virtue of a compromise with New York, a pre-emptive right in the property of the soil) a tract of six millions of acres in the Genesee Country, as it was called, for a few cents the acre; a magnificent speculation on paper; but, like many other magnificent paper speculations, ending in vexation and disappointment; and yielding, I believe, nothing but very moderate results to the bold and sagacious adventurers. But the country at that time was unsettled-the Indian title not extinguished-the property in the soil in one State, the jurisdiction over the territory in another-the Federal Constitution not framed, and no efficient common tribunal existing to settle controversies. Under these circumstances Messrs. Gorham and Phelps were obliged, eventually, to abandon the greater part of their princely purchase.

But, though I have hardly got to the beginning of my "Incursion," I have reached the end of my paper, and I must tell the rest of the story another time.

NUMBER SEVEN.

AN INCURSION INTO THE EMPIRE STATE.

ᏢᎪᎡᎢ II.

Unpromising weather at Canandaigua-History of the settlement-Oliver PhelpsAnecdote of Judge Gorham-Visit to Rochester-Reserved seats-Astonishing progress of the settlement-Return to Auburn-Change in the weather-From Auburn to Syracuse and detention there-Sleeping cars from Syracuse to Albany -Wakeful fellow-passengers-Collision at Albany-Kind-hearted ConductorsReturn home.

Ir was snowing and raining when I arrived at Canandaigua; and when one has travelled, by day and by night, four hundred and twenty-one miles, to speak in the evening, a heavy rain, especially in the country, where dry side-walks and vehicles do not much abound, is rather discouraging. And so we watched the signs of the times with some anxiety, and lamented over the weather; reconciling ourselves, however, to it at last, on two grounds principally, which I mention because they contain a practical philosophy, which may be turned to account in graver cases;-one was, that our lamentations and anxieties would do no good;-the other that, though the rain was not particularly desirable for us, it was greatly wanted by the "rest of mankind," as the springs were And so we submitted to the rain. It did not appear greatly to tell upon the audience, and the next morning Mr. Granger handed me, as the proceeds of the evening, a generous contribution to the Mount Vernon fund. I suspect the sum was somewhat increased by individual liberality.

1 W.

There is no more beautiful village, as far as my observation has extended, than Canandaigua; few places of greater interest in the history of the settlement of the country. It was here, that the settlement of the western part of New York commenced, (after the purchase of Messrs. Gorham and Phelps,) in the year 1788. In the summer of that year, Mr. Oliver Phelps, a person of truly heroic character, who is entitled to a place among Lord Bacon's Conditores Imperiorum, (founders of empires,) left Massachusetts, for the purpose of exploring and surveying the vast region which he and Judge. Gorham had purchased,-now embracing, I believe, twelve counties, in the western part of New York. They penetrated, what was then a savage wilderness, as far west as Canandaigua, one hundred and thirty miles west of the German Flats, then considered the utmost limits of civilization. Rev. Mr. Kirkland, (father of President Kirkland, of Harvard Col lege,) who had long lived among the Indians as a Missionary, accompanied Mr. Phelps and his party, as a Commissioner on the part of Massachusetts. An Indian Council was held on a beautiful eminence overlooking Canandaigua Lake; Red Jacket denounced the proposed treaty; but Farmer's Brother pacified the excited chiefs, and an agreement was finally made for the extinction of the Indian title to more than two millions of acres of land. After the treaty, the land was surveyed under the direction of Mr. Phelps, on the system of townships and ranges, which has since been extended to the public domain of the United States, and forms one of the most important and admirable arrangements in the practical administration of the Government of the United States.

"In 1789 (I quote the Rochester Directory of 1827, as cited in Barber's valuable Historical Collections of New York) Oliver Phelps opened a land office in Canandaigua. This was the first land office in America for the sale of her forest-lands to settlers; and the system which he adopted for the survey of his lands by townships and ranges became the model for the manner of surveying all the new lands in the United

States. Oliver Phelps may be considered the Cecrops of the Genesee Country. Its inhabitants owe a mausoleum to his memory, in gratitude for his having pioneered for them the wilderness of this Canaan of the West."

Some idea of the hardships attending the first settlement of new countries in general, and this in particular, may be formed from the description given of this now beautiful and highly cultivated village, abounding with all the improvements of a prosperous rural district, in Mr. Spafford's Gazetteer, also cited in Barber's Collections.

"The settlement of this town (Canandaigua) commenced in 1790, and in 1797 I found it but feeble, contending with numerous embarrassments and difficulties. The Spring of that year was uncommonly wet and cold. Besides a good deal of sickness,-mud knee deep, mosquitos and gnats so thick that you could hardly breathe without swallowing them; rattlesnakes, and the ten thousand discouragements everywhere incident to new settlements-surrounded by these,-in June of that year, I saw with wonder that these people, all Yankees from Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont, were perfectly undismayed, 'looking forward in hope, sure and steadfast.' They talked to me of what the country would be, by and by, as if it were history, and I received it as all fable."

Oliver Phelps died on the 21st February, 1809, in the sixtieth year of his age; and future generations will do justice to his memory. So rapid has been the growth of this, in common with many other parts of the country, that the present generation loses, in its familiarity with it, an adequate appreciation of the stupendous process, by which barbarous territories, almost boundless, have within sixty years been brought into the domain of civilization. To illustrate the rapidity of this progress, I often repeat an anecdote, which has descended by tradition in the Gorham family.

On one occasion, when Judge Gorham was musing, in a state of mental depression, on the almost total failure of this magnificent speculation, he was visited by a friend and towns

man, who had returned from a journey to Canandaigua, then just laid out. This friend tried to cheer the Judge with a bright vision of the future growth of Western New York. Kindling with his theme, he pointed to a son of Judge Gorham, who was in the room, and added, "You and I shall not live to see the day, but that lad, if he reaches threescore years and ten, will see a daily stage-coach running as far west as Canandaigua." That lad was the late Mr. Benjamin Gorham, who died a few years ago,-who represented Boston for several years in Congress with great ability, and who lived to witness, not merely a daily stage-coach, entering Canandaigua, but two great lines of rail-road, and a gigantic canal, traversing the State from east to west, with subsidiary communications in every direction, and without end.

*

The next day, (15th December,) at half-past ten, I left Canandaigua, regretting only the necessary shortness of my visit, as I have to do constantly. At Rochester we had the same menace of bad weather, which, however, gave way before evening. I met at the station President Anderson, General Smith, and Mr. Moore, and was conducted by them to the hospitable dwelling of Silas O. Smith, Esq., and to the enjoyment of all the comforts of a cordial reception and a friendly home.

At Rochester we had inadvertently incurred the risk of a pretty serious miscarriage. In order to increase the receipts of the evening, and also to accommodate some elderly persons, invalids, and ladies, who might desire a comfortable seat in the hall, without going at an hour beforehand, or who were unable to struggle for it at a crowded door, the idea of reserving a portion of the seats at a higher price, occurred to those having charge of the arrangements. It was not an entirely novel plan; but, though a well-meant, it proved to be an unfortunate suggestion. Seats are daily reserved in many, nay, in most places of public resort, in this country and in Europe, without giving alarm to the most sensitive votary of