UK* 
 
 [<aa*^ur(*0] 
 
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 George Washington Flowers 
 Memorial Collection 
 
 DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 ESTABLISHED BY THE 
 
 FAMILY OF 
 
 COLONEL FLOWERS 
 
 
 

FACTS AND ARGUMENTS 
 
 RESPECTING 
 
 THE GREAT UTILITY 
 
 OF 
 
 AN EXTENSIVE PLAN 
 
 OF 
 
 INLAND NAVIGATION 
 
 IN AMERICA. 
 
 BY A FRIEND TO NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 To scatter plenty round a smiling land. 
 
 Gray. 
 
 PRINTED BY WM. DUANE, NO, 106, MARKET-STREET. 
 1805. 
 
CoWh 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 AS very little new can be said on the subject 
 of Inland Navigation, the following sheets are rather 
 extracts from papers already written to shew its utili- 
 ty — the only merit claimed is the application, and 
 a wish to stimulate the people of this country to a 
 pursuit so much to their own interest — if therefore I 
 shall succeed in the smallest degree in either of these 
 objects I shall think myself amply repaid for the little 
 trouble I have taken upon the occasion. 
 
 A FRIEND TO NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 January lst y 1805. 
 
INLAND NAVIGATION, &c. 
 
 EXPERIENCE and time which overcome preju- 
 dices and give instruction to the wisest men, have 
 given a spring to the ingenuity and public spirit of the 
 country, which augurs a more rapid and effectual 
 progress in the interior improvements of the United 
 States, than at any former period. Experiments on 
 the utility of good roads, bridges, and canals, have 
 been for upwards of 40 years favorite objects in Penn- 
 sylvania. This state indeed, appears to have led the 
 way to improvement in all the most useful undertak- 
 ings by the economy and policy of her institutions. 
 It can be perhaps no cause of just reproach, if other 
 states pursuing her example have gone farther and 
 with even greater spirit and success. But it might 
 become a just cause of censure, if the wisdom and 
 liberality of the state were to abate or to hold back 
 from activity the hand of internal improvement, while 
 the surrounding states were seizing upon the precious 
 moments of peace and prosperity, to secure for their 
 citizens all the permanent advantages which belong 
 to the establishment of the easiest, cheapest and most 
 durable means of communication. 
 
 New- York has long been an honorable and success- 
 ful rival of Pennsylvania, in the various modes of in- 
 ternal improvement, and has even been so persevering 
 as to reach our frontier by her roads and canals, and 
 actually carries our produce by those means to enrich 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 her citizens and to encrease their commerce and pros- 
 perity. 
 
 Jersey profiting by the example, and a witness to the 
 success of her neighbors, has entered into the honorable 
 competition ; the construction of roads, bridges, and 
 canals are become favorite objects of her hardy indus- 
 try, and we may soon expect to see the waters of the 
 Raritan and Delaware commingle their blessings and 
 diffuse their riches, by the mediation of public spirit 
 and a salutary policy. 
 
 On the other side, Maryland, hitherto perhaps be- 
 hind all her neighbours in these branches of policy, 
 has at length awakened to her interests. Her lands 
 locked up by the antiquated prejudice which estimat- 
 ed a vast extent of land in a state of nature, rather than 
 the productive use of a well cultivated part; which had 
 disregarded or did not know, that roads and canals 
 are to the country what the veins are to the human 
 body, the channels of health and life ; has commen- 
 ced in the career of emulation, and promises already 
 to rival her neighbours in the promotion of good roads 
 and inland navigation. 
 
 Virginia, which had reposed rather upon lettered 
 than upon practical science, has awakened from its 
 indifference, and in the acts of its legislature in the 
 present year, the friend of public improvements may 
 perceive with pleasure, that she promises in this path 
 of emulation to be worthy of herself. 
 
 But South-Carolina in sober and unostentatious 
 wisdom proceeds in the promotion of internal im- 
 provements, which far outstrip those of any other state. 
 Her legislature merits the admiration and applause of 
 this country for the noble and permanent rewards 
 which have been held forth to those who have associ- 
 ated to carry on the important navigation pf the Ca- 
 tawba. 
 
 As the object of this pamphlet is to awaken frooi 
 the apparent apathy, men hitherto disposed to eMcr- 
 
( 7 ) 
 
 prizes of public utility, the generous activity of other 
 states is here introduced, only to direct attention to 
 what is going on in them, at a moment when the 
 legislature of Pennsylvania has already manifested 
 by the encouragement given to the great road to Pitts- 
 burgh, its disposition to favor undertakings calculat- 
 ed to promote the interests and prosperity of this state. 
 
 As no example that has recently presented itself is 
 so well worthy of applause and imitation as that of 
 the legislature of South-Carolina, an enumeration of 
 what they have done, appears due to their public spi- 
 rit and deserves particular notice on this occasion. 
 
 To the association for opening the Catawba and 
 Wateree rivers, a charter has been granted under the 
 name of the Catawba Company, by which they 
 are bound to clear away shoals and remove obstruc* 
 tions, and to render these rivers navigable. In the 
 accomplishment of this purpose, they have given the 
 charter in perpetuity, and the shares are for ever free 
 from all taxes or duties on the part of the state ; the 
 company is allowed to levy a toll equal to 25 per cent, 
 on the capital which they expend; all the vacant land 
 within two miles of the banks of the improved navi- 
 gation from Camden ferry to the North-Carolina line 
 is given to them in fee simple ; being a distance of 
 100 miles, which it has been already ascertained con- 
 tains 40,000 acres, some of them worth five and 
 none less than half a dollar an acre ; it gives the com- 
 pany the exclusive right to a ferry at Rocky Mount, 
 where they have already established a beautiful vil- 
 lage with several mill seats, contiguous to the great 
 military arsenal built by the United States in 1802. 
 
 These grants bold in their object and more liberal 
 than any known in the history of internal improve- 
 ments in this country, must redound to the advantage 
 as much as to the credit of that state, the Catawba 
 flowing through an immense tract of country in the 
 two Carolina*. 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 This navigation is expected to be completed in 
 three years up to the North- Carolina line ; and as the 
 improvements in North-Carolina are carrying on with 
 equal spirit, it is expected that about the same peri- 
 od the inland navigation will be free from the source 
 of the Wateree branch of the Catawba to the tide 
 water at Charleston ; opening to the citizens of those 
 states and to the general commerce of the country, 
 sources of wealth that must greatly exceed all the ac- 
 cessible resources at present possessed. 
 
 As we are never so well instructed as by example; 
 and as success in experiment is always to be prefer- 
 red to the unproved theory ; the examples which 
 have been given by this state have been so well fol- 
 lowed by others, that it cannot be to our discredit to 
 emulate now those who have before emulated us, and 
 who are our rivals now, or who have gone beyond 
 us in pursuing plans of improvement with success. 
 It is often asked — Why should Pennsylvania, which 
 possesses so many means superior to other states, have 
 yet to accomplish so much I 
 
 It is difficult to give a satisfactory answer — but the 
 enquiry is worthy of the dispassionate attention of 
 every citizen. The subject cannot now interfere with 
 the passions of any party, it is one of those subjects 
 fortunately upon which all parties must unite, and in 
 which the spirit of emulation will be who shall most 
 effectually and zealously promote it. 
 
 Preferring experience to theory therefore, it is con- 
 templated here to resort to such works on the sub- 
 ject of public improvements as have been published, 
 and to shew from them the beneficial results. Ob- 
 servation will not be spared where the subject may 
 require it, and should any reflections suggest them- 
 selves in the course of the narration, they shall be 
 offered with deference and respect. 
 
 The want of novelty in many of the facts may in- 
 deed be objected to, but they will be sufficiently 
 
( ) 
 
 compensated by their utility, and by the probability 
 that they may call the attention of men of talents who 
 may possess the means and the will, to promote some 
 general plan or plans of improvement, especially the 
 navigation of our principal rivers ; the regards and 
 the interests of the landholder may be engaged ; the 
 practical farmer, the merchant and the manufacturer 
 may discover how much their interests are capable of 
 being promoted by such improvements ; and he who 
 feels an honest pride in the prosperity and reputation 
 of his country, may in promoting such useful under- 
 takings derive delight from the reflection, that the 
 expenditures which may be made instead of being 
 employed in the ruin or enslavement of other nations, 
 are nobly applied to the promotion of the happiness 
 of our own. 
 
 It is every day said in common conversation that 
 the establishment of good roads shortens the distance 
 between places — they also economise time and mo- 
 ney. The value of the remark, perhaps is not 
 so much attended to in practice as it is generally ad- 
 mitted in theory. 
 
 A few years ago, the ordinary time of travel be- 
 tween Philadelphia and Lancaster, was four or five 
 days ; it is at present common to breakfast in Lan- 
 caster and dine in Philadelphia. This fact alone 
 proves that there is a saving in travelling of between 
 three and four (lays, and that a good road shortens the 
 journey in effect, three fourths. The journey with 
 produce was more tedious; but it is now performed 
 not simply in a shorter portion of time but with a 
 less number of men and horses ; so that time, labor, 
 the wear and tear of carriages and horse expence are 
 all reduced by the construction of a good road. 
 
 The expence of land carriage for produce is never- 
 theless still immense, compared with that by which 
 articles of the same weight and quality are con- 
 veyed on navigable rivers or canals. Let every 
 
 l 
 
( io ) 
 
 Pennsylvania!! extend his mind to a comparison of 
 the difference which would exist between the price 
 of carriage of every kind of produce, if we could 
 have water carriage from lake Erie to Philadelphia — 
 or from Tyoga point, on the frontier of New York 
 state, to the mouth of the Delaware canal. 
 
 Yet stupendous as such a passage may appear on a 
 superficial view, it is not only possible but practicable 
 — and much more easily accomplished than what 
 South Carolina has already began, in opeuing the 
 Catawba and Wateree rivers. 
 
 Accident threw into my hands a few weeks ago, a 
 description of the Susquehana, published in 1796, in 
 this city ; from which much useful and interesting 
 information is to be derived. From that publication 
 the following facts are taken : 
 
 A navigable communication with Lake Erie is 
 practicable by two ways. The distance of French 
 creek from the bay of Presque Isle, is only 15 miles, 
 and the late general Irvine who was well acquainted 
 with that country and a competent judge, has fre- 
 quently declared the practicability of a canal by that 
 course, so as to afford a competent navigation for ves- 
 sels capable of conveying produce into the Alleghany 
 down to Pittsburgh. 
 
 Again, a portage of only 9 miles separates Lake 
 Chataque in New- York state from Lake Erie, and 
 that lake which is navigable extends within a few 
 miles of the Pennsylvania frontier, and is in fact the 
 main source of the Alleghany river. 
 
 Descending the West Branch of the Alleghany the 
 Kiskeminetas river falls into the Alleghany at some 
 distance above Pittsburgh. The Kiskeminetas rises 
 at a very short distance from the source of the Juniata ; 
 the former running in a south westerly course ; the 
 latter eastwardly, till it falls into the Susquehanna 
 above Harrisburgh. The heads of these two rivers are 
 separated by a portage of only 29 miles. The Juni- 
 ata is a noble river. 
 
( 11 ) 
 
 Various other spacious creeks, which are larger 
 than many of the most celebrated European rivers, 
 fall into the Alleghany, and are separated at their 
 sources by very short portages. Such is Toby's creek 
 which falls into the Alleghany on the east side, mid- 
 way between the junction of the Kiskeminetas and 
 French creek with the Alleghany. Toby's creek has 
 its source but a few miles from one of the head waters 
 of the Alleghany ; runs parallel for some distance, 
 but in opposite directions with the Sinemahoning, 
 one of the head branches of the Susquehanjia ; and a 
 branch of which also is separated only by a portage of 
 23 nailes from Alleghany navigable waters, that flow 
 in a returning course through New-York state. 
 
 Sinemahoning, West Branch, Bald Eagle creek, 
 Clearfield, Mushannon and Pine creek appear to have 
 been spread by the beneficence of Providence over the 
 country to invite the hand of man to pour the fruits 
 of his industry from their limpid waters into the ma- 
 jestic stream of the Susquehanna ; which receives in 
 its passage and to its confluence at Northumberland 
 with the West Branch, the plentious waters of Lyco- 
 ming, Loyalsock, and Muncy. The other, that is the 
 West Branch of the Susquehanna, is even more abun- 
 dantly supplied by the contributions of rivers and 
 creeks. One of the sources of this branch is in Otsego 
 lake in N. York state, very near the Mohawk river, the 
 stream which issues from this lake is called the Una- 
 dilla river, and is a spacious water ; in its course it 
 penetrates Pennsylvania, and returns again into New- 
 York, apparently to receive and convey the two- fold 
 branches of the Chenango, to their common junction 
 with the Tyoga a few miles within the Pennsylvania 
 frontier, whence it flows and receives in its beautious 
 meandrings to Northumberland, on the south side Su- 
 gar creek, Tawandee creek, and Bowman's creek ; 
 and on the opposite side the waters of the Wyalusing, 
 Meshoppen, Lachawannoe, Catawissy, and various 
 inferior streams. 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 Tyoga river which is the great southern source of 
 the West Branch of Susquehanna, has three branches 
 for its head, two of which rise in Pennsylvania, the 
 other which is the principal, springs in the Genes- 
 see, in the neighbourhood of the numerous lakes that 
 beautify that fertile country. The Unadilla head, is 
 but the short distance of 30 miles from the course of 
 the Delaware, and is capable of being united by a 
 navigable canal, which would connect the inland na- 
 vigation from Susquehanna, with the Delaware, and 
 by the Raritan with the Hudson. 
 
