GENTLEMEN, MEMBERS OF THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, AND FELLOW CITIZENS.

The feelings which arise in the bosom of him who now addresses you, will readily be anticipated, and cannot fail to find a response in the hearts of all who are assembled upon this solemn occasion.

Ere this, you expected to have heard the well known voice of your CLINTON, pronouncing an eulogy upon the merits, the talents, and the virtues of the orator and patriot, the lamented EMMET: But alas! Such are the dispensations of Providence, such is the precarious tenure of our existence, that voice too, is hushed in death, and the remains of those two illustrious men, whose lives have been spent at the shrine of patriotism, whose worth would have done honour to any age or nation, in ancient or in modern times, are now enclosed in the tomb. - But their memory still lives; and ,when their deeds shall be recorded by some future Plutarch, they will afford to their youthful successors, illustrious examples by which they also may acquire the regard and gratitude of their country, and be rendered worthy of the veneration of posterity.

Although I am deeply sensible of the magnitude of the task which has been assigned me, and almost discouraged from the attempt to perform it, yet when I consider the invitation with which I have been honoured by my fellow-citizens, the relation in which I stand to the Institution of which Mr. Clinton was the presiding officer, and the uninterrupted friendship with which, during a period of more than forty years, "e'en from our boyish days," I have been regarded by the late distinguished man whose loss we now deplore, I do not feel myself at liberty to decline the effort to comply with your wished, upon the present occasion, however imperfect may be the execution of the task I have ventured to assume.

But I come not here to burn the incense of adulation, or to load his memory with indiscriminate praise, or unmerited panegyric: his native powers of mind, his education, his extensive and varied acquirements, his writings, his public works, his private virtues, his patriotism, his unsullied integrity, his moral feelings, his religious faith, his devotion to the interests of the state, to science, to literature, and those benevolent institutions calculated to promote the happiness of man, will constitute his best eulogy. To exhibit these to your view, will be my present endeavour, and the highest object and gratification of my ambition. These faithfully exhibited, cannot fail to compose a portrait, alike honourable to the age which he adorned, and a model of imitation worthy of succeeding generations.

Introductory to these important themes, permit me to ask your attention, for a few moments, to a brief account of the ancestors of Mr. Clinton; for, in them we shall find the prototype of the great intellectual features and moral character, as well as the personal dignity and deportment, the favourite pursuits and the patriotic feelings that characterized him whose outline it will now become my endeavour to delineate.

Mr. Clinton's earliest ancestors were of English origin. William Clinton, from whom his descent is traced, was an adherent of the royal cause in the civil wars of England, and an officer in the army of Charles the first.

After the dethronement of that monarch, Mr. Clinton took refuge on the continent, where he remained a long time in exile. Having spent some time in France and Spain, he secretly proceeded to Scotland, where he married a lady of the family of Kennedy. With a view to safety, he then passed over to the north of Ireland, where he died, deprived of his patrimony, leaving James, an orphan son, then two years old.

When James arrived at manhood, he went to England, for the purpose of recovering his patrimonial estate; but, being barred by the limitation of an act of Parliament, he returned to Ireland, and finally settled in the county of Longford; having, during his visit to the country of his ancestors, married Miss Elizabeth Smith, the daughter of a Captain in Cromwell's army. By this connexion he was enabled to maintain, at that time, a respectable standing in the country of his adoption.

Charles Clinton, the son of James, and the grandfather of De Witt Clinton, was born in the county of Longford, in Ireland, in 1690. In 1729 he resolved to emigrate to this country, with the intention to settle in Pennsylvania.

In the latter end of May of that year, accompanied by many of his friends who adhered to his fortunes, he embarked with his family, consisting of his wife, two daughters, and one son; but owing to a peculiar and disastrous train of circumstances on the voyage, during which they lost one son and one daughter, they did not arrive until the month of October, when they were landed at Cape Cod. In the vicinity of that place they resided until the spring of 1731, when Mr. Clinton removed with his family, and the friends who had embarked their fortunes with his, to a part of Ulster, now Orange county, in the state of New-York, where they formed a permanent and flourishing settlement.

The character he uniformly sustained, was that of pure morals, a strong and cultivated understanding, great respectability, and dignity of deportment, and extensive influence.

He died at his own residence, on the 19^th November, 1773, in the eighty-third year of his age; and it may be added, just in time to escape, at that advanced age, the cares and perplexities of the revolution then about to commence, but in the full view of its approach. He expired breathing an ardent spirit of patriotism, and in his last moments, conjuring his sons to stand by the liberties of America.

Besides the daughter born in Ireland, he had four sons in this country. Alexander, educated in the college of Princeton, and afterwards a physician. Charles, also an eminent physician, and a surgeon in the British Army, at the capture of the Havana. James, the father of De Witt Clinton, and George, the youngest, the late Vice President of the United States.

James Clinton was born on the 13^th of August, 1736, at the family residence, in what is now Orange County, in the then colony of New-York. Possessing strong natural powers of mind, he acquired, under the instruction of his father, an excellent education. He especially excelled in the exact sciences, to which his attention had been particularly directed, and for which he had by nature a great predilection; he, at the same time, inherited the ardent passion for military life, that had distinguished his predecessors, and for which he was peculiarly qualified, by a vigorous frame of body, and the most intrepid courage.

In the war of 1756, he was appointed, by Sir Charles Hardy, the then Governor of the province, an ensign in the militia, for the County of Ulster. Afterwards remaining in the provincial army, under Lieutenant Governor Delancey, and Lieutenant Governor Colden, he was regularly advanced through all the grades of military promotion, and in 1774, he attained to the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel, in the second regiment of the militia of Ulster.

These successive appointments evinced his military merit, and the entire confidence reposed in his skill and bravery. After the termination of the French war, Mr. Clinton married Miss Mary De Witt, a young lady of extraordinary merit, whose ancestors had emigrated from Holland, and whose very name proclaims the high respectability of their connexions.

After this event, Mr. Clinton, for a season, retired from the camp to enjoy the repose of domestic life; but this suspension of public duty was but of short duration. The revolution having commenced, he resumed the character of the soldier, and was appointed by the continental congress, in 1775, colonel of the third regiment of the New-York forces. In the succeeding year, he was created a Brigadier-general in the army of the United States, and at the close of the war, was advanced to the rank of Major-general.

During the war, in the several stations which he filled, he distinguished himself as the gallant and efficient soldier, performing several acts of the greatest heroism, and displaying the most perfect self-possession in the midst of the greatest dangers. His gallant conduct at the storming of Fort Clinton, as well as that of his brother George at Fort Montgomery, in October 1777, will be ever memorable in the history of our revolution. At the siege of York Town, and at the capture of Cornwallis, General Clinton also displayed his characteristic intrepidity. His last appearance in arms, was upon the evacuation of the city of New-York by the British, when he took leave of the Commander-in-Chief, and retired to his estate in Orange County, with the view of enjoying that tranquillity, which was now called for by a long period of privation and fatigue, and that honour, which was the due reward of the important services he had rendered. After his retirement he was still frequently called upon for the performance of civil duties. At one period officiating as a commissioner, to adjust the boundary line between Pennsylvania and New-York; at another, employed by the Legislature to settle controversies relative to the western territories of the state; and at different periods, performing the duties of a delegate to the Assembly, a member of the convention for the adoption of the federal constitution, and afterwards a senator from the middle district, in the New-York Legislature, to which office he was elected without opposition. All these various trusts he executed with integrity, ability, and the entire approbation of his constituents and the public.

DE WITT CLINTON was born on the second day of March, 1769, at Little Britain, his father's residence in Orange County. He received his early education, at a grammar school in his native town, under the direction of a presbyterian clergyman, the Rev. John Moffatt. In 1782, in order to prepare him for college, young Clinton was removed to the academy at Kingston, then under the care of Mr. John Addison, who, by his learning, gave celebrity to that institution. During the revolutionary war, it may be remarked, few good seminaries for education existed in this country; the reputation of this school, necessarily drew to it most of the young men of the state of New-York, who were then engaged in their course of studies. In this academy, Mr. Clinton remained a pupil nearly two years, pursuing the ordinary routine of academical instruction.

In 1784, after passing an examination in the presence of the Board of Trustees of the College, and of the Regents of the University, he was admitted to the junior class, and was the first student who entered that seminary after the conclusion of the war. He was well grounded in the Latin and Greek languages, and in mathematics; for while at college, he enjoyed the advantages of being instructed in the classics, by that highly accomplished and elegant scholar, the Reverend Dr. William Cochrane, now Vice President of the college of Windsor, Nova Scotia, a graduate of Trinity college, Dublin; and in the mathematics, by John Kemp, LL.D. an eminent mathematician, and a graduate of Marischal college, Aberdeen.

These gentlemen were, at that time, professors in Columbia college, in the zenith of their usefulness and reputation, and gave corresponding celebrity to that institution. Mr. Clinton was graduated a Bachelor of Arts in 1786. On that occasion he delivered the Latin salutatory, an exercise always assigned to the best scholar of the class. He was the first graduate of that college after the revolution.

In recent communication received from his preceptor, the Rev. Dr. Cochran, whose valuable life and services are still continued, he expresses himself with great pride and affection, in relation to his pupil Mr. Clinton. The letter with which I have been favoured, conveying many interesting particulars, bears date the 9^th of May last.

"I have seen by the public papers," says he, "that your State has suffered the loss of two eminent men since I visited you last summer; I mean Mr. Emmet and Governor Clinton. The first was my contemporary in Trinity College, Dublin. The other the first pupil I had in Columbia College. The event could not but awaken many interesting recollections in my mind." After a brief and pathetic notice of Mr. Emmet, and of his family, he thus proceeds to speak of Mr. Clinton.

"I think him to have been, both for talents and patriotism, among the very first men of whom the United States could boast in his day. His conceptions were great, and his courage, perseverance, and resources of mind to effect them, were as great."

He continues - "It was, I may say, a mere accident that either that seminary or myself has had any share in educating so great and useful a man. In the summer of 1784, his father brought him to New-York, on his way to Princeton College, to place him in that seminary. The Legislature had passed an act in the preceding winter, for restoring and new naming King's College; afterwards to be a University by the name of Columbia. But no final arrangement or appointments had been made; only a committee was empowered to provide, in a temporary way, for what might be most needful.

In the society, formed by the students for their improvement in composition and declamation, called the Uranian Society, and among whom were many members now highly distinguished for their abilities and professional eminence, Mr. Clinton held a preeminent station, manifesting at that early age, the quickness of perception, the close inductive reasoning, the ample powers of illustration, and talent for composition and extemporaneous debate, that characterised him through life.

He commenced the study of law in 1786, under the late Hon. Samuel Jones, Esq. A celebrated counsellor, the father of the present able Chief Justice of the Superior Court, recently instituted in this city. By that profound jurist, Mr. Clinton was taught to form a becoming estimate of his intended profession, and his studies were so directed and pursued, that the relation of the pupil and preceptor resulted in a friendship which was interrupted only by death.

He ever cherished for Mr. Jones the warmest filial affection, and was accustomed upon all occasions, when opportunity presented, to speak of him in terms of the highest respect, considering him as the father and ornament of the New-York bar. During the prosecution of his legal studies, Mr. Clinton, with a view to his improvement, attached himself to a society of gentlemen, then engaged in the study of the Law and Belles-lettres, which was well known for the eloquence and abilities of its numerous members: in this institution also, Mr. Clinton held a prominent place. After the customary period of pupilage, he was admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of the law in this city, and with a great prospect of success: but owing to the peculiar situation of political affairs in the state of New-York, his talents were soon put in requisition by his uncle George Clinton, then Governor of the state, who made him his private secretary; which station he retained during Governor Clinton's administration, which ended in 1795, when he declined a re-election. It may be added, that Mr. Clinton during his connexion with his venerable uncle, was also honoured with the offices of secretary to the Board of Regents of the University, and of the Board of Fortifications of New-York. These events may be considered as the introduction of Mr. Clinton to public and political life; for since that period, he has, with few intermissions, been unceasingly devoted to the service of the state.

Mr. Clinton at this time entered into the state of matrimony. He was first married to Miss Maria Franklin, the eldest daughter of Walter Franklin, Esq. an eminent and wealthy merchant of this city, and a member of the society of Friends.

Mr. Clinton, by this marriage, was blessed with a large family of children, consisting of seven sons and three daughters; of these, four sons and two daughters are living.

I may be permitted, without the violation of delicacy or propriety, to observe, that Mrs. Clinton is a lady of excellent education, accomplished manners, superior talents and acquirements, and no less qualified, in all respects, as the companion of her late distinguished husband, than she is to perform the duties of a mother to his children, to whose education and happiness she devotes the most tender and affectionate care. May that Almighty Being, who "tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," and who has promised to be father of the fatherless, and the widow's friend, be their stay and support in this dark hour of their affliction!

