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Tu 'urnIa, D tvoO to I1) %W4l aub Sjouttu ira "We will cling to the Pillars of the Temple 0 our- Liberties, and If it must fall, we will Perish amidst the Ruins." SIMEINS, DURISOE & CO., Proprietors. EDGEFfELD, .C., JANUARY 21, 1857. ~L" -1"--" * PEERCH OF WK. GREGG. On a Bill to amend an Act entitled, " An Act to * authorize aid to the Blue Ridge Railroad Company, in South Carolina." (Bill by th, Committee of Ways and Means.) MR. SPEAKER: In 1854, the Legislature, af ter a long struggle, passed an act which author ized a subscription of a million of dollars, and also a loan of a million, to the Blue Ridge Rail road Company. Certain restrictions were im posed oi the Company, one of which provided that the charter should be so amended, as to re quire that each of the Directors of the Blue Ridge Railroad Company should hold, in their own right, five thousand dollars of stock in the Company. The-amendment proposes to strike out that clause. I have serious objections to that amendment, and as it involves a principle which interweaves itself into all my objections to the Blue Ridge enterprise, I deem it to be a fit occasion to give my views in full on the subject. In doing so, I beg to disclaim all intention of speaking of the South Carolina Railroad, except.to illustrate the subject. I am a stockholder inothat Com pany, and.the gentlemen who have charge of its management are my personal friends. If I own ed 5,000 shares, I would say what I An about to say. I believe, most sincerely, that every dollar the State puts in it will be lost, for I have not the slightest idea that she will respond to the calls that will, necessarily, be made upon her before this work will be so far completed as to - becoise available. 4 There is no man who stands higher in my estimation than Judge Frost, the President of that establishment, and if he were to advise with ine, as a friend, as to what he should do in the matter, I would, n'iihesitatingly, say to him. that I would suspend the whole matter; I would stop the work where it is, and let it so stand, until the people of the States of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee come forwara with as surancea that could not be doubted, that ample means were to be supplied to finish and eq'ip the work in those States. I would then require that the people of Charleston, and of the State, should give me clearly to understand where the means were to come from to build a rond from the city of Charleston to the North Carolina line. I have no doubt but an estimate from the present Engineer, for such a work, would reach twelve or thirteen millions. When this enterprise was commenced, I was a citizen of Charleston, and used my utmost ef forts to prevent that corporation from subscrib. ing a million and forty-nine thousand dollars. Knowing how little confidence the people of Charleston had in the scheme, I could not bring myself to believe that .o small an amount of capital to commence with, could end in any thing short of disaster and defeat. -4.The ground that- ithen took was, that Char leston would derive little or no benefit from a road cut through the mourtains. with a South eastern terminus at Anderson. That it' she were disposed to consult her own interest, she would require as a condition to such a subteription that the work should commence at her own borders. That no city can reasonably expect to thrive and become a great commercial emporium that had but one interior outlet; that, under the control of a chartered Company, and the keys in the pocket of a single individual. That tier dgatiny was fixed and indissoluble with the 'State of South Carolina, and that mainly her great investments in internal improveutents should be made with a view to developing the resources of the immediate country around her. That certain and cheap modes of transportation from all quarters of the State could not fail to re-act on the general prosperity of the city. That the dormant wealth of Charleston miglt be so directed as to be felt in the remotest parts of the State, in stimulating agriculture, drain ing our great swamps and putting into renewed culture our worn-out and waste landa; diversi fying Industry, stimulat'pg the mechanic arts, and increasing the population and wealth of the State. There. is no city in the Union which has accu mulated more wealth to its size than Charleston -none that has shown so little inclination to put forth her wettlth in such a way as to develop the resources of the State. Heir millionaires die in New York. There is scarcely a day that pas - sea over that does not send forth Charleston capital to add to the growth and wealth of that great city. There is a silent and an impercepti ble drain in that direction; the aggregate of which for twenty years would more thatn build a railroad from Charleston to Cincinnati. In order to arrive at a proper conclusion as to what claims the Blue Ridge Company have on the State, and also whether Ihis Legislature can by such acts benefit either the State or that company, it will be necessary to go into an in vestigation of the wole subject. With that object in view I will commene with a review of the early history. It seems that in the beginning there was no serious effort made to procure individual subscriptions in the city or Chare on, indeed the enterprise was coinjmenced in a way that capitalists had no confidence in it. Long before it was known, how thte parties got any money to operate upotn, engimeers were at work in the moutains, and a great flourish of trumpets made abdut contractors who were ready to perform the. whole work at unheard of low prices, and all that was wanted in order to se.dle thme mountaitns and carry out with modern -intgenuity the long since exploded Cincinnati scheme, was a small subseription from the city of Charlestotn, and a very moderate amount from the State. After getting the city of Charleston itt for a - million and fortyninme thousand dollars, without atty serious effort to stir tup thme private capital of that place, indeed withIout showing a disposi tion to draw even upon their own abundat means, a certuin set of Charleston gentlemen came up here, with all the influtencesi that men can sotmetimes bring to bear, and besieged the yegislature t-o take a .,step whtich would force ths State of Sopth Carplinau tp bepome proprie $pr, in pojpinpn' withm the pity of Charlestqn, of