Mr. Clinton’s Answer to the Address of the Committee.

To the committee of a meeting of the citizens of New-York, of which William Few, Esq. was chairman, and John Rathbone, Esq. secretary.

GENTLEMEN – I know of no event that has a more powerful demand on my gratitude than the proceedings of the citizens of New-York, respecting my agency in the navigable communications between our Mediterranean seas and the Atlantic Ocean. The approbation of a meeting so numerous and respectable, conveyed through a channel so virtuous and enlightened, is a reward that ought to satisfy the most aspiring ambition.

At the commencement of the year 1816, a few individuals held a consultation in the city of New-York, for the purpose of calling the public attention to the contemplated western and northern canals The difficulties to be surmounted were of the most formidable aspect. The state, in consequence of her patriotic exertions during the war, was considerably embarrassed in her finances; a current of hostility had set in against the project; and the preliminary measures, however well intended, ably devised, or faithfully executed, had unfortunately increased, instead of allaying prejudice; and such was the weight of these, and other considerations, that the plan was generally viewed as abandoned. Experience evinces that it is much easier to originate a measure successfully, than it is to revive one which has been already unfavourably received. Notwithstanding these appalling obstacles, which were duly considered, a public meeting was called of which William Bayard was chairman, and John Pintard secretary; a memorial in favour of the canal policy was read and approved, and a correspondent spirit was excited through the community, which induced the legislature to pass a law authorising surveys and examinations. And let me, on this occasion, discharge a debt of gratitude and of justice to the late Robert Bowne. He is now elevated above human panegyric, and reposes, I humbly and fervently believe, in the bosom of his God. He had at an early period, devoted his attention to this subject, and was master of all its important bearings. To his wise counsels, intelligent views, and patriotic exertions, we were under incalculable obligations. I never left the society of this excellent and venerable man without feeling the most powerful inducements for the most animated efforts.

The proceedings under the act of 1816, presented such conclusive testimonials in favour of the proposed canals, that a law was enacted authorising their commencement, but not without the most decided opposition. I am aware that some of the most pure and intelligent men in the community were unfriendly to the prosecution of a measure which appeared to them either impracticable in attainment, or overwhelming in expense; but it must certainly be considered an extraordinary feature in our history, that the representatives of your city, the place most benefited by the canals, should take the lead in hostility. This fact is not mentioned in the way of reproach, but to show the difficulties which environed the measure in every step of its progress.

After my election to the chair of state, I found that the opposition to the canal was mingled with the agitations of the times, and that its destinies were to a certain extent identified with my official position. At this crisis, I was induced to continue in my station as a canal commissioner, from a persuasion that my retirement might be considered an abandonment; and from a conviction that I could render more essential benefit to the undertaking by remaining at my post, and encountering all the obloquy, resentments, and misrepresentations, which at that period were so strongly indicated: And I had finally the satisfaction to see that the successful progress of the work had dispelled the doubts of its well-meaning opponents, and silenced the clamours of its enemies of a different description.

From the extinguishment of open hostility, to the present period, I have not been without serious apprehensions, that events might occur to prevent the consummation of this work; and I have rejoiced at the termination of each year of its progress, and watched over it with indescribable anxiety. Although I have no reason to suspect the fidelity of the agents entrusted with the disbursements of the public monies, yet I was sensible that any loss by accident, or any misapplication by design, might prove fatal. And I was at all times aware, that the intervention of a foreign war might prevent the necessary loans, and that the national government, without any hostile design, might, by repealing and imposing certain duties, inflict an irreparable injury on our financial arrangements.

