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worked earnestly in its aid, even after of American commerce that ought to be put in permanent form, I take the liberty of quoting a part of that history, as follows:

his retirement from congress. "Mr. Bennett was so full of the subject," wrote the editor of the Buffalo Times, only a short time ago, " and so confident that it was the true policy for the state as well as for the best interests of the canals, that he talked the matter everywhere, and was constantly impressing its importance upon the people through the press. He was found at every state convention of both political parties, urging the incorporation of a resolution in their platforms favoring his scheme. He could always find some one willing to offer the resolution, but could never get a committee on platform to which it was referred, to report upon it favorably. Things are different now. The Courier, Express and Commercial, vie with each other, not only in supporting the Weber bill, but in urging just what Mr. Bennett advocated seventeen years ago, which they then spurned and ridiculed. Mr. Bennett is to be congratulated, not only upon his triumph over the local press, but in seeing his pet measure so popular at present, with a fair prospect of ultimate, if not early, success."

In January last, when the Buffalo newspapers were discussing a bill that had been prepared by Colonel Weber, who represented the Buffalo district in congress, that provided for the asking of government aid for the enlargment of the New York canals, Mr. Bennett in response to some newspaper remarks, published an article in which he referred with some detail to the efforts he had made years ago to bring about that very object. As a contribution to the history

You will now allow me to bring to public notice,

briefly, the action taken during the Forty-first congress, in which I had the honor to represent this district. On the sixteenth of February I introduced a bill asking for an appropriation of fifteen million dollars, to be applied to the payment of the canal debt of the state of New York, and the prompt enlargement and improvement of the Erie and Oswego canals. This bill was discussed freely during the first session, and a new bill introduced and referred to the committee of commerce, of which I was a member. It was unanimously reported from this committee, also from the committee of appropriations.

I then forwarded it to Mr. Alberger, a member of

the state legislature, asking for the passage of a joint resolution, accepting the provisions of the bill. It was stopped there by him, without any apparent reason. I allowed the bill to remain quiet in the committee until after the adjournment, simply forwarding a copy of it to the chamber of commerce in

New York, which, as you know, is a body composed of commercial men of high standing. I then addressed a letter to its chairman, the late William E. Dodge, asking for a hearing at this conference. replied promptly, naming the days of their meetings,

He

and expressing a desire to hear me at any time. I thereupon presented the measure, and my brief argument in support of it, was received and a resolution

passed, unanimously endorsing it, before they ad

journed.

With such endorsement as the two committees re

ferred to above, composed of twenty-five men from all parts of the country, and the endorsement of the chamber of commerce of the city of New York, together with the convictions of the people of the country during the last seventeen years, of the im

portance of the measure. I believe our present representatives from this district can pass a bill calling for an amount amply sufficient to enlarge and improve the Erie canal to the full extent of the water to supply the same; having it expressed in the bill that if promptly passed during this session, so as to give the state of New York the summer to procure the necessary materials, that it shall be completed and

ready for navigation on the opening of the spring of 1887.

The above was written in January last. Mr. Bennett's present position, so far as the prompt enlargement of the Erie canal is concerned, by the general government,is that the entire west and northwest, as well as the state of New York, should be entirely outspoken upon the subject, and that it should be advocated in every state and national convention until the project is called out.

Mr. Bennett has worked for the public good in ways other than those outlined above. Seeking to establish connections by rail through the city of Buffalo, and with its numerous docks and warehouses for the general use of all railroads running thereto, he was active in organizing the Buffalo Crosstown Railway company designed "to extinguish monopoly in the railway privileges of the city." His idea of an independent organization to effect this was not adopted, and the privileges fell to the New York Central and Delaware, and Lackawanna and Western railroad companies. Another project through which Mr. Bennett sought to advance the public interests was that of tunnelling under the Niagra river-the wisdom of which will doubtless be apparent at no distant day. He is, it may truthfully be said, a born leader of public opinion. He has the faculty of looking into the future, and seeing much that is hidden from the view of other men. Broad and liberal in his views on all subjects, it is in keeping with his character that he should build "not for a day but for all time."

