USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Settlement in the West : sketches of Rochester with incidental notices of western New-York > Part 20
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
The influences of the war, combined with the retraction of the power to make loans, temporarily abated the spirit of improvement to such a degree that no report was made by the commissioners in 1815.
At the close of that year, however, public feeling was measurably aroused by an animated assemblage collected in New-York City through the instrumentality of the indefati- gable Thos. Eddy, Judge Platt, Mr. Clinton, Mr. John Pin- tard, and a few others.
It was as chairman of a committee thereat appointed for the purpose, that Mr. Clinton draughted the well-known doc- ument known as " the New-York Memorial"-the effects of which, on the people at large and on the Legislature, were immensely beneficial. The eloquent truths of that admirable production were echoed in the petitions favouring the canal policy which poured from all quarters upon the Legislature at the ensuing session.
The important movement made at New-York was chron- icled thus by Judge Platt, one of the principal figures in the scene :- " Soon after the war ended, a consultation was held between Mr. Clinton, Thos. Eddy, and myself, in the City of New-York, for the purpose of reviving the enterprise of the canal, and for organizing and animating its friends throughout the state. It was agreed that cards of invitation should be addressed to about one hundred gentlemen of that city, to meet at the City Hotel, to consult on measures for
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that object. A meeting was held accordingly, in the autumn of 1815, of which William Bayard was chairman, and John Pintard was secretary. According to previous arrangement, an address was made to the meeting by myself, in which I endeavoured to show that the object was identified with the best interests of the state ; and that the City of New-York was peculiarly interested in its accomplishment. In that address I also pointed at the stupendous project of a canal on an uninterrupted inclined plane, which had been unfor- tunately proposed in the first report of the commissioners,* and I urged the expediency of a formal and publia abandon- ment of that plan, for the simple mode (afterward adopted) of following the general surface of the country in its undula- tions. After discussion, a resolution was then passed, appro- ving the object, and appointing a committee, consisting of De Witt Clinton, Thomas Eddy, Cadwallader D. Colden, and John Swartwout, to prepare and circulate a memorial to the Legislature in favour of tlie Erie Canal. A memorial was drawn and published accordingly. It was from the pen of Mr. Clinton, and evinced a perfect knowledge of the subject, with a sagacious discernment of its beneficial results to the state and nation. If Mr. Clinton had left no other evidence, that memorial alone is sufficient to entitle him to the char- acter of an accomplished writer, an enlightened statesman, and a zealous patriot."
Some of the western movements in furtherance of the ca- nal policy are particularly worthy of notice at this point. On the 8th of January, 1817, a large meeting of gentlemen from most of the towns of Ontario county (which county then included part of the site of Rochester-the Genesee River being the dividing line between Genesee and Ontario counties) was held at Canandaigua. The proceedings of the assemblage find few parallels in the beauty of language and the force of reasoning. The remark is particularly applicable to the resolutions draughted by Myron Holley, for several years a canal commissioner, and now a resident of Roches- ter. Dr. Hosack, in publishing the Ontario proceedings among the documents appended to his eulogy on De Witt Clinton, ushers them with the following remarks :-
" Shortly after the period of the meeting of the citizens in
* The matter thus discountenanced was part of Jesse Hawley's plan, which had been adopted by Gouverneur Morris in the report of 1811, and to the prejudicial effects of which other references are made.
