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LIFE 
 
 OP 
 
 DEWITT 'CLINTON 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES RENWICK, L L. D., 
 
 PROFESSOR OP NATURAL EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY AND 
 CHEMISTRY IN COLUMBIA COLLEGE 
 
 NEW-YORK: ., 
 PUBLISHED BY HARPER «& BROTHERS, 
 
 NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET. 
 
 184(\Vc' 
 

 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, b7 
 
 Harper & Brothers, 
 
 In the Clerk's OfBce of the Southern District of New-York. 
 
 t » c 
 c c 
 etc 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Biography of Dew^tt Clinton, which is now 
 submitted to the pubHc, was originally intended to 
 have been a mere sketch, comprised within less 
 than- a third of its present extent. The subject, 
 however, was found to present itself in so many 
 new and important points of view, that.it appear- 
 ed probable that so meager an outline would have 
 given but little satisfaction to the reader. In this 
 stage of the composition, the author was tendered 
 the use of the manuscript papers of the subject of 
 the biography, and various other materials, by the 
 kindness of Charles A. Clinton, the worthy and 
 estimable son of so distinguished a father. To 
 this gentleman thanks are gratefully returned for 
 this and various other assistance which he has ren- 
 dered the author. Thus, while no undue influence 
 has been exerted by any of the relatives or. friends 
 of the departed statesman, the work will have the 
 merit, if it possess no other, of being drawn from 
 the nK)st authentic sources. 
 
 Columbia College, June, 1840. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 
 Introduction. — Memoir of the Family of Clin- 
 ton 13 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Birth of Devntt Clinton. — His early Educa- 
 tion. — He studies at the Kingston Acade- 
 my. — He is present at the Evacuation of 
 JYew-York. — He enters Columbia College. 
 — Account of the Professors of that Insti- 
 tution. — Clinton distinguishes himself as 
 a Scholar, and graduates vdth the highest 
 honours 25 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 Clinton enters upon the Study of the Law, 
 and is admitted to its Practice. — He is ap- 
 pointed Private Secretary to his Uncle the 
 Governor. — His Career as a Political Wri- 
 ter. — He retires to Private Life, and allies 
 himself to Scientific Pursuits. — He Mar- 
 ries. — Character of his Wife 37 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Page 
 
 State of Parties under the Administration of 
 Adams. — Clinton is elected a Member of 
 Assembly. — He is chosen Senator of the 
 State. — He becomes a Member of the Coun- 
 cil of Appointme7it. — Contest in respect to 
 the Powers of that Council. — State Conven- 
 tion. — His Victory over Jay. — He is elected 
 a Senator of the United States, where he 
 is opposed to Gouverneur Monis. — Debate 
 on the Mississippi Question. — Clinton'' s 
 Speech on that occasion. — He acquires a 
 high Reputation as a Statesman .... 49 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Clinton is appointed Mayor of the City of 
 Mew-York. — Important Duties of that Of" 
 fee. — His successive Reappointments and 
 Removals. — Fluctuations of Party. — Caus- 
 es of his Decline in Popularity. — Plis 
 great Ability as a Criminal Judge, — The 
 College Riot. — His Energy as Head of the 
 Police. — Threatened Riots prevented by his 
 Measures of Precaution. — Aggressions of 
 British Cruisers in the Waters of JYew- 
 York. — Breaches of JYeutrality attempted 
 by the French. — Clinton^s Acts on these 
 Occasions 61 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Page 
 
 Origin of the Public School Society of Kew- 
 York. — It is Chartered. — Is founded on 
 Private Contributions. — Clinton's Agency 
 in obtaining them. — Gift from the Corpo- 
 ration of JVew-York, and Grant from the 
 State Legislature. — Reflections on the Sys- 
 tem of Common Schools. — Turnpike from 
 Poughkeepsie to Kingsbridge 78 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Clinton is elected a Member of the State Sen- 
 ate. — Incorporation of the Sailor's Snug 
 Harbour. — Law removing the Incapacities 
 of Roman Catholics. — Charter of the Man- 
 umission Society ; of the Chicinnati. — 
 Grant for an Insane Hospital. — Charter 
 of the Eagle Fire Insurance Company. — 
 Grant for the Defence of the Harbour of 
 Jfeio-York. — Academy of Fine Arts In- 
 corporated. — Clinton is named a Director, 
 and subsequently President of the Academy. 
 — Charter of the American Fur Company. 
 — Burial of the Remains of the Prisoners 
 
 in the Jersey Hulk 89 
 
 A2 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Page 
 
 Im,porta7it Laws drawn hy Clinton while Sen- 
 ator. — His Opinions as a Memher of the 
 Court of Errors. — He Receives a Chal- 
 lenge for words spoken in Debate. — His 
 Manly and Dignified Conduct on that Oc- 
 casion. — Attempt at Corruption in obtain- 
 ing the Charter of a Bank 101 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Literary and Scientific Pursuits of Clinton. 
 — Historical Society ; his efforts in its be- 
 half and his Mdress on the History of the 
 Five JYations. — Literary and Philosophical 
 Society formed, and Clinton chosen Presi- 
 dent. — His Inaugural Discourse. — His Dis- 
 covery of a JYative Variety of Wlieat, and 
 other Contributions to Natural Science . .114 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Description of the Water Communications of 
 the State of JYew-York. — Use made of 
 them by the Indians. — Expedition of Gen- 
 eral Clinton on the Susquehanna. — Views 
 of Lieutenant-Governor C olden. — Tour of 
 Washington to Wood Creek. — His Predi- 
 lections for the Route to the Chesapeake, 
 
CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 Page 
 
 — Clinton'' s liberal Policy in relation to this 
 Question . 129 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Western Limit of the early Settlements on 
 the Mohawk. — Claims of Massachusetts. 
 — These Claims are 'partially Admitted. 
 — Influx of Emigration from Mew-Eng- 
 land. — Voyage of the Wadsworths. — State 
 Roads. — Western Inland Lock JYavigation 
 Company. — Its slow Progress and unsuc- 
 cessful Result. — Communication between 
 the Hudson and Lake Champlain. — JYor- 
 them Canal 141 
 
 CHAPTER XTI. 
 
 Earliest Legislation of the State of Jfew- 
 York in relation to Canals. — Petition of 
 Colles. — Report of Jeffrey Smith. — Mes- 
 sages of George Clinton. — Resolution of 
 Judge Forman. — Survey made by Geddes, 
 who first demonstrated the Practicability 
 of a Route to Lake Erie. — Essays of Jesse 
 Hawley. — Resolution of Judge Piatt. — 
 Appointment of a Board of Commissioners, 
 of which Clinton is one. — Character of 
 Morris, the senior Commissioner. — JYotice 
 of the other Commissioners 153 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER Xni. 
 
 Page 
 
 The Canal Commissioners undertake to ex- 
 amine the Route. — Clinton and others pro- 
 ceed hy Water from Schenectady. — l^eir 
 Progress to Geneva, after a Deviation to 
 Oswego. — Journey hy Land to JYiagara, 
 and return to Albany hy the way of Ithaca. 
 — Meetings of the Commissioners at Utica 
 and Chippeway. — Diversity of Opinion in 
 the Board. — Opinion of Morris. — Clinton's 
 Views prevail in the Board. — Report dravm 
 up hy Mr. Morris. — Examination of its 
 Features and Consequences 167 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Origin and Growth of the Democratic Party. 
 — Its Triumph in the Election of Jefferson. 
 — George Clinton chosen Vice-President in 
 the place of Burr. — His Pretensions to he 
 the Successor of Jefferson. — He is passed 
 over. — Jealousy of Tf*Vg'mia. — Jill Aid to 
 the JVew-York Canals is refused. — Dewitt 
 Clinton is named as a Candidate for the 
 Presidency. — Examination of his Course 
 in relation to the War 182 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Page 
 
 Progress of the Canal Policy interrupted by 
 the War. — Clint&n tenders his Military 
 Services to Governor Tompkins. — His Re- 
 port on the Defence of the City of JVew- 
 York. — Measures of the Corporation, and 
 of the State and General Governments, in 
 consequence. — Clinton is removed from his 
 Office of Mayor. — He renews the Consid- 
 eration of the Canal Question. — Meeting 
 on that Subject in JYew-York. — Clinton 
 draws the Memorial of that Meeting. — Ex- 
 amination of the Contents, and Effects of 
 that Memorial 198 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Memorial is presented to the Legislature. — 
 Final Report of the Old Board of Com- 
 missioners. — Law to provide for the Im- 
 provement of the Internal JYavigation of 
 the State. — The JYew Board of Commis- 
 sioners enter upon their duties. — Their Re- 
 port. — Vast amount of field-work perform- 
 ed under their direction. — Scheme of Fi- 
 nance. — Law of Congress for promoting 
 Internal Improvements. — Its Rejection by 
 President Madison as unconstitutional. — 
 Modifications rendered necessary in the 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Scheme of Finance. — The Bill to authorize 
 the construction of the Canal becomes a 
 Law. — Opposition of the City Delegation. 
 — The Canal Policy made by them a party 
 question 213 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Clinton is elected Governor of the State of 
 Jfew-York. — Apparent Calm in Party Feel- 
 ings. — Causes of renewed Party Violence. 
 — Tompkins is held up as a Candidate in 
 opposition to him. — Clinton's Re-election. 
 — Farther increase of Party Violence. — 
 Interference of the General Government. — 
 Personal Hostility added to Feelings of 
 Party. — Important Measures recommend- 
 ed by Clinton and carried in the Legis- 
 lature. — Character of his Speeches to the 
 Legislature 247 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Objections to the old Constitution of the State. 
 — All Parties concur in a desire for its 
 Amendment. — Bill calling a Convention 
 returned by the Council of Revision. — 
 Clinton's Opinions on the subject. — A Law 
 is passed by which the call of a Convention 
 is submitted to a popular vote. — Alterations 
 made in the old Constitution. — Clinton's 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XI 
 
 Page 
 
 term of Office is abridged.— He declines 
 to he a Candidate for re-election.— Accident 
 to his leg.— His first Wife dies.— He visits 
 the States of Jersey and Ohio.— He visits 
 Pennsylvania.— He is examined before a 
 Committee of the Legislature.— He is re- 
 moved from his Office of Canal Commis- 
 sioner. —Public Indignation in Consequence, 
 —Attempt of the General Government to 
 tax Vessels navigating the Canal— Clinton 
 is nominated by the Republican Convention 
 at Utica, and again elected Governor.— He 
 marries his second Wife ...... 247 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Success of the Canal Policy. — Silver Vases 
 are presented to Clinton by the Merchants 
 ofJYew- York.— He is invited by Mr. Adams 
 to serve as Minister to Great Britain, and 
 declines.— Great Celebration of the opening 
 of the Canal.— JYew and important Public 
 Works recommended by Clinton.— His plan 
 of a Board of Public Works-Antimasonic 
 Excitement.— Coalition to defeat Clinton^, 
 election as Governor.— He is, notwithstand- 
 ing, re-elected 266 
 
XU CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Clinton^s views of Religious Worship. — His 
 Services to the Preshyterian Education and 
 Bible Societies. — His occasional Addresses. 
 — Great change in the Relations of Parties. 
 — Clinton recommends the Road through 
 the Southwestern tier of Counties. — His 
 Illness and Death. — Political Reflections. 
 — Description of Clinton's Person, and Re- 
 marks on his Character. — Illustrations of 
 the importance of his Services in promoting 
 the Canal Policy of the State .... 285 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introduction. — Memoir of the Family of Clinton. 
 
 In undertaking a biography of Dewitt Clinton, 
 a task of no little difficulty is to be performed. 
 Few men have been more the object of virulent 
 animosity or of more exalted praise. It is, there- 
 fore, hardly possible to obtain any reasonable esti- 
 mate of his character and public services from the 
 testimony of his contemporaries ; a part of whom 
 sought to sink him below the level in popular es- 
 teem of which he was certainly worthy, while 
 others, perhaps, endeavoured to raise him to a 
 standing to which he was hardly entitled. In 
 such conflicting testimony, the truth can with dif- 
 ficulty be reached. 
 
 It will be necessary, too, in describing his ca- 
 reer, to open anew the wounds of political discord. 
 In the violent contests between two great and 
 powerful parties, which preceded the war of 1812, 
 and in the continual fluctuations of opinion which 
 have since occurred, there was hardly any distin- 
 
 B 
 
14 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 guished individual of our state who has not at one 
 time been opposed to Clinton, and at another uni- 
 ted with him in the pursuit of the same political 
 object^ and of these many still survive. There 
 were also others, who, opposed to him personally 
 in the early period of his life, continued that op- 
 position to the hour of his death, and seem to 
 have been guided finally by no other principle but 
 that of being found in the party where he was 
 not ; and there have been some who sunk all oth- 
 er considerations in devoted attachment to his for- 
 tunes. 
 
 Those who were so long his open enemies, how- 
 ever, prey not upon the character of the dead j 
 and those who, with fair and manly feelings, sup- 
 ported him when his course was consistent with 
 their views of state and national policy, and act- 
 ed against him without personal motives when 
 their opinions did not coincide with his, cannot be 
 offended by a narrative, intended to be impartial, 
 of his eventful career. There are those, however, 
 who meanly flattered him when possessed of pow- 
 er, and as basely deserted him when the tide of 
 politics set against him, to whom a candid account 
 of the vicissitudes of his political hfe must recall 
 disagreeable reflections ; and there must be some 
 of those who almost deified him while alive, who 
 may feel disappointed at the coldness of the prais 
 es which this history awards him. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 15 
 
 The name and family of Clinton are insepara- 
 bly connected with the history of the Province and 
 State of New-York. Under the royal government, 
 George Clinton, a naval officer of high rank, was 
 for a time chief-magistrate of the colony. A sec- 
 ond of the same name, the uncle of the subject 
 of our memoir, was the first governor of the state 
 after its independence was declared. This office 
 he held for eighteen years, and was distinguished, 
 not only for a faithful discharge of the civil duties 
 of his office, but for a brave though unsuccessful 
 defence of the passes of the Highlands, at the 
 head of the militia suddenly gathered to oppose 
 the royal forces. 
 
 James Clinton, the father of Dewitt, was a 
 brave and useful military officer in the war of 
 1756 and in that of the revolution; while a third 
 of the name of George, the son of James and 
 brother of Dewitt, represented the City of New- 
 York in the Congress of the United States. 
 
 However unimportant we may justly view such 
 pretensions as are founded on ancestral worth 
 alone, and however politic it may be in a repub- 
 lican government to reject all claims to distinction 
 growing out of such a cause, we may still feel, 
 and with propriety gratify, a curiosity as to the 
 race whence our eminent pubhc servants have 
 drawn their descent. In countries where an aris- 
 tocracy prevails, the sons often derive all their dis- 
 
16 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 tinction from the exploits and virtues of their sires; 
 while in those where no such adventitious source 
 of dignity exists, the merits of the descendant re- 
 flect back honour upon the memory of his progen- 
 itors. 
 
 The family which bears the name of Clinton is 
 of Norman origin. Individuals belonging to it 
 appear in the history of the Crusades, and figure 
 in the chivalrous chronicles of Froissart and Mon- 
 strelet. For our own purposes, we need only go 
 back to the immediate ancestor of the branch 
 which settled in the State of New-York, who was 
 a gentleman of fortune and influence in the reign 
 of Charles I. A cadet of the family of the Earls 
 of Lincoln, he espoused, along with many other 
 scions of noble houses, the royal side in the civil 
 war. On the failure of that cause, he had attain- 
 ed a sufficient degree of eminence as its adherent 
 to be too obnoxious to the victors to hope for safe- 
 ty. He therefore took refuge on the Continent. 
 We next find him in Scotland, under circiunstan- 
 ces which lead to the impression that he had ac- 
 companied Charles II. in the brave but unfortu- 
 nate effort which that prince made to reconquer 
 England at the head of the Scottish army. Here 
 he married a lady of the noble house of Kennedy. 
 After the disastrous battle of Worcester, he, with 
 his wife, sought refuge in Ireland, in which coun- 
 try he died, leaving a son of the tender age of two 
 years. 
 
DEWITTCLINTON. 17 
 
 James Clinton, the son, made an attempt, on 
 reaching the age of manhood, to regain the estate 
 of his father, sequestered by the commonwealth 
 for his adherence to the royal cause. Here he ex- 
 perienced the ingratitude which disgraced the res- 
 toration of the Stuarts. The estate was withheld 
 on plea of an act of limitation, and no indemnity 
 was granted to him. During his stay in England 
 in presenting his claims, he wooed and wedded 
 Elizabeth Smith, the daughter of an officer in the 
 army of the Parliament. The fortune of this lady 
 was sufficient to establish him respectably in Ire- 
 land, whither he returned on the failure of his 
 claim upon royal gratitude. 
 
 It is not to be questioned, that the denial of 
 what was no more than strict justice must have 
 lessened, in a great degree, the feelings of loyalty 
 to kings which James Clinton may have derived 
 from his parents. His children, in addition, drew 
 their maternal descent from the stern republicans 
 who had doomed a monarch to the block. We 
 therefore find Charles Clinton, his son, a dissenter 
 from the established religion, and in opposition to 
 the ruling party in Ireland. 
 
 While the revolution of 1689, and the accession 
 of the House of Hanover, established the privile- 
 ges of Englishmen on a surer foundation, Ireland 
 was treated as a conquered country, and ruled by 
 a small minority of her population upon princir 
 
 B2 
 
18 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 pies of bigotry and intolerance. In order to es- 
 cape the annoyance and oppression arising from 
 this policy in the government, Charles Clinton, in 
 the 40th year of his age, resolved to emigrate to 
 North America. In this determination he was 
 joined by a number of friends and neighbours, 
 subject to the same disqualifications, who cluster- 
 ed around him as the leader of their enterprise. 
 Pennsylvania was the proposed object of the voy- 
 age on which they embarked from Dublin in May, 
 1729. From want of skill or fidelity in the mas- 
 ter of the vessel, the passage was prolonged to 
 the month of October, when the members of the 
 proposed colony were happy to be landed on the 
 bleak and inhospitable peninsula of Cape Cod. 
 In this disastrous voyage many of the passengers 
 perished, and Charles Clinton lost an only son 
 and one of his two daughters. 
 
 Their original intentions being thus frustrated, 
 Charles Clinton and his associates remained for a 
 time at Cape Cod, until a place of settlement 
 could be chosen. This was at last found in the 
 valley of the Walkill, in the present county of 
 Orange. To this they removed in the spring of 
 1731. 
 
 The choice of the land for this settlement re- 
 flects credit on the sagacity of Charles Clinton. 
 Up to this time the selection of lands had been 
 principally directed by their capacity for the growth 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 19 
 
 of grain. He, as the leader of a colony accustom- 
 ed to pastoral occupations rather than tillage, 
 sought for soil which should yield a rich and 
 abundant pasturage, and thus formed the nucleus 
 of that industrious body of Irish Presbyterians, 
 whose luxuriant fields of grass, and the valued 
 products of their milk, justify the scriptural appel- 
 lation of the land of Goshen, which has been 
 given to this pastoral region. Under the influ- 
 ence of that strong attachment to the land of their 
 ancestors, which was not destroyed until after 
 years of oppression and suffering, this colony gave 
 to their settlement the name of Little Britain. 
 
 In the early settlement of the Province of New- 
 York, it had been customary for bands of emigrants 
 to unite together under a leader for the purpose 
 of mutual defence and support. Such leaders 
 were, in many cases, persons of capital and enter- 
 prise, who sought, in the establishment of a colo- 
 ny, a profitable investment for themselves, in a 
 property entailed upon their descendants. The 
 policy of the early government, under both Bata- 
 vian and English rule, favoured this mode of set- 
 tlement ; and grants were made of large tracts to 
 the leaders, in order to be apportioned among their 
 followers upon tenures almost feudal in their char- 
 acter. In this there was no real injustice, because 
 much of the cost of the transportation of the emi- 
 grants from Europe was defrayed by the leader 
 
20 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 of the expedition, who also paid the fees, small 
 though they might be, attendant upon issuing the 
 patent, and extinguished the Indian claim. Such 
 tenures still exist among us; and the occupiers 
 of the land, forgetful of the circumstances under 
 which their predecessors acquired their possessions, 
 are apt to grumble at the moderate rents in kind, 
 and personal services, which serve, in fact, to pay 
 the cost of emigration and settlement. The com- 
 panions of Charles Clinton, although they looked 
 up to him as a leader, were not dependant in their 
 circumstances. The settlement at Little Britain 
 was therefore made on principles of strict equali- 
 ty, each head of a family acquiring in fee that por- 
 tion of land which his capital or his command of 
 labour enabled him to occupy to advantage. In 
 spite of this principle of equality, the superior in- 
 telligence and education of Charles Clinton gave 
 him a consideration among his neighbours as ele- 
 vated as if he had become possessed of manorial 
 rights. 
 
 Although distant no more than sixty miles from 
 New-York, and only eight from the bank of the 
 Hudson, the settlement of Little Britain was a 
 frontier post. The house of Charles Clinton was 
 therefore fortified, as a security, not for himself and 
 family alone, but as a refuge for his neighbours in 
 threatened attacks from Indian enemies. 
 
 In becoming an integral part of a well-govern- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 21 
 
 ed community, the supremacy of the laws was to 
 be maintained, and he was forthwith named a jus- 
 tice of the peace. Before many years elapsed, 
 his usefulness in this capacity was extended by his 
 receiving the appointment of a judge of the Com- 
 mon Pleas for the county of Ulster, within the lim- 
 its of which Little Britain at that time fell. 
 
 These offices, which were then exercised without 
 emolument, and were, therefore, no object to those 
 who might otherwise have sought them as a means 
 of livehhood, furnish evidence of the high estima- 
 tion in which Charles Chnton was held by his 
 neighbours and by the government of the prov- 
 ince. In an age of little litigation, his judicial du- 
 ties did not interfere with the cultivation of his 
 farm, nor prevent his attention to the education of 
 his family. It has been seen that his first-born 
 son died on the passage from Europe. Four oth- 
 ers were born to him after his settlement at Little 
 Britain. The two eldest of these chose the pro- 
 fession of medicine, and the second of them served 
 as surgeon in the combined English and Conti- 
 nental army which took the Havannah in 1762. 
 
 James, the third son, was born in 1736, and 
 was educated under the paternal roof. When the 
 war of 1756 broke out, his father received the ap- 
 pointment of Keutenant-colonel in the militia of the 
 province, and the son was, at the same time, na- 
 med an ensign in his father's regiment. In these 
 
22 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 capacities both were called into active service, and 
 were present at the capture of Fort Frontenac in 
 Upper Canada, on the site of the present town of 
 Kingston. 
 
 The fourth son was called George, after the co- 
 lonial governor of that name, who claimed and 
 admitted the ties of consanguinity with the settler 
 of the valley of the Walkill. George Clinton, 
 who held for so many years the office of governor 
 of the State of New-York, and died Vice-presi- 
 dent of the United States, is too well known in 
 American history to require to be commemorated 
 by us. He was also an officer at the capture of 
 Fort Frontenac. 
 
 James Clinton had attained, at the close of the 
 French war in 1761, the rank of captain, and 
 was successively promoted through the intermedi- 
 ate stations to the command of the second regi- 
 ment of Ulster county Militia, which he held at 
 the commencement of the struggle for independ- 
 ence. His father did not live to see that con- 
 test, but died in the year 1773. James Clinton, 
 in the interval between the close of the French 
 war and the beginning of that of the revolution, 
 married Miss Mary Dewitt, a descendant of a fam- 
 ily from Holland. Four sons were the fruit of this 
 union, of whom Dewitt, the subject of this Me- 
 moir, was the second. v<-<L 
 
 On the commencement of hostilities in 1775, 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 23 
 
 James Clinton was among the first officers who 
 were named by Congress to take commands in the 
 army raised under its authority. His first appoint- 
 ment was as colonel in the New-York line; he 
 was subsequently promoted to the rank of brio-a- 
 dier, and held the commission of major-general at 
 the close of the war. He distinguished himself in 
 the defence of the passes of the Highlands, when 
 stormed by the British army in 1777. In this ac- 
 tion he served under the command of his brother, 
 then commanding, as governor of the state, the 
 militia which had been called into active service, 
 while the British forces were led by Sir Henry 
 Clinton, the son of the colonial governor, in hon- 
 our of whom George had been named. 
 
 He afterward commanded the forces collected 
 in the Valley of the Mohawk to oppose the Indians 
 and Tories who threatened the settlements of that 
 region, and subsequently led his army to join that 
 of General Sullivan, in the expedition which drove 
 the Indians from their fastnesses. Of this united 
 army he commanded the right wing, and contrib- 
 uted much to the success of that undertaking. In 
 order to join Sullivan, it was necessary to make a 
 military road from the Mohawk at Fort Plain to 
 Lake Otsego. Here boats were to be built to con- 
 vey the troops with their stores, and, in order to 
 float them over the bars and shallows of the up- 
 
24 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 per Susquehanna, a temporary flush of water was 
 obtained by damming up the outlet of the lake. 
 
 He last appeared in arms at the siege of York- 
 town, where he aided in the capture of Cornwal- 
 lis and his army. 
 
 At the close of the Revolutionary war General 
 James Clinton retired to his estate in Orange coun- 
 ty. Here, however, he was not suffered to remain 
 unemployed in the service of his native state, but 
 was frequently called upon to exercise offices of 
 high trust, and to perform legislative duties. 
 
 Such was the race from which the subject of 
 our memoir derived his birth ; and his own talents 
 and distinguished public services, so far from re- 
 quiring the aid of ancestral dignity to illustrate 
 him, would have ennobled the family from which 
 he sprung. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 25 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Birth of Dewitt Clinton. — His early Education. — 
 He studies at the Kingston Academy. — He is 
 present at the Evacuation of Mew-York. — He 
 enters Columbia College. — Account of the Pro- 
 fessors of that Institution. — Clinton distinguish- 
 es himself as a Scholar, and graduates with the 
 highest honours. 
 
 Dewitt Clinton was born March 2d, 1769, at 
 Little Britain, the residence of his father, General 
 James Clinton. His early education was intrust- 
 ed to the Rev. Mr. Moffat, the pastor of the Pres- 
 byterian church in that settlement. In 1782 he 
 was removed to the Academy of Kingston, an in- 
 stitution at that time of high celebrity, under the 
 direction of a Mr. Addison. It was, in fact, the 
 only public school that had been able to maintain 
 its usefulness unimpaired during the revolutionary 
 war. The whole state, with the exception of a 
 small part in the neighbourhood of Albany, had 
 been the seat of active hostilities. The British 
 armies had penetrated from the north as far as Still- 
 water, and from the south nearly to the present site 
 of Hudson. Kingston itself had been sacked and 
 burned, but this caused no long suspension of the 
 
26 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 operations of its academy, which an enlightened 
 pubhc spirit speedily re-edified. In the year 1784, 
 having mastered all the subjects taught at the 
 Kingston Academy, Dewitt Clinton was removed 
 from it by his father, for the purpose of entering 
 upon a more elevated course of study. For this 
 purpose the college at Princeton was selected, and 
 the son accompanied his father to New- York on 
 their way to that institution. General Clinton had 
 some months before taken a part in the ceremonial 
 of receiving possession of New-York from the 
 British troops. His son had then visited the city, 
 where he witnessed the final evacuation of that im- 
 portant position by those who had so long held it, 
 and shared in the joy of those who, after seven 
 years of exile, were restored to their homes and 
 household gods. 
 
 Thirty years before, a college had been estab- 
 lished, by royal charter, in the City of New-York. 
 This had been eminently successful in the produc- 
 tion of sound and elegant scholars ; and although 
 its usefulness had been narrowed by the attempt to 
 conduct it in conformity to the system of an estab- 
 lished church, and for the propagation of royalist 
 principles, it had, notwithstanding, trained some of 
 the most eminent men who had taken the part of 
 their country in the Revolutionary struggle. This 
 institution had been almost ruined by the war. 
 Its students and teachers had been driven out to 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 27 
 
 make room for the sick of the American army ; its 
 president chased from his post by a mob, enraged 
 at his warm and vigorous support of the British 
 cause ; its hbrary, then the most complete on the 
 Continent, wasted and dispersed ; its apparatus 
 and museum destroyed. The occupation of New- 
 York by the British forces did not mend its con- 
 dition. Thus, while Cambridge, Princeton, Phil- 
 adelphia, and Williamsburg had in succession 
 become the quarters of armies, or the actual seat of 
 hostilities, without sustaining any injury to their 
 well-endowed universities, that of New-York had 
 been almost obliterated. 
 
 The circumstances in which young Clinton was 
 placed were the direct means of reviving this de- 
 cayed institution. The nephew of the governor of 
 the state and the son of one of its most distinguish- 
 ed citizens, it appeared to be a public disgrace 
 that he should be compelled to resort to another 
 state for his education. It was therefore deter- 
 mined to attempt to reopen the deserted halls of 
 the college in New-York. A lucky chance per- 
 mitted this to be done under the auspices of men 
 of no little learning. 
 
 On the close of hostilities, the inhabitants of 
 one of the counties of Virginia had resolved to re- 
 store a deserted academy of that state. For this 
 purpose they had addressed themselves to Dr. Ogil- 
 vie, of Aberdeenshire, in Scotland j and, at his in- 
 
28 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 stance, two young men of high promise and much 
 learning had crossed the Atlantic. On reaching 
 Virginia, they found that the inducements which 
 had been held out to them were unfounded, and 
 that no provision had been made for their comfort- 
 able support. Thus disappointed in their expecta- 
 tions, they had reached New- York on their return 
 to their native country, the one burning with in- 
 dignation and disgusted with everything American, 
 the other in sorrow at leaving a country for whose 
 people and institutions he had conceived an attach- 
 ment. In this state of mind they were found by 
 Mr. Duane, the mayor of the city ; and while the 
 former not only declined for himself, but endeav- 
 oured to dissuade his companion, the latter joyful- 
 ly accepted a call which promised the attainment 
 of his desires. 
 
 This young Scotsman whom chance thus pre- 
 sented was the late John Kemp, LL.D., who for 
 28 years after was the soul of the institution, to 
 which, in lieu of its former style of King's, the 
 name of Columbia College was now given. The 
 son of a father who had lost his property by his 
 adherence to the cause of the Stuarts, he had been 
 brought up by an uncle. While a student in the 
 University of Aberdeen, he had competed for, and, 
 after three days of hard contest, gained the prize 
 of mathematical learning. The most valuable 
 part of this distinction was the right of receiving 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 29 
 
 the instructions of the mathematical professor du- 
 ring the long vacations of seven months, which 
 interrupt the courses of the Scottish Universities. 
 
 The professor at that time was Hamilton, who 
 outlived his pupil, and distinguished the close of 
 his life by the publication of his celebrated argu- 
 ment against the popular belief, that a debt did 
 not diminish the wealth of a nation. In this place 
 we have only time to say, that this argument, which 
 carried with it immediate conviction, may be con- 
 sidered as having been the distant cause of the 
 long peace which has continued among civilized 
 nations since the downfall of Napoleon. 
 
 Dr. Kemp was not unworthy of the privileges 
 which his previous proficiency had gained for him, 
 and left college one of the best mathematicians of 
 the age. His other attainments were also great : 
 he was an excellent classical scholar, and had 
 mastered all the physical knowledge of the day. 
 
 Another fortunate chance secured to Columbia 
 College the services of the Rev. Wm. Cochran, 
 a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, a sound 
 and excellent classical scholar. The revived insti- 
 tution had also the benefit of the services of Ben- 
 jamin Moore, afterward the right reverend bishop 
 of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the state. 
 This gentleman, distinguished for his sound learn- 
 ing, his fine taste, and his persuasive eloquence, 
 was a model of mild courtesy, and often succeeded 
 
 C2 
 
30 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 in enforcing discipline by an appeal to feelings of 
 honour and sense of character, when harsh meas- 
 ures would have been unavailable. His important 
 duties in the organization of his church, and the 
 high responsibility of the station to which he was 
 speedily elevated, withdrew him from the labours 
 of education. After some years he was restored 
 to the college in the capacity of its chief officer, 
 but without any share in its active tuition ; and 
 under his rule the institution rose to a high degree 
 of prosperity, from which it fell for a time under 
 the administration of an officer, whose high abili- 
 ties and learning were not tempered by the pru- 
 dence and caution for which Bishop Moore was so 
 eminent. 
 
 Dr. Moyes, who filled the chair of Natural His- 
 tory and Chemistry, had the misfortune to be 
 blind ; yet his lectures were popular and instruct- 
 ive. He had the high merit of being the first to 
 introduce the latter science into the United States, 
 freed from the dreams of alchymy. It was, how- 
 ever, still in its infancy, and the brilliant discoveries 
 of Lavoisier were not yet received or even comple- 
 ted. Hence, in after life, Clinton found the neces- 
 sity of keeping up with the progress of this sci- 
 ence, of which even the language in which he 
 had studied it was entirely changed. This labour, 
 however irksome, he encountered. 
 
 The faculty of the college was completed by 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 3l 
 
 the appointment of Samuel Bard, M.D., to the 
 chair of Natural Philosophy, and of Dr. Grose to 
 that of Metaphysical Science. 
 
 Of this faculty, Messrs. Kemp and Cochran 
 alone devoted their whole time to the business of 
 their chairs. The other gentlemen had, in addi- 
 tion, other professional pursuits. This was for the 
 moment favourable ; for they were men of high 
 eminence and learning, who were collected by the 
 wants of the growing city, and were thus enabled 
 to afford their valuable services, at a time when 
 the dilapidated state of the finances of the college, 
 and the limited number of the pupils, would not 
 have permitted the call of persons of equal attain- 
 ments for the specific duty. 
 
 The organization that was at this time attempt- 
 ed of a university, which, with the college of New- 
 York as its centre, was intended to include all the 
 public seminaries of the state, was a plan of much 
 promise, and, had it been pursued in the spirit of 
 those who proposed it, might have been attended 
 with incalculable advantage. It is remarkable, 
 that it seems to have been the model on which, 
 some years later, the University of France was 
 framed ; and that has been pre-eminently success- 
 ful. The two projects, however, differed in one 
 essential feature. The central administration of 
 the University of France is, indeed, presided over 
 by a minister of state, but it includes m its body 
 
32 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 men who have risen to it by success as teach- 
 ers; the board of regents of the University of the 
 State of New- York is elected by the Legislature, 
 and, from the first, all men of practical skill in in- 
 struction seem to have been carefully excluded. 
 
 We need only say, the scheme was not carried 
 into effect. Columbia College was soon withdrawn 
 from all but the nominal jurisdiction of the regents ; 
 and no unity of purpose or action exists among the 
 colleges and academies of the state. Finally, on 
 the establishment of the school fund, it was not 
 considered expedient to vest its management in 
 that board, which, had it been efficient, would have 
 seemed to be the proper organ for dispensing the 
 public bounty. 
 
 Dewitt Chnton was the first matriculated stu- 
 dent of the college, re-established in the manner 
 we have mentioned, and was admitted to the ju- 
 nior class. The instructions of the able teachers 
 who have been named were not without their ef- 
 fect upon the future character and services of Clin- 
 ton. In no well-conducted institution would he 
 have failed to become a distinguished scholar ; but 
 there were certain views and principles which he 
 could not, at that time, have heard discussed in 
 any other institution. Dr. Kemp, the favourite 
 pupil of Professor Hamilton, was in the habit, in 
 his mathematical course, of enforcing the yet un- 
 published views of his master on the subject of 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 33 
 
 public debts ; and urging the necessity of provi- 
 ding for every debt contracted a sum sufficient not 
 only to defray the interest, but to pay off the prin- 
 cipal by an annuity. In his lectures in illustra- 
 tion of the mechanical part of natural philosophy, 
 he prided himself on giving to every subject a 
 practical bearing, and thus the principles and his- 
 tory of canal navigation formed a favourite theme. 
 He, in particular, insisted on the necessity of aban- 
 doning all attempts to improve the navigation of 
 small rivers, and of substituting canals for the 
 whole distance; illustrating his position by the 
 celebrated saying of Bradley, that such streams 
 *^ were intended by the Almighty for feeding ca- 
 nals." At the time that Clinton was his pupil, his 
 acquaintance with the topography of the United 
 States would not probably have enabled him to 
 have formed the clear and lucid views he was sub- 
 sequently in the habit of expressing, in relation to 
 the capacities of the State of New-York for inland 
 navigation. These became afterward a matter of 
 public record, in a letter he addressed to his friend 
 Dr. Beattie. In this he points out the possibility 
 of a canal navigation from Oswego to Albany, and 
 an extension to the West by the Seneca River to 
 the heads of the Seneca and Cayuga Lakes. 
 Among the number of his pupils who were dis- 
 tributed throughout the State of New-York, these 
 views had made a deep impression, and had a de- 
 
34 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 cided influence in preparing the public mind for 
 the system which was finally adopted. In the 
 mind of Clinton, the financial arguments and true 
 principles of internal improvement enforced by his 
 teacher, may naturally have formed the basis of 
 the sound and enlightened views which subse- 
 quently directed his conduct. If they did no more, 
 they must have had the effect of exciting his curi- 
 osity, and leading him to study for himself those 
 principles of finance and systems of internal im- 
 provement to which his attention was directed by 
 his instructer. 
 
 During the two years Clinton remained as a stu- 
 dent in Columbia College, he distinguished him- 
 self by a marked superiority over all his fellows. 
 This superiority has, w^ith a pardonable pride, 
 been alluded to by his instructer. Dr. Cochran, in 
 a letter to Dr. Hosack, the eulogist of Clinton. "I 
 found Mr. Clinton apt to learn anjiihing that was 
 required of him. He was clear in mathematics, 
 and correct in classical knowledge. He did eve- 
 rything well : upon the whole, he seemed likely to 
 me to prove, as he did prove, a highly useful and 
 practical man : what the Romans call civilis, and 
 the Greeks TroXtriKog, a useful citizen, and quali- 
 fied to counsel and direct his fellow-citizens to 
 honour and happiness. And now, in conclusion, I 
 cannot but feel self-gratulation and pride, I hope 
 a virtuous one, when I reflect on the number of 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 35 
 
 eminent persons that have proceeded from the very 
 cradle of Columbia College. Draw, at a venture, 
 from the old and illustrious seminaries of England 
 and Ireland, the same number of names as we had 
 on our books, and I will venture to affirm that they 
 will not be superior to such men as Governor 
 Chnton, Chancellor Jones, the Rev. Dr. John M. 
 Mason, and some others." 
 
 In conversation Dr. Cochran thus spoke of the 
 early talent of Chnton. " I hear," said he, " that 
 his political opponents call him, by way of reproach, 
 magnus Apollo. If he have not degenerated from 
 what I knew him as a boy, he is well entitled to 
 the appellation as a title of honour." 
 
 Clinton's academic career closed in 1786, when 
 he received the usual degree of bachelor of arts, 
 taking, at the commencement, the highest honour 
 which the institution could bestow. He left to his 
 successors, as students in Columbia College, an 
 example of steadiness, diligence, and moral excel- 
 lence, which is the more meritorious, as many 
 young men in his position might have been incli- 
 ned to idleness, from the feeling that their family 
 had already reached a station which would exempt 
 them from labour; and to insubordination, from the 
 knowledge that their teachers held office during 
 the pleasure of their nearest connexions. 
 
 It is not to be concealed, that there was one oc- 
 casion on which a dispute arose between the stu- 
 
36 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 dents and one of the professors of the college, and 
 that Clinton was put forward as the champion of 
 his associates, on whose behalf he wrote a com- 
 plaint to the Board of Regents, by which the af- 
 fairs of the college were then administered. This 
 address is marked with precocious ability, but had 
 no effect on the proceedings of that board, which 
 sustained the professor in what the students con- 
 sidered an unwarrantable exercise of authority du- 
 ring hours not devoted to collegiate duty. It is 
 mutually to the credit of the teacher and his pu- 
 pil, that the prominent position in which Clinton 
 was placed on this occasion had no effect upon his 
 standing in his class. The collision had the effect 
 of establishing the character of the teacher for 
 fearlessness and decision; and so little was his 
 course blamed by the friends and family of Clin- 
 ton, that the immediate superintendence of the 
 studies of his younger brothers, and of his cousins, 
 the sons of the governor, was intrusted to the 
 professor against whose conduct Dewitt Clinton 
 had penned the remonstrance. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 37 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 Clinton enters upon the Study of the Law, and is 
 admitted to its Practice. — He is appointed Pri- 
 vate Secretary to his Uncle the Governor. — His 
 Career as a Political Writer. — He retires to Pri- 
 vate Life, and applies himself to Scientific Pur- 
 suits. — He 7narries. — Character of his Wife. 
 
 Upon leaving college Clinton entered immediate- 
 ly upon the study of the law. For this purpose he 
 was placed in the office of the Hon. Samuel Jones, 
 who at that time held a high rank at the bar of 
 the State of New- York. This learned jurist had 
 taken no active part in the war of revolution; 
 and, from his quiet acquiescence in the sway ex- 
 erted by England over the counties occupied by 
 her armies, had even been accused of the senti- 
 ments called Tory. Like many others in the same 
 position, this acquiescence arose from no hostile feel- 
 ing to the cause of independence, but from the ne- 
 cessity of the case. Enveloped, with their famihes, 
 by an armed force, and cut off' from all communi- 
 cation with their countrymen, they had no choice 
 but submission. On the evacuation of New-York, 
 Mr. Jones resumed his profession, and took at once 
 the highest place among the barristers of the day. 
 
 D 
 
38 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 His legal eminence descended to his sons ; one of 
 whom has reached the high office of chancellor of 
 the state, and still presides in one of the most im- 
 portant courts. The intimacy between the families 
 of Jones and Chnton, whether renewed or grooving 
 out of the position in w^hich young Clinton was 
 placed, has continued, from that time, and has 
 been cemented by more than one intermarriage. 
 
 The routine of a lawyer's office affords little op- 
 portunity for the exhibition of more than steady 
 industry, and in this respect both the teacher and 
 scholar appear to have been mutually satisfied 
 with each other. Practice in forensic disputation 
 was sought by Clinton in an association of young 
 men, engaged, like himself, in legal studies j and 
 here he held a prominent rank among many who 
 afterward attained to excellence in various ways. 
 His admission to the bar took place after the usual 
 course of three years' study, and the examination 
 prescribed by law. He was not, however, permit- 
 ted to try his' success in the practice of that pro- 
 fession, although his friends foretold him a brill- 
 iant career. His uncle, the governor of the state, 
 at a period of great political excitement, had need 
 of a person both of great capacity and unques- 
 tioned fidelity as secretary. This post had been 
 filled by the elder brother of Dewitt Clinton, who 
 was unfortunately drowned in the Hudson. On 
 the death of this brother, in order to serve his rel- 
 
DE WITT CLINTON. 39 
 
 ative and efficient patron, he consented to forego 
 the hopes of a profession which, in his hands, 
 promised both to be productive of great emolu- 
 ment and a road to distinction. It has been re- 
 marked of EngUsh legislators, that, however ne- 
 cessary may be the mere study of the laws, and 
 particularly that of the constitution of their coun- 
 try, to those who aim at political eminence, none 
 who have become entangled in its practice have 
 distinguished themselves as statesmen. The rea- 
 son is obvious ; the necessity of confining them- 
 selves to one side of a cause creates a habit of 
 viewing a subject in a single light, and in its de- 
 tails rather than in its broad and general bearings. 
 The nice refinements of special pleading are un- 
 suited to the ears of a popular assembly, and are 
 repugnant even to the taste of a dehberative body. 
 
 It was, therefore, fortunate for his country, and 
 particularly to his native state, that Clinton aban- 
 doned so early the profession of the law, and en- 
 tered into the career of politics. Whether it were 
 equally so to his own happiness may well be ques- 
 tioned. The hfe of CUnton was from this moment 
 one of political strife, into which he threw all the 
 force of his ardent temperament and brilhant tal- 
 ents, and in which he acquired but few disinter- 
 ested and really attached friends, and made many 
 bitter enemies. 
 
 We have already stated that he accepted the of- 
 
40 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 iice of private secretary to his uncle at a time of 
 great excitement. The question of the adoption 
 of the federal constitution in the place of the old 
 confederation had just been settled. His uncle 
 had been opposed to many of the details of that 
 measure, and had resisted it with all his influence 
 to the moment when farther opposition would have 
 become factious. If w^e look to the progress in 
 wealth and population which New-York has made 
 since that period, a progress due not more to the 
 blessings of a stable government than to its own 
 unrivalled position, we may ascribe to George 
 Clinton the gift of prescience. He may have seen 
 that his state was destined to take the first rank in 
 the confederacy ; its chief city to be the emporium 
 of the commerce of the Continent ; and, imbued 
 with the attachment to state rights which has 
 again become so popular, may have patriotically 
 desired to secure to the commonwealth over which 
 he presided the advantages which nature had pre- 
 pared for it. If we were to investigate the results 
 which would have followed, had the proposition 
 which was strongly urged by many been acceded 
 to, namely, that a general and uniform tariff of 
 duties should be adopted throughout the confeder- 
 ation, of which each state should receive into its 
 own treasury that which was collected within its 
 Hmits, how proud would have been the position of 
 New-York. In its chief port are collected half the 
 
B E W I T T C L I N T O N. 4| 
 
 revenues from customs of the whole union ; and it 
 would have attained this pre-eminence years earli- 
 er than it actually did. Philadelphia would not 
 have been enabled to rival it so long by the in- 
 fluence of capital collected in its two successive na- 
 tional banks, and all other cities must have sunk 
 in the comparison. 
 
 The State of New-York also had no ill-founded 
 claim to the whole of the territory north of the 
 42d degree of latitude, as far west as the Missis- 
 sippi. This claim seemed to have been considered 
 as unquestionable so long as the colonial govern- 
 ment lasted, and is exhibited upon the maps of 
 that day. The adverse claim of Massachusetts 
 covered but a narrow strip, and New-Yoiii cut her 
 off from the lands in dispute. No state, therefore, 
 yielded so much to the union as New-York. That 
 many true patriots should have hesitated in muti- 
 lating the sovereignty under which such revenues 
 w-ere in prospect, and which might have maintain- 
 ed its land-claims by force if necessary, is not to 
 be wondered at. 
 
 It happened, luckily, however, that a more ex- 
 tended sense of patriotism prevailed, w^hich embra- 
 ced not states or separate interests of even wider 
 influence, but the whole of that people which had 
 stood side by side in the war of independence. But 
 let not those who now wage political warfare on 
 sectional grounds — who speak of an Eastern and a 
 
 D2 
 
42 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Western interest — who advocate abolition because 
 it will injure the South, or a system of finance that 
 will injure the North, impeach the patriotism of 
 those opposed to the federal constitution. The 
 modern politicians seek to cause a division in inter- 
 ests which are already united, and whose severance 
 would create the most disastrous consequences ; the 
 anti-federalists sought to perpetuate an existing 
 state of things, from any change in which they 
 erroneously anticipated evil. 
 
 The discussion on the subject of the constitution 
 was carried on in the public papers. The cause 
 which prevailed was sustained by the veteran pen 
 of Jay, the strong and clear intellect of Hamilton, 
 and the cool sagacity of Madison. At this day it 
 is unnecessary to say how triumphant were their 
 arguments, and how thoroughly the able exposi- 
 tion of the constitution contained in the papers col- 
 lected under the name of " The Federalist" has 
 become a part of the common law of the land. 
 Yet this powerful publication was not allowed to 
 remain unanswered, and the most able of the op- 
 posing arguments were found in papers bearing 
 the signature of " A Countryman." These were 
 the production of Clinton, and carried conviction 
 to a large proportion of the voters of the State of 
 New-York. If we cannot now assent to the jus- 
 tice of his views, we may, notwithstanding, admire 
 the boldness which did not shrink from a contest 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 43 
 
 with writers of such transcendent reputation, and 
 the abihty which to many minds appeared to have 
 gained a victory over them. 
 
 In the state convention which was assembled 
 to consider the new constitution, for the purpose of 
 its being ratified or rejected by New-York, General 
 James Clinton had a seat, and Governor Geoi-ge 
 Clinton presided. In this assembly broad feelings 
 of patriotism prevailed over the grounds which had 
 been the basis of an opposition to the adoption 
 of the constitution. Dewitt Clinton was present 
 at the meetings of the convention, and reported its 
 debates for one of the city papers. His letters, at 
 the time, show him to have been in principle an 
 anti-federalist. Mature reflection in after days 
 changed his views on this subject ; and his official 
 letter to the mayor of Philadelphia, on the occa- 
 sion of the death of Hamilton, shows how com- 
 pletely satisfied he had then become of the wis- 
 dom which directed the framers of the constitution 
 of the United States. 
 
 The adoption of the constitution led to the for- 
 mation of parties upon principles entirely new. 
 The anti-federalists acquiesced in the declared will 
 of the majority, and dropped their distinctive ap- 
 pellation ; nor did the paramount influence of 
 Washington, in his office of president, admit of 
 the formation of an opposition upon the ancient 
 grounds. Those who accepted representative of- 
 
44 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 fices under the new constitution would have form- 
 ed an opposition to the administration with an ill 
 grace, on the ground of their being dissatisfied 
 with the provisions of that instrument. A ques- 
 tion on which to organize an opposition was, how- 
 ever, speedily found in the state of the external re- 
 lations of the country. . It is foreign to our pur- 
 pose to enter into the questions of the mission of 
 Genet, and the commercial treaty made with Eng- 
 land by Jay. Suffice it to say, that on these ques- 
 tions George Clinton placed himself in the oppo- 
 sition to the general government. Into this posi- 
 tion he was, perhaps, as much driven by attacks 
 upon himself by the federal party, as impelled by 
 his own sentiments. The supporters of the federal 
 constitution, dissatisfied with the opposition made 
 by George Clinton to its adoption, sought a new 
 candidate for the office of governor in the person 
 of Chief-justice Jay, and nearly succeeded in elect- 
 ing him. He, in fact, received a clear majority of 
 all the votes, but was not returned by the canvass- 
 ers for want of a strict compliance with the pre- 
 scribed legal forms. In the published discussions 
 which grew out of this contest in the State of 
 New-York, and in the opposition to the foreign 
 policy of the general government, the pen of 
 Clinton found full occupation in the support of his 
 uncle's cause. However ephemeral were his es- 
 says, which appeared in anonymous forms, and 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 45 
 
 however umvilling he may have been in after hfe 
 to avow his juvenile efforts as a poUtical gladiator, 
 he acquired the reputation of a most pow^erful and 
 efficient writer. So high was this reputation, that 
 every paper of unusual merit which appeared on 
 the side which he espoused was ascribed to him as 
 the author, and he thus was often wrongfully sus- 
 pected of personal and illiberal attacks, from which 
 his own manly nature would have shrunk with ab- 
 horrence. 
 
 In 1794, while the aggressions of the two great 
 beUigerants of Europe upon our commerce threat- 
 ened to involve the United States in a war with one 
 of them, Dewitt Clinton united with several other 
 young men in the formation of a company of vol- 
 unteer artillery. Of this he was chosen lieutenant, 
 and soon became the captain. The company form- 
 ed a part of the regiment commanded by Colonel 
 Bauman, a corps even yet remembered for its sol- 
 dierlike deportment and exemplary discipline. In 
 this corps he rose to the rank of major. 
 
 While acting as private secretary to his uncle, 
 he was also called to fill the stations of secretary 
 to the regents of the University, and to a board of 
 commissioners who had charge of fortifying the 
 harbour of New^-York at the expense of the state. 
 These appointments show that he already filled a 
 higher place in the estimation of the community 
 than is usually reached by the young men who 
 
46 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 hold the confidential but unimportant place of pri- 
 vate secretary to a governor. All these appoint- 
 ments ceased when his uncle failed in securing a 
 re-election to the office of governor in 1795. The 
 federal party now predominated beyond all possi- 
 bility of question ; and John Jay, the chief justice 
 of the United States, was elected in the room of 
 George Clinton. 
 