 These several streams which pay tribute to Susque- 
 hanna alone, are computed to water a space of 
 fifty millions of acres. Let any reflecting man for 
 a moment ask himself the following questions — and 
 endeavour to reach as correct a knowledge as circum- 
 stances will admit of the facts which they involve : 
 
 How many of these millions of acres are now un- 
 cultivated from the want of a certain and easy carri- 
 age of produce to market ? 
 
 Could the produce of these lands be carried 
 to the market of Philadelphia, or to the numerous 
 ports on the Delaware and Chesapeake, would not 
 the farmers of Pennsylvania flourish in abundance and 
 wealth ? 
 
 Would not every acre which is now worth five 
 dollars be worth from ten to fifteen or more, if 
 there was established a secure inland navigation 
 which would enable the farmer to transmit his produce 
 at any period of the year to the best maiket at a small 
 ex pence ? 
 
 These questions every man should examine who 
 has either property in land, cultivated or uncultivat- 
 ed ; or is in commerce of any kind ; and those who are 
 interested in the prosperity of the state either by the 
 common motives of a generous patriotism and huma- 
 nity or by the interests of industry, will perceive that 
 there is no object which call.? so ear nest] v an' 1 **-'*■• 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 sally for the public regard and the support of the le- 
 gislature as the speedy adoption of means by which 
 the rivers and creeks of this state may be rendered 
 navigable for vessels capable of conveying produce to 
 market. 
 
 The greatest difficulty which perhaps yet remains 
 in the way of accomplishing all these objects, is the 
 want of some plan which by equally promoting the 
 general interests of the state at large, would give nei- 
 ther ground for jealousy nor suspicion to any particu- 
 lar part of the state. Interested men have continued 
 for some years past to excite a most extraordinary 
 jealousy between the western and eastern parts of 
 Pennsylvania ; and in fact this has in numerous in- 
 stances produced the unhappy effect of injuring the 
 whole, without promoting the advantage of any. 
 
 For several years past an opinion has been propa- 
 gated with great industry and success in the western 
 parts of the state, that the interests of the people be- 
 yond the Alleghany are different, and at variance with 
 those of the people on this side of the mountain. 
 This prejudice like so many others has been carried 
 to such an extreme, as to cause hundreds to believe 
 that any thing which benefits the one section must be 
 prejudicial to the other. 
 
 It is difficult to discover the source of an error so 
 repugnant to the interests of society and of strict mo- 
 rality ; and it must be attributed only to some cause 
 which conceals at bottom an envy of the unexampled 
 prosperity, or an hostility to the happiness of Penn- 
 sylvania and her policy. Very unfortunately the na- 
 tural condition of the country, with respect to the 
 roads and other means of communication, helped to 
 foster these prejudices ; the roads at some seasons 
 \\ holly impassable ; many of them at all times difficult 
 and dangerous ; rendered the intercourse between the 
 citizens of the same state, as difficult and the inter- 
 vals almost as long, as between those of the remotest 
 
( 14 ) 
 
 parts of the union. The difficulties of commercial inter- 
 course through the same causes were almost insupe- 
 rable, and in general incumbered with so much delay, 
 labor, and expence, that the produce of the country 
 became useless when the price was reduced to such a 
 rate as to leave but a small profit after the expence and 
 labor of carriage. 
 
 For a long time the prospects of the Ohio naviga- 
 tion helped to foster the enormous idea of separate in- 
 terests existing in the same state. Time will no 
 doubt render that noble river a most important outlet 
 for the produce of Pennsylvania, but experience has 
 already shewn the citizens of the western country, 
 that the speedy and certain market of Philadelphia, 
 at a low price would be preferable to the long and 
 precarious market at New Orleans. As it is here 
 only proposed to point out the true interests of the 
 state at large, any enumeration of particular disad- 
 vantage in the Ohio and Mississippi trade makes no 
 part of the object of this pamphlet ; the wishes of the 
 writer being rather that the inconveniencies of these 
 rivers may be overcome by the enterprize and liberality 
 of the neighboring states; for whatever selfish interests 
 or narrow policy may conceive to the contrary, it is 
 demonstrable that in a country like ours, the prosperi- 
 ty of every part must contribute to that of all the rest; 
 and that even if the Ohio and Mississippi could be 
 made navigable from Pittsburgh in ten days, it would 
 greatly conduce to the prosperity of Philadelphia and 
 the other ports on the Delaware and Chesapeake. 
 
 In truth the great interest of every agricultural as 
 well as of every manufacturing country, is to obtain 
 a speedy and cheap access to as great a number of 
 markets as possible. Every man must perceive at 
 once that the number of markets is like a number of 
 buyers, and the owner of produce can obtain a bet- 
 ter price where there are many purchasers, than 
 where there is only one. 
 
( 15 ) 
 
 Here then it is perceptible that in proportion as 
 good roads and above all of water communication en- 
 crease, the means of transporting goods are rendered 
 speedy, and cheap, the number of markets are also 
 encreased. 
 
 A bill has been bro't forward for establishing a turn- 
 pike road between Sunbury and Philadelphia, or rather 
 between Sunbury and Reading, for which surveys have 
 been made several years past. A singular narrowness of 
 policy creates opposition on both sides of the question 
 on this road. One party are for confining the road whol- 
 ly to the route from Sunbury to Reading, because they 
 vainly conceive that Reading must then become the 
 depot for all the produce that comes that way. So 
 far as the object of drawing commerce to Reading is 
 contemplated it is fair; but they never call into recol- 
 lection that the price there will always depend on the 
 difficulty of carrying it away from thence to the place 
 of consumption, and that if those who wish to export 
 from New- York, Philadelphia, or any port on the 
 Delaware, go to Reading to buy, they will count the 
 cost of carriage from thence to the port of export. 
 
 The other party are opposed to the establishment of 
 the road between Sunbury and Reading, unless the 
 road is extended the remaining eighteen miles to 
 Perkiomen bridge, and thereby opening the continu- 
 ed turnpike through Germantown to Sunbury. 
 
 But though the former are selfish and the latter li- 
 beral, in their respective views, they each mistake 
 the true policy. Those who wish for a monopoly at 
 Reading, vainly suppose they can retard the progress 
 of society and bind it by the feeble ties of a little town 
 interest ; the latter do not perceive that they ought 
 to agree at once to the establishment of the road from 
 Sunbury to Reading rather than do nothing ; because 
 certainly in the first instance, even so much improve- 
 ment would be a public advantage ; and in the second, 
 
( 16 ) 
 
 that the remaining* eighteen miles would be more ea- 
 sily accomplished at a subsequent period, for the peo- 
 ple of Reading would speedily discover that good 
 roads to carry away are as necessary as good roads to 
 bring produce to the place of sale. 
 
 These subjects are so recent and familiar that they 
 must be at once conceived and applied to interests and 
 views more extensive. They will enable any reflect- 
 ing man to perceive at once, that an improvement 
 made here to-day will encourage and promote another 
 in a neighboring or a distant place to-morrow, and 
 that in fact by promoting a part the improvement and 
 advantage of the whole community is accelerated. 
 
 These reflections go in a great measure to answer 
 the propositions stated in pages 8 & 12 ; they shew that 
 the difficulties which have prevented the opening of 
 the roads and waters of the state arise from imaginary 
 and false notions of local interests, that the only means 
 required to encrease the value of lands, and render 
 profitable those millions of acres which are for the 
 most part unproductive, is to open to the whole state, 
 and to every part of it the most prompt encourage- 
 ment and easy communication. 
 
 Much is indeed to be accomplished, but prejudi- 
 ces, the mistakes as to the true nature of state inter, 
 ests, and false calculations of narrow local policy, 
 have been the principal causes why Pennsylvania has 
 not effected so much as she might 
 
 It is nevertheless but justice to state that some other 
 causes have interfered with the interests of the state. 
 The baleful spirit of speculation, which at one period 
 menaced the country with universal corruption, and 
 to undermine the foundations of society itself, tend- 
 ed greatly to alarm the jealousy of the people. Abu- 
 ses of the bounty of the legislature, in many instan- 
 ces that might be named, had a similar effect. But 
 yet a reference to the laws passed at different periods 
 
( '17 ) 
 
 for 20 years past will shew that at no period has the 
 legislature been wholly indifferent to the promotion of 
 inland navigation and public roads. The sums grant- 
 ed in 1791 and . 1792 for improving the navigation of 
 rivers and creeks amounted to upwards of 11,000 
 dollars ; and the amount for roads in the same 
 period to upwards of 13,000 dollars. In the 
 two succeeding years 1793 and 4, near 12,000 
 dollars Were appropriated for improving roads only. 
 
 The amount granted in latter years is not within 
 reach at the moment of writing ; nor is it indeed ne- 
 cessary, since the facts here stated are sufficient to 
 shew that the legislature have not been indifferent 
 nor insensible to the general interests of the commu- 
 nity. The bill for establishing the great turnpike 
 road to Pittsburgh, proves that the legislature of 
 the present day, perceive that it is time for Penn- 
 sylvania to draw her remote parts together, by 
 the means of good roads, and that they compre- 
 hend correctly the interests which the whole state 
 must derive from the improvement of every portion 
 thereof. 
 
 Though the opening of the cc nmunication be- 
 tween every part of the state may not be practica- 
 ble at once; yet it will be interesting to take a view of 
 the actual distance and difficulty, to be encountered in 
 opening a communication by water between even the 
 most remote parts of Pennsylvania. 
 
 It appears from surveys made many years past, 
 some of which were by the late David Rittenhouse, 
 some by Mr. Aclliim of Maryland, some by Mr. 
 Howell of this city, others by Mr. Weston, an Eng- 
 lish engineer; that the whole distance of a navigation by 
 water between Philadelphia and Pittsburg would be 
 426 miles, in which there would not be any inter- 
 ruption but one portage of 18 miles at Conemaugh, 
 
3r 9 
 
 98 9 
 
 A 15 
 
 102 24 
 
 15 20 
 
 117 44 
 
 23 00 
 
 140 44 
 
 23 28 
 
 163 72 
 
 86 12 
 
 250 4 
 
 42 00 
 
 292 4 
 
 18 00 
 
 310 4 
 
 18 00 
 
 328 4 
 
 ( 1» ) 
 
 TOTAL. 
 
 r 5 w 8 
 £ .3 £ '8 
 
 From the tide water of Delaware at Philadel- 
 phia to the Tulpehoken, - - 61 00 61 00 
 
 Up the Tulpehoken to the Canal laid out and < » 
 
 commenced by the Schuylkill and Dela- 
 ware company, - 
 
 Length of the Canal and summit level, 
 
 Navigation of the Quitapahilla creek to the 
 Swatara, - - 
 
 The Swatara to Susquehanna, 
 
 Susquehanna to Juniata, ... 
 
 Up Juniata to Huntingdon, 
 
 Up Juniata from Huntingdon to Poplar run, 42 00 
 
 Portage to the Conemaugh, 
 
 Down Conemaugh to Stoney Creek, 
 
 Down Conemaugh and Kiskeminetas to Al- 
 leghany river, - - - 69 00 397 4 
 
 Down Alleghany to Pittsburg, at the conflu- 
 ence of the Ohio, - - - 29 00 426 4 
 
 The land distance between Philadelphia and Pitts- 
 burg is 320 miles ; so that the natural meandrings of 
 rivers and creeks do not encrease the water distance 
 more than an additional third. A fact suggests 
 itself oh this view which must speak to the judg- 
 ment of every man. Flour is brought to the mar- 
 ket of Philadelphia from Richmond in Virgi- 
 nia, a land distance of more than that of Pitts- 
 burg; but the navigation is treble the distance, and 
 attended by all the hazards and obstructions of rivers 
 and sea. The barrel of flour brought from Rich- 
 mond sells at the Philadelphia market at a profit of 
 three to four dollars, after paying a freight only of ene 
 dollar ; while the. flour sent by water from Pittsburg, 
 must pass over the dangerous falls of Ohio, and to 
 the mouth of that river about 1070 miles, and 
 then down the Mississippi to New Orleans 1100 
 miles further, to find a market, and paying a freight 
 
( 19 ) 
 
 proportionate to the distance rind the danger, with all 
 the additional risques which experience has shewn 
 to be too real 1 from the climates through which it 
 passes, while it is certain that if the navigation be- 
 tween Pittsburg and Philadelphia Vere accomplished, 
 the freight and expences would not amount to as 
 much by one half or tvvo third s,' as the charges be- 
 tween Pittsburg and New Orleans ; arid with this 
 additional advantage, that the goods now brought 
 from the seaboard, by waggons, and which cannot 
 be had by the Ohio, could return at the same cheap 
 rates by the inland navigation. 
 
