14 Inland Navigation of the 



Clinton to the legislature of New York, at the opening of their 

 Session in January, 1828. Coming from him, the great author 

 of this successful system of policy, it is worthy of deep attention. 

 *' Considering the high reputation, and the great name, 

 which this state has derived from her internal improvements, 

 it is equally astonishing and mortifying to observe elaborate 

 and systematic attempts to depreciate their utility and arrest 

 their progress. It is manifestly an uncandid and superficial 

 view of the subject, to confine an estimate of its benefits to 

 an excess of income above the interest of expenditure ; and 

 yet this standard of appreciation has been adopted. Artificial 

 navigation was established for public accommodation, for the 

 conveyance of articles to and from markets, and revenue is 

 a subordinate object. It was never intended as a primary object 

 to fill the coffers of the state, but to augment the general opu- 

 lence, and to animate all the springs of industry and exertion, 

 and to bring to every man's door an easy and economical means 

 of access to the most advantageous places of sale and pur- 

 chase. To narrow down this momentous and comprehensive 

 subject to a mere question of dollars and cents, is to lose 

 sight of the great elements of individual opulence, of public 

 wealth and national prosperity. It excludes from consideration 

 the one hundred millions of dollars, which have, in all proba- 

 bility, been added to the value of real estate — the immense 

 appreciation of all the products of agriculture which were for- 

 merly shut out in a great degree from market — the solid and 

 extensive establishment of inland trade — the vast accessions to 

 our marketable productions — the unbounded encouragement 

 of our marine navigation and external commerce — the facility, 

 rapidity, and economy of communication — the creation of a 

 dense population, and the erection and increase of villages, 

 towns, and cities, and the most efficient encouragement of 

 agriculture and the arts, by a cheap supply of materials for 

 fabrics, and of markets for accommodation. But if we were 

 to overlook these important considerations, and confine our- 

 selves to mere questions of revenue, we shall see enough to con- 

 vince the most sceptical, that immense pecuniary benefits must 

 flow from new channels of hydraulic communication with the 