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New-York which agreed to Mr. Clinton's celebrated memo- rial to the Legislature, urging that body to undertake the con- struction of the canal as a work of the state, Col. Troup was concerned with the late Gideon Granger, John Greig, John C. Nicholas, N. W. Howell, and several other leading gentle- men of Ontario county, in convening a large meeting at Can- andaigua, for the purpose of exciting general attention to the contemplated improvements, of giving a right direction to public opinion, and of pressing the construction of the canals as a work of the state. Few meetings have been more respectable for numbers, character, talent, and prop- erty. Such, indeed, had been the active exertions of Col. Troup, and such his weight of character and influence, that he was appointed chairman of the meeting. Mr. Nathaniel Rochester, another gentleman of great influence, and who has since that period filled several important public stations, was appointed secretary. Gideon Granger, the late post- master-general, addressed the meeting in a very eloquent and able speech, on the momentous subject for which that meeting had been convened. A number of important reso- lutions, drawn up by Myron Holley,* one of the canal commissioners, and distinguished for his valuable services throughout the whole progress of the great work which has been achieved, were offered by John Greig, another active friend and liberal contributor to the canal, and were unani- mously passed. These resolutions exhibited with great force the incalculable advantages that would necessarily flow from a canal navigation between Lake Erie and the
In a letter addressed to Col. Troup by John Greig, dated Canan- daigua, 21st May, 1828, he observes : "To Mr. Holley, more than any one else, are we indebted for that meeting, and for the popularity which the canal policy immediately afterward acquired in the western part of the state. Indeed, I have always been satisfied that his intelligence and zeal, and unwearied exertions both of mind and body on the subject, from the moment of his appointment as a canal commissioner, essen- tially contributed to bring the Erie Canal to a successful completion." The reader is referred to a letter of Mr. Holley, in this article, concern- ing the construction of the canal west of Seneca River. "Mr. Hol- ley," says Tacitus (otherwise Gov. Clinton), " was a member of the Legislature when the initiatory canal law was passed, which he advo- cated with the whole force of his talents. His mind is improved by reading, reflection, and conversation, and is distinguished for extensive research and acute discrimination. He has devoted his whole time and attention, mind and body, to the canal ; and some of the most luminous reports and communications have proceeded from his pen."
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Hudson. Of these resolutions a correspondent observes, ' that, both in matter and style, they may justly be denom- inated a near relation of Mr. Clinton's memorial.' The pro- ceedings of this meeting, as may readily be supposed, made a deep impression on the public mind, and powerfully con- tributed to the enlightened policy which the Legislature sub- sequently embraced."
The governor ('Tompkins) urged the subject upon the at- tention of the two houses ; and the commissioners reported in favour of an immediate prosecution of the great western canal, and likewise of the proposed union of the Champlain with the Hudson by the northern canal.
Notwithstanding the doubts which were boldly urged by some members as to the practicability of the undertaking, or the capacity of the state to accomplish it-doubts which were manifested by repeated efforts to postpone or curtail the project-the law of 1816, to prepare for effecting communi- cations between the Hudson and Lake Erie, as well as be- tween the Hudson and Champlain, was passed in the Assem- bly by a majority of seventy-three, and in the Senate by a majority of thirteen. Stephen Van Rensselaer, De Witt Clinton, Samuel Young, Joseph Ellicott, and Myron Holley were appointed commissioners under this act, with the right to select engineers, and an appropriation of $20,000 for car- rying out the project, so far as surveys and other preliminary arrangements were concerned-the right to commence the work not being included in the powers granted to the board.
The commissioners adopted immediate measures for ef- fecting their trust. After appointing Mr. Clinton their pres- ident, Mr. Young their secretary, and Mr. Holley their treasurer, they divided the Erie Canal line into three sec- tions-the western, middle, and eastern-the first extending from the lake to Seneca River, the middle from thence to Rome, and the eastern from Rome to Albany. Engineers were appointed for each section ; and an engineer was also appointed to survey the route which had been proposed for the canal through the Tonnewanta Valley, on the south side of the mountain ridge. This, which was called the 'T'onne- wanta route, was preferred by Mr. Ellicott, in his letter of July, 1808, respecting the routes proposed between the Gen- esee and Lake Erie, and was the one to which the report of Mr. Geddes, in 1809, chiefly referred in reference to the country between the Genesee and Lake Erie.
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The Legislature received, in 1817, a report from the com- missioners detailing the results of the explorations which had been made by some members of the board in connexion with the engineers during the previous season. Connected with the profiles and maps, some estimates were submitted by the commissioners-the cost of the Northern Canal being stated at about $900,000, and that of the Western at $5,000,000. The facts that the canals were extended- that stone was largely substituted for wood-and that un- foreseen difficulties occurred, as in the cutting though the mountain ridge at Lockport, &c., may indicate that the increased expense of the works should not reflect discredit on those who framed these estimates.
