ARGUMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 HON, CHARLES ALLEN, 
 
 BEFORE TIIE 
 
 com’mittee on bailways and canals, 
 
 IN BEHALF OF TnE PETITION OF 
 
 JOSEPH S. CABOT AND OTHERS, 
 
 ( AN independent railroa d 
 
 ' " BETWEEN 
 
 , SALEM AND LOWELL. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 DICKINSON PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT...,DAMRELL S MOORE. 
 
ARGUMENT.’ 
 
 Mr. Chairman ;—I do not know, Sir, but it might be a wise 
 course to undertake to reply, in the commencement of my re¬ 
 marks, to the argument which has been urged in behalf of the 
 Boston and Lowell Corporation, with so much ingenuity, so 
 much ability, and so much zeal. I do not know what moment¬ 
 ary effect may have been produced by the earnestness which my 
 friend (Mr. Loring), who has just closed, always endeavors to 
 put into his argument, by the conviction which he seems to en¬ 
 tertain, for the lime, that the cause he happens to sustain, is 
 founded in truth and in right—whatever that cause may be; 
 and I know that he would not engage in one unless he were sat¬ 
 isfied that it had two honest sides—but, whatever that cause 
 may be, I know that my friend will lend his whole soul to the 
 work. I know that he acquires a deep conviction, or something 
 which passes for a conviction with others, and probably for the 
 time being amounts to it in his own mind, that there will be 
 great injustice, alarming injustice, irretrievable injustice, unless 
 the rights of his clients, as he understands them, are maintained. 
 I admire the faithfulness as well as the ability of my friend. I 
 am amused to see with what ingenuity he can build up an ar¬ 
 gument which has really nothing at all to stand upon; and in 
 the present instance, I have been amused to see how he has 
 built up almost the whole of his argument upon what he admits 
 to be without foundation,—-upon an entirely wrong assumption 
 of the facts in the ease. 
 
 Now, Sir, although I know that the rights of those whom he 
 represents, the rights of the $1,900,000,—will be guarded with 
 sufficient care; although I know that attention has been given to 
 his argument, and that due weight will be given to the considera¬ 
 tions which he urges, yet I am not prepared to believe that the 
 ears of this Committee have been so closed by the course which 
 has been pursued, that they are not disposed to listen to these 
 petitioners, to give them a fair hearing, to receive the answer 
 which they will briefly make to the argument which has been 
 
 ♦This argument is published from a report, taken phonosraphicallv, by 
 Henry M. Parkhurst. ~. - 
 
4 
 
 nrged, to give both sides a fair consideration, and to each argu¬ 
 ment its just weight. I will not, therefore, stop to answer die 
 counsel for the remonstrants at this moment; I will not suppose 
 that the case has been so presented, that such a permanent effect 
 has been produced upon your minds, that it is necessary to stop 
 here to show to you, as I trust I can show conclusively, that the 
 zeal which has been manifested was misplaced, that the argu¬ 
 ment is without foundation, that the rights of the remonstrants 
 are not to be injuriously affected, and that the injury which may 
 be done them is one of the least considerations which ought to 
 weigh in the determination of this case. I will rather proceed 
 as I had proposed to proceed, as if no such remonstrance had 
 been made, and no such argument had been urged, until the 
 proper time for reply shall arrive, at the close of my remarks. 
 
 The petitioners, Joseph S. Cabot and others, ask for railroad 
 facilities between Salem and Lowell. I will not undertake, Sir, 
 to prove to you, at this time, that such facilities of communica¬ 
 tion are needed, that an exigency exists for railroad communica¬ 
 tion between these two places. How great that exigency is, may 
 be a subject of consideration hereafter; but inasmuch as it has 
 not been denied by any party; inasmuch as those whose real 
 object is a road to Boston, feel that the emergency is so great and 
 so obvious for one to Lowell, that they prefer to cover their 
 scheme under this exigency ; inasmuch as the remonstrants who 
 come here, both by the argument which the counsel has now 
 made and by the printed remonstrance, admit the existence of 
 the exigency; I will assume, Sir, that the first point in the case 
 is already made out; that no argument is necessary to satisfy 
 yon that the facilities of intercourse between the sea-board of 
 Salem and the city of Lowell, the surrounding country, and the 
 country beyond, are insufficient; and then the question arises in 
 respect to the choice of route. 
 
 There are several petitioners here before you. Joseph S. 
 Cabot and others ask you, in the petition which I represent, for 
 a route which is laid down upon the map, for a road from Salem 
 to Lowell, which shall be independent, in its management, of any 
 other road, except so far as it may be connected with the Essex 
 railroad for a short distance. They ask you that it shall pass 
 through North Danvers by the New Mills, or through South 
 Danvers by Proctor’s Brook, thence through North Reading and 
 Wilmington to the Lowell and Lawrence railroad at Tewks¬ 
 bury, and thence, by the side of that road, to Lowell. You 
 perceive, Sir, that in respect to the commencement of the route, 
 the petitioners propose an alternative; they propose to pass by 
 Proctors Brook, and through South Danvers, or through North 
 Danvers by the New Mills, to the depot at Salem. We have 
 expressed, in the course of this hearing, our preference. We 
 think it is better, for reasons which have appeared in evidence, 
 
5 
 
 and which will be alluded to directly, that the route of the con¬ 
 templated road should be through North Danvers, rather than 
 through South Danvers. But we wish to be distinctly under¬ 
 stood, that, while in our judgment that is the preferable route, 
 we leave it entirely to the Legislature to determine by which 
 route we shall pass from one city to the other. Wo do not 
 abandon one for the other, but present them both, and engage 
 to take that which the Legislature thinks it advisable for us to 
 take; and in either event we engage to construct the road. 
 
 There are three petitions before you. There is the petition of 
 those whom I represent, asking for the route which I have de¬ 
 scribed. There is also the petition of Mr. Pingree and others, 
 for a road to South Reading, proceeding thence, for a short 
 distance, on the Boston and Maine railroad, and thence by a new 
 road to the Boston and Lowell railroad. Then there is the 
 petition of Mr. Wakefield and others, asking for a road through 
 West Reading, to the Lowell and Boston road at Wilmington; 
 both the latter routes reaching the same point at Wilmington. 
 We undertake to show, in behalf of Joseph S. Cabot and others, 
 that their route for a railroad is preferable to either of the others. 
 
 I do not know what weight the wishes of the petitioners, the 
 parties most interested in this matter, may have with the Com¬ 
 mittee, yet I apprehend that their wishes will not be without 
 due influence. Most of the business men of Salem, and a very 
 large proportion of those most known as concerned in the busi¬ 
 ness of Lowell, have agreed in respect to the route which should 
 be adopted. More than one thousand of the inhabitants of 
 Salem have petitioned for the charter which I advocate. More 
 than seventeen hundred of the inhabitants of Lowell have joined 
 in the same petition. And now, Sir, look over that list of names 
 upon the petition before you. Are they persons unacquainted 
 with the wants of their respective cities ? Are they not exten¬ 
 sively connected with the business of those cities ? Are they not 
 gentlemen of intelligence, who know not only the business 
 which is likely to pass through the cities and between them, but 
 who can form a correct judgment, under ordinary circumstances, 
 respecting the best mode of"connecting them? I do not mean to 
 say, Sir, that the argument is conclusive, by any means, but I 
 do say that it is an argument of weight, not merely from the 
 character of the petitioners, and from the probable judgment 
 with which they have selected their route, but from the fact that 
 so numerous a body of intelligent men do ask for the charter set 
 forth in that petition; and certainly the Legislature will look 
 with great attention to the character of the petition we have pre¬ 
 sented. They will not lightly turn aside a request of that 
 nature; but they will see if it is not founded in wisdom and 
 justice, if it does not grow out of a great necessity, and if it does 
 
6 
 
 not suggest the best and most judicious mode of meeting that 
 necessity. 
 
 Now I will not speak of the efforts to bring up counter memo¬ 
 rials to the Legislature since this hearing commenced. I will 
 not go into the consideration of them. I will not ask in what 
 manner two or three hundred men from Lowell have been in¬ 
 duced, by great efforts in scouring the streets and shops, to come 
 here and present a remonstrance. Without making any qualifi¬ 
 cation for the manner in which anything of the kind has been 
 effected, take the papers; read the names there, and count their 
 numbers, and then say, if you please, what are the wishes of the 
 people of Lowell, and c f t 1 • people of Salem. 
 
 Not only so, Mr. Chairman, but the petition which I represent 
 is signed and sustained by the inhabitants along the whole line 
 of the road from Salem to Lowell. The charter is asked for by 
 the inhabitants generally of North Danvers, by the inhabitants of 
 Middleton, or that part of it which the road will accommodate, 
 by the inhabitants of North Reading, of Tewksbury, of Wil¬ 
 mington, and by a part even of the inhabitants of Lynnfield. It 
 may be thought that this is an advantage which we only share 
 in common with those who advocate the Wakefield and the 
 Pingree petitions; but it is not so. By a reference to the peti¬ 
 tions you will find the case far otherwise. While throughout 
 the whole extent of onr line we satisfy the wishes of the popula¬ 
 tion along that line and neighborhood, from Salem to the city of 
 Lowell, far otherwise is the case with the other petitions. The 
 Pingree and the Wakefield routes, I assert from the evidence in 
 this case, are not satisfactory to those who are the most entitled 
 to seek a railroad from Salem to Lowell. 
 
 I have spoken, Sir, of the petitioners from the two termini of 
 the road upon the Cabot petition. Who are they who ask for 
 accommodations between Salem and Lowell, and whose names 
 are affixed to the Pingree petition ? How many citizens of 
 Salem do you find desirous of that route? Just four, and no 
 more. You will be surprised, Sir, when you turn to the peti¬ 
 tion, and find the names of but four persons from Salem who 
 are seeking for this route from Salem to Lowell. And who arc 
 those four gentlemen of Salem? Mr. Pingree, who heads the 
 petition; and his counsel, Mr. Holbrook; Gen. Sutton, who, if the 
 line between Salem and Danvers is correctly drawn, is a Salem 
 gentleman, though- the slightest mistake would throw him into 
 Danvers, with whose interests he is perhaps more identified; and 
 aretired physician, Dr. Treadwell. Well, I should like to have the 
 counsel on the other side tell ns who they are from Lowell that 
 come to the Legislature and join in this petition. There is not 
 a name from Lowell on the Pingree petition. Not one 
 man from Lowell asks that the Pingree route should be grant¬ 
 ed. And here, Sir, a great exigency is admitted on all hands to 
 
7 
 
 exist, admitted when men are very loath to admit anything of 
 the kind, admitted from the direct necessity; and it is contended 
 that the route prayed for by Pingrec and others is the desired 
 route, and yet it turns out that all those most interested in busi¬ 
 ness in Lowell prefer another route. And while, Mr. Chair¬ 
 man, this seems to show you what are the desires, what is the 
 intelligent judgment of Salem and ofjLowell, as to the way and 
 manner in which their wishes can be most effectually carried 
 out, it also serves to show you for what purpose the Pingree 
 petition was got up, whether for the purpose of a road from 
 Salem to Lowell, or not. 
 
 Who, then, are they who sign the Pingree petition? The 
 strength of the petition is at South Danvers. Every petitioner is 
 from South Danvers, from Lynnfield, or from South Reading, 
 with the exceptions I have named, and the single further excep¬ 
 tion of Mr. Jaques, who desires a road to connect his estate in 
 Wilmington with the Boston and Lowell railroad. 
 
 With the exception of the four'gentlemen from Salem, and 
 Mr. Jaques, not a man, excepting from South Danvers, Lynn¬ 
 field, and South Reading, has come to ask for a railroad from 
 Salem to Lowell, upon the Pingree route. Well, who are they, 
 Sir, and what do they want ? They came here, unquestionably, 
 under color of a road from Salem to Lowell, to obtain a com¬ 
 peting road, or a new road from Salem to Boston. The mass of 
 the petitioners are the same described by the counsel for the re¬ 
 monstrants, who have come here, year after year, seeking for 
 a new mode of communication between Salem and Boston. 
 Look at the names upon those petitions. As you turn to the 
 reports of former years, you will find these gentlemen from South 
 Danvers constantly referred to ; you will find the name of Pin¬ 
 gree heading the petitions, if not the principal petitioner now 
 before you, yet only another intimately connected with him in 
 interest and in blood ; and if Thomas is substituted for David, 
 or Osborn for Daniels, the interests are still substantially the 
 same and the petitioners are the same. 
 
 Now, Sir, with reference to the origin of the Pingree petition, 
 let us look at another fact. I have said that the strength of the 
 petition is from South Danvers. It gets some aid from Lynn¬ 
 field and South Reading, and one or two names to head the 
 petition from the city of Salem, to give it the appearance of a 
 road to accommodate Salem. The inhabitants of South Dan¬ 
 vers met their neighbors of North Danvers upon notice given in 
 town meeting, and they say by their votes, as I interpret those 
 votes, that they will not oppose any road beneficial to the inter¬ 
 ests of the town. And what do they say they want ? What do 
 they say in those votes drawn up by the learned gentlemen in 
 support of one or more of these petitions, that they want ? A 
 road to Boston. South Danvers wanted, as she* has wanted 
 
s 
 
 for years, a new road lo Boston to avoid the ferry. The 
 effort has been made again and again, but without success, to ob¬ 
 tain a road where it was most desired, through the town of 
 Malden. 
 
 After fruitless efforts, for a number of successive years, the 
 object is not abandoned, but the mode of reaching it is changed. 
 Knowing that the inhabitants of Salem and of Lowell are desir¬ 
 ous of new means of communication between the two cities, 
 this fact is taken advantage of, and one more effort is made for 
 a road to Boston under color of a road to Lowell, and petition¬ 
 ers from Lynnfield and South Reading have readily joined in 
 the effort, and put their names to the petition. Now, Sir, that 
 the object of those who have signed the Pingree petition is not 
 a road from Salem to Lowell, but a road from Salem to Boston, 
 is apparent, not only when we look at the origin of this petition, 
 not only when we see by what names it is supported, but equally 
 so when we look to the evidence that has been presented before 
 you and preceding Committees. Many respectable witnesses 
 have been called from South Danvers. They say they prefer 
 the Pingree route to Lowell, but they do not hesitate to tell you 
 that the great object they have in view is a road from Danvers 
 to Boston. They do not seek to disguise it; they cannot dis¬ 
 guise it; and they complain to you of the disadvantages under 
 which they labor in passing the ferry on the Eastern railroad. 
 They take care, Sir, while they sign a petition for a road to 
 Lowell, that they bring before the Legislature, with I believe the 
 same signatures, a separate petition for a road to Boston ; that 
 road they appear to deem so important that they will not trust 
 the cause to a stranger, but insist that a citizen of their own 
 town, every way competent to be sure, should advocate their in¬ 
 terest in obtaining a charter. 
 
 I might now say, Sir, that though the object really has been to 
 obtain a road from Danvers to Boston, that object seems to have 
 lost its importance in consequence of events which have recently 
 transpired. What is it that has made the people of Danvers so 
 desirous to obtain a new mode of communication with Boston ? 
 What is it that has induced them, from year to year, to come to 
 the Legislature for this purpose ? They agree, one and all, that 
 the substantial reason is the existence of the ferry at East Boston. 
 They generally', in their testimony, inform you, that if the incon¬ 
 venience of the ferry were removed, they should be perfectly satis¬ 
 fied with their present accommodations. 
 
