An unfounded suggestion has been heard, that the abortive attempt to amend the resolution, indicated that it was not considered as involving the right of search. The opposite conclusion is the more rational, if not, indeed, irresistible; that, having, by the denomination of the crime, provided for the detection, trial, and punishment of the criminal, an amendment, designing to add This resolution, in proposing to make the slave trade what was already included in the main proposition, piracy, by the consent of mankind, sought to supplant, would be superfluous, if not absurd. But no such amend by a measure of greater rigor, the qualified international ment was rejected. The House of Representatives, exchange of the right of search for the apprehension of very near the constitutional close of the session of 1823, the African slave dealer, and the British system of mix- desirous of economizing time, threatened to be consumed tribunals created for his trial and punishment; a sys-ed by a protracted debate, entertained the previous questem of which experience and the recent extension of tion, while an amendment, the only one offered to the the traffic, which it sought to limit, had disclosed the en-resolution, was depending. The effect of the previous tire inefficacy. question was to bring on an immediate decision upon the resolution itself, which was adopted by a vote of 131 members to nine.

18th CONGRESS, 2 2d SESSION.

On Internal Improvements.

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ments." This bill proposes to authorize the President | nies incorporated in the respective states, for internal of the United States to borrow, on the best terms he can, improvements. any sums of money, not exceeding, in the whole, ten millions of dollars; which sums are to be borrowed at such times as may be necessary for the purposes con tained in the second section of the bill, and to be redeemable at the end of years.

The second section authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to make subscriptions, on the part of the United States, in such companies for internal improve ments, as may be incorporated by the respective states, and as Congress may approve from time to time.

The third section contains a provision, that each state may, under certain restrictions, purchase the stock subscribed in such state, and take a transfer of the same from the ecretary of the Treasury.

The fourth section directs the Secretary of the Treasury, as long as any stock belongs to the United States, to receive the dividends on the same, and to vote for the officers of each company, according to the shares subscribed.

The committee have directed their attention, mainly, to such considerations of the subject as may lead to the actual execution of internal improvements.

The construction of the Federal Government, as a general head, and the existence of many states as separate parts of the whole, create obstacles against the execution of many important works, but none, it is believed, which may not be overcome, and, in a manner, that will be reconcileable to the pretensions of the different governments.

The plan proposed by the bill, after much reflection, has been deemed to be the most judicious of any that can be devised. It is a plan of encouragement, and in its operation, will not interfere with objects of the first class. It will excite the states to incorporate companies for such objects as will be, in a degree, national, and sufficiently so as to induce Congress to countenance them; it leaves Congress to decide in each case, when presented upon its own circumstances and merits.

Congress, on all occasions, is to act for the good of the whole; and there must be many instances where the public interest of the Union will require larger expenditures in one portion of the country than in another.

States, which have important natural advantages for improvements, will not be willing to yield them to the General Government, although they may stand in need of its aid in the beginning-for instance, Pennsylvania, from her interest and pride, never could be disposed to permit the contemplated canal from the Susquehannah to Pittsburg, to go into any other hands than her own. This plan contains the advantage of receiving aid from the General Government, while it retains to the states the right of purchasing the interest of the United States at pleasure.

Congress can act, in any case, after receiving the necessary information, without waiting for information from other places.

The object of introducing the bill this session, is to lay the subject generally before the public; it is not designed to act on it until the next session of Congress, when its details, if the principles of the bill are sanc tioned, can be revised and improved.

As to the objects of improvements, whether they belong to the General Government or to a state, the execution of them will be, in a degree, beneficial to the whole. An object of improvement may be entirely within a state, and still be of a Federal character, as a The committee cannot conceive how the General Goroad to a fortification. The object may embrace parts vernment can aid in the internal improvements of the of two states, as a bridge over å river, that divides the country, in most cases, with greater propriety than by two states; yet the states may erect the bridge, if Con- subscriptions to companies incorporated by the respecgress gives its consent, otherwise, any agreement or tive states. Congress will have the opinion of the Unitcompact between the states will not be binding; ined States' Engineers, who will make the necessary sursuch a case, Congress could either give consent, veys, plans, and estimates; and it will have the opinion or cause the bridge to be erected by the United of a state in each case, and of intelligent stockholders a5 States, if it was necessary to answer any national purpose; or it might be erected by a company incorporated by the two states. If the object of improve ment has a wide range, and is to pass through many states, there the General Government can act alone, as in the case of the improvements of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. These improvements cannot be distinguished from any other of the same importance, that passes through a number of states.

