of
the State to the reduction of its debt. It was important to the
character of the people, he thought, that they should be restless and
impatient under the obligation of debt; and the strong ground taken by
him against an enlargement of the Erie and its lateral canals had
resulted in the passage of the famous act of 1842, the substance of
which he now desired incorporated into the Constitution. He would
neither tolerate compromises with debtors of the State, nor allow its
credit to be loaned. He favoured sinking funds, he advocated direct
taxation, he insisted upon the strictest observance of appropriation
laws, and he opposed the sale of the canals. In his speeches he
probably exaggerated the canal debt, just as he minimised the canal
income and brushed aside salt and auction duties as of little
importance; yet everybody recognised him as the schoolmaster of the
convention on financial subjects. His blackboard shone in the
sunlight. He was courteous, but without much deference. There was
neither yielding nor timidity. If his flint struck a spark by
collision with another, it made little difference to him. Yet years
afterward, Thurlow Weed, who backed Seward in his appeal for more
extensive internal improvements, admitted that to Hoffman's
enlightened statesmanship, New York was indebted for the financial
article in the Constitution of 1846, which had preserved the public
credit and the public faith through every financial crisis.[356]

[Footnote 356: _Autobiography of Thurlow Weed_, p. 34.]

Hoffman placed the state debt, with interest which must be paid up to
the time of its extinguishment, at thirty-eight million dollars. Out
of the canal revenues he wanted $1,500,000 paid yearly upon the canal
debt; $672,000 set apart for the use of the State; and the balance
applied to the improvement of the Erie canal, whenever the surplus
amounted to $2,500,000. Further to conserve the interests of the
Commonwealth, he insisted that its credit should not be loaned; that
its borrowed money should not exceed one million dollars, except to
repel invasion or suppress insurrection; and that no debt should be
created without laying a direct annual tax sufficient to pay
principal and interest in eighteen years. The result showed that, in
spite of vigorous opposition, he got all he demanded. Some of the
amounts were reduced; others slightly diverted; and the remaining
surplus of the canal revenues, instead of accumulating until it
a