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m vu,
■ smarten &asette
I I EDITED AJVn t*U BUSHEb
■vs. F. GRIVDISON
r (on the bay). \
H 5 fier annum, payable in advance.
fl CONGRESS.
OF KEPKEsEN I A FIVES.
. JANUARY 7.
: I CUMBERL AND RO AD.
I H e House went in.rt committee on
I aMili for continuing tlie Cumberland
; all-Mr. Sterling in the Chair.
fl e question being on the motion of
IMb Beecher to fill the blahk with
|5).000,.
Clay then addressed the Chait
pHe following effect:
|.H[r. Chairman: I regret extremely
Iwflany expectation which may have
pH created to learn my sentiments on
should have caused ade-
Hn the passage of this bill. Enter
as I do, a strong conviction of
bjHpolicy ofthe measure—a convic
l&Bstrengthened by every review I
feH het n able to give to the subject, I
indeed, been anxious to contri
■ my aid to the carrying of it into
In inv present debiii.ated stale,
Iscßevei', iaboiing uncle, ali the effects
i-Bdisposiiion, I present myself to the
He of the House, exciting expecta
|H which I do not feel myself in a si
>Hion to fulfil; and could I nave con-
Brd mv own inclination on the sub-
I. and have divested myselfof that
He of duty, which is predominant
B other feeling, in a matter which
lB e Ply interests my country, I should
Bandy give, on this occasion, a silent
Chairman: I do not intend, in
ftl course of the few observations
B ; h I propose to make, to renew
■ discussion as to the constitutional
Berof Congress to appropriate mo
• 1 fov the pui poses of internal im
■ e/nem , This question has been
B^ len debated, thai I could not add
Bhing new to what has already been
Bcd on the subject. That question
B now, indeed, be considered as sm-
B not only by the decisions of Con-
H. on many occasions, but particu-
B by a vote o* the present Congress,
Bngits last session, in making an ap-
B’ tation to a system of general sur-
B- Bat I wiil say tlfat the power
B> s house to make appropriations
Breai national improvements, as a
Htinn of union, involves the salva
fluf the country, and all those bright
Bpects which the scheme of internal
B’ ov ement opens to us, and which
■be realized by no other means.—
Mhave no right to expect that im-
Bements of a national character will
B° lie by individual states in then se-
B’c and individual capacity. We
B no right to expect that improve-
Bis of a national character will be
B by individual states in their sepa-
B and individual capacity. We have
■tore right to expect this, than that
■ great political questions which
Be within the cognizance of the Ge-
Bi Government will be settled by
Bteparate and distinct states. We
|B no more right to ask this of an in
ißltial State, than we have to demand
fßto make war:—no more right than
|P k of it to build the fortifications
Bh are necessary for the general de-
B e; no more light than to require of
B ex ecutc any of the important du-
B w hich the constitution has devolv-
Bpon us;—it is our duty and not
B’ s - There are some states, indeed,
if called on to undertake the
B k °f internal improvement within
B w n Gmits, might perform it with
and efficiency. So it was
Hew-York. That great state un-
Book-an immense work; one which
■ was desirous the general govern-
Bt should have assisted her in per-
Bing; and one, for the execution of
■ch, I am of opinion, that she has
■ a powerful claim on the justice of
Bs ress But no state will ever en
■lmo a general measure wi'.h that vi
■’ which it would feel in executing a
■ k in which it is itself distinctly and
■arately interested.
V he first view, Mr. Chairman, which
B'opose to take of this subject, is to
■uu e—if this is an object of sufficient
Igoitiule to justify us in the appro-
of the national resources to iis
Ihpietion. I will not confine myself
■hie simple proposition of its effects
l'>nasiaie; but will look at the ob-
r l proposed by this bill as a chain, a j
DARIEN wSt* GAZETTE.
part of a great national work to unite
those parts of the nation which it is
most desirable to unite. From Balti
more, to Wheeling, on the East Bank
of the Or.io, a distance of 270 miles,
there is notv an uninterrupted fine of
turnpike road; and fiomthis city to the
Ohio, there is an uninterrupted line of
turnpike, excepting a small gap fyom
Rockville to Frerleiicktown, in Mary
land. A line from the Potomac to the
foot^f, the Alleghany Mountains, ter
minates at the point I have mentioned.
