152 BINNEY'S CASE.—2 BLAND.

conducting canals of this description into the very port itself, has,
in Great Britain, been practically demonstrated in the most satis-
factory and conclusive manner; and become established as the set-
tled common law of canaling.

But it may be said, that although, in Great Britain, it may be
considered by all as essentially necessary, that the canal and ma-
rine navigation should be conjoined in the port itself; yet unless it
shall appear, that such has been also considered in this country,
as the principle upon which such a canal should be terminated,
there can be no presumption, that the legislators who passed this
Act of incorporation so understood the matter; or spoke of a canal
the termination of which must be in a port. To shew what was
the universal understanding in this country, in relation to this
matter, a few instances will be sufficient.

The great Erie Canal of New York, in descending easterly, after
receiving the Champlain Canal, passes close alongside of the tide
of the North River, in which there is good sloop navigation, for a
distance of seven miles, to Albany, where it terminates in a basin,
* from which the canal boat may hand over her cargo imme-
163 diately into a sea-vessel. In extending over the west, it
passes through a large artificial harbor, constructed at Black
Bock, into which the canal boats, and the lake vessels may both
enter and interchange cargoes, and then terminates at the
port of Buffalo on Lake Erie. The Massachusetts Canal, instead
of stopping at the head of tide, where the navigation is good,
is carried close alongside of it, four miles further, into the harbor
of Boston. The boats navigating the River Santee could only
reach their great market, by passing out of it, and some distance
along the sea coast. To save them from this exposure and risk, a
canal was constructed from the Santee into Cooper River, so as to
bring them directly into the harbor of Charleston. And speaking
of the river navigation of the upper Potomac, of which the lower
piece of canal constitutes a part, and was only intended to enable
boats to surmount the first impassable falls, it has been said, "that
the legislative impartiality, which has required the canal to enter
the river, at the very head of tide, in order that- Virginia may have j
an equal chance of becoming the depot of its commerce with Mary-
land, has very much injured its utility to the country at large." (q)
From these examples it satisfactorily appears, that here, as in
Great Britain, it has been universally understood, that canals,
intended to co-operate with marine navigation, must be terminated
in the very port itself, where the marine navigation, in like manner
ends.

(q) Per Latrobe, Report of A. Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury on Roads
and Canals, 1808, page 87.