 Dewitt Clinton was thus restored to private life, 
 and ceased to have any engrossing pursuit. He, 
 in consequence, sought to re-establish himself in 
 the profession of the law, and entered into a part- 
 nership with Mr. John McKesson for that purpose. 
 The business which presented itself was respect- 
 able, and promised to increase rapidly ; but, long 
 before the slow steps by w^hich young men ac- 
 quire celebrity at the bar could be accomplished, 
 he was again recalled to political life. He, how- 
 ever, made use of this interval of leisure to apply 
 himself to the study of th'e sciences, in which he 
 had already made some progress, and for which he 
 had a decided taste. The direction which he took 
 in this pursuit was influenced in a great de'gree by 
 his intimacy with Drs. Hosack and Mitchill. The 
 former was at this time professor of botany, the lat- 
 ter professor of chemistry in Columbia College. The 
 latter, in addition, was almost the only cultivator 
 of the science of zoology the United States then 
 possessed. In compliance with the pursuits of his 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 47 
 
 two associates, natural history, in its several branch- 
 es, became the object of his studies. In this de- 
 partment of knowledge he made no mean profi- 
 ciency ; and it is not a little remarkable, that, while 
 the two professors added no very important facts 
 to science, the amateur, as we shall see, made dis- 
 coveries, one of which, at least, was of great in- 
 terest. 
 
 During the same interval Clinton entered into a 
 matrimonial connexion. The lady whom he mar- 
 ried was Miss Maria Frankhn, the daughter of an 
 eminent merchant in New-York of the Quaker 
 persuasion. This union v^as a happy one, but was 
 dissolved in 1818 by the death of Mrs. Clinton, 
 who left a family of four sons and three daughters. 
 
 Mrs. Clinton was a lady of retiring and domes- 
 tic habits ; ill-suited, perhaps, to advance the po- 
 litical interests of her husband, but better qualified, 
 for that very reason, to be his solace in the con- 
 stant anxieties and occasional reverses to which 
 he was exposed in his political career. Her worth 
 may be best illustrated by the tender recollection 
 and high esteem with which her children still re- 
 gard the amiable qualities and virtues of their 
 mother. She w^as a warm-hearted, accomplished, 
 and most amiable woman, devoted to the happiness 
 of her husband and children, and her death was 
 an irreparable loss to her family. 
 
 We have thus passed the period of Clinton's tu- 
 
48 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 telage, whether literary or poHtical. Up to this 
 time he had, in the latter respect, been the agent 
 and mouthpiece of his uncle the governor ; we 
 have next to contemplate him aspiring to eminence 
 under the direction of his own intellect. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 49 
 
 CHAPTER rv. 
 
 State of Parties under the Administration of Ad- 
 ams. — Clinton is elected a Member of Assem- 
 bly. — He is chosen Senator of the State. — He 
 becomes a Member of the Council of Appoint- 
 ment. — Contest in respect to the Powers of that 
 Council. — State Convention. — His Victory over 
 Jay. — He is elected a Senator of the United 
 States, where he is opposed to Gouverneur Mor- 
 ris. — Debate on the Mississippi Question. — ■ 
 Clinton^s Speech on that occasion. — He acquires 
 a high Reputation as a Statesman. 
 
 The federal party, which acquired the superiori- 
 ty in the State of New-York in 1795, seemed des- 
 tined to an ascendency of unlimited duration. 
 Looking proudly to Washington himself as their 
 leader, their principles seemed indissolubly united 
 with the honour and prosperity of their country. 
 The sympathy with which the cause of the French 
 revolution had for a time been regarded by many 
 American citizens, had been replaced, to a great 
 degree, by disgust at the insolent pretensions of 
 the rulers of that country, and resentment for their 
 aggressions. It thus happened, that, when John 
 Adams succeeded Washington in the presidential 
 
 E 
 
50 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 chair, the nation was urged by a feeling almost 
 universal into hostilities with France; and, al- 
 though no absolute declaration of war was made 
 on either side, the commerce of the United States 
 was attacked wherever it was accessible by French 
 cruisers and privateers ; while measures were adopt- 
 ed for the defence of the seacoast by fortifications 
 and the creation of a navy. A more questionable 
 step was taken by the administration in the enlist- 
 ment of an army, which, in the opinion of many, 
 was uncalled for, because our shores were, in fact, 
 inaccessible to any French force more powerful 
 than a single vessel. 
 
 Experience has shown us, that the measures of 
 providing a naval armament and an army on a 
 peace establishment, which might have served as 
 the nucleus of an efficient force in war, were both 
 wise. It was also a sagacious step to take ad- 
 vantage of the excitement produced by French 
 aggressions, to obtain the public consent to these 
 important means of national security. They were, 
 however, seized by the opponents of the adminis- 
 tration as objects of attack. So long as the pop- 
 ular excitement against France remained, the at- 
 tacks of the opposition were fruitless ; but when 
 Adams, in an evil hour for his party, humbled him- 
 self and his country before the French Directory, 
 all enthusiasm was at an end. 
 
 It would appesff that not only Chnton himself, 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 51 
 
 but his uncle, had partaken of the popular feeling. 
 When^the citizens of New-York turned out to la- 
 bour on the fortifications for the defence of their 
 harbour, old George Clinton was seen among them, 
 encouraging their toils by his example ; and De- 
 witt Clinton was daily engaged in drilling his 
 company to the use of the heavy guns mounted on 
 the battery. 
 
 The attempt of the administration to maintain a 
 regular army after the danger of war was at an end, 
 the load of obloquy which was poured upon the 
 nav}^, but still more the necessity of imposing tax- 
 es, coupled with laws construed as interfering with 
 the right of personal liberty, speedily rendered it 
 unpopular. The party with which the Clintons 
 were connected acquired the ascendency, and Jef- 
 ferson was elected president of the United States. 
 Even while the victory was yet doubtful, partial 
 successes were gained by the party in opposition 
 to Mr. Adams. In 1797 Dewitt Clinton was 
 elected a member of the Legislature, and in 1798 
 state Senator. In this capacity he was chosen, in 
 1800, a member of the council of appointment, 
 and was engaged in a contest with Governor Jay. 
 The state constitution had, in addition to two le- 
 gislative bodies, provided two councils to aid the 
 governor in his executive and legislative capaci- 
 ties. The one was styled that of appointment, 
 with whose concurrence and advice all offices 
 
52 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 were to be filled ; the other that of revision, to 
 which all laws were to be submitted. Governor 
 Jay, who had, in 1798, been elected by a tri- 
 umphant vote, was now opposed by a majority in 
 both houses of the Legislature ; and the council of 
 appointment, which was chosen from the Senate, 
 was of the dominant party. At the meeting of 
 this council, Clinton asserted for himself and col- 
 leagues the equal right of naming the candidates, 
 and of proposing the removal of the holders of of- 
 fice. Jay, on the other hand, maintained that the 
 sole right of nomination was vested in the govern- 
 or, and that the council had no other powers but 
 those of confirmation and rejection. In order to 
 prevent the council from acting in conformity with 
 the views of its majority. Jay resorted to the bold 
 measure of adjourning their meeting, and refusing 
 to call them together. He then submitted the 
 question to the Legislature, asking for an explan- 
 atory law ; but that body, under the impression 
 that it possessed no powers in the premises, recom- 
 mended the call of a convention for the purpose 
 of deciding the question. The convention assem- 
 bled, and the views of Chnton prevailed. 
 
 We therefore have no reason to doubt that his 
 opinion was founded on a correct interpretation of 
 the words of the constitution, although, as Jay 
 himself had prepared the original draught, it is cer- 
 tain that such was not the intention of its framers. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 53 
 
 It may now be conceded, that in this dispute Clin- 
 ton was actuated by the motive of securing the su- 
 premacy of his party, as well as that of obtaining 
 a signal victory in argument over a distinguished 
 and able adversary ; and, in the ardour of his strug- 
 gle for superiority, neglected to examine the prob- 
 able consequences. It has even been said, that the 
 course he took was not approved by his uncle, who 
 looked upon the subject through the calmer medi- 
 um of age and experience. The victory he ob- 
 tained in the construction of the constitution over 
 a man of such eminence and high reputation as 
 a jurist as Jay, is, however, calculated to give us 
 an elevated opinion of his talent and legal learn- 
 ing, however we may be disposed to question his 
 prudence. 
 
 It is due to the truth of history to say, that the 
 consequences of this decision were injurious to the 
 pubhc interests, and were the cause of that bit- 
 terness of party spirit which has made the citizens 
 of other states stigmatize the politics of New-York 
 as ferocious. From this partisan rage no one suf- 
 fered more severely than Dewitt Clinton, both in 
 his own person and those of his friends. 
 
 It appears by written memoranda in his own 
 hand, that his views of the proper mode of action 
 under the new construction of the constitution was, 
 that the offices of the state should be divided be- 
 tween the two opposing parties in the ratio of their 
 
 E2 
 
54 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 respective numbers. On this principle lie acted, 
 when he led the majority of the council of ap- 
 pointment; and, could it have become the habitual 
 custom, it would have prevented all the objection- 
 able consequences of the measure. But that a 
 triumphant party should pause in the progress of 
 removing its opponents after it has obtained the 
 power, is not to be expected, although there have 
 been individuals who, when the appointing honour 
 was vested in them, have had firmness enough to 
 refuse to gratify their supporters at the expense of 
 the removal of persons who were faitlifully per- 
 forming their official duties. 
 
 The effect of this construction of the constitu- 
 tion was to secure the rule of the State of New- 
 York to the democratic party, and, for a time, to 
 give to Clinton absolute supremacy. This party 
 had secured the continuance of its first successes 
 by a system of discipline of the most rigid and 
 efficient character. All who numbered themselves 
 as its members were required to yield implicit obe- 
 dience to the will of its majority; that majority was 
 made to move at the beck of committees, which 
 concentrated the power in the hands of a few in- 
 dividuals. Denunciation as a traitor was the fate 
 of him who ventured to act in conformity to his 
 individual opinion, when it did not meet with the 
 general sanction. So powerful was this system of 
 organization, that all opposition finally ceased; and 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 55 
 
 the only question was, which of two divisions was 
 in reahty the democratic party. Thus the sup- 
 porters of Burr and of Lewis, in their quest of the 
 office of governor, and of John Quincy Adams for 
 a second term of the presidency, claimed to be the 
 same republican party which chose the first as Vice- 
 President of the United States, and the two others 
 to their first term of office. 
 
 Clinton's talent lay in the power of open and 
 bold attacks against his adversaries, and in the ca- 
 pacity of maintaining his cause by strong and well- 
 arranged argument, not in the management of the 
 intrigues which are necessary to unite into one ex- 
 pression various conflicting opinions. In the cab- 
 inet and in the council, he possessed a command- 
 ing and prevailing eloquence ; in the management 
 of individual temper and in popular arts, he was 
 deficient. It thus happened that men of less talent, 
 but of more address, secured to themselves the 
 power of directing the movement of the party even 
 Avhile he was its admitted chief; and when its 
 measures became such as his conscience would not 
 permit him to support, he became the victim of 
 party usage. 
 
 As we have been compelled to refer to the con- 
 test between Clinton and Jay in relation to the 
 council of appointment, it is proper to state, that, 
 before the death of that distinguished statesman, 
 a perfect reconciliation took place between them. 
 
56 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Their estrangement had been that of party alone ; 
 and personal feeling, if perhaps inseparable from 
 opposition of so violent a character, was speedily 
 allayed. Jay appeared no more in the field of 
 political warfare, but his children w^ere subsequent- 
 ly ranked among the political and personal friends 
 of Clinton. 
 
 While a member of the Assembly, Clinton was 
 in the minority of that body, and in opposition not 
 only to the executive of his own state, but to the 
 administration of the general government. His 
 course, however, was not marked by the charac- 
 ter of faction. On the question of a request to the 
 governor to write to the senators and representa- 
 tives of the state to endeavour to obtain a repeal of 
 the Stamp Act, he voted in the negative ; thus set- 
 ting at naught the cry of his party, which had 
 adroitly connected this mode of collecting revenue 
 with the obnoxious measure of the British Parlia- 
 ment bearing the same name. 
 
 So, also, when he took his seat in the Senate of 
 the state, he cordially concurred in the address to 
 President Adams, pledging the support of the state 
 to the maintenance of the national honour against 
 French aggression. 
 
 Of the acts whose passage he was instrumental 
 in obtaining, the most important in its consequen- 
 ces was that for the gradual abolition of slavery ; 
 a measure which has been productive of incalcu- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 57 
 
 lable benefit to the state, and which, although fa- 
 voured by Governor Jay, he had not ventured to 
 recommend in his speeches to the legislature. He 
 also moved a resolution proposing the amendment 
 which was soon after made in the Constitution of 
 the United States, by which the President and 
 Vice-President are designated in the electoral vote. 
 
 When his authority over the dominant party of 
 the state was in its acme, he was elected Senator 
 of the United States. This high rank he attained 
 in 1801, when but 32 years old, being one of the 
 youngest men who have ever taken their seat in 
 that august body. His colleague from the State 
 of New- York was Gouverneur Morris, who still re- 
 tained all the vigour of his faculties, and had, in 
 addition, the advantage of long experience as a 
 statesman and a political debater. A member of 
 the old Congress, he had filled with distinguished 
 ability offices of the highest trust under the fed- 
 eral constitution, and was, in the Senate of the 
 United States, the most eloquent, if not the most 
 powerful supporter of the principles of the federal 
 party. Clinton was thus placed in immediate op- 
 position, and brought into direct contrast with this 
 veteran debater. In this severe trial, it is sufficient- 
 for the honour of Clinton to say that he was not 
 worsted. 
 
 The public opposition of these distinguished men 
 did, on more than one occasion, take the form of 
 
58 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 almost personal attack; but in their cooler mo- 
 ments, each felt the ability and acknowledged the 
 sincerity of his antagonist. It thus happened that 
 the very circumstances of party opposition, which 
 brought into direct contact men who might other- 
 wise have been estranged, led to an intimate and 
 sincere friendship, the result of mutual esteem and 
 admiration. Of these two remarkable statesmen, 
 Clinton, although the youngest, was the most 
 sound and the most practicaTpMorris, although of 
 maturer years, exhibited more of an almost youth- 
 ful ardour. 
 
 The most important debate which occmTed in 
 the Senate while Clinton remained a member, was 
 that on the question of the navigation of the Mis- 
 sissippi. By a treaty with Spain, made in 1795, 
 the right of the United States to navigate that riv- 
 er had been admitted, " from its source to the sea ;" 
 and, in addition, the privilege of depositing mer- 
 chandise in the port of New-Orleans had been 
 granted for the period of three years. The same 
 treaty contained a promise that this permission 
 should be continued, or an equivalent establishment 
 assigned to the citizens of the United States on an- 
 other part of the banks of the Mississippi. 
 
 Without any notice or the assignment of the 
 promised equivalent, this right was withdrawn by 
 the local Spanish authorities ; and all trade with 
 American vessels navigating the Mississippi was 
 interdicted. 
 
DEWITTCLINTON. 59 
 
 The sensation produced by this act among the 
 growing* population of the West was prodigious, 
 and the leaders of the opposition in Congress saw 
 in it an opportunity for regaining the popularity 
 which their party had lost under the adminstration 
 of Mr. Adams. A series of resolutions was moved 
 in the Senate by Mr. Ross, of Pennsylvania, which 
 amounted to a declaration of war against Spain. 
 These resolutions were opposed by Mr. Breck- 
 enridge, who moved a substitute, authorizing the 
 calling out of 80,000 militia, and the estabhsh- 
 ment of arsenals on the Western waters. 
 
 In the debate which ensued, Clinton took a de- 
 cided lead on the side of the administration. His 
 speech delivered on this occasion is remarkable for 
 its sound and luminous exposition of the state of 
 the question, and of the principles of international 
 law which were applicable to it. It furnished the 
 basis of the speeches of the other friends of the 
 administration, and its arguments met with no sat- 
 isfactory reply from the opposition. The latter 
 party, however, directed against Clinton the weap- 
 ons of invective and irony, for which his compara- 
 tive youth furnished the material. One of the 
 senators from New-Jersey descended to taunting 
 language, while Clinton's colleague veiled his at- 
 tack under the guise of compHment to his impress- 
 ive eloquence, and the ingenuous glow on his 
 youthful cheek. 
 
60 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Clinton continued for two years in the Senate of 
 the United States, and his reputation for abihty as 
 a statesman, formerly confined to the limits of his 
 native state, became national. He was on all 
 sides looked up to as the most rising man in the 
 Union, and may reasonably have seen in perspect- 
 ive the highest honours in the gift of the people. 
 The close of his senatorial duties was attended 
 by a controversy of a very disagreeable character 
 with one of the senators from New-Jersey ; and of 
 all the mere political contests in which Clinton 
 was engaged, this alone seems to have left any im- 
 pression of resentment on his mind. We find him 
 referring to the name of his opponent many years 
 afterward, although not with anger, yet in a man- 
 ner which shows that the circumstance was not 
 forgotten. Whatever opinion may now be formed 
 of the merits of this controversy, no doubt can be 
 entertained that it was provoked by the senator from 
 New-Jersey, and that at a time when a generous 
 antagonist would have cautiously abstained from 
 attack, as it was made after it had become known 
 that Clinton had accepted the mayoralty of New- 
 York, and was therefore about to leave the Senate 
 of the United States. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 61 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Clinton is appointed Mayor of the City of jYew- 
 York.— Important Duties of that Office.— His 
 successive Reappoimtmejits and Removals.— Fluc- 
 tuations of Vmiy.— Causes of his Decline in 
 Popularity.— His great AUlity as a Criminal 
 Judge. — The College Riot.— His Energy as 
 Head of the Police. — Threatened Riots pre- 
 ventedhy his Measures of Precaution.— Aggres- 
 sions of British Cruisers in the Waters ofJYew- 
 York.— Breaches of Neutrality attempted hy the 
 French.— Clinton's Acts on these Occasions. 
 
 In 1803 Clinton was appointed mayor of the 
 city of New-York. This office was at that time 
 held by a commission from the executive of the 
 state, exercised under the construction of the con- 
 stitution to which we have referred by the council 
 of appointment. It was of much greater impor- 
 tance than it has possessed of late years. The 
 mayor presided in the meetings of the Common 
 Council, not yet divided into two chambers, and in 
 this body he had a vote and a deliberative voice. 
 A great number of valuable offices were in his di- 
 rect gift; he was also the chief judge of the com- 
 mon pleas and of the criminal court, as well as the 
 
 F 
 
62 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 actual head of the city poUce. Circumstances 
 made one of the functions which are still exer- 
 cised by the mayor of New-York of much great- 
 er importance than it has recently been. The 
 city had been visited by the pestilence known as 
 the yellow fever; and the mayor was ex officio 
 chairman of the board to which, with almost ab- 
 solute power, the care of the public health was 
 intrusted. 
 
 The mayoralty of New-York was not only an 
 office of high tiaist, but of considerable emolu- 
 ment. The old privileges granted by the royal 
 charter were still in force ; and the fees of office, 
 although trifling in their items, had been swelled 
 by the rapid growth of the population to a large 
 aggregate amount. The whole of these fees had 
 been received by his predecessors in office, and 
 had been in one instance almost the only basis of 
 a princely fortune. The common council, howev- 
 er, had the power of lowering the fees, while the 
 mayor possessed similar authority over certain of 
 the dues of the corporation. As the source whence 
 the perquisites of the mayor were drawn hardly ap- 
 peared a public burden, the corporation, while anx- 
 ious to reduce the compensation of the mayor, did 
 not feel called upon to lessen the fees themselves. 
 A compromise was therefore proposed, and acceded 
 to by CKnton, by which more than half of the 
 mayor's receipts as clerk of the market went into 
 
DEW ITT CLINTON. 63 
 
 the treasury of the city. It would appear that, in 
 this arrangement, the emoluments of the office were 
 reduced to a sum little more than has, in times pro- 
 fessing a more rigid economy, been attached to 
 that office in the form of a fixed salary. 
 
 Whatever were the emoluments of the mayor- 
 alty, they gave Clinton no accession of fortune. 
 He felt that they were intended not to be hoarded 
 for his private use, but to enable him to support the 
 dignity of the office and the hospitalities of the 
 city. In every part of his career, the mere accu- 
 mulation of wealth was considered as an object 
 unAvorthy of his attention. His expenditures ex- 
 ceeded the income of his office, and he retired 
 from it far from affluent in his circumstances. 
 
 His first appointment as mayor bore date 11th 
 October, 1803, and the term of the office being 
 annual, he was shortly after reappointed for the 
 year 1804, as he was, in due course, for 1805 and 
 1806. 
 
 In 1807, a split having taken place in the dem- 
 ocratic party, he was removed from the may- 
 oralty, and Smith Thompson named in his stead. 
 This gentleman did not enter upon the duties of 
 the office, and was superseded by the appointment 
 of Colonel Willett. 
 
 Colonel Willett held the office only for one 
 year, wben he was replaced by Clinton, who was 
 again reappointed in 1809. Jacob RadclifF ob- 
 
64 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 tained the appointment in 1810, and Clinton, re- 
 placing him in 18 1 1, was continued in it until 6th 
 March, 1815. During all this period, with the 
 exception of the year 1810, when the federalists 
 obtained a momentary ascendency, a party claim- 
 ing to be democratic possessed the appointing 
 power. Clinton, however, was successful in main- 
 taining, up to 1813, what was admitted to be the 
 true succession of the party, and, as often as it 
 overwhelmed its opponents, was replaced in his 
 important office. 
 
 This ascendency was not maintained without 
 severe struggles, into which not only public mo- 
 tives, but personal feelings also, entered. Burr 
 had been, up to the election of Jefferson, the favour- 
 ite of the democratic party of New-York, and had, 
 by the fascination of his manners, collected around 
 him a knot of young men possessing talents, ener- 
 gy, and reckless courage beyond any wdiich has 
 ever been united in the support of any other poli- 
 tician. Although Burr had lost the confidence of 
 the creneral administration, he still endeavoured to 
 maintain his stand with the democratic party of 
 the State of New-York. In this attempt he was 
 met and frustrated by Clinton and his friends. A 
 schism thus arising among individuals, many of 
 whom had been in habits of the closest intimacy, 
 both social and political, could not fail to be at- 
 tended with mutual recriminations. These, in 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 65 
 
 several cases, passed the limits of forbearance, and 
 hostile meetings were the consequence. In these 
 combats Clinton was compelled, by his position, 
 to take his share. Public opinion had not been 
 declared, as it has since so formally been, against 
 the code of duelhng. So far from its being the 
 general sense that duels were improper, it would 
 have been fatal to any politician had he refused, 
 when called upon for any cause considered suf- 
 ficient in the code of honour, to meet the aggriev- 
 ed party, or had he submitted to a technical in- 
 sult without demanding satisfaction. This state 
 of public feeling was at once put an end to by the 
 death of Hamilton, w^ho fell by the hand of the 
 leader of that band, with which Clinton and his 
 friends had been previously engaged in similar 
 conflicts. 
 
 The division in the party, which led to the re- 
 moval of Clinton from the office of mayor in 1807, 
 grew out of the course of Governor Lew^is, who, 
 strong in his fortune, family, and connexions, as 
 well as in the remembrance of his revolutionary 
 services, ventured to act independently. In order 
 to replace him, the leaders of the party selected 
 Daniel D. Tompkins, at that time the junior judge 
 of the Supreme Court of the State. According to 
 his opponents, he was selected because he possess- 
 ed none of the attributes w^hich had led Lewis to 
 refuse to submit to dictation. If, however, Chnton 
 
 F2 
 
66 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 and his friends had hoped to find in Tompkins a 
 pliant and submissive tool, whom they might use 
 for a time and discard at pleasure, they were mis- 
 taken. Tompkins, with no remarkable native 
 powers of mind, and but little acquirement even 
 as a lawyer, possessed, in a most eminent degree, 
 the art of ingratiating himself with the people. 
 He had the faculty, which is invaluable to him 
 who seeks for popular honours, of never forgetting 
 the name or face of any person with whom he had 
 once conversed ; of becoming acquainted and ap- 
 pearing to take an interest in the concerns of their 
 families; and of securing, by his affability and 
 amiable address, the good opinion of the female 
 sex, who, although possessed of no vote, often 
 exercise a powerful indirect influence. Clinton, 
 on the other hand, absorbed in lofty contempla- 
 tions, was often absent in mind, was forgetful of 
 persons and all but familiar faces, and could not 
 condescend to know the secrets of famihes. 
 
 Delightful in his hours of relaxation and in the 
 society of his intimate friends, he found it difficult 
 to unbend himself with strangers, and set too high 
 a value on his time to exchange the news of the day, 
 or bandy jests with those transacting business with 
 him as mayor. Such traits of character, although 
 often inseparable from genius and learning, are 
 unfortunate in one who seeks for popular favour. 
 Clinton was thus rendered hable to the accusation 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 67 
 
 of pride and haughtiness, when, in fact, only guilty 
 of abstraction of mind and want of ease in his 
 manners. 
 
 The time at last came when his influence, sup- 
 ported by mental superiority and honesty of pur- 
 pose, was to yield to the popular talents of Tomp- 
 kins. The administration of Madison resolved 
 upon a war with Great Britain. For this, in the 
 opinion of Clinton, there existed no new cause. 
 He viewed with dismay the unprepared condition of 
 the country, and the vast extent of exposed fron- 
 tier of his native state. We now may consider it 
 as one of the most fortunate occurrences which 
 have ever happened for the prosperity and char- 
 acter of the United States, that war was declared 
 at this juncture against Great Britain. It was 
 justifiable, not by any new occurrences, but by a 
 long course of aggressions. The only true ques- 
 tion was, whether Britain or France should be se- 
 lected as an enemy, for both had been equally 
 guilty. 
 
 On this point there had been a w^ide difference 
 of opinion in the United States, and it had become 
 the line of party demarcation. The federalists 
 had been desirous that hostilities should be com- 
 menced against France, and had even, under the 
 administration of John Adams, authorized the cap- 
 ture of French vessels. The democratic party, on 
 the other hand, had desired that, if war must take 
 
68 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 place, it should be against England. With this 
 party Chnton had uniformly acted, and had, in 
 fact, led it in the State of New-York. His opin- 
 ions on this point were unchanged, but he seems 
 to have desired that the country should have been 
 first put in a posture of preparation, which might 
 have either extorted redress from Great Britain, 
 or would have ensured success in the event of a 
 w^ar. His views and acts in reference to this ques- 
 tion will be considered more fully hereafter, and 
 we shall find that he differed from the administra- 
 tion only in a desire that a greater degree of en- 
 ergy should be infused into its councils. The 
 votes of his friends in Congress fully justify this 
 view of the subject, as well as the recollections of 
 his intimates. As, however, he was in opposition 
 to the administration at the time war was decla- 
 red, being actually nominated as a candidate for 
 the Presidency in opposition to Madison, this fact 
 was adroitly seized to injure him. 
 
 If he had even been opposed to the declaration 
 of war, as were many of unquestioned patriotism 
 at the time, he might have been fully justified. 
 The fears which many entertained of danger ari- 
 sing from our exposed and unprepared position, 
 were shown to be well founded by the events of 
 the first campaigns. It is not by the acquisitions 
 obtained in that war, either in territory or in the 
 terms of the peace by which it was ended, th?t its 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 69 
 
 consequences on our national character are to be 
 measured. We added nothing to our former 
 boundaries, and the principles on which Great 
 Britain justified her aggressions on neutrals were 
 not even a subject of discussion in the negotiations 
 of Ghent; peace was in fact made without the 
 formal acquisition of any one of the objects for 
 which hostilities were commenced; but, on the 
 other hand, our national honour was maintained; 
 cur reputation as first in maritime warfare, and the 
 equals in courage of our British ancestors, estab- 
 lished ; while the more important result was ob- 
 tained, that from that time, all feeling other than 
 one purely American ceased to be entertained by 
 our citizens. Up to the war of 1812, the leaven 
 of the old disputes of the revolution was still work- 
 ing, and the most honest politicians could hardly 
 avoid looking to international questions as parti- 
 sans of either England or France ; and, even if 
 no such motive existed in their own minds, their 
 political opponents were sure to charge them with 
 it, and thus force them to defend a position they 
 had not chosen. As an illustration of this state of 
 things, we may refer to the debate which has al- 
 ready been cited upon the Mississippi question, 
 where w^e find the two parties mutually accusing 
 each other of subserviency to the belligerents of 
 Europe ; and fears of the am.bition of Bonaparte on 
 the one hand, or complaints of the tyranny of 
 
70 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Great Britain on the other, taking the place of 
 sound argument on American grounds. 
 
 We still know aged men who firmly believe 
 that all the federal party were identical with the 
 Tories of the revolution, and others who associate 
 their democratic opponents with the Jacobins oi 
 France. The war of 1812 put an end to this 
 state of things. In the contests of party, no ques- 
 tion is now debated except on the ground of its 
 bearings on the interests of our own country, and 
 the accusation of being subservient to foreign in- 
 fluence is no longer urged against an adversary, 
 not because the weapon of misrepresentation has 
 ceased to be employed in politics, but because such 
 charges could no longer receive belief 
 
 Clinton filled the office of mayor and performed 
 its functions highly to his own credit and to the 
 advantage of the community. His conduct in 
 presiding over the deliberations of the common 
 council was marked with dignity, decision, and 
 impartiality, warranting the support of his political 
 firiends, and conciliating the suffrages of his adver- 
 saries. As presiding judge of the criminal court, 
 he secured the respect of the bar for his legal 
 learning and ability; he was prompt in the de- 
 spatch of business, yet patient in listening to the 
 criminal's defence ; while the poor and friendless 
 found in their judge a counsel, the rich and pow- 
 erfully connected derived from their social advan- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 71 
 
 tages no immunity from merited punishment. 
 The latter attribute he had an opportunity of ex- 
 hibiting in a memorable instance. 
 
 At the Commencement of Columbia College in 
 1811, a disturbance occurred in the church where 
 the ceremony was performed. A student who 
 had been refused his degree in a pubhc manner, 
 found a supporter in one of the audience, who 
 mounted the stage, and appealed to the assem- 
 blage from the acts of the provost. Dr. Mason. 
 Others speedily joined in the clamour. The pro- 
 vost, in attempting to restore order, was driven 
 from the stage ; and the proceedings of the day, 
 although finished, for form's sake, from the pulpit 
 by the president, were drowned by noise and 
 clamour. 
 
 The acts of several of the parties were thought 
 by a grand jury to warrant an indictment for riot, 
 and the accused were tried before Clinton. The 
 cause was defended on the ground of resistance to 
 oppression ; and the parties were of such standing 
 and promise — a promise in several of them well 
 confirmed by their subsequent brilliant career — as to 
 excite the greatest interest in their behalf. Fears 
 were even entertained by those who knew not his 
 stern principles of rectitude, that the judge, from his 
 known respect for the popular voice, or under the 
 influence of private friendship, might have failed 
 in seeing the cause in a true light. Such fears 
 
72 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 were groundless. While the trial was conducted 
 in such a manner as to allow the accused every 
 means of defence, the charge to the jury pointed 
 out in such clear and convincing terms the char- 
 acter of the offence, that no hesitation was felt in 
 convicting them. In awarding the punishment, 
 Chnton is said to have long hesitated whether he 
 were not called upon by regard to justice to inflict 
 the disgrace of imprisonment as a part. Mature 
 reflection satisfied him that every desirable end 
 could be attained by the imposition of a fine ; but 
 this was imposed in an address conveying such 
 severe, merited, and pointed reprimand, as was 
 well calculated to prevent the recurrence of a 
 similar offence by any parties possessed of the 
 feelings of honour and of the lofty intelligence 
 which marked those who had thus become the 
 subjects of his censure. 
 
 The most important legal question which came 
 before him as judge of the criminal court, was one 
 having regard to liberty of conscience. A Roman 
 Catholic priest was called upon to disclose what 
 had been communicated to him under the seal of 
 confession. Clinton on this occasion sustained, in 
 opposition to British decisions, the sanctity of that 
 sacrament, as it is held to be by that church, and 
 was subsequently mainly instrumental in doing 
 away, by legislative action, the disabilities to which 
 professors of the Catholic faith were still subjected 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 73 
 
 by laws and practices arising from British statutes 
 which lay unrepealed. 
 
 Clinton, as chief of the police of a large and 
 populous city, appeared to no less advantage than 
 as a criminal judge. At fires, and all unusual as- 
 semblages where disorder might be apprehended, 
 he was to be found, not to repress riots actually 
 begun, but in time to prevent their occurrence. 
 When the mere majesty of the law appeared to be 
 likely to be insufficient, he took early and prompt 
 measures to have at his disposal a sufficient civic 
 force, and for calling on the uniformed companies 
 as a reinforcement in case of need. 
 
 As an instance of his promptitude in such cases, 
 the riot in James-street may be cited. This had 
 begun in boarding-houses for seamen; and that 
 brave, but thoughtless and turbulent race, had beat- 
 en and put to flight the police. On receiving in- 
 telhgence of the fact, Clinton, after making pro- 
 vision for calling out the ti^oops, hurried to the spot 
 attended by such civil officers as he could mus- 
 ter. On his way through Chatham-street he met 
 some officers of the fourth regiment of militia, 
 which had paraded that afternoon at Corlaer's 
 Hook, and had just been dismissed. Collecting 
 these to the number of about a dozen, he formed 
 them in a line across the street, placed the band 
 which had attended the regiment behind them, 
 and, ordering it to play a charge, led the way to 
 
 G 
 
74 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the scene of riot. The mob, aware of his pres- 
 ence, and deceived by the judicious exhibition of 
 force when there was in reahty none, dispersed 
 without resistance, and the leaders were captured. 
 A few minutes' delay would probably have ren- 
 dered it necessary to have recourse to bloodshed. 
 As it was, he gallantly exposed himself to no lit- 
 tle personal risk. 
 
 As the probabihty of a war with Great Britain 
 increased, those, who recollected the tumultuous 
 scenes of the breaking out of the Revolution, when 
 law was for a time suspended ; who had heard 
 threats of personal violence uttered against obnox- 
 ious persons, which threats were not always vain ; 
 and particularly those who had themselves suffer- 
 ed from the cruelty of the partisans of the British 
 government, began to speak openly of taking the 
 opportunity of the breaking out of hostilities to 
 gratify their long-suppressed revenge. Obnoxious 
 persons were publicly named, and their houses 
 marked out for pillage. In this juncture, Clinton 
 had a difficult part to play. He was a candidate 
 for the presidency in opposition to Madison, while 
 the leaders of the democratic party in the city had 
 espoused the cause of that gentleman. He saw in 
 those who uttered threats his old associates in the 
 democratic party, and among them those who had 
 influence sufficient either to denounce him or secure 
 him its support. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 75 
 
 The persons thus threatened were those of the 
 old Tory faction, who had never joined themselves 
 to the democratic party. To such as had, free im- 
 munity was granted. By the slightest neglect of 
 precautionary measures, Clinton therefore had it in 
 his power to conciliate old friends and prevent a 
 rupture with them, as well as to punish some of 
 his most active political opponents. Clinton, how- 
 ever, had too high a regard for his duty to slumber 
 at his post. No sooner had the slightest symptoms 
 of popular commotion appeared, than he took the 
 most prompt measures to preserve the public peace. 
 These were successful ; but they had the effect of 
 utterly estranging from him the managers of the 
 party with which, from his earliest manhood, he 
 had been associated, and of which he had for 
 years been the acknowledged leader. As he could 
 not be openly blamed for preserving the quiet of 
 the city, he was accused of giving rise to a ground- 
 less alarm ; and the very persons who pointed out 
 by name the objects of their attack, were now 
 heard declaring that no intention of violence or 
 pillage had ever been entertained. 
 
 In the earliest years of his mayoralty, Clinton 
 found himself compelled to exercise the duties of 
 a diplomatist in addition to the various duties with 
 which he was loaded. The renewal of the war 
 between Great Britain and France, if it did not 
 give rise to intrigues, as on the former occasion, 
 
76 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 for the purpose of drawing the United States into 
 the contest as a party, placed the country under 
 the necessity of asserting, by steady and impartial 
 measures, its neutral character. The French had, 
 at the breaking out of hostilities, an army and 
 a fleet in St. Domingo. In attempting to with- 
 draw this force in the face of the superior power 
 of Great Britain, single vessels and squadrons 
 touched at the port of New-York. Among the 
 rest, two fine frigates anchored in the bay, among 
 whose officers was Jerome Bonaparte, the brother 
 of the first consul, and subsequently King of West- 
 phalia. The cupidity of the British officers on the 
 Halifax station was increased by the hopes of this 
 rich prize, and a squadron actually entered into the 
 bay in pursuit of them. For a moment, apprehen- 
 sions were entertained that our waters would have 
 been the scene of a hostile attack, such as the 
 British afterward made the Bay of Valparaiso. 
 Clinton permitted the French vessels to anchor un- 
 der the guns of Fort Jay; and, to prevent the 
 breach of neutrality consequent on the French ves- 
 sels being followed out, required from the British 
 commanders a promise not to sail until 24 hours 
 after the French vessels should have proceeded to 
 sea. On this being refused, he issued orders to the 
 pilots not to carry them to sea. In consequence 
 of these decisive measures, the British squadron 
 left the anchorage at the quarantine-ground, and 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 77 
 
 blockaded the harbour. The French vessels sub- 
 sequently made their escape through the Sound : 
 and here again Clinton was compelled to interfere, 
 by directing the commander of Fort Jay to allow 
 them to enter the East River. Numerous other 
 aggressions were committed by British cruisers, 
 which, on more than one occasion, threatened to 
 lead to popular tumults, retaliating on British 
 residents the offensive acts of their countrymen. 
 Among other instances, an American seaman was 
 killed within the jurisdiction of the United Sates 
 by a shot from the Leander. 
 
 On the other hand, the French officers exhibited 
 a spirit as little consistent with regard for neutral 
 rights as the English, although they had less pow- 
 er to carry it into effect. Clinton was thus in- 
 volved in correspondence with the commercial 
 agents of the two belligerant nations ; compelled 
 to adopt measures of military opposition to their 
 aggressions, and, at the same time, to restrain the 
 popular feeling. His course on this occasion is 
 marked with dignity and decision, and his corre- 
 spondence exhibits his accustomed ability. 
 
 G2 
 
78 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Origin of the Public School Society of J^ew- 
 Yorlc- — It is Chartered. — Is founded on Private 
 Contributions. — Clinton's Agency in obtaining 
 them. — Gift from the Corporation of JYew- 
 York, and Grant from the State Legislature. — 
 Reflections on the System of Common Schools. 
 — Turnpike from Poughkeepsie to Kingsbridge. 
 
 While mayoF of the City of New-York, Clin- 
 ton took the lead in the promotion of numerous im- 
 portant public objects. To the aid of these he not 
 only brought his talents as a writer, his personal 
 exertions, and the whole weight of his political 
 influence, but contributed, when necessary, freely 
 from his private purse. Among these, the Free 
 School Association, as well from the direct and 
 immediate benefits it produced, as from having 
 been the first step towards that system which now 
 includes the whole state in its beneficent influence, 
 is most worthy of notice. 
 
 The Lancasterian method of instruction was ma- 
 king a great noise in Europe, and excited, in par- 
 ticular, the attention of the members of the Society 
 of Friends. In the year 1804, two influential and 
 benevolent men of this persuasion, the late John 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 79 
 
 Murray, Jr., and Thomas Eddy, conceived the idea 
 of introducing that method into the City of New- 
 York. CUnton was immediately consulted by 
 them, and saw at once the vast amount of benefit 
 which might be derived from the successful intro- 
 duction of this system. He therefore drew up the 
 plan of an association, for the purpose of providing 
 gratuitous instruction for such poor children as 
 did not fall within the sphere of any of the char- 
 ity schools then existing in the city. In the list of 
 this association his name stands first, and he was 
 its first presiding officer. 
 
 As a charter was necessary to ensure success, 
 preparations were made for applying to the Legis- 
 lature ', and Governor Lewis made the subject a 
 prominent feature of his message in January, 1805. 
 With wise and liberal views, he went beyond the 
 immediate objects of the association, and pointed 
 out to the Legislature the value of a general sys- 
 tem of common schools, backing his recommenda- 
 tion by the authority of his predecessor, George 
 Clinton. 
 
 In consequence of this recommendation, and the 
 personal exertions of its friends, a charter was 
 granted in April, 1805, in the preamble to which, 
 Clinton is named as having applied for it. No 
 farther legislative aid was granted at the time ; and 
 it became necessary, in order to carry the objects 
 of the association into effect, to have recoui'se to 
 
80 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 private contributions. In the labour of solicitation 
 and explanation necessary for such a purpose, and 
 in the irksome task of begging from door to door 
 Clinton took more than his share. In company 
 with Frederic Depeyster, another of the associ- 
 ates, he called personally upon many of the citi- 
 zens, and did not cease from his exertions until no 
 more funds could be collected. The list of De- 
 peyster and Clinton exhibited subscriptions to the 
 amount of $4910. 
 
 His influence with the corporation of the city, 
 over whose deliberations he then presided, w^as 
 next brought into action, and a grant of an old 
 building, formerly used as an arsenal, with a dona- 
 tion of $2000 in money, was obtained. 
 
 In the year 1806, Clinton, having taken his seat 
 in the Senate of the state, was named chairman of 
 a committee to which a petition of the Free-school 
 Society for aid was referred. In this capacity he 
 made a most able and conclusive report, in which 
 the importance of the institution to the public was 
 exhibited in so clear a light, that a bill was passed, 
 by which an immediate appropriation of $ 12,000, 
 vdth an annuity of $ 1500 per annum, was granted 
 to the society. 
 
 This was the germ of the pubUc schools of the 
 city of New-York, now so flourishing, and the ba- 
 sis on which the great system of common schools 
 throughout the state was founded. The success of 
 
.DEWITT CLINTON. §1 
 
 the first public school was unexampled in training 
 up to habits of industry and morality, youth who 
 might otherwise have fallen into idleness and vice. 
 At the end of twenty years from its foundation, it 
 was the proud boast of Clinton, then governor of 
 the state, m a message to the Legislature, that out 
 of the many thousands who had received instruc- 
 tion in the public schools, none had ever been con- 
 victed of a criminal offence. 
 
 The success of the public school in New-York 
 led to Its speedy imitation in Albany and Troy • 
 and the obvious benefits which the several estab- 
 ishmente conferred on the communitv, furnished 
 the most powerful inducements for th; accumula- 
 tion of such a fund as might spread similar advan- 
 tages throughout the state. It is unnecessary to 
 enter into an exhibition of the immense value 
 which the common schools have been to the State 
 of New-York. Their importance is admitted on all 
 hands; and, where the right of suffrage is univer- 
 sal, the only security for liberty is to be found in an 
 equally universal diffusion of the blessinP-s of edu- 
 cation.* ° 
 
 The common school system has not, however, 
 
 acres nf ! Kl , T ' ''^ ^ '«g'«"ative grant of 600,000 
 
 acres of pobl.c lands ; and it has accumulated from this and 
 
 her sonrees, until it is justly doubted whether it be e pedtant 
 
 to increase it any farther. t^j^peuienc 
 
82 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 yet attained that degree of excellence of which it 
 is capable, and there are certain obvious defects in 
 its management which call for a remedy. 
 
 The public school of New- York was originally 
 instituted to supply a positive want. The several 
 rehgious congregations had, with great liberality, 
 founded free-schools, erecting buildings and pur- 
 chasing land. Those of the Reformed Dutch, 
 Presbyterian, and Episcopal churches were flour- 
 ishing, although far from being sufficient even for 
 those in their respective communions. They de- 
 rived their support from annual collections. The 
 Catholics had also commenced a similar system; 
 and, although possessed of less comparative wealth, 
 exhibited a noble spirit of liberality. When the 
 school fund was first applied, all these institutions 
 received support from it in the ratio of the num- 
 bers of their respective scholars, and a generous 
 emulation ensued to raise the character of the ed- 
 ucation they furnished, as by this alone, in most of 
 the cases, could they obtain a preference from 
 the scholars. 
 
 By a most unfortunate change, the whole appro- 
 priation was vested in the public schools, and the 
 support afforded by it to those of the several Chris- 
 tian denominations withdrawn. The free-schools 
 therefore fell back to their original state, or were 
 abandoned altogether. Hundreds of active and 
 zealous advocates of education have been with- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 83 
 
 drawn from the cause, and the pubhc schools them- 
 selves do not appear to have derived any propor- 
 tionate accession in numbers. The blow has fallen 
 hardest upon the Catholics. The children of this 
 numerous and, unluckily, as a mass, ignorant por- 
 tion of our population, are thereby debarred, by 
 scruples of conscience, from all access to that 
 education for which they are taxed in proportion 
 to their means. In mere principle, although in 
 amount small, the hardship is as great as that 
 which some of them have fled to avoid in the 
 country of their nativity, that of paying for the 
 support of a clergy whose ministry they repudiate. 
 To say that the schools are open to their children 
 is a repetition of the remark that the Protestant 
 churches are open to them in Ireland ; their con- 
 sciences equally prevent their entering either. 
 
 It will be only when all religious feeling can be 
 satisfied, that the great and final step of the school 
 system can be taken, namely, to render it penal in 
 any parent not to avail himself of the benefits it 
 holds out to his children. Such has been the law 
 for centuries in Switzerland, and has been the most 
 efficient cause of the maintenance of its free insti- 
 tutions while in actual contact vnth the most pow- 
 erful and absolute monarchies of Europe. They 
 have been supported by their moral strength, long 
 after physical resistance w^ould have ceased to de- 
 fend them. 
 
84 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 So far, then, from withdrawing the benefits of 
 the school fund from sectarian estabhshments, all 
 denominations of Christians ought to be encour- 
 aged to found schools, and be entitled, as formerly, 
 to a proportionate share of the fund. No denom- 
 ination can except to this ; for, as each is satisfied 
 that its own tenets are correct, it ought to be 
 pleased at the diffusion of that intelligence by 
 which its orthodoxy may be tested. 
 
 Another obvious defect in the system is its en- 
 tire separation from all the institutions for educa- 
 tion of a higher character. It thus limits those 
 whose parents are not possessed of competence, to 
 the very elements of learning ; shuts them out from 
 all the learned professions ; and debars them from 
 all chance of attaining political eminence by legit- 
 imate means. Under the aspect of the purest de- 
 mocracy, it lays the foundation of an aristocracy 
 of learninof, into which the children of the rich 
 alone are admitted. 
 
 Those who are conversant with the workings 
 of the two systems, are aware of the wide and im- 
 passable barrier which separates those who are ed- 
 ucated in the common schools from those who find 
 their elementary instruction in private seminaries, 
 and subsequently complete their courses in colleges. 
 Feelings of contempt on the one hand, and of envy 
 on the other, are fostered ; and, on attaining man- 
 hood, the youth of the republic are obviously ar- 
 rayed in two distinct and almost hostile classes. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 85 
 
 In order that the common school system should 
 be perfect, it ought, as might readily be effected, 
 to give an elementary education superior to that of 
 any private school, and thus make it the interest 
 even of the richest to send their children to the 
 public schools. It should next be brought into 
 the closest connexion with the chartered academies 
 and colleges, by giving, as a reward for proficien- 
 cy in knowledge, the right of continuing the studies, 
 begun in the common schools, in the higher semi- 
 naries. Some of our colleges have, with great 
 liberality, tendered free scholarships to the trustees 
 of the public schools ; but the boon has not produ- 
 ced its proper result, because the intermediate 
 academies are inaccessible. 
 
 It is only in this way that a proper supply of 
 competent teachers for the common schools can be 
 obtained. It unluckily happens, that the profes- 
 sion of a teacher does not confer a standing in so- 
 ciety which will compensate for its trifling emolu- 
 ment. Teachers in the State of New-York^ will 
 alone be found among those who are preparing 
 themselves for professions of a character more re- 
 spected by the community, or who may have been 
 unsuccessful in such professions. The youth whose 
 talents will fit him for a teacher, will not consent 
 that an occupation, whose professors he sees al- 
 most loaded with indignity, shall be the limit of 
 his wishes. We therefore can anticipate no good 
 
 H 
 
86 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 result from the establishment of separate schools for 
 teachers ; but, if the talented and industrious mem- 
 bers of the common schools be passed to the acad- 
 emies, and the most distinguished of them, in turn, 
 to the colleges, many seeking knowledge with 
 more ambitious views, would, in the very nature 
 of things, fall into the body of teachers. 
 
 From the time that he became an associate and 
 the first president of the Public School Society of 
 New- York, Clinton w^as unwearied in his labours 
 to promote the cause of education. As mayor of 
 the city, as senator, and as governor of the state, 
 he made every fair use of the influence of his sta- 
 tion to increase the school fund and extend its 
 benefits. Standing almost alone at first, he was 
 joined in the end by such numbers, and the influ- 
 ence finally became so powerful, as to overleap 
 the bounds he would himself have set to it, and to 
 monopolize patronage, of which a part might have 
 been extended, with greater public benefit, to insti- 
 tutions of more elevated character. Thus, while 
 the school system has been so successful that one 
 fourth of the whole numerical population is inclu- 
 ded in the lists of its pupils, the number of incor- 
 porated academies has not increased, nor that of 
 the scholars who attend them. This has reacted 
 upon the common schools themselves, by render- 
 ing it impossible to procure a sufficient number of 
 competent teachers. 
 
DEW ITT CLINTON. 87 
 
 The communication between the cities of New- 
 York and Albany, so easy while the Hudson River 
 is open, is, during the winter, extremely difficult. 
 This attracted the attention of Clinton ; and a peti- 
 tion, drawn and headed by him, was presented to 
 the legislature in the year 1805, for the incorpora- 
 tion of the Highland Turnpike Co., to make a 
 road from Poughkeepsie to Kingsbridge. The 
 charter was granted, and funds nearly adequate 
 to the purpose were raised. By mismanagement 
 on the part of the directors, they were exhausted 
 before the most difficult part of the road was com- 
 pleted. Still, the travel in winter on the east side of 
 the Hudson, which was formerly attended with 
 great danger, has, since the passage of that act, 
 been rendered more easy and safe. This was all 
 that the state of the times and of the art of engi- 
 neering would permit. Had CUnton been now 
 living, and possessed of the influence he then ex- 
 erted, we should probably, ere this, have seen our 
 commercial metropolis united with the seat of 
 government by a railroad. The same enlighten- 
 ed policy which dictated the construction of the 
 Erie Canal in 1807, would have urged the neces- 
 sity of this measure at the public cost, and would 
 not have left the southwestern tier of counties to 
 seek an outlet to the market of New- York throuoh 
 the imperfect and ineffectual method of a chartered 
 company, which, if unsuccessful, would be a total 
 
88 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 waste of capital, and if successful, an odious mo- 
 nopoly. The circumstances of the times in which 
 he lived did not call for any exposition of his 
 views on such subjects to the citizens of our own 
 state, but the arguments he addressed to the in- 
 habitants of New-Jersey and Ohio contain much 
 practical wisdom, which is exactly suited to the 
 present state of affairs in New-York. 
 
DE WITT CLINTON. 89 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Clinton is elected a Member of the State Senate. 
 — Incorporation of the Sailors' Snug Harbour. 
 — Law rewjoving the Incapacities of Roman 
 Catholics. — Charter of the Manumission Socie- 
 ty ; of the Cincinnati. — Grant for an Insane 
 Hospital. — Charter of the Eagle Fire Insurance 
 Company. — Grant for the Defence of the Har- 
 bour of JYew-York. — Academy of Fine Arts 
 Incorporated.— Clinton is named a Director, and 
 subsequently President of the Academy. — Char- 
 ter of the American Fur Company. — Burial of 
 the Remains of the Prisoners in the Jersey 
 Hulk. 
 
 At the election held in 1805, Clinton was 
 chosen a Senator cvf the state for the Southern 
 District, which office he held along with that of 
 mayor of the city of New- York. The Legislature, 
 as usual, was not convened until 1806, when he 
 took his seat. We have already had occasion to 
 speak of his acts in this capacity in reference to 
 the Public School Society of New-York. This 
 was far from being the only important object 
 which engaged his attention and received his sup- 
 port. From the first moment of his entering that 
 
 H2 
 
90 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 body, he took a decided lead in its deliberations, 
 and furnished the draught of many of the laws 
 which originated in the upper house. Some of 
 these are even yet of interest, and require a notice 
 from us, which we shall give in order. 
 
