claim of the late Gen. Schuyler to the merit of drawing that act, and procuring its passage through the legislature. By Robert Troup Esq. Geneva, N. Y. 8vo, pp. 61. 1821.

In every state, which is blessed with a liberal and enlightened government, domestic improvements become an object of solicitude, the moment that protection from foreign violence is assured, the personal rights of the citizen protected, and the education of his children guarantied. When these essential points have been gained, the energies of government ought to be directed in improving the cultivation of the soil, in establishing useful manufactures, and extending commerce, internal as well as foreign. The progress of the United States from their infancy to the present time might, perhaps, afford some elucidation of this course. It is not, however, our intention. to mark the change which our soil has assumed, since the period of our independence, to advert to our thriving factories, to notice the invention of machines, which have done infinite honor to the mechanical genius of our countrymen, or to point out the general progress of industry and enterprise amongst us. We intend merely to direct the attention of our readers, in pursuance of the allusions to the general subject of internal improvement in a previous number of our review,* to the canals mentioned in the title of this article.

It would be a useless attempt to set forth at this day the advantages of canals. They are proved by the experience of every people who possess them, and demonstrated equally by the dingy workshops of Birmingham, and the civic palaces of Amsterdam. Canals destroy monopolies, by bringing remote places into competition; they give an immediate value to articles, which, from their weight or bulk, were before worthless; they unite distant places together by a reciprocal interest and an exchange of commodities; they animate industry, increase population, and thus minister abundantly to the power and happiness of every state. It is in this view, that the duke of Bridgewater may claim the proud honor of having been one of the most munificent benefactors of his country. His first canal of only seven miles was executed so late as the years 1758-9. It induced others to follow the example; and an artificial navigation of three thousand miles now not only contributes most powerfully to the maritime and commercial

*North American Review, vol. xi. p. 49 et seq.

superiority of England, but afforded its effectual support to a contest, which she waged against all Europe at an unparalleled expense. How much does not the glory of such improvements outshine the lustre of military fame. The canal of Languedoc will consecrate the name of Andreossy,* when the fields of Rocroi and Nordlingen are forgotten.

The United States have not been insensible to the value of an easy and rapid inter-communication between the different parts of the union. In a country of limited extent, and especially in one like Great Britain, which is washed on all sides by the ocean, the value of canals is comparatively small; good roads and water courses serve as a substitute. But in a country of great territorial dimensions, their importance is increased in proportion to their length. The immense inland navigation of Russia is a striking example; for without it, she would be obliged to resort to a most expensive and circuitous foreign commerce. In the United States, therefore, such a system must be of infinite advantage; and it is fortunate that they afford facilities for bringing it into operation, perhaps superior to those possessed by any state in Europe. In that admirable Report on Public Roads and Canals,' which was made in 1807, in pursuance of a resolution of the senate, by Mr Gallatin, then secretary of the treasury, some of these facilites are stated. By cutting ninety eight miles at different points, an inland transportation is secured along the whole coast from Maine to the extremity of Georgia, protected from the dangers of the ocean, and the attacks of the enemy. The lakes, those great inland seas, afford us opportunities for interior communication enjoyed by no other nation. They wash an extent of frontier second only to our sea-coast. But when we cast our eyes upon the map, and in connexion with these lakes trace the course of the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Ohio, the Susquehanna, the Hudson, and their tributary streams, what a glorious field of operation presents itself. The imagination can scarcely do justice to the grandeur and importance of those

* We are aware that Riquet is generally considered the author of the canal of Languedoc; but we believe that the merit of that work is due to François Andreossy. He communicated the original project to Riquet, who made use of it at court, and, having secured the work, employed the talent of Andreossy in its execution. See this question discussed in the Histoire du canal du midi, par François Andreossy, général de division, &c. chapitre VII.

See a General History of Inland Navigation, by J. Phillips; sect. 3. London, 1803.

enterprises which shall unite the waters of the lakes with the waters of the ocean, and convert that immense and fertile country, from the head waters of the Missouri to lake Erie, into the abodes of myriads of freemen, who will owe their existence, as well as their high place in civilization and the arts, to the mighty plans of internal improvement now projected. Grand as these projects are, the inherent resources of the country are more than sufficient to realize them. For it will be recollected, that the extensive improvements between the 'great geographical divisions' of the United States, contemplated in that able and luminous report, already alluded to, amounted only to $16,600,000; a sum which very little exceeds the receipts into the treasury at Washington, for the last three quarters of the present year.

