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Beyond Penn's Treaty

The Life of Thomas Eddy; Comprising an Extensive Correspondence

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of the canal commissioners with his customary ardour and pre-
cision, between the year 1810 and 1817; and he is justly entitled,
as jou have already shown, to share in the glory attendant on the
auspicious results of that magnificent project.

But Mr. Eddy's

mind was equally and unremittingly engaged
in useful schemes of much more humble pretensions. Whenever
there was an institution within the reach of his power and
influence, created for any benevolent object, we are almost sure
to meet on its records and in its effects, his name and his blessing.
I was not associated with him, and I had not therefore any direct
personal acquaintance with his services, in many of the public
charities in which he was concerned. It ought to be left to his
thoroughly informed biographer, to speak of him as a corres-
ponding member of the New York Manumission Society; as
one of the founders and trustees of the Free School Society in
New York
; as one of the founders and directors of the Ameri-
can Bible Society
; as one of the first trustees of the Savings
Bank
in New York; and as one of the first managers of the
Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents. I have
endeavoured to confine myself in my remarks to matters of which
I had some personal knowledge, or was necessarily led to notice
during the course of the transactions.

As the life of Governor Jay

, as well as his own, was drawing
to a close, Mr. Eddy appeared to be anxious to pay to that great
man a parting visit, and he invited me to accompany him. This
was in the summer of 1826, and it was one of the most delight-
ful little excursions I ever had. We left New York on the
morning of the 26th of July. The day was bright and beautiful,
and having landed at Sing Sing, we placed ourselves under the
guidance of Captain Lyndes, and visited the new state prison
establishment, which was then quite unfinished. We found one
hundred and thirty convicts engaged in quarrying and working
marble for the building; and they were mostly out under a meri-
dian sun, pouring its fierce blaze upon the white marble blocks
around them, with an ardour almost sufficient to blind the eyes.
Mr. Eddy seemed to be at home in all the details of the concern.
His zeal for the improvement of penitentiary discipline had not
diminished in intensity. He was thorough in his inspection, and
inquisitive in his examination. We continued our journey that
afternoon to the residence of Governor Jay, at Bedford, and we