61 
At Albany are some remains of the feudal system. The Van 
Rensselaer family, one of the oldest of the Dutch emigrants, ob¬ 
tained the country around Albany at the time it was first settled, 
as a fief; it was divided into different portions, and some of these 
were leased to vassals who were obliged to pay a certain rent, 
and to render certain services to the owner. The eldest of the 
Van Rensselaer family has always borne the title of patroon, 
and enjoys certain feudal prerogatives, for which the family are 
indebted to the great popularity they have enjoyed ever since 
the revolution, though every recollection of the feudal sys¬ 
tem is repugnant to the genius of the American government. By 
the people in the neighbourhood, the house of the old General 
Van Rensselaer is always called the manor of the patroon. 
CHAPTER VI. 
Journey from Albany to the Falls of Niagara.—Erie Canal . 
— Schenectady.— Utica —Rochester.—Buffalo.— The Falls of 
Niagara j from the 14 th to the 25th of August> 1825. 
ON the morning of the 14th of August, we took passage on 
board the Albany, one of the canal packet-boats, for Lake Erie. 
This canal was built at an expense of $ 2,500,000, and will be 
completed in about four weeks: at present, they are at work only 
on the western part of it. During the preceding year, they re¬ 
ceived an income of $ 300,000, and they expect, during the pre¬ 
sent year, after the canal shall have been completed, an income 
of $ 500,000, so that the expenses will, in a very short time, be 
replaced, and the state realize an immense profit, unless it be 
necessary to make great repairs, which I have no doubt will be 
the case, and will consequently require a large share of this 
income. Hitherto the great canal system was unknown in 
the United States, and was rather unpopular. It might have been 
expected, therefore, that so great and rapid an undertaking, would 
have a tendency to astound, if we may so speak, the public mind; 
so that this canal was finished as soon as possible, without call¬ 
ing to aid the great experience possessed by other nations. Not¬ 
withstanding, this canal, which is three hundred and sixty-two 
miles in length, with eighty-three locks, between the Hudson 
and Lake Erie, which lies six hundred and eighty-eight feet above 
the level of the former river, does the greatest honour to the ge¬ 
nius of its projector; though one who has seen the canals in France, 