The total distance of this line is one
hundred and thirty-five miles, about
eighty-five milesof which runs through
Virginia. This entire route runs
through the eastern states. The pro
position in the biil now before the com
mittee, is to extend this road from the
point where it now terminates, viz:—
from Wheeling to Zanesville, in Ohio,
a distance of eighty miles Should
this proposition meet with a favorable
reception, the whole extent of turnpike
road would be completed from this
place to Zanesville, a distance of 350
miles. I will say a few words upon the
character of the country through which
this .road will have to pass. After
reaching the Western side of the Alle
gany Mountains, it will be interrupted
by a number &f hills, extending to the
Muskingum river, until it reaches
Zanesville; and perhaps a few
from the latter place, commences, an
extensive plain—an alluvial valley,
which is scarcely interrupted by a sin
gle hill, until you reach the Mississip
pi, a distance which comprises not less
than 420 miles. The proposition, then,
is mos; important in its character, since
it nor only relates lo what has been done
but to what yet remains to be done, to
a road already begun, and carried to a
certain point, and which is now to be
terminated. When completed, it will
connect ibis place directly with New-
Orleans; and it conies recommended
to us by the consideration—and an in
teresting one it is—that it will connect
no less than nine states, and two terri
tories. Whethor, therefore, it goes
light or left, or both, the interest f all
these nine states and two territories is
concentrated in the completion of this
road to Za'nesqille.
[Here the honorable Speaker made
a few observations which we were pre
vented from hearing by a conversation
close behind us.]
Is the object rontemplaled by this
bill to be viewed as a national object?
Let us look at the effects which have
resulted from it, as fai as the road has
yet been completed. Let us look at it,
as regards time. From Baltimore to
Wheeling, previous to the construc
tion of this road, it required from eight
to ten days to travel; it is now done in
three days. The states in the vicinity
of this road derive the greatest advan
tages from the capital which lias been
called into operation. We see houses
springing up all along its borders.—
We behold it increasing the consump
tion, multiplying the population, and
adding to the wealth of the country
through which it passes. It has been
said this is a Western road. How is it
to be considered a Western load?—
Hitherto it has been exclusively con
structed in Eastern states. All the be
nefits of the capitai expended upon it
have accrued to Eastern states. The
only benefit which has yet resulted lo
the West, is the humble right of way;
the right of way to come hither, and to
mingle in the national councils on these
floors. It is wholly within Eastern
states, which, though they have West
ern frontiers, direct all wealth to the
last. How then can the West be said
to have an exclusive interest in the
measure?
Is there not an obligation on tho part
of the United States to extend this road?
I will briefly refer to its histoiy. It a
rose out of a compact between Ohio
and the United States, when that slate
was admitted into the Union. She gave
up-2 pet cent; on the sales of lands to
be expended in the construction of
roads ‘eading to the state of Ohio. By
similar provisions, the other states west
of Ohio, made similar appropriations,
for roads leading to them. It has been
said, that thw measure interferes with
made with Indiana and
Illinois. This I deny. I admit, indeed,
that Ohio has no exclusive right to ask
for this road. Other states, lying be
yond her, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri,
have also a tight to ask for appropria
tions to make roads to them. But I
will nbt lay it down that Congress can
not, commence these roads where it
DARIEN, (GEORGIA,) <£qualatl& <£jract ajttgtice. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1825.
pleases—in New-England, if it think i
proper; but the compact cannot be said
to be fulfilled, until the road is brought
to that point of termination which has
been agreed on. Shall we say the con
tract with Missouri is fulfilled, by mak
ing a road which ends 500 miles short
of the state? So with the other states,
shall we say the contracts entered into
with them have been completed, when
the roads have been left unfinished at a
distance of 500 miles from their fron
tiers? The fact of the direction being
westerly, cannot vary the proposition
It may, with as much propriety, be said
that Pennsylvania Avenue, because it
runs westerly from tbe Capitol to the
President’s House, is part of the road
provided for by these compacts; or that
a road commencing in Asia, is a part
of the contract, because it has a west
ern direction. I do not contend that
Congress is bound to expend more up
on this object than the amount express
ed in the contract; but I do insist, that
wherever Congress begins the work,
the road must terminate at the points
specified in the contract. Would his
honorable friend from Mississippi con
sider the road, terminating at Wheel
ing, a fulfilment of the contract made
with Mississippi, because it approxi
mates to Mississippi? No. Congress
has only performed its condition ofthe
bargain, when it has done, in plain
terms, what the compact directs.
Sir, it has been said, that the appro
priation of the 2 per cent, derivable
from sales of public lands in slates be
yond Ohio, has been inserted in aformjpr
bill relative to the Cumberland road.
I admit it; but I would not have con
sented to the insertion of that fund, but
with a view to enabled Congress to go
on with ease, without resorting to a
scheme of taxation, to carry on the road.
