courts and the common pleas. The legislature did not receive his suggestions with favor; but they did not fail to exert a salutary influence on the public mind. No one can doubt that they prepared the way for the radical change in the constitution effected in 1846. Under this arrangement the court of chancery, after an existence of over one hundred and fifty years, was abolished, and all judicial offices made elective by the people.

It was the desire of Gov. Seward from the commencement of his official career, to effect the decentralization of the political power in the state. By the existing laws, the judges of common pleas were associated in the respective counties with the board of supervisors in the appointment of commissioners of deeds, superintendents of the poor, and other county officers. The boards of supervisors were usually divided in politics, and hence the appointments were in fact decided by the central power at Albany, from which the judges received their offices. At the recommendation of Gov. Seward the appointing power was withdrawn from the judges, and the election of most of these offices given to the people. His efforts for reducing the emoluments of several favorites in public office were partially sanctioned by the legislature. But his recommendation to abolish the office of inspector of various branches of produce and manufacture was not adopted until after the close of his administration.

The safety fund system, of which Gov. Seward had always been a decided opponent, exploded in 1837. A general banking law, passed by the whig assembly of 1838, gave the liberty of banking to any voluntary association of citizens. The new system, however, was at first defective in its details. Many of the banks under this organization failed, producing a loss to the bill-holders. During Gov. Seward's administration, the law was revised, and with successive improvements, has become the settled policy of the state, and has also been adopted by several other states of the Union.

A warm discussion arose during this period, in regard to the minimum denomination of bank paper to be used as a circulating medium. In accordance with the views of Gen. Jackson, bills under five dollars were prohibited by the legislature of 1837. The senate of 1838 refused to repeal this law. At the recommendation of Gov. Seward in 1839, the act was repealed by the whig legislature and no attempt has been made to restore it since.

The geological survey of the state, which had been commenced

pursuant to an act of the legislature in 1836, was brought to a completion, under the auspices of Gov. Seward. At his suggestion, the legislature appropriated funds from time to time for its prosecution, and established a depository for the preservation of specimens illustrative of the natural history of the state. This, he recommended should be made the foundation for a system of popular instruction in the natural sciences, with a view to the improvement of agriculture. The spirit of his suggestion has been carried into effect by the State Agricultural Society, in its system of popular lectures and discussions which are held in the Geological Museum at Albany.

The results of the geological survey were embodied in a series of quarto volumes, which ultimately reached the number of thirteen. Gov. Seward prepared an elaborate introduction to the work, consisting of a review of the settlement, progress, and condition of the state of New York, somewhat on the plan of Mr. Jefferson's "Notes on Virginia." This historical essay is written in a style of admirable clearness and fluency, abounding in recondite and valuable information, and pervaded by an elevated tone of patriotism and humanity. It appears in this work under the title of "Notes on New York."*

The abolition of imprisonment for debt, effected in 1832, did not reach the class of non-resident debtors, or those held by process issuing from the United States Courts. Gov. Seward was opposed, both from feeling and principle, to depriving unfortunate debtors of their liberty and of the opportunity to provide for their families. He had not been long in the executive office, when he procured the passage of laws, which swept away these relics of barbarism from the jurisprudence of the state.

In general, the laws of the state were faithfully executed during Gov. Seward's administration. There was, however, an exception. In the counties of Albany and Rensselaer, was a tract of land, fifty miles square, lying on both sides of the Hudson river, which was claimed to have been granted by the Dutch government, at an early day to the Van Rensselaer family, and which was originally denominated the manor of "Rensselaerwyck." The lands on this tract had not been granted in fee to settlers, as elsewhere, but had been farmed out on perpetual leases, securing annuities to the proprietor, (denominated the Patroon,) payable in kind and in labor, *See Vol. II. p. 9

and containing covenants, raising charges upon alienation. The late Patroon, Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer, had suffered numerous arrearages of rent to remain uncollected for many years. At his decease, his heirs demanded payment of these arrearages. The tenants refused to comply. Differences growing out of these matters, which extended back through a period of near fifty years, ripened, in 1839, into discontents, popular outbreaks, and open resistance of the laws. Refusing to tamper with such violent proceedings for a moment, Gov. Seward issued his proclamation,* calling upon the discontented to reflect upon the nature and consequences of their unlawful acts, and apply to the legislature for redress of their grievances, pledging himself to grant them every aid in his power, in bringing their complaints before that body. This proclamation was accompanied by the organization and despatch of a military force, which, acting under the authority of the sheriff, attended him until he had executed the legal processes in his hands, including those against the individuals who had resisted the laws.