Mr. Clinton at an early period of his life, attached himself to the ancient fraternity of Free Masons, and, many years since, was advanced to its highest degrees, and has filled the most important offices of that highly respected order. In 1816, he was unanimously elected to the highest masonic office in the United States, which he retained until his death. His long continued connexion with that institution, which spreads its benign influence throughout the civilized world, which enrols among its members the illustrious names of Washington, Warren, La Fayette, Franklin, Pinckney, Robert R. Livingston, and the venerable Chief Justice Marshall, including many of the most highly respected dignitaries of the church, as well as the clergy of different denominations, is of itself the most unequivocal evidence of the purity of the principles, the correct morals, and the religious tendency of the precepts masonry inculcates. But like other benevolent and pious institutions, it has its unworthy as well as its meritorious members. Christianity has its Pharisees as well as its sincere worshippers. Had the institution of masonry been otherwise than the means of diffusing the blessings of beneficence, and of that charity, that best of virtues, which binds man to man, it never would have received the uniform support of men distinguished for their intelligence, integrity, and piety: on the contrary, could it even tacitly have sanctioned any departure from the strictest rules of rectitude or honour, it long since would have been abandoned by the virtuous and the wise.

In the year 1797, Mr. Clinton was elected a member of the House of Assembly, for the city of New-York; and in the succeeding year was chosen a senator. In both those stations, he exhibited manifestations of those enlarged views for the promotion of literature and the arts, which throughout life he so conspicuously displayed.

Before I enter upon the political career of Mr. Clinton, it may be remarked, that he not only received an excellent elementary and professional education, but he also possessed the stores of an elegant and cultivated mind. He was one of those few active and gifted men, who unite the elevated pursuits of science and letters, with the fullest occupation of his professional and public duties; and it may be added, that genius and application were so well mingled in the very constitution of his mind, that with regard to the departments of science to which he attached himself, he very soon acquired so familiar an acquaintance with them, as to lead to the belief that they had almost been the exclusive pursuit of his life.

In mineralogy, including geology, few persons possessed superior or more accurate knowledge; but which was only known to his immediate scientific friends. His collection of minerals, many American specimens of which were obtained from the excavations made in the progress of the canal, though concealed from the public eye, is one of the best and most extensive private cabinets in the United States.

In botany, he was intimately acquainted with the general principles of the Linnæan system, and had an extensive knowledge of those plants which are most useful, and are employed as the objects of agriculture, medicine, and the arts; to the more minute details he was less attentive, than to the great general principles of that science.

Mr. Clinton was also a member of the Academy of Arts, and evinced his favourable views of that subject, and his ardour in promoting its interests, in an excellent discourse which he delivered to that institution. He was a member of most of the literary and philosophical societies of Philadelphia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Charleston, and New-York.

He was also many years a Regent of the University, not only holding that station officially as the Governor of the state, but previously elected as a tribute to his talents and learning.

In 1812, Mr. Clinton received from Queens, now Rutgers College, of New-Jersey, the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws: the same honour was conferred upon him in 1824, by the trustees of his alma mater, Columbia College.

The acknowledged reputation which Mr. Clinton attained in his literary character, when we take into view his extensive public services, is to be ascribed, not only to his native taste and ardent love of knowledge, but to the extraordinary industry and order with which he performed his numerous and various duties. At a very early period of his life, he acquired and cultivated habits of great industry: he rose at an early hour at all seasons of the year. He observed the utmost punctuality in all his engagements; this too he was the better enabled to accomplish, by means of the order and regularity with which he divided the several duties of the day; illustrating by example, that well known truth, that he who has the most numerous avocations, is the most attentive and the most punctual in the performance of all: every hour not occupied by his numerous public duties, was devoted to general literature. History, poetry, taste, belles lettres, metaphysics, natural history, theology, all in turn occupied those portions of his time, not devoted to public business, or the duties of the various stations he filled: and he studiously noted with his pen, every fact or principle that he deemed important, or that might be rendered subservient to his intellectual improvement, or to the profit of others: by this habit, of collecting in his common-place book what he considered of value, he was enabled to concentrate the ample stores of his knowledge upon the various subjects which occupied his more immediate pursuit: even those smaller portions of the day that are lost by most men, were not unemployed by him: like the goldsmith, who carefully accumulates the smaller particles that drop beneath his hand, and which collected, constitute the ingot; Mr. Clinton, in like manner carefully treasured up the minutest fragments of time, which though inconsiderable in themselves, compose an aggregate of great value. Accordingly, when released from the severer duties which engaged his attention, a volume of the classics, some work of science, or some of the later productions of a Scott, a Campbell, a Southey, or a Byron, whose writings have shed an unusual splendour upon the age that gave them birth, occupied those moments of relaxation: and I may add, that he had a large and well selected library of scarce and valuable works, which continually urged him to augment those sources of knowledge and enjoyment.

The ordinary and more frivolous amusements of fashionable life presented no attractions to his mind; on the contrary, they were by him, I believe through life, most studiously avoided, as not only involving the loss of time, money, and reputation, but utterly incompatible with those pursuits and views that belong to a man who has at heart his dignity of character, the higher interests of science, or his country's welfare.

This leads me to notice the merits of Mr. Clinton as a writer and speaker. Mr. Clinton, as a public speaker, was slow and deliberate in his manner, manifesting the constant exercise of his understanding while in the act of delivery: he also observed great order in the plan of his discourse, arranging his arguments with precision, and with the view of giving to each its appropriate place and effect, exhibiting thereby much previous and careful consideration of his subject; yet such was the quickness of his perception and power of analysis, that he did not require long preparatory deliberation to embrace a full view of the merits of the question which came before him.

The language in which he was to convey his sentiments, the illustration with which they were to be enforced, and the ornament with which his discourse was to be embellished, cost him little or no exertion in the preparation; for such was his constant habit of reading the best writings of the standard English classics and historians, as well as the most esteemed of the periodical publications upon the different branches of human knowledge, and other valuable writings of the present time, an age teeming with instruction, and unprecedented in beauty and simplicity of style, that those aids to eloquence were ever present to his mind, requiring no effort to summon them to his purpose: the same observation is no less applicable to his written discourses, than to those which were delivered extemporaneously, for such was his facility and rapidity in composition, derived from long practice, the moment he had analysed and elaborated the subject in his mind, it only required the time necessary for the mechanical transcription of it, to prepare his discourse for publication. It is a fact falling within my own personal knowledge, that one of his most elaborate messages to the legislature, and which were among his most finished and the most admired of his compositions, was written in the short space of twenty-four hours.

His daily practice, and which during the greater part of his life he had pursued, of recording important facts and occurrences, which may have had relation to the various subjects which fell within his province as a statesman, a philosopher, or a polite scholar, ever supplied him with the most abundant means of illustrating the immediate subject of his investigation. For like Boyle, Locke, Gibbon, Edwards, Priestly, and Franklin, he always read with his pencil in his hand; accordingly, it will be found that every page which Mr. Clinton has written or published, displays the valuable fruits of the labour which in this way he has undergone.

Upon whatever subject his talents were put in requisition, and no man was more frequently called upon for the performance of public service, owing to this daily use of the common place book, he ever astonished his friends by the sudden and unexpected, as well as the able discharge of any duty he may have had occasion to perform. In like manner, such were the ample stores of his mind, that when an extemporaneous expression of his views or opinions was demanded, whether upon the seat of justice, the floor of the senate, or upon any other public occasion, at the shortest notice he could summon to his purpose all the resources of his highly gifted and cultivated understanding; with these at his command, it may be added, Mr. Clinton was enabled to give full force to the discussion in which he was engaged, and to avail himself of the peculiar advantage it afforded him of directing his attention to, and of observing the effects of his argument upon, every individual of the body he addressed. Such too was his perception of the effect produced upon his auditory, that I have often heard him say, that when speaking in the senate, or other deliberative assemblies, he could decide at the moment the probable result of his address, and at once ascertain, how far it was safe to urge the question immediately to a decision, or to suggest the expediency of deferring such decision to a more distant day, when he could have had the opportunity of adding to the friends of the measure he wished to accomplish.

I am aware, that by many persons, Mr. Clinton, in consequence of the calmness and uniformity of his manner, and perhaps a degree of monotony in his enunciation, in both of which his delivery closely resembled that of the late Mr. Pitt, was not considered an eloquent speaker. It is to be observed, that he so exclusively addressed himself to the understanding of his hearers, that he gave less attention to the manner of his communication than is customary with most public speakers. He never indulged in rant or vehemence, either in voice or gesture, yet his clear and logical method and arrangement, the force and perspicuity of style, and dignity of manner, his strong and manly tone of voice, united with his undaunted firmness, gave to his discourse, whether in the judgment seat or in the hall of legislation, an influence and effect, which no other individual, except the lamented Hamilton, Wells, and Emmet, has ever exercised in our state. As far as inductive reasoning, happy illustration, strong and vigorous language, a style always dignified, and oftentimes highly ornamented, can be considered as constituting eloquence, and are calculated to arrest the attention, and to carry conviction to his auditory, Mr. Clinton is entitled to the denomination of an eloquent speaker.

In 1797, as I before remarked, Mr. Clinton was first elected a member of Assembly for the city of New-York: political consideration was, at that early day, his dominant motive of action, and the times were becoming more and more favourable to the developement of his powers as a politician. The germs of the two great parties, which have since divided the country, and this state in particular, were about this period exhibiting themselves. His uncle, George Clinton, was at that time assailed by the first talents of the state. His nephew, relinquishing all other considerations, immediately embarked in the vindication of the conduct and principles of his revered relative; and from that period, devoted his pen and his faculties to the support of the republican party.

I am aware that the political character of Mr. Clinton, mingling as it does with the excitements of the day, is a delicate topic to be discussed, especially by one who has never departed from his professional duties, to enlist under the banner of any political sect, save that which framed and still sustains our happy constitution of government. But to omit in the outline which is now attempted, what was so prominent in his life, would be to render this portraiture manifestly defective. As he is no longer capable of doing good or evil, of exciting suspicion or envy on the one hand, or adulation on the other, it is hoped that without disturbing those ashes which are yet scarcely cold, we may calmly survey the distinguishing traits, which, amid the alternate revolutions of parties, fixed upon him the admiration, and confirmed the confidence of his fellow-citizens.

"Id cinerem, aut manes credis curare sepultos?" - Virgil. Æneid. iv. 34.

Born and nurtured among the whigs of the revolution, imbibing daily from the counsels of a patriot father and uncle the cardinal principles of liberty, and learning from their great examples the practical application of those principles, Mr. Clinton could not be otherwise than an ardent and devoted republican. The occasion does not call for a full recital of those eventful epochs in our history, in which his devotion was so conspicuously and effectually manifested. His adversaries felt, while his friends gloried in the power of his efforts. But it is our duty to look beyond the mere partisan conflicts of the day, and to observe those great and prominent traits, the memory of which will endure when the angry passions which they excited shall have subsided, and the occasions on which they were exhibited shall be utterly forgotten. In all the public acts and documents which owe their existence to Mr. Clinton's prolific and vigorous pen, there is apparent throughout a deep and confirmed veneration of the principles and forms of our free institutions; a living faith in man's capacity for self-government, and an unconquerable hostility to arbitrary and illegal power in whatever shape it might appear. Upon the most rigid scrutiny of his productions, not a line or word will be found to justify a resort to implied authority from ambiguous phraseology, or to the tyrant's "plea of necessity," for a latitude of construction in ascertaining the extent of limited grants of power. On the contrary, as a Senator, as a Judge, and as a Governor of the state, he constantly repressed the claims of power, steadily resisted the encroachments of the different branches of the government upon the province of each other, and firmly, at much hazard, vindicated the sovereignty of the state, and the individual rights of the citizen. These, it is true, are political principles of conduct recognised by the great body of our fellow-citizens, but are apt to be forgotten by our public men when elevated to office. In this respect Mr. Clinton was at all times consistent. The lessons which he inculcated as a private citizen, he practised when in power. Upon the whole, he exhibited in his conduct the example of a stern and inflexible republican, in the large and catholic sense of the term, worthy of the purest period of Grecian or Roman History, and to which, at this day, parallels can be found on no spot of the habitable globe, but in our own happy country.

That memorable controversy between Governor Jay and the council of appointment, was supported on the part of the latter by Mr. Clinton, then one of the members of that council. Since that period, he was repeatedly re-elected a senator, and in that situation he defended with effect, every proposition that came before the legislature, calculated to subserve the interests of science or benevolence.

