labor of his had been adopted at Liverpool, and elsewhere abroad, the skeptics disappeared. European approval had been secured, and his sagacity and talent proclaimed even in the plaudits of his own countrymen. But this was at a time when an American printed book sold best with the imprint of—London: John Jones, Piccadilly.
If we view the early life of Fulton, and hold in memory his achievements—at first the humble watch-maker, and finally the man who, by his individual prowess, changed the relationships of remotest people, and brought the old and the new worlds as neighbors together; who, with pecuniary resources as nothing, save in the liberality of Chancellor Livingston, has established the comity of nations, and effected an annual profit to his country of more than one hundred millions of dollars, our estimate of his brilliant career becomes higher and higher by a proper study of his biography. Colden has given his interesting story, and Tuckerman, in his American Portraits, has drawn him to the life.
Another instance may be cited of profitable influence, in the case of De Witt Clinton. We need not advert to the early portions of his career. He was always a student, and it is sufficiently known to all that he identified himself with the great interests of public education and humanity. He was a naturalist of no mean pretensions, and mineralogy, geology, and botany were the pursuits of his pastime. To judge of his merits in the organization of the canal policy of the State of New-York, it behooves the inquirer after truth to become acquainted with the financial career and condition of the State, the history of its political leaders and factions, the force of public opinion, the persecuting vindictiveness of party strife, and the poison of a hireling press. No measure of such magnitude as the Erie and Hudson Canal was ever accomplished under such disheartening embarrassments. In the great city most to be benefited by its completion the opposition to it was strongest; and many of those who cherished feelings favorable to the undertaking were luke-warm in the project: the river counties were to be ruined by it, and a general bankruptcy of the State was to follow. It was affirmed that it was premature to be involved in such a mighty if not preposterous work. Clinton had early written to Jefferson on the subject, and pointed out the practica-
