The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-06 00:00:00

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STAMPED 5d.1.

abeyance to this day, or until some superior Power
had ended all discussion by imposing its will upon
the quibbling, straw-splitting, contentious, and irre-
concilable disputants. Perhaps, however, when the
people of the provinces become convinced that they
cannot remain as they are, and that the only alter-
natives before them are annexation to the States or
confederation, the question will enter upon a new
phase, and their unmistakable attachment to the
British Crown will expedite a decision which, in the
present circumstances of the North American con-
tinent, cannot be delayed without serious peril.

Ship Canal between the Saint Lawrence
and Hudson Rivers.

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Now that, the war being concluded, the interests
of commerce are once more claiming their old as-
cendancy in the minds of the citizens of the United
States, it is natural that increased attention should
be given to the means and instrumentalities of com-
merce, and among them to those permanent works
which facilitate intercourse between different sec-
tions of the Republic, or connect its territory with
that of its neighbours. Some of the greatest of
these works, such as the overland road from New
York to San Francisco, have seemed so necessary
to the welfare of the Union, that they have been
energetically prosecuted to completion amidst the
distractions of war. Others, less pressing, will now
claim the attention which they could not before
command. At the Commercial Convention held at
Detroit last July, where the common interests of
Canada and the frontier States of the Union were
peculiarly the subjects of discussion, much attention
was given to the state of the water communications
between the prolific and enterprising States of the
North-West and the Eastern States by way of
Canada. It is universally agreed that the former
regions must rapidly increase in importance, and
that no works the execution of which is within the
means of the respective Governments are likely to be
in excess of the traffic which will require carriage.
Among the projects laid before the convention was
one brought forward by Mr. T. De Witt Bloodgood,
one of the delegates from the New York Chamber
of Commerce, in favour of the construction of a
ship canal between the St. Lawrence and Hudson
rivers, a plan which the author has since more fully
described and advocated in an independent publica-
tion. Mr. Bloodgood proposes to accomplish that
object by bringing Lake Champlain into the com-
mercial system of the lakes in such a manner that it
shall bear to the St. Lawrence river and Lake Ontario
the same relation that Erie does to the Huron. The
idea of uniting the St. Lawrence and the Hudson,
and so making it possible for the magnificent craft
which now ply on the great Lakes to pursue their
voyage to the harbour and city of New York, is
not a new one, eminent engineers, both of Canada
and the United States, having demonstrated its
practicability to the satisfaction of the public. A
glance at the map shows Lake Champlain lying for
the most part between the States of Vermont and
New York, and extending for four miles into Ca-
nada. It has a ship navigation of 125 miles, but is
at present isolated, as far as the greater purposes of
commerce are concerned, by slight natural barriers.
There is at present a continuous water communi-
cation of limited capacity, the advantages of which
are fully appreciated. At the north, that is to say
in Canada, there is the Canal of Chamblee, and at
the south the Canal of Champlain unites the lake
and the Hudson river, so that it is already prac-
ticable for a vessel of 120 tons to clear from Chicago
or Sarnia, or Detroit, and reach the Hudson river
without moving its cargo. The connection is thus
made out :—The waters of the lakes flow into and
join the St. Lawrence at Sorel, 57 miles from St.
John. The Champlain canal connects its waters
with the Richelieu river 33 miles from its outlet,
which admits the passage of vessels of from 350 to
400 tons, drawing between six and seven feet of
water—and to make it navigable for vessels draw-
ing 12 fit win only b.. necessary to raise the pre-
-c....trb look and darn at St. Ours to a
height. Canadians, particularly the merchants and
public authorities of Montreal, have long under-
stood this subject, and have for many years endea-
voured to warm it into life. In 1849, at their in-
stance, a convention was held at Saratoga Springs,
in the State of New York, at which the plan was
fully endorsed of constructing a ship canal of the
character alluded to.
Still later, in 1855, the then Canadian Commis-
sioner of Public Works, Mr. Chabot, under autho-
rity from the Executive Council, approved by the
Governor-General in Council, prepared instructions
for new surveys of routes between the St. Lawrence
and Lake Champlain by an experienced and skilful
American engineer, Mr. John B. Jervis, well known
in the State of New York for his connection with
the Erie canal, and subsequently with the Croton
aqueduct. His report established the fact that a
ship canal between St. Lawrence and the lake was
practicable at a moderate expense by several routes.
While the route of theChamblee, even to the unpro-
fessional observer, is evidently an easy one, others,
especially that known as the Caughnawaga, were
surveyed. The total lockage of the former is but
74 feet ; the latter, more generally regarded as the
best of any ship canal, entering the river St. Law-
rence near the foot of Lake Louis, and using
portion of the enlarged Chamblee, requires
about eight locks each of a moderate lift of about
12 feet. The report of Mr. Jervis was verified in
1852 by that of Mr. Swift, a Canadian engineer,
according to which the enlargement of the present
canal, or the construction of a new one adequate to
the navigation of vessels of from five hundred to
seven hundred tons, would cost from two to four
millions of dollars. Thus the Canadian part of the
enterprise is of moderate dimensions, is well under-
stood, and requires little capital for its execution.
Next, as regards the shalt of the United States in
this work, Lake Champlain is so safe of navigation
as to be considered, in the calculation of the en-
gineer, part of the canal itself. Between the lake
and the Hudson river is the existing Champlain
canal, admitted to be too small even for the local
trade, and calling for enlargement at the hands of
the State. Four years ago, on the breaking out of
the rebellion, the practicability of enlarging the
Champlain, so as to permit the passage of gun-
boats, was discussed in the legislature of New
York, and the State engineer, Mr. W. B. Taylor,
was directed to make a report on the subject.
This canal, about sixty-six miles in length,
ascends 54 feet from the lake to the summit level,
and 125 feet thence to the Hudson river. The en-
gineer reported that the expense of changing it into
a ship canal for gunboats 150 feet in length and 25
feet beam, and Bft. draught, would be $3,770,000.
So that we may safely calculate that, with a slight
enlargement from the plan of Mr. Taylor, five
million dollars would change the Champlain to a
first-class ship canal. Mr. Jarvis estimated the cost
of this improvement and that of the Hudson river
for 20 miles below Troy, altogether, at eight millions
of dollars ; but since then moderate appropriations
have been made for this improvement, which are
going on with every probability of success,tan
leave the Champlain enlargement to andd owno would
own merits and come within the estimate already
gliiveetTn.nitLhisstpartoejsecmt is not
as a question of revenuet advocated in Canada and
t
so much as of one for increasing facilities of trade,
and worthy therefore to be taken up by the respec-
tive Governments. But it may be mentioned that,
L according to the calculation of Mr. M'Alpine, an
eminent American engineer, the cost of transporta-
tion by the new route would be less than by any
; other. The public men of Canada have held this
scheme in high estimation. The Commissioner of
Public Works, in his official report for the year
1864, observes that "In the existing state of our
navigation, the cargo of a vessel arriving at Mont-
real loaded with grain for the Eastern States cannot
be portagetitcr Lake Champlain except at such..as