INTRODUCTION. 103 



grants and donations, as might be made by the legislature, by the federal govern- 

 ment, by states, and by corporations, companies and individuals, and placed it 

 under the management of a board of commissioners of the canal fund, " to be 

 composed of the lieutenant-governor, comptroller, secretary of state, attorney- 

 general, surveyor-general and treasurer." The board was authorized to borrow 

 moneys on the public credit, at an interest not exceeding six per centum, and not 

 exceeding in one year a sum which, together with the income of the fund, should 

 amount to four hundred thousand dollars. For the moneys to be borrowed, the 

 comptroller was to issue transferable stock. Stephen Van Rensselaer, De Witt 

 Clinton, Samuel Young, Joseph Ellicott, and Myron Holley, were reappointed 

 commissioners, under the denomination of canal commissioners. The comp- 

 troller was directed to pay to them the moneys to be borrowed, and the income 

 of the canal fund, reserving always sufficient to pay the interest on loans. The 

 canal commissioners were empowered to establish and collect reasonable tolls 

 whenever any portion of the work should be completed. The fee simple of the 

 canals was to be vested in the people, provision being made to indemnify the 

 proprietors of lands. The commissioners were also to take measures for vesting 

 in the people the title of the property of the Western Inland Lock Navigation 

 Company, paying that association for the same out of the canal fund. A duty of 

 twelve and a half cents per bushel on all salt to be manufactured in the then west- 

 ern district of the state, a tax on steamboat passengers, the unappropriated pro- 

 ceeds of all lotteries, the nett proceeds from the property and tolls of the Western 

 Inland Lock Navigation Company, the nett revenues of the canals, all grants and 

 donations, and all duties upon sales at auction — ^- after deducting existing appro- 

 priations of thirty-three thousand five hundred dollars — were pledged for the 

 prosecution of the works and the payment of the interest, and the final redemp- 

 tion of the stock to be issued for that purpose. 



It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the growing power and influence of 

 the western and northern portions of the state were chiefly effective in securing 

 the commencement of the canals. The representatives from other regions in 