 The importance of good roads is already so obvi- 
 ous that the prejudice which formerly prevailed 
 against turnpikes has been totally removed by the 
 experience of their utility. The direction ot gene- 
 ral attention to the improvement of river and canal 
 navigation, is only required to put into activity the 
 industry and generous dispositions 6f the state. Men 
 who are convinced that it Will entrease the value of 
 their landed property, or procure a double price with 
 a reduction of one half or more of the expence of 
 carriage will require no othtr incentives. 
 
 But when they reflect that no plan which can be 
 adopted will so sobn settle their vacant lands, on the 
 Susquehanna or any of its branches, as an easy com- 
 munication with the market of Philadelphia. I am 
 astonished at an hours delay iri a plan which has been 
 ascertained to be so easily effected as the junction of 
 the Delaware with the Schuylkill, arid the Schuylkill 
 with the Susquehanna; when opCe effected 2 or 3 fami- 
 lies may go up with all their furniture arid convenien- 
 ces about them to the settlement, in a single boat, and 
 even retain it tiirthey have made a comfortable estab^ 
 lishment on their new acquired property ; the easeand 
 certainty by which they may afterwar3s be supplied 
 with every convenience of life, gives them a confi- 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 dencc, which will permanently fix them. How ma- 
 ny instances have occurred of people returning back 
 from the new country in consequence of the difficul- 
 ties they have experienced on the journey, and how 
 many even after overcoming those dimciiities, audi 
 reaching what in their ideas was a land of promise, 
 have come back heartless and disappointed from a 
 palhlesss forest without the appearance of one ray of 
 comfort, this has had not only the bud effect of driv- 
 ing them away, but detering others from attempting 
 a like adventure. < , . 
 
 It was calculated in 1790, that in that year 150,000 
 bushels of. grain passed down the Susquejianna to 
 Middletown at the mouth of Swatara, which paid .one- 
 third of a dollar per bushel land carriage to Philadel- 
 phia at that time. It is presumed that the quantity 
 must have at least doubled in the last fourteen years j 
 which would make the present amount which passes 
 the same course 300,000 bushels— taking for granted 
 that the improvement of roads has prevented an en- 
 crease of price since that time to the present, and 
 that a bushel of wheat may be brought from Harris- 
 burgh to Philadelphia for one-third of a foliar, the 
 cost of land carriage even for that distance on 300,000 
 bushels, would amount to 100,000 dollars. — 
 
 Estimating the bushel , of wheat at 56 pounds 
 weight, two bushels ipake 112 pounds or the mercan- 
 tile hundred, the above number of bushels would 
 amount to 7,500 tons weight, what then would be 
 the probable expence if the same amount ; coald be 
 carried by water to Philadelphia, say by the Schuyl- 
 kill and Susquehanna and the Susquehanna and De- 
 laware canals. This may be properly taken as a fair 
 datum, because the distance is well known, and as 
 it in fact forms the grand link which must be com- 
 pleted Whenever natural spirit and a salutary policy 
 nobly undertakes the accomplishment of the whole 
 
( 21 ) 
 
 navigation to Pittsburgh; or whenever ... the effort 
 shall be made to effect that part of it. 
 
 Harrisburgh is 100 miles from Philadelphia by 
 land, the line of the canal referred to is but 32 miles 
 more. But of this distance there are of the course 46 
 mjles of the natural river, upon which no tolls could 
 be levied ; the toll, would then be to be levied on 86 
 miles of the whole way from Harrisburgh on the Sus- 
 quehanna to Philadelphia — 
 
 Land carriage from Harrisburgh, 100 miles. 
 1 bushel of 56 pounds, - - - 33 1-3 
 
 1 cwt. -' < <■- - - - - 66 2-3 
 
 7,500 tons, - - I- - g 100,000 
 
 Water carriage, 132 miles. 
 Toll at one dollar per ton for each canal, on 
 
 20 tons, or on a boat load, 40 dollar's, 
 
 suppose" ST5 boatei, ' 15,000 
 
 To eachiboat a man and boy, and a horse to 
 
 manage the boat ashore — the man's wages 
 
 five days, - - - g 5 
 
 Boys wages at 75 cents, - 3 75 
 
 Horse wages, - - - 5 
 
 13 75 
 
 Say for 375 boats, - - - 5156 
 
 Boat hire at a dollar .per day for 375 boats, 
 
 5 days each, - - - 1875 
 
 22031 
 
 Here every allowance that can reasonably be sup- 
 posed, is made for the water carriage; in short the 
 allowance for labor and hire is in all particulars high 
 as the price of labor in Philadelphia, while the ex- 
 pence attending waggon carriage, and the number of 
 horses and hands employed do not appear in the esti- 
 mate; and yet the difference in favor of water carri- 
 age in preference to the cheapest land carriage amounts 
 to 77,969 dollars, upon the conveyance of one year's 
 produce of wheat alone from Harrisburg to Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
( 22 ) 
 
 These various data are all assumed without making 
 any allowance for the enhancement of land carriage 
 at particular seasons ; nor for the advantage which 
 would be derived to agriculture by retaining on the 
 farms the number of men and horses which are re- 
 quired for land carriage, fourteen men, fourteen boys, 
 as many horses, and 5 days would be adaquate to the 
 service of the water carriage; while it would require 
 134 men, 804 horses, and five days on an average 
 of seasons, to convey the same quantity by land. 
 
 Adverting to the gain which must arise from li- 
 berating so great a number of horses and men, to 
 be employed in active agriculture, we shall find the 
 advantages are such as no man can either consider as 
 trivial or with indifference. 
 
 Why then with such facts before our eyes, has 
 Pennsylvania left so much to do, in the improvement 
 of her interior, and the promotion of the agriculture 
 and wealth of her fortunate soil ? 
 
 Perhaps the impediments were never so few as at 
 this time. Certainly the incentives to activity were 
 never so many. The extent of country between Phi- 
 ladelphia and the Susquehanna, besides all that is at 
 present under effective cultivation, taking both sides 
 of the canal, and assuming that 10 miles on each side 
 would derive the requisite advantage from it ; leaves 
 little doubt thitt 1,000,000 of acres would be added 
 to cultivation, its produce conveyed along our waters, 
 enlivening and enriching the country through which 
 it passes, and giving to our seaports wealth by which 
 the farmer would be rewarded for his labors, and the 
 commonwealth enriched and strengthened. 
 
 Supposing that this million ' of acres should be 
 added to our cultivation ; that each acre should pro- 
 duce only 10 bushel*; these 10 millions of bushels, 
 of 56 pounds each, amounting to near 250,000 tons 
 weight/ w%uld be added to our agricultural riches. 
 
( 23 ) 
 
 Every man can make his own calculations upon 
 facts like these ; but there are others which must be 
 taken into the computation, ,j in order to appreciate 
 the advantages of inland navigation. The convey- 
 ance which it will afford to the weighty and valuable 
 productions of quarries and mines; to the lead, 
 iron, and copper ores, otherwise of no value 
 from their distance, and the high price of car- 
 riage of the rude material; our, marble, free stone 
 and coals, which every day's progress in society ren- 
 ders more necessary and more valuable, will produce 
 the most beneficial effects. One of the richest salt 
 mines of England was discovered in digging a 
 canal, and perhaps that country owes to the truly 
 noble enterprise of the JDuke of Bridgewater, in es- 
 tablishing inland navigation, a considerable proportion 
 of that prosperity whioh her commerce and manu- 
 factures have enjoyed during thirty years past. 
 
 But it will be said by timid, or thoughtless, or self- 
 ish reasoners, that our country is too young for the 
 accomplishment of such undertakings. Such objec- 
 tions, however, wpuld have been equally applicable 
 twenty years ago to our commercial enierprizes by sea. 
 We are now in point of tonnage the second mer- 
 cantile people, notwithstanding the rivalry of the 
 most potent nations on ear^tb, but in canals and 
 internal improvement we can have no rivals. The 
 want of laborers is, the best argument in favor of 
 canals. Whence are these resources derived, but 
 from the exchange of our productions and those of 
 other nations; by a prudent policy, and great enter- 
 prize arid industry. In what undertaking of Penn- 
 sylvania has she fallen shorj.ofjher neighbors unless 
 in the single article of internal improvements, in 
 which New York has become her successful rival, 
 as South Carolina promises to surpass both in the 
 magnitude of her undertakings. 
 
( 24 ) 
 
 Let us now consider whether the construction of 
 navigable canals to the extent already mentioned, or 
 even to a somewhat less extent, would not operate 
 sufficiently to produce the most desirable consequen- 
 ces. The average rate of land carriage in this coun- 
 try is 3,y. Ad. per ton per mile, and the charge upon 
 canals if built at the public expence would not be 
 more including- the freight than 2 pence per ton per 
 mile, and even much less for great distances, viz. 
 such a sum as will suffice to pay the freight and keep 
 them in repair with a small profit to the undertakers. 
 — Thus the expence of carriage on canals will be only 
 one-twentieth of what it costs by land — -supposing 
 then that one acre of wood land would produce one 
 hundred tons of timber for either fuel or for exporta- 
 tion, which I consider moderate as the forests are 
 rather heavy in the western country, and that each 
 ton weight was to be carried 24 miles on a canal, 
 besides the river navigation by the substitution of ca- 
 nals for land carriage, there would be a saving of 
 3/. 16.?. per ton, or one hundred times that sum per acre 
 — but it may be argued that the timber would not pay 
 to be conveyed by land; I then say it would at least 
 pay ten-fold — nor does it rest here, for millions 
 of acres would soon be turned into cultivation, and 
 then the benefit would be in perpetuity, as suppose 
 one acre would produce 10 bushels of grain, the pro- 
 fit or difference of conveyance between land and water 
 would be equal to 19 shillings on twenty-four miles, an 
 annual bounty absolutely to ihe farmer for every acre 
 he brings into cultivation. In whatever light we view 
 this subject, either as a means of communication of 
 clearing- the lands, or cultivating them when cleared, 
 or settling them' with inhabitants, and for a cheap, 
 certain and easy mode of supplying the cities with 
 fuel or the merchants with the produce of the country, 
 it is equally applicable and certain, and the farmer 
 would be supplied with all the conveniences and ma- 
 
( 25 ) 
 
 terials for cultivating his farm, building his house, or 
 conveying the necessaries or comforts of life to him 
 and his family — in short it would be difficult to ap- 
 preciate in all its branches the consequence of this, 
 and those who shall be the means of producing such 
 a blessing to this country, will be rewarded with the 
 consolation that they will contribute more to the hap- 
 piness of their fellow creatures than all the heroes of 
 antiquity. 
 
 A common mode of opposing domestic improve- 
 ment is to count the cost only. Independent of the 
 consideration that most improvements have been car- 
 ried on by associations of private individuals, with- 
 out any public aid or donation, such as that of Caro- 
 lina ; there is another answer to this mode of opposi- 
 tion ; to the price of a barrel of flour at the Swatara, 
 it would be no doubt proper to add the price of car- 
 riage to the Philadelphia market, in order to ascer- 
 tain what it should there sell for, so if the difference 
 between the expence of the present mode of carri- 
 age, and that by navigable canals and rivers, is suffi- 
 cient to justify the making the canals, that difference, 
 and not the mere amount of toll is to be regarded. 
 
 To what will be the cost, the intelligent merchant 
 would add what will it also produce? It is the receipt ', 
 in proportion to the expenditure, and not the ex- 
 penditure itself, on which men who estimate things 
 correctly will dwell. If in expending one hundred 
 dollars nothing is to be gained, then it had better not 
 be expended ; but if by expending one hundred dol- 
 lars four hundred can be gained, surely it would be 
 folly most excessive to be deterred by the expence. 
 Yet the barely counting the cost, without regard to 
 the advantage of internal improvements is no less 
 absurd ; for surely the addition of a million of acres 
 to cultivation, and the enhancement of the selling 
 value of land in consequence of such improvements 
 ought to be calculated in the account. 
 
