Entering upon the subject of the claims of the late Gouverneur Morris to the honour of projecting the system of canal navigation which has been adopted by the state of New-York, I freely confess that the first impressions upon my mind were the same with those of many who have ascribed to him the credit of having been the first to suggest the interior route, by a direct canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie, as the means of connecting the lakes with the ocean.

That his enlarged and early views of the improvement and extension of the navigation of the western waters of this state, may have indirectly contributed to the great achievement which has been effected, is not to be doubted; for few men possessed the same expanded views that Mr. Morris entertained of the great commercial prospects and resources of his native country, or possessed the talents to exhibit them to his fellow-citizens with equal eloquence in speech or in his written communications. Under these impressions, I applied to Mrs. Morris for the purpose, and with the expectation of obtaining access to his papers relative to that subject, with the view of doing justice to his memory by introducing into these pages the testimonials of his merits in originating the canal navigation of this state, and of discharging a debt of gratitude which I owe to that distinguished man, and which I shall ever feel and acknowledge, for the friendship and hospitality with which he honoured me during many years. Having been unsuccessful in my application to Mrs. Morris, who intends herself to publish the documents left by her husband upon that subject, I am compelled to confine myself to the following papers, some of which have already appeared before the public, while others have been obtained from the friends of Mr. Morris, and from the manuscripts left by the late Thomas Eddy. From these documents it will appear questionable how far Mr. Morris, notwithstanding his conversation with Simeon De Witt in 1808, and with Mr. Brodhead of Utica, had prior to 1810, when he was appointed one of the canal commissioners, seriously contemplated any other communication between the Hudson and Lake Erie, than by the circuitous route by Oswego and Lake Ontario, as distinctly expressed by him in his subjoined letter to General Lee, which course had been previously designated by the bill passed by the legislature in 1798, for opening the navigation between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, but which was never attempted to be carried into execution.

Indeed, it will be seen, that as early as the year 1786, it had been proposed by Jeffrey Smith, of Long Island, to extend the navigation, if practicable, from the Mohawk to Lake Erie (probably intended by the same route as that afterwards stated by Mr. Morris, by way of Oswego and Lake Ontario,) and indeed had been actively and repeatedly discussed in the legislature during the session of that year.

Being informed in a late interview with Governor Lewis, that he had held conversations with Mr. Morris relative to the internal navigation of this state, as early as the year 1777, and that in a communication to Hermannus Bleecker, Esq. to whom he referred me for the same, he had reduces the substance of those conversations to writing, I addressed to the latter gentleman the following note, for the united purpose of ascertaining the services rendered by Mr. Bleecker himself, when a member of the legislature, during the discussion, on the canal policy, and the extent and validity of the claims of Mr. Morris as the first projector of the Erie Canal.

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NEW-YORK, Dec. 13^th, 1828.

DEAR SIR,

Knowing that you at a particular period took an active concern in the support of the measures relative to the canal navigation of this state, and being desirous to obtain all the information relative to it from the individuals themselves, for the purpose of supplying in my appendix to the Discourse I am about to publish, in relation to our late governor, a full and authentic history of the origin, progress, and completion of the Erie Canal, I write to request a statement of the particular services you rendered in that memorable work.

I also write to obtain from you the copy of a letter written to you by Gov. Lewis, upon the subject of Gouverneur Morris’s claims to the first suggestion of the Erie Canal. Governor Lewis refers me to you for that paper. Your compliance with my wishes will enable me to make an important addition to the life of Mr. Clinton now printing, at the same time that you will oblige your friend.

HERMANNUS BLEECKER, Esq. Albany.

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To this letter Mr. Bleecker kindly and promptly replied, enclosing the communications I had solicited, which follow.

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ALBANY, Dec. 23, 1828.

DEAR SIR,

I have received, and am much obliged to you for your letter of the 13^th instant. – I very soon took an interest in "the measures relative to the canal navigation of this state," and solicitously watched their progress; but as to my "particular services in that memorable work," I can only say, that I rendered "none to speak of."

Of the merit of the late Gouverneur Morris in regard to the canals, I have a deep impression. I witnessed with great interest, his zeal and intelligence – his efforts to inform others – and his elevation above the ignorance and prejudice by which the project was condemned as premature and chimerical.

You know that he and Mr. Clinton were deputed by the canal commissioners to attend at the seat of the general government for the purpose of procuring its aid. In the month of January, 1812, they appeared before a committee of the House of Representatives, consisting of a member from each state, and Mr. Morris made a grand and luminous exposition of his views in relation to the Erie canal, and several other similar projects in various parts of the United States.

It is grateful to me, now, to see how just and enlightened his views were; and to think how much he was in advance of those who doubted, those who were passive, and those who condemned and ridiculed what appeared clear to his discerning mind. What he then prophesied is now history. I believe all the reports made by the commissioners to the legislature during Mr. Morris’s life-time, except one, were drawn by him. The lofty spirit of the report made in March 1812, has, of course, excited your attention. You have seen his letter to Mr. Parish in 1800, and the letter of Mr. De Witt to William Darby, written in February 1822. A gentleman, who was at a dinner at Washington in 1800, has informed me of a very interesting conversation, in which Mr. Morris, who was one of the party, spoke of the Erie Canal as a matter of which he had long thought. It seems to me that justice has not been done to his memory.

I send you herewith copies of my letter to Governor Lewis, and his answer.

DAVID HOSACK, M.D.

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Letter from Hermanus Bleecker, Esq. to Morgan Lewis, Esq.

ALBANY, May 12^th, 1828.

DEAR SIR,

I think it is due to the memory of the late Gouverneur Morris, that something should be done to preserve the evidence of the conversation he had with you and General Schuyler, at Saratoga, during the revolutionary war, on the subject of the canal between the lakes and the Hudson. I hope you will excuse my making this suggestion.

