[1] In 1801 a state convention adopted an amendment to the
constitution giving the council an equal voice with the governor in
the matter of appointments; but Clinton, who is often represented as
the father of this movement, though chosen as a member of the
convention, did not attend its meetings.
CLINTON, GEORGE (1739-1812), American soldier and political leader, was
born at Little Britain, Ulster (now Orange) county, New York, on the
26th of July 1739. His father, Charles Clinton (1690-1773), who was born
of English parents in Co. Longford, Ireland, emigrated to America in
1729, and commanded a regiment of provincial troops in the French and
Indian War. The son went to sea at the age of sixteen, but, finding the
sailor's life distasteful, joined his father's regiment and accompanied
him as lieutenant in the expedition against Fort Frontenac in 1758.
After the war he practised law in his native town and held a number of
minor civil offices in Ulster county. From 1768 to 1775 he sat in the
New York provincial assembly, and in the controversies with Great
Britain zealously championed the colonial cause. In 1774 he was a member
of the New York committee of correspondence, and in 1775 was chosen a
member of the second Continental Congress. In December of this year he
was appointed a brigadier-general of militia by the New York provincial
congress, and in the following summer, being ordered by Washington to
assist in the defence of New York, he left Philadelphia shortly after
voting for the Declaration of Independence, but too soon to attach his
signature to that document. He had also been chosen a deputy to the
provincial congress (later the state convention) for 1776-1777, but his
various other duties prevented his attendance.
General Clinton took part in the battle of White Plains (October 28th,
1776), and later was charged with the defence of the Highlands of the
Hudson, where, with De Witt Clinton, in October 1777, he offered a firm
but unsuccessful resistance to the advance of Sir Henry Clinton. In
March of this year he had been appointed by Congress a brigadier general
in the Continental army, and he thus held two commissions, as the state
convention refused to accept his resignation as brigadier-general of
militia. So great was Clinton's popularity at this time that at the
first election under the new state constitution he was chosen both
governor and lieutenant-governor; he declined the latter office, and on
the 30th of July 1777 entered upon his duties as governor, which were at
first largely of a military nature. In 1780 he took the field and
checked the advance of Sir John Johnson and the Indians in the Mohawk
Valley. In his administration Clinton was energetic and patriotic, and
though not possessing the intellectual attainments of some of his New
York contemporaries, he was more popular than any of them, as is
attested by his service as governor for eighteen successive years
(1777-1795), and for another triennial term from 1801 to 1804. In the
elections of 1780, 1783 and 1786 he had no opponent. In 1800-1801 he was
a member of the assembly. In the struggle in New York over the adoption
of the Federal Constitution he was one of the leaders of the opposition,
but in the state convention of 1788, over which he presided, his party
was defeated, and the constitution was ratified. In national politics he
was a follower of Thomas Jefferson, and in state politics he led the
faction known as "Clintonians," which was for a long time dominant. In
1789, 1792 and 1796 Clinton received a number of votes in the electoral
college, but not a sufficient number to secure him the vice-presidency,
which was then awarded to the recipient of the second highest number of
votes. In 1804, however, after the method of voting had been changed, he
was nominated for the vice-presidency by a Congressional caucaus, and
was duly elected. In 1808 he sought nomination for the presidency, and
was greatly disappointed when this went to Madison. He was again chosen
as vice-president, however, and died at Washington before the expiration
of his term, on the 20th of April 1812. He was buried in the
Congressional Cemetery, from which in May 1908 his remains were
transferred to Kingston, N.Y. His casting vote in the Senate in 1811
defeated the bill for the renewal of the charter of the Bank of the
United States.
The _Public Papers of George Clinton_ (6 vols., New York, 1899-1902)
have been published by the state of New York.
