The powers delegated to the Commissioners, and to the Common Council of this city, by the act of 2d of May, 1834, cannot extend to a project which contemplates erecting a dam in the Hudson river, beyond the boundary line of the State of New York. It is true, the act makes it the duty of the Commissioners to examine and consider all matters relative to the supply of this city with pure and wholesome water to adopt a ;

plan, and to report it to the Common Council. If the Common Council approve the plan, it is to be submitted to the ballot-box, and if concurred in by a majority of votes, the Common Council may borrow the money, and the Commissioners may proceed to carry the plan into effect. The operation, however, must be performed within this State, and under the jurisdiction of its government, and not extend into the territory of another State, as the plan for damming the Hudson evidently does. The Commissioners have not deemed it their duty, therefore, to incur any expense, by engaging Engineers to ascertain the most eligible site for a dam, reservoir, &c., or for sounding the river, or estimating the expense of erecting the dam, locks, reservoir, milKbuildings, sluices, pumps, &c., but

MEMOIR OP THE have confined themselves to a mere outline of the plan, as proposed by Mr. Seymour, and to a brief statement of some of the difficulties to be overcome, which have appeared to them inevitable, and which they will now proceed to designate. 1st. The great and leading object of the act of the Legislature is, to procure a plentiful supply of pure and wholesome water for the use of the inhabitants of this city. Now, although the Commissioners have no reason to doubt that the waters of the upper Hudson are perfectly pure, and that by building a water-tight dam across the river, from this city to the shores of New Jersey, the salt water will be ejected, and the fresh will take its place above the dam, yet we fear, that, in locking vessels up, more or less of the salt water below the dam will follow them, and although the quantity may be comparatively small, the constant repetition of the operation, by the hundreds of vessels going through the locks, both day and night, may, perhaps, be the means of unfitting the water, in a measure at least, for domestic use. 2nd.