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UNITED STATES. 



New York, and Ohio, and more recently measures have been taken to introduce the same 

 blessing into New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Ample funds exist in the Northwestern States 

 for the support of public education, and the system of free instruction has been partially estab- 

 lished ; but the recent settlement and sparse population of those States have hitherto been an 

 obstacle to its complete and efficient operation. In the Southern and Southwestern States 

 little has been done for common education. None of the institutions of the country aflbrd 

 means for a thorough, learned, and scientific education, such as is provided by the European 

 universities. There is also a great deficiency of libraries in the country, and no writer or 

 student can pursue an extended course of historical or scientific research without finding him- 

 self embarrassed by the want of books. There are many libraries in Europe, which contain 

 upwards of 200,000 volumes, but there is not one in this country that contains 50,000. 



Harvard University . . 43,000 

 Boston Athenffium . . 30,000 

 Congress Library . . 20,000 



New York Society . . 30,000 

 Philadelphia City . . 44,000 

 Charleston City - . 15,000. 



24. Canals. Of the interior water communications of this country, those bestowed by 

 nature have already been alluded to. No part of the world presents such an extensive river 

 commerce. Steam vessels, a grand improvement first introduced in America, ply on all the 

 principal streams, and of nearly 200,000 tons of this species of craft belonging to the United 

 States, almost the whole is on the interior waters. Neither the States nor individuals have 

 been slow in improving and extending these natural advantages ; and the spirit with which 

 they have undertaken, and the perseverance they have shown in executing, the most magnifi- 

 cent plans, have shed a lustre on the American name. The great land-locked bays of the 

 coast have been connected by a chain of canals, affording a safe internal water-route from Nar- 

 ragansett Bay to Albemarle Sound. The eastern and western waters have been united by 

 several channels, which either turn the flanks of the Alleghanies or surmount their summits. 

 The waters of the lakes and the Mississippi have been connected at various points, and the ob- 

 stacles in the navigation of the most important rivers have been overcome by removing the 

 bars or ledges which obstructed their channels, or by side-cuts, locks, and dams. The whole 

 length of this artificial navigation is nearly 4000 miles, all of which, with one or two trifling ex- 

 ceptions, has been executed in the short space of 20 years. These great works have already 

 given fresh life to the existing manufactures, and encouraged the establishment of new branches, 

 invigorated, and in many places, created, internal trade ; promoted agriculture, which requires 

 a cheap and easy transportation for the bulky articles which it consumes and produces, and de- 

 veloped, in an astonishing degree, the mining industry of the country. 



Tabular View of the Principal Canals. 



Names. Lens;lh. Miles. Names. Length. Miles. 



Annapolis, from Annapolis to the Chesapeake and Dismal Swamp, Deep Creek of Chesapeake Bay to 



Ohio Canal 44^ Joyce's Creek of Albemarle Sound 23 



Blackstone, Worcester to Providence 45 Erie, Albany to Buffalo 303 



Black River, Rome to Carthage 76 Farmington, New Haven to Northampton 78 



Cayuja, Geneva on Seneca Lake to Montezuma on Genesee Valley, Rochester to Olean on the Allegha- 



Erie Canal 20 ny 107 



Brunswick, to ihe Alatamaha 12 Illinois and Chicago, from the Illinois to Lake Michi- 



Central, from Wabash by valley of White River to gan , 100 



Evansville 290 James River, Richmond to Lynchburg 150 



Champlain, from Whitehall to Waterford on the Hud- Lackawaxen, Delaware to Honesdale 30 



son 63 Lafourche, Mississippi above New Orleans to the 



Chemung, Elmira to Seneca Lake 23 Atchafalaya 85 



Chenango, Binghimplon on North Branch of Sus- Lehigh, Easton to While Haven 6(3 



quehanna to Utica 96 Louisville and Portland, ship canal round the falls in 



Chesapeake and Ohio, Georgetown on Potomac to the Ohio 2 



Cumberland 186 Middlesex, Boston to Lowell 27 



Chesapeake and Delaware, from the Delaware to the Miami, Cincinnati to the Maumee 26-5 



Elk, ship canal 14 Morris, Jersey City opposite New York to Easton 101 



Cross Cut, Terre Haute to Eel River and Central Ca- Muscle Shoal, round the Muscle Shoals in the Ten- 



nal (Indiana) 40 nessee 37 



Cumberland, Portland to Sebago Pond 20 Northern Canal, Fort Wayne to Lake Michigan (In- 



Clinton and Kalamazoo, Lake St. Clair to Lake Mich- diana) 160 



igan 210 Ohio and Erie, Portsmouth to Cieaveland, with late- 

 Delaware, from Easton to Bristol 60 ral branches .340 

 Delaware and Hudson, mouth of Roundout Creek to Oswego, Syracuse on Erie Canal to Oswego 3t* 



mouth of Lackawaxen 824 Pennsylvania, 



Delaware and Raritan, New Brunswick to Borden- Central and Western Divisions, Columbia to 



town, ship canal 42i Pittsburgh, including Alleghany Portage rail- 

 Navigable feeder of, from Bull's Island to Trenton 24 road of 364 miles 31S 



