FARMERS* REGISTER— RAIL ROADS, &c. 



623 



forgetfulness of the p^reat liberality and signal dis- 

 interestedness of Richmond and Petersburg;, will 

 be placed in their proper light. " This I will say, 

 that if any one thing more than another, could 

 prove the great importance of the work, the inte- 

 rest which the citizens of Portsmouth and Norfolk 

 felt in its success, their strong belief and confi- 

 dence in its feasibility, it was the unparalleled 

 unanimity with which the property holders, of 

 every profession and trade, came forward and 

 staked that property on the issue. The Legisla- 

 ture could not require abetter test of the sincerity 

 of their representations, so far as it relates to the 

 confidence which they have in the utility, practi- 

 cability, and ultimate profits of the work." 



Now, any man bold enough to speak in this 

 manner, and especially in the face of such "searc/i- 

 ing sagacity" and such" powerful scrutiny," must 

 be audacious indeed — as audacious as was Mr. 

 Law, (afterwards Lord Ellenborough,) when, in 

 the celebrated forestalling case of The King ver- 

 sus IVaddington, he told Chief Justice Kenyan, 

 that he would " confidently contend" for certain 

 principles of the liberal cast. The enlightened 

 Welshman told him he believed there was nothing 

 for which he would not " confidently contend." 



This is all I have a wish to say at present, ex- 

 cept to request your insertion of an extract from a 

 New York paper, on the subject of the Wabash 

 and Erie Canal, and another from Governor Mar- 

 cy's message and the Comptroller's report to the 

 Legislature of the " empire state." However, it 

 is impossible not to observe that the language of 

 the first paragraph is infinitely more applicable to 

 Virginia than to New York ; and that it is to be 

 hoped, that all the Governor says, combined with 

 the threatened results of the Wabash and Erie 

 Canal, will induce the electors of Virginia to send 

 such men to its next Legislature, as will forever 

 exclude the expression of such sentiments as have 

 really disgraced the existing body. They have 

 been founded on selfishness and ignorance — the one 

 in the leaders, the other in the followers of the ri- 

 diculous scheme to deprive Norfolk of the rank 

 and consequence so naturally and justly (for ne- 

 ver did nature and justice so cordially unite,) its 

 due, and, at a period when the south required such 

 a port to give it importance and commerce. Thank 

 God ! these wordy patriots have failed in their at- 

 tempt. AH I wish is, that their minds maybe- 

 come as illuminated as have been the houses of 

 Norfolk on so glorious a victory over illiberality 

 and ignorance ; and where is it that we are to look 

 for the germ of this outrageous state of things.'' — 

 for at such a period as that in which we live, and 

 in such a place as Richmond, it is perfectly outra- 

 geous : Richmond, where there have been more ho- 

 molies printed, and pronounced on state rights and 

 free trade, rigid construction of the constitution 

 and liberal principles, than in all the other states 

 of the United States, and all the other countries 

 in the world. There, in theory, all these privi- 

 leges were lauded to the very skies; but when 

 they come into practical conflict with self-rights 

 and self-interest, they vanish like the morn- 

 ing mists. Surely, with all this " prodigality of 

 words," there is too much " poverty of heart" — 

 for, such a quality only, could induce a wish to sa- 

 crifice the possession of the best sea port, and one 

 that may prove the greatest mart of commerce in 

 the south, to the imaginary benefit of Richmond I 



and Petersburg — I say imaginary, because I do 

 not believe they will suffer, if, at least, they act li- 

 berally ; but on the other hand, I am convinced 

 that they will reap their full proportion of the ge- 

 neral prosperity which must arise from the system 

 of internal improvement now so happily in progress. 



From what source did this illiberality and igno- 

 rance arise.' Am I right in attributing them to 

 the pre])onderance of lawyers in the legislature.'' 

 I wish the sentiments of Mr. Burke and the intel- 

 ligent editor of Blackwood's Magazine were more 

 generally read, more fully comprehended, and 

 more universally believed. Speakingof the French 

 revolution, the editor says: "Burke, judging of 

 the National Assembly on this principle, decided 

 at once that its progress must be a perpetual de- 

 gradation. By analyzing its contents, he showed 

 that the most hazardous classes of society in 

 France constituted its majority. Among those, 

 the lower mevibers of the law were the most pre- 

 dominant ; and his reasons for distrusting them as 

 legislators are fully applicable to England as to the 

 country which they subverted." 



" VVho could flatter himself," observes Mr. 

 Burke, " that men who are habitually meddling, 

 daring, subtle, active, of litigious dispositions and 

 unquiet minds, would easily fall back into their 

 old condition of obscure contention, and laborious, 

 low and unprofitable chicane 1 Ulio could doubt 

 but that,*at any expense to the state, of which they 

 understood nothing, they must pursue their private 

 interest, ichich they understood but too well ? It was 

 not an event dependent on contingency. It was 

 inevitable. It was necessary. It was planted in 

 the nature of things. They must join (it their 

 capacity did not permit them to lead) in any pro- 

 ject which could procui-e to them a litigious con- 

 stitution — which could lay open to them those in- 

 numerable lucrative jobs, which follow in the train 

 of all great convulsions of the state, and particu- 

 larly in all great and violent permutations of pro- 

 l)erty. # # * » # Forbid it, that I 

 should insinuate any thing derogatory to that 

 profession which is another priesthood, adminis- 

 tering the rights of sacred justice. But, while I 

 revere men, in the functions that belong to them, I 

 cannot, to flatter them, give the lie to nature. 

 Their very excellence, in these peculiar functions, 

 may be far from a qualification for others, ft can 

 not escape observation, that, when men are too mu h 

 confined to professional and faculty habits, they are 

 rather disabled than qualified for whatever depends 

 on the knowledge of mankind, on experience in 

 mixed affairs, on a comprehensive view of the vari- 

 ous complicated and internal interests which go to 

 the formation of that multifarious thing called a 

 state." 



" In these remarks," adds the editor, " the allu- 

 sion was directed to the crowd of village lawyers, 

 and other obscure and unprincipled members of the 

 bar, in a country where, as none but the great of- 

 ficials of the profession were held in any public 

 esteem, the general character of the class must be 

 lowered to its rank. 



" The bar in England justly stands on a supe- 

 rior place. But there scarcely can be a doubt, 

 that the eye which looked so deeply into foreign 

 society, had more than glanced on the condition of 

 the Legislature at home, and the hazard which it 

 ran from the influx of lawyers into the house. 

 Burke distrusted their qualification. He might 



