INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD.

TO THE CITIZENS OF TIOGA COUNTY:

AUBURN, October 20, 1834.

YOUR communication requesting the expression of my opinion in relation to the projected railroad from Lake Erie to the Hudson river through the southern tier of counties, has been received. I can not be surprised that you have made this application when, as you say, you see daily allusions in the public prints to my supposed hostility to that measure. Yet, gentlemen, you must be aware that those who are engaged in misrepresenting my views, will equally endeavor to prevent credit being given to the sincerity of opinions expressed upon a subject of engrossing interest at such a time. Anxious as I am to correct such misrepresentations, I could not bring myself to appear in public, even for that purpose, had I not learned from sources entitled to my confidence, that the views of Governor Marcy have been solicited and are confidently promised by his political friends to be laid before the electors. Under such circumstances, it would seem to be unjust to the generous and confiding party who have made me their candidate, to suffer the great cause which they maintain to receive injury from my silence. You, however, gentlemen, will bear witness, that I have not sought this opportunity of appearing before the public, and that in doing so, I yield to the considerations already expressed.

It is wholly untrue that I am hostile to the projected railroad from Lake Erie to the Hudson river through the southern tier of VOL. III.-27

counties. The vote which I gave in the senate upon an incidental question connected with that improvement, had no reference whatever to the merits of the project itself, but was founded upon peculiar considerations growing out of the single question presented and the manner in which it came before the senate, but in which my judgment was not in the least influenced by any unfriendly feeling to the railroad. On the contrary, I can very freely state to you, gentlemen, that I am, and ever have been, the advocate of the system of internal improvements by means of railroads and canals; that I regard it as one of the most important duties of the government, as fast as its rapidly developing resources will allow, to prosecute such a system of improvements of that description as will enable all the different sections of the country to enjoy, as equally as possible, the advantages of a speedy communication with the great commercial metropolis of the state. I can not doubt that the increased wealth and ability of the state, improved by a revision of the entire administration of the canal revenues, would allow us to resume and push to a successful completion this eminently important system. Among those improvements which are most indispensable to the great object of securing to this state the precious boon of the trade of the western states I have long believed one of the most desirable is a work which would connect Lake Erie with the Hudson river, passing through the southern tier of counties, and which would give to the city of New York the advantages of the great western trade at all seasons of the year, and particularly at those seasons when, without such a work, that trade must flow through different channels to a southern port. To secure this trade was the great object of the system of internal improvements, projected and commenced by that distinguished public benefactor, De Witt Clinton. Experience has shown that this object has not been entirely accomplished, and I have no belief that it will be, until the improvement mentioned by you, together with others of a similar character in other sections of the state, shall be completed. It is certainly a consideration of much weight, that the suggested railroad will bestow upon the southern counties through which it will pass, advantages similar to those enjoyed by other parts of the state, where similar public improvements have been accomplished. That it is practicable, I am happy to learn, will be satisfactorily established by the surveys recently

made under the direction of that experienced engineer Judge Wright.

With these opinions in its favor, you may be assured of my readiness, either as a private citizen, or in whatever public capacity I may be called to serve, to afford every aid in my power, not only to the construction of this work, but to the completion of that comprehensive and beneficial system of internal improvements, commenced as I have already mentioned, and thus far continued with a success which has astonished ourselves.

I am, gentlemen, with great respect, your fellow-citizen.

TO SAMUEL P. LYMAN, ESQ.

ALBANY, March 8, 1839.