If you see no objection to give such an account of that conversation as may be preserved, you will of course adopt such a mode of doing it, as seems most proper to you. If no better way occurs to you, it may be in a letter to me. Having had an opportunity of knowing much of Mr. Morris’s zeal and intelligence on the subject of the canal, I have a much stronger sense of his merit and services, in regard to that work, than seems to be now generally entertained. In saying this, I am not conscious of a disposition to detract in the slightest degree from the fair claims and reputation of any other person.

MORGAN LEWIS, Esq.

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Staatsburgh, May 26^th 1828.

DEAR SIR,

On my arrival at this place, from the city of New-York, I found your favour of the 12^th inst. Requesting information as to the early opinion of the late Gouverneur Morris, on the subject of a canal communication between the waters of Lake Erie, and those of the river Hudson. In compliance with which I present you the following statement.

After the evacuation of Ticonderoga, in 1777, the scattered forces of the army of the north having concentrated at Ford Edward, Mr. Morris arrived at General Schuyler’s head-quarters, on a mission from the committee of general safety, of this state, to inquire into and report the actual state of the military force in that quarter. During the time he remained with us, which was several days, he quartered in the same house with the General and myself. Our evenings were usually passed together, ant the state of our affairs generally the subject of conversation.

Mr. Morris, whose temperament admitted of no alliance with despondency, even in the most gloomy periods of the war, with which our then situation might justly be classed; never doubting the ultimate triumph of our arms, and the consequent attainment of our independence, frequently amused us by descanting with great energy on what he termed "the rising glories of the western world." One evening in particular, while describing in the most animated and glowing terms, the rapid march of the useful arts through our country, when once freed from a foreign yoke; the spirit with which agriculture and commerce, both internal and external, would advance; the facilities which would be afforded them by the numerous watercourses intersecting our country, and the ease with which they might be made to communicate; he announced in language highly poetic, and to which I cannot do justice, that at no very distant day, the waters of the great western inland seas, would, by the aid of man, break through their barriers and mingle with those of the Hudson.

I recollect asking him how they were to break through these barriers? To which he replied, that numerous streams passed them through natural channels, and that artificial ones might be conducted by the same routes.

This object, it appears, was a favourite with him, and one of which he never lost sight. In 1810, he came to Albany for the express purpose of engaging, if possible, the legislature in his plans for its attainment; and as an inducement, showed that, previous to his departure from Europe, he had secured, conditionally, a loan of five millions to aid in their execution. While in Albany he lodged in the same house with me, reminded me of the circumstances I have related, informed me of the motives of his visit to the seat of government, and at his request I accompanied him to the lodgings of Mr. Clinton, Generals Platt and Hall, who were at that time, with myself, members of the senate. These gentlemen engaged with zeal in the project; and the ardour and perseverance with which the first named of them pursued it to its final accomplishment, will never fail to do him honour, and to place him in the first rank of meritorious citizens. Nor has he, as I believe, on any occasion, done injustice to Mr. Morris, by claiming to have been himself the original projector.

H. BLEECKER, Esq.

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The following letter from Gouverneur Morris, which was addressed to his friend Mr. John Parish, then of Hamburgh, will be read with deep interest, not only as it regards the object for which it is here introduced, but as exhibiting a glowing picture of our country, and as a splendid specimen of the descriptive talents of the author.

The letter which will be found in our columns to-day, (says the editor of the American, in which it was first published,) is from the pen of the late Gouverneur Morris. It is interesting as a picture of parts of our state five and twenty years ago, and still more, as abounding in glorious anticipations for our common country, which, glowing as they were, reality has already surpassed. But there is one passage in particular in it, which, at this precise moment should be remarked, as entitling his name to no obscure notice, in the ceremonial of celebrating the completion of that channel between the lakes and the ocean, which, standing on the borders of Lake Erie twenty-five years ago, and when all around or between was comparatively a wilderness, he so confidently predicted. "Shall I (he exclaims to his correspondent) lead your astonishment to the verge of incredulity? I will: know then, that one-tenth of the expense borne by Britain in the last campaign, would enable ships to sail from London through Hudson’s river into Lake Erie." The ship channel indeed is not there, but the magnificent idea is nevertheless verified, and a water communication exists from London through the Hudson river to Lake Erie.

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 20, 1800.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

I have before me unanswered, your kind letters of the 3^d April, 6^th July, and 11^th September. I find you have been much a traveller last summer. I too have been one, but through countries from whence I could not write, and in which I received no letters. In July last, I left home to visit some property of my own, and some which was confided to my care by others, in the northern part of the state of New-York. I went by way of Albany, the Lakes George and Champlain to Montreal. After partaking for some days of the festive hospitality of that place, we took boat and went up the St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario, and along the south side of that lake to Niagara; thence by land to Lake Erie, and so back again. This jaunt consumed so much time, that I could not reach my own house until a few days of the period I was bound to come hither, and in those days could scarcely get through the business which lay upon me. Since my arrival at this place, I have been, and still continue incessantly occupied.

If I thought description would convey an accurate idea of what I saw during this excursion, I would attempt to paint objects which must be seen to be understood. Hudsons’ river differs from your Elbe in every feature except the breadth; near two miles wide at New-York, it swells by degrees into a lake of six miles before you reach the mountains called the Highlands, which are forty miles from the city. The western shore is for thirty miles a high and perpendicular rock; the eastern consists of lofty hills, variegated with orchards, cottages, corn-fields, and pasture; in short, it displays every thing which can render a country at once grand and beautiful. The river, generally straight, is in its passage through the mountains, forced to serpentine by jutting promontories. These are high, steep, and abrupt, where pendent rocks frown upon the passenger. Like your Grampians, they are huge masses of granite, and in some parts, like them, their breasts lie bare to the blast; but in general they are clothed with luxuriant foliage. After a progress of twenty miles through this range of mountains, you open on a wide sheet of water, extending nearly as far as the eye can reach, with a breadth of about two miles; and you see at a distance on your left, the head of the Alleghany. On your right is a continuation of the mountains you have passed, which stretching, under various names, through Vermont and along the bounds of Lower Canada, terminate at the Gulf of St. Lawrence. As you ascend towards Albany, you pass two other ridges, beginning each at the distance of 10 or 12 miles from the west bank of the river. The valleys between these ridges extend southward to the Bay of Mexico. They are varied by hills and watered by many streams, no one of which, except the Hudson, is navigable (except by flat-bottomed boats) up to much less beyond the first or south-easternmost range.

