ftUREAU OF >
TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
SPEECH
HOIST. ALYAH CROCKER,
BILL FOR THE MORE SPEEDY COMPLETION OF
THE TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD,
IK THE
Senate of glassaejjusetts,
AP B I Xi 15, 18 6 2.
"There are three things which make a nation great and powerful—a fertile soil, busy workshop s,
and easy transmission of men and commodities from one place to another."—Bacon.
"Let us make permanent roads; not like the Romans, for subjecting and ruling provinces, but
for the more honorable purpose of defence, and connecting more closely the interests of various
sections of this great country."—Calhoun, in 1816.
H E
2 ft I
•niHf
BOSTON:
WEIGHT & POTTER, PRINTERS, 4 SPRING LANE.
1 8 6 2.
TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
SPEECH
OF
HON. ALYAH CROCKER,
ON TIIE
BILL POR THE MORE SPEEDY COMPLETION OP
THE TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD,
IN THE
Smit of HJassacjnudfs,
15, 1862.
44 There are three things which make a nation great and powerful—a fertile soil, busy workshops,
and easy transmission of men and commodities from one place to another."—Bacon.
44 Let us make permanent roads; not like the Romans, for subjecting and ruling provinces, but
for the more honorable purpose of defence, and connecting more closely the interests of various
sections of this great country."—Calhoun, in 1816.
BOSTON:
WEIGHT & POTTER, PRINTERS, 4 SPRING LANE.
1 8 6 2.
SPEECH.
Mr. President,—There are in this Senate, as well as
out of it, three classes of opinion in relation to the bill
on your table, which provides for the resumption of
work on the Troy and Greenfield, or Tunnel Road.
One class are for stopping the work altogether, another
class for prosecuting it as a State work, and still another
through the ordinary agency of the Company itself. I
shall this afternoon address myself to the first class,
reserving myself for the other two classes hereafter.
The Senator from Norfolk, (Mr. Swan,) charges us
with the manufacture of public opinion ; he says the first
question propounded to him when he meets a man is,
" How are you on the tunnel 1" That we may see who
manufactures public opinion, who has always done it,
who does it now, allow me, Sir, to crave the indulgence
of Senators while I give a brief summary of the origin
and history of this Northern Trunk Line—now, with
the exception of the tunnel and what labor is necessary
to finish twenty-nine miles on this side, constructed to
the Hudson River, to meet there without ferriage the
New York Central, with a summit of only some five
hundred feet in its course to the Lakes, with the great
4
TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
Erie Canal, the two prominent thoroughfares to the
West. I do this, Sir, to show what causes have brought
us here to-day; what causes have so influenced public
opinion, and to such an extent as to cripple and almost
ruin us.
Northern Massachusetts, Sir, was first aroused to this
effort of a great thoroughfare to the West by the way of
Fitchburg, in 1835. Partial surveys were made over
the summit above that point, which settled fully the
feasibility of the line, by a positive river route to the
Hudson, with the single exception of the Hoosac Moun¬
tain. It was my fortune to be in the legislature of the
following session when Ilegrand, Kinnicutt, Dwight,
and others led off in appeals for the subscription of a
million to the stock of the Western Railroad, after having
vainly endeavored for three years to initiate it, without
State aid. Here, Sir, in the area in front of you, might
have been heard the appeals of these men to our Northern
non-concurring members, during a recess of the legisla¬
ture, pending the vote upon the State subscription. And
here, too, let me stop, Mr. President, to do justice to the
memory of a man whom the Senator from Norfolk seems
to have entirely forgot, in his zeal to exhibit the contrast
between the persons composing the Board of the Troy
and Greenfield, and those excellent names composing the
early Board of the Western Road, as he read them with
such significance of tone and manner the other day.
Sir, I mean P. P. F. Degrand. I will never forget that
able Frenchman, who, in his adopted city, led off in that
stupendous work which has added so many millions to
SPEECH OP HON. ALVAH CROCKER.
5
the valuation of the Commonwealth ; the author I believe
of our present sinking fund system ; from a country, the
very name of which, twines itself about our heart-strings ;
so true to us, in our hours of peril, whether Bourbon,
Republican, or Napoleon France.
Said the now lamented Judge Kinnicutt, to some
twenty-five of us who were supposed to hold the balance
of power: " Assume, if you please, that your route is
better than the Southern, or the Western one ; if you are
willing to identify the Commonwealth with such enter¬
prises, you establish a precedent, and the Commonwealth,
to be just, to be consistent to herself, must aid you in
like manner. Nay, every other section. She will never
be partial, as you suppose, but fair to all. She will cer¬
tainly go as far as she safely can, to develop and increase
her growth." These were the arguments which were put
in substance to our Northern members by those excellent
pioneers, till Northern Massachusetts finally gave her
hearty support to that measure.
I have been thus particular, Mr. President, because I
suffered among my then constituency for that vote. I had .
joined in " mortgaging their farms to build a railroad,"
but I have never regretted the act. I was also one of a
committee of investigation about its doings in 1843,
stood by the road then, and have ever done so to this day.
I am more particular because in the sequel you
will see the bearing of this little piece of history
upon the question now before you, and who it is
who " manufactures public opinion." The shock of
1837 paralyzed Northern Massachusetts. She did not
6
TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
recover from this revulsion so as to knock at the door
of the legislature even for a charter, until the session of
1842, for the first section of fifty miles of the line, to wit:
from Boston to Fitchburg. During this five years the
Western was almost a " fait accompli." It had been
receiving over and above the first million of subscription,
scrip like water, till the State had, during that year,
embarked the entire $.5,000,000 in the enterprise; and
it is worthy of comment, that when the State had
delivered its five millions in scrip, the return of January,
1843, gives the whole receipts of money from such stock
and scrip, at $5,565,610.86.
I do not, Sir, complain of this liberality to Southern
Massachusetts; it was not only wise, but necessary, owing
to the sparseness of the population beyond Springfield, as
it is now to pass this bill to aid the towns beyond Green¬
field. Neither line could be accomplished without such
aid. Nor will I forget in this connection the opinions and
advice of that sound and practical man, Loammi Baldwin,
Esq., one of the best engineers of his day, or any other day,
immediately prior to the legislative session of 1836, in a
visit to him at his house. " You have got the route from
Boston to the West, but your population is sparse
through your whole line. You have no influential and
wealthy towns like Worcester and Springfield to sustain
you in the tunnel effort, and you had better not attempt
it. You do not know what you are undertaking." If I did
not then know, Mr. President, I soon found out on apply¬
ing for the Fitchburg charter, precisely what talent and
influence could do, in the language of the Senator from
SPEECH OF HON. ALVAII CROCKER.