gita szpensive enterprise, inyolving ten or fiftpen ptiilllons of capital and the building of a railroad throngh fopr States. J bive byen watching ths piovements of the parties enigagedi in this worls frowmthe pommenee mnent, aud l Inust say that whetn I saw genttle men from Charleston on this floor, asking State aid, wealhy gentlemnen, some of whom have mhips floating in every sea.: I say when I saw such gent lemetn here, asking State aid to build a road which is to be purely commercial in its chiaraicter, for the accommodation of the ship ping interesta of that city, a work whtich can do the State at large so little good, and those gen tlemen not willing to take stock~ themselves, I could not divest tnyself of the apprehension that all was not right. The gentlemen who have been most prominent in this work have no pecuniatry intterest int it, except such paltry aunms as wasn necessary to quatlify ai Director, and ena ble hin to participate in experndintg the State's money. These gentlemen, including the Presi desat and irectors, ad one hundred ad ninety two other individuals, had raised the sum of fif. ty-two 4housand dollars, when preliminary con tracts were entered into to build a road one hundred and ninety-five miles long, through a mountain country the whole way, which is to have thirteen tunnels and thirty-two bridges, varying from one to six hundred feet long, and in some instances to be ninety feet high. They employ inexperienced engineers to perform work which requires all the science ,the present age can bring upon it, and then to cap the climax, they enter into a contract with irresponsible men to build railroads through mountainous coun tries, which had not been explored in order to ascertain the nature of the work. They bargain with these contractors to import iron without stipulating the price; in short, put themselves in the hands of men whose intentions were to swindle them. Is it not strange that our Legis lature could be led so far estray under such cir cumstances, as they were in 1852, when the State proffered its aid and support, and offered a loan of one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, (1,250,000,) and at the same time refused to loan the Greenville Railroad one hundred thousand dollars. Then in 1854, when the Blue Ridge Railroad affairs were in such utter confusion, under in competent managers as Mr. Gwynn's report will show, and what was worse, in the hands of swindling contractors, to see our Legislature commit the State for aid to the amount of $2, 000,000 to be expended on a work a large por tion of it out of the State, and that, too, in what is equal to ready money, and then offer such piti ful sums to useful internal improvements as we have going on in our State, to be paid in depre ciated stocks; when I witnessed all this I think I had a right to draw the conclusion that our ILegislature was a little wild, and wandering from their path of duty to the State. But it is not my object to impugne the mo tives of the projectors of.the Blue Ridge Rail road, nor to casL reflections on the past acts of this Legislature; but to show that as set forth before this body, the Blue Ridge scheme is in. complete, and calculated to mislead the State, and put her in a position which will require the Legislature to do more than the people of the State ever expected to do. In the name of common sense, where is the capital to come from if the State does not as sume the whole work, and undertake to supply the means. Independent of the State, the only resources I can find in the President's report Vich I regard to be reliable, are as follows: City of Charleston subscription ....01,049,000 Private subscription in Charleston .. 52,000 In Pendleton .................... 52,000 In State of Georgia .............. 3,600 North Carolina.................. 55,400 Tennessee ...................... 250,000 Total of......................$1,462,000 To begin a work which, according to Mr. Gwynn's figure., will cost $8,691,677; and to which I would add 6500,000 for additional ma chinerv and according to my estimates for addi tional *work which will be necessary before the wViik'eirn'be useful to the State, $4,500,000 nor'e for a road from Anderson to Charleston giving us the round sum of $13,691,677. In the name of common -ense,'gentlemen, let me ask you where is all this immense sum to come, from? Then again let me ask where this great trade is to find a channel of communica tion with Charleston if the work is to stop at Anderson? Its advocates have eloquently set forth the immense commerce which is to be set in motion; the State is to be flooded with cheap western products, the seas are to be whitened with the commerce that it is to give to Charleston. The wilderness swamps in the vicinity of Branch. ville and down to Charleston, that have slept under the sound of the engine's whistle for twenty years,, are to be waked up. The body politie is to be exhilerateu, and South Carolina is to wipe off the reproach of Rip Van Winkle bloth by a liearty co-operation in this work. Let us not deceive ourselves, but in sober earnest, set to work as men of business and men of capital would do for themselves, were they engsged in such an undertaking. The first in quiry after surveying the ground and making sure the capital necessary to complete the work, would be, how is the trade which will be re quired to pay expenses on this work to get away from Anderson ? A road which has cost rine millions will require a very large business to even pay its expenses and mnake good the wear and tear of road and machinery, to say nothing about interest on capital.. I ask the question again, how is that vast amount of Western produce to get away from Anderson ? Will the Greenville Railroad be able to do it? It is absurd to talk about it. But we will pass on a little further anid suppose the trado to have reached the South Carolina Railroad at Colum bia, or any other point you choose to name. Can that Company add to its present enormous business the trade which will be necessary to support a 9,000,000 road, drain the vast country which it is to penetrate, when it gets beyond the Cumnberland mountains, and furnish a trade which is to make Charleston the queen city of~ the South ? Admit that the South Carolina Railroad Coin. pany will set about at once to prepare for such a trade, by building double track. Witli it do the business on such liberal terms as to enable the Blue Ridge Railroad Company to pay ex penses? If we draw our conclusions from the experience of the past, we wvill be bound to come to the copelusion that the last proposition is as absurd as the first. Any man wiho looks at all irnto the subject is bound to come to the conclusion that the Blue Ridge Railroad Company will stand in the same re!ation to the South Carolina Railroad Compa ny that the people of the Stale now do. It is said their interest, if not identical, will be mu tual. So it was said with regard to the Green ville arnd Charlotte Railroads.