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ters at Troy to Lake Ontario, a distance of 160 miles. (exclusive of Lake Oneida,) going round the Cohoes, and embracing 55 locks of 8 feet liff each, at 2,200,000 dollars, a little more than 13,000 dollars a mile.

Fortunately, however, we have more accurate information than mere estimates.

In the appendix to Mr. Gallantin's report, it is stated by Mr. Joshna Gilpin, that "by actual measurement, and the sums paid on the feeder, it was found that one mile on the Delaware and Chesapeake canal, the most difficult of all others, from its being nearly altogether formed through hard rocky ground, cost 13,000 dollars, and one other mile perfectly level, and without particular impediments, cost 2,300 'dollars; from hence, the general average would be reduced to 7,650 dollars per

mile."

The Middlesex canal in Massachusetts, runs over twenty eight miles of ground, presenting obstacles much greater than can be expected on the route we purpose, This canal cost 478,000 dollars, which is about 17,000 dollars a mile. It contains 22 locks of solid masoury and excellent workmanship, and to accomplish this work, it was necessary to dig in some places to the depth of 20 feet, to cut through ledges of rocks, to fill some valleys and morasses, and to throw several aqueducts across the intervening rivers. One of these across the river Shawshine is 280 feet long, and 22 feet above the river.

From the Tonewanta Creek, to the Se-
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From thence to the Rome summit, is a
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195

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380

625

excavating a mile of canal on level ground, fifty feet wide and five feet deep, at 18 cents per cubic yard, and allowing for the cost of forming and trimming the banks, puddling, &c. will not exceed 4000 dollars per mile. and the only considerable aqueduct on the whole line will be over the Genassee river.

From a deliberate consideration of these different estimates and actual expenditures, we are fully persuaded that this great work will not cost more than 20,000 dollars a mile, or six millions of dollars in the whole, but willing to make every possible allowance, and even conceding that it will cost double that sum, yet still we contend that there is nothing which ought to retard its execution. This canal cannot be made in a short time. It will be the work perhaps of 10 or 15 years.

The money will not be wanted at once. The expenditure, in order to be beneficial, ought not to exceed 500,0000 dollars a year, and the work may be accomplished in two ways; either by companies incorporated for particular sections of the route, or by the state. If the first is resorted to, pecuniary sacrifices will still be necessary on the part of the public, and great care ought to be taken to guard against high tolls, which will certainly injure, if not ruin the whole enterprise.

If the state shall see fit to achieve this great work, there can be no difficulty in providing funds. Stock can be created and sold at an advanced price. The ways and means of paying the interest will be only required. After the first year, supposing an annual expenditure of 500,000 dollars, thirty thousand dollars must be raised to pay an interest of six per cent; after the second year 60,000, and so on. At this rate the interest will regularly increase The whole rise and fall .... with beneficial appropriation, and will be This will require 62 locks of ten feet lift so little in amount, that it may be raised each. The expense of such locks as expe- in many shapes without being burdensome rimentally proved in several instances in to the community. In all human probabithis state would be about 620,000 dollars.lity, the augmented revenue proceeding We have seen that on the Middlesex Canal, there are 22 locks for 28 miles, which is a lock for somewhat more than every mile, whereas, 62 locks for 300 miles, is but about one lock for every five miles; and the lockage of the Middlesex canal, would alone cost 220,000 dollars. It would, therefore, appear to be an allowance perhaps too liberal to consider the cost of it as a fair criterion of the expense of canals in this country, and of this in particular. Reservoirs and tunnels, are the most expensive part of the operation, and none will be necessary in our whole route. The expense of the whole earth work of

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from the public salt works, and the increased price of the state lands in consequence of this undertaking, will more than extinguish the interest of the debt contracted for that purpose...We should also take into view, the land already subscribed by individuals for this work, amounting to 100,632 acres These donations, together with those which may be confidently anticipated, will exceed in value a million of dollars, and it will be at all times in the power of the state to raise a revenue from the imposition of transit duties which may be so light as scarcely to be felt, and yet the income may be so great as in a short

time to extinguish the debt, and this might take effect on the completion of every important section of the work.