7
Norfolk, to " manufacture public opinion." Sir, said the
then Senator from Hampden, Mr. Mills, with Mr. Stearns,
of Springfield, to prompt and furnish him and others
with briefs as Mr. Harris of Springfield does now, " a six-
horse stage coach and a few baggage wagons will draw
all the passengers and freight from Fitchburg to Boston."
I know the country, said Mr. Mills, a miserable, narrow
strip, between the Lowell and Worcester roads, and if
these two Corporations could but have time, they would
crush this effort out. Public exigency did not require it,
and if I am not mistaken the present Senator from Berk¬
shire, Mr. Plunkett, voted also against the Fitchburg
charter.
So thought, also, Mr. Hale, of the " Advertiser," con¬
cerning the first section. He, Sir, brought his high
character and influential paper to bear on us, as he
does now, on this third section, in the bill on your
table; but he, too, Sir, has lived to see the first sec¬
tion carrying more freight until the last year than
his darling Worcester road, and now only some 20,000
tons short by loss of ice trade growing out of the
revulsions of the country. I hope he will live to see one
of the noblest enterprises of the age, the tunnel, accom¬
plished, even if it should consume the time he once told
of, some sixty or seventy years. We fully appreciate in
Northern Massachusetts how he has manufactured this
public opinion, and did he not publish the laws of the
Commonwealth you would not see his paper there.
Sir, it was the public sentiment of that day to adopt
the line now under consideration, and by so doing to lay
8
TROT AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
the route so far inland that it should not be successfully
tapped at various points on its way. When the first
section of this Western line from Boston to Worcester
was being surveyed, Mr. Fessenden, their able engineer,
was directed to run another line in obedience to said
public sentiment, which he succeeded in doing directly
over the Sudbury and Bolton hills, instead of Mr. Bald¬
win's line, producing such a profile over such summits of
mountains and hills as destroyed all predilection for this
great natural route. I beg to refer the curious to Mr.
Fessenden's Report.
Sir, the same public sentiment now opposes the bill on
your table, as then, supported too, now, by millions of
aggregated capital, with the self-same towns, Springfield
and Pittsfield, to lead in the opposition again. Sir, the
argument that the road ought not to be sustained
because Boston will not subscribe, was as good against
the Fitchburg then, as now against the Troy and Green¬
field. Boston did not take $100,000 of that stock till
the road had commenced to run to Waltham and its
character was settled. I labored a whole week prior to
that opening to get a few shares taken. That energetic,
self-made man, Mr. Addison Gilmore, then director, I
believe, afterward President of the Western road, con¬
stantly opposed subscriptions to this first section, in
Boston, while Mr. Mills, of Springfield, himself appealed
to that excellent merchant and man, Mr. R. G. Shaw, not
to subscribe to the Fitchburg stock—though the character
of the route was as well known then, as it is Sir, now.
Though we had at Charlestown the deepest water for
SPEECH OF HON. ALVAH CROCKER. 9
freight, and depot grounds commodious for a great busi¬
ness, of some sixteen acres in extent.
No, Sir. I repeat again, that there was at that early
day no ridicule too pungent, no sarcasm too biting, with
which the same sections opposed us by their Stearns, and
Mills, Champion, and Sumner, as now by their Thomp¬
son, and their Plunkett, only the venue is a little changed,
the line has moved a little farther along.
Now, Sir, allow me to follow this " manufactured public
opinion" of the Senator from Norfolk, to the second
section, from Fitchburg to Greenfield, for I claim that
if localities have been found to be persistently hostile,
it should weaken the claims of such opposition upon
the candor and good sense of Senators at this Board.
Every-body knows that the country between Fitchburg
and Greenfield in the second section, though rich in
elements of growth ; was vastly more difficult of con¬
struction than the country between Worcester and
Springfield. It was called by some of our opponents a
" God-forsaken country," and cost us some twenty-five
river bridges of various lengths, upon some of the most
turbulent streams in the country. Did the State aid
us 1 No, Sir. She took away the Winchendon part of
our line, gave it away to a New Hampshire road,
driving us away from Miller's River to Baldwinsville,
to get back as best we could, at a damage directly
and indirectly of a million of dollars at least, with a
loss of two miles in distance, one hundred feet more
rise, a perpetual tax to be laid on Northern Massachu¬
setts forever, besides a loss of ten miles of freight and
2
10 TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
passengers of the Cheshire road from Ashburnham
to Winchendon, where the two roads ought to have
joined; and when, Sir, weakened by such wrong—
such unfriendly legislation, by such " manufactured
public opinion," aided in this case by local difficulties,
we subsequently appealed to the legislature for a little
aid of scrip to assist us in our extremity, we were
received only with jeers, with ridicule as the " pauper
road." The dictionary word applied to the third section
now is " bankrupt," but means the same thing.
Sir, the record of the whole transaction is in the
archives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a sad,
a grievous history. I refer you to the report of Thomas
Hopkinson, Esq., afterward President of the Worcester
road, a road unfriendly to us then, though not so now.
It was poor satisfaction to me, that before he died he
acknowledged the wrong which he could not repair,
alleging the strong local feeling, coupled with the influ¬
ence of the Worcester and Western line. Now, Sir,
I beg Senators to understand that when I use this
phrase I do not mean the railroads, but the towns
lying upon them.
This, Sir, is the history of the two first sections.
They stood, Sir, during their death struggle for exist¬
ence, precisely as the third section, the Troy ancf
Greenfield, stands to-day. Their only fault being, to
use the language of a Western Kailroad stockholder,
" pointing in the wrong direction." Had it been Vermont
Central, Concord and Montreal, or Ogdensburg, or in
fact any other crooked road to get West, it would
SPEECH OF HON. ALVAH CROCKER.
11
have stood as those roads did stand, in Boston, all
right. Mark, Sir. The Western road in its petitions
against us in '48 and '51, were satisfied with those roads.
[Here Mr. Crocker held up those petitions in which the
Western Road made favorable mention of the Ogdens-
burg.]
