254 



FARMERS' REGISTER— JAMES AND KANAWHA RIVERi^. 



ting and improving markets, and for facilitating and 

 cheapening transportation, and wiien ascertained, 

 to forward them by a judicious and ciFicient appli- 

 cation of the puldic resources. Chosen by you, 

 and solicitous lor your approbation, tliey carry in- 

 to the legislative halls the spirit by which you are 

 animated, and take from you that tone of vice 

 which is heard in legislative enactments. 



It may be asked, why has not tlie Convention 

 ventured to recommend some speciiic plan of im- 

 provement.'' Brought together suddenly from va- 

 rious sections of the Slate, and remaining in ses- 

 sion but tln-cc days, had the members deemed 

 themselves competent to make the recommenda- 

 tion, it is very obvious that they wanted the lei- 

 sure tor maturing a plan tit to be laid beibre you. 

 But in fact the great purpose of the Convention 

 has been to awaken you to a sense of the vast im- 

 portance and urgency of the su!)ject, and if possi- 

 ble draw to it your earnest and united attention. 

 If we succeed in rousing you to think seriously, and 

 to comnmne freely on the toj)ics suggested, to 

 strive to obtain and interchange accurate inibrma- 

 tion,and to resolve alter deliberate advisement in 

 favor of internal improvements, speciiic plans may 

 be hereafter much more advantageously de\isetl 

 and arranged. Our propositions tlierelbre, (for in 

 truth they are but propositions,) are laid before 

 you in the form of simple resolutions. With 

 your sanction they may become the principles of 

 state action, without it they are wholly inopera- 

 tive. Examine then, Ave intreat you, witli the 

 candor due to the motives that have prompted 

 them, and the calmness and good sense and re- 

 gard lor the public good which ouglit to determine 

 your judgment upon them. Call together such 

 neighborhooil and county and district meetings as 

 will afford the most convenient opportunities for 

 obtaining explanations, lor interchanging views, 

 for removing dilliculties, and tor forming, anima- 

 ting and ascertaining the public mind. Devise 

 among yourselves such plans of improvement as 

 your peculiar localities require, and apply at once 

 to their execution -the means which through your 

 county courts are already in your hands, or ar- 

 ranged for procuring legislative sanction to them. 

 And when your delegates shall assemble as we 

 have proposed in November next, let tliem tome 

 together deeply imbued with your spirit, thorough- 

 ly apprised of j-our views, zealous and ready to 

 work together in this great concern of the state. 



Fellow-Citizens: — We owe to you as well as 

 ourselves an explanation. There v.asa diilerence 

 of opinion in the Convention on one of the propo- 

 sitions now before you — on the resolution which 

 declares that " true policj- requires that tiie funds 

 of the state ought in the first instance to be em- 

 ployed exclusively in providing the means of in- 

 ternal transportation, and in creating and improv- 

 ing markets within her limits." vVe shall not 

 trouble you with the arguments which were re- 

 spectively urged by those who supported, and by 

 those who opposed this resolution. We who ad- 

 dress you, did our.selves differ on this j)roposition, 

 but each knows that it was an honest difference 

 of opinion among men, all zealous for tl.e same 

 end, and no one doubts or questions the patriotism 

 of the rest. A majority approved of the resolu- 

 tion, and therefore it is submitted to you — and how- 

 ever you may decide, we are all and each of us 

 ready to support your decision : we go — every 



man of us goes for North Carolina and the whole of 

 North Carolina. Improvement to be effectual 

 must begin somewhere; but we hope it will reach 

 every where. What gets not the benefit of it to- 

 day, will, we trust, receive it to-morrow, and eve- 

 ry successful experiment facilitates the next. It 

 is our ardent hope and earnest prayer that, whate- 

 ver spot this beneficent spirit shall select as the 

 first scene of its operation, it v/ill not desist from 

 its kindly action, until its immediate as well as its 

 general blessings shall have pervaded every part 

 of the slate. Too long has North Carolina been 

 rent asunder by sectional jealousies and paltry 

 local feuds. If she is ever to prosper, it must be 

 by vigorous, persevering, and united action — by 

 " a strong pull, a long pull, and a pull altogether." 

 For ourselves, we pretend to no exemption from 

 the infirmities of nature, and are conscious that 

 we respectively feel those partialities which bind 

 men to their immediate vicinities. But we infi- 

 nitely prefer the advancement of the state, as a 

 state, to the prosperity of any portion of it; and it 

 is because we do so, and know that we do so, 

 that we hope for your approbation and ask for 

 your concurrence.^ 



WILLIAM GASTON, Chair'm. 

 G. E. Badgkr, John D. Jonks, 



John H. Bryan, Cad'r. Jones, 



Wm. Bovlan, Wm. B. Meares, 



IsA.\c Croom, Fred'k. Nash, 



Jos. J. Daniel, John Owen, 



Louis D. Henry, S. F. Patterson, 



John Huske, Henry Seawell, 



W. H. Haywood, Jr. J. Somervell, 

 Jos. A. Hill, Robert Strange. 



James Iredell, 



Raleigh, July 20//*, 1833. 



COMMERCE AND IMPROVE.^IENT OF JAMES 

 AND KANAWHA RIVERS. 



To the Inhabitants near the proposed line of con- 

 nection between the Tide IVater of James River 

 and the Navigable fVatcrs of the Ohio. 



Richmond, IGth August, 1833. 



Fellow- Citizens : — The terms offered by the 

 legislature, at their last session, to the Bank of 

 \'irginia and the Farmers' Bank of Virginia, as in- 

 ducements to subscribe to the James River and 

 Kanawha Company, not h.aving been accepted by 

 both Banks, it is now certain that the great work 

 must fail, unless otiier and more energetic mea- 

 sures be adopted. Under a conviction of this 

 truth, the citizens of Richmond convened on the 

 seventh instant, and have appointed the undersign- 

 ed a committee w ith instructions " to adopt such 

 preliminary measures as they may deem expedi- 

 ent, to invite the attention of the people along the 

 line of improvement to the necessity of prompt 

 and vigorous action, and to endeavor to procure 

 subscriptions to the stock." 



The committee believe that they cannot better 

 execute this resolution, than by urging you most 

 earnestly to assemble in your respective counties 

 to take this most important subject into your deli- 

 berate consideration, and to apj)oint an agent or 

 agents in each county, to solicit subscriptions, or 

 to adopt such other measures for the attainment of 

 the object, so far as it depends on yourselves, as 

 its magnitude requires and your judgment may 

 dictate. 



