4 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



It should have been sooner mentioned, were 

 it only in justice to his mother, that th.c Patroon 

 ■was but five years old when he lost his Father, 

 leaviog the tender portion of his minority under 

 her vigilant guardianship — long enough, says 

 Mr. Barnard, "to receive those deep impressions 

 of the value of religious faith, and the beauty 

 of holy things, ^vhich were finally \vrought finn- 

 ly into the texture of his character.'' How of- 

 ten, let us add, on the boy at the Mother's knee, 

 t8 fenn and pressure given to the character, 

 the man ! Prom her's. as from an angel's 

 tougae, some consei-vative precept is addressed to 

 his unformed mind, and sinking deep into his care- 

 less and sensitive heart, though the dear Mother 

 may then be called away, — though orphanage, 

 and poverty, and cniel neglect may unite to ef- 

 face the holy impression, there it remains to for- 

 tify £uid to guide him — to support him in adver- 

 sity and (under a higher power) to deliver him 

 bom evil. Hence has it been that the wisest 

 8xid tlie best men have with gratitude ascribed 

 to Maternal care all that manhood has >von for 

 them, of honorable and virtuous renown. How 

 responsible then is the Mother's office ! How 

 full of tnie glory, when well perfonned ! — 

 Is tliat glory awarded by the world as often 

 and as distinctly, as \\hen earned by the 

 other sex ? — let that other sex and the world 

 aaswer ! 



In 1810, a commission was instituted to ex- 

 plore a route for a Western Canal, which laid 

 the foundation of the great sy.stem of internal 

 iifcprfivements in this State. Goverkeur Mor- 

 ris, Mr. "Van Re.vsselaer, and Governor 

 Clinton — enough to render the enterprise il- 

 lustiious, were of the commission. Acconi- 

 .paEied by the Sur^-eyor, they per.sonally ex- 

 plored the route of the present Canal, from the 

 Hadsoa to Lake Erie; traveling chiefly on 

 horseback, and " not always without serious dif- 

 ficulty and nmch deprivation, from the unculti- 

 vated state of the country." " Sometimes they 

 made' trie heavens their canopy and shelter for 

 tlie riig'hL"— ^1'hcir report, written by Govemeur 

 Morris, was made in 1811, and the subject of this 

 isemoir, being then in the Legislature, by his ex- 

 ertions and in.fluence materially contributed to 

 ,-k6 B'Access. '''rhis magnificent project, intcrrupt- 

 ■eQ "by the war, was resumed in 1816, when a 

 memorial of great a.bility from the pen of Clin- 

 ton, ■was presented, fcllowed by a Report from 

 the Commissioners, the Patroon being at their 

 head; and in April of that year, the Legislature 

 auliiorised the commeiiccment of the great en- 

 terprise, to wliich, from its first conception to its 

 completion, he gave all the benefit of hi.s per- 

 sonal attention, and all tlie weight of his charac- 

 ter. From that period to his death, he was a 

 laember of tlie Board, and its President for near- 

 ly fifteen years — from April, 1824, "when the 



name of his friend, the great Clinton, waa struck 

 fi-om the roll of Commissioners." 



In estimating fhe value of ■works of internal 

 improvement, and awarding the honors due to 

 the genius that conceives and the perseverance 

 that can-ies them through, we are too apt to con- 

 fine our consideration to their instnimentality in 

 the creation of national ■wealth. — True, it must 

 be admitted, their value in that light dcsei'ves to 

 be highly rated in proportion as they convey the 

 raw materials ibr manufactures to appropriate 

 localities, and create ■wealth b}- opening a mar- 

 ket to the productions of otherwise dormant but 

 rich mines of lime, of coal, of iron, and to the 

 productions of agricultural regions theretofore 

 inaccessible ; but such works deserve encourage- 

 ment j'et more as the promoters of kno^wledge, 

 and civilization. Whei-e men live in the gorges 

 of mountains, or in the solitude of frontier set- 

 tlements, ^\•ilhout facility of communication \vith 

 their fellow men, their minds become contracted, 

 and sloth and ignorance and prejudice take the 

 place of intelligence, sociality and civilization. 

 An enlightened French Minister, in speaking of 

 the cost of manufacturing iron in France, as af- 

 fectuig rail roads, said , " The question of the 

 ' price of u-on ! — it is the question of roads, the 

 ' question of communications, of intercourse be- 

 ' t%\'een man and man — of the oBliteration of 

 ' prejudices — of the production of mutual amity, 

 'of morality and civilization." 



But we must not here indulge in reflections 

 which might so easily be amplified and illus- 

 ti'ated, and ■which have been only thus far ex- 

 pressed in the way of demand for more enduring 

 honor and gi'atitude to these, ■who, in projecting 

 the great ^vork that has connected the Hudson 

 with the Western empire, have not merely added 

 to the agricultural and commercial wealth and 

 population of the counti'y. They have achieved 

 the highest aim of the Legislator — the crowning 

 glory of the Philanthropist ; for they have quick- 

 ened the intercourse, improved the minds, refined 

 the morals, and promoted the harmony/ and 

 union of the Am cricaii people. 



In March, 1819, Mr. "V^an Rensselaer was 

 elected by the Legislature a Regent of the Uni- 

 versity, and was Chancellor of it when he died 

 — having been elected to that station on the death 

 of the venerable Simeon De Witt in 1835. 



In the same year, 1819, an act was passed, by 

 his influence and tliat of other patriots united, 



" FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT AND IMPROVKMENT 



OF Agriculture." County Societies were to 

 be formed ; and the Presidents of these, or Dele- 

 gates, should the Societies choo.sc to elect them, 

 wore to fonn a central Board of Agricul- 

 ture. This law, with the Board it created, ex- 

 pired by its own limitation; but, sajs the "dis- 

 course" from which our facts are gatliered, "It 

 lasted long enough to demonstrate the inappre- 