But, Sir, to come to the Troy and Greenfield. And
here allow me to allude to the same old argument—
"public opinion does not sustain it." Why does not
Boston sustain if? Sir, I admit that Boston does not
sustain it, for she has not either section of the line;
but it is not because she has not as many enter¬
prising merchants and liberal men, nay more, I believe,
than any other city of her size, but because, immersed
in her business relations, she suffered herself to be
diverted from this great line by Mr. Gilmore and others,
then in the zenith of their influence and power, by their
success in the Concord (N. IT.) and other railroads,
Boston was induced by them to squander millions upon
the New Hampshire Northern, Vermont Central, and
Ogdensburg, to build a crooked line one hundred miles
out of the way to the Great West—to circumvent us.
No wonder, Sir, that Boston is sick of subscribing to
railroads. No wonder, Sir, that some of her citizens at
'a later period, turned their backs upon Mr. Gait, who I
had induced to visit Boston, after I had sent my brother
and found a good route, the Atlantic and St. Lawrence
road, to the Passumpsic, in order that Boston should
have this great thoroughfare, and which drove him to
the Littles and Prebles, of Portland, and lost us that
great feeder.
12
TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
Shall the unwearied opposition of Springfield and
Pittsficld defeat this bill, materially affecting the interests
of almost a moiety of this Commonwealth'? Has not its
policy been definitely settled ? Let us see. When this
charter was applied for, was it not met by the whole
power of the Western road ? Did they not claim that it
was a competing line, and if granted, would diminish the
security of the Commonwealth, who if compelled to
dispose of its stock at that time would lose one hun¬
dred and seventy thousand dollars?* Are some of the
same engineers to come in now, to swear us down as they
did when we applied for the charter ? Is the new State
Engineer to be bolstered up in this way in what the
Governor's Council condemn in their report, and the joint
special committee unanimously say, resulted from a mis¬
apprehension of his duty? Sir, there will always be
found enough men to swear down this line, engineers, or
men who call themselves so. But, Sir, in 1848 they did
not prevail, why should they now ? We all know that
the Commonwealth did then define a policy against the
report of Mr. Nelson. The Gilmores and Dwights, and
other opponents of that day, to the contrary, notwith¬
standing. A policy in the end involving not only the
faith of the Commonwealth toward Northern Massachu¬
setts, hut the stockholders who have paid in $114,954,
the contractors more than $350,000, and the towns
$125,000, if not also to Troy and New York.
When this tunnel line was chartered in 1848, we
called upon the city of Troy to redeem her part of the
* See 3d page of AVestern Railroad Memorial, 1848.
SPEECH OF HON. ALVAH CROCKER.
13
bargain, her pledge made in a meeting of her citizens in
1844, "That when we should build to Greenfield, she
would build to the west side of the Mountain "—a pledge
made by her Wool, her Heartt, her Vail, her Griswold,
her Robinson, and others of that day and this. She has
struggled to redeem, and with great difficulty, and assisted
by the construction of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad
from North Adams through Williamstown to Pownal,
coupled with the effort and credit of Haupt & Co., she
has accomplished it. Do you suppose she ever would
have done it, but for her confidence in Massachusetts 1
Never, Sir, never. For four years, nearly, now has the
road been built and running down the Hoosac Valley.
Senators well know who passed over it the past week.
History of the Tunnel since the Charter.
Upon the history of this enterprise I will not dwell, it
is known to you all. Bitterly opposed in every conceiv¬
able way, it struggled along from 1854 with an Act
found to be incompetent, until the enabling Act of 1857.
Its friends at this time took courage and heart, as soon to
be crushed with the withering veto of his past Excel¬
lency, Governor Gardner; which has done much, owing
to the source from which it emanated, to injure us, nor
hate we entirely recovered from it to this day. His
friends even sent it among us as an electioneering docu¬
ment. Because it had a political effect; because this
part of the Commonwealth was afterward heard from, is
this to be a reason to abandon the enterprise 1 Much of
this veto injury fell upon Ilaupt & Co., destroying their
14
TItOY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
credit at a period of great monetary revulsion, and
almost every bank in the country refusing under the
influence of this electioneering document, to afford them
or the Company the least credit; and it was with the
utmost difficulty and great pecuniary sacrifice, that they
then maintained their credit untarnished.
Now, Sir, being somewhat responsible for the introduc¬
tion of these men into the Commonwealth, having visited
Philadelphia at the instance of the Company, at the time,
to ascertain concerning their character, pecuniary ability,
and fitness for this work, for allow me to say, Sir, that
it is no easy matter to find any man, suitable or unsuit¬
able, who would undertake a work of such gigantic
proportions, and having travelled a great deal for this
purpose, I now propose to ask
Who are Hanpt and Cartwright.
Sir, I am not the man, until I know , of wrong, to
forsake men maligned and slandered as these men are,
with the very air around us thick with calumny and
misrepresentation. It is said they are not to he trusted.
" They have cheated the Commonwealth, they will turn
out, and make new Boards of Directors," ad libitum,
though at the last annual meeting they voted upon
ten shares only. " They intend to bag some hundreds
of thousand of dollars of the Commonwealth's money
and then go back to Philadelphia," while I am author¬
ized to say here, by these gentlemen, that while they
have received some $850,000 from all sources, their
hooks will show to the satisfaction of any Senator who
SPEECH OP HON. ALYAH CROCKER.
15
will take the trouble to examine, an expenditure of
more than $1,200,000 well vouched, except for small
and trifling sums. But, Sir, I recur again to the ques¬
tion
Who is Herman Ilaupt ?
Born in Philadelphia, 1817.
1831. Appointed by President Jackson a cadet at
West Point.
1835. Graduated in the same class with Col. Bigelow,
and about the same time with General Meigs.
Commenced, soon after, the profession of civil engineer¬
ing, and continued until in 1842 the financial troubles of
the country had suspended all public works in Pennsyl¬
vania. He then accepted the professorship of mathemat¬
ics and civil engineering in Pennsylvania College.
About this time he prepared and published his work
on the General Theory of Bridge Construction, which
was the first and only successful attempt to demonstrate
the general principles and determine rules and formula
for calculating the strength of any kind of bridge. This
book is used as a text-book in the first institutions of the
country, in Yale College, in Union College, in the
Polytechnic Institute of Troy, &c. In 1859, when simi¬
lar assaults were made by the same parties who are now
figuring so extensively in the work of defamation, the
President of the Company addressed letters to General
Wool, Professor Gillespie, and others, inquiring as to the
standing of Herman Ilaupt, professionally and otherwise.*
* See Replies of these gentlemen, in a pamphlet published by Alfred Mudge
& Son, Boston, in 1860.