 A benevolent individual of the name of R an- 
 dall, had, by will, bequeathed a property, which 
 has now become of immense value, to trustees, for 
 the purpose of establishing an hospital for seamen, 
 under the name of the " Sailors' Snug Harbour." 
 His heirs, if any could be found, were certainly 
 foreigners j and thus, if the will were void, the real 
 estate conveyed in it must have escheated to the 
 state. It appeared possible that the bequest might 
 be rendered null, from the fact that the will had 
 the air of creating a corporation, by vesting the es- 
 tate in a permanent body, composed of certain of- 
 ficial personages, and not in individual trustees. 
 Other legal difficulties stood in the way, which 
 also required legislative action. Under the con- 
 viction that the bequest would be of great public 
 benefit, Clinton introduced a bill conferring cor- 
 porate powers on the trustees named in the will, 
 and thus removing all doubts as to the title to the 
 property. This corporation, after having carefully 
 nursed its property for several years, has at last 
 been enabled to carry into effect the intentions of 
 its founder; and the name of Clinton might, with 
 propriety, be placed alongside of that of Randall, 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 91 
 
 as having secured the application of his legacy to 
 its intended object. 
 
 Under the royal government of the colony of 
 New-York, certain laws had been passed intend- 
 ed to prevent the settlement of Roman Catho- 
 lics, or, at least, debarring them from the privilege 
 of voting. These disqualifications still existed; for 
 the forms of abjuration intended to operate against 
 Jesuit missionaries were retained at the revolution 
 as a security against those who were unwilling to 
 disavow their allegiance to the King of England. 
 By the exertions of Clinton, a law drawn by him- 
 self was passed, which repealed the provision of- 
 fensive to the conscience of Roman Catholics. 
 
 An association for promoting the manumission 
 of slaves had existed for several years in the city 
 of New-York, but had not obtained a charter. 
 An act of incorporation was now introduced by 
 Clinton and passed. He also drew and intro- 
 duced a bill to charter the Society of the Cincin- 
 nati. This association of the officers of the revo- 
 lutionary army had been held together by the 
 mere consent of its members, and is still prevented 
 from fulfilling, in a beneficial manner, the char- 
 itable objects of its institution. It had at one 
 time been held up to the public as an attempt to 
 found an order of nobility, and had been stigma- 
 tized as aristocratic; although, in fact, no more 
 than an association for social and benevolent pur- 
 
92 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 poses. So great was the prejudice which had 
 been excited against it by these gratuitous attacks, 
 that it does not appear probable that any member 
 of the democratic party, except CUnton, would 
 have had the courage to propose that it should be 
 incorporated. 
 
 The attempt to obtain a charter for this honour- 
 able and praiseworthy association failed; for even 
 the influence of Clinton, and his entire possession 
 of the confidence of the democratic party, were 
 insufficient to overcome the feelings of distrust 
 with which it was regarded. 
 
 It is thus a curious feature in the records of 
 our legislative proceedings, that, while the natives 
 of every European country which has furnished 
 any large number of settlers have been incorpora- 
 ted by charter for mutual relief and for keeping 
 up the recollections of their fatherlands, with the 
 provision for continuing the privilege to their chil- 
 dren, the officers of that army by which the inde- 
 pendence of our country had been achieved should 
 be denied a charter. Those who opposed the as- 
 sociation at its beginning feared that the feelings 
 of gratitude so justly due to those who had spent 
 their blood, their fortunes, and the prime of their 
 life in the revolutionary contest, might have in- 
 vested them and their descendants with the influ- 
 ence of an order of nobility; but they did not 
 foresee that in this case, at least, America was to 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 93 
 
 furnish no exception to the proverbial ingratitude 
 of repubhcs. 
 
 Up to the year 1806, the State of New-York 
 had possessed no hospital for the treatment of in- 
 sane patients. The severest infliction with which 
 the human race is visited had its victims thus ex- 
 posed to unnecessary restraints and cruel inflic- 
 tions. The trustees of the Hospital in the city of 
 New- York now applied to the Legislature for aid 
 in effecting the humane object of providing an 
 asylum for the lunatic. The petition was referred 
 by the Senate to a committee, of which Clinton was 
 chairman. He made a report, in which the neces- 
 sity of legislative assistance was forcibly set forth, 
 and, in conformity with the report, grants were 
 made, which enabled the trustees of the Hospital 
 to erect and support an asylum for the insane. 
 By means of this grant, a splendid and commo- 
 dious building has been erected at Bloomingdale, 
 where it stands as a monument of the wise benefi- 
 cence of the Legislature. 
 
 Among the scourges to which the City of New- 
 York has been exposed, one of the most destruc- 
 tive is fire. The inflammable nature of the mate- 
 rials employed in building, together with the ne- 
 cessity of providing against the severity of our 
 winter climate, has made conflagrations of fre- 
 quent occurrence and destructive violence. The 
 system of mutual assurance had been adopted as 
 
94 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 a partial remedy, but the more economic mode of 
 ensuring at a fixed premium could at that time be 
 only effected through the agency of a company 
 established in London. The public convenience 
 called loudly for a local institution, which should 
 undertake this important and useful business. The 
 main difficulty was to find persons of sufficient 
 capital who would be willing to become liable 
 to the full extent of their property in a business of 
 so great a risk ; and there was, as yet, no instance 
 of the business having been conducted by a char- 
 ter, under which the associates would be liable 
 only to the extent of their subscriptions. To meet 
 the case, Clinton, at the request of a number of 
 respectable inhabitants of New-York, drew, and 
 procured the passage of, the charter of the Eagle 
 Insurance Company. This has since served as 
 the model for the incorporation of a number of 
 other companies, which have been of great benefit 
 to the community, and yielded good profit to their 
 stockholdei^, until, after the lapse of 30 years from 
 the establishment of the first, their capitals were 
 swept away by the great conflagration of Decem- 
 ber, 1835. Even then they were the means of 
 preserving many of the mercantile community 
 from entire destruction. 
 
 The difficulties of which we have spoken, which 
 arose from the acts of British and French cruisers, 
 were in a great measure owning to the exposed 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 95 
 
 condition of the Bay of New- York. The only 
 work of any consequence provided by the general 
 government for its defence was Fort Jay, on Gov- 
 ernor's Island. The city was in a measure safe from 
 aggression, except by a strong force, by batteries 
 on the water's edge, but the safe anchorage at the 
 Watering-place was wholly exposed. Here the 
 British actually impressed seamen, and the French 
 broke by force the sanitary regulations of the quar- 
 antine ; while, as we have seen, fears were enter- 
 tained that an attack would have been made on 
 vessels under the very guns of Fort Jay. The 
 general government showed a culpable negligence 
 in respect to this question. The importance of 
 New- York in a military and commercial light, has, 
 in general, rather excited the jealousy of other 
 states than led to liberal measures for its protec- 
 tion. It was obvious that it was only by fortifica- 
 tions at the Narrows that security from the unpun- 
 ished violation of our interior waters could be ob- 
 tained. To this object Clinton turned his atten- 
 tion, and drew up an able report on the defence 
 of the harbour of New- York. This was present- 
 ed by him to the Senate, and led to the passage, in 
 1808, of an act containing an appropriation of 
 $100,000 for the defence of that important pass. 
 
 Military critics have since found fault with the 
 selection of the position where this fortification 
 was erected. In this criticism they have forgotten 
 
96 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the object for which it was erected, which was to 
 command and cover the Watering-place and Quar- 
 antine ground, not to attempt the much more diffi- 
 cult task of closing the Narrows to the entrance of 
 a foreign fleet. For the first of these objects, the 
 position chosen is sufficient, and the only one that 
 is so ; while, in the second, it forms an essential 
 and all-important feature. The occupation of 
 Staten Island in such a manner that it cannot be 
 easily seized by an enemy, is, besides, a most im- 
 portant object in the defence of the City of New- 
 York. It formed, in 1776, a species of Ute de pont, 
 in which the British forces were quietly collected 
 as they dropped in from a long voyage, and where 
 they were organized and recruited in health for 
 their final attack through Long Island. 
 
 In the commission named for fortifying the Nar- 
 rows, Chnton's name appears, and he filled an im- 
 portant place in its deliberations, although the de- 
 tails of the fortifications themselves necessarily fell 
 to the charge of the chief-engineer of the United 
 States, General Williams. 
 
 As early as 1801, an association had been form- 
 * ed in the City of New-York for the encourage- 
 ment of the fine arts. Liberal contributions had 
 been made by individuals, and a fine collection of 
 casts from the antique had been procured. In ad- 
 dition, Vanderlyn had been employed to make 
 copies of some of the best pictures in the Louvre, 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 97 
 
 while Napoleon, at that time First Consul of France, 
 had presented, through Chancellor Livingston, a 
 splendid collection of engravings. The institution 
 had languished for want of a local habitation, and 
 its administration was impeded by the want of le- 
 gal facilities. Clinton now took this institution un- 
 der his protection. He obtained a charter for it, and 
 a grant of apartments in the Government House. 
 This building had been erected on the site of Fort 
 George, for the residence of the chief magistrate 
 of the state, but had become useless in consequence 
 of the removal of the seat of government. In 
 the apartments thus granted, the casts and pictures 
 were arranged and opened to the public ; and, al- 
 though they excited but little notice at the time, 
 their influence was felt in the formation of public 
 taste, and gradually extended itself, until the City 
 of New-York has assumed a high rank both for 
 the patronage and the practice of the fine arts. 
 
 Chnton was named a director of the Academy 
 in the charter, and continued to hold that office 
 by annual election until the death of Chancellor 
 Livingston, who was the founder and the first 
 president. He was then elected president of the 
 Academy, which office he held for several years, 
 but, with great judgment, permitted the active 
 duties of that station to be performed chiefly by 
 Colonel Trumbull, who was so well fitted, from 
 his reputation as an artist, to hold the first rank in 
 
 I 
 
98 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 such an institution. This institution, after fulfilhng 
 its object, has given way to an association of ar- 
 tists formed in its schools. 
 
 The Fur-trade of the West had been monopoli- 
 zed in a great degree by British subjects. These 
 had spread their posts far to the south into the 
 American territory, and could not be met on fair 
 terms of competition for want of united action on the 
 part of the American traders. Mr. Astor, so cel- 
 ebrated for his extended and comprehensive views 
 of commerce, was willing to apply his own capital 
 and talents to the important object of recovering 
 this valuable trade from a rival, and soon to be 
 a hostile nation. From the general government, 
 however, under a strict construction of the consti- 
 tution, he could not obtain the necessary powers 
 wherewith to found a company ; but as New-York 
 w^ould be the place of shipment and the necessary 
 centre of operations, a charter from this state was 
 considered by him as adequate to the purpose. 
 He therefore petitioned the Legislature for an act 
 of incorporation. This was drawn by Clinton, 
 and by his exertions it became a law. Since that 
 time the American Fur Company has not only 
 been a profitable concern to its stockholders, and 
 thus added to the general wealth, but has been of 
 great value to the country. It has excluded the 
 foreign influence, which had extended itself over 
 the savages within our own borders, and has done 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 99 
 
 more than arms to preserve the peace of an expo- 
 sed frontier, and render the pioneers of civilization 
 safe in their adventurous pursuits. 
 
 During the Revolutionary war, the prisoners ta- 
 ken by the British army, as well as many persons 
 seized under a charge of treason, had been confi- 
 ned in a hulk anchored in the Wallabout Bay. 
 The miseries of these floating prisons have been a 
 fruitful theme of complaint on the part of all na- 
 tions who have been engaged in war with Great 
 Britain. Security seems to have been the only ob- 
 ject in view, unless the demoniac pleasure of 
 lessening the number of enemies by a lingering 
 death can be believed to have existed. The suf- 
 ferings which have in all cases attended confine- 
 ment in British prison-ships, were aggravated on 
 this occasion by the riature of the contest, and 
 the fact that the jailers were in most instances 
 rather political opponents of the prisoners, who 
 sought to compel them to abandon their principles, 
 than public and honourable enemies. Whatever 
 may have been the cause, the mortality in that 
 vessel was unexampled, and the corses of the 
 unfortunate sufferers were hardly treated with the 
 ceremony of a handfiil of earth to protect their 
 putrefying remains from the public gaze. For 
 nearly a quarter of a century, the unburied bones 
 of these martyrs to their principles remained the 
 reproach of their tyrannical destroyers and the 
 
100 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 disgrace of their ungrateful countrymen. Clinton 
 felt the latter in no small degree ; and, to remove 
 the blot on the national fame, proposed a law for 
 giving burial honours to the remains. This was 
 passed, and was carried into effect. Unluckily, in 
 its execution, an attempt was made to give it a 
 party character, and to employ it in arousing or 
 perpetuating a feeling of hostility to Great Britain. 
 All those who doubted the policy of entering into 
 a war with that country, were therefore debarred 
 from uniting in the ceremony ; and, by a want of 
 ordinary good taste in the committee of arrange^ 
 ments, what was meant to honour the worthy 
 dead overpassed the step which separates the sub- 
 lime from the ridiculous. No error of manage- 
 ment, however, can do away the merit of the suf- 
 ferers, or detract from the feeling which influenced 
 Chnton in proposing due honours to their unburied 
 remains. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 101 
 
 CHAPTER Vin. 
 
 Important Laws drawn hy Clinton while Senator. 
 — His Opinions as a Member of the Court of 
 Errors. — He Receives a Challenge for words 
 spoken in Debate. — His Manly and Dignified 
 Conduct on that Occasion. — Attempt at Corrup- 
 tion in obtaining the Charter of a Bank, 
 
 Clinton continued to be a Senator of the State 
 until 1811, when he was elected lieutenant-o-ov- 
 ernor, and thus called to preside over the deliber- 
 ations of the body of which he had so long been 
 a member. We have already seen that he was 
 the mover, and influential in procuring the pas- 
 sage, of many important acts. Among others, 
 which were also drawn by him, and which are of 
 sufficient moment to be recorded, are : 
 
 An Act to provide for a State Arsenal. 
 
 An Act relative to the fortifications erecting by 
 the state. 
 
 An Act for laying out Canal-street in the city 
 of New- York. 
 
 An Act respecting a digest of the public laws 
 of the state. 
 
 An Act to enlarge the powers of the Orphan 
 Asylum Society. 
 
 12 
 
102 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 An Act to ame^d the insolvent laws. 
 
 An Act to prevent the inhuman treatment of 
 slaves. 
 
 An Act to prevent the farther introduction of 
 slaves. 
 
 An Act for the support of the Quarantine estab- 
 lishment. 
 
 An Act to incorporate the New-York Mission- 
 ary Society. 
 
 An Act to revise and amend the militia laws. 
 
 An Act to incorporate the society for the relief 
 of poor widows with small children. 
 
 An Act for promoting medical science. 
 
 An Act respecting the Free-school Society. 
 
 An Act for the partition of Haerlem Commons. 
 
 An Act concerning the Onondago Salt-springs. 
 
 An Act for the farther encouragement of free- 
 schools. 
 
 An Act for the better protection of sheep. 
 
 An Act securing to mechanics and others pay- 
 ment for their labour and materials in the city of 
 New-York. 
 
 An Act to establish a register's office in the 
 city of New- York. 
 
 An Act to set apart certain apartments in the 
 Capitol for public purposes. 
 
 An Act for the benefit of the Orphan Asylum 
 (by which an annuity of $500 was granted out of 
 the auction duties). 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 103 
 
 An Act to prevent abuses in actions de homine 
 replegiando. 
 
 An Act for abolishing the Court of Exchequer. 
 
 An Act to prevent frauds at elections. 
 
 An Act to incorporate the Humane Society. 
 
 In introducing several of the bills which be- 
 came the foregoing laws, Clinton presented able 
 and luminous reports, or prefaced the propositions 
 with powerful speeches. He also drew, on several 
 occasions, the answer of the Senate to the speech- 
 es of the governor. In one of these, presented in 
 1810, is to be found one of the best arguments in 
 favour of our republican institutions, with an eulo- 
 gium on the excellence of that system of govern- 
 ment "which recognises the people as the source, 
 and their happiness as the object of all legitimate 
 authority." 
 
 On the retirement of Jefferson from the office 
 of president, an address was voted to him by the 
 Leo-islature of New- York, which measure was 
 proposed, and the address drawn by Clinton. 
 
 In addition to the acts which have been cited, 
 he drew and procured the passage of others in 
 encouragement of literary and scientific objects, as 
 well as others in reference to internal improve- 
 ments, on which subject he also wrote and pre- 
 sented reports. We have omitted these for the 
 present, as we shall have occasion hereafter to 
 examine his agency in the cause of science, and 
 
104 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 his services in promoting our system of internal 
 improvement more at length. 
 
 The Senate, with the chancellor of the State 
 and the judges of the Supreme Court, formed, and 
 still form, a tribunal of ultimate resort, under the 
 name of the Court of Errors. This tribunal is of 
 great value among our institutions, as it not only 
 furnishes the means of cool and deliberate adjudi- 
 cation in points of law, but, from its mixed char- 
 acter, affords a means of correcting so much of 
 the common law as, by the progress of society, 
 becomes unsuited to the existing state of things, 
 and of substituting principles of broad and univer- 
 sal application for the mere technicalities of legal 
 forms. In the deliberations of this tribunal Clin- 
 ton bore an important share. 
 
 As early as 1802, when serving for his first term 
 in the Senate of the state, he delivered an opinion 
 on a most important question, and settled the law 
 on that subject. The trade of the United States 
 had become an object of pillage to both belliger- 
 ants, and this pillage was legalized by the decis- 
 ions of petty admiralty courts, which rarely failed 
 to find pretences for condemnation. The mer- 
 chants sought protection by insurances at exorbi- 
 tant premiums, but were likely to derive no ad- 
 vantage from this precaution. The English judges 
 had decided that the decrees of admiralty courts 
 were not open to revision ; and thus, when the as- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 105 
 
 signed cause of condemnation was not among the 
 risks expressed or implied in the pohcy, the suf- 
 ferer would have had no redress had this princi- 
 ple been adopted as a part of the common law 
 of the State of New-York. The inferior tribunals, 
 governed by the English decisions, refused to in- 
 quire whether the assigned cause of condemnation 
 were ti^ue or false; and, as such pretended cause 
 was of course one which was inconsistent with an 
 observance of neutrality, the policies could not 
 have been recovered. 
 
 When these questions came before the Court of 
 Errors, it decided that the decisions of courts of 
 admiralty were, like those of other tribunals, open 
 to examination. The very act of pillage and op- 
 pression, which had before been a bar to the re- 
 covery of the loss, was thus made a risk which 
 could be covered by insurance. The proceedings 
 in the American courts under this decision could 
 be made the grounds of a claim for indemnity to 
 the underwriters from the foreign government ; and 
 this opinion of Clinton's has, after the lapse of up- 
 ward of thirty years, been the direct cause of a claim 
 being successfully urged against the French gov- 
 ernment for the spoliations committed by Napo- 
 leon. Had the American courts of law admitted, 
 even by implication, the justice of the decrees of 
 the admiralty tribunals, it must have been a bar to 
 any redress, except in the small list of cases in 
 
106 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 which even the mockery of legal process had 
 been dispensed with. In the negotiations which 
 continued for so long a time before redress was 
 obtained, the French diplomatists drew, on this 
 very ground, a broad distinction between the two 
 sets of cases ; and, could they have supported their 
 argument by the adjudication of American tribu- 
 nals, it is not difficult to believe that all indemnity 
 would have been refused. In this decision, there- 
 fore, Clinton not only conferred an immediate 
 benefit on the mercantile community, but paved 
 the way for the indemnification of the underwri- 
 ters. 
 
 In 1807 another case of great importance to the 
 merchant was decided in the Court of Errors. In 
 this Clinton delivered the opinion concurred in by 
 the majority of the court, in opposition to the 
 views of the judges. At that time American citi- 
 zens were permitted to own vessels, which, from 
 being of foreign build, or having lost their nation- 
 al character by capture and condemnation, were 
 not entitled to be registered. To secure such 
 property from capture, the executive of the Uni- 
 ted States had directed the officers of the customs 
 to furnish them with papers under the name of 
 sea-letters. A law of Congress had subsequently 
 enacted, that the evidence of ownership should 
 be afforded by a paper called a passport. In the 
 practice of the custom-house, the papers furnished 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 107 
 
 first under the executive instructions, and subse- 
 quently under the laws, were made identical. 
 Thus, while the mercantile community continued ' 
 to call the document a sea-letter, the custom-house 
 issued it under the law authorizing the granting of 
 passports. In a case arising out of this confusion of 
 terms, Clinton led the decision of the Court of Er- 
 rors by an opinion in which the broad principles 
 of justice triumphed over the narrow views of le- 
 gal interpretation. 
 
 During the same session, a case arose involving 
 the nicest technicalities of special pleading ; and 
 here Clinton exhibited as much knowledge of the 
 logic of legal argument, as he had, in the former 
 case, shown of the basis of natural right on which 
 alone laws ought to be founded. 
 
 An estate of great value in the neighbourhood 
 of New-York, left by Nicholas Cruger to his heirs, 
 had unluckily become the subject of litigation. 
 The widow had married again, and his children by 
 a former marriage naturally felt indignant at see- 
 ing the property of their father likely to be thus 
 diverted to strangers to his blood. The case was 
 involved in great difficulty, in consequence of one 
 of the largest pieces of the real estate having been 
 leased for the term of two joint lives and that of 
 the surviver. It became necessary, therefore, in 
 the valuation for a division, to introduce the esti- 
 mate of the probabilities of life. Clinton discuss- 
 
108 AMERICAN BIOGEAPHY. 
 
 ed this complicated subject with his usual ability. 
 It is unnecessary, however, for us to enter into the 
 merits of this case, for means were found to con- 
 tinue the litigation ; and the suit was not finally 
 settled until the dropping of both the lives render- 
 ed all that had been done useless. 
 
 The law of libel in the United States has under- 
 gone great alterations, in order to conform it to 
 the spirit of our institutions, from the strict rule 
 which the British common law has sanctioned, that 
 " the greater the truth the greater the libel." In 
 that country, to publish even the truth in respect to 
 parties of distinguished rank becomes a crime of no 
 little magnitude ; and even among equals the truth 
 of the publication is no plea in mitigation of the 
 punishment awarded to a libel as a crime, howev- 
 er strongly it may influence a jury in the estimate 
 of damages in a civil action. A suit commenced 
 against the notorious Cheetham was carried up ta 
 the Court of Errors in 1805, and afforded Clinton 
 a farther opportunity of exhibiting his judicial ac- 
 umen. 
 
 His last decision was in the case of John Van 
 Ness Yates. This person had been committed by 
 Chancellor Lansing for an alleged contempt of 
 court, and had been released under a writ of ha- 
 beas corpus by a process at common law. No 
 sooner was he freed from imprisonment than he 
 was forthwith recommitted by the chancellor. He, 
 
. DEWITT CLINTON. 109 
 
 in consequence, brought an action against that high 
 judicial officer for damages, and was defeated on 
 a point of law in the Supreme Court. In attempt- 
 ing to remove the cause by a writ of error from 
 the Court of Errors, he was met by an order of 
 supersedeas from the chancellor, and his proceed- 
 ings were stopped. The question was, however, 
 brought in the form of a suit between Yates and 
 the State before the Court of Errors, which deci- 
 ded, in conformity with an opinion delivered by 
 Clinton, that the writ of error issued of right, and 
 could neither be withheld at the pleasure of a 
 judge, nor stopped by any process issuing from the 
 Court of Chancery. The importance of this de- 
 cision is manifest, and the opinion of Clinton is 
 marked by a profound knowledge of the history 
 of the common law, and an acute perception of the 
 variations which the peculiar nature of republican 
 institutions must necessarily introduce into it. 
 
 In the words of that distinguished jurist Chan- 
 cellor Kent, " some of these opinions are models 
 of judicial and parliamentary eloquence, and they 
 all relate to important questions affecting constitu- 
 tional rights and civil liberty." 
 
 While a member of the Senate, Clinton had an 
 opportunity of vindicating the freedom of debate, 
 and maintaining the immunity of members of a 
 legislative body from personal responsibility for 
 words spoken in its deliberative proceedings. On 
 
 K 
 
110 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the discussion of a law for granting the right of 
 holding real estate to certain aliens, Clinton felt it 
 his duty to comment on the conduct of one of 
 them to his tenants. It is to be remarked, that the 
 grant of such privilege is contrary to the policy of 
 most other countries, and that Great Britain in 
 particular, to whose subjects such grants have most 
 frequently been made by the State of New- York, 
 has been the most illiberal in its escheats of the 
 inheritances which, in natural course, would have 
 passed to foreigners. The person whose conduct 
 was commented upon sought what is styled sat- 
 isfaction for the attack by sending a challenge. 
 Such is the code of modern honour, that he seems 
 to have calculated almost with certainty that Clin- 
 ton, who had not yet abjured its bloody rule, 
 would not have hesitated to give him a meeting. 
 It had indeed been the practice, in too many in- 
 stances, to submit disputes to a decision by arms; 
 and the immunity of legislators for words spoken 
 in debate was not regarded in the courts of honour. 
 There are, no doubt, instances where attacks 
 on character become cowardly when shielded by 
 parliamentary privilege; but this was not one. 
 The facts stated w^ere no more than the simple 
 truth, and the case called for their disclosure. 
 Men of less moral courage than Clinton might, 
 however, have hesitated, and feared a loss of rep- 
 utation from refusing a challenge ; and it has "been 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. Ill 
 
 often remarked, that a greater degree of coward- 
 ice has been shown in the acceptance than would 
 have been exhibited in dechning to fight a duel. 
 The fear of " the world's dread laugh" is often 
 greater than that of loss of life, and has in many 
 instances prevailed over the obligations of moral- 
 ity and religion. It was, in fact, necessary that 
 some person of standing and reputation, equal to 
 that of Clinton, should interpose the authority of 
 his example to correct the mistaken notions of 
 honour which prevailed. 
 
 It was, fortunately, unnecessary for him to ex- 
 hibit proofs of personal courage. He had, on 
 another occasion, done all that the nicest casuist 
 in points of honour could have demanded; and 
 although his lending his countenance to the prac- 
 tice of duelling is, if capable of any excuse, not to 
 be vindicated in the eye of religious feeling, he 
 had established a character for undaunted bravery. 
 
 Clinton, on a full view of the subject, saw that 
 he w^as precluded from giving his challenger a 
 meeting by considerations other than those of bare 
 privilege. He therefore laid the whole matter, 
 without delay, before the Senate. The parties 
 concerned in the challenge were forthwith com- 
 mitted to the custody of the officers of the house, 
 whence they were not discharged until they had 
 made an humble apology for the breach of privi- 
 lege. 
 
112 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 So high did parties run, and so completely did 
 they blind one portion of the community to a true 
 perception of the matter, that much blame was at 
 the moment poured upon Clinton for a course, a 
 deviation from which must have loaded him with 
 severe censure, and left an indelible spot on his 
 fame. The acceptance of the challenge would 
 have placed his adversary on the vantage ground, 
 and, whatever had been the result, Clinton would 
 have fallen in the estimation of the thinking part 
 of the community. 
 
 At the present day, no difference of opinion on 
 this point exists. It is admitted on all hands, that 
 Clinton on this occasion not only maintained with 
 intelligent firmness the freedom of debate and the 
 privileges of the deliberative body of which he 
 was a member, but pursued the course most con- 
 sistent with his own reputation and the dignity of 
 his character. 
 
 On another occasion, he vindicated with signal 
 determination the dignity of the body of which 
 he was a member. The privilege of banking, un- 
 der an act of incorporation, had hitherto been 
 granted by the Legislature with great parsimony. 
 In the city of New- York, no more than one bank 
 had received the direct sanction of that body, and 
 another had exercised the powers by a free con- 
 f struction of privileges granted avowedly for a 
 very different purpose. It is foreign to our pur- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 113 
 
 pose to compare this rigid course with the open and 
 liberal plan which has recently been introduced ; 
 it is sufficient to say that a charter was of great 
 value on account of the difficulty of procuring it. 
 In the attempt to obtain an act of incorporation 
 for a new bank, money, promises, and other means 
 of corruption w^ere not spared. Among other 
 agents, a member of the Senate itself was not 
 free from the suspicion of acting from corrupt mo- 
 tives, and was notoriously the channel by which 
 others were tempted. As soon as CHnton became 
 aware of the circumstances, he moved an inquiry 
 into the conduct of his colleague, and, after some 
 proceedings in prosecution of this inquiry, the 
 senator found it expedient to resign his seat rath- 
 er than incur the consequences of an examination. 
 Clinton thus boldly attempted to stem at its 
 source that current of corruption which afterward 
 degraded the state, and gave birth to that third 
 estate, "the lobby," which, although unknown to 
 the constitution and laws, has at times controlled 
 the actions of the constituted chambers. 
 
 K2 
 
114 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Literary and Scientific Pursuits of Clinton. — His- 
 torical Society ; his efforts in its behalf, and 
 his Address on the History of the Five Motions. 
 — Literary and Philosophical Society formed, 
 and Clinton chosen President. — His Inaugural 
 Discourse. — His Discovery of a JYative Variety 
 of Wheat, and other Contributions to JYatural 
 Science. 
 
 We have had occasion to mention the bias 
 which CUnton exhibited in the early part of his 
 career to scientific pursuits. Of these and of 
 literature, he became, as his influence was extend- 
 ed, the active patron, while he did not cease to 
 devote his brief intervals of leisure to their cultiva- 
 tion by his own labours. The Historical Society 
 was estabhshed in the City of New-York in 1804 
 by a voluntary association. The venerable Egbert 
 Benson was its first president, and had attempted 
 to direct its action to the traditional lore of which 
 he himself possessed so ample a fund. It was not 
 found practicable, however, by means of the hmited 
 contributions of individuals, to accumulate sufficient 
 funds for th« furtherance of its objects, nor would 
 the friends of the distinguished dead intrust their 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 115 
 
 memorials to an ephemeral association. In order 
 to enable this society to accomplish its avowed 
 and praiseworthy objects, Clinton, to whom a pe- 
 tition for that purpose was referred in 1809, drew 
 an act of incorporation, which he presented, along 
 wdth a strong and able report in its favour. This 
 report was adopted and the charter granted. Not 
 content with this, he in 1814 framed a memorial 
 to the Legislature on behalf of the Historical So- 
 ciety. In this, after dividing the civil history of 
 the State of New- York into four epochs, he shows 
 in what a scattered state even the records were, 
 whence alone an authentic history of these several 
 periods could be derived. The Indian tribes were 
 fast disappearing before the moral force of civiliza- 
 tion; the mounds, ramparts, and tumuli of a yet 
 earlier race were yielding to the plough and har- 
 row ; while the records of the official treaties be- 
 tween the Five Nations and the colonial authorities 
 were in the hands of an expatriated family. 
 
 The history of the emigrants from Holland and 
 of the Protestant families of Belgium, who had 
 preferred to encounter the dangers of the seas and 
 the terrors of the wilderness to submission to the 
 bloody rule of Alba, were in the archives of the 
 Dutch West India Company. Much of the man- 
 uscript history of the British colonial period was 
 in the public offices of London, or transferred to 
 the library of the British Museum. "While, even 
 
116 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 for the period which had elapsed since the revo- 
 lution, no provision had been made for the preser- 
 vation of the pamphlets, the periodicals, and the 
 daily publications, which, however they may be 
 despised after their first ephemeral interest has 
 subsided, become, after the lapse of years, the viv- 
 id expression of the feelings, the manners, and the 
 principles of the era which gave them birth. 
 
 This memorial was favourably received by the 
 Legislature, and led to a grant of twelve thousand 
 dollars in aid of the funds of the society. 
 
 The grant was to be received from the avails 
 of a lottery, and the society unluckily engaged its 
 credit in the purchase of books and of manuscripts 
 ere it was known how distant and precarious were 
 the proceeds of this mode of raising money. It 
 thus became involved in a debt which was not 
 extinguished without many and severe sacrifices. 
 It had, however, before its usefulness was impeded 
 by the pressure of this debt, published several vol- 
 umes of transactions, which are of much value. 
 Its library still remains an evidence of the liberal- 
 ity of the state, and a monument of the earnestness 
 with which Clinton furthered such institutions as 
 were intended to add to the permanent reputation 
 of the country. 
 
 We have stated that Egbert Benson was the 
 first president of the Historical Society. He was 
 succeeded, in 1816, by Gouverneur Morris, on 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 117 
 
 whose death Chnton was elected to the vacant 
 chair. On taking his seat, he dehvered an inau- 
 gin^al discourse on the history of the Indians of the 
 State of New-York, which is the most valuable 
 paper contained in the transactions of this society. 
 In the year 1814, a number of gentlemen of 
 scientific taste undertook the formation of a socie- 
 ty for the cultivation of literature and the encour- 
 agement of science. The projector of this associa- 
 tion appears to have been Dr. Hugh Williamson, 
 who had in early life filled a prominent place fn 
 the American Philosophical Society, where he had 
 been associated with Rittenhouse in the celebrated 
 observations of the transit of Venus. 
 
 In the opinion of Williamson, the increase of 
 population and the central position of New-York 
 rendered it advisable to form an institution having 
 the same objects in view as the society in Philadel- 
 phia. He found a ready and efficient coadjutor in 
 Clinton, who conceived it due to the reputation of 
 his native state, and of the city over which he 
 presided, that they should take a rank in scientific 
 pursuits consistent with their wealth and popula- 
 tion. In the formation of tliis society, Drs. MitchiJl 
 and Hosack, Fulton, and several other distinguish- 
 ed persons, joined with zeal, together with a num- 
 ber of younger men, several of whom have since 
 become celebrated. 
 'Clinton w^as anxious that Williamson should be 
 
118 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 placed at the head of the new society ; but all the 
 other associates concurred in opinion that he him- 
 self was best fitted to fill that station, and he was 
 accordingly elected its first president. By his ex- 
 ertions and influence in the Legislature a charter 
 was obtained, and the New- York Literary and 
 Philosophical Society went into operation, appa- 
 rently under the most happy auspices. Its public 
 proceedings were opened by an address from Clin^ 
 ton, which has been much admired, and which 
 exhibits evidence of the extent of his reading, and 
 manifests the variety of his studies. 
 
 Clinton continued at the head of the Literary 
 and Philosophical Society until his death ; but the 
 brilliant beginnings of that association were not 
 followed by continued success. The expenses at^- 
 tendant upon its publications were considered a 
 heavy burden by many of the members, who with- 
 drew ; even among those who were wilhng to con- 
 tinue their subscriptions, the political disputes of 
 the day, in which Clinton's name became the watch- 
 word of adverse factions, produced an injurious ef- 
 fect ; while, in fine, personal jealousies, and the un- 
 popularity of one of the other officers with many 
 members of his own profession, created an opposi- 
 tion to its proceedings which could not be overcome. 
 A society, which took its rise in the bosom of the 
 Literary and Philosophical, and which was intend- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 119 
 
 ed as an aid and not as a rival, engrossed all the 
 communications of those who were most active in 
 science; and, after the publication of one quarto 
 volume and a part of another, its proceedings 
 ceased. It may be fairly believed, that, had Clin- 
 ton continued to reside in the City of New-York, 
 and had given to the Literary and Philosophical 
 Society the advantage of his presence as presidino- 
 officer, the decay into which it has fallen might 
 have been avoided or delayed ; but other more im- 
 portant pursuits withdrew him from its meetings, 
 and, with his personal attention, the prosperity of 
 the society seems to have departed. 
 
 It may be questioned at the present day how 
 far the success of such an institution is compatible 
 with the habits and manners of the age. The 
 French Institute no doubt flourishes, but it is sup- 
 ported by the direct aid of the government, and 
 its scientific and literary classes receive annual sal- 
 aries. The Royal Society of Great Britain, if it 
 receive little direct patronage from the govern- 
 ment, is able, by the value ascribed by fashion to 
 the letters F.R.S., to call to the aid of its funds 
 any number it may choose to elect of the rich or 
 powerful, from princes of the blood to w^ealthy 
 merchants. 
 
 In spite of these advantages, these institutions 
 have ceased to exert the influence they once pos- 
 sessed. The daily papers, and the monthly and 
 
120 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 quarterly miscellanies, make novelties in science as 
 much objects of their pursuit as the political news 
 of the day, and thus frequently forestal the trans- 
 actions of the learned associations, or give in an 
 abridged form, and at a much lower price, conden- 
 sed accounts of recent discoveries. Popular and 
 cheap publications, therefore, interfere with the 
 sale of the more costly volumes in which the so- 
 cieties give their transactions to the world. 
 
 In the establishment of the Historical and the Lit- 
 erary and Philosophical Societies, particularly in the 
 munificent grant he obtained for the former, Clin- 
 ton exhibited a character very different from al- 
 most any other American statesman. He is among 
 the few who seem to have seen that the money ex- 
 pended in the support of such institutions is not 
 lost, but will shortly be repaid with interest. In 
 conformity with this enlightened and liberal view, 
 he gave to these societies the benefit of his pen in 
 drawing their charters ; his aid as a member of the 
 Legislature in procuring the passage of their acts 
 of incorporation ; and devoted to their prosperity 
 no inconsiderable share of his time and talent. In 
 these associations, the advantage to be derived 
 from his high political standing, and lofty reputa- 
 tion as a statesman and magistrate, were fully ap- 
 preciated, in securing unity of action and harmony 
 among persons necessarily rivals. There were 
 those, however, who could not brook the control 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 121 
 
 of one whom they styled a lay7nan, and united with 
 his poUtical opponents in an attempt to ridicule the 
 holder of such apparently incongruous offices. He 
 was, at the same time, president of the Academy 
 of Fine Arts, of the Historical, and of the Lite- 
 rary and Philosophical Society ; but as he had only 
 accepted these stations with a view to the public 
 benefit, he yielded to the first appearance of dis- 
 content. In the Academy he gave way to Colo- 
 nel Trumbull, and in the Historical Society to Dr. 
 Hosack. The result c>^ his resignation was disas- 
 trous to the interests of both institutions. The dis- 
 tinguished men w^e have named did not possess, in 
 the eye of the public, the decided superiority over 
 their associates which Clinton was always able to 
 maintain, and both institutions decayed from the 
 moment he ceased to preside over their delibera- 
 tions. 
 
 If Clinton applied his hands to the practice of 
 none of the fine arts, he was, notwithstanding, 
 their liberal patron, and a connoisseur of no little 
 taste ; his contributions to the history of the ab- 
 origines of our state may well place him on a 
 level with any writer of that class which America 
 has produced ; and his hundred speeches, address- 
 es, and reports, sufficiently exhibit his literary 
 abilities. As a cultivator of philosophy, in the 
 sense in which it is familiarly received, he ranks 
 still higher, and was, as we have already stated, 
 
 L 
 
122 AMEKICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 not only a diligent student in natural history in its 
 several branches, but made several interesting dis- 
 coveries. 
 
 In the first volume of the Transactions of the 
 Literary and Philosophical Society, he published 
 some remarks on the fishes of the western waters 
 of the State of New-York, in a letter to his friend 
 Dr. Mitchill. In this he illustrates the fact, now so 
 well known, that, in variety, in abundance, and in 
 delicacy, they are not surpassed by any in the 
 world. 
 
 In the first part of the second volume of the 
 same Transactions, an article by Clinton is insert- 
 ed on certain phenomena of the great lakes of 
 America. These he is inclined to attribute to vol- 
 canic action. In the same volume we have a me- 
 moir by him on the antiquities discovered in the 
 western part of the State of New-York. 
 
 To the New-York Medical and Physical Jour- 
 nal he communicated some remarks on the Colum- 
 ba Migratoria, the passenger or common wild 
 pigeon ; a bird which he deems peculiar to North 
 America, and whose habits and history are very 
 interesting. In the same work may be found an 
 account of the Salmo Otsego, or Otsego bass, a 
 fish of peculiar excellence, which is found in great 
 abundance in the lake of that name, where the 
 eastern branch of the Susquehanna has its princi- 
 pal source. This fish, strange as it may seem, had 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 123 
 
 not been described, and, as its name imports, had 
 been confounded by the uninformed with the genus 
 perca, of which bass is the famihar name among 
 the settlers of Dutch extraction. 
 
 To the Annals of the Lyceum of Natural Histo- 
 ry he communicated a description of a new spe- 
 cies of fish in the Hudson River, and a paper of 
 some length on the hirundo fulva. The first of 
 these, although familiar to all who have seen nets 
 drawn in the bay of New-York, had not been re- 
 marked by Mitchill, whose researches had been re- 
 stricted to the specimens furnished by those who 
 supply the markets ; and, from its small size, it 
 had by many been considered as the fry of a lar- 
 ger fish. In the second paper he gives several in- 
 teresting remarks on birds of the swallow kind. 
 The migratory habits of the bird in question, and 
 its other peculiarities, are set forth by him in an at- 
 tractive manner, and illustrated by many facts, the 
 result of close personal observation. His common- 
 place books abound with extracts from authors 
 who have written on the habits of the swallow, 
 and with memoranda of his own inquiries. 
 
 In the discourse delivered before the New- York 
 Historical Society, he evinces with what interest 
 he had studied the aborigines of our country. 
 These "Romans," as he styled them, "of the 
 Western World" found in him an able historian, 
 and a strenuous asserter of their prowess and tal- 
 
124 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ent. He, besides, investigated, with something of 
 the closeness of medical inquiry, the peculiarities 
 of the physical constitution of the Indian; and 
 among his letters and memoranda are to be found 
 many well-grounded conjectures on the laws of 
 life, as modified in both sexes by the habits of 
 a savage life. 
 
 From the freedom from all bias to preconceived 
 opinions with which Clinton prosecuted his studies 
 in natural history, and from the love he manifested 
 to that science, there can be no question that pub- 
 lic cares alone prevented him from attaining a tri- 
 imiphant eminence in investigations of this char- 
 acter. In the words of one who well knew him, 
 and was the confidant of his philosophical pursuits, 
 " He loved to dwell upon every incident associa- 
 ted w^ith the labours and services of naturalists j 
 from Hennepin to Kalm, everything was familiar 
 to him; the great Swede was ever a topic of de- 
 light, and the heroic achievements of Cuvier the 
 theme of his admiration. So much did he, at a 
 later period, become enamoured of the genius 
 and skill of the modern French school of natural- 
 ists that there is reason to conclude, that he would 
 finally have adopted the natural system of Jussieu 
 in preference to the artificial method of Linnaeus, 
 and would have chosen the improved nomencla- 
 ture of the Parisian savans rather than that of the 
 English writers, whose works he had studied with 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 125 
 
 deference, and to whose authority he had original- 
 ly bowed w^ith submission." 
 
 In addition to his communications to American 
 societies and scientific periodicals, he maintained a 
 correspondence with several of the most eminent 
 naturalists in Europe, and, among others, with the 
 late distinguished president of the Linnsean Society 
 of London, Sir James Edward Smith. Of that 
 institution Clinton was elected an associate, as a 
 just tribute to his zeal in behalf of Natural Sci- 
 ence. Several of these letters have been publish- 
 ed, and exhibit close and accurate observation, 
 followed up by sound induction. 
 
 His pursuits as a naturalist were not limited to 
 the narrow object of acquiring individual reputa- 
 tion as a cultivator of the science, but were pur- 
 sued chiefly in reference to their bearings upon the 
 wealth and prosperity of the state. He saw, by 
 improvident legislation, and the improvement, as it 
 was styled, of sites for water-power, the vast native 
 wealth which existed in the fisheries rapidly de- 
 caying ; and, in the knowledge of the history of 
 the finned race, he sought the means of prevent- 
 ing their diminution, and, in some cases, their total 
 extinction. He inquired deeply and laboriously 
 into the modes of stocking ponds and lakes with 
 fish, and sought the species best adapted to the 
 purpose. On this subject he corresponded with 
 
 L2 
 
126 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the chief magistrate of the neighbouring State of 
 New-Jersey, who had views of the same kind. 
 
 The circumstances of CHnton's laborious pubUc 
 career left him no opportunity for applying tJie re- 
 sult of his researches to practical purposes ; but 
 Governor Mahlon Dickerson, in his philosophic re- 
 treat at Succasunney, has shown the practicability 
 of the schemes in which they took so strong a mu- 
 tual interest. 
 
 Impelled by the same patriotic views, he prose- 
 cuted an inquiry into the habits and characters of 
 the zizania aquatica, or wild rice. This plant, a 
 native of the lakes of America, was, in his opin- 
 ion, calculated to support an extended population, 
 and worthy of the title of the " bread-corn of the 
 North." 
 
 In his tours as canal commissioner he found 
 growing near Utica a species of wheat, which he 
 collected, examined, and described. It is well 
 known that the origin of the cereal gramina, and 
 particularly of wheat, the most important of them 
 all to civilized nations, is involved in obscurity. 
 From the very earliest date of historical records 
 they have been the objects of cultivation, and none 
 of them had been traced with certainty to any na- 
 tive locality. Upon the belief that wheat is found 
 growing wild near the eastern shore of the Cas- 
 pian, has been founded an argument that central 
 Asia is the cradle of the human race; and this 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 127 
 
 circumstance was supposed to throw light upon the 
 early history of mankind. Here was an adverse 
 fact, by which the whole argument was over- 
 thrown, or rendered capable of leading to the in- 
 credible inference that the State of New-York had 
 been the earliest seat of the progenitors of the na- 
 tions of Europe and Asia. This discovery of Clin- 
 ton, therefore, although hardly noticed by his coun- 
 trymen, procured him much reputation among the 
 learned in Europe ; and the diplomas of many so- 
 cieties founded for the cultivation of natural history 
 were showered upon him. 
 
 In this instance, his intimate friend and associate, 
 Dr. Mitchill, was heard to complain, not with feel- 
 ings of envy, but of admiration, that Clinton had 
 the happiness, by seizing upon a happy accident 
 and making a skilful use of it, to achieve honours 
 and estimation beyond those granted to almost any 
 American. Other observers might have passed 
 this plant as the accidental offspring of the cultiva- 
 ted wheat, while Clinton had the knowledge and 
 the tact of observation by which it was shown to 
 differ sufficiently to disprove such an origin, and 
 yet to fall with certainty into the same species. 
 
 In the words of the same scientific friend who 
 has already been quoted,* " Six, I beheve, was the 
 
 * J. W, Francis, M.D., in his " Discourse before the Ly- 
 cevim of Natural History." 
 
128 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 number of species of triticum (wheat) stated by 
 Linnaeus. Botanists have now increased the num- 
 ber to 22. If the wild wheat discovered in Oneida 
 county shall be found to be an indigenous and 
 not an imported grain, and of spontaneous growth, 
 we may justly boast of the Triticum Araericanum. 
 Clinton says that it delights in a wet soil, which is 
 not congenial to the wheat of the Old Continent : 
 it presents not only a different aspect, but ap- 
 pears to have peculiar and characteristic qualities. 
 Should these conjectures be realized, our state may 
 claim the birthplace of Ceres as well as Sicily, 
 where mythology has yielded to her the title of 
 queen ; and the goddess enjoy two special abodes, 
 our fertile West as well as her favourite Enna. 
 A harvest, in more respects than one, awaits the 
 discussion of the question by the American nat- 
 uralist." 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 129 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Description of the Water Communications of the 
 State of Mew-York. — Use made of them by the 
 Indians. — Expedition of General Clinton on the 
 Susquehanna. — Views of Lieutenant-Governor 
 C olden. — Tour of Washington to Wood Creek. 
 — His Predilections for the Route to the Chesa- 
 peake.— Clinton'' s liberal Policy in relation to 
 this Question. 
 
 The Atlantic coast of the United States is sep- 
 arated from the Valley of the Mississippi and the 
 basins of the great lakes by a system of mountain 
 chains. No less than five distinct ranges can be 
 traced, and, in many places, a greater number of 
 ridges are met with in passing from tide-water to 
 the streams of the interior. This system of mount- 
 ains extends from the frontiers of Canada to the 
 State of Georgia. Its outer chain is made up of 
 a number of short and separate ridges, extending 
 north and south, and is therefore divided by valleys 
 oblique to its general direction, which is northeast 
 and southwest. Through these valleys a number 
 of streams, of greater or less magnitude, make 
 their way ; but of these, the Hudson alone is nav- 
 igable through the ridge for vessels of any mag- 
 nitude. This river bursts through this rocky bar- 
 
130 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 rier m a channel nowhere less than 1000 yards 
 in width, and deep enough for vessels of the lar- 
 gest size ; but it does not cut any of the other 
 ridges. The Susquehanna, on the other hand, 
 rising in the State of New-York, and whose west- 
 ern branch has its head at no great distance from 
 Lake Erie and from that of a principal branch 
 of the Ohio, cuts through all the ridges of which 
 we have spoken. No other river makes its w^ay 
 through the whole system ; and thus the Valley of 
 the Susquehanna might appear to be pointed out by 
 nature as the proper channel for a navigable com- 
 munication between the lakes and the Atlantic. 
 This river . is, however, so rapid in the lower part 
 of its course, and its upper valley is separated by 
 barriers of such height from the basin of Lake On- 
 tario, that it could neither be navigated by an as- 
 cending trade, nor reached by the settlers of the 
 more fertile parts of the State of New-York. On 
 the other hand, the Mohawk, the most important 
 branch of the Hudson, has its course in a valley 
 that opens towards the west, and merges in the 
 basin of Lake Ontario. Its greatest fall is immedi- 
 ately at its junction with the Hudson ; and thence, 
 with the exception of an insuperable rapid at the 
 Little Falls, it was accessible to a navigation in 
 small vessels, both in the ascending and descend- 
 ing direction, as far as the ancient Fort Stanwix, 
 the site of the modern village of Rome. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 131 
 
 In this vicinity is a swamp, whence, in times of 
 flood, the waters run in opposite directions towards 
 the Hudson and Lake Ontario. A short portage 
 at this place led to Wood Creek, a deep and slug- 
 gish stream which falls into the Oneida Lake. 
 The outlet of the Oneida Lake, after receiving the 
 Onondago, unites with the Seneca outlet to form 
 the Oswego River, and through the latter the 
 navigation was practicable as far as Lake Onta- 
 rio. 
 
 This navigation from Schenectady to Oswego 
 was practised by European traders at a very early 
 date. It is even probable that the Dutch, who at 
 first limited their views to traffic, had. reached 
 Lake Ontario before the agricultural settlements 
 of the Colony of New Netherlands were com- 
 menced. At any rate, the route was well known 
 and practised by Dutch traders before the con- 
 quest by the British; and in 1810, the commis- 
 sioners appointed to explore the country in refer- 
 ence to a canal navigation, found at the outlet of 
 the river obvious traces of the Dutch trading- 
 houses, separate and clearly distinct from the 
 ruins of the fortifications with which the French 
 and English had, in succession, occupied that im- 
 portant position. It appears, however, that in the 
 disturbances which attended and followed the ces- 
 sion to England, the traders, deprived of support, 
 yielded to the growing influence of the French. 
 
132 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The Seneca outlet, which, as we have seen, 
 joins the Onondago at Three River Point, was 
 practicable for boats into the lake whence it pro- 
 ceeds, and through the Cayuga outlet the lake of 
 the same name could be reached. At the head of 
 the Seneca and of Lake Cayuga were the most 
 remote points of the inland communication. 
 
 Lake Ontario, whose southern shore affords nu- 
 merous good harbours, was not unsafe for boats 
 which coasted along it to the Niagara River, where 
 they were carried over the portage to Schlosser, 
 and thence passed into Lake Erie. 
 
 A more southern hne of communication was 
 also practicable. Leaving the Mohawk at Fort 
 Plain, boats were carried over a long portage to 
 the Otsego Lake, whence they could descend the 
 main branch of the Susquehanna to Chemung 
 Point. Llere, entering into the Tioga branch, they 
 might ascend the sluggish stream of that river al- 
 most to its source, and to points at no great dis- 
 tance from navigable waters of the Alleghany, an 
 important branch of the Ohio. 
 