- But what are tlbe facts of thme case ? That great Company which monopolises every thing has dictated its own terms to railroads and individuals, and will continue to do so, in reference to the Blue Ridge Railroad. If the South Carolina Rail road Company do not kill the goose for the golden egg, she pill at least put, it on short allowance, ptoog at the past histofy of that enterprise; Iook at the present state of things: TIhie Colum bia people buiiding steamboats, qnd applying to yout to open nan1'atton. that they may haye a fre outlet for 'reenyjle an4 Charlottp flait road cotton. 'Khe people of Newberry, hauling ctton across the Greenville Railrond, and gobtag in wagons sixty and seventy miles to avail them selves of Georgia facilities and Georgia markets, and cotton that used to coame to this place eigh tv miles in wagons on its way to Charleston, now taking *lhe back track up thie Charlbtte Road, and thence to North Carolina anark ets over the North Carolina Roads; and with all this staring us in the face. the managers of the South Carolina Road will tell you that tiey have tracks and machinery enough to do all the business. On the other line of road, leading from Char leston to Hamburg, this is ain evil whch is fet to be a sore grievance; anywhere above 75 miles, the people are required to pity 25 per met amn thana the Georgia people. If the.... tiele of hay be brought up to Aiken and Gran iteville, the freights is 30 cents; if the same article goes on ten or fifteen miles further to Augusta, the freight will be but 20 cents. If our Granitville cloth, the product of South Car oliria industry, go to Charleston, it pays 25 per c'ent. more than gimilar goods from Georgia, although we are ten miles nearer. . If we send our goods into Georgia or Alabama, we are charged 15 cents a hundred pounds for ten miles to Augusta, which is the price of freight from Charleston to New York, and equal to the third of the freight on a similar bale from Liverpool to Charleston, and I of the price of shipping a bale of sheetings 170 miles on the Georgia road. Although the South Carolina Railroad has been in operation, I may say, a quarter of a century, the country along its line is compara. tively a wilderness. Finely timbered lands im. mediately alongside of the road, have been sold, since 1847, for 25 to 50 cents an acre, and that within 38 miles of Charleston. When Graniteville was established in 1846, 75 cents to a dollar was a common price for. well tim. bered, lands on the railroad, and within ten miles of Augusta. This is truly a commentary on Mr. Gwynn's notions and quotations from DeBow's Review-remarks which are attached to his report on the Blue Ridge road, which speaks of how much the South Carolina road has done for the country along the line of road. The truth is that it is the interest and policy of the South Carolina Railroad to keep all that country unimproved and in a wilderness state ; and it always will be so until they are compell. ed to look for business at home, or the people of the country find other means of transporta. tion to market. From a few miles above Charleston, timber, cross.ties and fuel men have no market but the railroad, except it be imme diately'on the Edisto River. All the wood and timber along the line of the road belongs to the South Carolina Railroad Company as effectually as if they had a fee simple to the land. Those who furnish the company do it for prices which will barely' pay for the labor, considering the timber to be worth nothing; and I am only sur prised that the Railroad Company shot ld have held so long as they have $100,000 worth of land. This explains at once why that country has remained so long a wilderness, while it abounds with the finest merchantable timber on earth. There has always beei such a pressure of through Western business on the South Caro lina Railroad that it has not been the interest of that establishment to seek local business. At certain seasons of the year there has always been such a flood of both up and down freights, that the President has never been able, if he were willing, to say to lumber men, buikl mills on the road, bring ranging timber, shingles, staves, &c., and it shall be taken to Charleston promptly, at all seasons of the year, and at fair rates. Nothing has been done in that way to de velop the resources of that vast wilderness country, which lies an idle waste, and a living reproach upon our enterprise. In tie Summer season, when blsiness'shick. ens, lumber and heavy articles are carried at liv. ing rates. But as soon as the Western trade sets in, every thing of the kind is thrown over board, the freights on lumber, bripks, and all heavy articles are raised to a scale of prohi bition. Some may suppose that this is a sin that o'ught to be brought down upon the heads of the President and Directors. But I think not, it grows out of very nature of things, and if vou expect much better from them, you look for more than reason would warrant you to look for. In the absence of competition it will always be so, to the great detriment of the country, and retmain a draw back on the prosperity of Charleston. That the South Carolina Railroad is a mon opoly beyond all control, we are all willing to admit. That it will remain so until competition relieve us is equally apparent. It is also equally as obvious, that every new railroad which has it. terminus so located as to have no other outlet than the South Carolina Railroad must inevitably inicrease tha~t evil ; and I warn this Legialature of the necessity of so directing her inivestmients as to mitigate and not increase this evil and burden upon our country. I think that gentlemien who have carefully examined the Presidents and Engineer's reports on the Blue Ridge Rtoadi must have come to the conclusion that it will fall to the lot of the State of South