Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2012
China's Imperial Canal excited the imagination of a succession of travelers. While American and British canal promoters were interested in the technological details, the true importance of the Chinese precedent lay in the breadth of concept — a gigantic, state-supported geophysical manipulation in the interests of interregional trade.
1 A fine discussion of the company and the Northern Inland Lock Navigation Company may be found in Miller, Nathan, “Private Enterprise in Inland Navigation: the Mohawk Route prior to the Erie Canal,” New York History (Cooperstown, 1950), vol. XXXI, pp. 398–413Google Scholar.
2 Ricci's Journals were originally in Italian. Translated into Latin in 1615 by Nicola Trigault, the work did not circulate widely. The edition used here is the recent English translation, Ricci, Matteo, China in the Sixteenth Century: The Journals of Matthew Ricci, 1583–1610, Louis, J.Gallager, S.J., tr. (New York, 1953)Google Scholar.
3 Ricci, Journals, pp. 305–308.
4 Le Compte, Louis, Memoirs and Observations … made in a late Journey through the Empire of China (London, 1697)Google Scholar.
5 Ibid., p. v.
6 Ibid., p. 108.
7 Ibid., pp. 104–105.
8 Ibid., p. 107.
9 Grosier, Jean, A General Description of China (London, 1788), vol. I, pp. 359–360Google Scholar.
10 Halde, P. Du, General History of China, Brooks, R., tr. (London, 1736)Google Scholar.
11 Ghengis Khan.
12 Halde, Du, History, vol. II, p. 272Google Scholar.
13 Ibid., pp. 275ff.
14 Brindley, James, The History of Inland Navigation (London, 1760), pp. 8–9Google Scholar.
15 Phillips, John, A General History of Inland Navigation (London, 1792), p. 9Google Scholar.
16 Leach, Edmund, A Treatise on Universal Inland Navigations (London, 1791), pp. 6–7Google Scholar.
17 Fulton, Robert, A Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation (London, 1796), pp. xiii–xivGoogle Scholar.
18 Leach, Treatise, p. 49.
19 Ibid., p. 7.
20 Fulton, Treatise, p. 12.
21 Ibid., pp. 6–7.
22 Ibid., pp. 39–57, 71–76, and plates 2–4.
23 Ibid., p. 12.
24 Staunton, George Leonard, An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King, of Great Britain to the Emperor of China (London, 1797), vol. II, opposite page 382Google Scholar. There is, moreover, a detailed map of the portions of the Grand Canal traveled by the Embassy. This shows the locations of sluice gates and bridges. See vol. II, opposite page 276.
25 Staunton, Account, vol. II, chap. V.
26 Ibid., pp. 389–391.
27 Ibid., p. 403.
28 Anderson, Aneas, A Narrative of the British Embassy to China, in the Years 1792, 1793, and 1794 (New York, 1795), p. 222Google Scholar.
29 Barrow, John, Travels in China (Philadelphia, 1805), p. 346Google Scholar.
30 Anderson, Narrative, pp. 87–88, 145–146.
31 Utica Columbian Gazette, Aug. 19, 1805.
32 Lansingburgh Gazette, Jan. 12, 1808-Dec. 10, 1811.
33 ”Report of James Geddes to the Surveyor General … in 1809 … made pursuant to concurrent resolutions of the Senate and Assembly of March 21 and April 6, 1808,” Laws of the State of New York in Relation to the Erie and Champlain Canals (Albany, 1825), vol. I, p. 24Google Scholar.
34 Hawley, Merwin S., “Origin of the Erie Canal,” Publication of the Buffalo Historical Society (Buffalo, 1880), vol. II, p. 241Google Scholar.
35 Jesse Hawley to De Witt Clinton, Jan. 22, 1822, De Witt Clinton Papers, Columbia University.
36 Morris, Anne Cary, The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris (New York, 1888), vol. II, p. 390Google Scholar.
37 Sparks, Jared, The Life of Gouverneur Morris with Selections from His Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers (Boston, 1832), vol. I, p. 500Google Scholar. Sparks' italics.
38 Bird, William A., “Early Transportation, New York State,” Publication of the Buffalo Historical Society (Buffalo, 1880), vol. II, p. 26Google Scholar.
39 Morris, , Diary and Letters, vol. I, p. 526Google Scholar.
40 “Report of the Commissioners … in Senate, March 2, 1811,” Laws, vol. I, p. 58. “Inclined plane” here, of course, means a running waterway and not a ramp.
41 Ibid., pp. 61–62.
42 “Report of the Commissioners under the Act of April 8, 1811,” Laws, vol. I, p. 81. Morris was quite fond of this passage. He quickly found mistakes in the printed copy and wrote De Witt Clinton to have them corrected. Gouverneur Morris to De Witt Clinton, March 17, 1812, De Witt Clinton Papers, Columbia University.
43 Thomas Eddy to De Witt Clinton, Feb. 28, 1816, De Witt Clinton Papers, Columbia University. The Clinton Papers are quoted with the permission of Columbia University Libraries.
44 Thomas Eddy to De Witt Clinton, April 4, 1824, De Witt Clinton Papers, Columbia University.
45 Haines, Charles Glidden, ed., Public Documents Relating to the New York Canals (New York, 1821)Google Scholar.
46 Haines, Public Documents, p. iii. This statement has been brought to my attention by the kindness of Miss Dorothy C. Barck of the New York State Historical Association.
47 Ibid., pp. xlv–xlvi.
48 Hudson, G. F., Europe and China, A Survey of their Relations from the Earliest Times to 1800 (London, 1931), pp. 312–329Google Scholar. See also Maverick, Lewis A., China, A Model for Europe (San Antonio, 1946)Google Scholar.
49 Linton, Ralph, Tree of Culture (New York, 1959), p. 241Google Scholar.