 The last-mentioned navigation was applied to 
 great advantage during the Revolutionary war. 
 The right wing of the army intended to act 
 against the Indians was assembled on the Mo- 
 hawk, whence it threatened the confederated na- 
 tions on the front; but this was a mere feint; for, 
 crossing to the Otsego Lake, it was embai'ked on 
 
BEWITT CLINTON. 133 
 
 the Susquehanna, and borne upon its current to 
 a junction \vith the main body of the army at 
 Chemung Point. Thence the united force moved 
 upon the rear and flank of the strategic position 
 occupied by the Tories and their savage alhes. 
 The important result^ of this brilHant miUtary op- 
 eration are too well known to be repeated here. 
 
 The communications of which we have spoken 
 were used with great skill by the five confederated 
 nations of Iroquois, in their wars with hostile 
 tribes. By the Hudson their canoes descended, 
 bearing forces which reduced to subjection the 
 Lenni Lenape or Algonquin races, to the extreme 
 end of Long Island. By Lake Ontario and the 
 Saint Lawrence their war parties penetrated un- 
 til they met the first French expedition on the 
 Island of Montreal. On Lake Erie they defeated 
 in a naval action, and almost exterminated, a cog- 
 nate nation. The Susquehanna afforded them the 
 means of replenishing the ranks of the expedi- 
 tions they sent into Virginia, and which penetrated 
 into North Carolina, where an invading body of 
 Mingoes founded the powerful Tuscarora nation. 
 On the west the Alleghany was the channel by 
 which a perpetual war was waged with the In- 
 dians of the Ohio. 
 
 In these expeditions a peculiar description of 
 vessel was employed, the bark canoe. This was 
 so light, that, although capable of carrying ten or 
 
 M 
 
134 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 twelve men, with their arms and provisions, it 
 could be readily transported over the portages on 
 the shoulders of two of them. The traders of Eu- 
 ropean origin borrowed the mode of constructing 
 these vessels from the Indians, but the Canadian 
 French made a much more extensive and success- 
 ful use of them than the British colonists. They 
 were also employed in the military expeditions of 
 the French; and, having obtained the command of 
 Lake Ontario, on which they built armed vessels, 
 they formed communications both for commercial 
 and warlike purposes wdth the Ohio and the more 
 western branches of the Mississippi. In this man- 
 ner the British colonies were gradually surround- 
 ed by a chain of French posts, extending from 
 Lake Champlain to the mouth of the Mississippi. 
 In the mean time, the merchants of Albany con- 
 tented themselves with trading with such Indians 
 as actually visited that place, or with selling to 
 the French traders such goods of British manufac- 
 ture as were absolutely necessary for the Indian 
 market. The idea of a communication for the 
 purposes of settlement, and of the commerce 
 which would thus be created in the productions 
 of agriculture, seems never to have occurred to 
 any one ; and no clear estimate of the advantages 
 of a direct trade w4th the Indians of the State of 
 New-York, by means of parties sent out for the 
 purpose, was formed by mercantile men. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 135 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor Golden seems to have 
 been the first to perceive the danger to which 
 the Province of New- York, and others even more 
 remote from Ganada, were exposed, in conse- 
 quence of the influence which French traders and 
 missionaries were acquiring over the Five Nations, 
 hitherto the firm friends, first of the Dutch, and 
 subsequently of the English. He, in consequence, 
 made diligent inquiries into the communications 
 by water which existed in the western part of the 
 present State of New-York, and, having obtained 
 all the information then accessible, made a com- 
 munication to Governor Burnet, in which he sets 
 forth the dangers of the colonies, and proposes, as 
 a mode of removing them, a direct trade from Al- 
 bany with the Indians. In this memoir he points 
 out the route from the Hudson by the portage to 
 Schenectady, the Mohawk, Wood Greek, Oneida 
 Lake, the Onondago and Oswego rivers, to Lake 
 Ontario. He then states that a river coming from 
 the country of the Senecas joins the Oswego, and 
 extends to so great a distance as probably to ap- 
 proach Lake Erie. If in this opinion he was in- 
 correct, it still shows his views of the true policy, 
 which was to avoid the waters controlled by, or 
 accessible to, a rival nation, and to seek for com- 
 munications wholly within the jurisdiction of the 
 colony. 
 
 This memoir of Golden was productive of im- 
 
136 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 portant consequences. Under the influence of 
 Burnet, the trade with the French was interdicted, 
 and a chain of posts was estabhshed along the 
 line of • the Mohawk, the Oneida outlets, and 
 Onondago River. Finally a fort was erected at 
 Oswego itself, and occupied by a permanent gar- 
 rison of troops, raised and supported by the colo- 
 ny. The benefits of the Indian trade were thus 
 secured for the moment to the merchants of Alba- 
 ny, and the fortress of Oswego became an object 
 of jealousy to the French. 
 
 At this time the articles of traffic were the sup- 
 plies for a scanty population, deriving its subsist- 
 ence from the chase on the one hand, and the 
 valuable article of furs on the other. These arti- 
 cles were of little bulk compared with the value 
 set upon them in their respective markets ; and the 
 small canoes of bark, passing through shallow and 
 rapid streams, and transported on the shoulders of 
 men over rough portages, would not have been 
 insufficient for the purpose. Golden seems there- 
 fore to have limited his views to this mode of 
 communication, and could not have anticipated 
 the time when the homes of the mighty tribes 
 who had reduced to their sway so much of the 
 present United States, and had alone been capa- 
 ble of resisting the science of European warfare, 
 should be possessed by an agricultural population, 
 become the seat of commerce in the luxmies of 
 
DEW ITT CLINTON. 137 
 
 the most distant climes, and aspire to the triumphs 
 of manufacturing industry. For the wants of a 
 people exercising these three great branches of in- 
 dustry, the light and frail barks of the Indian tra- 
 der are entirely inadequate ; and, while we find 
 in his memoir the first good account of the water 
 communications of our state, we see in it no hint 
 of the importance of improving them by artificial 
 means, and of rendering them subservient to the 
 wants of civilized life. 
 
 Sir Henry Moore seems to have been the first 
 who extended his views beyond the trade with the 
 Indians. In one of his speeches to the Legislature, 
 he points out the practicability of improving the 
 navigation of the rivers of the state by means of 
 sluices (locks), as in the canal of Languedoc. It 
 is to be remarked, that this communication was 
 made at a time when the parent country was 
 without canals, and that he was, in consequence, 
 compelled to have recourse to the experience of 
 France ; and this is, perhaps, the first of the numer- 
 ous instances in which Anglo-America has, in the 
 project, if not in the completed invention, taken 
 the lead of Britain. This project was, how- 
 ever, in advance both of the spirit of the age and 
 of the wants of the population. The settlers of 
 the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys were too few 
 in numbers to support such an enterprise by their 
 trade, and the Little Falls of the former river were 
 
 M2 
 
/ 
 
 138 AMERICAN BIOGRAPH'Y. 
 
 the farthest limit of agricultural industry. The 
 prolific race of New-England had not yet crossed 
 the Hudson in its search of land; and that the 
 wilds occupied by the Five Nations should be- 
 come the seat of a rich and industrious policy, 
 was beyond the limit of reasonable anticipation. 
 
 Imperfect as were these navigations of which 
 we have spoken,' they were, notwithstanding, em- 
 ployed with fatal effect against us in the early 
 part of the Revolutionary war. All the confeder- 
 ated nations except the Oneidas ranged them- 
 selves under the British banner, and from their 
 central position alternately invaded the settle- 
 ments on the Mohawk and on the Susquehanna. 
 Their supplies of arms and clothing were derived 
 from Canada by the way of Oswego, and by this 
 channel the corps of St. Leger advanced, for the 
 purpose of forcing his way through the Valley of 
 the Mohawk to a junction with the army of Bur- 
 goyne. 
 
 That communications so dangerous in war might 
 be applied to advantageous purposes in peace, was 
 obvious ; and Washington, who had watched with 
 anxiety the operations of the British forces, no 
 sooner found a respite from his military toils, than 
 he proceeded along the Mohawk, and examined 
 in person the practicability of forming a union be- 
 tween it and Wood Creek. He also viewed the 
 portage between the Mohawk and the head of the 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 139 
 
 Susquehanna ; and it is clear that his survey was 
 made in conformity with his favourite view of 
 making the Chesapeake the great centre of the 
 trade of the United States. That it was pointed 
 out for this purpose by nature he firmly believed, 
 and thus his broad views of the general benefit 
 concurred with his local attachments to the region 
 of his nativity. Should we look to natural cir- 
 cumstances alone, we should be inclined to think 
 that he was right. The broad sestuary of the 
 Chesapeake, with its innumerable bays, presents 
 an extent of navigable communication far greater 
 than all the streams of which New-York is the ap- 
 propriate port. Its shores were then far more fer- 
 tile than any settled part of the northern or eastern 
 states, and supported a greater population ; and, 
 in addition to the waters already navigable, the 
 Valley of the Susquehanna presented the shortest 
 practicable line of communication by artificial 
 means between tide-water and streams whose 
 sources interlocked with the tributaries of the St. 
 Lawrence, while, through those of James River 
 and the Kanhaway, the Ohio is approachable in 
 the most direct line. It is probably fortunate for 
 the City of New- York that the state of the times 
 w^as not suited to enterprises of internal improve- 
 ment while Washington retained his paranoount in- 
 fluence both in the councils of the general govern- 
 ment and of his native state. It is also fortunate 
 
140 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 that the jealousy of the states of Pennsylvania 
 and Maryland prevented, until recently, the exe- 
 cution of a canal in the lower part of the Valley 
 of the Susquehanna ; while, under false views of 
 economy, the improvement of so much of its up- 
 per course as lies in Pennsylvania was retarded 
 and opposed. Clinton, however, warmly as he 
 desired the welfare of his native state, was govern- 
 ed by no exclusive sectional views, and carefully 
 weighed the relative advantages of the routes by 
 the Susquehanna and the Mohawk, with a view 
 both to general and local interests. His papers 
 contain memoranda on this subject, which show 
 the attention he bestowed upon it. When, how- 
 ever, the State of Pennsylvania awoke to a sense of 
 its true interests, Clinton furthered, by all the means 
 in his power, the success of an application for fa- 
 cilities by which the artificial navigations of the 
 State of New-York might be brought into connex- 
 ion with those projected in the Valley of the Sus- 
 quehanna. Not content with this, he accepted an 
 invitation to visit Pennsylvania, to enforce by his 
 eloquence, and the influence of his presence, the 
 praiseworthy attempts of the patriotic citizens of 
 that state in urging the Legislature to emulate the 
 glories and benefits of the New-York canals. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 141 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Western Limit of the early Settlements on the 
 Mohawk. — Claims of Massachusetts. — These 
 Claims are partially Admitted — Influx of Em- 
 igration from JYeW'England. — Voyage of the 
 Wadsworths. — State Roads. — Western Inland 
 Lock JYavigation Company. — Its slow Progress 
 and unsuccessful Result. — Communication be- 
 tween the Hudson and Lake Champlain. — 
 JSCorthern Carial. 
 
 At the close of the Revolutionary war, the ex- 
 treme western settlements of the State of New- 
 York extended only a short distance beyond the 
 Little Falls of the Mohawk. Even these had 
 been disturbed and driven in during the war, as 
 was Cherry Valley, which had been the scene of 
 a massacre by the united forces of the Indians and 
 Tories. The settlers of the Valley of the Mohawk, 
 except for a short distance above Schenectady, 
 w^ere all of German blood. A relic of Palatines, 
 driven from the banks of the Rhine by the arms of 
 Louis XIV., had received assistance from the gov- 
 ernment of Queen Anne, and had been directed to 
 the Colony of New- York. Their earliest seat was 
 on the Schoharie Creek, whence for several years 
 
142 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 their only communication with the other parts of 
 the colony was by a footpath, over which their 
 products were carried on the backs of men, as 
 was even the grain intended to be ground for their 
 own consumption. The settlers in the Valley of 
 the Mohawk made use of the river as far as Sche- 
 nectady, whence a tolerable carriage-road led to 
 Albany. 
 
 The cessation of hostilities speedily led to an 
 extension of cultivation as far as the Indian title 
 had been extinguished ; and the enterprising na- 
 tives of New-England began to turn their eyes to- 
 w^ards the new countries of the West, as a recep- 
 tacle for the swarms of their teeming population. 
 
 The State of Massachusetts set up a claim both 
 to the right of soil and of government of all the 
 country not actually occupied which lay north of 
 the forty-second degree of latitude, and thus to 
 all that part of the state which lies west of Utica. 
 A compromise was effected, by which the jurisdic- 
 tion was held by New-York, but the right of soil 
 to a large portion of the tract w^as vested in Mas- 
 sachusetts. Much of this was almost immediately 
 sold to parties who undertook to extinguish the In- 
 dian title. 
 
 The territory which New- York had retained for 
 itself, namely, all lying east of the Seneca Lake, 
 and extending from Lake Ontario southward to a 
 line nearly coinciding with the southern end of the 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 143 
 
 first-named lake was divided by the Legislature 
 of New-York into lots, which were granted to the 
 soldiers and officers w^ho had served in the State 
 line during the Revolutionary war. The state 
 thus departed from the policy of the colonial gov- 
 ernment, which had granted large tracts and man- 
 ors to a few^ favourites, who had endeavoured to 
 perpetuate the system of leasehold property. Such 
 a tenure was repugnant to the natives of New- 
 England, among whom, in the land of their birth, 
 it was unknown. As the habits of soldiers are 
 rarely adapted to the purpose of clearing and set- 
 tling a wilderness, many of their lots were speedi- 
 ly offered in the market, and real estate in fee thus 
 became accessible to the emigrant. Even where 
 the great grants made by the State of Massachu- 
 setts existed, it became necessary to offer the lands 
 for sale instead of attempting to lease them. 
 
 The tide of emigration was thus directed into 
 the western part of the state. Those who pro- 
 posed to settle embarked at Schenectady in boats, 
 and followed the course of the trader, or of the 
 Indians themselves, through the streams and over 
 the portages we have described. 
 
 Among the earliest of these pioneers of civili- 
 zation were James and William Wadsworth, na- 
 tives of the State of Connecticut, who left their 
 homes at an early age, and abandoned the society 
 of which, by their education and connexions, they 
 
144 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 might have been' the ornament, for the purpose of 
 reclaiming a wilderness. The voyage of these 
 enterprising men, by the Hudson, which had not 
 ceased to be regarded as perilous, and through the 
 unimproved water-courses, which have been de- 
 scribed, would furnish a tale of no little mterest, 
 while the record of their persevering and success- 
 ful labours would serve as an admirable lesson to 
 the young and ambitious. Understanding fully 
 the prejudices and feelings of their eastern breth- 
 ren, they saw that no region, however fertile, 
 could allure them to settle in it, if they could not 
 obtain the lands on other terms than those of lease- 
 hold. They also knew that the greater part ot 
 the emigrating population had no other property 
 than their own strong hmbs and resolute spirits, 
 and that thus they could not purchase. They, in 
 consequence, introduced the system of contracts, 
 by which the industrious could be assured of ob- 
 taining the fee of their settlements by the fruits of 
 their labours, while the landholder was secured a 
 fair price for his property. This method speedily 
 acquired almost universal adoption, and has con- 
 tributed in no small degree to peopling the west 
 of the state with a hardy and independent popu- 
 lation. It, in fact, did away with all the objec- 
 tions to the immense size of the tracts granted by 
 Massachusetts, which covered all the country west 
 
DEV^TITT CLINTON. 145 
 
 of the Seneca Lake, and formed what would other- 
 wise have been an odious monopoly. 
 
 The modes in which the early settlers penetra- 
 ted to the more remote points, and by which the 
 foreign products that have become the neces- 
 saries of civilized life were conveyed to them, 
 were, as may be seen from the account of the 
 original state of the communications, slow and la- 
 borious. 
 
 The growing importance of the region demand- 
 ed means of conveyance, which, if not cheaper, 
 should be more rapid, and the state was induced 
 to make a road, which, taking its departure from 
 Utica, was gradually extended to Buffalo. With 
 the state road, two lines of turnpike, the one fol- 
 lowing the Valley of the Mohawk, the other pass- 
 ing through Cherry Valley, were brought into com- 
 munication. And, by means of these, the cost of 
 transportation by land was brought to a price as 
 low as that by water, in spite of the improvements 
 which were made in the navigation in the interval. 
 
 In the year 1792, a company was chartered un- 
 der the name of the Western Inland Lock Navi- 
 gation Company. This association commenced its 
 operations at the Little Falls of the Mohawk, 
 around which a short canal, with a number of 
 locks, was constructed ; this was finished in 1796* 
 The next step was to unite the Mohawk with 
 Wood Creek at Fort Stanwix ; and, finally, an ob^ 
 
 K 
 
146 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 struction in the Mohawk at German Flats was 
 overcome by a short cut and two locks. With 
 these works, the improvements of the company 
 ceased in 1799 ; and, although the charter permit- 
 ted the extension of its operations to the Seneca 
 Lake, nothing farther was done except in the way 
 of surveys for the improvement of the Oneida out- 
 let. Boats carrying seven or eight tons could, 
 after the improvements which have been mention- 
 ed were finished, make their way from the head of 
 the Cayuga and Seneca Lakes to Schenectady; 
 but the voyage occupied several weeks, and was 
 both laborious and dangerous. The labour of 
 men was the principal dependance for progress, 
 as the structure of the vessels allowed sails to be 
 used only when the wind was fair, and as towing- 
 paths did not exist on any part of the communi- 
 cation. The return was still more difficult. The 
 Mohawk, when full, could hardly be ascended at 
 all, and, v/hen less rapid, was so much interrupted 
 by shallows and bars as to cause the most annoy- 
 ing delays, and to render it necessary to limit the 
 upward freight to Httle more than half of that 
 which could be carried down the stream. Finally, 
 the necessity of discharging at Schenectady, and 
 the long portage thence to Albany, gave to the 
 route by water but little advantage in cost over 
 that by the roads, while it was vastly more te- 
 dious 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 147 
 
 In this state the communicatians with the west- 
 ern district remained until the Erie Canal was com- 
 menced. That region, expressly suited by nature 
 for the growth of wheat, could not send it to 
 market, because the cost of transportation from all 
 points to the west of Lake Cayuga exceeded the 
 value in Albany. The fertile district beyond this 
 lake was therefore either to be condemned to sol- 
 itude, or to be tlirow^n into dependance on the 
 British possessions in Canada. But this danger 
 was not limited to the State of New-York; the 
 whole of the shores of the upper lakes, a region of 
 much greater extent and almost equal fertility, 
 was in the same position. A temporary impulse 
 was given to the cultivation of the western district 
 durinor the war of 1812, when the demand for the 
 supply of the armies brought a market to the doors 
 of the settlers ; and now, for the first time, money 
 entered into the operation of trade, which had 
 hitherto consisted of little r^ore than barter and 
 credits on the books of the .nerchants. In 18 10, 
 Buffalo counted only forty houses, while the pres- 
 ent site of Rochester exhibited a clearing of a 
 few acres and a single log house. ^ 
 
 The statesman who took the lead in procuring 
 the act of incorporation of the Western Naviga- 
 tion Company was General Schuyler. He has 
 not hesitated to avow his obligations for hints de- 
 rived from Elkanah Watson j but the soul of the 
 
148 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 undertaking existed in the enterprising merchants 
 of the City of New-York, who were willing to ad- 
 venture their capital in this bold undertaking. 
 Among these are particularly to be noticed Robert 
 Bowne, Thomas Eddy, and John Atkinson. The 
 operations of the Western Inland Lock Navigation 
 Company were of considerable benefit to the pub- 
 lic, and, until the roads of which we have spoken 
 were constructed, furnished the only channel for 
 trade ; but they were wholly unproductive to their 
 stockholders, upon some of whom they entailed 
 ruin, and they ceased to be of any real value to 
 the public after the system of turnpikes was in- 
 troduced, except by maintaining a competition. 
 The inefficiency of the operations of this company 
 grew out of a radical defect in its plans. The ob- 
 ject which was kept continually in view was that 
 of improving the navigation of natural streams 
 in their own beds, as contradistinguished to the 
 method of making an artificial channel to serve as 
 a substitute for the stream throughout its whole 
 course, with its obvious extension into canals 
 over grounds lying far from any natural water- 
 course. 
 
 So long as mere preliminary calculations were 
 alone resorted to, it might have been thought best 
 to improve the means afforded by nature ; the ori- 
 ginal cost of such operations is the least, and it 
 might be hoped that the low rate of tolls which 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 149 
 
 would be the consequence would more than com- 
 pensate any extra cost in propelling the vessels. 
 By actual trial, however, all such calculations have 
 been shown to be unfounded ; for the difficulties 
 and delays which attend a navigation in the bed of 
 a stream, subject to alternate floods and droughts, 
 are such as to set all calculations at defiance ; and 
 the uniform result of experience is, that the trans- 
 portation on a canal wholly artificial is far less 
 costly than any attempt at improving the bed of 
 a turbulent and variable river. It is probable, 
 however, that, had this fact been well understood, 
 the Western Inland Lake Navigation Company 
 would never have entered upon its enterprise ; for 
 the capital for a canal even from Albany to Utica 
 could not have been collected among individuals 
 at so early a date, and a knowledge of the true 
 state of the case would have prevented the little 
 that was subscribed from being contributed. The 
 ill success of this enterprise was made use of as an 
 argument against any farther operations; and it 
 was urged that, where individual enterprise had 
 failed, the state could not hope to be successful. 
 
 On the other hand, it was fortunate that this en- 
 terprise had not been attended with such profitable 
 results as to induce its proprietors to desire to re- 
 tain the chartered privileges they possessed, and 
 thus to prevent action on the part of the state. It 
 would, in truth, have been a most disastrous cir- 
 
 N2 
 
150 AMERICAN BIOGUAPHY. 
 
 cumstance had this great hne of internal commu- 
 nication become private property. The delays, 
 which the public did not regard, and the obstacles, 
 which the sovereign power overcame with facili- 
 ty, would have disheartened a private association 
 or prevented its progress ; but, in the event of 
 complete success, a monopoly would have been 
 created which would have had interests very dif- 
 ferent from those of the public, and a continual 
 struggle, fatal perhaps to the one, and injurious to 
 the other, must have been the result. 
 
 It has been reserved for the experience of the 
 State of New-York, when compared with that of 
 some of its neighbours, to exhibit the advantage of 
 keeping the great lines of internal communication 
 in the hands of the sovereign power. It has also 
 solved the question of the propriety of contracting 
 a debt to be applied to the purposes of public im- 
 provement. The experience of New-York has, 
 indeed, been more fortunate than could have been 
 anticipated; for the interest of the debt has not 
 only been paid, but the principal in a great meas- 
 ure extinguished by the profits of the enterprise. 
 But it hardly requires a demonstration to prove 
 that, even had the New-York canals failed to pay 
 the interest on their cost, the state must still have 
 derived a benefit, which would have rendered a 
 tax to pay this interest no real burden to the com- 
 munity ; and we shall find it recorded, to the credit 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 151 
 
 both of the subject of our memoir and of the Le- 
 gislature of the state, that, when the practicabihty 
 of the canals was once ascertained, a resort even 
 to direct taxation, that bugbear of aspiring politi- 
 cians, would not have been a barrier to their pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 Besides the route from Albany to the westward, 
 the continuous valleys of the upper Hudson and 
 Lake Champlain pointed out a channel for an arti- 
 j5cial navigation to the north. There was a time 
 when the latter appeared even more important than 
 the former. It was, when the subject of canals first 
 attracted the attention of the Legislature, the seat 
 of a more dense population and more extensive 
 commerce. Circumstances in the soil and climate, 
 however, have prevented this region from increas- 
 ing in wealth as rapidly as the West. The line of 
 the Hudson attracted attention even earlier than 
 that of the Mohawk, and was intended to have 
 been rendered practicable by a lock navigation, 
 under a charter granted the same year as that of 
 the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company. 
 It was also improved by the state at the same time 
 wath the Erie Canal ; but the results and conse- 
 quences of this enterprise fell far short of those of 
 the Western Canal. We shall not have occasion 
 to refer to them hereafter, but can speak of the 
 Northern Canal as a most praiseworthy enterprise, 
 
152 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 which has fulfilled every expectation that could 
 have reasonably been formed in respect to it. 
 
 It is in its bearing upon the defence of the coun- 
 try that the importance of the Champlain Canal is 
 most apparent. The United States is more vulner- 
 able by the line of that lake and the Hudson than 
 in any other part, and in two successive wars the 
 British government has chosen it for the direction 
 of hostile operations. At present, by the aid of 
 steam communications on the river and lake, and 
 of the canal which joins them, the same army may 
 be ready to act, as circumstances may direct, in the 
 defence of the City of New-York, or on the North- 
 ern frontier ; and within four days, a body of troops 
 collected on the seacoast to oppose invasion, may, 
 if the danger of descent be over, be threatening 
 Montreal or moving upon Quebec. The latter is 
 the key of the more valuable British possessions ; 
 and, should hostilities again arise, it is hardly 
 probable that, in defiance of the experience of 
 the late war, the importance of acting against it, 
 to the exclusion of all other objects, will be over* 
 looked. 
 
DEW ITT CLINTON. 153 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Earliest Legislation of the State of JYew-York 
 in relation to Canals. — Petition of Colles. — 
 Report of Jeffrey Smith. — Messages of George 
 Clinton. — Resolution of Judge Forman. — Sur- 
 vey made hy Geddes, who first demonstrated the 
 Practicability of a Route to Lake Erie. — Es- 
 says of Jesse Hawley. — Resolution of Judge 
 Piatt. — Appointment of a Board of Commis- 
 sioners, of which Clinton is one. — Character of 
 Morris, the senior Commissioner. — JVotice of 
 the other Commissioners. 
 
 Much discussion has been held, and innumera- 
 ble tracts have been published, in respect to the 
 merit of projecting or carrying into effect the ca- 
 nal poKcy. of the State of New- York. The great- 
 er part of these have grown out of mutual mis- 
 understandings of the terms and subject of the 
 dispute. It never has been doubted, that not only 
 a few distinguished individuals, but even thousands 
 of public-spirited citizens, have contributed, with 
 the whole force of their talents and influence, to 
 the progress and completion of the canals, yet no 
 one of these was either so efficient or so influential 
 as in any way to impair the claim set up for Clin- 
 
154 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ton as having associated his name in imperishable 
 characters with that of the great system of inter- 
 nal improvements, of which the Erie Canal is the 
 chief. 
 
 The earliest legislative action in relation to ca- 
 nals in the State of New- York was in 1784. An 
 engineer of the name of Colles, who, before the 
 Revolution, had been employed in an unsuccess- 
 ful attempt to supply the City of New-York with 
 water, petitioned the Legislature to aid him in an 
 attempt to remove obstructions in the Mohawk 
 River. A favourable report was made, but no le- 
 gislative action followed. In the succeeding year 
 he obtained a grant of $ 125 for the purpose " of 
 enabling him to make an essay towards the removal 
 of these obstructions, and making a plan thereof." 
 During the next session (1786), and, as it appears, 
 in pursuance of the plan of Colles, a bill was in- 
 troduced by Mr. Jeffrey Smith, of Long Island, 
 " for improving the navigation of the Mohawk 
 River, Wood Creek, and Onondago River, with a 
 view of opening an inland navigation to Oswego, 
 and for extending the same, if practicable, to Lake 
 Erie." This bill did not become a law. In it w^e 
 find the first idea of extending a navigable com- 
 munication to Lake Erie, but the route by Os- 
 wego and Lake Ontario is evidently the one point- 
 ed out. 
 
 (xovernor George CHnton, in the year 179 J, 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 155 
 
 called the attention of the Legislature to the im- 
 portance of internal communications in general. 
 The committee to whom this part of the speech 
 was referred, reported a law, in which, among oth- 
 er things, provision was made for a survey of the 
 ground between the Mohawk and Wood Creek, 
 and farther proceedings w^ere held w^hich led to no 
 valuable result. In 1792, the governor referred to 
 the report made under the law of the preceding 
 session, and again called the attention of the Le- 
 gislature to the subject. The result of their ac- 
 tion has been already spoken of, as the law incor- 
 porating the " Western Inland Lock Navigation 
 Company." 
 
 From this time no farther action in respect to 
 canals was had, either by the executive or the Le- 
 gislature of the state, until 1808, when Judge For- 
 man, at that time a member of the Legislature 
 from Onondago county, proposed a concurrent 
 resolution, to direct a survey to be made of the 
 " most eligible and direct route for a canal from 
 the Hudson River to Lake Erie." Judge Forman 
 himself has stated, that he was led to propose this 
 inquiry in consequence of his perusal of the article 
 " Canal" in Rees's Encyclopedia, in which he found 
 a full exposition of the advantages of canals over 
 attempts to improve the navigation of rivers ; and 
 that he therefore conceived a preference to a con- 
 tinuous communication, over the extension of the 
 
156 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 operations of the Western Inland Lock Navigation 
 Company and, th6 lockage around the Falls of Ni- 
 agara, for the last of which an act of incorpora- 
 tion had been obtained from the Legislature. The 
 resolution was passed, the survey was made by 
 Judge Geddes, and the perfect practicability of the 
 route demonstrated ; yet the discovery of this most 
 important fact led to no result, nor does it even ap- 
 pear to have influenced the subsequent action of 
 the Legislature. 
 
 We have now to return to the pubhcation of a 
 series of essays, which, although neglected when 
 published, and for a long time forgotten, had an in- 
 fluence which the practicable plan and available 
 surveys of Judge Geddes had not. Jesse Hawley, 
 in the year 1807, wrote a number of papers under 
 the signature of Hercules, which appeared in the 
 Genesee Messenger. In these essays he proposes 
 a canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson, to be con- 
 structed from its origin in that lake to Utica, upon 
 the principle of an inclined plane. His project is 
 founded on the report of Mr. Elliot, the agent of 
 the Holland Land Company, in relation to the 
 character of the mountain ridge, and on the belief 
 that on the northern face of that elevation a con- 
 tinuous level existed throughout the whole length 
 of Lake Ontario. We shall see that this inference 
 was very far from being correct. The plan was a 
 most brilliant conception of genius, but was im- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 157 
 
 practicable in consequence of the existence of an 
 unknown but absolutely insuperable obstacle. The 
 quantity of information which is collected in these 
 essays is remarkable, and is even now of great 
 value, both as respects the direct object in view, 
 and the experience of foreign countries. There 
 can indeed be no better proof of the importance 
 of an established reputation in giving currency to 
 a work, than the fact that these essays, so replete 
 with learning and indicative of a high order of 
 genius, should have produced no sensation. 
 
 In 1809, Mr. Thomas Eddy, on behalf of the 
 Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, pro- 
 ceeded to Albany for the purpose of procuring the 
 passage of a law authorizing the appointment of 
 commissioners to explore a route for a canal from 
 Oneida Lake to Seneca River, with a view to the 
 execution of the canal by that company. At that 
 moment Judge Piatt was the acknowledged leader 
 of the federal party in the Senate, and its nomina- 
 ted candidate for the office of governor. To him 
 Eddy, who was his political adherent, applied for 
 his influence in obtaining the passage of the pro- 
 posed law. 
 
 Judge Piatt, who had long been a resident of 
 the western part of the state, and knew, perhaps, 
 better than any other person, its wants and wishes ; 
 who had, as it appears, long considered the policy 
 
 which the state ought to pursue in the premises, 
 
 O 
 
158 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 replied at once, " That the company had disap- 
 pointed public expectation, and that it would be 
 inauspicious to present any project which should 
 be subject to that corporation." As a substitute, 
 he proposed a plan for instituting a board of com- 
 missioners to examine and survey the whole route 
 from the Hudson to Lake Ontario, and to Lake 
 Erie also. Mr. Eddy having been satisfied that 
 this plan was to be preferred, it was agreed, on 
 the suggestion of Judge Piatt, to call Clinton 
 forthwith into their councils. He, as we have 
 seen, held at that moment a preponderating in- 
 fluence with the democratic party ; and, as the ob- 
 ject involved no party views, not only Eddy, but 
 Piatt also, was satisfied of the propriety of obtain- 
 ing his sanction. 
 
 It is one of those things which augur best for 
 the permanence of our institutions, that, however 
 imbittered may have been the disputes of mere 
 party politics, however loudly the underlings and 
 hack writers of factions may have declaimed 
 against the motives and characters of their adver- 
 saries, no sooner does danger threaten the coun- 
 try, or is a scheme of real advantage presented, 
 than the leaders of the opposing parties resort to 
 each other as the most likely supporters of the 
 necessary measures. Here was an occasion in 
 which an astute politician might have seen an 
 easy opportunity of winning popularity and ac- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 159 
 
 cumulating electioneering capital ; yet Piatt sought 
 Clinton as the first person to whom his scheme was 
 to be imparted. On the other hand, Clinton could 
 not have been insensible to the fact that the 
 scheme was one on which it could be easy, as 
 was afterward done, to shower down the most 
 pointed ridicule, and to convert its proposal by 
 Piatt into an engine of political warfare. These 
 distinguished men, however, forgot all except its 
 bearing on the prosperity of their country, and dis- 
 cussed the plan only in its relations to the public 
 welfare. The result of the interview was, that 
 Piatt forthwith presented in the Senate a resolu- 
 tion for the appointment of commissioners, and 
 the resolution was seconded by Clinton. By the 
 aid of their joint efforts, the resolution passed both 
 houses; and Gouverneur Morris, Dewitt Clinton, 
 Stephen Van Rensselaer, Simeon Dewitt, Peter B. 
 Porter, William North, and Thomas Eddy, were 
 named commissioners. Care was taken to take 
 the names alternately from the two opposing par- 
 ties; while Eddy himself, who closed the list, al- 
 though a federalist, was not an active partisan. 
 
 Morris w^as named by Judge Piatt in conse- 
 quence of the high standing which he held in his 
 party. Distinguished by his descent from a family 
 possessed of manorial privileges, and the heir of 
 an ample fortune, he had, at an early age, thrown 
 himself, with all the ardour of youth and the en- 
 
160 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 thusiasm of genius, into the cause of the Revolution, 
 and, abandoning his home, had become domiciha- 
 ted in Pennsylvania. This state he had repre- 
 sented in Congress under the confederation, and 
 had been associated with Robert Morris in the 
 schemes of finance by which the Revolutionary 
 war was brought to a happy issue. In the con- 
 vention which framed the existing Constitution he 
 had filled a useful place ; and, on its adoption, had 
 been nominated by Washington ambassador to 
 France. Here he replaced Jefferson, who was re- 
 called to fill the high post of Secretary of State. 
 While in France, Morris became disgusted with 
 the excesses of the popular party, and disappoint- 
 ed their hopes of gaining the countenance of the 
 representative of the republic whose successful re- 
 sistance to royal power they for a time held up as 
 a model. When that party acquired the ascend- 
 ancy, his unpopularity with it was such as to ren- 
 der it expedient that he should be recalled. 
 
 On his return he retired to his paternal estate, 
 and rebuilt the mansion of his ancestors ruined by 
 the British troops. From this retirement he was 
 speedily called to represent his native state in the 
 Senate of the United States, where we have seen 
 him at the same time the colleague and the oppo- 
 nent of Clinton. 
 
 Morris was endued by nature \^dth all the at- 
 tributes necessary to the accomplished orator ; a 
 
 L 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 161 
 
 fine and commanding person, a most graceful de- 
 meanour, which was rather heightened than im- 
 paired by the loss of one of his legs ; a voice of 
 much compass, strength, and richness. These 
 natural advantages he had carefully cultivated; 
 grounded in classical literature in a manner far 
 beyond what was then usual in America, he had 
 continued to peruse the orators and poets of an- 
 tiquity ; familiar with more than one living lan- 
 guage, he was acquainted with all the best pro- 
 ductions of modern literature. 
 
 For style as literary productions, and still more 
 for the manner of their delivery, his speeches 
 would have held no mean rank among the pro- 
 ductions he studied as models. He thus acquired 
 an influence among persons who were his equals 
 in all but the external graces and embellishments 
 of oratory, which at the present moment appears 
 extraordinary; and with a self-confidence which 
 never deserted him, often arrogated to himself a 
 higher place than they, when out of the sphere of 
 his fascination, would have been willing to assign 
 him. 
 
 But, while thus qualified by natural gifts and 
 careful study to acquire an influence, he wanted 
 all the sound knowledge which was necessary in 
 the office to which he w^as now appointed. With 
 a feeling not unusual in classical scholars, he 
 looked with contempt on the sciences, which 
 
 02 
 
162 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 were then beginning to be brought into the ser- 
 vice of industry, and which have since produced 
 such astonishing revolutions in the state of the 
 civihzed world. If, then, of all men living, he 
 was the best qualified to exhibit in a popular light 
 the advantages with which the adoption of a sys- 
 tem of internal improvements would be attended, 
 he was, perhaps, among all who could have been 
 selected, the worst for the purpose of entering into 
 the painful and laborious investigations on which 
 alone a true exposition of these advantages could 
 be founded, and on which the actual practicability 
 of a canal from Albany to Lake Erie would prin- 
 cipally rest. 
 
 Morris had directed his thoughts at an early 
 period to the navigable communications of the 
 State of New- York 5 and evidence is extant that, 
 even before the close of the Revolutionary war, 
 he had declaimed with his accustomed eloquence 
 upon the capabilities which existed for the exten- 
 sion of its internal trade. In the year 1801 he 
 had visited Niagara. His route was by the way 
 of Oswego to Lake Ontario, and along that lake 
 to the Niagara River. 
 
 The vivid impressions of the scenery, soil, and 
 climate which he received on this journey, are 
 delineated in a letter which he wrote on his re- 
 turn to his friend David Parish, of Hamburgh ; 
 and in obvious reference to the route which he 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 163 
 
 had traversed, points out the possibihty of ma- 
 king a communication for the passage of ships 
 from the upper lakes to the Hudson. 
 
 This letter is a finished piece of eloquence, 
 wanting, in truth, only metrical form to be classed 
 as a fine specimen of descriptive poetry. It has 
 been more than once pubhshed, for the purpose of 
 proving him to have been the original projector of 
 the substitution of a canal for the communication 
 by Lake Ontario. But, although the mere words 
 of the passage which speaks of this navigation 
 might be susceptible of such an interpretation, it is 
 very clear from the context that he entertained no 
 such idea. 
 
 The idea of ships sailing from the great West- 
 ern inland seas to the Hudson is in keeping with 
 the lockage of the Falls of Niagara, and the im- 
 provement of the navigation of the Oswego and 
 Mohawk Rivers, but it is utterly at variance with 
 the idea of a continuous canal. 
 
 Having already given utterance to a prediction 
 that vessels would descend from the upper lakes 
 to the Hudson, it will not surprise us to find Mor- 
 ris entering into the execution of the duties of his 
 office of canal commissioner with a zeal that dis- 
 tanced the more cautious movements of his less 
 excitable colleagues. 
 
 We cannot, however, but consider that the en- 
 terprise was not furthered by the appointment of 
 
164 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Morris, and that the pubHc mind would have been 
 more easily satisfied of the feasibility of the project 
 of the canal, had Judge Piatt permitted himself 
 to be named on the commission instead of Morris. 
 With his sound and steady judgment, it would 
 have been impossible that any plan bearing im- 
 practicability on its face should have been laid 
 before the public. Piatt, however, seems to have 
 shrunk with innate modesty from assuming the first 
 place on a commission established by a resolution 
 drawn by himself. Here, therefore, all direct 
 agency on his part in the canal policy of the state 
 seems to have ceased ; yet he is well entitled to 
 the merit of having made the first efficacious step 
 towards the attainment of the great object of uni- 
 ting the lakes with the Atlantic. 
 
 The remaining members of the commission are 
 well and advantageously known to the world. In 
 particular, Stephen Van Rensselaer ought to be 
 cited, for the long, steady attention w^hich he de- 
 voted to the furtherance of internal improvements. 
 From this time to the day of his death he was 
 strenuous in the promotion of the cause, and held, 
 from the date v/hen the actual construction of the 
 canals w^as commenced, the office of a commission- 
 er. The last person who inherited an entailed es- 
 tate before the system was swept away by the Rev- 
 olution, he was for many years the sole surviver of 
 the ancient aristocracy ; yet such was the affabil- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 165 
 
 ity of his manners and the benevolence of his dis- 
 position, that he enjoyed deserved popularity with 
 those most democratic in their principles. Possess- 
 ed of an estate which had descended to him from 
 the first projector of a settlement for any purpose 
 but trade on the banks of the Hudson, he exerci- 
 sed his povv^ers as landlord with such moderation 
 as to secure the devoted attachment of his ten- 
 antry. 
 
 In the cause of internal improvement he not 
 only aided by his services as canal commissioner, 
 but lent his powerful name and embarked funds 
 in the earliest project of a railroad, the first link 
 of that chain which, running parallel to the Erie 
 Canal, will, by facilitating personal communica- 
 tion, enhance its benefits. 
 
 Simeon Dewitt had served with distinction as 
 an engineer during the war of the ?.evolution, at 
 a time when the learning required in that branch 
 of the service was extremely rare. He held, from 
 the close of the Revolution to the time of his death, 
 the ofhce of surveyor-general to the state, and un- 
 der his direction, among other important duties, 
 the great survey of the military townships was ac- 
 complished ; a work which, from its extreme accu- 
 racy, has prevented all disputes about boundaries 
 among the landholders of that region. 
 
 Eddy has been already mentioned as a director 
 of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, 
 
166 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 and was, at the moment, looked to as the practical 
 man of the commission, in which respect the ap- 
 pointment was certainly his due. 
 
 Peter B. Porter had distinguished himself by a 
 very able speech, delivered in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, in support of a resolution introduced by 
 himself, directing an inquiry into the propriety of 
 appropriating the proceeds of a part of the public 
 lands to purposes of internal improvement. A 
 resident of the extreme western portion of the 
 state, he had collected a vast amount of valuable 
 information ; and, although he finally differed from 
 his colleagues in relation to the comparative merits 
 of the Ontario and Erie routes, his aid was not un- 
 important in the early stages of the inquiry. 
 
 General North had served with great reputation 
 in the Revolutionary war, and by his talents, his 
 landed property, and the remembrances of his mil- 
 itary actions, was deservedly possessed of great in- 
 fluence, both politically and morally. 
 
 Of such materials was the commission formed, 
 and the results of its operations justified the Le-^ 
 gislature in the wisdom of its selections. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 167 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Canal Commissioners undertake to examine 
 the Route. — Clinton and others proceed by Wa- 
 ter from Schenectady.- — Their Progress to Ge- 
 neva, after a Deviation to Oswego. — Journey by 
 Land to JYiagara, and return to Albany by the 
 way of Ithaca. — Meetings of the Commission- 
 ers at Utica arid Chippeway. — Diversity of 
 Opinion in the Board. — Opinion of Morris* — 
 Clinton's Views prevail in the Board. — Report 
 drawn up by Mr. Morris. — Examination of its 
 Features and Consequences. 
 
 The commissioners appointed under the resolu- 
 tion of Judge Piatt entered forthwith on the duties 
 of their office. Surveys were directed to be made, 
 under the superintendence of Simeon Dewitt, the 
 surveyor-general of the state, who was a member 
 of the board ; and the commissioners resolved to 
 proceed personally to examine the country. In 
 most cases this is an empty ceremony. The best 
 qualified and most practised engineers can decide 
 little by the eye alone ; and those who have not 
 the habit of judging of levels and distances will 
 be wholly at fault. The plans of public improve- 
 ments must therefore be decided upon in the cabi- 
 
168 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 net by reference to accurate profiles and maps, and 
 not in the field. In the present instance, a formal 
 progress of the commissioners through the region 
 to be examined was of vital importance. It was 
 necessary to arouse the attention of the people to 
 the importance of the object, and excite a curiosi- 
 ty which should lead to the study of the benefits 
 likely to flow from the completion of the project. 
 
 The expediency of such a progress having been 
 decided, the month^of July (1810) was appointed 
 for the purpose ; and it was agreed that Morris and 
 Van Rensselaer should proceed by land, while 
 Clinton, with the rest of the commissioners and a 
 corps of surveyors, should take the Mohawk at 
 Shenectady, and follow the existing lines of com- 
 munication as far as practicable. 
 
 The survey of the most important part of th6 
 route was intrusted to Judge Geddes, who had al- 
 ready explored a part of it. 
 
 Clinton and Eddy left New-York on the 30th 
 of June in the steamboat for Albany. This voy- 
 age occupied, as was usual in that early period of 
 steam navigation, upv/ard of thirty hours. The 
 2d of July was occupied in a meeting of the board, 
 and laying in stores and equipage for the voyage ; 
 the 3d in reaching Schenectady, and it was not 
 until the afternoon of the 4th that the party em- 
 barked. Two boats were provided for their ac- 
 commodation, one of which was occupied by the 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 169 
 
 commissioners, the other by servants and baggage. 
 Of the latter there was about a ton and a half, as 
 it was necessary to carry almost every article of 
 ordinary comfort. The party suftered from having 
 trusted to the sleeping quarters Avhich were pre- 
 sented on the route, and would have experienced 
 less fatigue had it been provided in addition with 
 tents. The boats were of the burden of about 
 ten tons, w^ere provided with sails to use when the 
 wind was fair, and were propelled on other occa- 
 sions by setting poles. In using these, the men 
 walked along a gangway formed for the purpose 
 on the gunwale, and pressed against the poles 
 with their shoulders. The boats were without 
 decks, but were sheltered by an awning and cur- 
 tains. The party within had sufficient space to sit 
 and read or write, but there was not room to spread 
 their beds. 
 
 The river was low, and, although the boats were 
 light, the passage of several of the rapids v/as at- 
 tended w^ith difficulty. Utica, therefore, was not 
 reached until late on the evening of the fifth day. 
 
 The parties of Morris and Van Rensselaer occu- 
 pied the whole of the principal hotel in Utica, and 
 the voyagers took their lodging at another. At 
 the present day the same hotel has been enlarged 
 until it can conveniently lodge several hundred 
 guests, and there are three or fom- others of almost 
 equal extent. In 1810, the regular public com- 
 
 P 
 
170 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 munication between Albany and Utica was by a 
 single daily stage, which was thirty-six hours in 
 performing the journey. From Utica to Geneva 
 the stage ran only three times a week, wliile be- 
 yond that point none had been established. 
 
 The freight of goods by the river to Schenecta- 
 dy was seventy-five cents per ton, the carriage by 
 wagon a dollar per ton. 
 
 Utica at that time contained 300 houses, inhab- 
 ited by 1650 persons. 
 
 A meeting of the board was held on the 10th 
 July at Utica, which adjourned to reassemble at 
 Rome on the 12th. 
 
 At Utica, General North and Judge Geddes 
 joined the party in the boats, and, leaving Utica on 
 the 11th, the commissioners reached Rome the 
 same day. Here the proposed meeting was held, 
 and an incident occurred in the discussion which 
 we shall refer to on a future occasion. 
 
 At Rome the routes by land and water separa- 
 ted, and the next place of meeting was fixed for 
 Geneva. The party in the boats passing the cut 
 at Fort Stanwix, entered and descended Wood 
 Creek, traversed the Oneida Lake, and, running 
 down its rapid outlet, reached Three River Point 
 before sundown on the 15th July. Thence they 
 followed the stream to Oswego, which they reach- 
 ed the next evening. 
 
 A day was spent in examining the neighbour- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 171 
 
 hood of Oswego, and on the morning of the 18th 
 the commissioners proceeded on foot up the bank 
 of the river for five miles, in order to facihtate 
 the passage of the boats up the rapids. Re-em- 
 barking, Three River Point v>^as reached at two 
 o'clock on the 19th, and the Seneca River enter- 
 ed. This was found to be a dead and sluggish 
 stream until its confluence with the Cayuga out- 
 let was passed, whence there was a rise of fifty 
 feet into the Seneca Lake. Geneva was not 
 reached until the afternoon of the 24th, and at the 
 close of the twentieth day after leaving Schenec- 
 tady. Deducting the three days spent in the de- 
 viation to Oswego, seventeen days were spent in 
 the voyage, which, as it was performed in light 
 vessels, may be considered as giving less than the 
 average time of passing over this distance by the 
 existing water communications. The same dis- 
 tance was performed by the packet-boats on the 
 canal in thirty-six hours, and by the lighter class 
 of freight-boats it is passed over in about fifty 
 hours. The latter carry with ease from forty to 
 fifty tons, while the capacity of some of the heavy 
 boats, even before the enlargement of the canal 
 was commenced, reached nearly to a hundred tons. 
 This voyage has been dwelt upon at some 
 length, because it affords a standard of compari- 
 son whereby the great advantages derived froip 
 
172 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the Erie Canal, in the facihty and cheapness of 
 transportation, may be conveniently illustrated. 
 
 It is unnecessary to enter into the- detail of the 
 remainder of the journey. Clinton, with his par- 
 ty, proceeded to the Niagara River, which they 
 crossed to Newark in Canada, visited the falls, 
 and returned by the ridge road, then newly cut 
 through the woods. On returning to Geneva, a 
 deviation from the direct route was made to Itha- 
 ca, at the head of Lake Cayuga, whence the state 
 road was joined at Auburn. Finally, on the 19th 
 August, Schenectady was reached, and, after a de- 
 lay of a day in Albafiy, Chnton returned by the 
 steamboat to New-York. 
 
 The feasibility of a canal to Lake Erie, in a 
 direct course, was necessarily a subject of discuss- 
 ion at the several meetings of the board to which 
 we have alluded. The relative advantages of the 
 direct route, and that by the way of Lake On- 
 tario, were also canvassed. Clinton appears to 
 have avoided any positive expression of his 
 views until the meeting at Chippeway, when he 
 had, by personal information and examination of 
 the surveys of Judge Geddes, satisfied himself that 
 a canal of the ordinary character was practica- 
 ble from the Hudson to Lake Erie. The practica- 
 bility of the other route had long been obvious. 
 It therefore became a question merely of policy, 
 which ought to be adopted. On this head his 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 
 
 173 
 
 decision had been made up at an early stage of 
 the investigation. He saw, upon the proposed Hne 
 from Rome to Buffalo, a country capable, by its 
 fertility, of supporting the proposed canal; he 
 weighed the difficulties and expense attending 
 transshipment from vessels calculated to navigate 
 the lakes to canal-boats ; and, more than all, he 
 dreaded that the trade of the West might be di- 
 verted to the St. Lawrence, and its growing pop- 
 ulation compelled to form connexions in business 
 with the British colonies. 
 
 Morris, of more sanguine temperament, had come 
 at a much earlier period to similar conclusions, and 
 had made up his mind that all material obstacles 
 must give way to the Erie route. He adopted in 
 its full extent, and without waiting for the result 
 of the surveys, the brilliant but crude conception 
 of Hawley. This plan he urged with all his elo- 
 quence on his colleagues at their meeting in Uti- 
 ca. The occurrence is thus stated in the journal 
 of his tour kept by Clinton. 
 
 " At this meeting, the senior commissioner talk- 
 ed wildly. He was for breaking down the mound 
 of Lake Erie, and letting out the waters to follow 
 the level of the country, so as to form a sloop 
 navigation with the Hudson, and without any aid 
 from any other water." 
 
 However correct, then, were Morris's views of 
 the pohcy of the direct route to Lake Erie, it is 
 
 P2 
 
174 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 evident that he had formed no practical idea of the 
 mode in which it might be accomphshed, nor did 
 he at any subsequent period reduce his soaring- 
 imagination to the level of common sense. 
 
 To the policy of the direct route to Lake Erie 
 all the commissioners save one assented, and at 
 the final meeting at Chippeway Clinton was com- 
 pelled to combat on the one hand the magnifi- 
 cent but impracticable project of Morris, and on 
 the other the plausible and popular plan of ad- 
 hering as closely as possible to the natural course 
 of the waters. The expense of constructing a ca- 
 nal from Albany to Oswego, and another around 
 the Falls of Niagara, would have been much less 
 than that of a direct canal to Lake Erie, and 
 would therefore have been more certainly within 
 reach of the resources of the state ; and had the 
 sole object of the navigation been that of forming 
 a communication mth the shores of the upper 
 lakes, the argument would have been unansw^era- 
 ble. 
 
