Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/699

 CLINTON 687 reply to the " Federalist." He attended the state convention which adopted the constitu- tion, and reported its interesting debates for the press ; and forsaking his profession, he be- came the private secretary of George Clinton, then governor of New York. In this position he maintained the cause of his kinsman and that of the republicans by such a vigorous use of the press, that he immediately came to be regarded as its leading and most prominent champion. About this time he was appointed one of the secretaries of the newly organized board of re- gents of the university, and secretary of the board of commissioners of fortifications of the state. On the retirement of George Clinton in 1795, and the accession of Mr. Jay to the chair of state, De Witt Clinton relinquished his of- fices, but did not relax his championship of the republican cause in opposition to the admin- istration of Mr. Jay in the state and to that of John Adams at Washington. With all his vehemence of partisan feeling, he nevertheless adhered to the line of patriotic conduct he had early marked out for himself. Thus, while as- sailing the administration of Mr. Adams and the federalists for their alleged hostility toward France, he raised, equipped, commanded, and disciplined an artillery company which was held in readiness for the defence of the country in the event of the occurrence of war with France, then so generally anticipated. Besides these occupations, he applied himself diligently to the studies of natural philosophy, natural history, and other sciences. In 1797 he was sent to the assembly, the lower house of the le- gislature of New York, by the city of New York, and in the next year was elected to the senate of the state for a term of four years. The republican party, triumphing in the Union in 1800, carried also a majority in the state of New York, although John Jay still remained in office. Official patronage in the state was com- mitted by its first constitution to the governor, together with a council consisting of one senator from each district, chosen by a vote of the house of assembly. The governor presided in the council, and habitually exercised exclusively the right of nomination, leaving only to the council the power to confirm or reject. During the ad- ministration of George Clinton his opponents, when in a majority in the council, had claimed for each member a right of nomination coordi- nate with that of the governor ; but the pre- tension was disallowed by Gov. Clinton, and the original practice remained. De Witt Clinton in 1801 became a member of the council, backed by a republican majority. He now challenged the right of nomination for himself and his as- sociates. The governor denied it, and adjourn- the council, and never afterward reconvened it. He submitted the subject to the legislature, id appealed to that body for a declaratory iw. Clinton vigorously defended the position assumed by him in the council. The legisla- ture referred the matter to a convention of the people. The republican party predomi- 198 VOL. iv. 44 nated in that body, and the constitution was amended so as to effect the object at which Clinton had aimed. It was a season of appre- hended invasion ; Clinton was active and effi- cient in securing the means of public defence. The public health was continually threatened by the approach of contagious pestilence ; he was unremitting and judicious in providing the necessary sanitary laws and institutions. He urged improvement of the laws in favor of agriculture, manufactures, and the arts, la- bored to stimulate the great and finally success- ful effort of the time to bring steam into use as an agent of navigation, and employed all his talents and influence in meliorating the evils of imprisonment for debt, and in abolishing sla- very. At the early age of 33 his term of bril- liant service in the senate of the state was crowned by his appointment to a seat in the senate of the United States. He remained in that body through two of its annual sessions. The period, though short, sufficed to enable him to impress upon the country a conviction of his great ability, and to enlarge the sphere of his already eminent reputation. His principal achievement there was an elaborate, exhaus- tive, and impressive speech in favor of modera- tion on the occasion of a high popular excite- ment against Spain, resulting from her viola- tion of treaty stipulations for commercial priv- ileges to the citizens of the United States on the banks of the Mississippi, the territory of Louisiana not yet having been acquired by the United States. Clinton resigned his place in the senate to assume the office of mayor of the city of New York, under an appointment made by George Clinton (again governor) and a re- publican council of appointment in 1803. He remained undisturbed in the mayoralty from 1803 to 1807, when he was removed. He was reappointed in 1809, displaced in 1810, restored in 1811, and thenceforward continued therein till 1815. Within this period of nearly 12 years he was also a member of the senate of the state from 1805 to 1811, and lieutenant governor from 1811 to 1813; and during a portion of the time he also held a seat in the council of appointment. In 1804 George Clinton, who had been known as an aspirant to the presidency for many years, was elected vice president of the United States, and soon after, by reason of his advanced years, ceased to be conspicuous. De Witt Clinton, by an easy transition, rose to the same eminent con- sideration, and came to be regarded as the foremost candidate of the republican party within the state of New York for the presi- dency. Not at all abating either his personal activity or his proscriptive severity toward others, he encountered at their hands hostil- ity and retaliation, fierce, violent, and apparent- ly relentless. A dangerous rival disappeared when Aaron Burr sank under the odium of intrigues against Jefferson in the election of 1800, and the still greater odium of the fatal duel with Hamilton in 1804 ; but Clinton was