 The petition, therefore, of Mr. Pingree and others, originated 
 in a desire to obtain a road to Boston, and not to Lowell; and it 
 is in evidence before the Committee, that the difficulty of which 
 they have complained is now about to be removed; that the 
 Eastern Railroad Company have made an arrangement by which 
 they will be enabled to avoid the ferry, and to bring their passen- 
 
gers into Boston, at a convenient point in the city. It remains 
 only for the Legislature to sanction the arrangement, and the 
 difficulty will be removed. The whole public will rejoice that 
 this result has been obtained, not only on account of the positive 
 inconvenience which will be obviated, but because it will stop 
 the loud and incessant complaints which have so long disturbed 
 and vexed the community; and, I suppose, that, while the East¬ 
 ern Railroad Company is seeking, at great expense, to remove 
 this inconvenience, which is felt, not by the people of Danvers 
 only, but by every traveller upon the whole extent of that road, 
 from Boston to Maine, the Legislature will be unwilling to 
 thwart their wishes or to discourage them in any way, by grant¬ 
 ing a charter to a competing inland route from Salem to Boston. 
 How injurious it will be to the rights of the Eastern road, is a 
 question which I do not propose to go into, as it has been already 
 fully discussed. All I mean to say is, that the evidence of wit¬ 
 nesses has served to show to entire satisfaction, that the only 
 foundation upon which the Pingree petition really stands, will 
 be removed, or their object otherwise effected, without injury to 
 any one or expense to the petitioners. In fact, it was admitted 
 in the closing argument, in behalf of the petitioners from South 
 Danvers, that, if such accommodations were provided as the 
 Eastern Railroad Company has proposed to furnish, another 
 road to Boston would not be needed. The great business be¬ 
 tween Boston and South Danvers, it is admitted, may be thus 
 provided for; and their counsel, while he remains in the field 
 for the purpose of obtaining a charter, confesses it to be a matter 
 of doubt whether such a charter would be used. 
 
 There is, then, the Wakefield petition. This too, is said to 
 be a petition for a road from Salem to Lowell, and this is to meet 
 the gieat exigency. Let me inquire, who are the signers of that 
 petition ? What names are borne upon it? Not one, Sir, from 
 Salejt, and not one from Lowell. The singular case is pre¬ 
 sented here for your consideration, of gentlemen petitioning for a 
 road to accommodate the business between Salem and Lowell, and 
 yet no one interested in the business of either city signing the 
 petition. It is somewhat surprising, if this be really the better 
 route for a railroad, that the people most interested had not dis¬ 
 covered the fact, that the people of Salem or of Lowell had not 
 come here and petitioned for the route. If, indeed, it should 
 prove in the end, that this is the preferable route, the citizens of 
 Salem and the citizens of Lowell may have cause of great 
 gratitude to those who have come forward, without their request 
 and while they were ignorant of their purpose, and obtained the 
 facilities which they so much needed. 
 
 We humbly think, Sir, that the citizens of Salem and of Lowell 
 understand the great wants of the cities in which they dwell, 
 quite as well as those who sign the Wakefield petition. While 
 
10 
 
 it is admitted on all hands, that there is an exigency for a road 
 from Salem to Lowell, there is none to justify the petition of 
 "Wakefield and others. They could not have sought,—and it 
 will not do for them seriously to urge the argument,—they could 
 not have sought to accommodate that great business, extending 
 from the seaboard into the interior, and it must be that they have 
 sought only to accommodate the small amount of business 
 which was to be found over the route of the Wakefield road. 
 Now, Sir, what business is that? I know of none. 
 
 Will it be said that the Wakefield petition, although originally 
 brought here by gentlemen not interested in the business which 
 is to warrant the construction of a railroad, and which is here¬ 
 after to support it, yet is favored by the Pingree petitioners, who 
 say that they are satisfied to adopt the route of the Wakefield 
 petition, and therefore it is some evidence that it will prove satis¬ 
 factory to accommodate the business of those for whom this road 
 is to be made? Sir, I think that point requires a little ex¬ 
 amination. I do not understand that the Pingree petitioners 
 adopt the Wakefield petition, unless you at the same time effect 
 their great object, which is, a road to Boston. The Wakefield 
 petition contemplates no spur to South Reading. That is no 
 part of the Wakefield petition—none at all. It is a road un¬ 
 doubtedly leading towards Lowell, but for whose benefit the 
 petition was got up, it is difficult to say. They ask not for 
 that spur;—it is not to be found in their petition. And the Pin¬ 
 gree petitioners, when they say they are willing to pass on the 
 Wakefield route with their own road, do it with this understand¬ 
 ing, that you will add to the Wakefield line a spur to South 
 Reading; the spur being the thing which they most seek, the 
 communication with Boston. If you will give them that, doubt¬ 
 less they will take anything else. They are indifferent to the rest of 
 the route. They care not how you reach South Reading if they 
 can have a communication with Boston. But do they mean to 
 say, that they will consent to take the Wakefield route without the 
 spur? If they want the road to Lowell, if that is their object, 
 let them say so. [Mr. Derby replied, that they would take all the 
 Committee would give them.] 
 
 No doubt, Sir; but is he satisfied to abandon his own petition; 
 to take the Wakefield route, and leave out the spur to South 
 Reading? I should like to test the sincerity of that declaration. 
 
 It is no answer to say, that they will take all they can get. Still. 
 Sir, I do not urge them to do it against their wishes. My ob¬ 
 ject is accomplished. If they were here, as we are, with a single 
 eye to accomplish the business between Salem and Lowell, 
 would they not say so ? Bring us to the test, Sir. We are told 
 that we shall interfere with the Boston and Lowell Railroad. 
 We say, put on any restrictions you please, and we even suggest 
 those which occur to our minds as most effectual to prevent such 
 
11 
 
 interference;—crossing the Maine Railroad at a different grade, 
 and inserting a provision in the charter that there shall be no 
 connection, that there shall be no depot, and no exchange of 
 freight, or of passengers, within half a mile of the point of intersec¬ 
 tion. Now, Sir, whatever plausible view they may present of 
 this matter, if their object had been the avowed one, if that had 
 been the great object, overriding all others, would they not have 
 said at once, “ We will be satisfied ; give us the road to Lowell, 
 and we ask no more ?” But my friend knows perfectly well, 
 that if he were to rise up here and say that he would be satisfied 
 with the Wakefield route, that he will not ask, but will relinquish 
 that to South Reading, he knows that the citizens of South 
 Danvers will come here en masse to oppose a conclusion so 
 opposite to their wishes. 
 
 Now, let me add one more suggestion. It has been said, not 
 by these pelilioners, however, that you may grant the Wakefield 
 petition without the spur. We should object greatly to that re¬ 
 sult ; not merely because we think it a very unfavorable route 
 for a railroad, compared with the one which we offer to your 
 acceptance, but because we say that, upon the evidence here be¬ 
 fore you, it never will be built. What is that evidence ? There 
 is testimony here that the Pingree road will be built, if granted. 
 No doubt of that; but where is the evidence that the Wakefield 
 road will be built? What individual has testified that, in his 
 belief, persons would subscribe for the stock? No one—no one. 
 I have a right to assert upon this evidence, notwithstanding what 
 can be said by way of argument, which must stand upon asser¬ 
 tion only, what I believe to be truly the fact, that the road would 
 not be built, because when you refuse the spur to South Read¬ 
 ing you refuse that which the people of Danvers say that they 
 want more than anything else; partly because they have felt in¬ 
 convenience on the Eastern Railroad, and partly because they 
 have been so long in contention with that road, that they are 
 anxious to effect their object of another communication with 
 Boston. They have said, that, in their belief, the road would be 
 built, and some have said that they would subscribe for the 
 stock, but it is the road to South Reading that they want. The 
 other they consent to build for the purpose of effecting their 
 great object. But I suppose it would be a dead weight upon their 
 enterprise, assumed only because they are obliged to assume it 
 as a compensation for the boon they obtain. 
 
 I think, Sir, that the Committee will not entertain a doubt; 
 I do not suppose that any man will feel or express a doubt, 
 either of the Committee or counsel, that the people of Lowell 
 and of Salem, who petition here to you for the Cabot read, 
 come in good faith, seeking for a road from Salem to Lowell, and 
 seeking for nothing else. You do not believe, Mr. Chairman, 
 when witnesses of character come here before you and tell you 
 
12 
 
 that such is their object, and testify to the great want which ex¬ 
 ists for a communication of the kind, you do not doubt at all 
 that they are seeking, not a road to Boston, which they will not 
 get, or a road which shall divert travel from Lowell to Boston. 
 You do not doubt the truth of the Salem gentlemen, nor of the 
 Lowell gentlemen, who have signed this petition, and who have 
 signed it knowing what it contained; knowing definitely and fully 
 the object which was sought, and not, as my friend opposite (i\Ir. 
 Hopkinson) thought with respect to one gentleman, through some 
 mistake; but that very person to whom he alludes, was most 
 fully and repeatedly informed respecting the whole matter of the 
 petition, where the road was to go, by what route, and all con¬ 
 cerning it. The whole aspect of the case shows, that these gen¬ 
 tlemen come here before you, not only with the purpose avow¬ 
 ed upon the face of the petition, but with that alone; and not 
 only so, but with the full belief that the exigency exists, and 
 that it is a great exigency;—that it is of vital importance to the 
 future growth and prosperity of Salem, that the means of com¬ 
 munication should be afforded, and that it is of great importance 
 to the growth and prosperity of Lowell, and the surrounding 
 country, that sea-board accommodation should thus be afforded. 
 
 Coming with this single object, what inducement would they 
 have to select any other than the very best route ? If they have 
 not selected the best route, it was because these gentlemen could 
 not find it. There can be no other reason, no other in the world. 
 Having but one distinct object in view, that object was to be 
 promoted, — was it not, Mr. Chairman?—by finding the best 
 route from Salem to Lowell. Having no other purpose, they 
 turned not to the right nor to the left for the sake of other objects. 
 Now they say, that they have found the best route, and they 
 contend, that, in whatever view you may consider this question, 
 they are entitled to a charter. 
 
 In the first place, their route is the most direct. What were 
 their instructions to their engineer ? To seek the best and most 
 direct route from Salem to Lowell. Mr. Latham told you that 
 these were his instructions, and all his instructions, with reference 
 to the route. Did they proceed fairly and wisely? I think, 
 gentlemen, that you and everybody must admit that they did. 
 He finds that best route, and that direct route, and he. makes his 
 report, and it is only because that route is found to be the best, 
 that we ask you to charter it. If the result of the investigation 
 had been to fix upon any other line, then the petition would have 
 been for the construction of that other line. It is the natural 
 course that we take. There was no great wisdom required on 
 the part of Mr. Latham, none that could be exercised, in deter¬ 
 mining where was the best line for a road from Salem to Low¬ 
 ell, where there was every indication of the proper route. It was 
 pointed out distinctly as the route which formerly was sought 
 
13 
 
 by the public travel to the north, the route indicated by the hills 
 and the vallies; and no one here has denied that Mr. Latham 
 has found the best route. I do not understand that to this mo¬ 
 ment it has been denied by a single witness. 
 
 There has been an attempt to criticize our line. Small and 
 captious criticisms have been made by one and another; remarks 
 
 have been made which I would not characterize as captious, 
 affecting it slightly in regard to construction and expense; but 
 no one yet has denied, no witness has yet come forward here, 
 whether engineer or professional man, to tell you that Mr. La¬ 
 tham was not careful in his survey, or that he did not select the 
 best route. The counsel who opened for the petitioners in the 
 commencement said, that it was a good route. It has the advan¬ 
 tage of directness. Mr. Latham discovered that, as we compute 
 the distance, and I will give my computation hereafter, we make 
 it about a mile less than the shortest of the other lines. 
 
 By the Pingree route the distance is . , 25.87 miles. 
 
 By the Wakefield route the distance is . 24.96 “ 
 
 By the Cabot route, via Proctor’s Brook, . 24.01 “ 
 
 By the Cabot route, via New Mills, , . 24.43* “ 
 
 So that we have the advantage of about a mile over the other 
 
 routes. Now, Mr. Chairman, the difference is not so great that 
 it amounts to an argument conclusive, or even of very great 
 weight in comparison with other considerations which might be 
 mentioned, still it is an advantage, and in the course of a twelve- 
 month, writh the amount of business which we hope will pass 
 over that road, the difference in the running expense will amount 
 to a sum not inconsiderable. At any rate, we wish to show that 
 looking at this matter from what point you please, the advan¬ 
 tage is in favor of the line indicated in the Cabot petition. 
 
 Then, Sir, we say that it is the least expensive in construction; 
 and here we refer you to the estimates of engineers. Without 
 referring at this moment to those estimates, it is enough to say, 
 that, after making allowance for the road-damages, and for the 
 equipments of the road, not estimated by Mr. Latham, the ex¬ 
 pense of all the routes in these respects, perhaps, being not far 
 from equal, the figures show the Cabot line to be the one to be 
 desired, that it is many thousand dollars lower in the cost of 
 construction than either of the others. The estimate of Mr. 
 Latham was assailed by the counsel, aided by the engineer 
 who sat by him; and I observed in the cross-examination of 
 Mr. Latham, that the engineer (Mr. Ashburner), with his great 
 and usual zeal, which I do not at all blame, was constantly pre¬ 
 paring his questions, and through thfe counsel presenting them to 
 Mr. Latham, in the whole course of his cross-examination, with 
 a view to show some discrepancy in the statements, some error 
 
 * To the passenger station, —half a mile less to the freight station. 
 
14 
 
 in the calculation; but after all, it is for you to say whether Mr. 
 Latham has not acquitted himself as an intelligent man, ac¬ 
 quainted with the work in which he was engaged, and able to 
 give you an enlightened opinion. We do not say that as an 
 engineer, he has the greatest experience, or the greatest amount 
 of scientific knowledge; but he may have that which is quite 
 as useful, even in the transaction of business of this nature, in 
 the examination of a route no more difficult than that between 
 Salem and Lowell; he may have a practical good sense for his 
 guide, he may have experience, which would stand him in stead 
 quite as well as the learning derived from books in the office. 
 I understand from the testimony of Mr. Latham, that he is a pro¬ 
 fessional engineer; that he was accustomed, before he sur¬ 
 veyed railroads, to survey the country in the construction of 
 common roads, and that so far as he has been employed as a 
 surveyor, some skill in engineering has been necessarily ac¬ 
 quired. He has devoted a number of years to the survey of 
 routes for railroads, and has actually been concerned in the con¬ 
 struction of one which he has now brought almost to comple¬ 
 tion. I refer to the Lowell and Lawrence road, a road passing 
 through a tract of country, in its general features, I suppose, 
 somewhat resembling the one which he was called to examine 
 by Mr. Cabot He has then recent experience, in this part of 
 the country, in the immediate vicinity of the line of this road, 
 to aid him in male in g his estimates; and I leave it to yon, Sir, 
 to detennine whether ordinary reliance is not to be placed 
 upon those estimates, whether he is not competent to survey the 
 route of a railroad where no more difficulties present themselves, 
 I should, perhaps, say, where no difficulties whatever present 
 themselves, where you pass through a country presenting no 
 natural obstacle of any magnitude, where the only thing to be 
 determined is to select the most level route, and then, perhaps, 
 to determine in relation to expense and grades, and to what 
 depth you will make your cuttings. There are cases, Sir, where 
 great skill may be necessary. It was so in the construction of 
 the Western Railroad, and was so, I suppose, with the Boston 
 and Lowell Railroad. But I believe any practical man accus¬ 
 tomed to survey laud for other purposes, accustomed to the con¬ 
 struction of roads, to the laying out of common roads, turnpikes, 
 and highways, would be perfectly competent to select a line of 
 road here. I would not say perfectly competent to make the 
 estimates. I think, Sir, that gentlemen mound this very table 
 could go and select the best line of a road from Salem to Lowell. 
 