 D 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 Nations that have preceded us in experiments of 
 this kind, have furnished us with the most flattering 
 results ; and in a country like ours, where our popu- 
 lation is so limited, and where labor is necessarily 
 high, labor and time saving machinery ought to be 
 more zealously encouraged than in those countries 
 where population is abundant and the price of labor 
 low; just in proportion as the state is benefited, it 
 should encourage so useful an undertaking as a canal, 
 languishing for support ; it is their duty by every 
 means in their power to nurture and bring it to a 
 state of perfection ; without attending to the advan- 
 tages which the subscribers may derive by gifts of 
 money, or other grants, the only thing which should 
 be attended to is to keep the toll as low as possible — 
 nor should they be proprietors of a canal — Louis 
 XIV. when he finished the canal of Langriedoc, which 
 has been of more service to his country, than all the 
 wars, victories, and other exploits of that great man, 
 gave it under certain restrictions, to Kicquet, the 
 engineer who planned and finished it. 
 
 Every principle of state pride, of public spirit, of 
 general and individual interest, should engage in the 
 promotion of roads, canals and bridges, in whatever 
 direction enterprizing men and industry should at- 
 tempt them. No local policy should check enter- 
 prize here, because a similar work was not to be car- 
 ried on there at the same moment There must be 
 a beginning somewhere ; and the accomplishment of 
 improvement in one place will necessarily tend to 
 encourage it in others. Such has been its progress 
 every where. The Bridgewater canals of England 
 w r ere originally contemplated but for a short space, to 
 facilitate the transportation of coals ; the success of 
 the experiment, opened to that active and industrious 
 nation, resources before unknown to them but by 
 theory ; the example in practice was such, that the 
 whole nation gave its voice in favor of it, and one of 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 the canals of England extends above 150 miles, inde- 
 pendent of several others which flow into it, one of 
 which is 46, and another 26 miles in length. 
 
 Considerations of this nature might be multiplied 
 without end, and all of them cogent as to the efficacy 
 and utility of inland communications, particularly by 
 navigable canals, and the removal of obstructions in 
 the main rivers. 
 
 Perhaps it may be excusable while on this subject 
 to anticipate with a generous delight the period when. 
 America will exhibit a spectacle of interior improve- 
 ment, more worthy of human nature than those of 
 China, more conducive to general security than those 
 of Holland and Venice, and equally magnificent and 
 more useful than those of Languedoc and the Rhine; 
 the execution of which were intended rather as monu- 
 ments of regal vanity than of utility to mankind. 
 
 May we not anticipate the future navigation from 
 the St. Lawrence, by Lake Champlain to Lake 
 George and the Hudson ; from the Hudson by the 
 Raritan to the Delaware, thence by the lower canal 
 into the Chesapeake, thence southward from Chesa- 
 peake through the Dismal Swamp and Albemarle 
 and Pimlico sound, also inland by the junction of the 
 Unadilla with Delaware, through the waters of New 
 York, and by the meandrings of the Susquehanna 
 thro' the Schuylkill, by the sources of the Tyoga and 
 Alleghany. The navigation of Lake Erie might be 
 opened in two admirable positions for the commerce 
 of the surrounding country, and enterprize would 
 gradually uniurl the canvas of commerce on our in- 
 land seas lakes Ontario and Superior, and even on 
 the vast chains of lakes and rivers that form the re- 
 servoirs of the Mississippi, Missouri, and river of 
 the West. While the waters that flow to the Atlantic 
 would have their natural advantages greatly multi- 
 plied in being conducted by the hand of art, €i to 
 scatter plenty round a smiling land." 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 But let us not in anticipating the glory and the 
 prosperity of our posterity, forget what is due to our 
 contemporaries, nor lost in admiration of future im- 
 provements of our country, omit to perform what our 
 interest and our duty requires of us. Let us turn 
 our attention and our activity to what it is in our 
 power to accomplish in our own day, and to our own 
 profit and reputation ; for he must be a sordid being 
 indeed who does not delight in that which redounds 
 to the credit or welfare of his country. 
 
 There are two points which lie immediately within 
 our power, but which have languished through cau- 
 ses that whatever they may be, ought no longer to 
 prevail. The first is the canal from Philadelphia to 
 the Schuylkill at Norristown, which embraces objects 
 of very great importance to the state at large. 
 
 First, of a canal to receive and transport produce 
 from Reading, bv the course of the Schuylkill to Phi- 
 ladelphia by water, and to carry back merchandize 
 for the interior in the same manner. From 70 to 100 
 waggons pass at certain seasons of the year daily by 
 that road with grain alone to the Philadelphia market. 
 What would the convenience and advantage be, were 
 the navigation completed, and a branch erected to 
 communicate with the Delaware and Susquehanna? 
 Secondly, the abundant supply of the city with water; 
 Thirdly, to afford a supply of water for mills, and 
 other machinery necessary to the manufacturers of 
 paper and flour, the sawing of stone, timber and 
 scantling, exactly to the size wanted by the ship 
 carpenters — and fourthly, a grand bason might be 
 formed w r ith graving docks on the low ground at the 
 mouth of the Cohocksen creek, where a navy yard 
 was once contemplated, and where the produce of the 
 Susquehanna would find a capacious depository — the 
 masts, spars, pitch, turpentine, &c. water borne, 
 might be delivered along side the ships at the very 
 mouth of the canal. 
 
< 29 ) 
 
 The first branch of the undertaking should be the 
 completion of the canal from Norristown to the city of 
 Philadelphia ; the second would be to clear the stream 
 of the Schuylkill from Reading to Norristown ; and 
 then proceed to complete the navigation up the Tul- 
 pehoken creek to Lebanon, or by a still water canal, 
 as was recommended by Mr. Weston, an engineer of 
 great skill and abilities. 
 
 A still water navigation is I imagine absolutely ne- 
 cessary from Lebanon to the Susquehanna, rather than 
 to proceed by the Quitapahilla creek and the Swata- 
 ra, because for many years to come timber will be a 
 considerable article of commerce, and it may not be 
 easy to conduct it up those streams to the head of the 
 Quitapahilla. 
 
 When this is stated as the secondary object, it is 
 not meant to be considered as subordinate in import- 
 ance to the other. The fact is they both are links of 
 the same chain, and the success of one will determine 
 the certainty of the other ; but one should be com* 
 pleted before the other is attempted ; to shew the uti- 
 lity of inland navigation even upon a small scale, be- 
 sides there can be no deviation in this line, as it is 
 taken up at a certain point, and confined to its level 
 between the river Schuylkill and its bank, and laid 
 out by Mr. Weston, who states it to be judiciously 
 planned in one of his reports. 
 
 It may now be necesary, in these remarks, to de- 
 monstrate beyond the possibility of a doubt, that the 
 encrease of water-carriage in this country is, of all 
 other improvements, the most essentially requisite to 
 its present and future prosperity. 
 
 The great desideratum in every country, the chief 
 object of every good statesman, is to excite the in- 
 dustry, and thereby augment the productive labor, 
 of its inhabitants ; for it cannot be denied, that a na- 
 tion is powerful, prosperous and happy, in proportion 
 
( 30 ) 
 
 us it is industrious. Now, no individual will be more 
 industrious than he is, unless by becoming so, he can 
 encrease the sum total of the necessaries, and con- 
 veniencies of life, he has occasion for — or, in other 
 words, unless he can exchange the produce of his 
 labor for a greater portion of those necessaries, and 
 conveniences, than before. To raise the exchange- 
 able value of what he lias to dispose of, in order to 
 procure the means of living, is therefore the grand 
 secret of calling forth his industry. If it produces a 
 higher price than before, if it enables him to save 
 more, with a view to the future, or to spend more, 
 and live better, at the moment, and if these induce- 
 ments are permanent, and sufficiently inviting, they 
 will, by degrees, prevail over his natural listlesness 
 and inactivity, and produce in him the habits of last- 
 ing and encreasing industry. 
 
 What is true of an individual, may be applied to 
 all the inhabitants of a state, who depend for their 
 maintenance on labor of any sort. Encrease the ex- 
 changeable value of the commodities on which their 
 exertions are employed, and in the same proportion 
 will these exertions themselves encrease. The va- 
 lue, however, for which the rude or manufactured 
 produce of a country can be disposed of, depends 
 entirely en the demand there is for it, either in 
 the country itself, or in some other ; and to en- 
 crease that demand, to open new markets for it, 
 whether home, or foreign, is the most effectual 
 means of augmenting industrious exertions. — 
 But the demand for any commodity, at any parti- 
 cular spot, must always depend on the relative 
 cheapness it can be afforded for at that spot ; since 
 the cheaper any commodity is brought to market, the 
 surer vent it is likely to find. Here are two steps, 
 therefore, in the grand attempt of increasing nationa 
 Industry, that seem to run counter to each other. The 
 
( 31 ) 
 
 quantity of industry can only be augmented by re- 
 warding it more liberally than before ; and yet the 
 price, at the market, where the produce of that in- 
 dustry is to be disposed of, ought not to be encreas- 
 ed, but rather diminished, in order to secure a con- 
 stant vent for that produce, and a growing demand 
 for it. How are these two seemingly contradictory 
 objects to be obtained together ? 
 
 In order to answer this question, it is necessary to 
 consider, that the price of all articles of the growth 
 or manufacture of a country, resolves itself into two 
 parts, namely, into the expence of growing or manu- 
 facturing them on the spot where the industry is ex- 
 erted, and into that of conveying them to market, 
 where they are to be exchanged. These two compo- 
 nent parts of the price of commodities may, in dif- 
 ferent circumstances, bear all the various proportions 
 to each other that can possibly be imagined. In some 
 articles, the expence of carriage may bear so small a 
 proportion to the entire value of the commodity, as 
 to open the whole world as market for its sale. Such 
 is the case with diamonds, gold, silver, fine furs and 
 drugs, and such like precious productions ; and with 
 some valuable and exquisite species of manufactured 
 goods. In other articles, the expence of carriage to 
 market may be so very great, in respect of the value 
 for which they would exchange when brought thither, 
 as either to render them of no value at all, or to con- 
 fine their market to a small distance around the spot 
 where they are produced. Whether a free stone, 
 slate, marble, or limestone quarry, whether a coal-pit, 
 or a marl pit, whether ores, or minerals of various 
 kinds, or even entire forests, covering immeise tracts 
 of country, are of no value whatever, or can at 
 all be brought to market, depends entirely on the 
 proximity of that market, and the expence of carri- 
 age thither. All the other cheap, and bulky produc- 
 tions of the vegetable kingdom are, equally with 
 
( 32 ) 
 
 timber, dependent for their value, upon the facility 
 of their transport to a steady market, and for want 
 of this, ma}' either be entirely neglected, or exchang- 
 ed for a hundred times less in one particular spot 
 than another. In the ruder manufactures t r )o, the 
 expence of carriage enters as a very considerable ar- 
 ticle in their value, whether of the different raw ma- 
 terials to the places where the goods are wrought up, 
 or of the goods themselves to the places where they 
 are sold. — In short, it is unnecessary to multiply in- 
 stances to shew, that by considerably reducing the 
 price of carriage, the various prices of all weighty 
 and bulky commodities will be reduced in proportion, 
 many will become saleable that before had no value 
 whatever, and not only a reduction of the market 
 price of manufactures and produce, will thus be ne- 
 cessarily brought about, but likewise an augmenta- 
 tion of the quantity and species of the raw material, 
 upon which human industry is exerted. — By dimi- 
 nishing the expence of carriage, then, it is evident, 
 that the produce and manufactures of a country will 
 come much cheaper to market than they did before, 
 so as to occasion a constantly encreasing demand. 
 All this is the result of experience, and the effect of 
 time ; and though one country may no doubt, avail 
 itself by imitation of every improvement that has been 
 found beneficial in another ; yet it should always be- 
 gin with these, the success of which is infallible, 
 and does not particularly depend on the genius, situ- 
 ation and disposition of its inhabitants, which may 
 perhaps be but ill adapted for other attempts. Among 
 these, the idea of lessening the carriage of commodi- 
 ties, and thus bringing them cheaper to market, is 
 obviously the most simple ; and as far as it is capable 
 of being realized in any country, is the most solid and 
 durable improvement that can be made in it, and one 
 of the first that should be attempted. 
 
