mode of improving this kind of property. Hence the correspondence, both of the father and daughter, with Mr Morris on this subject.

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It was for a long time Madame de Staël's intention to visit the United States, and to establish one of her sons here in the charge of these lands. In her letters to Mr Morris, she often speaks of the voyage as in prospect, and soon to be performed. If I were only twenty-five years old,' said she, instead of thirty-five, I believe that I should come and see you.' To this Mr Morris replied, Then you think me fit only for the society of young ladies. Be persuaded, I beseech you, of the contrary. Believe, too, that the age of reason is that, which is suitable for travelling. Greater advantage is obtained from it, and less risk incurred. Building castles in the air is a diverting folly. Building them in the United States would be a ruinous folly. Labor is too expensive. But to set up a little summer establishment in a new country, which is rapidly advancing; to pass there from three to five months of the fine season; to remain four months more either at Philadelphia or New York; and to spend the remainder of the year in travelling; this I consider a mode of life by no means repugnant to common sense.' The next year she wrote as if her resolution was taken, and she would soon depart. In his answer Mr Morris says; I flatter myself, then, that next spring you will sail for America. For this purpose about the middle of April you can embark at Nantes with your son for New York. As soon as you arrive, you will come to Morrisania, partake what our dairy affords, and refresh yourself. In the beginning of July you shall set out to visit your lands, and the interior country; and return by the middle of September, to repose after your fatigues, to gather peaches, take walks, make verses, romances, in a word to do whatever you please. When my hermitage shall have lost its attractions, you shall establish yourself in the city, where, by the aid of a good cook, you will contrive to live very well. Here, as elsewhere, people amuse themselves with discussions, bons mots, slandering their

neighbors, and the like. Life is everywhere much the same in the long run. In all places the senses are of some account; the rest depends on the cast of mind, the view we take of things, the art of being occupied, and, finally, on friendship, whose sentiments endear our existence and banish ennui.'

About the same time Madame de Staël wrote also to M. Leray; I understand you have managed your lands with great skill, and that you have a fine establishment. I cannot imagine a more noble career than yours, and if I had not my European habits, I should delight to become an inmate at Leraysville. I should there find, I am sure, a most agreeable residence, and our friend Morris would bring back Paris to my recollections. Commend me to him, I pray you, and forget not the protection of friendship, which you have kindly afforded me, since I have been deprived of the protector, who honored and sustained my life. Adieu, my dear friend, we shall meet next year on the banks of some river.' But the meeting never took place. Madame de Staël's European attachments and pursuits threw perpetual obstacles in the way of her projected voyage, till declining health deprived her of the courage to meditate and the strength to execute such an enterprise. Her son formed other views, and after her death. the lands were sold.

The following extract from a letter to Madame de Damas, dated December 1st, 1809, will give some insight into Mr Morris's habits of living and thinking at that time.

'Agreeably to your wish, we have talked of you much, we have thought of you still more, and sincerely wished, that you and yours were with us. We have not indeed the gayeties of Paris, nor the pleasures of France, but we breathe freely a wholesome air. You ask what is my situation, my health, and employment. I answer, that my establishment is pleasant, and though expensive, not beyond the means which I ought to possess, and which time will either bring or take away. My health is excellent, saving a little of the gout, which at this moment annoys me. I can walk three leagues, if the weather

be pleasant, and the road not rough. My employment is to labor for myself a little, for others more; to receive much company, and forget half those who come. I think of public affairs a little, read a little, play a little, and sleep a great deal. With good air, a good cook, fine water and wine, a good constitution, and a clear conscience, I descend gradually towards the grave, full of gratitude to the Giver of all good; and, beseeching him to grant to my fellow creatures what he has graciously and abundantly bestowed on me, I rely on providence as well for what remains here, as for what may happen hereafter.

'In answer to this letter tell me the same things of yourself, and it will add much to my felicity. Be persuaded, that, in spite of our feeble efforts and empty vows, events in this world, and in the thousands of worlds, which roll through the regions of space, will pursue the course marked out by Omnipotence. Every inferior intelligence, the greatest as well as the least, is but an instrument in his hand. How vain, then, the pride, the power, and the glory of man! How idle the care of those, who think they regulate the affairs of a little portion of the little planet, on which they chance to exist for a moment! How weak the wish to play a splendid part on this transient theatre, and how insensate the attempt to supplant those, who are buskined to terrify or amuse! Adieu.'