1G
TROT AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
In 1817 Herman Haupt accepted a position as engi¬
neer on tlie Eastern Division of the Pennsylvania Rail¬
road and constructed the great viaduct of twenty-three
spans of one hundred and sixty feet each across the
Susquehanna River. When the road Avas opened, he
became General Superintendent, Avhich position he
resigned to take that of Chief Engineer of the Southern
Railroad at a salary of six thousand dollars per annum.
After spending some time in Alabama and Mississippi,
he Avas recalled to take the position of Chief Engineer
of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and completed the great
tunnel through the Alleghany Mountains.
In 1855, he was elected by the City Councils of Phila¬
delphia a director of the company, to represent the five
millions of stock held by the city.
In 1856, he became connected Avith the Iloosac Tun¬
nel, to assist in accomplishing this work, and aftenvards
abandoned all his interests in Pennsylvania to carry
it through.
Last year he AAras appointed by President Lincoln a
member of the board of visitors to conduct the annual
examination at West Point, and Avas absent engaged in
this duty Avlien Mr. WhitAvell Avas appointed State
Engineer.
Such is a brief sketch of this individual, who, in the
opinion of Messrs. Bird, Harris, and company, is a
swindler, hypocrite and blackguard, and Avho has been
published as such year after year by those avIio seek to
wrest the tunnel out of the hands of the present parties,
and give it, in my opinion, directly or indirectly to the
Western Railroad, or destroy it utterly.
SPEECH OP HON. ALVAH CROCKER.
17
Who is TIenry Cartwright?
Sir, a member of the other house, from the district
of North Adams. Let those who know speak for him;
they can answer for his pure and blameless life. I
know, to love the man. Sir, these men, instead of run¬
ning off with State money, paid every dollar out for
labor and materials, and then came and borrowed money
of their friends for their private use.
Second Mortgage Bonds.
Much capital has been attempted to be made upon
these bonds. It appears that in the last contract with
Haupt & Co., they were to have four millions, of which
$900,000 were to be bonds. They were not issued
originally by Mr. Haupt. For myself I knew of no
such mortgage, and when the other day, after learning
this fact, I addressed this firm, they as promptly offered
to exchange all they had of them for stock, if the Com¬
pany were continued, and to also do what they could to
collect the rest. There would be some $220,000 out
after Haupt & Co., gave up theirs, of which North
Adams and Williamstown have $93,000. As by the
opinion of Judge Abbot they have no intrinsic value,
there would probably be little difficulty in collecting
them in, which if the company continue I should seek
to do.
What ive in Northern Massachusetts think Boston wants.
A railroad route to Troy and Schenectady where pas¬
sengers can arrive by express-cars, from Boston in six
hours, to meet the same New York morning express-train
3
18
TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
in its course to Buffalo; ditto freight in fifteen hours.
And when the reflux—the swelling tide of Western mer¬
chants, setting to the seaboard, find themselves at Schenec¬
tady or Troy, their cars should be greeted by our agents
with the cry, " Fare same to Boston, gentlemen—
time only one hour longer." And during the winter
months, when not only all the cereals, but beef, pork,
and the products of the dairy, seek a market both for
export and consumption, to be able to say, also, freight
same to Boston, and through in a day.
This, Sir, is the talk to make Boston what she should
be—Boston, which now pays one-third of your tax, and
of which we are all so justly proud, both for her
mercantile character, her liberality, integrity and refine¬
ment.
Said a Chicago gentlemen the other day, "your West¬
ern road may be a very good road, but you do not run
in connection with our lines, and charge altogether too
much fare to expect our trade." Sir, " Boston is fast be¬
coming to New York what Salem is to Boston."- Let
- us see.
While prices of freight have remained nearly station¬
ary on the Western road till since the agitation of this
question, they have been regularly reducing on the
New York and other routes; thus turning it around
instead of through the State. The consequence is, that
Boston is fast losing her export trade, as is shown by
the returns in the last five years.
SPEECH OF HON. ALVAH CROCKER. 19
Exports of Boston and New York.
Boston.
New York.
Exports in 1856,
$27,985,651 00
$104,861,799 00
1857,
28,326,918 00
124,389,407 00
1858,
20,979,853 00
100,702,601 00
1859,
16,172,120 00
106,478,429 00
I860,
15,168,015 00
138,145,861 00
1861,
14,205,403 00
-
Showing a falling off of nearly 50 per cent, in five
years, while New York has increased.
The following contrasts are striking, when it is con¬
sidered that a large proportion of these articles have
had to be transported some two hundred miles farther
to avoid going through Massachusetts.
Exports of Wheat in 1861.
From Boston, 20,640 bushels; from New York,
28,889,914 bushels.
Export of Flour.
From Boston, 389,730 barrels ; from New York
3,110,646 barrels.
Export of Corn.
From Boston, 64,914 bushels; from New York,
12,456,264 bushels.
Ought we not to change the above status 1 Can we
not do it 1 Have we not all the elements to do it with
20 TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
— cotton domestics, woollens, shoes, wooden-ware, etc. 1
We can if we will keep our manufactured goods, until
sold, by giving the great West a quick and cheap avenue
to reach us. Money and trade will always go where it
can find the greatest quantity for the same cost; no
matter what the name of the city is. Bread-stuffs or
corn, as Mr. Bull has it, will follow trade, while every
million of dollars we add to Boston, we add to Massa¬
chusetts ; every million which we add to the taxable
property of Northern Massachusetts, by new sources of
business, proportionally increases Boston. Will she
now, in this last effort to build the tunnel, turn against
us 1
Route and Distance.
If we accomplish this third section we have a natural
river line, via Nashua, Miller's, Deerfield, and Hoosac
Biver, to the Hudson.
I will now give you, Mr. President, a table of distances
from Troy to some of our principal New England towns
by the Troy and Greenfield road as compared with
the Western road:—
SPEECH OF HON. ALVAH CROCKER.
21
Distances in Miles.
CITIES AND TOWNS.
Via Western
Via Troy and
Railroad.
Greenfield.
Boston,
208
189
Groton Junction,
192
151
Lowell,
209
168
Nashua,
209
168
Manchester,
226
185
Concord,
244
203
Lawrence,
222
181
Salem, ........
224
192
Newburyport,
242
201
Portsmouth,
259
218
Haverhill, .......
229
188
Exeter,
246
205
Dover,
264
223
Saco,
294
253
Portland,
307
266
Fitchburg, .......
