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Canals in the State of New York.

Personally appeared before me, Caleb Halsted, Junior, Mayor of the borough of Elizabethtown, Aaron Ogden, within named, who, having been duly sworn, deposes and says, that the matters herein set forth as his own acts and deeds, are true, and, as far as regards the acts and deeds of others, he believes to be true.

AARON OGDEN.

Sworn before me at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, this 18th day of December. 1811.

CALEB HALSTED, Jr., Mayor.

(if granted to him,) as contravening that sound policy which forbids legislation in particular cases falling within the scope of general laws, as it is introductive of an odious and oppressive favoritism, in subversion of justice and of right.

Your memorialists will conclude, by submitting one other consideration in relation to the bill now pending before the honorable the Senate, for “extending the time of certain patents granted to Robert Fulton," and which to them appears of itself to be a sufficient objection to passing the same into a law. The patents to Mr. Fulton are of recent date, and it is yet to be ascertained (if it is decided that Mr. Fulton's patents are valid) To the honorable the Senate and House of Representa- whether he will not be fully and amply remunertives of the United States of America in Congress ated at the period of their expiration. And if, at assembled, the memorial of Isaiah Townsend, in be- that time, it shall appear that his merit has not half of himself and others of the city of Albany, been sufficiently rewarded, your memorialists in the State of New York, proprietors of the steam confidently believe that he may then, with a cerboats Hope and Perseverance, of said city, respect-tainty of success, apply to an American Congress, fully showeth: who will ever yield to genius its due, and to merit its reward.

That your memorialists, in the year 1811, built two boats at an expense of upwards of fifty thousand dollars, under a conviction that they had a right to navigate the same under the existing laws of the United States; that the said boats have successfully plied between the cities of New York and Albany, on the Hudson river, for the greater part of the last season for the accommodation of passengers.

That a suit has been commenced in the circuit court of the United States for the district of New York, against your memorialists, by Robert Fulton, of the State of New York, under a pretence that your memorialists have invaded certain patents granted to him from the Department of State. to recover from your memorialists treble damages, under the third section of the act of Congress, passed the 17th day of April, 1800; which suit | is now depending and undetermined.

And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray. ISAIAH TOWNSEND.

NEW YORK CANALS.

[Communicated to the House, December 23, 1811.] To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled, the undersigned, Commissioners of the State of New York, respectfully represent:

That, by a law of which they have taken the liberty to transmit an exemplified copy to the President, they are, among other things, directed to make application to the Congress of the UniThat your memorialists, under the full convicted States for their co operation and aid in making tion that the said Robert Fulton is not, in fact, a canal navigation between the Great Lakes and the inventor or discoverer of the mode of pro- Hudson river, which, in the opinion of the Lepelling boats by steam, have instituted proceed-gislature of New York, will encourage agriculings in the district court of the United States for the district of New York, pursuant to the tenth section of the act of Congress, passed the 25th day of February, 1793, to effect a repeal of the patents granted to the said Robert Fulton; which proceedings are also pending and undetermined; and your mémorialists are confident that, upon the trial, they will be able satisfactorily to prove that the said Robert Fulton is not the discoverer or inventor of the mode of propelling boats by

steam.

Your memorialists would, therefore, most respectfully submit to your honorable bodies the propriety of any legislative interference, while the rights of the said Robert Fulton and your memorialists are thus pending in the competent judicial tribunals of the country, where a fair, full, and impartial investigation can be had, under the existing laws of the United States, under which the said patents have been granted, Your memorialists view the application made to. your honorable bodies by Mr. Fulton for relief

ture, promote commerce and manufactures, facilitate a free and general intercourse between different parts of the United States, tend to the aggrandizement and prosperity of the country, and consolidate and strengthen the Union.

To these powerful incentives we feel it a duty to add our conviction that, in a fiscal point of view, this object is not unworthy of public regard, seeing that, by a good navigation from the lakes to the ocean, and by that alone, the speedy sale of, and payment for, many million acres of the public lands can be effected.

We might add other considerations, but, as doubts may, in course of the business arise, and explanations be required, we have deemed it advisable to depute two of our members, De Witt Clinton and Gouverneur Morris to be the bearers of this application to the seat of Government, with instructions to enter, from time to time, into all needful expositions.