 But I affirm, Sir, that he has done it; it has been tested. 
 Every effort has been made to prove the incorrectness of the 
 estimates of Mr. Latham. The engineer employed by the op¬ 
 posite party, went over the route of Mr. Latham. Others 
 were called to such points upon that route as it was thought 
 
15 
 
 would afford an opportunity to correct or disprove the statements 
 of Mr. Latham. And during this investigation, not one, but 
 two or three engineers, have been sent over ihe route surveyed 
 by Mr. Latham, with a view to test its correctness. Now, Sir, it 
 cannot be said that they were sent there to see whether there 
 were rocks in the snow-covered hills, but it was to see if they 
 could find any error in his survey. They were accompanied by 
 a gentleman acquainted with the whole route, and by inhabi¬ 
 tants along that route, by persons deeply interested. To such an 
 extent has the matter been carried, that the people of Danvers 
 finding that there was one spot upon our road where you might 
 sink a rod ten feet, while Mr. Latham’s estimate was seven feet, 
 took Mr. Lawrie, and he really found a spot where the rod did 
 sink ten feet. Now, no one will believe that this was accidental, 
 that his cane dropped when walking along over frozen ground, 
 or that this was the first spot that was tried. No one doubts that 
 the gentlemen of South Danvers in their eagerness—of which I 
 do not complain at all—when they took the engineer to that spot 
 for the purpose of disproving Mr. Latham’s statements,—knowing 
 every inch of that road (the cultivators of the land who were 
 familiar with every spot upon it, and could tell where the deep¬ 
 est spot was), took him to that spot; and no doubt if there had 
 been more, the engineer would have been taken to them. I felt, 
 Sir, when that fact was introduced, that it was the strongest 
 testimony almost that could be introduced here to the correct¬ 
 ness of Mr. Latham’s testimony, and the faithfulness of his 
 survey, that no further fault could be found than to show a dif¬ 
 ference between seven and ten feet in a single instance; and in 
 no particular, excepting in that inconsiderable item, has it been 
 contradicted by the re-survey. The opinion has been expressed 
 
 by some, that there was rock-cutting there ; an opinion loosely 
 formed by Mr. Parrot and Mr. Lawrie, though he, Mr. L., did not 
 say that a route might not be found there, where there would be 
 none of any importance. There was a probability that there 
 would be rock-cutting, they thought. 
 
 [Mr. Derby remarked, that ihey saw two or three rocks above 
 the snow.] 
 
 Undoubtedly there were loose rocks and boulders there. He 
 inferred a probability, and although there might be some degree 
 of probability, I think that Mr. Latham having surveyed with 
 care, not in the -winter but in the summer, and having come to 
 the conclusion, that although in the neighborhood of his road, 
 and not far from it, there might be seen rocks, yet when there 
 were none to be found where his road passes, I think we may 
 more safely rely upon his judgment than upon the conjectures of 
 gentlemen who profess to have more science, and which perhaps 
 have been founded upon the general scenery of the country and 
 a casual view of it, when the earth was covered with snow. 
 
16 
 
 I understand Mr. Latham to be a man in whose character for 
 integrity, and in whose general good judgment, you can rely. 
 My friend opposite [Mr. Hopkinson], who resides in the same 
 city, I think will not deny that he is a man of principle, cautious 
 in his statements, and who would give here opinions which he 
 supposed to be in all respects correct. Is not his judgment suf¬ 
 ficiently correct for you to act upon ? Having surveyed that 
 line of road, having made his report, having made his estimates 
 from actual experience on the Lawrence road, I ask, whether those 
 estimates and those surveys are not to be relied upon. No one 
 has said or whispered that he has not acted with skill, and if 
 we were to ask Mr. Lawrie whether he has ever traced a line 
 more judiciously selected than that which Mr. Latham found, 
 —perhaps the counsel know his opinion upon that point as well 
 as I. 
 
 I proceed to another point. We have the easiest grades. We 
 ask you that the road may be built where we indicate, because 
 we prefer that our business between Salem and Lowell should 
 be done on planes of 25 feet ascent, rather than on planes of 40 
 feet. Are we reasonable in this? Are the gentlemen from 
 Salem and from Lowell reasonable in asking you that they may 
 pass by a route which shall give grades of 25 feet, rather than by 
 one which will give grades of 40 feet ? As we have said, Sir, 
 we look upon this road as hereafter to be sustained, in a great 
 measure, by freight passing over it. We hope to satisfy you, 
 and we have satisfied ourselves, that it is to be a road over which 
 great quantities of freight must pass. Now, Sir, what is the 
 difference practically between gradients of 25 feet and gradients of 
 40 feet? I will not take extreme ground. You, Sir, whom at 
 this moment I address as chairman of the Committee, I suppose 
 have sat upon the Committee on railroads before; and I think 
 you will bear me out when I say that where parties have grades 
 which are steep, where they have very considerable ascent, re¬ 
 quiring gradients of 40 or 50 feet, that then their favorite engineer 
 is called upon to show with how much ease heavy engines pass 
 over high grades, and to reduce to nothing almost the import¬ 
 ance of having low grades. They tell you that heavy engines 
 pass readily up the gradients, and that it is really a matter of 
 little practical importance. On the other hand, suppose that the 
 route petitioned for is one where the gradients are low" or moder¬ 
 ate ; did you ever hear the engineer w"ho made the surveys and 
 who stands behind the advocated route, testify, and did you ever 
 know" him to omit to say, that the route w r as to be desired because 
 of the low gradients upon it ? I care not W'ho that engineer is, 
 of all selected this winter or at any former period; is not that 
 the universal course which has been pursued,—either to make 
 the grade the all-important thing, as decisive, whatever the 
 businessmay be on another line, or else a matter of little moment, 
 
17 
 
 as the case may require ? Now I take it that the truth is not at 
 either extreme. I make this admission; but on the other hand 
 I claim, so far as there are truth and reason with us, that in this 
 particular case they be allowed their weight. 
 
 There is no doubt, Sir, that heavy engines can pass over grades 
 of forty feet, and carry heavy loads. No man doubts it 1 
 go further, and say, that, where a lailroad is wanted, and the 
 country will not admit of less grades, the objection is to be dis¬ 
 regarded. There is a want, which should be supplied in the best 
 practicable manner. But when, on the other hand, there is a 
 choice of routes, and the mass of the business can be accommo¬ 
 dated by both alike, or nearly so, then Sir, the man is a madman 
 who builds his road upon the forty feet grade where he might 
 find one by the side of it at twenty-five feet. And I ask you, 
 if you believe that there is an engineer in the country, whose 
 opinion is entitled to the least respect, who is fit to be employed 
 for a moment in the construction of railroads, is there such an 
 engineer in the land, who would, where he had the choice be¬ 
 tween twenty-five feet gradients and those of forty feet, prefer- 
 the latter ? Is there one who would not come forward and say 
 that the advantage is very great in having the gradients low ; 
 that although the evil of high grades is to be submitted to when 
 necessary, when business cannot be otherwise accommodated, 
 yet other things being equal, or approaching to equality, wu 
 should take the low grades rather than the high ? It will cause 
 delay and constant expense to puss over high grades, because 
 every foot you rise in a railroad requires a very great power. 
 You regard it but little in the case of a common highway. What 
 is a rise of a foot in a mile ? But little. But that same rise 
 upon a railroad is a matter of great moment; and why ? Be¬ 
 cause the resistance of the power of gravity is proportional to the 
 weight of the load; and, when you have a load weighing ten. 
 twenty, or thirty times as much on the railroad as upon the high¬ 
 way, you see how great the resistance is, and that resistance must 
 be overcome at the expense of a great amount of power, whether 
 you obtain it by having a more powerful engine or otherwise. 
 
 There certainly are advantages in using a small engine, where 
 you can use it as well as a heavy one. There is the very weight 
 of the engine itself, which is to be taken into consideration. 
 There is, secondly, the additional expense for the motive power, 
 in the original cost and in the use of it; and, notwithstanding 
 the suggestion, I think, of Mr. Derby, —and I do not know but 
 he was backed by a witness, — notwithstanding any opinion that 
 has been expressed here, that the road itself will not suffer more 
 
 from the heavy engine than from the light, I appeal to you that it 
 must be so ; and that the testimony of men skilled in this mat¬ 
 ter has generally been, that the road is more injured by the 
 
18 
 
 heavy engine. No matter how you strive to divide its pressure, 
 yet, upon the space of ten or fifteen feet, you have a greater 
 pressure upon your rails than the due proportion of the amount 
 of weight resting upon it. You find that, upon turning to the 
 reports of the Boston and Worcester Railroad, in point of fact, 
 when the Western Railroad came upon that track with their 
 engines, some three or four years ago, the former report it as a 
 reason for taking up their rail and laying down a heavier one, 
 that the engines of the Western Railroad were destroying their 
 rails and impairing their strength. Now, Sir, the answer is given, 
 that roads with low grades employ heavy engines. Why is it so ? 
 Not because they prefer them to light, if the lighter engine will 
 do the work required; but it is because even upon the roads of 
 low grade, comparatively, there are times when their motive 
 power is used to its full extent, and they wish to have the means 
 of meeting emergencies. They wish their engines to have the 
 power to carry heavy trains, whenever it is necessary. They 
 are subjected, at times, to heavy passenger trains, requiring, for 
 expedition, the weight of heavy engines ; not ordinarily, perhaps, 
 but occasionally. The corporations, therefore, have preferred to 
 be at the additional expense of procuring the heavy engines, in 
 preference to the light ones. 
 
 Then. Sir, let me ask what advantage the Pingree or Wakefield 
 route has over our road ? If it has not in directness, if it has 
 not in expense of construction, if it has not in its grades, has it 
 any advantage in its way business ? I know it was urged, in behalf 
 of" the Pingree petitioners, that they accommodated a great 
 amount of way business. I deny that they do, Sir, compared 
 with our own. We think that the advantage will be, even in 
 this respect, with us. They rely upon the business of Lynnfield 
 and South Reading; but what else, to any great extent? I 
 speak not now of the business of South Danvers, for it is common 
 to both; but I ask you, Sir, whether the way business coming 
 from North Danvers and North Reading is not fully equal to the 
 business in the direction of Lowell, from Lynnfield and from 
 South Reading. Of course, I speak not of the business between 
 Reading and Boston, or between Danvers and Boston, but of the 
 business which goes to Salem or Lowell. 
 
 I ask the attention of the Committee particularly to the busi¬ 
 ness of North Danvers, and to the importance of extending the 
 Railroad to that place, for the purpose of connecting it with the 
 interior. The testimony of several witnesses has shown, that a 
 very large proportion, — some of them even say nine-tenths, — 
 of the anticipated business between Danvers and the interior, 
 must be transacted in the North Parish. See along the whole 
 line of the road, as we propose to extend it through North Dan¬ 
 vers, how much way business may be contributed. In proceeding 
 from Salem, the road will first reach the crossing at Water’s 
 
19 
 
 River, where there are already a Rolling Mill, an Iron Foundry, 
 a Grist Mill, and a Machine Shop. It will next touch the New 
 Mills Village, at the mouth of Crane River, which is navigable 
 for vessels of considerable size, and where already a large busi¬ 
 ness is transacted in the importation of Lumber, Coal, Flour, 
 Grain, &c. At this village, too, you find a Grist Mill, Steam 
 Saw and Planing Mills, Tanneries, the leather business in vari¬ 
 ous branches, and Wool-pulling conducted to a considerable 
 extent. At the mouth of Porter’s River, in the immediate 
 vicinity, you also find Tide Mills, wharves with a considerable 
 depth of water, and a place where large vessels have been built 
 and launched. Beyond New] Mills is the village of the Plains, 
 where (as well as at New Mills), are several large stores for the 
 country trade, a bank and hotel, and the establishments of a 
 number of the most substantial and enterprising shoe manufac¬ 
 turers. Not far from the Plains and directly on the line of the 
 road, is the thriving village of Tapleyville, with its Carpet 
 Factory, Stores, and rapidly increasing population. Beyond 
 Tapleyville, and stdl on the line of the road, is the village in the 
 neighborhood of the North meeting house, the population of 
 which is chiefly engaged in the shoe business, and where con¬ 
 siderable way travel and business may be calculated upon. In 
 addition to what I have referred to, you will also recollect the 
 important brick yards, on the bank of Waters’ River, at the New 
 Mills, and near the Plains, where several millions of bricks, of the 
 best quality, pressed and common, are annually produced, and 
 are now sent along the line of the railroad in both directions. 
 
 With this general description, I ask the Committee to consider 
 the claims of North Danvers, through which the Cabot route will 
 pass, but which will not be touched by either of the other routes. 
 Its local advantages, its present business and wealth, and the 
 character of its population, deserves your especial and favorable 
 consideration ; and we believe you will agree with us that a 
 railroad from Salem to the interior, ought, if practicable, to pass 
 through it. 
 
 By granting the Cabot route, through North Danvers, that 
 part of the Town may be well accommodated in both directions, 
 without detriment to the South Parish. By means of the Essex 
 railroad, South Danvers will connect with the Eastern railroad 
 at Salem, and with the Lowell railroad at New Mills. It will 
 have the same facility of proceeding to Lowell as to Lawrence ; 
 and, with the removal of the ferry, it. will have lost the last ground 
 of complaint against its present means of communicating with 
 Boston. I submit to the Committee, that, by the arrangement 
 w r e propose, the whole town of Danvers will secure railroad 
 facilities to a far greater extent, than can be afforded in any other 
 mode. The advocates of the Pingree route, however, ask you 
 to think but little of Danvers, (excepting the South Parish) and 
 
20 
 
 would direct your attention chiefly to the claims, and what they 
 affect to consider the extraordinary resources of Lynnfield. 
 
 The town of Lynnfield, at present, as the census and statis¬ 
 tics show, is one inconsiderable in population and in the extent 
 of its business. But it is said that a business will spring up there, 
 if you will but construct a railroad ; and what is that business 
 which is to be created as by magic, by the construction of a rail¬ 
 road passing through the town of Lynnfield ? It has been urged 
 here with great earnestness; witness after witness has been pro¬ 
 duced to magnify the business of Lynnfield. 
 