In 1801, Mr. Clinton was chosen a member of the Senate of the United States, in the place of General Armstrong, who had resigned, and continued in that station two sessions.

Among the eminent men of that august body, at that eventful period in our national councils, were General Mason of Virginia, Judge Brackenridge of Kentucky, James Ross of Pennsylvania, and his able and eloquent colleague, Gouverneur Morris of New-York.

The journals and records of the Senate, as will hereafter appear, show him to have been equal to any of his compeers. As a member of the State Legislature, the journals of both houses may be consulted for the proofs of his many eminent public services. Education was cherished and sustained by additional acts for the incorporation of free schools and literary and benevolent societies, besides numerous acts for the improvement of police jurisprudence. He gave his powerful aid to the measures which have gradually led to the abolition among us of negro slavery; and although foreign nations may object, that a people the most boastful of their liberties, could ever tolerate within their own bosom the most indubitable species of slavery, yet the state of New-York, at least, may claim exemption from all participation in the guilt attached to this odious commerce. During this period of Mr. Clinton's public life, we find that the militia system, improved quarantine regulations, and laws for the advancement of medical science, were of the number of subjects which occupied his attention. It is believed that the quarantine system of New-York is not only more complete, but executed with more strictness than any other in our country. It has not at all times secured us from foreign pestilence; but the greater exemption of our city from that scourge of the human species, the yellow fever, is in all probability, fairly to be referred to the wisdom of our laws, and the vigilance of their ministers. Let me add, that Mr. Clinton, yielding his faith to the doctrine of contagion, as taught and sustained by the highest authorities in medical philosophy, was the most strenuous advocate of the most vigorous system of quarantine regulations. The militia system, so justly deemed by the late President John Adams, a vital and characteristic feature of our republican policy, was reviewed by the masterly mind of Mr. Clinton, and underwent many important alterations. It has not yet received the benefits of which I trust it is susceptible; but the suggestions of his experience may enable future legislatures to give to it still further efficiency and power. By the neglect or inadvertence of our inspectors, the various productions of our state, though not inferior to those of any other portion of our country, were depreciated in character and value. One of the earliest measures proposed by Mr. Clinton was, to correct a practice by which much wealth was annually lost to the state. Our commerce, as well as our agriculture have, by his measures, experienced the most beneficial results. The honour of the munificent appropriation made to our various seminaries of learning, must be shared by him with others; but it would be unjust in me, a member of the medical profession, not to acknowledge the debt of obligation which is due to his efficient agency in procuring those various appropriations in behalf of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, by which an institution, humble and unpretending in its commencement, might have been enabled in a few years, to have held honourable competition with the oldest and most powerful medical schools in the country.

By his exertions the New-York Orphan Asylum was recommended to the patronage of the state. That excellent charity now rescues thousands of human beings from vice and misery, whom Providence has deprived of their natural protectors, and trains them up in the paths of virtue and usefulness. Among the most conspicuous of the associations for the advancement of knowledge, was the act for the incorporation of the New-York Historical Society.

By the violence of party, we find Mr. Clinton a private citizen during a part of the year 1815, in 1816, and in 1817. But he did not remit in his exertions for the public weal; his whole leisure was absorbed in the cultivation of letters, and in measures for the augmentation of the happiness of his fellow-men. The Literary and Philosophical Society of New-York, of which he also was one of the original members, had been incorporated in 1814. By its charter he was appointed President, and to which station he was annually re-elected until his death: the choice of Mr. Clinton evinced the discernment of its members. His efforts to promote the objects of this excellent association were incessant. His elaborate Inaugural Discourse delivered before its members, has been extensively circulated in Europe, as well as in the United States. Besides this production, he drew up a series of queries, intended to secure statistical information from the various counties of the state, to be embodied in their transactions, and particularly Memoirs on certain phenomena of the great lakes of America, and on the antiquities of the western parts of the state. The New-York City Hospital was also one of the monuments of his philanthropy and public spirit, for the endowment of which he was happily instrumental in obtaining several legislative grants. By his exertions and influence, connected with those of his able associate in deeds of benevolence, the late Thomas Eddy, several large sums were procured at different times for that highly necessary and useful institution.

Of that great improvement arising from the monitorial system of instruction introduced by the philanthropic Lancaster, he early perceived the advantages, and determined that by his industry the state should profit.

In 1803, Mr. Clinton was appointed mayor of the city of New-York, which station he held until the spring of 1807, when he was succeeded, for a short time, by Colonel Marinus Willett, the venerable soldier of the revolution, and who, nearly half a century before, had gathered imperishable laurels at Fort Stanwix.

Mr. Clinton was re-appointed mayor in 1808, and with the exception of one year, in consequence of a change in party politics, when he was superseded by Judge Radcliffe, he retained that office, by annual appointment, until 1815.

In the discharge of the duties attached to the mayoralty, whether presiding at the common council board superintending the general interests of the city, as the President of the board of health, or officiating in the character of a Judge on the bench, Mr. Clinton acquired the confidence, the respect, and the gratitude, of all classes of citizens, uninfluenced by the various party feelings that then distracted our community.

In 1808, Mr. Clinton was instrumental in obtaining from the state legislature the appropriation of $100,000 for the fortification of the city of New-York. He was the President of the Board of Commissioners, appointed to superintend the accomplishment of those important works on Staten-Island, and other places in its vicinity, for the defence of this city.

But it was in the period of the late war with Great Britain that the virtues of his character were more especially exhibited. His patriotism, his unshaken firmness in supporting the laws and in preserving the peace of the community, were then most conspicuous, and will be recalled to mind by most of this assembly with pleasure and with gratitude.

The state of war in every country produces a set of men who, under the pretext of patriotism and of public good, excite to acts of riot and disorder, which they turn to the gratification of private resentment, or their own private emoluments. Disgraceful scenes of lawless violence and of bloodshed had occurred in a neighbouring city, and gave fearful omen of what might here be expected, unless restrained by the strong arm of the law. Mr. Clinton's intelligent mind foresaw the crisis, and his correct and intrepid spirit was prepared to meet it.

In an address to the grand jury, he alluded to the riotous scenes of Baltimore, and with the view to prevent a repetition of the same in the city of New-York, he digested and prepared a system of police regulations, for the preservation of the peace of the city, which was adopted by the common council. The result is well known; our city remained tranquil and undisturbed by tumult of any sort. The character of Mr. Clinton for energy and decision, was an assurance to the community, that these regulations would not remain a dead letter, but be faithfully and promptly executed. His well known firmness gave tranquility to our city; the vicious were awed; the virtuous under his auspices felt additional confidence.

Another instance of Mr. Clinton's pure devotion to the interests of his country deserves to be recorded. Upon the declaration of war by the United States against Great Britain, it was well known that this important metropolis would be one of the first objects of attack by the enemy. The immense wealth of this city would awaken attention, and its importance as a military station pointed out its possession as of the greatest moment. But the declaration of war found us wholly unprepared: the embarrassed situation of the finances of the United States is still remembered. The treasury was empty, and its credit, at that time, impaired. It was soon perceived, that if our city was to be defended, the funds for that purpose must be provided by ourselves. At this crisis, Mr. Clinton suggested to the common council to borrow the necessary funds on the credit of this city, and to loan the same to the United States. The plan was approved. An impressive address, drafted by Mr. Clinton, was made to our citizens, and a million of dollars raised, by subscription, for our defence.

Throughout the progress of the war, Mr. Clinton constantly associated himself with the committee of defence appointed by the corporation, and lent his powerful influence to various measures which were then proposed.

When it is considered that Mr. Clinton's political advancement was then in opposition to the existing administration, and when it might have been expected that a political rival would have been pleased with this opportunity of rendering them unpopular with the people, it certainly redounds to his honour and patriotism, that he gave his undivided exertions towards carrying on the war to a successful issue.

His patriotism was also evinced in the tender of his services in his military character during the late war. At this moment of danger, having held the station of Major-general in the militia of the state, he considered it his paramount duty to offer to the Commander-in-chief his personal services for active operation in the field. These were preferred in a letter addressed to the late Governor Tompkins, by their mutual friend, Thomas Addis Emmet.

It ought to be remarked, as an evidence of his high sense of duty, and his disregard of personal danger, that during the visitations of the pestilence, of the particular character and contagiousness of which Mr. Clinton had the fullest conviction, while officiating as chief magistrate of the city, he was ever present at the deliberations of the common council, and rendered his daily attendance in the city at the board of health, of which he was the presiding officer.

As a criminal judge, it is admitted even by those who had been his political opponents, that his vigilance, his able and impartial performance of his official duties, especially in those cases involving the life of the offender, furnished a model worthy of imitation by all who occupy that highly important and responsible situation: for in him were happily united a most strict attention to the merits of the case, with the most devoted leaning to the feelings of humanity. Mr. Clinton did not entertain the opinion expressed by some late philanthropists, that capital punishments are unnecessary or unjust. Believing with the most enlightened authorities, Beccaria, Blackstone, and the late Sir Samuel Romilly, that the certainty of punishment was the best security for the prevention of crime, our statute book bears witness to the wisdom of his counsels in mitigating the severity of the English criminal code; and during his performance of the duties of judge, as assigned to him in his office of mayor, the culprit was equally aware of the clemency of the magistrate, and of the certainty of punishment in the case of conviction: but while in his view the destruction of human life could only be expiated by the lex talonis, he was determined that the last punishment of the law should be inflicted on those who were the wanton instruments of its violation.

In the cause of the Trinity Church riot, which many of this auditory may remember, his sternness and severity of rebuke towards some, whose rank in life would have awed the authority of a less firm magistrate, confirmed his character in the minds of all peaceable citizens, and had no inconsiderable influence on the conduct of the factious and the unruly. But there are other and more enduring monuments of his legal abilities.

Although Mr. Clinton, as has appeared, was at an early period after his admission to the bar called into political life, some opportunities had been afforded him of displaying his legal talents and acquirements, and which could not fail to have introduced him into a highly respectable scene of practice. Afterwards, when officiating as a member of our State Legislature, but more especially in the capacity of a member of the Court of Errors, and as the chief magistrate of this city, he was oftentimes called upon to deliver opinions, in cases demanding a very profound knowledge of the law, and a very nice discrimination in deciding upon the peculiar circumstances of the case under investigation, and in which principles were involved that required all the aid of practice and experience to constitute a correct decision; yet I am enabled to say, that agreeably to the opinion entertained by gentlemen the most distinguished at the bar, whose names reflect lustre upon their profession, Mr. Clinton's decisions and investigations are highly honourable to his talents and legal acquirements, and will ever be appealed to as standard authorities; at the same time that they are written in a style of eloquence, which cannot fail to give them great additional interest.

As a jurist the distinguishing features of Mr. Clinton's intellectual character were fully exhibited. As has been already stated, in presiding over the court of criminal jurisdiction of our city, frequent and most trying occasions were presented, which taxed to the utmost his judicial firmness.

Those occasions have passed, and it is hoped that the recollection of them, and the angry collisions with which they were connected have ceased, save the remembrance of the inflexible nerve of the upright magistrate.

By this law a numerous and most respectable religious denomination, is relieved from the oppression of an arbitrary authority, imposed by the decisions of British law, which would deprive them of the exercise of a paramount religious duty, enjoined upon them by the most positive obligations of their faith.

Upon another occasion, when a great principle, upon which the value of the writ of habeas corpus mainly depends, namely, the authority to review the decisions of inferior courts upon the return to the writ, was in the most imminent peril, he vindicated and successfully sustained this bulwark of our liberties, by the delivery of an opinion, which in force of reasoning and successful illustration, is not surpassed in the judicial eloquence of this country.

By a principle of English law adapted to the peculiar interests of that country, and calculated for the protection of those interests at the expense of the rest of the world, the sentences of foreign courts of admiralty were held conclusive upon all mankind, while the judgment of every other foreign court were open to examinations and contradiction. Under the sanction of this principle, British cruisers seized our vessels upon the slightest pretexts, and the petty admiralty courts of the West India Islands, legalized those seizures by condemnations without scruple and without cause. Insurance afforded no protection, for the sentence and the grounds upon which it assumed to proceed, were not suffered to be denied or explained, however false in fact, or however illegal or iniquitous in effect. Against this system of rapine Mr. Clinton raised his voice, and in an admirable opinion, whose force and authority have been strengthened by time, overthrew the principle and all its consequences. The proceedings of those courts were declared open to investigation, their sentences liable to contradiction by proof, and commerce was thus far freed from its fetters. This memorable decision has been repeatedly sanctioned, and rigidly adhered to by all the courts of this state. Long before those plans of legal reform which now engage public attention, both in England and in this country were commenced, Mr. Clinton had repeatedly urged legislative efforts upon the subject. These suggestions probably led to the adoption of that system which, as far as regards our statute law, has been so auspiciously commenced in this state, and which has uniformly received from him the most encouraging approbation and support. But the attainments of Mr. Clinton as a jurist, are too rich and copious for a full development in the narrow limits of this outline, while the incidents already presented are sufficient to exhibit the operations of the same great mind which enlightened and adorned so many other pursuits.

