USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress Vol. III > Part 37
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Hitherto the New York mind had been flooded with an immense amount of loose material concerning the utility of inland navigation. But knowledge is not enlightenment. It required this able memorial to give definite direction to thought as well as action. Hundreds were converted from rank skepticism as to its practicability. Others were led to a more just conception of its propriety. While it was known that a collection of inland lakes in the heart of America exceeded in extent some of the
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most celebrated seas in the Old World, multitudes saw for the first time, in the geographical view presented by Clinton, that the cost of transport- ing a barrel of flour to Albany from Cayuga Lake, for instance, was nearly double that of conveying it to Montreal by the way of Lake Onta- rio and the St. Lawrence ; and that merchandise from Montreal was selling on the New York borders full fifteen per cent below the New York prices. In concluding his masterly argument, Clinton said : " If the project of a canal was intended to advance the views of individuals, or to foment the divisions of party; if it promoted the interests of a few at the expense of the, prosperity of the many ; if its benefits were limited as to place, or fugitive as to duration ; then, indeed, it might be received with cold indifference, or treated with stern neglect ; but the overflowing blessings from this great fountain of public good and national abundance will be as extensive as our country, and as durable as time. It may be confidently asserted, that this canal, as to the extent of its route, as to the countries which it con- nects, and as to the consequences which it will produce, is without a par- allel in the history of mankind. It remains for a free State to create a new era in history, and to erect a work more stupendous, more magnifi- cent, and more beneficial than has hitherto been achieved by the human race."
Numerous prominent men of the city signed the memorial. Meetings were held in Albany, Utica, Buffalo, and many intermediate towns, and resolutions passed to support the gigantic undertaking so nobly heralded. On the other hand appalling difficulties arose in the fears of the prudent, who thought New York too young to commence single-handed a work of such magnitude, as well as in rival and hostile local interests, in the satire of the incredulous, and in political cabals. The legislature assem- bled in January. The memorial was soon presented. Intense feeling, March 21. for and against, was awakened from the start. On the 21st,
Jacob Rutsen Van Rensselaer, one of the most accomplished and skillful legislators in the country, introduced a bill, which, notwithstand- ing the modifications to which it was subjected, was the germ of enact- ments that crowned the enterprise with success. He said New York was capable of sustaining as dense a population as any section of the globe, and if enabled to pour its productions and its wealth into its chief city, blessings of every kind would follow. He spoke like the guardian of the State, and with the forecast of a statesman; and his words carried weight, as he could have no private interests at stake. He represented a county
April 3. lying on a great navigable river, having direct intercourse with the city of New York at a very cheap rate. The debate on the bill was opened with animation on the 3d of April, William Alexander Duer in the
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chair, a grandson of Lord Stirling, and an active friend of the canal. Duer had acquired great influence, through his critical erudition, and to his superiority of intellect was added the charm of a graceful and imposing parliamentary manner. The fate of the bill hung for many days in the balance. Among those who courageously and vigorously espoused its cause was Peter Augustus Jay. On the 13th it passed the Assembly, with a variety of amendments, and with commissioners named - De April 13. Witt Clinton, Stephen Van Rensselaer, Henry Seymour, Samuel Young, Joseph Ellicott, William Bayard, Jacob Rutsen Van Rensselaer, George Huntington, Townsend McCoun, Melancthon Wheeler, Philip J. Schuyler, Myron Holley, John Nicholas, and Nathan Smith. It was taken up in the senate on the 16th, and on motion of Martin Van Buren amended by striking out all that went to authorize the beginning of the work. The names of nine of the commissioners were also stricken from the April 17. list. In this shape it became a law on the 17th, and twenty
thousand dollars were appropriated for the necessary expenses of explora- tions and models.
The five commissioners retained were Stephen Van Rensselaer, De Witt Clinton, Samuel Young, Joseph Ellicott, and Myron Holley. They met in New York City in May, and organized with De Witt Clinton, president, Samuel Young, secretary, and Myron Holley, treasurer. They spent the summer in examining physical obstacles, in trying 1816. to conciliate public opinion, and in devising a system of finance to meet the vast expenditures which a canal would involve.