 It has the remarkable peculiarity, Sir, that there is a pond of 
 water in it! One would suppose from the great importance 
 attached to that fact, that water was about as difficult to be found 
 in Massachusetts, as in the deserts of Arabia! That the argu¬ 
 ment should be urged here with so much confidence, and that so 
 much pains should be taken to present the fact before you for 
 your consideration, that a pond is to be found in Lynnfield, from 
 which ice never has been taken, but from which ice might be 
 taken, is to my mind somewhat surprising, when we consider the 
 length of our northern coast, and call to mind the fact that on 
 passing into almost any town within eight or ten miles of Boston 
 —the distance of Lynnfield—you will find in it a natural pond, 
 where ice is to be found in the winter. Pass along the line of 
 any of our railroads, and is there any want of water ? And if 
 there is any want of ice, it is only in rare instances, after such a 
 month as the present, when the ponds are not frozen over, and 
 when the pond in Lynnfield would be just as valuable as the ponds 
 anywhere else, with the exception of two inches of ice which it is 
 really supposed may be found in Lynnfield, wffien no ice is to be 
 found elsewhere. The evidence seems to be that somebody 
 measured Lynnfield ice at one time and found it of a certain 
 thickness; in another place it was found of a certain other thick¬ 
 ness; but what pains they took to be accurate, whether one was 
 examined on one day and the other on the next, and under what 
 circumstances they made the measurement, was not particularly 
 inquired into. I think it would need considerable confirmation, 
 if it were a fact of much importance. We are told that the pond 
 is 100 feet above the level of the ocean. That may account for 
 the fact or it may not. I have sometimes thought that the ice 
 was thicker in rallies between the mountains, than upon the hills. 
 
 I have thought that the mercury descended lower in the vallies 
 thus situated, as in Franconia, for instance, than in other places. 
 Be that as it may, the fact of Lynnfield ice being two inches 
 thicker than ice anywhere else needs some confirmation. 
 
 That there should be any want of ice is something new. 
 Take the lake in Wenham, from which ice is sent all over the 
 world; is the quantity exhausted by any means ? On that sin¬ 
 gle lake but a small portion of the surface is cut to obtain the 
 
21 
 
 ice which is sent to every quarter of the globe. Then it was 
 contended that Lynnfield ice could be brought here at a less ex¬ 
 pense. We deny the statement. The fact is, that ice is brought 
 by the Eastern R. R., to East Boston, and there delivered on 
 board ship at the wharf, and the price for transportation, I under¬ 
 stand, is 50 cents per ton. Lynnfield ice, if it goes to Boston, 
 over the Boston and Maine R. R., must be carried by trucks to 
 a considerable distance to be put on board ship, and the cost of 
 transportation would be so great that it could not come in com¬ 
 petition in that market with ice obtained in Wenham. But I 
 will not dwell upon a matter which serves to show' the weakness 
 of the case where this fact is so much relied on. If anything 
 better than the Lynnfield ice could have been found to freight 
 the cars, I think you would have been called upon to take notice 
 of an amount of business more to be relied upon than such a source 
 of revenue. 
 
 Equally uncertain and doubtful stands the testimony with 
 respect to Lynnfield granite. Witnesses come here to tell you 
 that it is of inestimable value. One gentleman, who I do not 
 understand had ever paid anything out of his own pocket for 
 the granite, being a dealer or worker in the article, w'as called 
 upon to aid in obtaining the Charter for a Granite Company. 
 He is the President of the Company ; and, if successful, if the 
 wind can be raised by means of it, I suppose he is to partake of 
 the profits. He gave you, doubtless, with great sincerity, what 
 was intended to be a favorable account of this granite; but his 
 experiments in the use of it, resulted in its abandonment. For 
 some cause or other, no one has continued to use the Lynnfield 
 granite, or the Lynnfield marble, to any extent, up to this time. 
 The testimony of witnesses who have been accustomed to u'ork 
 in granite, wdio have been builders for fifteen or tu'enty years, is that 
 it was more used twenty years ago than at the present time. 
 Practical men say that it is not only infeiior to the Quincy 
 granite, but inferior to the Rockport granite, and cannot come 
 into competition with either. A gentleman favouring the Pin- 
 gree route, having occasion to build a house, although living 
 near to it, directed that the granite for his underpinning should 
 be brought from Quincy, because he was not satisfied with the 
 other. Another remarkable instance is given in the erection of 
 a building in Salem, where there was occasion to make use of 
 granite, when the Rockport granite, in a rough state, was brought 
 to Salem, and carried directly to Danvers, into the very vicinity 
 of this quarry, there to be dressed, in derision, as it were, of the 
 quality of the Lynnfield and Danvers granite, and returned to 
 Salem to be used. The evidence is very strong, tending to show 
 that there must be some defect in this granite, or it would have 
 been in use a long time ago in Salem and the immediate vicinity. 
 The Quincy granite has been brought, by teams, a greater distance, 
 
22 
 
 always, than would be required to carry this to Salem, or to 
 the extensive and populous villages in its immediate vicinity. 
 Even the Roekport granite, I apprehend, cannot be delivered in 
 Salem so cheap as this; and yet, while it can be brought into 
 competition with Lynnfield granite, in the very vicinity of Lynn¬ 
 field, gentlemen have come here to tell you the great value of 
 Lynnfield granite. For some reason or other, while men have 
 been looking all over the country for good granite, they have 
 entirely neglected the Lynnfield granite. Everybody has thought 
 it unworthy of being extensively used. One gentleman has per¬ 
 haps assigned one of the causes of this. He says that none of it 
 is free from iron. The testimony of Dr. Nichols was not that all 
 granite had iron in it, or that Quincy granite had iron in it, but 
 he said that this had, and he or another witness pointed out the 
 consequences, by asking your attention to an instance in which 
 the effects of that impregnation are to be seen. By other witnes¬ 
 ses it is said to be hard to quarry, and that it has not a good rift. 
 The general testimony is, that it is peculiarly fit for millstones; and 
 this statement determines its quality. It seems, as the result of the 
 whole evidence, to be a kind of granite which cannot be used for 
 ornament, or extensively for building, which is no longer in much 
 demand in the immediate vicinity, and will not be sent by rail¬ 
 road to a distance, as it will not admit of such an expense; and 
 because there have been found abundant quantities of better ma¬ 
 terial in various parts of the country. I put the Lynnfield gran¬ 
 ite, therefore, w'iththeice; its importance being derived from 
 the necessity of getting up something to answer for freight upon 
 the Pingree route, again to sink into its former unimportance, until 
 perhaps another generation shall, for a like purpose, amuse men 
 by talking about Lynnfield granite. At best, all that can be said 
 for it is that its usefulness is doubtful. 
 
 But, Sir, we set against the ice and the granite of Lynnfield, the 
 ice, and the granite, and the soapstone of North Reading. I 
 think that while the former is not proved to be especially valua¬ 
 ble, there is reason to believe that both the granite and the soap¬ 
 stone of North Reading are of value, and will afford freight to a 
 railroad. To say the least, they may be advantageously com¬ 
 pared with whatever can be expected to come from Lynnfield. 
 Then I ask you, Sir, whether from the evidence you have had 
 here of the business of North Danvers, which must increase so 
 rapidly, with a rail-road upon the Cabot route, from the evidence 
 you have had of the business of North Reading, you are not satisfied 
 that no superiority of advantage can be claimed for the way busi¬ 
 ness of either the Wakefield or Pingree routes. They may be 
 represented to accommodate, in a partial degree, several other 
 towns lying not very distant, but it is to a partial and very limi¬ 
 ted extent, and I cannot regard whatever may be said upon (his 
 point as worthy of very serious consideration. 
 
23 
 
 We add, Sir, that while we accommodate as much way busi¬ 
 ness, we afford accommodations to places now destitute, which 
 
 cannot be said in favor of either of the other routes. North 
 Danvers, at the present time, has not convenient railroad accom¬ 
 modations, but must go by carriages and wagons to its neighbor¬ 
 hood and to the interior. North Reading is now destitute of 
 railroad accommodations, while South Reading and what is 
 sometimes called West Reading, are already provided with rail¬ 
 road access to Boston, and in fact to Lawrence and Lowell. The 
 village at Middleton, I might add—a village with a paper mill, 
 and numerous shoe factories—is another which we accommo¬ 
 date, but which is at present without any railroad facilities. We 
 therefore say, Sir, that we accommodate the most way business, 
 and much, that but for our route, will not be provided for. 
 
 I proceed, Sir, as rapidly as I may, to another point in my ar¬ 
 gument. We say that, with these advantages, we have the ad¬ 
 vantage also of an independent track. We esteem it an advan¬ 
 tage of great moment. With the Essex Railroad we have no 
 difficulty in making provision for all the accommodation we de¬ 
 sire. If you decide that a road should be built upon the North 
 Danvers route, while we ask that you should give us leave to 
 build the road from the New Mills to Salem, we relinquish our 
 claim in favor of the Essex Railroad Company. We think that 
 company entitled to a preference. We wish for the privilege 
 of building that part of the road, unless the Essex R. R. should 
 see fit to build it themselves, upon terms to be agreed upon be¬ 
 tween the Essex R. R. and these petitioners. If it is thought 
 best, however, I presume, that before the bill should be reported, 
 a definite arrangement in that particular should be made. 
 
 At the other end of the route, we propose to pass within the 
 location of the Lowell and Lawrence R. R., but we are to have 
 the benefit of a separate track to be under our entire control, so 
 that the Lowell and Lawrence R. R. Company cannot hereafter 
 impose regulations which shall render the management of our 
 business inconvenient. They have agreed, by a unanimous vote 
 of their Directors, to grant the accommodation. We believe that 
 we shall reach our terminus at Lowell, without inconvenience, 
 by thus passing over some five miles and a fraction alongside the 
 track of the Lowell and|Lawrence R. R. You perceive that we 
 are obliged to pass over their location, unless we go to the Boston 
 and Lowell R. R., which we are extremely averse to doing; to do 
 which, we think, would be fatal to our enterprise ; and this explains 
 the cause of the connection between these petitioners and the An¬ 
 dover and Lowell R. R. We cannot pass between the Lowell and 
 Boston R. R. and the Lowell and Lawrence R. R. We cannot 
 pass over the small space between, because the country is not 
 suitable. The Lowell and Boston R. R. have found one conve¬ 
 nient route, and there is a valley or convenient depression which 
 
24 
 
 has been found by the Lowell and Lawrence R. R. We cannot 
 go between them. In fact, if we undertake to go by an inde¬ 
 pendent route between these two roads, the objection which we 
 might reasonably expect from the Boston and Lowell R. R. 
 would be still greater than it now is. 
 
 We are also obliged to pass through the opening in the rock 
 just before you reach the depot and station of the several rail¬ 
 roads, the Lowell and Lawrence, and the Lowell and Nashua. 
 
 We cannot, therefore, avoid the Lowell and Lawrence R. R., 
 as we seek to avoid the Boston and Lowell, and we go there, 
 because at present, and probably hereafter, the former will be a 
 road of a small business compared with that of the Boston and 
 Lowell R. R., and will be able to afford us a better accommoda¬ 
 tion. Our business will less interfere with theirs, and we go 
 there also; because we have the benefit of a separate track at our 
 own disposal, making us just as independent as though we went 
 by a separate road. At present, we contemplate some connec¬ 
 tion at their depot and their stations. This, however, is a tem¬ 
 porary arrangement, which may continue or may not. If it 
 should be desirable to have a separate depot and a separate pas¬ 
 senger house, there is no difficulty, we apprehend, in obtaining 
 them. There is space enough left in the city of Lowell for the 
 conveniences we want, and passing by the Depot of the Lowell 
 and Nashua R. R., we may find all that we shall require for the 
 purposes of a passenger house and depot. 
 
 The petitioners upon this point are very urgent. I know that 
 it has been said that some of them were willing, last year, to go 
 by the way of Wilmington. Last year the subject of a road to 
 Lowell was comparatively new. The remark is applicable to a 
 portion of these petitioners only, and in respect to those, they are 
 few compared to the whole number of the petitioners who are 
 now seeking the line which I propose to you. Further con¬ 
 sideration has satisfied them that a connection with the Boston and 
 Lowell R. R. would be injurious to their interest, and would 
 tend to defeat the great object they have in view. Let me add, 
 that in point of fact, the present scheme for a railroad was not 
 before the Legislature last year. It was one essentially different 
 from this. The petitioners were unlike, tvere not the same ; few 
 were upon that petition. As the result of a careful considera¬ 
 tion of this matter, we deem it vital to the full success of the 
 enterprise that we have an independent track. 
 
 How does our route compare with the Pingree route ? They 
 ask for a new road from the Essex R. R. till you reach the 
 Boston and Maine R. R. Then they ask to pass over that road 
 for a number of miles. Then they ask for a new road again, for 
 several miles, till you reach the Boston and Lowell R. R., and 
 then to proceed over that road to Lowell. Although something 
 of this kind was adopted by a bare majority of the Committee, 
 
25 
 
 last year, and although this was very much relied upon by the 
 counsel, in the opening of the Pingree case, as an argument in 
 favor of the success of their petition, I aver, Sir, that so far as I 
 can get at the facts, it was by a majority of one. It passed 
 through the Senate silently or substantially so, without any ex¬ 
 amination of its merits, but by the time it had reached the House, 
 the people interested in the matter had had time to consider its 
 merits, and by general consent the thing was abandoned. 
 Scarcely anybody was found to sustain it. I understand, that 
 without any discussion of its merits in the Senate, upon the sim¬ 
 ple representation that it was a matter which had been before 
 them a number of years, it was allowed to pass, but before it 
 reached the House, they found the remedy to be a fgreat deal 
 worse than the disease, and by a very general consent, it was giv¬ 
 en up and abandoned ; and I do not believe, Sir, that any such 
 project can ever get so far again. I think the dignity of the Sen¬ 
 ate would be disturbed by a scheme of that kind, if it should be 
 again presented before them, and it would be there arrested ; for 
 to build a road of 25 miles, the cars of which should be run by 
 five separate companies, — first by the Essex R. R., then by one 
 new company, then by the Maine R. R., and then by another 
 new company, aud then by the Boston and Lowell R. R. — to 
 carry them to their destined point, I do not believe such a project 
 can ever get through either branch of the Legislature again. The 
 notion which was presented by my friend, who argued for the re¬ 
 monstrants, [Mr. Loring] that they could pass over with the same 
 engine, will not bear consideration. It was contended that the 
 cars of the new company might be drawn, for instance, over the 
 Boston and Lowell road with their own engines. I deny that it 
 can be so. I differ entirely from my friend upon that point. I 
 believe, Sir, that if there is one thing settled with regard to rail¬ 
 roads more than any thing else, it is this: that it is necessary that 
 one head should command the whole; that no line of road can 
 be safely managed by different heads; that to allow one compa¬ 
 ny to pass over the road of another with engines as well as cars, 
 is to endanger the limbs and lives of the community. My friend, 
 Mr. Derby, knows as well as I, that formerly such a state of things 
 existed in England, upon some four or more of their lines of 
 railroad. It was alluded to by counsel in the course of this ex¬ 
 amination. It was found to be inconvenient and dangerous, and 
 Parliament, to obviate the danger, required that four sets of tracks 
 should be laid. They then increased the number to six, and I 
 think afterwards to eight, but still the danger was found not to 
 be overcome, and the result has been that at this day no railroad 
 is allowed to run its cars over another road. To remove this 
 danger to life and limb, the smaller companies were bought up, 
 and the whole were consolidated. Sir, I believe, that if you will 
 turn to scientific works upon this subject, you will find the 
 
principle settled by those having experience in the management 
 of railroads, that for the safety of the public, they should be 
 under one control and one management. They may have their 
 regular hours, but they are liable to constant delays and derange¬ 
 ments, and out of these derangements come the collisions and 
 accidents which occur. The objection is not obviated by a 
 double track. The danger may be less, but still it exists to a 
 considerable extent. The cars of one company cannot be con¬ 
 trolled by another. And I venture to say, that the Managers and 
 Directors of the Lowell and Boston R. R. would not give their 
 consent that the cars of this new company should be allowed 
 hereafter, at all times, to pass over their road with their own 
 engines. I do not believe they will make a proposition of that 
 kind. They will receive us as a branch, and in no other, way as 
 I apprehend. The most their Agent has promised, is, that a sep¬ 
 arate engine will be furnished for the trains. But there is no 
 intimation that they will allow us to pass with our engines over 
 their road. 
 