To no one in this country are we more indebted than to Mr. Clinton, for freeing us from those numerous and superfluous technicalities, which have for ages proved the source of inconvenience and expense in the adjudication of the rights of our citizens and of property, and which it is the boast of our state in some measure to have lessened or removed. His then is the great and permanent merit of having accommodated that system of English law to the genius of our republican institutions, of infusing into a code wise and well settled in its foundations and leading principles, but disfigured by too much technicality and refinement, a greater spirit of liberality and a more benignant feeling of philanthropy.

It redounds greatly to the honour of Mr. Clinton, that from the care and distractions of public and political life, he snatched a portion of time and devoted it, like Bacon, the great model of his imitation, and the object of his enthusiastic encomium, to the noblest of all occupations, intellectual cultivation; it may indeed be said of him, that "he is himself the great sublime he draws," that he belonged to that class of men so happily described by the illustrious Burke, in whom an acquaintance with the forms of the law does not impair the enlargement and liberality of their minds, which are happily sharpened and invigorated without injury to higher and loftier qualities.

Mr. Clinton's strong recommendation to the legislature of a review of our civil code, will be an enduring evidence to after ages of his liberal views and foresight; and if the execution of that great work shall correspond with the genius and spirit in which it was conceived, and of which the talents and learning of those engaged in its accomplishment afford every pledge, posterity will rank him with the Justinians and the Edwards of other nations.

From what has been stated it is manifest that he studied his profession in the spirit of liberality, and that he formed himself rather upon the model of Lord Bacon, than of his professional rival Coke; and it may not be irrelevant here to offer to my auditors his striking contrast between these two illustrious lawyers, as exhibiting in bold and masterly view the studies and character of an accomplished member of the bar. Doubtless but for the exigencies of the times, and the critical situation of our political affairs, he had followed, at no distant interval, the great original which he here so faithfully depicts.

In his Discourse before the Literary and Philosophical Society of New-York, speaking of Bacon and Coke, he observes, "they were both eminent in their profession, and attained the highest honours and most lucrative emoluments. Bacon became Lord High Chancellor of England, and Coke a Chief Justice. The former had ascended the empyreal heights of literature; the latter had plunged into the learning of Norman lawyers, and had become the oracle of the common law. The works of Bacon are referred to as the oracle of truth and knowledge, and as the revelation of genuine philosophy: while the black letter learning of Coke is an eleusynian mystery to all out of the pale of the profession. The difference between a mere lawyer great in his profession alone, and a great lawyer eminent in literature and science, can never be more forcibly illustrated than in the exhibition of these celebrated men. Bacon enlivened, enriched, and embellished every subject upon which he wrote; even flowers sprang up under his feet in his journey through the thorny paths of legal investigation. But from Coke you must expect nothing but the dry barren weeds of scholastic subtlety and Norman chicanery."

In 1817 that popular leader, the late Daniel D. Tompkins, having been elected to the office of Vice President of the United States, De Witt Clinton was first called upon by the people of the state to preside over them as their chief magistrate. In selecting him for this distinguished honour, there was a remarkable coalition amongst the principal parties which had previously been divided upon every political subject. But upon this occasion they all appeared to unite in the opinion, that his talents and zealous exertions in promoting the interest of the state, had merited the confidence they were now about to repose in him. He was elected with comparatively little opposition, and during the first year of his administration, nothing occurred to disturb the harmony of the state.

His republican opponents, who were then even more powerful as a party than they are at present, permitted to remain in oblivion the recollection that Mr. Clinton some years before had opposed Mr. Madison on his second election to the Presidency; the federalists were equally kind in blotting out the remembrance of some sentiments which had been expressed by Mr. Clinton, and which at the time they were uttered had given them such dire offence.

During the short tranquillity which succeeded his election, all parties appeared anxious to sustain him in his exertions to advance the prosperity of the state, and those patriots who kept aloof from party conflicts, hailed the event as auspicious of future benefit; but the union of politicians, when based upon the expectations and hopes of personal advantages, is never lasting, and the first disagreement generally dissolves it. When the difficult task of filling up appointments was performed by the Governor, he very soon gave offence, and particularly to certain republican friends who alleged that he had not kept faith with them, but had gone over to their political adversaries; and strange to tell, many of the latter also took offence, and for a time he was openly opposed by some of the most distinguished federal leaders.

From this period a systematic attack was made against his administration: it was declared that they would never rest satisfied until he was displaced from office, as a punishment for what they considered and pronounced to be his "desertion of their standard." All the former acts of his political life were brought forward in array against him; he was abused without measure for his "unchastened ambition:" he was accused of having opposed the late war; he was charged with aiding in the persecution of Daniel D. Tompkins, whose accounts with the State Treasury were then about being settled; and worst of all, the merit of having the most efficient friend of the grand canal, was unqualifiedly denied to him.

Whatever may have been his political errors connected with party politics, and however he may have offended those who had supported his first election, it cannot be denied that during the whole period of his administration, he never for a moment neglected the cardinal interests of the state; nor did any personal resentment prevent him from constantly urging upon the legislature, such measures as he thought necessary or expedient to increase the resources and reputation of the state. That he was ambitious, his friends have never denied; but his was an ambition which was founded not on the ruins, but upon the prosperity of his country; he sought for an enduring fame that would live after him, and not the paltry perquisites or the mere honorary titles of office. Such, however, was the power of party, and so well was it organized, that his opponents succeeded in obtaining a majority first in the senate, and afterwards in the assembly. But when they did so, the "canal policy" had been so firmly established, mainly through his unceasing exertions, they did not date to alter it: thus practically approving of the measures which had emanated from him, and placing themselves in the unenviable light of mere personal opponents.

As the expiration of his term approached in 1820, every possible preparation was made for a dreadful conflict. The utmost exertions were used throughout the state to secure votes, and no act was omitted by the leaders of the party, which could in any way benefit their cause. In order to secure a victory, they persuaded Daniel D. Tompkins, who was still Vice President, to enter the lists once more in his native state, where from his former popularity he was emphatically called "the man of the people:" never was there a greater struggle between splendid talents and party zeal. On the one hand, the good sense and justice of the people were depended upon; on the other, an appeal was made to their party feelings and political connections.

Close and animated was the contest, and for some days the issue extremely doubtful. Upon an enumeration of all the votes, which by the returns amounted to about 180,000, it appeared that Mr. Clinton was re-elected by a majority of less than two thousand. It was considered by his friends a great triumph, because on his part, there was nothing to urge but his talents and services; his partisans had not been well organised, whilst his opponents were mighty as a party, and had as their champion a man who had been deservedly popular during the war, and whose very misfortunes since that period had endeared him still more to his friends.

Being thus unexpectedly foiled in their formidable attack upon Governor Clinton, the opposition next proceeded to harass his administration in every possible way. Having majorities in both houses, and also in the council of appointment, they removed from office his friends, and put in their places his most active enemies.

In the year 1821, whilst party spirit was at its height, they determined to effect a change in the constitution of the state, ostensibly for removing its defects, but in reality to gratify their own feelings, by lessening the power of the Governor, extending the right of suffrage, and removing those judges who were known to be his attached and personal friends. In this measure they were but too successful, and since that period have had ample time to regret that party zeal had ever carried them so far, as to inflict more evils than those they pretended to rectify.

After his re-election in 1820, Governor Clinton who had observed the gathering storm, resolved calmly to meet it: he continued to devote his time and his talents to the services of his native state. He had succeeded in his favourite object in relation to the canal navigation; he had aroused the people from their lethargy upon the subject of internal improvements; he had witnessed the progressive increase of common schools under the patronage of his administration; and he felt satisfied that whatever personal mortifications he might have to endure, his policy had so completely received the approbation of the people, it could never be destroyed by his opponents. He, therefore, after five years service as chief magistrate, during which time the state had greatly increased in wealth, being unwilling again to arouse the angry feelings of party warfare, voluntarily declined being a candidate at the ensuing election in 1822. To the great regret of his friends throughout the state, he now retired to private life; but during that retirement his powerful energies were not dormant.

In October 1823, when the canal celebration took place in Albany, he was the popular divinity, and many then looked forward with hope to his entry once more into public life. Whether it was that the jealousy of his enemies was aroused by the strong indications of public regard that were then shown him, or that they were determined to crush him for ever, cannot now be told: but certain it is, that soon afterwards they gave a further proof of their political hatred and party folly, by removing him from his station as canal commissioner.

It proved to be the most fortunate step for him that could have been taken: such an uncalled for act of persecution and cruelty, operated upon them with a sensible re-action. His friends once more took the field, and many of his former adversaries joined their ranks: the party which had heretofore held such despotic sway became divided within itself, and at a propitious moment, his friends, availing themselves "of the signs of the times," again brought their favourite before the people as a candidate for that office which he had so ably filled. In 1824, he was opposed to Colonel Young, the candidate of his opponents, but was elected by a majority of nearly twenty thousand votes.

It was fortunate for the credit and honour of the state, that the opportunity was thus afforded of redeeming itself from the charge of ingratitude towards one of its greatest statesmen and brightest ornaments, which would otherwise have remained a lasting stigma upon the patriotism of her citizens.

After this signal expression of public favour, there was no recurrence of that inveterate opposition against Governor Clinton, which had marked the period of his former administration, and he was permitted, without resistance, to renew all his exertions in favour of his patriotic policy. In 1826 he was again opposed, but the weapons were of a more peaceable character, and there was comparatively little of that virulent abuse which, to the disgrace of our country, is too frequently manifested upon occasions of this nature.

He succeeded by a majority of about four thousand votes, which would, doubtless, have been much larger, had his friends generally come forward in his support, but they felt so confident in the success of his re-election, that many of them saved themselves the trouble of attending the polls.

His opponent was Judge Rochester, whose party had been much increased by the supposed connection between him and the administration of the general government. After this election, until the time of his death, Governor Clinton had been so successful in obtaining the approbation and support of both houses of the legislature, as well as of his fellow-citizens throughout the union, and had gained such a complete victory over the party feelings of former times, that next to the two leading candidates for the Presidency, his prospect of eventually attaining to that elevated station, had become greater than that of any other citizen of the United States.

May I be excused for dwelling so long upon these political details; they are a part of the life of Mr. Clinton, and his biographer would be censurably deficient were he to omit an appropriate notice of them. A more grateful theme is to advert to the leading acts of his great and triumphant administration.

It has already been observed, how intimately Mr. Clinton was connected with the numerous public charities which characterise New-York. His fostering care and active services to these several institutions continued with unabated zeal during his official capacity as Governor. He took an active interest in the unhappy condition of our Indian tribes, and held divers conferences with them, the better to devise the means of ameliorating their condition, and of promoting their civilization.

The degraded condition of the descendants of Africa also awakened his philanthropy, and stimulated his best efforts in their behalf.

Another of the earliest subjects of his solicitude which he recommended to the consideration of the state, was agriculture. In his famous first message as governor, he thus expresses himself: "As agriculture is the source of our subsistence, the basis of our strength, and the foundation of our prosperity, it is pleasing to observe the public attention awakened to its importance, and associations springing up in several counties to cherish its interest. Having received but a small portion of direct encouragement from government, it has been left to its own energies; and supported by a fertile soil, cherished by a benign climate, cultivated by industry, and protected by liberty, it has diffused its bounties over the country, and has relieved the wants of the old world. Relying hitherto almost exclusively on the fertility of our soil and the extent of our possessions, we have not adopted those improvements which the experience of modern times has indicated. And it has not been sufficiently understood that agriculture is a science as well as an art; that it demands the labour of the mind as well as of the hands; and that its successful cultivation is intimately allied with the most profound investigations of philosophy, and the most elaborate exertions of the human mind."

He believed it to be the peculiar province of the state government, to superintend and advance the interests of agriculture, and to this end he deemed it adviseable to recommend the institution of a board, composed of the most experienced and best informed agriculturists, whose duty it should be "to correspond with the county societies; to communicate to them beneficial discoveries and improvements; to introduce useful seeds, plants, trees and animals, implements of husbandry, and labor-saving machines; to explore the minerals of the country, and to publish periodically, the most valuable observations and treatises on husbandry, horticulture, and rural economy. The county societies ought." Says he, "to be enabled to distribute adequate premiums; and a professorship of agriculture connected with the board or attached to the university, might also be constituted, embracing the kindred sciences of chemistry and geology, mineralogy, botany, and the other departments of natural history. By which means a complete course of agricultural education would be taught, developing the principles of the science, illustrating the practice of the art, and restoring this first and best pursuit of man to that intellectual rank which it ought to occupy in the scale of human estimation."