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3, The experience of the late war has impressed every thinking man in the community, with the importance of this comIf the legislature shall consider this im- munication. The expenses of transportaportant project in the same point of view, tion frequently exceeded the original value and shall unite with us in opinion, that the of the article, and at all times operated general prosperity is intimately and essen- with injurious pressure upon the finances tially involved in its prosecution, we are of the nation. The money thus lost for fully persuaded that now is the proper time the want of this communication would perfor its commencement. Delays are the re-haps have defrayed more than one half of fuge of weak minds, and to procrastinate its expense. on this occasion, is to shew a culpable inattention to the bounties of nature; a total insensibility to the blessings of Providence, and an inexcusable neglect of the interests of society. If it were intended to advance the views of individuals, or to foment the divisions of party; if it promoted the interests of a few, at the expense of the pros-ously impaired by dishonest smuggling, perity of the many; if its benefits were limited as to place or fugitive as to duration, then indeed it might be received with cold indifference, or treated with stern neglect; but the overflowing blessings from this great fountain of public good and national abundance will be as extensive as our country, and as durable as time.

The considerations which now demand an immediate, and an undivided attention to this great object, are so obvious, so various and so weighty, that we shall only attempt to glance at some of the most prominent.

In the first place, it must be evident, that no period could be adopted in which the work can be prosecuted with less expense. Every day augments the value of the land through which the canal will pass; and when we consider the surplus hands which have been recently dismissed from the army into the walks of private industry, and the facility with which an addition can be procured to the mass of our active labour, in consequence of the convulsions of Europe, it must be obvious that -this is now the time to make those indispensable acquisitions.

4. Events which are daily occurring on this work. Is it of importance that our our frontiers, demonstrate the necessity of honourable merchants should not be robbed of their legitimate profits; that the public revenues should not be seri

aud that the commerce of our cities should not be supplanted by the mercantile establishments of foreign countries? then it is essential that this sovereign remedy for ma ladies so destructive and ruinous, should be applied. It is with inconceivable regret we record the well known fact, that merchandise from Montreal has been sold to an alarming extent on our borders for 15 per cent below the New York prices.

5. A measure of this kind will have a benign tendency in raising the value of the national domains, in expediting the sale, and enabling the payment. Our national debt may thus, in a short time be extinguished. Our taxes of course will be diminished, and a considerable portion of revenne may then be expended in great public improvements; in encouraging the arts and sciences; in patronizing the operations of industry; in fostering the inventions of genius, and in diffusing the blessings of knowledge.

6. However serious the fears which have been entertained of a dismemberment of the Union by collisions between the north and the south, it is to be apprehended that the most imminent danger lies in another 2. The longer this work is delayed, the direction, and that a line of separation may greater will be the difficulty in surmountbe eventually drawn between the Atlantic ing the interests that will rise up in oppo- and the western states, unless they are cesition to it. Expedients on a contracted mented by a common, an ever acting and scale have already been adopted for the fa- a powerful interest. The commerce of the cilitation of intercourse. Turnpikes, locks, ocean, and the trade of the lakes, passing and short cauals have been resorted to, through one channel, supplying the wants, and in consequence of those establish- increasing the wealth, and reciprocating ments, villages have been laid out, and the benefits of each great section of the em towns have been contemplated. To pre- pire, will form an imperishable cement of vent injurious speculation, to avert violent connexion, and an indissoluble bond of opposition, and to exhibit dignified impar-union. New York is both atlantic and tiality and paternal affection to your fellow citizens, it is proper that they should be notified at once of your intentions.

western, and the only state in which this union of interests can be formed and perpetuated, and in which this great centripe

tal power can be energetically applied. Standing on this exalted eminence, with power to prevent a train of the most extensive and afflicting calamities that ever visited the world, (for such a train will inevitably follow a dissolution of the union), she will justly be considered an enemy to the human race, if she does not exert for this purpose the high faculties which the Almighty has put into her hands.

Lastly. It may be confidently asserted, that this canal, as to the extent of its route, as to the countries which it connects, and as to the consequences which it will produce is without a parallel in the history of man

of authentic information as to what proportion the Southern trade bears to the Northern for, if the Northern Fur Trade, which has been established many years, returns but about £150,000 per Ann. it should appear an instance of extraordinary good fortune, if the Southern trade, which is much later, should greatly exceed it. But, the return of £150,000 could never justify the golden prospects held out by the Petitioners to the New York Legislature. That sum could never justify the absorption of a capital of twelve, or ten, or even six millions of dollars. There must then be some great extension of trade, real or apparent, in the neighbourhood of the Southern Lakes; and to obtain the latest acquaintance with this, was our desire, pro bono publico.