MY DEAR SIR: You are about to leave the city, and I am about to do an unusual thing—that is, to do justice at some hazard of misconstruction, and with the risk of being deemed imprudent to an old friend. I say first, what from the first I have said, and you and the world know, viz., that as an advocate of a broad system of internal improvements in this state and the Union, and not from local or partisan feelings, I am a friend of the New York and Erie railroad, and desirous of its early and complete construction. Having said this, I am now to add, as I do without qualification, that I have all the while been acquainted with your action during the last year, and especially during the present session of the legislature, in regard to that work. And I know, and it is my duty to say, at the moment when you are withdrawing from your official duties, in connection with it, under my advice, in order to secure its success, that your action has been in every respect faithful, honest, enlightened, and efficient. While I have on various occasions differed from you in regard to the measures you advocated, and the manner of proceeding you recommended, it is but just to say that your action (having regard to your peculiar responsibilities) has been uniformly wise and just, and I add confidently, fortunate. You are leaving the matter at my instance, to relieve it from popular prejudices against yourself, yet I know and declare that those prejudices are unjust ·

and the present fair and certain prospect that a bill will be passed, either for the construction of the railroad altogether as a public work, or by liberal and unprecedented aid to the company, has been secured more by your agency than by any other cause. And I authorize you to exhibit this letter to any discreet persons entitled to such confidence, as evidence that if the friends of the improvement do not estimate your exertions as I have pronounced concerning them, they, in my judgment, do you great injustice.

I never write letters of form or compliment. Words, when I use them, express my feelings and opinions. But I know that others sometimes use them otherwise. I add, therefore, that this letter is to be regarded as sincere, and proceeding from convictions, and that I should deem myself most unjust and unfaithful if I left the reality of those convictions to be the subject of doubts. To our mutual friend Mr. Ruggles I have already expressed the same sentiments, with such suggestions as it seemed to me not improper to make, relating to your future engagements.

I am, respectfully and sincerely, your obedient servant.

TO EDGAR A. BARBER, ESQ.

ALBANY, June 1, 1841.

DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 21st ultimo, concerning the Ogdensburg and Champlain railway bill, was duly received. I had hoped, with you, for the passage of the bill at the recent session, and I trust it is not necessary for me to say that no proper effort on my part was spared to further that most important object. Cherishing it as one of the cardinal measures of the policy I have desired should be maintained, the failure of the bill is scarcely less regretted by me than by my fellow-citizens immediately interested in the great improvement. It has been the fortune of the enter prise to be presented in a gloomy season, and when the mightiest efforts of disappointed faction have been put forth to arrest, defeat, and overthrow the policy most intimately connected with the welfare and prosperity of the state. I feel reason to be grateful that the clouds are dispersing, and that the trial to which the system of internal improvement has been subjected has passed.

It is a subject of congratulation also to the citizens of the northern counties that their great improvement has steadily advanced in public favor since I first had the honor to bring it before the representatives of the people, under all the inauspicious circumstances it has encountered. Notwithstanding the unwearied efforts which have been put forth to produce alarm concerning the fiscal ability of the state, I cherish a confident hope that within the portion that remains of the term for which I have been called into the councils of the state, the necessary means will be adopted to secure the completion of the three great lines of railroad between the lakes and tide-water which I have had the honor to recommend to the favorable consideration of the legislature. I regard the progress already made by the Ogdensburg and Champlain railroad as affording abundant reason to expect that it will receive the favor of the legislature at its next session.

With sincere respect and esteem, your obedient servant.

TO GEORGE BLISS, ESQ.

ALBANY, June 28, 1841.

MY DEAR SIR: I beg leave to return to the directors of the Western Railroad Company my acknowledgments for their politeness and kindness in tendering to me the freedom of their road. The occasion is a proper one also for acknowledging my obligations to the directors and to the mayor of Boston for their attentions to my family and myself during our recent journey in Massachusetts.

I congratulate the directors and the country upon the prospect of a speedy completion of the Western railroad. If I had at any time entertained a doubt of the immeasurable public advantage to result from this improvement, that doubt would have given way when I became acquainted with the enterprise and industry of the people of Massachusetts.

While, as a citizen of New York, I shall continue to urge upon my fellow-citizens the construction of a railroad from New York to this city, as a measure necessary to the prosperity of this state, I rejoice in the belief that the enterprise of the citizens of Boston