( S3 ) 
 
 Of the means invented for transporting commodi- 
 ties, there are four different kinds, each succeeding 
 one more perfect than the foregoing, and correspond- 
 ing to the different degrees of civilization at which 
 mankind gradually arrive. Those savage tribes, that 
 subsist by hunting and fishing, are obliged to carry 
 along with them, on their backs, all the few moveables 
 they possess. When they advance into the pastoral 
 state, by the acquisition of tame animals, some of 
 these are converted into beasts of burthen ; and the 
 possession of much greater wealth than could be accu- 
 mulated or transported, in the earliest and rudest stage 
 of society, is thus rendered a possible case, and ac- 
 cordingly realized. When the state of agriculture is 
 introduced, and private property in land becomes 
 thoroughly established, a second improvement in the 
 mode of transporting commodities, the invention of 
 wheel-carriages, generally follows at some distance of 
 time ; and along with it, the necessity of construct- 
 ing public roads and bridges, upon which these car- 
 riages may run. Coeval with these improvements, 
 however, and preparatory to the state of commerce, 
 the last and most perfect situation to which mankind 
 have attained, the discovery and perfection of naviga- 
 tion, and water -carriage, take place by degrees, and 
 present mankind with the last, and most advantageous 
 method of conveying their redundant commodities to 
 each other, by which the most distant nations of the 
 earth are formed into one great mercantile communi- 
 ty. The superiority of water-carriage, over every 
 other kind of conveyance, is so very great, that those 
 countries only which enjoy its advantages most ex- 
 tensively, have been enabled to reach the highest 
 summit of civilization and improvement, and have 
 always been the first to rub away the rust of barba- 
 rism, andto*set an example of high acquirements to 
 the rest of the world. The greater relative extent of 
 sea-coast a country possesses, particularly if it abound 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 in navigable rivers, reaching far into the interior ; in 
 the same proportion is it capable of underselling its 
 neighbours, by the cheapness of water-carriage, in 
 the same proportion is its industry called forth, by the 
 pre-occupation of the market. The history of trade 
 and commerce, in every age and nation of the world, 
 is one continued elucidation of these principles ; and 
 so far from the insular situation, the indented coast 
 and navigable rivers of Great Britain being among 
 the least, that they are obviously the principal concur- 
 rent causes of its present unexampled prosperity. 
 But human ingenuity has gone much farther than 
 merely to avail itself of those inlets to navigation, with 
 which a country is supplied by nature. Art has pro- 
 ceeded so far in some countries, such as China and 
 Holland, as to diffuse the benefits of water-carriage 
 over a great part of their surface by means of canal 
 nax'i Ration ; — and though England, by her rivers, 
 possesses great national advantages, in the carriage 
 of all bulky and heavy commodities, yet these are ex- 
 ceedingly encreased, of late years, by multitudes of 
 navigable canals, by which the remotest towns com- 
 municate with each other, in a much more perfect 
 manner than those of any other country of Europe, 
 except the Netherlands. — The prosperity of England 
 has risen much more rapidly, since these communi- 
 cations were established, than it ever did before, in 
 an equal space of time, notwithstanding the heavy 
 tolls with which its canal navigations are burthened, 
 the gain arising from which, was the principal induce- 
 ment to their being accomplished at all. There is 
 probably no other example to be met with in the en- 
 tire course of history, of a nation being furnished with 
 an almost complete set of navigable canals, by the 
 enterprize and adventurous spirit of individuals, as 
 works of this nature have, in ali other countries, 
 been carried on chiefly at the public expence. The 
 previous existence oi a great internal trade, sufficient 
 
( 35 ) 
 
 to refund with profit the expence of construction, was 
 no doubt, the cause of those singular exertions in 
 Great Britain ; and if ever the state of the finances of 
 that country shall enable it to wipe away entirely the 
 numerous tolls, with which its canals are loaded, it 
 may easily be foreseen, that such a measure would 
 be attended with consequences still more beneficial, 
 than any that have hitherto resulted from the imper- 
 fect reduction of the expence of carriage on these na- 
 vigations, in their present state. 
 
 As we do not, in this country, possess a degree of 
 internal trade, sufficient to prompt individuals to un- 
 dertake the construction of canals all over the coun- 
 try, as an object of speculation ; and as we cannot 
 therefore expect to be furnished with inland naviga- 
 tion, precisely in the English manner ; unless we 
 chuse to forego entirely, or at least to defer to a very 
 remote period, the benefits arising from them, we 
 must follow the example of the rest of the world, and 
 endeavour to have them principally constructed at the 
 public expence. — Let us, therefore, proceed to con- 
 sider both generally, from the nature of the thing 
 itself, and particularly as arising from the circumstan- 
 ces and situation of this country, what these benefits 
 are ; and afterwards whether it would be adviseable 
 to appropriate part of the income of the state for their 
 attainment. 
 
 Were the expence of constructing and constantly 
 repairing canals, thirty times greater than that of mak- 
 ing roads and keeping them constantly in repair, the 
 former would stand the public as dear as the latter, 
 and there would be no diminution of the expence of 
 carriage. But every body knows that this is not the 
 case. Instead of being thirty to one, the original ex* 
 pence of construction cannot well be averaged at 
 more than five to one greater in canals than in roads ; 
 — but to counterbalance this, the expence of keeping 
 canals in repair is exceedingly less, in proportion to 
 
( 36 ) 
 
 the sum necessary for their construction, than what 
 is required to the repairing of roads. A canal will 
 last for an indefinite period, (if well built at first,) by 
 merely cleaning it and repairing the wood-work from 
 time to time ; but a road requires to be new made 
 after the lapse of a certain number of years, or the 
 expence of repairing it amounts, in that period, to 
 that of making it entirely anew. This constant re- 
 currence of expenee, must, in time, make the latter 
 as expensive to a nation, nay, vastly more so than the 
 former can possibly be ; and a century in the exist- 
 ence of a nation, is not more than a year or two in the 
 life of an individual. Thus suppose that a road re- 
 quires to be new made, (or that the expence of re- 
 pairs is equal to that of making it anew,) every ten 
 years ; — after five repetitions of this operation, that 
 is, in 50 years, it costs the nation as much as a canal 
 would at first. And though the compound interest 
 of the original sum expended on the canal would, no 
 doubt, keep it above the sums laid out on the road, 
 after five such operations, yet, extend the number of 
 these operations to twice five, and so on, and the 
 compound interest of the various sums they cost, 
 superadded to each original expence, would at last 
 exceed, in any proportion whatever, the total amount 
 of the expence of the canal. It may therefore, with 
 safety, be affirmed, that in 50 years time, every mile 
 of road shall really have cost the public a much great- 
 er sum than each mile of canal, though it be near 
 thirty times less useful for the carriage of goods than 
 the canal would be ; and that in two or three hun- 
 dred years, (which are scarcely equivalent, in the 
 duration of a state, to so many weeks in the life of a 
 man,) a sum so immensely greater, as almost to baf- 
 fle calculation. 
 
 It may therefore be assumed, as a certain truth, 
 that, provided there be a rational expectation of com- 
 pleting a system of canal navigation in this country, 
 
( 37 ) 
 
 the expence attending it ought to be cheerfully sup- 
 plied by the public ; as well for other reasons about 
 to be mentioned, as because it is by far the most use- 
 ful species of employment that can possibly be devis- 
 ed ; and no excuse whatever ought to divert the 
 attention of our government from this first of national 
 objects, till it be thoroughly accomplished. 
 
 Upon the whole, it may be affirmed, that from the 
 various favourable levels of this country, from the 
 plenty of water with which it is every where supplied, 
 and the comparatively great rivers with which 
 it abounds, there is not a country in the world 
 of equal extent, that is more capable of being 
 intersected by multitudes of canal navigations, than 
 the United States. 
 
 The advantages that would accrue to this country, 
 from the execution of such a plan as the foregoing, 
 are so numerous and various, and in some degree ob- 
 vious, that one is altogether at a loss where to begin 
 in the enumeration of them. — Agriculture, however, 
 would be the first to feel its beneficial effects ; and for 
 two reasons, the encouragement and increase of til- 
 lage is, of all oilier improvements, of the most vital 
 importance. The first is, that the number of her 
 people being comparatively small in proportion to her 
 extent of territory, all attempts to introduce among 
 them the finer kinds of manufacture must fail ; the 
 coarser ones only can succeed ; and the raising of corn 
 is an employment to which alone the greater part of 
 them are accustomed, and in which, therefore, they 
 can soonest, and most easily be improved. Whate- 
 ver manufactures depend immediately on the soil of 
 the country for their primum, ought no doubt along 
 with agriculture to form an object, yet still a second- 
 ary one; those finer species of fabrics, when the coun- 
 try becomes more populous. By these regular gra- 
 dations, and in this very order it is that the circum- 
 stances of a country are gradually, and entirely chang- 
 
( 38 ) 
 
 ed ; that industry, wealth and population are encreas- 
 ed, capitals and skill created, and the inhabitants in- 
 sensibly converted into a perfectly well employed and 
 productive community. — Yet still is agriculture the 
 first step in this process, the foundation of all com- 
 mercial greatness ; and in this country, in its present 
 unimproved state, the most imperative object of pub- 
 lic attention. 
 
 But to enumerate these other benefits and advan- 
 tages, is really a task of the most difficult and labo« 
 rious kind, entirely arising from the unbounded ex- 
 tent of the subject. Besides corn for export, how 
 many other species of heavy and bulky commodities, 
 both native and foreign, must, the native be carried 
 out of, and the foreign brought into the very heart 
 of this country; on all of which, a reduction of the 
 rate of carriage to one-sixth of what it costs at pre- 
 sent, would afford the latter exceedingly cheaper to 
 the consumer at home, and encrease the demand for 
 the former abroad, by lessening their price in the 
 foreign market ? Would not the exchange of the 
 products and manufactures of the different parts of 
 the country with each other be extended and promo- 
 ted, in a still higher proportion than its intercourse 
 with other countries — and that most beneficial of all 
 the branches of commerce, the inland trade of the 
 country, be thus quickened and increased in a most 
 eminent degree, and in thousands of instances, newly 
 created, where it never existed btfore ? Would not 
 the American farmer multiply his produce, acquire 
 much cheaper the materials, upon which his industry 
 is exerted, and the price of his produce encrease ? 
 Would not his application to his business be thereby 
 txcited, and his gains encrease ? Would not the 
 circumstance of our being able to supply other coun- 
 tries more cheaply with the native articles we send 
 to them, while the foreign price continues nearly the 
 same, enable us either to put the difference in our own 
 
( 39 ) 
 
 pockets and thus enlarge our profits, or to encrease 
 the quantity produced, by the growing competion for 
 these profits ? In short, it would be endless labour 
 to enter fully into particulars on this fruitful subject, 
 which embraces almost the entire circle of intercourse 
 that man holds with man. The following short sum- 
 mary or heads of argument, must for the present suf- 
 fice, to enable the reader to form some idea, however 
 im perfect, respecting it. 
 
 By an extension of inland navigation, the price of 
 provisions and produce of all kinds would be kept at 
 all times almost on a level throughout the United 
 States. From the borders of the river St. Lawrence to 
 the Floridas, an extent of above fourteen degrees of 
 latitude, the productions of the north would in hot 
 and dry seasons supply the deficiencies of the south, 
 and the countries of the south in return afford to the 
 north those articles of necessity and comfort of which 
 in seasons of uncommon cold or moisture, it can ob- 
 tain but a sparing or inadequate supply from its own 
 internal produce. Thus a judicious application of 
 human art and industry would be the means of diffu- 
 sing over all parts of these extensive regions the pro- 
 ductions of each, and bean additional cement to the 
 political union already so happily established, and 
 reflect more honor on its authors, and render greater 
 benefit to the United States by the expenditure of a 
 few millions of dollars, than has ever resulted to Great 
 Britain in return for her enormous debt of above five 
 hundred millions of pounds sterling, or to the human 
 race from all the conquests of Caesar or Alexander. 
 
 Great Britain, whose commercial sagacity and pre- 
 eminence render her regulations worthy of serious ex- 
 amination, and her example to other countries of no 
 small weight, has during the last century paid, and 
 yet continues to pay, immense sums in bounties on 
 the exportation of grain — what better, more operative 
 or less burthensome bounty can be conceived than 
 
\ 
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
 that which is insensibly as it were given by the ope- 
 ration of canals ; indeed it would be superfluous to 
 shew what is self-evident to the humblest capacity, 
 that if a farmer who at present must pay one dollar 
 for transporting a barrel of flour to a seaport is enab- 
 led to do it by means of a canal for fifty cents, he in 
 effect receives a bounty to the amount of the differ- 
 ence between these sums. Ireland, in consequence 
 of a bounty on exportation, altho' forty years ago un- 
 able to supply her own inhabitants, now exports grain 
 in common seasons to the amount of one million of 
 pounds sterling, besides supplying her own popula- 
 tion, which has doubled itself within that period. 
 
 Not only would the price of provisions be main- 
 tained nearly equal every where, and thus the super- 
 fluities of one part contribute fully to the necessities 
 of another, but the quantity of these provisions 
 would be prodigiously encreased, and an universal 
 plenty of food be consequently distributed over the 
 entire country. — For, 
 
 1. Corn would become more valuable by the facility 
 of its export abroad, and of its sale at home. Of 
 course more land would be turned to tillage; in order 
 to satisfy the encreased demand. The amount of the 
 reduction in the price of carriage, which occasions 
 this, would for a time go principally into the pocket 
 of the farmer. And though a part of it would, at 
 last, be shared by the merchant, and by the consumer 
 in the reduced price of the article, yet a great abun- 
 dance of corn must necessarily be created during this 
 very process. 
 
