In reply to the following request, preferred to Col. W.L. Stone, the editor of the Commercial Advertiser, that gentleman has kindly favoured me with the subjoined valuable communication, containing very interesting details upon each subject to which his attention was requested, and which cannot fail to receive the notice and approbation of all who feel an interest in the great event to which they relate.

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NEW-YORK, February, 12^th, 1829.

DEAR SIR,

I am fully aware of the important legislative services that were rendered in the years 1816 and 1817, by the gentlemen referred to in my Discourse, and by some others whom I omitted to notice upon that occasion, and whose services are no less entitled to grateful consideration, viz. the Hon. Abraham Van Vechten, Elisha Williams, Esq. and my friend the late Judge Pendleton.

As you were in Albany during those memorable sessions of the legislature, and reported the proceedings of the two houses, and the most important speeches that were delivered in the course of the debates which took place in the years referred to, I will esteem it a favour if you will communicate to me a summary of your reports of the proceedings of the legislature in 1816 and 1817, relative to the Erie and Champlain Canals, which I may be permitted to introduce among the documents collected on this subject.

WILLIAM L. STONE, Esq.

Editor of the Commercial Advertiser.

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