In announcing these measures to the legislature in his annual message, in 1840,† Gov. Seward discussed the nature of the tenures out of which the disturbances had arisen, and recommended that efforts should be made for the removal of the difficulty which threatened to be lasting and serious in its consequences. He urged a compromise of the conflicting claims of landlord and tenant, with their consent, and without injustice to either party. The recommendation was adopted, and Hugh Maxwell and Gary V. Sacket, Esqs., were appointed commissioners to effect, if possible, a satisfactory adjustment. After examining the subject, and hearing all the parties, the commissioners decided on the basis of an adjustment, which they recommended for the adoption of the litigants. The tenants assented. But the landlord, under mistaken advice, refused the proffered terms, and insisted on the rights secured in his leases. So the settlement failed. During the residue of Gov. Seward's administration, the laws were executed throughout the discontented regions, as in the other parts of the state. But the controversy between the proprietors of the Rensselaer manor and the tenants, still continued, and has not been settled to the present time. Loud complaints were made against the governor for what was alleged to be an unjust conces+ See Vol. II, p. 219.

*See Vol. II, p. 352.

sion to the claims of the tenants, in treating the restraints on alienation and other features in these cases, as illegal and inexpedient. Since Gov. Seward's retirement from the executive office, armed resistance has been more than once renewed, and a ruinous litigation has never been suspended. While we are writing these memoirs,* the Court of Appeals has vindicated the views of Gov. Seward, by declaring the restraints upon alienation, illegal and void.

This affair furnishes another instance of Gov. Seward's clear forecast and sound wisdom, in the adoption of measures for the removal of existing evils. For the time being, owing to a want of equally enlarged views, his recommendations have been discarded. But time vindicates their soundness. In the present case, after the subject had been litigated, discussed, and argued for years, before legislatures and courts, the decision was finally made in conformity with the views he had originally urged upon the parties interested.

In his earlier years, Gov. Seward, as we have seen, devoted considerable attention to military affairs. During his administration, he labored for the accomplishment of certain reforms in the militia system, which he had urged while a member of the Senate. Its unequal operation was regarded by him as an infringement of personal rights, and a great public evil. He endeavored to relieve the members of the society of Friends, and other persons who declined performing military duty from religious scruples. This measure was not adopted by the legislature. But he did not fail to use the pardoning power of the executive in behalf of those, who had incurred the penalty of the law, in obedience to their consciences. In this course, Gov. Seward was true to the enlarged and liberal sentiments, which he had long cherished, in regard to religious freedom.† It was one of his strongest convictions, that no class of citizens should suffer from legal disabilities, on account of matters of conscience. Here, too, his views, at last, received the sanction of public opinion, and the changes in the militia system, which he had urged in his messages, became the policy of the state.

Previously to 1841, the elections in New York occupied three days a single board of inspectors receiving all the votes in each town or ward. This arrangement occasioned numerous inconve

* October, 1852.

See Miscellaneous Correspondence, Vol. III., p. 481.

niences. In the larger cities, especially, it gave rise to a system of frauds and combinations, impairing the purity of elections, and impeding the voter in the exercise of his political rights. Violent contests took place at the polls, which often resulted in the destruction of the ballot-box. Every one acknowledged and deplored the evil. It was not so easy, however, to discover the remedy. The whigs were in favor of an act of registration; but this was regarded by the opposite party as a scheme to deprive the poorer classes of the exercise of suffrage. As the support of both the great political parties of the day was essential to the success of the measure, the whigs modified their demands, limiting the call for a registry to the city of New York. Gov. Seward could not give this course his approval. He was opposed to all partial, invidious legislation. Nor could he be convinced of the practicability of the measure, in the existing state of feeling. He accordingly dissuaded his friends from urging the passage of such an act. In its place, he recommended the division of towns and wards into election districts, each containing not more than five hundred voters, and the limitation of the time for holding elections to a single day. These suggestions were accepted by the whigs, who then formed a majority of the legislature. But under the influence of members from New York, they added a provision for a registry act in that city.

Gov. Seward was thus again brought into collision with his political friends. He prepared a veto message,* presenting his objections to the feature of the bill establishing a registry. On consultation, however, with the whigs, it was found that even if the bill should not pass in spite of the veto, yet the party would be convulsed by the consequent excitement, and incur the hazard of yielding the control of the state to their political opponents. The governor was thus induced to suppress the veto and approve the bill, frankly stating to the legislature his objections to the feature in question, and predicting its ultimate effect. An election was held under the new law, in the following autumn. The city of New York returned a democratic majority, induced by the new provision. The legislature at once repealed it by a unanimous vote. The other provisions of the law still remain in force.

The patriot disturbance in Canada which occurred in 1837, awakened deep interest among the people of the United States, * See Vol. III, p. 379. VOL. I.-D.