CLINTON, SIR HENRY (c. 1738-1795), British general, was the son of
admiral George Clinton (governor of Newfoundland and subsequently of New
York), and grandson of the 6th earl of Lincoln. After serving in the New
York militia, he came to England and joined the Coldstream Guards. In
1758 he became captain and lieutenant-colonel in the Grenadier Guards,
and in 1760-62 distinguished himself very greatly as an aide-de-camp to
Ferdinand of Brunswick in the Seven Years' War. He was promoted colonel
in 1762, and after the peace received the colonelcy of a regiment of
foot, becoming major-general in 1772. From 1772 to 1784, thanks to the
influence of his cousin, the 2nd duke of Newcastle, he had a seat in
parliament, first for Boroughbridge and subsequently for Newark, but for
the greater part of this time he was on active service in America in the
War of Independence. He took part in the battles of Bunker Hill and Long
Island, subsequently taking possession of New York. For his share in the
battle of Long Island he was made a lieutenant-general and K.B. After
Saratoga he succeeded Sir William Howe as commander-in-chief in North
America. He had already been made a local general. He at once
concentrated the British forces at New York, pursuing a policy of
foraying expeditions in place of regular campaigns. In 1779 he invaded
South Carolina, and in 1780 in conjunction with Admiral M. Arbuthnot won
an important success in the capture of Charleston. Friction, however,
was constant between him and Lord Cornwallis, his second in command, and
in 1782, after the capitulation of Cornwallis at York town, he was
superseded by Sir Guy Carleton. Returning to England, he published in
1783 his _Narrative of the Campaign of 1781 in North America_, which
provoked an acrimonious reply from Lord Cornwallis. He was elected M.P.
for Launceston in 1790, and in 1794 was made governor of Gibraltar,
where he died on the 23rd of December 1795.
His elder son, Sir WILLIAM HENRY CLINTON (1769-1846), entered the
British army in 1784, and served in the campaigns of 1793-94 in the Low
Countries. In 1796 he became aide-de-camp to the duke of York, and in
1799 he was entrusted with a mission to the Russian army in Italy,
returning to the duke in time for the Dutch expedition of 1799. He was
promoted colonel in 1801, and took part in the expedition which took
possession of Madeira, which he governed up to 1802. His next important
service was in 1807, when he went to Sweden on a military mission.
Promoted major-general in 1808, he served from 1812 to 1814 in the
Mediterranean and in Catalonia, and in the latter year he commanded
against Marshal Suchet. He had become a lieutenant-general in 1813, and
in 1815 he was made a G.C.B. He commanded the British troops in
Portugal, 1826-28, and was promoted full general in 1830. He died at
Cockenhatch, near Royston, Herts, on the 15th of February 1846.
The younger son, Sir HENRY CLINTON (1771-1829), entered the army in 1787
and saw some service with the Prussians in Holland in 1789. He served on
the staff of the duke of York in 1793-94, becoming brevet-major in 1794,
and lieutenant-colonel of a line regiment in 1796. In 1797-98 he was
aide-de-camp to Lord Cornwallis in the Irish rebellion, and in 1799 he
was sent with Lord William Bentinck to the Russian headquarters in
Italy, being present at the Trebbia, at Novi, and in the fighting about
the St Gotthard. During a short period of service in India Clinton
distinguished himself at Laswari. He accompanied the Russian
headquarters in the Austerlitz campaign, and was adjutant-general to his
intimate friend, Sir John Moore, in the Corunna campaign of 1808-9.
Promoted major-general in 1810, he returned to the Peninsula to fill a
divisional command under Wellington in 1811. His division played a
notable part in the capture of the forts at Salamanca and in the battle
of Salamanca (1812), and he was given the local rank of
lieutenant-general early in 1813. For his conduct at Vitoria he was made
a K.B., and he took his part in the subsequent victories of the Nive,
Orthes and Toulouse. At the end of the war he was made a
lieutenant-general and inspector-general of infantry. Clinton commanded
a division with distinction at Waterloo. He died on the 11th of December
1829.
