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terest not exceeding 7 per centum per annum, and may give to the holder of any bond or other evidence of debt, which may be issued by the company for any part of such loans, the privilege of converting the same into the stock to be issued under this act, at or before the maturity of such loans. And the company may secure the payment of the loans, by mortgage of any part of their real or personal estate; provided that nothing in this act shall be construed to impair the covenants and agreements for the issue of fifteen hundred thousand dollars of preferred stock, under the act of March 29th, 1848.

The said company is also authorized to construct the branch from their road to the Hudson River, authorized in their original charter from any point on their road north of 27th street, to any point upon the Hudson River which may be permitted by the corporation of the city of New York; and also to construct a like branch from their road to the East River, at such point as may be designated by the corporation of the city of New York.

On most of the railroads in this State, except the Erie, the fare is three cents a mile, that being the amount fixed by the general railroad act, and by agreements amongst those companies having special charters. It remains to be seen whether the two cents a mile, charged by the Erie Railroad, will pay enough to the company, to enable them to keep the road and apparatus in the best order, and do reasonable justice to the stockholders who have invested so large an amount of funds in this great public improvement. At the late session of the Legislature, the committee on railroads reported against the expediency of any legislation to compel a reduction of fares below three cents.*

By an act passed in 1847, as amended at this session, it is enacted :Whenever the death of a person shall be caused by wrongful act, neglect, or default, and the act, neglect, or default, is such as would (had death not ensued) have entitled the party injured to maintain an action, and recover damages in respect thereof, then the person who, or the corporation which, would have been liable, had death not ensued, shall be liable to an action for damages, notwithstanding the death of the person injured, and, although the death shall have been caused under circumstances as amount in law to felony.

Every such action shall be brought by, and in the names of the personal representatives of such deceased person, and the amount recovered in every such action shall be for the exclusive benefit of the widow and next of kin of such deceased person, and shall be distributed to such widow and next of kin in the proportions provided by law in relation to the distribution of personal property left by persons dying intestate; and in every such action the jury may give such damages as they shall deem a fair and just compensation, not exceeding five thousand dollars, with reference to the pecuniary injuries resulting from such death to the wife and next of kin of such deceased person, provided, that every such action shall be commenced within two years after the death of such person, but nothing herein contained shall affect any suit or proceeding commenced or pending in any of the courts of this State.

Every agent, engineer, conductor, or other person in the employ of such company or persons through whose wrongful act, neglect or default, the

⚫ For this report see the June number of the Merchants' Magazine.

death of a person shall have been caused, as aforesaid, shall be liable to be indicted therefor, and upon conviction thereof, may be sentenced to a State prison for a term not exceeding five years, or in a connty jail not exceeding one year, or to pay a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars, or both such fine and imprisonment.

Art. III.-VIRGINIA: HER HISTORY AND RESOURCES.*

WE are glad that our men of letters are paying more and more attention to American State history, to the annals of the several States of the Union. Of general histories of the United States, there is no lack; but even here, there is a void that still remains to be filled. We have, as yet, no such complete history of America, so full and scholarlike, as the present state of this branch of historical research allows, and the subject demands. Bancroft's work is hardly more than fairly begun. Rumor, of late, speaks of a forthcoming history of America, by a member of the Boston bar, to be published by the Messrs. Harper.t

There are marked peculiarities in the history of each State of the Union, features which distinguish it from all the others, to a degree which surprises the general reader, who has read little but the history of the present, or has not carried his researches into American history farther back than the era of the republic.

The effect of sixty years of federal government, has been gradually to smooth down the peculiarities of the States, and to impress general uniformity upon them. But if we go back to the early history even of the newer States, we find much that is striking and peculiar in the annals of each. Ohio was settled almost entirely by men of New England and New York. Illinois, with many New Englanders, received a large admixture from the south-east. Wisconsin is one-half German. Louisiana still bears marks of her French descent. Kentucky is a modified Virginia. The student of the early colonial history of America meets with still more striking contrasts; Massachusetts, with her Pilgrims, New York, with her thrifty Hollanders, Pennsylvania, with Penn and the Quakers, and Virginia with her adventurers, idlers, and gentlemen. There is certainly enough in the annals of every State of the Union to furnish materials for a separate history of each, and to entitle every one of them to a history of its own.