 Had this opinion prevailed, the consequences 
 would have been disastrous to the State of New- 
 York ; the current of population which has been 
 borne on the waters of the canal to every point 
 within its reach, and which has made the region 
 west of Rome the richest agricultural district in 
 the Union, would have flowed onward to Lake 
 Erie, and even more distant regions, to which the 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 175 
 
 Ontario route would have given a more ready ac- 
 cess. 
 
 On the other hand, had the scheme of Morris 
 been the only one submitted to the public, its ut- 
 ter want of practicability vv^ould have defeated the 
 chance of any farther action. At this point, then, 
 do the paramount services of Clinton in the ca- 
 nal policy of the state commence. Up to this mo- 
 ment he had been an efficient and ardent friend of 
 a system of internal improvement, but had waited 
 for personal inspection to satisfy himself of its 
 practicability and importance. He from this mo- 
 ment took the lead in all the measures which were 
 necessary for its accomplishment. 
 
 Clinton's views were sanctioned by the majority 
 of his colleagues, but he saw the importance of se- 
 curing a unanimous report. It was believed by 
 some of the commissioners that Morris had been 
 convinced by the arguments of Clinton ; at all 
 events, the subject had been fully discussed in his 
 presence. By courtesy, Morris, as senior commis- 
 sioner, was entitled to the right of drawing the 
 report of the board, unless a difference of opinion 
 had arisen of sufficient moment to have justified 
 his colleagues in intrusting that duty to another. 
 Had this been done, three adverse reports would 
 in all probability have been presented, and the 
 popular arguments in favour of the Ontario and 
 Niagara route would have been brought forward. 
 
176 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 By leaving Morris in possession of his prescriptive 
 right, this danger would be avoided ; and it was 
 believed that any objection which might be raised 
 to Morris's individual views would be obviated 
 by the exhibition of the surveys and practical con-' 
 elusions of Judge Geddes, 
 
 The report of the board was, in consequence, 
 drawn by Morris, and well sustained his veteran 
 reputation for ability as a writer, and for enlarged 
 views as a statesman. It established the practi- 
 cability of an inland canal, and illustrated its ad- 
 vantages in a masterly manner. But it also in- 
 cluded the idea of creatino; an artificial river from 
 the elevation of Lake Erie to the Hudson, and a 
 digression into a long exposition of the facilities 
 and advantages of an inclined plane canal, in 
 which rivers and lakes were to be passed by 
 aqueducts, and valleys by mounds. This plan, 
 w^hich, in the hands of Hawley, who argued from 
 imperfect knowledge of the country, and from a 
 general view of its qualifications, was a brilliant 
 conception, became ridiculous when contrasted 
 with the actual levels. From these it appeared 
 that, besides minor obstacles, the wide and deep 
 chasm of the Cayuga Lake fell so far below the 
 Jevel of a uniform slope, that it would require to 
 be passed by a mound and aqueduct, wdiich, if 
 not impossible in the nature of things, was ren- 
 dered so by the enormous expenditure it must 
 have occasioned. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 
 
 177 
 
 On the meeting of the commissioners to consider 
 the report, these objections were apparent. Mo- 
 tives of deUcacy, and the personal respect they all 
 bore to Morris, prevented any proposition being 
 made for striking out this portion of it. Some of 
 the com-missioners were, in fact, inclined to leave 
 it to be signed by Morris as senior commissioner, 
 and thus avoid affixing their names to it Clin- 
 ton, however, urged the importance of the appear- 
 ance of unanimity, and pointed out the fact that, 
 while Morris had not refrained from expressing 
 his own opinions, he had, at the same time, avoid- 
 ed committing his colleagues as sanctioning them, 
 and had fairly declared that there was room for 
 difference of opinion. He had also referred to the 
 surveys, whence the true state of the case might 
 be at once inferred by all who should with intel- 
 ligence examine the subject. 
 
 " In respect to the inland navigation," says the 
 report, " from the lakes to the Hudson River, the 
 commissioners beg leave to refer for information to 
 the annexed reports and maps of Mr. James Ged- 
 des, employed at their request by the surveyor- 
 general. From these it is evident that such navi- 
 gation is practicable. Whether the rmde here 
 sketched out will hereafter be pursued, whether a 
 better way may not be found, and other questions 
 subordinate to these, can only be resolved at a fu- 
 Uire time, when an intelligent man, regularly bred 
 
178 
 
 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 to this business, shall, under the direction of those 
 on whom the pubhc may think proper to devote 
 this superintendence, have made a more exact and 
 careful scrutiny than the time and means of the 
 commissioners would permit." 
 
 As a farther concession to the opinions of his 
 colleagues, the report says, '^ Preliminary points 
 are to be adjusted, and of these the first is, 
 Wliether it is to be made for sloops or barges. 
 The expense of the former will, it is believed, be 
 at least double that of the latter. Another ques- 
 tion. Whether it shall be carried along an inclined 
 plane, or by a line ascending and descending, must 
 be directed by a comparison of the expense and 
 of the utility each way.'^ 
 
 If Morris, therefore, had taken advantage of his 
 position as canal commissioner to place his indi- 
 vidual opinions in a prominent light, he had made 
 no unfair use of his seniority in suppressing those 
 of his colleagues. They, on the other hand, were 
 justified in trusting that the pubhc would not ac- 
 cept or reject a scheme of so much importance 
 without a close and deliberate examination -, and 
 Clinton was a behever in the final triumph of good 
 sense in all questions fairly submitted to the people. 
 Clinton was justified in the course he took on 
 this occasion by the result. The report excited a 
 prodigious sensation. There were some who were 
 qualified to judge, and who, aware of the practica- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 179 
 
 bility of a canal to Lake Erie upon ordinary prin- 
 ciples, regretted that the project of the inchned 
 plane had ever been broached. These received 
 the report with a feeling of disappointment. It 
 did not alter their well-founded belief, but it caus- 
 ed them to fear that a scheme practicable in itself 
 might be defeated by the ridicule which they saw 
 must be cast upon the stupendous project of Mor- 
 ris. Those who were also quahlied to judge of 
 the plan, but were as yet unacquainted with the 
 circumstances, were not seduced by the eloquence 
 of Morris from an examination of the documents 
 appended to the report ; and, on mature delibera- 
 tion, became satisfied that a plan of less imposing 
 magnificence w^as feasible. 
 
 At that time, however, the state numbered but 
 few who possessed the knowledge which would 
 have enabled them to examine such a question 
 with intelligence. The multitude was therefore 
 divided into two great parties ; the one was car- 
 ried away by the eloquence of Morris, and saw in 
 the splendour of the enterprise he proposed, not 
 only a source of wealth to the state, but of hon- 
 our in the execution of a work more grand in con- 
 ception than Babylonian majesty had dreamed of, 
 or Roman energy had accomplished ; the other 
 revolted at the scheme, as one far in advance of 
 the time, and likely to be ruinous by loading the 
 state with an inextinguishable debt. The report 
 
180 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 thus afforded ample room for discussion ; and wheu^ 
 by an exhibition of a plan founded on sound prin- 
 ciples, all the objections which had been raised 
 against that of Morris had been obviated, it was 
 too late to have recourse to new arguments against 
 it ; and many of those w^ho on the first view had 
 opposed the canal, became converts to its practica- 
 bihty and utility when they saw that the arguments 
 which had been used against it had ceased to be 
 applicable. 
 
 This first report, then, had the merit, from its 
 very extravagance, of exciting the public atten- 
 tion in a degree far gi'eater than could a paper 
 containing no more than an accurate exposition of 
 the facts ascertained by the commissioners, and the 
 proposal of a plan founded on the experience of 
 other countries. Morris therefore rendered an es- 
 sential service to the cause of internal improve- 
 ments, not merely by his honest but mistaken zeal 
 in its behalf, but by provoking discussions which 
 a man of less genius but of more practical talent 
 would have avoided. 
 
 The report was presented to the Legislature in 
 due course ; and on its reception, Clinton, who 
 now prepared to take the lead in all measures cal- 
 culated to further this great scheme of internal im- 
 provement, brought a bill into the Senate for the 
 purpose of continuing the investigations, and pre- 
 paring for the execution of the project. By this 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 181 
 
 bill, which became a law, the same commissioners 
 were continued, and the members of the board in- 
 creased by the addition of Robert Fulton and 
 Robert L. Livingston. Fifteen thousand dollars 
 were appropriated for farther surveys; and the 
 commissioners were authorized to apply to the 
 general government, or to those of any of the in- 
 dividual states, for assistance in the accomplish- 
 ment of the canal. 
 
 In compliance with this law, full and complete 
 surveys were made under the direction of the com- 
 missioners, and a report was made in 1812 to the 
 Legislature ; in this the inclined plane was formal- 
 ly abandoned, and a plan presented identical in 
 its great features with that which was actually ex- 
 ecuted. The intervention of the war at this epoch 
 put an end to all active proceedings, and the ac- 
 tion of the Legislature on this report will fall 
 with more propriety into a subsequent portion of 
 this memoir. 
 
 Q 
 
182 AMERICAN BIOGRAP HY^ 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 OHgin and Growth of the Democratic Party.-- 
 Its Triumph in the Election of Jefferson,— 
 George Clinton chosen Vice^resident in the 
 place of Burr.— His Pretensions to he the Suc- 
 cessor of Jefferson.— He is Passed over.— Jeal- 
 ousy of Virginia.— All Aid to the Mw-York 
 Canals is refused.— Deivitt Clinton is named' 
 as a Candidate for the Presidency.— Examina- 
 tion of his Course in relation to the War. 
 
 The party which assumed to itself the exclusive 
 title of democratic was made up of many hetero- 
 geneous materials. It had been organized, in the 
 first instance, as an opposition to the administration 
 of Washington, on the questions of the proclama- 
 tion of neutrality and the ratification of Jay's 
 treaty. This opposition was gladly joined by the 
 remnant of the anti-federahsts, and by many of 
 the more warm federalists, who had been disap- 
 pointed in obtaining office under the new govern- 
 ment. The cabinet of Washington had been it- 
 self divided on these questions, and thus the secre- 
 tary of state became the most prominent man of 
 the new party. Even among the anti-federalists 
 the shades of opinion were various in the extreme, 
 
t) E W I T T CLINTON. 183 
 
 from those who would have been content with a 
 federation possessing even less than the limited 
 powers to which the old Congress had restricted it- 
 self, to those who desired a strong and firm central 
 government, but preferred that its popular branches 
 should possess a greater degree of authority, and 
 the power of the executive be more limited than 
 had been done by the Constitution. The two most 
 opposite opinions were thus united in opposition on 
 a single point, that which held the exclusive au- 
 thority of the state sovereignties, and that which 
 was for deriving all power without intervention 
 from the people. The party therefore strengthen- 
 ed itself to the South among the rich and power- 
 ful planters, who possessed a local influence which 
 the action of the general government diminished ; 
 w^hile it numbered to the North the hardy yeoman- 
 ry, who retained the revolutionary feeling which 
 had led to the breaking up of entails and the ab- 
 rogation of manorial privileges. Propagating in 
 the latter case the doctrine of the largest liberty, 
 the party was joined by all the foreigners who 
 had fled from the oppression of their native gov- 
 ernments. The natives of England and Scot- 
 land, on the other hand, who sought to become 
 .citizens of the United States for the purposes of 
 commerce, were ranged in the federal party. 
 
 The question of a national bank produced a 
 new point of difference between those who admit- 
 
J84 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ted that the Constitution gave every power inci- 
 dent or collateral to those actually granted in 
 terms, and those who adhered to the mere letter of 
 the instrument. 
 
 So long as Washington retained the office of 
 president, his transcendent greatness of character, 
 and the strong hold he held on the affections of 
 his countrymen, prevented the rising party from 
 taking the form of a steady and uniform opposi- 
 tion. He had himself the faculty of training to 
 his service talent of every variety, and making the 
 most discordant opinions work together for the 
 promotion of the general welfare. Jefferson and 
 Hamilton, the imbodied personifications of the 
 two most opposite opinions, were both retained in 
 his cabinet, and were both efficient in bringing to 
 a successful result the difficult experiment of a 
 form of government without example, as it has 
 hitherto been without parallel. 
 
 The determination of Washington to retire from 
 a station that he might have held so long as it 
 pleased him, was the signal for the organization 
 of the two opposing parties. Adams, the Vice- 
 President, became the candidate of the one, and 
 Jefferson of the other. A new element of divis- 
 ion was thus introduced, for sectional feelings 
 were enlisted in the disputes, and attempts were 
 mutually made to array the North against the 
 South. Adams was elected in preference to his 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 185 
 
 competitor; and, had he possessed either popular 
 arts or clear-sighted views, might have secured 
 the constant triumph of the party which had sup- 
 ported him. In the former, however, he was de- 
 ficient, and his want of popularity was aggravated 
 by two injudicious acts, by which the liberty of 
 the press was menaced, and the right of personal 
 liberty invaded. The alien and sedition laws, of 
 v/hich he was, in popular opinion, the instigator, 
 furnished his opponents with a well-founded means 
 of attack. He still had one chance of retaining 
 his power. The aggressions of Great Britain on 
 our commerce had been almost put an end to 
 by the operations of Jay's treaty, while those of 
 France were not only continued, but were aggra- 
 vated by a feeling growing out of that very trea- 
 ty. Hence a good and just cause of war against 
 that nation arose, and hostilities were actually 
 commenced by a law authorizing the capture and 
 detention of French cruisers and privateers. To 
 carry on these hostilities a navy was created, and, 
 for less obvious reasons, an army was imbodied. 
 
 A universal burst of popular feeling hailed the 
 war wdth France, and the leaders of the opposition 
 were thus left without the means of attacking the 
 administration with success. The strong feeling of 
 national pride was about to be awakened, and this, 
 as in 1813, would probably have swept away 
 every landmark of part}'. 
 
 Q2 
 
186 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 It appears probable that the great preparations 
 of the administration of Adams had other views 
 than mere defensive operations. The strengthen- 
 ing of the navy was well calculated to place the 
 United States in an imposing attitude in respect to 
 Great Britain, as well as to clear the seas of the 
 picaroons bearing the French flag. But the well- 
 organized and admirably-equipped army, of which 
 Hamilton was in the actual, although Washington 
 held the nominal command, was not called for by 
 any fear of invasion from France, and the course 
 of events appeared to be throwing the United 
 States into an alliance with Great Britain, 
 
 It may therefore appear far from improbable 
 that a great scheme of conquest and national agv 
 grandizement had been planned in the secret coun-^ 
 cils of the federal party. Cuba was the recepta- 
 cle of the bucaneers who preyed upon the neutral 
 commerce of America, and, from the alliance of 
 Spain with France, must have become the centre 
 of any hostile action on the part of the former. 
 It was, of course, obvious that, when the hostilities 
 against France should become a formal war, Spain 
 would in fact, if not by absolute declaration, be- 
 come a party to it. It is therefore not an unlikely 
 surmise that the army of 1798 was intended to 
 act against the Spanish colonies of Louisiana and 
 Florida, nay, perhaps with the aid and concurrence 
 of Great Britain, against Cuba, or Mexico itself. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 187 
 
 The obvious tendency of the acts of the admin- 
 istration of Adams, whether so intended or not, to 
 bring the United States into the coahtion against 
 revolutionary France, furnished the opposition with 
 a bond of union. By this it was kept together, in 
 spite of the heterogeneous character of the materi- 
 als of which we have seen it to be originally made; 
 and the habit of acting in concert under a steady 
 discipline, either fused all the various opinions into 
 one common mass, or silenced the expression of 
 such as were not avowed by the papers which be- 
 came the organs of the party. In the faith thus 
 publicly expressed the younger portion of the 
 community was educated; and what may have at 
 first been no more than an assumption of principles 
 calculated for political effect, became the sincere 
 belief of at least half of the youth of the United 
 States. 
 
 Whatever may have been the intentions of the 
 party with which he acted, Adams did not carry 
 out even the first steps of the plan. Instead of 
 exciting the hostile feeling against France to the 
 height of a war in all its forms, he sought and ef- 
 fected a reconciliation with that country. By this 
 the numerous active spirits who had sought occu- 
 pation in arms, or had enrolled themselves as vol- 
 unteers, were disgusted, and many of them were 
 speedily classed in the ranks of his opponents. 
 His own party was distracted, and yielded him 
 
188 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 only a feeble support, or sought to abandon him 
 for some more acceptable candidate. In the 
 mean time, his administration did not adapt its 
 measures to the new state of things ; the army 
 was not disbanded ; measures for the increase of 
 the navy were persisted in ; and the taxes impo- 
 sed in view of a war were not taken off. His 
 adroit adversaries seized these points of his policy 
 as open to attack, and in the outcry raised against 
 a naval force, a standing army, and taxes in time 
 of peace, found the most efficient weapons for 
 overthrowing his power. 
 
 In this they were so successful that they ven- 
 tured on running two candidates for the presiden- 
 cy, in order to secure both that office and the place 
 of vice-president to members of their party. This 
 was rendered necessary by an existing provision 
 of the Constitution, which has since been repealed, 
 by which the office of vice-president fell to the 
 candidate for the presidency who should receive 
 the second number of votes. 
 
 The result of this bold measure in the election 
 of Jefferson as President, and Burr as Vice-Presi- 
 dent, and the suspicion of an attempted collusion 
 with their federal opponents, to which the latter 
 was exposed, are familiar facts. 
 
 In this struggle and final triumph the elder 
 Clinton bore an important part, and Dewitt Clin- 
 ton figured towards its close as an efficient agent. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 189 
 
 They had, as we have seen, been among the mod- 
 erate opponents to the federal constitution, on the 
 ground of state rights ; and although George Clin- 
 ton had finally acquiesced in the vote of the state 
 convention, he had been immediately assailed by 
 an opposition to his re-election as governor. Thus 
 driven into opposition, he had become the decided 
 supporter of Jefferson, and had aided most power- 
 fully in securing him the vote of New-York. In 
 the intrigues by which Burr was so near taking 
 the first instead of the second rank, the friends of 
 the Clintons were the undeviating supporters of 
 Jefferson. 
 
 We have seen the prominent part which Dewitt 
 Clinton took in the Senate of the United States in 
 support of the administration of Jefferson. His 
 seat in that body was held for a short time, and 
 with this short exception, he, with his uncle, 
 whose re-election as governor accompanied the 
 triumph of the democratic party, were fully occu- 
 pied by their executive duties and the party strug- 
 gles of their own state. On the re-election of 
 Jefferson, George Clinton became vice-president, 
 and a wider field of politics was opened. From 
 former usage, he felt himself entitled to be consid- 
 ered as the person to be selected as the candi- 
 date of his party for the oflSce of president. On 
 the other hand, Virginia was unwilling to part 
 with the prescriptive claim to that office, and the 
 
190 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 secretary of state seemed to be preferred by the 
 incumbent of the office ; mutual jealousies arose, 
 and the general administration manifested neutral- 
 ity in the schisms of the party in New-York, if not 
 actual preference for those who had been denoun- 
 ced by it. 
 
 With a just sense of duty to the country at large, 
 and his native state in particular, George Clin- 
 ton urged measures of preparation for defence, and 
 particularly the fortification of the harbour of New- 
 York. He also appears never to have been in fa- 
 vour of the entire disbandment of the army, or the 
 neglect of the navy. The embargo received his 
 warm support, not as a measure intended as a sub- 
 stitute for a war with England, but as one of di- 
 rect preparation; and we have on it on record that 
 he urged upon the president, after the adoption of 
 that measure, the equipment and manning of all 
 the vessels remaining in the navy. For this meas- 
 ure he urged the motives of assuming an imposing 
 attitude in aid of negotiation, of being prepared in 
 the event of a war, and of alleviating the distress 
 of the class of citizens on whom the pressure of 
 the embargo fell most severely. 
 
 In these views Dewitt Clinton concurred most 
 cordially with his uncle; and we have seen that 
 when the defence of the harbour of New- York 
 was neglected by the government, he was the 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 191 
 
 principal instrument in obtaining appropriations 
 from the state for the purpose. 
 
 When the distress produced by the embargo 
 became so serious as to threaten a loss of the ma- 
 jorities which the democratic party had hitherto 
 commanded, Dewitt Clinton presided at a meeting 
 in the Park, which pledged itself to the support of 
 the administration on that measure, which nothing 
 but the belief of its being a preparation for w^ar 
 could have rendered tolerable. 
 
 To the feeble and inefficient measures of non- 
 importation and non-intercourse which succeeded 
 the embargo, Clinton ^vas decidedly opposed. He 
 viewed them as imposing all the privations of a 
 war without any of its advantages, and urged the 
 adoption of a more energetic course. 
 
 When Jefferson, in pursuance of the example of 
 self-denial set by Washington, retired from the 
 presidential chair, the claims of George Clinton to 
 the succession w^ere passed over. His advanced 
 age was a sufficient reason for this ; but there were 
 not a few of the democratic party who would even 
 then have desired that Dewitt Clinton should have 
 been the candidate. At the caucus of members 
 of Congress by whom Madison was nominated as 
 the successor of Jefferson, ninety-four were pres- 
 ent. Of these only one was from New- York, 
 and the attendance from Virginia was not full. 
 The members from New-York who did not attend 
 

 192 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 were understood to prefer George Clinton, and the 
 absentees from Virginia to be in favour of Mon- 
 roe. In the decision of this caucus Clinton and 
 his friends acquiesced in silence ; but the jealousy 
 of the growing power of New-York, and particu- 
 larly of the rising talents and influence of Dewitt 
 Chnton, were powerfully excited in the breasts of 
 those who desired to perpetuate the ascendancy of 
 Virginia. 
 
 This state of mind in the immediate personal 
 adherents of the president became apparent to 
 Dewitt Chnton when he, in pursuance of the act 
 (' of the Legislature of 1811, visited Washington for 
 the purpose of soliciting aid for the prosecution of 
 the Mew-York canals. The doctrine that it was 
 not within the delegated powers of the general 
 government to grant such aid had not then been 
 invented; the neglect of all measures preparatory 
 to a war, or necessary for defence, had left the gov- 
 ernment in possession of ample funds, and thus, to 
 all appearance, there was nothing but sectional 
 jealousy which could prevent such aid bemg fur- 
 nished. 
 
 During the succeeding session of Congress, ac- 
 tive measures were taken for creating an army and 
 making provision for defence, or even for acting 
 hostilely against Great Britain. In these prepara- 
 tory measures Clinton concurred, and they were 
 supported in Congress by the votes of his imme- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 193 
 
 diate friends and the exertion of all his influence. 
 When, however, in June, 18 12, the final question 
 of war or peace at that precise moment was enter- 
 tained, he appears to have been of the opinion 
 that, however just and necessary a war with Great 
 Britain were, the juncture was unfavourable, and 
 the country was not in a sufficient state of prepar- 
 ation. In these views he was countenanced by a 
 great number of the most uniform and consistent 
 members of the party; a number so great, that, 
 when added to the opposition members, it was be- 
 lieved, by the most adroit politicians, that a dec- 
 laration of war could hardly be carried in the 
 House of Representatives, and must certainly fail 
 in the Senate. The course of political manage- 
 ment by which an apparent minority was sudden- 
 ly and unexpectedly converted into a majority, is 
 still unexplained. With this majority the immedi- 
 ate friends of Clinton voted ; thus showing, what- 
 ever hesitation he may have felt in respect to the 
 policy of making war at the moment, a hesitation 
 which many believe was shared by the president 
 himself, that, when it was decided upon as the 
 measure of the party, he was willing to give it his 
 support. 
 
 The nomination by a caucus of members of 
 Congress had become odious to many. Hence, 
 when Madison's first term was about to expire, no 
 more than twelve persons from states east of New- 
 
 R 
 
194 AMERfCAN BIOGRA*PHY. 
 
 Jersey attended the meeting. From this caucus 
 Madison received a nomination for a second term. 
 Those repubhcans who objected to the usage of a 
 caucus^ and refused to obey its commands, fixed 
 their eyes upon Clinton as an opponent to the 
 nominee of this meeting. Chnton was, in conse- 
 quence, put in nomination ; and, when the electo- 
 ral votes were counted, was found to have received 
 89, while Madison was elected by 128 votes. 
 
 In permitting himself to be used as a candidate, 
 Clinton exposed himself to great obloquy. Two 
 different parties were interested in misrepresenting 
 his views and opinions. The supporters of Madi- 
 son, on the one hand, were anxious that Clinton 
 should be represented as an opponent of the war, 
 believing that they would thus lessen his populari- 
 ty and diminish the vote for him as president. 
 The federal party, on the other hand, were willing 
 to consider him as opposed to the war, as by this 
 they might consistently vote for him, and obtain 
 an opportunity for distracting the ranks of their 
 ancient opponents. He was even strongly urged 
 to declare himself upon this point ; and, had he 
 given the least encouragement to a report that he 
 was the opponent of the war, he might have secu- 
 red the almost undivided support of the federal par- 
 t}'. This would probably have secured his election, 
 for that party was still strong and well organized- 
 Into the latter plan Chnton declined to enter ; and 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 195 
 
 thus, if he may have received the vote of a few 
 / federalists, he derived no aid from them as a party, 
 ' except in the Eastern states, where he was chosen 
 as the least of two evils. His decision on this 
 point left a feeling of animosity in the minds of 
 many distinguished opponents of the administra- 
 tion, which arrayed them ever after with what- 
 ever party sought the downfall of Clinton. 
 
 The nomination of Clinton was made by a con- 
 vention of the republican party of the State of 
 New-York. Many persons who were afterward 
 his most bitter opponents concurred in the call, and 
 gave their support to his nomination. The electo- 
 ral ticket which voted for him was headed by the 
 gentleman who was subsequently the successful 
 candidate of the party which opposed Clinton's 
 administration as governor. 
 
 This was the first attempt to put down the cau- 
 cus system, which has been followed by the very 
 method of conventions that was adopted by the 
 friends of Clinton ; and although he for a time 
 became the sacrifice of the new principle, it has, 
 notwithstanding, been triumphant, and is now uni- 
 versally admitted to be pre-eminently republican. 
 
 The main cause assigned by the convention for 
 
 \/ putting Clinton in nomination for the presidency 
 
 was, that hostilities might be conducted in a more 
 
 efficient manner. The early operations of the war 
 
 were attended with discomfiture 9nd disgrace ; and 
 
196 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 it was most earnestly desired, by many sincere well- 
 wishers of their country, that a man of Clinton's 
 decision, capacity, and judgment should take the 
 place of what they considered a feeble and vacil- 
 lating administration. The truth is, however un- 
 popular may be the declaration of it, that a war, 
 commenced without preparation, was carried on 
 without a plan ; and the force which, if united, 
 might have penetrated to the walls of Quebec, was 
 engaged in partial and inconclusive conflicts over 
 a thousand miles of frontier. 
 
 So far from attempting to embarrass the govern- 
 ment in the prosecution of the war, Clinton was 
 the first official personage who came out publicly 
 to arouse his countrymen to that strenuous and 
 unanimous support of the cause of their country 
 by which alone the war could be brought to a 
 happy issue. An opportunity was afforded him 
 for this purpose in his charge to the grand jury of 
 the City and County of New-York, before a month 
 had elapsed from the date of the declaration of 
 w^ar. In this charge, after pointing out the new 
 relations in which the country had been placed, he 
 explains to the grand jury its duty in inquiring 
 into such acts as by these new relations had be- 
 come crimes. 
 
 It is therefore clear, that the charge of being 
 opposed to a war with Great Britain, which has 
 been so often urged against him, is devoid of 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 197 
 
 foundation. Even had he been one of its most 
 strenuous opponents at the beginning, he would 
 have stood in no worse Hght than others, who, how- 
 ever violent they had been in their resistance to a 
 declaration of war, were, notwithstanding, relieved 
 from all imputations of want of patriotism, in con- 
 sequence of the support which they afforded to the 
 
 government in carrying it on. 
 
 R2 
 
198 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Progress of the Canal Policy interrupted hy the 
 War. — Clinton tenders his Military Services to 
 Governor Tompkins. — His Report on the De- 
 fence of the City of JYew-YorJe. — Measures of 
 the Corporation, and of the State and General 
 Governments, in consequence. — Clinton is re- 
 moved from his Office of Mayor. — He renews 
 the Consideration of the Canal Questioji. — 
 Meeting on that Subject in JYew-York. — Clin- 
 ton draws the Memorial of that Meeting. — Ex- 
 amiiiation of the Contents, and Effects of that 
 Memorial. 
 
 The declaration of war put an end to all in!Wie- 
 diate chance of proceeding with the construction 
 of the New- York canals. The Legislature had 
 indeed, on the 19th of June, 1812, almost at the 
 instant that the war began, passed an act further 
 to provide for the improvement of the internal 
 navigation of this state. By this act the board of 
 commissioners were authorized to purchase the in- 
 terest of the Western Inland Lock Navigation 
 Company, and to borrow five millions of dollars 
 as a fund for making the canal. This act was 
 obtained by the exertion on the part of Clinton 
 
DEWITT CLINTON, 199 
 
 of the same powerful influence he had hitherto 
 )3rought to bear in support of this great scheme. 
 His whole soul had indeed become devoted to the 
 object. It was, therefore, with no little regret 
 that he saw any chance of its even being com- 
 menced postponed indefinitely by the hostilities 
 with Great Britain ; and the strenuous support 
 which he afforded the government in all defensive 
 measures, derives enhanced merit from this circum- 
 stance. 
 
 He had, in fact, when he visited Washington to 
 solicit the aid of the general government to the ca- 
 nal, pledged his support and that of his friends to 
 the o-overnment in case of a war with Great Brit- 
 ain ; and this pledge he redeemed. On his return 
 he sought to regain his relative rank in the militia, 
 with a view of being in the way of active service. 
 His f^\vn view of his claims was limited to the 
 rank of brigadier ; but the council of appointment, 
 in consideration of his eminent standing in civil 
 life, conferred on him the commission of major-gen- 
 eral. As soon as it became necessary to call out 
 the militia, he applied, through the intervention of 
 Emmett, to Governor Tompkins for a command. 
 He was compelled to make use of the channel of 
 a mutual friend, as any familiar intercourse had 
 ceased between him and the governor. Tompkins 
 had been drawn from obscurity by the notice of 
 Chnton, and owed to him his appointment as a 
 
200 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 judge, and his nomination as a candidate for gov- 
 ernor in opposition to General Lewis. He was 
 now opposed to Clinton on the presidential ques- 
 tion, and gave the whole weight of his official in- 
 fluence to Madison. Clinton, therefore, could not 
 avoid considering him as ungrateful. On the oth- 
 er hand, Tompkins affected to consider Clinton as 
 an opponent of the war. It therefore did not suit 
 him to bring Chnton forAvard in any active milita- 
 ry employment, and the application for a command 
 was rejected. 
 
 Clinton, however, was determined to be useful 
 to his country in the capacity w^hich he was still 
 permitted to retain, that of mayor of the City of 
 New-York. Feeling most sensibly the exposed 
 position of this important place, he drew up and 
 presented to the corporation a report on the meas- 
 ures necessary for its defence, and strong represen- 
 tations were in consequence made to the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 It appeared by this report that, so culpable had 
 been the inattention of the administration, while 
 that of England was sending out the army of Spain 
 and Portugal to our coast, no more than 1600 men 
 had been left for the defence of New- York. No 
 other mode of attack had been anticipated than 
 from shipping attempting to enter the Narrows. 
 The state had made provision for fortifying the 
 pass at Hellgate; but no preparation of any de-» 
 
DEW ITT CLINTON. 201 
 
 scription had been made in case an army were to 
 be landed on Long Island or in West Chester. 
 
 The report, after pointing out the exposed po- 
 sition of the city, proposed that fortified camps 
 should be established at Brooklyn and Haerlem, 
 and a sufficient body of militia called out to gar- 
 rison them. 
 
 To attain these purposes, eight resolutions were 
 appended to the report. By the first, a committee 
 of the Common Council was directed to solicit the 
 attention of the president to these objects j by the 
 second, the governor of the state was requested, 
 under the authority of the militia law, to call out 
 a sufficient number of the militia to occupy the 
 proposed camps, and a loan of $300,000 tendered 
 him for the purpose. The other resolutions had 
 reference to munitions of war, and to the mode of 
 raising the money tendered. 
 
 The corporation at the time contained a major- 
 ity of the opponents of the government, and polit- 
 ical antagonists of Clinton. On this occasion, how- 
 ever, all party feeling was forgotten, and absolute 
 unanimity prevailed in its deliberations. The oc- 
 casion was seized by the politic Tompkins as a 
 mode of increasing his popularity. Up to this 
 time he had been busily engaged in pressing of- 
 fensive measures on the frontiers of Canada, with- 
 out being aware that the enemy saw that the 
 surest mode of defending their colony was by ag- 
 
202 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 gressive acts on the coast of the United States. 
 He now did more than was asked of him, and 
 poured into the City of New-York mihtia contin- 
 gents to double the number that the committee 
 of the corporation had thought necessary. Of 
 this force he assumed the command, obtaining 
 from the general government its sanction. Clin- 
 ton, in the mean time — the real projector of the 
 measure, by which all risk of attack was avoided, 
 and which preserved the city from the fate of 
 Washington and Alexandria, or the panic experi- 
 enced at Baltimore — was studiously kept in the 
 background. The funds necessary for the pay 
 and support of this imposing force far exceeded 
 the amount furnished by the corporation. A se- 
 vere trial of its patriotism was therefore to be 
 made. The general government, which had sanc- 
 tioned the call of such a force, had provided no 
 means for the purpose of keeping it together. Its 
 credit, from mismanagement of its vast resources, 
 had fallen to so low an ebb, that its treasury notes 
 were almost worthless in the market. To call the ■ 
 state legislature together would have been a tedious ^ 
 process, during which the troops would have been 
 exposed to distress, or must have been disbanded, i 
 An opportunity was thus presented by which an • 
 adroit politician, without the semblance of improp- 
 er motives, might have left the governor to his own 
 resources, and thrown upon him the responsibility 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 203 
 
 of collecting, for his own purposes, a force he was 
 unable to pay or feed. Such, however, was not 
 the course of the mayor and corporation of New- 
 York. With the utmost readiness, and without 
 a dissenting voice, that body, in pursuance of a 
 report presented by Clinton, interposed its un- 
 impeached credit in behalf of the government; 
 and, procuring from the banks a loan, placed 
 $1,400,000 at the disposal of the governor. 
 
 In these patriotic exertions Clinton derived the 
 most steady and efficient support from members of 
 the corporation. Among t]\ese are particularly to 
 be remembered Aldermen Fish, Mapes, and Law- 
 rence. The first an old soldier of the Revolution, 
 and the brother in arms of Hamilton ; the second, 
 who, although a tradesman, exhibited in the dis- 
 cipline of a militia brigade, of which he was the 
 commander, and which was called into the service, 
 a high degree of military talent ; the third a bank- 
 er, who, by his judicious administration of the 
 finances of the city, had raised its credit from a 
 low ebb, until it was far superior to that of either 
 the general or state governments. 
 
 In the negotiations which attended this loan, an 
 incident occurred which may be here cited as ex- 
 hibiting the character of the man who speedily 
 became the opponent and persecutor of Clinton, 
 who had raised him from obscurity. The corpora- 
 tion had stipulated that it should receive United 
 
204 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 States' treasury notes as vouchers for the loan thus 
 made to the general government. The comptroll- 
 er, Mr. Mercein, waited on the governor, by ap-- 
 pointment, with one of the instalments. The notes 
 were exhibited to him, wanting only the signature 
 of Tompkins, who stated that a wish to be present 
 at the approaching confinement of his lady com- 
 pelled him to set off that afternoon for Albany, 
 and that he would take it as a favour if the exe- 
 cution of these notes were postponed until his re- 
 turn. The comptroller, without hesitation, com- 
 plied with the request ; and there is no doubt that 
 the governor did at the time intend to fulfil his 
 promise. But, in the interval, other pressing de- 
 mands arose, and the treasury notes were applied 
 to other purposes. It now became a question of 
 personal veracity between the governor and the 
 comptroller ; the former denying that he had 
 given the promise, the latter asserting it. The 
 general government, in the end, made good the 
 amount, and the comptroller was relieved from his 
 responsibility, so that the pecuniary part of the dis- 
 pute was adjusted. In the denial, however, Tomp- 
 kins had forgotten, what the comptroller was not 
 aware of, that a witness was present at the confer- 
 ence, who can, even at this late period, bear his 
 testimony to the correctness of the statement of 
 the latter. A young officer, charged with exhib- 
 iting to the governor the report on the fortifica- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 205 
 
 tions at Haerlem and Brooklyn, was in the room 
 when the comptroller was announced, and was 
 requested by the governor to take a seat, and wait 
 until the business with the comptroller was trans- 
 acted. The transaction, according to his recollec- 
 tion, was in all respects conformable to the state- 
 ment of Mr. Mercein. It would therefore appear 
 that the governor, when he applied the treasury 
 notes to other purposes, and found he could not re- 
 place them, preferred the sacrifice of a political 
 opponent to a controversy with the administration, 
 into which he must have entered had he maintain- 
 ed, as he ought, the claims of the City of New- 
 York. 
 
 The same weakness was the cause of a subse- 
 quent dispute in accounts between Tompkins and 
 the comptroller of the State of New-York, in 
 which the difference amounted to a very large 
 sum. No one now believes that he was actually 
 a defaulter, or had applied money to his own pur- 
 poses ; but he yielded to the necessities of the 
 general government, and appropriated to its ser- 
 vice moneys intrusted by the State of New-York ; 
 and the state, with a true sense of its dignity, for- 
 gave him the debt, although he had not taken the 
 proper steps for enabling it to be recovered from 
 the administration at Washington. 
 
 On another occasion, the influence of Clinton 
 with the body over whose deliberations he presi- 
 
 S 
 
206 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ded was materially of use to the general govern- 
 ment. A steam 'ship-of-war was building under 
 the direction of Fulton, and the government was 
 unable to supply the funds for continuing the work. 
 An application was in consequence made to the 
 corporation of New-York for aid ; but the finance 
 committee, looking into it only as a matter of busi- 
 ness, had determined to report against a grant, be- 
 cause it would unnecessarily involve the city in 
 debt. In this emergency Clinton interposed, and 
 was successful in convincing the committee that 
 the loan ought to be made. 
 
 We thus see that Clinton was in favour of a 
 war with Great Britain ; that no sooner was war 
 declared than he gave the government his undi- 
 vided support ; that he was foremost in the meas- 
 ures of defence by which the City of New-York 
 was rendered inaccessible to the marauding bands 
 of Ross and Cockburn ; and that he was the first 
 mover in the measures by which the necessary 
 funds were raised for the purpose. If, in the ac- 
 tion of the corporation on the first two points, he 
 was aided by his ancient opponents in that body, 
 he was not less assisted in the financial part of the 
 operation by many who had not yet abandoned 
 the name and the party distinctions of federalists. 
 Rufus ICing addressed a large assemblage of citi- 
 zens at the Tontine Coffee House in aid of the 
 contemplated loan ; and a great number of citi- 
 
DEWTTT CLINTON. 207 
 
 zens of the federal party enrolled themselves as 
 volunteers. 
 
 On this occasion the old party lines were com- 
 pletely obliterated ; no trace of affection for Great 
 Britain remained in any mind, and the very name 
 of federalist only exists to be used as a mode of 
 discrediting a political adversary in the minds of 
 the ignorant. The only wonder is, that, in a com- 
 munity where the means of education are so easily 
 accessible to all, its good sense should not revolt 
 at the employment of terms, the meaning of which 
 has long been obliterated. 
 
 Governor Tompkins reaped the full fruit of his 
 ingenious policy. Thirty thousand militia, inclu- 
 ding the flower of the youth of the state, and 
 many of the most promising of the party opposed 
 to the administration, were soon dispersed to carry 
 throughout the state the tidings of the affability, 
 the kindness, the devoted patriotism, and, as many 
 faithfully believed, the great military talent of the 
 governor ; while the citizens of New-York hailed 
 him as their champion and saviour. He was thus 
 clothed with sufficient power to use it to the injury 
 of Clinton, who was removed from his office of 
 mayor in 1815. It was attempted to justify his re- 
 moval on the grounds of his being originally an op- 
 ponent of the war, and of being wanting in patri- 
 otism to support it. How futile such charges were, 
 the facts we have cited will show. Nor were they 
 believed by the community, as will speedily appear. 
 
208 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 To show how completely all party lines had 
 been obliterated by the war, and that opposition 
 to the measures which led to it was not felt, how- 
 ever strongly it might be proclaimed as a disqual- 
 ification, the successor of Clinton in the office of 
 mayor, in 1815, was his federal opponent, Jacob 
 Radcliff, who, on the temporary ascendency of his 
 party in 1810, had already superseded Clinton in 
 the same office. 
 
 In the mean time, the canal question slumber- 
 ed. The commissioners, indeed, made a report 
 in March, 1814, in which the plan of an incli- 
 ned plane was in express terms abandoned ; but, 
 within the next month, the authority granted to 
 them to contract for a loan was annulled by a 
 clause in the supply bill, where it had been pla- 
 ced, as being there unlikely to attract attention or 
 excite debate. 
 
 At the close of the war. Governor Tompkins 
 had it in his power to renew, by an official sug- 
 gestion, the attention of the public to the canal 
 policy. No man could have exposed the necessi- 
 ty and importance of a system of internal commu- 
 nication in more exact accordance with his own 
 particular views than he. These views were all 
 warlike, and directed to preparation for renewed 
 hostilities with Great Britain. He had seen can- 
 non dragged by land from Washington to Sack- 
 ett's Harbour, to arm the fleet which disputed the 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 209 
 
 command of Lake Ontario, and an enormous ex- 
 pense incurred in other ways for want of easy 
 communications. This glorious opportunity of 
 calKng the attention of the pubhc to canals, as the 
 most efficient means of security against attack, or 
 of collecting forces and material for offensive 
 operations, was lost by him. He had it in his 
 power to make himself the leader of that incon- 
 trollable spirit which speedily manifested itself, but 
 he neglected it. 
 
 In the mean time, Clinton, removed from all 
 official station, and abandoned by all political as- 
 sociates except a few personal friends, saw that 
 the moment had arrived for renewing his exertions 
 on behalf of the cause of canals. His means of 
 success were immeasurably diminished from the 
 time in which he led, in the councils of the state, 
 the solid and disciplined party to whose command 
 Tompkins had now succeeded, and could count on 
 the patriotic concurrence of such men as Piatt, Van 
 Rensselaer, and Morris, the leaders of his oppo- 
 nents in all other measures. The diminution of 
 his own immediate political resources did not dis- 
 may him. He trusted to the good sense and the 
 sound patriotism of his fellow-citizens, satisfied 
 that, could he obtain an impartial hearing, the 
 cause of internal improvement must triumph. He 
 therefore, in the autumn of 1815, called to his 
 aid Piatt, thus repajdng the confidence which that 
 
 S2 
 
210 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 gentleman had, on the former occasion, reposed in 
 him, and with him that of WiUiam Bayard, who 
 then stood at the head of the mercantile commu- 
 nity in the city, of Thomas Eddy, his old associate 
 in the canal commission, of John Swartwout, who 
 forgot on this occasion their old strife even to 
 blood, of Cadwallader D. Golden, and of several 
 other influential and distinguished citizens. In 
 conformity with a pubhc call, a meeting was con- 
 vened at the City Hotel, w^hich, by the exertions of 
 his coadjutors, was numerously attended. Before 
 this meeting, a draught of a memorial, prepared 
 by Clinton, was laid and unanimously adopted. 
 
 This memorial was then circulated throughout 
 the state for signatures, and was everywhere re- 
 ceived with enthusiasm and subscribed with avid- 
 ity. 
 
 There have, in the course of American history, 
 been a few instances in which a single able state 
 paper, appealing to the patriotism and good sense 
 of the people in opposition to the cry of party or 
 the force of prejudice, has changed the whole 
 course of public sentiment, or created a new im- 
 pulse by which that sentiment w^as directed into 
 channels before unexplored. Among such in- 
 stances we may cite the proclamation of neutrali- 
 ty by Washington, and that in opposition to the 
 doctrine of nullification by Jackson. The memo- 
 rial in relation to the canals had a similar influ- 
 
DEW ITT CLINTON. 211 
 
 ence within a less extended sphere. It exhibited 
 the practicability of the canal to Lake Erie in so 
 clear a light, and demonstrated its advantages 
 over the route by Lake Ontario so evidently, that 
 the first was never again questioned even for po- 
 litical effect, and the last sunk into oblivion. It 
 showed that the canal was not only practicable, 
 but that the benefits it would confer on the state 
 were such that it would be an advisable measui^e 
 even were it to return no revenue. It entered at 
 full length into an estimate of the cost of the ca- 
 nal, and demonstrated that the resources of the 
 state were adequate to its construction even in 
 default of any large income from tolls. Finally, 
 with feelings of extended patriotism, it proceeded 
 from the local benefits to be conferred on the State 
 of New- York, to the influence of such a work 
 upon the general prosperity of the nation, and its 
 effect in dra\ving more closely the bonds of union 
 among the states. The argument of this report 
 was so convincing, its appeal to feelings of indi- 
 vidual interest, of state pride, and national glory 
 so irresistible, that for the moment all opposition to 
 the scheme was silenced. 
 
 Had Clinton performed no- other act in relation 
 to the canal system than to compile the informa- 
 tion collected in this memorial, digest its argu- 
 ment, and recommend it to public attention by 
 the weight of his name and of his political and 
 
212 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 personal influence, he would have been entitled to 
 stand first in the list of the promoters of this vast 
 and useful enterprise. But when we consider 
 that, in addition to the long and devoted atten- 
 tion which was necessary to prepare this report, 
 the broad and statesman-like views which it ex- 
 hibited, and the great authority of his name in 
 procuring its consideration and extensive adop- 
 tion, he from this time made the furtherance of 
 the canal policy the prominent mark of his noble 
 ambition, the services of all other persons, how- 
 ever eminent, sink into insignificance. No other 
 person ventured on the support of this policy 
 the adherence of his friends, his well-earned rep- 
 utation as a statesman, his character for prudence 
 and foresight, and, finally, all his prospects of fu- 
 ture elevation in political life ; all these, and they 
 were a mighty stake, Clinton committed to the 
 hazard of the success or failure of the canal poli- 
 cy. The fears of his timid friends he allayed; 
 the remonstrances of those who saw a surer way 
 for him to regain his political influence he disre- 
 garded, even at the cost of seeing them join the 
 ranks of his enemies; he was too well satisfied of 
 the accuracy of his calculations to dread the judg- 
 ment of posterity upon his prediction; and he 
 willingly placed all his future hopes of rank and 
 distinction upon the accomplishment of this single 
 measure. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 213 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 Memorial is presented to the Legislature. — Final 
 Report of the Old Board of Commissioners. — 
 Law to provide for the Improvement of the In- 
 ternal JYavigation of the State. — The JVeiu 
 Board of Commissioners enter upon their dur- 
 ties. — Their Report. — Vast amount of field- 
 work pe formed under their direction. — Scheme 
 of Finance. — Law of Congress for promoting 
 Internal Improvements. — Its Rejection hy Pres- 
 ident Madison as unconstitutional . — Modifica- 
 tions rendered necessary in the Scheme of Fi- 
 nance. — The Bill to authorize the construction 
 of the Canal becomes a Law. — Opposition of the 
 City Delegation. — The Canal Policy made hy 
 them a party question. 
 
 The memorial of which we have spoken in the 
 last chapter was signed by a great number of per- 
 sons in the city of New-York ; it was enforced by 
 a recommendation from the corporation of that 
 city, and seconded by the action of pubhc meet- 
 ings in Albany, and nearly all the towns and vil- 
 lages to the west and north of that place. It 
 was presented to the Legislature about the same 
 time with the final report of the old board of com- 
 
2 14 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 missioners. This report refers to the number and 
 respectabiUty of the appHcations before the Le- 
 gislature in favour of an immediate prosecution of 
 the canal, as an evidence that its advantages were 
 appreciated by the citizens of the state. The re- 
 port, in addition, recommends the construction of 
 the Champlain Canal, and urges the superiority of 
 the Erie over the Ontario route. The original 
 draught, as in former cases, had been made by 
 Morris; but, in consequence of alterations made 
 in it by the other commissioners, he declined to 
 sign it. 
 
 The time had passed when eloquent declama- 
 tion could be received as a substitute for sound 
 practical views. The community had been ex- 
 cited to the examination of the project upon its 
 real merits by the brilliant effusions of Morris, 
 but had, on consideration, seen that they pointed 
 out schemes which were impracticable. To this 
 expressed will of the people the commissioners 
 found themselves compelled to conform ; and, in 
 spite of the respect they entertained for the char- 
 acter of that distinguished man, they, with abso- 
 lute unanimity, concurred in the amendments and 
 alterations. 
 
 Clinton, after the presentation of the memorial, 
 proceeded to Albany to enforce, by his personal 
 and political mfluence, its favourable reception, 
 and to urge its being acted upon Although 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 215 
 
 many friends of the measure were desirous of ob- 
 taining authority to commence the work, no more 
 was gained from the Legislature than the means 
 of proceeding with the inquiry, in such manner 
 that the surveys, which had hitherto been confined 
 to mere exploration, should be directed to the ac- 
 tual location, and the rude calculations made from 
 partial researches extended into close and accu- 
 rate estimates of the probable cost. Clinton and 
 the other memorialists prudently abstained from 
 jeoparding their cause, by insisting upon any com- 
 mittal on the part of the state, until such estimates 
 could be submitted, or any appropriation beyond 
 the cost of survey, until a scheme of finance had 
 been prepared adequate to the magnitude of the 
 operation. 
 
 In compliance with the prayer of the memorial, 
 an act was passed on the 17th April, 1816, "to 
 provide for the improvement of the internal nav- 
 igation of the state." In this act Stephen Van 
 Rensselaer, Dewitt Clinton, Samuel Young, My- 
 ron Holley, and Joseph Elliott, were named com- 
 missioners. Their prescribed duties were to con- 
 sider and devise such measures as might be neces- 
 sary to connect Hudson River with Lake Cham- 
 plain and Lake Erie ; they were required to re- 
 port within twenty days after the commencement 
 of the next annual session of the Legislature j and 
 
216 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 $20,000 were appropriated for the expenses of 
 the inquiry. 
 
 No time was lost by the commissioners in enter- 
 ing upon their duties, and sufficient corps of engi- 
 neers were forthwith organized. Three of the 
 commissioners assumed active duties in the field, 
 and, dividing the work into the same number of 
 parts, pressed the performance of the surveys in 
 person. These gentlemen, thus devoting their 
 whole time to the work, were entitled to, and re- 
 ceived a compensation for their services. Clinton 
 and Van Rensselaer, who performed at least equal 
 services in another manner, would accept of no 
 remuneration. 
 
 Clinton devoted much attention, during the re- 
 cess of the Legislature, to the consideration of a 
 scheme of finance. The first point to be ascer- 
 tained was the possibility of borrowing a sufficient 
 amount, provided satisfactory security could be ex- 
 hibited. For this purpose he placed himself in 
 communication with the most intelligent merchants 
 of the City of New-York ; and, as the intercourse 
 with Europe was reopened, he had an opportunity, 
 which he sedulously improved, of consulting the 
 travellers who had repaired to England on the ces- 
 sation of hostilities, and were from time to time re- 
 turning. All accounts seemed to encourage the 
 hope that no difficulty would be experienced in 
 raising sufficient funds. A more important obsta- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 217 
 
 cle was therefore to be overcome, that of devising 
 a system of finance. The Legislature had indeed, 
 on a former occasion, clothed the old board of 
 commissioners with power to borrow five millions 
 of dollars on the simple pledge of the faith of 
 the state. Clinton, whatever may have been his 
 opinion on a former occasion, was now satisfied of 
 the cardinal principle, that no debt ought in any 
 event to be contracted by a government, unless a 
 fund were at the same time provided for paying 
 its interest and for its final redemption. The in- 
 come of the canal itself might, indeed, be calcula- 
 ted upon for a part, if not the whole, of the latter 
 object ; but he felt convinced, that even if the ab- 
 solute maintenance of the public faith did not re- 
 quire an income to be provided from other sources, 
 yet the rate of interest at which a loan could be 
 procured would be much lessened by exhibiting 
 to the lender a pledge of resources which would 
 render his remuneration sure, even were the proj- 
 ect on which the capital should be expended to 
 
 fail. 
 
