The 4th of July, 1825, only a few months prior to the completion of the New York Canal, machinery was put in motion to revolve until the end of time. On this day the policy of the state government in favor of internal improvements was permanently inaugurated. Even the few opposing minds of those who had never seen the walls of China, but wished to maintain the state secluded from the commercial world by means of the high tariff (the barriers nature had vouchsafed to the inhabitants), weakened in their ideas of “home protection,” or at once became favorable to the doctrine of reciprocity, which at that early date was the “soft” or synonym for free trade. And when it became satisfactorily demonstrated that improvements would increase the amount and price of labor, as well as the values of its products, such individuals changed to vociferous advocates of a canal, saying: “If the canal can secure such prices for the products of the soil, and in return furnish foreign cheap supplies, we can afford to abandon looms and spinning-wheels, and let supply and demand take care of themselves.” And the energetic boards of construction were unanimously supported by the people, and soon completed eight hundred miles of canals and one thousand miles of toll-roads, with a disbursement of over fifteen million dollars, borrowed money. The state, however, suffered no inconvenience on this account; its credit was good, and all that was necessary to obtain funds as fast as needed was to call upon the Lord who came to Ohio with Governor Clinton at the opening.
Log-Cabin Luminary.
Among the multitude of great men assembled on this occasion, no one did more or was nearer and dearer in the hearts of the people than the man who mastered mathematics, Greek, Latin, and law, while a “hireling” at the Kanawha Salt Works; the man who did his reading at night by the light of the furnace or a “log-cabin luminary,” a lard lamp; the man who received the first collegiate degree of A.M. ever issued in the North-west; the orator of the day, Hon. Thomas Ewing. No such universal and intense enthusiasm was ever before, or again will be, so overwhelmingly manifested in Ohio as that of the opening of the canals; no other object for public demonstration is likely will ever approach it in importance.
Governor Clinton and party were escorted from Newark to Columbus by the state militia, legislature, county and state officers and eminent citizens. And in reply to Governor Morrow’s reception, Governor Clinton said:
“I find myself at a loss for language to express my profound sense of the distinguished notice taken of me by the excellent chief magistrate of this powerful and flourishing state, and by our numerous and respected fellow citizens assembled in this place, I feel that my services have been greatly overrated, but I can assure you that your kindness has not fallen on an ungrateful heart—that I most cordially and sincerely reciprocate your friendly sentiments, and that any agency I may have had in promoting the cardinal interests to which you have been pleased to refer, has been as sincere as it has been disinterested.
“When Ohio was an applicant for admission into the Union, it was my good fortune to have it in my power, in co-operation with several distinguished friends, most of whom are now no more, to promote her views and to assist in elevating her from a territorial position to the rank of an independent state. This was an act of justice to her and duty of high obligation on our part. At that early period I predicted, and indeed it required no extraordinary sagacity to foresee, that Ohio would in due time be a star of the first magnitude in the federal constellation; that she contains within her bosom the elements of greatness and prosperity, and that her population would be the second, if not the first, in the confederacy.
“The number of your inhabitants at the next census will probably exceed a million. Cultivation of the soil has advanced with gigantic strides—your fruitful country is teeming with plenty, and has a vast surplus beyond your consumption of all the productions of agriculture. Villages, towns and settlements are springing up and extending in all directions, and the very ground on which we stand, but a few years ago a dreary wilderness, is now a political metropolis of the state, and the residence of knowledge, elegance and hospitality.
“I have considered it my solemn duty in concurrence with your worthy chief magistrate, your very able canal board of finance and superintendence, and other patriotic and enlightened citizens of this state, to furnish all the resources in my power in aid of the great system of internal navigation so auspiciously commenced on the fifteenth anniversary of our national independence.
“This is a cause in which every citizen and every state in our country is deeply interested; for the work will be a great centripetal power that will keep the states within their federal orbits—and an adamantine chain that will bind the Union together in the most intimate connection of interests and communication. It therefore secures, not only the prosperity of Ohio, but the union of the states and the consequent blessings of free government; and now I think it my duty to declare that I have the utmost confidence in the practicability of the undertaking, and the economy and ability with which it will be executed. In five years it may, and will be completed, in all probability, and I am clearly of the opinion, that in two years after the construction of this work, it will produce an annual revenue of at least a million dollars, and hope this remark may now be noted, if any thing I say shall be deemed worthy of particular notice, in order that its accuracy may be tested by experience.
“I beg you, sir, to accept the assurance of my high respect for your private and public services, and to feel persuaded that I consider your approbation and the approbation of patriotic men an ample reward for my service, that a benevolent Providence may have enabled me to render to our common country.”[25]
From Columbus the party was escorted to Springfield, Dayton, Hamilton, and Cincinnati, receiving public dinners and the most extravagant and enthusiastic demonstrations of appreciation and respect by thousands of citizens. At Cincinnati the party were invited guests to an entertainment given in honor of Henry Clay.
While Governor Clinton was in Cincinnati, he yielded to the pressing invitation to go to Louisville and render an opinion on the question then in dispute between Kentucky and Indiana, as to which side of the river was the better adapted for a canal around the falls. His decided opinion was in favor of Kentucky, to which all parties assented, and the canal was constructed accordingly.
On returning home, the Governor passed through Portsmouth, Piketon, Chillicothe, Circleville, Lancaster, Summit, and Zanesville, via Pittsburgh, receiving every-where the most distinguished attention.
All business for the time was suspended. He and his party were every-where treated as Ohio’s invited guests; and the Governor was attended by all the county officers, eminent citizens, and multitudes to the next county line, where a like escort was in waiting with the best livery the country could produce; halting at each county town, for a grand reception, ornamented with speeches, toasts, flags, and firearms.