*

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We crave, on the part of the State of New York, the credence and favorable notice of their

Cumberland Road in Maryland and Ohio.

representations. And, as in duty bound, shall ever pray.

GOUVERNEUR MORRIS,
DE WITT CLINTON,
SIMEON DE WITT,
W. NORTH,
THOMAS EDDY.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON,
ROBERT FULTON,
PETER B. PORTER.

Commissioners.

[Communicated to Congress, December 24, 1811.] To the Senate and House of

Representatives of the United States:

I communicate to Congress copies of an act of the Legislature of New York, relating to a canal from the Great Lakes to Hudson river. In making the communication I consult the respect due to that State in whose behalf the commissioners appointed by the act have placed it in my hands for the purpose.

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The utility of canal navigation is universally admitted. It is not less certain that scarcely any country offers more extensive opportunities for that branch of improvements than the United States; and none, perhaps, inducements equally persuasive, to make the most of them. The ticular undertaking contemplated by the State of New York, which marks an honorable spirit of enterprise, and comprises objects of national, as well as more limited importance, will recall the attention of Congress to the signal advantages to be derived to the United States from a general system of internal communication and conveyance, and suggest to their consideration whatever steps may be proper, on their part, towards its introduction and accomplishment. As some of those advantages have an intimate connexion with arrangements and exertions for the general security, it is at a period calling for these, that the merits of such a system will be seen in the strongest lights.

DECEMBER 23, 1811.

JAMES MADISON.

An Act to provide for the improvement of the internal navigation of the State, passed April 8, 1811. Whereas a communication, by means of a canal navigation, between the Great Lakes and Hudson river will encourage agriculture, promote commerce and manufactures, facilitate a free and general intercourse between different parts of the United States, and tend to the aggrandizement and prosperity of the country, and consolidate and strengthen the Union: Therefore,

I. Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, That Gouverneur Morris, Stephen Van Rensselaer, De Witt Clinton, Simeon De Witt, William North, Thomas Eddy. Peter B. Porter, Robert R. Livingston, and Robert Fulton, shall be, and hereby are, appointed commissioners for the con

sideration of all matters relating to the said inland navigation; and in case of the resignation or death of any of the said commissioners, the vacancy shall be supplied by the person administering the Government of this State.

II. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall be. and hereby are, empowered to make application in behalf of this State to the Congress of the United States, or to the Legislature of any State or Territory, to co-operate and aid in this undertaking, and also the proprietors of the land through which such navigation may be carried, for cessions or grants to the people of this State, to be received by the said commissioners in their discretion; and also to ascertain whether loans can be procured on advantageous terms, on the credit of this State, for the purpose aforesaid, and the terms on which the Western Inland Locknavigation Company would surrender their rights and interests to the people of this State. III. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners shall be, and hereby are, empowered to employ engineers, surveyors, and such other persons as, in their opinion, may be necessary in order to enable them to fulfill the duties imposed on them by this act, and to pay them for their respective services, such sums as may be

reasonable.

IV. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners shall, and they are hereby required to report to the Legislature, at their next session, an account of the whole of their procedings.

V. And be it further enacted, That the Treasurer shall pay to the order of a majority of the said commissioners, out of any moneys in the Treasury, not otherwise appropriated, any sum or sums not exceeding $15,000, and for which the said commissioners shall account to the Comptroller of this State.

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Cumberland Road in Maryland and Ohio.

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A copy of one of the contracts (A) is herewith enclosed which will show, in detail,, the terms, the obligations entered into by the contractors, and the manner in which the road is to be made. In those contracts the bridges are not included, and all the smaller ones have been contracted for at the rate of one dollar and fifty cents to two dollars per perch of mason's work. This, together with contingent allowances, some additional work which could not be embraced in the contracts, and the annual salary of $1,800 allowed to Mr. David Shriver, junior, who superintends the whole, will, it is believed, make the entire cost of those ten miles seventy-five to eighty thousand dollars.

It appears, by Mr. Shriver's report, which, together with an extract of his letter of the same date, is herewith enclosed, (B.) that it is probable that these ten miles will be completed by the first day of August next, according to contract.

