FARMERS' REGISTER— RAIL ROADS, &c. 



621 



tlie rivers of Virginia afforded a more convenient 

 and a more direct course than could be found else- 

 where, for that rich and increasing commerce." 



His views extended farllier : "After an accu- 

 rate examination of the James and Potomac, com- 

 missioners were to search out the nearest and best 

 portages between those waters and the streams ca- 

 pable of improvement, which run into the Oliio. 

 Those streams were to be accurately surveyed, 

 the impediments to their navigation ascertained, 

 and their relative advantages examined." 



He labored, in his letters to Congress, to estab- 

 lish the opinion, that the surveys he recommended, 

 would add to the revenue, by enhancing the value 

 of the lands to be oflfered for sale. " Nature," 

 added he, " had made such an ample display of her 

 bounties in those regions, that the more the coun- 

 try was explored, the more it would rise in esti- 

 mation." 



" He detailed the measures which Avould un- 

 questionably be adopted by New York and Penn- 

 sylvania for acquiring the monopoly of the western 

 commerce, and the difficulty which loould be found 

 in diverting it from the channel it had once taken. 

 " I am not," he added, " for discouraging the ex- 

 ertions of any state to draw the commerce of the 

 western country to its seaports. The more com- 

 munications we open to it, the closer we bind that 

 rising world (for indeed, it may be so called,) to 

 our interests, and the greater strength shall we ac- 

 quire by it. Those to whom nature affords the best 

 communication, will, if they are wise, enjoy the 

 greatest share of the trade." 



He viewed the subject in a more interesting 

 light — the political influence on the Union. " I 

 need not remark to you, sir," said he in his letter 

 to the Governor of Virginia, "that the flanks and 

 rear of the United States are possessed by other 

 powers— and formidable ones too : nor need I press 

 the necessity of applying the cement of interest to 

 bind all parts of the Union together by indissolu- 

 ble bonds — especially of binding that part of it 

 which lies immediately ivest of us, to the middle 

 stales. For what ties, let me ask, should we have 

 upon those people; how entirely unconnected with 

 them shall ice be, if the Spaniards on their right, 

 and Great Britain on their left, instead of throw- 

 ing impediments in their way, as they now do, 

 should hold out lures for their trade and alliance. 

 When they get strength, which will be sooner than 

 most people conceive, what will be the consequence 

 of their having formed close commercialconnexions 

 with both or either of these poioers 1 It needs not 

 the gift of prophecy to foretell." 



After some illustrative and instructive observa- 

 tions on the rapid settlement of the western states, 

 he says : " It is by the cement of interest alone rve 

 can be held together. If then the trade of that 

 country should flow through the Mississippi or the 

 St. Lawrence ; if the inhabitants shouldform com- 

 mercial connections ivhich ifje know lead to inter- 

 courses of other kinds, they would, in a few years, 

 be as unconnected with us as are those of South 

 j^merica." 



" It may be asked, how Ave are to prevent this ? 

 Happily for us, the way is plain. Our immediate 

 interests, as well as remote political advantages, 

 point to it, whilst a combination of circumstances 

 render the present time more favorable than any 

 other to accomplish it. Extend the inland navi- 

 gation of the eastern waters — communicate them 



as near as possible with those which run west- 

 ward — open these to the Ohio— o|)en also such as 

 extend from the Ohio to Lak« Erie — and, we shall 

 not only draw the produce of the western settlers, 

 but the peUry and fur trade of the Lakes also, to 

 our ports — thus adding an immense increase to 

 our exports, and binding those people to us by a 

 tie which never can be broken." 



Comment on such sagacious foresight would be 

 insulting. In it we behold the glorious and suc- 

 cessful attempt of De Witt Clinton to make New 

 York the empire " state." In it, we discover the 

 energy of Pennsylvania and of Maryland. In it we 

 discover the creation of the AVelland and the Rideau 

 Canal. In it, we discover the exploration, now 

 proceeding, with a view to a passage by a rail 

 road, down the banks of the St. Lawrence, as far 

 as Chaleur Bay, to unite Halifax and Frederic- 

 ton with Quebec ; and thus convert the ports of 

 New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with all the ad- 

 vantages of free ports, into the importing ports of 

 United and British America. In it, do we see the ' 

 attempt, by the unitedexertion of Illinois, Indiana, 

 &c. to create the means of carrying the scheme 

 of De Choiseul, to which I have already alluded, 

 into full and perfect effect, by means of a rail road 

 rom Alton to Lake Erie; and thus to make all 

 tlie western states dependent on Montreal and 

 Quebec, Halifax and Fredericton. In it, do we, 

 on the other hand, see the attempt making to lay 

 down a rail road, from New York to the eastern 

 extremity of Long Island; and soon shall we see 

 another approach to Fredericton and Halifax, by 

 perhaps, an undulating rail road, from Boston, via 

 the Newburyport Turnjtike, to Newburyport,and 

 thence to Portland. From that city, it will not 

 be long before such a road finds its way to the 

 towns of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia; and, 

 aided as it most probably will be, by a competing 

 rail road from Augusta or Hallowell to Quebec, it 

 is not improbable that, unless the tariff is wholly 

 reduced, and direct taxation (I am not writing, 

 nor, thank God ! ever did, for popular effect,) 

 substituted, it is almost certain, that the importa- 

 tion fi-om, and commerce with, foreign countries^, 

 will vanish, possibly, from New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania and Massachusetts, but certainly from the 

 shores of the Chesapeake. 



And what, sir, with circumstances like these 

 staring us in our face, is the Legislature of Virgi- 

 nia about — attending to the arguments and state- 

 ments of the burgesses of Petersburg, who, fol- 

 lowing the example of Pombal, want their bo- 

 rough, like Lisbon, to be created into a privileged 

 town, which they expect will rival, but with very 

 different means, their namesake in the Baltic, 

 whose founder, dark as was the age in which he 

 lived, could not have committed such an errer. 



However, so far as the House of Delegates is 

 concerned, a victory over selfishness and igno- 

 rance of their own interest and the true policy of 

 the slate, has been obtained. It is indeed a victo- 

 ry, and such a one as I hope the people will obtain, 

 who are advocating the creation of a road from 

 Fredericksburg to Richmond, another from Pe- 

 tersburg to City Point ; and if I did not learn the 

 strong opposition of the worthy member from 

 Richmond, I would add, a road from Richmond to 

 Petersburg — thus giving the state the high honor 

 of originating a set of rail roads, that are not only 

 to create Norfolk, Petersburg- and Richmond into 