Carolina to furnish the means to do pretty ntearly the whole work, and that if she does'not tire and abandon it before the work is half comlheted, the meatns will be supplied so relutantly and slowly, as to renden it a very costly work. Judge Frost informs us that in paying a part in stock, part in bonds and the balatnce in cash, it enhances the cost, so that lie gets no more for a dollar than 70c. in money would command. Where is the capital to come from to relieve this difficulty? What has Georgia done, and wvhat will she do ? The peo ple of that State have subscribed $3,600 to. wards a work which is to cost $885,404,00. What has North Carolina done ? Literally nothing; the people of that State have subscrib ed $55,400 towards building a road seventy. three miles long, and which is to cost $2,330, 790.90. What has Tennessee done ? Very little indeed; her subscription amounts to no more than 8250,000, raised principally by the issue of county bonds, the legality of which is to be tested by legal investigation. The sum total is $250,000.00 to build a road fifty-three miles long, and wjuich is to cost 61,536.918.00. The State of Tennessee has passed an act for the purposu/ of aiding in the construction of railroads in Tennease. That act involves the isuo'of bonds to the nmount of the enormous suim of seventeen millions of' dollars for works now in progress or about to be. But how differ ent that act is from the proceedings of our Legislature in subscribing and loaning to the Blue Ridge Road. The act of the Legislature of Tennesse ati thorizes the issue of State bonds to be loaned to nll newv railroad companies in the State, a sufficient sum to purphase the iron and build the necessary bridges. The road, before it can receive the bonds, must be graded and the mu. persructure on it, then the State takes a first mortgage on the road. The State in that way ma~y loan her credit do a vast amount and do good to the State without hazard of loss, for the very iron which her bonds purphase is ulor taged with thle road for the debt, The State of Tennessee doe. nothIng more than to loan her bonds In this case to the Knox. vlle and Charleston raIlroad eompany for' ,650,. 000.00, to purchase the Iron and buIld the bridges. She takes very good care to provide that the road shall be graded and the wooden superstructure on it before the buonds shall be issued, which arc to be secured by .rtmr tage. rtmr \ve regard South Carolina to be the pro. pritor of' this large undertaking, and the facet cannot be disguised, can the credit of the State of Tennessee be regarded as a part of the avail, able assets ? Can the State of South Carolina whic-h has always been set jealous of her righta nd independenee, bring herself down to a posh. tion that will plaie her in the situation of a bor. rnWy'? a ersadmut n( then mta of TPaaes... I It will be the.lft of imprudence for us to count on getting)at with a sum short of ($12, 000.000) twelvsfi llions of dbllars without counting the cit of Charlestin subscription, and the small surXeceivedin other Stales, and after the road is it, what will be our condi tion ? We will~ ,ian unwieldy property-a political hobby flir needy politicians to ride and to rule the S' with an iron rod. No man can lo- at the subject for a moment without seeing .t !a direct.road to Charleston will be inevitable When tIie Blue Ridge gets to Aiken it will.- the hands of the south Carolina Railrr mpany,,,Jbject to- their will and pleasre, their 'Ates, however ex orbitant, and the Ml be no alternative left but to buy that e ern out, or build a road to Charleston, whor .hBlue Ridge ought to have commenced. I am not willii to see the State of South Carolina engage itany public work without hav ing at least three-hs of the stock subscribed by responsible in 8. Individual en. 'ise and capital ought to predominate in ev great work. The absence of it has shipwrc many a promising under taking. In nearl I the recently made rail. roads leading on, f Northern cities, private capital predomind ; and yet they are set forth as examples to 0, our State into a work in which she will -,no inch aid. There are few:it works within my ktowl. edge which have tved successful. The great Erie Canal is on e4ht is, however, so dissimi lar to a railroad, 4iit a just comparison can scarcely be made great canal like the Erie may be com.iare a river, which is free to every man to u s own craft, his own ma chinery, ehlsing own mode of propelling. The whole opers n is individual enterprise, independent of al l'eAtraint, excent payiu.u' .^ tolls. The State Niw York on that work simply receiies th. tools, and has nothing to gain or to lose, e good or bad management of the working 4artment; while railroading is the most. compl -business known to civilized man. There is no ess which requires such comprehensive i1 lly connected driving en terprise, and min t dtailed economy. A rail road is not wo ny thing without a good manager to condue it. Out of 50,000 men you can scarcely fiid man for a railroad presi. dent; and withoutod management it will be a tax upon is oWper. Tie Georgia Sa.e road is another successful State enterprise. It-is somewhat similar to the. Blue Ridge road enepi that it passes its entire length through a prjductive, agricultural part of the State of Georgia, which was a wilderness waste before thit pork was commenced. It opened a now andVit field for profitable agri. culture, as was thi-*se with the Erie Canal and Gennessec country -n that way, the Stales of Georgia anrid New ork have been largely cow pensated for the o ya incurred. But you must Jn mind, that the Slate of Georgia, before 8, ould move in that matter, secure&Aol 'a atiet to the seaboard, to Uhnauetorr, 2 : If.N iisllrgilnret for that before she went into that enterprise. It proved successful, and the State of Georgia now owes but $500,000 for her public works. With out that competition outlet, that property would have been worthless. Thb State road at Au gusta felt that inconvenience in occasional low rivers, which threw that Company on the mercy of the South Carolina Railroad Company; but that has been obvinle I by the Waynesboro road to Savannah, thus giving that work two outlets. The great railroad works all around us are cited as examples for emulation. I have learned long since that all is not gold that glitters. We are very apt to look at the success and brilliant out. ward show of an enterprise, rather