Edwardsville Spectator

MISCELLANEOUS.

GOV. CLINTON IN COLUMBUS.

On the 6th inst. Gov. Clinton, of New-York, arrived at the seat of Government of Ohio. On approaching the town he was met by a military escort, who conducted him to the Representatives' Hall where Gov. Morrow addressed him as follows:

Governor Clinton:

I assure you that it is with much satisfaction I meet you in the capitol of the state of Ohio, and have the opportunity of tendering to you, with, and in behalf of my fellow-citizens, an affectionate and cordial welcome. I at the same time congratulate the people of this state, upon their having been able to commence a great work of Internal Improvement, under circumstances so favorable to its success. I need only mention the immense advantages which must necessarily flow from such result to the nation, if a state of collision with a foreign power should ever again occur, by affording a mean of inter communication so essential to a vigorous use, and appropriation of its whole means of defence—to the citizens of our own state, by opening a new market, possessing all the advantages resulting from abundant capital, easy access from the ocean, a climate favorable to health, and the proper preservation of the articles constituting our principal support—and with a people of congenial habits as offering to a mind like yours the highest reward of those indefatigable exertions which have, and will distinguish you as one of the greatest benefactors of the human family.

The claims which you have on the gratitude of the state of Ohio, are not confined to the particular occasion which affords us so gratifying an opportunity for acknowledging them. The interest and zeal which you have exhibited in the establishment of Common Schools, has afforded to the world an example of incalculable value. It could not but occur to you, that true greatness must result from a general diffusion of knowledge; and that in order permanently to secure to a nation the blessings of civil and religious liberty, attended by a complete development of their resources it would be necessary to lay the foundation in some system which should dispense among the whole mass of the community the benefits of education.—And may you witness in that perfect state, where we all hope to arrive, multitudes who have been reclaimed from ignorance and vice through the means which this system has afforded.

Our acknowledgements are also due for the kind manner in which at the instance of my worthy predecessor, our late chief magistrate, who was first to discover and officially to recommend to his fellow-citizens the benefits within their reach, and prompt in the exertion of his influence and talents for securing them—you co-operated by affording to him, and us, all the results of your own experience.

And at a period when our population did not amount to the numbers that would enable us to demand our admission as a member of the federal union; and when our claims were committed to an individual delegate, with limited powers, in the councils of the nation, you, sir, espoused our cause, and it was owing, in no small degree, to your exertions that we received a place in the union, among our sister states, which has enabled us, under the administration of a free government, to advance from the weakness of infancy to the state of youth in which you now discover us. While nations of the old world, with a moral and physical force less than Ohio, trace their rise amid the fabulous records of antiquity, it must be such recollections as only a great mind, and benevolent heart, can appreciate, that you gave efficient aid in laying the first foundation upon which more than seven hundred thousand souls are raising their temporal happiness.

When, sir, I meet you in this place; at so great a distance from the circle of your domestic happiness, devoting the small portion of time spared from your active official duties in your own state, to the advancement of our interests, and with the recollections to which I have adverted, pressing upon our minds—you will readily appreciate the sincerity of our congratulations, and accept our best wishes for your future welfare.

To which Gov. Clinton made the following reply:

Sir:—I hold 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 respectable fellow-citizens assembled in this place. I feel that my services have been greatly over-rated, 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 a 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 state of the first magnitude in the federal constellation: that she contained within her bosom the elements of greatness, and prosperity; and that her population would be the second, if not the first, in the confederacy. All these anticipations have been or will be realised. The number of your inhabitants at the next census will probably exceed a million. Cultivation has advanced with gigantic steps. Your fruitful soil is teeming with plenty. You have 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 beauty and elegance, of knowledge and hospitality.

I have considered it my solemn duty, in concurrence with your late 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 fiftieth Anniversary of our National Independence. This is a cause in which every citizen, and every state in our country, is deeply interested; for this work will be a great central power that will keep the states within their Federal orbits—an adamantine that will bind the Union together in the most intimate connexion of interest 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 I now 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 probably will, be completed—and I am clearly of the opinion that in two years after the consummation of this work it will produce an annual revenue of at least a million of dollars, and I hope this remark may be now 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 character, and for your public services, and to feel persuaded that I consider your approbation and the approbation of patriotic men like yourself an ample reward for any service that a benevolent Providence may have enabled me to render to our common country.