| From the Richmond Examiner |
| |
| June 25, 1861 |
| |
| Virginia State Convention |
| Seventh Day |
| Thursday, June 20 |
| ***** |
| The Order of the Day |
| At half-past ten o'clock the
report of the Committee on Railroad Connections was taken up. This
report consisted of an ordinance providing for connections between
railways in this city and Petersburg, which connections were declared by
Gen. Lee as essential to the military movements of the army. The cost of
the improvement was estimated at $75,000. |
| Mr. Morris, Chairman of the
Committee, urged the necessity of these connections, showing that great
delay had occurred in the through transportation of troops, the lines of
railroads being broken in the two cities; besides this, the
transportation of cannon was rendered very dangerous in Petersburg, on
account of the unsafe condition of the bridge over the Appomattox river,
to say nothing of the difficulty of trans-shipment from one depot to the
other, in both cities. |
| Mr. Macfarland offered a
resolution that the ordinance be recommitted to the Committee, with the
instruction that they provide for these connections for and during the
war. |
| Mr. Johnson, as a member of
the Committee, opposed the recommitment of the ordinance, citing as an
argument the terms proposed by the three companies concerned, in favor
of its immediate adoption. These terms are in the accompanying document: |
| |
| Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad
Company |
| June 18, 1861 |
| |
| Edmund T. Morris, Esq., Chairman of
Convention Committee: |
| |
| Dear Sir, |
| In compliance with your
request, I beg leave to furnish you with the information you desire in
relation to the connection of this railroad with those South of this
city, and the terms on which this company and those owning the railroads
between this city and Weldon would rent or purchase those connections,
with the unrestricted use of them, if constructed by the Government.
Having some six weeks since been supplied to by the Quartermaster's
Department of the Virginia army to furnish information as to the
practicability and cost of these connections, and the terms on which the
Railroad Companies concerned would rent or purchase them from the State,
I promptly conferred with officers of those companies on the subject and
also had surveys and estimates made by experienced and skillful
engineers, and as he results of those conference, surveys and estimates,
I beg leave to state: |
| 1st. That those connections
can be constructed at a cost which can be approximately estimated not to
exceed seventy-five thousand dollars. |
| 2d. That, if the State will
defray the first coast of constructing the work, under the direction and
control of the companies concerned, they will, through this company,
obligate themselves to the State, whenever, for a period of not less
than five years, the State shall secure to those companies the complete
use of those connections for all their purposes of passenger and freight
transportation, to pay as rent for that use to the State six per cent
per annum of the cost of constructing those connections; will keep the
same in good repair, and will not charge the State or the Confederate
States with any tolls or fares for transporting troops or munitions of
war over the same. |
| 3d. That, whenever the State
shall convey to those companies the ownership of those connections with
the right to the complete use of them as aforesaid, the companies will
obligate themselves to purchase them at the original cost. |
| It is proper for me to add,
that the control, by the railroad companies concerned, of the mode and
expense of constructing these connections, is a necessary condition to
the renting or purchase of these connections by the companies, and that,
if the means of constructing this work shall be furnished by the
Government promptly as required, these companies would under take its
construction under the direction of skilled and experienced engineers,
selected by them, possessing peculiar advantages and opportunities of
knowing and using the materials and modes of construction best adapted
to the important purposes for which it is to be constructed. |
| The employment of any other
agency would very probably result in the construction of this work at a
much greater expense, and in such a mode as to make it of less, if of
any, value to the companies concerned, and perhaps preclude altogether
their either renting or purchasing it. |
| And as the Railroad Companies,
who are to perform the transportation over these connections, and to pay
for them in rent a fixed per centage on the cost, and in purchase of
them that cost itself, are thus equally interested in having the work
done in the best and most available manner, and at the least practicable
expense, there can be no doubt that the Government would secure the best
and most economical construction of this work by employing in it the
agency of those companies, and of the engineers to be employed by them. |
| Very respectfully, your obedient servant, |
| P. V. Daniel, Jr. |
| President R. F. & P. R. R. Co. |
| In behalf of the three Companies concerned. |
| |
| Mr. Harvie was opposed to the
appropriation of any of the State funds to the erection of these
improvements. On yesterday, we had entered permanently into the
Confederate States Government, and if these connections were military
necessities, they were matters belonging more properly to the
Confederate authorities, and the Confederate authorities should do the
work. |
| Mr. Bruce concurred with Mr.
Harvie, calling attention to the heavy drafts which the war had already
made upon the State Treasury, and was of the opinion that if the State
kept on building public improvements at this rate, it would be bankrupt
in thirty days. |
| Mr. Harris replied to the
argument offered by Mr. Harris, by saying that the Confederate
Government had no authority to build railroads in the State of Virginia.
He continued at some length, reciting the various facts connected with
the proposed construction of the work and the propriety of its
accomplishment by the State. |
| Mr. Branch thought that there
were "forty reasons" for recommitting the ordinance. |
| Mr. Harvie thanked the
gentleman from Caroline (Mr. Morris) for having read him a lecture on
State Rights. |
| Mr. Morris begged the
gentleman's pardon, but had no idea of reading the gentleman a lecture
on State Rights. |
| Mr. Harvie replied that he did
not surrender any principle of State Right when he maintained that the
Confederate Government had a right, under existing circumstances, to
build railway in this or any other State, as seemed to be inferred from
the gentleman's remarks. |
| Mr. Blakey said that the
spirit which actuated his people, and he believed the people of the
entire Commonwealth, was to lay down their all for the benefit of their
country in this war against despotism. There were two objects in this
proposed improvement, one of which was military, the other commercial,
and its importance in both respects was paramount. It became us, as
sister States had already done, to do all in our power in furtherance of
the cause in which we were engaged, and it also became us to sanction
and aid in advancing the commercial interests of the country by
affording every facility for such objects. Commerce, in its broadest
aspect, presented most important sources of progress and improvement,
and he could not even agree with the wish of one of the members, that a
Chinese wall were built between us and our present enemies forever
hereafter; for besides being hand-maid to civilization and Christianity,
commerce was also a guerdon of peace and harmony between nations. He was
opposed to the re-commitment of the ordinance. |
| Mr. Barbour, of Culpeper,
called attention to the fact that there were two classes of public
money, that in the Treasury, consisting of money obtained from taxes,
and the Internal Improvement Fund, raised from the public bonds. He had
never known a road to have been built with money from the Treasury,
unless it was under an order of Convention. If we passed this ordinance
as it was, taking the money necessary for the improvement from the
Treasury, we would be under an obligation to raise the public taxes; if
taken from the sale of he public bonds, this exigency would not arise. |
| Some running debate followed
as to the condition of the State Treasury, when |
| Mr. Tyler said that, in his
opinion, this discussion was entirely out of place. We were telling the
enemy everything about our condition, and giving them information upon
subjects which should only be discussed with closed doors. In respect to
the ordinance, he would ask what had the State to transport over the
proposed railroad? He knew of nothing, unless it consisted of some old
presents, in the shape of cannon, that had been given us soon after the
revolution by France, and which were lying about the Armory yard. We had
possessed millions worth of cannon, but these were now in the hands of
the Confederate Government, and we had no control over them, nor the
troops raised in the State. The subject, therefore, belonged to the
Confederate Government. |
| The question was then taken on
the motion of Mr. Macfarland, which was rejected. It was then taken upon
the ordinance, and it was recommitted without instructions. |
|