CLINTON, HENRY FYNES (1781-1852), British classical scholar and
chronologist, was born at Gamston in Nottinghamshire on the 14th of
January 1781. He was descended from Henry, second earl of Lincoln; for
some generations his family bore the name of Fynes, but his father
resumed the older family name of Clinton in 1821. He was educated at
Westminster school and Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied classical
literature and history. From 1806 to 1826 he was M.P. for Aldborough. He
died at Welwyn, Herts, where he had purchased the residence and estate
of the poet Young, on the 24th of October 1852. His reading was
extraordinarily methodical (see his _Literary Remains_). The value of
his _Fasti_, which set classical chronology on a scientific basis, can
scarcely be overestimated, even though subsequent research has corrected
some of his conclusions.
His chief works are: _Fasti Hellenici, the Civil and Literary
Chronology of Greece from the 55th to the 124th Olympiad_ (1824-1851),
including dissertations on points of Greek history and Scriptural
chronology; and _Fasti Romani, the Civil and Literary Chronology of
Rome and Constantinople from the Death of Augustus to the Death of
Heraclius_ (1845-1850). In 1851 and 1853 respectively he published
epitomes of the above. _The Literary Remains of H. F. Clinton_ (the
first part of which contains an autobiography written in 1818) were
edited by C. J. F. Clinton in 1854.
CLINTON, a city and the county-seat of Clinton county, Iowa, U.S.A., on
the Mississippi river, in the extreme eastern part of the state. Pop.
(1890) 13,619; (1900) 22,698 (5434 being foreign-born); (1905) 22,756;
(1910) 25,577. The great increase during the decade 1890-1900 was partly
due to the absorption by Clinton in 1895 of the city of Lyons (pop. in
1890, 5700). Clinton is served by the Chicago & North-Western (which has
machine-shops here), the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St Paul, and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railways,
and is connected with Davenport by an electric line. The river is
spanned here by a railway bridge. A large portion of the city stands
between the river and a series of bluffs. Clinton is the seat of
Wartburg College (1869), a German Evangelical Lutheran institution, and
of the Clinton Business College. Among the public buildings are the city
hall, the court-house, the Federal building and the Carnegie library. As
a manufacturing centre Clinton has considerable importance; among its
manufactures are furniture, blinds, wire-cloth, papier-mache goods,
gas-engines, farm wagons, harness and saddlery, door locks, pressed
brick, flour, and glucose products. There is also a large sugar
refinery. The value of the factory product in 1900 was $6,203,316; in
1905, $4,906,355. The American Protective Association (A.P.A.), a secret
order opposed to Roman Catholicism, was formed here in 1887. The city
was founded in 1855 by the Iowa Land Company, and was incorporated first
in 1857, and again in 1867, this time under a general law of the state
for the incorporation of cities. The county, from which the city took
its name, was named in honour of De Witt Clinton.
CLINTON, a township of Worcester county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., in the
central part of the state, on the Nashua river, about 15 m. N.N.E. of
Worcester. Pop. (1890) 10,424; (1900) 13,667, of whom 5504 were
foreign-born; (1910, U.S. census) 13,075. The township is traversed by
the Boston & Maine, and New York, New Haven & Hartford railways. It
contains 7 sq. m. of varied and picturesque hilly country on the E.