I have merely time here to allude to his recommendations for an increase of the duties upon sales by auction, by which a considerable revenue was raised, and the tax upon unproductive lands avoided, and to his recommendations of the abolition of imprisonment for debt, and his suggestions in favour of a revised militia code. By his interference to prevent the undue increase of banking capital, much expense and litigation were saved to the holders of notes of accommodation, by the provisions of the law which he recommended.

He had ever considered a state revenue by lotteries as injurious and of immoral tendency; much of the corruption in this method of finance then complained of, is now avoided by the substitution of the present system. Benevolent and literary institutions were equally the object of his attention as heretofore, and the condition of the poor and the penitentiary system, at all times participated of his vigilance and received the benefits of his sagacity and care.

I shall have occasion to speak at length of his services in that enduring monument of public enterprise, the grand canal. Splendid as is this evidence of his genius, numerous works of similar character, instigated by his success, are completing in other and far distant portions of our country.

His public administration, it is well known, was characterised by incorruptible integrity, inflexible firmness, unshaken personal courage, and a vigilant attention to the great interests of the state. Indeed, it may be said of Mr. Clinton, that in every situation he filled, whether performing the duties of chief magistrate of the state, or of the common council, the judge on the bench, or as the presiding officer of the numerous literary and benevolent institutions with which he was connected, his energy, his decision and perseverance, were ever fearlessly exercised.

I am in course to speak of his various writings; and here I am far from claiming for him the graces of Goldsmith, or the classical purity of Addison. Though intimately conversant with the productions of the most eminent writers of ancient and modern genius, he was too largely immersed in the details of business, to transfer to his own pages the scholastic spirit of the great masters of finished composition; yet he was deeply imbued with their merits, and if he did not always rival them, it was in no small degree owing to the intractable nature of his themes. Instances of carelessness and haste at times appear, yet I should not hesitate to rank him among the most able and powerful of American writers. If he occasionally betrays a want of elegance, he is, nevertheless, always clear and vigorous, and we always understand him, because he always understands himself.

I have heretofore spoken of his various communications as a public magistrate. His addresses to the patriotic and brave heroes during the late war, are too well known to require a particular notice, yet perhaps they are among the most successful efforts of his genius; and while they enhanced the honours which a grateful country bestowed on its defenders, they contributed to diffuse and excite a spirit and feeling among our countrymen, that enabled them to pass successfully through that conflict in which they were engaged.

Among the earliest efforts in eloquence, is his reported speech on the famous resolution of Mr. Ross, delivered in the senate of the United States in 1802, on the right of deposit at New Orleans. It was his first great appearance before the eyes of the American nation, and received the applause both of his political friends and opponents. He resisted with vigour and effect, the attempt of the most able and powerful opposition to settle by arms what negotiation might accomplish. The course he recommended was that which was pursued, and resulted in a measure which stamps the administration of Jefferson with immortal honour, the acquisition of Louisiana for a sum infinitely less than would have enable our government to fit out an armament to recover our disputed right to the navigation of the Mississippi.

As Governor of the state of New-York, he was scarcely less conspicuous than the chief magistrate of the nation. The enlarged and enlightened policy then pursued, doubtless, contributed to his fame, but he was its master spirit and invigorating agent. He gave impetus and direction to its efforts, and infused into its counsels that energy which is so necessary in overcoming those obstacles and impediments which a free government furnishes, as well to salutary as to injurious measures, and of which the timid and the selfish are so ready to avail themselves. His Inaugural Speech as Governor, delivered in January 1818, excited a share of attention that had never been bestowed upon any other similar document. In this distinguished paper he referred to almost every subject which demanded legislative care: agriculture, colleges, schools of elementary learning, the arts, the militia system, criminal jurisprudence, the reformation of the poor laws, monied institutions, finances, and his favourite topic of inland communications, all severally were treated of, and their interests lucidly and earnestly enforced.

His succeeding messages are not less comprehensive in their design, or less able in their execution. They will ever be deemed models of their kind, and be referred to by the politician as successful evidences of the powerful mind and legislative wisdom of their author. Their style is manly and impressive, and they carry conviction by the logical accuracy and force of their details.

That valuable institution of our state, the New-York Historical Society, as already intimated, is largely indebted to Mr. Clinton for his various services. His discourse delivered before this distinguished body, upon his assuming the office of president, has justly been considered the most masterly and finished of all his literary productions. In its able delineation of character and philosophical spirit of research, it scarcely suffers by comparison with the Treatise de Moribus Germanorum of Tacitus.

The illustrious tribe of Indians whose character it portrays, will be handed down to posterity by his pen, and the people of our state in future ages, will delight to trace the grand and commanding characteristic of the Romans of the western world. His Discourse before the Literary and Philosophical Society, furnished abundant evidence of his multifarious reading and extent of erudition. In it he not only traces the present condition of the sciences, but points out to the studious and ambitious, the means by which future investigations may be rendered productive and successful. By his example and agency a salutary influence has been exerted upon the literature and science of our city, and already begin to dawn upon our horizon the gleams of day, which, we trust, will be followed by an effulgence of light and glory. In 1807 was incorporated the Academy of Arts. From this period there have gradually arisen amongst us both a taste and talent for the fine arts, especially painting and architecture. I need scarcely add that Mr. Clinton gave to this institution his aid and patronage. He succeeded the venerable Chancellor Livingston as the president of this institution, and pronounced a Discourse in its behalf, which may be deemed almost equal, as a matter of composition, to any of his writings on any subject. In noticing the difficulties of the institution, he points out numerous subjects suited to elicit the talents of the painter, the statuary and the engraver, as calculated to adorn the halls of justice, the edifices of learning, and the temples of religion.

He then points out the benefits to be derived to the arts themselves, as well as in diffusing a taste for their cultivation, by concentrating in one great institution the best models of ancient and modern art, and the most distinguished specimens of all that can occupy the genius, or improve the taste of our country.

His Eulogy on Chancellor Livingston and Robert Fulton, also contained in that excellent Discourse, is brief but spirited, and holds up the active enterprise of those highly-gifted individuals, as worth of imitation by all future candidates for fame and distinction. I may be permitted to embody in these Memoirs an extract from this address touching the character of these eminent men.

"We have thus seen Mr. L. converting the lessons of his experience and observation into sources of practical and general utility. He was not one of those remote suns, whose light and heat have not yet reached our planetary system. His object, his ambition, his study, was to do the greatest good to the greatest number. There is no doubt but that he felt the extent of his own powers, and the plentitude of his own resources; but he bore his faculties meekly about him, never offending the pride or the delicacy of his associates by arrogance, or by intrusion, by neglect, or by slight, by acting the oracle or dictator. He was an eminent arbiter elegantiarum, or judge of propriety; his conversation was unpremeditated; it abounded with brilliant wit, with apposite illustrations, and with various and extended knowledge, always as gentle as 'zephyrs blowing below the violet,' and always exhibiting the overflowings of a fertile mind. His great qualities were attended with a due sense of his own imperfections, and of his limited powers. He did not see in himself the tortoise of the Indian, or the atlas of the heathen mythology, sustaining the universe. Nor did he keep himself at an awful distance, wrapped up in gloomy abstraction, or veiled in mysterious or supercilious dignity. He knew that the fraternity of mankind is a vast assemblage of good and evil, of light and darkness, and that the whole chain of human being is connected by the charities of life, by the ties of mutual dependence, and reciprocal benevolence. Such was Robert R. Livingston. He was not one of those factitious characters, who rise up and disappear like the mountains of sand which the wind raises in the deserts; nor did he pretend to possess a mind illuminating all the departments of knowledge, like that great elementary substance which communicates the principle of vitality to all animated nature: but he will be ranked, by the judgment of impartial posterity, among the great men of the revolution; and in the faithful pages of history, he will be classed with George Clinton, John Jay, Pierre Van Cortlandt, Philip Schuyler, William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Gouverneur Morris, James Duane, John Morin Scott, and the other venerable and conscript fathers of the state.

"Fortunately for the interests of mankind, Mr. L. became acquainted with Robert Fulton, a self-created great man, who has risen into distinguished usefulness, and into exalted eminence, by the energies of his own genius, unsupported by extrinsic advantages.

"Mr. F. had directed the whole force of his mind to mathematical learning and to mechanical philosophy. Plans of defence against maritime invasion and of sub-aquatic navigation had occupied his reflections. During the late war he was the Archimedes of his country.

"The poet was considered under the influence of a disordered imagination when he exclaimed,

"The connexion between Livingston and Fulton realized, to a great degree, the vision of the poet. All former experiments had failed, and the genius of Fulton, aided and fostered by the public spirit and discernment of Livingston, created one of the greatest accommodations for the benefit of mankind. These illustrious men will be considered, through all time, as the benefactors of the world - they will be emphatically hailed as the Castor and Pollux of antiquity - lucida sidera - stars of excellent light and of most benign influence.

"Mr. Fulton was personally well known to most who hear me. To those who were favoured with the high communion of his superior mind, I need not expatiate on the wonderful vivacity, activity, comprehension, and clearness of his intellectual faculties: and while he was mediating plans of might import for his future fame and his country's good, he was cut down in the prime of his life and in the midst of his usefulness. Like the self-burning tree of Gambia, he was destroyed by the fire of his own genius, and the never-ceasing activity of a vigorous mind. And O! may we not humbly hope that his immortal spirit, disembodied from its material incumbrance, has taken its flight to the world of pure intellect, 'where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest.' "

The advantages which a free government offers above all others to a laudable ambition are there pointed out, and illustrated by a reference to the classical states of antiquity, and to the brief history of our own nation. This Discourse of Mr. Clinton no less abounds in felicitous aphorisms upon the importance of education, and the resources which it furnishes at every period, and in all the various circumstances of our lives. I cannot withhold his eloquent remarks on this interesting theme.

"Whatever may be our thoughts, our words, our writings, or our actions, let them all be subservient to the promotion of science and the prosperity of our country. Pleasure is a shadow, wealth is vanity, and power a pageant; but knowledge is extatic in enjoyment, perennial in fame, unlimited in space, and infinite in duration. In the performance of its sacred offices it fears no danger, spares no expense, omits no exertion. It scales the mountain, looks into the volcano, dives into the ocean, perforates the earth, wings its flight into the skies, encircles the globe, explores the sea and land, contemplates the distant, examines the minute, comprehends the great, and ascends to the sublime: no place too remote for its grasp, no heavens to exalted for its reach."

On the memorable 13^th day of March, 1810, by a resolution of the senate of this state, on motion of the Honourable Jonas Platt, then a member of that body, Mr. Clinton was unanimously appointed one of the commissioners for "exploring the route of an inland navigation, from Hudson's river to Lake Ontario and to Lake Erie." On the 15^th of March, the same resolution received the concurrence of the assembly and became a law. This event naturally leads me to offer a few preliminary remarks connected with the important subject of canal navigation.

Few objects of internal policy have so much called forth the powers and resources of a country as canals: the comparative cheapness of conveyance, the easy and secure communication which they afford, the advantages they possess in improving and equalizing the value of countries remote from, as well as those in the vicinity of large cities and towns, render canals the greatest of all improvements: accordingly we find the utility of canal communication has been acknowledged by the wisest states of antiquity, no less than by the most enlightened modern nations. The high rank which Egypt assumed and maintained in former ages, was scarcely less due to her numerous canals, than to the fertility of her soil. Determined to avail herself of all the transcendant advantages of the Nile, she added no less than eighty canals, by which its waters might afford facilities to communication through every part of her territory. The Chinese, according to the testimony of the best writers, are still more alive to the value of this artificial species of navigation. Throughout that immense empire there is scarcely a town or a village which has not the advantage either of an arm of the sea, or a canal, as the means of communication: and to these numerous canals may be fairly attributed a great part of the riches of that remarkable nation. By her great canal, by some stated to be upwards of 1200 miles in extent, she is enabled to enforce and perpetuate her exclusive policy of avoiding all connexion with foreign nations, save only so far as they may contribute to her wealth and advantage.

Russia, Sweden, Holland, France, but above all Great Britain, have expended enormous sums with a view to this object, and are still proceeding with ardour and spirit. This latter nation, indeed, has within a few years exceeded all other people in the spirit of industry and zeal with which she has entered on this most important field of enterprise; more than 2400 miles of canal navigation bespeak her opulence and resources.