190
136
Ashburnham,
191
126
Greenfield,
146
81
Brattleborough,
170
105
Myrick's Crossing, ......
250
228
Middleborough,
244
220
North Adams, .......
78
48
New Braintree, ......
218
196
It should be borne in mind that Troy is seven miles
above Albany, has no ferry, which also adds at least fifty
22
TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
miles more in saving of transhipping freight across the
Hudson. Freight from Boston will arrive at Buffalo or
any other point of the lakes ordinarily one day sooner
this way. The same cars will or ought to go through.
Passengers by the tunnel route, starting at six, A. M.,
express from Boston, ought to intersect the New York
express, which arrives at Buffalo at twelve, P. M., in the
evening.
If the Western road has added so many millions to
the growth of Boston, what will such a machine or
thoroughfare as this add? What to Northern Massa¬
chusetts ?
Capacity of this Line as compared with the Western
Road.
In brief, assuming grade and curvature to govern
the maximum load of a train, it is believed that an
ordinary freight engine of twenty-four tons will draw
fifteen hundred barrels of flour on the Tunnel line
with the same facility as eight hundred upon the
Western.
The Western though one of the best managed roads
in the country for the stockholders, has not met the
expectations of its projectors as a great freight line.
Out of some three million of tons arriving at the canal
basin at Troy and Albany, she does not bring to Boston
but about eighty thousand tons, annually.
I am fully aware, as urged by the Senator from
Berkshire, (Mr. Plunkett,) that we cannot compete with
water communication, but still deny that " Boston
SPEECH OF HON. ALVAH CROCKER.
23
cannot be an exporting city." Witli this low graded
iron river, she will be on a par with New York in
the winter months, and at other seasons, the saving of
capital by the quickness of transit, will not only lessen
very materially the difference, but in all perishable
articles, of which there are great quantities, live stock,
&c., either for domestic use or shipment, time will be
controlling. Said Mr. Bowman to me, while building
the Hudson Biver road, " you at Boston are getting
ahead of us in the winter, by your Western road; we
must build ours at whatever cost."
What the Towns on the Line want.
By express trains, a quick transit to Boston as
they now have by the Norwich, Connecticut Biver and
Western to New York, sure to result from the comple¬
tion of this line,—not as in those cases cited, where
the roads are laid in such a manner and so near tide
water as to render them, by their very locality so many
avenues for reaching a city whose great natural and
artificial resources detract from the trade of Boston.
And though they were aided by the scrip of the Com¬
monwealth, to which we have so largely contributed,
at the expense of a line which running farther into the
interior, will place us in a fair direction for competition
with our powerful rival, when the tunnel is finished.
We want also, and it is of great importance to us in
towns about Fitchburg, the centre of the wooden-ware
manufacture, to reach the rich timber reserves of beech,
birch and maple, upon the Deerfield, for which Ave now
24
TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
have to go to Vermont and Canada East at a great
additional expense of freight, besides having our own
timber, where it has ever been, almost valueless, for want
of the means of transportation.
We want now, also, to reach all our reserves of ship
timber for navy and merchant use for Charlestown, East
Boston, and elsewhere.
We want to build up a manufacturing district in
Northern Worcester and Franklin Counties where we
have the best of water-power, but no railroad facilities.
We want to open by the tunnel, upon the rich
agricultural valley of the Iloosac, to open Northern
Berkshire to Boston, now shut out by the Hoosac
Mountain, paying at this present time four dollars per
ton for her freight to Boston, her own capital, against
two dollars per ton to New York. We want to see
Berkshire money in Boston.
We want to add to the Vermont and Massachusetts
the thirty miles this side of the mountain, so that by
this accession to her business, she may be able to run
two trains per day, each way, instead of one from
Fitchburg to Greenfield, as now.
We want the tunnel, in order to give, at least a
million dollars of value to this well constructed, but
badly used road, which is ready at this moment, Mr. Pres¬
ident, to hire the thirty miles, now under consideration, as
soon as finished to the mountain, and before the tun¬
nel is finished, for one, two, or three years; pay an
annual rent of ten thousand dollars and a moiety of
the profit above that, after deducting only the net extra
speech op hon. alvaii crocker.
25
cost of running to the foot of the mountain beyond
Greenfield, with the same operatives and cars,—and
Mr. President, to settle this mooted question beyond a
cavil, or a doubt, upon a line which it is urged " will
not pay its running expenses," I tender Messrs.* SAvift
and Brigham, and myself, as individual security for the
performance of this lease.
Sir, Ave Avant this road because Avithin ten years after
it is finished it will add more than fifty millions to the
value of property in Northern Massachusetts. To shoAV
that this is not mere assumption let us for a moment
look at the
Growth and Production of Towns, showing the effect of
railroad facilities.
Take, Sir, if you please, Fitchburg, the last toAvn
upon the northern line Avhich may be said to have good
railway facilities (unless you except, possibly, Greenfield
and North Adams.) The road on the first section of
the line Avas finished in 1845.
The valuation in 1840 was . . $935,342 00
1860 " . . 3,714,437 00
and the population has jumped up from tAventy-five
hundred to eight thousand souls.
Noav to shoAV the groAvth of population, valuation
and production of ten toAvns upon the western, beyond
Springfield, and eleven toAvns beyond Greenfield, I
annex the folloAving table. It should be borne in mind
that the natural advantages are superior upon the valley
of the Deerfield, Avhich shoAvs the influence of immediate
railroad facilities in a still stronger light.
4
TABLE No. 1.
Eleven Towns on the Troy and Greenfield Route.
to
o
TOWNS.
Population.
Valuation.
■
Production.
184©.
18CO.
Increase.
1840.
18GO.
Increase.
1845.
1855.
Increase.
Shelburne, ....
1,022
1,448
-
$255,944
$682,660
-
$201,987
$144,505
$57,482
Conway,
1,409
1,689
-
422,558
725,055
-
212,647
382,679
171,032
Coleraine, ....
1,971
1,798
-
420,180
555,814
-
220,914
237,236
16,342
Buckland, ....
1,084
1,702
-
159,844
497,592
-
54,482
280,179
225,697
Charlemont, ....
1,127
1,075
-
221,941
392,572
-
101,816
130,241
28,425
Heath,
895
661
-
195,811
255,580
-
50,983
94,983
44,000
Hawley,
977
671
-
175,187
225,604
-
129,659
104,779
24,880
Kowe,
703
619
-
159,424
223,313
-
79,159
69,014
10,145
Monroe,
282
236
-
41,750
83,091
-
20,180
23,899
3,719
Florida,
441
645
-
68,406
119,316
-
25,022
55,265
30,243
Clarksburg, ....