I have never contemplated the suspen
sion of the work. If we take the Illi
nois and Missouri fund, and stop at
Wheeling, we evidently violate our
contract with those states; but if we
continue the road to Missouri, we fulfil
it. If vve had done this without touch
ing the two per cent, fund, what would
be our situation? Why we should have
to make other roads, in order to ex
pend this fund, under the conditions
specified in the contract. The hono
rable gentleman from Virginia, whose
concurrence in the system of internal
improvement I regret that that gentle
man’s views of the constitution pre
vents him from giving, had candidly
admitted, that if any measure connec
ted with that system, more than any
other, demands the assistance of Con
gress, it is the Cumberland road. It is
an act of self-preservation to extend this
road. The necessity of preservieg our
Union is a topic which ought not (o be
lightly touched; but if we may not re
sist the danger in this august assembly,
where may it be referred to? Danger,
whether it affects personal safety or
national security, is best guarded against
by prudent deliberation, and is most
surely prevented by wisdom and cau
tion—not by shutting our ears against
its warnings and our eyes against its
consequences.
Sir, happily for us, there are many
collusive circumstances which have al
ways connected us with Great Britain;
we have a common language, common
laws, common liberty, and a strong;
community of feeling and association;
yet all these ties, powerful as they un
doubtedly are, were not able to pre
vent one of the greatest events which
have ever occurred in the history ofna
tions; and although similar results may
not be produced between states, we
ought never to shut our eyes against
the natural tendencies to separation,
which exist.
If there be these principles of colli
sion we ought, as prudent wen, to look >
far ahead, and prevent them from jar- j
ring. Os these natural tendencies to I
separation, the mountains which divide j
our eastern and western sections of;
country; the extended space over which
our sparse population is scattered, and
the different seas over which our com
merce is transported; these are gteat
natural causes which left uncontrolled,
may, at some future period, produce
the most fatal consequences. Some of
these causes at e beyond human control;
others are within the reach of Legisla
tive correction. Mountains may be
cut through. We may teach the lofty
Alleghany to bow its towering head to
promote the safety and prosperity of
our country. The effects of wise le
lisiation in correcting the evils of sparse
population, may be estimated by what
has already been done between the Po
tomac and Wheeling. I have already
stated tiiat nine days was the usual pe
riod occupied in travelling over this
distance. I speak of facts prior to the
commencement of this road, and dur
ing its progress. Now, Wheeling is
brought to within three days’ distance
from Baltimore and Washington. The
distance to St. Louis is diminished six
days. If two places are situated twen
ty miles apart, ahd it requites two days
to pass between them; and two others
are eight miles apart, and you requite
as much time to travel between them;
the two former are, for all the intents
and purposes of business and inter
course, as near to each other as the
two latter. Is it not, Mr. Chairman,
the solemn duty of this house to re
gard these principles of collision, and
toexeit ail vigilance to perpetuate
this union, as long as any nation ever
did, or qver can; and to entirely destroy
or subvert every opposite tendency?—
I here is r.o more effective mode of do
ing this, than bringing the remote sec
tions of the country together, by estab
lishing commercial and literary in
tercourse,. and by making the whole
nation really oneunited people.
Sir, if we cannot altogether correct
the effects which must result from one
part of our nation finding a vent for its
produce in a different ocean from the
other, we may, by the construction of
roads and canals lessen the danger, by
abridging the distance, and subduing
the difficulties of the intercourse be
tween the western mountains and the at
lantic. If the alternative were pre
sented to me of an exclusion from the
Mississippi, or an exclusion from the
Atlantic states, I would prefer the for
mer. Ido believe the commerce which
would flow from beyond the mountains
to the Atlantic, would be much more
valuable than all which passes down the
Mississippi. I have no desire, Mi.
Chairman, to make extravagant appro
priations for a splendid scheme of in
ternal improvement. Let us proceed
by wise degrees—avoiding taxation.—
I would not make it the work ol one
year, nor of twenty years, nor, perhaps,
of a century; but what, let me ask,
would an appropriation of half a million
of dollars a year, for twenty or thirty
years amount to? It would scarcely
be felt in its operation on our finances,
yet it would effect almost every object
to which I have advened—it would
bring into communion the most dis
tant and widely separated sections of
the Union.
But, sir, it has been asked, in the
course of the argument—why should
tbs general government make this road
for Ohio? I would not ask Ohio alone
a single dollar. She has no such pe
culiar interest in it, that you should
leave this road to her to construct, for
it is not a state, but a national road.—
1 he road from Wneeling to Zanesville,
passes through the poorest part of the
conntry—over sixty miles of the poor
est land I know. Would ,Pennsylva
nia have made her eighty-five miles of
this road over the poorest land in her
state? Would Maryland—would any
other state have done 30? No: Ohio
has no peculiar inducement to appro
priate her scant resources lo this ob
ject. She will, it is true, derive bene
fit from the augmented intercourse; she
will derive some augmentation of
wealth; but these accidental advantages
will no more deter Congress from do
ing it:, duty, than it would be prevent
ed from erecting forts and other build
ings ot national importance, because
the states in which they were erected
would derive advantage from such e
rections. Without extending my ob
servations further on this first branch
of my subject, I think I am authorized
to say, that this is such a nati< nal ob
ject, as, if you have power and means,
you are hound to promote.