In noticing this great event, this era in the life of Mr. Clinton, and which will ever be identified with his fame, posterity will demand a minute detail of the commencement, the progress, and the completion of an undertaking that ranks among the most important that has been effected in any age or in any country. Posterity will look back to the authors of the blessings and the benefits, which this great event has secured to this state and nation.

The question then here naturally presents itself, who first projected the system of inland navigation from the Lakes to the Hudson and the Atlantic Ocean? and who were the instruments of its accomplishment? In replying to these important inquiries, I am fully aware of the delicacy of the task before me.

The claimants to this honour are numerous and respectable, and the claims of each to a certain extent founded in justice. While the minute details upon this subject are passed over as out of place upon the present occasion, I trust it will not be uninteresting to this intelligent assembly, to advert to a brief sketch of the most interesting facts which this examination has enabled me to develope, some of which, it will be found, have hitherto been totally overlooked in the public communications that have appeared upon this subject. In viewing the origin and progress of this great achievement, our attention is drawn to its numerous friends, who have in various capacities contributed to its accomplishment. But in order that each of the numerous benefactors to this work may have his due share of praise, proportioned to the services he has rendered, it is proposed to divide them into various classes, designating the nature, character, and extent of those services. I am fully sensible that fame has given to some a degree of reputation to which they are not entitled to the extent in which it has been bestowed; while to others much is due for the assistance they have rendered in the accomplishment of this important work, and whose contributions are comparatively little known to the world, or have been but imperfectly acknowledged: so far, therefore, as laborious inquiry has enabled me to ascertain the facts now to be related, distributive justice, the "suum cuique tribuito," shall be most strictly and impartially observed.

"Amicus Plato - amicus Socrates - sed magis amica veritas."

The contributors to canal navigation in the state of New-York, may be considered as consisting of four great classes: in the first, may be enumerated those foreseeing and predicting from the general face of the country, the union of the lakes, the creeks and rivers of the west, by measures calculated to remove obstructions, improve the natural navigation then existing, and ultimately, by different outlets, to connect the same with the ocean. In this class the names of Cadwallader Colden, Sir Henry Moore, George Washington, George Clinton, and Gouverneur Morris, are prominent. In the second class, are to be noticed those who proposed by artificial navigation, or canals, to form a connexion between the waters of the Hudson and Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, or both. Christopher Colles, Jeffrey Smith, Elkanah Watson, Philip Schuyler, Jesse Hawley, and Joshua Foreman, deserve the most honourable mention in this place. Thirdly, those who in the memorable year 1810, have been chiefly instrumental in effecting a direct internal communication between Lake Erie and the Atlantic. In this class Thomas Eddy, Jonas Platt, and De Witt Clinton stand conspicuous. Fourthly, another class of benefactors to this great work is composed of numerous members of both houses of the legislature, who took a prominent station in devising and sustaining the measures necessary to carry the same into effect; the canal commissioners, engineers, surveyors, and many private but public-spirited citizens in various parts of the state, who have zealously given their personal attentions and services to this herculean undertaking, and to whom too much praise cannot be ascribed: so great is the number composing this class, that I am compelled at this time to forbear from their enumeration. The commissioners of the canal fund, as distinguished from that of canal commissioners, and composed of the lieutenant governor, the comptroller, the attorney general, the surveyor general, the secretary and treasurer, to whose special care are committed the regulations of the tolls and other circumstances relating to the government of the canal, are entitled to high approbation for their intelligent and faithful discharge of the duties assigned them. To all these different classes of coadjutors, may be ascribed a high and enviable measure of applause.

The sagacity of some in early perceiving the practicability and utility of the inland communication; the diligence and zeal of others in unremitted exertions to accomplish it; and the devotion and sacrifices of all to its completion, will be remembered by their successors with everlasting gratitude. While other nations attach the greatest value to military glory, boast of their blood-stained fields, and erect their proudest monuments to their heroes on the field of battle, our commonwealth will point to her soil that has been subdued and appropriated by the skill and toil of its inhabitants, to their use and happiness.

His long study of the topography of this state, his minute and extensive knowledge of the country, entitle him to the highest praise, as it shows that his views were founded on practical observation, and were not the mere suggestions of a visionary projector. To him our state is moreover highly indebted as an early and ardent cultivator of letters.

He may not indeed inaptly be denominated the pioneer of literature and science in our state, and by means of his extensive correspondence with the distinguished literati of Europe, among whom the names of Linnæus, Gronovius, Collinson, Whyte, Porterfield, and others, may be enumerated, of transferring to our shores a portion of the same spirit by which they were actuated.

The same author proceeds to observe, that "the French government of Canada very early attempted to prevent our participation in the Indian trade, by their establishments on Lake Ontario, at Fort Frontenac in the year 1672, and at Fort Niagara in the year 1725, and on Lake Champlain, by their Fort St. Frederick, built near Crown Point in the year 1731. Our favourite route, therefore, was by the portages of the Mohawk and Wood Creek, partly to Oswego, but chiefly by the Onondaga and Seneca rivers, to the country of several of the Six Nations, then a populous and powerful confederacy, and uniformly our faithful allies against our hostile neighbors the French. This country of the Six Nations approached by the Onondaga and Seneca rivers, and Mud Creek, embraced the shores of the Genesee river, the Canandaigua, Seneca, Cayuga, and other small lakes, was the seat of a very valuable trade, and was frequently visited by the traders of Albany and Schenectady."

After the treaty of Paris in 1753, the improvement of our inland navigation attracted the attention of the colonial government of New-York, still further than it had done in the days of Governor Burnet.

The fame of the illustrious Washington receives new laurels from his early attention to the important subject of internal navigation, both anterior and subsequent to the great revolutionary contest. He took a wide and extensive survey of the benefits to result from an intimate connexion of the eastern and western portions of our country.

Upon another occasion he accompanied Mr. William Weston, an eminent canal engineer from England, employed by the lock navigation company in exploring the country from Rome to Cayuga Lake in 1796. These circumstances gave Mr. Eddy an accurate and detailed knowledge of the whole face of the country, and induced him to urge upon the company the propriety of extending their canal navigation from Rome to Seneca River.

The mind of Mr. Eddy was startled at the apparent extravagance of this proposal, and he expressed his fears that by suggesting so vast an undertaking, canal navigation being then but little understood in this country, the legislature might condemn the whole as visionary, and deem it altogether unworthy of their consideration: the greater part of the night was consumed in the discussion of this topic, and at the close of this interview it was agreed that Judge Platt should prepare a joint resolution, conformable to the views that had been agreed upon, to be offered to both branches of the legislature, and that he should present the same to the senate on the succeeding morning.

It was also important to obtain the support of an influential member of the assembly. The Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer being then a member of that house, Judge Platt submitted to him the proposed resolution, to which he promptly assented, promising to give it his warmest support when the same might be introduced into the assembly. On the succeeding day, the 12^th of March, the resolution was accordingly first proposed in the senate, and was introduced with an appropriate speech by Judge Platt. It was seconded and supported by De Witt Clinton, and passed unanimously. The concurrent resolution was on the same day unanimously adopted in the assembly. From this time, it may be added, that the efforts of Thomas Eddy and of Judge Platt were unremittingly continued throughout the whole progress of the work thus auspiciously begun; and from the same period, Mr. Clinton devoted the best powers of his vigorous and capacious mind to the same subject, as an object of the highest public utility, and worthy of his noblest ambition.

In the course of that year the commissioners, with corresponding zeal and ability, commenced the labours assigned them, of exploring the surface of the country, with the lakes and rivers connected with the great design; and, in the winter of 1811, submitted to the Legislature a unanimous report, drawn by the masterly pen of Gouverneur Morris, recommending a canal from Lake Erie to Hudson's river, with an estimate of the expense of the same. That eloquent report is before the public.

In March, 1812, the commissioners made their report to the legislature, in which it was zealously urged, "that now, sound policy imperatively demanded that the canal should be made by the state of New-York alone, and for her own account, as soon as circumstances would permit; and that it would be a want of wisdom (and almost of piety) not to employ, for public advantage, those means which Providence had placed so completely in their power;" and with prophetic wisdom predicting, that it will ever remain "a testimony to the genius, the learning, the industry, and intelligence of the present age."

In June, 1812, agreeably to a resolution of the board of commissioners, Judge Platt introduced a bill into the senate authorizing the commissioners to borrow five millions of dollars in Europe, on the credit of the state, as a fund for prosecuting that work. The bill passed into a law; but the war with England, which soon after succeeded, induced the legislature, in 1814, to repeal that law; and with it, all further proceedings relative to the canal were suspended. After the war had terminated, many of the former friends of the canal appeared to be entirely discouraged and to have abandoned all hopes of the legislature being again induced to renew the consideration of that subject. But Mr. Eddy could not thus resign a favourite project; and it appeared to him that one more effort should now be made. His early coadjutor, Judge Platt, being in the city of New-York, holding a court in the autumn of 1815, Mr. Eddy addressed to him a note, requesting a visit from him the succeeding day. The judge, accordingly, accepted the invitation; when Mr. Eddy proposed to him, that although the subject of the canal appeared to be entirely abandoned, yet, if it met his approbation, he would undertake to revive the business, by procuring a public meeting to be held, in order to urge the propriety and policy of offering a memorial to the legislature to prosecute the canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson. Judge Platt readily acceded to the proposal, and consented to open the subject to the meeting, if one could be obtained. De Witt Clinton was also, afterwards, called upon by Thomas Eddy in person, and united in adopting measures to procure such public meeting. A large number of our most respectable citizens met accordingly at the City Hotel. At that memorable meeting the late William Bayard, Esq. acted as chairman, and John Pintard, Esq. as secretary. Judge Platt opened the meeting with an introductory speech, on the immense importance of the contemplated canal both to the city and state. He was followed by De Witt Clinton and others.

Although some opposition to the proposed measures was expressed by individuals of high consideration in the community, a resolution was nevertheless passed by a large majority in favour of the object. Whereupon De Witt Clinton, Thomas Eddy, Cadwallader D. Colden, and John Swartwout, were appointed a committee to prepare and circulate a memorial to be presented to the legislature in favour of the proposed Erie Canal.

The friends of the canal throughout the state rallied under the standard of that memorial; and meetings were soon after held in Albany, Utica, Geneva, Canandaigua, and Buffalo, to support the efforts that had been so successfully commenced in the city of New-York, and thence a vigorous impulse was given to the public mind in favour of the arduous enterprise. Petitions of the same character, from different parts of the state, and signed by many thousand citizens, were presented at the ensuing session of the legislature.

Another class of benefactors to the system of canal navigation may still be added, consisting of those who mainly contributed to its ultimate success, by obviating the difficulties and impediments which were accidentally or intentionally thrown in the way to oppose its progress, or entirely to defeat and frustrate the undertaking; for even after the subject had been well understood by the members of the legislature, and the bill was in its passage through the two houses, obstacles were still presented at every step, which required all the genius and resources of the friends to the project to meet and counteract.

It may be mentioned among the singular coincidences of the times, that Lieutenant Governor Colden, in the early part of the eighteenth century, was the first to express his anticipation of the canal policy of the then colony of New-York; and that in a century afterwards, his no less gifted grandson should be one of its most efficient and able supporters. Of the grandsire I have already spoken, as the most accomplished and most learned of the early settlers of our state; and endued with erudition surpassing the times and age in which he lived; as exhibiting, in his life and character, a devotion to intellectual cultivation most honourable and exclusive; and I cannot doubt that the benign effects of his laudable zeal and example, are felt by our literature and science at the present day. Of his grandson, connected to me by the bonds of friendship and social intercourse, I will attempt to speak in that tone of applause which his own high merits warrant, but which his own modesty would disown.

Long an ardent and successful cultivator of the science of jurisprudence, he has yet, by the versatility of his talent and ardour of application, been enabled to devote no inconsiderable portion of his time to those more liberal studies in which the dignity of our nature as well as its interests are concerned; and we all know the important objects to which those studies have been directed, and the efficiency with which they have been applied. His acquirements, his ability, his honour, and fidelity, are entitled to our unqualified approbation: but while we acknowledge his general merits, it is no less due to the able services he has rendered, as a member of the assembly and of the senate of the state, as the chairman of the committee of finance, and of the committee to whom the Governor's speech was referred, to observe, that in all these several situations, he was the active and able defender of the measures for carrying into operation the plan of canal navigation that has been adopted; at the same time, that, in his valuable memoir addressed to the corporation, he has condensed into an accurate and succinct summary most of the facts which relate to this deeply interesting subject.