On the 4th of July, 1817, the work was commenced. The Champlain and the greater part of the Erie Canal are now in a navigable state, and in less than a year the whole, comprising an extent of about four hundred and twenty-five miles, will be finished. Every year’s experience will enhance the results in the public estimation, and benefits will be unfolded which we can now hardly venture to anticipate. As a bond of union between the Atlantic and the western states, it may prevent the dismemberment of the American empire. As an organ of communication between the Hudson, the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, the great lakes of the north and west, and their tributary rivers, it will create the greatest inland trade ever witnessed. The most fertile and extensive regions of America will avail themselves of its facilities for a market. All their surplus productions, whether of the soil, the forest, the mines, or the waters, their fabrics of art and their supplies of foreign commodities, will concentrate in the city of New-York, for transportation abroad or consumption at home. Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, trade, navigation, and the arts will receive a correspondent encouragement. That city will in the course of time become the granary of the world, the emporium of commerce, the seat of manufactures, the focus of great monied operations, and the concentrating point of vast, disposable, and accumulating capitals, which will stimulate, enliven, extend, and reward the exertions of human labour and ingenuity, in all their processes and exhibitions; and, before the revolution of a century, the whole island of Manhattan, covered with habitations and replenished with a dense population, will constitute one vast city.

I have furnished this summary view of the subject, not in a spirit of egotism, a tone of assumption, or with any pretensions to exclusive merit. I have done all that I could do. – And the agency of many meritorious and distinguished men, in preparing the public mind to favour, and inducing the legislature to adopt the project – in exploring and examining the country – in undertaking the responsibilities of superintendence and engineering – in facilitating the financial arrangements, and in promoting the general interests of the undertaking, entitles them to the highest praise. Notwithstanding the errors committed, the disasters experienced, and the obstacles encountered, the work is now so near to its consummation, that nothing can prevent it, except some very extraordinary visitation of calamity. If this undertaking were now presented to the community as an original proposition, would not its fate be questionable, and would not the difficulties which have attended its commencement and progress, be greatly augmented, from the increased rivalries of villages, the conflicting interests of individuals, and the accumulated influence of other causes?

Any view of the subject, and this view particularly, must elicit our humble and devout thanks to Almighty God, for disposing the minds of the people of this state, at the most propitious period, in favour of this work, and for enabling them to persevere amidst all surrounding impediments. A free state has thus set an illustrious example to the world; has evinced the energies of republican government, and demonstrated that the people of this country have had the heads to conceive, the hearts to undertake, and the hands to execute, the most useful and stupendous work of the age.

But although your city will derive the greatest benefit from the canals, yet it will by no means be exclusive. Like the Nile, they will enrich the whole country through which they pass, and all the adjacent regions will feel their benignant and animating influence. Great market towns will be established in every direction, and the banks of the majestic Hudson will exhibit a line of villages and cities, that will grow with the growth, and flourish with the enlivening and reacting prosperity of our commercial metropolis. The revenue will not only extinguish the debt and defray the expenses of the government, but it will in time realise a vast fund, applicable to all the objects of human improvement. Upon intellectual and moral cultivation we must rely for the conservation of our republican government, and for the protection of the last hopes of freedom and the best destinies of man. When every child in the state shall become the child of the commonwealth, and shall receive the blessings of education at the public expense, then we may be assured that neither fraud nor violence, neither intrigue nor corruption, can destroy the sacred temple of liberty.

Under any aspect of the occurrence which has produced this manifestation of your friendship and confidence, I have no reason to entertain any resentment, or to express any regret, whether we estimate it by the ordinary standard that graduates the character of human actions, or contemplate it in connexion with other events still more extraordinary. Indeed I view it as a subject of high felicitation, since it has honoured me with the approbation of the most respectable and the most respected among my fellow-citizens. The venerable chairman of your meeting was one of the illustrious band of sages that formed our national constitution; and on the committee I recognise the names of some of the men of the revolution, whose deeds of patriotism will transmit an inestimable legacy of fame, and a glorious example of heroic virtue, to their posterity. The intellectual and moral worth, and high character of the committee, and of the chairman and secretary of the meeting, and its number and respectability, afford conclusive evidence of the favourable opinion of the citizens of New-York, and I shall certainly rank their expression of it among the highest honours and most auspicious events of my life.

I cannot conclude, without offering my particular acknowledgments to those gentlemen who have presented me in person with the proceedings, for their condescending kindness: and I most respectfully tender my sincere and heartfelt thanks to my fellow-citizens who composed the meeting, and the committee who represent it, for their favourable notice of my efforts to promote the prosperity of our country.

ALBANY, April 26,1824.

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