 The Wakefield route and the Pingree route both lead to the 
 Lowell road at Wilmington. To say nothing of the other in¬ 
 conveniences,—inconveniences, as it seems to me, of an insur¬ 
 mountable character,—they both terminate at the same point. 
 Mr. Pingree and his friends ask not only to be dependent upon 
 the Lowell railroad, but upon the Maine railroad. They ask to 
 be dependent on the joint arrangements of four or five different 
 corporations, and two of those corporations, certainly, supposed 
 bv the community to have interests opposite and hostile to theirs. 
 Whatever may be said of the probability of the construction of 
 such a road, it seems to me that men never would lend their 
 capital to an enterprise of that kind. The prospect of remunera¬ 
 tion, and the prospect of affording advantages to business, seem 
 too small. At any rate, we do not w'ant that the accommodation 
 should be impaired by an arrangement [so exceedingly incon¬ 
 venient. We think that it is always an inconvenience to 
 connect with another road. We think there are always incon¬ 
 veniences, though sometimes there may be advantages sufficient 
 to counterbalance them. We think there are delays and in¬ 
 terruptions which an independent road is not subjected to. 
 Freights must be arranged, from time to time, by the mutual 
 consent of the two companies,—the trunk, having the principal 
 portage and having the greatest influence, being what may be 
 called the dominant road. Where there are two sets of mana¬ 
 gers, inconveniences will be constantly occurring. Even where 
 the business is received at a favorable point, at the end of the 
 road, still it is a source of uneasiness and complaint very gen¬ 
 eral in the Commonwealth. You know, Sir, although their 
 interests seem to be the same, what complaint has been made by 
 the Western Railroad, resulting in applications to the Legisla- 
 
27 
 
 ture, and even in a suit at law, against the Boston and Worces¬ 
 ter railroad, on the subject of toll. Mr. Loring, in his argument, 
 said that he thought the Fall River Railroad found no difficulty 
 in connecting with the Plymouth. I think if he will go to the 
 Superintendent of that road he will find that there are evils felt 
 and avowed, and I appeal to the experience of gentlemen on 
 this Committee who have probably had some experience in this 
 matter, coming from different parts of the Commonwealth, I 
 appeal to them whether there is not uneasiness and dissatisfac¬ 
 tion wherever roads are thus made to depend one upon another. 
 Yet, however, when to accommodate the business of a town 
 they would come into unjust competition with an existing road, 
 branches of course must be depended upon, and branches for a 
 limited amount of business afford even all the facilities that 
 could be required. But wherever a large business is to be ac¬ 
 commodated by another company, look where you will, I think 
 you will find inconveniences. The Plymouth Railroad came in 
 for a short distance upon the track of the Worcester railroad, and 
 went to the Worcester depot; but it felt these inconveniences, 
 and that the preferable mode was to disconnect itself entirely, as 
 it has done. 
 
 When the friends of the Lowell railroad tell us that we can 
 be very well dependent upon them, that they will afford us 
 every facility, and when they smile at the thought that we are 
 not to be as well accommodated by them as with an independent 
 track, let me ask them whether they will consent to place the 
 control in our hands and give us the control of the end of the 
 road which is to be used by both. Let me ask if they deem the 
 connection so slight that they would place in our hands those 
 ten miles of road. Can any arrangement be made by compen¬ 
 sation, by contribution of receipts or other compensation, which 
 will induce them, for a moment, to consent to an arrangement of 
 this kind ? Gentlemen, I can suppose the Boston and Lowell 
 railroad Corporation may very well say, You can be accommo¬ 
 dated by coming to us; we will afford you every facility ; but if 
 the question were put to them whether they would place them¬ 
 selves in our condition, whether they would submit to the control 
 of any portion of their road by another company, they would say, 
 at once, that no terms would induce them to do it. Bring the 
 terms home, and every corporation having the control would 
 refuse to put it out of its own hands. I asked the managers of 
 the Fitchburg railroad, if they would be induced to have their 
 road united to the trunk of the Boston and Lowell railroad to 
 come into the city, and thus be dependent upon them. The 
 answer was that they would not. The officers and owners of 
 every corporation would say the same. But, Sir, although 
 these difficulties can be overcome, and the objections obviated 
 when the business is not great, though inconvenience may be 
 
submitted to, where there are equivalent advantages, and under 
 favorable circumstances, it should not be and cannot be in a case 
 like the present. This is peculiar in its character. The Lowell 
 road does not receive our business at one end of its line as the 
 Worcester receives the business of the Western road, or as the 
 Lowell receives the business of the Nashua road, and carry it over 
 its whole line, but it receives it in a central point where it is least 
 convenient for a large business to come in. 
 
 But, Sir, there is an objection of still more weight. Although 
 we are not seeking for. any business to which the Boston and 
 Lowell road may lay claim, yet undoubtedly, to some extent, there 
 may be a competition with regard to the supplies to be furnished 
 to Lowell. The Lowell road will be interested not to increase 
 our business by the transportation of heavy goods from Salem 
 to Lowell, for their interest is averse to it. Wherever, Sir, in 
 looking over the Commonwealth, you find roads dependent upon 
 another, one coming in as a branch, you find that the trunk is 
 aided by the branch, that it has a new business which it brings 
 in: at any rate, it is not a business which otherwise it might 
 have had; but unlike every other case there will be no interest 
 on the part of the Boston and Lowell railroad to foster the busi¬ 
 ness coming from Salem. Our business will come in competition, 
 in rivalship,—I may say, a generous rivalship,—with the busi¬ 
 ness which would be carried over the Boston and Lowell 
 railroad. And yet, I shall show you presently that no complaint 
 is made of that. It is only a competing line which is to accom¬ 
 modate another business, the business of another place. They 
 see that there must be accommodation for Salem, and therefore 
 yield with the best grace they may. They are not interested to 
 sustain our business. They say that they will make arrange¬ 
 ments for a suitable division of freights and income. But will 
 they consent that we shall fix the rates of passage over the whole 
 road, and then receive their proportion ? They will not. They 
 never have done it, nor can do it with justice to themselves. 
 Then I say the connection is an evil tvhich we must endure if 
 it is required to be made; that you will place a chain around us 
 with the end of it in the hands of another corporation. The 
 control will be theirs. We shall want to establish rates of 
 freight and passage to promote the business upon this railroad. 
 We shall want to promote the business of Salem, partly that 
 this road may be hereafter benefilted, and partly because the 
 new road will be in the control of Salem men, interested in 
 Salem business, as of Lowell men interested in Lowell busi¬ 
 ness. Now, Sir, you can fix upon no terms, no division of re¬ 
 ceipts, that will be at all satisfactory. Here may be a branch of 
 business that comes to Salem and belongs to Salem ; what shall 
 be the rate of duty for passing that over the road ? The orvners 
 of the roads are interested to promote the business. It promotes the 
 
business of the road, but promotes more the business of Salem. 
 They are aware of this, and are anxious to put the freights low. 
 The Lowell road has no such interest, and therefore will not enter 
 into our measures. We suppose that they will do as every other 
 corporation does under like circumstances. With no particular 
 purpose to impair our rights or interest, having no interest in pro¬ 
 moting Salem business, but having an interest hostile to ours, they 
 will seek their own interest; and it is entirely wrong that we 
 should be placed under the control of that Company. They may 
 say that we should not doubt their fairness, that they will deal 
 with us honorably and magnanimously ; and I am not disposed to 
 tell them that they will not do so; I say that their business is not 
 like ours, and I look to their interest rather than to anything 
 else, to see whether they will foster and favor our business, or 
 whether they will not. Look at it, Sir; if there is any road 
 built or to be built which more than any other should be inde¬ 
 pendent of such control, then this is that road. We take busi¬ 
 ness which might go from Boston to Lowell, and yet a busi¬ 
 ness which goes to Salem, and which properly goes there, and 
 which it is the interest of the Commonwealth should be allowed 
 to go there, we take over our road, as we have a right to do, 
 from Salem to Lowell. 
 
 The evil will be still greater from the fact, that we expect that 
 the business hereafter to be done upon the new road will be 
 large and extensive. We have given you our estimates of the 
 freight and passengers to pass over the road, and we have in¬ 
 tended to give you moderate estimates of the amount. We 
 have called upon witnesses who are familiar with the business 
 of Salem, and the business of Lowell, and we have endeavored 
 to throw all the light upon this subject which the time and your 
 patience would permit. We have shown you what we expect, 
 and what we rely upon, as the immediate business of the road. 
 Among other witnesses, we have called Mr. Phillips and Gen. 
 Devereux, both of Salem. They are gentlemen who are known, 
 and their testimony will not be questioned here, excepting so far 
 as the opinions they may have formed will be doubted. Mr. 
 Phillips is one of the petitioners. It may be supposed that he is 
 to be affected somewhat by the building of this road, but the 
 situation of his property is such, that it is a matter of no conse¬ 
 quence to him, with respect to his own interests, whether you 
 take one road or another. They both lead alike to the same 
 point in the city of Salem. They have told you of the capabil¬ 
 ities of Salem, for extensive business.' You have been informed 
 by them and by others of the advantages of its harbor, that it is 
 a safe harbor, none more so; with the advantage of a greater 
 depth of water, even than Boston, from four and a half to six 
 feet more at the lowest point of entrance. Salem is so situated 
 that vessels from the south can make that port as they pass 
 
around Cape Cod, when they cannot make the port of Boston. 
 They have informed you, that oftentimes a large fleet of vessels, 
 running between the Eastward and the Southward, may be seen 
 in their harbor, when kept back by an adverse wind. With this 
 advantage to vessels coming from the south, it is a port preferred 
 by masters coming from that direction. With respect to the 
 State of Maine and the British Provinces, Salem is on the way, 
 has long been a familiar and favorite resort for Eastern vessels, 
 which not only more readily and easily put into Salem, but reach 
 it by a less distance than-they reach the city of Boston. 
 
 What is the consequence of all this ? That Salem is favora¬ 
 bly situated for an extended commerce, both coastwise and for¬ 
 eign. In addition to this, the people of Salem have habits 
 which adapt them to the business. Their merchants, from time 
 immemorial, have i>een engaged in the commerce of the whole 
 world, and you will find few' of the active merchants of Salem, 
 who have not, at some period of their lives, been in the remotest 
 parts of the earth. Commerce is the business they love; it is 
 the business to w'hich they are adapted. Where there are no 
 peculiar advantages, you will find that w'hen a particular busi¬ 
 ness is once established, and when the habits of men adapt them¬ 
 selves to the business, there the business remains. You might 
 look around the Commonwealth, and see how remarkably a par¬ 
 ticular branch of business has continued in one place, from gen¬ 
 eration to generation, where it had no peculiar advantages, where 
 no man could say for w'hat cause it w'as originally established 
 there; and yet, having obtained its seat, to some extent, in that 
 particular place, the habits of the people adapting themselves to 
 the business, for that cause it remains there, to thrive in success¬ 
 ful competition with other places, having, perhaps, even superior 
 advantages. jYow, Sir, Salem has the habit, the adaptation of 
 character, to mercantile business, and it has the advantage of 
 her present commerce, which is now extensive. She brings to 
 her port a vast number of articles, which are wanted in the 
 interior, and more especially, in a manufacturing place like 
 Lowell. She not only brings cargoes to her own ports, but her 
 vessels go elsewhere, to all the principal ports in the United 
 States. And now she wants access to the interior. With the 
 advantages of being upon the shore, with cities around and 
 near her, she wants the. advantage which they possess, of con¬ 
 venient internal communication, by means of that which is com¬ 
 mon to all places of importance in the country, by the way 
 which has become absolutely indispensable to the carrying on 
 of an extensive business between one point and another, as 
 much as in former days highways were indispensable. That 
 which was, a few years ago, a great advantage or peculiar good 
 fortune, has now become but a common means of communica- 
 
31 
 
 tion, which must be had wherever there is business to warrant it, 
 or the business must languish, and leave that place. 
 
 Salem has been suffering from the want of facilities of this 
 kind. It was in testimony, that formerly she sustained a high 
 relative position with Boston, and brought to her port a large 
 proportion of the commerce of Massachusetts, and that she had 
 a back country to supply. The first blow to her prosperity, in 
 that direction, was the making of the Middlesex Canal, which 
 afforded easy means of communication from the interior to Bos¬ 
 ton ; and by means of facilities of a more modern date, she has 
 been distanced in the race of prosperity. She now asks, that 
 you will grant that which others possess, which nature itself enti¬ 
 tles her to, and which it is for the interest of the community at 
 large, as well as for Salem, that she should have. While the 
 wharves of Boston are crowded, while some branches of business 
 are subjected to very great expense, by reason of want of room, 
 and the consequent high rents which prevail at Boston ; all that 
 we ask, is, that conveniences may be afforded to Salem, for com¬ 
 munication with the interior, which would render it a desirable 
 port for those who fail to obtain the conveniences they seek in 
 Boston. 
 
 You heard the testimony of Gen. Devereux. This gentleman 
 has been extensively engaged in the lumber trade, for a long 
 series of years. He says, that he has been subjected to great 
 expense, by bringing lumber to Boston, to be carried into the 
 interior, that he is driven into remote parts of the city for conve¬ 
 niences to store it, that he can obtain in Salem for hundreds, 
 what cost him thousands of dollars in Boston. You have it in 
 evidence, also, that a large amount of this lumber goes to Low¬ 
 ell, and other places in the interior, in that direction; that some 
 of it is carried beyond Lowell; that it would find its way by 
 the Stony Brook Railroad, in almost every direction, Northward or 
 Westward. It goes in various forms, in the rough state, unhewn, 
 and partly manufactured for use. Even the frames of buildings, 
 doors, and windowframes, are prepared in Maine and brought 
 here, and already sent, as I understand, into the interior, wherever 
 there is a railroad communication. Lumber is brought here and 
 sent into the country, to be used for a vast variety of purposes, 
 and the whole consumption must be important to the support of 
 a railroad. The amount used in Lowell has been testified to, to 
 some extent. We ask, then, that lumber which is brought to 
 Boston, at great expense, which is subjected to great inconve¬ 
 niences there, and to much expense, should find the nearer and 
 more convenient port, the less expensive port of Salem; that 
 instead of being piled upon the wharves of Boston, at great 
 expense, or carried wherever in the neighborhood it can find a 
 place for its accommodation, it should be taken from the vessel, 
 on board of our cars, and carried, at a moderate expense, into the 
 
32 
 
 interior, and when stored in Salem, that it should be stored with¬ 
 out those great charges. 
 