In a word, to use the language of the committee of the corporation of the city of New-York, Mr. Colden as a private citizen and in the various official stations he has filled, has throughout shown himself the zealous and constant friend of every measure calculated to open to us that vast inland navigation, which his grandfather more than a century ago predicted.

The Hon. Martin Van Buren, and the other gentlemen just mentioned, have been no less distinguished by their support of the legislative measures that have been adopted. Those gentlemen, then members of the legislature, independently of their able, and in most instances their uniform support of the canal policy, signalized themselves by very important services in rescuing the bill from a state of jeopardy, even when it had been to a certain degree abandoned by its friends - by their personal and almost miraculous exertions it was resuscitated, and again restored to the approbation of the two houses of the legislature.

Indeed I may add, such were the machinations of its enemies, that when the bill had actually reached the council of revision, so relentless and persevering were their efforts to defeat it, this great national work as it proves to be, might still have failed if it had not been sustained by the enlightened views and integrity of purpose, that nobly characterised certain members of that body. To our distinguished citizen James Kent in particular, then Chancellor of the state, and ex officio a member of that council, is our country indebted for a casting vote that decided the fate of that highly important act, so deeply connected with the vital interests of this state and nation.

A few cursory remarks will conclude my views on this important subject. When the details of this vast project of uniting the waters of the lakes with those of the Atlantic, were submitted to the discussions of the legislature, by some the proposition was ridiculed as altogether visionary and quixotic; every epithet which timidity, ignorance, or the bad passions of the human heart, envy, jealousy, malignity, political or personal animosity could suggest, was bestowed upon its authors and the friends of the contemplated plan. But the genius of Clinton was not to be dismayed; with his characteristic firmness, unrestrained by the powers of envy, unappalled by the scoffs of political opponents, obstacles were only interposed to be overthrown. Conscious of his superior strength, and of the practicability of the plan proposed, confiding in the resources of the state, and the patriotism of her citizens to effect its completion, independently of aid from the general government or the neighbouring states, which had been solicited in vain, he met the opposition with calm but steady and persevering firmness, until the whole was in such train that the execution of the work was at hand. But ere the period had arrived which was to crown his efforts with success, and to encircle his brow with a wreath of never-fading laurels, and to elevate him to the proudest niche in the temple of fame, the baleful spirit of party strife reared its hideous front, and for a season he became its victim.

Will posterity believe, that at the very moment when his services were most important, his character should be traduced, his motives misrepresented, and he be thrust from a station, the emoluments of which he neither solicited or received? Yes; the ignoble deed was done! - "Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat."

Yes, he endured all that poverty and humiliation could inflict, and nobly disdained to receive aught for the services he had rendered in the station from which he had been thus ignominiously displaced. For a time he retired from the public view, but that retirement was still devoted to scientific pursuits, and the interests of his country: notwithstanding the unmerited obloquy he had sustained, his magnanimity never for a moment forsook him; he still extended his guardian protection over the ulterior interests of his native state; he still continued to examine and develope her resources, to arouse her latent energies, and looked forward to the period when she would be awakened to her high destiny. Although withdrawn from public life, he never spent an idle hour, but eagerly availed himself of this temporary release from public employment, to extend his knowledge of mechanical philosophy, of the principles of canalling, and of those collateral branches of science, connected with the great plan of internal improvements. His favourite study of natural philosophy, also, as it had ever done, served to fill up an occasional hour of relaxation from severer pursuits.

I am not aware that upon this removal from all public duties, Mr. Clinton did at any time, either in conversation with his private friends or others, communicate the feelings which his wounded spirit must unavoidably have sustained on this occasion; nor have I been able to learn, that in any of his correspondence he in any wise alluded to his exclusion in the language of censure: the only letter in which he adverted to it, that has come to my knowledge, is one written on the third day after the passage of the act by which he was reduced to the station of private citizen. In this communication, addressed to his friend, Dr. John W. Francis, he thus expresses himself: - "I am now without any public trust, having been removed from the office of canal commissioner; and if I can do no official good, I certainly am deprived of the means of doing mischief." * * * * *

The time was rapidly approaching when this single-hearted patriotism, this pure devotion, was destined to receive its highest reward. Mr. Clinton having previously exercised the office of Governor of the state, and having signalized himself by the services he had rendered in that situation, the people, ever true to themselves, and to whom is the ultimate appeal when injustice has been done, became sensible of that injustice, and indignant at the conduct of their representatives, resolved to show the world how highly they prized the disinterested services of their benefactor. They accordingly, at the first opportunity which was afforded them to express their sense of the injury and the indignity he had sustained, called him from his retirement, and by an overwhelming majority of the votes of his fellow-citizens, again placed him in the chair of state: happily for the interests and character of the state, he continued to hold the office until his lamented decease.

While, therefore, much praise is due to those whose services have been acknowledged, the existence of the New-York canal will ever be identified with the name and fame of De Witt Clinton, and hereafter ought to be, and doubtless will be known and designated as the Clinton Canal. In ought not to be forgotten that in 1818, during the discussions in the legislature, when the further progress of the canal depended upon the appropriations then required, it was spoken of, by an able and influential member of that body, in terms of derision, as "a big ditch," in which were to be buried the treasures of the state, and to be watered with the tears of posterity. By another member of the senate, when the question of appropriation was first proposed, such were the fears conscientiously entertained by many, it was pronounced to be a project unavoidably involving the ruin and bankruptcy of the state. But notwithstanding all the merited weight of character and experience with which this prediction was urged, it was not sufficient to resist the defence of the plan proposed and sustained by Mr. Clinton and his associates, many of whom were his political opponents, but who had the magnanimity to acknowledge the correctness of his views, and the extensive benefits to be derived to our state and country from their adoption.

Even by the venerable Jefferson, whose views of this subject were solicited, and whose experience and foresight gave weight to his opinions, it was considered a project not to be realized for a century to come; but it is due to the candour of Mr. Jefferson to add, that when the canal was completed, he as frankly acknowledged in a letter addressed to Governor Clinton, that in his prediction he had been a century too late.

By others it was considered altogether visionary, and likely to be destructive not only of the interests of the state, but of the reputation of Mr. Clinton, and all who were associated with him; indeed had it proved unsuccessful, the latter event it will be conceded, must have been inevitable; but thanks to a superintending Providence, he survived to witness its completion, which has been mainly effected by his instrumentality and perseverance. Mr. Clinton's exertions, public, private, and personal, throughout the whole progress of this work, from the commencement to its termination, were the subject of surprise, and the theme of praise throughout the state and country.

Some of Mr. Clinton's more immediate friends whose interests were connected with, and dependent upon his own, perceiving the plan proposed to be unpopular in the western parts of the state, and apprehensive that its failure would prove destructive of his political character and standing, and that they would necessarily suffer from the loss of his influence, appointed a committee to wait upon him, for the purpose of expressing their fears of the result of these contemplated internal improvements, and if possible, of dissuading him from further proceedings upon this subject. His reply, in which he manifested his total disregard of private interest, when it came in collision with the public good, was characteristic of his invincible determination. "Gentlemen," said he, after partially hearing their communications, "my mind is decided upon this measure; it is practicable, it is of immense importance to the interests of the state, it is perfectly within the reach of its resources. I am, therefore determined to hazard all for its accomplishment." His caution in forming his opinions and plans of operation, his inflexible decision and perseverance in carrying into effect what his judgment had approved, were not to be counteracted or controlled by any means that could be presented by friends or foes: his mental courage, as well as his personal and physical firmness, were not to be shaken by the fears of his friends, or the machinations of his opponents.

In 1819 the enemies of the canal finding that the success of Mr. Clinton's measures was inevitable, and further resistance on their part vain and likely to recoil upon themselves, at the same time desirous to lessen the reputation he had acquired, and which was likely to be increased, summoned a meeting in Albany, when they resolved to relinquish the opposition they had hitherto maintained, and to unite in support of the canal, and from that period to give it all the aid in their power; in the meanwhile, industriously diffusing the idea that he had no credit in giving origin to the project, and was only entitled to a small part of the merit attached to the measures that had been recommended and adopted for thus far carrying it into effect.

There are none who will duly consider the important services rendered by Mr. Clinton, in his various capacities of governor, senator, and canal commissioner, who will advert to his public messages, his personal exertions, his extensive correspondence, his anxious and laborious attentions, his unceasing devotion, by night and by day; surrounded by enemies on every side, - sometimes, indeed, counteracted by his friends, - who will believe, that, without his instrumentality, this work would have been accomplished at this time? And it will readily be perceived and acknowledged, had the law not been passed at the propitious moment that it was enacted, such has been the distracted state of party feelings, and such the conflicting local interests of the different parts of the state, that, since that period, it would have been utterly impossible to have again united the sentiments of the legislative body in a work of this magnitude.

Yes, illustrious benefactor of this state and nation, while the waters of Erie shall flow, while time shall endure, thy name will be venerated, and an everlasting monument be erected to thy memory in the hearts of thy countrymen.

For such as have not had an opportunity of seeing Mr. Clinton, it may be observed, that his personal manner and appearance were dignified and commanding, which well correspond with the loftiness of his views and the elevation of mind which he uniformly displayed.

His person was tall, exceeding six feet in height, of a fine form, and well proportioned. In his earlier years he was remarkable for his thin and slender make; but in the latter part of his life, his frame became expanded, and in consequence of lameness from an accidental injury, by which he was deprived of his customary exercise, he acquired a fulness of habit, which predisposed him to the diseases that ultimately supervened, and in their consequences led to his dissolution. His carriage was elevated; his movements deliberate and dignified, sometimes manifesting great earnestness, but never precipitancy.

His head was well formed and particularly distinguished for the great height and breadth of his forehead; his hair was brown; his complexion brilliant; his nose finely proportioned and of the Grecian form; his lip thin, and of that peculiar configuration that some critics have deemed indicative of eloquence.

His eyes were of a dark hazle colour, but peculiarly quick and expressive; sometimes indicating all the playfulness of the most vivid imagination; upon other occasions, moistened with a tear, displaying the most tender emotion that can weigh upon the heart; but when a sense of injury or wrong called for redress, the same eye could flash the fire of indignation in expressing the powerful feelings that were then passing through his mind. The muscles of his face, especially when exercised in conversation, or in public speaking, were strongly marked, and exhibited the impulse and energy of the soul that animated them: furnishing ample illustration of the truth, that while the bony configuration of the head may exhibit the original capacity and propensities of the individual, the eye and the muscles composing the soft features, alone indicate the activity and powers actually exercised by the mind: as the beautiful sculpture of the vase is only displayed in perfection when lighted from within, so do the external moveable features of the human form exhibit the animating principle that gives to them their expression and intelligence; in these alone the character of the man is delineated. The clay and the canvass of the most eminent artists of our country, have frequently been employed to convey the image of his person for the gratification of his numerous friends, and the different public institutions which he has created, and whose interests he has promoted by his public services and his private benefactions.

Mr. Clinton was as amiable in private as he was dignified in his public life. His great intellectual powers and attainments were adorned with a corresponding moral character, pure and unsullied. Although his life has been dedicated to the interests of his country, and expended in her service, he has left his numerous family in a state of comparative dependence. Yes, the orphan children of him who has been the instrument of elevating the character of the state, and of pouring incalculable wealth into its treasury, with the exception of the inconsiderable legislative grant of ten thousand dollars, are left dependent on their own exertions, I had almost said, without the means of education and support. The public stations he has filled, afforded him repeated opportunities of improving his pecuniary condition, and that too in a manner which the most fastidious would have approved as perfectly just and honourable; yet he ever declined to avail himself of the numerous occasions that were thus frequently placed within his reach; when too it was customary and deemed perfectly correct, for members of the legislature to subscribe to newly created stocks, a privilege they possessed in common with their fellow-citizens, Mr. Clinton in no instance, upon no occasion, ever departed from the rule of conduct he had prescribed for himself upon subjects of this nature. Like Hamilton, his illustrious predecessor in the hearts of his countrymen, although placed in situations where he had an opportunity of acquiring great wealth, and that without the least imputation upon his integrity, he preferred to forego those advantages, and to leave as a legacy to his children his unsullied integrity and poverty, in preference to wealth, and the possibility of a suspicion, that he may have acquired it by any act which could bear the construction of a sordid desire to render his office tributary to his private benefit, at the expense of the public good.