slope of the highland water-parting between the Connecticut river and
the Atlantic. There is charming scenery along the Nashua river, the
chief stream. The S.W. corner of the township is now part of an immense
water reservoir, the Wachusett dam and reservoir (excavated 1896-1905;
circumference, 35.2 m.), on the S. branch of the Nashua, which will hold
63,000 million gallons of water for the supply of the metropolitan
region around Boston. On this is situated the village of Clinton, which
has large manufactories, among whose products are cotton and woollen
fabrics, carpets, wire-cloth, iron and steel, and combs. The textile and
carpet mills are among the most famous in the United States. In 1905 the
total factory product of the township was valued at $5,457,865, the
value of cotton goods, carpets and wire-work constituting about
nine-tenths of the total. The prominence of the township as a
manufacturing centre is due to Erastus Brigham Bigelow (1814-1879), one
of the incorporators of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who
devised power-looms for the weaving of a variety of figured
fabrics,--coach-lace, counterpanes, ginghams, silk brocatel, tapestry
carpeting, ingrain and Brussels carpets,--and revolutionized their
manufacture. In 1843 he and his brother Horatio N. Bigelow established
in Clinton the Lancaster Mills for the manufacture of ginghams. From
1845 to 1851 he perfected his loom for the weaving of Brussels and
Wilton carpets, the greatest of his inventions; and he established the
Bigelow Carpet Mills here. He also invented the loom for the weaving of
wire-cloth. It is claimed that the first production in the United States
of finished cotton cloths under one roof and under the factory system
was not at Waltham in 1816, but at Clinton in 1813; neither place was
the first to spin by power, nor the first to produce finished cloths
without the factory system. The comb industry dates from the eighteenth
century. The first of the modern textile mills were established in 1838
for the manufacture of coach-lace. Clinton was a part of Lancaster, now
a small farming township (pop. in 1910, 2464), until 1850, when it was
set off as an independent township. The earliest settlement goes back to
1645.
See A. E. Ford, _History of the Origin of the Town of Clinton,
Massachusetts, 1653-1865_ (Clinton, 1896).
CLINTON, a city and the county-seat of Henry county, Missouri, U.S.A.,
on the Grand river, 87 m. S.E. of Kansas City. Pop. (1890) 4737; (1900)
5061 (470 being negroes); (1910) 4992. It is served by the St Louis &
San Francisco, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, and the Kansas City,
Clinton & Springfield railways. The city is situated on the border of a
rolling prairie about 770 ft. above the sea. The vicinity abounds in
coal, but is principally agricultural, and Clinton's chief interest is
in trade with it. The principal manufactures are flour and pottery.
Clinton was laid out in 1836 and was incorporated in 1865.
CLINTON, a village of Oneida county, New York, U.S.A., on the Oriskany
Creek, about 9 m. S.W. of Utica. Pop. (1890) 1269; (1900) 1340; (1905)
1315; (1910) 1236. It is served by the New York, Ontario & Western
railway, and is connected with Utica by an electric line. Several fine
mineral springs in the vicinity have given Clinton some reputation as a
health resort. There are iron mines, blast furnaces, and iron smelters.
Clinton is the seat of Hamilton College (non-sectarian), which was
opened as the Hamilton Oneida Academy in 1798, and was chartered under
its present name in 1812. It was founded by the Rev. Samuel Kirkland
(1741-1808), a missionary among the Oneida Indians; its corner-stone was
laid by Baron Steuben; its shade trees were furnished by Thomas
Jefferson; and its name was received from Alexander Hamilton, one of its
early trustees. It had in 1907-1908 20 instructors, 178 students, and a
library of 47,000 volumes and 30,000 pamphlets. At Clinton are also
excellent minor schools. Litchfield Observatory is connected with the
college, and was long in charge of the well-known astronomer, Christian
H. F. Peters (1813-1890), who discovered here more than 40 asteroids and
made extensive investigations concerning comets. The village was settled
about 1786 by pioneers from New England, was named in honour of George
Clinton, and was incorporated in 1842.
CLINTONITE, a group of micaceous minerals known as the "brittle micas."
Like the micas and chlorites, they are monoclinic in crystallization and
have a perfect cleavage parallel to the flat surface of the plates or
scales, but differ markedly from these in the brittleness of the
laminae; they are also considerably harder, the hardness of chloritoid
being as high as 6-1/2 on Mohs' scale. They differ chemically from the
micas in containing less silica and no alkalis, and from the chlorites
in containing much less water; in many respects they are intermediate
between the micas and chlorites.