 So in respect to coal, which is now 50 cts. per ton less in 
 Salem than in Boston, we ask that coal may be brought to Sa¬ 
 lem, and unloaded, as the lumber is unloaded, directly from the 
 vessel into the cars. The cars may be prepared and fitted for 
 the very purpose, and thus the coal may be transported directly 
 to Lowell. We have estimated that for the first seven years, 
 some 8,000 tons of coal may be carried from Salem to Lowell, 
 by this means, and it is supposed that but a small amount of 
 what would actually pass, has been set down in our estimates. 
 We have supposed that the business will hereafter greatly in¬ 
 crease. When you consider the amount consumed in places 
 between Salem and Lowell, the amount consumed there, and 
 the amount carried even beyond Lowell, I ask, whether the 
 estimates we have made are not moderate, and far below what 
 may be reasonably expected as the result of this enterprise. 
 
 I cannot, at this hour, proceed to enumerate the various articles 
 which are brought to the seaboard of our State, and which 
 might be carried over this road into the interior. The time will 
 not permit me to do it. We give you our estimate. We give 
 you the explanations which we make. I was quite desirous, had 
 the time permitted, that the witness upon the stand should have 
 been allowed to explain orally to the Committee these estimates, 
 and the way in which theywere made up. It was the testimo¬ 
 ny of one conversant with the business. He did explain the 
 way and manner in which his table was made up, so far as he 
 was required, and he gave his reasons for the estimates in re¬ 
 spect to a considerable number of the items upon that table. He 
 was pressed upon one point and another in relation to the lum¬ 
 ber, coal, and various other items, by the ingenious counsel who 
 appears in behalf of the Pingree petition. Was there not a 
 satisfactory reason given in every instance ? Did not the state¬ 
 ments of that gentleman, on cross-examination, satisfy you that 
 he had prepared the table with care ? that it was founded upon a 
 fair estimate of things ? and that it was the conclusion, not of 
 one who had allowed himself to draw upon his imagination 
 for his facts, but of one who, from his intimate acquaintance 
 with business, made his estimates, not only in a reasonable 
 manner, but far within the limits of probability? I invited Mr. 
 Derby to continue his examination with reference to any of our 
 tables. I invited and courted examination, and should have 
 been glad if he had gone through the tables in the same manner, 
 asking the witness for his reasons in every particular. I think, 
 Sir, that after the evidence you have had, you will believe that 
 this estimate, made by one conversant with the matter; made 
 with the purpose, you will not doubt, of presenting a fair view 
 of the matter to the Committee, that this estimate is to be relied 
 
33 
 
 upon so far as you can rely upon estimates made beforehand, of 
 business which is to be done on a railroad. I should be glad 
 to go more into that subject, but must pass it over. 
 
 There is, however, one item of freight in that table, which 
 should not be lost sight of, which is important, in every point of 
 view; and I speak of the Fish which may be carried into the 
 interior, by means of this Railroad. You know the position of 
 Salem, as not only the centre of the most populous tract of coun¬ 
 try in the State, out of Boston, but the centre of a number of 
 branches of business, the shoe business and tanneries, and still 
 farther, as the central point of the fishing business of a large por¬ 
 tion of the State; with Manchester, Gloucester, and Rockport, 
 Beverly, and Lynn, and Marblehead, around it. We believe, that 
 in respect to the single item of fish, the amount of freight to be 
 derived from what will be transported over this railroad, is to be 
 sensibly felt in defraying its expenses. Notwithstanding the dis¬ 
 aster which has befallen one of the towns which I have enumer¬ 
 ated, and which, for a season, has depressed this branch of its 
 business, — but only for a season, I apprehend, for its enterprise 
 will only be temporarily depressed by an occurrence, afflicting and 
 disastrous as that was, — I cannot doubt that the fishing business 
 will extend itself and increase, limited only by the demand for 
 consumption. Fish affords cheap food to those who are enabled 
 to obtain it. Whatever value is obtained, is a contribution from 
 the ocean to the land. It is all an acquisition, an acquisition of 
 labor, involving scarcely any outlay of capital. When the statis¬ 
 tics are given, — as, for instance, when you are told that the fish 
 caught in a place, in a certain time, amounts in value to one hun¬ 
 dred thousand, or five hundred thousand dollars, — remember 
 that it is a proportionably larger sum than the same amount in 
 value of any kind of manufacture or other production would be ; 
 for the amount of benefit, if obtained from manufacture, is the 
 difference between the value of the materials and of the manufac¬ 
 tured work. But here it is all value, all acquisition. In that view, 
 then, turn, if you please, to the testimony of Mr. Lowe, Senator 
 from the Essex District, resident in that portion of the country, to 
 form some opinion of the importance of that item. 
 
 Three hundred vessels, he says, are employed in the fishing 
 business of Gloucester, Rockport, and Manchester. 12,934 tons 
 annually are caught. 1,636 men are employed, beside 181 boys, 
 in the fishery. Then he gives you the amount of codfish taken, 
 then the halibut, and other descriptions of fish. Of the halibut, 
 $>146,000 worth, and the total $573,000 worth, in a single fish¬ 
 ing season. 
 
 If that were in some other branch of industry, where the raw 
 material entered very much into the expense, I think you would 
 be surprised at the magnitude of the business which woyld afford 
 a profit so large; but when you find that, by the labor of a few 
 
34 
 
 fishermen, the sum of more than half a million of dollars has 
 been taken from the sea, and devoted to the use of human beings 
 upon the shore, in a single season, you see a vast business, a 
 business to be encouraged and fostered, a business which must 
 grow with the demand: a business important to the Common¬ 
 wealth, and they who are engaged in it are certainly entitled, for 
 their meritorious exertions, and for the results which they bring 
 about, to the kind regard of every citizen of the Commonwealth ; 
 for, Sir, not only do they add thus to the wealth of the country 
 by their labor, but in every point of view, so far as I know them, 
 they are estimable as citizens, estimable in the particular branch 
 of business in which they are engaged, and they readily transfer 
 themselves from that to the general merchant service of the coun¬ 
 try, and to its naval service in time of war; to that best arm, per¬ 
 haps, of national defence, which overruns not other countries, but 
 which defends our own. They make the best seamen for our 
 merchant ships, go where they will, and for our naval service. 
 The men who have encountered the dangers they have witnessed 
 unappalled, have nothing to meet with upon the ocean, in peace 
 or in war, upon which they need look with a fearful eye. The 
 
 consequence is, that they make our boldest and most skilful sea¬ 
 men. That business should be patronised, reasonably extended 
 and enlarged, and, if there is any doubt whether the government 
 should give to any portion of our fishermen, the bounty which 
 has heretofore been given, if men from other portions of the 
 country, knowing nothing of their lot, and caring less, begrudge 
 this bounty, let them yet have the bounty of a free intercourse 
 with a market in the interior. A few years ago, and fresh fish 
 was confined to Boston, Salem, and the seaboard ; or, if it came 
 into the interior, it came only in one season of the year, frozen 
 and impaired in value. Now, Sir, it goes far into the interior, at 
 all seasons, by means of our railroads. The fish caught in the 
 afternoon may be carried to a great distance before the follow¬ 
 ing day, so that in Berkshire, and in every other direction, you 
 may have fish as fresh for your table, as the citizens of Boston 
 and Salem. Just so far as you increase the market, you in¬ 
 crease the supply, "and, we believe that it can be furnished to 
 Lowell, and along all the roads which diverge from Lowell, and 
 to the populous territory far beyond, in vast quantities, and will be 
 sent in vast quantities to supply the demand. I know not how no¬ 
 torious the fact may be, blit I am told that even now, a car is loaded 
 at Gloucester daily, with fish, much of it for Lowell. Make 
 your communication direct, and you afford business for a road, 
 and aid a very important branch of national industry. Compared 
 with it, Sir, what is the ice or the granite of Lynnfield, of which 
 so much account has been made, and which is relied upon, to a 
 considerable degree, for the support of the Wakefield road.* 
 
 • See Appendix. 
 
35 
 
 If the present business of Salem and its vicinity, in connection 
 with Lowell, and in connection with the country in that direc¬ 
 tion, if the present business of Salem demands facilities of this 
 kind, what hereafter will be the increased demand for like facili¬ 
 ties ? Is Salem to remain where she is ? Is Lowell to be station¬ 
 ary because some doubt is expressed whether her water power 
 is not nearly exhausted ? I do not believe, that this Committee 
 will for a moment suppose that such will be the case, or that 
 they will found their decision upon any such supposition. The 
 fact is, that if the water power should be fully used, Lowell 
 would continue to progress. Steam, already affording its collat¬ 
 eral aid, is resorted to when ,the water power fails, and by a 
 great improvement in the construction and arrangement of the 
 wheels (I refer to the improved Turbine wheels), much less wa¬ 
 ter is now required to move the same machinery, than has here¬ 
 tofore been employed. No city, as flourishing and prosperous as 
 Lowell, extensively engaged in manufactures, carrying on the 
 business with success, can stand still. Its present advantages 
 lead to the establishment of other branches of business, for, if a 
 manufacturer wishes to put up a steam-engine, or a mechanic to 
 engage in mechanical pursuits, does he not seek places where 
 other manufacturers and mechanics are employed ? Is it not im¬ 
 portant and subsidiary to his own business, that he have ready ac- 
 ces to men in other branches of mechanical business ? Does not 
 thesaccumulation of any considerable number of men at one 
 point, tend to draw others to the same point, who are employed 
 in other and various branches of business ? The growth of such 
 a city is not to be limited by its amount of w'ater power. 
 
 So with Salem. Look over her early history. You will find 
 that, for a time, Salem was stationary, or even on the retrograde, 
 still preserving her commercial habits so far as she could; but 
 of late an advance has been made. The spirit of the place has 
 been waked up. She perceives, in the powerful instrumentali¬ 
 ties at hand, the means of recovering her former relative prosperity. 
 She is seeking for prosperity, and is beginning to find it. From 
 14,000 inhabitants which the city had a short time ago, it in¬ 
 creased to 1,7000’at the last census, and from that time to the 
 present, it has increased to 20,000. The foundation is laid for a 
 great city, and the future wants of that city, with its commercial 
 advantages, no man can presume to limit. In the grant of char¬ 
 ters of this description, in providing facilities such as that which 
 we now contemplate, it is important that, with a wise forecast, 
 provision should be made for the future, as well as for the pres¬ 
 ent day. 
 
 The danger is, Sir, not that we shall make too ample provis¬ 
 ion for the future, not that we shall exceed the probable amount 
 of business, but that we shall undervalue it. In looking into the 
 future, in looking forward to the progressive career of this coun- 
 
36 
 
 try in population and business, he will be found to approach near¬ 
 est to the true prophet, who would generally, at the present mo¬ 
 ment, be considered extravagant and wild in his statements. It 
 has been so heretofore It will be true of us, I apprehend, in a 
 more remarkable degree hereafter. We have passed the period 
 of infancy; the difficulties attending the early settlement of a 
 country are overcome; a dense population is actively employed; 
 the manufacturing business has established itself firmly in the 
 country ; mechanical business of every description, is performed, 
 I suppose, with as much skill as in any other part of the world. 
 Of the industry of Massachusetts generally, I think it may be 
 safely said, that there is at this moment no spot on the face of the 
 earth where it is more efficiently applied, where it is more suc¬ 
 cessful and productive in its results. I apprehend that our future 
 progress is not only to be as it has been, rapid in comparison with 
 older countries, but that we have reached that point, where, here 
 in New England, and certainly it is true with reference to our 
 large towns and cities, progress is to be made in a ratio which 
 they who have not contemplated the subject are wholly unpre¬ 
 pared to estimate. 
 
 Look, if you please, at the history of large towns and cities in 
 England, since the manufacturing business has advanced so exten¬ 
 sively, and since mechanical business has reached such perfec¬ 
 tion, and see what is to be the progress of towns and cities here, 
 like Salem or like Lowell, with their fifteen, twenty, or thirty 
 thousand inhabitants. The whole population of England for the 
 first half of the last century scarcely increased perceptibly, and 
 towards the close it was retarded somewhat by the wasting wars 
 of Europe. Look over the list of her towns of from fifteen to 
 thirty thousand inhabitants as they were reported in the census 
 of twenty years since. You will find, almost without exception, 
 that those towns which in 1821 were of the size of Salem and 
 Lowell, in 1841, twenty years afterwards, were large and popu¬ 
 lous cities. Those which had a large population then, as, for in¬ 
 stance, Birmingham or Liverpool, have doubled in the short 
 space of twenty years; they have increased from 150,000 to 
 300,000; from 100,000 to 200,000. Those of from 20,000 to 
 100,000, have made, almost without exception, a corresponding 
 progress. 
 
 If the course of things here is to be as it has been there; if 
 the same causes, if greater and more numerous causes, are to 
 produce proportional results, so will it be with us. Now, Sir, 
 what is New England, and especially Massachusetts, to be in a 
 time not distant, in the duration of an enterprise like this ? for 
 what is thirty years in the duration of an operation like this ? 
 what is our progress to be with our rapid increase of population, 
 and that increase greatly accelerated by the frequent communi¬ 
 cation with Europe, and constant accessions from that quarter; 
 
37 
 
 who can count the multitudes, who, within a few years, are to 
 stand upon the face of this country ? Where are their goods to 
 be manufactured? Where is to be the principal seat of the 
 mechanic arts? Is it not in New England? Is it not in Mas¬ 
 sachusetts ? Twenty years hence, when the population of our 
 country shall be forty millions; thirty years hence, when we shall 
 have sixty millions of people; where will our manufactures 
 be sent; where will our mechanical business be done? They 
 who have the skill will keep the markets. They who are best 
 fitted, by habits of enterprise, by acquaintance with the work, 
 by ingenuity, and by the possession of every element necessary 
 to success, will preserve the business which they now have, and 
 will become the artificers and manufacturers for the whole 
 northern part of the continent. With that state of things, who 
 does not perceive how rapidly our towns are to grow up into 
 cities, whether we desire it or not, and into cities of magnitude ? 
 He who looks for Lowell thirty years hence, or for Salem thirty 
 years hence, will find them, not twenty or thirty thousand 
 people each, not with their present amount of business, but with 
 a population doubled or trebled, and a business greatly increased 
 over that of the present day. 
 
 I know that this does not come with the certainty of evidence, 
 but I may reason with you without presumption upon this matter. 
 
 I ask you then, taking a liberal view, having a regard to 
 present and prospective business, that you will make a provision 
 that will not prove insufficient when it will be too late to alter it. 
 Mr. Loring says, try the experiment of uniting with the Lowell 
 R. It., put yourself under the shadow' of its wings, and if any 
 inconvenience results, you may change. No, Sir. We cannot 
 change when the roads are built. The Lorvell R. R. would come 
 and say, ‘ We enlarged our depots, we incurred great trouble 
 and expense to accommodate you,’ and I think that one who 
 could talk about vested rights now, would have some good 
 reason to talk about them then. The time to cure the evil is 
 before it is committed; the better way Is to prevent it, rather 
 than to remedy it. 
 