than to the difficulties that it has had to encounter. The histo'ry of the rise and progress of the Georgia State road ought to be a beacon light to warn South Carolina of the quick -sands ani shoals which eame near swamping the State of Geor gia. That State hnd a banking institution simi lar to our Bank of the State. In the midst of Georgia's embarrassments with her great State work, her Bank gave way, and it became ne cessary to wind it up; her p~ublic works had to bc suspended, and remained so for several years, during which time Georgia State 7 per cent. bonds went down to 48 cents in the dollar, and it was only through large loans from Charleston merchants that Georgia was able to resume her works, and pay interest on her debt. Now, Mr. Speaker, let me ask you, are we not liable to the same state of things ? Is our bank on a better foundation than the State Bank of Georgia was? Can we flatter ourselves that we are bettor able to manage a bank, or a pub lic work, than the enterprising people of Geor gia?-admitted on all sides to be a people un exampled for bold and successful works, and who constitute the Empire State or the south ? But to return to the subject. Did you ever know a State government to carry on a business right ? Have we not a sad lesson before us in the new State Capitol? Over $300,000 entirely lost and gone before we commence to get out the stones for a foundation.: slave we not a lesson almost equal to it in the first three years of operation on the Blue Ridge Road? From the reports before us, we have reason to come to the conclusion that the whole operation is chargeable with errors, confusion, loss and ab sence of progress-for it is no nearer comple tion now than it was the time of its commence ment. Would any of you be willing to purchase a ic or a cotton plantation, or a large mercan tile concern, ithat was under the control and management of the State? I think you will say no. Then why will involve the State in a large debt for works which she is not capable of managing ? It is bad enough to spend ready money in doubtful and unprofitable enterprises -to borrow for such purposes is unpardonable. Some years ago I had occasion to visit many of the railroad establishments at the North. I was there struick with the difference between the manag ment of - State works, and those which were'owned and managed by enterpiisiqg individuals. The offe~ps gf- 5t'te works Nad the appearance' of' any~fmg more than that of a place of business. Segar smokers in idleness, business papers scattered about mixed with segar stumps, all confusion, floors not swept once a month, yard gates broken ; if you wan ted information, the man who could give it was out, indeed every indication of careless rah Ilow diffe.ent~ the qffce j60 in injyjiual eniter pr~iso-~!everythin~g as ueat as a pin, and as order las a mercantile counting house. The Pennsylvamia State works are notorious for bad managomenit, and works which cost that State a dlebt of $40,000,000, will soonbe worthless property ; they are now being ranr' ly superceded by wvorks of in'.,prciclcl act -, nder9.2utrection of individual capi The Georgia State Road is complained of by3 every body ; the people of Georgia are heartily tired of their ownership, and the State wvould have sold out long ago, but for the political poer of the road to retain itself in the hands of the State. f oident that if the Blue Ridge Rail roadwas ompltedfrom Knoxville to the city of Charleston, and 'owned by the ciyand the State, its msanssma odalitthhad of politicians; and it would be so badly iianag ed as to be a worthless property; The State of South Carolina has had warning enough, (independent of those which I have just cited,) to-teach her that she should be ex tremely cautious how she embarks in public works. In 1820 to '24 she was largely engaged in works of internal improvement on her own ac count. After expending the sum of $2,300,000, she abandoned the work, and that sum has been proved to be a total loss to the State. In 1836 the people and the State embarked again, with a flourish of trumpets, in an enter prise to build a great railroad from Charleston to Cincinnati; which work was to be completed in three years. The only serious obstacle that seemed to be in the way was that the State of Kentucky refused to permit us to build a rail road bridge over the Ohio- River to Cincinnati, which was to cost only a million (f 4ollars. The Kentucky opposition was-a serious obstacle in deed; and all eyes were turned to Old Ken tucky, who thus stood obstinately in our way. In order to obviate tmat serious difficulty, one of our most talented youngmen, now amember of this House, was sent, at an expenseof $5,000, on 'a special mission to Frankfort, ip Kentucky, to make an appeal to the Legislature of that State. His eloquence was triumphant. The State of Kentucky yielded-purchased the fi ngst horse in the State and sent our minister home upon him. Cincinnati was illuminated on that occasion; transparencies were hung up in the windows, representing passenger trains of cars departing for Charleston, and all rejoiced in the confident hope that as tlte bridge obstacle was removed, mountains would give way, and the gold of the South would soon create a new state of things in that region of country. Two years after that time I made a journey in a :rivate conveyance over. the country, near trie li.e of that road. The engineers were then at work in the mofttains. 1 came to the conclusion that our great work would not be completed in my day. I was asked while in Cincinnati how long it would take to finish the work. My reply was twenty to twenty-five years! The people could scarcely listen to such suggestions with any sort of patience, for they were living under the delusive hope that Char leston would in two years more have her loco motives in Cincinnati. We all know how soon that bubble burst. It was nothing but the $3,000,000 of individual subscription that saved the State at that time from another total loss. I have a clear recol lection of the natter, for I had subscribed some thousands of dollars, and worked ten long years, in common with other private stockholders, to save ourselves from serious, and we sometimes thought total loss. I there received many prac tical lessons on the sulject, and think I under stand something about the embarrassments that a State may get herself into unless she moves very cautiously in