About thirty miles to the southward of Albany, you have already turned the third range, which is the head of the Alleghany, called at that place the Blue Mountains, and the Katskill hill; for the English have rendered by the word hill, the Dutch work bergh; and the stream or kill which runs from them, was anciently infested by panthers and the large wild cat. As you approach Albany, the features of the scene begin to soften; the shores are neither so high nor so steep, and at length, sailing among the rich meadows and islands, you reach that city, which is 160 miles from New-York. Something more than sixty miles further north is the south end of Lake George. In riding upwards from Albany, along the Hudson, you pass over some fine land, well cultivated, and in crossing by a bridge, the mouth of the Mohawk river, you see, at less than half a mile, the great Cahoos Falls, of above seventy feet perpendicular height, over which tumbles a river as large as the Elbe at Wirtemberg. At a place called Fort Edward, you see the Hudson, a stream still more copious, precipitate itself over a cataract nearly as high; and about five miles farther on, you have the view of another cataract in the river, called Glen’s Falls, whose features are still more rough and bold. After leaving Hudson’s river at this place, and passing over a plain of a few miles, you ascend some hills of moderate height, and from the top of the last behold Lake George, which, at about ten or twelve miles from its southern extremity, is divided into two parts – one called the northwest bay, bends off to the westward; and the other, which is the main lake, stretches along in a northern direction. At the upper, or southern end, this lake is from six to eight miles wide, but, after a dozen miles, it becomes narrower, and is sprinkled with islands of rocks, covered with trees, for ten or twelve miles, and opens again to a sheet of water three or four miles; after which, turning short between the points of two mountains of solid rock, it seeks its issue over cataracts into Lake Champlain. The shores of Lake George are bold, chiefly mountainous, frequently steep, sometimes perpendicular; and although these mountains are not so high as the Alps, the lake is, on the whole, a finer object than that of Geneva, because it combines better the sublime with the beautiful, and far exceeds in the variety and richness of natural scenery. Its whole length is above thirty miles; the water is deep, pellucid, of a bright green; but on the sandy beach, a liquid crystal. It is difficult which most to admire, the abundance or excellence of the fish. Among these, the trout and perch, called by the Dutch name of barsch or bass, are most eminent. In crossing the lake, I took with a trolling line, above fifty, of various sizes, from half a pound to one pound, and one of five pounds weight. A walk of two miles from the landing place, at the lower end of Lake George, brings you to the landing place below, and you go thence, by a short river, two or three miles, to Ticonderoga or Lake Champlain. Here the scenery is totally different; the water is turbid; the shores of moderate heights rise gently, and are cultivated. At a distance on each side there are high and waving mountains; after passing Crown Point there is some mountain on the western shore before we reach the split rock: until that point the lake varies in width from one to three miles, but swells there to nine or ten. The shores are fine, the land rich, and in rapid improvement; there are good houses, handsome villages, and many vessels sailing to and fro. This point of the lake is sometimes rough, but when we reach Cumberland Head, it is confined by large fertile islands within less extensive and more pleasing limits. The water also having had time to subside, becomes more pure. The mountains retire to the right and left, and before we reach the outlet of the lake, which is about one hundred miles from Ticonderoga, we are already on the great northern plain, which, beginning at Quebec, extends above one thousand miles southwest, west, and northwest, with scarcely any thing on it that deserves the name of a hill. Towards the outlet of the lake, near St. Johns, the shores are low and marshy.

