Another act deserving our attention is one passed by the third general assembly, creating the second private corporation chartered in Tennessee. What a model it was and is for the guidance of all future general assemblies, and how free we would be today from the many questions that now vex courts and legislative bodies, if we had only followed this wise precedent. But we have not; our “swollen estimate of our own pre-eminence” seems to have so beclouded our minds as to cut off vision in both directions: too proud and stiff-necked to look back and study the example and teachings of our fathers, and too weak-minded, with all our boasting, to see a single span of life into the future, we have lost that which they, in their far-reaching mental grasp, held on to in the charter--control and regulation of private corporations by means of commissions appointed by state authority and compensated by the corporation, these provisions being part and parcel of the charter. The act referred to was passed November 14, 1801, and incorporated the Cumberland Turnpike Company--nothing but a little turnpike company, to build a road or public highway “from the district of Hamilton, across the Cumberland mountains to the district of Mero”: but these backwoods pioneers, who (as we, their offspring, have supposed) did not know how to spell “railroad,” “commission,” “regulation,” “freight,” etc., actually had sense and foresight enough, without books and court decisions bearing on the subject to guide them, to embody in this second charter of a private corporation granted in Tennessee provisions as follows: 1. It might make by-laws, rules and regulations not inconsistent with the laws of the state. 2. It must “measure and mile-mark” the whole road, “erect bridges and causeys” (causeways?), dig and level fields, hills and mountains to the width of fifteen feet, and maintain and keep the road in good order and repair. 3. The life of the franchise is limited to a period of ten years. 4. The corporation is required to execute a bond, in the sum of two thousand dollars, with approved security, for keeping the road in safe condition and good repair. 5. The Governor shall appoint three commissioners, and they or either of them shall review and examine the condition of the road once in six months, and report its condition to the Governor. 6. The company, on the completion of the road, is required to report to the Governor that the road has been completed in accordance with the charter requirements. 7. Thereupon, the commissioners are to view and examine the road, and if they report to the Governor that the road has been completed in accordance with the true intent and meaning of the charter, the Governor will then issue a license to the company, permitting it to erect gates and collect toll. 8. The toll that shall be demanded and received from the various kinds of vehicles, live stock, footmen, etc., is prescribed by the charter.