 The commonplace-book of Clinton abounds 
 with extracts made by him at this period from 
 the best authors on the principles of finance and 
 the management of a public debt, and manifests 
 how attentively he studied this subject, and what 
 labour he devoted to master the details. 
 
 The great success of the New-York canals has 
 
 T 
 
218" AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 stimulated almost every other state of the Union to 
 similar enterprises. Many of these have been 
 judiciously planned and successfully prosecuted. 
 They have furnished in such cases revenues which 
 have at least paid the interest on their cost. There 
 are, again, other instances, in which the plan has 
 been so far judicious, that new wealth has been cre- 
 ated more than equal to the expenditure on the im- 
 provement, but where the income has barely defray- 
 ed the cost of maintaining the work. The ease 
 with which New-York has paid its interest, and the 
 rapidity with which the sinking-fund has accumu- 
 lated to the full amount of the original debt, has 
 raised the credit of the nation in foreign marts, and 
 has afforded to other states facilities for loans which 
 even New-York did not at first enjoy. The mere 
 pledge of the public faith has, in consequence, been 
 of late found sufficient to obtain a loan. It has 
 thus happened, that, in almost all recent instances, 
 the wise precaution taken by the State of New- 
 York has been neglected. Public w^orks have been 
 commenced to an extent w^holly unauthorized by 
 the business and population of the states to which 
 they belong ; no other funds than the prospective 
 income of the finished work have been thought of; 
 and, in almost all cases, the borrower, instead of 
 endeavouring to ensure the redemption of the debt 
 by a fund accumulating at compound interest, has 
 trusted to new loans to meet the interest itself, and 
 
"DEWITT CLINTON. 219 
 
 tlius allowed the debt to accumulate in the same 
 •rapid manner. Such is the consequence of this 
 method of accumulation, that if, on the one hand, 
 the smallest excess of fund over and above the in- 
 terest must in the end extinguish the debt, on the 
 other the debt will increase so fast, that the most 
 brilliant final success will hardly be sufficient to re- 
 duce it when thus compounded. 
 
 The system of borrowing without an intermedi- 
 ate provision for the interest is besides objection- 
 able, inasmuch as the rate of interest will be con- 
 tinually rising upon the borrower, until it may 
 happen that the funds for the completion of the 
 works of improvement cannot be obtained, and 
 thus the anticipated revenue may never be real- 
 ized. 
 
 It is by a neglect of this cardinal principle that 
 the new states of the Union are at this moment 
 suffering under the evils of a total prostration of 
 credit, and public works, undertaken and carried 
 on at a vast expense, are lying unfinished, and, con- 
 sequently, unproductive. 
 
 The question whether a public debt is to have 
 its interest and final redemption provided for at the 
 moment it is contracted, or whether it is to be 
 sanctioned by a simple pledge of the public faith, 
 has been among the distinctive characters of the 
 two great schools of politicians which have divi- 
 ded our country from the time it became independ- 
 
220 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ent. At the head of one school stands Hamilton, 
 and at that of the other Jefferson. In the practi- 
 cal action of the general government, no injury has 
 arisen from the predominance of the opinions of 
 the latter. The great debt contracted during the 
 war of 1812 has been redeemed by the proceeds 
 of the national domain, and the people, as a body, 
 have not felt it as a burden. But the states stand 
 in a very different position; they have, as a general 
 rule, no landed estate to resort to for the payment of 
 their loans; and any great debt contracted by them, 
 beyond the hmit which can be sustained by an ex- 
 isting revenue, must be followed by breach of faith, 
 or even by absolute bankruptcy. It is highly to 
 the credit of Clinton, that, educated in the school 
 of Jefferson, and holding all its tenets, he was en- 
 abled to free himself from its shackles in this point 
 of policy. 
 
 The canal commissioners reported in due season 
 to the Legislature. It appeared that 440 miles of 
 canal had been traced upon the ground, and the 
 cost of construction estimated. This was found to 
 be nearly six millions of dollars ; and it is one of 
 the peculiar features of the history of the canal, 
 that, in spite of the amount of work in survey and 
 calculation being greater than had ever before 
 been performed in so short a space of time and at 
 so small a cost, the actual construction has differed 
 less from the estimate than in almost any similar 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 221 
 
 instance. The commissioners, in order to ensure 
 this, had laid it down as a principle, that every 
 probable expense should be included in the esti- 
 mate, and every possible contingency provided 
 for. Such, however, was the distrust, arising 
 from experience of the inaccuracy of estimates, 
 that many of the best friends of the measure feared 
 that the anticipations of the commissioners were 
 too sanguine, while those opposed to it maintained 
 that the estimates were made up with a view to 
 deceive, in order to embark the state in a project 
 which, if once begun, must be completed, whatever 
 might be the cost. 
 
 When the report had been presented and refer- 
 red, the committee to whose charge it was intrust- 
 ed asked from the commissioners the draught of 
 a law providing for the construction of the canal 
 and creating a system of finance. This draught 
 was made by Clinton. The scheme of finance 
 created a canal fund, vested in a board, and pledg- 
 ed the faith of the state that it should not be di- 
 verted. No pledge was originally given in the 
 draught of the credit of the state, to provide for 
 either principal or interest, beyond the fund point- 
 ed out and made sacred. The question of finance 
 appeared to have been much simplified, at the mo- 
 ment the report was presented, by an act which 
 had just passed both Houses of Congress. By 
 this act, the income of the stock held by the gov- 
 
 T2 
 
222 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ernment in the Bank of the United States was 
 directed to be distributed among the several states 
 for the purpose of internal improvements. Under 
 it the State of New-York would have received 
 $90,000 per annum, which would have been 
 equivalent to the interest on a loan sufficient to 
 meet the estimated cost of one fourth of the canal. 
 Upon this liberal measure, which would have dif- 
 fused wealth and happiness throughout the Union, 
 Mr. Madison set his veto in the very last moment 
 of his administration. The cause assigned for this 
 measure was, that the law was unconstitutional ; 
 yet he at the same moment approved a law making 
 a large appropriation for the Cumberland road, 
 and another making a grant to a road in Tennes- 
 see. The nice casuistry by which it has been de- 
 cided that certain public improvements fall within 
 the granted powers of the general government, 
 while others do not, is beyond the comprehension 
 of those who are not accustomed to thread the 
 mazes of metaphysical investigation ; while the 
 dictates of plain common sense would seem to es- 
 tablish the conclusion, that the framers of the Con- 
 stitution could never have intended to exclude the 
 power of granting the surplus funds of the general 
 government, in a fair ratio of distribution, among 
 the individual states. The truth is, that the prob- 
 ability that the Union could ever have a surplus of 
 income over expenditures seems never to have oc- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 223 
 
 curred to the framers of the Constitution, nor was 
 there any precedent in modern times whence such 
 an anticipation could have been drawn. 
 
 Those have not been wanting who have ascribed 
 this act of Mr. Madison to a desire to prevent the 
 construction of the New- York canal. If the ad- 
 mitted patriotism of that distinguished citizen be 
 urged as evidence that such could not have been 
 the case, still the assertion that such were his mo- 
 tives has been maintained by most plausible ar- 
 guments. Chnton was at the moment, by his 
 strenuous exertions in the cause of internal im- 
 provements, acquiring a popularity, which one 
 whom he had presumed to rival in the affections, 
 not only of the country at large, but of the demo- 
 cratic party itself, might well have desired to low- 
 er. The State of New-York was to derive the 
 most direct apparent benefit from the grant ; and a 
 Virginian might well have desired to check that 
 prosperity which was soon to place New-York in 
 the highest rank for population and wealth, and 
 which has, in the end, substituted the " Empire 
 State" for the " Old Dominion" in its standing in 
 the Union. Personal rivalry, political hostility, and 
 local prejudice, may then have reasonably been ex- 
 pected to exist in the mind of Madison, if it had 
 been capable of entertaining such feelings. 
 
 The loss of so large an anticipated source of in- 
 come rendered it necessary to amend the project 
 
224 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 of finance submitted by Clinton, after it had been 
 reported to the House of Assembly. Mr. Tibbitts, 
 then a member of the Senate, claims that the 
 whole of the important changes which were made 
 in the bill, grew out of his suggestions. 
 
 Clinton, in a history of the proceedings, pub- 
 lished under the signature of Tacitus, ascribes great 
 improvements in his original draught to the " use- 
 ful suggestions of Messrs. Van Rensselaer (J. Rut- 
 sen), Tibbitts, and Few." One of the features in- 
 troduced into the bill was unquestionably contrary 
 to the wishes of Chnton. A large duty was levied 
 by the authority of the state upon sales at auction 
 in the City of New-York. This had at first been 
 applied to local purposes within that city; one 
 half had then been withdrawn for the general 
 purposes of the state, and the bill, as passed, de- 
 prived the city of the other half, and threw the 
 whole into the canal lund. To this CHnton was 
 opposed. He would have preferred to see the ex- 
 ecution of his darling project delayed rather than 
 give his sanction to an act of injustice. The auc- 
 tion duty has been represented, and thus its diver- 
 sion into the general funds of the state justified, 
 as a tax upon the consumer, when all who have 
 watched its operation know that it falls almost 
 wholly on the importers of the City of New-York, 
 who voluntarily submit to it as the price of a more 
 speedy and safe return for their capital. 
 
DEW ITT CLINTON. 225 
 
 On the other hand, a feature which contributed 
 mainly to the passage of the bill, and which was 
 just in itself, was introduced by William A. Duer. 
 He was a representative from one of the counties 
 which could not, in any event, be benefited, and 
 might possibly be injured by the construction of 
 the canal; and his constituents were, in conse- 
 quence, opposed to it, particularly if it would 
 have subjected them to any risk of taxation for 
 its support. In order to conciliate this opposition, 
 he added a clause to the bill, by which the lands 
 for twenty-five miles on each side of the canal 
 were made liable to taxation. This went far to 
 satisfy those parts of the state which derived no 
 immediate advantage from the construction of the 
 canal, and was not objected to by its friends. Cir- 
 cumstances have rendered it unnecessary, but the 
 strict justice of the measure, and its expediency at 
 the moment, no one can doubt. 
 
 In the Senate, Mr. Van Buren, the present Pres- 
 ident of the United States, who had in the prece- 
 ding session opposed any measures beyond those of 
 inquiry, and had, in consequence, been considered 
 as hostile to the canal, came out as its supporter ; 
 and, not content with supporting the bill as it came 
 from the Assembly, proposed the addition of a 
 clause pledging the general credit of the state in 
 addition to the funds set apart as sacred for the re- 
 demption of the canal debt. This addition, if ad- 
 
226 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 mitted to have aided in obtaining the necessary 
 funds, has not been salutary either to the State of 
 New- York, or as an example to other states. The 
 revenue of the canal fund, and the income of the 
 canal, if kept separate upon the books of account 
 from the general finances of the state, have, in 
 point of fact, been mixed with them into one com- 
 mon mass. The state, apparently possessed of am- 
 ple funds, has abandoned taxation as a source of 
 revenue for its annual expenses, and is thus largely 
 in debt to the canal fund ; while the enlargement 
 of the canal itself, and the extension of the benefits 
 of internal improvement to other regions of the 
 state, has been retarded, if not prevented alto- 
 gether. 
 
 That the canal shall, by its operation, have 
 done away the necessity of continuing to resort to 
 an annual tax, is, however, one of its most popular 
 features. 
 
 After a long and severe contest, the bill at last 
 passed both houses of the Legislature. This re- 
 sult may be ascribed almost wholly to the exer- 
 tions of Clinton, who, going before a legislature, 
 a majority of which was either actually opposed 
 or wholly indifferent on the subject, brought pub- 
 lic opinion to bear upon its members with such 
 force, that opponents were converted or silenced, 
 and the indifferent convinced. 
 
 Even after the battle had been fought in the 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 227 
 
 Legislature, a difficulty remained to be overcome 
 in obtaining its passage through the council of 
 revision. This was achieved by the vote of Chan- 
 cellor Kent, who had doubts for a time as to the 
 feasibility of the project ; but, according to his own 
 statement, was brought to give a casting vote in 
 its favour by the very arguments which Governor 
 Tompkins urged against it. 
 
 Among the steady and determined opponents 
 of the canal bill, in every stage, were the delega- 
 tion in Assembly of the City of New-York, and the 
 senators of the Southern District. The former 
 had been elected in the place of a delegation 
 which was friendly to the canal, and in declared 
 opposition to the name and the policy of Clinton. 
 Hostility to him prevailed over all considerations 
 of public benefit ; and this being made the ground 
 of their vote on the canal question, converted the 
 decision of the Legislature into a personal tri- 
 umph. 
 
 It thus happened, as in more than one other in- 
 stance, that the measures adopted by the political 
 opponents of Clinton only brought out in more dis- 
 tinct relief the importance of his agency in pre- 
 paring the way for that decided expression of pub- 
 lic opinion by which the construction of the canal 
 was in a manner forced upon cold friends or de- 
 cided enemies. By making the canal policy of 
 the state a party question, they compelled Clinton 
 
228 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 to do the same, and the attainment of the end for 
 which he strove became to him a pohtical victory. 
 It is thus, by the necessity under which he was 
 placed of bringing the whole weight of his influ- 
 ence to bear upon the canal question, and the 
 firm and unflinching manner in which he ventured 
 his whole political fortune on its result, that his 
 name has become inseparable from the history of 
 the canal policy of the state. All other persons, 
 however useful they may have been in promoting 
 the desired result, made the canal no more than a 
 secondary consideration in their respective projects 
 of ambition. Its success or failure would neither 
 have elevated nor depressed them in the public 
 view, while with Clinton it was the primary object 
 of his aspirations ; and its success so far exalted 
 him in the eye of the people, that his political op- 
 ponents were finally compelled to enter with ap- 
 parent ardour into the support of the canal policy 
 for the purpose of defeating him. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 229 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Clinton is elected Governor of the State of KeW" 
 York. — Apparent Calm in Party Feelings. — 
 Causes of renewed Party Violence. — Tompkins 
 is held icp as a Candidate in opposition to him, 
 Clinton^ s Re-election. — Farther increase of Par- 
 ty Violence. — Interference of the General Gov- 
 ernment. — Personal Hostility added to Feelings 
 of Party. — Important Measures recommended 
 by Clinton and carried in the Legislature. — 
 Character of his Speeches to the Legislature. 
 
 Clinton, who was brought, by his attendance 
 on the Legislature, in contact with a new race of 
 pohtical men, with a Legislature composed of 
 persons to many of whom he had hitherto been a 
 stranger, received an accession to his popularity 
 which was speedily manifested in an unexpected 
 manner. Madison's second term as president was 
 about to expire, and Monroe had been elected his 
 successor. Tompkins, who had been re-elected 
 governor of the state in 1816, was chosen vice- 
 president. Many persons appeared to have been 
 under the impression that the vacancy left by his 
 acceptance of the office must necessarily be sup- 
 plied during the remaining part of the term for 
 
 L 
 
230 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 which he had been elected, by the Heutenant-gov- 
 ernor. There was then no space left for political 
 agitation, or the attempt to bias the opinion of the 
 people by self-constituted leaders. When it was 
 ascertained that the Constitution required the elec- 
 tion of a new governor for the remainder of the 
 terra for which Tompkins had been chosen, a 
 universal expression of opinion in favour of Clin- 
 ton's nomination broke forth. His old democratic 
 friends in the country joined in the general wish ; 
 the federal party, so long his opponents, had ceas- 
 ed to exist as an organized faction, and its leaders 
 admitted that they could not recall it from its dis- 
 banded state to act either in his favour or against 
 him. The partisans who occupied Tammany Hall, 
 and directed the movements of the democratic par- 
 ty in the city, retained the animosity v;hich had 
 been engendered by his faithful exertions to main- 
 tain the public peace endangered at the breaking 
 out of the war. A feeble attempt at opposition 
 was made by this party, and Peter B. Porter was 
 brought forward as a candidate in opposition to 
 Clinton. The struggle, however, was almost nom- 
 inal, and the election of Clinton was achieved with 
 a unanimity unparalleled, except in the case of 
 his uncle, before party divisions had arisen, and 
 while the state was partially overrun by an enemy. 
 The spring of 1817 was therefore a period of 
 triumph in the life of Chnton. He had achieved 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 231 
 
 the passage of a bill which ensured the construction 
 of the canal, a result which had for so many years 
 been the first object of his wishes ; he had receiv- 
 ed the almost unanimous expression of the grati- 
 tude of his fellow-citizens for his long and faithful 
 services, under circumstances which showed that 
 he was not merely the idol of a party ; in addi- 
 tion, the successful termination of an important 
 lawsuit had relieved him from a state approaching 
 to pecuniary embarrassment. Every trace of po- 
 litical division seemed to have been obliterated; 
 and those unacquainted with the occult springs 
 which influence the actions of politicians thought 
 they saw in his inauguration as governor the be- 
 ginning of a political millennium, in which the 
 angry passions and fierce contests that had been 
 engaged in the long struggle between the federal 
 and democratic parties were to cease their de- 
 structive action. Clinton himself, with all his ex- 
 perience, was not free from the delusion, and pro- 
 nounced that in politics " all w^as calm." The 
 calm, however, w^as deceitful, and the precursor of 
 a strife more imbittered than any which the annals 
 of the politics of the state have recorded. 
 
 So completely had the old party distinctions 
 been obliterated, that the Legislature of 1818, 
 calling itself republican, chose as senator of the 
 United States Rufus King, who had been the can- 
 didate opposed to Tompkins in 1816, and w^as, 
 
232 AMERICAN BIOGRAP H Y. 
 
 perhaps, more than any other person, obnoxious to 
 the old democratic party. In this choice, Clinton, 
 who had been so long opposed to him, and who, al- 
 though repudiated by the supporters of Tompkins, 
 had refused to sustain King when held up as can- 
 didate for the office of governor, cordially united. 
 
 The opposition to Clinton in the city of New- 
 York was, however, unabated, and was speedily re- 
 enforced by the whole weight of the executive in- 
 fluence of the general government. Some attempts 
 had been made by mutual friends to bring about a 
 good understanding between President Monroe 
 and the governor of New- York, but they were so 
 injudiciously managed as to lead more speedily to 
 an open breach. Without the necessity of believ- 
 ing the charges, which the opposition have so fre- 
 quently made, of direct corruption on the part of 
 the general government in the elections of the 
 city, it possesses evidently a great and powerful in- 
 fluence upon the most active politicians by the num- 
 ber and value of its custom-house appointments. 
 The whole of this corps was forthwith banded 
 with the opponents of Clinton's administration. 
 
 Clinton, in his struggle with the federal party, 
 had not been sparing in his denunciations and in- 
 vectives, nor measured in the tone of his speeches 
 and writings. He had also committed the less 
 pardonable offence of holding aloof when it was 
 . expected that he would have joined them. The 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 233 
 
 wounds thus inflicted were but partially healed 
 and easily reopened. From causes which at this 
 distant date can hardly be appreciated, fifty-one 
 gentlemen, comprising a most formidable array of 
 talent and activity, joined in a declaration by which 
 they withdrew themselves from the federal party, 
 and united with the opponents of Clinton. Many 
 of these gentlemen, although opposed to the war 
 in its early stages, had been actively and gallant- 
 ly engaged in the defence of the country when 
 threatened by invasion; and the leaders of the 
 democratic party in the city were willing to accept 
 of this service, with the promise of their aid in the 
 overthrow of Clinton, sa a compensation for their 
 ancient opposition. 
 
 Clinton, by the very excess of his triumph, had 
 become possessed of the whole appointing power. 
 The first council of appointment under his admin- 
 istration was composed wholly of his friends, and 
 thus, for almost the only session during the exist- 
 ence of that body, the whole load of responsibility 
 appeared to rest upon the governor. As was natu- 
 ral, he gave in appointments a decided preference 
 to the small band of devoted friends who, during 
 the apparent downfall of his political influence 
 which accompanied his removal from the office of 
 mayor, had remained steadfast in their affections. 
 These were obnoxious from old feelings to the fed- 
 eralists, and still more so to the democratic party of 
 
 U2 
 
234 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 the city, which had been taught to consider them as 
 apostates. From this cause, in addition to the dis- 
 satisfaction arising from disappointed apphcations, 
 a great loss of popularity arose, and Clinton had 
 not in his hands the powerful engine of party dis- 
 ciphne by which unsuccessful applicants for office 
 are compelled to hide their griefs. 
 
 The triumph of the canal policy had produced 
 discontent in many of the counties which derived 
 no direct benefit from it. This was artfully foster- 
 ed ; and, assigning to Chnton that prominent agen- 
 cy in procuring the passage of the canal bill, and 
 creating the canal policy of the state, which was 
 afterward denied him by the same persons, an out- 
 cry was raised against what was opprobriously 
 styled " the big ditch," and against Clinton as its 
 projector and supporter. 
 
 The honest opponents of the canal believed it 
 to be a visionary and impracticable scheme. The 
 political foes of Clinton endeavoured to strengthen 
 them in this opinion by every possible, argument, 
 and demanded that his political success should be 
 made to depend on the success or failure of that 
 project. So powerful were these arguments as to 
 shake the belief of many of his most earnest friends, 
 and he w^as strongly urged by many of them to 
 separate his fortunes from an enterprise, the success 
 of which was at least doubtful. Clinton reassured 
 them by pleading the absolute certainty of its suc^ 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 235 
 
 cess, and determined to risk the chance of victory 
 or defeat on that question alone, which thus be- 
 came the main point at issue in the ensuing elec- 
 tion. 
 
 The militia system, as practised in the United 
 States, is obnoxious to ridicule. That shopkeepers, 
 tailors, and attorneys shall, by virtue of a brevet or 
 commission, attach high-sounding military titles to 
 their names, may easily be made a matter of mer- 
 riment to those who forget that a country shop- 
 keeper successfully defended the Niagara frontier, 
 and carried the war into the enemy's country ; 
 that a tailor trained a militia brigade to manoeuvre 
 as well as regular troops ; and that an attorney 
 led the battalions which crossed bayonets with the 
 veterans of Wellington, and drove them from the 
 field. The ridicule which the system itself may 
 be made to provoke, was poured upon the head of 
 the functionary whence the commissions and bre- 
 vets issued. 
 
 His first term of office had been marked by two 
 reforms of great moment in the administration of 
 the laws. The first was the reduction of the num- 
 ber of justices' courts. These had become an ab- 
 solute nuisance; the marshals were permitted to 
 act as counsel for the plaintiff in the suit, and 
 strong suspicion was entertained of collusion be- 
 tween them and the magistrates whence they de- 
 rived their appointments. At all events, the great 
 
236 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 number of suits which were decided in favour of 
 those who brought business to the court, gave 
 ground for a beUef of unfair influence. By the 
 new law nearly a thousand petty courts ceased to 
 exist, with their retinue of official harpies. 
 
 A practice had gradually grown up among attor- 
 neys of buying up claims for the purpose of prose- 
 cuting them. This had reached to such an extent 
 as to amount to a serious evil. Postested notes, 
 and other demands on which the original creditor 
 would have hesitated to incur the costs, were, 
 when in the hands of legal men, made the source 
 of oppression. This system was abolished by 
 law, and the taxable costs were, in addition, so 
 much reduced as to render it not worth pursuing. 
 The underlings of the legal profession v/ere much 
 enraged at this change, so advantageous for cH- 
 ents, and one of them was so far carried away by 
 his anger as to resign his license in open court. 
 
 These reforms fell upon men who are most loud 
 and busy at elections, and arrayed their whole 
 force in enmity against Clinton. 
 
 Such being the elements of opposition, and such 
 the weapons it had in its power to employ, it only 
 remained to seek for a suitable candidate to run 
 against Clinton when the three years for which he 
 had been elected as a substitute for Tompkins 
 should have expired. Such a candidate was found 
 in Tompkins himself, who, although he had re- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 237 
 
 / 
 
 signed the office of governor in order to accept 
 that of vice-president, was induced to oppose 
 CHnton : and although, if successful, he must re- 
 turn to the post whence he had considered him- 
 self promoted. We have already seen what an 
 extent of popularity he had acquired ; and he was 
 the most formidable competitor who could possibly 
 have been selected. 
 
 Tompkins had been throughout opposed to the 
 canal, and his election would in all probability 
 have been followed by the cessation of all work 
 upon it, and the withdrawal of the funds appro- 
 priated as a pledge, except so far as necessary to 
 provide for loans already contracted. On this 
 election, then, depended in a great measure the 
 hopes of the system of internal improvement ; for 
 had Clinton been defeated in this instance, it 
 would have been hardly possible to find any pol- 
 itician who would have renewed the consideration 
 of a question, on which he had been so signally 
 defeated. 
 
 The election was contested with great spirit on 
 both sides. The southern counties gave Tomp- 
 kins large majorities, but they were more than 
 counteracted by the population of the West, and 
 Clinton received about two thousand votes more 
 than his opponent. On the other hand, as the di- 
 vision of the state into counties and senatorial dis- 
 tricts did not give to the new regions of the West 
 
238 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 a representation proportioned to their population, 
 the House of Assembly mustered a majority of the 
 friends of Tompkins, by whom also a large pro- 
 portion of the vacancies in the Senate were sup- 
 plied. Clinton therefore entered upon his new 
 term of office in 1819 along with a hostile Legis- 
 lature. 
 
 We have stated that the influence of the ex- 
 ecutive of the general government was arrayed 
 against Clinton in this election. This influence 
 had been gradually growing for several yeai*s. 
 At the adoption of the Constitution, the minor ap- 
 pointments of the custom-house had been chiefly 
 given to officers of the Revolutionary army ; and, 
 although by far the greater part of these had 
 joined the federal party, Jefferson would not per- 
 mit them to be disturbed. This was in accordance 
 with his usual policy, not to remove from office 
 without cause ; and the mere expression of prefer- 
 ence by a silent vote he did not admit to be one. 
 The number of this respectable body was rapidly 
 thinned by death, while, at the same time, the 
 growing commerce of New- York demanded that 
 more officers should be appointed than would 
 merely fill the vacancies. The appointments Avere 
 generally made from among those who had been 
 the most active at elections in the support of the 
 democratic party. Gaining their offices by such 
 means, they did not relax their electioneering ef- 
 
D E W I T T C L I x\ T N. 239 
 
 forts after appointment, but continued to figure as 
 leaders of the party. 
 
 Clinton felt himself aggrieved by the strength 
 which this body of active politicians gave to the 
 ranks of his opponents. 
 
 In King's county the election had been decided 
 against him by the workmen of the navy-yard. 
 These, not content with the quiet exercise of the 
 elective franchise, had proceeded to the polls in 
 procession, to the sound of military music. 
 
 Indignant at what he considered an unwarrant- 
 able interference in the state elections, Clinton 
 could not refrain from alluding to the facts in his 
 speech to the Legislature. This body, although 
 the fact that all on whom the government could 
 exert influence had voted against him was notori- 
 ous, affected to doubt his statement, and with little 
 courtesy called for proofs. It w^as trusted, in ma- 
 king this call, that the links by which the acts at 
 the polls were connected with the government at 
 Washington could not be detected, and in the ev- 
 idence he adduced a part of them w^as wanting. 
 He however proved, in more than one instance, 
 that votes were given under the influence of fear 
 of loss of oflSce. At the present day, the fact of 
 direct influence exerted by the executive is not 
 doubted, and the evil has become such that a law 
 has been passed by Congress to prevent the ofl^i- 
 
240 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 cers of the customs from "being assessed for the 
 support of elections. 
 
 Clinton, who could not read the secret coun- 
 cils of his enemies, unluckily chose by name as 
 an active agent of the government in opposing 
 him one who was his sincere friend, and had la- 
 boured most strenuously to prevent a breach be- 
 tw^een the president and the governor of New- 
 York, but who, failing in the attempt, for reasons 
 very different from personal hostility, was found in 
 the ranks of his political opponents. The mutual 
 friends of the parties had, however, the gratifica- 
 tion to see that, before the lapse of many years, 
 amicable relations were restored between them. 
 
 However ably and completely the general truth 
 of his allegations was supported by Clinton, the 
 Legislature treated the matter as a party question, 
 and the only opportunity which has presented it- 
 self of examining how far the general govern- 
 ment has a right to interfere with state elections, 
 was lost. It would, however, appear to be abso- 
 lutely essential to the consistency of the principles 
 of a free government, that all who derive emolu- 
 ment either from the state or general government, 
 by an office held during pleasure, should be ipso 
 facto disfranchised. 
 
 The violence of party which had been brought 
 into action in this election, so far from subsiding 
 after its result was known, became yet greater. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 241 
 
 An array of talent, such as has rarely been enlisted 
 in any political struggle, was brought into action 
 by the opponents of Clinton. Serious argument, 
 satirical poems, and newspaper squibs were show- 
 ered upon his policy, his person, and his friends. 
 His scientific pursuits, in particular, became the 
 subject of ridicule. He, on his side, defended 
 himself manfully ; and if he could not consistent- 
 ly descend to encounter the wit of his antagonists, 
 he met and often foiled them in serious argument. 
 These contests w^ere not carried on without ex- 
 citing painful feelings. He had to experience the 
 annoyance of seeing men whom he had considered 
 as friends, and w^ho were indebted to him for fa- 
 vours, arrayed against him. The harmony of the 
 canal board itself w^as broken in upon, and he felt 
 compelled to pour a torrent of indignant eloquence 
 upon one of his colleagues. A still severer trial 
 awaited him in a public conflict wdth a soldier 
 who stood most deservedly high in the estimation 
 of his countrymen for bravery and good conduct. 
 It is painful to reflect that two such men should, 
 by the force of party violence, have been brought 
 into a position of such deadly hostility. Clinton's 
 letters on this occasion are among the ablest of 
 his productions, and are master-pieces of the art of 
 invective. It may be regretted that he felt it ne- 
 cessary to vindicate himself by retorting the at- 
 tack upon him ; but this course was indispensable 
 
 X 
 
242 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 in the critical state of his pohtical prospects, and 
 was successful in sustaining his personal dignity 
 and that of his office. 
 
 The result of the election had shown that a 
 very decided majority of the citizens of the state 
 was in favour of the canal policy; for not only 
 was every vote given for Clinton that of a friend 
 to the enterprise, but there were among the adhe- 
 rents of Tompkins some who, although the political 
 opponents of Clinton, were yet committed to the 
 support of that measure. The mode of attack 
 was therefore adroitly changed. It was attempt- 
 ed to deprive Clinton of all merit in the original 
 design of the canal, and all claim to gratitude for 
 his exertions in its behalf. He was accused of 
 having appropriated what was due to Morris ; and 
 when the true state of their relative services was 
 known, obscure names, of which the people had 
 never heard, were brought forward to deprive both 
 of the honour. It is remarkable, that in this dis- 
 cussion, Piatt, who had been the first to propose 
 action on the part of the state, instead of com- 
 mitting the interests to an incorporated company, 
 with Geddes, who had explored the Erie route, 
 and demonstrated its practicability, were not even 
 mentioned. The former was now classed with the 
 friends of Clinton ; the latter, who was probably 
 on the same list, would have disavowed anything 
 which was not actually his due. Neither, there- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 243 
 
 fore, were suited for the purpose of lessening the 
 merit of the governor. 
 
 During these discussions, the canal commission- 
 ers continued their exertions strenuously. The 
 level between Utica and Syracuse was put under 
 contract in 1817; ground was broken the 4th of 
 July of the same year, and this central portion of 
 the canal was finished in 1819. 
 
 Clinton retained, with his office of governor, his 
 seat as president of the board of canal commis- 
 sioners, and devoted all his leisure from the duties 
 of the former to the business of the latter. This 
 business he had from the beginning performed 
 without any compensation, although by usage he 
 might have been fairly entitled to it. He was 
 also placed in a position in which he had an 
 opportunity of speculating in lands likely to be 
 benefited by the location of the canal, and it 
 would have been easy to find associates who 
 would have purchased in their own names, and 
 paid him a share of the profits. This never ap- 
 pears to have been even suggested to his mind as 
 a temptation. No one dared to approach him 
 with such proposals ; and any idea of making use 
 to his own emolument of the advantages of his 
 position never occurred to him. This course was 
 not merely creditable to him as exhibiting his own 
 disinterestedness, but from the force of the exam- 
 
244 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 pie he thus set to his colleagues, and all the en- 
 gineers employed upon the work. 
 
 While Clinton acted as governor, the business 
 of legislation fell, of course, into other hands. The 
 governor might indeed recommend in his speeches 
 and messages such policy as he approved, but the 
 draught of laws devolved upon committees of the 
 two houses. Still, measures were adopted at his 
 instance, while he yet was supported by a major- 
 . ity of the Legislature, which are of sufficient im- 
 portance to be mentioned, but others of no less 
 moment, and in which he took a lively interest, 
 were neglected. 
 
 In his inaugural speech he recommended the 
 institution of Savings' Banks and the establishment 
 of a Board of Agriculture. These recommenda- 
 tions were repeated in his messages to the Legis- 
 lature, and both were finally adopted. They have 
 each, in their respective sphere, been of great ben- 
 efit. The Savings' Bank, by affording an oppor- 
 tunity for investing small amounts, which would 
 otherwise have been expended on useless ob- 
 jects or committed to irresponsible hands, has not 
 only increased the comfort and independence, 
 but raised the moral character of the labouring 
 classes. The Board of Agriculture, with its 
 branches in every county, has excited an emula- 
 tion among the farmers which has improved their 
 methods of cultivation, and has spread throughout 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 245 
 
 the state, by its valuable reports, knowledge of the 
 most useful character. 
 
 He also recommended, on more than one occa- 
 sion, reforms of the criminal code as well as of 
 the civil jurisprudence, which were but partially 
 acted upon by the Legislature. 
 
 The State of New- York had always exported 
 flour, and the increase of agriculture has kept 
 pace with that of population in such manner that 
 a surplus production of wheat has been main- 
 tained. The soil and climate are highly favoura- 
 ble to its culture ; and, as experience has proved, 
 there was no reason why the flour of New-York 
 should not bear as high a character as that of 
 any other state. At the time Clinton was elected 
 governor, this was far from being the case. Vir- 
 ginia and Pennsylvania enjoyed a higher reputa- 
 tion in this respect, and their merchants and 
 farmers derived higher profits in consequence. 
 Their flour sold in foreign markets from one 
 dollar and a half to two dollars higher than that 
 of New- York. Clinton satisfied himself that this 
 was not owing to any imperfection in the raw 
 material, or any fault of the manufacturer pro- 
 ducing an average inferiority, but to a careless 
 inspection. This, by permitting low qualities to 
 pass with the highest brand, brought the whole 
 crop down to the value of the lowest in public 
 estimation. He therefore, in 1819, proposed ari 
 
 X2 
 
246 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 alteration of the inspection law, which did not 
 pass, but he at the same time superseded the in- 
 spector. The consequence of this movement of 
 Clinton has been to exalt the character of the 
 brands of the New- York inspection, until they 
 rank higher than those of any other state. 
 
 His speeches to the Legislature were replete 
 with sound views of policy, evincing the experi- 
 enced and patriotic statesman j and thus, although 
 intended for local purposes alone, they were 
 sought with avidity throughout the Union, and 
 were awaited with greater interest than the con- 
 temporaneous messages of the President of the 
 United States, 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 247 
 
 CHAPTER XVm. 
 
 Objections to the old Constitution of the State. — 
 ^11 Parties concur in a desire for its Amend- 
 ment. — Bill calling a Convention retwned by 
 the Council of Revision. — Clinfon^s Opinions 
 on the subject. — Jt Law is passed by which the 
 call of a Convention is submitted to a popular 
 'i)ote. — Alterations made in the old Constitution. 
 — Clinton^ s term of Office is abridged. — He de- 
 clines to be a Candidate for re-election. — Acci- 
 dent to his leg. — His first Wife dies. — He visits 
 the States of Jersey and Ohio. — He visits Penn- 
 sylvania. — He is examined before a Committee 
 of the Legislature. — He is removed from his 
 Office of Canal Commissioner. — Public Indig- 
 nation in Consequence. — Attempt of the General 
 Government to tax Vessels navigating the Ca- 
 qfiaJ., — Clinton is nominated by the Republican 
 Convention at Utica, and again elected Gov- 
 ernor. — He marries his second Wife, 
 
 The strength of Clinton's opponents in the Le- 
 gislature placed him, in a short time after his sec- 
 ond election, in the same position to which he had 
 brought Jay, namely, in a minority of the counci] 
 of appointment. At the same time, moderate mei\ 
 
248 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 of all parties wished to see this obnoxious feature 
 expunged from the Constitution. There was also 
 a strong and influential body that desired the 
 equalization of the elective franchise, which, under 
 the old Constitution, was confined in the choice of 
 governor and senators to freeholders alone. There 
 were others who were satisfied of the inexpedien- 
 cy of that feature of the old Constitution which 
 vacated the offices of chancellor and judges when 
 the incumbents reached the age of sixty years. 
 Finally, it was believed by many, that the fact of 
 the judicial officers having in the council of revis- 
 ion a veto upon the law^s passed by the Legisla- 
 ture, exposed them to the risk of being tempted, 
 and thus impaired public confidence in the purity 
 of the bench. All classes of men therefore united 
 in a desire that a convention should be called to 
 amend the Constitution. 
 
 The moderate and judicious seem to have de- 
 sired that the council of appointment should be 
 continued, to act as the advisers of the govern- 
 or, not as his co-equals in this branch of execu- 
 tive authority ; and it cannot be doubted that a 
 similar provision in relation to the council of re- 
 vision would have removed the objections to that 
 body, and rendered it a most valuable part of the 
 government Experience seems to have proved 
 since that it would have been better that the ex- 
 ecutive should have had a right to resort to the 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 249 
 
 opinion of the united wisdom of the bench on 
 questions of constitutional law, rather than to the 
 advice of the attorney-general, who can rarely be 
 independent of a party bias. That judges should 
 retire from office at an age when, if activity of 
 body begins to decay, the mind is at its maturity, 
 seems to be contrary to all natural reason, and re- 
 verses the practice of all countries. 
 
 In respect to the elective franchise the question 
 is more difficult. Two opinions have been main- 
 tained with almost equal force : the one holds that 
 the possession of at least a moderate property is a 
 test of wisdom and intelligence well suited to be 
 a standard of the qualifications of an elector, while 
 the ownership of the soil gives him a personal in- 
 terest in the stabihty of government and national 
 prosperity, which he who has no such ties can 
 never feel ; nor, as it was maintained, could the 
 vesting of power exclusively in such hands ever 
 degenerate into an aristocracy, so long as the equal 
 division of property among all the children of the 
 same parents was maintained both by law and 
 custom, and all possibility of creating entails was 
 prevented. This opinion has been stigmatized as 
 aristocratic, but has been defended as the true 
 principle of freedom, and in its favour the exam- 
 ple of Rome has been adduced, which retained its 
 republican institutions so long as the comitia cen- 
 turiafa constituted the sovereignty, but fell first 
 
250 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 into anarchy, and finally into a military despotism, 
 as soon as the distinctions arising from taxable 
 property, which formed the basis of that mode of 
 voting, were abolished. 
 
 On the other hand, it has been maintained, that 
 as it is the very principle of American liberty 
 that all men are born free and equal, any distinc- 
 tion in the right of voting is in opposition to it. 
 Clinton, who, during his whole political course, 
 placed the firmest reliance upon the virtue and 
 intelligence of the people, was of the latter opin- 
 ion, although it does not appear that he carried 
 his views of the extension of the franchise to the 
 length it has now reached. To the will of the 
 public, expressed in their primary assemblies, he 
 always appealed as the tribunal of last resort on 
 political questions; and, next to the canal, the dar- 
 ling object of his later years was to bring the 
 choice of electors of president immediately to the 
 people. 
 
 In the general wish that the Constitution should 
 be amended, Clinton participated, and the call of 
 a convention for the purpose was recommended by 
 him in his message. The Legislature, although 
 in opposition to him, was obedient to the popular 
 will, and a law directing the election of delegates 
 to a convention was passed. In passing this law, 
 the Legislature virtually assumed the sovereign 
 power to be vested in it, and the convention 
 
t)EWlTT CLINTON. 251 
 
 would have acted under an authority having its 
 source in the Senate and House of Assembly. In 
 this viev;^ of the subject Clinton did not concur. 
 He conceived that the sovereignty resided of 
 right in the people, convened in their primary 
 assemblies. When the bill, as passed by the Le- 
 gislature, came before the council of revision, he 
 pointed out this defect in its principle, and by his 
 casting vote it vfQ.s returned to the Legislature. 
 Here it was recommitted, and a new law framed, 
 by which the question whether a convention should 
 be called was submitted to a direct vote at the 
 popular elections. 
 
 This vote was in the affirmative by a large ma- 
 jority, and a convention was in consequence chosen, 
 which assembled at Albany. The political opponents 
 of Clinton took advantage of his act in the coun- 
 cil of revision to represent him as opposed to all 
 change ; and although, to all appearance, but little 
 party spirit was manifested in the election of dele- 
 gates, it was adroitly managed in such manner 
 that but few of his immediate friends were chosen. 
 
 The convention numbered a great many per- 
 sons who had been distinguished in the party war- 
 fare of the state, and several who had held impor- 
 tant public stations during the prevalence as well 
 of the federal, as of the democratic party. Be- 
 tween these it was supposed that a broad distinc- 
 tion existed in relation to the limit of the right 
 
252 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 of suffrage. The federal party, it was believed, 
 held the doctrine of the Enghsh republicans, and 
 which had been the basis of the arguments by 
 which the Anaerican Re^'olution was justified 5 
 namely, that taxation and representation should 
 be coextensive. It was, in consequence, expected 
 that the members of the convention who had be- 
 longed to this party would have opposed any far- 
 ther extension of the right of suffrage in the elec- 
 tion of members of Assembly, and been reluctant 
 to do away with the freehold qualification in the 
 voters for governor and senators. 
 
 The democratic party, on the other hand, had 
 secured its ascendency by avowed obedience to the 
 popular will, and an effort on its part to deprive 
 the freeholders of their peculiar privileges was to 
 have been expected. 
 
 To the surprise of those who w^ere not acquaint- 
 ed with the secret springs of action, all parties ex- 
 hibited an anxiety to outbid each other for popu- 
 larity, by extending the right of voting for all 
 offices to the widest possible hmit. More doubt 
 and hesitation was shown at first by the old repub- 
 licans than by those who had been counted as fed- 
 eralists ; but the desire of appearing on the popu- 
 lar side prevailed with all, and no requisite was 
 demanded in any voter except citizenship and res- 
 idence. 
 
 The security of the institutions of the State of 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 253 
 
 New-York, and of the life, liberty, and property 
 of its inhabitants, must henceforth depend on the 
 virtue and intelligence of a majority of its voters. 
 It is not to be disguised, that many anxious pa- 
 triots entertain forebodings that the experiment has 
 been extended too far, and may not be successful. 
 No, doubt need be entertained of the permanence 
 of the mere forms of republican institutions, but 
 their fears point to a diminution in the sanctity of 
 property, and of security for persons who may be- 
 come obnoxious to popular displeasure from vio- 
 lence unauthorized by law. Such gloomy forebo- 
 dings are, however, founded on a belief that the 
 new classes of voters are ignorant and vicious; 
 against which we have a sure remedy in the uni- 
 versal extension and beneficial influence of the 
 common school system. 
 
 By the Constitution framed by this convention 
 the council of appointment was abolished, the right 
 of nomination being vested in the governor, and 
 the concurrence of the Senate was rendered ne- 
 cessary. The council of revision was also abohsh- 
 ed, and the veto vested in the governor, subject to 
 a reversal by a vote of two thirds of the members 
 of both houses. The objectionable feature in rela- 
 tion to the judges was retained, showing how, in 
 such instances, party spirit and feelings of individ- 
 ual dislike may prevail over considerations of pub- 
 lic good. The chancellor and judges had not 
 
 Y 
 
254 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 joined the party in opposition to Clinton, and 
 there was not sufficient manhness to point them 
 out directly by allowing their offices to expire on 
 their reaching the age to which the old Constitu- 
 tion had limited their term, and ordaining that 
 their successors should remain on the bench to a 
 more advanced period of life. 
 
 The convention mustered a decided majority of 
 the opponents of Clinton. In spite of this, the ca- 
 nal policy, for which he had so long contended, 
 was triumphant. Clinton's belief in the correct- 
 ness of the final judgment of the people was jus- 
 tified ; and those who had on former occasions been 
 the opponents of the canal, were now compelled, 
 by public opinion or by their own convictions, to 
 support its policy. The canal was made inaliena- 
 ble by any act of the Legislature ; and the fund, 
 which had before been pledged by law, was now 
 established more firmly by a clause in the Consti- 
 tution. 
 
 The new Constitution, by changing the day on 
 which the legal year began from the 4th of July 
 to the 1st of January, abridged Clinton's term of 
 office ; and it was believed by many that the de- 
 sire to remove him had been the real object of this 
 change. 
 
 A new division of parties had arisen, founded 
 on the claims of diiferent individuals to the presi- 
 dential chair. Mr. Monroe had undertaken to 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 255 
 
 govern without reference to the ancient divisions 
 of party, and three candidates for the succession 
 started from his own cabinet. General Jackson 
 and Mr. Clay were also named ; and there were 
 not wanting many persons in other states who 
 would gladly have given their suffrages for Clin- 
 ton himself. In the State of New- York, Messrs. 
 Crawford and Adams were the prominent candi- 
 dates, and parties were formed in support of their 
 respective pretensions. With neither of these 
 would Clinton connect himself, and he would not 
 appear as a candidate for the office himself. He 
 therefore resolved not to be a candidate for the 
 office of governor, which would have required his 
 uniting himself to one of these parties, or coming 
 forward as a candidate for the presidency. 
 
 The long sway of a party opposed to him in the 
 Legislature, and the proscription to which all who 
 avowed themselves his friends were exposed, had 
 the effect of terrifying all aspirants for political 
 influence or lucrative offices from his side ; and the 
 artful policy of his enemies, in adopting his favour- 
 ite measures, had left him without the power of 
 joining issue with them in an appeal to the popu- 
 lar voice. Joseph Yates was elected in his stead, 
 overcoming a feeble opposition on the part of Sol- 
 omon Southwick. 
 
 In the summer of 1818, Clinton met with an ac- 
 cident which caused the fracture of his leg. His 
 
256 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 recovery was slow and painful, and he was com- 
 pelled for some time to use crutches ; nor did he 
 ever wholly overcome a slight lameness. This in- 
 jury had an unfavourable effect upon his health, 
 by rendering him unable any longer to take the 
 exercises to which he had been accustomed, and 
 in which he took pleasure. He had been in the 
 habit of riding much on horseback, and was fond 
 of field sports ; from both of these he was now 
 debarred ; and to this change in his habits, from 
 active to sedentary, may be ascribed the gradual 
 approach of that disease, which carried him off in 
 the zenith of his faculties. 
 
 This accident was preceded by a severe afflic- 
 tion in his family, the loss of his wife, who, in 
 the language of his diary, " retired to another and 
 better world with characteristic fortitude." 
 
 The retirement of Clinton from office did not 
 cause him to cease from his exertions for the pub- 
 lic good, but rather extended the sphere of his 
 beneficial action. If, in his native state, there 
 were those who doubted the importance of his 
 agency in creating the canal policy, and others 
 who, with better knowledge, denied him due hon- 
 our, he was, in other parts of the Union, fully ap- 
 preciated ; and those who, with just views of duty, 
 sought to extend to their own states the benefits 
 of the policy so successful in New-York, appealed 
 to his powerful aid. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 257 
 
 In the State of New- Jersey an old project had 
 been revived for the construction of the Raritan 
 and Delaware Canal. The great importance of 
 this measure, in a national point of view, had been 
 developed in the report of Mr. Gallatin. At the 
 same time, a novel and almost unexampled plan 
 of a canal across the great Atlantic ridge from the 
 Passaic to the Delaware had been brought for- 
 ward. The friends of the latter measure request- 
 ed Clinton to visit the region and inquire into its 
 practicability. Having satisfied himself that the 
 means proposed wxre feasible, he drew up a re- 
 port on the subject, urging that this canal should 
 be constructed by the state. Some weeks after, 
 on the invitation of the state authorities, he visited 
 Trenton. Here he not only enforced by personal 
 communication the opinion he had already given, 
 but exhorted the two rival sections of the state to 
 union, and pointed out the advantages of making 
 both canals at the expense of the state. In this 
 instance his enlightened views did not prevail. 
 The Legislature shrunk from the responsibility of 
 undertaking both canals, and the partisans of each 
 were too powerful to allow of the adoption of the 
 other as a state work. Subsequently, the two en- 
 terprises have been each intrusted to a chartered 
 company, and the result of their operations has 
 justified the prescience of Clinton. Enough has 
 been done to show that, had the state executed 
 
 Y2 
 
258 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 them, both must have been profitable; while to the 
 companies which have held them, from causes in- 
 separably connected with the management of 
 chartered companies, they have yielded no profit. 
 The Delaware and Raritan Canal has imposed 
 tolls so high as to exclude all transit of heavy 
 commodities, while the Morris Canal has, by a 
 departure from its original plan, and deviations 
 from the system on which Clinton's opinion of its 
 feasibility was founded, become so costly, that a 
 trade as large as was anticipated does not pay an 
 adequate dividend. The Legislature, too, in order 
 to encourage capitalists to embark in this project, 
 endowed the Morris Canal Company with banking 
 privileges, and these have been so badly managed 
 as almost to involve it in ruin. 
 
 He w^as also invited to visit Ohio. Here his 
 views of policy prevailed. That state, after de- 
 liberate inquiry into the practicability of a canal 
 from Lake Erie to the River Ohio, undertook its 
 construction ; and to Clinton the high compliment 
 was assigned, although in no official capacity, and 
 in the presence of the governor of the state, of 
 removing the first earth of the excavation. His 
 journey through Ohio was one continued triumph, 
 and resembled more the progress of Lafayette 
 than the travel of any native citizen of however 
 exalted rank or extended popularity. 
 
 In the summer of 1824, Clinton, by invitation, 
 
D E W I T T CLINTON. 259 
 
 visited the State of Pennsylvania, for the purpose 
 of giving the aid of his high authority in the fur- 
 therance of the system of internal improvements 
 projected in that state. A want of enterprise and 
 exertion had hitherto characterized its Legislature, 
 and it had intrusted to private companies some 
 of the most important lines of communication 
 within its limits. In its subsequent awakening to 
 a sense of the importance of taking the public 
 works into the hands of the state, a desire to meet 
 the views of every interest has caused the expan- 
 sion of the operations over too great a space. 
 Partial efforts have been made in many places, 
 and on these an amount of money has been ex- 
 pended, which, if applied to any single obje('t, 
 must have yielded adequate returns. These im- 
 provements do not even pay the interest on their 
 cost; and, by a want of foresight, no adequate 
 funds were provided in advance to meet such an 
 emergency. The example of this great and opu- 
 lent state, which is at present paralyzed in its ex- 
 ertions for the want of wise and decided measures, 
 may serve to show of how great importance it was 
 to the State of New -York that there was in it one 
 person possessing sufficient weight and influence 
 to direct its energies in a more skilful manner. 
 