Few of the States have, as yet, found competent historians; certainly not one has been more fortunate in this respect than Virginia. Mr. Howison's history of Virginia, is learned, scholarly, and well written. The first volume, containing the first two parts of the history, and bringing it down to the peace of Paris, in 1763, was published at Philadelphia in 1846; the second, containing the last two parts, and completing the history to the present day, was published at Richmond, Virginia, in 1848.

In the matter of externals, type, paper, and general appearance, this work reminds one of the elegant and luxurious style in which the historical labors

A history of Virginia, from its discovery and settlement by Europeans, to the present time. By ROBERT R. HoWISON. Two volumes. Richmond: Drinker & Morris. New York and London: Wiley & Putnam, 1848.

+ The first volume has been published since this article was written, and is briefly noticed under our "Book Trade."

of Bancroft and Prescott have been given to the world. The resemblance does not stop there. Mr. Howison's style is excellent. It has much force, grace, and point, and bears comparison even with that of these masters of historical writing.

Mr. Howison, as in duty bound, being himself a Virginian, is full of love and zeal for the "Old Dominion." But his zeal is according to knowledge. He sees the evil, as well as the good, in the past of Virginia; her faults, as well as her virtues, her weakness, as well as her strength. He rejoices in the brightness of her fame, but also sees its spots.

It is the peculiarity of the State of Virginia, that it is at once old, and yet undeveloped. Rich in resources, she is yet poor; rich in memories of the past, yet falling behind many a younger State, in her influence upon the present, and failing to fulfil the high promise of her youth. This leading feature of Virginian history, has not escaped Mr. Howison. Whether so intended or not, his work might be considered an elucidation of this one idea. Read with reference to this idea, and, so to speak, in its light, his history becomes a most instructive lesson in the philosophy which teaches by example, and acquires as complete unity of plan as a historian could desire.

On the one hand, the greatness of Virginia, political and physical, if we may so speak, no one is able, no one wishes to deny or question, least of all, when it is portrayed with the taste and discrimination of Mr. Howison. Virginia is the oldest of the States, or, more correctly speaking, was settled as a colony earliest of all. From the beginning, she has counted among her citizens, men of enterprise, men of character, men of learning, gentlemen. Mr. Howison appreciates, at its true value, the incongruous gentility of some of the early settlers. But who can help admiring the high tone and spirit of the great men of Virginia of former times; the dignified, the gentlemanly character which marked them, and which were so conspicuous in Washington? The cavalier spirit, if not carried to excess, certainly has its attractive aspect, its bright side, and its value as an element of national character; nor, if genuine, is it any way incompatible with true republicanism, but the reverse. This spirit certainly marked, to a high degree, the better class of the settlers of Virginia, and Washington might be almost called its type.

The great men of Virginia were not few. How many there were, the pages of Mr. Howison's history bear witness. At the threshold, in the first chapter, we are met by the great name and deeds of the hero, John Smith, the father of the colony. Then follows the dreary period of political nonage, barren in men or events of much note; that happy era in the history of every State, which makes no figure in history. Coming to the period immediately before the revolution, what an array of distinguished names is presented, stretching down from that era to the present day, orators, statesmen, generals!

The great men of that day were not of the kind which is commonly thought to be the growth of the early periods of a State. Rude, natural force, but little culture, are looked for in statesmen from the woods, in a "forest-born Demosthenes." But the great statesmen and orators of Virginia were as much distinguished for the extent of their acquirements, as for natural vigor of intellect. The eloquence of Patrick Henry is as refined, at least, as that of Chatham, if refinement can be predicated of either; and Madison and Marshall were of as profound attainments, as strong reasoning powers. In this respect, we are not sure that there has not been a retrograde; that the public men of the present day do not exhibit more of the crudeness and imma

