The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-07-15

majority. the vote forit being N,7s3 against
at,04s. As Mr.. Alexander shows, 1t proved
In operation oven better than Ito sponsors
had predicted. 'It abolished tho Councils
OF Appointment and Revision; II abolished
the power Of the Governor to prorogue
the Legislature; It abolished the property
qualification. Of the white voter; II extended
the elective franchise; IL made o large
number OF officers elective; 1t modified the
management Of tho canals and created
q canal board; IL continued the Court OF
Errors n Impeachment, but r~eorganized
the judicial department, making all Judges,
~Sufrogates and Recorders appointable by
the Governor with the advice and consent
Of the Senate; II made State administrative
officers, formerly appointed by the Council,
elective by joint ballot OF the Senate and
Assembly, and II gave the power OF veto
exclusively to the Governor, requiring o
two-thirds vote Of the Legislature to over
come IT, No doubt, as Mr.. Alexander
recognizes. the Constitution OF 1891 had
radical defects, but with the help Of q few
amendments It was to live for a quarter
Of a century.
By a detail Of the new Constitution the
~gubernatorial term was reduced from three
years to two, thus bringing Gov. Clinton's
administration to an end on January l,
1923. As the time approached for nom
mating Clinton's successor II was obvious
that the Bucktails, having reduced fac
tional discipline to a soienoe and launched
the Albany Regency upon It's long career
Of party domination. were certain to name
the Governor. Clinton's friends did not
hesitate to advise him that his reelection
to the ~Governorship was impossible, and he
consented not to he q candidate. The election
Of Joseph G. Yates, the nominee Of the
Bucktails In the autumn Of 1872, was practi-
oally unanimous. II vas generally taken
for granted that this eeoond fall Of Clinton
would be irreparable. In 1924, however,
Van Buren's refusal to permit the passage
of a bill transferring the choice OF Presi-
dental electors from the Legislature to the
people seemed likely to consign him, In his
turn, to political death. The last nail
seemed to AVE been driven into Van Bureu's
coffin, when his friends, who controlled the
Senate at Albany, removed Clinton from
the Canal Commission, of which he had
been the soul. Had Clinton beer assassi-
mated, the news could not have produced q
greater shock. Everywhere throughout
the State the removal excited a cyclone Of
resentment. Immediately the tide set
strongly in favor Of Clinton for Governor.
He was nominated by a convention held at
Utica. Two weeks before the subsequent
election 1t was evident to every one that
the Regency was temporarily doomed,
that Van Buren, was discounted and his
candidate for Governor beaten, but no one
expected that Clinton's majority would
reach 1000 or that the Bucktails would DO
beaten for both branches Of the Legislature.
The almost simultaneous election OF John
Quincy Adams as President OF the United
States was an additional blow to the In
fiuenoe OF Van Buren,, who had staked every"
thing upon w. H. Crawford's candidacy
for the Presidency. On the other hand,
De Witt Clinton's early declaration for
Andrew jackson, to whom eleven States
had given a plurality OF the electoral votes,
seemed to assure to him the good will OF the
coming man in national politics. More
over, Clinton was now very active on his
account. On October 20, 1926, the
waters Of Lake Erie were let into the
Erie Canal, and navigation was opened from
the lake to the Hudson. 1T was as our
points out, "a great day for the
Governor. A popular jubilation extended
Buffalo to New York, and, amidst the
roar Of artillery and the eloquencs Of many
the praises Of tho great canal
builder sounded throughout the State and
To a man Of Martin Van Buren's
II was now obvious that forces were
at work in the minds and hearts Of the people
Of his State which could not be controlled
by appeals to petty motives or by astute
political intrigues, and be saved himself
from permanent eclipse and COMPOUNDED
his Bucktail followers by entering into a
coalition with De Witt Clinton. He could
not prevent the Buoktails, however, from
nominating an opposing candidate for the
Governorship in 1926, and but for the sur
reptitious aid afforded by Van Burens
personal friends Clinton might AVE been
beaten; as it was b returns ave him only
1850 majority. These figures were the
more surprising because the candidate for
Lieutenant Governor on the Buoktail ticket
beaten his Clintonian opponent by
S.1s2 votes. Clinton luokl' was the popu-
lar comment.
Clinton did not live to complete the term
for which he was thus chosen. On February
II, 1898, death suddenly struck him dom.
He was not yet 90 years Of age. and, ~stalwart
as he was In form and tremendous in will
power, few dreamed that he had any malady,
much less that the end was near. Our
author recalls that Of De Witt Clinton it
could fairly be said that 'his mourners
we're two hosts. his friends and his foes.'
regardless Of party lines,
marks Of the highest res peot and deepest
grief were paid to his memory. As it was
known that he had died poor and pure
the Legislature Voted $4,000 to his four
minor children. al amount equal to the
salary Of a Canal COMMISSIONS during the
time he had served without pay. Indeed,
nothing was left undone or unsaid which
would testify veneration and sorrow. Mr..
Alexander notes that there were those who
thought the time Of Clinton's death fortunate
for Clinton's fame, since former opponents
were softened and former friends had not
vet fallen away. He had completed his
work and enjoyed the reward that attends
maRniaoent achievement. An impression
prevailed, and to our authors mind wal
justified, that little was left to Clinton
politically to live for. New conditions
andnew men were springing up. As a strict
oonstructionlst Of the Federal Constitution,
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