it invites you to awa- 

 ken to the true interest of the state; to burst the 

 shackles of a jealous and short-sighted policy; to 

 rise triumphant over physical obstacles, and the 

 still stronger mounds of local prejudice; and by 

 your action, to elevate our beloved state to her 

 proper rank, as one of the political members of 

 this great conlederacy, and let her shine with a 

 new light amid the stars of our national galaxy. 



R. M. Saunders, Chairman. 



John H. Bryan, 



Louis D. Henry, 



L. H. Marsteller, 



Hugh McQueen, 



Jabies Allen, 



T. L. Clingman. 

 December 20th, 1838. 