The usual route from St. Johns is sixteen miles to the ferry at La Prairie, a village where every thing is as much French as within a league of Paris. There the St. Lawrence is crossed obliquely to Montreal, shooting a fall in the way: from Montreal we go by land a few miles to La Chine, to avoid some difficult and shoal rapids, and then embark in a batteau managed by five men. From this place to Lake Ontario is one hundred and seventy-five miles: some part of the distance the current is almost imperceptible, but in general it is swift, and frequently so rapid, that its waves are like those of the sea; so indeed are its waters, which are of a bright sea green, and of wonderful transparency. In a calm on Lake Ontario, I let down a stone not so large as my fist, and saw it from the side of a batteau, above thirty feet below the surface. The source of the St. Lawrence is one vast congeries of lakes. Ontario, the smallest of them, is unfathomable, and has a length of one hundred and fifty miles with a breadth of fifty. The river flows out of this lake, and has therefore the advantage of always being full and of never overflowing its banks. Let me add here, that there is a brilliancy in our atmosphere, you can have no idea of except by going to Italy, or else by viewing one of Claude Lorraine’s best landscapes, and persuading yourself that the light there exhibited, is a just though faint picture of nature. The borders of Lake Saint Francis, so called because the river expands itself there to a breadth of five or six miles, and has but a gentle current, are chiefly low; all the rest are of an agreeable height. The width of the river is various. Seventy miles from Lake Ontario it is about two miles wide, and deep enough for the largest ship, which may sail from thence to Niagara. In approaching the lake it is wider, but does not appear so, being filled with islands, of which there are, it is said, one thousand. There are also islands, and some of them considerable, in the hundred miles which extend from the first rapid down to Montreal. I believe there is much more water in this river than in the Danube at Vienna. Of the rapids I can say nothing; each differs from the other, and all from every thing of the kind I ever beheld. Still less can I pretend to convey to you the sentiments excited by a view of the lake. It is to all purposes of human vision an ocean, the same majestic motion in its billows. More delightful situations for country seats there are not in the world, than those which lie on the Saint Lawrence and a bay called ----------, at the mouth of the lake, where too are such fish as can be met with no where else. A man who has not been on these waters, cannot be said ever to have tasted an eel. They have also three species of pike; one like that of Europe goes by the same name; another of brighter scales and broader, called by the English pickerel and by the French poisson doré is much better; but the best of all, called by the Indian tribes Maskinonge, is of a shorter make, particularly about the head, and of enormous size, viz. from twelve to thirty pounds. Salmon is also abundant, and so is the large lake trout. The game is of various kinds and excellent. In coasting along the smooth sides of Lake Ontario, the scene is always vast, has too much sameness; but I must not omit to mention, that we dipt up water from the surface, and found it cool even in our midsummer. This circumstance combines with many others, to show that the large lakes are all fed by springs; and men of credit assure me that in ascending them, their waters become more limpid; so that a man would think that of Ontario warm and foul when compared with the coldness and purity of Lake Superior, whose circumference is more than 1500 miles. After one day’s repose at Niagara, we went to view the Falls. To form a faint idea of the cataract, imagine to yourself the Frith of Forth rush wrathfully down a deep descent, leap foaming, over a perpendicular rock one hundred and seventy-five feet high, then flow away in the semblance of milk from a vast basin of emerald. – Proceeding from the Falls towards Lake Erie, along the bank of Niagara river, the contrast is complete. A quiet, gentle stream laves the shores of a country level and fertile. Along the banks of this stream, which by reason of islands in it, appears to be of moderate size, we proceed to Fort Erie. Here again the boundless waste of waters fills the mind with renewed astonishment; and here, as in turning a point of wood, the lake broke on my view, I saw riding at anchor nine vessels, the least of them 100 tons. Can you bring your imagination to realize this scene? Does it not seem like magic? Yet this magic is but the early effort of victorious industry. Hundreds of large ships will in no distant period bound on the billows of those inland seas. At this point commences a navigation of more than a thousand miles. Shall I lead your astonishment to the verge of incredulity? I will: know then, that one-tenth of the expense borne by Britain in the last campaign, would enable ships to sail from London through Hudson’s river into Lake Erie. As yet, my friend, we only crawl along the outer shell of our country. The interior excels the part we inhabit in soil, in climate, in every thing. The proudest empire in Europe is but a bauble compared to what America will be, must be, in the course of two centuries, perhaps of one. If with a calm retrospect to the progress made within forty years, we stand on the firm ground of calculations warranted by experience, and look forward to the end of a similar period, imagination shrinks from the magnitude of rational deduction.

Forty years ago all America could not, without bills of credit, raise 100,000 dollars, to defend themselves against an enemy at their doors. Now, in profound peace, the taxes bring into the treasury, without a strain or effort, above 10,000,000 dollars. In the year 1760, there was not perhaps 10,000 dollars of specie in this country: at present, the banks of Philadelphia alone have above ten millions to dispose of beyond the demand. I heard it remarked many years ago as wonderful, that in the year 1760, there were in privateers, sailing from America, as many seamen as there had been on board the royal navy of Elizabeth. It is less wonderful that our present tonnage should be equal to that of the whole British dominions at the accession of George the second? If pausing thus at particular periods to collect the facts, we are already surprised, how shall we control our amazement, when those facts are applied in the course of just reasoning? This country advances not in direct, but in compound ratio; which is more than duplicate, and accumulating without adverting to the principles of this accelerating progression: ascertain facts, and for that purpose divide the last forty years into four periods, then supposing the ratio were duplicate, a revenue of 10,000,000 in 1800 will give for 1790 5,000,000 dollars, for 1780, two millions and a half, for 1770 one million and a quarter, and for 1760, five-eighths of a million. But in speculations of this sort, it is more proper to take periods of twenty years, so as to obviate fluctuations from accidental causes. If then half a million be assumed as the utmost which could have been raised in 1760, that sum multiplied by four gives two millions for 1780, which multiplied by five gives ten millions for 1800. On going backward and dividing first by 3, we have 160,000 dollars for 1740, and then by 2, we have 80,000 for the year 1720, – the era of the South Sea bubble. Now then, if we go forward, not with sextuple, but merely with quadruple ratio, for more periods of 20 years, beginning with 2,000,000 pounds sterling, we have for 1820, 8,000,000 pounds; and for 1840, more than thirty millions sterling of revenue, raised from a population which may then amount to near 30,000,000 of souls. This indeed seems impossible; but did it not seem equally impossible, at the close of the seven years’ war, that the nett revenue of British America should exceed 2,000,000 pounds sterling by the end of the century? Had this been asserted on the exchange of London in the year 1760, would it not have been laughed at in 1780? But whither am I going? I meant, in the time I steal, merely to answer your letters now lying before me.

Many thanks for what you tell me about your family, and about our friends; remember me affectionately to them, and present my respects to Lord ----------, when you see him. If you were on this side of the water, I should greatly rejoice, and (whatever you might do) your grand-children would have great reason to rejoice. But you won’t come – you will shiver along through German and Scotch summers, consoling yourself for the tediousness of June, by the long, snug, comfortable evenings of January. You tell me, my friend, that I must join you, and particularly must take up my residence in London. But have you reflected that there is more of real society in one week at Niensteden, that in a London year? Recollect that a tedious morning, a great dinner, a boozy afternoon, and a dull evening, make the sum total of English life. It is admirable for young men who shoot, hunt, drink, and ----; but for us! how are we to dispose of ourselves? Now were I to give you a rendezvous in Europe, it should be on the continent. I respect, as you know, the English nation highly, and love many individuals among them, but I do not love their manners. They are perhaps too pure, but they certainly are too cold for my taste. The Scotch are more agreeable to me; but were the manner of those countries as pleasant as the people are respectable, I should never be reconciled to their summers. Compare the uninterrupted warmth and splendour of America, from the first of May to the last of September, and her autumn truly celestial, with your shivering June, July, and August, sometimes warm, but often wet; your uncertain September, your gloomy October, and your damnable November. Compare these things, and then say, how a man who prizes the charms of nature, can think of making the exchange. If you were to pass one autumn with use, you would not give it for the best six months to be found in any other country, unless indeed you should get tired of fine weather.

