in the accomplishment of this important work, and
whose contributions are comparatively little known
to the world, or have been but imperfectly acknow-
ledged. So far, therefore, as laborious inquiry has
enabled me to ascertain the facts now to be related,
distributive justice, the suum cuique tribuito, shall
be most strictly and impartially observed.
Amicus Plato—amicus Socrates—sed magis amica veritas.

The contributors to canal navigation in the state
of New-York

, may be considered as consisting of
four great classes: in the first, may be enumerated,
those foreseeing and predicting from the general
face of the country, the union of the lakes, the creeks
and rivers of the west, by measures calculated to
remove obstructions, improve the natural navigation
then existing, and ultimately, by different outlets, to
connect the same with the ocean. In this class, the
names of Cadwallader Colden, Sir Henry Moore,
George Washington, George Clinton, and Gouver-
neur Morris, are prominent. In the second class, are
to be noticed, those who proposed, by artificial navi-
gation or canals, to form a connexion between the
waters of the Hudson and Lake Ontario, Lake Erie,
or both. Christopher Colles, Jeffrey Smith, Elkanah
Watson, Philip Schuyler, Jesse Hawley, and Joshua
Foreman, deserve the most honourable mention in this
place. Thirdly, those who, in the year 1810, have
been chiefly instrumental in effecting a direct inter-
nal communication between Lake Erie and the
Atlantic. In this class, Thomas Eddy, Jonas Platt,
and De Witt Clinton, stand conspicuous. Fourthly,
another class of benefactors to this great work, is
composed of numerous members of both Houses of
the Legislature, who took a prominent station in
devising and sustaining the measures necessary to
carry the same into effect; the various canal com-
missioners, engineers, surveyors, and many private
but public spirited citizens, in various parts of the