discussion had made a mark. He
could give high and grave counsel in great emergencies. His
inexhaustible patience, his active attention and industry, his genius
in overcoming impediments of every kind, made him the peer of the
ablest senator. He was not without ambitions for himself; but they
were always subordinate in him to the love of party and friends. It
will never be known how far he influenced Van Buren's reply to Hammit.
He bitterly opposed the annexation of Texas, and his conferences with
the ex-President must have encouraged the latter's adherence to his
former position. Van Buren's defeat, however, in no wise changed
Wright's attitude toward him. It is doubtful if the latter could have
been nominated President at Baltimore had he allowed the use of his
name, but it was greatly to his credit, showing the sincerity of his
friendship for Van Buren, that he spurned the suggestion and promptly
declined a unanimous nomination for Vice President. Such action places
him in a very small group of American statesmen who have deliberately
turned their backs upon high office rather than be untrue to friends.

Silas Wright was strictly a party man. He came near subjecting every
measure and every movement in his career to the test of party loyalty.
He started out in that way, and he kept it up until the end. In 1823
he sincerely favoured the choice of presidential electors by the
people, but, for the party's sake, he aided in defeating the measure.
Two years later, he preferred that the State be unrepresented in the
United States Senate rather than permit the election of Ambrose
Spencer, then the nominee of a Clintonian majority, and he used all
his skill to defeat a joint session of the two houses. For the sake of
party he now accepted the gubernatorial nomination. Desire to remain
in the Senate, opposition to the annexation of Texas, dislike of
participating in factional feuds, refusal to stand in the way of
Bouck's nomination, the dictates of his better judgment, all gave way
to party necessity. He anticipated defeat for a second term should he
now be elected to a first, but it had no influence. The party needed
him, and, whatever the result to himself, he met it without complaint.
This was the man upon whom the Democrats relied to carry New York and
to elect Polk.

There were other parties in the field. The Native Americans, organised
early in 1844, watched the situation with peculiar emotions. This
party had suddenly