 2. Not only would more land be turned to tillage, 
 but by the facility of transporting manure, that land 
 would be much better cultivated, so as still more to 
 augment the quantity of its produce. Plaister of 
 Paris, marie, dung, lime, limestone-gravel, sea-sand, 
 sea- weed, and every other species of manure, are all 
 heavy and bulky articles, which cannot be carried to 
 
( 41 ) 
 
 any great distance except by means of water carri- 
 age. The lands in the neighborhood of canal or river 
 navigations would be brought nearer to the marle-pit, 
 the lime quarry, to the coal, culm, or wood, with 
 which lime may be burnt, or to the dung of the dif- 
 ferent towns or villages, situated at great distances 
 along those navigations. Now all these substances, 
 without water carriage, must be entirely useless, ex- 
 cept to those fields which lie in a trifling circuit around 
 the places where they are found. And not only this; 
 but when a spirit of improvement and active exer- 
 tion is once excited among the farmers of a country, 
 which a scheme of this nature would not fail to effect, 
 they will run greatly beyond the mere numerical ad- 
 vantage resulting from the scheme itself: for one im- 
 provement is the parent of another ; and it is only 
 necessary to set the idea fairlv afloat, to expect from 
 it much greater strides than can be at all exactly cal- 
 culated or foreseen in the outset. That, for instance, 
 the use of lime as a manure, should not at last be- 
 come universal in this country, when the fuel can be 
 so easily transported to the limestone, or the lime- 
 stone to the fuel, by means of water-carriage ; — that 
 the English modes of farming and feeding cattle con- 
 sequent upon this, should not likewise be introduced 
 and imitated here, whether they consist in the most 
 eligible treatment and amelioration of the soil, in the 
 proper rotation of crops, the use of artificial grasses, 
 of winter feeding for cattle, or in attention to the 
 breed of tame animals, and to the quality of wool ; — 
 that the American farmer in short, should not at last 
 learn his trade, and avail himself to the utmost of all 
 that variety of manures which water-carriage would 
 bring to his very door, are suppositions which the na- 
 tural shrewdness and ingenuity of the people of this 
 country will not allow us to entertain. But while this 
 is going forward that quantity must surely encrease 
 prodigiously, and the mode of living of all ranks must 
 
( 42 ) 
 
 be proportionally improved. The same reasoning 
 may be applied to every other species of provisions, 
 or necessaries, in which the expence of carriage forms 
 a considerable part of their value, and with which 
 the towns are supplied from the country. 
 
 3. As only a small part of the draft or cart- 
 horses, at present used for the carriage of goods, 
 would be necessary in conveying these goods by- 
 inland navigation, an immense saving in capi- 
 tal to purchase those horses, and in hay and oats, 
 and grass to feed theni, must thus be made by the 
 community. That grass and that hay would be used 
 for keeping cattle ; and thus the quantity of butcher's 
 meat, whether for home consumption, or for export- 
 ation, would be augmented ; nor would any diminu- 
 tion take place in our export trade of salted provisi- 
 ons, inconsequence of the encrease of tillage to sup- 
 ply the corn market. 
 
 Were this country to enjoy the advantages of such 
 an extent of water-carriage as is proposed — though 
 its first effect would be to raise agriculture to an ex- 
 traordinary pitch of improvement, as above described, 
 yet a nearly concomitant and equal impulse would be 
 communicated by it to our trade and necessary ma- 
 nufactures also. — For, 
 
 1. If the materials of manufacture are produced, 
 and the manufactured articles consumed in the coun- 
 try, the former must be conveyed to the spot where 
 the manufacture is carried on, and the latter must 
 next be conveyed ^o the place of sale. These two 
 places frequently are at great distances from each 
 other ; and a raw commodity will often have to travel 
 half round the country before it gets into the retail 
 shop or ware-houst , in a manufactured state. If by 
 any contrivance you can bring the barley nearer to the 
 brewer or distiller, the cotton, wool, flax, leather, 
 iron and wood nearer to the msnufacturer, than they 
 are at present, and so on in all our home nianuiac- 
 
( 43 ) 
 
 tures whatever they may be ; and if, in addition to 
 all this, you can likewise bring the market where the 
 goods are to be disposed of, nearer to the spot where 
 the manufacturer resides ; you will thus enable him 
 to add to his profits ; and in heavy and bulky articles, 
 such as almost aU those Lire, upon which the industry 
 of a comparatively young nation as America is, must 
 necessarily be employed, that expence, though diffi- 
 cult to be estimated, must yet bear a considerably 
 high proportion to the value of the goods manufactu- 
 red. But these extraordinary profits acquired by the 
 existing manufacturers will not long be confined to 
 them exclusively. Great numbers of half-employed 
 individuals whom we see lounging in village taverns, 
 will gradually be tempted to engage in each of their 
 respective trades ; idleness will become disgraceful 
 and will give place to industry and enterprize, and 
 that invincible inclination to better his condition, 
 which every human being is actuated by more or less, 
 will thus have scope for exertion, and display itself 
 by a brisk and useful competition. That competition 
 and the encreased number of hands, by greatly en- 
 larging the amount of manufactured produce for home 
 use and exportation, must eh her diminish the price 
 to the home consumer, who will thus be enabled to 
 use it more freely and in greater quantities ; or if 
 there be a vent for it abroad, will superinduce ex- 
 portation where it never existed before, encrease it 
 where it did exist, or perhaps be productive of all 
 these events together. — 'Tis somewhat in this man- 
 ner then that water-carriage, when cheap and univer- 
 sal, tends exceedingly to promote the internal trade 
 of a country by facilitating the intercourse of its most 
 distant parts, and to en rease and even create export- 
 ation where it never existed before. But the effect of 
 water-carriage goes a great deal farther still : it often 
 creates industry in the heart of a country, no vestiges 
 of which were formerly to be found, and which with- 
 out it, w r ould probably never have been called forth 
 
( 44 ) 
 
 at all. Why do we observe in many countries 
 so much idleness and want ? Is it not princi- 
 pally because they are too remote from those mar- 
 kets where the prixnum of manufacture is to be procu- 
 red and the produce of it disposed of? Bring them 
 nearer to both of those places — let the remotest part 
 be brought nearer to the large towns, and it will not 
 be slow to avail itself of that happy change of situa- 
 tion. Why do our quarries of limestone, of marble, 
 and of slate, and our mines of coal, iron, copper and 
 lead, employ so few hands, bring in so little to their 
 owners or the public, and remain as they do in their 
 present neglected state ? 'Tis owing to the want of a 
 market sufficiently near and advantageous, to excite 
 enterprise and rouse our sleeping faculties. Why 
 the neglect of our remote woods, where the country 
 is literally a forest which might be usefully employed, 
 and particularly for smelting our iron and other ores ? 
 It is owing to the want of water-carriage, which, 
 were it universal here, would render this commodity 
 of so much greater value where it grows, and from 
 the exorbitant rate at which it is now sold in and near 
 our sea-ports, would finally force such a quantiy of 
 it as would supply the demand and at last reduce the 
 price. But it is unnecessary to dwell longer on the 
 acknowledged truism , that inland navigation evident- 
 ly tends not only to encrease but even to create inter- 
 nal trade. 
 
 2. The same truth is equally evident with regard 
 to manufactures whose materials are derived from 
 other countries, or whose market principally depends 
 on those countries. To connect with all the world, 
 by means of water-carriage, not only the principal 
 inland towns in America, but even every village, every 
 spot of ground situated on the whole range of the 
 navigations proposed, is to give to all those places a 
 command of the pritnum of manufactures, from all 
 parts of the globe, at the cheapest possible rate. The 
 hops, bark, salt, coal, clay, flint, iron, timber, cotton, 
 
( 45 ) 
 
 silk, leather, flax-seed, pot-ash, wool, dye- stuffs, ma- 
 ple sugar, tobacco, and other articles on which our 
 industry might operate, must, most of them be car- 
 ried entirely by horse carriage. To diminish the ex- 
 pence of this carriage, upon so many heavy and bulky 
 articles, will be an immense saving to the agricul- 
 tural and mercantile interests, the consequent en- 
 crease of whose profits would, in like manner as was 
 already mentioned, tempt competitors into the trade, 
 and thus encrease the sum total of national industry. 
 On the other hand the existence of internal naviga- 
 tions would enable us to export, to the rest of the 
 world, flour, wheat, rye, Indian corn, rice, tobacco, Ike. 
 and every other article of our produce or manufacture, 
 much cheaper than we can do at present ; and the price, 
 and demand, in foreign countries, remaining nearly the 
 same, this 'vast gam would centre at home, and pro- 
 duce the same competition, the same encrease of ex- 
 portation, the same enlargement of enterprize, as if 
 a bounty, to its amount, were actually paid out of the 
 coffers of the state. Indeed the benefits resulting 
 from the substitution of water for land carriage form 
 infinitely the most eligible sort of bounties that a 
 nation can bestow, to rouse the industry of its peo- 
 ple ; since not only a very great deal of national ac- 
 tivity is set on foot, during the construction of canals, 
 by which a certain degree of capital is transferred 
 from the pockets of the rich into those of the laborer, 
 to the great and final advantage of the former how- 
 ever, as well as of every body else ; but the owner 
 of the goods exported receives the bounty, in the re- 
 duced price of the carriage, as effectually as if it 
 were paid him in money. 
 
 A great many accessory advantages, and conve- 
 niences would result from a complete plan of this 
 kind, which do not immediately fall under any of the 
 foregoing divisions ; of which the following are a 
 few : 
 
( 46 ) 
 
 1. The number of boats that must be employed 
 on canals, the number of sailors necessary to navigate 
 these boats, which must, the one and the other, be 
 supplied by this country, would give encouragement 
 to shipwrights, and artisans of that description, and 
 accustom a much greater number of our people to the 
 operations of handling a rope, or steering a vessel, 
 so as to give them somewhat of a taste for a sea-far- 
 ing life, and render them a little nursery for the sea- 
 service. In possession thus of sailors, and ship- 
 carpenters, it would be a strange thing, if the encreas- 
 ed number of trading vessels, belonging to this coun- 
 try did not keep pace with the extension of our 
 canals, and that we should not export our own pro- 
 ductions, entirely in our own vessels, and bring back 
 what we want, from o.her countries, in the same bot- 
 toms. 
 
 2. The regularity, facility and cheapness of tra- 
 velling by means of canal boats, that depart and ar- 
 rive at stated hours, would tend exceedingly to create 
 a brisk intercourse between the most distant parts of 
 the country, would multiply information, and pro- 
 mote industry and trade of every kind. It is not the 
 cheapness of wa er-carriage alone that recommends 
 it above every other, but the regularity and certainty 
 of the conveyance. 
 
 Wherever canals are universal, the distances of 
 places, as in Holland, need not be expresse in miles, 
 but in time ; Philadelphia would be said to be so 
 many hours distant from Reading; by this means the 
 tediousnesSj and expence of a long sea-voyage are 
 entirely avoided. The certainty that the largest, as 
 well as the smallest parcel of goods, shall arrive at 
 the place of its destination, however distant, with 
 even more regularity than a post office letter does 
 now, must contribute more to excite and maintain a 
 spirit of intercourse, fair speculation, and active en- 
 terprize, than one can well conceive, who has never 
 
( *7 ) 
 
 examined the effects of it in the seven United Pro- 
 vinces, during the period of their pro perity. 
 
 3. Besides the quick and regular conveyance of 
 merchants' goods on those canals, the transport of 
 troops, artillery, magazines, and stores of all sorts, 
 would, by means of them, be facilitated in an extra- 
 ordinary degree, and the expen.ee exceedingly redu- 
 ced. At the rate of two and an half miles an hour, 
 an army may move on a canal 60 miies within the 24 
 hours, attended with every thing requisite for imme- 
 diate action ; which is at least four times faster than 
 they can do by land, and at only a smali part of the 
 expence. Canals too form, of themselves, strong 
 lines (;f def nee to a country, and supply the means, 
 on any great emergency, of assembling an army sud- 
 denly in the most remote parts of it, and would in 
 case of invasion, be the best defence against a fo- 
 reign or domestic fee. 
 
 4. In proportion as water carriage is resorted to, 
 for the transport oi goods or the movements of armies, 
 in the same proportion will our pubiic roads bt less 
 frequented, particularly by those narrow-wheel'd carts 
 which spoil and cut them to pieces. The diminution 
 of expence in making and repairing our high-ways, 
 arising from the universality of water-carriage, would 
 amount to a very great sum. 
 