Mr. Bennett is a man whom it is a pleasure to know in his social and home life. As has been said, he married when

quite young. His wife, whose maiden name was Harriett A. Benham, is a daughter of Mr. Truman Benham, of Bridgewater, Oneida county, and a most worthy and amiable lady, whose high character and womanly qualities have endeared her to all who know her. In a personal sense, Mr. Bennett's main power seems to lie in the unconquerable spirit of perseverance with which his plans are pursued. He outlines a policy that he knows to be right and just, and pursues it to the end. He cannot be turned from purposes which he has once deliberately formed. To do that which he has undertaken to do, being convinced that it is a right and needful thing to do, he is lastingly pledged by the resolution of his nature. If one path to this end is closed he goes back and seeks another, but the object on which he has fixed his eye is never abandoned. He pushes toward it through all obstacles and discouragements, not doing so stubbornly, but with patient persistence and the elastic high temper of mind which cannot understand defeat. It is impossible to vanquish such men, and this has strikingly been shown in all the encounters with misfortune which Mr. Bennett has undergone. He has had more than his share of the buffetings of adversity, but not one spring of hope or courage or energy has ever seemed to be broken in him.

That the undertakings of Mr. Bennett both in public and private affairs have been sagacious almost always is undeniable. Events have vindicated his superior foresight and his shrewd apprehension of the drift of things in those

cases where his views met with most antagonism at first. Said a leading Buffalo newspaper recently concerning him:

As regards the canal policy of the state, the municipal policy of our city in relation to the railways and the general interests of our commerce, Mr. Bennett was far ahead of most men in discerning exigencies and demands which all can now recognize very easily. It is inevitable that one so positive in character as Mr. Bennett, so fertile in progressive projects and so determined in pursuing them, will provoke animosities and raise enemics around himself. It is quite as inevitable, on the other hand, that he will multiply friends. The two consequences go to

gether and cannot well exist apart. He who has no enemies can have no friends, is a statement of fact which claims adoption among other proverbs. Mr. Bennett has both enemies and friends in a proportion which is flattering to him. If his enemies are sometimes bitter, his friends have warmth enough to more than meet them. In his own nature there is a warmth of kindness and geniality and generosity which kindles responsive feelings; and those who know him best, who see the most of his daily life, and how much of his time and care is given with painstaking consideration to the serving and pleasing of other people, are sure to be the highest in their esteem. THEODORE JOHNSON.

LOCAL SKETCHES-DETROIT.

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never detected the secret wires that moved kings and counselors. But now things are changed. The epic poet of to-day is the writer of romances, who is most successful when he describes most fully the whole cause of common life. And the wise historian finds it important to learn all the circumstances which operate on national life. The nomad of the plain and the patriotic mountaineer owe much of their national characteristics to the nature of the countries they inhabit. A barren land from which the diligent hand can force but a scanty harvest is no mean source of discipline to its sturdy sons, compared with the enervating luxuriance of the tropics which dissuades from labor by spontaneous profusion. And so men are often moulded for ages by the customs and traditions of their fathers. The endless variety of human condi

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tions may all be traced to changes in circumstances. If those circumstances are not history, they make it.

When the first settlements were made at Detroit, the country of the emigrants was governed by a feudal despotism. Large numbers of gentlemen, younger sons of noble familes, were seeking in the army the means of advancement denied them in trade or other laborious callings. The colonies from the earliest periods received their full share of these adventurers who became valuable members of society, their ambition finding sufficient food in the excitement always attending the early settlement of civilized men among barbarians. In 1701 the feudal system was fully inaugurated by the creation of Detroit and its vicinage into a dependency, whereof La Motte Cadillac was soon made, practically, lord of the manor, and invested with large powers and privileges. But for some years we find no clear traces of his deriving any great benefit from his domain; and when grants were made afterwards, of which we have any authentic information, they came from the French government which had recalled his conveyances and subsequently confirmed them. About the year 1730 we find evidences of permanent colonization. Up to that time the inhabitants, although owning farms, had lived chiefly in garrison, except when absent on expeditions. But from this period many grants were made of tracts upon the river, above and below, which were occupied as homesteads, and arranged so as to leave no considerable vacancies on the river. Each farm was narrow, being usually

