Doc. No. 75. 



69 



sioners to make, or cause to be made, with as much accuracy and minute- 

 ness as may be, calculations and estimates of the sum or sums of money 

 which may or will be necessary for completing each of the said canals, 

 according to the plan or plans which may be adopted and recommended 

 by them for the construction or formation of the same; and to cause the 

 said calculations and estimates, and all surveys, maps, field-books, plans, 

 draughts, and models, authorized and directed by this act, or so many 

 thereof as may be completed, together with a plain and comprehensive 

 report of all then proceedings under and by virtue of this act, to be pre- 

 sented to the legislature of this State within twenty days after the com- 

 mencement of the next regular annual session thereof. 



6. And be it further enacted^ That the treasurer shall, on the warrant 

 of the comptroller, pay to the order of a majority of the said commission- 

 ers, out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, any 

 sum or sums not exceeding twenty thousand dollars, and for which the 

 said commissioners shall account to the comptroller of this State." 



This act was passed after six years of continuous trials, in the course of 

 which Mr. Clinton's project was alternately approved of, then repudiated 

 as a chimerical speculation, and finally adopted by men of better sense. 

 Now that the enterprise has been consummated, and that its magnificent 

 results have demonstrated most clearly the precision of that great man's 

 calculations, it is laughable to peruse the debates of that period, where 

 one finds so much ignorance adorned with all the graces of eloquence, so 

 many errors disguised under the semblance of truth, and so many absurd- 

 ities uttered with a lofty assumption of authority and wisdom. All this 

 is deposited in the archives of the State, to remind future generations that 

 when a legislative body is composed of ignorant men, it becomes, de facto ^ 

 a source of great mischief to the country, and that no legislator is entitled 

 to the least praise, except Avhen the correctness of his views and the 

 plausibility of his actions have been practically demonstrated by results 

 conducive to the real happiness and welfare of the community at large. 



In accordance with the provisions of this act, a committee was ap- 

 pointed, with Mr. Clinton at the head as chairman. Under his direction, 

 all the requisitions contained in the act were successfully carried out; the 

 terms upon which the loan was to be raised were agreed upon; and before 

 the legislature had been twenty days in session, a report from the com- 

 mittee was submitted to the consideration of that body. The suggestion 

 contained in the report having been fully approved of and adopted, it was 

 ordered that the ceremony of commencing the first excavation should 

 take place on the approaching 4th of July, the anniversary of American 

 independence, which was accordingly performed with great solemnity 

 and pomp. The fact that the people had expressed themselves in such 

 decided terms in favor of Mr. Chnton's project, and that the legislature 

 had actually ordered the work to be executed, did not suffice to allay the 

 asperities of the opposition, which continued to denounce, through the 

 public prints, what had been done, as the work of favoritism and party 

 spirit; and resorting to the grossest and most virulent language in the 

 effort to blacken the character of the man who had projected an enterprise 

 so beneficial to the country. It was all in vain, however, for these de- 

 clamations failed to upset the good sense of the people. 



While the works on the canal were in full tide of operation^ the popu- 