You are at this time tired of my letter, so at length I bid you adieu. – God bless you.

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In the pamphlet referred to, entitled Facts and Observations in relation to the origin and completion of the Erie Canal, in which the author claims for Mr. Morris the credit of giving origin to the western canal, the writer makes the following remarks:

"In the year 1799, Mr. Gouverneur Morris returned from Europe, where he had been employed as minister plenipotentiary from the United States to France, and in other important and confidential situations. In the year 1800 he made a visit to the falls of Niagara and Lake Erie, and first conceived the gigantic plan of bringing the waters of Lake Erie into the Hudson, which when completed in the manner he contemplated, will be justly considered one of the greatest undertakings ever performed by the exertions of a free people, uninfluenced by the commands of despotic authority.

"Mr. G. Morris, returning from the above mentioned visit to the falls of Niagara and Lake Erie, communicated his plan to several persons, from whom he expected he might obtain information on the subject; among others to Mr. Charles C. Brodhead, then an intelligent land-surveyor at Utica, who has since been employed as one of the engineers of the Erie Canal. Mr. Morris inquired of him if he could estimate the probable height of the summit level of the country between Lake Erie and the Hudson: on Mr. Brodhead’s answering in the negative, and inquiring the reason of the question, Mr. G. Morris stated that he was desirous of information, in relation to a plan he had of an immense inland navigation, by bringing the waters of Lake Erie into the Hudson. On Mr. Brodhead’s expressing his surprise at the magnitude of the project, doubting its feasibility and practicability, and treating it as visionary, Mr. G. Morris assured him that he would live to see the day, when this communication would be effected. Mr. Brodhead’s is now living at Utica.

"Simeon De Witt, Esq. surveyor general of the state, a gentleman of universally acknowledged merit, who has held that office uninterruptedly through all the various changes of parties, for above forty years, states ‘that the merit of first starting the idea of a direct communication by water between Lake Eire and Hudson River, unquestionably belongs to Mr. Gouverneur Morris.’ "

Soon after the revolutionary war, the attention of our legislature was drawn to the improvement of the internal navigation of the state, and two companies were incorporated for the purpose, viz. the Northern, and Western Inland Lock Navigation Companies. With respect to the latter, the views of its patrons evidently did not extend further than to the improvement of natural streams, and the making of short canals and locks to pass difficult or unnavigable places, such as the Little Falls on the Mohawk River, the communication between that river and the Wood Creek at Rome, and some extraordinary rifts or rapids, in order to facilitate the passage of boats from Albany, or Schenectady, to Oswego and the Cayuga lake. Beyond these nothing was then contemplated. To lock round the Niagara falls was a subsequent project, which was never attempted to be put into execution. The merit of first starting the idea of a direct communication by water, between Lake Erie and the Hudson River, unquestionably belongs to Mr. Gouverneur Morris. The first suggestion I had of it was from him. In 1803, I accidentally met with him at Schenectady. We put up for the night at the same inn, and passed the evening together. Among the various topics of conversation, to which his prolific mind, and excursive imagination gave birth, was that of improving the means of intercourse with the interior of our state. He then mentioned the project of tapping Lake Erie, as he expressed himself, and leading its waters in an artificial river, directly across the country to the Hudson River. To this I very naturally opposed the intermediate hills and valleys, as insuperable obstacles. His answer was, in substance, labor improbus omnia vincit, and that the object would justify the labour and expense, whatever that might be. Considering this as a romantic thing, and characteristic of the man, I related it on several occasions. Mr. Geddes now reminds me that I mentioned it to him in 1804, when he was here as a member of the legislature, and adds, that afterwards, when in company with Mr. Jesse Hawley, it became a subject of conversation, which probably led to inquiries, that induced Mr. Hawley to write the essays which afterwards appeared in newspapers, on the subject of carrying a canal from Lake Eire to Albany, through the interior of the country, without going by was of Lake Ontario.

The author of the pamphlet continues: – "Mr. James Geddes, one of the principal engineers of the Erie Canal, has on a former occasion thus expressed himself: ‘canals between the Hudson and northern Wood Creek, and between the Mohawk and western Wood Creek, must have been contemplated by the first navigators of these waters, things so obvious must have early struck every one, but the idea of the Erie Canal is of very modern origin. In the winter of 1804, I learnt for the first time, from the surveyor general, that Mr. Gouverneur Morris in a conversation between them in the preceding autumn, mentioned the scheme of a canal from Lake Erie across the country to the Hudson River. The idea of saving so much lockage by not descending into Lake Ontario, made a lively impression on my mind, by which I was prompted on every occasion to inquire into the practicability of the project, and entered with enthusiasm on the task assigned by the surveyor general in 1808, of expending the small sum of six hundred dollars, then granted by our legislature for making levels, &c.’

"The improved intercourse with Lake Erie had always been contemplated to be effected by removing obstructions in the streams, and in some places constructing canals and locks, on the route of the then actual intercourse by the Mohawk River, western Wood Creek, Oneida Lake, Onondago and Oswego Rivers, Lake Ontario, and Niagara River. But when Mr. G. Morris’s project of constructing a canal across the country the whole distance from Lake Erie to the Hudson, was made known and discussed in the interior, the scheme was adopted there, and spread with inconceivable rapidity. Mr. Jesse Hawley, of Ontario, engaged in giving publicity to the proposed route with great zeal, and in 1807, published a number of essays in the newspapers, which had an excellent effect in making the inhabitants of the western district familiar with the subject, and engaging their steady co-operation in promoting a plan which was to them of such vast importance."