It is unnecessary, at the present, to make any effort to ascertain where the true line on this subject lies, between the General and State Governments; Congress must decide on each case as it arises, and it is believed that there never can be any collision. Congress will never be disposed to act without the co-operation of the states, except in a national work, passing through different states, and where the states through which it passes are not interested in a degree sufficient to induce them to undertake the perfection of the work, or any considerable part of it; such cases, in the opinion of the committee, may be considered as of the first national class, and cannot be included in any general and specific systems; for, although the mountains, streams, and the variety of our climate and soil will not change, still it would be rash to adopt a system designating where roads, canals, and bridges, should be located, ten or twenty years hence; each case must depend on the course of trade, and the circumstances that may exist, at the moment it is to be carried into execution.

The committee, however, are of opinon, that there is a secondary class of cases, on which the General Government and the states can act conjointly by the subscription of stock on the part of the United States, in compa

to the importance and probable profits of each work; and, finally, Congress will exercise its own judgment on the utility and national character of the work. The prosecution of the works, besides, will be conducted by interested individuals, with less expense and delay than perhaps it could be done by the public.

As Congress will probably make other expenditures in specific cases, from time to time, the sum is here mited to ten millions of dollars; yet, Congress can adopt the principle that no subscription shall be made to any incorporated company, until a certain proportion of the estimated expense shall have been subscribed for, either by the state or individuals; and this may augment the actual expenditures for public improvements to more than double the sum mentioned in the bill. Several of the states have executed many important works, and, with a judicious management from the General Government, a great deal more may be anticipated on their parts.

The aid of the General Government will seldom be required in the construction of roads. The roads which will be necessary for the accommodation of the states, will, in most cases, answer the purposes of the General Government. Attention will, perhaps, have to be paid to parts of leading mail routes where the interest of the states is not sufficient to induce them to keep such parts in good repair. In the late report of the Secretary of War, the extension of the Cumberland road from Wheeling to St. Louis, and the construction of a durable road from the seat of Government to New Orleans, are considered as objects of national importance.

By the report of the Postmaster General, of the 15th December, 1824, it appears that the route on which the mail is carried from the Seat of Government to New

18th CONGRESS, 2 2d SESSION.

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On Internal Improvements.

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buryport, Portsmouth, Portland, &c. and are saved the difficulty and risk of doubling Cape Ann.

Orleans, is estimated at 1,380 miles, and requires a tra-cester, by Squam, into Ipswich Bay, and thence to Newvel of 24 days in the winter and spring seasons of the year. The mail on this route is sometimes entirely obstructed by high waters; and, when this is not the case, No improvements of which the country is capable, it is frequently much injured by the mail horses swim- would conduce more to internal commerce and military ming creeks and through swamps, by which newspapers defence, than this chain of inland water communication are frequently destroyed, and letters obliterated. In along the Atlantic, and its extension to the Mississippi. the report, it is further remarked, that the route, by the As to commerce, the communication by this canal way of Warrenton, Abington, and Knoxville, affords route, is from North to South about fifteen degrees, and great facilities for the construction of a mail road. the produce of the South, cotton, rice, tobacco, sugars, Through Virginia and Tennessee, the materials are and the fruits of the climate, could be taken to the landabundant for the formation of a Turnpike, and through ings and towns, as far as the extreme point of the North, the states of Alabama and Mississippi, it is believed, in a short time, and the boats could return with the mafrom information which has been obtained, that, in no nufactures of the North and Middle states. This canal part of the Union, can an artificial road, of the same route, in its course, would connect itself with all the valength, be constructed at less expense. On this part of luable streams from the Mississippi to the North, and the route, the face of the country is level, and the soil would save from wrecks large amounts of property. It well adapted for the formation of a solid road. If a sub-is estimated that, on the Keys and Shoals of the Florida stantial road were made in this direction to New Or-coast alone, 500,000 dollars worth of property is wreckleans, the mail could be transported to that place from ed annually. this city, in eleven days. If the road were to pass through the capitals of Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, it could be conveyed in less than twelve days. The Department now pays at the rate of $52 76 a mile for the transportation of the mail three times in each week to New Orleans; when, on a good turnpike road, it could be conveyed in a stage as often, and in less than half the time, at the same expense, with the utmost security, and with a considerable increase to the receipts of the Department.