large undertakings like this One of the first operations of the Cincinnati and Charleston Railroad Company was to pur chas,the:.Heu qurglo dgnvrder.to~ineqma sikriptioni to an amount thit-woudentitle them to State aid. In this way they obtained twenty thousand shares of subscription-55 in every $125 was to be a share of stock in the new compatiy. When the Hamburg road changed hands, it was transferred by a Board of twelve Directors -Charleston capitalists-who had achieved in mortal fame by building one of the first and the longest railroads in the world, and put upon it the second locomotive that ever went on iron ways. liat concern, cruel to relate, went into the hands of twenty-four directors, that knew nothing about railroads practically, coluposed of conspicuous gentlemen and politicians, scattered frota the seaboard in South Carolina to the banks of the Ohio River. Nothing short of a general or leading politician was thought to be in keeping with this gigantic enterprise, nut one of the old directors was placed where he could have a voice in the management of this new company. You will perceive at once that mat ters took suddenly a new direction. Business men were thrown out, and the establi.shment had assumed a political character-or, I might more appropriately have said, no character at all-for the stockholders had individually so little at stake, and were so dispersed over this Stite, North Carolina and Tennessee, that no one seeime: to care much about it, and paid it little or no attention until the company became embarrassed, and begando call for instalments. The Cincinnati and Charleston Railroad Co. purchased the Hamburg Road, which up to that time had cost for building and re~iuilding, $2, 000,000, and agreed to give $2,500,000, faking it, however, with all its assets and liabilities ; and it ultimately cost the new company $3, 300,000, just sixty-three per cent. advance on its cost-a pretty dear bargain. B3ut it gave them a subscription of two thousand shares, and secured State aid. Iew engineers were imported, a principal at a salary of ten thousand a year, and some genm tlemen strongly advocated a salary of twenty thousand dollars, on the ground tlhat ten thou sand was too paltry a sum to offer so great an engineer to take charge of so great a work. The State was then in for $1,000,000 subscription, and $2,000,000 loan. The new company commenced at Branchiville, and were led away by influences that never could have moved men who were using thieir own capital, to take around-about route through the Congaree swamps, sixty-eight miles, at an expense of $3,000,000 or thereabouts, to reach Columbia, when they could, by branching at Blackville, have obtained a direct dry ground route forty-five miles long at a cost of $800,000. After expending near a million on the Broad River route, the question was serioqjsly enter tained whether that route should be abandoned and the more direct onr adopted. It was then found that $250,000 had been expended in sur veys. The route which the engineers passed over could be readily traced by thp ohanipagne bottles that were 14f rn the watysido, and wa gan 1o;ds gf eastly engineering istruments, Wehioh were purchased at great cost, were eitimer taken away by some of the retiring member~s of the corps of engineers, or were left to take care of themselves in Tennessee and Kentucky ; few of them found their way back to the oflimco in Charleston. Such is the history of man enter prise in the days of ynung Frimxmt, who was a enginer on tligt work. Thio history of the Cincinnati project is unequalled, exept by the getting up of' the Bhue Ridge scheme, its reckless contracts and consummate blunders in the exe cution of two and a half years operations. I was in the Board of Railrona.. Sank Direc tors for several --73 and afterwards in the .adBoa rd, and lost my seat in both of these Boards by efforts to bring matters into some-, thiing like a business shape ; and I can attest to the fact, that the government and operations of the South Carolina Railroad Company never as sumned a business shape and charnicter until the stock became concentrated into few hands, and the State parted with her interest and gave up her vote in the election of officers. I have a per fect recollection of how matters stood, and how anxious the large stockholders were to get rid of the State as a partner. They believed as I dId, that the establishment new er would be an interest paying stock, while the State held a large amount and voted URD it. And such were-the impressions then made upon my mind, that I came to the determination never to become personally interested in any public work, where the capital had to be raised in smaU sums drawn from individuals by patri otic a ppeals, or where State aid was required and obtained, unless the State relinquished her right to participate in the management. Now, Mr. Speaker, the Chief Engineer of the Blue Ridge Railroad has read us a lesson on the advantages which hav. been derived by many of our principal cities by the extensions of rail roads. Those, remarks connected, with the list of subscribers in Charleston, furnished by the President, is, I think, a fit subject for comment. Every body must admit that railroads have a developing tendency; to deny that, would ex hibit a total ignorance of what the spirit of pro. gress has done for our country; and, I may say for the whole civilized world, durink the last thirty years. And I am free to admit that where they are properly located, carried out, and man aged with spirit and enterprise, that these advan tages can scarcely be estimated. That gentle man cites the increase of the value of property in Boston as an example: Boston ! tiat city which has of recent days run mad on an ab. straction, and clings to niggerdom closer than even to the almighty dollar! That city was originally opposed to the Tarriff, but when it was forced upon her, she withdrew a large portion of her capital from commerce, and sent it forth into the country to build up industrial pursuits. She spread her capital not only over Massachusetts but the States of New Hampshire, Maine, 9nd Connecticut. She dammed up rivers, built manufacturing towns, stimulated agriculture, and every other branch of industry, and obtained in return a rich harvest of reproduction. When railroad enter prises came about, she, with her quadrupled capital, set about to make railroad avenues, and with