[Footnote 188: _Governors' Speeches_, February 2, 1816, p. 132.]

When the Legislature convened, the new Canal Commission, through
DeWitt Clinton, presented an exhaustive report, estimating the cost of
the Erie canal, three hundred and fifty-three miles long, forty feet
wide at the surface, and twenty-eight feet at the bottom, with
seventy-seven locks, at $4,571,813. The cost of the Champlain canal
was fixed at $871,000. It was suggested that money, secured by loan,
could be subsequently repaid without taxation; and on the strength of
this report, a bill for the construction of both canals was
immediately introduced in the two houses. This action produced a
profound impression throughout the State. The only topics discussed
from New York to Buffalo, were the magnificent scheme of opening a
navigable waterway between the Hudson and the lakes, and the
desirability of having the man build it who had made its construction
possible. This, of course, meant Clinton for governor.

Talk of Clinton's candidacy was very general when the Legislature
assembled, in January, 1817; and, although Van Buren had hitherto
attached little importance to it, the discovery that a strong and
considerable part of the Legislature, backed by the stalwart Spencer,
now openly favoured the nomination of the canal champion, set him to
work planning a way of escape. His suggestion that Tompkins serve as
governor and vice president found little more favour than the scheme
of allowing Lieutenant-Governor Taylor to act as governor; for the
former plan was as objectionable to Tompkins and the people, as the
latter was plainly illegal. It is doubtful if Van Buren seriously
approved either expedient; but it gave him time to impress upon party
friends the objections to Clinton's restoration to power. He did not
go back to 1812. That would have condemned himself. But he recalled
the ex-Mayor's open, bitter opposition to Tompkins in 1813, and the
steady support given him by the Federalists. In proof of this
statement he pointed to the present indisposition of Federalists to
oppose Clinton if nominated, and their avowed declarations that
Clinton's views paralleled their own.

Van Buren had shown, from his first entrance into public life, a
remarkable faculty for winning men to his own way of thinking. His
criticism of Clinton was now directed with characteristic sagacity and
skill. His argument, that the object of those who sustained Clinton
was to establ