appointment, stating in writing the grounds of such remo val."

The manner in which justices of the peace were to be appointed, was justly regarded as a question of very great importance, and was elaborately discussed in the convention. Political men, belonging to the democratic party, were desirous to give the control of these appointments to the majority in the state, and eventually to the central appointing power at the seat of government. Hence, Mr. Van Buren, Gen. Root, Col. Young and Gov. Tompkins, advocated any scheme which tended to such a result; while the Clintonian part of the convention, such as Ch. Justice Spencer, Van Ness, J. R. Van Rensselaer, &c., strenuously opposed the system-perhaps partly for the reason that if Mr. Van Buren's plan should be adopted, the disposition of those appointments, would, in all probability, devolve upon their political opponents. It is, however, due to Mr. Rufus King to say, that he advocated, and ably advocated, the 'election of justices by the people; and that there can be little doubt but that he formed his judgment, as it is hoped many others did, by considering the question on its merits, without reference to its consequences to this or that party.

I hazard little in saying, that for the purpose of carrying the influence of the appointing power into every part of the state, and of making that influence felt at the polls of the election, and as a means of keeping up party discipline, the selection of justices of the peace by a central power representing the majority of a political party, was more efficient than the power to control all the other appointments in the state. The truth of this proposition the politicians in the convention must have seen and felt. Hence it is, that I cannot believe that Mr. Van Buren, Gov. Tompkins, and particularly Gen. Root and Colonel Young, who were democrats of "the most straitest sect,"

would have so strenuously opposed permitting the people to elect their own magistrates, unless they were in some degree influenced by a desire to derive a political advantage from the measure they advocated.

The proposition of Mr. Van Buren, though presented in two different forms, was rejected by a vote of fifty-nine to fifty-six; but it was ultimately substantially adopted and made a part of the amended constitution. This mode of the appointment of justices may be seen by a reference to the 7th section of the fourth article of the amended constitution, as it passed the convention, 1821. Happily the awkward and bungling machinery introduced by that section soon effectually disgusted the people, so that a few years afterwards it was expunged from the constitution, and the right of appointing their own magistrates was given to the people of the respective towns. This great reform was effected upon the recommendation of Gov. Clinton.

Gen. Root moved that sheriffs and county clerks be elected by the people of the respective counties. The appointment of these officers was another great means used by the central power to strengthen its influence, particularly the office of sheriff, who, by means of his deputies, can carry his influence into every neighborhood of his county. The motion was vigorously opposed, but it was adopted by a majority of nearly two to one, (seventyone to thirty-six.) Gen. Root is entitled to great credit for the zeal and ability with which he advocated this great and salutary reform. He was supported in this measure by the vote and influence of Col. Young. I regret to perceive that Mr. N. Williams, who was as pure and virtuous a man as ever lived, made a most zealous opposition to the election of sheriffs by the people. The following are the names of the gentlemen who voted in the negative:-Messrs. Beckwith, Birdseye, Breese, Brinkerhoff, Buel, Child, Eastwood, Fairlie, Hallock, Hogeboom,

Howe, Jay, Jones, Kent, King, Lansing, P. R. Livingston, Monroe, Nelson, Paulding, Platt, Porter, Reeve, Rockwell, Ross, Russell, Seaman, Ten Eyck, Van Buren, J. R. Van Rensselaer, Van Vechten, A. Webster, Wendover, Wheaton, N. Williams, Woods and Yates-thirtysix.

The appointment of the state officers, including the attorney general, by the two houses of the legislature; of the adjutant general by the governor, and of all the other officers, except some of the officers in cities, by the governor and senate, was agreed to without serious opposition from any quarter.

The adoption of those amendments by the people, broke into fragments and virtually annihilated a power which for nearly half a century had distributed in every quarter of the state the spoils of victory of the one party over the other; which, by its sovereign will and pleasure, had prostrated, as well the high and exalted state officer in the capital, as the humble justice of the peace secluded in his hut in the western or northern wilds-a power which, by elevating some and depressing others, had nourished faction, and frequently produced a state of feeling in the public mind which threatened a dissolution of the bonds. which unite together a civilized and christian community.

It was the general sentiment of condemnation of this feature in the old constitution which caused the convention; and the abolition of this odious provision entitles that assembly to the gratitude of present and succeeding generations.

In the first part of these sketches I have remarked that the principal cause why party spirit had raged more in this than any other state in the union, was, the peculiar organization of the appointing power under the constitution of 1777. A review of our political history will, I believe, satisfy all intelligent and reflecting men that the

proposition is strictly true. The cause being removed, the effect must cease. True it is, that this result was not immediately obvious. Factions did prevail after the adoption of the amended constitution. But men had been so long habituated to act politically from the hope of reward and fear of punishment, that after the means of rewarding and punishing were taken from the hands of the party in power for the time being, many aspirants to office still continued to act as if no change had been made in the principles of the government, and, of course, cabals were formed, and factions occasionally existed. But these commotions grew out of an impulse produced on the public mind by a habit generated under the old government. The ocean, after a storm, will continue to be agitated and its waves run high long after the tempest has subsided; but in time it will become quiet and placid.

So long as man, from the imperfection of his nature, remains liable to err in judgment, so long men will continue to differ respecting the merits of public men and measures. If they are honest and free they will declare their opinions, and be governed by them at the elections. It is this difference of opinion upon which parties are legitimately founded, in a free state. No other parties ought to exist in a patriotic community, and it seems to me, no other parties, under our present constitution, with the amendments which have been made to it, can, to any considerable extent, hereafter exist.

Politicians who imagine that a political party can now be sustained by the charm of names and party discipline, will find themselves deceived. How can you keep up. discipline in a party when you have lost the power to reward and punish? What cares the sheriff of the county of Otsego for the political opinions of the president or the governor? It is to the electors of the county to whom he

must render an account-it is to them he is indebted for past favors, and to them he looks for future advancement.

If Mr. Van Buren's original plan had been adhered to -if the appointment of sheriffs and county clerks, and especially of justices of the peace, had been controlled by a central power-the mode of appointment would have been improved, but the work would have more than half been left undone the great evil would still have existed. True, as Mr. Van Buren said, the appointment of more than eight thousand militia officers would have been taken from the state authorities and given to the people;-but these are offices which are not generally sought for; they are rather a burden than a benefit to the incumbents. It is the civil offices, which afford both honor and profit, which among us are sought with eagerness, and in order to obtain these, according to Mr. Van Buren's plan, the candidate would have been compelled to prostrate himself before the appointing power stationed at the capital. It would, to use a very significant expression of Gen. Root, in the convention, have been "giving the people the chaff" while the wheat was left to pamper and fatten the central power. I do not believe our system of appointments and removals, at present, to be susceptible of improvement. It is as near perfection as it can be.*

* Previous to the final adjournment of the convention, the following highly ap propriate and elegant address was drawn and reported by Gen. Root, and was adopted by the convention :

"IN CONVENTION,"

"ALBANY, November 10, 1821. "The delegates of the people, in convention, having this day terminated their deliberations, present to you the constitution of the state, in an amended form, as the result of the arduous and responsible duties which your confidence has imposed upon them. They have adopted this course from a sense of the great difficulty, if not impracticability, of submitting to the people for their ratification, in separate articles, the various amendments which have been adopted by majorities of the convention. This difficulty is very much increased by the reflection, that the adoption of some articles, and the rejection of others, might greatly impair the symmetry of the whole. The convenience of having the amendments incorporated with those parts of the constitution which are to remain unaltered,