 Clinton seemed born to illustrate in his own 
 person the fickle character of attachments found- 
 ed on political considerations. Up to the year 
 
260 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 1812 he had been the idol of the democratic 
 party in the State of New-York, and had been 
 their almost unanimous nominee for the office of 
 president of the United States; but when the in- 
 fluence of the general government was exerted 
 against him, all the leading politicians, with rare 
 exceptions, abandoned him. Nor were they con- 
 tent with this, but commenced attacks upon him 
 until he was removed from the mayoralty. His 
 subsequent elevation to the office of governor was 
 a spontaneous act of the people, in which politi- 
 cians by profession had little to do ; but he was at 
 once surrounded by those who had persecuted him 
 in his adverse fortunes. The close of his second 
 term as governor was attended by a similar deser- 
 tion of political men ; and in the Legislature which 
 first met under the new Constitution, hardly a man 
 was to be found bold enough to avow himself the 
 adherent of his fortunes. 
 
 In the succeeding Legislature the case was still 
 stronger, and to coldness was added direct injury. 
 He was, in the first place, called before a commit- 
 tee of the Legislature to be examined on the sub- 
 ject of the canals. The examination, it is said, 
 was not conducted with any of the courtesy to 
 which the rank he had recently held in the state 
 would have seemed to entitle him. It would ap- 
 pear to have been intended to afford grounds for 
 the justification of an act which the leaders of the 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 261 
 
 dominant party had resolved upon, but they fail- 
 ed in finding any. The act, however, was not, 
 for that reason, left undone. On the last day of 
 the session of 1824, a resolution was introduced 
 into the Senate removing Clinton from his office as 
 canal commissioner. This resolution was carried 
 without debate, and with but three dissenting voi- 
 ces. In the House it prevailed by a vote of more 
 than two thirds of the members ; no speech was 
 made in justification or explanation of it, and the 
 only opposition in words was an eloquent and in- 
 dignant speech, made on the spur of the occasion 
 by Cunningham, of Montgomery county, a man 
 whose honesty of purpose, independence of char- 
 acter, and promising talent were prematurely lost 
 to the state. 
 
 At the time of this vote Clinton had been for 
 fourteen years steadily engaged in promoting the 
 cause of the internal navigation of the state, and, 
 whether in or out of office, had received no com- 
 pensation for these services. It seems to have 
 been believed by the leaders in this unmerited 
 insult, that Clinton had entirely lost all his popu- 
 larity, and that it was only necessary to deprive 
 him of the little influence which the office of ca- 
 nal commissioner gave him, in order to close his 
 political career for ever. In both views of the 
 subject they were mistaken. Clinton, although 
 to appearance abandoned by all his mere political 
 
262 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 partisans, had lost none of his well-earned popu- 
 larity with the people at large, and this act of the 
 Legislature served to call this popularity into ac- 
 tion. The news of his removal had no sooner 
 reached the principal towns in the state, than 
 meetings were called to express the popular in- 
 dignation at the removal of Clinton from the office 
 he had so long and so worthily held. In the City 
 of New-York, not less than ten thousand persons 
 assembled at the call ; and the proportionate num- 
 bers were much greater in other places, for the 
 city still continued to be the seat of his most ac- 
 tive opponents. Many of these, however, united 
 in the proceedings, and the chairman of the city 
 meeting was Colonel Few, who had long been op- 
 posed to him in politics. 
 
 The term of office of Governor Yates was about 
 to expire, and a convention was assembled to nom- 
 inate a candidate for the succession. At this con- 
 vention, Clinton, much to the surprise of those 
 who had considered him as completely fallen, was 
 at once proposed as a fit person to be selected. 
 A discussion arose, which ended in the retirement 
 of the delegation of the City of New-York and a 
 few others, amounting in all to twenty members. 
 After the secession of this party, the nomination 
 of Clinton was concurred in with absolute una- 
 nimity. 
 
 The overwhelming influence which was brought 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 263 
 
 to bear upon this convention by the popular voice, 
 arose in a great degree from a correct appreciation 
 of the value of his services in securing the con- 
 struction of the canal and the triumph of the pol- 
 icy of internal improvement. It was also aided 
 by the strong interest which Clinton took in the 
 question of the manner of choosing the electors of 
 president. This had been hitherto done by the 
 Legislature ; and a strong effort, in which Clinton 
 aided, was now making to give the choice direct- 
 ly to the people. Those politicians who, with the 
 loudest professions of obedience to the popular 
 will, held the power in their hands through a ma- 
 jority of the Legislature, were averse to parting 
 with it, and the contrast between their professions 
 and acts had no little effect in restoring the influ- 
 ence of Clinton. 
 
 An important question had also arisen in respect 
 to the navigation of the canal. Its size was such 
 that the vessels which navigate it fall within the 
 description of those required to receive licenses 
 from the custom-houses of the general govern- 
 ment. Although the administration was in the 
 hands of those professing an exclusive attachment 
 to state rights, an attempt was made to extend the 
 authority of the officers of the customs over the 
 vessels navigating the canal. As the canal lies 
 wholly within the limits of a single state, this 
 attempt could not be justified upon the grant of 
 
264 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 powers to regulate either foreign commerce or that 
 between the states. To have brought this plan 
 into operation would have been a gross and un- 
 warrantable usurpation, and as such it was con- 
 sidered by all those who had a proper feeling of 
 the rights of their native state. There was, how- 
 ever, a moment when it appeared probable that 
 the attempt to enforce this measure would be suc- 
 cessful. It therefore became necessary to unite 
 all the strength which could be collected in op- 
 position to it. It was seen and felt that Clinton 
 was the leader under whose direction this opposi- 
 tion might be most efficiently brought into action, 
 and that in the office of governor alone he would 
 have the power necessary to counteract the con- 
 templated usurpation. 
 
 The party which had withdrawn from the con- 
 vention did not submit quietly to its decisions, but 
 nominated Colonel Young, the former colleague 
 of Clinton in the canal board, as a candidate in 
 opposition to him. His nomination, however, met 
 with a signal defeat, and Clinton was elected gov- 
 ernor by a majority over his opponent of upward 
 of sixteen thousand votes. 
 
 We have in this place to speak of Clinton's 
 second marriage, which occurred before the close 
 of his second term of service as governor. The 
 lady whom he chose was Miss Catharine Jones, 
 the daughter of Dr. Thomas Jones, an eminent 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 265 
 
 physician in the City of New-York. It would ap- 
 pear, from passages and extracts in his common- 
 place book, that the propriety of contracting a 
 second marriage had been a subject of serious re- 
 flection, and that his judgment was fully satisfied 
 that the step was an expedient one. Of this esti- 
 mable lady, who still survives, feehngs of delicacy 
 will prevent us from saying more. 
 
 Z 
 
266 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Sticcess of the Canal Policy. — Silver Vases are 
 presented to Clinton by the Merchants of Jfew- 
 York. — He is invited hy Mr. Mams to serve as 
 Minister to Great Britain, and declines. — Great 
 Celebration of the opening of the Canal. — JYew 
 and important Public Works recommended by 
 Clinton. — His plan of a Board of Public Works. 
 — Antimasonic Excitement. — Coalition to defeat 
 Clinton's election as Governor. — He is, notwith- 
 standing, re-elected. 
 
 In conformity with the election of which we have 
 spoken, Clinton resumed his seat as Governor of 
 the State of New-York in January, 1825. He 
 now had it in his power to communicate officially 
 the triumph of the system of which he had so long 
 been an advocate. Little more than seven years 
 had elapsed since the first earth was removed from 
 the bed of the canal, and it was now approaching 
 to completion. In the summer of 1823 boats had 
 passed into the Hudson, and the navigation was 
 open thence to within a short distance of Buffalo. 
 The revenues of the canal fund had derived the 
 increase he had anticipated from the very action 
 of the canal itself. The two principal items were 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 267 
 
 the salt duties and those on auction sales. The 
 facilities afforded to the transport of salt had en- 
 larged the sphere of its consumption, and thus 
 the quantity manufactured had been increased. 
 Wealth had been diffused along the line of the 
 canal, calling for new articles of luxury and util- 
 ity, while the abundance of the products of which 
 the City of New-York became the market and the 
 place of export, was rapidly rendering it the cen- 
 tral point of the import trade of the Union. The 
 sales at auction were multiplied from all these 
 causes, and a larger revenue accrued. The canal 
 itself, although not completed, nor in the reception 
 of the trade of the Western Lakes, already yielded 
 tolls of an unexpected amount. It happened from 
 all these causes that Clinton had the satisfaction 
 to announce, in his first message to the Legislature, 
 that the income of the canal fund, when added to 
 the tolls, exceeded the interest on the cost of the 
 canal by nearly four hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 A degree of prosperity unexampled, and hard- 
 ly anticipated by the most sanguine, prevailed 
 throughout the state. The City of New-York, 
 which in 1818 had witnessed a decrease in its 
 population, and a prodigious fall in the value of 
 property, had now recovered its prosperity, and 
 was increasing in population and wealth in a ratio 
 higher than at any former period. The counties 
 on the banks of the Hudson, and those on Long 
 
268 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Island, which had feared a decay in their agricul- 
 ture in consequence of the admission of rivals 
 from the West in the supply of the city, saw these 
 gloomy anticipations contradicted by experience. 
 The western parts of the state had been in a man- 
 ner created by the operation of the canal. The 
 regions w^hence the transport of the produce to the 
 Hudson had been equal to its whole value in Al- 
 bany, were > ow placed almost on equality with 
 those upon the Hudson. Land to the west of the 
 Seneca Lake was enh??'^ ced in value fourfold, and 
 that less remote, if not benefited in as high a ratio, 
 derived advantages corresponding to its distance. 
 
 The mercantile interest in the city, enjoying a 
 degree of prosperity such as the most sanguine 
 anticipations had never contempb'- .; '^-cnsidered 
 Clinton as the prominent cause of the vast increase 
 of trade which the canal had opened. It was 
 therefore resolved to take measures for the pur- 
 pose of signifying to him the high opinion which 
 was entertained by the merchants ^ his public 
 services. With this intention a meeting w^as call- 
 ed, at which it v/as determined that a subscription 
 should be raised for the purpose of purchasing ar- 
 ticles of plate, to be presented to Clinton as an 
 evidence of their gratitude, and to serve as a dura- 
 ble memorial of the benefits conferred by him 
 upon the City and the State of New-York. 
 
 The subscription was speedily filled up ; and, ir^ 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 269 
 
 conformity with the intentions of the meeting, two 
 large and rich silver vases were procured, and for- 
 mally presented to Clinton by a committee on be- 
 half of the merchants. Valuable as w^as the ma- 
 terial of this present ; much as the workmanship, 
 remarkable for beauty of design and elaborate ex- 
 ecution, exceeded the material in cost, the gift 
 owed its real value to the fact of its being the 
 symbol of the unanimous approbation of the most 
 intelligent, enterprising, and public-spirited body 
 of citizens which could have been collected for 
 any object whatever. The merchants of New- 
 York belong to all political parties ; are connect- 
 ed with every diversity of religious sect ; they are, 
 besides, divided by variety of interests and occu- 
 pations, and are actuated by strong feelings of 
 rivalry. On no other occasion have they ever 
 been united in an unanimous expression of opin- 
 ion ; and the proverbial acuteness with which they 
 discern matters effecting their pecuniary interests, 
 renders this spontaneous tribute to the merits and 
 services of Clinton a compliment such as has been 
 paid to no other American statesman. 
 
 After his death, these vases, under the law of 
 the equal distribution of inheritances, were, in the 
 absence of a will, necessarily sold. At the sale 
 they were purchased by a new subscription, and 
 presented to his oldest surviving son. It is in 
 instances of this sort that the law abolishing all 
 
 Z2 
 
270 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 entailment seems hard and impolitic. It might have 
 gratified the donors to know that the gift would 
 never be alienated from the family of Clinton, and 
 the gift would have been enhanced in value to him. 
 Clinton had, as we have seen, avoided enga- 
 ging himself with the adherents of either of the 
 candidates for the presidency in the place of Mr. 
 Monroe. The most prominent of these had been 
 members of the cabinet of that gentleman, and the 
 decided opposition which he had shown to Chn- 
 ton's interests in New- York must have prevented 
 him from having any very friendly feeling towards 
 them. On the withdrawal of Mr. Crawford, the 
 party which had supported him turned their views 
 towards General Jackson. To him alone of all 
 the candidates could Chnton have any personal 
 likino-. The friends of Crawford had been the 
 agents in his removal from the office of canal com- 
 missioner, while the very men who had been most 
 influential in obtaining for Adams the electoral 
 vote of New-York were those who had seceded 
 from the convention by which Clinton was nom- 
 inated for governor. Jackson, on the other hand, 
 had rebuked, in the very seat of the power of the 
 personal opponents of Clinton, the ingratitude of 
 the state towards its most useful and distinguished 
 citizen. Still it was impossible that Clinton could 
 act with the party which, on the withdrawal of 
 Crawford, transferred their support to Jackson. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 271 
 
 Hence, at his election as governor, he was free 
 from all connexion with the friends of either of 
 the candidates for the presidency. 
 
 The vote of the electoral colleges was not de- 
 cisive ; the choice of president therefore devolved 
 upon the House of Representatives, and Mr. Ad- 
 ams was elected. This gentleman was no sooner 
 made aware of his success, than he determined to 
 offer to Clinton the appointment of minister to 
 England. The offer was accordingly made, but 
 was, without hesitation, declined by the latter. In 
 his refusal, Clinton assigns as the principal reason, 
 the obligation he was under to the citizens of his 
 native state, who had so recently and by so large 
 a majority elected him to the chief magistracy. 
 There is no need of searching for other motives, 
 nor is it probable that any other influenced him at 
 the moment. It is obvious, however, that Clinton 
 would have been brought, by the acceptance of 
 the ofhce, into political communion with many 
 who had been his opponents from personal enmi- 
 ty as well as upon political grounds. A few 
 months' experience satisfied him in confirmation of 
 the correctness of his decision, that Mr. Adams 
 could not hope for a re-election, and that all who 
 had become connected with him must share in his 
 downfall. 
 
 The office of Governor of the State of New- 
 York held out to Clinton, at the moment, induce- 
 
272 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ments for contmuance in it which no temptation 
 in any other direction could probably have over- 
 come. The canal, to which so much of his atten- 
 tion had been devoted, and in which he had taken 
 so lively an interest, was approaching its comple- 
 tion ; and to preside as chief magistrate at the cel- 
 ebration of the entire opening of that work, into 
 which he, as senior commissioner, had put the first 
 spade, was a triumph such as few men have been 
 able to enjoy. As this great undertaking ap- 
 proached its conclusion, preparations were made 
 along its whole extent for public rejoicings ; nor 
 were such preparations confined to the banks of 
 the canal, but extended to the shores of the Hud- 
 son and the City of New-York. The water of 
 ' Lake Erie was admitted into the canal on the 
 26th October, 1826, and the interesting fact was 
 announced by signal cannon, which conveyed the 
 joyful tidings in a few minutes to the beach of 
 the ocean. Immediately thereafter, a flotilla set 
 out from the harbour of Buffalo, conveying the 
 ffovernor, the canal commissioners, and numerous 
 distinguished persons, and bearing the symbolic 
 representation of the lake to be wedded to the 
 deity of the ocean. At Albany the flotilla was 
 increased by an escort of steamboats, and, on en- 
 tering the bounds of the City of New-York, the 
 corporation and public authorities joined in the 
 aquatic procession by which the water of the 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 273 
 
 lake was borne to be mingled with the tide of the 
 sea. 
 
 Our country has never witnessed any ceremony 
 accompanied by such pomp, nor one which dif- 
 fused in every breast such unmingled feelings of 
 gratification. All feelings of party spirit were 
 suspended, and even the bitterness of personal 
 animosity was for a monent neutralized. Clinton 
 was received at every place as the chief instru- 
 ment of the blessings which had already been ex- 
 perienced, but which all felt to be the mere prel- 
 ude of what were to follow j and, while thousands 
 had aided in promoting the great design, no whis- 
 per was heard to indicate that he had any rival in 
 the magnitude of his exertions or the amount of 
 his services. 
 
 A mind of ordinary character might have been 
 content with the glory thus acquired; one who 
 had attained such a height of reputation without 
 deserving it, might have feared to venture it by 
 proposing new measures of the same description ; 
 while devotion to the cause of the Erie Canal 
 might have had the effect of rendering even clear- 
 sighted persons blind to the value of other plans 
 of internal improvement. Clinton was influenced 
 by no such feelings. Even before the canal was 
 completed, and in the very act of seating himself 
 in the gubernatorial chair, he pointed out to the 
 Legislature new channels of internal coramunica- 
 
274 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 tion, as likely to be new sources of wealth to the 
 state. 
 
 The counties which lie on the right bank of the 
 St. Lawrence are naturally rich and fertile, but, 
 in consequence of the difficulty of communication, 
 land situated in them has rather fallen than risen in 
 value since the internal improvements of the state 
 were begun, and the population has shown a dis- 
 position to remove to more accessible regions. A 
 part of this country might be brought into com- 
 munication with the Erie Canal by means of a 
 canal from the valley of the Black River to that 
 of the Mohawk. This, however, would be costly, 
 in consequence of the height of the summit level, 
 unless some cheaper mode than that of locks could 
 be introduced for overcoming it. The mountains 
 which occupy so great a portion of the north of 
 the state, fall away about the 45th degree of lat- 
 itude, and it is obvious that a canal from the St. 
 Lawrence to Lake Champlain is practicable. This 
 would open the whole of this region, and render it 
 accessible to commerce. Clinton recommended 
 this line of communication to the notice of the Le- 
 gislature ; and, as the best route would enter partly 
 into the British territory, suggests the propriety of 
 endeavouring to obtain permission to make the 
 canal from the government of Great Britain, or of 
 negotiating an exchange for territory in some oth- 
 er region. Nothing has been done towards the 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 275 
 
 promotion of this project, and it will rest among 
 those instances in which local interests have tri- 
 umphed over the public good. 
 
 It had been among the points of policy which 
 Clinton had most strenuously supported, that the 
 communication with Lake Ontario should be avoid- 
 ed. When, however, the completion of the direct 
 route to Lake Erie was assured, an important re- 
 gion on that lake seemed to demand a communica- 
 tion with the great canal. Clinton entered warm- 
 ly into the support of this project, and made it the 
 subject of a recommendation to the Legislature. 
 
 It has been seen that an imperfect navigation, 
 interrupted by portages, had connected the Cayu- 
 ga and Seneca Lakes with the Mohawk, but from 
 the Erie Canal no communication to those lakes 
 had been provided. Canandaigua Lake, which 
 had been before reached by no navigation, al- 
 though of less extent, lies also in the heart of a 
 rich country. The connexion of these three lakes 
 with the Erie Canal, appeared to Clinton to be an 
 object of great importance, and the consideration 
 of this subject w^as, in consequence, urged upon 
 the Legislature. 
 
 Crooked Lake empties its waters into the Sene- 
 ca Lake, and from the head of the former a long 
 portage had afforded access to the Tioga or Che- 
 mung Branch of the Susquehanna. It appeared 
 that a canal was practicable in this direction, and 
 
276 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 this seemed to Clinton of sufficient importance to 
 be made one of the subjects of his first message 
 to the Legislature. 
 
 Of these projected canals, those which join the 
 Seneca and Cayuga Lakes to the Erie Canal have 
 been constructed, in conformity with Clinton's rec- 
 ommendations, as has that from the Seneca Lake 
 to the Chemung. Those who have entertained 
 less liberal views of the policy of the state in re- 
 spect to internal improvements, have not failed to 
 remark, that the tolls on these canals have not 
 met the interest on their cost. It seems, however, 
 to have been demonstrated, that the state is no 
 loser j for, although the receipts collected on the 
 lines of these canals fall short of this object, it is 
 to be considered that, if they be added to the tolls 
 accruing to the Erie Canal from vessels which en- 
 ter it from these lateral navigations, the sum will 
 be more than sufficient to meet the interest on the 
 cost of these public works. Even did they not 
 suffice for this purpose, an amount of wealth has 
 been created by these canals which far exceeds 
 their whole cost. 
 
 Besides these subjects of general interest, Clin- 
 ton did not refuse to devote his attention to mat- 
 ters merely local. Among the most important of 
 these was the project for supplying the City of 
 New-York with water. The necessity of some 
 provision for this purpose was also pressed upon 
 
DEW ITT CLINTON. 277 
 
 the Legislature in his first message. This recom- 
 mendation, although not acted upon at that time, 
 was the first step towards that grant of additional 
 powers to the corporation of New- York, which 
 has led to the execution of the plan of bringing 
 water from near the sources of the Croton for the 
 supply of the teeming population of that city. 
 
 The same message contains a recommendation 
 that a board of public works should be " constitu- 
 ted, with authority to consider and report on all 
 subjects relative to the establishment of communi- 
 cations by land and water, by roads, railways, 
 bridges, canals, and water-courses, with a general 
 superintending power over their construction." 
 In relation to this plan he remarks, " The field of 
 operation, and the harvest of honour and profit, are 
 unbounded : and if our resources are wisely ap- 
 plied and forcibly directed, all proper demands for 
 important avenues of communication may be an- 
 swered in due time and in proper extent." No 
 one can look upon the course which events have 
 taken since his decease without being satisfied of 
 the wisdom of this recommendation, and of the 
 great advantage the state would have derived from 
 a board exercising a superintendence over all 
 plans of improvement, in the place of one confi- 
 ned in its operations to the Erie and Champlain 
 Canals. 
 
 The year 1825 was marked by an incident 
 
 Aa 
 
278 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 which produced a change in the aspect of parties, 
 and for a time set at defiance the calculations of 
 the most experienced politicians. 
 
 A person of the name of Morgan, residing at 
 Batavia, in Genesee county, had undertaken to 
 publish the secrets of freemasonry. This had been 
 resented by some over-zealous brethren of the craft, 
 and the obnoxious party was abducted, nay, in all 
 probability, murdered. For this act there can be 
 no possible defence. However guilty, in a moral 
 sense, may have been the individual who had vio- 
 lated the solemn oaths by which it is said the ad- 
 mission to this fraternity is guarded, it was not a 
 crime in the eye of the law ; and, in a well-regu- 
 lated community, the right of inflicting punishment 
 even for legal offences is not to be exercised by in- 
 dividuals or associations. 
 
 Many have presumed, from the vengeance with 
 which Morgan's publication was visited, that he 
 had revealed at least a part of the treasured secrets 
 of masonry ; and the only actual gTOund of fear to 
 which that association was subjected, is to be found 
 in the puerile character of the ceremonies it unfolds. 
 They are, in truth, unmeaning in themselves, and 
 mere contTivances to prevent the admission of 
 the uninitiated, by requiring the remembrance of 
 words, signals, and ceremonies, which could not 
 easily be compassed or imitated by those who had 
 not received the key. It is, however, said by 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 279 
 
 some, that this association, deriving its origin from 
 the architects of those magnificent temples which 
 illustrated the ages called dark, possesses many 
 noble and sublime traditions ; that it imbodies the 
 mystic knowledge of the Templars, and a tradition- 
 ary learning, whose amount may be estimated from 
 the contrast which the skill and science displayed 
 in those edifices exhibits, when compared wdth 
 the ignorance and barbarism of the ages when 
 they were erected. Others claim for it a still 
 more ancient origin, and trace it to the builders of 
 the temples of Egypt, which remain, after the 
 lapse of forty centuries, to attest the genius and 
 talent of their founders. 
 
 Whatever be its origin, masonry has, beyond a 
 doubt, been applied to some of the noblest purpo- 
 ses, but may readily be perverted to those of a 
 criminal or dangerous character. In our Revolu- 
 tionary struggle, its lodges were the places in 
 which patriots and statesmen matured schemes of 
 resistance to British powder ,* and the calamities of 
 war w^ere in more than one instance relieved by 
 the feeling of masonic ties. On the Continent of 
 Europe they have been the receptacle of the aspi- 
 rants for release from the arbitrary power of civil 
 rulers and the sanguinary tyranny of a persecuting 
 church. The character of a freemason had thus 
 become, in Italy, Austria, and Spain, a mark for ,. 
 proscription. In Mexico, the two rites of York 
 
280 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 and Scotland have been made the rallying-points 
 of parties in the state. In the United States, initi- 
 ation to masonry has, to all appearance, been con- 
 ducive to the advancement of political men ; but, 
 as it is accessible to both parties, it does not ap- 
 pear to have influenced the triumphs or defeats of 
 either. 
 
 It is one of the peculiarities of this mysterious 
 transaction, that there is little or nothing contain- 
 ed in the work of Morgan which had not pre- 
 viously been published in England towards the 
 close of the last century, without exciting remark. 
 Many have, in consequence, imagined that his 
 sole object was to make money by the sale of a 
 book, which might, to the uninitiated, appear to be 
 a revelation of the object of their curiosity, while 
 it w^as, in truth, no breach of the oath of secrecy. 
 
 Clinton had become a freemason at an early 
 age, and had been elected finally to the highest 
 offices of the association. In this capacity, it ap- 
 pears from his correspondence, that he was repeat- 
 edly applied to for advice as to the obligation of 
 the masonic engagement. Replies to such appli- 
 cations occur in his letter-book long before the ex- 
 citement caused by the disappearance of Morgan 
 arose. They are of uniform tenour, and declare 
 the masonic covenant to be inferior in obligation to 
 the duties of the man, the citizen, and the Chris- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 281 
 
 tian, to which, if found in opposition, it, in his 
 opinion, ought in all respects to yield. 
 
 The abduction and probable murder of Morgan 
 caused an excitement which can only be regarded at 
 the present day as a passionate dream. It was not 
 directed against the individuals who had been in- 
 strumental in the unhallowed act alone, but ao-ainst 
 all the members^ of the society, and was seized 
 upon by political aspirants as a means of bringing 
 them into notice and raising them to power. To 
 the party thus formed Clinton was necessarily ob- 
 noxious, from the lofty station he held in the broth- 
 erhood. He had, in consequence, a most difficult 
 part to play ; for, while his duty as the chief magis- 
 trate of the state called upon him to take meas- 
 ures for the discovery and apprehension of the of- 
 fenders, the sweeping nature of the denunciations, 
 and the hostile partisan spirit of which they were 
 the expression, w^ere offensive to him as a man, and 
 injurious to hira as a politician. He did not, how- 
 ever, falter in the strict fulfilment of his duties ; eve- 
 ry power of his mind, every prerogative he pos- 
 sessed as governor, were called into action for the 
 purpose of bringing the offenders to justice ; and 
 the anxiety he felt that the supremacy of the law 
 should be vindicated, seems to have pressed upon 
 his already declining health. On the other hand, 
 he could not avoid expressing his surprise, that the 
 unauthorized and disavowed acts of a few ill-judg- 
 
 A a2 
 
282 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ing persons should be made the grounds of pro- 
 scription against all the members of the masonic 
 fraternity. 
 
 The sheriff of one of the frontier counties was 
 accused of participation in the abduction of Mor- 
 gan. The governor forthwith propounded to him 
 a series of written interrogatories relative to his 
 agency in the transaction, and, on his refusal to 
 answer, issued a proclamation removing him from 
 office. This person, it is to be recollected, was his 
 steadfast friend and political supporter; but he 
 would not allow any personal considerations to 
 weigh against the public interest. 
 
 In an interview which the removed sheriff 
 sought, he said, " Strong as is my attachment to 
 you, I will, if you are guilty, exert myself to have 
 you punished to the utmost extent of the laws." 
 To which the trembling culprit replied, in faltering 
 tones, " I have done nothing worthy of chains or 
 death." 
 
 It is to be feared that this is the last instance of 
 such stern political virtue. The politicians of the 
 present day, far from emulating the example of the 
 elder Brutus, seem to be willing to screen the crim- 
 inal acts of their adherents ; and it is more than 
 insinuated, that party devotion has been accepted 
 as an excuse for the faithful discharge of the du- 
 ties of office, and served as a screen for actual 
 malversations. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 283 
 
 The formation of a political party upon the ma- 
 sonic question, not only in the State of New- York, 
 but in those of Pennsylvania, Vermont, and New- 
 Jersey, is not an isolated instance of the avidity 
 with which political aspirants seek out any inci- 
 dent on which to ground partisan agitation. It is, 
 however, of all that have been thus chosen, per- 
 haps the most singular, and the least promising to 
 lead to any of the desired results. The excitement 
 which naturally prevailed in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood where the crime was committed, was 
 not of the sort that could be propagated to a great 
 distance ; and those who, without feeling it, un- 
 dertook to spread it from motives of cool calcula- 
 tion, were grievously disappointed, for the diversion 
 it caused in the array of parties became the sure 
 means of confirming the power of their adversaries. 
 
 When Clinton became a candidate for re-elec- 
 tion in 1826, the fact of his being a mason was 
 made use of to diminish his popularity. This ar- 
 gument had its most powerful effect in the very 
 region where his greatest strength lay ; namely, in 
 the part of the state west of the Cayuga Lake. 
 A formidable coalition was also formed against 
 him from materials to all appearance the most dis- 
 cordant The old supporters of Mr. Crawford as 
 a candidate for the presidency were leagued with 
 the adherents of the existing administration, and to 
 the latter were added many of the friends of Mr. 
 
284 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Clay. The influence of the custom-house and 
 that of the canal commissioners were called into 
 action to defeat the election of Clinton. Judge 
 Rochester was held up by this coalition as a can- 
 didate for the office of governor. The opponents 
 of Chnton were unable to make any impression on 
 his well-merited popularity with the people ; but 
 that very popularity was the cause of an over-con- 
 fidence on the part of his friends. From these 
 causes the vote was so far diminished from that of 
 the previous election, that it was estimated that 
 from twenty to thirty thousand voters did not 
 put in their ballots ; and all of these were persons 
 who, had they voted, would have voted for Clinton. 
 In spite of this remissness on the part of his friends, 
 he was re-elected by a majority of upward of four 
 thousand. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 285 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Clinton^s views of Religicms Worship, — His Ser^ 
 vices to the Presbyterian Education and Bible 
 Societies. — His occasional Addresses . — Gi'eat 
 change in the Relations of Parties. — Clinton 
 recommends the Road through the Southwest- 
 em tier of Counties. — His Illness and Death. — 
 Political Reflections. — Description of Clinton^s 
 Person, and Remarks on his Character. — Illus- 
 trations of the importance of his Services in 
 promoting the Canal Policy of the State. 
 
 Clinton's early education had been strictly re- 
 ligious. The habits of family worship and cate- 
 chetical instruction which the first American set- 
 tler of the race had brought from the land of his 
 forefathers, w^ere maintained by General James 
 Clinton. Their faith was, as we have seen, that 
 of the Presbyterian Church. In the excitement of 
 parties growing out of the French Revolution, 
 many of those who were in favour of the alhance 
 of the United States with France, and of the dem- 
 ocratic party in general, either openly avowed 
 principles of infidelity, or silently gave up the 
 forms of attendance upon Christian worship. In 
 this respect the example of Jefferson was perni- * 
 
286 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 cious, for his opposition to an established church 
 seems to have carried him to the opposite extreme 
 of discountenancing all public expression of reli- 
 gious feeling. In spite of the intimate political 
 connexion of the Clintons with Jefferson, they 
 were not tainted either with the feelings of luke- 
 warmness or the errors of infidelity. Chnton's 
 alliance with a Quaker family in the early part 
 of his life, may have rendered him less tenacious 
 of the rites which other Christian sects insist upon, 
 and which that denomination has rejected ; but of 
 the essentials of religion he was, even when press- 
 ed by political care and personal anxieties, a reg- 
 ular and conscientious observer. While holding 
 the office of mayor, his punctual attendance with 
 his family on the public services of the Presbyte- 
 rian Church not only marked his own belief, but 
 served as an example to others. With the vener- 
 able Dr. Rodgers, the senior pastor of the associa- 
 ted cono;reo-ations of that denomination, and with 
 the Rev. Dr. Miller, one of his colleagues, he was 
 in habits of close and familiar intimacy j and the 
 adhesion of these pious and exemplary men to the 
 political party to which Clinton belonged, served 
 as a complete refutation of the opinion which 
 united the democratic cause with the impious 
 principles of the French Jacobins. 
 
 On his removal to Albany, the same attention 
 to the external forms of religion was manifest, 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 287 
 
 and he became a communicant of the Presbyteri- 
 an Church. In the conflict of rival creeds, the 
 several sects must look to the influence and char- 
 acter of their lay members as the proof of the be- 
 nign influence of their tenets, and as the temporal 
 support of their principles. The Presbyterian 
 Church, in consequence, prided itself, at least as 
 much as such pride in spiritual matters is war- 
 ranted, in the possession of Clinton as a member, 
 and he, in return, rendered it important services. 
 
 Of the numerous and munificent charities of the 
 Presbyterian Church, that which is intended to pro- 
 vide for the education of poor and pious young 
 men for its ministry is perhaps the most benefi- 
 cial in its influences. In the ever-growing popu- 
 lation of our country, the means of religious in- 
 struction have in general been behind the increase 
 of numbers, and always in arrear of the exten- 
 sion of our settlements. The Presbyterian Church, 
 holding that the days of inspiration are past, makes 
 a sound education, and proficiency in human knowl- 
 edge, preliminaries to the reception of its ordina- 
 tion. In this it has acted with temporal wisdom, 
 as well as with sound views of the spiritual benefit 
 of its members. Nothing is so likely to bring re- 
 ligion into contempt as ignorance on the part of 
 those who assume to be its teachers. Zeal ^vith- 
 out knowledge is almost certain to run into fanat- 
 ical excess ; and the exposition of Christian doc- 
 
288 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 trine requires, in the absence of the supernatural 
 gifts which distinguished the early age of the 
 church, no small extent of classical learning. 
 The rapid improvements of science are continually 
 renewing the question how far its discoveries are 
 consistent with the real truths of revelation. An- 
 tiquated interpretations of texts have been found- 
 ed on ancient theories in physics, which modern 
 improvements have exploded. The scoffer has 
 taken advantage of such apparent contradiction, 
 and has applied it to the propagation of infidel 
 doctrines. The churchman who shall neglect to 
 become acquainted with scientific principles, and 
 to watch the progress of physical knowledge, 
 may, in the arguments which the unlimited free- 
 dom of discussion that the institutions of our coun- 
 try so wisely and fortunately admit of, become 
 involved in a dilemma which, to the uninformed 
 and unrefliecting, may be the foundation of infidel 
 opinions. All are aware of the injury which was 
 done to the Christian belief of many anxious in- 
 quirers, by the pertinacious opposition of over- 
 zealous churchmen to the discoveries of geology, 
 which, although for a time rejected by them, are 
 supported by such in-efragable evidence, that no 
 one who inquires can possibly refuse his assent. 
 
 It is also of vast importance that a large pro- 
 portion of the teachers of religion should be taken 
 firom among those in moderate circiunstances, or 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 289 
 
 even in poverty. The habits of those who are 
 reared among the more opulent classes of society, 
 particularly when united with those formed in 
 scholastic institutions, are a bad preparation for 
 the hardships and privations of a frontier settle- 
 ment ; while the spiritual welfare of the people is 
 generally best promoted by a pastor who can en- 
 ter into the feelings and unite in the society of his 
 parishioners. 
 
 Of the Education Society, founded to promote 
 such objects in the Presbyterian Church, Clinton 
 was a valuable and useful member, and held for 
 several years the office of vice-president. 
 
 While he thus manifested his preference for the 
 form of worship preferred by his forefathers, he 
 was influenced by no feelings of sectarian bigotry. 
 The mere forms of worship, and even dilTerences 
 in tenets, he regarded as unimportant, so far as the 
 public was concerned, provided the religion pro- 
 fessed produced its proper influence on the life and 
 morals. 
 
 Of the institutions of human origin, that which 
 has tended in the highest degree to extend the 
 knowledge of the Christian faith in distant lands, 
 and to enlarge its influence in our own, is the 
 Bible Society. Of this inestimable institution 
 Clinton was one of the first officers, and held for 
 some years previous to his death the office of a 
 vice-president 
 
 Bb 
 
290 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 In addition to his numerous reports on subjects 
 of national interest, his speeches to the Legisla- 
 ture, and the many laws of which he furnished the 
 draughts, Clinton was, as we have seen, a distin- 
 guished writer on scientific subjects. He also 
 wrote and delivered many occasional addresses. 
 Of these we may cite, in high terms of commenda- 
 tion, his eulogy on Fulton and Livingston, and his 
 orations before the alumni of Columbia and Union 
 Colleges. These addresses form, as has been well 
 remarked, the most peculiar feature of American 
 literature, from their vast number and general 
 ability. In accepting the invitations to deliver 
 such addresses, Clinton was brought into direct 
 contrast, not with the politicians and statesmen 
 so much as with the most eminent literary and 
 scientific men of the age and country. It is 
 enough for his reputation to say that he did not 
 suffer in his character as a writer by this com- 
 parison. 
 
 Clinton's accession to the office of governor by 
 re-election in 1827 was attended with a most sin- 
 gular revolution among politicians. His ancient 
 opponents had been divided into two parties, one 
 of which, after having supported Mr. Crawford as 
 a candidate for the presidency, had united with 
 the friends of General Jackson ; the other sustain- 
 ed the policy of the administration of Mr. Adams. 
 Chnton had felt a preference for General Jackson, 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 291 
 
 although he had taken no active part in the elec- 
 tion, which terminated in the choice of Mr. Adams. 
 The acts of the office-holders of the general gov- 
 ernment and of the personal friends of Mr. Ad- 
 ams left him no alternative but to avow his pref- 
 erence, and he was thus placed in the position of 
 a leader, and the most prominent personage of a 
 party which was, in a great measure, made up of 
 his most constant and bitter opponents. On the 
 other hand, the masonic question had resulted in the 
 organization of a party, many of whose members 
 were drawn from among the most steady support- 
 ers of his policy, which was opposed to the elec- 
 tion of Jackson. 
 
 The triumph which speedily followed in the 
 election of General Jackson to the presidency, ap- 
 peared to open new views of ambition to Clinton. 
 It was generally believed that the new president 
 would have called him to a distinguished position 
 in his cabinet, and that Chnton would not, on this 
 occasion, have declined the invitation. In this 
 station he would have been placed as the most 
 prominent candidate for the succession. 7'his new 
 opportunity for the exercise of his talents in the 
 services of his country was not vouchsafed him. 
 It might be a matter of curious speculation to 
 conjecture how far the acceptance by Clinton to 
 a place in the cabinet would have influenced the 
 course of General Jackson's administration; and 
 
292 AMERICAN BIOOKAPHT. 
 
 how long two men, equally determined in the sup- 
 port of the measures they considered to be proper, 
 could have remained in amicable relations. It can 
 now he seen that many of the measures oi Gen- 
 eral Jackson's administration were in opposition 
 to the avowed opinions of Clinton, while m others 
 he would have cordially united. 
 
 He would probably, also, have striven to moder- 
 ate the excessive zeal by which principles m them- 
 selves correct were carried by that energetic man 
 beyond the verge of expediency ; and there can 
 be little doubt that he would have been able to 
 exercise an influence for good, which was po^ess- 
 ed by none of his subsequent advisers. _ Such 
 speculations are, however, futile ; for it is now 
 known that he had determined to dechne office 
 under the new administration, not, as he said, from 
 any want of regard to General Jackson, but be- 
 cause he considered his station as governor of 
 New-York by the election of the people more 
 honourable than any appointment in the gift of 
 
 the general government. ^ . , ^ • iro? 
 
 Ctinton's message to the Legislature m 1827 
 contains the announcement of the final and com- 
 plete triumph of the canal pohcy of he state 
 He had the gratification to announce that the tolls 
 of the preceding year had amounted to seven hun- 
 dred and seventy thousand dollars, or to near^ 
 twice the amount of the interest on the debt con- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 29b 
 
 tracted for the construction of the canals; while 
 the whole revenue of the fund amounted to up- 
 ward of a million. With this decided proof of 
 the success of internal improvements conducted on 
 the part of the state, Clinton presses upon the Le- 
 gislature the propriety of aiding in other under- 
 takings, and, in some instances, of assuming them 
 for the public account. He more particularly re- 
 fers to the projected road through the southwestern 
 tier of counties. In respect to this, he declares 
 that he is willing to encounter his full share of the 
 responsibility of the measure he recommends. 
 
 Among other important points in this message, 
 he recommends corrections in the criminal code, 
 and gives instances where it is of an oppressive 
 and unjust character, as well as unequal in its op- 
 eration. 
 
 Of these recommendations, that in relation to 
 the road through the southwestern counties is the 
 most important. Investigations held subsequently, 
 and the improvements made in the construction 
 of railroads, have satisfied the parties interested in 
 this improvement that it can be better eifected by 
 means of a railway than by a common road. In 
 this view of the subject Clinton would in all 
 probability have concurred ; and there can be no 
 doubt that he would have urged with all his in- 
 fluence the construction of this railroad by the 
 
 state. The Legislature has been of a different 
 
 Bb2 
 
294 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 opinion, and the construction of the road has been 
 intrusted to an incorporated company. All the 
 evils which Clinton anticipated from this act have 
 followed. The probable profits are not sufficient 
 to attract a sufficient amount of capital ; the stock, 
 although subscribed, has not been paid up ; and the 
 project must either be abandoned, or the state must 
 assume the responsibiUty of constructing it. 
 
 In the summer of 1827 Clinton made a tour 
 through Connecticut, and parts of the states of 
 New-Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts. He 
 was received throughout not only with the distinc- 
 tion due to his rank as governor of the State of 
 New-York, but with the enthusiasm excited by his 
 services in the cause of internal improvement. 
 While it was impossible that any feeling could 
 exist in these states at all approaching to the re- 
 gard and gratitude with which he was regarded 
 by many of the citizens of New-York, he, on the 
 other hand, was spared the pain of meeting those 
 who looked upon him as an obstacle to their plans 
 of partisan aggrandizement. His journey was 
 therefore attended with unmingled feelings of 
 
 gratification. 
 
 Towards the close of the same year Clinton 
 was attacked by a disorder to all appearance 
 slight. It, however, resisted all the efforts of med- 
 icine, and finally deprived him of life. In conse- 
 quence of the incapacity for taking the quantity 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 295 
 
 of exercise to which he had been previously ac- 
 customed, his hfe had become in a great measure 
 sedentary, and his constitution no longer possessed 
 the power of throwing off the causes which might 
 produce disease. The form of a mere cold, which 
 the disorder at first assumed, appeared to furnish 
 no cause for anxiety ; but it pressed upon him by 
 slow and insidious steps. The powers of his mind 
 hardly appear to have been affected; and, while 
 he sustained some feelings of bodily uneasiness, he 
 was yet able to apply himself to his official duties. 
 Among the very last events of his life is a letter 
 addressed to one of the circuit judges, in reference 
 to an act that came properly within his cognizance 
 as governor, which is distinguished by all the 
 clearness and ability of his most vigorous days. 
 
 The disorder took the form of a dropsy of the 
 chest, affecting in an especial degree the heart 
 and lungs. His death was without warning, and 
 while his friends anticipated no immediate danger. 
 It took place on the 11th of February, 1828, in 
 the presence of his eldest son, who acted as his 
 private secretary. He had taken a drive in the 
 morning, visited the Capitol, and transacted busi- 
 ness as usual. In the afternoon he wrote up his 
 diary, and perused all the letters received by the 
 evening mails, and was thus engaged until within 
 a few minutes of his death. 
 
 Although his danger was not feared by his fam- 
 
296 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ily, he himself was fully aware of the approach 
 of his last hour. His friend Dr. Hosack, who, 
 while he resided in New-York, had been his phy- 
 sician, visited him in Albany, and felt it his duty 
 to communicate how precarious his position was, 
 and that his disease must soon terminate fatally. 
 Sustained by a well-founded religious belief, and 
 the consciousness of a well-spent life, he replied 
 that he " was not afraid to die," and the porten- 
 tous announcement produced no apparent change 
 in his cheerfulness, or alteration in his attention to 
 the public business. 
 
 His countenance underwent no change in death ; 
 there was no struggle or convulsion ; the colour 
 of his cheeks was unchanged ; and his departure 
 was as quiet as if he had dropped asleep. 
 
 The death of no person ever produced a greater 
 and more general expression of sorrow through- 
 out the whole state, and in a great portion of the 
 Union. 
 
 The feelings of party animosity, which had pur- 
 sued him through life, and which had not altogeth- 
 er abated, ceased at once. All classes, ranks, and 
 factions joined in deploring his loss, at the mo- 
 ment when his services were as much needed as 
 they had ever been, and when he appeared to be 
 more than ever capable of rendering them. The 
 citizens, in public meetings in all the cities of the 
 state J the Legislature, which was in session at the 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 297 
 
 time, and the municipal corporations, united in the 
 expression of a heartfelt sorrow. 
 
 The history of Clinton imbodies that of the par- 
 ties which have agitated the State of New-York 
 from the close of the war of the Revolution. The 
 existence of two opposing factions seems to be in- 
 separable from the nature of a free government, and 
 their balance may be almost essential to its exist- 
 ence. Furious as have been the contests in words, 
 and inveterate as have been the personal hostili- 
 ties that have in some cases been generated, it is 
 a favourable augury for the stability of our insti- 
 tutions, that, since the adoption of the federal Con- 
 stitution, no question has been agitated having any 
 real bearing upon the great principles on which 
 the government is founded. The long contest of 
 the federal and democratic parties was grounded 
 in a great degree upon foreign policy, however 
 loudly the one party was charged with maintain- 
 ing aristocratic, and the other of a tendency to dis- 
 organizing principles. Since that time, personal 
 preferences, and the contest for places of emolu- 
 ment, have been, in general, the springs of political 
 action. It has thus happened, that, from the mo- 
 ment the old federal party fell to pieces, the dis- 
 tinctions of party have ceased ; and the same men 
 have been seen alternately caressed and proscribed 
 by the coalition calling themselves the old dem- 
 ocratic party. It has been no agreeable task to 
 
298 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 hunt up the records of poUtical changes. CUnton 
 was by them made, as has been seen, alternately 
 the idol and the proscribed of the dominant party ; 
 and in it have figured his ancient federal opponents, 
 as well as his original democratic alhes. For him- 
 self, he was separated at an early period from the 
 mass of politicians, who pursue their vocation prin- 
 cipally for the purpose of their own aggrandize- 
 ment. One favourite object, the improvement of 
 the internal navigation of the state, furnished him 
 with a mark for his aspirations which distinguish- 
 ed him from the vulgar herds of faction. No man 
 was a warmer and more active partisan than him- 
 self ; but his most violent denunciations of his op- 
 ponents had one redeeming quality — they were in- 
 tended to aid in the triumph of the policy whence 
 the state has received so much benefit. 
 
 In the warmth of his political feelings he not un- 
 frequently committed the mistake of supposing those 
 who opposed him from personal feelings, or in the 
 hope of acquiring ascendency from his downfall, 
 to be influenced by motives of less creditable de- 
 scription; while, on the other hand, he in some 
 instances overrated the capacity of those who re- 
 mained his steadfast friends both in good and evil 
 report. The warmth of his temperament, which 
 made him a strenuous friend, or an active but 
 generous enemy, rendered him at times the advo- 
 cate of those who little merited his support, and 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 299 
 
 placed him in active opposition to some who, from 
 similarity of views on the great question of inter- 
 nal improvement, were fitted to be the most use- 
 ful partisans of the measures in which he took so 
 strong an interest. 
 
 Clinton's person, in his youth and early manhood, 
 was remarkable for its masculine beauty, and, as 
 years advanced, assumed a majestic character. His 
 stature was upward of six feet, straight, and finely 
 proportioned. His eyes were a dark hazel, ap- 
 proaching to black, and highly expressive ; his 
 hair brown ; his complexion clear, and more florid 
 than usual among Americans ; his teeth fine, giv- 
 ing a peculiar grace to his smile ; his nose slightly 
 aquiline. His habits of reflection and close study 
 were marked in the ordinary expression of his 
 countenance, which, controlled at an early period 
 of his life to the gravity becoming the magistrate 
 and the senator, presented an appearance of se- 
 riousness almost approaching to austerity. When 
 speaking in public, however, his face expressed, 
 with the utmost flexibility, the varying emotions to 
 which his words gave vent ; while in the inter- 
 course of private life and in familiar conversation, 
 the gravity, which rested on his features when not 
 excited, gave w^ay on occasion to playfulness and 
 mirth. 
 
 His portraits, which were painted by many of 
 our best artists, and his bust by Brouwere, exhibit, 
 
300 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 in almost all cases, the expression of gravity and 
 reflection. They thus give little idea of the more 
 agreeable lineaments of his countenance. 
 
 He was as exemplary in his private relations as 
 he was distinguished in public life — a good and 
 affectionate husband ; a kind and judicious father ; 
 a friend who in many cases sacrificed his own in- 
 terests in order to benefit those who were faithful 
 to him. No shade of suspicion, in all the vitupera- 
 tion which was showered on him by political ad- 
 versaries, was ever cast on his moral character. 
 
 Although reserved in his manner in mixed so- 
 cieties, he was playful, sportive, and cheerful in 
 his intercourse with his children, kind, and of the 
 most even temper. Hence his absence was always 
 regretted by them, and his return welcomed with 
 demonstrations of joy. 
 
 He was an early riser, and generally despatched 
 his correspondence, which was often voluminous, 
 before he breakfasted. He thus had the remain- 
 der of the day at his disposal ; and, while laborious 
 to an extent equalled by few even of professional 
 men, had the appearance of almost perfect leisure 
 during the ordinary hours of business. Hence, 
 while holding official stations, he was always ac- 
 cessible ; and the crowd of visiters which he ad- 
 mitted did not intrench on the strict performance 
 of his duties. 
 
 It is one of the most remarkable features in his 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 301 
 
 career, that he Avas never defeated in any election 
 when the question was submitted directly to the 
 people. The only instance in which he was an 
 unsuccessful candidate for an elective office was 
 that in which he was opposed to Madison as an 
 aspirant for the presidency; and, although there is 
 little probability that the result would have been 
 affected by a vote not conveyed through the elec- 
 toral colleges, the proposition is true to the letter. 
 
 On this occasion he may have departed from 
 his usual prudent plan of weighing well the 
 chances before he submitted his pretensions to the 
 people; but there were causes at work which jus- 
 tify his course, if brought to no other test than that 
 of political expediency. His uncle had a short 
 time before become aware of a project, entertained 
 by the administration at Washington, for dismem- 
 bering the State of New-York, and disappointed 
 politicians were named who were to have been 
 the willing instruments of this suicidal act. It 
 therefore became necessary to show that the dem- 
 ocratic party to the North was not in all respects 
 subservient to the policy of Virginia, w^hich viewed 
 the rising greatness of New-York with distrust 
 and jealousy. 
 
 This fact in relation to Clinton's uniform suc- 
 cess whenever he came before the public as can- 
 didate for an elective office, would appear to jus- 
 tify his declared confidence in the ultimate judg- 
 
 Cc 
 
302 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 ment of the majority. With this strong convic- 
 tion, he appears never to have considered what 
 would be the temporary effect of his measures, 
 but only whether they were right in themselves, 
 and calculated to promote the general prosperity; 
 ' satisfied that, when the mists of prejudice in 
 which they might be involved by their opponents 
 had cleared away, his motives would be appre- 
 ciated and his conduct approved. It thus hap- 
 pened more than once in his political life, that 
 the outcry raised against him and his measures 
 became so great that he appeared to have lost 
 all favour with the public ; and yet, no sooner had 
 time for reflection been allowed, than he w^as ele- 
 vated to the highest ofhce in the people's gift. 
 On these occasions he retired from the strife of 
 party until time had been allowed for the cool 
 judgment of the majority to be formed, and, to 
 the surprise of his opponents, returned anew to 
 the political arena, and carried all before him. 
 
 Whatever errors in principle or practice he may 
 have committed, his motives were alw^ays pure, 
 and directed, not to the attainment of a temporary 
 popularity, but to the great end of the public 
 good. With more of flexibility, he might have 
 escaped the political reverses he experienced, but 
 he never could have risen with such irresistible 
 strength as he exhibited in the elections of 1818 
 and 1826. 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 303 
 
 Violent as were the contests in which he was 
 occasionally engaged, they seem never to have 
 produced any rankling in his mind ; and even those 
 who had been the instrmiients of actual or mtend- 
 ed injury, were readily forgiven whenever they 
 saw and acknowledged that they had been m 
 error. His conduct seems to have been governed 
 by the Roman maxim of pohcy, '^parcere suhjedis, 
 et dehdlare siiperhos.''' 
 