The committee are of opinion, that it would result to the public benefit to make experiments, in this District, of a rail road, and of a road, constructed on M'Adam's plan, for short distances, and in places where they would be useful, as well as for inspection.

On the subject of the inland navigation of the country, a mass of information is contained in the reports of the Secretary of the Treasury, of the 4th of April, 1808; of the Secretary of War, on the 3d of December, 1824; of the United States' Board of Engineers; and of Canal Commissioners in the States.

Is is believed to be practicable, and by no means at an unreasonable expense, compared with the high importance of the subject, to make an inland water communication from Boston to St. Mary's, and to connect the waters of the Atlantic with those of the Gulf of Mexico. In 1808, the Secretary of the Treasury indicated a canal to be opened 550 miles in length, at an expense of $30,000,000, and ten year's labor; and as great as the expense would be, he thought the advantages of discharging the Mississippi into the Atlantic ocean, through the territory of the state of Georgia, worth it all. But, since the acquisition of Florida, a new route presents itself, to commence on the Mississippi, at the mouth of the river Iberville, and terminate at the mouth of St. John's river, on the coast of Florida. The whole distance is 700 miles; but the distance to be canalled, would not exceed 120 miles, and would save a distance of navigation cf 1,500 miles. The cost of this undertaking, from the information received, would be about six millions of dollars.

By virtue of an appropriation, made in March, 1823, the obstruction between the harbor of Gloucester, and the harbor of Squam, in the state of Massachusetts, has been removed. It consisted of a narrow isthmus of sand, which had been thrown into a passage that formerly existed there, and, by the constant action of the waves, in heavy gales of wind, had been filled up for, perhaps, a hundred years, and had completely connected the island of Cape Ann with the main land. By this improvement, which was perfected under the auspices of the General Government, the coasting trade, from a!! parts of Boston Bay, enjoys the great advantage, in particular seasons of the year, and circumstances of weather, but especially in winter, of passing through, from the harbor of Glou

As to military defence, these improvements would be equally valuable: as the extent of our coast gives to an enemy possessing a powerful naval force, the advantage of selecting the place of attack; but, by means of such a water conveyance, one army could defend a great distance of the seaboard, as it could be transported to any point in a short period.

With such a line of defence, no discreet General would venture far into the interior of the country, when his retreat would be so easily cut off, and his defeat rendered almost certain.

In the other extreme of the country, the Lakes can be connected with the St Lawrence and the Mississippi rivers. The falls of Niagara, it is believed, can be avoided by a canal of about ten miles, and on such a scale as to admit vessels which navigate both Lakes; and at an expense not exceeding a million of dollars. Lake Michigan can be connected by a canal with the waters of the Illinois river, which empties into the Mississippi. And to effect this communication, a law was passed in 1820, by Congress, authorizing the state of Illinois to open a canal through the public lands.

Already, steam boats of 450 tons, with full cargoes, have passed from Buffalo to the Southern extremities of Lake Michigan, a distance of 800 or 900 miles. The whole of this navigation is on the Lakes, except the passage through the strait between Lakes Michigan and Huron, of ten miles; the strait between Huron and St. Clair, of thirty-five miles; and the strait between St. Clair and Lake Erie, of twenty-eight miles: making, in the whole, seventy-three miles; but through each of these straits there is sufficient depth of water for sloops and steam boats of the burthen just mentioned. With improvements of no extraordinary magnitude, there can be a water communication from New Orleans to Quebec; and inland navigations from the Atlantic, across to this extensive line, may be effected from various points. In New England. the Penobscot, Kennebec, and Connecticut rivers, approach the waters of the St. Lawrence; and a project is said to be in contemplation to connect the waters of Lake Memphramagog with the Connecticut river, through the Barton and Willoughby rivers, Willoughby Lake and Pasamsick river, to the Connecticut river, opposite the town of Lyman, in the state of New Hampshire. It is also expected, that the Government of Canada will undertake to open a water communication for boats, from Memphramagog Lake, through Rio St. Francois, to Lake St. Peter's, in the river St. Lawrence, and thence to Quebec: And thus, to give an inland water communication from Quebec to Portsmouth, Boston, Hartford, and New York. And it is believed that a direct water communication may be opened from the state of Vermont, through the interior of the state of New Hampshire, to Dover, Portsmouth and Boston Navy Yards, which will facilitate the transportation of

merchandise into the country, and the produce of the country to a market, together with timber to the Navy Yards. This route would also open a free intercourse with Canada and Quebec, either by water to the St. Lawrence river, or Craig's road to Quebec.