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The following observations by the author of the Supplement to Col. Troup’s letter addressed to Brockholst Livingston, Esq. on the lake canal policy of the state of New-York, are also introduced as connected with this subject.

"In 1796, Mr. Thomas Eddy, one of the most efficient members of the Western Navigation Company, accompanied by Mr. Weston, a distinguished engineer, explored the country from the Mohawk to the Seneca River, under the direction of General Schuyler, the president of the association, for the purpose of laying out the track of a direct canal to connect those rivers, as well to avoid the intricate navigation of Wood Creek, as the dangerous passage for loaded boats across the Oneida lake. They reported in favour of the plan, but no attempt was made to carry it into effect. In this incipient measure, we distinctly perceive an additional stride towards the Great Erie Canal.

"Recent inquiries have also enabled me to state, that Gen. Philip Schuyler, whose name is already identified with the system of inland navigation, proposed by the act of 1792, conceived, as early as the year 1797 or 1798, the design of extending that system to Lake Erie. The intelligence and patriotism of that great man have received from Colonel Troup an animated but merited encomium; and I am happy to furnish new evidence of both, by announcing him as probably the first individual who conceived the splendid project of uniting by a direct canal, the waters of Lake Erie with those of the Mohawk and Hudson.

"Gouverneur Morris has also been supposed to have alluded to this project, in a letter to a friend in Europe, written in the year 1800, but published since his death, in which he says – ‘That one-tenth of the expense borne by Britain in the last campaign, it is highly probable, would enable ships to sail from London through the Hudson River into Lake Erie.’

"If Mr. Morris contemplated in this passage, a canal from Lake Erie on the present system, it is highly probable, from the intimacy which existed between him and General Schuyler, that the idea was communicated to him by the latter.

"It is supposed by others, that he intended a communication between Lake Erie and the Hudson, by what is usually called the ‘Ontario route,’ to be effected by a canal and locks around the falls of Niagara, by navigating Lake Ontario to the Oswego harbour, and from thence, pursuing the plan of Mr. Watson, as adopted by the legislature in March 1792. Perhaps such may have been his meaning, for in the year 1798, a law had been passed authorising the construction of a canal around the falls of Niagara, for the express purpose of connecting the vast chain of upper lakes, with Ontario and the Hudson, via Oswego and the improved navigation."

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With the hope, if possible, of settling the question with regard to Mr. Morris’s views on this subject, I addressed a letter to Mr. James Geddes now residing in the county of Onondago, to Mr. Charles Brodhead of Utica, and to Mr. Benjamin Wright, who have all been actively and extensively employed in their professional capacity, as surveyors and engineers. The following extracts are from the communications I have received from those respectable sources of information.

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Extract of a letter from James Geddes, dated January 17, 1829.

DEAR SIR,

I must say, that I never had the idea cross my mind of passing a canal over the country to Lake Erie, regardless of the ready made navigation of Lake Ontario, until I received it from the surveyor general in 1804, as communicated to him by Gouverneur Morris. The impression made on my mind was vivid; the saving of so much lockage struck me as a grand desideratum. I had then been ten years in this country, a wilderness at that time, but partially penetrated, had a knowledge of the chain of swamps, which stretch across the country from Montezuma to the Mohawk River, and readily entertained some idea of the practicability of the project. Four years afterwards, I found the continuance westward of the above singular formation through the long swamp between the Seneca River waters and those of the Irondequot, and had in 1808 all doubts removed as to the practicability of the plan suggested. Yes, sir, more than twenty years ago, I became acquainted with nearly all the prominent features of the internal direct course to Erie.

In my report made to the surveyor general, January 20^th 1809, you will find, Vol. I p. 32^d of the Official History, &c. anticipations as follows: – As to farther particulars respecting the interior route, it would be important to know, whether there is not some place in the ridge which bounds the Tonawanta valley on the north, as low as the level of Lake Erie, where a canal might be led across. A place so low has not been found, but it has been made so.

I consider it, sir, amongst the fortunate occurrences of my life, that after having received the idea of such a project, I was enabled fully to test its practicability. It was a piece of good fortune, for which I feel grateful to him, that I was employed by the surveyor general to make the surveys. And I have been alike fortunate in enjoying the confidence of the several legislatures, who have passed important laws relative to the Erie Canal, during the eleven years in which I was the only engineer, who had ever seen or given any account of the western section. In February 1820, the report of Canvass White, Esq. is mentioned as his first entrance on to the western section.

Between the years 1804 and 1808, when my neighbour, Judge Foreman, brought forward his resolutions in the legislature, I had often conversed on the subject of the canal to Lake Erie, with him and other gentlemen who had a relish for such speculative inquiries, and have not the least doubt, that the ideas of every one on the internal route, are traceable to the conversations in 1803, between Messrs. De Witt and Morris. In Mr. De Witt’s letter to Mr. Darby, he says, "I related it on several occasions."

I have the most perfect recollection of circumstances, time and place, when I informed Mr. Jesse Hawley of the project. It was at Geneva, the winter before he wrote his essays. I had a few days before seen a map of the country west of the Genesee River, from which I had received some new ideas at to the probable track of such a canal, and finding in him a taste for such disquisitions, I conversed at length with him on the subject, and have no doubt but that I then informed him that the idea came from Mr. Morris.

I had great opportunities of being acquainted with Mr. Morris’s canal notions; and he seemed to have caught much of that spirit of the celebrated Brindley, who would make tunnels, high embankments, almost any thing to avoid lockage. This great desire to lessen lockage, probably suggested the idea of passing across the country south of Lake Ontario, and thus avoiding all the locks required to descend to Lake Ontario, and rise again to the Utica level; for such was his ignorance of the country to be passed, and his pertinacity was such, that it was almost impossible to call his attention to the impracticability of such a thing.

