the United States of America, 2t 



followed the example of New York, in appropriating its re- 

 venues and credit to great public works. The debt contracted 

 for such objects stands upon a very different footing from that 

 which arises from warlike enterprises. While the latter im- 

 poverish a country, and diminish the means of liquidating the 

 expenditure to which they give rise, the former increase and 

 extend the sources of wealth, and provide ample means for the 

 repayment of the cost of their construction. 



The chance of the city of Baltimore being able to effect an 

 advantageous and direct line of water communication with 

 the states west of the mountains, is less than Philadelphia. It 

 is, however, better situated to avail itself of the descending 

 trade of the Susquehannah, or of any improvements made in 

 the bed, or the valley of that river. Failing in the hopes of a 

 canal, a plan for a rail-way from Baltimore to the Ohio River 

 has been set on foot ; the enterprise has been taken up by a 

 company, chartered by the several states through which it is to 

 pass, and the whole of the stock subscribed. It yet remains, 

 however, to be ascertained by experience, whether a rail-way 

 can ever be made to compete on equal terms with a canal 

 navigation. 



The states of Maryland and Virginia have earnestly sought 

 a mode of communication with the Ohio, and by its branch, 

 the Allegany, with Lake Erie, through the valley of the 

 Potomac. In this the general government has also taken an 

 interest, and a route has been carefully surveyed by officers of 

 the United States Corps of Engineers. This investigation has 

 shown that a summit level can only be obtained, by deep 

 excavation, or by a tunnel of nearly six miles in length, and that 

 this summit will be elevated 2486 feet above the tide water of 

 the Potomac, and 1730 above the Ohio at Pittsburgh. We 

 therefore consider ourselves warranted in saying, that although 

 certainly practicable, it will, if locks be used upon it;, involve 

 an expense far beyond any that can be reimbursed by its 

 revenue, or even by its public advantage. Notwithstanding 

 this, a bill, authorizing a subscription to a company formed 

 for making this canal, has passed the house of representatives, 

 and will probably become a la>v. Within the state of Virginia, 

 the sources of James River, which empties itself into the 