Companies have been incorporated to connect the waters of Connecticut river with the waters of the Merrimack, and to cut a canal from the Winnepisiogee Lake to the Piscataqua river, and from Pemigwasset river, through Squam ponds, to Winnepisiogee Lake. These, when effected, will connect the waters of the Connecticut river with Portsmouth and Boston harbors.

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furnishing a vent for the produce of several others. The shortness of the canal, by this route, connecting the Allantic tides with the steam boat navigation of the West, at Pittsburg, being less than 350, and to Lake Erie, lesi than 450 miles.

These considerations, together with the general and diffusive nature of the benefits to result from this work, offering great advantages to all the states, yet pecula to none, as well as the magnitude of the undertaking point it out as a work peculiarly national in its character, and cannot fail to secure for it the prompt and efficient aid of the General Government.

Erie.

James River, in the state of Virginia, it is believe! can be connected with the Kenhawa, which empties i to the Ohio. This will afford that valuable section the country a water communication to the Lakes thrap the canal intended to be cut from the Ohio River to Lak Erie; on which subject, the Canal Commissioners, obedience to an act of the General Assembly of t state of Ohio, have recently written a very able reper

In New York, much has already been done by the Many of the above remarks will likewise apply to the energetic measures and sound policy which that state Pennsylvania Canal, which will pass through a rich and has pursued. The great canal of New York unites populous country, and connect the greatest manufactur the Atlantic with the regions of the Lakes. Still, manying city on the Western waters with one of the richest other important objects of improvement remain to be and most manufacturing cities on the Atlantic, at a di effected in the state of New York, as appears in the tance of about 370 miles; and will bring New York and message of the Governor of that state, lately addressed | Pittsburg nearer together than by any other route-s / to the General Assembly. from New York to Brunswick 40 miles, from there to Another connection may be effected through the Philadelphia 60, and from there to Pittsburg 370; mat states of Jersey and Pennsylvania. A law has been late-ing, in the whole, 470 miles, instead of 790 by Late ly passed by the Legislature of the state of New Jersey, to construct a canal from the Raritan to the Delaware. And in Pennsylvania, the river Schuylkill has been converted into a slack water navigation, by canals and dams, from tide water at Philadelphia, to Mount Carbon, near its source, being a distance of one hundred and nine miles. The cost of this work, now finished, was one million eight hundred thousand dollars. Connected with it, is the Union Canal, which branches off at Read ing, fifty-two miles above Philadelphia, and intersects the Susquehannah at Middletown, ten miles below Harrisburg. This work, now in rapid progress, and which will be finished in eighteen months, is seventy-eight miles long, and will cost about eleven hundred thousand dollars. Both these canals lead to inexhaustible mines of coal, of the very best quality, and complete the water communication between the Susquehannah and Philadelphia, the distance being about one hundred and fifty miles. The majestic river of Susquehannah is the only one of the Atlantic rivers whose sources approach both the Western waters, and those of the St. Lawrence. Its Tioga branch affords a communication with the rivers Seneca and Gennessee, which empty into Lake Ontario, and its Western branch approaches the waters of the Alleghany. The river Susquehannah, it is believed, affords two communications to the Western waters; one by the Western branch, and the other by connecting the Juniatta river with the river Conemaugh, which empties into the Alleghany.

The Canal Commissioners of the state of Pennsylvania, who examined this last route, partly in conjunction with two of the United States' Engineers, have lately reported in favor of its practicability.