This year was rendered memorable among commercial men for the enor- mous importation of merchandise from Europe of every description. A new impulse was given to business. The financial condition of the country was improving under the influence of a national bank - which Secretary Dallas had at last succeeded in establishing. His plan, modeled after Hamilton's, except in a few particulars, was carried into effect on the 10th of April, 1816. During the same month James Monroe received the nomination for President, and Governor Tompkins of New York for Vice-President of the United States.
Before the canal commissioners reported the results of their investiga- tions to the legislature, in the winter of 1817, the Presidential election had taken place. Thus the office of governor of New 1817.
York would be vacant on the 4th of March. Measures were in agitation to place De Witt Clinton in the gubernatorial chair, which awoke all the slumbering animosities and prejudices of a decade. The contest was no longer between the great national parties. The Erie Canal was the spinal column of New York politics.
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The month of April, 1817, opened with preparations for an obstinate struggle. The Fortieth session of the New York Legislature had already distinguished itself by adopting the immortal recommendation of Governor Tompkins in January - that slavery should cease forever in the State of New York on the 4th of July, 1827. This great measure in behalf of human rights was due chiefly to the exertions of Peter A. Jay and Wil- liam Jay, sons of the chief justice, Cadwallader D. Colden, and other distinguished philanthropists of the city of New York, several of whom belonged to the Society of Friends. The new canal bill, shaped by De April 1. Witt Clinton, and embracing a careful estimate of the cost of the proposed work, occupied attention in the Assembly from the 1st to the 10th of April, when it passed by a very small majority. During the debate Stephen Van Rensselaer sent in a proposition for undertaking the whole Erie Canal himself, so confident was he of the vast profits and advantages in prospect. Judge Nathaniel Pendleton, who had been sup- posed hostile to the bill, came out strongly in its favor on the 8th. He was a perfect gentleman of the old school, conscientious and high-minded, and it was only after patient study of the surveys and calculations that his sober judgment helped to turn the scale. He made an important speech on the subject, provoked by the determined opposition of Judge James Emott, whose talents were of the first order, and in whose opinion New York should not embark in the enterprise for a long time to come - a man able to cool ardor most effectually with an appalling table of figures. William B. Rochester, a young member of great promise, made his first parliamentary efforts in a succession of brilliant speeches. Wheeler Barnes and John I. Ostrander were both conspicuous for elo- quence and force of argument in favor of the canal. But several delega- tions had come armed with the most formidable weapons of antagonism. On the 9th William A. Duer recommenced the debate in his ablest man- ner. He said he should sustain the cause and persevere to the end. His words did not seem greatly to affect his hearers. At this critical moment Elisha Williams came to the rescue. He was one of the strong men of his time, polished and commanding as a public speaker, and as remarkable for versatility as for elegance of diction. He sustained Duer manfully, defended the bill section by section, answered all the questions of its lead- ing opponents, tore the mask from those pretended friends who were se- cretly aiming at the destruction of the bill-a torrent of invective flowing in one continuous stream from his lips like burning lava - and by happy strokes of humor extinguished petty objections, thickly interspersed by legislators without the mind to conceive or judgment to appreciate great enterprises for the public good. He turned towards the delegation from
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New York City, who, unlike their predecessors of 1816, were, almost to a man, hostile to the canal, and drew an animated picture of the future grandeur of the metropolis when the great channels of inland navigation should be completed, exclaiming with magnetic warmth, " If the canal is to be a shower of gold, it will fall upon New York City; if a river of gold, it will flow into her lap."
Thus far the battle was won. The bill went to the senate, where, on motion of George Tibbitts, it was made the special order for the April 10. following day. On the 12th and on the 14th it was discussed
with spirit. The opponents, among whom were Walter Bowne, Peter R. Livingston, Lucas Elmendorf, Isaac Ogden, and Moses Cantine, spoke successively against any precipitate measures. George Tibbitts made a sound and judicious speech, followed by Martin Van Buren in favor of the bill. This last was the great argument of the session. Van Buren was known to be adroitly working to defeat Clinton's election as governor, on the ground that he had a secret understanding with the Federalists, and such a masterly effort in favor of Clinton's project surprised many. Van Buren said the canal was to promote the interest and character of the State in a thousand ways ; he should vote for it, and should consider it the most important vote he ever gave in his life. When he resumed his seat, Clinton, who had been an attentive listener in the Senate Chamber, breaking through the extreme reserve created by political collisions, ap- proached and congratulated him in the most flattering terms.