But the refusal of aid by the general government (the pe- tition for which, drawn by De Witt Clinton, was presented in Congress by Micah Brooks), and the hopelessness of as- sistance from individual states, could not repress the ardour with which the magnificent schemes of internal improve- ment were regarded by a large portion of the people of this state.
The law of April, 1817, concerning the navigable com- munications between the great northern and western lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, was passed by large majorities in both branches of the Legislature. This act authorized the commencement of the canals. It continued the former com- missioners, and empowered them to open the communications between the Hudson and Lake Champlain ; but, as regarded the route from the Hudson to Lake Erie, merely authorized them to connect, by canals and locks, the Mohawk and Sen- eca Rivers.
The bill became a law nearly as Mr. Clinton draughted it. It included a system of finance, and provided for establishing a board of " Commissioners of the Canal Fund," with duties indicated by the name. "Means were provided for paying the interest on loans, and discharging the debts to be created. These means consisted of a small tax on salt made at the springs belonging to the state, a tax on steamboat passengers -the proceeds of some lotteries-part of the duties accru- ing from sales at auction-donations of lands from compa- nies or individuals to be benefited by the canals *- and a
Such as tracts of about 100,000 acres from the Holland Company, 1000 acres from Gideon Granger, and a like quantity from John Greig, as agent of the Hornby Estate, &c.
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tax of $250,000 to be levied at some future time on lands lying within twenty-five miles of the canals. This partial tax was imposed upon the supposition that the landholders along the lines of the canals would be particularly benefited by them ; but no attempt was ever made to levy such a tax, as the beneficial influences of the canals were too widespread to countenance the idea that any local taxation should be employed for raising revenue to pay for works which liave already (with the aid of the salt tax and auction duties) not merely discharged the debt incurred for their construc- tion, but are now aiding by surplus revenue to enlarge their original dimensions. After the decision of the Su- preme Court of the Union against the power of this state to give Livingston and Fulton the exclusive privilege of nav- igating its waters by steam, no attempt was made to collect the tax on steamboat passengers-and from lotteries no as- sistance was derived.
'The final establishment of the Canal Policy by the passage of the law for commencing the improvements was attended by some circumstances which may be mentioned, not merely as illustrative of the subject itself, but of the cordial co-opera- tion of the most prominent of our statesmen in contributing to the glorious result. Some of the friends of De Witt Clinton and Martin Van Buren may be gratified with a sketch of the proceedings at that critical period in the history of our in- ternal improvements ; and therefore do we quote the account furnished by Col. Wm. L. Stone, Editor of the New-York Commercial Advertiser-a writer well-known as a friend of Clinton and a uniform political opponent of Van Buren. The account was written by Col. Stone in 1829, for insertion in Hosack's Memoir of Clinton, and runs thus :-
The Canal Bill having passed the Assembly, was sent to the Senate on the 12th April, 1817.