turity which are supposed to belong to the early periods of a nation, than marked that era itself. In point, directness and force, the public efforts of the statesmen of the day, are certainly inferior to the speeches and diplomatic papers which have come down to us from that day, and which are in marked contrast with the prosy essays of our Senate, and the wordy prolixity of the House. If we consider the weightier matters of good argument and sound logic, what are we to think of the progress of the last fifty years, when we hear a distinguished senator attempting to overthrow the great first principle proclaimed by one of the first of Virginia's statesmen, "that all men are created equal," on the ground that "they are not created men, but born babes," and that "only two were ever created at all?" What are we to think of modern statesmenship, to say nothing of modern democracy, when it is proclaimed in the House of Representatives, that "the time is coming in this Republic, when there will be but two classes of citizens, the capitalist, and the laborer, and the capitalist will own the laborer? These passages are the more striking, as they not only indicate the degeneracy of modern statesmenship, but indicate also a radical departure in southern statesmen from the opinions held and expressed by their predecessors sixty years ago, on an important, a vital topic. Virginia is not only great in men; she is great, also, in resources, in capabilities. She has an area of sixty thousand miles. The climate is of that delicious medium temperature, which is the most healthful, perhaps, of all; a truly temperate climate, not like that of our more northern latitudes, where the summer heat is tropical, and the cold in winter is arctic.

But let Mr. Howison himself paint the attractive picture of Virginia's resources, of her wealth, at least, in posse. He does it with discrimination, as well as with love, and by the striking contrast which he presents, gives us both its light and shade, as truth demands. In presenting, in chapter VIII. of the second volume, a view of the general condition and prospects of Virginia, after noting the laws, the literature, and the religious aspect of Virginia, Mr. Howison continues:

Passing from the views of our State which may be considered as intellectual and moral, we may now speak of those which are more nearly allied to her physical condition. It is true that mind is employed in all that we shall notice; but, it is mind operating chiefly upon matter. The agricultural interests of Virginia, shall now engage our thoughts. Agriculture must always be the principal source of her wealth. It is hard to conceive of any change that could make any branch of industry within her bosom, more productive than the cultivation of the ground. Her rich soil, genial suns, temperate clime, her noble rivers, skirting grounds of unequalled beauty and fertility, all eminently fit her for copious returns to the labor of the husbandman, and had the skill and industry of her people been equal to her intrinsic resources, it is impossible to estimate the agricultural riches that she might have produced. Even now, though slave labor and ignorance of chemistry have ruined, for a time, many of her finest lands, her products are yet suffi cient to banish the idea of famine from the fancies of her poorest people. On this subject, we shall give the results of the latest and most accurate observations to which we have access. We shall present, separately, Eastern and Western Virginia, although their products are often the same. We will give the amount of each product of the State section, and then the county raising the largest, and that raising the next largest quantity of the article. Our estimate will include, not merely crops and harvests in the proper sense, but other species of wealth directly dependent on them for existence.

Eastern Virginia has an area of twenty-seven thousand square miles of land and water. In 1840, this section of the State had 157,051 horses and mules, of which Loudon had 7,627, and Fauquier 7,624; 542,543 neat cattle, of which Fauquier had 26,184, and Loudon 25,620; 551,506 sheep, of which Fauquier had 35,055, and Loudon 31,503; 1,121,733 swine, of which Southampton had 43,663, and

Pittsylvania 42,513; poultry, valued at 481,732 dollars, of which Fauquier had an amount valued at 18,091 dollars, and Accomac an amount valued at 18,064 dollars; this section raised 4,864,814 bushels of wheat, of which Loudon raised 573,460, and Fauquier 362,227 bushels; 77,947 bushels of barley, of which Albemarle raised 72,527, and Gloucester 2,748 bushels; 7,586,340 bushels of oats, of which Accomac raised 453,137, and Pittsylvania 333,763 bushels; 460,885 bushels of rye, of which Albemarle raised 117,369, and Loudon 81,517 bushels; 27,010 bushels of buckwheat, of which Loudon raised 6,845, and Fauquier 6,454 bushels; 21,204,699 bushels of Indian corn, of which Loudon raised 891,695, and Pittsylvania 679,319 bushels; 877,030 pounds of wool, of which Fauquier raised 75,195, and Loudon 63,951 pounds; 6,546 pounds of hops, of which Orange raised 940, and Fauquier 626 pounds; 36,779 pounds of wax, of which Pittsylvania raised 4,182, and Campbell 2,312 pounds; 1,404,217 bushels of potatoes, of which Accomac raised 113,396, and Southampton 88,036 bushels; 193,385 tons of hay, of which Princess Anne raised 76,250, and Louisa 21,307 tons.

