| From the Raleigh State Journal |
| |
| February 8, 1862 |
| |
| North Carolina State Convention -- Second
Session |
| Fifteenth Day, Feb. 5 |
| |
| The order of the day, being
the ordinance to charter the Piedmont Railroad Company (the old
"Danville connection") was then taken up. |
| Mr. Strong, of Wayne, obtained
the floor, and spoke nearly an hour in opposition to the ordinance.
Under all the circumstances surrounding it, he deemed it a grossly
iniquitous measure. But, before proceeding with the main question, he
felt bound to defend the good old county of Wayne, from certain
aspersions attempted to be cast upon it, a few days ago, by the
gentleman from Davidson, (Mr. Kittrell.) If Wayne County had been
enriched by railroads, as the gentleman alleged, it was evident that
her4 sons were governed more by principal than a love of gain. If the
people of Wayne County had not been liberal in favoring railroad
schemes, it was because they believed it wrong in the State to tax one
portion of the State to subserve the interests of another; but in
sustaining the war, they had no such objections, and in that they had
been much more liberal than the constituents of the gentleman from
Davidson. Wayne County had sent one to two and three-fourths of her
voting population to the war, and has spent thirty thousand dollars in
supporting her volunteers, while Davidson had sent to the war but one
in seven, and how much money it had devoted to their support he did
not know. Mr. S. then proceeded to state his objections to the
ordinance -- it was not a military necessity, inasmuch as two roads
were already chartered, either of which, if completed, would give the
through-route sought by President Davis -- the one from the Company's
Shops, via Yanceyville and Milton to Barksdale, the other from
Greensboro' to Leaksville, and thence to Danville. Mr. S. argued the
question at length, but as he is likely to write out his speech soon
for publication, and in consequence of the pressure on our columns, we
are happy to be relieved from the necessity of drawing further on our
notes at present. |
| ***** |
| Mr. Kittrell replied to Mr.
Strong, but did not repeat his sarcasms on Wayne County, nor attempt
to refute Mr. S.'s statistics; but the latter found out that in Mr. K.
he had a foeman worthy of his steel -- a pleasant and able debater,
with a store of wit not easily exhausted. He defended the measure
because demanded by President Davis, as a military necessity, though
he was not now an admirer of President Davis, and never had been, and
though the country was not yet in the full enjoyment of the peaceable
fruits of secession. |
| Mr. Jones, of Rowan, replied
to an argument by Mr. Strong, that the Danville connection had
been abandoned by the West as a compromise with the East for the N. C.
Railroad; and had never seen the day, up to the present, since the
charter to the N. C. road was obtained, when he would have voted for
the Danville connection. He would vote for it now, purely as a
military necessity. |
| ***** |
| Objections being urged, on the
part of several delegates, to the Confederate government becoming a
stockholder in a North Carolina railroad and to that extent a proprietor
in her soil. |
| Mr. Brown thought the
objection could be best removed by introducing a provision in the
ordinance that the jurisdiction of the Confederate government over,
and its title to, the road, should cease and revert to the State at
the expiration of the war. |
| Judge Raffin moved to amend
the 8th section, limiting stockholders to not more than 200 votes.
Carried. |
| Mr. Strange moved to strike
out sections 33, 34 and 35 of the ordinance, which provide that the
Confederate Government may take stock in the road -- a doctrine which
Mr. S. denied and repudiated. |
| Judge Osborne pointed out
other objections in these sections -- they allow not only the
Confederate government to take stock, but every State in the
Confederate States and all sorts of corporations. Judge O. argued
against the constitutionality of the proposition and thought it unwise
and unnecessary, as well as unconstitutional. He agreed with his
friend from New Hanover. |
| Mr. Badger thought his friend
was mistaken. He believed the Confederate government had the
constitutional power to become a stockholder, if allowed by North
Carolina to do so. He was willing, as far as North Carolina was
concerned, to let the Confederate States take stock if they will. He
hoped the sections would not be stricken out. |
| ***** |
| Judge Osborn remarked, the
gentleman from Wake says the Confederate States have not the right to
subscribe, unless authorized by North Carolina; but the Corporation
regulates that matter. By adopting these sections, the Convention was
undertaking to interpret the constitutional powers of the Confederate
government, and saying that is our understanding of them. It was a
serious question which might exert an unhappy influence on the
government for all time to come. |
| Governor Reid thought it best
to have the sections read seriatim, and hoped they would not be
stricken out till a substitute was offered. |
| Mr. Gilmer said the people
would take the stock, but could not, by any means within their
control, obtain the iron. The Confederate States under the pressure of
military necessity might supply the iron. |
| The question recurring on the
motion of the delegate from New Hanover, to strike out, was rejected
-- yeas, 33; nays 50 ***** |
| Mr. Rayner thought it was bad
enough to take this road in any shape; and appealed to delegates not
to make it so odious. |
| Mr. Foy offered an amendment,
as an additional section, reserving the right to North Carolina to
purchase the interest of the Confederate States in the road, after the
expiration of the war. |
| Mr. Gilmer wished to know if
the delegate from Jones would vote for the ordinance, provided his
amendment was adopted. |
| Mr. Jones (hesitating) had not
come there to make bargains. |
| Mr. Rayner interposed that the
question was an unfair one. |
| Mr. Gilmer had a right to know
the purpose of gentlemen tacking riders on the bill. |
| Mr. Brown suggested an
amendment, providing that all franchises granted by the charter shall
revert to the State at the expiration of the war. He was not opposed
to the road and would not vote for it whether the amendment was
adopted or not; but he wanted the ordinance perfected in accordance
with the principles of States rights. |
| ***** |
| The question recurring on the
amendment of the delegate from Jones, it was rejected -- ayes, 34;
noes, 59. |
| ***** |
| Mr. Brown offered an amendment
providing that the authority of the Confederate Government, over the
road, should cease as soon as the war is ended. |
| Judge Osborne thought the
amendment was inconsistent with that section of the ordinance allowing
the Confederate Government to take stock. |
| Governor Reid thought it would
be wrong in principle to adopt the amendment. |
| Mr. Brown thought the property
ought to revert to the State, on State rights principles. |
| ***** |
| The question recurring on the
motion of the delegate from Caswell, it was rejected. |
| Mr. Badger introduced the
amendment, of which he had previously given notice, as a substitute
for the last section, limiting the franchise granted by the charter to
ninety-nine years instead of "in perpetuity" as granted by
said section. |
| Mr. Foy moved to amend the
amendment, by striking out ninety-nine and inserting thirty --
rejected. |
| The question recurring on the
amendment of Mr. Badger, it was adopted. |
| On motion of Mr. Badger, the
Convention adjourned, at 3 1/2 o'clock. |