I must be permitted too, to relate an occurrence as falling within my own personal knowledge, that upon an occasion when Mr. Clinton was under the greatest embarrassment in his finances, and in a moment of peculiar depression from the temporary discontinuance of public favour and removal from office, the sum of five thousand dollars was placed at his command by a friend who knew his pecuniary distress: with strong and grateful emotions connected with this event, he declined to receive it, thereby manifesting that delicacy of integrity only known to pure and elevated minds. Notwithstanding the limited resources of Mr. Clinton, to the poor he was generous and charitable; in his contributions to the public institutions of our city and state, and in his expenditures in the promotion of science and literature, his liberal feelings far exceeded the means he possessed of indulging his inclinations. As a private citizen, as well as in his public official character, his urbanity and hospitality to the stranger, have oftentimes been the theme of praise, and have reflected credit upon our country. In the ordinary interchanges of society, he was no less ready in the tender of his advice and friendship to those who sought them, than he was to aid them with his purse. I may add, that in all the changes of a long and eventful life, he was never known to abandon a faithful friend. His gratitude for past services was ever a prominent trait in his character; his fidelity to those from whom he had ever received an act of kindness was proverbial.

However elevated his station, or whatever may have been the changes of condition his friends may have experienced, his attentions to them were uniformly continued. In some instances even at the expense of discretion, his political influence, his increasing fame and standing in society, he persisted in extending to them his friendly notice long after the world had considered them unworthy of his protection: the motive that prompted to this kindness, cannot but be appreciated, and claim for him the respect and affections of his fellow-men. Where his friends maintained their integrity and honourable standing, they never failed in the dispensation of his patronage, to receive a full share of his liberality and gratitude.

From a long and intimate acquaintance with Mr. Clinton, I am also fully satisfied that there are other traits of his character, which were misinterpreted and not at all understood by the public. His deportment, which was naturally dignified, was considered by many to proceed from arrogance and a sense of superiority; on the contrary, no man walked more humbly, for no man was more conscious of the real extent of his powers, or sensible of his defects. He had attained to that height in knowledge, that he readily saw the extent of the terra incognita to which his efforts had not reached, or circumstances did not permit him to attain: this necessarily, at the same time that it quickened his ambition, produced in him great humility, which was frequently made manifest to his intimate friends.

His apparent and alleged haughtiness of manner, in my opinion, arose in part from his natural diffidence, and was partly attributable to long and confirmed habits of abstraction; for when not engaged in the discharge of his public duties, he was generally immured in his library, and his mind intently occupied upon subjects of great interest, leaving little room for intercourse with the world, or indulgence in that light conversation and flippancy, possessed by the man more devoted to a fashionable life.

Hence, eminent as he was as the statesman, he knew not, and never descended to the arts of the politician. He exercised none of the blandishments, the thousand nameless arts of winning popular favour by personal address, and for no better reason than that he did not possess them, and disdained the effort to acquire them.

He was accused of hauteur and indifference towards his friends, and contempt of his enemies: the reverse of this picture too is the truth. In the social circle, in the enjoyments of the fire-side, when all sources of restraint were removed, he was known to be playful in the extreme, both in his manner and in conversation.

By his enemies he was also pronounced proud and ambitious. He was proud, but his was not the pride that is usually understood as the synonym of vanity; it was the consciousness of the merit and the powers he possessed, the purity of the principles by which he was governed, and of the deeds he had done; vanity knows no such merit, nor is entitled to those claims.

He too was ambitious; but it was that ambition which is ever identified with virtue, and never associated but with virtuous deeds; the object of that ambition was his country's welfare; true, he aspired to the high places and honours in the gift of his fellow-citizens; but it was to extend the horizon of his usefulness, and he never sought them but as the reward of merit and of services rendered.

Mr. Clinton was remarkable for a great degree of sensibility and diffidence, not unfrequently the associates of genius and talent. He scarcely entered a drawing-room where many persons were assembled, or was introduced to a distinguished stranger, without manifesting some emotion and embarrassment: even in the delivery of a public discourse, notwithstanding his long habits of public speaking, like his great predecessor Hamilton, he never rose without excitement, almost as great as that imputed to the Roman orator.

You who have been his auditors, will well remember the trembling hand, the faltering voice, the quivering lip, and the suffused cheek, that exhibited the strong feelings that agitated his frame, and which were scarcely to be subdued by the consciousness of the importance of the subject, or the merit of the labour in which he was engaged.

In the domestic character, and in all the private relations of life, Mr. Clinton was no less exemplary than he was distinguished in the several public stations he occupied. In him we find the affectionate husband, the kind and indulgent parent, the humane master, the attentive and unchanging friend.

During all the severity and most violent spirit of party contention, his enemies never said aught to call in question the unsullied purity of his private deportment. In the domestic character of Mr. Clinton, we are called upon to admire his amiable temper, and the tender attachment he manifested to the members of his family, not excepting his domestics, who were uniformly treated by him with feeling and courtesy, and who in return were always devoted to their kind and benevolent protector.

The affectionate intercourse and playful fondness he ever indulged towards his children, and the inordinate sensibilities and sufferings which he experienced from the bereavements he had occasion to sustain, also evince the purity and gentleness of his domestic life.

It may convey to this audience some idea of the extent of that sensibility which filled his parental bosom, when they are told of his acute distress at the loss of a favourite son; and that his feelings were so concentrated upon the object of his affections, that some months after the death of that interesting boy, when passing through the street, and accidentally observing a lad resembling in dress, person, and appearance, his departed son, so instantaneously and ardently were the father's affections kindled into flame, that excluding all other objects of sight, of hearing, or of thought, he eagerly rushed forward in pursuit of his supposed child, calling him to his embrace by the beloved name of his "Walter! - Walter!" - The heart thus constituted must be an abode of the gentlest feelings of our nature; - a citadel where every virtue may be found, and must delight to dwell.

An interesting question here presents itself; what were the religious sentiments of this distinguished man, whose mind was so highly endowed with natural powers of reflection, and enriched by such varied and extensive attainments? An intimate acquaintance with the works of nature, cannot fail to elevate the mind to the most sublime conceptions of the intelligence and power of the Supreme Being, and at the same time dilate the heart with the most grateful emotions and pleasing views of a superintending Providence. These sentiments and feelings, as I have oftentimes personally had an opportunity of witnessing, were enjoyed and expressed by Mr. Clinton in their fullest extent. In his last Discourse to the Bible Society, at its eleventh anniversary, he thus expresses himself on the subject: - "To those who have observed the leading events which have affected the primary interests of the human race, there must appear an obvious connexion or concatenation, demonstrating with irresistible force, the superintending providence of Almighty God,"

It is also to be remarked, that men whose minds have been enlarged by extensive knowledge and reflection, who have been accustomed to think and reason upon all subjects with a spirit of liberality and generous freedom, are not apt to become bigots to any peculiar sect or modes of faith. Mr. Clinton's liberality of sentiment, and charitable construction of the various doctrines and ordinances that divide the religious world, was no less apparent upon this, than upon every other subject that occupied his serious deliberation. At the same time that he reverenced the sincere worshipper of God, whatever may have been his peculiar tenets, or even his superstition, he knew not that sectarian zeal that weakens the strength and chills the warmth of catholic charity; but confiding in the mercy of him who

"doth prefer

Before all temples, th' upright heart and pure,"

The closing scenes of his illustrious life merit our regard. Having been the fellow-student of Mr. Clinton when at college, having been his physician from the time of his first marriage in 1795, and during that period honoured by his uninterrupted friendship, which has ever been that of an affectionate brother, I have been enabled to become familiarly acquainted with his constitutional peculiarities and temperament: these, it may be remarked, were of a nature so vigorous and excellent, that he enjoyed a greater exemption from disease than falls to the lot of most men. As already intimated, an accident some years since occurred, by which to a certain extent he was necessarily deprived of his accustomed exercise; although temperate in the extreme in his habits of living, he soon became plethoric, at the same time that his confinement rendered him sensitive to the changes of the atmosphere. In the autumn of 1827, he was attacked with a catarrhal affection of the throat and chest: as is generally the case with those of a vigorous constitution, and who have long enjoyed uninterrupted health, he was impatient of the restraints which sickness imposes, and to a degree disregarded his disease, and I might say, culpably omitted to employ the active means necessary for his relief. The result was a congestion of the heart and lungs, which ended in an effusion into the cavities of those viscera, attended with a corresponding deposit in the cellular membrane of the lower extremities.

During my last visit at Albany, the week immediately preceding his dissolution, I was very much surprised at the change which had taken place in the state of his health, and confidentially communicated to this eldest son, and to some of his connexions and friends, his imminently alarming situation; even too at this period he was daily taking bodily exercise, performing with his characteristic alacrity and energy his official duties at the capitol, and his mind directed to every object except his health and his own immediate condition, of which he was ever too regardless, and at this time totally unmindful.

Unprepared for these circumstances, and indeed told upon my arrival at Albany that he was recovering his health, which had been impaired, my feelings of surprise and pain when I took my seat at his side, will readily be imagined; his anxious respiration - his anhelation upon the slightest motion - his livid countenance, his irregular and intermitting pulse - his swelling limbs, all indicated the dropsical and perhaps organic affection of the heart and larger vessels, and at once pointed to the fatal issue I thus confidently predicted.

To conclude; if the possession of strong native powers of mind, and those highly cultivated by extensive attainments in the different departments of human knowledge; if an innate spirit of patriotism, quickened and directed by an acquaintance with the various interests of his country, and a life devoted to the unceasing performance of public duty, and expended in the service of his native state, entitle their possessor to respectful notice, Mr. Clinton presents the strongest claims, not only to the affections of his countrymen, but to a distinguished place among the sages, statesmen, and benefactors of the American republic. It is in the intellectual as in the natural world, although the expanse above is studded with an infinity of bodies, shedding and diffusing their portion of light, a certain number of greater magnitude and brilliancy, command the more exclusive vision of the beholder, and are so many suns communicating their effulgence and influence to other and distant worlds. In like manner, there are some intellectual luminaries much more distinguished than are the ordinary sources of light and knowledge. The Grecian and Roman republics had their constellations of illustrious men. Themistocles and Epaminondas, Cincinnatus, Fabricius, and the Scipios. England has had her Lockes and her Newtons, her Chathams and her Cannings. And young as our own republic yet is, her galaxy is already brightened with illustrious names. It were injustice not to assign a like elevation to the transcendent mind of Mr. Clinton, whose name, associated with those of Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Adams, Rittenhouse, Jefferson, Fulton and other American worthies, will ever be identified with the existence of his country, and transmitted with increasing lustre to the latest posterity.

"Micat inter omnes,

Julium sidus, velut inter ignes

Luna minores."

Although withdrawn from our view at comparatively an early period of life, and in the midst of his intellectual vigour and usefulness, the monuments of his glory are imperishable. Youth of our country! although Mr. Clinton has not left to his immediate descendents wealth and independence, to you, as well as to them, he has left a legacy of infinitely greater value.

In his life he has left you a splendid and animating example, which points the way to usefulness and fame; which teaches you how great are the acquirements which well directed industry, even in a short life, is able to achieve, what public estimation and encouragement attend upon them, and what honours and rewards are the happy results - follow then in his footsteps - cultivate those endowments of the mind, and those affections of the heart, that self-command, that dignity, and order of conduct, which distinguished your great exemplar - remember too, to cherish that happy union of virtue and talents, upon which alone you can build your hopes of honour and esteem - follow too his great example in defending the liberties of our country, in supporting our happy constitution of government, in preserving the integrity of our union, in framing and executing good laws, in disseminating useful knowledge, in alleviating human misery, and in promoting the happiness of man.

These principles as your guide, cannot fail to impart to you the greatest enjoyment this world can bestow, that which is derived from a life well spent in the performance of the duties you owe to your fellow-men, your country, and your God. Such was the man whose death we this day lament; whose talents, virtues, and public services, while gratitude holds its place in the human breast, can never be forgotten.

Yes, my fellow-citizens, when the present assembly shall sleep with their fathers; when time shall have obliterated the remembrance of this day's feeble effort to present to your view the virtues and the deeds of our departed friend and benefactor, still - still, shall his name be hallowed in the grateful remembrance of the inhabitants of his native land, and generations yet unborn shall gather round his tomb, and recalling the days that are passed, will utter in the ecstasy of feeling, which love of country and gratitude inspire,

HERE REPOSE THE ASHES OF OUR CLINTON.

Departed shade, farewell - thou art gone - for ever gone - but thy fame survives thee! and thou hast left the influence of thy great example, which will render thy name illustrious so long as science and the arts shall be cherished - so long as patriotism and benevolence shall continue to be virtues, or philanthropy hold its seat in the heart of man.

Benefactor of the human family, farewell! may the remembrance of thine exalted virtues purify our hearts, and thy character be the example of our lives.

"Semper honos, nomenque tuum, laudesque manebunt."

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Transcribed from the original text and html prepared by Bill Carr, last updated 5/30/99.