Report upon the Finances and Internal Improvements of New ’orIc. 103‘

They will not attempt to measure the consequences which the comple.
tion ofa great and harmonious system ot intercommunication, extending
into the utmost recesses of the interior, and concentrating within our bor-

_ders the trade of the most populous portion of the continent, will produce,

in augmenting the aggregate riches of our State ;—in covering its surface
with opulent cities ;—in swelling its commercial marine ;—in securing its
political supremacy ;-—and enlarging, in all respects, its prosperity, power,
and glory. Nor will they seek to compute the pecuniary results which
this vast and ever increasing stream of inland trade, flowing through our
territory for all future time, will produce in augrrieiitiiig the wealth of its
commercialmetropolis. The history of Venice, in its palmiest days,
stretching her long line of islands and colonies far into the East, and
controlling by her position the commerce of Asia, presents but a feeble
picture of the splendour and riches which our own great mart must even-
tually attain

Still less will they seek to span within their narrow arithmetic, the pecu-
niary value of the illimitable West. ‘Vere they to state that from an
assessed value in 1798, of only 26 millions, for all the vast territory “ est
of the mountains, stretching from the Gulfof Mexico to Lake Superior,
wealth has arisen and been created within the short space of forty years to
the amount of twelve hundred. millions of dollars, they would have attain-
ed only the first step in that long series, by which an empire is to ascend
to a height of power and dominion as yet unequalled in the history of our
race.

Least of all will they attempt to compute the pecuniary consequences
of these great arteries of trade, in cementing and preserving the union of
these free and flourishing republics. It is not for New-York, or her sons,
to “calculate the value” of that sacred bond. But if we would catch a
glimpse, however imperfect, of the gigantic stake which is depending on
our prudence and patriotism—-if we would count the cost ofruined cities,
and desolated ,fields,—of our lakes and rivers,,obstructed by fleets and
fortresses in war, and by commercial restrictions still more destructive in
peace, We may contrast Europe as it is, couvulsed by centuries of strife,
and broken into jarring, disunited, and discordant communities, with Eu-
rope, as it would have been, had its whole population been united like
ours, at the very origin of their governments, under one common law,
speaking one common language, and bound by one common constitu-
tion.

Let us then go forward in the broad path ofduty which is spread before
us--and in riveting, as now we may, the bonds which unite tlieimighty
members of this glorious Union, discharge those high and solemn obliga-
tions which We owe not only to ourselves and those who surround us, but
to the long line ofgenerations who are to follow in after ages.

The committee, in order to carry out the views of this report, will pre-
pare a bill, making the necessary appropriations, as soon as their object

and amount shall be determined by the proper committees, and sanctioned ‘

by 121113 -House. In the mean time, they beg leave to submit the following
reso utionz , A
RESOLVED, That it is not necessary or expedient to levy a direct tax.
 S, C'o7mn'£1fz‘ce of Vl}"ays
:£rronr.xsL]:.W(I3po1{s, ‘ and ilfeans.
March 12, 1338. MER H