Newspaper Page Text
VOL. III.)
ATHENS, GEORGIA: PRINTED BT ALEXANDER M‘DONNELL, SATURDAY, DECEMBER i, igio.
COMMUNICATION
Of His Excellency D. B. Mitchell,
Delivered to both Houfes of
the Leg llature of this State,
the prefcnt Seffion.
( Concluded.)
The revifion of our Road laws is
a fubjeft well worthy of your atten
tion. In the counties immediately
on the feahoard it is indeed lefs ne
ceflary than in any other pare of the
State, becaufe generally fpeaking
their roads are in better order, and
are lefs fubjcift to thofe circumftan
ces which render a revifion in tne
other parts of the Sta-c ncccffary.
By the declfion of our courts ma
ny of the penalties created by thofe
laws as well for the omiffion as the
cummiffion of matters therein ex
preifed, cannot be enforced as con
templated, and btfides, it does ap
pear to me that the authority of the
Inferior Court is too local to have a
proper tff dl, neither is thereafuf
ti.ient refponfioility attached to
that particular duty. They have
no other agency but what appertains
to them as a court, and for which
they receive no compenfation, and
their authority over the roads they
delegate to individuals under the
name of Com mi dinners or Over
fters, whofe agency is altogether
infufficient for the purpofe of ma
king a good road. I might appeal
to the individual knowledge of eve
ry member of both branches of the
Leg’fixture who have had occafion
to travel much thro* the State,
v hecner he has not often found the
public road turned out of its courfe
by individuals for the apparent pur
pofe of fquarijeg their field ; or by
thofe appointed to work upon ir,
for the purpofe of avoiding the
mending of kme place which by
walking of the rains or the foftnefi
of the ground require fome more
labor than it was convenient at the
time to bellow upon it; thefe are
circumftances which have often oc
curred, and fo long as they are dif
fered to cxift, we fliall never have a
permanent or good road. In our
State we have great inducements to
ilimulatc us to every exertion in our
powar to improve our roads. Our
raw materials which we raife for
market are bulky and heavy, and
the expence of tranfportatlon is
greatly enhanced in confequence of
the bad ftate of our roads, and in
tercourfe generally throughout the
Foreign Correspondent
**. : , ‘
GEORGIA EXPRESS.
1t MANY SHALL, Rif N TO AND FRO, A&D KNOWLEDG* SHALL B£ ISCRBASID.”
country rendered more difficult,—
The inconvenience is however
more particularly felt in procuring
thole articles of real neceffity, fuch
as iron and Heel, fait and fugar, &c.
which from their great weight and
the quantity required to fuppiy the
cesnfumption, is a very ferious ob
ject to the confumer who pays for
ail thofe additional expences, occa
fioned by the lengih and badnefs fo
the roads and every other inconve
nience attending their tranfporta
tion. I netd not enter into a detail
to convince you of the utility of
good roads. It is only nea fiiry
chat I fhould prefcnt the fubjetft to
your view, and your own judgments
will diredt you better than any thing
I can fay.
I w-11 however take the liberty of
fuggefting for your cocfidcration,
whether our roads would not be
rendered more permanent, and be
better laid eff, as to courfc and dif
tance, by perfons appointed by the
Legifliture who would be exempt
from all thofe localities attached to
the Inferior Court ? and that no
power but the Legtflature fhould
be competent to alter the courfe of
a public road when eftablifh
ed i and alfo that all the work to be
laid out fhould be applied to the
cftabhfhed road and no other ?
And here permit ms to make an
obfervauon on this part of the fub
jedt: We find from paft experi
ence, that individuals are defirous
of procuring from the Leg flature
exclufivc rights to colled toll for
mending and kecing in repair the
very werft parts of our roads or
fuch as have been cocfiiered almoft
impoflible, and find their advantage
in it; and why fhould not the ftate,
who is fo deeply interefted perform
the fame labor and reap the fame
advantage? Syftem with energy &
pe r feverence are only necefi'ary.—
And I will venture to fay, that our
public roads can be made equal to,
or better than any in the union.—
All neighborhood roads may be
properly left to the diferetion and
the diredion of Inferior courts.