370
420
-
56,219
107,505
-
28,869
93,625
64,756
Total, ....
»
10,281
10,864
583
$2,177,264
$3,808,102
$1,690,838*
$1,125,718
$1,617,205
$591,4871
* 77 per cent.
t 52 per cent.
TABLE No. 2.
Ten Towns on the Western Route.
TOWNS.
Population.
Valuation.
Production.
1840.
18GO.
Increase.
1840.
18GO.
Increase.
1845.
1855.
Increase.
W estfield
3,520
5,055
-
$899,510
$2,801,834
-
$324,712
$883,556
$558,824
Russell,
955
605
-
98,390
198,402
-
24,207
136,113
111,906
Chester,
1,632
1,314
-
443,410
456,635
-
141,811
216,737
74,926
Blandford, ....
1,427
1,256
-
397,051
519,151
-
107,304
307,293
199,989
Huntington, ....
750
1,210
-
173,004
442,651
-
46,788
208,137
151,349
Becket,
1,342
1,578
-
224,160
431,652
-
98,485
343,505
245,020
Middlefield, ....
1,717
748
-
205,128
308,333
-
137,720
201,975
63,255
Washington, ....
991
948
-
133,853
301,444
-
93,802
113,463
19,601
Hinsdale,
955
1,511
-
231,930
557,661
-
152,592
359,405
206,813
Dalton,
1,252
1,243
-
270,299
733,646
-
256,473
283,674
27,201
Totals, ....
14,547
14,474
71
$3,070,795
$6,751,409
$3,674,074*
$1,383,894
$3,053,838
$1,669,994 f
* 119 per cent.
1120 per cent.
28
TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
Thus it will be seen that with a slight decrease of
population upon the western line, owing to their moun¬
tain locality, they have increased in valuation, 119 per
cent, against 77 per cent, in Franklin County; * in pro¬
duction, 120 per cent, against 52 per cent, in Franklin
County. Could any figures be more startling and con¬
clusive 1 If the mind wants more evidence of the
influence of railroads, look at the growth of Springfield
and Pittsfield, as shown by the following table:—
* The growth in the two Franklin towns grows out of the enterprising firm
of Lamson, Goodnow & Co., at Shelburne Falls andBuckland, who are keenly
alive to the indispensable necessity of this road. Mr. E. G. Lamson is one of
the directors of the company.
TABLE No. 3.
Population.
"Valuation.
PRODUCTION.t
1840.
180O.
Increase.
184©.
180O.
Increase.
Per cent.
184©.
1800.
Increase.
Percent.
Springfield,* .
10,985
22,460
11,475
.$3,610,141
$11,452,094
$7,842,953
2.17
$2,328,213
$4,661,459
$2,333,246
1.00
Pittsfield,
3,747
8,045
4,248
1,065,008
5,059,907
3,994,899
3.75
691,105
1,549,351
858,246
1.24
Totals,
14,732
30,505
15,723
$4,675,149
$16,512,001
$11,837,852
2.53
$3,019,318
$6,210,810
$3,191,492
1.05
GO
H
ra
a
B
o
w
o
55
r
w
o
63
O
Q
W
M
60
* Springfield in 1840, included Chicopee, which has since been taken from it; therefore, the statistics of 1855 and 1860, include those of Chicopee.
t Production includes farm products, animals and manufactured articles.
to
CO
30
TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
With such statistics as now before us, let me ask
what will be the effect of this Troy and Greenfield road
upon the virgin forests, upon the water-power of the
Miller's and Deerfield, and the quarries of soap stone,
serpentine and flagging stone X When you say " now is
a fitting opportunity to stop until the tunnel is done"
we say, No, Ave did not want to construct this piece of
road in 1856 and 1857, simply on account of means,
but you then drove us to it, hoping by taking $650,000
from the tunnel loan to strangle us in this way, Avhile
the pretext was, that the lien upon a tunnel Avas no
security.
Such facts also, as cited before, shoAv that had Massa¬
chusetts never received back a single cent of her Western
Railroad investment she would be still far richer for that
road noAV. So Avill she be for all the little, stinted
pittance which she doles out to us. Do you not wish
to place us on a footing Avith our sister sections X What
have we done to be pursued Avith such bitterness,
virulence and hate. Have we not as sacred claims upon
our parent CommonAvealth, as Springfield and Pittsfield,
or any other section or municipality X Has our loyalty
ever been less X Where, Sir, does this tunnel road start X
Under the shade of Avhat monument! What battle¬
fields does it course X Where is Lexington and
Concord X Upon Avhat line sleeps the dust of Davis, of
Hosmer, of Prescott, (avIio commanded at Bunker Hill, if
any one did,) all born and reared here, Sir. There is
hardly a toAvn upon the first section of this road which
did not pour out its blood, mingling it Avith Essex, upon
SPEECH OF HON. ALVAH CROCKER.
31
these battle-fields, like water; Acton, Littleton, Lancaster,
Groton, Pepperell, Leominster and Fitcliburg.
Where too, Sir, was Groton, was Lowell, the 19th of
April last past 1 Sir, I say nothing in the way of boast¬
ing. Simple justice, I ask; only simple justice; hut I go
back to the Revolution again. It is history that the
towns of the second and third sections of this road
followed up the Deerfield upon this tunnel route, to join
Stark, Warner and Robinson, in what turned the tide in
our war of Independence, the battle of Bennington, so
called, though it was fought in Hoosac upon the line of
this very road in New York, giving by its results, to us,
in the taking of Burgoyne, England's rival, Bourbon
France. Mr. President, the noble men of this very
Northern Massachusetts passed up this very Deerfield
River now under discussion to-day—over this very moun¬
tain, nay, over this very tunnel, to fight the battle of
Hoosac at the mouth of the Walloomsack, as pointed to
several Senators last week.
There, Sir, sleeps Captain Joslin of Ashburnham, who
was the first to fall by Baum's muskets, with his com¬
rades. Sir, this is a consecrated line. It is the Mecca
for Pilgrim Patriots, as this tunnel will soon be the per¬
petual memento, the rich legacy to our children, of what
Massachusetts could do in the spring-time of her history.
