of New-England and New-York. 'I have lately,' said he, in a letter to the Marquis of Chastelleux, a foreigner who was in pursuit of literary as well as of military fame,' I have lately made a tour through the Lakes George and Champlain as far as Crown Point; then returning to Schenectady, I proceeded up the Mohawk River to Fort Schuyler [or Stanwix], crossed over to Wood Creek, which empties into the Oneida Lake, and affords the water-communication with Ontario. I then traversed the country to the head of the eastern banks of the Susquehanna, and viewed the Lake Otsego, and the portage between that lake and the Mohawk River at Canajoharie. Prompted by these actual observations, I could not help taking a more contemplative and extensive view of the vast inland navigation of these United States, and could not but be struck with the immense diffusion and importance of it, and with the goodness of that Providence who has dealt his favours with so profuse a hand. Would to God that we may have wisdom to improve them! I shall not rest contented until I have explored the Western country, and traversed those lines (or great part of them) which have given bounds to a new empire.'

"After returning from a journey westward as far as Pittsburgh in the same year, Washington immediately appealed to the Virginians to embark in an enterprise for improving the water-courses, so as to connect the East and West as intimately as possible; a matter which he deemed not more important in a commercial view than in a political aspect, seeing that the Spaniards then swayed the regions beyond the Mississippi, and controlled the outlet of that river. The navigable waters west of the Ohio towards the great lakes were also to be traced to their sources, and those which empty into the lakes to be followed to their mouths. 'Nature had made such an ample display of her bounties in those regions,' he said, that the more the country was explored, the more it would rise in estimation.'

"The influence of Washington was strenuously exerted to arouse Maryland to co-operate with Virginia in improving the navigation of the Potomac. He predicted the exertions which would doubtless be made by New-York and Pennsylvania for securing the monopoly of the Western trade, and the difficulty which would be found by Virginia in diverting it from the channel it had once taken. 'I am not for discouraging the exertions of any state to draw the commerce of the Western country to its seaports,' said the illustrious patriot. The more communications we open to it, the closer we bind THAT RISING WORLD (for indeed it may be so called) to our interests, and the greater strength shall we acquire by it. Those to whom nature affords the best communications will, if they are wise, enjoy the greatest share of the trade. All I would be understood to mean, therefore, is, that the gifts of Providence may not be neglected.' After enforcing the political necessity for improving the intercourse between the West and East, so as to prevent the flow of trade from the Western States to the mouth of the Mississippi, then held by the Spaniards, or through the St. Lawrence, controlled at its outlet by the British, he said, 'If then the trade of that country should flow through the Mississippi or the St. Lawrence; if the inhabitants thereof should form commercial connexions, which we know lead to intercourses of other kinds, they would in a few years be as unconnected with us as are those of South America. It may be asked, how are we to prevent this? Happily for us, the way is plain. Our immediate interests, as well as remote political advantages, point to it; while a combination of circumstances render the present time more favourable than any other to accomplish it. Extend the inland navigation of the Eastern waters, connect them as near as possible with those which run westward; open

these to the Ohio; open also such as extend from the Ohio towards Lake Erie, and we shall not only draw the produce of the Western settlers, but the peltry and fur-trade of the lakes also, to our ports; thus adding an immense increase to our exports, and binding those people to us by a chain which can never be broken.'"

Just before the Revolution, in 1772, a Mr. Christopher Colles, a native of Ireland, had given public lectures in Philadelphia on the subject of canal navigation, and the carrying water to higher or lower levels by means of locks; and about the same period he proposed supplying the City of New-York with good water by means of an aqueduct, and connecting the Hudson and the Ontario by means of canals. But, though he was a man of excellent character, a skilful mechanic, and a good mathematician, his plans, like those of Fulton for steam-navigation, were treated with ridicule and contempt, and he was called a " wild and visionary projector," the usual epithet applied by the ignorant and vulgar of England and France at the present day to all whose genius or enterprise is merely in advance of the common standard of minds to which these objectors belong.

Colles persevered, however, in his endeavours to enlist the Legislature in his views, and ultimately obtained their sanction to his plans; but he appears to have died, worn out probably by the vexatious opposition which he had so long encountered, before his views could be carried into execution. From this time onward, however, the subject grew in public estimation, and the minds of the most intelligent and influential men in the republic were occupied in advocating the improvement of internal communication, and devising means for effecting it; and among the various notices of their opinions and their labours, the following are worthy of record.