The improvement cf the naviga
tion of our rivers is of at leaft equal
importance to the improvement of
our public road?, and v/hen you re
ft and on the ad vantages which would
refulc from the undertaking, and
the facility with which it could be
partially accomplifhed fo as to be
highly beneficial, I truft you will
give the fubjed a ferious confeder-
ation. Altho* our country is com
paratively yet in its infancy, when
we view thofe countries of the old
world where fuch immenfe advan ,^•, -
ges are derived from rheir inland
navigation, their example with a
knowledge of thofe advantages
ought to ft’rnulate us to improve
thofe gifts which the of Nature
has fo bounteotifly bellowed upon
our coustrv —few of them are in
poflVffion of fuch noble dreams as
the Savannah and Altamaha, open
irg a navigation into the very cm
rre of our interior abounding in na
tural advantages and inviting our
induftry to the Improvement of
thefe benefits to our own ufe.
Juft after the clofeof the laft fef
fion I received a letter from the
Honorable Pierce Butler enclofing
a memorialof John Hills, Efq. of
Philadelphia, intended for the Le
gifhrure, offering to difpofe of to
the ftate n plan or chart of our fca
board, From the terms in which
Maj. E ider fpeaks of this gen
tleman, I have no doubt out that
the papers in his pofTeffion are exe
cuted with accuracy; and their
ufefulnefs in a commercial point of
view, or as materials for a corrcft
map of that part of the flare is evi
dent. The memorial of Mr. Hills
is now fubmitted and is marked as
document No. 4.
The memorial of the laft Legifh
ture on the fubjedl of Walton coun
ty, I forwarded to our Reprcfeati
tives in Congrefs, & it has been pre
lented by them to the Houfc of Re
prefentatives, but no decifion has
been had thereon.
As the refult of all our endeavors
heretofore to ascertain the boundary
between this ftate and the ftate of
North-Carolina, have beenunfatif
facbory ; and as the time when Con
grefs may decide on the memorial
now before them is uncertain as well
as the nature of that decifion, I beg
leave to fuggeft the propriety of
procuring the affiftance of an artift
of undoubted integrity, fkilland ex
perience, and whofe refidence in
neither ftate, would preclude all
idea of partiality, to go upon the
ground and afeertain with precifion
this much difputed point. By this
means I am perfuaded the ftate w.il
be better fatisfied and it will enable
us either to fupport our pretention
before Congrefs with more effedt,
or clfe to relinquilh the purfuit.—
That fome immediate ftep (houid
be taken will appear evident from
the particular fituation of the peo
ple of that county.—They are row
organized as a county of North-
Carolina by the nsme of Haywood
and are reprefented in the L'gifU
ture, and perform all the duties re
quired by the laws of North-Caro
lina of her citizens, at the fame time
they hold partial Elections and fen_
forward repreTentative* to the Le
gifhture in this ftate. The dignity
of the ftate demands that this con
troversy fhould be brought to a
clofe, and if you lhali be of opinion
that another trial to afeertain the
35th degree of Norrh Latitude
would be either ufeful or farisfa&oi y,
I have the pleafure to inform you
that you may command the fervices
of Mr. Elkcott, than whom few men
can be fuppofed to be better quali
fied for firh an undertaking.
By the abftradt of Warrants
drawn on the treafury during the
paft political year, marked as do
cument No. 5, you w 11 find the
fum of 32,051 dollars 95 3-4 cents
has been drawn for under the vari
ous appropriations. Of the Con
tingent fond which makes part of
the before-mentioned fum, 10,179
dollars 57 3-4 cents has been
drawn leaving a balance of 4,86®
dollars 42 1-4 cents, fubjedl how
ever to be drawn on for any ac
counts contrafled during the poli
tical year, which have not yet been
prefented for payment. It will be
proper here to obferve that a prac
tice has heretofore prevailed with
the Legifiature, of requefting, niy
often requiring the Governor by
refolutlon, t or pay certain fums
therein fpecified out of the Contin
gent Fund, by which that fund is
much reduced, and in cafe of any
emergency or leal contingency of
ferious import happening during
the reccfs, would be quire infuffi
cient to meet any important event,
and there would be no refource but
to call the Legiflature, a meafurc
attended with great expence and
inconvenience, fam perfuaded the
Legiflature on a proper view of the
fubjeft, will believe with mr, that
whenever the amount is a/cert ained,
which it is their defire fhould be
paid, that, it ceifes to be a contin
gency and ought to be fpecificaily
appropriated j befides, it will be
recollected that no monifs can be
drawn from the Treafury, but by
appropriations made by law; thefe
refolutions however have all
(See laft page.)
(N®. 127/