only two or three arpents (or from four hundred to six hundred feet) in width, while all extended back forty arpents from the river. These grants were made by the governor-general and intendant, and contained many conditions. One of the requirements compelled the grantees within two years to obtain a confirmation from the king-a failure to procure which was to have left most of these lands entirely in the control of our government when the country was ceded to the United States. This was a narrow view not favored by French laws. Fines of alienation and quit-rents, as well as annual services are required of all the tenants. Mines and minerals, and the right to cut ship timber were reserved to the crown, but this timber privilege was only one of preëmption. In some of the grants there was a clause requiring the annual attendance and aid in the erection of a May pole. In most of them the inhabitants were required to have their grain ground at the moulin banal or public mill. With the exception of these peculiar conditions, the instruments of cession were in all respects similar to the ordinary conveyances of which the modern French form books contain specimens.

One feature will strike everyone who is at all familiar with our French inhabitants. All the early land grants were made to men of respectable position. There is no doubt the early landholders were the acknowledged aristocracy of the colony. There is to this day a very marked difference in physical characteristics and in mental peculiarities between the families of those gen

tlemen and the descendants of the plebeians. There is no more aristocratic race on the face of the earth than the higher class of French inhabitants. Their courtesy of manners is more lofty than the easy good humor of the others; and while some of them, like their old Norman progenitors, cannot write their names, they are, nevertheless, proud of their birth, and exhibit unequivocal marks of their descent.

Not far from 1749, large accessions were made to the colony by arrivals from France. The new colonists brought with them all the implements and supplies necessary for good husbandry. Their settlements extended rapidly and their farms began to show appearances of neatness and comfort. In some respects they were much wiser than our American farmers. On every farm they planted freely all kinds of fruit of the choicest varieties. France has always been noted for the excellence of its fruits, and their gardens were well stocked with currants, while beautiful orchards of apples, pears, cherries and plums extended for miles along the river. The pear trees demand special notice. They occupied the place of honor near the mansion, and their majestic stature and brilliant foliage were as pleasing to the eye as their shade was grateful or their fruit delicious. Beneath these lofty pyramids of verdure the contented farmer, when his labor was over (and sometimes, perhaps, when he should have been at it), would sit calmly smoking and resting his eye upon the serene river, happy in silent musing or holding a friendly chat

with some white or red neighbor. The science of horticulture has done wonders in producing fine varieties of fruit; but no one whose youth has been spent among the old Detroit pear trees, will ever admit their product to have been equaled in excellence by any pear that grows, whether "Good Christian" or frivolous "Duchess."

The peculiarity of farms, so narrow and all fronting on the river, was founded on convenience as well as ancient custom. The river was their great highway -never out of repair-and costing no labor to build it. Roads could not be built in a heavily wooded country without much trouble and expense, and when made, would have been impassable for a large portion of the year. The necessity of compact settlements for defense against the Indians, was also very obvious. The houses were so near each other that any alarm was easily conveyed from one to another; and as the clearings were all in front, it would have been difficult for the savages to approach without detection. Every farmer had his canoe (and generally several) dug out from a straight log, and in a long pull, the French were superior to the Indians in their own craft. Bark canoes were not in common use in this neighborhood. Few white birch trees are found until we reach the more northerly portions of the state. But the log canoes or pirogues were made with much symmetry, and were about as manageable as those of bark, and much less liable to injury. Some canoes were made of elm bark. For long voyages, resort was often had to the larger sized

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