and almost unceasing
activity.

Though the Whigs needed their ablest and most popular men to meet
Wright and Gardiner, preceding events guided the action of their state
convention, which met at Syracuse, on the 11th of September, 1844.
Horace Greeley had picked out Millard Fillmore for the Vice Presidency
on the ticket with Henry Clay, and his New York friends, proud of his
work in Congress, as chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means,
presented his name with the hope that other States, profiting by the
tariff which he had framed, might join them in recognising his
valuable public service. But the convention had not taken kindly to
him, probably for the same reason that Greeley desired his promotion;
for, upon the slavery question, Fillmore had been more pronounced and
aggressive than Seward, sympathising and acting in Congress with
Giddings of Ohio and John P. Hale of New Hampshire, a part very
difficult to perform in those days without losing caste as a Whig.

Fillmore's defeat on May 1, however, made him the candidate for
governor on September 11. Weed pronounced for him very early, and the
party leaders fell into line with a unanimity that must have been as
balm to Fillmore's sores. "I wish to say to you," wrote George W.
Patterson to Weed, "that you are right, as usual, on the question of
governor. After Frelinghuysen was named for Vice President, it struck
me that Fillmore above all others was the man. You may rest assured
that he will help Mr. Clay to a large number of good men's votes. Mr.
Clay's slaves and his old duel would have hurt him with some men who
will now vote the ticket. Fillmore is a favourite everywhere; and
among the Methodists where 'old Father Fillmore' is almost worshipped,
they will go him with a rush."[335] Yet the Buffalo statesman, not a
little disgruntled over his treatment at Baltimore, disclaimed any
desire for the nomination. To add to his chagrin, he was told that
Weed and Seward urged his selection for his destruction, and whether
he believed the tale or not, it increased his fear and apprehension.
But people did not take his assumed indifference seriously, and he was
unanimously nominated for governor, with Samuel J. Wilkin, of Orange,
for lieutenant-governor. Wilkin had been a leader of the Adams party
in the Assembly of 1824 and 1825. He was then a young lawyer of much
promise, able and clear-headed, and, although never a showy debater,
he possessed useful business talent, and