her own capital traversed all Massachusetts, all New England, and scaled the mountains to wards Canada, and the great Erie Canal, in or der to bring that great work to contribute to the wealth of Boston and'of Massachusetts. Can it be said of Charleston that she is not able to build her own commercial outlets? Were it not that the bungling legislation of this State has fenced her out from the back country, she would long since have cut out ways fur her commerce in every direction. The exclusive charter granted to the South Carolina Railroad Company has shut her out, and has been the means of transferring millions of her capital to other cities. No, Mr. Speaker. It will only be necessary to show the Charleston capitalists a practical scheme, and one vbich promises profi table results, in which our politicians cannot meddle, and ley will be found to be as ready and as able contributors as the citizens of any place in the Union. Charleston is asleep and slothful, because you have made her so; and she helped you to do it. Here is a list of stockholders, which speaks volumes, and it is proof conclusivet ,mind that the wealthy merchants a of Charleston.neil I' Co materially enhance er tr Leaving out those who have subscribed to take a directorship, I find that only one gentle man has subscribed ten shares; out of the four daily papers that made so much dust in getting up the breeze for the Blue Ridge road, only two have subscribed one share each. Seven mer chants, two hundred dolfars, and one hupdred and eighty-six individuals, one share, of one hundred dollars each-they are principally mer chants whose business would be doubled, if the Blue Ridge brought Charleston an increase of trade that would even approximate to what some setm to have anticipated. The 186 individuals subscribed just as little as they could put down, and get clear of those who were pressing them 'to subscribe. Why, the chimney sweeps and shoe blacks of Boston would do better than that if in earnest. Need we speak of Boston alone? look at Ila]. timore. ler merchants and capitaliatsstibseribed to the Baltimore and Ohio road stock to the anrt of $5,432.300,00, the city corporation $3,500,000.00 subscription, and $3,500,000.00 loan. Maryland subscribed to that work $685, 500.00. The city of Wheeline $500,000.00. How much the State of 31aryhind hats loanesi that company dues not appear in their reports; a loan by a State is a very diff'erent matter from a subscription, for in that case the State does not meddle with the managemient. South Carolina has a great deal to do inter. nally, without cutting runds through the moun tains to foster the commerce of cities. If she will confine herself to loans, as is the case in Tennessee, individual capitail and management will then prevail; she could scari~ely in thiatease place hersolf in a wrong position, and might safely incur a large debt in that way, in promno ting the general welfare of the State. If that had been the undeviating rule of the Legisla. ture, it would not have been besieged as it was In 1853 an'd 1854. It, was astonishing to wit ness the influences that were brought to bear upon the Legislature at the last onset fnr the Blue Ridge Railroad in 1854. The city of Char leston having been drawn into it, all of her in fluence was brought to bear upon the Legisla. ture. The South Carolina Railroad Company having mothing to lose, and everything to gain by it, she of course joined the clamor. 'Tho Banmk of the State, another powerfully influen tial institution. always ready to show how the State can get out of debt through her surpl4 earnings, she too joined thme clamor, and the Pr~sident of the Bank was as busy an-advocate for ~the appropriation to tho Blue Ridge Rail. road, as could be found about Colombia. Whether impressions were made by him or others, certain it is, that some members voted for the appropriation, under the dolusive idea that the,Bank of the State was to pay off' the bonds. God save the State of South Carolina from so frail a rlanre as a political bank, to sustain her oredit in time of trouble. Eloquent appeals by Charleston men to excite the patriotism of gen tlemen on this Iloor; the young men were called on to come to the rescue of South Carolina, just as though our State was to go into ruin, dilapidation and disaster, if the bill failed to pass the Houso.. The Greenvillo Railroad. Its influence was secured by expectations that it was to be the outlet, and so with the Savannah Valley road. It was also to be an outlet, and wanted aid from the State. The Cheraw and Darlington Road wanted Slate aid, and so did tthe North-Eastern, and the Charleas'n and Savannah Roads. The fri."5 of the above natmed establishments, and others I could name, had all to fall into tho ranks with the Blue Ridge men, or they were to be read out. Then comes old E'dgefleld. The members from that quarter had theo expectation of a splendid railroad, right through the centre of the District to Aiken. By such influences was this ruinous subscrip tion secured; and unless there be some roles established by wvhich the State will be restricted in her power to is.%ue bonds a-d libituan, we will always be subject to be carried away' by sueh am storm. No one LegIslature ought to have the powem of committing the State to such large and reck. less speculations as this; the country ought te have time to consider well, and canvass suell matters thoroughly before any movement. oi that kind is made which wilIcommit the State-. ,to the expenditure of miilions of dollars. Such is the lire.and reckless sjiirit with which bonds are resorted to now,tliat there is secarcely enterprise, however useless and unnecessary, that may not be forced upon the' State, a city, village, county, or any otier corporation-gas works, water works, in fact any thihg, that in genious arguments may make it appear to be for the public good. If this State tiouse were to burn down to.morrow, such a thing as taxa tion to build a temporary house would, in all probability, shrink before the convenient system of issuing six per cent. bonds. The bond debts of all the States and corpo rations in the United States have swelled to nearly, if not over, a thousand millions, and the system must end, sooner or later, in overwhelm ing disaster. Such has become the reliance of all projeci ors of public works on State and corporation subscriptions, that private capilalists, our only security for