Clinton Removed. To weaken Clinton's candidacy the Regency" rushed a resolution through the legislature to remove him from the office of canal commissioner, a position he had held faithfully and honorably for some years without pay. The act was hasty and ill-advised, for it led to the election of the very man it was intended to defeat. The people's sense of justice was shocked. The citizens of Albany rushed to the capitol and denounced the action as a "wanton violation of public trust . . . unparalleled in the political history of this country," and sent a committee of sixteen to express their warmest thanks" to Clinton. This course was copied in New York City and all over the state. Clinton's shrewdly worded replies to the numerous addresses swelled the torrent of popular indignation. His friends at once insisted on his candidacy for governor.

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Yates's Mistake.-Governor Yates sought to save himself by calling an extra session of the legislature (Aug. 2, 1824), and by urging the passage of the electoral bill. All parties were surprised at his course, and his own indignant. The legislature censured him for misusing his power, resolved that an electoral law ought to be enacted, and then adjourned. Meanwhile all eyes were on the Utica convention soon to meet (Sept. 21, 1824). Clinton wanted the nomination, and most of his friends were urging it. The "People's Party," however, opposed it. Of the 122 delegates in this first popular convention, about 30 were of the "People's Party" and the rest were Clintonians and Federalists. Clinton was nominated by a large majority, and then, to appease the "People's Party," General Tallmadge was named for lieutenant-governor.

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Regency Defeated.-Clinton was elected by almost 17,000 majority. All parties were surprised. The Regency" was defeated and Democratic ascendency checked. The legislature was opposed to the Regency" in the ratio of three to one. This was a significant victory for the people, and likewise a vindication of Clinton. In the choice of presidential electors the Adams and Clay men agreed upon a union ticket, but owing to a breach of faith on the part of the Adams men Adams received from New York thirty-four electoral votes, Crawford four, and Clay none. Had the four votes gone to Clay, he might have been elected President. Though Clinton had favored Jackson, yet President Adams offered him the ministry to England, which he refused.

Clinton's Program, as given in his message, was radical. He recommended choosing electors by a general ticket; an expansion of white suffrage; the popular election of justices of the peace; a state board on internal improvements; and a state road from the Hudson to Lake Erie through the southern counties. The last project soon resulted in mass-meetings all along the proposed route, and culminated in a convention at Albany (Feb. 25, 1825) to urge the legislature to act. An act authorizing the building of the road was passed, and three commissioners were named to make the survey.

CHAPTER XXX.-COMPLETION OF THE ERIE CANAL

Clinton's Mania.-Governor Clinton, the "Father of the Erie Canal," had a mania for internal improvements by canals. He heroically overcame popular prejudice, personal antagonism, sectional indifference and jealousy, and the opposition of a strong political party to the waterway across the state. His zeal carried him to Ohio, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania to examine the canals. It was a most fitting tribute to Clinton to be recalled by the people to the governor's chair in time to conduct the ceremonies attending the completion of the great project launched eight years before.

Opposition. The most persistent opposition came from New York City. Many prominent men, like Judge Pendleton and Elisha Williams, were first hostile, then friendly. The latter said to the New York representatives: "If the canal is to be a shower of gold, it will fall upon New York; if a river of gold, it will flow into her lap.” Daniel D. Tompkins and his adherents opposed the project, but were forced by popular approval to sanction it. It was said that Clinton's "big ditch" would be "filled with the tears of posterity." The project became a political issue favored by the west and opposed by the south and the southeast. Jefferson said to Joshua Forman in 1809: "You talk of making a canal of 350 miles through the wilderness! It is little short of madness to think of it at this day."

Canal Completed.-For a decade before 1817 Clinton, with others, zealously strove for this gigantic enterprise, and for eight years after that date, as governor and

president of the canal board, he prosecuted the construction of the canal. In two years the Erie Canal was completed from Rome to Utica (Oct. 22, 1819), and the day was celebrated in festive style. Cannon boomed, bells rang, and the people took a holiday all along the route, while the first boat, with the governor, other prominent men, many ladies, and a military band on board, was drawn by one horse from Rome to Utica. In November, 1819, twenty-four boats passed through the Champlain canal, which had been authorized in 1816 and was completed in 1823. By 1820 boats were running from Utica to the Seneca River. In 1823 boats navigated 280 miles of the canal. On October 26, 1825, the canal was open from Buffalo to Albany, 363 miles, having cost $7,143,789.

Opening of the Canal.-A new industrial and commercial era had begun for the Empire State, which was celebrated from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic by fitting ceremonies. At Buffalo the day was ushered in with the booming of artillery. The procession started for the canal. First came the band and soldiers; then the canal-diggers, stone-cutters, masons, and ship-builders; then the citizens in general; then the military officers, city officials, canal engineers and commissioners, followed by the orator of the day, Sheldon Smith; and last of all Governor Clinton, the patron saint of the canal. The "Seneca Chief," drawn by four fine gray horses, and accompanied by "The Young Lion of the West" and "Noah's Ark," loaded with all kinds of produce from the western states, started at 10 a.m. for its first voyage to the sea. On board were Governor Clinton, Joshua Forman, Colonel Stone, Chancellor Liv

ingston, Thurlow Weed, General Stephen Van Rensselaer, the committee from New York, and other prominent citizens. A thirty-two-pound cannon began the

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state salute,” which was carried by cannon placed at intervals to Albany and back to Buffalo in three hours and twenty minutes, while the glad news of the marriage of the Atlantic with the Great Lakes was carried from Albany on to New York in one hour and a half—a unique telegraph.

Celebration. The journey to New York was one round of addresses, fêtes, balls, toasts, salutes, and rejoicing. It must have been the proudest day of Clinton's life. Before daybreak on November 4, cannon and bells announced the arrival of the governor's party at the metropolis. They were welcomed and congratulated by a committee of the city, and then conducted by hundreds of vessels out to Sandy Hook, where the governor united the sea with the lakes by pouring a keg of Lake Erie water into the ocean. This was followed by a great land parade, fireworks in the evening, and festivities for several days. Thus passed a day so glorious to the state and city, and so deeply interesting to countless thousands who were permitted to behold and mingle in its exhibitions."

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The Traffic on the Canal was light at first, but soon boats loaded with grain, lumber, furs, provisions, and salt were going seaward and carrying back emigrants, machinery, clothing, and household goods. The products of the states bordering on the Great Lakes, as well as of western New York, were carried to eastern markets. The traffic past Utica both ways in 1825 and 1834 shows that flour had increased from 237,000 to