"Gouverneur Morris was among the earliest of those whose minds grasped with zealous energy the magnificent subject of internal improvements. The extraordinary adaptation of the country for canals between the Hudson and the Western lakes, with the political and commercial advantages to be derived from extensive inland water-communication, were early and enthusiastically proclaimed by that gifted man. While on a tour to Niagara Falls in 1800, his language to a European correspondent indicated that he comprehended well the vast navigable capacities of the country, even though he had then no conception of a communication like the Erie Canal. Hundreds of large ships will, in no distant period, bound on the billows of these inland seas,' was the language of Mr. Morris to his correspondent. Shall I lead your astonishment up to the verge of incredulity? I will. Know, then, that one tenth part of the expense borne by Britain in the last campaign, would enable ships to sail from London through the Hudson River into Lake Erie. As yet, we only crawl along the outer shell of our country. The interior excels the part we inhabit, in soil, in climate, in everything. The proudest empire of Europe is but a bawble compared to what America may be-must be.""

The first intention appeared to have been to go by Lake George

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and Lake Champlain into the St. Lawrence, or by Oswego into Lake Ontario, then to have a canal from Ontario round the Falls of Niagara, where the Welland Canal now is; but this idea was subsequently abandoned for the more advantageous line of a canal from Lake Erie to the Mohawk, from whence it was thought the river navigation could be continued to the Hudson. The length of this proposed canal was to be 200 miles, its breadth 100 feet, its depth 10 feet, and its estimated cost five millions of dollars, or about a million sterling. This was the plan of Mr. Hawley, of whom the following notice is given.

"It appears as if the Author of Nature, in forming Lake Erie, with its large head of water, into a reservoir, and the limestone ridge into an inclined plane,' said Mr. Hawley, ‘had in prospect a large canal to connect the Atlantic and Continental seas, to be completed at some period by the ingenuity and industry of man.' With reference to the recommendations of President Jefferson (in a message in 1807) concerning roads and canals, Mr. Hawley continued, Next to the utility of a National Institute is the improvement of the navigation of our fresh waters, and connecting the waters of Lake Erie and those of the Mohawk and Hudson by means of a canal. As this project is probably not more than twelve months old in human conception, none but imperfect data can be furnished at present. The navigation of the four largest lakes in the world, with all their tributary streams, and the products of all the surrounding country, would pass through this canal; and even the fifth (Ontario) would become its tributary; and in twenty years the principal and interest of the expenditure would be redeemed.' Then, glancing at the inevitable results of such a system successfully prosecuted, Mr. H. remarked that 'The City of New-York would be left without a competitor in trade except by that of New-Orleans; and within a century its island would be covered with buildings; Albany would be necessitated to cut down her hills and fill her valleys, to give spread to her population; the harbour of Buffalo would exchange her forest for a thicket of marine spars; and Utica, if made the point of junction [of the proposed canal and the Mohawk River], would become a distinguished inland town.' Rochester was not then in existence."

Ultimately the canal was completed from Albany to Buffalo, a distance of 363 miles, of much greater length than originally contemplated, but of less dimensions in breadth and depth, being 40 feet instead of 100, and four feet instead of ten; but that the first intended size was the best, is proved by the fact that it is now found necessary to increase the breadth of the canal to 70 feet and its depth to seven, to give the necessary accommodation to the constantly-increasing traffic of which it is the channel.

When the canal was completed its opening was marked by a public celebration of great magnificence, of which a very interesting account was published in a quarto volume, embellished with many engravings, at the expense of the Corporation of New-York, in which city I read it soon after my landing. The scene that occurred at Rochester on the boats passing through there is so characteristic of the fondness of the Americans for dramatic effect and display on such public occasions as these, that it is worth transcri

bing. It is from the pen of Colonel Stone, who was charged by the Corporation with the duty of drawing up the narrative of the celebration, which is given as follows:

"At Rochester, a rich and beautiful town, which, disdaining, as it were, the intermediate grade of a village, has sprung from a hamlet to the full-grown size, wealth, and importance of a city, the interesting period was celebrated in a manner equally creditable to the country and the occasion. There was considerable rain at Rochester on the day of the celebration; yet such was the enthusiasm of the people, that at two o'clock eight handsome uniform companies were in arms, and an immense concourse of people had assembled. The companies were formed in line upon the canal, and on the approach of the procession of boats from the West commenced firing a feu de joie, which was continued until they arrived at the aqueduct, where the boat called the 'Young Lion of the West' was stationed to protect the entrance.' The Pioneer boat was hailed from the Young Lion, and the following dialogue ensued :

"Question. Who comes here?