 We may cite, as an illustration of this feature 
 of his character, his conduct to Gould and Ward. 
 This bookselling firm had become the publishers 
 of a pamphlet which was libellous upon his char- 
 acter, and his indignation was so much excited as 
 to induce him to threaten a prosecution. No 
 sooner, however, had they become sensible that 
 they had been made the instruments of a false 
 and malicious charge, and expressed their regret 
 at the want of caution they had exhibited, than he 
 dropped all proceedings and freely forgave them. 
 Numerous as were the attacks made upon hmi 
 through the medium of the press, there was but 
 one o'ther instance in which he contemplated an 
 appeal to a legal tribunal in vindication of his 
 character. This was a case growing out of the 
 antimasonic excitement. In the last year of his 
 life he was charged with having, in his masomc 
 capacity, sanctioned the outrage committed on 
 Morgan. The charge was so entirely destitute of 
 
304 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 any foundation, that the hbeller saw that there 
 was no hope for justification. He therefore threw 
 himself on the mercy of CUnton, and admitted the 
 falsehood of the accusation. In this instance also 
 he refrained from farther prosecution, although it 
 is clear that he must have recovered ample dama- 
 ges. His only purpose was the vindication of his 
 fame, and, that accomplished, he saw no object in 
 persisting in the suit. 
 
 In this, as in many other cases, he showed an 
 indifference to money. He had, in fact, no dis- 
 position to accumulate pecuniary fortune, and 
 exhibited no talent for money-making. In the 
 hands of one who would have made wealth his 
 great object of pursuit, his patrimonial inheritance 
 and the portion of his first wife might have been 
 the basis of a great accumulation of property, 
 while the opportunities for advantageous invest- 
 ment opened to him in his office of canal commis- 
 sioner might, in hands less pure, have been the 
 source of unbounded riches. In spite of these op- 
 portunities, he died in honourable poverty, and 
 even the plate presented to him by the merchants 
 of New-York was exposed for sale after his death. 
 
 His charities were abundant; and there were 
 instances, when compelled by a sense of dut}' to 
 refuse the petition of a mother or wife for the 
 pardon of a son or a husband, that he gave from 
 his own purse the means of repairing, in some de- 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 305 
 
 gree, the distress growing out of the conviction of 
 the criminal relative. 
 
 Enough of time has elapsed since his death to 
 make the opinions now held of him almost tanta- 
 mount to the judgment of posterity. If a few of 
 his ancient opponents remain, who cannot divest 
 themselves of the opinions derogatory to his char- 
 acter which they once in sincerity entertained; 
 and if there be others who cannot consistently dis- 
 avow the expressions they uttered in the heat of 
 party debate ; the generation which is now rising, 
 without a dissenting voice, awards to him the 
 praise due to an enlightened and energetic magis- 
 trate, a learned and impartial judge, an honest 
 and patriotic politician, a dignified administrator 
 of the government. More than all, no voice is 
 now raised to question the important share he 
 took in originating, carrying forward, and com- 
 pleting the policy to which the Erie and Cham- 
 plain Canals are due, while few hesitate in ascri- 
 bing to him so great a degree of merit in the ad- 
 vancement of this policy, as to sink the services of 
 all other persons into comparative insignificance. 
 
 However meritorious may have been the servi- 
 ces of the subordinate agents in any great event, 
 history rarely records any but the chief performer. 
 We speak of the conquests of Alexander and the 
 victories of Caesar, without reference to the thou- 
 sands of gallant soldiers and hundreds of skilful 
 
 Cc2 
 
306 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 officers who aided in those exploits, and we com- 
 mit no injustice ; for, if led by men of less genius, 
 the valour of the one and the tactics of the other 
 might not have saved them from defeat. 
 
 When we contemplate the finished statue, we 
 think not of the labourers who have torn the mar- 
 ble mass from the quarry, nor even of the skilful 
 workmen who have chiselled down its superfluous 
 parts to an approach to the figure of the clay 
 model in which the master artist has imbodied 
 his vivid thoughts ; but to that artist who has re- 
 served to himself no more than the final touches, 
 we ascribe the merit of the performance. And so 
 of the majestic temples of the Christian faith ; the 
 architect receives all our praises or undergoes our 
 criticisms, to the exclusion of all who have been 
 employed in the construction. When Michael 
 Angelo uttered the sublime thought, " I will raise 
 the Pantheon on the Temple of Peace," he im- 
 printed a character on the basilic of St. Peter's 
 which the mistakes and bad taste of his success- 
 ors could not impair. 
 
 To descend to arts more strictly mechanic : we 
 never inquire, w^hen we read the name of an Ar- 
 nold on a chronometer, or of a Breguest on a 
 watch, through what a multitude of hands the 
 several parts of the instruments have passed, for 
 we know that these great workmen have impress- 
 ed their own style of working on the crude form 
 
DEWITT CLINTON. 
 
 307 
 
 in which they have received them from the manu- 
 facturers, and have combined the accessories fur- 
 nished by others in such manner as no other could 
 have identically accomplished. 
 
 Such exactly is the relation which Clinton holds 
 towards the canal system of the State of New- 
 York. He is the chief under whose guidance the 
 political battle for its erection was fought; the 
 artist who gave form and shape to the laws by 
 which it was enacted, and the system of finance 
 by which it was upheld ; he was not the first to 
 discern the practicability of the Erie route, but he 
 drew the argument by which its superiority over 
 the less expensive course to Oswego was demon- 
 strated ; finally, he was for fourteen years, from 
 the time when the canals were first projected, until 
 their success was beyond all possibility of doubt, 
 the point in which all communications, partial ex- 
 aminations, and useful hints centred, and whence 
 they were promulgated to the public under the 
 sanction of his authority, adorned by the graces 
 of h^s diction, and improved by the accuracy of his 
 judgment. Foreign nations, anticipating the ver- 
 dict of posterity, connect no other name but that 
 of Clinton with the Canals of the State of New- 
 York ; and posterity itself will, beyond all ques- 
 tion, elevate him in like manner above all others 
 who have in any way aided in organizing and 
 completing our canal system. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 De Witt Clinton to Governor George Clinton. 
 
 Washington, January 11th, 1803. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 The pubHc mind is much agitated, and the public interests 
 are deeply imphcated, by the infraction of the treaty by the 
 Spanish intendant of New-Orleans in withdrawing that place as 
 a depositary for American produce coming down the Missis- 
 sippi, without assigning any equivalent establishment. I shall 
 present you with a brief statement of this transaction so far as 
 it is interesting, and so far as I have obtained correct informa- 
 tion. Independently of other inducements for making this com- 
 munication, you must be apprized that the city of New- York 
 now actually commands, and will, according to every calculation 
 of probability, continue to command, the greatest part of the 
 New-Orleans, or, rather, the Mississippi trade; that during the 
 last year two hundred and thirty American vessels were em- 
 ployed in it ; that this commerce will accumulate with the ex- 
 tension of our western settlements, and that, therefore, the Span- 
 ish proceedings are calculated to inflict an injury upon our trade, 
 the magnitude of which is at present beyond calculation. 
 
 The following facts, connected with and respecting this busi- 
 ness, are, I believe, accurate. 
 
 1st. That the act of the intendant was contrary to the wishes 
 of the governor. 
 
 2d. That the authority of the intendant, in relation to the fiscal 
 and commercial concerns of the colony, is independent of that of 
 the governor. 
 
 3d. That the intendant is a man of no influence at court, and 
 
310 APPENDIX. 
 
 has grown rich from a very low origin ; and that his proceedings 
 are, in all probability, intended to increase his wealth by their 
 subserviency to a commercial speculation. 
 
 4th. That the court of Madrid has not, in any shape, author- 
 ized his conduct. 
 
 5th. That Louisiana, in the Spanish as well as the French 
 acceptation, comprehends not only the country on the west side 
 of the Mississippi as far as Mexico, but New-Orleans and the 
 Floridas. 
 
 6lh. That this country is comprised in one government and 
 one intendancy under the denomination of Louisiana. 
 
 7th. That, by the treaty of Amiens, Louisiana was ceded to 
 France. That the British minister gave to Mr. King a copy of 
 the treaty which contained this cession ; but that, in the whole 
 course of the negotiation for peace, the British abstained from 
 putting a direct interrogatory on this subject. 
 
 8th. That it is not ascertained whether the French mean to 
 take possession of the ceded country ; and, if they intend it, the 
 time when is of course a profound secret. 
 
 9ih. That the Spanish minister here immediately sent an ex- 
 press by water to New-Orleans, remonstrating against the pro- 
 ceedings of the intendant, and advising their discontinuance; 
 that, although he has no control over the intendant, there is a 
 very great probability that his advice will be attended to ; that, 
 if it is not, the minister will enforce it emphatically upon his 
 own responsibility, and that our government also sent an express 
 by land charged to the same effect. 
 
 10th. That it is the prevalent opinion here, that it is essential 
 to the prevention of future interruption of our western com- 
 merce, and the preservation of the peace of the Union, that the 
 country on the left bank of the Mississippi and east of that 
 should belong to us, and that there are two modes of accom- 
 plishing this object — purchase and force, and that the former 
 ought to be first tried. 
 
 11th. Under this impression the president has this day nomi- 
 nated R. R. Livingston minister plenipotentiary, and Jame^ 
 
APPENDIX. 311 
 
 Monroe, late governor of Virginia, minister extraordinary and 
 plenipotentiary, to treat with the First Consul conjointly " for 
 the purpose of enlarging and more effectually securing our rights 
 and interests in the river Mississippi and the territories east- 
 ward of it ;" but as Spain is still in possession of the country, 
 the like powers, in the same capacity and for the same objects, 
 are intrusted, in case it should be necessary to exercise them, to 
 Mr. Monroe, in conjunction with our present minister at Madrid. 
 By the rules of the Senate, these nominations cannot be con- 
 sidered until to-morrow. They will undoubtedly be confirmed. 
 The Legislature of Maryland have passed spirited resolutions 
 upon the subject of the shutting up of the Mississippi, which 
 will probably be followed by the other states. You will at once 
 perceive that part of this communication is intended to be pri- 
 vate ; but I thought it best to give you a view of the whole 
 ground, so that you may judge of the expediency of drawing the 
 attention of our Legislature to this subject, as our citizens are 
 greatly interested in it, and I am certain that this measure will 
 be very acceptable to the republican interests of the Union. 
 You have no doubt witnessed the attempts made in the Morning 
 Chronicle and federal papers, under the appearance of exclusive 
 zeal for our national rights, to produce a war immediately with 
 a view to embarrass our financial arransrements and overthrow 
 the administration. A suitable mention of this subject, in a 
 general view of the affairs of the nation, will therefore have a 
 great tendency to confound these insidious attempts. 
 
 De Witt Clinton to James Madison. 
 
 New-York, July 1st, 1804. 
 Dear Sir : 
 I have the honour of acknowledging your letter of the 25th 
 of June and its enclosures. I should have answered it imme- 
 diately, but I was anxious to obtain some documents which 
 would throw further light on the subject of it, and these I could 
 not procure until yesterday- 
 
312 APPENDIX. 
 
 The attorney of the district will in a few days inform you of 
 the proceedings which have taken place on account of the viola- 
 tion of the revenue laws. No coercive process has been issued 
 under the authority of the state, for reasons arising from a de- 
 fect of jurisdiction, which I shall hereafter explain to you. 
 
 In my communication of the 19th, I gave you the general out- 
 lines of the proceedings in relation to the rule of twenty-four 
 hours. In order to evince the frivolous nature of Mr. Merry's 
 complaint on that subject, and to demonstrate that his charge of 
 partiality is totally groundless and unjustifiable, I shall now pre- 
 sent to you a more detailed statement of facts, and make a few 
 remarks which naturally arise from them. 
 
 The French frigates had been in this port about two weeks, 
 and it was well known and understood that they intended to 
 proceed without delay to the place of their destination. The 
 British vessels of war arrived here on the 16th of June, and on 
 the 17th (subsequent to the aggressions, but previous to my 
 knowledge of them) I addressed the letter relative to the usage 
 of twenty-four hours to the British consul-general. It could not 
 have been supposed that the British vessels intended, for any 
 legitimate object, to depart from the port almost as soon as they 
 had entered it. If this had been their design, they certainly 
 would not have approached so near to the city. The probable 
 supposition was, that information had been sent from this place 
 to Halifax of the arrival of the French frigates ; that the British 
 vessels had hastened here to reconnoitre them ; to watch their 
 movements, and to follow them out of our jurisdiction for hostile 
 purposes. As my letter to Colonel Barclay was in consequence 
 of a communication from General Rey recognising the rule, 
 it could not have been necessary to notify the latter of it, espe- 
 cially as there was not the remotest reason to suspect that the 
 French vessels would follow the British ones out of this port. 
 
 The next morning I received an official account of the out- 
 rages committed at the Quarantine Ground. In the afternoon of 
 that day I received Colonel Barclay's letter, of which I sent you 
 a copy, marked No. 5. By referring to it, you will find that it is 
 
APPENDIX. 3 13 
 
 extremely disingenuous and evasive It does not appear from 
 it that he had communicated my request to the British com- 
 manders. It did not announce any views or intentions of theirs 
 in consequence of that request. It did not take the ground now 
 assumed by Mr. Merry. Nor did it stipulate that the British 
 vessels should not pursue the French ones within twenty-four 
 hours after their departure, or recognise any obligation on their 
 part to comply with the rule in any sense whatever. On the 
 contrary, it appeared from it that the intentions of the British 
 admiral were to be paramount to the law of nations. Nor could 
 it well escape my observation, that the declared object of the 
 visit of the British vessels was not the real one ; that if it had 
 been the delivery of despatches, as pretended, it could have 
 been fully effected by their remaining out of the port, and send- 
 ing a boat up to the city ; that it was not reasonable to suppose 
 two vessels of war would be sent for the purpose of conveying 
 communications to a consular agent ; and the mention of taking 
 directions from Mr. Merry on the subject could be contem- 
 plated in no other light than as an implied refusal to comply 
 with my request in any shape, because, in all probability, his 
 answer could not arrive in season. 
 
 Combining Colonel Barclay's answer with the considerations 
 which I have mentioned, and more particularly with the aggres- 
 sions at the Quarantine Ground, I had no doubt but that the 
 British commander would proceed in his career of atrocity, and 
 I considered it my duty to deprive him of the means as far as 
 lay in my power. Under these impressions, I wrote the letter 
 heretofore transmitted, and marked No. 8, to the wardens of the 
 port. It is predicated upon, and distinctly states the belief, 
 " that the Cambrian and Driver, vessels of war of Great Britain, 
 will endeavour to violate the laws of nations by sailing from this 
 port shortly after the French frigates," &c. Although it does 
 not expressly mention the outrages at the Quarantine Ground 
 as an inducement to the direction, yet the words having rea- 
 son to believe will sufficiently indicate that they were present to 
 my mind ; and I can truly declare, that if those aggressions had 
 
 Dd 
 
314 APPENDIX. 
 
 not been committedj the order would not have been issued. I 
 also thought it expedient to obtain from Colonel Barclay a 
 more explicit declaration of the views of the British commander, 
 and I accordingly wrote to him the letter marked No. 6, here- 
 tofore forwarded. If the British commander really contempla- 
 ted to observe the rule, by not pursuing the French frigates out 
 of our jurisdiction, Colonel Barclay would certainly have de- 
 clared that intention in his answer to which I refer you. It 
 will appear from it that he was satisfied with the propriety of 
 my request, for he states that he desired Captain Bradley to 
 comply if in his power : and I had no reason to suppose from 
 it that the British vessels intended to leave the port prior lo the 
 French. It says, indeed, " I take it for granted, the ships are 
 now on their way to the Hook." As the Hook is that part of 
 our jurisdiction nearest to the ocean, all I could infer from this 
 information was, that the British vessels have repaired there in 
 order to facilitate their egress in pursuit of the French. The 
 letter from Captain Bradley, said to be enveloped in Colonel 
 Barclay's, was never received by me. Supposing this, at the 
 time, to be a mistake, I mentioned it to him, and he promised to 
 send me a copy, which he has not complied with, for reasons 
 best known to himself. 
 
 The principal ground of complaint appears to be, that the 
 British intended to depart from this port immediately ; that they 
 were entitled to depart, if they could gain the ocean previous to 
 the French ; and that they were prevented from departing by 
 the recall of the pilots. The pilots left the vessel on the 19th ; 
 on the next day they were permitted to rejoin them,- which they 
 accordingly did ; and yet the Cambrian and Boston have not 
 sailed, but continue stationed near the mouth of the port, 
 while the Driver is cruising off the Hook. Tho allegation, 
 then, upon which this pretended grievance is founded, is com- 
 pletely falsified. The affidavit of Rowland R. Crocher, No. 1, 
 will indicate new aggressions committed on a vessel coming in 
 to this port ; and that of Robert Bennett, No. 2, will show that 
 the Boston endeavoured to intercept an American brig, named 
 
APPENDIX. 315 
 
 the Pallas, in her egress from this port, with the probable design 
 of capturing certain distinguished French citizens who were 
 supposed to have taken their passage in her. The fact is, our 
 port is completely blockaded against the admission or departure 
 of French vessels. There can be no doubt but the British 
 frigates will pursue and capture all French vessels leaving the 
 port, without any regard to the law of nations or our neutral 
 rights. Instead, therefore, of complaining that they have been 
 deprived of pilots for two days, they ought to be thankful for 
 our forbearance in allowing them any, after the daring outrages 
 which they have committed and continue to commit. 
 
 On the 26th of December last, an application was made to 
 me by Richard J. Tucker, at the instance of the British consul- 
 general, to detain in this port the French armed schooner 
 L'Ocean, upon account of the intended departure of two British 
 merchantmen ; and, on the 19th of January, a similar application 
 was made by the consul-general in behalf of another. The 
 papers marked from No. 3 to No. 8 inclusive, contain the ap- 
 plications and the subsequent proceedings ; and in demonstra- 
 ting that a similar conduct was adopted at the request of British 
 agents, and in favour of British vessels in respect to the rule of 
 twenty-four hours, as has been pursued in the case now com- 
 plained of, they abundantly refute the charge of impartiality. 
 Any measures in these cases to enforce the rule, were rendered 
 unnecessary by the annunciation of a determination to comply 
 with it. 
 
 I also transmit an affidavit of John White, marked No. 9, 
 which proves that the captain of the Cambrian was made ac- 
 quainted with our Quarantine law, and that he knowingly vio- 
 lated it. 
 
 Since writing the above^ I am told the Boston went out of 
 port yesterday, and probably on a cruise off the Hook. 
 
316 APPENDIX. 
 
 De Witt Clinton to Thomas Willing. 
 
 New-York, August 4th, 1804. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 I avail myself of an early opportunity since my return to this 
 city, of acknowledging the communication subscribed by you in 
 behalf of the citizens of Philadelphia, Southwark, and the North- 
 ern Liberties, in relation to the melancholy death of General 
 Hamilton. 
 
 The unsullied integrity, transcendant talents, and eminent 
 services of this great man, are universally acknowledged and 
 duly appreciated by all descriptions of persons here ; and al- 
 though a large majority of the citizens of this place are decidedly 
 attached to the wise and patriotic administration which so hap- 
 pily presides over the affairs of the Union, and were, of course, 
 opposed to General Hamilton in political opinions, yet on this 
 occasion we all cordially unite in deploring an event which has 
 deprived our country of one of the most distinguished of her 
 citizens, and which, although at all times a public misfortune, 
 must be considered peculiarly so at the present crisis, when we 
 reflect on his zealous and honourable attachment to the union of 
 the states, and consider the disorganizing schemes which, there 
 is too much reason to apprehend, are m agitation to destroy this 
 palladium of our national safety, this guarantee of our national 
 glory. 
 
 The virtuous sensibility manifested by the citizens of Phila- 
 delphia, Southwark, and the Northern Liberties is highly hon- 
 ourable to them, as well as to the memory of the deceased, and 
 has made a deep impression upon our minds. In presenting 
 you and them the warmest acknowledgment for your sincere 
 and heartfelt condolence, I am persuaded that I faithfully com- 
 municate the sense of my fellow-citizens, as well as my own 
 upon this occasion. 
 
 I have the honour, &c. 
 
APPENDIX. 317 
 
 The Trustees of the Free School to the Vestry of Trinity 
 
 Church. 
 
 New- York, May 10th, 1815. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 The trustees of the Free School Society of New- York would 
 do injustice to their feelings were they not, in addition to their 
 public acknowledgment, to express to you, in a more direct form, 
 their high sense of your liberality, charity, and public spirit, in 
 appropriating the valuable grounds in Christopher, Columbia, 
 and Hudson streets, for the purpose of dispensing education to 
 the poor of this city. 
 
 As long as benevolence shall be considered a virtue and 
 knowledge a blessing, this act will command the approbation of 
 all good men. 
 
 I am, in behalf of the trustees, 
 
 Very respectfully, your most obedient servant. 
 
 De Witt Clinton to J. Ellicott. 
 
 Albany, April 4th, 1816. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 Accompanying this, you will receive an interesting map rela- 
 tive to the country affected by the proposed canal. It is to be 
 regretted that the scale is too small. I think that the canal is 
 in a favourable train, and I hope that it will receive the sanction 
 of the Legislature in a few days. Your suggestions relative to 
 the ways and means are interesting, and will, I have no doubt, 
 be adopted either on this or a future occasion. 
 
 Having, ever since Governor has unhinged the execu- 
 tive power by shrinking from responsibility, considered tho 
 council of appointment as a deleterious and disgraceful body, I 
 have paid little or no attention to their proceedings, and I had 
 not learned, until I received your letter, their doings relative to 
 Geneva. These proceedings are similar (if not more agcrrava- 
 ted) to those which have taken place in other respects. 
 
 Dd2 
 
318 APPENDIX. 
 
 The truth is, that the whole of the appointing power is in the 
 hands of four irresponsible individuals, whose ephemeral impor- 
 tance is succeeded by an exit into obscurity ; and the state is 
 disgraced, and the republican party divided and diminished, to 
 gratify a hunter after popularity, who had not the nerve to do 
 right, but whose system is a system of ever-varying shifts and 
 petty expedients, without an intellect sufficiently enlarged to 
 comprehend the great interests of the state. 
 
 The present council, at least three of themj are totally free 
 
 from the influence of which you suspect them ; of I cannot 
 
 speak in other respects, but I presume he is also. Those I 
 know rely very much on the advice of . 
 
 I believe that there are strong objections to , not only 
 
 on account of the republican principle of rotation, but upon ac- 
 count of the condition of the republican party, which is divided, 
 disgraced, and nearly ruined ; but our affairs are brought to a 
 
 crisis, and from the political character of , and the probable 
 
 results of his success, I shall support T , not as a positive 
 
 good, but as a less evil. 
 
 J)e Witt Clinton to the Governor of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Albany, September 20th, 1817. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 My absence from this place has prevented an earlier reply to 
 your excellency's communication of the 3d instant. 
 
 The measures adopted by Pennsylvania to connect the waters 
 of the Seneca Lake and Tioga River, exhibit an intelligent, en- 
 terprising, and patriotic spirit ; and the benefits which will arise 
 from the execution of the plan will be experienced in the crea- 
 tion of an extensive inland trade, and in the consequent encour- 
 agement of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures. The ob- 
 vious tendency of this measure is to facilitate the transportation 
 of commodities from this to the neighbouring states. 
 
 From a full persuasion that our country will be best advanced 
 by multiplying the markets for her productions, and by an inti- 
 
APPENDIX. 319 
 
 mate and beneficial connexion between the different members 
 of the confederacy, I consider it a sacred duty to overlook local 
 considerations, and to promote, to the utmost of my power, every 
 plan which may be subservient to these important objects ; and 
 I cherish with confidence the opinion, that the state over which 
 you preside will, under the influence of an enlightened public 
 spirit, co-operate with this state in promoting our contemplated 
 navigable communications between the Northern and Western 
 lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 Under this impression I now transmit to your excellency the 
 official reports of the canal commissioners, and the acts of the 
 Legislature of this state on that subject. 
 
 De Wilt Clinton to Rufus King. 
 
 Albany, December 13th, 1817. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 I feel greatly obliged by your letter of the 5th. I have taken 
 measures to ascertain the state of our claims vs. the United 
 States ; but I am apprehensive that they have been greatly, if 
 not totally, neglected. As soon as I obtain the necessary in- 
 formation, it is probable I shall write to you and your colleague 
 at large on this subject. 
 
 The canal commissioners have recently had a meeting at this 
 place. The Northern canal will be contracted for in toto before 
 spring, and some work has been already done on it. Sixty miles 
 of the Western have been contracted for, to be frnishcd by the 
 first of December, 1818 ; and work to the extent of twenty 
 miles has been already effected, and all these arrangements have 
 been made within the estimates of the commissioners. 
 
 My great regard for the president, and my anxiety to extend 
 our navigable communication, induces me to regret exceedingly 
 his scruples about the right of Congress to promote internal im- 
 provements ; and I perceive a total interruption of the interpo- 
 sition of the national government in favour of roads and canals. 
 The probability is, that no amendment removing the difficulty 
 
320 APPENDIX. 
 
 will be sanctioned by the states. Some will oppose, because 
 they believe that the power is already vested in Congress ; and 
 others will object, because they believe that it ought not to be 
 deposited in that body. After swallowing the National Bank 
 and the Cumberland Road, &c., it was not to be supposed that 
 Mr. Madison would strain at canals ; but so it is ; and the gal- 
 lantry of his successor, in protecting him with his Telamonian 
 shield, is more to be admired for its spirit than its prudence. 
 We shall go on without any expectations of extraneous aid ; and 
 in the course of ten years, I hope, if Providence spares our lives, 
 to have the pleasure of a canal voyage with you fron; L&ke Erie 
 to Albany. 
 
 J)e Witt Clinton to Thomas Eddy. 
 
 Albany, December 23d, 1822. 
 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 Mr. S. Burling lately solicited me to recommend the intro- 
 duction of a plan for laying an excise on spirituous liquors, 
 and I partly promised that I would ; but, on farther reflection, 
 I consider it most suitable that the overture should emanate 
 from his constituents, and with this view I now write to you. 
 
 In some well-written essays published on this subject in 
 Walsh's paper, it was estimated that fifty millions of gallons of 
 spirituous liquors are annually consumed in the United States, 
 at an expense of thirty millions of dollars, and with the sacrifice 
 of thirty thousand lives. If this be only an approximation to 
 the truth, what a field for reflection does it present to the mor- 
 alist and statesman. 
 
 After deducting foreign importations of spirits, say to the 
 amount of six millions of gallons, and allowing for four millions 
 produced from foreign molasses, there would still remain forty 
 millions manufactured from our own materials. Does not this 
 astound us with its enormity and alarm, as with its terrific as- 
 pect! 
 
 An excise of one shilling a gallon would produce a revenue 
 
APPENDIX. ' 321 
 
 of five millions a year. Double the duty, and you will raise a 
 fund that will pay off the national debt, and line and intersect 
 the country in all directions with canals and roads. 
 
 Every considerable increase of the price of an article tends to 
 check its consumption ; and here the revenue of a country 
 would be auxiliary to its morality — a noble union in the eye of 
 a great statesman. 
 
 De Witt Clinton to Henry Eagan. 
 
 Albany, October 1st, 1823. 
 Sir: 
 
 I had the honour of receiving your letter of the I6ih ultimo, 
 and, greatly respecting the honourable feelings which have 
 prompted that communication, I hasten to reply to it. A gen- 
 eral answer will, I presume, embrace the material points on 
 which you wish to be satisfied. 
 
 Your duties as a Knight Templar are subordinate to the du- 
 ties which you owe to yourself, your family, and your country, 
 and your natural and social rights cannot be destroyed by ma- 
 sonic communion ; you have a right, therefore, to withdraw 
 from the encampment of Knights Templar whenever you may 
 consider it necessary, on discharging your pecuniary obligations 
 to the institution ; and no presiding officer has any right to in- 
 terrupt you in the exercise of this right. 
 
 De Witt Clinton to Joseph Sabine. 
 
 Albany, October 10th, 1823. 
 Sir: 
 
 I have received, at different times, all the transactions of the 
 Horticultural Society of London, as far as the second part of 
 the fifth volume inclusive, and I need not say how highly grati- 
 fied 1 am at this splendid specimen of the arts, combined with 
 so much useful information. 
 
 I have also received your zoological appendix to Captain 
 Franklin's journey, for which I thank you. The accurate and 
 
322 APPENDIX. 
 
 important information which it contains renders it an acquisition 
 to natural history. 
 
 I see that you have noticed the " Columba Migratoria ;" as this 
 is one of our most interesting birds, I have sent by Mr. Doug- 
 lass six living ones, which I hope will reach you in good order. 
 I have enclosed a paper which contains some observations on 
 this bird. You will also receive specimens of preserved birds 
 for your collection. 
 
 I am much obliged to you for the N.epaul rice, and I have 
 made such a distribution of it as I hope will produce good re- 
 sults. 
 
 I have afforded Mr. Douglass all the facilities in my power, 
 by letters of recommend^Ltion, written directions, and verbal ad- 
 vice. The notice of the Horticultural Society which I trans- 
 mit by this conveyance, was written by me with a view to pro- 
 pitiate the public mind in favour of his mission. I consider your 
 selection a judicious one : he unites enthusiasm, intelligence, and 
 persevering activity. 
 
 I have sent by him a box of minerals for your cabinet. They 
 were collected in the excavation of secondary limestone, about 
 thirty miles from Lake Erie, in the course of our canal opera- 
 tions. I have not inspected the box ; but, if they are put up ac- 
 cording to my directions, you will find some specimens not a 
 little interesting. 
 
 You will also receive the Memoirs of our Board of Agricul- 
 ture, in two volumes, and the transactions of a society for Use- 
 ful Information, in three volumes. They are intended for the 
 library of the Horticultural Society. 
 
 Mr. Douglass will deliver a box containing some specimens 
 of fruit, which, if they reach you without decay, may interest 
 you by their size, if not by their flavour. 
 
 The deerskin socks, or moccasins as they are called by the 
 Indians, were manufactured among the Cayugas, and they, to- 
 gether with the pamphlets and other articles in the same box, 
 are intended for you, with the exception of the seeds that you 
 may consider useful for the society. 
 
APPENDIX. 323 
 
 I think it would be beneficial for your institution to have two 
 additional corresponding members in this country, one for the 
 North and one for the South. Jesse Buel, Esq., of Albany, sec- 
 retary of the Board of Agriculture of New-York, and John S. 
 Skinner, Esq., postmaster of Baltimore, are particularly well 
 qualified, and their admission as corresponding members will, I 
 am persuaded, be the means of procuring intelligence and con- 
 tributions of various kinds and of the most interesting character. 
 
 Mr. Skinner will forward a bushel of the famous white wheat 
 of Maryland, and several volumes of the American Farmer, pub- 
 lished by hira, and Mr. Buel will also make a communication 
 to you. 
 
 De Witt Clinton to Micajah S. Williams. 
 
 New- York, November 18th, 1823. 
 Sir: 
 
 Your communication of this day covers a very wide field of 
 inquiry, and emibraces many important considerations ; there- 
 fore I shall endeavoufr to give a prompt, explicit, and, I hope, 
 satisfactory reply. 
 
 The projected canal between Lake Erie and the Ohio River, 
 ift connexion with the New- York canals, will form a navigable 
 communication between the bay of New- York, the Gulf of 
 Mexico, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence; of course it will em- 
 brace within its influence the greater part of the United States 
 and of the Canadas. The advantages of a canal of this descrip- 
 tion are so obvious, so striking, so numerous, and so" extensive, 
 that it is a work of supererogation to bring them into view. 
 The State of Ohio, from the fertility of its soil, the benignity of 
 its climate, and its geographical position, must always contain 
 a dense population ; and the products and consumptions of its 
 inhabitants mast for ever form a lucrative and extensive inland 
 trade, exciting the powers of productive industry, and com- 
 municating aliment and energy to external commerce. But 
 when we consider that this canal will open a way into the great 
 
324 APPENDIX. 
 
 rivers that fall into the Mississippi ; that it will be felt, not only 
 in the immense valley of that river, but as far west as the Rocky 
 Mountains and the borders of Mexico ; and that it will commu- 
 nicate with our great inland seas and their tributary rivers, with 
 the ocean in various routes, and with the most productive re- 
 gions of America; there can be no question respecting the bless- 
 ings that it will produce, the riches that it will create, and the 
 energies that it will call into activity. 
 
 It must be obvious that there can be no insurmountable phys- 
 ical difficulties to the opening of this canal, if there be a suffi- 
 ciency of water on the summit level ; and the researches that 
 have been made establish an abundant supply beyond the pos- 
 sibility of doubt. The only questions that can present them- 
 selves are those of comparative difficulty, expense, accommoda- 
 tion, and productiveness in the designation of a route ; and this 
 must be committed to the decision of able and experienced en- 
 gineers. 
 
 I should suppose that the maximum cost of this improvement 
 would exceed $2,500,000. In five years, by an annual ex- 
 penditure of $500,000, this work may be advantageously com- 
 pleted. At the rate of six per cent., there would be wanted 
 $30,000 to pay the first year's interest * the second year, 
 $60,000 ; the third year, $90,000 ; the fourth year, $120,000 ; 
 and the fifth year, $150,000. The only financial difficulty, in my 
 opinion, will be the procurement of funds for the payment of 
 the interest. 
 
 If the canal be commenced on the lake side, every step of its 
 progress will open a most extensive navigation, and be the 
 means of producing revenue ; and, at the termination of the five 
 years, the profits of the canal will not only defray the interest, 
 but produce a surplus revenue applicable to other objects^ 
 
 Supposing this canal to be 200 miles in extent, it would un- 
 doubtedly, by a vigorous effort, be finished in two years ; but it is 
 advisable to extend the period to five years. The banks will 
 in that case become consolidated before much use. As the op- 
 eration proceeds, there will be an augmentation of skill and ac- 
 
APPENDIX. 325 
 
 quisition of experience, which will produce economy and im- 
 proved workmanship ; and as one fifth of the whole sum will 
 in this case be only required for each year, the pecuniary ad- 
 vances that are essential will not be so onerous as if made 
 within a shorter period ; and it ought to be recollected that the 
 Erie Canal will be completed next year ; that Ohio can avail her- 
 self of the aid of able engineers and skilful contractors; and that 
 an undertaking conducted under such auspices will propitiate 
 public opinion, and secure the confidence of capitalists who are 
 disposed to embark their funds in the enterprise. 
 
 I shall now proceed to answer the following interrogatory, 
 ** Whether, in my opinion, funds can, say in two years from this 
 time, be obtained, by loans at different periods, as may be re- 
 quired, to the amount of $2,500,000, on the credit and in behalf 
 of the State of Ohio, at an interest of six per cent, per annum, 
 by giving satisfactory references for paying the interest semi- 
 annually, and reimbursing the principal at the termination of 
 thirty years 1" 
 
 I have no hesitation in answering affirmatively ; I have no 
 doubt but that funds to the extent specified, and on the terms 
 proposed, may be procured. The requisite loan may be ob- 
 tained either in Europe or in this country. 
 
 It will be recollected that there is a vast disposable unem- 
 ployed capital in Great Britain. The finances of that country 
 are in a state of improvement, and in a period of peace she now 
 requires no loans. The greatest borrower is consequently out 
 of the market. The moneyed men in Europe have therefore 
 accommodated France, Austria, Russia, and some of the gov- 
 ernments in South America, with extensive loans, and certainly 
 none of them afford such ample security for reimbursement as 
 the State of Ohio. 
 
 The moral and political institutions of Ohio are all propitious 
 to the observance of good faith ; her population is respectable 
 in number, and excelled by none in elevation of character ; her 
 government has been wisely administered, and she cherishes 
 with enthusiasm that spirit of liberty and independence which is 
 
 El 
 
326 APPENDIX. 
 
 connected with the best interests of men and the most flourishing 
 condition of states. 
 
 Next to New-York, Ohio will be the most populous state in 
 the Union ; she is susceptible of a population of 12 millions ; 
 contains 39,000 square miles, and has every facility for carrying 
 the pursuits of productive industry to the highest pitch of im- 
 provement. 
 
 She therefore presents all the leading inducements for the 
 confidence of capitalists. She does not owe a cent, and can, it 
 is hoped, so arrange her financial affairs as to laeet the interest 
 of the loans. 
 
 At the termination of one year New- York will have no far- 
 ther occasion for loans ; and in two years a considerable portion 
 of the funded debt of the United States will be paid off. Capi- 
 talists can then find no better place of investment than Ohio. 
 
 If two millions and a half are borrowed, every square mile in 
 Ohio will be only answerable for sixty-four dollars. What an 
 ample security for so small a sum ! and it will be recollected 
 that, when this canal is perfected, it will, by the markets which 
 it opens, increase the value of lands almost immediately fifty 
 per cent., and diffuse the blessings of opulence over the whole 
 country. 
 
 In a word, sir, all that is necessary to complete this great en- 
 terprise is the will to direct it. Considering, as I always have, 
 that it is only a continuation of the Erie Canal ; that it will pro- 
 mote correspondent advantages, and that it is identified with the 
 stability of our government and the prosperity of our country, I 
 own that I feel a more than common solicitude on this subject. 
 
 De Witt Clinton to William D. Foot. 
 
 Albany, December 4th, 1823. 
 My dear Sir : 
 Your friendly letter of the 17th of November arrived when I 
 was on a visit to New- York, from which place I have recently 
 returned. This must be my apology for so protracted a reply. 
 
APPENDIX. 327 
 
 When at that place I have learned enough to convince me 
 that your suggestions are correct, and this impression is cor- 
 roborated from so many respectable quarters, that doubt would 
 be affectation. The body politic is indeed about to relieve itself 
 from the unnatural pressures which have been heaped upon it. 
 
 As to the future, we must be regulated by events, keeping 
 strictly in view the great interests of our country, as paramount 
 to all earthly considerations. In the opinion of the best-informed 
 men in the Union, the voice of this state will have a preponder- 
 ating effect. Governor Randolph, Mr. Jefferson's enlightened 
 and patriotic son-in-law, told me so lately, and without reserve, 
 in New-York. In whose favour that voice shall be expressed 
 is a subject which requires great deliberation. If we cannot 
 obtain the greatest good, we must endeavour to select the next, 
 and, at all events, to avoid alarming evils. 
 
 The events which are in a train of development will have an 
 important bearing, not only on the well-being of America, but on 
 the stability of free government ; and yet it is appalling to per- 
 ceive such struggles for power without reference to the public 
 interest. We must, after all, my worthy friend, rely upon the 
 general diffusion of education as the palladium of liberty. The 
 people always mean right ; and, although sometimes misled, yet 
 they will, in the progress of time, render justice to themselves 
 and to their real friends, if the blessings of knowledge are freely 
 and fully communicated. 
 
 You will perceive that this hasty communication is intended 
 for your private perusal ; I shall be happy to be favoured with a 
 continuation of your correspondence. 
 
 De Witt Clinton to Mahlon Dickerson. 
 
 Albany, December 13th, 1823. 
 Deab Sir : 
 I thank you for the President's Message, which is justly con- 
 sidered an able document. If you have any intelligence with 
 respect to the Northern Canal of New Jersey, it will give me 
 
328 APPENDIX. 
 
 great pleasure to hear from you respecting it, as I conceive the 
 contemplated measure to have a very important bearing on the 
 public interests. 
 
 When I had the pleasure of seeing you at your house, I 
 promised, in reference to the prosperity of your fishponds, to 
 communicate to you a mode of raising trout that has been suc- 
 cessfully adopted in Europe. 
 
 About forty years ago, Mr. Jacobi, of Hanover, after pre- 
 paring a trough with gravel at the bottom, through which spring 
 water was made to flow, took a female trout, and pressed and 
 rubbed its belly gently, by which means it parted very readily 
 with its spawn without any injury, in a basin of clear water. 
 He then took a male trout, and rubbed and pressed its belly 
 gently in the same manner, to let the melt or soft roe enter the 
 same basin where the female roe was, and then stirred them to- 
 gether. The same result would follow if the roe were cut out 
 of dead fishes, and mixed together in the same way. He then 
 spread the mixed spawn in the trough, and let in the water. 
 A more detailed account of this process may be found in the 
 thirty-fourth volume of Tilloch's Philosophical Magazine, which 
 work you either have, or ought to have, in the library of Con- 
 gress. In this way he bred annually vast quantities of salmon* 
 trout, and other fresh-water fish. 
 
 We have so many good indigenous fish, that it has not been 
 thought worth while to import any new species. The common 
 carp was introduced into England in 1514 ; its favourite resi- 
 dence is in slow and stagnant water ; it unites rapidity of growth 
 with longevity, and is very fruitful, a single carp having pro- 
 duced 342,144 eggs ; and it is also considered excellent food. 
 It is a hardy fish, and may be imported alive, or its spawn may 
 be put up and transmitted in jars, as is practised in similar cases 
 by the Chinese. 
 
 The Cyprinus Auratus, or Gold-fish, is a native of China and 
 Japan ; it will flourish in any collection of pure water, and its 
 increase is prodigious. It is said to be good for the table. This 
 fish was imported into Europe from China, and has been intro- 
 
APPENDIX. 329 
 
 duced into this country by that circuitous route. I have them 
 in glass vessels in my house, where they make a beautiful ap- 
 pearance. They were obtained from a little pond on the island 
 of New- York, which is literally filled with them. As they mul- 
 tiply with great rapidity, one of your fishponds ought to be 
 stocked with them. They will at least furnish food for your 
 trout, besides gratifying the sight with their beautiful appearance. 
 If you have a desire to be supplied, call on Dr. Hosack when 
 you visit New-York, and it will give him great pleasure to see 
 you accommodated. If I am successful in importing the com- 
 mon carp from England, you shall participate in the benefits of 
 my enterprise. 
 
 De Witt Clinton to Jacob Harvey. 
 
 Albany, March 20th, 1824. 
 Dear Sir : 
 I send by this steamboat O'Driscoll's work on Ireland, and 
 Washington's Sketch of the United States, in separate enve- 
 lopes. The former is a book of much interest, and contains 
 many original views and much valuable information. He, how- 
 ever, too evidently strains his brains to shine as a fine writer, 
 and he sometimes tires the reader by uniformity, and palls the 
 appetite by high seasoning. A traveller is more fatigued if the 
 road is level or straight, than if it be waving or winding. The 
 Sermons of Blair and the Poems of Darwin have been received 
 as models of superior writing, but they soon lose their hold on 
 the mind by their splendid monotony. O'Driscoll has fancy, 
 pathos, discrimination, information, a great command of lan- 
 guage, and, what is better, an entire devotedness to his much- 
 injured country. Except two or three paradoxes, I see nothing 
 to object to the matter of his book. His idea that the manu- 
 facturing greatness of England is owing to the poor laws, is 
 about as wise as the doctrine of Malthus, that the calamities of 
 Ireland are owing to potatoes. 
 
 In defiance of this heretical dogma of Malthus, I did not hesi- 
 tate to try how far it would apply to the comfort of individuals ; 
 
 EbS 
 
330 APPENDIX. 
 
 and I availed myself of the opportunities which you have so 
 kindly afforded me for a full experiment, and I assure you that 
 I found nothing in the process but what puts the hypothesis of 
 Malthus to the blush. Surely what is beneficial to individuals 
 must be so to communities or collections of individuals. The 
 salubrity of the potato is demonstrated in the beauty of your 
 women, the strength of your men ; and as population depends 
 on subsistence, even according to the speculations of Malthus, 
 the increasing numbers of Ireland, harassed as that country has 
 been by tithes, taxes, oppression, and bad government, establish 
 beyond question the futility of his theory. 
 
 I am, upon the whole, so much pleased with O'Driscoll, that 
 I shall esteem it as a continuation of your kindness if you will 
 
 favour me with an opportunity of looking at his newspapers. 
 
 ***** * 
 
 * » * « * * 
 
 In compliance with your request, and in accordance with my 
 hereditary predilections, I did not on the 17th forget the coun- 
 try for which God has done so much and men so little, nor did 
 I omit to render my devoirs to the saint, and to pledge the health 
 .of the friend who has so kindly reminded me of the occasion. 
 
 J)e Witt Clinton to John Jacob Astor. 
 
 New-York, December 2d, 1824. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 When on a short visit to this place, I had the pleasure of re- 
 ceiving from your son your letter from Geneva. The surprise 
 which your silence had produced was removed by hearing of the 
 accident which has occurred to you, and of which your com- 
 munication gave me the first information. 
 
 The growth of this city exceeds the most sanguine anticipa- 
 tions. You will scarcely recognise it on your return ; upward 
 of 3000 houses will be erected this year. This extraordinary 
 prosperity is principally imputable to the great canals, all of 
 which are finished, except 30 miles of the Western termination 
 ^f the Erie Canal, and which will be completed the beginning 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 331 
 
 of next July. The revenue from tolls this year will be 325,000 
 dollars, and every succeeding season will augment its amount. 
 I always told you that, if I were proprietor of the island of New- 
 York, I would at once construct these works at my own ex- 
 pense ; and there is now no part of the world which contains a 
 canal of such extent as the Western one, and which has a city 
 that forms the concentrating point of such immense internal and 
 external commerce as New- York. 
 
 Our political excitements will not be terminated until the ter- 
 mination of the pending presidential election. The 24 electoral 
 colleges met yesterday in their respective states, and gave in 
 their votes : the whole number of votes is 261. 
 
 The probability is, that Jackson will have 100 votes, Adams 
 80, and the remainder will be divided between Crawford and 
 Clay. A majority.of all the votes, that is, 131, is necessary to 
 constitute a choice by the electoral college ; and in case this 
 aggregate number is not rendeted, the election is transferred to 
 the House of Representatives, who select by states one out of 
 the three highest on the list of the electoral colleges. Whether 
 Crawford or Clay will be the third person is doubtful, but it is 
 believed that it will be the former. In every alternative, the 
 general opinion and the general wish is in favour of the elec- 
 tion of Jackson. 
 
 You will probably see in the gazettes that I am elected gov- 
 ernor by the greatest majority that was ever given in this state 
 in a contested election. The other elections have been of a 
 similar character, and we are completely rescued from the late 
 dominant party. If Heaven shall spare my life, I will endeavour 
 to put this state on a footing which will call all her energies into 
 activity, and elevate her still higher in the scale of prosperity. 
 
 Your return will afford the highest satisfaction to your nu- 
 merous friends, and to none more than to yours sincerely. 
 
332 APPENDIX. 
 
 De Witt Clinton to James Renwick. 
 
 Albany, October 1st, 1825. 
 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 The firing of heavy cannon along the line of the Erie Canal 
 on the day of the celebration of its completion, and probably 
 from Albany to New-York, may afford a good opportunity for 
 some interesting experiments on the phenomena of sound by the 
 use of accurate chronometers at suitable places. The distance 
 from Buffalo to Sandy Hook, by way of the canal, is rising 500 
 miles I am aware that acoustics or the philosophy of sound 
 has been closely attended to, but there is constantly unexplored 
 ground in every science, and valuable gleanings may at least be 
 elicited from the most improved state of useful knowledge. 
 
 De Witt Clinton to Parmenio Adams. 
 
 Albany, December 21st, 1825. 
 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 You have done me the honour to ask my opinion respecting 
 the most advisable constitutional arrangement for the promotion 
 of internal improvements. On this subject I never had a doubt 
 As the national government has all the effective revenue and 
 funds of the nation, it ought, if it has not, to be invested with the 
 power of distributing a due portion among the several states for 
 the establishment of canals, &c. The rule of apportiomnent 
 should be population, or, if you please, representation. There 
 might be some difficulty in making all the requisite provisions on 
 this subject. When there is a common interest of several states, 
 and the intended work passes only through one state, then the 
 states interested ought to make a common concern. 
 
 For these reasons, and to remove all doubts, I should like an 
 amendment to the Constitution, investing Congress with the 
 power of appropriation only and no other, and with th.s express- 
 ion the first part of Mr. Bailey's amendment is proper in sub- 
 stance ; but the second section, empowering Congress to make 
 
APPENDIX. 333 
 
 BTirveys of coasts, rivers, roads, &;c., is, in fact, investing them 
 witii plenary power over the whole subject, and extending it to 
 other points. What power is to judge of urgent purposes but 
 Congress ; and they may or may not dispense money to the states 
 as they please. This amendment, if adopted, would be a virtual 
 annihilation of the state governments ; and I am astonished at 
 the foolery of the proposal. The author might have considered 
 it a profound artifice, but its insidious and Jesuitical character is 
 obvious ; and, although the head of the ostrich is concealed, yet 
 the whole body is completely exposed. Under the pretext of 
 rendering homage to the state governments, it gives them no- 
 thing, and the general government everything. 
 
 De Witt Clinton to William D. Ford. 
 
 Albany, April 14th, 1826. 
 Dear Sir : 
 I have nominated you for Master in Chancery. I should have 
 added the office of Examiner, but it would be against a rule 
 which I have adopted, not to vest these two offices in the same 
 person. This explanation I think proper to make, because the 
 calumnious reports which appear to have been received and 
 cherished in your village may also have infected this subject. 
 
 I received a letter from of a very impertinent character, 
 
 and which I shall consign to the merited contempt of silence, 
 inquiring, in substance, whether I had changed my principles 
 and abandoned my friends ; from this and other sources I infer 
 the existence of slanders of various kinds in your quarter, and 
 the whole system seems to originate from the appointment of a 
 notary. This office has never, that I can recollect, been refused 
 by me on political grounds, and it has always been classed 
 among those minor offices which are not worthy of any other 
 notice than the fitness of the candidate. The applications in 
 such cases of the members from the counties where the officers 
 are, have been generally, if not always, acceded to on the ground 
 of unity, and with a view to destroy, as far as possible, those 
 
334 APPENDIX. 
 
 agitations which have convulsed and disgraced the state. As 
 Mr. T was very improperly rejected by the Senate last ses- 
 sion, with a view, as I was told, to obtain the appointment of 
 
 notary for a Mr. , I was determined not to nominate the 
 
 latter, and the former has since declined a renomination. In 
 the interval between the declining of Mr. T and the re- 
 ceipt of the recommendation of Mr. B., a recommendation in 
 favour of Mr. W., by the Senator and Members of Assembly of 
 your county, was handed to me, and I acquiesced, as usual, in the 
 arrangement ; and I am only surprised that men of sense should 
 so far lose their intelligence as to lay stress on such petty in- 
 cidents. 
 
 Mr. B. was nominated as brigade inspector. The brigadier 
 general is opposed to it ; and, in taking this step, which I con- 
 sider due to his position and his merits, I am not without my 
 apprehensions that he may be rejected. The opposition, you 
 know, have a majority in the Senate, and a conciliatory system 
 is necessary between the two branches of the appointing power, 
 in order to promote the best interests of our country ; for the 
 best laws are inefficient without good officers to execute them. 
 
 My course of policy was delineated in my first message. 
 Chosen by the people, I expressed my determination to be their 
 governor, not the governor of a party. I have acted on this sys- 
 tem honourably, conscientiously, and to the general satisfaction. 
 Not a murmur of disapprobation has been expressed against the 
 principle ; but, when it is carried into practice, the most injurious 
 imputations are applied ; and, with some of the blustering pa- 
 triots of the day, moderation is apostacy ; and an attempt to 
 unite the people in favour of their own prosperity, and in virtu- 
 ous and patriotic principles, is denounced as a profligate coali- 
 tion ; and the jugglers behind the distant curtain, who blow up 
 the coals of discord, are worshipped by the few, the very few 
 puppets of their ambition : but they that sow the windiwill prob- 
 ably reap the whirlwind. /- ^-^ 'c, ^ ? Jk 
 
 . THE END. 
 

 
 
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