The bill passed the Senate on the 15th, but it was subjected to another severe ordeal in the council of revision, of which Lieutenant-governor Tayler was president, one of the most distinguished as well as for- midable opponents of the measure. Chancellor James Kent, Chief Jus- tice Smith Thompson, Judge Jonas Platt, and Judge Joseph C. Yates - afterwards governor of the State - were present. Platt and Yates were decidedly in the affirmative. The chancellor said it seemed April 15. like a gigantic project which would require the wealth of the United States to accomplish, and he thought it inexpedient to commit the State until public opinion could be better united. The chief justice said the bill gave arbitrary powers to the commissioners over private rights with- out sufficient provisos and guards; he was, therefore, opposed. The crisis was alarming. Tayler held the casting vote. Near the close of the discussion Vice-President Tompkins entered the council-chamber, and took his seat familiarly ; he expressed a decided opinion against the bill, remarking that the late peace with Great Britain was a mere truce, and that the credit and resources of the State ought to be employed in preparing for war. "Do you think so ?" asked Chancellor Kent. "Yes,"
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was the reply, "England will never forgive us for our victories ; and, my word for it, we shall have another war within two years." The chancellor sprang to his feet, and with great animation declared : "Then if we must have war or have a canal, I am in favor of the canal, and I vote for this bill." His voice gave the majority, and the bill became a law.1
The first meeting of the commissioners was held in Utica on the 3d of June to receive proposals and make contracts. It was determined
June 3. to break ground in the vicinity of Rome, and an arrangement was made for appropriate ceremonies. The 4th of July was the day chosen. At sunrise the commissioners and a large concourse of citizens assembled at the place appointed. In behalf of the community of 1817. the region a few pertinent remarks were made by Hon. Joshua Hathaway, who presented the spade to De Witt Clinton, president of the commissioners, and also governor of the State - having been duly July 4. elected in April despite all efforts to the contrary. Clinton placed it in the hands of Judge James Richardson, the first contractor engaged in the work. Samuel Young then made a short address, in which he said with striking emphasis, "By this great highway unborn millions will transport their surplus productions to the shores of the Atlantic, and hold a useful and profitable intercourse with all the maritime nations of the earth. Let us proceed to the work animated by the prospect of its speedy accomplishment, and cheered with the anticipated benedictions of a grateful posterity "; after which the spade was thrust into the earth by Richardson, citizens and laborers, ambitious of the honor, following his example amid the firing of cannon and the acclamations of thousands of spectators.
Though the beginning was thus auspicious, the canal in its progress met with obstacles of every kind and character. To expect to accomplish such a work without other means than what New York could provide seemed to the mass of the people like a prodigious dream. The venerable Jefferson, a zealous advocate of internal improvements, said it had been undertaken a century too soon. Madison thought its cost would exceed the whole resources of the nation. Rufus King declined to sanction a project involving the ruin and bankruptcy of the State. Sensible and sagacious men all over the country questioned the soundness of Clinton's views. Appropriations from year to year were obtained from the legis- lature with the utmost difficulty, and Clinton's repeated assurances that the resources of the State were ample to meet the whole expenditure were ridiculed as the vagaries of a monomaniac. It seemed many times as if between the madness of politicians and the skepticism of the public
1 Letter from Judge Jonas Platt to Dr. Hosack.
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the enterprise would be effectually crippled. No man in the develop- ment of a grand idea for the common good was more abused than Clinton. His inflexible perseverance was quoted in derision, the canal was styled " a big ditch," in which, it was said, " would be buried the treasure of the State, to be watered by the tears of posterity." His powerful speeches were garbled by writers of every grade, and his eloquence over the "na- tional glory connected with the enterprise " was turned into shafts of wit and satire to be used as weapons for his overthrow. He was hissed on one occasion while addressing a crowd in the Park, from the steps of the New York City Hall, for predicting that the city would within a century stretch continuously to the shore of the Harlem River !