To shew that these views are just, we return to a consideration of those works, which constitute the subject of this article. The first volume before us contains the public documents relating to the commencement and prosecution of the Champlain and great western canals, in the state of New York. They consist of the seven reports of the canal commissioners from 1810 to 1821 inclusive, and a variety of legislative papers, the application to the general government for assistance, and the report thereon, the report of the commissioners of the canal fund, and a very valuable correspondence on the subject of canals in general, and their construction. The appendix contains two very interesting letters from Gov. Brown of Ohio, and W. Steele Esq. of Cincinnati, on the projected canal from the Ohio to lake Erie; and two large and valuable maps of the route of the New York canals accompany the work. The whole is preceded by an excellent and animating preface by Mr Charles G. Haines. It appears that the collection of the papers was made by that gentleman, in pursuance of a resolution of the New York corresponding association for the promotion of internal improvements;' and we think that the public are much indebted, not only to that society, but to Mr Haines, for having thus united in a compact form whatever is most valuable and authentic concerning that great enterprise, in which the country now feels so lively an interest, and which will hereafter be a matter of still greater curiosity. Posterity will look with wonder at the gigantic efforts of a state, which, with a population of 900,000, commenced, and, we trust we may soon say, finished, four hundred and twenty four miles of New Series, No. 9.

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canal, with all its immense embankments, noble aqueducts, and massive locks.

The line of the great western canal begins at Buffalo; then coasting the Niagara river till it meets the Tonawanta creek, pursues its bed for eleven miles, whence it takes a north-easterly direction to the township of Cambria, passing through the county of Niagara, and thence east through Genessee, Monroe, Ontario, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Madison, and Oneida. At Rome it approaches the Mohawk river, and thence, traversing Utica, follows the south side of the river till it joins the Hudson, at a position in the vicinity of Albany. The whole distance is three hundred and sixty three miles, and it has been divided into three sections. The first extends from the embouchure on the Hudson to Utica, one hundred and nine miles; the second, thence to Montezuma, ninety six; the third, thence to Buffalo, one hundred and fifty eight. On the first and second sections a very imperfect navigation has existed for some time. In the year 1792 the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company' was incorporated for the purpose of improving the navigation of the Mohawk and Seneca rivers, and opening a communication between both, by Wood creek and the Oneida lake. The company called Mr Weston, an English engineer, to their assistance; but the low state of their funds caused them to limit their operations to the Mohawk and Wood creek, which approaches within a very short distance of the former; and accordingly the locks at the Little Falls were built. The navigation remained in this situation for many years, obstructed by the rapidity of the river, and the periodical lowness of the water in the creek, which made it necessary to lighten the boats, and produced various other difficulties.

The first legislative proceeding on the subject was a resolution of the 4th February 1808, to explore and survey the country between lake Erie and the Hudson, for the purpose of ascertaining the most eligible and direct route for a canal between the tide-waters of the Hudson and lake Erie.' The motion was made by Joshua Forman, the member from Onondaga, in the state legislature. In a note communicated to Mr Haines, and added to the Introduction, it is stated, that this motion was not carried into effect. It appears, however, that six hundred dollars were appropriated, and that Mr James Geddes, an engineer, made a running level of the whole route, and discov

ered various important facts connected with the general subject of his inquiries. The project appears to have slept in the profoundest repose, till the patriotic suggestions of Thomas Eddy, Dewitt Clinton, and Jonas Platt once more called it from its slumbers. In March 1810, judge Platt, then a senator, offered a resolution that Gouverneur Morris, Stephen Van Rensselaer, Dewitt Clinton, Simeon Dewitt, William North, Thomas Eddy, and Peter B. Porter be appointed commissioners to explore the whole route, take surveys, &c. The motion was seconded by Mr Clinton, and passed unanimously. The report of the commissioners, in pursuance of it, contained a full and convincing statement of the advantages of the proposed canal, and of its ultimate practicability. To this report we may probably ascribe much of that interest, manifested by a large portion of the people in favor of the measure, at a subsequent period. The commissioners discouraged the plan of a sloop navigation, and recommended that of barges, of from twenty to sixty tons. Indeed, by that plan, in order to save the expense of lading and unlading at either end of the canal, the cost would have been doubled. The peculiar adaptation of the Ridge (an elevation which crosses the whole of the western part of the state of New York, and descends gradually by successive plains to lake Ontario) to canal operations, was remarked. But the commissioners, considering that lake Erie was several hundred feet above the Hudson, suggested the application of the principles of an inclined plane. The saving of lockage, and the difference in the weight of the articles sent from, and brought into the interior, together with the advantage of the pure waters of the lake, gave some plausibility to an idea, which has been since abandoned. The commissioners, with great frankness, stated some difficulties in the route of the canal, the passage of the Seneca lake by an aqueduct eighty three feet high, and that at the mouth of the Cayuga, where the elevation is one hundred and eighty three feet. The valley is a mile broad, and a 'mound of sufficient heigth and breadth' to cross it was a work of enormous dimension. The expense of the Erie canal was estimated at $5,000,000, and that of the Champlain canal at $1,000,000. An enterprise of this description, to be undertaken by a state, whose permanent annual revenue was $274,359 77, whose whole revenue was only $619,299 29, and its expenditure

* See Watson's History of the Western Canals, p. 70.