Forty-five feet that Seneca River lies below the Utica level, makes ninety feet of lockage that could not be avoided; but the thirty-four feet of lockage made by the alteration of 1818, from the first map that had been made, was not necessary.

To Dr. DAVID HOSACK.

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Letter from Mr. Charles C. Brodhead.

UTICA, February 1^st, 1829.

DEAR SIR,

I have this moment received your of the 26^th ult. relative to the Erie Canal; and in reply, can only say, that I do not recollect that I ever saw my name in any pamphlet published, though I had seen a publication in the American, stating Gouverneur Morris’s views of a project of a canal, as said to have been related by me, and which I was afterwards informed, by some one, had been taken from a pamphlet published in New-Jersey. If this is what you allude to, I have no hesitation in saying, that the account given of the conversation with Mr. Morris, as stated in that paper, is in many important particulars, incorrect, and does not convey my views in relation to the subject. It is some time since I have seen this publication, and cannot now lay my hands on it, so as to refresh my memory, but I well recollect the impression it made on my mind at the time. And will therefore give you as brief a statement as possible, of what I consider to be the facts, in relation to Mr. Morris’s views, as conveyed to me at the time.

In the year 1802 or 3, I met Mr. Morris at Rome, and had a conversation with him on the subject of canals. He had just then ascended the Mohawk, in a boat on a tour to the St. Lawrence, by the way of Oswego, and inquired very particularly of me as to the situation and soil of the land, along the Oneida Lake and the banks of the Oneida and Ontario Lakes. And if I mistake not, he spoke of the waters of the Salmon River, and Bruce’s Creek, so called; the former empties into Lake Ontario, and the latter into Oneida Lake. I do not recollect that Lake Erie was mentioned in this conversation, and it is my impression that it was not, though it might have been and forgotten by me. After answering Mr. Morris’s inquiries, as far as I was able, he declared he would give five hundred dollars to be a member of the legislature that year, that he might get a law passed for a canal from the Hudson River, and I think I cannot be mistaken, when I say, to Lake Ontario. Much might be said, and many anecdotes told, were it necessary to show Mr. Morris’s zeal and views on this subject; but more is not thought necessary. Whatever Mr. Morris’s views might have been subsequent to this period, I cannot say, nor do I know who is entitled to the credit, of first suggesting the project of carrying the canal direct to Lake Erie, nor would I hazard an opinion at this time.

TO Dr. DAVID HOSACK.

P.S. I remember to have had a conversation with Mr. R. at Utica, on the subject of the canal, when we spoke of Mr. Morris, and the splendid schemes proposed by him. But I never intended to convey any other idea to him, or any one else, of Mr. Morris’s views to me, than those above alluded to, and which I have in substance stated. – C.C.B.

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Letter from Judge Wright.

NEW-YORK, Jan. 3, 1829.

DEAR SIR,

Your favour of yesterday is before me. In this you request me to give you all the information I have as to the early views and suggestions of the late Gouverneur Morris, relative to the improvement of the interior of this state by water communications.

I can only give you what were the rumours of the time, and reported as the remarks of Mr. Morris. These conversations or observations were made by Mr. Morris about the year 1800, and soon after that period, and they all tend to show that Mr. Morris looked only to canalling along the valleys of the natural water-courses to Lake Ontario, and then connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie by improvements around Niagara Falls, as contemplated by the act of 1798.

I cannot say that Mr. Morris did not concur in the project of a canal through the interior without touching Lake Ontario, but I feel very confident he had no local knowledge of the formation of the country at that day. – Neither do I believe he gained any knowledge of the peculiar formation of that part of the state, until after the surveys made by direction of the state in 1808-9.

A friend of mine, now no more, told me he heard Mr. M. observe at an early day, (say about 1800,) that a sloop navigation ought to be made from the Hudson to the lakes; and when asked where the labour to execute such a work could be had, he replied, that we ought to bring over thousands of German Redemptioners for that purpose.

Taking this remark of a sloop navigation, and then looking at the map of the state, where we see that Oswego on Lake Ontario is almost equi-distant between Niagara and Albany, and then bear in mind that Lake Ontario is good sloop or ship navigation, and that all intelligent men at an early day looked that way as the natural route for improvement, as is evident by Mr. Gallatin’s Report to Congress in 1807, the inference is strong that these were Mr. Morris’s views until he visited the country as canal commissioner, in 1810: he then took a different view of the whole subject.

I could relate other remarks made by Mr. Morris, which would corroborate these impressions, but do not think them important at this time.

The late Mr. Morris, with his gigantic mind and extensive views of things, had no doubt many vast, but crude and indefinite ideas of great future improvements in this country. Yet with all his great mind, his projects were of little benefit to the world without being submitted to the test and scrutiny of sound practical minds, to decide upon what was capable of being performed with reasonable feasibility, as to means and future usefulness and profit. The time I hope is rapidly approaching, when sound practical knowledge and judgment, in comparing utility and advantages with expense of execution in great plans, will be better understood and appreciated, and more in fashion than heretofore.

TO DAVID HOSACK, M.D.

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The views thus expressed by Mr. Brodhead and Judge Wright, appear to be corroborated by Mr. Morris himself, in the following correspondence with General Lee.

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Extract of a Letter from General Lee to Gouverneur Morris, Esq.

"January 16, 1801.

"DEAR SIR,

"In our late conversation respecting the western country, I could not but be impressed with your observations on the policy of strengthening the ties which hold us together, by opening a convenient access to the Atlantic from the lakes and the Ohio, through the Hudson and Potomac rivers; will you do me the favour to commit to paper your ideas in full, that we may, if practicable, bring the nation to adopt and cherish a scheme, pregnant with a long train of consequences, benign and useful."

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Extract of a Letter in reply to the above by Gouverneur Morris, Esq. to General Lee.

