Watson,) for the consideration of the more popular branch of this body.Both, as being part of the subject of reference, have been carefully examined. The passage of either, in the opinion of the committee, will be followed by desirable consequences. Such a course will consist well with the demands of public justice; will tend to settle an important point of controversy in our system of internal improvement; will give satisfaction, so far as legislative proceedings concerned, to the numerous complainants in the case now on hand; at the same time that it works no real detriment to the Turnpike Company itself. To the latter party, the courts of justice will still be accessible. Nor can that party with propriety complain, that they wero forced to such a result by the action of this Legislature. The passiveness of that, body which, the confpany so earnestly entreats, would not, in the present instance, present the evils of protracted litigation. No set of corporate authorities can maintain, as the Penitentiary Turnpike Company is now maintaining, in defiance of the wishes and feelings of twenty thousand of their fellow citizens, a naked question of right, and entertain at the same time a reasonable hope of escaping the delay, expense and vexation attendant on an appeal in the last resort to the appropriate tribunals of the country. The prominent feature of the bills which have thus met the approbation of the committee, is discoverable in a single provision. That provision would make the Penitentiary Turnpike Company or any similar company heretofore incorporated, or that may hereafter be incorporated in this State, for the purpose of constructing a M'Adamized road less than ten miles in length, liable to indictment, and on conviction, to a heavy penalty in the nature of a fine--in case that such a company exacts toll of either person or goods, in their passage over a county road, unless authority for such obstruction shall have been obtained by the concurrent vote of two thirds of all the justices of the county in which such road may lie. It will at once be seen, that a law of this stale nature acknowledges the correctness of the position already assumed. Here the principle is clearly laid down that the State when legislating with a view to the construction of some work of great and general utility should be guided by rules of policy very different from those which ought to be regarded, when the point to be considered is the propriety of granting extensive privileges in order to insure the accomplishment of some scheme, involving the interest only of a limited population, in but a limited district of country. The doctrine, in one word, is fully recognized, that, under a representative form of government, the people themselves, for whose benefit any work of improvement is said to be projected, shall be the sole arbiters in the case, and shall alone be entitled to decide whether the project shall be carried into effect, and if so, at what cost in the way of submission to toll or to any other form or species of exaction. No doubt can rest on the minds of the members of this General Assembly relative to the correctness of the principles just laid down, when considered merely in the light of a rule which direct their procecdings, and should never be lost sight of in the deliberations and discussions of their predecessors. in office. Indeed the parties themselves mostly interested in maintaining the extraordinary privileges claimed under the charter, which gave rise to the present investigation, would be construed to admit that similar privileges should not again be granted without the strongest evidence of assent on the part of a majority of those whose interests would be involved in the procedure. To compel the people of any neighborhood to have a Turnpike road and to pay toll for the use of that road in despite of their known wishes and feelings, is certainly an act of tyranny, the perpetuation of which could never be desired by any respectable and well informed portion of the constituents of this Legislature. After this concession then, which cannot be refused consistently with a profession of republicanism, what ground is left to the Penitentiary Turnpike Company, on which to rest the argument they oppose to the passage of a bill containing the provisions which have been recited? Having admitted that their charter never should have been obtained in defiance of an opposition manifested by nine tenths of those who use the road, the free passage of which there is a design to obstruct, is not the company forced to take a position neither very creditable nor very defensible, and to maintain by a parade of legal formalities, certain alledged rights, which, by their own confession were never the subjects of an equitable investigation? Accordingly we find it affirmed in the memorial, that the law is on their side, at the same time, that they contend for all the advantages to be derived from a strict construction of a statute, which never has received the sanction of the Legislature; a statute which is loose and general in its terms, is drawn up with a single regard to the extraordinary privileges it is meant to secure, and gives beside, in more than one passage, evidences of artifice, such as one would scarcely expect to find in the instruments of a cunning attorney, much less in an act passed by both Houses of the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee. Investigation, however, may show that the company is not so strongly entrenched behind the forms of the law as it seems ready to imagine. To make this evident is a task incumbent on this committee. And one error in this respect would exhibit them to the community in the attitude of advisers, will to countenance expedients at variance, not only with the pre-existing laws, but with the constitution of the country.It is contended by the company that their charter is in the nature of a contract between themselves and the State, whereby, in consideration of certain improvements to be made by them, it is expressly stipulated that they shall have the privilege of erecting a gate, at which toll may be demanded of all passengers on a country road, the free use of which being a thing of almost immemorial custom, might well be regarded as the imperceptible right of all those who have heretofore enjoyed the immunity. It will be conceded at once that if the company can