" Don't thee think friend Clinton has a bee in his bonnet ?" asked a worthy Quaker of the gentleman who stood next him.
Persistent opposition to Clinton's administration soon developed itself, giving origin to the formation of two new and distinctly marked parties, known as the Bucktails and the Clintonians. It was after a long and fierce struggle between the Bucktails on the one side and the Clintonians and Federalists on the other, that a new State constitution was framed and adopted in the autumn of 1821. Clinton was four times elected governor ; he occupied the position nine years, the whole period, indeed, from the date of his first election until his death in 1828, with the exception of one term, 1822-1824, when Joseph C. Yates was the successful candidate. The five canal commissioners continued in office, as named in the act of 1816. Vacancies were to be filled by the legislature, as in the national senate. In 1819 Ellicott resigned, and Henry Seymour was appointed in his stead, holding the office some twelve years.1 In 1821 William C. Bouck, afterwards governor of the State, was appointed an additional com- missioner.2 Under authority conferred by the act of 1817, the Supreme Court of New York appointed Richard Varick, William Walton Woolsey, Nathaniel W. Howell, Obadiah German, and Elisha Jenkins to appraise the property of the former canal company, about to be purchased.
1 Henry Seymour, born May 30, 1780, was the son of Major Moses Seymour of Litch- field, Connecticut, who participated in the capture of Burgoyne, and was one of the officers present at the memorable dinner to which Burgoyne was invited on the day following the capitulation. His wife was Molly, daughter of Colonel Ebenezer Marsh. They had one daughter, who married her cousin, Rev. Truman Marsh, and five sons, of whom one settled in Vermont, and was United States Senator for a dozen years, another became distinguished as a financier and bank president, two were high sheriffs of the county, and Henry, the canal commissioner, settled early in Onondaga County, New York, where he became a wealthy landholder, and subsequently mayor of Utica. He was a gentleman of the old school, highly cultivated by study, and of polished manners.
2 By an act of the legislature, May 6, 1844, the number of canal commissioners was re- duced to four, and they were made elective every four years. By the constitution of 1846 three commissioners were to be elected, on a term of three years, so classified that one would be elected every year.
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Notwithstanding the political clamor against Clinton, it must by no means be supposed that the cultivated intelligence of New York City was insensible to the greatness of the man who for ten years had not only performed the duties of mayor with scrupulous fidelity, but had been the liberal patron of every important scheme of learning and benevolence. It was the period for founding and testing the value of institutions. Clinton, by the force of circumstances not less than his own commanding power, stood like a giant ready to solve grave problems and push into successful operation all manner of worthy enterprises. Whatever charity or society was in contemplation, his favor was considered of the first moment. He was identified with the growth of the city in a greater variety of directions than any other individual of his time ; and his ser- vices were known and generously appreciated.
He was one of the founders, in connection with Dr. Hosack, Dr. Mitch- ill, Dr. Macneven, Dr. John W. Francis, and John Griscom, of the Literary and Philosophical Society, and was chosen its first president when it was incorporated in 1814. He was elected president of the New York Historical Society a few months prior to his election as
1817. governor of the State - succeeding Gouverneur Morris, deceased, who had been president of this renowned institution about a year. Dr. Hosack was then its corresponding secretary ; and the accomplished Dr. Francis, just returned from Europe where he had enjoyed the instruction, society, and in several instances the warm friendship of the prominent scientific men of the Old World, was its librarian. Clinton had ever been an active friend to the New York Hospital, and was chiefly instrumental in the passage of the act, in 1816, establishing the Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane, which, located in the midst of forty well-cultivated acres, was first opened for the reception of patients in 1821.