 ■We speak of business to be done at Salem. It is not any 
 competition with the Boston business, which is to diminish that 
 business, or injuriously to affect it. No such thing. We say 
 that by enabling the State to avail itself of the full capabilities of 
 the harbor of Salem ; by building up Salem, and by enabling it 
 to avail itself of its advantages, you do not injure the capital. 
 The great purchases will still be made there. The business 
 will be done upon her exchange,—even that small part which 
 "’ill go to Salem. Salem merchants now—-who are they? 
 Boston merchants, in fact, who throng the Railroad cars; 
 men who come every morning to do their business in Boston, 
 and return at night. They meet on ’Change, where contracts 
 
38 
 
 are made. To Boston, this is an acquisition of another landing 
 place, and the effect will be to increase her facilities, to remove, 
 to some extent, the business which unduly presses upon her 
 wharves, to afford accommodations which tend to benefit, in fact, 
 her own factories, by carrying those things which she wishes to 
 send there, cheaper and more conveniently than they can be 
 taken over the Lowell R. R. It is this we seek to do. 
 
 When the remark was made by a distinguished statesman, 
 which was repeated by the counsel in the openirg of this case, 
 that the whole shore would become one great harbor of import 
 and export, it was because he foresaw the great progress the 
 population was to make with rapid strides; it was clearly and 
 distinctly visible to his mind that what might, by some, be 
 thought to be extravagant, was far within the inevitable reality. 
 Now, Sir, it is to a Legislature capable of adopting large views 
 of things, of seeing that, by extending the accommodations of 
 harbors, by availing itself of all the resources of its entire .sea¬ 
 board, it will do injustice and injury to none, while it will add 
 to the success of all by developing resources which are important 
 to the welfare of the state. We know that it is for the in¬ 
 terest of the Commonwealth, not that the capital should be de¬ 
 pressed, but that other places should be advanced to the extent 
 of their capacities, that they should not be deprived of that which 
 is essential to their improvement and their advancement. We 
 know, and I submit to you that it is so, that while a large popu¬ 
 lation gathers here, it is for the interest of the Commonwealth, 
 not to crowd it inconveniently, but to diffuse the business, the 
 population, and the wealth, at least, so far as convenience may 
 require. 
 
 I come now, Mr. Chairman, to address to the Committee a 
 few remarks in reply to the argument of the counsel for the 
 Boston and Lowell Railroad Company. If I had not had the 
 pleasure of hearing that gentleman, on more occasions than one, 
 in his advocacy of the cause of his client, I should have been led 
 to suppose that he had come to this chamber for the purpose of 
 lending a voluntary and generous aid to the Boston and Lowell 
 railroad, in the vindication of rights unjustly assailed. But I 
 know that the ardor of that gentleman is always commensurate 
 with the necessities of the case. I know that he has the happy 
 faculty of entering most fully into the wishes, or supposed 
 wishes, of his client, and of feeling, for the time, that all right, 
 all justice, lie in the line of his argument. But, Sir, however 
 imposing the argument might have been from its manner, with 
 however much of urgency it may have been pressed upon the 
 Committee, I feel that if we have no obstacle to encounter, ex¬ 
 cepting that thrown in the way by the remonstrance of the Bos¬ 
 ton and Lowell Railroad Company, we shall have an easy task to 
 
39 
 
 obtain the charter which we seek. I feel, Sir, that of all the 
 arguments which have been and can be urged against this peti¬ 
 tion, the one pressed upon you in behalf of that remonstrance, 
 when you come to examine it calmly, to see what its merits are, 
 is the weakest; not from want of ability or ingenuity in the ad¬ 
 vocate, not from want of urgency in the manner of pressing it 
 upon your attention, but from the intrinsic weakness of the ar¬ 
 gument, as I may add, of any argument, which can be made in 
 behalf of the supposed rights of the Boston and Lowell Railroad, 
 as affected in this case. 
 
 That there may be much of truth and correctness in the prin¬ 
 ciples stated by that gentleman, I shall not deny ; that the rights 
 of this corporation are to be sacredly regarded, I shall not ques¬ 
 tion ; but I do deny entirely the application of these principles to 
 the case now before the Committee, and I trust that I shall make 
 it plain to every member of the Committee, and to every man 
 who hears me, that the argument has its foundation entirely in a 
 fallacy. 
 
 The “ vested rights of the Lowell Railroad Company! ” Now, 
 Sir, an appeal may be made to the sympathies of men, to their 
 sense of justice always in behalf of rights supposed to be assailed ; 
 and when the consequences of an act are portrayed in such 
 lively colors, when the apprehended results, exaggerated and 
 embellished, are presented to the mind, for the moment it is 
 impressed with the very nature of the appeal which is made. 
 Sympathies are awakened, before the facts are examined, 
 before the argument has been fully considered. So far as any 
 sympathy was called forth in behalf of the Boston and Lowell 
 railroad, so far as any effect rvas produced by the argument upon 
 that part of the case, I think it must have been by hoodwinking 
 the judgment, and enlisting the feelings in behalf of a party suf¬ 
 fering imaginary and not real wrong. I make no professions of 
 extraordinary zeal in defence of right. I do not for myself, or for 
 those for whom I appear, say that their sense of justice or mine, 
 is keener than is the sense of justice of either of you, gentlemen, 
 or of either of my associates around this table. Nor does the 
 counsel of the Boston and Lowell railroad mean to be under¬ 
 stood as claiming so much for himself; but I prefer, Sir, to 
 avoid the appearance of making any such claim, for 1 think it is 
 in bad taste, and that it does not produce the effect which is in¬ 
 tended. At the same time, I may say, that, when this petition 
 was presented, it was the last thing which the petitioners or 
 myself thought of, that the vested rights of the Lowell railroad 
 would be infringed in any degree, or that they could be infringed 
 
 by the granting of a railroad from Salem to Lowell. 
 
 The rights of individuals and the rights of corporations, are, as 
 I have said, to be carefully and sacredly protected. But, on the 
 other hand, the public have their rights too. The Legislature 
 
40 
 
 and the people have their rights; and while the Legislature will 
 take care not to invade the rights of the Boston and Lowell Rail¬ 
 road Company, they will take care, on the other hand, not to sus¬ 
 tain its pretensions to such an extent as to impair the rights of the 
 people of the Commonwealth. 
 
 What, then, are the rights of the road, and what are the rights 
 of the people? We deny, in the first place, that we infringe 
 upon the contract between the Legislature and the proprietors of 
 the Boston and Lowell Railroad, as expressed in the charter. We 
 deny, in the second place, that we interfere with or impair any 
 rights implied by the charter, or existing by virtue of any law, or 
 upon the strength of any principle, w'hether in law or in equity. 
 
 The rights of the railroad, as defined by the charter, so far as 
 they respect the present question, are these :—That company is 
 authorized to construct a road from Boston to Lowell, and the 
 Legislature provides that no other road shall be granted from 
 either Boston, Cambridge, or Charlestoion, to Lowell, or to any 
 point within five miles of Lowell, for the term of thirty years. 
 That is the express contract. Those are the terms upon which 
 those proprietors saw fit to take their charter. Those are the 
 restrictions to which the Legislature assented in behalf of the 
 people of the Commonwealth. Did the Legislature say, or can 
 you find it in the charter, that no railroad shall be made from 
 Salem to the city of Lowell? Would the petitioners for that 
 charter have presumed to ask that such a provision should be 
 inserted in it? No man will pretend for a moment that the 
 petitioners would have ventured to come to the Legislature with 
 such a request; or that, if such a request had been preferred, it 
 would not have been at once rejected with indignation by the 
 Legislature and by the people of the Commonw'ealth. 
 
 Then in the charter you find no such provision. But the cor¬ 
 poration come here, through their counsel, and their printed re¬ 
 monstrance, which has been most industriously circulated in both 
 branches of the Legislature, and say, that although you do not 
 infringe the express contract, yet there is an implied contract, 
 that there are certain equitable rights existing, independently of 
 the express contract. They say that you cannot, in justice to 
 these remonstrants, authorize a road to be constructed that shall 
 be a competing road with the Boston and Lowell Railroad, for the 
 travel and business between those points. Although I find no 
 such provision in the Charter, I will admit that, except for good 
 cause, this claim is not to be disregarded, and I will state pre¬ 
 sently the limitation. I admit, Sir, that unless an exigency arises 
 which shall justify it, unless the corporation shall be unable or 
 unwilling to afford the public the accommodation which they 
 need, for travel and business from Boston to Lowell, and from 
 Lowell to Boston, there would be injustice in granting another 
 charter to accommodate that very travel and business. When I 
 
41 
 
 make this admission, I make it knowing that it is perfectly safe. 
 
 I know that we can stand upon this proposition. I know that 
 we do not interfere with the rights of this corporation, expressed 
 or implied, as they have been stated by me. We do not seek to 
 infringe those rights. We ask, not for a road from Boston to 
 Lowell, but for a road from Salem to Lowell. 
 
 On the other hand, let me ask, what are the rights of the pub¬ 
 lic? They extend thus far; that if it becomes necessary for the 
 accommodation of the public, that even a parallel road from 
 Boston to Lowell should be authorized to be built for the benefit 
 of the same business and the same people; if this becomes 
 necessary in consequence of the inability or unwillingness of the 
 present road to accommodate the wants of the public, then the 
 Legislature have an undoubted right to grant a road parallel with 
 the road now held by the Boston and Lowell railroad corpora¬ 
 tion. In this position I am, sustained by the decisions of the 
 highest tribunals in the land. And no one will venture to con¬ 
 tend here that the principle I thus state is not fully established; 
 that whenever the object for which the present road was made is 
 not fully answered, then the public has not only the right, but is 
 bound to afford further needed facilities. 
 
 Again, I say, Sir, that the Legislature having granted the right 
 to make a road between Boston and Lowell, and that road 
 having been established and used, have an undoubted right to 
 grant railroads to any other part of the Commonwealth where rail¬ 
 road facilities may be needed, from Boston radiating in every di¬ 
 rection as they do, or from Lowell radiating in every direction as 
 they must hereafter do, as that city shall increase in magnitude. 
 And when gentlemen come here, and because they have a right 
 to the business by railroad between Boston and Lowell, under 
 pretence of that right, tell the Legislature that their privilege is a 
 monopoly in respect to that business, and such a monopoly that 
 the Legislature cannot grant rights to other portions of the com¬ 
 munity distant from Boston and Lowell,—it is not the petition¬ 
 ers who are infringing upon vested rights, it is the remonstrants 
 themselves, who dare to come here to trespass upon the vested rights 
 of the whole people of the Commonwealth. How easy it is for 
 him who assumes the attitude of defence to become the aggressor! 
 How easy, under pretence of vindicating one’s own rights or the 
 rights of a corporation, to assail the rights of the whole commu¬ 
 nity ! Sir, the argument, as briefly stated, will not bear to be 
 looked at. This is the extent of the claim ; and however it may 
 disguised, it covers this broad ground, that you shall not, by any 
 convenient route, make a communication between the city of 
 Salem and the city of Lowell, because of the chartered and vested 
 rights of the Boston and Lowell R. R- Co. 
 
 Here, then, is the fallacy in the argument of the remonstrants; 
 not in the principle which their counsel has assumed, that the 
 
42 
 
 Boston and Lowell Railroad Company have rights secured to them 
 by charter, which the Legislature itself may not take away, with¬ 
 out compensation, but in the assumption, the monstrous assump¬ 
 tion, that the charter of the company takes from the Legislature 
 the right to grant an independent road for the increased business 
 between Salem and Lowell. I will not repeat, what every man of 
 ordinary intelligence, much more the intelligent members of this 
 Committee, know to be the fact, that these petitioners are here, 
 not for a road from Boston to Lowell, or from Boston to Salem, 
 but they are here with the single purpose of obtaining facilities 
 of communication between Salem and Lowell. 
 
 I care not what has been the action of former Legislatures in 
 respect to other petitions. I care not if [Mr. Livingston, for in¬ 
 stance, has been here on former occasions, urgent for the grant 
 of charters which the Legislature supposed would conflict with 
 the rights of the Boston and Lowell R. R.; as, for instance, a 
 charter of a road from Lowell directly to the Boston and Maine 
 R. R. at Ballardvale, with a view to the intercourse with Boston, 
 —and I will not say that the Legislature did not act wisely in 
 rejecting the application,—and so in respect to various other pe¬ 
 titions which have been referred to. But when Mr. Livingston 
 came here with a petition for a railroad which did not thus con¬ 
 flict, did the Legislature enquire, “ What w r as your project last 
 year ? You then wanted a road from Lowell to the Boston and 
 Maine R. R. We thought your application interfered with the 
 rights of the Lowell R. R., and therefore we will not grant the 
 one you now present?” No, Sir, they gave him the charter of 
 the Lowell and Lawrence R. R. So, I suppose, without preju¬ 
 dice on account of the fact that he may be among our numerous 
 petitioners, the present case will be considered, and if in itself it 
 presents a just case for your interposition and your aid, then you 
 will not go back to the history of former applications, by whom¬ 
 soever made, but will determine the merits of this. 
 
 And let me say, Sir,—since the name of Mr. Livingston has 
 been used with some freedom here, not by way of reproach to 
 him, but because it was supposed that these petitioners might be 
 prejudiced by the connection,—that the connection of Mr. Liv¬ 
 ingston with this petition results from these facts; that he is a 
 citizen of Lowell deeply interested and extensively engaged in 
 the business of Lowell, one of the most respectable and useful 
 citizens, and that Mr. Livingston is concerned in the Lowell and 
 Lawrence R. R. When the gentlemen from Salem having con¬ 
 ferred with their friends at Lowell, determined to apply for this 
 charter, they found that it was unavoidable, for reasons already 
 stated, that they should pass by the side of the Lowell and Law¬ 
 rence R. R., by the side of that road in which Mr. Livingston is 
 interested, and they therefore went to him (and not he to them), 
 and made arrangements, the result of which has been spread be- 
 
43 
 
 fore the Committe. This, Sir, was the occasion, and the whole 
 extent, of the connection of Mr. Livingston with this petition; 
 and I assure you, Sir, that the general object, and sole object, is 
 such as I have stated it; and it has nothing to do with a com¬ 
 peting road from.Lowell to Boston. 
 
 The counsel who appears in behalf of the Boston and Lowell 
 Railroad Company, admits one great fact, and that is, that there 
 is an exigency for a railroad from Lowell to Salem. The printed 
 remonstrance admits that fact. When that admission was made, 
 I contend that everything was yielded which we need claim. 
 The whole right to construct this road which we ask for, was 
 yielded the moment it was admitted, that an exigency existed for 
 a railroad communication, because, wherever there is such exi¬ 
 gency, the Legislature has a right to satisfy the public want in, 
 the best manner. When once it is admitted that there is a 
 necessity, that there should be a road from Salem to Lowell, 
 does it not follow, that the road should be built in the best prac¬ 
 ticable manner to advance the public interest, and by taking the 
 best and most direct course ? The admission of the right of the 
 Legislature to authorize a charter, is an admission of the right 
 to authorize the road to be built where it will best accommodate 
 the public. The counsel cannot come here and say, that not¬ 
 withstanding the exigency, you must make the communication 
 in a manner inconvenient to the petitioners, and to a certain 
 aegree injurious and destructive to their object. 
 
