he was appointed by the council of appointment. He served with such distinction as judge that in 1807 he was nominated for Governor, although only thirty-three years of age, and was elected. His administration was charac. terized by a sturdy upholding of the national policy of President Madison in resisting the encroachments of Great Britain. In the course of his third term as Governor, in 1812, he exercised his right to prorogue the Legislature, the only time the right has been exercised in the history of the State, the occasion being the threatened passage by the Legisla. ture of a bill incorporating the Bank of North America, of which the Governor disapproved. The Legislature obeyed the Governor and dissolved, but upon reassembling passed the bank bill. The declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812 met with his hearty approval, and he labored energetically to send the State's militia to the scene of hostilities. In 1813 Governor Tompkins was renomi. nated and re-elected. In 1816 he called the attention of the Legislature loudly to the need of connecting the waters of the Hudson with Lake Erie and Lake Onta. rio. Mr. Tompkins steadily advanced in popularity, and finally in 1816 was nominated and elected as Vice-President of the United States. Almost the last act of Governor Tompkins as Governor, on January 27, 1817, was to send a special message to the Legislature recommend. ing the abolition of domestic slavery in the State. A law was passed in compli ance with this recommendation, abolishing slavery in the State on July 4, 1827. Mr. Tompkins took the oath of office as Vice-President on March 4, 1817, and again on March 4, 1821, being re-elected. He died on June 11, 1825. DEWITT CLINTON. DEWITT CLINTON, the fifth Governor | member of the council of appointment. of New York, was born at Little Britain, Orange county, on March 2, 1769. He was a nephew of George Clinton, the first Governor of the State, and his father was likewise an eminent citizen of New York and prominent member of the Legislature of 1801. DeWitt Clinton was graduated at Columbia College in 1786 at the head of his class, and was always a devoted student. He began public life by acting as the secretary of his uncle, Governor Clinton, from 1789 to 1795. There could be no fitter place in which to get an insight into the government of the State and to become acquainted with its public men. Retiring from public life for two years, he returned to it in 1797, being elected a member of the Assembly from New York city. As an Assembly. man he was one of the most efficient members and became at once so prominent that the following year he was elected a Senator. In 1801 he had still further advancement, being appointed a It is an interesting fact that as Senator he offered a resolution, which was adopted, proposing an amendment to the Constitu tion of the United States, providing for a division of each State into single, dis. tricts, each one of which should be entitled to choose an elector of President and Vice-President, and for the designa. tion by every voter on his ballet, of the candidates whom he preferred. So rapidly did he advance in the esteem of his fellows that on February 4, 1802, he was elected a United States Senator to fill the vacant place of General Armstrong, who had resigned his office. As a member of the Senate he strenuously opposed a proposed invasion of Louisiana, then a province of Spain, to right the wrongs suffered by American citizens there. In his speech against this proposition he dwelt upon the large increase of the public debt which would follow a war; declaring that "our annual expendi tures over and above our surplus great plan he himself was to experience many of the vicissitudes of politics. In 1812 he was a candidate for President against James Madison, and received the votes in the Electoral College of all of the New England States but Vermont, and of New York, New Jersey and Delaware, eighty-nine electoral votes in all, while Mr. Madison received 128 votes. It was in 1816 that he became the master spirit of the project to construct the Erie canal. At a mass meeting | which was held in New York a memorial in favor of the project, drawn up by himself, was read and adopted. Subse. quently this memorial was presented to the Legislature and Mr. Clinton remained In Albany throughout the session draw. ing the attention of members to the scheme. The Legislature passed a law providing for the immediate commence. ment of the construction of the Erie and of the Champlain canal, and Mr. Clinton was one of five Commis■ioners appointed to carry out the act. In 1817 Mr. Clinton was elected Governor, and then more than ever pushed forward the construction of the canal. Acting as Governor, as he did from 1817 to 1823, he was able to put the canal enterprise in such a position that the State was committed irrevocably to its completion. Returning to office in 1825, he again pushed forward the enterprise and became known all over the United States as "Father of the Erie Canal." On the 26th day of October, 1825, the Erie canal was formally opened for navigation. Governor Clinton on that day, in company with other State officials, took passage in the pioneer canal-boat, "Seneca Chief," and started on a voyage through the canal and the Hudson river to New York. Cannon had been previously posted at intervals along the Erie canal and the Hudson river, and when the Governor's boat entered the Erie canal the signal gun was fired in Buffalo. The signal was then continued from gun to gun, and in one hour and twenty min. utes "the citizens of New York were apprised that a boat was departing from the foot of Lake Erie and was on its way traversing a new path to the Atlantic Ocean." Governor Clinton proceeded from Albany "down the river to New York and accompanied by an immense fleet of boats and steamers, three miles in circumference, sailed through the Bay and Narrows to Sandy Hook, where from the deck of a vessel he emptied a keg of water brought from Lake Erie on the Seneca Chief into the Atlantic Ocean, accompanying the act with appropriato remarks. With this ceremony, remind. ing one of the spousals of the Adriatic, closed the protracted celebration." Thus closed the greatest period of Mr. Clinton's life. He continued to act as Governor for several succeeding years, and it was while Governor, on February 11, 1828, that he suddenly died from heart disease. JOSEPH C. YATES. JOSEPH C. YATES was born in Schenectady on November 9, 1768, and was educated at that place. He entered political life in 1798 by accepting a nomination for and being elected Mayor of Schenectady. He became a lawyer and practiced his profession with great success. In 1805 he was elected a member of the State Senate and served his constituents well. Retir. ing from the Senate in 1808 he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court. As a judge it is said he was distinguished "for his plain and practical common He made the innovation of addressing | itures. Upon surrendering the Governorthe Legislature in a written message ship he retired into private life and died instead of orally as had been thecustom be in Schenectady upon March 19, 1837. MARTIN VAN BUREN. MARTIN VAN BUREN was born at Kinderhook, in Columbia county, on December 5, 1782. His father was too poor to give him an education more than at the common schools and academy of Kinderhook. When only fourteen years old he entered the law office of Francis Sylvester in Kinderhook and began the study of the law. When twenty-one years old Mr. Van Buren was admitted to practice as a lawyer and early gained many clients. He also early showed an interest in politics, and in 1808 received his first political appointment, being made Surrogate of Columbia county when only twenty-six years old. Then that he removed from Kin it was |