"Answer. Your brothers from the West, on the waters of the great Lakes.

"Q. By what means have they been diverted so far from their natural course?

"A. By the channel of the Grand Erie Canal.

"Q. By whose authority, and by whom was a work of such magnitude accomplished?

"A. By the authority and by the enterprise of the patriotic people of the State of New-York.

"Here the Young Lion' gave way, and 'the brethren from the West' were permitted to enter Child's Basin, at the end of the aqueduct. The Rochester and Canandaigua committees of congratulation then took their places under an arch surmounted by an eagle, and the 'Seneca Chief,' having the committees on board, being moored, General Vincent Matthews and the Hon. John C. Spencer ascended the deck, and offered to the governor the congratulations of the citizens of their respective villages, to which an animated and cordial reply was given. The gentlemen from the West then disembarked, and a procession was formed, which proceeded to the Presbyterian Church, where an appropriate prayer was made by the Rev. Mr. Penney, and an address pronounced by Timothy Childs, Esq. The address of Mr. Childs was an able and eloquent performance, clothed with words that breathe and thoughts that burn. It was listened to with almost breathless silence, and greeted at its close with three rounds of animated applause. The celebration was concluded with a grand ball, and a general illumination, and nothing occurred to mar the pleasure of the day."

After all, however, the love of dramatic effect and display is not peculiar to the Americans; for in the public fêtes given in Paris, in the lord-mayor's processions and dinners in London, in the masonic ceremonies of laying the foundation of new bridges, and opening railways and other public works in England, just as much pomp and parade are to be seen; to say nothing of the pomp and pageantry of a coronation, which some even of our most intelligent peers are beginning to perceive, is better adapted to a feudal age than that in which we live.

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In the present instance, at least, there is enough of substantial good to counterbalance all the shadowy parade of the celebration, as by the opening of this canal a line of direct navigation has been completed for upward of 2600 miles, of which the following are the stages:

and when to these constantly-frequented routes are added the new channels to more distant towns upon the upper lakes, to Mackinaw, and along the higher Mississippi to St. Anthony's Falls, as well as on the Missouri, the Arkansas, the Tennessee, and even the Sabine River, which last has lately been navigated by steam up to the very heart of Texas, it may be confidently asserted that not less than 10,000 miles of navigable length has been opened and made accessible from the Atlantic by means of the Erie Canal, the opening of which, therefore, deserved a public celebration, as forming an epoch in the history of the commerce and prosperity of the country.

CHAPTER XX.

Geological Peculiarities of Rochester.-Ridge-road, formerly the Margin of Lake Ontario.-Boulders of Primitive Rock.-Successive Order of Strata and Fossil Remains.-Singular Cavity of Pebbles in Bituminous Shale.-Polished Rocks of the Falls.-Parallel Case at the Cataracts of the Nile.-Climate of the Western Portion of this State.-Brightness of American Skies.-Splendour of Autumnal Sunsets.Causes assigned for this, the Mirrors of the Lakes.-Public Baths.-Mineral Springs. -Public Walks.- Cemetery.-Hackney-coaches.-Mails.-Increase of Postoffice Revenue.-Negro Population.-Military Parades of Militia Troops.- Comparison with the Army of England.-Sanada Thistle and Locust-borer.-Fettigonia Septendi. cem.-Newspapers.-Agricultural Journal.

THE geological peculiarities in the neighbourhood of Rochester will gratify all those who have any knowledge of, or taste for that deeply-interesting study. Among the principal of these may be named an elevation called the Ridge-road, formed of sand and shingle, thrown up from a lake or sea, resembling exactly the formation of a sea-beach, and being believed to be the ancient margin of the Lake Ontario, though now 160 feet above the level of that lake, and distant inland from its southern edge several miles. It has been observed, too, that from this Ridge-road southward"