He then proceeded to the second
branch ofthe subject,and inquired, is
this object a fit one to be pursued at
this time? As an objection, it had been
said, that this was an anticipation ‘of a
part ofthe system of Internal Improve
ments devised at the last session, and
that the execution of that system ought
not to be begun until the w hole has
been considei ed. But in the first place
said Mr. C. I do not know that any
general system of Internal impiove
ment has yet been devised. The act
ol the last session was intended merely
to collect information, but did not give
any authority to ask or apply it in anv
general system cf measures; and, if
gentlemen are to wait, till all the ob-
jects which may be proposed go on
together, I will venture to say that the
system of internal improvements will
be postponed indefinitely. 11 any thing
is to be done, we must select some ob
ject on which to begin. But, even on
gentlemeh’s own ground, I contend
that this measure is not the least incon
sistent with the act of the last session.
What was the object of that act? To
obtain facts and collect intorma ion res
pecting objecis of tniprov emeats where
that knowledge was not yet obtained;
the facts ate known. Surveys and es
timates have been made. The length
of the toad proposed by this bill is
eighty miles. Its estimated cos> is
450,000 doilats. The wock is already
begun—it is still in progress. A mo
mentary pause has indeed taken place
but it is ready to proceed, and to be
continued on the other side of the Ohi
o, as it has been finished on this side.
But we have been told that it is to be
the policy es the next administration to
pay the public debt; that it nAist be
paid with as much expedition as is at
all practicable, and that no part of the
public resources at e to be diverted to
any other object. Sir, there is no
member of this House more desirous
to see the national debt paid than I am.
I never was one of those who beli ve
that a public debt is a public blessing*
I have always considered it as a mon
gage, dragging on our finances, and
one which it was our duty to foreclose
and pay off as soon as possible. Yet,
we have also other duties which we
may not devolve on posterity—debt*
which spring from wasteful anct ambi
tious wars; debts which have their ori
gin in the national luxury and extrava
gance. But these are debts of another
description, which I feel no hesitation
in devolving on posterity. I refer to
a debt which carries the benefit with
thfe burden. When we bequeath both
together, posterity cannot equitably ie
proach our memory, because, while
they bear tbe burden, they cannot but
recollect that they are at the same
time, enjoying the benefit. But, sir*
is there any proposition before you to
create a national debt for internal im
provements? What is the scheme pro
posed in the report lately laid before
this House, by the officer who presides
with so much ability over the depart
ment of the Treasury, and tyhich hat
received the approbation ot the Com
mittee of Ways and Means of this
House? That officer tells you that tho
public debt may be completely extin
guished in ten yeats; that by the year
1835, the last dollar ofit will have been
paid, and that ali this time there will
remain in the Treasury a surpus of
three million, applicable to any object
within the constitutional powers of the
general government. The present bill
cannot, therefore, be 1 ejected from any
want of means to carry it into effect.—
There is another view of the subject,
not indeed contained in any public do
cument, and which ought not to be,
since it has not that entire degree of
ceitainty which ought to accompany
all documentary information. What
is your source of revenue? It is con
sumption. And what ate the sources
of consumption? Population and wealth.
Then in the course of ten years, star
ting on any given tariff of duties, the
increase of the revenue of 40 per cent,
at a ratio ol 4 per cent, per annum.—
These truths are sufficiently obvious.
It is said, indeed, that the policy that
has been adopted for the encourage
ment of industry w ill diminish the re
venue. But, when that subject was
under consideration last session, I en
deavored to shew, and now repeat, that
this cannot be the case. Different
years will vary. In some, the reven
ue may fall short, but the redundance
of others will supply the deficiency.—
Thr measure of our export trade will
always be the meesure of our imports,
and the measure of our imports will be
the measure of our revenue. I hope,
therefore that the policy which *as, at
the last session, fixed upon, will ever
be adherred to by this nation, as iocg as
the course pursued by foreign nations
shall render it necessa’y.. On the
whole, I think that gentleman may
calm their feais about the extent of the
public debt. The debt is melting a
way before 11s faster, perhaps than, for
some finanr ial inlet cst, it might be
wished. We have the prrospert that
it will beexdnguisbdd in ten years, and
when we hvoe paid his, we seal! have
fulfilled the whole of our duty m that
respect.
continued 0,. the 4 th pugs.
J\o. 14.