The next communication with the Western waters can be effected by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. This object, regarded as the most important and national, was the first to claim the attention of the Executive in carrying into effect the provisions of the law of the last session, to procure surveys, &c.; and the able board of Engineers, who have given the subject a full and careful examination during the last summer, have pronounced it perfectly practicable, at an expense small compared with the magnitude and importance of the object. This work, whether regarded in a military, commercial, or political point of view, is equally important. Passing through the centre of the Republic, from one extreme to the other, opening an internal communication of more than 2,500 miles; affording at once a powerful bond of Union, with every commercial facility in time of peace-and, in war, the most efficient means of national defence. Besides, its immediate connection with the seat of the National Government, its central position; the great extent of inland navigation which it opens; touching, in its course, eleven states of the Union, and

The sources of the Roanoke rise in the mountains Virginia, and it empties itself into the Albemarle Som? and is navigable to the Great Falls, seventy miles its mouth. Around the Great Falls, locks have be made, and the branches of this river have been grosi improved by jetty dams. It is proposed to re Roanoke Inlet, or to make a new one near its site, av to close up the communication between Albemarl Pamtico Sounds, by running a dam of stone or of and earth across Cronton and Roanoke Sounds, new South end of Roanoke Island. The estimated cos this improvement, if made of stone, is $2,000,000, # if made of wood and earth, $1,000,000. This imper ment would diminish the distance from any given. on the Sound nearly one half, and would accomm the country on both sides of the Sound, and along rivers emptying into it, which is as fertile a tract of t try as any in the Southern states, and sustains as gro population.

The head waters of the Great Pedee River, falls into the ocean at Wingan Bay, take their rise n Blue Ridge; and the Yadkin, a bold stream, withi one formidable, but not insurmountable, obstructies navigable to the foot of those mountains, in the stat North Carolina. The distance over them to the warpble waters of the Holstein, a branch of the Tennesse not great. The head waters of the Santee, which its outlet in the state of South Carolina, are the Cata Broad, and Saluda rivers; the former takes its ris« the mountains in North Carolina, not far from the waters of the French Broad; the two latter rise with." state of South Carolina; their sources are nearly eq in the vicinity of the French Broad. The navigans each of these three rivers has been so far improved s render them fit for the transportation of produc within a few miles of the mountains. The Keowee Sugatoo rivers, the head waters of the Savannah, form the boundary of the states of South Carolin Georgia, have their source in the same chain of nor tains, and might be rendered navigable to within a v short distance of the head waters of the French he It is to be observed of all these rivers, that the Ridge presents obstacles to a junction between the 18 ern and Western waters, by means of canals

By a memorial from the Legislature of Alabam

Congress, it appears that the Tuscaloosa river, a branch of the Tombecbe, may, at a reasonable expense, be conRected with the Tennessee river. The memorial also states, that the Alabama river commences and becomes capable of a water transportation within eight or eleven miles of a stream equally susceptible of being rendered navigable, and which empties into the Tennessee river; that the latter receives the tribute of several other streams which take their rise and become navigable in the state of Virginia, passing through some of the most productive lands, and watering, in their course, the whole Eastern Section of the state of Tennessee; that the dividing ground separating these waters affords a favorable opportunity of connecting the waters of the Alabama with those of the Tennessee river; and that the distance for the produce of Tennessee to reach a market on the sea board, would be reduced from nearly two thousand miles, to New Orleans, to six or seven hundred miles, to the Mobile, which may be connected with the Pensacola Bay.

The Cumberland river, in the state of Tennessee, it is believed, can be connected with the Tennessee river, which, when connected with the Tombecbe or Alabama rivers, will open a direct water communication to Pensacola, in Florida, for a large and important section of the Union.

Some of the Georgia rivers, it is believed, may be connected with the Western waters.

The cutting of a canal from Lake Pontchartrain, to communicate with the Mississippi, at or near the city of New Orleans, is considered of importance, both in a military and commercial point of view.

Pearl River, in the state of Mississippi, is also a valuable stream, and is capable of much improvement for the public advantage.

Besides the communications, already mentioned, with the Lakes, it is considered as practicable, at a reasonable expense, to connect the Wabash River with the Miami of Lake Erie.

The importance of an early attention to the construction of canals, round the Falls of Ohio, at Louisville, and round the Muscle Shoal, in the Tennessee River, will be readily conceded.