kind. The union of the Baltic and the Euxine; of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean; of the Enxine and the Caspian, and of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, has been projected or executed by the chiefs of powerful monarchies, and the splendour of the design, has always at tracted the admiration of the world. It remains for a free state to create a new era We say "the latest," because we In history, and to erect a work more stu- well know, that a few years make a vast pendous, more magnificent, and more be-difference in concerns so fluctuating. neficial than has hitherto been achieved by We know, that the enmities and incithe human race. Character is as import- dents of war, alter the course of mens' ant to nations, as to individuals, and the hearts, though they cannot controul the glory of a republic, founded on the promocourse of a river; and we know that tion of the general good is the common friendships and enmities arise, from the property of all its citizens. slightest causes, or from no causes at all. The course of the Northern and North-western Fur Trade is much better known, than of that in the South: yet, if Lord Selkirk may be credited, the Southern trade is more open, and meets with less, if any, interruption from private animosities. On the contrary, the Northern trade is impeded by every possible device, by every exertion. of fraud or force, in the power of the A Sketch of the British Fur Trade in North West Company. The pamphlet North America, with Observations rela-is a bill of indictment against that Comtive to the North-West Company of Montreal. By the Earl of Selkirk. 8vo. pp. 130. price 5s. Ridgway, London.

We have thus discharged with frankness and plainness, and with every sentiment of -respect, a great duty to ourselves, to our fellow citizens, and to posterity, in presenting this subject to the fathers of the commonwealth. And may that Almighty being, in whose hands are the destinies of states and nations, enlighten your councils and invigorate your exertions in favour of the best interests of our beloved country.

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pany, accusing it of planning, patronizing, and executing by its agents, pillage, robbery, murder, in various forms, and conducted systematically. Neither are these crimes committed on the defenceless or feeble Indian only, but on the countrymen of the murderers. Not once or twice, but frequently. A man should be well assured of the correctness of his information, and the certainty of his facts, before he ventures accusations like these. That rivalship in the wilds of América, may unlooke the consciences of those who know their distance from the seats of justice, “wo

can easily believe; but, there is something so abhorrent in the shedding of blood, that we deem it a duty to hold back from believing it, till something like competent evidence appear to support it.

*

We know, that the same things were reported of the Dutch Boors in Southern Africa, distant some hundred miles from civilized life; but, we never heard that they assassinated each other. They certainly valued the life of a Hottentot at too low a rate, and thought by far too little of taking it away; but, in America, if this pamphlet say true, the life of a rival trader, of a man entrusted with property by others, is placed on the same level as the elk, or the beaver, and the pistol or the dagger, terminates bis rivalship, effectually.

Not to contribute to the propagation of libels, if false, nor to the terrors of the weaker-nerved among our readers, we select one instance tyrannical enough; but not polluted by direct bloodshed. After enlarging on their tyranny over the Indians, says our author,

post. They were compelled to leave it, and the Canadians immediately burnt his house to the ground.

This, the reader will observe, was in opposition to an old long established, and Chartered Company; whereas, the North West Company is but an associa tion of private Merchants, and has no chartered privileges whatever. If such oppositions be made by the new-comers to the old settlers, we may guess what their conduct may be, to those who have no such respectability, to appeal to on their behalf.

But, this Company is further accused of destroying the trade itself on which they rely. They have broken through the old established salutary rules, which spared the game for the encrease or preservation of the breed. They kill the cub with the dam, and have in some districts so thinned the tribe of beavers, that a scarcity begins to be felt.

It is well known that the best season for hunting all the fur-bearing animals is in winter. In summer the fur is universally of inferior quality, and this too is the seaIn order that this salutary awe might these reasons it is desirable that the huntson when they rear their young. For both suffer no diminution, the post at Isle à la ing should be suspended during the sum Crosse was reinforced with an extra number of Canadians, so that the natives might cured, when all the best hunters, all the mer months, and this was effectually se be effectually prevented from holding any intercourse with the traders of the Hud- young and active men of the Indian tribes, son's Bay Company, and that the appear- There was therefore a material advantage were engaged in a distant excursion.ance of so very superior a force, ready to overwhelm and destroy him, might deter grounds in summer, and come to the fac in requiring them to leave their hunting Mr. Fidler from any attempt to protect histories on the coast for a supply of European customers. A watchhouse was built close goods. While this was the practice, no to his door, so that no Indians could enter furs were brought home, but of prime unobserved; a party of professed battail-quality: and as the beavers and other valeurs were stationed here, and employed, luable fur-bearing animals were protected not only to watch the natives, but to give from injury during the most critical time every possible annoyance, night and day, of the year, the breed was preserved, and to the servants of the Hudson's Bay Com- the supply was plentiful. Now that the pany. Their fire-wood was stolen-they traders remain constantly in the interior, were perpetually obstructed in hunting for the Indians are tempted to continue their provisions-the produce of their garden hunt throughout the year. They are too was destroyed their fishing lines taken improvident to abstain from killing the away in the night time, and their nets, on which they chiefly relied for subsistence. The cub is destroyed with the full grown breeding animals, or the young broodcut to pieces. The ruffians who were post-beaver; and the natural consequence is, ed to watch, Mr., Fidler, proceeded from one act of violence to another, and in proportion as they found themselves feeble isted, they grew bolder, and at length assued