On the twenty-fifth of December, 1809, Mr Morris was married to Miss Anne Carey Randolph, a lady accomplished in mind and person, and belonging to one of the ancient and most respectable families in Virginia. To this connexion, although formed late in life, he often refers in his private correspondence, as a source of continued satisfaction and happiness. More than two years after his marriage, he wrote to his intimate friend, Mr John Parish, then at Bath in England; Perhaps some wind may yet waft you over the bosom of the Atlantic, and then you shall become acquainted with my wife, and you shall see that fortune-fortune? No, the word befits not a sacred theme,-let me say the bounty of Him,

who has been to me unsparingly kind, gilds with a celestial beam the tranquil evening of my day.' On the sixth of July, 1816, he wrote again to Mr Parish as follows. 'I lead a quiet, and, more than most of my fellow mortals, a happy life. The woman, to whom I am married, has much genius, has been well educated, and possesses, with an affectionate temper, industry and a love of order. Our little boy grows finely, and is generally admired. The sentiments of a father, respecting an only child, render his opinions so liable to suspicion, that prudence should withhold them. You may, then, opening your mind's eye, behold your friend, as he descends with tottering steps the bottom of life's hill, supported by a kind companion, a tender female friend, and cheered by a little prattler, who bids fair, if God shall spare his life, to fill in due time the space his father leaves. He will, I trust, bequeath a portion larger than his heritage of wealth and fame. Nevertheless, looking back I can with some little self complacency reflect, that I have not lived in vain; and at the same time look forward with composure, at the probable course of future events. At sixty-four there is little to desire, and less to apprehend.'

CHAPTER XXVI.

MR MORRIS FIRST SUGGESTS THE IDEA OF THE CANAL BETWEEN LAKE ERIE AND THE HUDSON.-HIS SERVICES IN EFFECTING THAT WORK.HIS DEATH.-SKETCH OF HIS CHARACTER BY MADAME DE DAMAS.

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

We are now to consider Mr Morris's agency in originating the idea, and projecting the plan, of the Erie Canal. So much has been written on this subject, and so many rival claims to the honor and credit of first suggesting, or progressively effecting, this magnificent enterprise, have been put forward and tenaciously maintained, that it is almost invidious to single out a name from so worthy a list, as demanding a mark

ed pre-eminence. It is comforting to reflect, however, that there is merit enough for them all, and that the awarding of his just share to one, need not detract from what may fairly belong to any or all of the others. The project of an improved water communication, between the Hudson and Lake Ontario, by way of the natural streams and the carrying places, for the advancement of the Indian trade, appears to have been thought of some time before the Revolution; but the splendid conception of connecting the vast waters of Erie, and the upper Lakes, with those of the Atlantic through the channel of the Hudson, is of more recent origin, and may undoubtedly be ascribed to Gouverneur Morris. It would, truly, be presumptuous to say, that no such thought ever crossed any person's mind, till it flashed upon his, yet, as far as testimony has weight, it is demonstrable, that he was the first to give shape and consistency to the thought, or make it known to the world. A few facts will be enough to establish this point.

In a letter to Dr Hosack, replying to certain queries respecting the Erie Canal, Mr Harmanus Bleecker writes as follows.

'Of the merit of the late Gouverneur Morris, in regard to the canals, I have a deep impression. I witnessed with great interest his zeal and intelligence, his efforts to inform others, and his elevation above the ignorance and prejudice, by which the project was condemned as premature and chimerical. You know, that he and Mr Clinton were deputed by the Canal Commissioners, to attend at the seat of the general government, for the purpose of procuring its aid. In the month of January, 1812, they appeared before a Committee of the House of Representatives, consisting of a member from each State, and Mr Morris made a grand and luminous exposition of his views, in relation to the Erie Canal, and several other similar projects in various parts of the United States.* It is

* Mr Bleecker was at that time in Washington, as a member of Congress from the State of New York.