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The inestimable invention of lock navigation was entirely unknown to the ancients, who have furnished us with so many astonishing monuments of their greatness; it instructed mankind in the knowledge that water was capable of producing the ascent of vessels to its own level, and that, wherever there is water above, vessels can go down and re-ascend by water; but the invention in itself is not much more wonderful than the prejudices against adopting it in practice, which have existed in many countries.

In the construction of the canal of the two seas in France, all the science and art appertaining to the subject were displayed. Locks, 114 in number, were constructed, and rocks excavated for great distances; tunnels were cut through mountains, and a reservoir of 595 acres was filled by waters from the adjacent elevated places, and which were conveyed by aqueducts over rivers and valleys. This canal, although greatly advantageous to the nation at large, would not have been good property for private proprietors; but it was the origin. of innumerable canals in France and Holland, which exhibited, in the clearest light, their many and important public and private advantages; but, notwithstanding the enterprising character of the people of England, and although they had the examples of Holland and France so near at hand, still, near a century passed, before either government or inhabitants attempted to make any works of the kind in England. The success of the undertaking of a spirited individual, at length roused the people to enthusiasm, and awakened a general ardor for similar improvements among the landholders, farmers, merchants, and manufacturers of the kingdom. Since then, there has been no cessation in the prosecution of public works, and the capacity of the country has been entirely changed; old manufactures were rendered more flourishing, and new ones were established from time to time, in places where the land before was of but little value and thinly inhabited. The towns were enabled to supply a much greater extent of inland country with their own manufactures. Tae consumers, in the interior of the country, imported at lower prices, and, as producers, they exported with greater advantages.

from the bowels of the earth. They afforded to the inhabitants of the interior, in every direction, the advantages of coasts which were safe from tempests and wars. England could never have sustained herself in her mighty struggles with the continent, had it not been for her unremitted attention to the domestic industry of the country; and nothing gave as much facility and animation to this industry, as her cheap, safe, and expeditious modes of transportation. Prejudices, even as to the practicability of executing great designs, existed in England for a long time; and, when the Duke of Bridgewater's canal was finished as far as Barton, where the Irwell is navigable for large vessels, Brindley, the engineer, proposed to carry it over that river by aqueducts, the idea was ridiculed, and another eminent engineer was consulted, who replied, at once, that he had often

The canals united the materials for manufactures that Whenever the contemplated water communication, lay dispersed, and, by lessening the expense of the transbetween Boston and the river Delaware, shall be com-portation of bulky articles, they brought stores of riches pleted, it will, it is supposed, leave but about thirty-eight miles of land, separated by water sources, to Lewis's River, a branch of the Columbia, which empties into the, Pacific ocean; as, from the Talpahockin, a branch of the Schuylkill to the Quitepahilla, a branch of the Susquehannah, four miles; from Poplar Run, a branch of the Juniatta, to the Little Conemaugh, a branch of the Alleghany, 14 miles; from the Yellow Stone river, a branch of the Missouri, to Lewis's River, a branch of the Columbia, twenty miles; making, in the whole, thirty-eight miles. But what distance of canalling, and water im provements, would be necessary to complete this chain of communication, the committee possesses no means of ascertaining. Parts of it, no doubt, will be accomplished in a reasonable time; yet there can be no expectation that the whole will be effected for a very long period. If the survey system, which commenced the last sum-heard of castles in the air, but that he had never been mer, should be persevered in, the Union, and the several States, will be put into the possession of invaluable information on these interesting subjects.

In viewing the prospects before us for improvements on a large scale, the mind is lost in amazement at the extensiveness of the scenes which appear, for the permanent benefit and grandeur of the country.

The inhabitants of the old countries were for a long time confined to the coasts; but the improvements in navigation, gave an unlimited expansion to commercial enterprise, and the discovery of canalling is an admirable extension of the benefits of navigation, by which we can sail over the globe by land, as well as by sea.

shown before, where any of them were to be built. The Duke, however, took the advice of his own engineer, and the work was commenced in September, 1760, and boats sailed over it in less than a year, to the astonishment of those, who, a little before, thought it impossible. The New York works had to encounter prejudices of every description; some entertained opinions that the whole scheme was romantic in the extreme; that it was totally impracticable; and, if practicable, that it was far beyond any conception they had of the ability of the state to carry it into execution. A short period has, however, dispelled all such apprehensions; and it may be reasonably hoped that these works will produce similar effects in