" On Monday the 14th," says Col. Stone, " the discussion was resumed, when Mr. Elmendorf, of Ulster, and Mr. Peter R. Livingston, of Dutchess, successively spoke at length in op- position. Mr. Tibbits made a very sound and judicious speech in reply, and was followed by Mr. Van Buren, late Governor of New-York, and now Secretary of State, also in favour of the bill. This was Mr. Van Buren's great speech of the ses- sion, and it was indeed a masterly effort. I took notes of the whole debate at the time, but being then young in the business of reporting, and this being the first time I had ever attempted to follow Mr. Van Buren, whose utterance is too
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rapid for an unpractised pen, and whose manner was on that occasion too interesting to allow a reporter to keep his eyes upon his paper, my effort was little more than a failure. At your request, however, a transcript of the loose notes which were preserved is here inserted :--
" ' Mr. Van Buren said he must trespass upon the committee, while he stated the general considerations which induced him to give his vote for the bill. It was a subject which had been so fully discussed, and upon which so much had been said, that he should deem it arrogance to enlarge. The calculations which had been made with respect to the probable expense of the canal, and the ways and means for raising funds, were fit subjects for consideration. But to do this he deemed himself in- competent. He must place great confidence upon the reports of the commissioners upon these points. Mr. V. B. here took a brief review of the measures adopted at the last session of the legislature in relation to the canal, when a bill, similar to the one now before the Senate, was under consideration, and stated the reasons why he voted against the bill at that time. We then had no calculations made by the commission- ers so minute as at present. Under these considerations, he conceived it his duty at the last session to move the rejection of the whole bill relating to the commencement of the canal. It was done, and he had the satisfaction to find that most gentlemen have since united with him in his opinion. Now the scene is entirely changed. We at that time passed a law appointing new commissioners, and applying 20,000 dollars to enable them to obtain all the information possible. We now have the information, and we have arrived at the point when, if this bill do not pass, the project must for many years be abandoned. His convic- tions were, that it is for the honour and interest of the state to com- mence the work at once ; we are pledged by former measures to do it. Mr. Van Buren here reviewed the proceedings of former legislatures upon the subject, during the years 1810, 11, 12, and 14, when, in consequence of the war, the law appropriating five millions for the canal was repealed. He proceeded :- Since that period, new commissioners have been ap- pointed, and new authority given, to examine the route for the canal, and report at the present session of the legislature. A law authorizing the commencement of the work has passed the popular branch of the legislature, and unless we have the clearest convictions that the project is impracticable, or the resources of our state insufficient, you must not recede from the measures already taken. Are we satisfied upon these two points ? We have had able, competent commissioners to report, and they have laid a full statement before us ; we are bound to receive these reports as correct evidence upon this subject. In no part of the business have we looked to individual states or to the United States for assistance other than accidental or auxiliary. Mr. Van Buren here made some calculations relative to the funds. 'Lay out of view,' said he, 'all the accidental resources, and the revenue from the canal, and in completing the work you will only entail upon the state a debt, the interest of which will amount to but about 300,000 dollars.' He then stated the amount of real estate within the state now, and what it prob- ably would be if the canal was completed. The tax would not amount to more than one mill on the dollar : unless the report of commissioners is a tissue of fraud or misrepresentation, this tax will be sufficient, and
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more than sufficient, to complete the canal. We are now to say that all our former proceedings have been insincere, or we must go on with the work. The people in the districts where we are first to make the canal are willing and able to be subjected to the expense of those sec- tions. Mr. Van Buren contended that the duties upon salt and the auction duties were a certain source of revenue, and that these two sources of revenue would be abundant, and more than abundant, for ever to discharge the interest of the debt to be created. Ought we, under such circumstances, to reject this bill ? No, sir ; for one, I am willing to go the length contemplated by the bill. The canal is to pro- mote the interest and character of the state in a thousand ways. But we are told that the people cannot bear the burden. Sir, I assume it as a fact, that the people have already consented to it. For six years we have been engaged upon this business. During this time our tables have groaned with the petitions of the people from every section of our country in favour of it ; and not a solitary voice has been raised against it. Mr. V. B. said he had seen with regret the divisions that have heretofore existed upon this subject, apparently arising from hostility to the commissioners. Last year the same bill, in effect, passed the As- sembly, the immediate representatives of the people ; and this year it has passed again. This was conclusive evidence that the people have assented to it. Little can be done by the commissioners, other than to make a loan, before another session. The money cannot be lost- there can be no loss at six per cent. We have now all the information we can wish-we must make up our minds either to be expending large sums in legislation year after year, or we must go on with the project. After so much has been done and said upon this subject, it would be discreditable to the state to abandon it.
"'He considered it the most important vote he ever gave in his life -but the project, if executed, would raise the state to the highest pos- sible pitch of fame and grandeur. He repeated that we were bound to consider that the people had given their consent. Twelve thousand men of wealth and respectability in the city of New-York last year petitioned for the canal ; and, at all events, before the operations would be commenced, the people, if opposed to the measure, would have ample time to express their will upon the subject.'