It goes straight to Stillwater and Saratoga—thrilling,
soul-stirring words—where New York and Massachusetts
mingled upon one common altar their patriotic blood.—
The question to-day, this hour, is, Shall these two peo¬
ples draw each other together more closely, in business,
32
TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
in friendship, by this low-graded iron river 1 The land
of Schuyler, of Fulton, and Clinton, (dignified in their
day too, as being great humbugs and sAvindlers, though I
never heard of their being called " myths,") joined again
with the land of Prescott and Warren. Sir, is Northern
Massachusetts loyal now 1 Do we now withhold our
life's blood or our hard earnings—harder, nay, vastly
harder for want of railroad facilities 1 Should the State
higgle with us; stop this work, to be her future
pride, about a slope, or an embankment, or a stick of
birch or maple, and that too on a temporary structure,
when you have only paid out to us, under a first mort¬
gage secmity, on one of the greatest lines in New Eng¬
land, or in the country, if accomplished, $725,000, when
every-body knows, that in 1843 both spruce and hemlock
were used on permanent bridges on the Western road, in
the Pontoosuc Valley, a road to which Northern Massa¬
chusetts not only cheerfully voted five millions, but
without interference or complaint. This timber was like
the trestle bridging, the best that could then be used,
until the road was done so as to draw better, from other
sources. Even if it were not, what business had we with
a Springfield road 1 What business have they with
ours! Do they want to build us some more Athol
bridges, or Troy depot buildings, by now breaking
down our own contractors 1 Sir, I have heretofore said
that New York and Massachusetts are now as they were
in the Eevolution, not only contending together to defend
the best government that God in his mercy ever gave to
the children of men, but are also contending against one
SPEECH OF HON. ALVAH CROCKER.
33
of the greatest physical obstacles, destined to produce in
its fruits, some of the greatest physical results and moral
blessings.
Roanoke and Newborn, like the old battle-fields, have
again blended us together from Troy to Boston, with
their fresh and bloody sacrifices, new mangled victims
and martyrs for free government. But, Sir, I will not
dwell longer. Allow me now but one more single
thought. Massachusetts is small in territory, her soil is
sandy, sterile, rock-bound; compare her with her sister
States west of her, either in territory or in many of the
elements of growth, she pales away almost to insignifi¬
cance, but for her race of men. If you would have her
maintain her high position, her noble pre-eminence and
prestige, her present influence in our national councils,
you must give to her every section, north as well as
south, the best facilities for a full development of her
resources, the means for the quickest transit and inter¬
communication, grappling with any and every obstacle
which stands in the way, or in any way bars her from
sustaining the most dense, active, industrious, and
therefore virtuous population.
5
APPENDIX.
A Layman's Opinion of the Law of I860 in regard to the Troy and
Greenfield Railroad, upon the question whether a subsequent Engineer
could, under said Law, when the road was partially constructed,
change the principles, or data of construction adopted by the first Engi¬
neer, touching particularly upon the angle of the slopes of cuts—as the
same was read in the Senate, by Hon. Alvah Crocker, Thursday,
April 17, 1862, in the debate upon said Troy and Greenfield Railroad.
A law must be so construed, as to be consistent with, and competent
for the object which it proposes, if its language will fairly admit of such
construction.
The third section of this law, appropriates six hundred and fifty thousand
dollars ($650,000) for the whole graduation, masonry, bridging and
superstructure, of the unfinished portion of the road east of the tunnel.
It is not assumed, or pretended, that this sum is to be the whole cost
of said road, but having determined in the language of the Act, the
amount of " all grading, bridging, masonry, and other work done, or
iron, or other material furnished, or delivered, on the road east of the
Hoosac, prior to December 22d, 1859 ;" having I say, determined this,
he, the engineer, must fix data to determine, the value of any work, or
material delivered subsequent to date last named.
The obvious meaning here is with the contex which follows, to fix, to
establish such rules as would give results which could not possibly be
known otherwise ; so that by pursuing such results the actual value of
the work to be done can be determined.*
*A simple illustration would be a house partly finished, which from want of
sufficient means the builder has advances promised him in the progress of his
work, which is to be done in a substantial manner. It must be apparent, that
the general principles, specifications, formula or data, should be fixed at the
time when these advances were agreed to be made, and having been so neces¬
sarily fixed the power is exhausted, nor can the advancing party refuse to
Continue such advances, just as the work is done, alleging that the length or
width or height of the house which were the fixed data of the first and only
agreement was wrong and must be changed.
36
TROY AND GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
The word data, therefore, must be the general term, which of necessity
combines all the elements, or principles, which shall, by detail, make a
full computation of the cost, and must also subsequently govern every
monthly calculation. True, as has been argued, quantities may change
rock may be found, which by varying the line may be avoided, so as to
save expense, by increasing earth cuttings, and also rock, when by so
doing expense may be saved.
These changes, as has been argued, are common to railroad con¬
struction ; but while they will vary somewhat in quantities, the
data or general principles being the rule, the results cannot materially
change. As a standard, when such general principles have been care¬
fully noted, there will almost invariably be contingent costs to absorb
any saving arising therefrom.
Without such data to determine from, the fulfilment of the law would
be an impossibility, an impracticability. Could any doubt remain fur¬
ther as to its meaning and purport, it will, it seems to me, vanish by
carefully perusing the whole section, in which no other provision for
proper computation for monthly payments is to be found. True, in a
few subsequent lines, the monthly payments are based upon a road bed,
fifteen feet wide at grade on embankments, seventeen and one-half feet
in side cuts, and in thorough cuts twenty feet; but this necessarily pre¬
supposes that the angle of the slope, both of the side cuts and thorough
cuts, had been predetermined, otherwise it would be impossible to come
to any intelligent results. You could not only not determine quantities
in cuttings, but grade itself is often influenced by it, as the height of the
embankment to be raised is often determined by the quantity of earth to
accomplish it, by the angle of the slope itself, which is one of the speci¬
fications or data. Fillings must depend upon cuttings, and cuttings upon
fillings, and the slope of the cut upon thorough and side-hill excavations
will only give the true quantity. Any other construction than this can
only stultify the whole section.
The same principle will equally apply to all general rules, or data,
which determine the cost of the road, among others, kind and quantity
of masonry, of trestle or river bridging, of the weight of iron rails for
the superstructure, which alone in the absence of specification, or data,
would destroy the capacity of the engineer to make up by any rule of
proportion a monthly estimate, or such a fraction of so much work, and
so much material of a given quality, standard, weight, as with all other
subsequent monthly fractions, shall make a whole railroad.
