1S23.] Notices relative to the AVw York Canals. 



utiles, taking up sovea years lu their 

 consiructiun. 



In these canals, the water at its 

 surface makes forty feet ; at the bot- 

 tom, or lowest part, twenty-eight feet; 

 and the depth is four feet, 'i hey 

 carry boats of from forty to 100 Ions, 

 conveying timber, &c. ; they go at tlie 



485 



rate of live miles an hour. A hundred 

 neat bridges rise across the canal, be- 

 tween Utica and Montezuma; fiity 

 great roads lead to it ; aqueducts, 

 suspended twenty-five or thirty feet 

 over little streams, pass across their 

 valleys, bearing the water of the canal 

 in a shorter and more convenient direc- 

 tion. In some parts, these aqueducts 

 and their sluices will be more nu- 

 merous than in those already finished. 

 In navigating them, we survey culti- 

 vated grounds, works and establish- 

 ments of art and industry, combined 

 with thick forests and marshes in alter- 

 nate succession. In the vicinity of 

 the great lakes, the landscapes are 

 truly magnificent. The packet-boats 

 are large, and well appointed ; they 

 may contain about ninety passengers, 

 and are not less commodious and 

 agreeable than the steam-packets 

 that ply on the rivers Hudson and 

 Delaware. These packet-boats are 

 drawn by horses ; and go, night and 

 day, at the rate of 100 miles in twenty- 

 four hours. The prices are very 

 moderate. 



The canals are the property of the 

 state, but they constitute a public way, 

 on which stated tolls are fixed, 

 according to legislative enactments. 

 Though but small, they produced, in 

 1821, 2f),611 dollars on the part now 

 navigable. Through the whole length 

 of tlie canal Erie, more than )00 

 leagues, the toll-fares will not exceed 

 five dollars a-ton. With respect to 

 the charges of construction, they have 

 been beneath the estimate, a circum- 

 stance extremely rare in works of this 

 Icind. We may impute it to new dis- 

 coveries and improvements, the result 

 of experience in the art of making ca- 

 nals. According to calculation, the 

 post of transjiorting goods between 

 Hudson's river and Uuflalo, on lake 

 J'^rie, will be reduced eight parts out 

 of nine. It will also be the means of 

 promoting a reciprocal traitic on and 

 between the banks of four great lakes, 

 the circumferential extent of which 

 would not be exceeded by that of all the 

 coaHts of the seas that border the 

 United States. 'limbtr for building 

 masu, the valuable iron of Clin* 



ton, the flne marbles of Vermont, &c. 

 will find a ready market in the inte- 

 rior countries. When the navigation 

 shall be fully established on both the 

 canals, the charges of construction 

 and maintenance will be speedily 

 reimbursed. 



Notwithstanding the natural barrier 

 raised by the Allegany, and the Apa- 

 lachian mountains, the canal Erie is 

 intended to open a communication 

 between the Atlantic and the states of 

 the Union situated beyond those 

 moimtains, as far as to the Mississippi. 



The whole of this undertaking is 

 executed by the state of New York, 

 the population of which, in 1820, com- 

 prehended 1,568,775 individuals. The 

 expence of the two canals is rated at 

 5,371,814 dollars; mean expence of 

 the canal Erie, 13,800 dollars per 

 mile. 



Much of the plan and success of this 

 vast undertaking is due to the provi- 

 dent care aud instruction of Mr. 

 Clinton, Governor of the State, and 

 President of the Philosophical Society 

 of New York. Such are the benefits 

 of an enlightened and paternal govern- 

 ment. It is likely that the two canals 

 of Erie and Champlain will be com- 

 pletely navigable throughout their 

 immense extent, ere the labours of the 

 little canal of Ourcques, in Prance, 

 that have been so long in progress, 

 will be terminated. 



To tlie Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



1BEG to submit to you, as the pa- 

 tron of letters, the complaint of 

 my friend and client the letter N. 



The complainant came to me with 

 the air of one who was suffering under 

 oppression, and said that he was 

 exceedingly ill-used, and by men 

 whose education should have taught 

 them better ; that he had long borne 

 such treatment with patience, hoping 

 the mimifest injustice of the case 

 could not long escape the discernment 

 of the learned; and tiiat he should get 

 redress in course: but that he had the 

 mortification to see his enemies rather 

 cncrcaso than diminish ; and was 

 now come to seek my advice and 

 assistance. 



I requested him to state his case. 

 It is this: — That having been, from 

 time immemorial, placed by the learn- 

 ed in the word coutcmporurji, ho was 

 iiitilled, of <ourse, to hold his seat in 

 that corporation for life; (hat while 

 there he was no mutt, (rat an useful 



aud 