Nor was he less influential in the establishment of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, incorporated by the legislature, April 15, 1817, the same day that Mr. Gallaudet's school was opened in Hartford. Up to that time not a single institution of the kind had existed in America, and only about twenty-five in Europe. Clinton was the first president of the board of directors, and Richard Varick and John Ferguson were vice- presidents. For some years the school was kept in a public building ; Dr. Samuel Akerly was from 1821 to 1831 superintendent, secretary, and physician, and was succeeded by Dr. Harvey P. Peet. The corporation at length donated the site for an edifice in Fiftieth Street (now occupied by Columbia College) and the corner-stone was laid in 1829. The insti- tution was driven by the increase of population to its present beautiful site on Washington Heights in 1856, and buildings and grounds were provided at a cost of half a million of dollars.
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The American Bible Society, formed at New York in 1816, received substantial encouragement from Clinton ; Elias Boudinot, the venerable philanthropist who had long devoted himself to the study of bibli- cal literature, and donated ten thousand dollars to the cause, was its first president. Some two years later was founded the 1818. Presbyterian Education Society, to aid impecunious young men in study- ing for the ministry, of which Boudinot was also president until his death in 1821; of this institution Clinton was vice-president from the beginning, and president during the later years of his life. When Mrs. Divie Bethune agitated the subject of Sabbath schools in New York City in 1812, many excellent people expressed doubts as to the propriety of devoting any portion of the Sabbath to such purposes, and she went to Clinton for his opinion, who was at once interested and advised her to make the ex- periment quietly. She did so, open- ing a little school on Sunday after- noons in the vi- cinity of her city residence, and an- other in the base- ment of her coun- try-seat at Green- wich. The war, however, brought such distress to The Deaf and Dumb Asylum. [Washington Heights.] the poor, that Mrs. Bethune's energies were absorbed in a society organized by a few charitable ladies to provide employment for helpless women whose husbands were in the army. A wooden building was rented, and some five or six hundred families thus sustained until the return of peace. In 1816 Mrs. Bethune called a meeting of ladies in the Wall Street Church to organize a Sabbath School Society, which established schools and con- ducted them successfully until absorbed by the New York branch of the American Sunday School Union, in 1827. Clinton, who loved educa- tion as a' science as well as a charity, facilitated this work in innumer- able ways; and when it ceased he suggested to Mrs. Bethune that many children of laboring parents, too young for common schools, needed
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fostering instruction - which resulted, through her efforts, in the Infant School Society, organized in May, 1827. Clinton, in his last message to the legislature, mentioned this charity as one deserving " the most liberal benefactions from individuals, and the most ample endowments from the public." Meanwhile the common-school system of New York, which his far-seeing statesmanship had instituted, was growing into magnificent pro- portions. The fifth annual report, transmitted to the legislature 1818. in March by the superintendent, Gideon Hawley, informed the public that five thousand schools were in successful operation in the State, in which more than two hundred thousand children were annually taught during an average period of from four to six months.
The scholarly Cadwallader D. Colden was appointed mayor in 1818.1 He, like Clinton, was industriously active in the interests of humanity, and viewed men and things from a philosophical standpoint. One of his earliest duties was to aid in the establishment of the Society for the Pre- vention of Pauperism. Emigration was pouring into New York ship- loads of the lowest and most ignorant classes in Europe, who found shelter as best they could in sheds, cellars, or rookeries of any description, and, choosing rather to steal than beg, were scarcely less dangerous to society than so many wild animals. The patience and the pockets of the citizens were severely taxed. Colden stated in November, 1819, that during the preceding twenty months eighteen thousand nine hundred and thirty foreign emigrants had arrived in the city and been reported at his office.
Meanwhile national affairs were in a promising condition. Monroe was prudent, and his administration was harmonious and prosperous. The fierce strife of parties ceased through his tranquillizing influence. He made a tour inspecting the frontier defenses of the country from Portland to Detroit in the first summer of his rule. Mrs. Monroe was Eliza, daughter of Lawrence Kortwright, of New York, whom Monroe met, courted, and married during the gay winter following Washington's first inauguration ; she had been one of the belles of the city during the Rev- olution, and was ridiculed for having rejected so many dashing adorers and chosen a plain member of Congress. The chief events of Monroe's first term of office were the admission of Mississippi, Illinois, and Ala- bama into the Union, and the important cession of Florida by Spain, in 1819, completing the work of annexation commenced in the purchase of Louisiana. Indiana was admitted into the Union in 1816. The Hon.
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