a and hemmed in by a superior force at
Saratoga Springs, 30 M. north of Albany. On the 17th of Oct. his
troops, about 3,500 in number, laid down their arms, surrendering
to Gen. Horatio Gates. This success was the greatest the
colonists had yet achieved and proved the turning-point in the war.

In 1797 Albany became the permanent state capital. The election of
Martin Van Buren as governor in 1828 marked the beginning of the long
ascendancy in the state of the "Albany Regency," a political coterie of
Democrats in which Van Buren, W.L. Marcy, Benjamin Franklin Butler and
Silas Wright were among the leaders.

Thurlow Weed (1797-1882), the bitterest enemy of this coterie,
and the man who gave them their name, declared of them that he
"had never known a body of men who possessed so much power and
used it so well." Until the election of William H. Seward (the
Whig candidate) as governor in 1838, New York had usually been
Democratic, largely through the predominating influence of Van
Buren and the "Regency." Weed had an important share in bringing
about their defeat. He owed his early political advancement to
the introduction into state politics of the Anti-Masonic issue;
for a time he edited the _Anti-Masonic Enquirer_. In 1830 he
established and became editor of the Albany _Evening Journal_,
which he controlled for thirty-five years.

The anti-rent war, precipitated by the death of Stephen van Rensselaer
(1764-1839), the "last of the patroons," centered about Albany. The
final settlement of this outbreak, which began with rioting and murder,
and ended with the election of a governor favorable to the tenants
(1846), disposed of feudal privilege in New York State which had
flourished here until well into the 19th century, though it had
disappeared elsewhere.

The anti-rent agitation began in the Hudson River counties during
the first administration of Gov. Seward (1839). The greater part
of the land in this section was comprised in vast estates such as
the Rensselaerswyck, Livingston, Scarsdale, Philipse, Pelham and
Van Cortlandt manors, and on these the leasehold system, with
perpetual leases, and leases for 99 years (or the equivalent),
had become general. Besides rents, many of the tenants were
required to render certain services to the proprietor, and in
case a tenant sold his interest in a farm to some one else he was