York on November 16, 1848. "The versatile people were
full of demonstrations of affection to the Vice President, and Mr.
Collier divided the honours. The politicians of New York are engaged
in plans to take possession of General Taylor before he comes to
Washington. Weed is to be supplanted, and that not for his own sake
but for mine."[386] As the days passed intrigue became bolder.
Hamilton Fish, Washington Hunt, and other prominent members of the
party, were offered the senatorship. "I wish you could see the letters
I get," Hunt wrote to Weed. "If I wanted to excite your sympathy they
would be sufficient. Some say Seward will be elected. More say neither
Seward nor Collier will be chosen, but a majority are going for a
third man by way of compromise, and my consent is invoked to be number
three."[387] Then came the letter, purporting to be written by Seward,
declaring that "Collier must be defeated, or our influence with the
Administration will be curtailed. You must look to your members, and
see the members from Cattaraugus, if possible. I think Patterson will
take care of Chautauqua."[388] Out of this forgery grew an acrimonious
manifesto from Collier, who professed to believe that Seward was
giving personal attention to the work of making himself senator. In
the midst of this violent and bitter canvass, Horace Greeley wrote one
of his characteristic editorials. "We care not who may be the
nominee," said the _Tribune_ of January 24, 1849. "We shall gladly
coincide in the fair expression of the will of the majority of the
party, but we kindly caution those who disturb and divide us, that
their conduct will result only in the merited retribution which an
indignant people will visit upon those who prostitute their temporary
power to personal pique or selfish purposes."

[Footnote 386: F.W. Seward, _Life of W.H. Seward_, Vol. 2, p. 87.]

[Footnote 387: Thurlow Weed Barnes, _Life of Thurlow Weed_, Vol. 2, p.
173.]

[Footnote 388: New York _Herald_, December 1, 1848.]

Seward was continuously in Baltimore and Washington, studying briefs
that had accumulated in his long absence during the campaign; but
Weed, the faithful friend, like a sentinel on the watch-tower, kept
closely in touch with the political situation. "The day before the
legislative caucus," wrote an eye-witness, "the Whig members of the
Legislature gathered around the editor of the _Evening Journal_ for
counsel and advice. It resembled a President's leve