show any express or even well implied grant, such as they described, they ought not to be disturbed by any enactment of this General Assembly in an effort to avail themselves of their privileges. If she claimants under the charter can prove what they assert, and will beside, persist in their undertaking, regardless of public opinion, this Legislature cannot, as it ought not, to interfere further than by a decided expression of opinion. The grant, if made, was undoubtedly improper on the score both of policy and of justice; yet it was the act of the representatives of the State and is binding on the people, as it was the transaction of their own chosen and appointed agents. After full investigation, however, the committee is well satisfied that the memorialists have fallen into an error, touching the nature and extent of their privileges. To prove this attention is asked to the terms of their charter. The first section of this act contains the provisions under which the right is claimed to obstruct a long established and much frequentd county road. There we find it enacted, that the Penitentiary Turnpike Company shall have all the rights, benefits and privileges, which by law are conferred on the Franklin Turnpike Company, or any other Turnpike Company chartered by this State. The committee cannot believe that the Legislature will recognize this grant as valid to the extent which the mere words of the charter would seem to warrant. The clause which gives the company all the rights, benefits and privileges of every corporation, within the limits of the State, cannot be otherwise regarded, than as one of those interpretations which though utterly at variance with the spirit of our institutions, will at all times find their way into our statute books, through the combined effects of cupidity in private individuals, and of inattention and indolence on the part of public functionaries. That portion of the quotation just made, which is really valid, places the memorialists on an equal footing in respect to benefits and privileges, with the company which constructed the Turnpike that now connects the town of Franklin and Nashville. To prevent misconception, however, the committee will state that an extended research has satisfied them, that no Turnpike Company in this State can claim powers greater than those which are granted to the company last specified, in relation to the obstruction of county roads; should the extraordinary terms of this charter, therefore, be admitted as binding to the utmost extent of an unjust and unreasonable mode of interpretation, still no injustice is done, when the remonstrants in the present case are required in an investigation of their rights, to abide by the provisions of the act of 1829, which incorporated the Franklin Turnpike Company. Referring then to this acknowledged standard, we find that no power is there given to obstruct any county roads. On the contrary, it is expressly stipulated in the 18th section of that law, that all roads except on the ground where the Turnpike may pass, now in use between Nashville and Franklin, shall be continued as heretofore, unless the County Courts of the counties through which they may pass, shall order them or either of them to be discontinued. Here we find decisive proof that at a very early date in the history of our M'Adamized roads, and in a charter which has been adopted as the model of all subsequent charters, granted for a similar purpose, the doctrine is distinctly avowed, that county roads ought not to be obstructed by the exaction of toll, unless with the assent of those directly interested in the continuance of such roads, which assent was to be ascertained by the decision of a county court. The committee leave the determination of the question to this General assembly, when it is ashed, which is in best accordance with the provisions of the charter just quoted, the bills referred to the committee from the tables of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and in which the principle here indicated is fully recognized, or the remonstrance of the Penitentiary Turnpike Company, in which the same principle is in effect scouted, contravened and denounced. The memorialists lay claim to all the rights, benefits and privileges secured by provisions of law to the Franklin Turnpike Company. That much will be conceded to them. But more is asked, and the justice of the demand cannot be allowed; the Franklin Turnpike Company has but the naked privilege of constructing a M'Adamnized road, and of exacting toll. from all who, in travelling or in transportation traverse it as a matter of choice.-The power is by law expressly withheld of bringing customers to the Turnpike, by the compulsory process of closing up other roads having the same route and same points of commencement and of termination. As the matter now stands and has stood, ever since the construction of the Franklin Turnpike, persons may pass between that town and the town of Nashville free of toll, by at least three distinct routes. Let the Penitentiary Turnpike Company, then, take all, but not more than all the rights, benefits and pri vileges enjoyed by the Franklin Turnpike Company-let them assent to an arrangement by which travellers in the direction of the improvement they are about to construct, may, at their option, use or avoid it, and at pleasure make selection between it and a county road, as is done in respect to the choice prototype of the memorialists, and then all parties will be satisfied, as all parties will have justice meeted out to them fairly and impartially.The company in their memorial, as they also did in their conferences with the committee, remonstrate loudly against the injustice which would be done in the passage of either of the bills here approved and recommended, seeing that in part accomplishment of their object, they have already incurred considerable expense, and have besides brought themselves under heavy liabilities to at least one of their contractors. If the views already propounded be correct, it is plain that any argument of this kind must be esteemed of but little moment. Let it be granted that one of the parties in this controversy, under a mistaken impression relative to its powers and its privileges, has made expenditures it would not have made otherwise, and has encountered responsibilities it would not otherwise have encountered, where