 But that is not the whole. When the gentleman admits, that 
 a road should be built, he admits the right to build it, notwith¬ 
 standing," the interference which may incidentally result with any 
 other road. It is impossible that a road should be built from 
 Salem to Lowell, without interfering incidentally with one rail¬ 
 road or another already established. A glance at the map will 
 show you, that a road from Salem to Lowell, must intersect the 
 Boston and Maine road, and must, therefore, to some extent, 
 come in competition with other roads. The fact is most import¬ 
 ant and is conclusive. Of necessity, we must have a road, 
 which, incidentally, and to some extent, may be a competing 
 , road with some other corporation ; and the gentleman says, 
 “ you have the same right to take the whole of the business, that 
 you have to take a part.” Where would he have the road 
 built ? He says, Take the Pingree route|or the Wakefield route. 
 If you take the Pingree route, what follows ? Do you not re¬ 
 member the remonstrance of the Eastern Railroad Company ? 
 You make a road to South Reading,'entering upon the road 
 already built from South Reading to Boston, and thus give an 
 interior route for the travel and business from Salem and Danvers, 
 and do you not then interfere with the Eastern Railroad Com¬ 
 pany, and meet their remonstrance ? Take the Wakefield route, 
 and again you do the very evil which so alarms the imagina- 
 
44 
 
 tion of my friend. The Wakefield route carries you to the Bos¬ 
 ton and Maine Railroad, and to a point where I believe there 
 are already a station and a depot. Then, Sir, you have a road 
 conflicting with the Essex Railroad, and against this that cor¬ 
 poration remonstrates. Bear in mind, that the Boston and 
 Maine Railroad was described by my friend, as having a heavy 
 business of its own, enabled consequently, as was said, to carry 
 freight and passengers at a cheap rate. Then, Sir, have they not 
 the power, by a combination with the Wakefield petitioners, to 
 take the freight and travel to Lawrence, thus competing with the 
 Essex Railroad, the little difference in distance being compen¬ 
 sated for, by the difference in grades, which are heavy on the 
 Essex Railroad ? The distance, I am told, will be only about 
 two miles greater, from the point where the Wakefield route 
 crosses the Boston and Maine Railroad. Now, the argument on 
 the other side, was, that the Maine road, having a great business, 
 could take the freight and passengers coming down the Andover 
 road, and the Cabot road, and carry them to Boston. It mattered 
 not, such is the argument, whether they would do it or not; it 
 was enough that they had the power to do it. Now, let me ask, 
 will not these Wakefield and Maine roads have the power to 
 take a great part of the business, if not all, from the Essex Rail¬ 
 road, and thus come into competition with it ? Go where we 
 may, the fact is, the Boston and Maine Road lies across our 
 path, and if we intersect it at all, by either route, we come into 
 competition, to a certain extent, with one or the other of these 
 roads. 
 
 Therefore, Sir, this is our position ; that if we are entitled to a 
 road at all, we must come in conflict with other roads to a cer¬ 
 tain extent, we must unite and encounter that incidental compe¬ 
 tition which is unavoidable from the condition of the country, 
 and the arrangement and location of railroads already estab¬ 
 lished. 
 
 It is said that there will be a diversion of the business 
 from the Lowell R. R., and the counsel of the Remonstrants pic¬ 
 tures to you the condition of that road hereafter — a road sus¬ 
 tained by a capital of .$ 1,900,000, with a double track, and every 
 convenience, and yet without a solitary traveller upon it! Those 
 results may be realized wholly, or to a considerable extent. It is 
 possible, but not within the range of probability. You find 
 conflicting routes to New York; and yet you find them all sup¬ 
 ported by passengers and by business, to a very considerable 
 extent; and those which have been built with economy and are 
 well managed, have a large amount of business upon them. So 
 it will be with the Lowell R. R. while it is conducted with due 
 regard to the interests of the public; and this extravagant fear 
 of future destitution lends no strength to the argument. The 
 map is brought to you, by which you are made to see that the 
 
45 
 
 railroad from Manchester to Lawrence, will take some portion of 
 their business. What then ? Are the rights of the Lowell road 
 affected ? Was it not necessary to grant the charters from Con¬ 
 cord to Manchester, and from Manchester to Lowell ? Is it not 
 right that there should be means of communication between 
 Manchester and Lawrence ? Then the result is, that Lowell busi¬ 
 ness may be diverted by other roads, which it has become neces¬ 
 sary to build to meet the wants of the community. No wrong is 
 done to the Boston and Lowell Railroad, unless the country was 
 made for that road, and not that road for the country. Take the 
 road from Providence to Worcester. Does it not interfere with 
 the business of the Boston and Worcester Railroad incidentally ? 
 Yet the Legislature granted the road, and the Boston and Wor¬ 
 cester Railroad did not feel that they had a right to come here 
 and complain of the infringement of vested rights. Although it 
 commenced at Worcester, and ran for several miles parallel to 
 their road, and then another was chartered forming incidentally a 
 competing line, yet they submitted because the competition was 
 unavoidable and incidental. 
 
 Take, again, the road from Nashua to Worcester. That road 
 crossed the Fitchburg R. R. The consequence was that from 
 Nashua you might go by the Fitchburg road to Boston. But it 
 was designed to accommodate the business from Nashua to 
 Worcester, and thus on to New York ; and so it was no infiringe- 
 ment upon vested rights. So it is all over the Commonwealth, 
 and so it must be, in a greater and increasing degree, forever 
 hereafter; and wherever the population is most dense, as in the 
 present instance, in Middlesex and its vicinity, on the seaboard 
 and in the interior, there you find that pictures can be as highly 
 drawn of interfering and conflicting roads. This, therefore, is 
 no new thing. 
 
 But I said that the danger was exaggerated. It appeared from 
 the testimony of Mr. Crane, who was long in the service of the 
 Boston and Maine R. R. Co., that the Maine R. R. had sought 
 a communication with Danvers, and he had made a survey for 
 the purpose, thence to South Reading, in order to draw the travel 
 over the Maine road to Boston. It so happens that the Maine 
 R. R, has never yet seen how it could take the business from 
 the Lowell R. R. by means of this enterprise, for they are rather 
 opposers than friends of our petition. They have never discov¬ 
 ered this project; certainly not until it was presented to their 
 view. That the Andover R. R. for the sake of transporting the 
 business of the Lowell Road, some four or five miles, and that 
 then the Cabot Road, for the sake of bringing it three or four 
 miles, should enter into a combination to destroy the business of 
 the Boston and Lowell R. R., is an undertaking too improbable 
 
 for the consideration of the Committee. The Lowell R. R. is 
 said to be acceptable to the public, and so long as it continues 
 
46 
 
 to be so, it will have their patronage. The instance has not been 
 found where a railroad accommodating the public, carrying 
 freight and passengers as cheaply as any other, and having an 
 immense business, has been destroyed by the competition of 
 new roads entering the field without the merit of superiority in 
 any respect whatever. 
 
 I will omit other considerations which 1 wished to present, 
 and say a word upon the restrictive provisions we are willing 
 the charter should contain. We have endeavored to satisfy the 
 Committee, that without restrictions we have a right to a road 
 from Salem to Lowell, notwithstanding the objections of the 
 remonstrants. But we are willing to yield to their fears to any 
 reasonable extent The Legislature may grant it as a favor to 
 the Boston and Lowell Railroad Company, or, if it pleases, it 
 may put it upon the ground of a right, that’ there should be a 
 restriction. Then, Sir, we have indicated to the Legislature 
 different modes of restriction, which would sufficiently protect 
 the Lowell Railroad. We offered to cross the Maine Rail¬ 
 road at another grade, at twenty feet above the grade of that 
 road, so that there could be no connection. We have asked 
 from the beginning, not that we might enter upon it, but that we 
 might cross it The Legislature may provide that we shall have 
 no station or depot, and take no freight or passengers within 
 half a mile of any point on the line of the Maine Railroad. Is 
 has been said, that this restriction would be of no avail, becaute 
 the new corporation might buy up the land, and construct the 
 road upon their own private property 7 . But, it is proposed, as 
 one of the conditions, that it shall not receive or deliver passen¬ 
 gers or freight, within half a mile of that line, or upon that line. 
 Where then is the danger to the Lowell road ? Passengers must 
 go by other conveyance between the two roads, and so there can 
 be no connection. The counsel cannot show you how, in prac¬ 
 tice, this provision can be evaded, since, if we enter by any 
 mode upon the Maine Railroad, it is in direct violation of our 
 charter. I think that sufficient security is given, by providing 
 that we may intersect, but not enter, but we offer these additional 
 guards. This theory of buying land of individuals, and thus 
 evading the provisions of the charter, is the idlest in the world. 
 We could do no such thing. The Cabot road could not pur¬ 
 chase the land and hold it. It has no authority to do it. It can 
 buy or take land for the purpose of constructing its road, where, 
 by law, it may be made, and for its depots, stations, &c., but 
 it cannot take land by purchase elsewhere. I do not say 
 what an individual can do, under your charter, granting a 
 road to Lowell, can the corporation purchase the land, and 
 construct and use a road to Fitchburg. They have no right to 
 hold it; it would be a violation of their charter, and their title 
 would be null and void. The gentleman knows full well, that 
 
47 
 
 we could not thus evade the charter. If it provided that we 
 should go upon another grade, and there was an attempt, by the 
 purchase of land, or otherwise, to evade the provisions of the 
 charter, I appeal to that gentleman himself, to say, as a lawyer, 
 whether it would not be an offence by which the clear rights of 
 the Boston and Lowell road would be infringed, whether he 
 believes that the Supreme Court would hesitate for an hour, to 
 grant an injunction, and whether the company would not be 
 liable to the Boston and Lowell Railroad Company, for what- 
 . ever damages they should sustain. 
 
 The argument that South Reading and Malden would be 
 deprived by this restriction of any railroad communication 
 with Lowell, I cannot understand. I cannot perceive how the 
 construction of a road intersecting, in a restricted manner, the B. 
 and M. road, passing where there is not now a railroad, and in¬ 
 terposing no new restraints upon any existing mode of communi¬ 
 cation, can affect the convenience of those towns. If it is meant 
 by that argument that South Reading and Malden would need 
 a communication by some cross road to Lowell, it may be so, 
 but certain it is that by the granting of this Charter, you impair 
 no existing rights. 
 
 The argument which has been repeated by the Counsel for 
 the Remonstrants, that these petitioners can be as well accommo¬ 
 dated by the Boston and Lowell Road, does not convince them— 
 they deem it of vital importance, to the complete success of their 
 enterprise that the road from Salem to Lowell, on its whole 
 extent, should be in the control of its friends. By the arrange¬ 
 ment which they have show can be made with the Lowell and 
 Andover, and the Essex R. R. Corporation, this great object can 
 be accomplished, should the present application be successful. 
 They have no fears that they should not have the same access to 
 the Mills at Lowell which is had by other companies, whose 
 road terminates at the same station. 
 
 I will not press this matter further upon the attention of the 
 Committee, for want of time. Having shown the great present 
 and prospective business of Salem with the interior, the peti¬ 
 tioners ask for such facilities as are usually granted, when a like 
 exigency is presented to the Legislature. They think they have 
 made out a clear case for a Charter, which shall contain no unu¬ 
 sually burdensome conditions. But to make manifest the 
 singleness of their object, and to relieve the fears of the Peti¬ 
 tioners, they voluntarily suggest limitations and restrictions of 
 a peculiar character, to which they are willing to submit. And 
 they trust that no excessive respect for unwarranted pretensions, 
 assuming the name of vested rights, will subject the intercourse 
 between Salem and the interior to the control of a company 
 which, if it be not hostile, has no common interest in the busi¬ 
 ness which the petitioners seek to promote. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 As a striking illustration of the effect of Railway communications with the 
 interior in increasing the sale and consumption of Fish, the following is 
 taken from McCulloch — Account of the British Empire, Vol. 1, p. 625. 
 Edition of 38J7. 
 
 Latterly the consumption of fish has been materially increased. 
 The difficulty and expense of conveying fish fresh, and in good 
 order, into the interior of the country, was, till very recently, the 
 principal obstacle to its consumption. But the opening of rail¬ 
 ways from the coast to all the great internal towns has gone far 
 to remove this obstacle ; and has, in consequence, increased the 
 consumption of fish in the great manufacturing and other towns 
 at a distance from the sea, in a degree not easy to be imagined. 
 In proof of this, we beg to lay before the reader, the following 
 extract from a letter in the Morning Chronicle, by the Birming¬ 
 ham correspondent of that journal. 
 
 “In the year 1829, there were only ten fish merchants in Bir¬ 
 mingham, but, since the opening of the various railways which 
 now centre in or communicate with the town, the number has 
 increased to forty, exclusive of several dealers of smaller note 
 who reside in the suburbs. 
 
 “ The quantity of fish consumed by the community has in¬ 
 creased in the same ratio, and in round numbers is estimated 
 thus: 
 
 Tons. Population. 
 
 1829 400 150,000 
 
 1835 1,000 160,000 
 
 1840 2.500 . 180,000 
 
 1S45 3,910 200,000 
 
 “This amazing increase has not been occasioned by the tariff 
 of 1842, notwithstanding it opened our markets to foreign sal¬ 
 mon, smelts, and herrings; for the increase in the consumption 
 of salmon, though considerable, has not been such as was ex¬ 
 pected, the price of that fish still continuing above the reach of 
 the working man. Smelts were formerly prohibited; now they 
 
50 
 
 come in free, but very few of them have yet found their way to 
 the centre of England. Cured herrings are now more in de¬ 
 mand than formerly, but with the exception of plump soft reds 
 no material increase has taken place in the quantity imported. 
 The great increase has been in the consumption of what are 
 termed fresh fish ; that is, of all kinds of white and shell fish 
 as they come out of the water. This is entirely owing to the 
 facilities of speedy conveyance afforded by railwav transit. Al¬ 
 though Birmingham stands in the very centre of England, and 
 is distant from the nearest seaport a hundred miles, fish caught 
 in the morning on the east or west coast, may now be found in 
 excellent order, on the bench of the fish merchant here, in the 
 evening. As cod, herrings, mackerel, and shell fish, have each 
 and all particular seasons in which they can be caught in abund¬ 
 ance and good condition; and as these seasons differ widelv 
 according to the coast on which the fish are caught, the herrinii, 
 for example, being abundant in July and August on the east 
 coast, and in winter on the west coast of Ireland, so we are now 
 in circumstances, from our communications with both sides of 
 the island, to have a fresh supply of fish of some kind or other 
 all the year round! Nothing like this could be obtained before 
 the railways were made. A fresh cod was then only to be seen 
 on the table of the merchant or manufacturer who could afford to 
 pay Is. to Is. 6d. a pound for it; sometimes 30s. was paid for 
 one good round full-sized cod. Now any quantity can be had. 
 as low as 2d. to 4d. a pound, and in much better condition than 
 when the conveyance was from London by mail or stage-coach, 
 even though packed in ice. The same may be said of herrings, 
 mackerel, salmon, and shell-fish, the current price of fresh her¬ 
 rings now being twelve to fifteen a shilling, mackerel 2d. to 4d. 
 each, and crabs, which formerly cost from Is. to 3s. 6d. may now 
 be had for from Id. to 2d., 4d. and 6d. the very largest and finest, 
 not exceeding Is. to Is. 3d. each. As many as twenty tons of 
 crabs have been brought to town in a morning; and, on several 
 occasions, no fewer than 300 barrels of fresh herrings have been 
 delivered amongst our various fish merchants, one of whom now 
 thinks nothing of having 401. to pay for carriage of fresh fish 
 delivered in the course of one day.”