to them to share the risks of the enterprise. Notwithstanding the failure of both appeals, no opponent was encouraged to inculcate, as is now profanely held forth, that the attempt to overcome the physical barriers to intercourse between the different regions of the state was an encroachment upon the Divine prerogative. It was resolved, on the contrary, that whether the great enterprise was regarded with a view to commerce and finance, or on the more extensive scale of policy, it would evince a want of wisdom and almost of piety not to employ for public advantage those means which Providence had placed so completely within their power. They looked into futurity and attentively listened for the warning which it might send forth, but far from hearing, as is now insanely imagined, the cries and curses of unborn millions, and the maledictions of their own descendants, they were cheered on by voices which assured them that their young and enterpri sing state would soon be without a rival, that the commerce of half the world would be hers, that posterity would bless for ever those who should commence and prosecute the great enterprise to its consummation, and that contemporaries would vindicate its chief defender against the assaults of his enemies. It was then asserted, as dogmatically as it is now, that taxation and ruin would be the consequences of internal improvement, and estimates of revenue, the correctness of which time has already triumphantly vindicated, were denounced as visionary and chimerical. Phantoms of debt were then, as now, conjured up to an aggregate of boundless millions, and ingeniously apportioned among the citizens, as such debts now are, by imaginary assessments according to the latest census of the state. Notwithstanding all these discouragements, the work was undertaken, stocks were issued redeemable by a subsequent generation, and revenues then existing, revenues created for the purpose, and revenues anticipated from the works to be constructed, were all devoted to the payment of the interest and the extinguishment of the debt. In 1821, the people, by their representatives, assembled to revise their constitution. The canals were still unfinished, and their results uncertain. Yet no such absurdity was proclaimed as that of excluding internal improvement from the subjects of legislative action, nor was the dishonest suggestion of repudiating the public debt for a moment entertained. On the contrary, all that had been done was approved, and the convention, with integrity

characteristic of a just, generous, and enlightened people, incorporated into the constitution the pledges which had been given by the legislature to the public creditor, and made them thenceforth and for ever a part of the organic law of the state. These pledges have been sacredly preserved. Ample funds, received from the revenues originally devoted to the enterprise, have accumulated and been set apart for the payment of the debt, although the day for final payment has not yet arrived, and those funds now await the public creditor, a rebuke to terrorists who predicted eternal taxation.

The construction of such works by associations incorporated by the legislature is denounced as no less unconstitutional and dangerous than their prosecution by the state; and a stranger to our institutions would suppose, from the violence with which all such associations are assailed, that they have obtained innovation upon well-settled principles of government. The opponents of internal improvement object to its prosecution by the general government, by the state governments, or by corporations, and they would leave it to be carried on only by individual enterprise and with private capital. It is manifest that inasmuch as there are no private fortunes among us adequate to such enterprises, the exclusion of legislative action and that of corporations would be equivalent to an absolute prohibition of the system. Such associations had their origin in the necessities of a scanty population, dispersed over a broad territory, requiring extensive improvements, and yet enjoying wealth, limited indeed, but distributed with great equality. They are founded upon that principle of social labor which always obtains in the settlement of new countries. Since it is always their design to invite emigration and stimulate business rather than to provide comforts or facilities for a population already dense, their works are not unfrequently profitless. They are to be considered rather as agents in equalizing and rendering available the contributions of individuals for the public benefit than as monopolies of wealth. The same principle and form of association are adopted in every other department. Our manufactures are carried on by similar agencies, and our colleges, our public charities, and even our religious societies, are corporations. Their agency has always been employed in constructing works not deemed of sufficient importance to warrant their assumption by the state, and yet of too great magnitude

to be constructed by individuals. When the necessities of the country were greatest, their agency was most freely employed, and was encouraged by the most liberal charters. As those necessities diminish, they are properly regarded with greater jealousy, and the powers and privileges conferred upon them are more carefully restricted. Those who unite in such associations under the sanction of law for purposes of public improvement, necessarily incur the censure of others who, happily, excuse themselves from every contribution or sacrifice for the public welfare, upon the ground of their objections to the prevailing forms in which such contributions and sacrifices are made. But such associates may offer in extenuation of their error, that the sublime repose of the father of his country was occupied with plans of internal improvement which were to be carried out by means of similar agencies, and that even he did not deem it derogatory to his fame or patriotism to be the president of a canal company, after having worn the highest honors of the republic.

