Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1828-05-08
From the Baltimore America an.

Inland n~acig0,i0n IF The United States.
The National Gazette contains on this subs
;ecl.an article taken from the proof sheets OF
The Anril rumber rf thu | ordon Journal OF
Sci, nee aud the Ars. The author i a dlstin-
puishpd American p! of~ssor. The wide circu
Inon of ,re y tional Gaze = viii introduce
this artic lr az lug h 20 toe noilce OF a number
nj or readers We =, greet, for the sake of he
RES, that it> i,ng h prevents its insertion en'lre
in nj, Journal, as it is on a subject oil great *
rising interest 10 the people ot this country, oil
which We have before AIKEN f'eqnrn, notl'e.-
Sut h rapid progress, says the wcl'"r, has o'eh
made IN tn Cnicd Stat S, In the last ten years.
In internal navigation, tha' In this respect, as
i'm m,ri,ime CONNER they ni2F Se cohs'der,
cd As having surpassed every nay.oD ia Eng
land rSuSh, 700. is ,b, dsn.and 10. inland wa
,er communication, arising from the vide
snrcai OF an agricultural population, whose
nrrdacts are of great bulk, and nearly all OF
whose artificial wants are supplied from Tor
sipp countries. that the time cannot be lar dis
,snt when, in the exteut and number ol ITS ca
nails. the Uni'ed States will probably exceed
any civilized nation
The writer indicates in this article the claim
Of De Wit Clinton to the merit oil originating
the frs, practicable plan for uniting tn waters
of Lake Erie with the Hudson. Gouverneur
Morris proposed a plan indeed, but involving
structures Of more than Egyptian or Roman
y~astness, and in sact, impracticable. l: was,
tina, The water Of Lake Erie should be made to
Aow into the Hudson, on a plane OF uniform de.
scent, a distance of more than three hundred
miles. Con6dipg in the genius of Morris, s.
engaged at that moment in other engrossing
duiips. MIR. Clinton concurred in this impossi-
Bile plan; nor was il till deprived Of office, that
o,ad nis leisnre in aeyiSinC the Drpspnt
one in which the rout was so well selected, that
i, was seldom necessary TO devIate from it,; and
the estimates tailed more closely with the &C
tual cost than eNel happened before in any sim.
liar work Only those who have some knowl-
edge Of he vast detail, involved in enterprises
Of his nature, can duly estimate the praise due
TO him OH these two grounds the policy was
moi less admirable, by which he brought the
Whole resources of the community, insrevenue
and credit, TO bear on this great public work
TIE fame Of a great man is the property Of his
chi. dren, and there is the ~stricter justice in rem
drriug it to him, as il, is likely to be his and
their only remuneration
Besides works merely local and partial in
then objects, the internal commune alton OF
the United States divide Themselves FIRST in
10 those which tend 10 form a line of commune
cation parallel with the Coast; SECONDLY, those
connecting the western States with the sea-
board. Both Of those we have noticed hereto
fore. Blu, it deserves mention, that Of The frs,
class three separate lines centre in The city oil
New-York. Thar by the Hudson, the Northern
Canal, and Lake ~Champlain, is completed; the
by way Of New Haven to the Connecticut, is
in a state Of great forwardness: a third, by
which il is in,ended to avoid a voyage round
Cape Cod, and the Nantucket Shoals, in the
passage TO Massachusetts Bay, is seriously
contemplated, & practicable a, a low expense.
When il i, recollected that from New York
s~ou,hwardly to New Orleans, an entire inner
coastwi,e navigation is prevented by wonder
fully few difficulties. it may both show tho vast