The sum appropriated for making the road amounts, after defraying the expenses of surveying and laying out the same, to $125,477 51; and there will, therefore, remain, after paying the whole expense of finishing the first ten miles, an unexpended balance of about $50,000 applicable to the prosecution of the work. This, supposing the expense to be at the same rate, would be sufficient to complete nearly seven miles more.

Mr. Shriver suggests that it would be desirable that contracts might be made, and the road be completed for eleven miles instead of seven. This would reach as far as Tomlinson's, twenty-one miles from Cumberland, where the old and new roads meet, and render the whole work done useful, even if it proceeded no further. For effecting that object a further appropriation of about $30,000 would be necessary.

Another observation of the Superintendent, which deserves particular attention, relates to the necessity of levying tolls sufficient to keep the road in repair; but this can be done only under the authority of the State of Maryland.

From the nature of the contracts, and from the manner in which the work has been executed, it will, it is believed, satisfactorily appear that the chain of mountains, which divides the Atlantic from the Western States, offers no real impediment to an easy communication, and that roads may generally be made as perfect, as convenient, and on the same terms, across those mountains, as in any other part of the Union.

I have the honor to be. &c.

ALBERT GALLATIN. To the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

A.

Articles of agreement made and concluded on the eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eleven, between Henry McKinley, of Maryland, of the one part, and Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, in behalf of the United States, on the other part.

Whereas, the said Henry McKinley has agreed for, and in consideration of, the payments hereinafter mentioned, to make and complete in a workmanlike manner a certain part of the road leading from Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, to Brownsville, in the State of Pennsylvania, as the same has been laid out and confirmed, in pursuance of the act entitled "An act to regulate the laying out, and making a road from Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, to the State of Ohio," and of the act entitled "An act in addition to the act, to regulate the laying out and making a road from Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, to the State of Ohio," which part of the road thus contracted for by the said Henry McKinley, and hereinafter described, is to be made and completed by the said Henry McKinley, in the following manner, and on the following conditions, that is to say: The trees to be cut down and cleared the whole width of sixty-six feet, according to the fourth section of the act abovementioned; the stumps to be grubbed, and the bed of the road to be levelled thirty feet in width; the hills to be cut down, the earth, rocks, and stones, to be removed, the hollows and valleys, and the abutments of all the bridges and culverts, to be filled, so that the whole of the road on the aforesaid width of thirty feet, to be reduced in such manner, that there shall not in any instance be an elevation in said road when finished, greater than an angle of five degrees with the horizon, nor greater than the gradation fixed by the commissioners who laid out the road, and so that the surface of the said road shall be exactly adapted to the marks or stakes, made or to be made, by the person appointed superintendent for the said road by the President of the United States. Where the earth is to be raised, the sides are to slope at an angle not exceeding thirty degrees, the base or bottom part thereof to be of such width as to secure to the road a complete surface of thirty feet in width; a proper allowance to be made for the settling of the made earth, according to the directions of the superintendent; and no stumps, logs, or wood, of any kind, to be permitted in the filling. In all situations on sides of hills, or otherwise, where it may be necessary to fill, but where the nature of the ground will not, in the superintendent's opinion, admit filling with such slope as above mentioned, and where side walls will be built at the expense of the United States, the contractor is to fill four additional feet in breadth, so as to give thirty-four feet surface to the road. Where the hills are cut through, or the road dug along the side of a hill, the bank or banks to be cut of such slope as will be necessary to prevent the earth from falling or slipping in upon the said surface of thirty feet. But in those places where, from the steep ascent of the side of the hill, to cut

Cumberland Road in Maryland and Ohio.

is then to be put on, levelled and approved, before the upper stratum, of stones, passing through a three inch ring, is put on. In every instance the contractor to find, at his own expense, the stones wanted for the pavement, and for his work on the road, but to be allowed, in addition to the price stipulated as hereinafter stated in the articles of agreement, at the rate of half a dollar for each perch in length of the road, where he shall be obliged to pay the owners of the adjacent farms for such stones. The side roads, on each side of the pavement, to be dug as low and deep in the cut parts of the road, and particularly through the rock, as the superintendent may direct; and the filling of such side roads, where the same is necessary, to be raised as high as may be directed by the superintendent. No contractor is to interfere with the stones of the contractors for adjacent sections of the road; for which purpose a line at right angles with the road, at the end of each section, will be considered as dividing the right to stones by each contractor, unless otherwise directed by the superintendent on acccount of a want of stones within the limits of any one section. Masons, or other persons, who may contract with the United States for the building of bridges, culverts, walls, or any other species of mason's work on the road, to be permitted by the contractor to take and select such stones, within his division, as such mason or other person may think proper, and to haul the same along the parts of the road levelled by the contractor, or elsewhere, to the place where such stones may be wanted, without any interruption. Wherever the road meets with, or runs along the course of any other road heretofore used, a sufficient width of road to be kept open for wagons and all kinds of carriages, to pass and repass without delay or interruption, whilst the new road is making. The