a formal mandate, that not one of the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company should stir out of their house; and followed up this with such examples of severity, that Mr. Fidler's men refused to remain at the

that these valuable animals, formerly 40 numerous, are rapidly approaching to the point of complete extermination. Districts in which they once abounded, and from which large supplies were formerly obtaiued, now produce few or none,

The noble author spends several pages in discussing the merits of this Com

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But, we have not forgot that this is an exparte statement; that it is an effusion of personal anger; that we must not determine on such evidence; and that an effectual answer may, and probably will, meet the public eye on the subject.

pany, on occasion of the war with America; some be allows them; others he transfers to gentlemen of more than equal spirit and liberality. We cannot enter into these; but, if the feature in the Company's Management, that which concerns its servants, be not excessively distorted, the system must be pronounced infamous.. They speculate," says Lord Selkirk, "on the vices of their servants:" they will become, if they are not already, addicted to ardent spinity of the Americans in expecting the rits, to profligacies of other kinds, and then we shall tax them at pleasure.

66

There are several anecdotes concerning the late war in Canada, which contribute an interest to this pamphlet.' The writer assures us that the va

Canadians would join them, was equal to that of the French; that the apparently well appointed army of the Americans, was opposed by a feeble force of British troops; and that the skilful manoeuvres of General Brock, in conjunction with the spirit of the Canadiaus aud the Indians, fairly saved the province. Perhaps no General before him ever had such an extensive frontier to defend, with a power so feeble, and troops so inadequate in numbers.

The extent to which this system is carried, and its importance to the interests of the Company, may be judged by a few facts of public notoriety. The number of voyageurs in the service of the North West Company cannot be less than 2,000. Their nominal wages are from £50 to £66, some as high as £80, or even £100-the average cannot be less than £40, and is probably higher; so that the sum total of wages must be 80 or £90,000. The gross return of their, trade seldom exceeds £150,000, and when the cost of trading goods, aud all the expense of the concern are taken into consideration, it must be very evident that the Company could never afford, out of this sum, to pay such an amount of wages. To obviate this difficulty their servants receive goods, the real value of which cannot be accurately knowu without a reference to the books of the Company; but in the opinion of persons of the best general information, the prime cost of THIS Volume is the work of a reflectthe goods so employed cauuot exceeding mind, but a mind which sees the £10,000 sterling. From one article a judgment may be formed of the rest. Spirits are sold to the servants of the Company in the interior, at the rate of eight dollars per quart, which cost the Company little more than one dollar per gallon at Montreal; so that when a servant becomes addicted to drinking spirits (no very uncommon case,) it is an easy matter to add £10, or £20, to his nominal wages.

If the Company thus press ardent spirits on their servants, they accommodate the Indians with the same pestiferous liquors, regardless of the inadness which usually accompanies the intoxication of our red brethren. We desire this simple fact, only, to be inControvertibly established-to pronomice on the character of the North West Company.

The Colonial Policy of Great Britain considered with relation to her North American Provinces, and West India Possessions, &c. By a British Traveller. Svo. price 8s. Baldwin and Co. London. 1816.

things it describes through spectacles of a certain colour. Many others have given the same accounts; indeed, so many others, that if the British Government were not fully informed on the subject, it must be the most stupid under the sun. This writer regrets, that government takes no pains to obtain accurate information. We apprehend that our own pages, bear indirect witness to the contrary. The motto of every traveller should be

-Nothing extenuate, Nor set down ought in malice through the Country, this Gentleman We are afraid that, in travelling received a few shocks to his feelings, and his resentments did not vanish with his morning dreams. There is much

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