Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856.

264 ABRIDGMENT OF THE H. OF R.] National Road. [JANUARY, 1825. the same place, with the exception of one small upon the convenience of the whole country, gap between Montgomery Court House and from what has been already done. The usual Fredericktown. Taking its origin at the foot space of time formerly required to go from Balof the Alleghany Mountains, the Cumberland timore to Wheeling, was fiom eight to ten days road extends to the eastern bank of the Ohio, -the time now occupied is three days. The a distance of one hundred and thirty-five miles. effect of such a saving of time would readily be Of this distance eighty-five miles lie in Penn- conceived. To this consideration might be sylvania, thirty or thirty-five in Maryland, and added the advantage resulting from the investthe residue in Virginia-the entire work, from ment of so much capital, and the expenditure one end to the other, and through its whole ex- of so much public money, in a region of countent, lying exclusively in the States east of the try where both were so much needed. SettleOhio River. The proposition now presented inents had been multiplied-buildings of all to the committee is to extend this road from kinds erected-villages had sprung up as if by the west bank of that river to Zanesville, in the enchantment; and, to use the language of one State of Ohio, a distance of eighty miles. If of the geLtlemen who had ably advocated the the proposition shall meet with the favor of bill, the road resembled one continued street, Congress, the whole length of road from Balti- almost the whole way from Cumberland to more to Zanesville will be 350 miles. Wheeling. The effect had been a great addiMr. C. then remarked on the character of tion to the value of property, and an imporant the country through which the contemplated increase of the wealth of three States through road is to pass, which he described as contain- which this great public work had been coning a succession of hills, some of which might structed. perhaps have been called mountains, but for It has been called, by some gentlemen, a the altitude of the neighboring Alleghanies- Western road, but how could it be a Western and which continue as far west as the Muskin- road, when not one foot of it lay within any gum River, on the bank of which Zanesville is one of the Western States, but the entire situated. There, or a little to the west of it, road, in all its parts, lay wholly in the Eastern commences a level plain of an alluvial charac- States? The direct benefit, and much that ter, extending from the Muskingum to the was collateral, was felt by the three Eastern Mississippi, a distance of four hundred and States where the road lay; the only benefit to twenty miles. the Western States was a mere right of way. The present proposition, Mr. C. said, was to All they enjoyed in the road was the right to be considered in reference, first, to what had pass over it to visit their brethren in the East, been done, and second, to what remained to be and to come to this Metropolis to mingle their done. The proposed part of the road must be counsels with their fellow-citizens of the South viewed, first, in respect to one termination of and East-important benefits no doubt-but the entire line which is at Cumberland, and not such as ought to designate this road as a then in respect to the other termination of it, Western road. In fact, Mr. C. said, it was which he trusted would one day be on the Mis- neither an Eastern nor a Western road, but souri. It must also be viewed in reference to partly the one and partly the other. The that branch of it, which he hoped, at no distant benefits derived from it were strictly mutual. day, would pass through Kentucky and Tennes- Mr. C. asked, if the United States were not see to Natchez and New Orleans, intersecting under a positive obligation to extend this road? the great road now proposed from the latter What was.the history of this undertaking? It place to this city. It must be remembered, arose out of a compact between the United said he, that it is a part of a road which is to States and the State of Ohio, at the time that traverse nine States and two Territories; so State was admitted into the Union, by which that whether we look to the right or to the left, two per cent. of the net proceeds of the sales we find the interests of nine entire States and of the public lands was to be applied to the two Territories, all concentrated in the present making of a road leading to the State of Ohio. design. A similar provision was also made in the comHere Mr. C. wished to be permitted to state pacts, by which Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Misone fact with which, perhaps, but few mem- sissippi, and, he believed, Alabama, were adbers of the committee were acquainted. A mitted as States. It had been contended by distinguished member of the other House had some gentlemen, that the construction of the lately travelled in company with the delegate Cumberland road was a fulfilment of this comfrom Florida, now on this floor, over the very pact on the part of the United States. This, route which was contemplated in this bill for said Mr. C., I deny utterly. I grant, indeed, the road proposed. They had found it, though that it is a fulfilment of the compact with the somewhat hilly, free from any mountainous ob- State of Ohio. The United States covenanted structions, and abounding in all the materials to make a road leading to that State. They which would be required for construction. have done so; and Ohio has no right to deMr. C. next proceeded to inquire, whether the mand that the road should be carried one foot object, such as he had now described it, was not further. But the case is entirely different with justly entitled to be considered a national ob- the States beyond Ohio. They have a right, iect? Look, said he, at the effect produced under their respective compacts, to demand a

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Title: Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856.
Author: United States. Congress.
Canvas: Page 264
Publication: New York, [etc.]: D. Appleton and company [etc.]; 1857-61.
Subject terms: United States -- Politics and government

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Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856.

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