ought the loss to fall, if indeed any loss is to be sustained? But one reply can be given. The damage incident to the blunder should light on those who committed it, and cannot by any rule of fair procedure be made the basis of an argument for divesting a large body of the people of Tennessee, of a right they have almost immemorially enjoyed-the right of reaching the metropolis of their State free of toll by a county road, which this company wrongfully claims the authority to obstruct. It has been urged, in opposition to the measures recommended in this report, they strike at the very foundation of our whole system of Internal Improvement; establishing principles which if carried out would forever prevent the construction of another M'Adamized road within the boundaries of the State. Such allegations, however, have not altered the committee in regard to any unfa vorable impression on the public interest, which can, by any possibility result from the course they have advised. On the contrary, they are almost prepared to express a hope that the excitement occasioned by the ambiguity of a charter comparatively insignificant, touching the power it conveys to discontinue a county road, may fairly establish as a rule of universal application, the doctrine of restraint which, as here advocated, will be very limited in its practical effect and operation. Experience has proven in many instances, as in the case of the Franklin Turnpike, to which allusion has heretofore been made, that the similar grant of power to prevent the avoidance of toll by means of short circuits in the immediate vicinity of the gates will ensure ample profits to any company which has constructed a road, where the wants and interest of the community really demand the im provement. Discordant as the proposition may be, with the feelings and interest of a few individuals, it is uevertheless true that the common wealth can very well dispense with a M'Admamized road, which to insure its completion must have a guarantee of all the custom that can be forced to its gates, by the closing of all the county roads lying in its vicinity. Optional travel, and optional transportation will support turnpikes that are really of public benefit. Works of that character relying on their peculiar advanta ges in their pavements, their bridges and their graduation, when brought into conflict with a mere county road, may well make light of and disregard competition. Another argument urged by the company as one of great weight is founded on the assumption that the county road so frequently the subject of dis cussion ought to be M'Adamized, and have a gate erected upon it because of the extraordinary use to which it is now subjected, being travelled by a mul titude of people, who resort to it for the sole purpose of avoiding the exactions of the Franklin Turnpike on the one hand, and the Charlotte Turnpike on the other. The committee must confess their inability to discover the force of this mode of reasoning. The inhabitants of a certain district of country, have consented with a commendable display of public spirit, that two roads heretofore free should be improved, and have toll gates placed upon them; they were great channels of commercial intercourse,therefore,argues the Penitentiary Turnpike Company, the same individuals dught to carry their submissiveness further, and ought not to inurmur when against their wishes and against their sense of their own interests arrangements are in progress, the effect of which, when completed, will be the obstruction of a neighborhood road, by the extortion of a toll gate. Instead of agreeing with the company in this view of matters, the committee would rather regard the facts alledged, as furnishing the strongest reasons in support of the assertion, that the county road ought not to be closed in the manner contemplated. The people in question doubtless assented to the construction of the two Turnpikes, by which their region of country is now flanked because there was another avenue to Nashville, which they believed would always remain without obstruction. It is submitted to this General Assembly to decide whether it is proper for reasons so flimsy to balk an expectation so well founded and so resonable. The committee, whilst they cheerfully exonerate those whose signatures attached to the memorial of the company from the charge of having participated in the manovering, cannot refrain from expressing a feeling of astonishment at the course of legislation which gave birth to such a monster, as the charter which is now the subject of investigation. On reference to the journal of the House of Representatives, it will be seen that the-bill to incorporate the Penitentiary Turnpike Company was, on its second reading, withdrawn for amendment, and returned in due time with the addition of the following section, which, strange to tell, passed unaltered through all the formalities requisite to make it a part and parcel of the law of the land. The section in question is the eleventh of the act as now printed, and is in these words: "Be it enacted, That with a view of extending said road to Centreville, in Hickman county, should the Legislature hareafter, authorize it, and said company should agree thereto, and in part accomplishment of the object, the said company are authorized at such times as they may think proper to survey and lay off said road from the termination of said five miles, the further distance of five miles, making in all ten miles in the general direction towards Centreville, and may open books for the further subscription of stock to the amount of thirty thousand dollars, to be applied in making the same, with the same privileges and subject to the same restrictions above directed in reference to the first five miles of said road.” The journals of legislation in every State of our Union would be searched in vain to discover a passage parallel to that just quoted in unfairness, ambiguity and deception. The alledged purpose of its insertion is found, on close inspection, to be directly the reverse of its actual intent. Purporting to be a provision for the execution of the Penitentiary Turnpike, so as to make it a work of general utility, it, in effect, enacts that the same improvement, never shall be prolonged beyond the distance of five miles. But it may be asked why the framers of this charter should so strain their powers |