with such slope would be impracticable, and where the superintendent may cause side walls to be built to support the bank at the expense of the United States, the bank may, with his permission, be cut perpendicular, or with a greater angle. The surperfluous earth to be removed to the next filling, and there spread, so as to increase the breadth of the road equally on each side, from the commencement of the filling to the end of it, unless otherwise permitted, or directed, by the superintendent. What may be deficient, in order to fill the hollows, to be dug out of the aforesaid thirty feet, or from the banks, in such a way as to increase the width of the road equally through the nearest cutting, unless otherwise permitted or directed by the superintendent. Nor in any instance, the earth to be dug without such permission or direction, more than one foot below the surface of the pavement, within the aforesaid breadth of sixty-six feet. A ditch or water course to be left or made on each side of the said surface of thirty feet, and contiguous thereto; but where the road is dug along the side of a hill, having an ascent exceeding thirty degrees, the ditch along the side of the hill may be dug within the width of the thirty feet, so that the surface of the road, including the said ditch, shall, in such cases, be only thirty feet in breadth. The ditches are, in every instance, to be of such breadth and depth as the superintendent shall direct, and valleys or sewers above the surface of the ground, necessary to give vent to the waters on the side of the hills, to be made in all parts where, and in such manner, as shall be designated by the superintendent. The road to be covered twenty feet in width, with stone eighteen inches in depth in the middle, and diminishing to twelve inches at the sides; the upper six inches thereof, to be broken to such a size as that each particle thereof will pass through a ring of three inches in diam-contractor shall not in any instance let or transeter, and the remaining or lower stratum to be fer his contract, or any part thereof, to any other broken so as to pass through a seven inch ring. person without the superintendent's consent; and No stones to be used for said pavement but such in every instance, where such sub-contract may as may be approved of; provided, they are with- be made, the price per perch to be allowed to such in one mile, on an average, from the part of the road sub-contractor shall be fixed, with the said superwhere they may be wanting, and particular pains intendent's approbation, and shall be paid by him to be taken to select the best for the upper six to such sub-contractor, out of the first moneys inches. In all cases, where bridges or culverts which may become due to the principal contracare built, the pavement to extend twelve inches tor, according to the provisions for payment stipdeep from the extremity of the aforesaid breadthulated in the articles of agreement. The conof twenty feet to each side wall, the whole length tractor shall not employ any workmen or laborof said walls; for which additional pavement the ers, who commit depredations in the neighborcontractor shall, in addition to the price stipu-hood, or insult the travellers; and he shall, on lated in the articles of agreement, hereto annexed, receive an allowance at the rate of one dollar for every fifty superficial square feet of such additional pavement. The whole of the said artificial stratum of broken stones to be made in a compact manner, and to be supported on each side by good and solid shoulders, and its surface to be formed as smooth and even as may be, and of such convexity as the superintendent may direct. Each grade of the road to be perfectly levelled, brought to the proper degree, and approved, before any stones are put on the same; and the lower stratum of stones passing through a seven inch ring,

the application of the superintendent, immediately discharge any workman or laborer in his employ. The contractor shall commence working on his station at the end nearest to Cumberland, unless a deviation in that respect be assented to by the superintendent.

Now, this agreement made and concluded on the 28th day of May, 1811, between the said Henry McKinley, of the one part, and Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, in behalf of the United States, of the other part, witnesseth, that the said Henry McKinley, for his heirs, executors, and administrators, does hereby covenant,

Cumberland Road in Maryland and Ohio.

mentioned.

ALBERT GALLATIN,

Sec'ry of the Treasury.

