The Portland Gazette

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT

In the present stagnant state of foreign commerce, several States of the Union seem to be turning their attention to the improvement of their internal resources. A spirit is going throughout our country to encourage agricultural and manufacturing, as well as commercial pursuits, by increasing the facilities of inland navigation and promoting the growth of staple commodities.

Virginia may be considered as having taken the lead in these great undertakings, in the establishment of companies and funds for the internal improvement of their state, immediately after the revolution. No other states for a long time directed their attention to enterprises of this character; commercial pursuits engrossed the principal regard, and the tide of population following its great promoter, rolled upon the seaboard. It is one of the consequences of the embarrassments of commerce, which commenced in 1806, that our citizens were diverted from their accustomed mercantile employments; and when they could no longer profitably plough the ocean, they returned to the field for its less abundant, though not less secure emoluments.

This change of industry gave a new stimulus to the enterprise of the interior, and to the genius of our citizens to increase the means and power of their exertion. The Canal of New York, the greatest work of the kind in this country, and which may sustain a comparison with that of any other country, was the natural consequence of the increasing settlement of the interior, which forced open an avenue for its large and multiplying products.

That Canal has already been in operation, and is found to have answered the warmest anticipations of its friends, and to have conquered the opposition of its enemies. Ohio caught some of the spirit of New York, and measures have been taken in that state to connect the waters of the great lakes and the river Ohio: the advantages resulting from such a work to the state and to the Union are incalculable.

The zeal for internal improvement has not stopped on the Ohio, but Illinois small as she is, at present in resources and population, has manifested a disposition to foster enterprises of this description within its territory. North Carolina has undertaken public works on a very large and liberal scale; She sent to Europe for an Engineer, who has been instructed to investigate the following subject, "the inlets and sounds along the coast, the primary rivers, the junction of rivers by canals, the Highways and the draining of the swamps: for these purposes funds have been appropriated to a large amount. In South Carolina a million of dollars have been appropriated to internal improvements. In Pennsylvania the Legislature now in session have a bill before them which will pass without doubt by which a fund of $500,000 will be provided from the State and individuals, to unite the different parts of the State by roads and canals. These facts speak louder than any eulogium, of the growth of this immense empire, Maine although the youngest member of the confederacy, will not be far in the rear of her sisters in works of public improvement. With a territory as extensive as all the states of New England and a population which has increased 27 per cent for the last 10 years-with a sea board more extensive than any State in the Union, and a fertile interior, may we not expect that Maine will put herself forth to promote the settlement of its wide domains and the encouragement of its agricultural pursuits, by multiplying the facilities of inland transportation?