On the 5^th of January, 1791, GOV. GEORGE CLINTON, in his Annual Message, thus first broaches the subject of INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS by the State:

"Our frontier settlements, freed from apprehensions of danger, are rapidly increasing and must soon yield extensive resources for profitable commerce; this consideration forcibly recommends the policy of continuing to facilitate the means of communication with them, as well to strengthen the bands of society as to prevent the produce of those fertile districts from being diverted to other markets."

On the 5^th of January, 1792, Gov. Clinton, in his Annual Message for that year, thus refers to this subject:

"The Legislature, at their last meeting, impressed with the importance of improving the means of communication, not only to the agriculture and commerce of the State, but even to the influence of the laws, directed the Commissioners of the Land Office to cause the ground between the Mohawk river and the Wood creek in the county of Herkimer, also between the Hudson river and the Wood creek, in the county of Washington, to be explored and surveyed, and estimates to be formed of the expense of joining these waters by canals. I now submit to you their report which ascertains the practicability of effecting this object at a very moderate expense, and I trust that a measure so interesting to the community, will continue to command the attention due to its importance, and especially, as the resources of the State will prove adequate to these and other useful improvements without the aid of taxes."

On the 7^th of January, 1794, Gov. Clinton again recurs to this subject:

"The northern and western companies of inland lock navigation, having, agreeably to law, produced authentic accounts of their expenditures, I have given the necessary certificate to entitle them to receive from the Treasury the sum of ten thousand pounds, as a free gift on the part of this State towards the prosecution of those interesting objects. Although the care of improving and opening these navigations be committed to private companies, they will require, and no doubt from time to time receive, from the Legislature, every fostering aid and patronage commensurate to the great public advantages which must result from the improvement of the means of intercourse."

Thus was foreshadowed by that sturdy old patriot, the first Governor of our State, and the man who, perhaps, more than any other, exerted the greatest influence upon her then future destiny, that system of improvements successfully carried out under the administration of his illustrious nephew.

It will be remembered that in 1789, that nephew, De Witt Clinton, was appointed the private Secretary of the Governor, and continued to hold that close and confidential relation down to 1795, and during the period of the three annual meetings of the Legislature to whom the Messages were addressed, from which the foregoing extracts are taken. That the thoughts of him who, in the language of an eloquent divine of our State, "was able not only to fix some impress of his mind on most of the institutions under which we live, but also to grave the memorial of his being on the bosom of the earth on which we tread, and in lines, too, so bold and so indelible that they may, and probably will, continue legible to successive generations," that his thoughts were early, and even then turned attentively upon this subject, there can be but little doubt.

Who can tell what visions of the future crowded upon the brilliant imagination of the youthful statesman, as his pen copied out the Messages referred to? In one of his addresses during this period in 1794, De Witt Clinton thus speaks:

"Great improvements must also take place which far surpass the momentum of power that a single nation can produce, but will with facility proceed from their united strength. The hand of art will change the face of the universe. Mountains, deserts, and oceans will feel its mighty force. It will not then be debated whether hills shall be prostrated, but whether the Alps and the Andes shall be levelled; nor whether sterile fields shall be fertilized, but whether the deserts of Africa shall feel the power of cultivation; nor whether rivers shall be joined, but whether the Caspian shall see the Mediterranean, and the waves of the Pacific lave the Atlantic."

The act authorizing the construction of the canals by the State was passed in 1817, and the work commenced on the 4^th of July in that year. De Witt Clinton was first elected Governor in 1817, and on the 28^th of January, 1818, delivered his first Message, of which the following is an extract:

"I congratulate you upon the auspicious commencement and successful progress of the contemplated water communication between the great western and northern lakes, and the Atlantic ocean. Near sixty miles of the Western Canal have been contracted for, to be finished within the present year; and it is probable that the whole of the Northern Canal will be disposed of in the same manner before the ensuing spring.

"Notwithstanding the unfavorable season, the inexperience of the contractors, and the late commencement of operations, it is understood that the work to the extent of fifteen miles has already been done on the Western Canal. And it is confidently believed that the aggregate expense will be within the estimates of the commissioners. The enhancement of the profits of agriculture, the excitement of manufacturing industry, the activity of internal trade, the benefits of lucrative traffic; the interchange of valuable commodities -- the commerce of fertile, remote, and wide-spread regions, and the approximation of the most distant parts of the Union, by the facility and rapidity of communication that will result from the completion of these stupendous works, will spread the blessings of plenty and opulence to an immeasurable extent. The resources of the State are fully adequate without extraneous aid; and when we consider that every portion of the nation will feel the animating spirit and vivifying influences of these great works; that they will receive the benediction of posterity and command the approbation of the civilized world; we are required to persevere by every dictate of interest, by every sentiment of honor, by every injunction of patriotism, and by every consideration which ought to influence the councils and govern the conduct of a free, high-minded, enlightened, and magnanimous people."

In his Message of 1826, he thus speaks of their completion:

"In 1818 I had the pleasure to congratulate the Legislature on the auspicious commencement and successful progress of the contemplated water communication between the great western and northern lakes and the Atlantic ocean, and I now have the peculiar gratification to felicitate you on their completion. On the 26^th of October last, the Western Canal was in a navigable state, and vessels passed from Lake Erie to the Atlantic ocean. In about eight years, artificial communications, near 428 miles in length, have been opened to the Hudson River from Lake Champlain by the Northern Canal; to Lake Ontario by the Oswego River and the Western Canal; and to Lake Erie and the other western lakes by the latter Canal -- thus affording an extent of inland navigation unparalleled in the experience of mankind. The expense of these works and of some auxiliary, connected, and incidental operations, amounts to $9,130,373.80, exclusive of interest paid on loans."

Thus the vision of 1794 was substantially realized. The Caspian had not seen the Mediterranean, nor had the waters of the Pacific flowed into the Atlantic; but he had lived to see results equally important. The energies and resources of a single State, chiefly directed by his own far-seeing policy, had united the waters of our inland seas with those of the Atlantic. The writer remembers well the celebration of that event, for it was then that he first saw DE WITT CLINTON. He had just entered Union College at Schenectady, and in the fall of 1825, stood with his College companions upon the banks of the canal in that City, when Governor Clinton landed from the boat in which he had passed in triumph from Lake Erie. Allusion is made to this circumstance because it was at Schenectady, as the reader of the following journal will perceive, that Mr. Clinton and his associate Commissioners in July, 1810, set sail upon the dangerous Mohawk.

The most casual observer cannot fail to notice the mighty changes which the forty succeeding years have produced. The western wilderness has literally budded and blossomed, and brought forth much fruit. The State of New York has taken her proud position at the head of the Confederacy, and counts her population by millions. Her gigantic Internal Improvements have realized the most sanguine anticipations of their early projectors, and while they have proved sources of great wealth to us, have also furnished models for our sister States -- and have diffused their influence over vast regions, where in 1810 the wild beast made its lair, and the wandering savage found his home and his grave.

The traveler, as he now passes up the valley of the Mohawk with almost lightning’s speed, can hardly realize the slow and tedious journeyings of our fathers.

The following pages contain the interesting private Journal of Mr. Clinton in 1810.