" When Mr. Van Buren resumed his seat, Mr. Clinton, who had been an attentive listener in the Senate chamber, breaking through that reserve which political collisions had created, approached him and expressed his thanks for his exertions in the most flattering terms." * * *
" Messrs. Livingston, Elmendorf, and Ogden of Delaware, severally spoke in reply ; but when the main question on the enacting clause was taken, it was carried in the affirma- tive, 21 to 8. In the course of this day's sitting a very important motion was made by Mr. Van Buren with suc- cess. The bill, as it passed the assembly, authorized the loans to be made on the canal fund only; and that was the best form in which it could, in the first instance, be
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passed in that body. The vital importance of extending the security was at that time fully appreciated by the friends of the canal, and has been amply confirmed by experience. This amendment was adopted by a vote of 16 to 11. Sev- eral other amendments were made to the bill by the Senate, but there was none of sufficient importance to require a specification here. Some of these amendments were con- curred in by the assembly, among which was the important one mentioned above ; and from others the senate receded. The result was, that the bill was successfully carried through both houses in the course of the evening session of the same day, and sent to the Council of Revision. It became a law on the following day, viz., the 15th of April .* Under this act, the first meeting of the commissioners to receive propo- sals and make contracts preparatory to the actual com- mencement of the work, was held at Utica on the 3d of June, 1817. Colonel Young and Mr. Holley remained to take charge of the commencement of the work upon the mid- dle section, which it was wisely resolved should be first completed."
" The next important period in the legislative history of the canals," says Colonel Stone, " was the session of 1819.
* "For the passage of this bill through the Senate, much is due to the efforts of Mr. Van Buren," says Gordon, in his late excellent Gaz- etteer of the State of New-York. "But this consummation of the commencement was not attained without difficulty. The friends of the canal had to contend with the doubts and fears of many sensible and prudent men ; with conflicting local interests, and with the political cabals and personal hostility to Mr. Clinton, ' who had boldly identified himself with the canal, and staked his public character on the issue.' To the incessant labour, unremitting energy, and inflexible resolution of this great man, the final success of the enterprise is universally as- cribed. The leading advocates of the canal were objects of ridicule throughout the United States ; and hallucination was the mildest epithet applied to them." -- Gazetteer, p. 74. Even Mr. Jefferson, in a letter in 1822, admitted that in 1809 he considered that the project of the Erie Canal was started a century too soon for the ability of the state, though it is due to truth to state that the impulse given to the spirit of improvement by his own course as president at that time contributed essentially to the advancement of the project by arousing wide-spread attention to such works, "not only for strengthening the Union, but for promoting our independence of foreign nations, by calling out the na- tive riches and resources of our country."-Hosaek's Clinton, p. 357. It is worthy of passing notice that Jesse Hawley and Joshua Forman acknowledge that their attention was excited to the subject of the Erie Canal by the general spirit breathed through Jefferson's messages in favour of internal improvement.
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The work on the middle section had been prosecuted with such vigour and success, that the canal commissioners felt justified in recommending the necessary appropriations for completing the whole. A bill for this purpose passed the assembly ; but it met with much opposition in the Senate, and several attempts were made to defeat it by motions to strike out, first, that part which authorized the construction of the western section; and, secondly, that which, in like manner, authorized the construction of the eastern section, from Utica to the Hudson River. I believe it may be truly said of Mr. Van Buren and Colonel Young, that it was to their unwearied exertions mainly that the attempts made at this time to cripple the bill were defeated."
From the statements of Colonel Stone we turn now to a communication from a citizen whom none can intimately know without warmly esteeming. The statement of Myron Holley, which we are thus enabled to present, is closely connected with a most interesting period of the history of Western New-York. It develops the means which Mr. Holley employed in his capacity of commissioner to thwart the hostility to the canal which Mr. Van Buren boldly and successfully struggled against in the Senate. Mr. Holley now resides in the city whereat this letter is dated.
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