"WASHINGTON CITY, Jan. 22, 1801.

"DEAR SIR,

"In compliance with the wish you did me the honour to express in your letter of the 16^th, I will sketch out a general idea of what has occurred to my observation and reflection, respecting the commerce of our interior country, the political consequences which may result from it, and the means we possess of rendering that commerce, and those means, favourable to our government and propitious to our future prosperity."

"The rivers of the United States falling south-eastward into the Atlantic, furnish a means of transportation less interrupted by the frost than the St. Lawrence, and more commodious than the Mississippi."

"As far as I can judge from observation and information, the communication between Lake Ontario and the Hudson is not only practicable, but easy, though expensive."

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Upon this last letter of Mr. Morris, Mr. Thomas Eddy makes the following remarks.

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"Previous to this, say in 1797, a canal from Wood Creek to the Mohawk was completed by the Western Canal Company, under the direction of Mr. Weston, so that Mr. M. supposes a communication might be made, which, in fact, was done four years previous. But it should be well observed, Mr. M. only contemplates the practicability of a communication from Lake Ontario to the Hudson – not a word of one continued canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson."

"The character of Mr. M. is well known. His talents were of the most brilliant kind: he had seen much of the world, and it is seldom we meet with a man of more universal knowledge of mankind. He was, during the trying period of the Revolution, warmly attached to the great cause his country was then engaged in. When speaking of Mr. M. we therefore do not wish to depreciate his general character; with all the greatness of mind he possessed, he was in many of his opinions at times visionary – he was not a practical man. Although no one of the commissioners were more ardent in promoting the object of connecting the waters of Lake Erie and the Hudson, yet it is a fact that Mr. M. in some respects injured the undertaking – or, in other words, was the means of preventing the legislature engaging in the project so soon as they otherwise would have done. The first Report was drawn (as Mr. M.’s friends state,) by him. The subject being new, and the commissioners diffident of their own judgment, vested much confidence in the opinions of Mr. Morris, and signed that Report unadvisedly, and without proper care and deliberation, believing that he knew much more than he really did, and distrusting, perhaps too scrupulously, their own judgment, they signed, and thereby sanctioned that Report. In it Mr. M. gave scope to his fancy, and proposed the project of a canal on an inclined plane from Erie to the Hudson. When this Report was printed, and read by sensible men throughout the Union, they were disappointed, and condemned it on account of the proposed plan of an inclined plane canal. The rare project of a canal on so extensive a scale, connected with the idea proposed of the inclined plane, caused much opposition to the whole undertaking. – The second Report was also from the pen of Mr. M. but in this, as the other commissioners had gained some experience on the subject generally, more care was taken, and the errors contained in the first Report avoided. After the second Report was presented, the legislature passed an act, giving authority to the commissioners to borrow, on the credit of the state, five millions of dollars. Mr. M. proposed to borrow this money in Europe, and after considerable deliberation, this was agreed to by the other commissioners. Mr. M. drafted letters to a person in Paris, whom he proposed should be appointed agent to obtain the loan. In these letters Mr. M. directed the agent to receive the money, and proposed that the commissioners would draw on him for the whole amount. This scheme was objected to by the other commissioners, and Mr. Clinton called on Chancellor Livingston, Mr. De Witt, and Mr. Eddy, and stated to them that it would be proper for them to state to Mr. M. explicitly, that they would not on any account consent that the agent should pledge the state, until the money should first be paid the commissioners in New-York. Mr. M. was exceedingly offended that his proposal should be rejected, and at length was obliged to comply with the mode proposed by the other commissioners, viz. that the money should first be paid in New-York, before the state should be pledged to redeem the loan. – Mr. M. was much chagrined. If, as he proposed, the agent should have received the money in Paris, and he, the agent have died, or any other accident happened, the state might have lost the whole of this money. This anecdote serves to show the ardent character of Mr. M. – When the third Report was to be drafted, Mr. M. was chairman of the committee, and undertook the drafting of it. Mr. M. addressed a letter to the commissioners then in New-York, Messrs. Van Rensselaer, North, and Eddy, informing them that it was ready, and wished them to come out to Morrisania. The roads were so extremely bad that they were prevented from going out; they sent a messenger and requested that the report might be sent to them, and stated if it met their approbation, they would send it to Mr. Clinton then at Albany, to be presented by him to the legislature. The draft as drawn by Mr. Morris was sent to them, but on examining it, they could not unite with Mr. M. in some parts of it, and returned it with respectful observations proposing amendments, &c. Mr. M. on this wrote the note dated March 9, 1816, which is inserted in the American of April 7, 1819; on this the commissioners in New-York (Van Rensselaer, North, and Eddy,) drafted a Report and sent it to Mr. Clinton and Mr. De Witt at Albany, which with some alterations by the latter gentleman was presented, but Mr. M. did not sign it. – On the whole, Mr. M. certainly, (as has been shown,) prevented the legislature adopting the plan prior to 1816. On December 3^d, that year, a large meeting of citizens was convened at the City Hotel, and addressed by Judge Platt, Mr. Clinton, and others. A committee (Messrs. Clinton, Swarthout and Eddy,) were appointed to draft an Address to the legislature. This Address was written by Mr. Clinton, and signed by a very large portion of the citizens. The address contained by far the most clear view of the subject relating to the practicability of making the canal, its advantages, &c. &c. of any of the reports made by the commissioners. It contains so much useful matter, that it is presumed it will at this day be an acceptable document to lay before the public." – Thomas Eddy’s Manuscripts.

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Such are the statements I have been enabled to obtain relative to the claims of Mr. Morris. I should have been gratified, by having had access to his private papers, to have found them containing less equivocal evidences of the originality of his suggestion of the course to Erie by the interior route, than those which are adduced.

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Transcribed from the original text and html prepared by Bill Carr, last updated 5/22/99.