sult.
Polk carried the State by a plurality of little more than five
thousand, and Wright by ten thousand, while Stewart polled over
fifteen thousand votes.[347] These last figures told the story. Four
years before, Birney had received less than seven thousand votes in
the whole country; now, in New York, the Abolitionists, exceeding
their own anticipations, held the balance of power.[348] Had their
votes been cast for Clay and Fillmore both would have carried New
York, and Clay would have become the Chief Executive. "Until Mr. Clay
wrote his letter to Alabama," said Thurlow Weed, dispassionately, two
years afterward, "his election as President was certain."[349]

[Footnote 347: Silas Wright, 241,090; Millard Fillmore, 231,057; Alvan
Stewart, 15,136.--_Civil List, State of New York_ (1887), p. 166.]

[Footnote 348: In 1840 Gerrit Smith received 2662; in 1842 Alvan
Stewart polled 7263.--_Ibid._, p. 166.]

[Footnote 349: Thurlow Weed Barnes, _Life of Thurlow Weed_, Vol. 1, p.
572.]

Clay's defeat was received by his devoted followers as the knell of
their hopes. For years they had been engaged labourously in rolling
uphill the stone of Sisyphus, making active friendships and seeking a
fair trial. That opportunity had come at last. It had been an affair
of life or death; the contest was protracted, intense, dramatic; the
issue for a time had hung in poignant doubt; but the dismal result let
the stone roll down again to the bottom of the hill. No wonder stout
men cried, and that thousands declared the loss of all further
interest in politics. To add to their despair and resentment, the
party of Birney and Stewart exulted over its victory not less than the
party of Polk and Silas Wright.

CHAPTER VIII

THE RISE OF JOHN YOUNG

1845-1846

Although the Democrats were again successful in electing a governor
and President, their victory had not healed the disastrous schism that
divided the party. The rank and file throughout the State had not yet
recognised the division into Radicals and Conservatives; but the
members of the new Legislature foresaw, in the rivalries of leaders,
the approach of a marked crisis, the outcome of which they awaited
with an overshadowing sense of fear.

The strife of programmes began in the selection of a speaker. Horatio
Seymour was the logical candidate. Of the Democratic members of the
last Assembly, he was the only one returned. He had earned the
preferment by able service, and