HENRY MCKINLEY,

Signed, sealed, and delivered, in the presence

of

GEORGE BRUCE,

JOHN RIVE,
M. WALLACE.

Approved:

JAMES MADISON.

Secretary of the Treasury, dated

WESTMINSTER, Jan. 14, 1812.

I hope the enclosed report will be found such as was required. Should any part be found improper, I will thank you to return it to me, at this place, with your remarks; or, should it be thought best that I should again attend at the city, you will please direct me; my reason for pointing out the probable cost of the ten miles, is, that Congress might know what sum would complete the road to any particular point.

promise, and agree with the said Albert Gallatin his hand and seal, the day and year first before as aforesaid, that he, the said Henry McKinley, shall and will, well and faithfully, and in a workmanlike manner, on or before the 1st day of August, 1812, make, finish, and complete in the manner, and on the conditions hereinbefore mentioned, all that part of the road abovementioned, which is designated by the name of the "first section," beginning at Cumberland, in Maryland, and ending at a place on said road two miles and two hundred and forty-six perches distant from said Cumberland. In consideration whereof, the said Albert Gallatin, for and in behalf of the United States as aforesaid, doth hereby covenant, prom- Extract of a letter from David Shriver, junior, to the ise, and and agree, to and with the said Henry McKinley, his executors, and administrators, that the said United States shall and will, for doing and performing the work aforesaid, well and truly pay, or cause to be paid, to the said Henry McKinley, his executors, or administrators, at the rate of twenty-one dollars and twenty-five cents for each and every perch in length of said road, in the following manner, viz: when forty perches in length of said road are finished, and approved by the superintendent, the United States will pay to the said Henry McKinley, for twenty perches: and after that, they will pay him on the completion of every twenty perches for the said twenty perches; at all time reserving the amount due for the first twenty perches, until the whole of the section hereby contracted for shall have been finished and completed to the satisfaction of the superintendent, agreeably to contract, when the balance due shall be paid to the said Henry McKinley. And the said Henry McKinley, for himself, his heirs, executors, and administrators, further covenant and agree with the said Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, for and in behalf of the United States, that, in case the said Henry McKinley shall not well and truly, from time to time, comply with and perform all the covenants and conditions herein before stated and stipulated on his part to be done, performed, and complied with, in the manner and form, and within the time herein before mentioned; or, in case it should appear to the Secretary of the Treasury, for the time being, or to the superintendent of the road for the United States, that the work does not progress, and go on with sufficient speed, so as to be finished and completed in the time herein specified, that then the foregoing agreements on the part of the United States, and every part thereof, shall become null and void; and the United States shall be at liberty, and have full right and authority, anything herein to the contrary notwithstanding, to employ and set to work, or to contract with any person or persons whomsoever, in the place and stead of the said Henry McKinley, and without any interruption or interference whatsoever from him, the said Henry McKinley, his executors, or administrators.

In witness whereof, the said Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, in behalf of the United States, hath hereunto subscribed his name, and affixed the seal of the Treasury; and the said Henry McKinley has hereunto set

The small sum wanting, in addition to the balance that will remain unexpended, to enable them to make the road across Meadow Mountain to Tomlinson's, (which would be eleven miles in addition,) Congress ought to give. The road then would be very beneficial to the public; whereas, if we stop at the end of seventeen or eighteen miles, it will be of little or no service, ending in a wilderness instead of a settlement, and in a tolerable level country, where persons from various points might travel to it. This small sum would likewise enable us to keep the hands, now on the work, in employ; a great number of them have families, and have moved on the work at considerable expense, which has, in a number of instances, been paid by the contractors, and the poor people, yet indebted, some of them, considerably, should they be obliged to leave the work, it would, in my opinion, be difficult to gather them again.

The Legislature of this State has passed a law to establish a bank at Cumberland. The stock is to be subscribed on the first of April next. This bank will remove one difficulty, which has always been an important one with me.

I shall leave this place for the road as soon as there is any prospect of being able to go on with the work.

JANUARY 14, 1812.

SIR: It being required by law that a statement should be submitted to Congress at each session, I have considered it my duty to give a concise view of the progress and present state of the Western road under my superintendence, with such additional observations as arose out of the subject.

The levelling and shaping the bed of the road is complete, with a few exceptions, for about five miles; the stone for the pavement laid on a greater

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