Letters, Addressed to the People of Pennsylvania Respecting the Internal Improvement, of the Commonwealth; by Means of Roads and Canals |
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Page 32 - ... a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian.
Page 45 - England, and is now bound to her by habit, by turnpike roads, canals, and reciprocal interests. In like manner all the counties of England, or departments of France, are bound to each other; and when the United States shall be bound together by canals, by cheap and easy access to market in all directions, by a sense of mutual interests arising from mutual intercourse and mingled commerce ; it will be no more possible to split them into independent ant?
Page 45 - canals should pass through every vale, wind round each hill and bind the whole country tog-ether in the bonds of social intercourse;" and I am now happy to find that through the good management of a wise administration, a period has arrived when an overflowing' treasury exhibits abundant resources, and points the mind to works of such immense importance.
Page 43 - ... the upper level of canal as when locks are used. Consequently when the upper ponds have been once filled, it is only necessary that the engine should supply leakage and evaporation. There is another mode of supplying the leakage and evaporation of the higher levels: On the tops and sides of mountains there are hollows or ravines which can be banked at the lower extremity, thus forming a reservoir to catch the rain or melted snow. From such reservoirs the ponds of canal can be replenished in 'the...
Page 42 - ... relieving the people, would really oppress them, by destroying the means of reducing the expense of transport, and of opening to them a cheap mode of arriving at good markets. , To proceed with these demonstrations, let us look at the rich productions of our interior country : Wheat, flour, oats, barley, beans, grain, and pulse of all kinds; Cyder, apples, and fruits of all kinds; Salt, salted beef, pork, and other meats ;* Hides, tallow, beeswax ; Cast and forged iron; Pot and pearl ashes, tanners...
Page 36 - Pékin, is 825 miles long, its breadth 50 feet, its depth nine feet. 36 pays for turnpike three dollars; thus for each ton carried the turnpike company receives only one dollar. I will now suppose a canal to have been cut from Philadelphia to Columbia, and with its windings to make 100 miles, at 15,OOO...
Page 35 - ... and create abundance. Though such principles actuate our citizens, they are not yet, in every instance, aware of their best interests ; nor can it be expected that they should perceive, at once, the advantages of those plans of improvement which are still new in this country. Hence the most useful works have sometimes been opposed, and we are not without examples of men being elected into the State Legislatures for the express purpose of preventing roads, canals, and bridges being constructed....
Page 49 - Of this the James river above Westham, and the Susquehannah above Chickisalunga and Hunter's falls are instances in point. Such obstructions when removed, let down the water rapidly from above, without supplying deeper navigation below. In a river of such magnitude as the Susquehannah, indeed, no gap or sluice artificially cut, can materially affect the rapidity of the stream, but in lesser rivers, great care is required, not only to prevent lowering the water above, but to avoid giving a new direction...
Page 36 - Parliament, however, prevailed, the roads were made, the population and commerce of London increased, the demand for produce increased, and he who lived nearest to London still had a superior advantage in the market. In like manner I hope the good sense of our Legislature will prevail over the ignorance and prejudice which may still exist against canals. And here an important question occurs, which it may be proper to examine with some attention in this early stage of our public improvements, whether,...
Page 45 - ... from common sense to ignorance, adopting all the follies and barbarities which are every day practised in the kingdoms and petty states of Europe. " But those who have reasoned in this way, have not reflected that men are the creatures of habit, and that their habits, as well as their interests, may be so combined, as to make it impossible to separate them without falling back into a state of barbarism. " Although in ancient times, some specks of civilization have been effaced by...