g, Kentucky, Green
river, Barren, Cumberland, and Tennessee, the upper Mississippi and its
tributaries, especially the Illinois and Wisconsin, the Desmoines and
St. Peter's, the lower Mississippi and all its vast tributaries, the St.
Francis, White river, Arkansas, Red river, and Yazoo. These are no
dreams of an enthusiast, but advancing realities, if _now_, _now_ we
will only do our duty in crushing this rebellion, and exorcise the foul
fiend of slavery, that called it into being. We may best judge of what
we may do in the future, by what we have done in the past. We have
constructed 4,650 miles of canals (including slackwater), at a cost of
$132,000,000. We have constructed (including city roads) 31,898 miles of
railroad, at a cost of $1,203,285,569, making an aggregate, for
railroads and canals, of $1,335,285,569. Now, one tenth of this sum will
probably make all the works proposed now to be executed, for they are
all only enlargements of existing canals, except the ship canal round
the falls of Niagara, and a similar canal from Lake Champlain to the St.
Lawrence, a work of vast importance, but that can only be accomplished
with the aid and consent of Canada, and is not now estimated.

These improvements would be truly national, especially as provision
would be made for deepening the mouth of the Mississippi. We propose to
make or enlarge no mere local works, but only such as connect the
Atlantic and the Gulf with the lakes, Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri,
Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna, Chesapeake bay, and Albemarle sound.
There local routes must be constructed or enlarged by local or State
expenditures.

The canals in New York, constituting so large a portion of the system,
have already (mostly) the requisite width and depth, and only need an
enlargement of the locks. The great Delaware and Raritan canal,
connecting New York with Philadelphia, has a depth of 8 feet, and the
Delaware and Chesapeake, uniting them with the Susquehanna and the
lakes, Baltimore, Norfolk, and Albemarle sound, has a depth of ten feet.
No doubt the enlightened proprietors of the Delaware and Raritan canal
would, on fair terms to themselves and the Government, enlarge that
canal (if practicable) to the depth of the Delaware and Chesapeake,
which would be of incalculable benefit to the whole country, but
especially to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Norfolk.

The Pennsylvania canals proposed to be enlarged are the Schuylkill,
leading b