 The particular advantages that would result to 
 those districts of country through which the canals 
 immediately run, deserve likewise to be mentioned. 
 In the very act of digging them, it is probable that 
 mines may be discovered, or other substances of 
 value, as marble, slate, pipe-clay, fullers-earth, &c. 
 but which might never otherwise be brought to In ht, 
 through our want of skill, capital and enterprise suf- 
 ficient to conduct such researches. Thf lands on 
 each side of a canal or river navigation, will rise in 
 value in proportion as their produce is brought nearer 
 to market, as they are more easily and cheaply ma- 
 
( 43 ) 
 
 nured, and as the industry, trade, population of 
 the contiguous villages and Country encrease, and as 
 new towns are built. 
 
 If it be considered that England alone, within the 
 last 40 years, has probably completed a much great- 
 er quantity of new cutting than we should be obliged 
 to do, in order to accomplish the plan already detail- 
 ed in these remarks, we ought not to fancy its extent 
 at all to exceed our powers. — Were a fixed and stea- 
 dy scheme of operations scientifically formed and un- 
 refnittedly persisted in till it be fairly completed, it is 
 scarcely to be doubted that even in half the above 
 period, the grand trunk already traced out, might be 
 entirely opened, and the lesser and intermediate canals 
 deriving from these Would afterwards follow, as the 
 occasions and circumstances of the country might 
 require. 
 
 As in a small tract of this kind, it is impossible 
 to enter more at length into the advantages that would 
 result to the country at large from a scheme of this 
 nature, it may not be improper to give some hints 
 respecting the mode of carrying it into execution. 
 
 Let it be supposed that $200,000 per annum were 
 strictly appropriated for such a number of years as 
 would be necessary to complete the whole, or the 
 greatest part of the navigations already specified. — 
 Three questions will then arise from this proposition : 
 1. Where is the money to be found ? 2. If found, 
 in what manner is its expenditure to be guarded, so 
 as to prevent its misapplication ? And 3. Do there 
 exist sufficient arguments of a commercial, political, 
 and financial kind, to induce government to sanction 
 such a plan, and thereby apply so considerable a 
 portion of the public revenne to the attainment of this 
 particular object ? 
 
 The general answer to the first question is this : A 
 nation possessed of so large a revenue, and in respect 
 of many other countries very lightly taxed, may easi- 
 
C 49 ) 
 
 ly add one- twentieth more to the amount of its public 
 burthens, for a limited time only, in order to obtain 
 so essential a national benefit, which could not fail 
 to repay the expence laid out in acquiring it, in a 
 most abundant and even extraordinary degree. Tho' 
 it would be wise certainly in the country to do this, 
 yet the imposition of new taxes for such an object, 
 would not perhaps be necessary — and even were the 
 money to be borrowed, and not raised by taxes at all, 
 the improvements consequent on its proper applica- 
 tion, would soon repay both principal and interest. 
 
 As to the second enquiry, respecting the mode of 
 preventing the waste of grants, though it may be al- 
 lowed that no nation can work so cheap as an indivi- 
 dual, where abuses must naturally take place, yet if go- 
 vernment are only true to the trust that mustbe reposed 
 in them by the public, on much greater occasions than 
 this, it is certainly possible to invent such a system of 
 checks and impediments to the baneful practice of 
 jobbing, as to banish it almost entirely from the pro- 
 gress of this undertaking. The navigations proposed 
 cannot be carried on immediately by government 
 themselves, with any prospect of economy or success. 
 The dictates of common sense, and the authority of 
 Dr. Adam Smith concur together on this point. These 
 navigations must be vested as property in the hands of 
 individuals, or associated companies, to whom suffi- 
 cient encouragement should be held out, to induce 
 them to undertake each particular work. Though 
 restricted to certain low tolls, little more than barely 
 adequate to defray the charge of freight, and the ex- 
 pence of keeping the navigations in repair ; still there 
 cannot be wanting in this country undertakers of re- 
 spectability and fortune, willing to adventure in this 
 line of business, from the prospect of ultimately be- 
 nefiting themselves or their posterity, by the future 
 enlargement of agriculture and trade, consequent on 
 
( so ) 
 
 such improvement. By having a very accurately de- 
 tailed plan and estimate of each particular work, 
 formed by skillful engineers, partly to be employed 
 by government, and partly by the undertakers, the 
 former will exactly know what the work is to cost 
 them, and the latter will be on their guard against 
 embarking rashly in the scheme. This estimate should 
 be the measure to government of their disbursements 
 for the object proposed : Not a single shilling more 
 ought, on any account, to be paid to the undertakers, 
 than what is contained in the estimate ; nor ought 
 the entire money to be advanced at once, but gradu- 
 ally, and is proportion as the works are completed. 
 — Thus, suppose a particular line of canal was esti- 
 mated at §100,000 ; instead of paying the money all 
 at once to the undertakers, government ought only to 
 advance them a certain sum, say S20,000 ; and when 
 they have satisfactorily accounted for the expenditure 
 of one-half of this sum before certain commissioners 
 of accounts, and when government are satisfied by the 
 reports of their surveyors, appointed to inspect the 
 works, that they are well and truly executed both in 
 quantity and quality, according to the detailed plan 
 and in proportion to the sum said to be expended ; 
 .that then, and not before, a further sum of $10,000 
 be issued to them, and so on to the end of the opera- 
 tion. — Thus these undertakers could never have less 
 than S 10,000 nor more than g20,000 of the public 
 money in their hands at any one time ; and a more 
 rigid species of watchfulness over the public purse can- 
 not well be expected in this matter, during the pro- 
 gress of a plan of operations, which requires a certain 
 degree of trust and confidence, and a certain amount 
 of funds to carry it into effect. It would be the duty 
 of government too to take care that the estimates be 
 not too high, and of the undertakers to see, that they 
 do not err in the other extreme : and if the undertak- 
 ers should mismanage their funds, and expend more 
 
( 51 ) 
 
 on any part of the works than they ought really to 
 have cost them, according to the estimate, still the 
 stable property they possess in these works might dis- 
 pose, and would probably induce many of them to go 
 on nevertheless, by reforming their mode of proceed- 
 ing, even though they receive no more than the ex- 
 act amount of the estimate. The approving of these 
 estimates then, and the task of examining whether the 
 works advance according to the sums disbursed, are 
 the only points left to the discretion of government, 
 subject as all other public accounts are, to the tho- 
 rough investigation of a house of representatives. 
 Now, so far from having any better security than this, 
 we cannot generally entertain so good a confidence, 
 that the public money shall be as honestly and fairly 
 expended on any other object ; for the money origi- 
 nally bargained for, being advanced only in propor- 
 tion as the works themselves are completed, or near- 
 ly so, there scarcely exists a possibility of any gross 
 and fraudulent imposition on the public. 
 
 Respecting the third and last enquiry, whether the 
 government ought to patronize a scheme of this kind, 
 and lay it down as a maxim of state — that for many 
 years to come, a considerable sum, suppose $200,000 
 a year, should be expended in making canals in this 
 country, he must have read tven this short essay to 
 very little purpose, who can hesitate to answer this 
 question in the affirmative. Should a person whose 
 capital is abundantly sufficient to enclose, drain, and 
 manure a farm in his possession, suffer it notwith- 
 standing, to run to waste, and instead of expending 
 two dollars an acre upon it, in order to receive four 
 annually, should be contented with the mere gleanings 
 which it is capable of throwing up in a state of uncul- 
 tivated nature, we should not hesitate to pronounce 
 him a very sorry farmer, and even in some degree a 
 nuisance to society. Precisely of the same nature 
 would the conduct of government be, were they long- 
 
( 52 ) 
 
 er to neglect so fine a country as this, and not em- 
 brace whatever means were in their power to render 
 it as productive as possible, by one plan of navigation 
 thro' every part of the union. Nay, the farmer would, 
 to all appearance, have the most reasonable objection 
 of the two, to the idea of throwing his money away as 
 he might possibly call it; for, if his agricultural ex- 
 periments did not succeed, his money would be all 
 paid away to persons, who were perhaps utter stran- 
 gers to him ; whereas the sums expended by the 
 country in the prosecution of great works of internal 
 improvement, are all distributed among her own 
 children, go all to feed her own labourers, and in a 
 country situated as this, such a stimulus to industry 
 and enterprize, such a regular and permanent distri- 
 bution of the circulating medium to those who are 
 willing to earn it and to no others, could not fail to be 
 attended with the happiest and most beneficial effects. 
 Not a single acre of grain would be sown the less, 
 because a thousand labourers were constantly employ- 
 ed on canals in different parts of the country. Our 
 population is adequate to the support of a much great- 
 er amount of extra-labor than these would perform, 
 without any sensible diminution of our manufactures, 
 or produce of any kind. 
 
 Nov/, it cannot be denied, because the matter has 
 been already placed beyond all doubt, that a com- 
 prehensive plan of inland navigation, if carried into 
 effect, would form a principal, if not the very chief 
 ingredient to regularity and labor. The industry 
 that it would exciie, in the very execution of it, 
 would serve to introduce habits of laborious and 
 skilful exertion, which would afterwards be turned 
 to other objects. These objects would be supplied 
 by the very plan itself, would be multiplied, and di- 
 versified ad infinitum by the facility and regularity of 
 the intercourse which it would create between all 
 parts of the country, even the most remote. Were 
 
( 53 ) 
 
 this country divided by canals according to a regular 
 system, no part of it, situated on their banks, would, 
 in respect of the present rate of carriage, be farther 
 removed from any other part than from 20 to 25 
 miles. For in comparison with the present dispersed, 
 and disjointed state in which the inhabitants live, the 
 greatest part of them would then be able to commu- 
 nicate with each other, to send commodities to, and 
 receive them from each other, at the same identical 
 expence as they could do, were they collected, at this 
 moment, into a circle whose radius is from 20 to 25 
 miles. The simple reduction of the price of carri- 
 age would evidently effect this; and as far as trade, 
 agriculture, and manufactures are concerned, would 
 bring almost every part of the country so much 
 nearer to every other part of it, than they at present 
 are. The reader may be left to figure to himself 
 the advantages that must inevitably arise from thus 
 converting the entire country into one great city, 
 without any of the disadvantages that attend the resi- 
 dence of mankind, in great numbers together, on the 
 same spot. Were he duly to consider the conse* 
 quences of such a radical change, he could not hesi- 
 tate to pronounce, that it would of itself tend to ad- 
 vance this country a century in agriculture, trade, and 
 opulence, sooner than similar advances could be made 
 in the ordinary manner, and by the slow progress of 
 society. The improvement of this country is pro- 
 gressive, and has been so, in an astonishing degree, 
 but the progress is very tedious when compared with 
 what it is capable of, by cutting canals, that another 
 century at least must pass away before w T e acquire a 
 degree of internal trade sufficient to induce indivi- 
 duals, as in Great Britain, to undertake the cutting 
 of canals in every direction, as an advantageous pri- 
 vate speculation. Being utterly unable then to copy 
 that illustrious example, at the present moment, and 
 their being no likelihood of our becoming so, within 
 
( 54 ) 
 
 any reasonable period of time, if government really 
 wants to cultivate this country, as they ought, or it 
 is capable of, if they wish to introduce among our peo- 
 ple a true spirit of industry and useful labor, and that 
 attachment to government which never fail to accom- 
 pany that spirit — if they wish, in short, to effect these 
 noble purposes at least half a century sooner than they 
 could be obtained in any other manner, — they will come 
 forward boldly, manfully, and at once, and laying aside 
 on this occasion, the example of England as not at all 
 applicable to the circumstances of this country, they 
 will adopt, as iheir model, the practice of all other 
 states, in which works of such general utility have 
 been uniformly constructed at the public expence. — 
 Even with regard to England, it may be affirmed 
 without any danger of contradiction, that had she 
 begun to construct canals a century sooner than she 
 did, her progress in opulence would have been accele- 
 rated, and her prosperity would have risen, if not in a 
 similar proportion, at least to a very considerable and 
 even surprisingheighth above her present attainments. 
 England has made canals, let canals make America. 
 
 With regard to financial considerations, it is not 
 perhaps necessary to enlarge much on arguments of 
 this kind, because they are, as it were, evident corol- 
 laries arising from the whole of what has been at- 
 tempted to be proved. To accelerate by half a cen- 
 tury, suppose, or any other considerable period of 
 time, the cultivation of our country, such as Eng- 
 land, must be an unspeakable pleasure to us, under 
 the evils of the funding system as practised in Eng- 
 land, which has drawn so largely on posterity, and 
 which is likely to involve her in ruin, compared with 
 her means of redeeming it, as that which is now felt 
 by Great Britain. In respect of taxation too, the more 
 this country is improved, precisely in the same propor- 
 tion would be the advantage; and surely posterity can- 
 not complain as it would furnish her with the ability to 
 pay any contribution proposed, ortoencreaseour funds 
 
( 55 ) 
 
 in future, as the whole would be expended for their be- 
 nefit. Now if S200,000a year wisely and consciens 
 ly expended, in consequence of a preconcerted plan, 
 formed with the utmost caution, diligence, and skill, 
 and with the sole view of facilitating trade and indus- 
 try in the most effectual manner, would be sufficient, 
 in less than 20 years, to open the greatest part of the 
 navigations already specified, of which there can be 
 but very little doubt ; it is almost a self-evident pro- 
 position, that, at no very distant period thereafter, the 
 money would be refunded ten-fold to the govern- 
 ment, by the encreased ability of the country to pay 
 taxes of every description, an ability which would be 
 as permanent and as durable as that very public pros- 
 perity, from whence it takes its rise. 
 
