of Albany

and New-York. The very idea of part-
ing with this wealth, by suffering the products to
be carried to Montreal, there to nourish and fatten
the commerce of a rival nation, cannot fail to excite
painful reflections in the minds of every man whose
heart is warmed with the love of country. I say,
that the state ought to strain every nerve of its ability,
to counteract the policy of the British, because the
magnitude of the object utterly forbids all hope of
accomplishing it by the money contributions of
individuals

What renders it more imperiously the duty of the
state to interpose with its ability, is the absolute neces-
sity of regulating the rates of toll by a scale so mode-
rate, as to make the expense of transportation to Albany

palpably less than the expense of transportation to
Montreal. This is the grand desideratum to be aimed
at in every scheme for improving the Lake navigation
between the Lakes and Hudson's River. If the expense
of carriage to Albany exceeds the expense of car-
riage to Montreal, the trader will be sure to send his
produce to the latter only ; and, if the expense be
equal, he will be apt to do the same, in as much as
the Lake, and its outlet, form the natural highway
for conveying the products of this country to an
Atlantic market, and the use of this highway is at-
tended with less trouble and risk, and with greater
despatch. At all times, and under all circumstances,
it is difficult to change the course of nature, with
success; and, in the present case, it can only be done
by giving the trader a deep interest in preferring the
Eastern to the Northern route.

The expense of transporting a barrel of flour from
this village to Montreal

, is one dollar and seventy-five
cents; whereas the expense of transportation to
Albany is two dollars and fifty cents; and, as long
as this difference continues, Montreal will be likely
to maintain a successful competition with Albany and
New York.