The policy of loaning the credit of the state to such associations is condemned with unmeasured severity, and you will be required from some quarters to repeal all the laws by which such loans have been authorized. This policy had its origin in 1827, and was thus explained and defended in 1829 by the distinguished citizen who then filled the executive chair of this state, and who now administers the government of the United States.* In his annual message to the legislature he observed, "It will doubtlessly be attentively considered how far the public burdens arising from the construction of works of internal improvement may be relieved, and the efforts of the state judiciously aided by the encouragement of individual associations for the same purpose. The leading case in which this policy has of late years been adopted, was that of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. It gives me sincere pleasure to be able to inform you that it has, in this instance, been crowned with the most cheering success. The cost of this canal is said to have been one million eight hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, and of that sum five hundred thousand dollars have been obtained upon the credit of the state, which holds, for its security the first lien upon the canal. There is no reason to apprehend the slightest loss or inconvenience from the measure adopted to assist the company.

*Martin Van Buren.

How far you can, consistently with other claims upon your favor, extend the relief they ask, will, I am confident, receive an impartial and just examination and decision at your hands." An additional loan of the credit of the state to the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company to the amount of three hundred thousand dollars followed this recommendation. The policy has been further carried out by loans to railroad companies. Capital to an amount equal to the sums for which the credit of the state is pledged has been received from Europe. Upon the inducement held out by the legislature, it has been paid to citizens of this state, and expended by them in the construction of works of internal improvement with a view to the profit.of our citizens, and the improvement and advancement of portions of the country which have not participated equally with other regions in the benefits of works constructed by the state. I will not stop to present the ruinous effects which a repeal of the laws in question at this crisis would visit upon the prosperity of the state. If to maintain the public faith inviolate it were necessary to argue from the inconveniences which would result from its violation, that faith would not be worth defending. The people of the state are intelligent and enlightened; their legislature is elected by their free and universal suffrage; they understand fully the measures discussed in the capitol; and their constitution secures accountability by bringing their representatives in every department of the government before them at short and stated periods. It is among the happy results of American constitutions, that the people have proved themselves more watchful in the guardianship of the public treasury, more enlightened in the selection of objects of public munificence, and more scrupulous in the discharge of national obligations, than those who have administered any other form of government. It is not from such a people that a violation of the public faith is to be apprehended. The proposition to repeal these laws, if made at any other time, would have passed unnoticed; but when presented at a crisis like the present, it seems to proceed from a perverseness of moral sentiment, the very recklessness of which is ordained by a wise Providence as the most effectual security against evil designs.

Within the period of twenty-three years which has elapsed since the adoption of the policy of internal improvement, the following works have been completed and are now in successful

operation. The Erie canal, connecting the Hudson river, at Troy and Albany, with Lake Erie at Buffalo, 371 miles long; the Champlain canal, connecting the same noble river, at the same points, with Lake Champlain at Whitehall, 79 miles; the Oswego canal, connecting the Erie canal at Syracuse with Lake Ontario at Oswego, 38 miles; the Cayuga and Seneca canal, opening a navigation from the lakes thus named to the Erie canal at Montezuma, 23 miles; the Delaware and Hudson canal, from Rondout on the Hudson to the Delaware river, 81 miles, and continued by railroad to the coal-beds of Pennsylvania; the Crooked-Lake canal, connecting the Crooked lake with the Seneca lake, and thus with the Erie canal, 8 miles; the Chemung canal. connecting the Chemung river at Elmira with the Seneca lake, and thus with the Erie canal, 23 miles, with an extension to Corning, 16 miles; the Chenango canal, connecting the Susquehannah river at Binghamton with the Erie canal at Utica, 97 miles; a continuous line of railroad from Albany to Auburn, 170 miles; a similar line from Lockport to Lewiston and Buffalo, 47 miles; a railroad from Rochester to Batavia, 35 miles; a railroad from Schenectady to Saratoga springs, 21 miles; a railroad from Troy to Ballston Spa, 25 miles; a railroad from New York to Harlem, 8 miles; a railroad from Brooklyn to Hicksville, on Long Island, 27 miles; a railroad from the termination of the west branch of the Chemung canal to the Tioga railroad in Pennsylvania, 14 miles; a railroad crossing the ridge between the Susquehannah at Owego and the Cayuga lake at Ithaca, 29 miles; and a railroad from the line of Massachusetts, at West Stockbridge, to the city of Hudson, 30 miles. These works constitute the internal improvements which have been made in this state, exclusive of turnpikes, Macadam and common roads. They collectively exhibit 736 miles of canals, and 406 miles of railroads. All the canals, except the Delaware and Hudson, were con structed by the state; and all the railroads, together with the Delaware and Hudson canal, were built by incorporated associations. From the various acts by which their construction was directed or authorized, the following principles may be deduced as settled in the policy of the state. That it is not only the right, but the bounden duty of the legislature to adopt measures for overcoming physical obstructions to trade and commerce in this state, and for furnishing to each region, as far as reasonably prac