216 Fred Wilbur Powell
projected in 1791 by General Henry Knox, who obtained a charter in 1792. The project was revived by Governor Eustis in 1825, and a special commission was appointed to make an examination of the practicable routes through to the Hudson river at the terminus of the Erie canal. The Cape Cod canal was first proposed in colonial times, and it was everybody's project. It would seem that Kelle/s contribution, such as it was, was negligible.
It remains to consider the various estimates which have been placed upon Kelley's public services by the writers of history. The laudatory accounts which appeared in the news* papers of Boston from time to time after 1839, like the testi- monials which were appended to Kelley's memorials and pe- titions, may be safely ignored, for most of them were probably written at his solicitation. It must be borne in mind in con- nection with the excerpts which follow that many of them were written in the belief that to Kelley belonged the distinction of having been first in the field to suggest the settlement of Ore- gon — an honor which he specifically disclaimed.
"Though Mr. Kelley did not succeed in his object of the direct establishment of a colony on the Columbia, either for want of adequate personal influence and resources, or because his project was in advance of the time, or in consequence of the obstacles thrown in his way by interested individuals, still he is entitled to honorable mention for the exertions he made and long persisted in; and perhaps the American settlement, actually effected on the Wallamet, by Mr. Lee . . . may owe its conception to the publications and suggestions of Mr. Kelley .... These and other advantages of the settlement of Oregon were as clearly seen by Mr. Kelley then [1830], as they are now by the country at large. But he suffered the too common fate of those who conceive a great idea, and dedicate themselves to a great d)ject, in anticipation of the progress of knowledge and opinion around them. Their discoveries or plans OHiflict with existing interests; their just views are met with misconstruction, and often with ridicule; their zeal is