good management, are not regarded to be at all essential. Indeed the capitalsts, who are the bone and sinew of our country, avoid most studiously any act which will bring their capital in reach of such crazy men. The State wal reluctant.to go into the Blue Ridge enterprise, and threwthe only shield she couldget.around her, and5provided that-the e management should. be in the hands of interest ed -men; and this bill, if it passes, will take that only security from us. It is said that South Carolina has done little or nothing for railroads, while all tfie other States are going ahead with gigantic steps. So, much the better for us. . Our- railroads have kept fully up with our other improvements. We can egunt mile for mile in proportion to territo ry, with many, if not all the States. Let as fin ish those we have started, which, I feel a confi dent hope will all work themselves into perma. nent and profitable establishments. _We want rest and repose from this eternal ding-dong'on the State for aid, and What we, and the whois people of the United States want, above all oth. gr things,-is, that the idea that railroads are naL in future to loo.k to private capital for their erection. The States will continue to auander and missapply, but will finally tire, as IPennsyl vania has done. Private capital will thencome to the rescue, and the day is not 'distanthen you will see Charlesto- capital set in motion; which will not stop at millions to break through the barrier which lies between that city and the: back country. ' -1 The exclusive right to construct railroads-to Columbia, 'Camden, Augusta and the waters of the Savannah River, does not clash with a road-, directly from Charleston, or Beaufort, to Aqder son. Why was the Blue Ridge ' Railroad not commenced at Charleston ? With proper men at the head of such an enterprise, it would have commanded the wealth of that city. Charlesy has the capital. If a cliizier could be obtained-with an unrestricted right to build another road to Apgusta, I %would my reputation upon it, that thee 0 Ch ansacap. tal, besideithe Bank of thoState-;-twice as much as the legitimate business of that city re quires ; hence you find that a large portion of her capital is in Wall street, N. Y., and still a larger portion in New Orleans, Mobile, Memphis, Montgomery, Ala., Columbus, Ga., and other commercial towns in the south-west. Charles ton has,Jesides bonds no one can say how much. And will it be said that the people of Charleston would refuse to take 3-5 of the stock in a road which they believed would bring to that city onre-half or one-fourth of the trade which the friends of the Blue Ridge look for? The proposition is absurd, and the -truth is, that they had not the slightest faith in the Blue Ridge enterprise, or of the practical ability qf the gentlemen who were at the head of it, who had just completed a very wasteful expenditure of about a million of dollars for the South Ca rolina Railroad Company, to build a new inclined plane, and other expensive works almost as bad,' and had turned upide down the affairs of that company. They were not the men to lead forth at that time the capital of Chiarleston. Private capital is always shy, some men can command it as with a magic wand, but such' men are few and seldom to be found. In order to show how esiiial has been dis posed to seek railroad and other country invest muents from Charleston, it'.tlie samue disposition does not exist now, I will relate some facts~ which may illus'trnte the case: In 1845 an enterprise was started to build a manufnecturing town in the interior,and although' such projects had but little of thie confidence of the public mind, upwards of two hundred thou.. sand dollars were without any dificeulty raised for that purpose. Some years after that three gentlemen of that city, one in particular, a very wealthy gentleman, started a project to make as nearly an air line railroad as could be 'made from the city of Charleston to Macon, in Georgia. In order to accompiinh that object, application was made to the Georgia Legislature for a char. ter. The first application was rejected. There were, however, strong expectations held out that another application would be successful. A second was made, and simultaneously with it, an application for a charter from this State, with a pledge that the company woul4 not ask the State for a dollar of aid. The bill was lost in this Legislature, on the ground that it would be acting in bad faith towards the South Carolina Railroad Company, which enjoyed a monopoly from this State-the constitutionality of whicih we intended to lest. News went to Georgia that we had failed to get a charter here, anid caused a failure there by four votes in the lower. house, thce Senate having passed the bill. The who!e capital necessary to build the road was promised. The principal mover in the mat ter was pledged to furnish a half-million, another gentleman 8150,000, another 100,000 ; ~ and those three gentlemen would have supplied a million and a half rather than permit the work to stop. One of those gentlemen has since died, and iL was found that a million of his capital was located in New York; another has recently died in New York, to whlichc ilace he had trans ferred 8300,000 of his capital-beth native born sons of Souith Carolina. They were both living when the Blue Ridge was started; neither wouldl take a single dollar in it. I have in my mind, another individual, who wvas an apprentice 'ooy when I went to Charles ton in ,1838. Hes has retired from Charleston with aconct one hundred thousand dollars, and ia now building a village in New England.' Mr. Speaker, if I have been able to unfold my views on thi.s vastly important subject, I have shown that the State will have to expend a very large sum of' money in this enterprise, and add enormously to her debt. How far she will be compensated, time oicly can develope. I will now close by a few brief femarks on the general prospects, and the probable working operations of the road, in reference to advancing the commerce of Charleston, an/promoting the" welfare and wealth of the State. Now, it is not.my object to set forth the doe trino that railroads are not profitable to a coun try~sor that the people of Charleston and the. State of South Carolina -could not build a rail road frqm the seaboard to the -Ohio River, or that such a road could not be made to be proS. -CeX~eDm O)IraUn-rO2