 As the government seem to look forward to poste- 
 rity, in some of their most favorite measures, and to 
 reckon on the suffrages of millions yet unborn, as 
 the most ample rewards for their extraordinary exer- 
 tions ; perhaps they will transmit a regular and set- 
 tled system for conferring on this country the benefits 
 of water-carriage, as a solemn legacy to posterity. Of 
 all great measures it may be truly said that this, if 
 carried into effect, is likely to be accompanied with 
 the greatest portion of unequivocal good, mixed with 
 the least alloy of evil. 
 
 One consideration ought, however, in conclusion 
 to be strongly impressed on the minds of those who 
 may be willing to profit by these hints. No enterprize 
 of this kind will ever be crowned with success, unless 
 the entire plan of it be previously formed, with all 
 its relations and bearings, Unless the facts upon which 
 that plan depends be narrowly examined and posi- 
 tively ascertained, unless in short a great deal of 
 trouble and expence be incurred in forming the best 
 dimentions for the locks, the size of the canal, and the 
 enquiry for these purposes, conducted by all the lights 
 that the science, and all the penetration that the ex- 
 ercised understandings of the first men in this country 
 
( 56 ) 
 
 and the best engineers in Europe can possibly contri- 
 bute. It is from the want of minute and systematic 
 knowledge of this kind, it is from the omission of 
 laboring for years to form an exact acquaintance with 
 the levels by a topographical survey of the country, 
 the altitude and direction of its mountains, the course 
 and depth of its rivers, the obstacles to be overcome, 
 and the means by which they are to be got over, that 
 many projects in themselves perfectly practicable, are 
 looked upon as chimerical, that many more have been 
 attempted which were either in themselves of little 
 use, or were soon relinquished through unforeseen 
 difficulties, and that the business of inland navigation 
 has consisted of a series of lame and abortive attempts, 
 has left an impression very unfavourable to the expe- 
 diency of encouraging such pursuits in this country. 
 Every thing in a matter of such consequence ought 
 to proceed by system, and not be left to the caprice 
 of ignorant and interested individuals ; and when once 
 a scientific scheme of operations is maturely framed, 
 the possibility of deviating from it ought to be pre- 
 vented, by its receiving the sanction of legislative 
 authority. 
 
 I shall conclude these remarks with shewing to 
 the stockholders, the legislature, and the public, not 
 only the practicability of finishing the undertaking, 
 but that by far the most difficult part has been ac- 
 complished, and that at an expence by no means 
 great in proportion to the work accomplished, when 
 1 consider the novelty of the undertaking, and that it 
 was commenced without the aid or advice of men of 
 experience in undertakings of this kind. 
 
 By Mr. Weston's reports on the Delaware and 
 Schuylkill canal, dated the 2d of April, 1793, he 
 gives a particular plan of the whole work, with the 
 section and nature of the ground, and a comparative 
 estimate of the difficulty of every part of it, which 
 is unnecessary to state here at large. The follow- 
 ing are extracts from his report of Dec. 16th, 1794. 
 
t 57 ) 
 
 A< This Canal is intended to answer the double 
 
 * purpose of forming a capital link in the great chain 
 4 of western navigation, from the Ohio and lake Erie 
 1 to Philadlephia, as well as an abundant supply of 
 ' wholesome water to all parts of the city. The 
 ' canal will connect the navigation of the Schuylkill 
 1 with the Delaware, and is carried on a level of 49 
 ' feet above the high water mark of the Delaware, for 
 ' about 16 miles to Broad-street ; and from thence is 
 1 conducted into the Delaware above Callow-hill-. 
 ' street, thro' six locks, the distance being about one 
 c mile. The report of the deputy engineer states, that 
 ' *one third of the work is finished, and that contracts 
 ' are formed and forming for a vigorous prosecution 
 4 during the present year ; and the committee with 
 \ confidence can assert, that a proper attention of the 
 
 * stockholders to the punctual payment of the monies 
 ' when called for by the president and managers, will 
 i enable the board to draw a toll for part of the distance 
 1 in the year 1796, and to complete the whole in three 
 
 * or four years. 
 
 ' The stock of the company, as already described, 
 ' amounts to £150,000, which from the costs of that 
 < part of the canal already cut, will be sufficient for the 
 ' completion of the work necessary for the transported 
 ' tion of produce. 
 
 Respecting the dimensions of this canal, it has been 
 determined : 
 
 1st. That the width of the bottom be twenty feet. 
 
 2d. That the depth of water be three feet and an 
 half. 
 
 * By a rough calculation, which is by no means exaggerated, I find we have 
 blasted with powder and quarried, five millions four hundred and forty-five 
 thousand cubic feet of rock, and have mounded up, between the towing, path of 
 the canal and the river, a bank with the stone and rubbish, from 20 to 25 feet 
 high from its base in the river. We have made at our brick-yard, last summer, 
 about three hundred thousand bricks. 
 
 At the lower end of the canal, in the vicinity of the city, through the distance 
 of two miles and three quarters, there have been two hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand cubic yards of earth and gravel and partly rocks, removed out of the bed of 
 the canal, and ten culverts built and completed. 
 
 H 
 
( 58 ) 
 
 3d. That the width of the canal be thirty feet ana 
 an half. 
 
 4th. That the width of the towing path be ten feet. 
 
 5th. That the towing path be not less than one foot 
 above the surface of the water in any place. 
 
 6th. That the locks be constructed to admit boats 
 of sixty feet in length and nine feet in width. 
 
 7th, That the descent of the canal be at the rate of 
 two inches per mile. 
 
 And on February 1st, 1796, he makes the follow- 
 ing report : 
 
 4 With regard to the present situation of the work, 
 
 * it appears that when the contracts now entered into 
 
 < are completed, near six miles of the canal will be 
 
 * navigable — it may be proper to observe that the 
 ' upper and lower districts, containing together the 
 ' above mentioned quantity, have been by far the 
 4 most difficult and expensive in the execution. The 
 
 < works as might have been expected, from not hav- 
 r ing been regularly attended to, are in some places 
 
 * out of repair, but it is so trifling that a small com- 
 c panyofmen in a few weeks would restore them to 
 1 their original state. The delay in the progress of 
 1 the work, though it has been detrimental in the in- 
 1 stance above mentioned, yet otherwise has been 
 
 * beneficial in its consequence by allowing time for 
 
 * the gradual, and complete settling of the different 
 
 * embankments. 
 
 * With respect to the best mode of conducting the 
 c works in future, I am of opinion, that under the 
 ' present existing circumstances, it will be adviseable 
 f to suspend all operations at the upper end when the 
 
 * contracts now existing are finished, and to make 
 f every exertion to complete the canal between the 
 1 falls and the city. The distance between these two 
 
 * places is nearly five miles, of which three miles are 
 1 either finished or contracted for ; leaving a distance 
 
 * of two miles to be finished — This part I would acU 
 
( 59 ) 
 
 * vise to be set in small and successive contracts until 
 
 * the whole is undertaken. 
 
 6 On the supposition that means are not wanting 
 
 * to carry on the works with the greatest vigor, I am 
 
 * of opinion that the whole of this distance, inclu- 
 
 * ding the aqueduct at the falls may be completed in 
 ' the year 1797, so as to be capable of receiving such 
 
 * supplies of water as can be conducted into it, and 
 
 * thereby affording the convenience of water-carriage 
 ' for the transportation of building stone, marble, 
 
 * lime, or any other article, from the falls to Broad- 
 
 * street continued ; this would be a very desirable 
 
 * circumstance, as it would not only be producing an 
 ' interest to the stockholders, but would also be ex- 
 1 tremely serviceable to the city by opening a commu- 
 ' nication with several valuable quarries of stone, 
 € which from their situation are now totally useless. 
 
 * All the streams which are now conducted under the 
 ' canal, may without much difficulty or exprnce be 
 1 conveyed into it, and it the exhalation and leakage 
 ' should render these insufficient in the summer sea- 
 1 son, for the purpose of navigation, additional tern- 
 € porary supplies may be obtained by conducting the 
 
 * mill streams at the falls, and that, which runs thro' 
 
 * the governor's garden over the aqueduct into the 
 
 * canal — all which is respectfully submitted tothecon- 
 ' sideration of the board. 
 
 < WILLIAM WESTON. 
 € February 1st, 1796.' 
 
 In this report of Mr. Weston's, it is stated that the 
 most difficult parts of the work have been finished, 
 and it appears by the books and proceedings of the 
 co npany, that all the contracts were executed, except 
 a few, which do not amount, in the whole to more 
 than $5000, and the expenditure of the company in 
 December, 1794, when it was reported one third of 
 the work was finished, did not exceed $159,159 2 ; 
 
( 60 ) 
 
 since which time there has been disbursed the sum 
 of S62,559 4, making in all $221,710 6, by which 
 it is evident that above five-elevenths of the work 
 has been completed, and indeed if I were to take into 
 consideration that the first expenditure was made 
 without the assistance of Mr. Weston, and the other 
 immediately under his eye, with an assistant and depu- 
 ty engineer, I should conclude the latter sum was 
 much more economically expended than the former, 
 besides this, it may also be fairly presumed, even 
 from the knowlege acquired by the members of the 
 board during the progress of the work, and the cir- 
 cumstance that such undertakings are universally in 
 their commencement, much more expensive than 
 when they have been carried on for some time. It 
 is, therefore, I think probable that nearly one half of 
 the work is finished, taking the difficulties which 
 have been surmounted into consideration. 
 
 By the following extract from a report of Mr. 
 Weston, the Schuylkill and Susquehanna canal seems 
 to promise equal success, if carried on with vigor. 
 
 * I flatter myself the progress made in the works, 
 
 * in the short space of seven months, will prove satis- 
 
 * factory to the 'board. On a careful comparison of 
 
 * the actual state of the various works, and an ample 
 
 * allowance for the completion of such parts as re- 
 ' main unfinished, with the previous estimate laid be- 
 ' fore the board in my last report, it appears, that 
 
 * from the east end of the summit level to Michael 
 
 * Kreitzer's plantation, a distance of more than four 
 
 * miles and a quarter, the actual expenditure will fall 
 
 * short of the estimated one at least three thousand 
 ' pounds. Though 1 would not wish to appear too 
 
 * sanguine, yet 1 may be allowed to draw favorable 
 1 inferences of the remainder of the line ; which, if 
 
 * realized cannot be more gratifying to the board than 
 
 * pleasing to myself. Independent of this, I have 
 4 well founded reasons for asserting, that the works 
 
( 61 ) 
 
 * will rather proportionably diminish than increase in 
 ' expence, as the important object of land carriage 
 
 * will, after the ensuing year, in a great measure be 
 c done away, by the canal being made subservient to 
 1 that purpose. The sand for the locks, bridges, &c. 
 
 * will be (from the approaching proximity of the ca- 
 ' nal) delivered at the respective works for little more 
 1 than half the present cost; the same remark will 
 c hold good respecting the lime.' 
 
 The writer of ihese remarks having no other object 
 in view than the success of an undertakings which 
 promises such great and lasti' g national advantages, 
 has expressed himself v i h all that sincerity 
 and freedom which the occasion demanded.— As he 
 does not write for the multitu e, or with a view to 
 public applause, he has thought proper to prefer 
 matter to style ', and collect together as much ar- 
 gument as he could possiMy crowd into so small a 
 space; for propositi as, tho' severally true, may 
 sometimes throw much light on each other simply 
 by their juxta-position, and by their being combined 
 into one whole, stript of all tiresome and superfluous 
 ornament. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 6, last line, for the read their. 
 
 9, line 24, ioxfo'.r or jive read three or four. 
 11, line Z2, tor JV^t read Afar/£ is**/. 
 j I, line 24, ixWest\<: No^/iEast. 
 34, line 3, inser a W before J*. 
 34, line 10, dele that. 
 48, line i, inseri an d core/ epilation, 
 55, line 2 and 3, rea onscii *iously. 
 
 55, line 36, read dime' . w. 
 
 56, lina 15, read W to has. 
 
 56, l;ne-24, del. itv/A, ami insert by adverting t» the Delaware and Schuyl- 
 kill canal , and 
 
 

 2.«\aJo2..