in the house, the Whigs refused to vote,
and raised the point of "no quorum." Speaker _pro tem_. Wellborn, who
presided, counted a quorum and declared the resolutions adopted. Mr.
Toombs fired up at this unusual decision. He threw himself before the
Speaker with impetuous appeal and called for a reversal of the decision.
But it was a Democratic house, and the Speaker was sustained by a vote
of 96 to 40.

The craze for internal improvements now swept over the country. The
Whigs were especially active, and we find resolutions adopted by the
General Assembly, calling on the Federal Government to create ports of
entry and to build government foundries and navy yards on the Southern
seaboard. Mr. Toombs was chairman of the Committee of Internal
Improvements, but his efforts were directed toward the completion of the
Western and Atlantic Railroad. These enterprises had overshadowed the
waterways, and the railway from Charleston, S. C., to Augusta, Ga., one
of the very first in the country, had just been completed. Already a
company had embarked upon the construction of the Georgia Railroad, and
on May 21, 1837, the first locomotive ever put in motion on the soil of
Georgia moved out from Augusta. A local paper described the event in
sententious terms:

This locomotive started beautifully and majestically from
the depository and, following the impetus given, flew with
surprising velocity on the road which hereafter is to be
her natural element.

The General Assembly decided that these rail lines should have an outlet
to the West. This great road was finally built and operated from Atlanta
to Chattanooga, and is still owned by the State, a monument to the
sagacity and persistency of Toombs and his associates in 1840. The great
possibilities of these iron highways opened the eyes of the statesmen
of that day, Mr. Calhoun seemed to drop for a time his philosophical
studies of States and slavery and to dream of railroads and commercial
greatness. He proposed the connection of the Atlantic Ocean with the
Mississippi River and the great West, through Cumberland Gap--a
brilliant and feasible scheme. Governor Gilmer of Georgia declared in
his message that these projected roads "would add new bonds to the
Union." But King Cotton, with his millions in serfdom, issued his
imperial decrees, and not even this great railroad development could
keep down the tremendous tragedy of the century.

One of the measures