MEMOIR OF DE WITT CLINTON

APPENDIX

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SERVICES OF ROBERT TROUP.

Among the number of those entitled to the meed of public gratitude, although he did not hold an official station connected with the public measures relative to this subject, is Colonel Robert Troup. That gentleman was an original subscriber to the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, and in connexion with the late Thomas Eddy, Robert Bowne, of New-York, and Barent Bleecker, of Albany, was also an active and useful member of the board of directors of that association. Colonel Troup has also, as an agent for the Pulteney estate, resided for many years in the western country. Under those circumstances he enjoyed peculiar opportunities of becoming familiarly conversant with every part of the interior of the state, as regards its soil, its waters, its native productions, and the commercial advantages that must arise from the improvement of its natural navigation, or by the system of canals which were at time contemplated.

Busily employed, as Colonel Troup has been for many years, in performing the duties of an extensive agency, which has necessarily called him to mix a good deal with his fellow-citizens in the western parts of the state, and with the members of the legislature, he has never failed to improve to the utmost of his power, every proper opportunity towards removing prejudices against the canal policy, and substituting, in their places, impressions favourable to its adoption.

It is also to be observed, that shortly after the period of the meeting of the citizens in New-York, which agreed to Mr. Clinton’s celebrated Memorial to the legislature, urging that body to undertake the construction of the canal as a work of the state, Colonel Troup was also concerned with the late Gideon Granger, John Greig, Esq. John Nicholas Esq. the Hon. Nathaniel W. Howell, and several other leading gentlemen of Ontario Country, in convening a large meeting at Canandaigua, in that county, 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 the work of the state. The meeting took place; and few meetings, it is stated, have been more respectable for numbers, character, talent, and property. Such indeed had been the active exertions of Colonel 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. The meeting being organized, and the objects of it announced by Col. Troup, Gideon Granger, Esq. the late post master general, rose and addressed it in a very eloquent and able speech, on the momentous object for which that meeting had been convened. Mr. Granger’s speech being finished, a number of important resolutions, drawn up by Myron Holley, {In a letter addressed to Colonel Troup, by John Greig, Esq. dated Canandaigua, 31st May, 1828, he observes: "To Mr. Holley, more than to any one else, we are indebted for that meeting, and for the popularity which the canal policy immediately afterwards acquired in the western part of the state. Indeed I have always been satisfied that his intelligence and zeal, and unwearied exertions of both mind and body on the subject, from the moment of his appointment as a canal commissioner, essentially contributed to bring the Erie Canal to a successful completion."} afterwards 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, Esq. another active friend and liberal contributor to the canal, and were unanimously passed. Those resolutions exhibited with great force, the incalculable advantages that would necessarily flow from a canal navigation between Lake Erie and the Hudson. Of these resolutions a correspondent observes, "that both in matter and style, they may justly be denominated a near relation of Mr. Clinton’s celebrated Memorial." The valuable document containing those resolutions is subjoined. The proceedings of this meeting, as may readily be supposed, made a deep impression on the public mind, and powerfully contributed to the enlightened policy which the legislature subsequently embraced. After this meeting, a memorial to the legislature from the inhabitants of Geneva, in order still further to sustain the efforts making in other parts of the states, in recommendation of the canal policy, was drawn by Colonel Troup, who greatly exerted himself to have it supported by numerous signatures. These, with other important services rendered by an extensive correspondence with Mr. Clinton, Thomas Eddy, and the other canal commissioners, as well as other gentlemen interested in the canal navigation of the state, entitle Colonel Troup to the gratitude of his fellow-citizens.

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Transcribed from the original text and html prepared by Bill Carr, last updated 5/26/99.

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