The cost can only be determined, from all such general elements, or
data, as constitute the basis of a calculation; and what follows, to wit,
width of the cuttings and embankments, enables the engineer, with the
slope of the cut, to determine the qauntities of earth which will fill such
SPEECH OF HON. ALVAH CROCKER.
37
embankments to grade. It follows, therefore, that the angle of the
slopes of cuttings, is a " lex necessitatas," and must be one of the speci¬
fications or data by which to determine monthly payments.
This datum having once been fixed, it will be apparent, from what has
been already said, that when a large amount of graduation has been per¬
formed, and a work almost accomplished, it cannot be under any fair
rule of law or equity changed; and the necessary result of this train of
reasoning is, that when the first State Engineer had fixed the rule or
datum of the angle of the slope, he had exhausted all his power in the
premises, in precisely the same manner as he did when he fixed the
weight of the iron rail per linear yard, and having done, and the com¬
pany having contracted for the iron, thereupon his, the engineer's, power
would be likewise exhausted upon that datum.
If this be so, and the first engineer, by fixing data, or general princi¬
ples of computation, for the accomplishment of a law, has exhausted
that power in said law, will his removal from office enable the new
appointee by caprice or ignorance to change fixed specifications or data
when a work is on the verge of completion ? True, he can see that the
work is substantially performed upon the rules of the first engineer, but
can he establish new rules, new angles of slopes, which shall break every
contract upon the whole line, not only creating an immense waste of
earth material, but sinister to and utterly subversive of all elementary
principles, working their utter destruction, and, as a necessary corollary,
violating the law itself.
Now, a contract for graduation can only be affected with contractors
upon given specifications or data for the computation of monthly
estimates.
It is indispensable upon steep side-hill cuts incident to a river line,
that the engineer should determine what slope he is to run out upon
such steep, expensive hill-sides, before he can bargain for the work.
No shrewd, practical contractor, will attach his name to such an instru¬
ment for graduation until this specification or datum is laid down. Now,
once fixed, can it be changed by the new appointee by either his freak,
or folly, or desire to do something which his predecessors did not do,* and
thereby break every contract made with every contractor upon every
section of a line some thirty miles in length ? Can such a destructive
power be inherent in an act or law ? Is it not an absurdity, an incom¬
patibility, even if we say nothing of its gross, manifest injustice ?
* I know nothing of Air. Lincoln as an engineer, but from what I have seen
of his discharge of his duties upon this work, whatever may be alleged to the
contrary, I should regard both him and his successor, Mr. Stevenson, as com¬
petent engineers.
38
TROY AND" GREENFIELD RAILROAD.
Much stress is laid upon language in a subsequent part of the section
that, while no expenditures shall be made for purposes of ornament, the
work shall be substantially performed, and that scrij) may be withheld
for defective work; manifestly this can only refer to results upon a given
basis, that is work performed upon given data, which data are vitally
indispensable to the contracts themselves.
This is the first as well as the last rule which is laid down for the
engineer in the exercise of a subordinate power, of which I shall speak
hereafter, in withholding scrip; and must be governed by the data first
established, by which subsequently such work was to be performed,
relating obviously to its quality, and substantiality.
[A very simple illustration in a note has already been given by a
contract for a building, and will not again be repeated here.]
If any doubts should still linger as to the real powers and functions
of this State Engineer, they can hardly remain, if we carefully examine
into the letter and spirit of the rest of the Act, which plainly qualifies
any withholding power of the engineer; vesting in the Governor and
Council the whole power to correct abuses, remedy defects, and enforce
requirements, &c., &c.
This subordination of the power of the Engineer, in relation to scrip,
if not entirely clear, would seem to be the plain intent and meaning of
the law.
The Committee, who reported it in 1860, had a difficult duty to per¬
form, not only from their want of railway science, but from the fact
that they had no preceding law, of such character, to fall back upon ;
it never having been deemed necessary to attach such provisions to grant3
of scrip, except to a road through Northern Massachusetts.
Now if this was the real, the true status of the Engineer, his duty
would seem to have been only a clerical one; confined to the technical
duties of his profession, and under the general supervison of the Gov¬
ernor and Council.
True, he had rules, or data, to fix, to calculate what value the labor
performed and materials furnished, monthly, bore to the whole six hun¬
dred and fifty thousand dollars. This, by the character of his profession,
could be better done by him than by the Government of the Common¬
wealth ; nor had he any other control of the work, so far as the lan¬
guage of the Act is concerned, than to see that the work was properly
performed upon fixed data. It was not intended to interfere with the
company or its engineer; it was, obviously, to obtain such information
as would enable the Executive and his Council to properly distribute
the scrip. If the only power which the State Engineer had, was to
determine amount, value, quality of work performed, and materials fur¬
nished, it necessarily follows that power was only vested in the Governor
SPEECH OP HON. ALVAH CROCKER.
39
and Council to remedy defects, enforce requirements, by the withholding
of scrip, and, the language of the preceding period would seem to be
qualified by the same general rule, for the power to withhold scrip by
different functionaries of the one (or same part) without the sanction of
the other ; the one being merely a servant, with merely technical duties to
perform, the created of the creator, is an absurdity in law, as well as
common sense. Now, if this be so, it necessarily follows, that the with¬
holding of such scrip must be subordinate to the decision of the higher,
the appointing power of Governor and Council.
Little responsibility, therefore, could attach to the State Engineer; he
was, merely for the purposes of the act, the servant of the Governor and
Council, to give them such technical, clerical information as would enable
them to discharge the responsible duties of the Act. This explains fully
and concluively the reason of the small annual salary for a professional
engineer attached to this office (one thousand dollars). Now if the
Governor and Council were not only the appointing, but the general
supervisory power, it necessarily follows that the State Engineer, by
withholding scrip without even their action or sanction, with the solitary
exception of his Excellency the Governor himself, and not in this
solitary instance until some three months after the act of his engineer,
against the judgment, nay the protestation of seven-eighths of his council,
while all this was so long ex pu&t facto, to the arbitrary, unauthor¬
ized act itself—it must follow that this functionary acted under a total
misapprehension of his powers and duties; and all the disastrous, ruinous
results flowing from such sudden, violent assumption of power, without
the sanction of the Governor and Council, involves the Commonwealth
in all the equities arising from his transcending his duties, and the usur¬
pation of those duties which could only be discharged by the governing
power.