The whole quantity of tobacco raised in the State was 75,347,106 pounds. In Eastern Virginia the quantity raised was 73,131,092 pounds; of this, 41,239,591 pounds were raised in the twelve counties of Pittsylvania, Campbell, Buckingham, Cumberland, Prince Edward, Charlotte, Halifax, Mecklenburg, Lunenburg, Nottaway, Amelia, and Powhatan, which, together, cover an area of 6,295 square miles. Pittsylvania raised 6,438,777, and Halifax 6,209,511 pounds.

Farther, the eastern section raised 1,038 tons of hemp and flax, of which Bedford raised 249, and Prince William 167 tons; 2,957 pounds of rice, of which Nansemond raised 1,440, and Southampton 1,080 pounds; 3,493,667 pounds of cotton, of which Southampton raised 851,315, and Stafford 760,287 pounds; 2,571 pounds of silk cocoons, of which King and Queen raised 337, and Nelson 300 pounds; 63 pounds of sugar, all made in Bedford; 323,663 cords of wood, of which Northumberland produced 45,120, and Isle of Wight 31,307 cords; products of the dairy, valued at 791,298 dollars, of which Loudon raised, in value, 80,223, and Campbell 45,605 dollars; products of the orchard, valued at 447,075 dollars, of which Southampton raised, in value, 40,345, and Sussex 37,520 dollars; 9,628 gallons of wine, of which Fauquier made 1,226, and Henrico 1,148 gallons; and of home-made fabrics, of all kinds, an amount valued at 1,485,988 dollars, of which Halifax made, in value, 97,779, and Pittsylvania 97,090 dollars.

Western Virginia embraces an area of about thirty-nine thousand square miles. In 1840, this section had 169,387 horses and mules, of which Wythe had 10,496, and Augusta 9,910; 481,605`neat cattle, of which Harrison had 23,536, and Augusta 21,479; 742,266 sheep, of which Jefferson had 67,289, and Harrison 35,119; 870,422 swine, of which Jefferson had 72,467, and Rockingham 38,765; poultry, valued at 272,966 dollars, of which Rockingham had, in value, 15,041, and Monongalia 11,800 dollars; this section raised 5,244,902 bushels of wheat, of which Jefferson raised 516,969, and Rockingham 375,197 bushels; 9,483 bushels of barley, of which Jefferson raised 4,230, and Washington 1,168 bushels; 5,864,722 bushels of oats, of which Monongalia raised 320,092, and Washington 295,770 bushels; 1,021,914 bushels of rye, of which Augusta raised 92,227, and Rockingham 90,886 bushels; 216,812 bushels of buckwheat, of which Hampshire raised 26,167, and Preston 16,057 bushels; 13,372,892 bushels of Indian corn, of which Jefferson raised 988,552, and Logan 870,930 bushels; 1,661,344 pounds of wool, of which Jefferson raised 516,840, and Harrison 70,804 pounds; 4,051 pounds of hops, of which Monongalia raised 636, and Shenandoah 568 pounds; 28,241 pounds of wax, of which Russel raised 2,884, and Logan 2,358 pounds; 1,540,443 bushels of potatoes, of which Jefferson raised 151,443, and Brooke 63,140 bushels; 171,323 tons of hay, of which Harrison raised 13,765, and Rockingham 12,220 tons; 3,828 tons of hemp and flax, of which Tazewell raised 923, and Jackson 750 tons; 2,216,014 pounds of tobacco, of which Botetourt raised 707,885, and Roanoke 599,273 pounds; 816 pounds of cotton, of which Lee raised 556, and Scott 200 pounds; 620 pounds of silk cocoons, of which Logan raised 266, and Monongalia 111 pounds; 1,541,770 pounds of sugar, of which Harrison raised 200,372, and Monongalia 118,569 pounds; 79,927 cords of wood, of which Shenandoah raised 12,703, and Jefferson 7,859 cords; products

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